With the launch of the Release Candidate of Internet Explorer 8 Microsoft made available a tool designed to allow the building of customized installation packages of the browser. The Internet Explorer Administration Kit 8 Release Candidate 1 is tailored to what Jason Upton, test manager – Internet Explorer referred to as the last major IE8 testing milestone, namely RC1. In this regard, IEAK 8 RC1 will only work in conjunction with the Internet Explorer 8 RC1 bits. 

“The Internet Explorer Administration Kit (IEAK) 8 Release Candidate 1 (RC1) simplifies the creation, deployment and management of customized Internet Explorer 8 packages. IEAK 8 can be used to configure the out-of-box Internet Explorer 8 experience or to manage user settings after Internet Explorer 8 deployment,” Microsoft explained. “Internet Explorer Administration Kit (IEAK) 8 RC1 enables the most efficient way to deploy Internet Explorer 8 and manage Web-based solutions.”

According to Microsoft, the tool comes with support for a variety of operating systems including Windows Vista RTM and SP1, Windows XP SP3 and earlier, Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2003. However, IEAK 8 does not support Windows 7 Beta Build 7000, which includes a post-Beta 2 but a pre-RC version of Internet Explorer, nor does it play nice with Builds 70XX of the next iteration of the Windows client.

Available for download in four localized versions: ENU – English; CHS - Chinese Simplified; DEU – German and HEB – Hebrew, IEAK 8 RC1 is set up to respond to the specific browser customization needs of four customer segments: Corporations, Internet Service Providers (ISPs), Internet Content Providers (ICPs), and Internet Software Vendors (ISVs).

IEAK 8 RC1 provides control over the distribution options associated with Internet Explorer 8, but also over the integration of custom components, the setup experience, the search experience, the browser experience, the configuring of ActiveX controls, and ultimately of the browser's automatic configuration in relation to a certain trigger.

Internet Explorer Administration Kit (IEAK) 8 Release Candidate 1 (RC1)  is available for download here.

Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) Release Candidate 1 (RC1) is available for download here.