IE 8 won't install

[jscheuer1]

So I finally decided to bite the bullet and install IE 8, but it wouldn't install. I followed the troubleshooting guide steps one two and three. I was already updated, turned off antivirus and anti malware programs, and had in preparation checked for viruses and malware. Still no go. Before I try the risky sounding 'clean boot' method, I'm wondering if anyone has an idea what might be preventing a normal install. I'm using RC1 of IE8 installer from MS for XP, which is my OS. I had IE standalones installed, but uninstalled them before attempting to install IE 8, so the only IE I had on my machine was 7.

Any ideas folks?

[techno_race]

You should just wait for it to be released--they'll probably have better support for it then. Then again, it's Microsoft. Besides, I've tried it, and it's not that different, anyway. Just more compliant and a newer version of Trident. And some other buttons I don't understand.

[jscheuer1]

I've pretty much already decided to wait, at least for my main machine. I have an older machine, and IE 8 installed fine on that, so at least I have an environment for testing pages in it. IE 8 has some nice new features. I especially like its new and expanded developer tools.

I'd still be interested in any ideas to get this working on my main machine without going this 'clean boot' route, which I have little confidence in, besides which sounds like a risky procedure in itself.

[Twey]

I encountered similar problems: the IE8 installer gives a GPF halfway through the process. I just decided to wait, too. IE has never been a top priority of mine, and apparently IE8 will have better standards support than the others. We can hope that means it won't need quite so much coddling.

[jscheuer1]

I've already been finding myself doing stuff like:

<!--[if lt IE 8]>
<style type="text/css">
.sideBarRight .sideBarContents {
 margin-left: 0; /* IE adjustment */
}
</style>
<![endif]-->

So there's hope.

One potential problem though is that since the user can control the display mode (IE 8 standards, IE 7 almost standards, or quirks), regardless of the DOCTYPE or meta tags used on the page, if this is continued in the full release, there will be confusion about scripts and other code 'breaking' in IE 8. I found the mechanisms for controlling this fairly unintuitive, so many novice level users will get confused by it.