These release notes describe how to install Windows Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 and include information about known issues and workarounds.

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Copyright information

Information in this document, including Web site addresses (URLs) and other Internet references is subject to change without notice and is provided for information only. Complying with all applicable copyright laws is the responsibility of the user. Without limiting the rights under copyright, no part of this document may be reproduced, stored in, or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), or for any purpose, without the express written permission of Microsoft Corporation.

Microsoft might have patents, patent applications, trademarks, copyrights, or other intellectual property rights covering subject matter in this document. Except as expressly provided in any written license agreement from Microsoft, the providing of this document does not give you any license to these patents, trademarks, copyrights, or other intellectual property.

©2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Microsoft, Internet Explorer, Windows, Windows Server and Windows Vista are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States or other countries or regions.

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Installation information

Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 will not install on prerelease versions of Windows Vista SP1

Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 will not be installed on a prerelease version of Windows Vista with Service Pack 1 (SP1). Setup will fail, and you will receive the following error message: You must install Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 on a supported operating system.

Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 will not install on checked versions of Windows

Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 Setup cannot be installed on a checked (debug) version of Windows Vista, Windows Vista SP1, or Windows Server 2008.

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General information

Help content

Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 contains help content from Internet Explorer 7. Some topics will be broken or irrelevant. The help content will be updated in a later release of Internet Explorer 8.

New home page in home page set

Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 will add a new page to the home page set. This page will be automatically removed from the home page set two weeks after you install Internet Explorer Beta 1. You can remove this additional home page from your home page set at any time. Uninstalling Internet Explorer Beta 1 earlier than its automatic removal will not remove the additional home page. In that case, you can remove the home page manually.

Turning off the in-page WebSlice button

You can turn off the in-page WebSlice button in Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 by using the following method: However, when you turn off the in-page WebSlice button, WebSlice discovery is also turned off in the Feed Discovery button that is located on the frame.

Viewing certificates in Windows Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1

Windows XP

When you click the View certificates icon after you click the Security Status Indicator lock icon in the address bar, you incorrectly receive the following message: To view the certificate, follow these steps:

1.	Right-click the document, and then click Properties.
2.	In the Properties dialog box, click Certificates.

Windows Vista

To view the certificate of an encrypted page, click the View certificates icon after you click the Security Status Indicator lock icon in the address bar.

If you right-click the document, you click Properties, and then you click Certificates, the certificate is not displayed.

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Compatibility information

Web sites that do not work correctly

If you reach a Web site that does not appear to work correctly, you can report it by using the “Report a Web page Problem Tool” that is available at the following location: Additionally, you can click the Emulate IE7 button to make Internet Explorer 8 behave similarly to Internet Explorer 7. 7 Or, you can add a compatibility-mode switch to your web pages to opt-in to IE7 Standards mode. Please see the Versioning and Internet Explorer Modes whitepaper for more information about implementing the compatibility-mode switch. To do this, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

Windows Live Hotmail and Spaces Activities do not work

You cannot use features of Windows Live Hotmail and Spaces Activities in Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 Standards mode. To use the "Send with Windows Live Hotmail" and "Blog with Windows Live Spaces Activities" features, you must configure Internet Explorer 8 to emulate Internet Explorer 7. You can do this by clicking the Emulate IE7 button. You must restart the browser after you use this command.

Activities for selection do not appear in the shortcut menu

Activities do not appear on the right-click shortcut menu in Web pages in Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 Standards mode. To access Activities, you must make a selection, and then right-click by using the mouse to open the shortcut menu. Activities are listed under the Copy command. The Activities button does not appear for Web pages in Internet Explorer 8 Standards mode.

WebSlice errors that occur with cookie authentication in Windows Vista

When Windows Vista has Protected Mode on, WebSlices that require cookie authentication will not work in Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1. This affects the Facebook WebSlice that lets you see a friend's status. To fix this issue, follow these steps:

1.	In the browser, on the Favorites bar, remove the WebSlice.
2.	Close Internet Explorer.
3.	Right-click the Internet Explorer icon, and then click Run as administrator.
4.	Subscribe to the WebSlice.

Named anchor does not work in Standards mode links

Some URIs (Universal Resource Indicators) refer to a location within a resource. This kind of URI ends with a "#" mark that is followed by an anchor identifier. This is known as the fragment identifier. For example, the following URI points to an anchor that is named "section_2": When you click this link, it will forward you to the section of the resource that is labeled as the following: These types of links may not function in Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 Standards mode. To work around this issue, use the Emulate IE7 button.

Internet Explorer Administration Kit 7

Internet Explorer Administration Kit 7 is not supported on a computer that has Windows Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 installed.

KB943302 might be rolled back

The KB943302 update might be rolled back after Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 is installed. When you start Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1, you will be prompted to manually install KB943302 from the Microsoft Download Center.

Toolbars and add-ons crash Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1

Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 is not yet compatible with all toolbars and plug-ins for earlier versions of Internet Explorer. Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 might crash when you use it with these programs, or it could cause them to function incorrectly.

To work around this issue, use one of the following methods:

•	Start Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 in (No Add-ons) mode, and then disable any add-ons that might be involved.
•	Uninstall any software that might be causing compatibility issues with Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1.

Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 is not yet compatible with the following programs:

•	DriveLetterAccess
•	Skype
•	Google Toolbar
•	Google Toolbar 5 (BETA)
•	Yahoo Toolbar (Toolbar options dialog box might not be displayed correctly.)
•	HP Smart Web Printing v3.5 (No toolbar button for HP Smart Web Printing is displayed.)
•	Real Player 11
•	Quicktime Player (Volume controls might not work correctly.)

Cross Document Messaging

Internet Explorer 8 Standards mode increases interoperability. This means that pages that use the Fragment Identifier Technique to send messages across domains that are embedded in a page will now experience unwanted behavior. You can see a sample page that uses this technique at the following link: Internet Explorer 8 will create entries in the travel log and back button for each instance of window.location.hash that is set. This is part of the behavior for Internet Explorer 8 AJAX Navigation. If you use this technique to communicate between documents, we recommend that you switch to the Internet Explorer 8 Cross Document Messaging feature that is based on Section 6.4 of the HTML 5.0 specification. To view more information about the HTML 5.0 specification, visit the following World Wide Web Consortium Web site:

Effect of HTML 5.0 Spec Updates

The Internet Explorer 8 AJAX features Cross Document Messaging and DOM Storage are based on the HTML 5.0 specification. The specification is in draft stage and is continually being updated. Therefore, our implementation of the specification may be based on an older version. The Internet Explorer team will look into updating the implementation when possible after Beta 1.

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Assistive technology

Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 is not yet fully compatible with some Assistive Technology applications, including JAWS, Window-Eyes, and ZoomText. Menu and Web content reading may not function correctly.

To enable Assistive Technology programs to perform correctly before updates are available, you may follow these steps when you install Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1.

Warning This workaround may make a computer or a network more vulnerable to attack by malicious users or by malicious software such as viruses. We do not recommend this workaround but are providing this information so that you can implement this workaround at your own discretion. Use this workaround at your own risk.

1.	If you are running Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008, disable Protected Mode. To do this, click Internet Options on the Tools menu. On the Security tab, click to clear the Enable Protected Mode option for each of the following zones: • Internet • Local intranet • Trusted Sites • Restricted We recommend that you browse only to Web sites that you trust while Protected Mode is disabled.
2.	Install Windows Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1.
3.	After installation is complete, add the following registry entries. To do this, follow these steps: a. In the Run box, type Regedit.exe and then press ENTER. b. Locate and then click the following registry subkey: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main c. In the right-pane, right-click the mouse, point to New, and then click DWORD Value. d. Type PPT, and then press ENTER. e. In the right-pane, right-click the mouse, point to New, and then click DWORD Value. f. Type LCIE_FTW, and then press ENTER. Note The values in both these registry entries are configured to 0 when you perform steps 3c through 3f.
4.	Start Internet Explorer 8. The browser prompts you for configuration information when you start it for the first time.

You are advised to review the "Removal information" section before you install Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1. Uninstalling Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 will revert to the earlier version of Internet Explorer, and the Assistive Technology program will perform as before.

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Printing

"Print Shipping Label" button on paypal.com may not work

The "Print Shipping Label" button on the Account Overview or History pages of paypal.com may not work. Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 may be unable to print shipping labels on paypal.com. No workaround is currently available for this issue.

Printing falls back to Internet Explorer 7 Standards mode

Printing in Internet Explorer Internet Explorer 8 Standards mode always falls back to Internet Explorer 7 Standards mode. This means that even if the page is viewed on screen in Internet Explorer 8 Standards mode (in default mode because of the meta tag or in dev toolbar mode), it will print by using the older Internet Explorer 7 layout rules. Quirks mode pages continue to print by using the Quirks Layout.

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How to install the German or the Chinese (Simplified) builds of Internet Explorer

To do this, follow these steps, as appropriate for the operating system that you are running.

In Windows Vista, in Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1), or in Windows Server 2008

1.	Uninstall the English build of Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1, if it is installed.
2.	Make sure that you are using the German or the Chinese (Simplified) version of Windows Vista. Or, install the Windows Vista language package for German or for Chinese (Simplified).
3.	Install the version of Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 that supports German or Chinese (Simplified). Note If your active user language is set to anything other than German or Chinese (Simplified), the Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 user interface will be displayed in English. The built-in activities are currently available only in the English version of Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1. To view the standard activities, switch to English.

In Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) or in Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2)

1.	Make sure that you are using the German or the Chinese (Simplified) version of Windows. Or, install the Windows Vista language package for German or for Chinese (Simplified). Note The German version and the Chinese (Simplified) version of the Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 installer will not work if you do not follow this step.
2.	Install the version of Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 that supports German or Chinese (Simplified).

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How to uninstall Windows XP Service Pack 3 Release Candidate and Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1

If Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 and Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) Release Candidate (RC) are installed on the same computer, uninstall them in the reverse order in which you installed them. For example, if you installed Windows XP SP3 RC and then installed Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1, uninstall Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 before you uninstall Windows XP SP3 RC.

In Windows Vista and in Windows XP, make sure that you uninstall the German or Chinese (Simplified) version of Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 before you install an English version of Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1. If you do not do this, Internet Explorer 8 may not function correctly or may not be installed when you try to install the English version of Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1.

If you install Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 first and then upgrade to Windows XP Service Pack 3, you be unable to remove Internet Explorer 8. That option will be disabled. To work around this issue, uninstall Windows XP Service Pack 3 first. When you do this, the remove option is enabled. Then, you can uninstall Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1.

We recommend that you uninstall Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 before you upgrade to Windows XP Service Pack 3 and then install Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1. When you do this, you can easily uninstall Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 if you have to.

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High Contrast mode

Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 Setup Experience and High Contrast mode

The Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 Setup Experience does not work correctly in the High Contrast (Accessibility) color scheme. Some Setup wizard text may not be visible. To resolve this issue, switch to another color scheme before you install Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1.

Import/Export Wizard and High Contrast mode

The Import/Export Wizard does not work correctly in the High Contrast (Accessibility) color scheme. Some Setup wizard text will not be visible. To resolve this issue, switch to another color scheme before you use the wizard.

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Security settings

Changes to Internet Zone default settings

The following default settings have been changed from earlier releases of Internet Explorer:

URLAction property

In Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1, the following function in the URLAction property has been changed from enabled to disabled in the Internet Zone:This makes the local directory path unavailable when uploading files to a server. Therefore, a client-side script that accesses and uses the "value" property of the INPUT type=file control will no longer be able to retrieve the full path information. Only the file name will be available. This change has a potential application compatibility affect for client-side scripts.

The following tables indicate where this change has been implemented in the Zone and Template sections.

Changes in the Zone section

Zone	Normal Mode	Lockdown Mode
Local Machine (0)	Enable (0x0)	Enable (0x0)
Intranet (1)	Enable (0x0)	Disable (0x3)
Trusted Sites (2)	Enable (0x0)	Disable (0x3)
Internet (3)	Disable (0x3) // Changed	Disable (0x3)
Restricted Sites (4)	Disable (0x3)	Disable (0x3)

Changes in the Template section

Template	Setting
Low	Enable (0x0)
Medium-Low	Enable (0x0)
Medium	Enable (0x0)
Medium-High (Windows Vista only)	Disable (0x3) // Changed
High	Enable (0x0)

Note These changes also affect Group Policy.

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HTML and Views

Import/Export Wizard and internationalized domain names

Favorites that have internationalized domain names will not export correctly from the Import/Export Wizard.

HTML view

•	You must turn on the Select element before each use because it will automatically be turned off after you select an element on the page.
•	Text nodes that have siblings appear as separate nodes in the HTML tree. If the text node is empty, an empty node will appear in the HTML tree.
•	Trying to set an invalid attribute name or value will delete the attribute.
•	Refreshing the site in Internet Explorer or refreshing the Developer Tools might temporarily remove the ability to select nodes in the HTML tree. Double-clicking a node will still expand and collapse a node’s sub-tree. Switching to another tab in Developer Tools and then switching back to HTML will restore the ability to select nodes.
•	The HTML tree does not show the attributes of INPUT elements.
•	The HTML tree incorrectly displays attributes of EMBED elements if it includes an invalid attribute.
•	The innermost box of the Layout pane displays height and width, in that order.
•	The Style and Trace Styles panes do not consider inline styles.
•	In the Style pane, only the check boxes next to individual rules have any effect.
•	In the Trace Styles pane, only the check boxes that are next to individual properties have any effect.
•	The Style and Trace Styles panes incorrectly consider parent nodes in a parent document for elements in frames and iframes.
•	The SPACEBAR checks and clears check boxes in the Style and Trace Styles panes. But, the SPACEBAR does not work on the site. Use the mouse to check or clear the check boxes.

Activity Preview and HTML controls

The Activity Preview does not handle HTML controls that take focus. Specifically, the following controls do not work in the preview:

•	<select>
•	<input type="text">
•	<input type="password">
•	<textarea>

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Developer information

Internet Explorer Developer Toolbar compatibility

The earlier version of the Internet Explorer Developer Toolbar add-on is not available for Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1. However, Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 natively includes only some functionality of the Internet Explorer Developer Toolbar. Therefore, some functionalities of the Developer Toolbar are available in Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1. Additionally, the "View list of attributes for selected element" functionality is changed.

Instead of listing attributes in a separate pane, the DOM tree in Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 Developer Tools includes all attributes and enables you to modify them in-place.

Whereas Internet Explorer 8 Developer Tools are not available for Internet Explorer 7 or Internet Explorer 6, the Internet Explorer Developer Toolbar add-on is still available for use with Internet Explorer 6 and Internet Explorer 7.

Developer Tools

When you first open Developer Tools in a separate window, the View > Change Compatibility Mode menu will not display the current compatibility mode. The compatibility mode will display after you refresh the page in Internet Explorer or after you browse to a new site.

If you close Internet Explorer when the Developer Tools window is minimized, the Developer Tools window will only open in full-screen (maximized) mode. To resolve the problem, follow these steps:

1.	Right-click the Developer Tools item on the taskbar, and then click Maximize.
2.	Exit Internet Explorer.
3.	Start Internet Explorer again, and the 'Developer Tools' window will behave correctly.

Accessibility

Developer Tools in Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 are not fully accessible through the keyboard or assistive technology. Developers Tools does not work correctly in the High Contrast (Accessibility) color scheme or in High DPI mode.

JScript debugger

•	We do not recommend that you use the debugger with multiple tabs open. When the debugger starts, it attaches to all open tabs in an Internet Explorer instance, and it could cause the browser to stop responding. To work around this problem, use only one tab per Internet Explorer instance when you debug.
•	When in a breakpoint, Internet Explorer is paused and is waiting for input from the script debugger. Therefore, it will not respond to any user interaction. The Internet Explorer window will not update, and other Developer Tools features, such as the HTML and CSS tabs, will not function because they depend on receiving data from Internet Explorer.
•	In some conditions, the debugger may not correctly highlight the next statement to be executed.
•	The debugger does not correctly delete a breakpoint set in a function expression (a function that is assigned to a variable).
•	If you click Start Debugging after you click Stop Debugging while in a breakpoint on the same site, Internet Explorer will stop responding and will generate a "There is no source code available for the current location” error message.
•	Clicking Stop Debugging has no effect while in a breakpoint hit before the complete loading of the page. To stop debugging, click Continue, and then click Stop Debugging.
•	After you click Start debugging, even if you click Stop debugging, JavaScript errors will continue to display error dialog boxes. This behavior will occur regardless of the Internet Control Panel settings that control script debugging. To stop the dialog boxes from appearing, you should close and reopen Internet Explorer.

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Performance information

Connections per host increased

An increasing number of users have broadband connections. Therefore, client-side bandwidth is frequently underused because of the HTTP connections per server limitation that is suggested by the HTTP 1.1 specification (RFC 2616). Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 detects broadband connections and increases the number of connections per host to six if a high speed connection is detected. This maximum number of connections applies to any connection made to a Web server and not only to downloads.

Effect on Web Developers

Web authors might want to optimize delivery of content, based on the number of connections that are available to their sites. Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 includes a read-only scriptable property that exposes the connection limit per host. The properties return the MaxConnectionsPerServer value and the MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server value respectively:

•	window.maxConnectionsPerServer (For HTTP 1.1 servers)
•	window.maxConnectionsPer1_0Server (For HTTP 1.0 servers)

Effect on End-users

If the increased Connections-Per-Host limit causes a problem, this feature can be disabled by using one of the following methods:

•	Feature Control key (Internet Explorer)
•	Registry Key (Windows)

Feature Control key (Internet Explorer)

A feature control key, FEATURE_AJAX_CONNECTIONSERVICES, can be set to 0 to disable the feature. This will make sure that the six connections per host in Internet Explorer will revert to the default of two connections per host Windows-wide, including Internet Explorer.

1.	Start Registry Editor.
2.	Locate and then click the following registry key: HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\FeatureControl\ FEATURE_AJAX_CONNECTIONSERVICES
3.	Create a DWORD value iexplore.exe, and then set it to 0.

Registry Key (Windows)

The registry can be used to override ALL settings and to change the connection limit per server for Windows (including Internet Explorer) to a user-chosen limit.

1.	Start Registry Editor
2.	Locate and then click the following registry subkey: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings
3.	Create a new DWORD entry named MaxConnectionsPerServer for HTTP 1.1 4.
4.	Set the value of the MaxConnectionsPerServer registry entry to 0000002.
5.	Create another new DWORD entry named MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server for HTTP 1.0.
6.	Set the value of the MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server registry entry to 0000004.

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Removal information

This section describes how to remove Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1.

Windows XP SP2 or Windows Server 2003

1.	In Control Panel, click Add or Remove Programs.
2.	Click Windows Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1, and then click Remove. The computer will revert to one of the earlier versions of Internet Explorer depending on your scenario, as described here: • Internet Explorer 6 + previously installed Internet Explorer 6 security updates. • Internet Explorer 7 + previously installed Internet Explorer 7 security updates.

In Windows Server 2003, you may be unable to cleanly uninstall Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1. When uninstalled, the Internet Explorer entry might be missing in the following locations:

•	On the Start menu
•	When you click All Programs on the Start menu

However, the earlier version of Internet Explorer is still present on the system, and you can start it from the Quick Launch Bar or by running Iexplore.exe from the Run command.

In Windows XP SP2, after Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 is removed, the following entry will be present on the Start menu in All Programs > Accessories > System Tools:You can safely delete this entry.

Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008

1.	In Control Panel, click Programs, and then click View Installed Updates.
2.	Click Windows Internet Explorer 8, and then click Remove. The computer will revert to Internet Explorer 7 and previously installed Internet Explorer 7 security updates.

The third-party products that this article discusses are manufactured by companies that are independent of Microsoft. Microsoft makes no warranty, implied or otherwise, about the performance or reliability of these products.

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