How to Create a Windows CE OS Design (Windows CE 5.0)

When you create a Windows CE-based OS design, you can either develop your hardware first or develop your hardware simultaneously with the software.

If you have an existing OS design based on previous versions of Windows CE and want to migrate or update it to be fully compatible with the features in Windows CE 5.0, see Migrating from an Earlier Version of Windows CE.

At a minimum, a Windows CE OS design contains the following elements:

• Run-time image
• OEM adaptation layer (OAL)
• Device drivers
• Configuration files

After you create a basic OS design, you can add more functionality to it in stages. For example, you can add more device drivers, develop OS features, and then create applications. For more information, see Modifying an OS Design.

To track your progress in the following table, select the check box next to each step.

	Step	Topic
	1. Bring up your device by creating a board support package (BSP) from the beginning. - or - Clone an existing BSP using the Platform Builder integrated development environment (IDE). Note   You can perform the next three steps in any order.	How to Bring Up a Hardware Platform by Creating a New BSP How to Bring Up a Hardware Platform by Cloning an Existing BSP
	2. Develop and add device drivers to your OS design. For examples about how you can create or migrate a device driver, see the following how-to topics: Building a Device Driver in the IDE How to Create a Device Driver How to Migrate a Keyboard Driver to Conform to the Layout Manager Interface How to Migrate a Keyboard Driver Without Conforming to the Layout Manager Interface	Developing a Device Driver
	3. Develop and add OS features to your OS design. For information, examples, and step-by-step instructions on how you can add, build, create, customize, or enhance different Windows CE OS features or OS design elements, see How-to Topics.	Windows CE Features
	4. Develop and add applications or middleware to your OS design. For an example about how to develop an application for a target device, see How to Develop an Application for a CEPC.	Windows CE Features Developing an Application
	5. Using the SDK Wizard, configure and build an SDK for export. For more information, see SDK Wizard.	Configuring an SDK Building an SDK from the Command Line
	6. Test and debug your OS design. For examples about how you can debug your run-time image or OS design elements, see the following topics: How to Debug a Device Driver How to Debug a Run-Time Image on a CEPC	Debugging and Testing Tools for Debugging and Testing
	7. Combine all Windows CE–based components and applications for your target device into the run-time image for your target device. Note   If you are not developing the hardware simultaneously with the software for your OS design, proceed to the next step.	Integrating a Windows CE OS Design
	8. Optimize your OS design. To improve the performance of your Windows CE OS design components, use the following Platform Builder tools: Remote Kernel Tracker Monte Carlo Profiling Remote Call Profiler For information about common performance problems with the OS and suggestions for resolving these problems, see Troubleshooting: Performance Insufficient.	Not applicable

See Also

Overview of Windows CE Development | Windows CE Architecture | How-to Topics

Last updated on Thursday, February 02, 2006

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