Not a Valid Windows CE Setup File?

[jp2msft]

Using Visual Studio 2005 Professional.

I built a Pocket PC 2003 (WM4) Application some time ago. The Solution for
this application includes a Project file with the Application and a Project
file for the Deployment.

These applications deployed fine on WM4 (Pocket PC).

Now we have some new Windows Mobile 5 (WM5) devices, so I added a second
Deployment Project for the WM5 devices to the Solution.

To generate WM5 CAB installers, I set the Target Platform for the
Application Project to "Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC SDK", right-click the
WM5 Deployment project, and select "Rebuild".

These CAB files install fine on the WM5 devices.

For a while, the WM5 builds were also installing fine on the WM4 (Pocket PC)
devices. I found this to be a good thing, so I stopped building CAB files
with the Target Platform set to "Pocket PC 2003".

I do, however, still debug with the Target Platform set to "Pocket PC 2003"
because I can not get the WM5 emulator to connect with the PC's network card
to our SQL Server (I've posted a question about this problem back on 1/9/2009
in this forum as well).

Now, on the Pocket PC 2003 devices, I get this message whenever I attempt to
install the CAB file:

"Setup Failed"
"The file {0} is not a valid Windows CE Setup file."

where {0} is the path and name of the CAB file I am trying to install.

The words "Windows CE" disturbs me. Would all Pocket PC installers give this
message for an error, or could my CAB file somehow include a call that
actually requires Windows CE? (I've added some DllImports to the application)

When the application is set to Pocket PC 2003, the project still compiles
and the emulator still pulls the program up with no issues.

When the application is set to WM5, the project builds a successful CAB file
that installs on the WM5 devices.

How can I troubleshoot this further?

Has anyone experienced similar issues?

[Christopher Fairbairn [MVP]]

Hi,

"jp2msft" <jp2...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:4121BB27-3957-4D91...@microsoft.com...

> Now, on the Pocket PC 2003 devices, I get this message whenever I attempt
> to
> install the CAB file:
>
> "Setup Failed"
> "The file {0} is not a valid Windows CE Setup file."

One thing worth checking would be that the value of the OSVersionMin
property of the CAB file hasn't accidentally been changed.

If you select your CAB project within Solution Explorer and then switch to
the Properties tab you should be able to review this field.

To work on Pocket PC 2003 devices this property should be set to 4.2 or
lower (Visual Studio typically uses 4.0). If this field if 5.0 or higher
this may explain your situation.

Hope this helps,
Christopher Fairbairn

[Trevor]

Is your sql.ppc.wce5.armv4i.CAB file compressed? Pocket PC 2003 did not
support compressed CAB files. Compressed CAB files (using /compress flag in
CABWIZ) are supported in Windows Mobile 5 and later. You probably need to
find a 'sql.ppc.wce4.armv4i.CAB" if such a thing exists. Pocket PC 2003 is
built on Windows CE 4.20. Windows Mobile 5 and 6 are built on top of CE
5.0.

"jp2msft" <jp2...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:4121BB27-3957-4D91...@microsoft.com...

[jp2msft]

Thanks Trevor!

I was able to do a quick search for 'sql.ppc.wce4.armv4i.CAB' and it was in
the C:\Program Files\Visual Studio 8 folder.