Windows Phone 8 Emulator on non-SLAT Machines

Question

Though this topic present over different forums with different confusing discussion but I couldn’t find any instance of it present over here at StackOverflow and it could be an important issue for many so I’ll just start it here as I am also currently struggling with this problem by not having a SLAT supported hardware at my workplace.

It is being said that:

"The new emulator is built on the latest version of Microsoft Hyper-V, which requires a 64-bit CPU that includes Second Level Address Translation (SLAT), a memory virtualization technology included in most modern CPUs from Intel and AMD. SLAT (Second Level Address Translation) is required only to run the Windows Phone emulator. You can still build Windows Phone 8 apps on a non-SLAT computer; you will simply need to deploy and test them on a physical device." - [Windows Phone 8 Development Internals]

Now the problem is I do have 64-bit CPU (Intel Core2Quad) but it doesn't have SLAT support and many other out there must be having fine but non SLAT PCs (for Intel mostly processor before i3 don’t have this support)

• Now my question is it really like this a dead end? and if someone wants to develop for windows phone 8 he would have to either buy a new system or a latest WP (even with WP it would cumbersome in the development process)

• There isn’t really a way out of it using any other thing like VMware, Virtual box etc.?

• Are there any other third party emulator or options available to achieve this?

• If not than why, what has changed so significantly in the new SDK release that has made it impossible to backward compatible?

I repeat my main question in the end again: Is it really impossible to develop for windows phone 8 with its emulator functioning if you have one of non-SLAT supported PCs?

Thankyou!

Answer 1

I must admit, I am kinda amazed.

It works, but not on Windows 8. Windows 2012 server uses hyper-V version without requirement of SLAT.

So:

1. Windows Server 2012 trial (i use Developer version). Installed on physical device - not on VM.
2. Install slat-less feature Hyper-V.
3. Standard WP8SDK.

And voila. It worked like a charm. And it's kinda fast. First emulator on list in VS loads about 30 sec. More advanced take longer but not much. Deploying is instant. Give it a try if youre not to buy phone or new computer :)

Answer 2

I've waited several weeks before answering here because I didn't want to be wrong but the answer is YES and NO. You cannot run it on non-slat machines. But you can make your machine a SLAT-enabled machine.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but SLAT capability can exist as a physical or a virtual feature. If your machine isn't a iX (i3, i5, i7) or is an AMD, then you probably don't have SLAT as a physical feature.

However, if you have Windows Server 2012, either at work or in your BizSpark account download list, then chances are that you can run Windows Phone 8 SDK on your machine.

I confirm I've been running WP8 SDK during the last months on an AMD in Windows 8 after installing it inside a Windows Server 2012 VM. I can run the emulator with the three form factors to debug. They can take up to 2-3 minutes to open but once open, everything run smoothly.

Obviously, that's a plaster until you get a good PC since you don't get optimal performances. But you can work "almost" normally. At least enough to code stuff and submit it to the market store. I've updated both VMWare and WS2012 and disabled useless devices and ACPI.

Answer 3

Yes, it's absolutely completely impossible, done, finito, acabado.

Why is it so hard for everybody to understand that? It's documented everywhere, and you'll be told so when installing, and attempting to run the emulator.

Well, while I'm sure you're right and it's documented somewhere, it was only after installing and running Windows Phone 8 SDK on an iMac (with i5 processor) under Bootcamp gave me the confidence to overwrite the Windows 7 partition on my MacBook Pro (CoreDuo), Buy Windows 8, install it all, go through the (rather lengthy) Windows Phone 8 SDK installation again and, only at the very end, be told "this computer isn't compatible with Windows Phone 8" etc message.

Ok, I could have looked harder at the documentation, but I figured a trail run on an iMac was a good test. It's a pretty non standard requirement too - "Must have a SLAT processor".

I get the benefits etc, but I think it's pretty poor user experience to only be told this at the very end of the installation process.

Answer 4

You cannot use Windows Phone 8 emulator on such machine, that's a fact, but you still can develop and test your WP7 apps using the Windows Phone 7 emulator or you can debug on actual devices.

So if you really want to develop Windows Phone apps, try developing for WP7 first and after you get some money, buy real WP8 device like HTC 8S and start testing on in, you don't need new $1000+ development machine for creating great apps!

Answer 5

you're going to test your app on a real phone anyway (because you do that right?!?), and you can still do that without SLAT.

Answer 6

Is it really impossible to develop for windows phone 8 with its emulator functioning if you have one of non-SLAT supported PCs?

Yes, it's absolutely completely impossible, done, finoto, acabado.

Why is it so hard for everybody to understand that? It's documentated everywhere, and you'll be told so when installing, and attempting to run the emulator.

Answer 7

You can still use the Windows Phone 7 emulator, but you will have to upgrade to a PC with a better processor to run the Windows Phone 8 emulator. The Windows Phone 8 emulator runs much better than the Windows Phone 7 emulator, so that is one positive of upgrading.

I bought an Acer Aspire V5-571 with an i5 and 6GB of RAM for $500 after tax to get SLAT support. With Black Friday deals coming, you can probably find something even cheaper.

If you can't afford a new PC or Windows Phone, you can still develop your app and have someone test it for you. That is definitely not an ideal solution, but it could hold you over in the short term.