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

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 2

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 :)