Microsoft RemoteIE Lets Users Test IE on Windows, Mac OS X, iOS, Android

Microsoft recently announced a preview of RemoteIE, a free service that enables users to run the latest version of Internet Explorer on the Windows 10 Technical Preview from Windows, Mac OS X, iOS or Android devices.

Available via Azure RemoteApp, RemoteIE lets you run IE on these different operating environments without the need to run a new OS or heavyweight virtual machine on your device, said Anton Molleda, program manager for Internet Explorer, in a post on Microsoft’s IEBlog. Going forward, this will be the recommended way for developers who are not running Windows 10 to test the latest IE preview versions, Molleda said.

The Azure RemoteApp preview builds on the Windows Server Remote Desktop Services infrastructure while also leveraging Azure’s global scale and utility-grade reliability. The service, released to preview in May, enables you to run Windows applications on a variety of devices from the Azure cloud. RemoteIE provides access to the latest Internet Explorer on the Technical Preview via Azure RemoteApp. “Once you’re set up with the RemoteApp client for your platform, you will be streaming IE from the Azure cloud within seconds,” Molleda said.

To get started, developers should sign up here with their Microsoft account and follow the directions to download the Azure RemoteApp client for their platform.

In June, Microsoft announced an IE developer channel as a way for developers to get the latest preview builds of IE. The Internet Explorer Developer Channel is a fully functioning browser designed to give Web developers and early adopters a sneak peek at the Web platform features Microsoft is working on.

On Oct. 1, Microsoft began releasing the latest IE builds as part of the Windows 10 Technical Preview, where it will receive automatic updates through the Windows Insider Program. In addition, Microsoft provides virtual machines running stable versions of IE on modern.IE, Molleda said.

“We know that developers on Windows 7 want a way to test on the latest builds of IE and that the broader development community is eager to have the latest Internet Explorer available on other platforms,” Molleda said. “To address these needs comprehensively and efficiently, we built RemoteIE on top of the Azure RemoteApp preview as the latest evolution of the IE dev channel—bringing a single, low friction solution to Windows downlevel clients as well as cross-platform. Our goal is to make the latest IE widely available for testing to all Web developers, to help make the Web just work for everyone.”

Microsoft will update the RemoteIE version in line with the latest Windows 10 Technical Preview as new builds are released publicly.