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I need to emulate a Windows CE executable on my Windows 7 64-bit machine. Back in the day, I used eMbedded Visual C++ 4.0's bundled device emulator, but nowadays the cool kids want me to use "Platform Builder" and ActiveSync. So I found a Windows CE Platform Builder 3.0 update here, but I can't find the original download, which it requires:

PB not installed: Please install Windows CE Platform Builder 3.00 before
installing this Update.

My problem stems from having installed the Standard CE SDK (STANDARD_SDK.msi) and a Windows CE BSP, which shows up in Visual Studio 2008's "Device Emulator Manager", but I can't connect to or run them. The Pocket PC images work, though.

Where do I find Windows CE Platform Builder 3.00?

Petrus Theron
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1 Answers1

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Platform Builder 3.0 is really, really old and I doubt any distributors carry it any more. When it was a shipping product, a distributor (Arrow, Avnet, etc) was the only place you could get it, so that's where I'd at least check on the long-shot chance.

That said, I'm not at all sure why you feel you need it. Platform Builder is for generating an OS image. PB is a difficult tool to get to know, and the 3.0 version was unwieldy at best. It's also not going to run under 64-bit. It also can't create an OS that runs on a 64-bit machine. It also cannot create an SDK that will plug into any version of Studio (well it might work in VS 2003 - it's been a long time since I did that).

What it actually sounds like you're after is an emulator and image for that emulator for a basic CE 3.0 device. Microsoft shipped the HPC Pro emulator, which was a 3.0-based device with the EVC tool set, though I've got no idea where you'd find it (short of digging out old MSDN disks).

For what it's worth, the PocketPC 2003 images are CE 3.0-based, so you do have a CE 3.0 emulator today - it's just not a more generic CE build.

Ideally I think you need to tell us exactly what you need. An emulated version of what sort of CE 3.0 OS? What components? Targeting what OS (the old emulator would only do x86, so if you have some ARM or MIPS app, that was never emulated anyway).

ctacke
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  • thanks for the insights. I haven't done any embedded work in a while and I just need to compile an updated version of a CE app I wrote for a client and check that it works properly under CE. Ever since I moved to a 64-bit OS, this has become increasingly difficult. I do have PocketPC 2003 images, but I can't get the resolution large enough for a practical test, though I haven't compiled for and run it on PocketPC yet either. – Petrus Theron Jan 19 '11 at 08:56
  • Ok, if building an app is all you need then Platform Builder is of no use to you. You need to find the eVC tools and the old Standard SDK that came with the old x86-based emulator. eVC is still available from MSDN: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyId=1DACDB3D-50D1-41B2-A107-FA75AE960856&displaylang=en – ctacke Jan 19 '11 at 14:12
  • And so is the Standard SDK (no idea if it has the emulator in the package): http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=fa1a3d66-3f61-4ddc-9510-ae450e2318c3&DisplayLang=en – ctacke Jan 19 '11 at 14:13