Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2015 June 18

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June 18

How to download the Windows Phone software on a PC

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To begin, I should add that I am new to machine virtualization; as such, conciseness in expression and preciseness of instruction, is greatly appreciated.

Now my attempt is to install the Windows Phone software on my Windows 8.1 personal computer, a pathetically low-end but fortunately fairly recent model; and, in such endeavor, I have already downloaded Virtual Studio as well the Windows Windows Phone 8.1 Update and Emulators (http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=43719). However, I am not certain as to how I should proceed henceforth, given that the step-by-step guides available from various online Web sites are incomplete, inapplicable, outdated, confusing, or inaccurate, and all too often all five or any combination thereof.

Knowledgeable Wikipedians, I humbly ask for your help.

Many thanks in advance.

—24.228.117.156 (talk) 07:45, 18 June 2015 (UTC)

As you have no doubt found through your online research, there are any number of possible complications when trying to use the Windows Phone emulator. What exactly have you tried? What obstacles are you encountering? I have installed and used the Windows Phone emulator on various machines and encountered different problems each time; there is no way to give you generalised step by step instructions. As a starting point, I would point out that the emulator is designed to be run for debugging apps from within Visual Studio, and that running it as a standalone application would require a bit of hacking. —Noiratsi (talk) 15:00, 18 June 2015 (UTC)

I have not tried much after said programs’ downloading, to be perfectly honest. There is a file windowsphone81sdkupdate1 (.exe) and a windowsphone81sdkupdate1 (.iso). The latter, after being extracted, has within itself, in addition to an Application file-type, a number of Windows Installer files, ass well as several other file-types, and I do not know which amongst them to install first.

As to the hacking required to run normal apps on a computer, is it difficult? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.228.117.156 (talk) 15:25, 18 June 2015 (UTC)

By the way, if it be of any use, my three downloads: http://download.microsoft.com/download/E/7/D/E7D9744A-06A6-46FB-AEA4-50FAAEC6CE73/windowsphone81sdkupdate1.iso, http://download.microsoft.com/download/E/7/D/E7D9744A-06A6-46FB-AEA4-50FAAEC6CE73/windowsphone81sdkupdate1.exe, and http://download.microsoft.com/download/1/E/0/1E0AA8D0-F5D4-45A8-9CA6-D9DC8A54DE3E/vs_ultimate_download.exe. —24.228.117.156 (talk) 15:33, 18 June 2015 (UTC)

The steps are as follows:

1. Install Visual Studio using the .exe you downloaded
2. Install the Windows Phone 8.1 SDK. I imagine the .exe file is a web installer that will download the required files itself. If you prefer to use the .iso you already downloaded, see if there is a file in it called setup.exe, that's always a good place to start.
3. Make sure Hyper-V is installed/enabled. You can check this in "Add or remove programs > Turn Windows features on or off".
4. Locate the XDE.exe emulator, probably in C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft XDE\8.1\. You just need to know where it is; don't run it yet.
5. Locate the flash.vhd file for Windows Phone 8.1. This is probably in C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows Phone\v8.1\Emulation\Images\
6. By using a command prompt, making a shortcut, or whatever method you prefer, run the XDE emulator with -vhd path-to-image as a parameter. On my machine the command looks like this: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft XDE\8.1\XDE.exe" -vhd "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows Phone\v8.1\Emulation\Images\flash.vhd"

That should be it, but as I said there may be other complications. Good luck. —Noiratsi

Thank you.

How can I selectively remove saved information from my internet history?

I don't know the correct terminology, so please bear with my question. Oftentimes on the internet, I have to "fill in" various blank forms (name, password, address, etc.). Now, later on, when I go into certain blank internet forms, some of that information has been "stored", and I don't have to type it all over again. I will often get a "drop-down" list, with various entries that I can click (instead of typing the information all over again). So, my question is this. If there is an error in that drop-down list (say, a typo or a misspelling), is there a way to remove just that one bad entry from the list? Or do I need to clear out my whole internet history and remove all the good ones as well as the bad? Thanks. Hope my question makes sense. I know what I am asking, but it's hard to put into words. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 20:11, 18 June 2015 (UTC)

Maybe giving an example is better. Let's say that I log into my eBay account. Let's say that I have several different accounts. When I log in, there is a blank field ("User Name") for me to type in my User Name. When I click in that blank field, there will be a drop-down list of all of the previous times that I entered a User Name in that field. Let's say that I have three User Names. They are "White", "Purple", and "Green". If I want to log in with my "Purple" account, I do not have to type the User Name "Purple" all over again. I simply go down on the drop-down menu and click on the word "Purple". And so on, with the other account names. Now, let's say that one day, I made a mistake and typed in an error with a typo (I typed in the word "Puuurpell" by mistake). Now, whenever I see that drop-down list appear, it will have four entries for me to select from: "White", "Purple", "Green", and also "Puuurpell". Is there a way for me to delete the typo (Puuurpell) from the list, yet still keep the other three correct names? Or do I have to "clear out" my internet history and start all over again with a clean slate? Thanks. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 20:11, 18 June 2015 (UTC)

It depends on which browser you are using, but there should be a way to modify or delete certain autofill entries. For example, in Chrome, you can go to Settings/Advanced/Manage Autofill Settings (shortcut chrome://settings/autofill) and edit or delete entries. I don't have access to another browser at this time to check on the specifics of how to do so in Firefox, IE, or anything else. --LarryMac | Talk 20:35, 18 June 2015 (UTC)

Instructions for Firefox are here. Click on the field to bring up the list of entries, hover your mouse pointer over the item you don't want in order to highlight it, and press the Delete key (on Mac: Shift+Delete) to get rid of it. -- ToE 20:44, 18 June 2015 (UTC)

Thanks. I will try these suggestions. I am using Firefox. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 14:19, 19 June 2015 (UTC)

Perfect! Yes, that worked (for Firefox). Thanks! Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 14:47, 19 June 2015 (UTC)

Thanks, all. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 00:45, 22 June 2015 (UTC)