Upgrading to Windows 10 did not give me any issues with the connection to Windows Mobile with Windows Mobile Device Center (WMDC) which I need for the software I develop for Windows Mobile and Compact Framework.
Windows Mobile Device Center Stops Connecting
But after having a break from developing for Windows Mobile for a few months, the WMDC just could not connect anymore. First I tried to uninstall WMDC for a re-installation. There was some problems with it but after forcing the uninstall (don’t remember how) it was gone. But then the installation did not work. “The update could not be installed because at least one Windows component required by Windows Device Center is missing.”
This is obsolete software that Microsoft does not care about at all, so the information online is rare. The few suggestions online did not work.
Reinstalling Windows
After trying all I could think of for several weeks I gave up and reinstalled Windows. I was thinking about doing a reset of Windows, but Windows warned me that I had to reinstall several “apps” manually — and that list was several screens long! So I installed a new instance on another disk with dual boot to be able to use all my old “apps”.
On that clean installation of Windows 10, I was back on square one. Once again I got “The update could not be installed because at least one Windows component required by Windows Device Center is missing.”
That’s when I realized that I installed the N-version of Windows 10. That does not include the Media Player (that I didn’t want). But for some reason the Windows Mobile Device Center wants that Media Player.
After downloading and installing the Media Feature Pack for Windows 10 from https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=48231, the installation of WMDC worked and my Windows Mobile Devices could connect again!
Now I thought that I had a solution for my original version of Windows, so I booted to that version and tried to install Media Feature Pack. But unluckily I got a message telling me that the Media Feature Pack was already installed. And I cannot find any way to uninstall.
The Fallback
Then during the night the new and working instance of Windows run an upgrade to version 1511.
And now the Windows Mobile Device Center refuses to connect agan! So that’s what happened with my original installation of Windows!
This could be helped with uninstalling the 1511 upgrade, but I don’t know when Windows installs that in the background next time.
The “Complete” Compilation
Before I reinstall Windows, or installs yet another instance on another drive, I want to know exactly what works and what doesn’t work. So I installed three different versions of Windows in VMware where I will try different approaches and see what works.
Windows 10 (RTM)
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Working |
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NOT Working |
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Working |
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Working |
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Working |
Windows 10 N (RTM)
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NOT Working |
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Working |
Windows 10 1511 (from Apr 2016)
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Working |
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Working |
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NOT Working |
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Working |
I will update the lists when I have more information.
The Solution
The solution to this problem is much easier than I first thought. After the 1511 upgrade just uninstall and reinstall Windows Mobile Device Center. THAT was EXACTLY what I tried, but the uninstall only gave me strange errors. I guess my problem was because there was several months between the 1511 upgrade and when I tried to uninstall WMDC and lots of other updates and development software had been installed after that.
Maybe, in my case, I should have reverted the 1511 upgrade. Uninstalled Windows Mobile Device Center and then reinstalled upgrade 1511 and WMDC. Unfortunately, since it been several months since Windows installed the 1511 update, the option to revert to an earlier build is no longer available.
Conclusion
The best way to solve this for me is no longer available. The other options are:
- Reset Windows and reinstall all programs.
- Clear the disk and do a clean installation of Windows and all programs.
- Keep using the second installation of Windows on the other disk and install all programs there.
It feel like that the best way would be to start all over with a clean installation of the Apr 2016 release of Windows 10. But I will think about that for a few days. If I knew there was a new upgrade coming soon I could wait for that, but that upgrade seems to be quite far away.
The Future
The question is what will happen with the next upgrade of windows? Will that also crash Windows Mobile Device Center, maybe next time uninstalling the upgrade will not help.
Microsoft is already not caring much for Windows Mobile. So one upgrade in the future will probably stop the WMDC completely.