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Using Microsoft Windows 7 and either Visual studio 2010 or 2012, how should I program for Windows Phone 8?

Assuming it is not possible, when does Microsoft plan to fix that?

Asked a different but related question, and got this answer, which if correct gives me the answer I was looking for.

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Skuli
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    I have a coworker that uses a virtual machine. Unless you want to upgrade or use a virtual machine, your programming experience is going to be very limited on Windows 7. – steveg89 Aug 05 '13 at 19:11

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You can't - you'll need Windows 8 64-bit to develop for Windows Phone 8, and additionally you'll want the Professional version of Windows 8 to leverage the emulator.

See http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=35471 for details.

Jim O'Neil
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    When does Microsoft plan to fix that? – Skuli Aug 05 '13 at 19:22
  • A potential contadiction between your answer and this one: http://stackoverflow.com/a/18066863/175036 – Skuli Aug 05 '13 at 20:29
  • @Skúli There is nothing to fix here. – MarcinJuraszek Aug 05 '13 at 20:34
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    No contradiction. That's talking about targeting phone versions, not which systems can target which phone versions. Technically you could program windows phone 7.1 apps on windows 7, and they'd run on windows phone 8, but that's not what you asked about. – steveg89 Aug 05 '13 at 20:40
  • steveg89. Are you saying that I can't make apps for Windows 8 on Windows 7 OS? – Skuli Aug 05 '13 at 20:54
  • @Skúli You cannot makes apps for Windows 8 nor Windows Phone 8 on Windows 7 – Rowland Shaw Aug 05 '13 at 21:05
  • @Rowland, but can I make apps that are runnable on Windows Phone 8 in Windows 7? – Skuli Aug 05 '13 at 21:08
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    @Skúli If you target WP7.x, they will run on Windows Phone 8.x (they won't automatically run on Windows RT nor Windows 8 though) – Rowland Shaw Aug 05 '13 at 21:10
  • So can I make a program that will run on Windows Phone 8, by programming on Windows 7? – Skuli Aug 05 '13 at 21:13
  • No, if you're developing on Windows 7, you can only choose to target WP7.x; Of course, you *could* upgrade to Windows 8, and Visual Studio 2012... – Rowland Shaw Aug 05 '13 at 21:22
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I don't think the following is a recommended approach but I don't see any compelling reason for why that is so feel free to read on.

According to this answer it seems that you can make programs that are runnable on Windows Phone 8 (WP8) although it won't have all the features but probably most, and maybe the developer experience will not be the same. Also it does not seem to be an officially supported way ( I am not sure about that point ).

So it seems like you could use SDK 7.1 for example and update it to SDK 7.8. According to the System Requirements it runs on Windows 7. Keep in mind that I don't know if it is officially supported.

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Skuli
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  • This really isn't the best method though, as you're really just writing code for an OS that isn't supported anymore. Will it work? Yes, technically. It's still a better idea to simply upgrade your OS and develop apps without relying on the backwards compatibility of Windows Phone 8. – steveg89 Aug 06 '13 at 12:36
  • I understand. At the same time it should be noted that not everyone has the ability to easily upgrate to Windows 8. So some people would like to do it like this in stead of not having any possibility to make anything for Windows Phone 8. If Microsoft would support making apps for Windows Phone 8 on Windows 7 better, that would of course change. – Skuli Aug 07 '13 at 07:14