Troubleshooting Application Installation

To identify and avoid problems that may occur when you install an application on Windows CE, follow these guidelines:

CAB Wizard

• Use %% for a % character when using this character in an .inf file string, as specified in the Win32 SDK documentation. This will not work under the [Strings] section.
• Do not use .inf files created for Windows CE for installing to Windows-based desktop platforms.
• Do not use .cab files created for Windows CE for installing to Windows-based desktop platforms.
• Ensure that the files "Makecab.exe" and "Cabwiz.ddf," included in the Windows CE SDK, are in the same directory as "Cabwiz.exe."
• Call Cabwiz.exe with the full path.
• Do not create a .cab file using the Makecab.exe file included in the Windows CE SDK. You must use Cabwiz.exe, which uses Makecab.exe to generate the .cab files for Windows CE.
• Do not make .cab files with the read-only file attribute set.

Application Manager (CeAppMgr)

• Use the full path for the location of the CeAppMgr .ini file when you call Ceappmgr.exe to register an application.
• Use the /report parameter in debug versions to verify that CeAppMgr is using the correct information for the .cab files.
• Verify in the CeAppMgr .ini file that the string list in the CabFiles key contains no unnecessary spaces.
• Verify in the CeAppMgr .ini file that the string list in the CabFiles key matches the actual .cab files name and relative path.
• Verify in the CeAppMgr .ini file that the string value in the Component key exists elsewhere in the .ini file.
• Verify that the desktop computer's setup program is calling the correct CeAppMgr .ini file, using the full path.
• There are various third-party desktop setup programs that will not correctly update the actual file sizes when overwriting existing files. Because the Application Manager will verify the actual file size with the embedded file size of the .cab file, be sure that the installed .cab file sizes are correct. To ensure this happens for future upgrade scenarios, delete the known existing .cab files when you reinstall an application.