The August 2011 Security Updates are now available on the ECE site for Windows® Embedded Standard 2009 and/or Microsoft® Windows® XP Embedded with Service Pack 3.

The August Security Updates include:

• KB2418241 - Vulnerability in ASP.NET could allow information
  disclosure
• KB2487367 - Vulnerability in Microsoft Chart Control Could Allow
  Information Disclosure
• KB2507938 - Vulnerabilities in Windows CSRSS could allow elevation
  of privilege
• KB2536276 - Vulnerability in SMB Client Could Allow Remote Code
  Execution
• KB2539631 - Vulnerability in .NET Framework Could Allow
  Information Disclosure
• KB2539636 - Vulnerability in .NET Framework Could Allow
  Information Disclosure
• KB2555917 - Vulnerabilities in Windows Kernel-Mode Drivers Could
  Allow Elevation of Privilege
• KB2559049 - Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer
• KB2562937 - Microsoft Security Advisory: Update Rollup for ActiveX
  Kill Bits
• KB2566454 - Vulnerability in Remote Access Service NDISTAPI Driver
  Could Allow Elevation of Privilege
• KB2567680 - Vulnerability in Windows Client/Server Run-time
  Subsystem Could Allow Elevation of Privilege
• KB2570222 - Vulnerability in Remote Desktop Protocol Could Allow
  Denial of Service
• KB2570791 - August 2011 cumulative time zone update for Windows
  operating systems
• KB2478656 - Vulnerability in .NET Framework and Microsoft
  Silverlight Could Allow Remote Code Execution
• KB2508272 - Cumulative security update for ActiveX Kill Bits
• KB2518870 - Vulnerability in the .NET Framework could allow remote
  code execution
• KB2530095 - Vulnerability in .NET Framework Could Allow Remote
  Code Execution
• KB2510581 - Vulnerability in JScript and VBScript Scripting
  Engines Could Allow Remote Code Execution

These updates can be applied to the embedded component database. The database updates incorporate all security updates from prior months for the current year; therefore you do not need to install previous security database updates.

Thanks,

Liz

Some of our fellow MVPs have joined their efforts to write a great book that I highly recommend if you are doing or planning to do Windows Embedded Compact 7development.

You can purchase the book on Wrox or Amazon now. Obviously electronic versions are also available, pdf ebook or Kindle edition…

Samuel Phung, David Jones and Thierry Joubert have been working in the embedded industry for years now, consulting, teaching, architecting, developing and selling embedded solutions in the context of large industrial projects. In addition Mike Hall, Principal Architect Lead for Windows Embedded wrote the foreword of the book. I can’t wait to get my dedicated copy!!

Below some more information about the writers of this must-have book.

Samuel Phung

Samuel Phung works for ICOP Technology Inc. (www.icoptech.com), holding the VP sales and marketing for the North America region. Samuel has been working in the technology field for over 25 years, and started to work with Windows Embedded technology since 1998. He actively engaged in academic community activities and recognized by Microsoft as one of the Windows Embedded MVP since 2005. In 2008, Samuel published the Microsoft Professional Windows Embedded CE 6.0 book through Wrox.

As part of his activities and involvement in the academic community worldwide, Samuel has been invited as one of the judges for the Imagine Cup embedded development worldwide final student competition from 2007 to 2010, and Windows Embedded Student Challenge (WESC) competitions from 2004 to 2006. For both of these two competitions, student teams face with the challenge to develop solution to solve the toughest problem in the world using Windows Embedded technology.

Thierry Joubert

Thierry is the CTO and co-founder for THEORIS (www.theroris.fr ), a technology company in France that provides project management, software consulting, outsourcing and training services with focus on modern embedded technology. Graduated from the Ecole Centrale de Nantes University in France with an engineering degree in computer science, Thierry has been actively engaged in Embedded-system design and Real-time application development for over 25 years.

In addition to his responsibility working on commercial project, Thierry is actively involved in the academic community, delivering Windows Embedded trainings and technical seminars for engineering schools and universities. In 2004, Thierry developed a case study on Windows CE for Microsoft’s MSDN Academic Alliance curriculum, and published multiple technical papers to help teach Windows Embedded technology on Microsoft Faculty Resource site. To recognize Thierry’s effort and contribution to the Windows Embedded developer community, Microsoft awarded the Windows Embedded MVP status to Thierry since 2007.

David Jones

With a Master of Engineering degree from RMIT University and BSc(Hon) from Melbourne University, David Jones has been actively engaged in Embedded Systems and Computing Technologies for more than twenty years. From 1990 to 2006, David was a University Lecturer in Computer Systems at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. After leaving his University teaching role in late 2006, David joined the Victorian Partnership for Advanced Computing (www.vpac.org) to provide embedded system training, consulting and development services with focus on modern Embedded-system technologies. VPAC is a non-profit research agency established in 2000 by a consortium of Victorian Universities to provide advanced computing expertise, training and support to academia, industry and government.

While teaching at RMIT, David mentored student team participating in the Windows Embedded Student Challenge competition sponsored by Microsoft. One of the student teams David mentored won first place during the 2005 worldwide final competition. David actively engages in Windows Embedded community. He delivered presentations on behalf of Microsoft in the Asia Pacific region, covering Windows Embedded and .NET technologies. In 2010, David initiated the effort to develop the Device-Driver Wizard for Windows Embedded CE 6.0 and Windows Embedded Compact 7, and released a community version. David is a certified Windows Embedded trainer.

From DOS 5.0 to Windows 7 (DOS 5.0, Windows1.01, Windows 2.1, Windows 3.0 Windows 3.1, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 , follow the complete migration path in the video below. Note that we are talking about upgrading the OS each time, meaning applications like DOOM II installed on the initial DOS 5.0 still run once in Windows 7!!!

Tell me what you think as I am curious to hear from people in the Embedded industry using Microsoft solutions about this.

The Internet Explorer 9 Application Template for Windows Embedded Standard 7 SP1 was released in the June 2011 Feature Update. This template is used to ensure all the required dependencies for Internet Explorer 9 are added to a runtime image when created in ICE.

This release makes the Internet Explorer 9 application available on ECE for use by embedded OEMs. The installer can be run on runtime images. Both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions are available.

Internet Explorer 9 features HTML 5 support, Pinned Sites, InPrivate Browsing and Tab isolation and recovery. More information for IE9 can be found at this website.

- Lynda

Hey everyone, we have been fielding some questions about installation requirements for Compact 7. I had Kyle Roe write up some general troubleshooting instructions for you.

As with all software installations, there are times when WindowsEmbeddedCompact7.exe cannot complete the install successfully. Great effort has been made prevent the installation from failing. Sometimes the installation requires other software to be installed first. In the case of Platform Builder, Visual Studio 2008 and Visual Studio 2008 SP1 are the prerequisites. Windows Embedded Compact 7 will search for the prerequisites when it starts. This is part of the action taken while the Splash screen is displayed. ( as a side note, the Splash screen can be moved to show the program has not locked up.)

So what happens if the prerequisites are not found?

You, the user, will see Red X’s next to options that require prerequisites to be meet.

RTM display.

With the updated software, a message is displayed explaining what prerequisites are required.

So why is Shared Source greyed out with a red X next to it when all the prerequisites are installed?

Evaluation copies of the software do not come with Shared Source. But you can access more information about Shared Source right from the link the description field.

If you are still having trouble with WindowsEmbeddedCompact7.exe, you can either reach out help, or investigate the issue yourself. For both options you will need to access the log files that the software creates. These log files are in the user profile temp folder, of the user who ran the software. The easiest way to get to that folder is to click on Start and Select Run.

In the text window type %temp%, click Ok.

That will open your temp folder and you should see the log files listed.

All four of log files shown were created by the software. When some prerequisites are not found, an entry like the highlighted one here will explain why you are having a problem.

The snippet above is an entry showing that Visual Studios 2008 could not be found on the computer.

When Visual Studios 2008 is found at the proper version, an entry like this can be found in the log.

If you are having issues, I hope this helps explain how to trouble shoot it. In our efforts, we have attempted to prevent as many issues as we can, and present as much information as possible when the issue can not be prevented. Let me know how we are doing.

Get ready for some great upcoming video: “Just Keep Counting…”

There are plenty of scenarios where you would want to benefit from Windows technologies (in an embedded fashion) on small form factor hardware, such as Digital Signage, Thin Client, Connected TV ... If you are looking for some hardware that will support Windows Embedded Standard, that can do HD video decoding leveraging full hardware acceleration and that would not be bigger than a post-it, then you should take a look at the video below. It is demonstrating a board embedding the new E600 series Atom processor with the GMA600 integrated GPU. Pretty impressive.