How To Troubleshoot WinCE Application Installations

CAB Wizard

• To use a percent (%) character in an INF file, use %%, as specified in the Win32 SDK documentation. However, this method will not work under the [Strings] section.
• INF files created for Windows CE cannot be used for installing to Windows 95 or Windows NT.
• CAB files created for Windows CE cannot be used for installing to Windows 95 or Windows NT.
• The Windows CE SDK-included files Makecab.exe and Cabwiz.ddf must be in the same directory as Cabwiz.exe.
• Cabwiz.exe must be called with the full path.
• Creating a CAB file using the Windows CE SDK-included file Makecab.exe doesn't work with Windows CE. You must use Cabwiz.exe (which uses Makecab.exe) to generate the CAB files for Windows CE.
• CAB files cannot have the read-only file attribute.
• Verify in the INF file that string lists do not have trailing commas or unnecessary/extra spaces.
  

  
        Invalid:  CopyFiles=Files.Common,  Files.Cpu,
        Valid:    CopyFiles=Files.Common,Files.Cpu
   

Application Manager (AppMgr)

• When calling Ceappmgr.exe to register an application, use the full path for the location of the AppMgr INI file(s).
• Use the "/report" parameter in debug versions to verify that AppMgr is using the correct information for the CAB files.

Errors When Registering Applications with Application Manager

• Verify in the AppMgr INI file that the string list in the "CabFiles" key matches the actual CAB file name and relative path.
• Verify in the AppMgr INI file that the string value in the "Component" key exists elsewhere in the INI file.
• Verify that the desktop setup program is calling the correct AppMgr INI file, using a full path.
• Verify in the AppMgr INI file that the string list in the "CabFiles" key contains no unnecessary spaces.
  

  
        Invalid:   CabFiles=app.sh3.cab,  app.mips.cab
        Valid:   CabFiles=app.sh3.cab,app.mips.cab
   

Miscellaneous