Starting the iPhone Simulator on Windows prompted that the device could not be found.

Question

This issue occurs after Apple Update 14.5, which updates macOS and XCode, allows you to use vs for mac and xcode properly for debugging on Macs, and use simulators on Windows paired macs to make errors that prevent devices from being found.
All environments, SDKs, and related software have been updated to date.
The following is an error log.

Startup:
arguments: --device=AAD635FA-B559-4A39-8C91-7E94F01B0FA8 --launchsim=//Users/******/Library/Caches/Xamarin/mtbs/builds/*******.iOS/217bbd03e9f34194e4226ca7b213c6d33f3421d639cd97be84ad97df470eaf25/bin/iPhoneSimulator/Debug/*******.iOS.app --sdkroot=/Applications/Xcode.app -h=192.168.31.2 -ssh=******* --launched-by=devenv-16.0
version: 16.7.0.0 (54a29526ef6f853bdd37adbcc3791ce90ca82735)
Connection state changed:
State: Connecting
SSH Connect:
target: 192.168.31.2
Using SSH pass phrase
SSH connected
Connection state changed:
State: SshConnected
Connection state changed:
State: CheckingServer
Connection state changed:
State: SettingUpServer
Starting server
[Server] ready:52469
Connection state changed:
State: Connecting
Connection state changed:
State: CheckingServer
Connection state changed:
State: Connected
Device not found:
Requested: AAD635FA-B559-4A39-8C91-7E94F01B0FA8
Devices:
Exit:
Exit Code: 2
Connection state changed:
State: Disconnected
Connection state changed:
State: Disconnected

How to fix it?

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A!

This is a known issue which is caused by Xcode 12.5 upgrade , check the issue here .

According to the latest release note : the latest VS(16.9.5) added the support for Xcode 12.5, but the problem persists after I update my Visual Studio for Windows to the latest (16.9.5).

It seems that there are two workarounds for this problem .

• Downgrade Xcode to 12.4, refer to https://stackoverflow.com/a/67485986/8187800 .
• Disable Remote Simulator to windows in Setttings , refer to https://stackoverflow.com/a/66721582/8187800 .

Feel free to comment in that issue to raise the case priority .

Best Regards,
Cole Xia

---

If the response is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and upvote it.
Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

Answer 2

Having the same issue. Updating Visual Studio forced us to upgrade to XCode 12.5 and now we can't build to the simulator. This has stopped work on iOS development. If we downgrade to 12.4, we'll also have to figure out how to downgrade to the previous version of Visual Studio too right? Is that even possible?