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Installing Internet Explorer 7 on Windows XP SP3

The problem

If you, for whatever reason (I’m not judging!), are trying to install the original Internet Explorer 7 on top of Windows XP SP3, you’ll most likely see an error: Internet Explorer installation did not complete.

A screenshot of an error message saying: Internet Explorer installation did not complete. You must restart your computer to remove any changes setup has made. After restarting, click the “Internet Explorer Troubleshooting” shortcut on your desktop for more information. (Button) “Restart Later”. (Button) “Restart Now (Recommended)”.

This doesn’t say much, but we can dig deeper…

If we analyze the installation log file (located at C:\WINDOWS\ie7_main.log), we can see the problem:

01:03.571: ERROR:   |Inst. Pre-Progs. >>> xmllitesetup.exe installation completed with errors, exitresult=0x00000000, exitcode=0x0000f0f1

This happens because the installer tries to install xmllite, which comes already preinstalled with Windows XP SP3. The installer doesn’t expect that, panics and throws an error.

The solution

This is super easy to fix:

  1. Navigate to C:\WINDOWS\system32.
  2. Find xmllite.dll and rename it to xmllite.dll.bak.
  3. Start the Internet Explorer 7 installer again and proceed with the normal installation.

Et voilà, you now can enjoy your beloved Internet Explorer 7!

A screenshot of the “About Internet Explorer” window version 7.0.5730.11. A majestic Error 404 can be seen on the background, displayed instead of the default homepage.
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