How to Create a Windows CE .NET-based Platform

When you create a Windows CE .NET–based platform, you can either develop your hardware first or develop your hardware simultaneously with the software. If you have an existing platform based on previous versions of Windows CE and want to migrate or update it to be fully compatible with the features in Windows CE .NET 4.2, see Migration Issues.

At a minimum, a Windows CE .NET–based platform contains an OS image, an OEM adaptation layer (OAL), device drivers, and configuration files. Once you have created a basic platform, you can add more functionality to it in stages. For example, you can add more device drivers, develop OS features, and then create applications. For more information, see Platform Customization.

To track your progress in the following table, select the check box next to each step.

	Step	Topic
	1. Bring up your device by creating a new board support package (BSP) from the beginning. - or - Clone an existing BSP using the Platform Builder integrated development environment (IDE). Note   You can perform the next three steps in any order.	How to Bring Up a Device by Creating a New BSP How to Bring Up a Device by Cloning a BSP
	2. Develop and add more device drivers to your platform. For examples about how you can create a new device driver or migrate an existing one, see the following how-to topics: Building a Device Driver in the IDE How to Create a Device Driver How to Migrate a Keyboard Driver to Conform to the Layout Manager Interface How to Migrate a Keyboard Driver Without Conforming to the Layout Manager Interface	Driver Development
	3. Develop and add OS features to your platform. For information and examples about how you can add, build, create, customize, enhance, or customize different Windows CE OS features or platform elements, see the following topics: How to Add a Media File to an Operating System How to Add Power Management to a Device Driver How to Build a Multilingual Platform Using MUI How to Configure the Web Server How to Customize the Shell How to Enroll for a Certificate Using the Default Configuration How to Enroll for a Certificate Using the Modified Configuration How to Replace the Network UI for a Target Device How to Set Up an 802.1x Network and Connect to It with a CEPC How to Set Up and Use an IPv6 Test Lab Choosing an Internet Browser Creating a Custom Shell Enhancing the Security of a Device Creating a Signature Creating an Internet Browser Customizing the File System Customizing the User Interface Enhancing the Bluetooth Stack Enrolling for a Certificate Implementing Notifications Configuration Selection	Operating System Features
	4. Develop and add applications or middleware to your platform. For an example about how to develop an application for a target device, see How to Develop an Application for a CEPC.	Application Development Application Development Using eMbedded Visual C++ with Platform Builder
	5. Using the Export SDK Wizard, build and export a software development kit (SDK). For more information, see Export SDK Wizard.	Exporting an SDK Exporting an SDK from the Command Line
	6. Test and debug your platform. For examples about how you can debug your OS image or platform elements, see the following topics: How to Debug a Device Driver How to Debug an OS Image on a CEPC	Platform Debugging and Testing
	7. Combine all Windows CE–based components and applications needed for your target device into the OS image for your target device. Note   If you are not developing the hardware simultaneously with the software for your platform, you can proceed to the next step.	Integrating a Windows CE .NET-based Platform
	8. Optimize your platform. To improve the performance of your Windows CE .NET–based platform components, you can use the following Platform Builder tools: Remote Kernel Tracker Monte Carlo Profiling Remote Call Profiler For information about common performance problems with the OS and suggestions for resolving these problems, see Troubleshooting: Platform Performance Insufficient.	Not applicable

See Also

Platform Development | About Platform Builder | About Windows CE .NET | Platform Development How-to Topics

Last updated on Wednesday, April 13, 2005

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