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How to use the Isolated Storage Explorer tool for Windows Phone 8

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[ This article is for Windows Phone 8 developers. If you’re developing for Windows 10, see the latest documentation. ]

Isolated Storage Explorer (ISETool.exe) is a command-line tool that is installed with the Windows Phone SDK. You can use Isolated Storage Explorer to list, copy, and replace files and directories in your app’s local folder. You can use these commands to verify that the correct files are being saved in the correct location, or to test your app with files that you provide.

If you prefer to use a visual browser for isolated storage instead of a command-line tool, see Other tools for exploring the local folder later in this topic.

For information about how to store data in the local folder in Windows Phone apps, see Data for Windows Phone 8.

This topic contains the following sections.

Isolated Storage Explorer overview

You can use Isolated Storage Explorer with Windows Phone Emulator or with a developer-registered device for apps that target Windows Phone OS 8.0 or Windows Phone OS 7.1.

Isolated Storage Explorer is installed in the following location:

Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows Phone\v8.0\Tools\IsolatedStorageExplorerTool

To use Isolated Storage Explorer, the following things must be true:

  • The app that you want to test must be installed on the emulator or device.

  • The emulator or device must be running, but the app doesn’t have to be running.

You cannot do the following things with Isolated Storage Explorer:

  • You can’t view isolated storage for apps that you’ve installed from the Windows Phone Store.

  • You can’t view app settings that are stored in the local folder in Isolated Storage Explorer. These are settings that the app saved by using the IsolatedStorageSettings class.

Isolated Storage Explorer syntax

Isolated Storage Explorer has the following syntax:

ISETool.exe <cmd[:param]> <target-device[:param]> <product-id> [<desktop-path>]

The following table lists the command-line options for Isolated Storage Explorer.

Option

Description

cmd[:param]

cmd optionDescription
ts(Take snapshot) Copies the files and directories in the local folder from the device or emulator to your computer.The ts option copies the folders and files to an IsolatedStore folder that it creates on your computer under the target folder that you specify. The ts option also creates the following subdirectories in the IsolatedStore folder that it creates in the target directory.
rs
(Restore snapshot) Replaces the files and directories in the local folder on the device or emulator with files and directories from your computer.
Caution:
If you use the rs option to upload folders and files that you downloaded previously by using the ts option, make sure that you specify the IsolatedStorage folder created on your computer by the ts option as the source folder for the rs option.
dir[:device-path]Lists the files and directories in the specified directory of the local folder. If a directory is not specified, the files and directories in the root of the app’s local folder are listed. If no files or directories are found, an error is raised.Don’t include a leading or trailing slash in the directory entry.
EnumerateDevicesLists the valid device targets and the device index for each device.

target-device[:param]

target-device optionDescription
xdIndicates to target the emulator.
deIndicates to target a tethered device.
deviceindex:nIndicates to target the device listed at index n. To get the list of available devices, run the command ISETool EnumerateDevices.

product-id

Specifies the ProductID from the WMAppManifest.xml file for the app that you want to test.

desktop-path

Specifies the directory on your computer where the local folder files are written to or copied from.

If the specified directory already exists, then a ts command overwrites the contents of the directory with no warning.

When you use the ts option to copy files from the emulator or device to the computer, the tool copies them to an IsolatedStore folder under the directory that you specify.

Isolated Storage Explorer examples

For the following examples, we assume that the app ProductID is f8ce6878-0aeb-497f-bcf4-65be961d4bba.

  • ISETool.exe ts xd f8ce6878-0aeb-497f-bcf4-65be961d4bba c:\data\myfiles
    Downloads the local folder content of the app from the default emulator to the C:\data\myfiles\IsolatedStore folder on the computer. The tool creates the IsolatedStore folder under the directory that you specify.

  • ISETool.exe rs de f8ce6878-0aeb-497f-bcf4-65be961d4bba c:\data\myfiles
    Uploads all of the files from the C:\data\myfiles folder on the computer to the app’s local folder on the attached device.

Warning

If you use the rs option to upload folders and files that you downloaded previously by using the ts option, make sure that you specify the IsolatedStorage folder created on your computer by the ts option as the source folder for the rs option.

  • ISETool.exe rs deviceindex:2 f8ce6878-0aeb-497f-bcf4-65be961d4bba c:\data\myfiles
    Uploads all of the files from the C:\data\myfiles folder on the computer to the device specified by device index 2. To get the list of available devices, run the command ISETool EnumerateDevices.

  • ISETool.exe EnumerateDevices
    Lists the valid device targets and the device index for each device.

  • ISETool.exe dir:"My Folder\Images" deviceindex:2 f8ce6878-0aeb-497f-bcf4-65be961d4bba
    Lists the contents of the \My Folder\Images subfolder in the app’s isolated store on the device at index 2. To get the list of available devices, run the command ISETool EnumerateDevices.

Listing files in the local folder

You can use Isolated Storage Explorer to list the files and directories in the local folder for an app.

To list files in the local folder using the dir option

  1. Deploy the app that you want to test to the emulator or a device.

  2. Run the app as appropriate to create files or directories in the local folder.

  3. Get the Product GUID for the app specified in the ProductID attribute of the App element of the WMAppManifest.xml file.

  4. Open a Command prompt window and navigate to the location of ISETool.exe.

  5. To list the files and directories at the root of the app’s local folder, type the following command using the Product GUID obtained in the previous steps.

    ISETool.exe dir <xd|de> <product-id>

    The following example shows a command that lists the files and directories at the root of the app’s local folder on the emulator.

    ISETool.exe dir xd 11111111-2222-3333-4444-555555555555

    The following text appears if no files or directories are found:

    • Directory Listing Error. The system cannot find the file specified.

  6. If the app’s local folder contains directories, type the following command.

    ISETool.exe dir:device-path <xd|de> <product-id>

    The following example shows a command that lists the contents of a directory named Images in the app’s local folder on the emulator.

    ISETool.exe dir:"Images" xd 11111111-2222-3333-4444-555555555555

Note

Don’t include a leading or trailing slash in the directory entry.

Copying files from the local folder to the computer

You can use Isolated Storage Explorer to copy the files and directories in an app’s local folder on the emulator or device to your computer. You can then view the files to make sure that the app is saving them in the correct location with the correct data.

To copy files from the local folder to the computer using the ts option

  1. Deploy the app you want to test to the emulator or a device.

  2. Run the app to create files or directories in the local folder.

  3. Get the Product GUID for the app specified in the ProductID attribute of the App element of the WMAppManifest.xml file.

  4. Open a Command prompt window and navigate to the location of ISETool.exe.

  5. To copy all of the files from the app’s local folder to your computer, type the following command using the Product GUID obtained in the previous steps and specify a target directory on your computer.

    ISETool.exe ts <xd|de> <product-id> <desktop-path>

    The following example shows a command that copies the local folder files to the directory "C:\Data\My Files\IsolatedStore" on your computer.

    ISETool.exe ts xd 11111111-2222-3333-4444-555555555555 "C:\Data\My Files"

    This command creates the target directory on your computer, creates the IsolatedStore directory in the target directory, and then copies the files and directories from the app’s local folder into the IsolatedStore directory.

Warning

If the target directory already exists and you copy the files again, the entire contents of the target directory are overwritten without any warning.

Replacing files in the local folder

You can use Isolated Storage Explorer to replace the files and directories in an app’s local folder on an emulator or a device with files and directories from your computer. Replacing files can be useful for testing an app.

To replace files in the local folder using the rs option

  1. Deploy the app that you want to test to the emulator or a device.

  2. Get the Product GUID for the app specified in the ProductID attribute of the App element of the WMAppManifest.xml file.

  3. Open a Command prompt window and navigate to the location of ISETool.exe.

  4. To replace all the files in the app’s local folder with files from your computer, type the following command using the Product GUID obtained in the previous steps and specify the source directory on your computer.

    ISETool.exe rs <xd|de> <product-id> <desktop-path>

    The following example shows a command that replaces the files and directories in an app’s local folder with the files from the directory "C:\Data\My Files" on your computer.

    ISETool.exe rs xd 11111111-2222-3333-4444-555555555555 "C:\Data\My Files"

Warning

If you use the rs option to upload folders and files that you downloaded previously by using the ts option, make sure that you specify the IsolatedStorage folder created on your computer by the ts option as the source folder for the rs option.

Other tools for exploring the local folder

If you prefer to use a visual browser for isolated storage instead of a command-line tool, consider the following open-source tools.

See Also

Other Resources

Data for Windows Phone 8

Local folder best practices for Windows Phone 8

App manifest file for Windows Phone 8