Setup and System Requirements for Windows Phone Emulator
March 22, 2012
The following table describes the system and feature requirements for Windows Phone Emulator.
System or feature | Requirement |
|---|---|
Operating system | Windows 7 32-bit, Windows 7 64-bit, Windows Vista SP2 32-bit, Windows Vista 64-bit.  Note:Windows XP, Windows Server, Virtual PC, and Hyper-V are not supported. |
Memory | 3 GB RAM on the computer and 1.5 GB free RAM. |
Graphics processing unit (GPU) emulation | DirectX 10 or DirectX 11 graphics card with WDDM 1.1 or later driver, and DDI 10 or later. For additional information, see Optimizing Performance for Windows Phone Emulator. For information about determining the current configuration, see DirectX Configuration in this topic. |
.xap packages | The maximum size of the .xap package is 225 MB for Silverlight applications and XNA Framework applications. Note:The emulator simulates a flash drive of 2 GB. Because a Windows Phone OS 7.0 device has a larger flash drive, you cannot install as many applications on the emulator as you can install on a device. |
Silverlight applications | GPU emulation is a requirement for Silverlight applications. Silverlight applications may run without GPU emulation on Windows Phone Emulator, but this scenario is not supported. |
XNA Framework applications | DirectX 10 or DirectX 11 graphics card with WDDM 1.1 or later driver, and device driver interface (DDI) 10 or later. XNA Framework applications will not run without GPU emulation. For information about determining the current configuration, see DirectX Configuration in this topic. |
Video | VC-1, H.264 and AAC encoding. Not supported without GPU emulation. See GPU emulation requirements in this table. |
Effects such as Blur and DropShadow | Not supported in the Windows Phone SDK. |
Hardware-assisted virtualization | Requires a processor that supports hardware-assisted virtualization. For additional information, see Optimizing Performance for Windows Phone Emulator. |
Hardware keyboard | You can use the host computer keyboard as a hardware keyboard. For detailed information, see Keyboard Mapping for Windows Phone Emulator. |
Isolated storage | Data in isolated storage persists while the emulator is running, but is lost once the emulator closes. |
Launchers and Choosers | For detailed information, see Launcher and Chooser Support in Windows Phone Emulator. |
Multi-touch | Requires a host computer that supports multi-touch input. Simulation of multi-touch by using the mouse is not supported in the current version of the Windows Phone SDK. |
Accelerometer, GPS | Accelerometer and GPS can be simulated using the emulator. For more information, see How to: Test Applications that Use the Accelerometer and How to: Test Applications that Use Location Data. |
Camera, compass and gyroscope | Not currently supported. |
