Download the full IE package

I want to download Internet Explorer 6 SP1 from Microsoft but I don’t want to install it right away. Can I do that?

Yes! First, download the IE6 SP1 setup program from HERE (481kb basic setup program. The full IE package might go as high as ~44mb depending upon your selection). This tip will let you customize the d/l parameters.
Go to the folder where you’ve placed the above file. Open a Command Prompt (CMD) in that folder, then run the following command in the CMD window:

​ie6setup.exe /c:"ie6wzd.exe /d /s:""#E"

ie full small
Note: Just copy and paste the above line. Don’t try to be a wise guy. Copy the damn line! I’ve received quite a few feedbacks about the accuracy of this tip, and always they got the syntax wrong. Copy and paste! Oh, and yes, this tip works for IE 6 SP1 too, and so will older IE versions. Just replace the “6” in the previous line with a “5” and so on.
ie full0 small ie full1 small ie full2 small
You can also choose to download all IE versions in one go. For example, if you choose to download the version for Win9X, the version for NT, the version for W2K, and the version for Win ME – all the files will go to one location – a folder named “Windows Update Setup Files” – and you can then burn this folder to a CD and use it to install IE on any OS version you want.
Reader notes:
Reader Jason Vanderhill wrote:

Great tip! However, my experience was: if you want to store the setup files on cd for later use, it becomes more complicated IF you download setup packages for ALL Windows systems ie 98 through XP, and then run the setup on an OS other than the machine you downloaded from. I found it wouldn’t work without re-downloading the filelist.dat for the necessary OS and cabs files again. Solution? Perhaps download all the OS options separately if you want all OS options? It worked for me…

Reader Jonathan Hawes wrote:

I found the answer in MS Knowledgebase Article Q257249, which explains these switches in detail.
Note: Double quotation marks around the variable #e are required, because #e designates the source path, including executable, of the Ie5setup.exe or Ie6setup.exe as appropriate.

​/c:"ieXwzd.exe /d /s:""#E"

The following is an explanation of the command line switches used:
/d – Downloads Internet Explorer for the current platform only. However, if you would like to download all platforms, you can use the /d:1 switch value to get all platforms. There are only two values for this switch, /d and /d:1.
/s:””<#e>”” – Designates the source path of Ie5setup.exe. The “”<#e>”” value refers to the full path and name of the .exe file. Note that two pairs of double quotation marks must surround the path.
Thanks!

Note: Microsoft has stopped supporting Internet Explorer 5.5 SP2. To download IE5.5 SP2 you’ll need to find a different link (with Google for example). I found one for you but I don’t know how long it will last because it is an outside link that is NOT controlled by me. Try it and if you find that it stopped working please let me know.
http://browsers.evolt.org/?ie/32bit/5.5_SP2
(Many thanks to reader Jerry W. Schafetz for the above link).
See the Download Other IE Versions page for other IE versions.

Links

IE 6.0 SP1
IE 6.0
IE 5.01 + SP2
Download-Only Setup of Internet Explorer on Windows 2000 and Windows XP – 257249