Usually, Microsoft is pretty good about letting you know about the lifecycle dates on their products. For some reason, Internet Explorer seems to be the exception to that rule. If you look at Microsoft’s reference document on Internet Software Lifecycles, you’ll see that they list all the Internet Explorer version dates as “Review Note”, and the note says “For support dates for specific Internet Explorer 6 and operating system versions and their service packs, visit the Lifecycle Supported Service Packs site at http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/#tab2.”
Nowhere that I was able to find on Microsoft’s site do they actually list which version shipped with which O/S. C’mon guys, why does this have to be made so difficult?
After some digging, I’ll save you the effort if you are interested to know. NOTE: these reflect the last date and O/S for each version, and the final end of support date. Deployments for prior versions of Windows will hit end of support prior to these dates.
IE6 – XP – April 8 2014 end of extended support
IE7 – Vista – April 11, 2017 end of extended support
IE 8 – Win 7 – January 14 – 2020 end of extended support
IE 9 – Win 7 – January 14 – 2020 end of extended support
UPDATE 10/21/2013:
IE 10 – included with Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012, and available for Windows 7. It will not be available for Windows 8.1 or Windows Server 2012 R2 – October 2015 end of support.
IE11 – included with Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2, and available for Windows 7. It will not be available for Windows 8 or Windows Server 2012 – Jan 2023 end of support.
Inane World 
The given dates are not correct.
For example, IE7 is also shipped with Windows Server 2008 which is supported until end 2018
I was focusing on Windows desktop, not server, but you have a point. I have updated the post to include IE 10 and 11 and also to note availability oddities with Windows 8 and the associated Server Operating Systems.
Thanks for the info, can you please link to the official Microsoft announcement (at least for IE6)?
Sadly, the only official microsoft link I can find is the one I provided in my post. They don’t make this easy for some reason. IE6 is even vague on their IE table, you have to download a word doc from the http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/#tab2 link.
IE 10 and higher aren’t Avaliablw for Windows Vista too.
Where are you getting the end of support for IE 10? Our Microsoft TAM is telling us IE 10 is tied to end of life for Windows 8 which is 1/10/2013.
Sorry, I meant 1/10/2023.
According to Microsoft (article link I reference in the original post), “Releases known as Components follow the Support Lifecycle of their parent Major Product.” They view IE as a component, so it is tied to the product it is released with. Since IE was released with Windows 8, your TAM is probably correct. IE 11 wasn’t released until Windows 8.1. Also, this wikipedia article is useful: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Explorer
wow where the hell do you find all this stuff out , ?/ im here cheifly 2 find an operating system for my equium a100 series , but am unsure whether i need one it originally came with (xp no longer supported so seems unlikely , ) the one that was on the comp when i purchased it second hand (win 7 ultimate) or the os that was on the harddrive i have now put into the new machine , sumthings conflicting it says “no media found check cable , exiting pfe , then ,no os found , but it obviously recognised the hd cos its clearly named in the bios
When will be the total end for “IE9 – Vista” ? Thanks in advance for good replies !
Jan 2020 should be end of life for IE9. However, IE11 (and 12 coming out soon) have an interesting feature called “Enterprise Mode”. This lets you specify for a given website, or even a given page on a website, what “emulation mode” is necessary. In theory it will emulate any older version. While this seems like it could be a blessing to the large businesses who have IE deployed in various versions in various departments due to compatibility issues, Microsoft is not content to leave well enough alone. Now they have a NEW browser called “Spartan” which they are shipping with Windows 10. That should be fun and add to the confusion.
Oh my, you have a lot of interesting information Tim, thanks !!! I don’t know what to do with my IE9/Vista. It works good, but would like to “Upgrade” to Win7 so my pc will last longer, however i think its no longer available. In the past few months i have mostly been using Firefox over IE9, but wish in Bookmarks they had a 1.) Scroll Bar with it, and 2.) that it would keep items highlighted in Bookmarks like IE9 does both in Favorites, so after you click on something saved, view it, then return to the long list, you can easily find your place. I know, i should create Folders, heee. Anyway, i refuse to use Win 8 and 8.1. Guess i will continue to use what i have until it kicks the bucket, like another 5 years as per your projection. As far as i know, IE9 is the highest my pc can go with Vista. Thanks for your time and help Tim, i appreciate it. Take Care !!!
If you upgrade to win7 you’ll probably get IE10 or 11. I don’t use IE much personally (I only track this stuff for work). I use Chrome and firefox occasionally. So, unless you are using websites that have specific issues with IE10 or 11, you won’t notice much difference, go ahead and “upgrade” 🙂
Chrome does some good stuff with bookmark management, you might want to check it out. But yea, folders are a good thing – LOL
I totally agree on Win8/8.1 – skip it and upgrade to win10 when it’s released probably next year. I believe the upgrade will be free from Win7 so you won’t be throwing money away.
Good luck!
These dates are no longer accurate. Microsoft has dropped support for all versions of Internet Explorer below version 11. This took effect January 12, 2016.
Source: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/WindowsForBusiness/End-of-IE-support
Pingback: Internet Explorer 9 End Of Life Support | Jobiz