How To Use Serial Comm with Windows CE Emulators (266236)



The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft eMbedded Visual C++, Version:4.0

This article was previously published under Q266236

SUMMARY

The new PocketPC emulation does not require the Wceemuld driver in order for an application to use the serial port in emulation. This article describes the additional steps to set up the HPC Pro 3.0 and Palm-size 1.2 emulators for serial communications under Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 and Microsoft Windows 2000.

MORE INFORMATION

The Windows CE Platform emulators perform most of the functionality of a real device, with some limitations. In the case of the serial communications API, the emulators for the Palm-size PC 1.2 and HPC Pro 3.0 need to "talk" through a special driver in order to communicate over the serial port. However, the new PocketPC emulator does not need a special driver in order for an application to make use of the serial communications port.

Steps for Windows NT 4

The following are steps for setting up serial communications support for the HPC Pro 3.0 and Palm-size PC 1.2 emulators on a computer that is running Windows NT 4.0. Note that in order to perform all of these steps you must be logged on to the system as a user in the Administrators group.
  1. Stop any applications that may be using the serial port.
  2. Stop the serial driver.
    1. Open Control Panel.
    2. Open the Devices application.
    3. Click to select the device named Serial.
    4. Click Stop.
    At this point you might consider disabling this driver so that if you occasionally stop and restart your system, you do not need to repeat step 2.

  3. Start the driver named Wceemuld.
    1. Open Control Panel.
    2. Open the Devices application.
    3. Click to select the device named Wceemuld.
    4. Click Start.
    Similar to step 2, you might consider setting this driver to Automatic so that it starts automatically when the system is started.

Steps for Windows 2000

In Windows 2000, manipulating drivers in this way requires some different steps. The following steps set up serial communications support for the HPC Pro 3.0 and Palm-size PC 1.2 emulators on a computer that is running Windows 2000:
  1. Stop any applications that may be using the serial port.
  2. Disable the serial port.
    1. Right-click My Computer, and then click Properties.
    2. Click the Hardware tab, and then click Device Manager.
    3. Open the tree node named Ports (COMM & LPT).
    4. Right-click a port node named Communications Port (COM1).
    5. Click Disable. You will be prompted to restart Windows now. Click No.
    6. Repeat steps d and e for each COM port.
    7. Restart Windows 2000.
  3. Start the Wceemuld driver.
    1. Open a command prompt.
    2. Type the Net command to start a service, specifying Wceemuld. For example:

      net start wceemuld

There are no steps described for Windows 9x because the emulators are not supported on this operating system.

Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:8/19/2005
Keywords:kbhowto KB266236