Using Virtual Server with Internet Explorer 8

Whether you are running Virtual Server on Windows 7, or just trying to manage Virtual Server from a Windows 7 computer – you will need to use the Virtual Server Administrative Web Site under Internet Explorer 8.  This is possible – but there are a number of things that you need to do:

1. Enable compatibility mode
   
   If you do not use compatibility mode with Internet Explorer 8 – none of the drop down menus will work, which renders the website unusable.  Under Internet Explorer you should open the Tools menu and select Compatibility View Settings.  Here you can add the URL for your Virtual Server server.
   
2. Turn on the Internet Explorer menu bar
   
   The Virtual Server host key (right ALT) causes the Internet Explorer menu bar to pop into existence every time you try to release the mouse from a virtual machine.  This causes a lot of annoying jittering around on the screen.  You can get around this by just configuring the Internet Explorer menu bar to be permanently displayed.  To do this open the View menu under Internet Explorer, select Toolbars and then select Menu Bar.
   
3. Get rid of annoying credential prompts whenever connecting to a virtual machine
   
   There are two possible ways to do this:
1. Put the Virtual Server website in your trusted websites, and enable
1. Open the Internet Explorer Tools menu
2. Select Internet Options
3. Change to the Security tab
4. Select the Trusted sites zone
5. Click on the Sites button
6. Type in the URL for your Virtual Server site and click Add
   (You may need to uncheck the option to Require server verification (https:) for all sites in this zone)
7. Click Close
8. Click Custom level…
9. Scroll to the bottom and find the User Authentication section.
10. Select Automatic logon with current user name and password.
11. Click OK and OK.
    
    
2. Put the Virtual Server website in your intranet sites
1. Open the Internet Explorer Tools menu
2. Select Internet Options
3. Change to the Security tab
4. Select the Local intranet zone
5. Click on the Sites button
6. Click on the Advanced button
7. Type in the URL for your Virtual Server site and click Add
8. Click Close and OK and OK.
   
   Note: If you are doing this on a Windows 7 computer that is running Virtual Server you will be greeted by an endless loop of dialogs that say The site you specified already exists in the Trusted sites zone. Would you like to move it to the Local intranet zone?  Hitting Yes on this dialog will just cause the same dialog to come up again – and checking under the trusted sites does not display the Virtual Server site.  The solution here is to run Internet Explorer as administrator and then follow these steps.

You should now be able to use Virtual Server from Internet Explorer 8 happily.

Cheers,
Ben