Internet Explorer 6

Internet Explorer 6 is the sixth version of Internet Explorer that was introduced alongside Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 and was the longest running version of Internet Explorer until IE 7's release five years later. IE 6 lacks many common features such as support for transparent PNG images. This is the last version of Internet Explorer that is compatible with Windows NT 4.0 (albeit requiring SP6a), Windows 98, Windows 2000, and Windows Me (though it is only available as pre-installed in the original and Service Pack 1 releases of Windows XP as well as in Windows Server 2003 RTM); the succeeding versions required Windows XP SP2 and Windows Server 2003 SP1 or newer. This is the first version of Internet Explorer to ship in the IA-64 and x64 architectures, alongside x86. IE6 SP2+ and IE7 were only included in (IE6 SP2+) or available (IE7) for Windows XP SP2+.

It was also included in the Windows Security Update CD for Windows 98 build 1998A, Windows 98 SE build 2222B and Windows Me build 3000A from February 2004.

System requirements
These system requirements apply to both the RTM and SP1.
 * 486DX/66 MHz processor (Pentium processor recommended)
 * 16 MB of RAM for Windows 98 and 98 SE, otherwise 32 MB
 * Required hard disk space for full install:
 * Windows 98: 11.5 MB
 * Windows 98 SE: 12.4 MB
 * Windows NT 4.0: 12.7 MB
 * Windows 2000: 12 MB
 * Windows Me: 8.7 MB
 * Windows XP: 12 MB
 * Mouse
 * Modem or Internet connection
 * CD-ROM drive (if installation is done from a CD-ROM)

Quirks
On Windows NT 4.0, System Properties reports "IE 5 6.0.2800.1106" (in this case for IE 6 SP1). This field is normally used to report the version of an installed copy of Microsoft Plus! if installed. This can be fixed by editing the appropriate entry in the registry:

Builds
Starting with this version, Internet Explorer uses the same build number as Windows XP, except for update builds.


 * 6.0.2403.0000 is the Beta 1 build.
 * 6.0.2462.0000 is the Beta 2 build.
 * 6.0.2600.0000 is the RTM build.
 * 6.0.2800.1106 is the Service Pack 1 build.
 * 6.0.2900.2180 is the Security Version 1/Service Pack 2 build.
 * 6.0.2900.5512 is the Security Version 2/Service Pack 3 build.