Yesterday, fellow blogger and enthusiast Paul Thurrott revealed the European edition of build 7264, which, as you all probably know by now comes without Internet Explorer due to some antitrust lawsuits filed by the European Union against Microsoft. Since said lawsuits were filed, many on communities across the internet debated, or should I say flamed each other on this topic, some supporting Microsoft stating that they have the right to bundle in IE with their OS, and others stating that Microsoft is just taking advantage of their market dominance to have a monopoly over the browser market.

Whatever the case, many from both sides of the isle were curious as to how people will get a web browser on the OS. There was speculation that there will be a dialog box of some sort allowing people to download one out of a few of the most popular browsers out there, however, after we got our dirty hands on this build, we discovered that this isn’t the case. While OEMs may bundle in a browser (or several) of their choice in with the PCs that they ship with Windows 7 E, just how will people get IE on the copies of Windows 7 E that will be on store shelves?

CNET and Ars Technica have reported that Microsoft will distribute a feature pack, that will be given out in the form of CDs bundled in with the Windows 7 E packaging. After looking into this feature pack ourselves, we have found that the update name for this standalone update is KB968771.

We have managed to get our hands on said feature pack, and here are the screenshots of the installation experience on the Windows 7 E version of 7264:

And, once this is all complete, here is the obviously expected result:

Please note that the Windows Live toolbar didn’t come default; I had installed the entire Windows Live suite and I must have forgot to uncheck what I didn’t need.