Building a new VM

One of the Starlets has just sent me an email I thought I’d share with you. He wanted to prudently test a new website against a BETA of IE9 on his Mac. This is what he did to get XP updated and running before he could install IE9.

I’m building a new VMWare virtual machine with IE9 on it.
Quick and easy you’d think. In fact, I just hit the ‘Express update’ button on my existing VM, so it’s definitely going to be quick and easy.

So far, during the update process I’ve:

- Re-activated my software with Microsoft. (Thanks!)
- Installed the new Windows™ Updater™.
- And restarted.
- Installed the new Windows Genuine Advantage™ compliance checker.
- And restarted
- Installed Service Pack 2.
- And restarted
- Installed the new new Windows™ Updater. And the new new Windows Genuine Advantage™ compliance checker.
- And restarted.
- Installed 980 MB of security patches in 76 separate files (I kid you not).
- And restarted.
- Activated the Windows Genuine Advantage Notification Center
- Upgraded to IE8
- Installed the Malicious Software Removal Tool™
- Checked my computer for malicious software (took 25 minutes)
- Installed IE8 critical security updates
- And restarted!
- Configured IE8 by 13(!)-step wizard.
- Installed Service Pack 3.
- And restarted

Seven restarts, nearly three hours (anxious bosses and PM’s be advised I was doing other things meanwhile!), I mean, be serious, Redmond. It wouldn’t be so bad if it didn’t require constant babysitting and clicking ‘ok’. I’m certainly glad i didn’t go with the option to install anything more than the essential upgrades. All I want to do is test a website.

Oh, and after all that, you can’t install IE9 on XP.