technical solutions and commentary

Upgrading to the latest verison of IE7 beta requires you uninstall the previous beta version and then install the new beta. The process to uninstall the previous beta is straightforward. You can use the Add/Remove Programs and unistall the beta. If you run into issues you can use the command line to try and force an unistall. If you run into issues with that you can modify the registry and try it agan. All the instructions for this process are on the IE Team Blog at the post Uninstalling IE7 Beta Releases.

The one scenario I could not find addressed anywhere was, if you deleted the hidden uninstall files for the IE beta from the c:\windows folder. What then? None of the resources I found addressed this problem. There is a work around for this. Here is what you have to do:

• Open the “c:\windows\dllcache” folder. Find the “iexplorer.exe” file and rename it to “iexplorer.exe.old”
• Open the “c:\program files\internet explorer” folder. Find the “iexplorer.exe” file and rename it to “iexplorer.exe.old”
• You will probably get an error prompting you to insert a Winodws XP SP2 CD-ROM to replace this file, etc. Just ignore this error and leave the box open on the screen.
• Run the latest IE7 beta installation package. When it checks for the current verison of IE it will not see the iexplorer.exe file and verison number and will proceed to install as usual.

These steps ONLY address the need to install the latest IE7 beta. Renaming these files and choosing insert the CD-ROM for Windows XP, SP1, or XP2 DOES NOT completely uninstall IE7 components and may cause your computer to become unstable. This should only be used as a work around to get the LATEST IE7 beta installed on the system.