IE9 to IE8 rollback does not work

Hello,

I recently upgraded to SP1 via Windows Updates. Also, IE was upgraded from 8 to 9 around the same time. Ran a disk cleanup, and removed SP1 backup files. Tried to rollback from IE9 back to 8. IE9 is successfully removed but 8 does not come back. I cannot find a standalone installer for IE8 for Windows 7 either.

An upgrade install of Win7 Ultimate SP1 x32 fixes this issue, but since it is an upgrade, I can no longer sysprep. Being able to sysprep is a requirement. Therefore, I cannot do an upgrade install.

Any help would be appreciated!

I did try the rollback of the IE9 update. That successfully removed IE9 but IE8 did not reappear. The shortcut for it appeared but it did not launch anything.

The task manager shows iexplore but no IE windows. From another forum, removing SP1 backup files causes this issue.

I wonder if IE8 rollback is forbidden after SP1. It is not as secure so it would be like allowing user to run MSE with only older definitions. MS takes security very seriously on its browser and doesn't much want us using the older ones.

I would strongly consider this even if it is not the specfic cause.

There's also always Firefox, which is just as chary about using older versions.

Try running a sfc scan.

SFC /SCANNOW Command - System File Checker

Update from rolling back IE9 - Removed from installed updates. After restarting, I received the following error:

Windows cannot find 'C:\Windows\system32\ie4uinit.exe'. Make sure you typed the name correctly and try again.

Ran SFC /SCANNOW after this error message. It did not find integrity violations.

Uninstalling SP1 is not allowed. I tried both methods suggested. From within the Control Panel, when SP1 is selected, there is no uninstall button. When using the cmd prompt method, the response received is that SP1 is required by the system and it cannot be uninstalled.