Device Emulator Manager

Article
11/16/2012

Use the Device Emulator Manager (DEM) to start, connect to, and manage device emulators on your development computer. The overall task of using the device emulator manager can be broken down into the following categories:

Starting DEM
Organizing emulators that are displayed in DEM
Performing actions on device emulators from DEM
Controlling DEM programmatically
Supporting Active Sync or Windows Mobile Device Center Communication
Additional Functionality

The following information describes the functionality that the DEM provides.

Starting DEM

Starting the Device Emulator Manager differs among different installations. For more information, see How to: Start the Device Emulator Manager.

Organization of Emulators Displayed in DEM

The Device Emulator Manager appears as a window that displays a tree view of emulators. The tree view has three root nodes: Datastore, My Device Emulators, and Others. The following table describes the emulators under each root node.

Node	Description
Datastore	Lists all device emulators registered in the datastore. Typically, these emulators are installed in the development computer's datastore by Visual Studio, Windows Mobile SDKs, or Windows CE SDKs. Note In a stand-alone installation, the datastore that maintains images and information for the emulator is not present. A typical scenario is when you download the Device Emulator to a development computer where Visual Studio is not installed.
My Device Emulators	Lists device emulator configurations files (.decfg) stored in the "%USERPROFILE%\My Documents\My Device Emulators" ("%USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Device Emulators" in Windows Vista) folder. You can create emulator configurations by performing a Save As emulator operation or by manually authoring an emulator configuration .decfg file.
All Device Emulators	Lists device emulator configuration files (.decfg) store in the "\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\All Device Emulators" ("\Users\Public\Documents\All Device Emulators" in Windows Vista) folder. You can create emulator configurations by performing a Save As emulator operation or by manually authoring an emulator configuration .decfg file.
Others	Lists emulators that are running and that are not in the Datastore, My Device Emulators, or All Device Emulators nodes. Each running emulator has a unique virtual machine identifier (VMID). If DEM cannot find an emulator with matching VMID in the Datastore, My Device Emulators, or All Device Emulators nodes, the emulator is listed here.

Performing Actions on Device Emulators from the DEM

After you have selected a device emulator from the DEM tree view, you can perform actions on the device emulators from the Actions menu, or by right-clicking the emulator. The following table describes each action.

Action	Description
Connect	Starts the emulator and connects the emulator to the desktop computer.
Cradle	Cradles the emulator. You must connect to an emulator before you can cradle it. Note You must install software such as ActiveSync or Windows Mobile Device Center that is designed to detected and respond to cradled devices.
Uncradle	Uncradles the emulator.
Shutdown	Shuts down the emulator. Note The emulator will not prompt you to save state before shutting down.
Reset	Resets (soft) the emulator.
Clear Save State	Clears the emulator's saved states. The emulator will start from the operating system's image next time. For more information, see Saved-State Files.
Bring to Front	Makes the emulator visible when other windows cover the emulator.
Reconfigure	Prompts you to select a Device Emulator configuration file (.decfg) and reconfigures the emulator to the settings in the file. For more information, see Device Emulator Configuration Files.
Save as	Save the emulator's configuration as a Device Emulator configuration file (.decfg). For more information, see Device Emulator Configuration Files

Controlling the Device Emulator Manager Programmatically

The automation interfaces provide programmatic access to the functionality in the Device Emulator Manager. The Device Emulator Manager exposes a COM interface that can be used in applications and scripting languages. For more information, see Device Emulator Manager Automation Interfaces.

Support for ActiveSync Communication

The DEM enables communication with the Device Emulator over ActiveSync by providing the same logical functionality as a physical device cradle. When a device is cradled, it can use ActiveSync to synchronize contents of e-mail, calendar, application installations, and so on. The emulator by itself has no equivalent functionality and cannot work with ActiveSync unless it is cradled. The combination of the emulator, the DEM, and ActiveSync is similar to having a physical device and a cradle. A common scenario is to start the Device Emulator, use the DEM to cradle it, and then establish an ActiveSync partnership with it. For more information, see How to: Cradle and Uncradle the Device Emulator.

Note

Windows Mobile Device Center replaces ActiveSync in Windows Vista.

Additional Functionality

You can also perform the following tasks by using the DEM window:

You can retrieve a previously saved state image (.dess) or device emulator configuration (.decfg) by clicking Open on the File menu.
You can obtain the status of all emulators, whether running, closed, or cradled, by clicking Refresh.
You can disable prompts to enable network connectivity, serial ports, and folder sharing when a saved-state file uses these features. To disable prompts, click No Security Prompts on the File menu.

Security Note:

Any use of folder-sharing poses a potential security risk. Use caution when disabling these prompts.