Share via

Introducing Windows Embedded Developer Update

  • Article

12/23/2015

You might have found it challenging to locate all of the software updates that you need to develop embedded devices, and to propagate these changes across your development environment. Additionally, even when finding and installing updates, you might not have been certain that you applied all of the updates that are available.

Microsoft is committed to providing embedded developers with the best possible development experience, and is now providing a new way to get updates. Windows Embedded Developer Update is a free, downloadable application that automatically checks your development environment to ensure that you have the most current product updates. With Windows Embedded Developer Update, you now have an easy and reliable way to find and install Microsoft updates for your development tools and distribution shares for Windows Embedded Standard 7. 

You can get Windows Embedded Developer Update from the Microsoft Download Center. For more information, see Download from Microsoft Download Center.

In addition to benefiting developers, Windows Embedded Developer Update also makes it easier for project managers to keep the development environments used by their teams up-to-date.

Note

To include downloaded updates in products that you are developing for commercial use, you must accept a separate royalty license and supplemental licensing terms by using the licensing process for Windows Embedded products.

Using Windows Embedded Developer Update

Windows Embedded Developer Update for Windows Embedded Standard 7 simplifies the process of keeping your development environment current with the most recent Windows Embedded innovations, features, and product updates.

Updating the Development Environment

Windows Embedded Developer Update application helps you to manage updates by allowing you to do the following:

  • Choose which products receive updates by registering those products through Windows Embedded Developer Update. A product must be installed on your computer before you can choose to receive updates for it.  Your computer must be using Microsoft Update.
  • Choose the distribution shares for which you want to enable updates. The locations can either be on your local computer or on a network location. Your user account must have Administrator-level access to the location for which you are enabling updates.
  • Search for updates in the background while the Windows Embedded Developer Update application is closed. The background feature performs a daily scan for updates and will automatically notify you if there are any updates to install. You can also manually search for updates by opening the application and starting a search.
  • Choose which of the available updates you want to install from an up-to-date list displayed by the Windows Embedded Developer Update application. You can hide optional updates and view a history of installed updates.

Note

You cannot update run-time images on embedded devices by using Windows Embedded Developer Update; nor does Windows Embedded Developer Update provide a way to remove updates. You can use Control Panel to remove certain updates for developer tools. Updates to distribution shares and repository databases cannot be removed.

Working with Windows Embedded Developer Update

The Windows Embedded Developer Update application allows you to do the following:

  • Search for an update
  • Choose which distribution shares will receive updates
  • View a summary of searches for updates
  • View updates that are available to download and install
  • Manage the list of available updates detected by Windows Embedded Developer Update
  • View status information about attempted and installed updates

For information about searching for, downloading, and installing updates, see the Help that is installed with Windows Embedded Developer Update.