How to start Windows Phone 8 Emulator without Visual Studio
- Sometimes you need to start the WP emulator outside of VS.
- For example when developing web sites and testing them in the mobile version of Internet Explorer.
- Here are the commands that you can store in a shortcut:
- Windows Phone 7:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft XDE\1.0\XDE.exe" "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows Phone\v7.1\Emulation\Images\WM70C1.en-US.bin" /VMID {A9939106-C9EA-48B3-B242-8CC158F08096}
-
- Windows Phone 8:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft XDE\8.0\XDE.exe" /vhd "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows Phone\v8.0\Emulation\Images\Flash.vhd" /video "720x1280" /memsize 1024 /language 409 /creatediffdisk "%TEMP%\dd.720x1280.1024.vhd" /fastShutdown
-
- Windows Phone 8.1:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft XDE\8.1\XDE.exe" /vhd "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows Phone\v8.1\Emulation\Images\Flash.vhd" /video "720x1280" /memsize 1024 /language 409 /creatediffdisk "%TEMP%\dd.720x1280.1024.vhd" /fastShutdown
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- Windows Phone 10:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft XDE\10.0.10240.0\XDE.exe" /vhd "C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\Emulation\Mobile\10.0.10240.0\Flash.vhd" /video "480x854" /memsize 1024 /diagonalSize 4 /language 409 /creatediffdisk "%LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\XDE\10.0.10240.0\dd.480x854.1024.vhd" /fastShutdown
- Windows Emulator (8|8.1|10):
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Windows Simulator\[11.0|12.0|14.0]\Microsoft.Windows.Simulator.exe"
- The parameter "creatediffdisk" is important.
- Without it, the emulator will start but it will require admin privileges.
- If you start it with admin privileges, it will modify the VHD image file in the installation folder.
- The modified VHD may get damaged and may not start from VS anymore.
- If the VHD gets damaged, repair the installation or replace the VHD files with original ones.
- Run "XDE.exe /?" for more details about the parameters.
Comments
Anonymous
June 12, 2013
Do you know where I can download Windows Phone 8 Emulator?Anonymous
June 18, 2013
It is included in the SDK: dev.windowsphone.com/.../downloadsdkAnonymous
April 16, 2014
Thanks!Anonymous
November 03, 2014
do you know how to deploy the app in the emulator once the emulator starts?Anonymous
April 02, 2015
I can't start the emulator at all. Create a shortcut, command prompt, everyting i can think of. No luck, just errors. Running Windows 10 Technical Preview Build 10041.Anonymous
April 05, 2015
The comment has been removedAnonymous
April 29, 2015
The comment has been removed