Installing s/w on Win CE 5.0 Core

I have a mobile internet device which is running Win CE 5.0 Core edition.

I installed the .Net Compact Framework v3.5 and another piece of s/w which required the CF. Both appeared to be working.

However, when I restart the device the s/w doesn't work and it's as if the .Net CF is no longer there. The .Net CF files are still there but it's not working any more. If I reinstall the .Net CF then the other s/w works again, until the next restart of the device.

The device has been customised by the manufacturer to remove some programmes which I think would normally be included with CE 5.0 Core so I'm not sure what to check to see if the device changes some settings on startup to prevent 3rd party software from running. I get the impression the manufacturer just wants the device used with the preinstalled programmes.

Does it make a difference as to where i install the s/w, I've currently added them to the system folder on the internal storage.

The problem, may be that the device lacks a persistent registry. The files are still there but the file registration is missing and thus it beloebes that .net is not actually installed.

If that is true then you will have to be creative in solving that problem if you plan to use the device as not intended.

This is normal behaviour for a lot of task specific devices.

Installing to internal storage was correct, as most of these CE 5.0 devices automatically wipe RAM clean on reboot, so they'd have been deleted had they been installed in \Windows. As for registry settings, what you can do is use a registry editor to export the entire registry to a file in the internal storage folder, and then re-import it after you reboot. A bit of a hassle, no doubt, but better than reinstalling everything every time.

I suspect, though, that it's the opposite problem: that the device in fact has a persistent registry that it reverts back to on reboot (unless there's a device-specific way to save changes to the persistent registry). You can check this theory by opening a registry editor and selecting (not expanding) HKEY_CURRENT_USER and/or HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE to see if there's a key called "RegPersisted" and checking its value (1 if enabled, 0 if disabled).

So my next steps will be to check in the registry. I have tried a couple of Reg Edit programmes but without knowing for sure if Active Sync will run on the device I'm looking for something to install and run directly on the device. The couple I tried wouldn't install.

The device is using a Telechip TCC79, which is reported as ARM, but the couple of ARM cabs I tried to install said they weren't compatible on the device. Any ideas?

TIA

You will have to extract the individual files from the CAB and copy them over individually.

Great, I have a working Reg Editor via Active Sync.

The file key shows as RegPersisted = 1.

I found some of the software I added saved some files in the Windows directory which isn't persisted past the reboot, so I copied the files out of there to the persisted directory and updated the reg values to point to the persisted directory. There must be some other files saving somewhere else which aren't persisted so I'll need to find those.

Any pointers for what to look for in the Registry regarding things like start up programmes (my wireless doesn't connect automatically) or where else to look for keys to unrestrict access to the device?

StartUp keys can be found under HKLM/init. (You can add new launch values there as long as the LaunchXX number is higher than the one for explorer.exe.)

Check this page for a way to simplify the installation process so that installed programs and shortcuts don't get lost on reboot:

http://www.hpcfactor.com/support/cesd/s/0127.asp

(Use the device's name for the permanent storage folder instead of "NandFlash." )

Unfortunately, I haven't figured a way to make .NET CF runtime installations stay there and remain recognized in my CE 5 devices with persistent registry, so I'd have to just mark the .NET CF installation CAB file read-only so it won't self-destruct after installation, and then manually reinstall it after each reboot. (You could put a link to the CAB file in the StartUp folder you created in the permanent storage folder so that the CAB installs automatically after each reboot, just to save a step or two.)

I doubt that you can change the value for RegPersisted from 1 to 0, because I'm pretty sure it'll just restore the 1 value automatically on reboot.

Edited by CE Geek 2009-11-13 4:09 PM

So does RegPersisted 1 mean it will persist the Registry or does a value of 0 do this?

1.