[Jatin]

Jane Maliouta just posted on IEBlog regarding how Windows XP SP3 (XPSP3) works with the various released versions of Internet Explorer. I found this post very useful for the IE7 and IE8 beta 1 users that's why the same is derived here directly from IEBlog.

Please don't make it a Firefox vs Internet Explorer thread.

Internet Explorer 6 Users

XPSP3 will continue to ship with IE6 and contains a roll-up of the latest security updates for IE6. If you are still running Internet Explorer 6, then XPSP3 will be offered to you via Windows Update as a high priority update. You can safely install XPSP3 and will have an updated version of IE6 with all your personal preferences, such as home pages and favorites, still intact.

Internet Explorer 7 Users

If you are currently running IE7 on XPSP2, Windows Update will offer you XPSP3 as a high priority update. If you choose to install XPSP3, Internet Explorer 7 will remain on your system after the install is complete. Your preferences will be retained. However, you will no longer be able to uninstall IE7. If you go to Control Panel->Add/Remove Programs, the Remove option will be grayed out.

If you must uninstall IE7 after you have upgraded to XPSP3, then you have to first uninstall XPSP3, and then uninstall IE7. After this series of uninstalls, you will be reverted back to a XPSP2, and a stable version of IE6, so feel free to upgrade to XPSP3 again.

If you install IE7 after you install XPSP3, then you will be able to uninstall IE7 at any point and be reverted to the newer IE6 version that ships in XPSP3. The restriction on uninstalling only applies to when you install a Windows Service Pack release on top of a standalone IE release.

Keeping this in mind, you might want to uninstall IE7, upgrade to XPSP3 and then install IE7 again so you can uninstall IE7 in the future if need be.

Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 Users

Installing IE8 Beta1 on Windows XP SP3 is fully supported, so go ahead and upgrade your computers to XPSP3 and then install IE8 Beta 1 to try out our new features. You will be able to uninstall IE8 Beta 1 at any point to revert back to either IE7 or IE6 depending on what you were using before.

However, if you already have IE8 Beta 1 installed on XPSP2, Windows XP SP3 will not be offered to you via Windows Update. This is because after you update your system to XPSP3, you will no longer be able to uninstall IE8 Beta 1 and the Remove option will be grayed out under the Add/Remove programs in Control Panel. The reason is the same as in IE7 case described above. Since people are more likely to uninstall beta software, we strongly recommend uninstalling IE8 Beta 1 prior to upgrading to Windows XP SP3 to eliminate any deployment issues and install IE8 Beta 1 after XPSP3 is on your machine.

[steven28]

Thanks for the info jatin

[mediar]

I will add this news in my site.

[Johnnyboy]

Too late for me. I have been using IE8 beta 1 and then installed the SP3 through the standalone installer.

[Freka]

How stupid... you can't delete IE after SP3.

[Stryder9]

I dont use IE anyways

[KaneBT]

thanks a lot.

particularly for the IE 8 Beta info.

[electricshock81]

thnx for the news jatin!

[M.Sudoku]

Thanks a lot for the info. I too have IE8 installed on my XP partition.

[shivaram]

Jatin you are too late dear i did the mistake of installing SP3 on IE8 beta 1 without knowing abt the IE8 beta 1

This post has been edited by shivaram: 08 May 2008 - 10:19 AM

[Jatin]

I too didn't know about it till I read it on IEBlog.

[wade_10]

I installed SP3 just as it was available"officially"before MS halted the availability with the compatibility issues. I have IE7pro installed and in add/remove programs the remove option is not blocked/grayed out. I primarily am using FF3b5 anyway but was planning to add IE8b1. Anyone know of issues or problems with that? Should I remove IE7, if I can, before installing IE8? Is IE8b1 worth the difference now?

By the way, I checked the Build after install of SP3 and it is 5512. It installed without any problems.

[Lord Devrexster]

Thanks for the info ...

I have wisely ( or unwisely , I dont know ) held off installing xpsp3 till now only for these kind of problems. Any similar problem for windows media player ???

This post has been edited by Lord Devrexster: 09 May 2008 - 05:23 PM

[The Silent Warrior]

If you find the above post confusing then read this:

If you don't use IE then don't install IE7.

If you already have installed IE7 then uninstall it before installing SP3 other wise you won't be able to uninstall it later.

If you want to use IE7 and wish to install it later, then install it after installing SP3.

[PenaltyKillah]

Wow, that's pretty vital. But not really for me. Thanks anyway.

Don't like the newer versions? Here's summing it up in a sentence: Do not install before the upgrade to SP3, or uninstall the existing version.