This tutorial will guide you step-by-step through the install process for Internet Explorer (IE) and Microsoft Edge in Ubuntu Linux – using the terrific software VirtualBox.
Until Edge runs natively in Linux, this is the easiest way to use Internet Explorer and Edge from within Ubuntu. Be warned – you’ll need 10+ GB and a computer that is capable of running Windows 10 as a virtual machine, because that’s exactly what you’ll be doing. Microsoft offers Windows 10 as a free virtual machine, which means you can use it with software like VirtualBox, an open source (free) virtualization app. Let’s jump right in!
- If you don’t have VirtualBox already installed, launch the Ubuntu Software app and search for virtualbox. Click Install to install it.
- Then head over to the Microsoft Virtual Machines page and download the Windows 10 virtual machine for VirtualBox. It’s over 6GB, so the download may take some time. Once it has completed, unzip the file.
- Launch VirtualBox and select File -> Import Appliance…
- Click the “file folder” button located at the end of the File: field (see screenshot below).
- Navigate to the .ova file that you just extracted from the .zip file. Select it and click the Open button.
- Click Next
- Finally, click the Import button.
- It’ll take a few minutes, but the virtual device will now import.
- Once that’s completed, select your newly imported virtual device from the column on the left side of the VirtualBox window, and then click the Start button.
- Windows 10 will now boot up in VirtualBox. Once you get to the sign-in screen, enter the password: Passw0rd!
- Windows 10 will now start up and you can access both Internet Explorer (IE) and Microsoft Edge.
- Keep in mind these free virtual machines provided by Microsoft expire after 90 days. They recommend that you take a snapshot when you first install the virtual machine which you can roll back to later. This will save you from having to re-download and install the large file to use IE in Ubuntu. For assistance taking and using snapshots, check out this guide.
Be sure to check out our other Ubuntu related tutorials.
Ross, when installing IE on Linux as described, are you required to purchase a MSFT license of any kind??
Thanks,
Rick
Thank you! Just what I was looking for. You might want to ignore die-hard open source fans. Some things aren’t practical. Without something like this, I’d have to keep booting into Windows to check my site design.
This is a great tutorial! We need IE to run our childrens’ CDs for school (we homeschool). If we can run IE on Linux (we just installed Ubuntu yesterday! Yay!), then we can switch over our machines. Without this tutorial, our other 5 machines would remain Windows machines. This should encourage you – the glass is half full, guys!
Folks, I’ve been using Linux for a year now and I think it’s great. I’m installing IE on Linux to access my router’s web page that (unfortunately) only works with IE. People don’t have to be so radical as forbid proprietary bits to be installed in Linux system, because we have to use whatever tool is necessary for each task. In my case, that’s the only option.
Great tutorial, thanks a lot.
A great doc to install IE on Linux, this is not for daily use just to see how a web development look on IE. This is make me keep on Linux, Flaxibility and Choice.