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Getting Started with IEAK 8

  • Article

  • Overview

  • Components

  • New features in IEAK 8

  • Requirements

Overview

Windows® Internet Explorer® Administration Kit 8 (IEAK 8) contains programs and tools to help you customize, deploy, and administer Internet Explorer 8 within an organization or, if you are an Internet service provider or Internet content provider, for your customers. IEAK can be used in network environments, with or without the Active Directory directory service.

Key features

The following are some of the key capabilities and features in this version of IEAK:

  • Distribution options. You can specify how you want to distribute Internet Explorer — either using a product CD or the local area network (LAN). You can also create a configuration-only package to update Internet Explorer settings without installing code on your customers' or users' computers.

  • Custom components. You can include in-house applications and other programs in the custom package to distribute to your users and computers.

  • Setup experience. Depending on your license type, you can set the level of user interaction during the installation, and specify settings for the Microsoft® Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool, the default browser, and Internet Explorer updates.

  • Search experience. You can customize the list of search providers for your users.

  • Browser experience. You can customize where your users are directed for support; the display of home pages and a welcome page; the list populating Favorites, Links, and Web Feeds; and toolbar buttons.

  • Administrator-approved Microsoft ActiveX® controls. You can specify the controls to run while locking out all others, which reduces overhead and troubleshooting issues. The approved set of ActiveX controls can be enabled and administered dynamically by using the options in Additional Settings in IEAK Profile Manager.

  • Automatic configuration. You can automatically refresh your users' Internet Explorer settings at regular intervals, or every time the browser is started.

User roles

During installation of IEAK 8 you are asked to pick a version, based on your license agreement. This version determines what options are available for you to customize for your Internet Explorer package, the steps you need to take to deploy that package fully, and how you can manage the browser after deployment. A version is available for the following groups:

  • Internet service provider (ISP)

  • Internet content provider (ICP)

  • Corporate administrator

The Internet Explorer Customization Wizard 8 displays the version that you installed in the title area.

Components

Before using IEAK 8, you should familiarize yourself with the programs and tools included in this product to help you customize and administer Internet Explorer 8. IEAK 8 contains the following:

Internet Explorer Customization Wizard 8

The Internet Explorer Customization Wizard 8 provides step-by-step screens that you can use to create custom packages to deploy and configure Internet Explorer for the users and computers in your organization. If Internet Explorer is already installed, you can also use this wizard to create a package that contains configuration information only.

For more information and instructions, see Run the Internet Explorer Customization Wizard 8.

IEAK Profile Manager

If you are a corporate administrator, you can use IEAK Profile Manager to maintain browser configuration settings on your users' computers after Internet Explorer is deployed.

With IEAK Profile Manager, you can open any automatic configuration .ins file, change settings, save the file, and then use the Automatic Configuration feature to refresh the settings for your users and computers. You can also use IEAK Profile Manager to enable automatic configuration if you did not set up this feature before installation.

For more information and instructions, see Use IEAK Profile Manager.

IEAK Toolkit

The IEAK Toolkit contains tools, programs, and sample files to help you create a custom package, create custom graphics, and deploy a custom package.

The Toolkit contents are located in the <SystemDrive>:\Program Files\Windows IEAK 8\toolkit folder and its subfolders.

Folder Contents

corp folder

This folder contains sample .ins files and Active Server Page (.asp) scripts that you can use for automatic configuration. The .asp files are designed for Web servers running Internet Information Services 3.0, but they can be viewed by any standard Web browser. Asphelp.htm contains instructions for using the files in this folder.

graphics folder and subfolder

This folder contains sample art.

inf folder

This folder contains a sample .inf file for creating an uninstall program.

isp folder and subfolders

This folder contains various samples for Internet service providers (ISPs) to help enable Internet sign-up. This includes sample scripts and customizable files.

    > [!NOTE]
    > The Internet sign-up option is not available for the Windows Vista® operating system.


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New features in IEAK 8

The following are new features in this version of IEAK 8:

  • Ability to use the Internet Explorer Customization Wizard 8 or Profile Manager to customize:

    • Web Slices. You can add Web Slices to your customized browser.

    • Accelerators. You can include Live Accelerators, or create your own Accelerators to include with your customized browser.

    • Search providers. You can make multiple search providers available to your users.

  • Improved Internet Explorer Customization Wizard 8 pages and text, designed to provide a better experience than in previous versions of IEAK.

  • A simplified Custom Components page in the Internet Explorer Customization Wizard 8.

Additional changes in IEAK 8

Partly because of changes in Internet Explorer, you will not be able to perform the following tasks with IEAK 8 that you were able to perform with earlier versions of IEAK:

  • You cannot change the installation directory for Internet Explorer on your user computers.

  • You cannot customize and package Microsoft Outlook® Express and Windows Media® Player.

  • You cannot customize the toolbar background bitmap for Internet Explorer.

  • You cannot create custom logos or animated bitmaps for Internet Explorer.

  • You cannot customize the title bar text and custom logo bitmaps for the Internet Explorer Setup Wizard.

  • You cannot install multiple components of Internet Explorer from the Automatic Version Synchronization page in the Internet Explorer Customization Wizard 8. Internet Explorer is now installed as a single component.

  • You cannot use the Download media option. This option, as well as the Component Download Sites page, has been removed.

Requirements

You must have Internet Explorer 8 installed to run IEAK 8. To learn more about the requirements for this version of Internet Explorer, see https://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=8286502.

Hardware requirements for creating custom packages

Before you start the Internet Explorer Customization Wizard 8, check the amount of disk space available on the destination drive where you will build the custom package. The destination drive can be on the same computer from which you are running the customization wizard, but this is not a requirement. However, it is important that the destination folder is secure.

Before you build IEAK 8 packages, you must meet the following requirements, in addition to the system requirements for Internet Explorer:

  • Depending on the number of components you download to include in an installation package, you will need up to 100 megabytes (MB) of disk space.

  • For every custom package you build, you might need up to an additional 100 MB of disk space. When you build a package for a different media type, such as CD-ROMs, it is considered to be a separate package.

Operating system requirements

IEAK 8 has the following operating system requirements:

  • You must build the IEAK packages from a computer with Internet Explorer 8 installed as well as Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (SP2) or Service Pack 3 (SP3), Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 2 (SP2), Windows Vista with Service Pack 1 (SP1), or Windows Server 2008. If possible, you should install IEAK on the same version of operating system as the destination computer or computers for which you are creating a package.

  • This version of the IEAK only builds custom browser packages for 32-bit or 64-bit versions of Windows. If you want to build a custom package for a 16-bit version of Windows or for a UNIX operating system, use IEAK 5.

This version of Internet Explorer Administration Kit (IEAK) has been updated to help you customize, deploy, and maintain Internet Explorer 8 in your organization. This includes the addition of some features to support new features in Internet Explorer, as well as the removal of some features due to changed functionality in Internet Explorer. For more information about new features in Internet Explorer 8, see https://go.microsoft.com/?LinkId=8286502.

Additional references