Microsoft Mobile emulators

Just a note to record how I get this working. Need to get some emulators running on a PC so that we can see how sites work when browsed on mobile devices and PDAs. Microsoft offer a standalone download which works if you’re not running Visual Studio…

1. Download files for Microsoft Device Emulator 1.0 and Windows Mobile 5.0 MSFP operating system
2. Note that the above page mentions in it’s small print that: “Windows Mobile 5.0 MSFP depends on the Virtual Machine Network Driver” and get that file too.
3. Run the three downloaded files in the correct order.
4. Start menu now contains a new folder and a set of emulator images that cover PocketPC, Smartphone and SpamrtPhone QVGA in ‘coldboot’ and ’savestate’ modes.
5. Running these for the first time I found that the savestate ones didn’t work, but the others did - eventually. It’s slow to boot up, so be patient.
6. Tried to get IE to run and access a page, but it couldn’t see network. So, hit the google button to find an answer… (I’ll update this when I’ve found the answer!)
7. I’m back… this site gave me a good walk through. Not at all complex!
8. Run the Emulator Manager
9. Locate device in list, right-click and ‘cradle’ it
10. Start ActiveSync and set up a new connection (remembering not to syn anything or my real mobile might go out of sync).
11. Now the emulator can connect to the internet. And it works!

Now we just have to make our site’s mobile style sheets a bit better