Microsoft has warned users updating to Windows XP SP3 that they won’t be able to downgrade from IE7 to the older IE6 without uninstalling the service pack.

The warning first appeared in a post on the Internet Explorer blog, IEBlog.

“If you choose to install XP SP3, Internet Explorer 7 will remain on your system after the install is complete,” said Jane Maliouta, an IE program manager, in the blog entry. “Your preferences will be retained. However, you will no longer be able to uninstall IE7. If you go to Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs, the Remove option will be grayed out.”

The inability to downgrade to IE6 after installing XP SP3 was by design, said Maliouta, because the service pack includes newer versions of the old browser’s files. If Microsoft had allowed users to revert back to the pre-SP3 version of IE6, Windows would have ended up in a “mixed file state,” Maliouta said.

“This state is not supported and is very bug prone. To ensure a reliable user experience, we prevent this broken state by disabling the ability to uninstall Internet Explorer 7,” she said.

Users who want to retain the ability to downgrade from IE7 to IE6 should uninstall IE7 before upgrading to XP SP3. Once Windows XP has been updated to SP3, users can then install IE7. That process allows for reverting to IE6 in the future.

“The restriction on uninstalling only applies to when you install a Windows Service Pack release on top of a stand-alone IE release,” Maliouta said.

If Windows XP SP3 has already been installed, the only way to return to IE6 is to first uninstall the service pack. At that point, IE6 can be restored on a PC that’s been updated to IE7.

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