How to run Internet Explorer on a Mac. Download Oracle VirtualBox for Mac and Extension Pack. Install VirtualBox and after that, double click on the Extension Pack and follow the instructions.
Have you ever built a website or written some code and thought it looked perfect until, after the fact, you caught that same page looking horrible and wonky in another browser? I definitely have.
And even though my version of writing code really means messing around in the WordPress back-end, the scenario still holds up. Any web developer worth their salt tests in multiple browsers—including the much-maligned Internet Explorer.
Here’s the thing, though: if you’re a web developer, it’s very likely that you own a Mac, which also means that you don’t have easy access to Windows or Linux-only browsers.
Enter Parallels Desktop, the best way to run Internet Explorer on Mac. (As well as a multitude of other browsers and OSes—including Microsoft’s all-new Microsoft Edge.)
Parallels Desktop, and specifically the new Pro Edition designed for developers and power users, is ideal for testing because of its usability. For instance, it’s incredibly easy to switch back and forth between Mac and Windows:
And you can even tune your VM performance for development or testing:
Since joining the Parallels team, I can fiddle around with my website and check how it looks in Internet Explorer without issue:
If I use Parallels Desktop in Window or Coherence Mode, I can even compare my site in Internet Explorer to how it displays in other browsers. In this case, it looks like there may be an issue with my fonts across browsers:
An even bigger bonus: a subscription to Parallels Desktop for Mac Pro Edition is less than your Adobe subscription, and you can try it free for 14 days.
Even if you don’t need IE for testing purposes, Parallels Desktop is a great go-to for all Windows applications you can’t run on your Mac—though believe it or not, Internet Explorer is one of the most-opened programs of Parallels Desktop users.
Have you tried running Internet Explorer on Mac using Parallels Desktop? Share your story in a comment, or reach out to us on Facebook or Twitter.
Try Parallels Desktop for free for 14 days!
Whether you develop for the web and need to see how your site or web app displays itself in multiple browsers, or you just want to visit a site that requires a particular browser that you don't want to use, you may eventually need to use a browser other than Safari. While most of the web is free to access through any browser you'd like, there are occasionally websites (particularly older ones) that need you to use browsers like Internet Explorer, or worse yet, would like you to be on a Windows PC. Or maybe you'd like to see how your site or web app presents itself in Safari on iPhone or iPad, or Chrome on Windows.
Luckily, Safari on Mac has the answer for you. Safari allows you to masquerade as the user of other browsers and Windows through a tool in its Develop menu: changing the user agent. Changing the user agent tells websites that you're using a browser other than the version of Safari that you're using on your Mac. It can event tell a website that you're running Windows.
Safari for Mac supports the following user agents:
- Safari for iPhone
- Safari for iPad
- Safari for iPod touch
- Microsoft Edge
- Internet Explorer 11
- Internet Explorer 10
- Internet Explorer 9
- Internet Explorer 8
- Internet Explorer 7
- Google Chrome for Mac
- Google Chrome for Windows
- Firefox for Mac
- Firefox for Windows
Keep in mind that, though Safari will appear to be another browser, it won't actually be that browser. Any web app or site that requires, say, Chrome's Blink rendering engine (which Safari doesn't have) won't work properly, even if Safari's user agent is changed to Google Chrome.
Here's how you go about changing the user agent in Safari.
How to access websites in Safari that require a PC or another browser
- Open Safari from your Dock or Applications folder.
- Click Safari in the Menu bar.
- Click Preferences.
- Click Advanced.
- Check the box next to Show Develop menu in the menu bar.
- Close the Preferences window. The user agent choices will be grayed out and unselectable if you don't.
- Click Develop.
- Hover over User Agent.
- Click on the user agent of the browser you need. If you need to pretend that you're using a PC, choose Microsoft Edge, a version of Internet Explorer, Google Chrome — Windows, or Firefox — Windows.
Doing this should get you through a website detection-checker.
Great Mac Accessories
Samsung T5 Portable SSD($88 at Amazon)
This tiny, speedy solid state drive is the perfect way to expand your Mac's storage.
Das Keyboard 4 Professional($169 at Amazon)
Get your Mac a better keyboard by picking up this mechanical option from Das Keyboard.
Questions?
If you have any questions about masquerading Safari as a Windows web browser, let us know in the comments.
Updated May 2019: Updated through macOS Mojave.
Serenity Caldwell contributed to a previous version of this article.
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