Internet Explorer Administration Kit 8 Release Documentation

The Internet Explorer Administration Kit (IEAK) 8 simplifies the creation, deployment, and management of customized Windows Internet Explorer 8 packages. IEAK 8 can be used to configure the out-of-box Internet Explorer 8 experience for your users to manage user settings after you deploy Internet Explorer 8.

IEAK 8 is now simpler, more intuitive, and more efficient than IEAK 7.

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What is new in IEAK 8?

• Customize New Features in Internet Explorer 8: You can use the Internet Explorer 8 Customization Wizard to customize new features in Internet Explorer 8.
  • Accelerators. You can include custom defaults for Accelerators in Internet Explorer 8.
  • Web Slices. You can add Web Slices to your custom Internet Explorer 8 package.
  • First Run Wizard and Welcome Page options. You can configure the First Run Experience for Internet Explorer 8.
  • Compatibility View. You can choose if content is rendered in Internet Explorer 8 standards mode or Internet Explorer 7 mode.
     Note
    By default all sites in the Intranet Zone are rendered in Internet Explorer 7 mode.
  • Search Enhancements. Internet Explorer 8 supports search providers which offer rich text and image suggestions. Through IEAK 8 you can add and configure these providers for your installer.
  • Many other Internet Explorer 8 features, such as InPrivateFiltering, Developer Tools and Delete Browsing History, can be customized in the Additional Settings page available in the Corporate license mode.
• Get Your Package Built More Quickly: Internet Explorer 8 Customization Wizard has fewer pages than the Internet Explorer 7 Customization Wizard even with all the new supported features. This enables you to build your customized package more quickly.
• Intuitive: Many screens have been redesigned to better optimize the overall flow of the wizard.
• Full Language and Platform support: You can create custom Internet Explorer 8 packages for all platforms that support Internet Explorer 8 and Internet Explorer 8 packages in 43 languages.

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Technology overview

Internet Explorer Administration Kit (IEAK) 8 programs and tools make it easy for you to deploy Internet Explorer 8 and manage custom browser software packages. Here is a quick overview of the tools included:

• IEAK Toolkit. The IEAK Toolkit contains helpful tools, programs, and sample files, such as bitmaps and a sample sign-up.
• Internet Explorer Customization Wizard. The Internet Explorer Customization Wizard browser guides you through the process of creating custom browser packages. When these packages are installed on your clients' desktops, they'll receive customized versions of Internet Explorer with the settings and options that you selected in the wizard.
• Windows Installer (MSI). IEAK 8 supports creating an MSI wrapper for your custom Internet Explorer 8 packages to make enterprise deployment via Active directory possible.
• IEAK Help. The IEAK Help includes many conceptual and procedural topics that you can view by using the Index, Contents, and Search tabs. You can also print topics from the IEAK Help.

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Before you install IEAK 8: Installation requirements

 Important
You must have Internet Explorer 8 installed on your computer in order for IEAK 8 to run successfully. IEAK 8 will not work if you have a pre-release version of Internet Explorer 8 installed.

We recommend that you install IEAK 8 on a computer that is running the same operating system as the destination computer for which you are creating a package.

In order to use a localized version of IEAK, you must ensure that the IEAK language matches your Operating System language.

Supported operating systems
With this version of this product, you can customize and install Internet Explorer 8 on the following supported operating systems:

• Windows 7 x64 and x86
• Windows Vista x64 and x86
• Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1 and greater) x64 and x86
• Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP2) x64 and x86
• Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2)
• Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3)
• Windows XP Professional x64 Edition
• Windows Server 2008 x64 and x86
• Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2) x64 and x86

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After installing IEAK 8

To start using IEAK:

1. Click Start, click All Programs, and then click Windows IEAK 8.
2. Do one of the following:
   • Click Internet Explorer Customization Wizard to start creating a custom package.
      Note
     You can also open Internet Explorer 8 Customization Wizard from the command line by typing ieakwiz.
   • Click IEAK Profile Manager to edit existing settings.
   • Click IEAK Help to access the IEAK 8 product documentation (IEAKHelp.chm).

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To Customize IEAK for Windows 7

To start using IEAK:

1. Click Start, click All Programs, and then click Windows IEAK 8 (as above).
2. Specify the following on these wizard pages:
   • Platform Selection : Under Target Platform, select Windows Vista, or Vista SP1, or Server 2008.
   • Media Selction : Select Configuration-only package
3. Complete the wizard with the customizations required for your installation.

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Known issues

The following are the known issues with this product:

• You can only install IEAK 8 if you have at least Internet Explorer 8 installed.
• The Internet Explorer 8 Customization Wizard does not work with user names that use double-byte character sets; for example, Chinese and Japanese. To fix this, you need to set the TEMP and TMP environment variables to a path that does not use these characters (for example, C:\temp). To do this, open System Properties and on the Advanced tab, click Environmental Variables. Then, click Edit and modify TEMP and TMP to a directory that is not in the user profile.
• Content ratings and the following groups of settings under the Corporate Restrictions node on the Additional Settings page do not work on computers that are running Windows Vista. If you modify settings for one of these pages, the setting will not be retained on computers running Windows Vista. This is because IEAK packages do not have sufficient user rights to set these policies and restrictions.
  • Internet Property Pages
  • General Page
  • Connections Page
  • Content Page
  • Programs Page
  • Browser Menus
  • Favorites and Search
  • Explorer Bars
  • Persistence
  • Dial-Up Settings
  • Security Page
  • Software Updates
  • Startup Restrictions
  • Toolbars (Machine)
  • Temp Internet Files (Machine)

  If you are using the IEAK 8 to package Internet Explorer 8 in other languages, the settings on the Additional Settings page (which appears at the end of the Internet Explorer 8 Customization Wizard) will always appear in the language of the target platform, regardless of the language of IEAK 8.

• When you add feeds by using the Favorites, Favorites Bar, and Feeds page of the Internet Explorer 8 Customization Wizard, you can only add feeds under a single folder. If you create two levels of folders and create a feed under the subfolder, then the feed will not work.

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