Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Windows Mobile, Microsoft, Freeware, Mobile Minute
Microsoft Device Emulator lets you run Windows Mobile 6 on your PC
by Brad Linder Mar 2nd 2008 at 3:00PM
Just so you know, installing Windows Mobile 5.0 or 6 in an emulator is easy. Getting it to interact with your desktop so you can copy and install files takes a bit more work. And you'll need a fairly fast computer to run the emulator. On our system it ate up to 340MB of RAM and used a fair bit of CPU cycles.
First you need to select the operating system you want to emulate. Microsoft offers ROM images for Windows Mobile 6, Windows Mobile 5.0, and Windows Mobile 2003SE. Download and install your OS of choice. You may be prompted to install a virtual machine network driver. This used to be offered as a standalone download, but it's now part of Microsoft's Virtual PC application. Don't worry if you get a message saying you're installing Virtual PC on an unsupported operating system. It should work just fine on Windows XP SP2 or Windows Vista.
Once you've installed your emulator, you should be able to start up a virtual Windows Mobile device by choosing the version of the operating system you want to run from Start Menu->Programs->Windows Mobile 6 SDK->Standalone Emulator Images->US English. This of course, assumes you've chosen to install Windows Mobile 6.
OK, so now you've got Windows Mobile 6 up and running. But what if you want to install files or check out the web browsing experience? First thing you need to do is find the Device Emulator Manager. You should be able to pull this up from the Start Menu->Programs->Windows Mobile 6 SDK->Tools menu.
As long as your virtual machine is running, you should notice one entry, probably under "other." Right-click on that entry, and select "Cradle." Now your virtual device should try to connect with your host computer using Microsoft ActiveSync, assuming you've already got ActiveSync installed. This will let you install applications or copy files to your device using ActiveSync. You should also be able to share your desktop's internet connection this way.
If you'd rather pretend that you're using a wireless network, go to the emulator window (not the device manager window) and select "configure" from the File menu. Under Network, check the box next to the option that asks if you'd like to enable the PCMCIA network adapter. Note that some of these options may differ depending on which version of Windows Mobile you're attempting to emulate.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
kojo87 said 4:34PM on 3-02-2008
what is the point of this exactly?
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Brad Linder said 4:37PM on 3-02-2008
Microsoft created this emulator so that Windows Mobile software developers could see how their programs would behave on various devices. But to be perfectly honest, it also comes in handy if you're a technology blogger who spends a fair amount of time writing about Windows Mobile software, but your PDA happens to run WM2003SE.
I've been looking for a way to test out new software without having to buy a brand new device and I figured I'd share the results of my research in case anyone else finds it useful.
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kojo87 said 4:47PM on 3-02-2008
ah i see. more for developers and experimentation. cuz i couldnt think of a single way this would be useful for me.
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mxxcon said 10:39PM on 3-02-2008
Unless you have WM6 device, it's somewhat useless...other than to play around with it and see how it's different from Palm/Sym/iPhone.
I test new apps on this emu before installing them on my Motoq9c. Less risk of having to do hard-reset if something uber-bad happens :)
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brian said 7:44AM on 3-03-2008
"On our system it ate up to 340MB of RAM"
whow! OMG 340m of RAM!, Shock!. I'm sure i'll be okay with my 3GB of RAM.......
[/sarcastic]
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James said 10:27AM on 3-03-2008
This has been available as a Visual Studio extension for ~5 years, possibly longer. This is the first I've heard of it being released to the general public, but as you point out in response to #1, it's mostly useful to developers. I guess if you're thinking of getting a WinMo device, you can now "try before you buy", sort of, but I don't think most people will be bothered to go through all those steps when they could just drive out to Best Buy or whatever.
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Abhijit Mane said 7:39AM on 3-25-2008
hi Its Nice Info
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Niraj said 8:17AM on 3-29-2008
I am using WM6 Device Emulator v3.I was installed virtual PC2007 for Virtual Machine Network driver for it. When I am installing my application on it i got null reference exception.
But when I was installed my application on Actual Device it works fine. Why this so?
I have to try it on standalone emulator so please help me?
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skone said 8:28AM on 3-31-2008
VM's are the most useful thing since paper clips. i can troubleshoot the problems my boss is having with his motoq9 without him needing to watch all the random button pressing that I do. Gold.
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mark said 4:53PM on 4-01-2008
System.Console.Writeline output has stopped showing up in the emulator. I've check all the settings and tried the /c command line argument. Any ideas?
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MM said 2:43PM on 5-18-2008
It is a pain to the ass to setup this emulator.
After installing everything needed, get the emulator run and choose cradle, 9 out of 10 times Active sync report that it cannot recognize the device. Even if I choose enable PCMCIA network, the emulator cannot bind to the network.
Maybe, I am working on a crappy Windows XP SP2 and Vista.
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