Connect WM5 emulator to the network

Windows Mobile is not so easy with setting up a network connections. Recently I tried to use the Windows Mobile 5 emulator that ships with Visual Studio 2005. A .NET Compact Framework application on this device has to connect to a ASP.NET web service that runs on my desktop machine. For this, I needed a TCP/IP network connection between the emulated device and my host machine. This is possible, but requires some special steps.

This are the steps I performed to setup the connection:

• Download and Install Virtual PC 2007. This installs a network component which is necessary for the emulator to access the network;
• Start the Pocket PC emulator with Windows Mobile;

• Click File, Configure...;
• Switch to the Network tab;
• Check the Enable NE2000 PCMCIA network adapter and bind to checkbox and select your network adapter from the list;
• Click OK;

Note: If you didn't install Virtual PC 2007 you might receive an error message.

• In Windows Mobile, Tap Start, Settings;
• Switch to the Connections tab;
• Tap the Network cards;
• Below 'My network card connects to', select The Internet;
• Tap ok;
• In the Settings window, tap Connections;
• Switch to the Advanced tab;
• Tap the Select Networks button;
• Select two times My Work Network;

• Tap ok;
• Soft-reset the device by clicking File, Reset, Soft

After the emulated device is booted, it should get an IP-address from your network's DHCP-server.

Hope this helps,

Connect WM5 emulator to the network