Do you want a pre-activated copy of Windows XP SP2? Then simply click here. And get ready to download a 495.8 MB file. This is the free Internet Explorer 6 Application Compatibility VPC Image. The Image contains:

- Windows XP Professional SP2 + high-priority fixes through November 2006;
- Internet Explorer 6.0;
- Internet Explorer 7 Readiness Toolkit 2.0.

And just if you were concerned with the size of the download, the 495.8 MB file will unpack to approximately 1.5 GB. This release addresses the issue of running: “Internet Explorer 6 and Internet Explorer 7 in a side by side environment. The best way to use multiple versions of IE on one machine is via virtualization. Microsoft has recently made Virtual PC 2004 a free download; we’ve taken advantage of that by releasing a VPC virtual machine image containing a pre-activated Windows XP SP2, IE6 and the IE7 Readiness[ Toolkit to help facilitate your testing and development,” revealed Pete LePage, Microsoft Product Manager.

The only catch is that the release has a limited time period of functionality that will end with April 1, 2007. There is no way of prolonging its functionality. After the copy will expire, you’ll simply have to download the Image again.

“Now you can install IE7 on your main machine for development, and get all the advantages of IE7, like the RSS platform, native XMLHTTP stack, and improved security, while still running IE6 simultaneously in the VPC on the same computer. Most importantly, you don’t even have to buy an additional Windows license. The VPC image runs in a virtual machine that offers all of the functionality of a full IE6 installation without giving it any access to its host machine’s hard drive, registry, etc. You can make as many modifications as you want to the virtual machine without affecting your host installation at all,” added LePage.

Microsoft informed of the possibility to release additional VPC images for IE5, IE5.5, IE6 and IE6 SP1 and even localized versions of IE. The Internet Explorer 6 Application Compatibility VPC Image works with both VPC 2004 on Windows XP and with VPC 2007 Beta on Vista.

The Internet Explorer 6 Application Compatibility VPC Image is available for download here.