URL for Redistribuable .Net CF

[David]

Hi, all,
I have an application written in VB.Net and prefer not to pack .Net CF in my
deployment setup file. Instead, I would like to show the MS website to ask
user to download the .Net CF by themselves. The problem is I can not find
this URL on MS website. Does anyone know this URL? Thank you very much for
your kind help.

Best Regards,

David

 

[Peter Foot [MVP]]

You can find it here:-
http://microsoft.com/downloads/deta...4D-1BC6-4F29-8BD5-5AD5A37C7408&displaylang=en

Peter

--
Peter Foot
Windows Embedded MVP

In The Hand
http://www.inthehand.com
Handheld Interactive Reference Guides

 

[David]

Peter,
Thank you very much for your information. Your link is
very useful. However, I do have some other questions
(maybe stupid) as follows:

1) The file is msi file. It definitely runs on my machine
since it has .Net. I am not good at Windows. Can msi file
be executed in a machine even without .Net environment. In
other words, users download this msi file on a Win machine
that does not install anything .net related product. Can
user still run this program?

2) Supposed the answer for the first question is yes and I
assume this msi file automatically installs .Net CF on
both desktop and any pocketpc attached via ActiveSyc. Is
my statement correct?

3) The file size is pretty big with about 3M. I assume it
is for all kinds of processors. It will be great if one
file for each processor and I remember I read somewhere
there was a 1M file for each kind of processor. Do you
have any idea of this?

Again, thank you for your time in helping me.

Thanks,

David

 

[Trevor]

1) The file is msi file. It definitely runs on my machine

since it has .Net. I am not good at Windows. Can msi file
be executed in a machine even without .Net environment. In
other words, users download this msi file on a Win machine
that does not install anything .net related product. Can
user still run this program?

MSI is a Microsoft Installer file. To install the .NET Compact
Framework (CF) they need MSI version 2.0 or better installed on their
desktop machine.

MSI 2.0 for Windows 95, 98, Me can be obtained from
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...FamilyID=CEBBACD8-C094-4255-B702-DE3BB768148F.

MSI 2.0 for Windows NT 4.0 & Windows 2000 can be obtained from
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...f9-2d36-4977-8fa1-6f8a0f5dca8f&DisplayLang=en

2) Supposed the answer for the first question is yes and I
assume this msi file automatically installs .Net CF on
both desktop and any pocketpc attached via ActiveSyc. Is
my statement correct?

Yes. The CF installation works similar to other Pocket PC installs
which use Active Sync to install themselves to the handheld through your
desktop computer.

3) The file size is pretty big with about 3M. I assume it
is for all kinds of processors. It will be great if one
file for each processor and I remember I read somewhere
there was a 1M file for each kind of processor. Do you
have any idea of this?

I am not sure about this one. Since Microsoft offers only one file on
the link to download CF SP1
(http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=1f62a2a3-7282-4ba9
-b26b-2267e972501d&DisplayLang=en) it seems like the installer will find out
if you have ARM/MIPS/SH3 etc and install the proper libraries. You may want
to verify this yourself though.

 

[Peter Foot [MVP]]

Responses inline:-

1) The file is msi file. It definitely runs on my machine
since it has .Net. I am not good at Windows. Can msi file
be executed in a machine even without .Net environment. In
other words, users download this msi file on a Win machine
that does not install anything .net related product. Can
user still run this program?

This is a Windows installer and will work with or without .NET Framework on
the PC. The installer engine is built into recent versions of windows or is
available through WindowsUpdate.

2) Supposed the answer for the first question is yes and I
assume this msi file automatically installs .Net CF on
both desktop and any pocketpc attached via ActiveSyc. Is
my statement correct?

That is correct, the appropriate version of the framework will be deployed
to the attached device.

3) The file size is pretty big with about 3M. I assume it
is for all kinds of processors. It will be great if one
file for each processor and I remember I read somewhere
there was a 1M file for each kind of processor. Do you
have any idea of this?

The installer places all the versions in this folder by default:-
C:\Program Files\Microsoft .NET Compact Framework

Each is approximately 2.5MB. They are CAB installer files which will run on
a Pocket PC and automatically install the required files. You can deploy
these manually to the device by copying them using the ActiveSync Explore
option, or you could place them on a network share accessible by your Pocket
PCs. They are processor specific - arm, mips and sh3 versions are included.

As of today you can download the Service Pack 1 release from:-
http://microsoft.com/downloads/deta...A3-7282-4BA9-B26B-2267E972501D&displaylang=en

Which works in exactly the same way but includes a number of defect fixes -
see Neil Cowburn's recent announcement to this newsgroup for full details.

Peter

--
Peter Foot
Windows Embedded MVP

In The Hand
http://www.inthehand.com
Handheld Interactive Reference Guides

 

[David]

Peter and Trevor,
Thanks a lot for your responses. It clears my doubt.
Thank you,

Best Regards,

David

 

[Mark McKnight]

I have a problem with this installer. It works with one of our devices,
but with another one it keeps saying "No version of the Microsoft .NET CF
was found which supports your device."

But, I can manually copy netcf.core.ppc3.arm.cab from Visual Studio to
the device and it works fine.

OS: MS Pocket PC
Version: 3.0.12039 (Build 11178)

Thanks for the help!
Mark