Push Notifications on Windows Server 2012: PushNotificationChannelManager.CreatePushNotificationChannelForApplicationAsync() fails

I created an application that uses Raw Push Notifications – it works fine on Windows 8 but when running it on Windows Server 2012 it fails with an error that it could not register the push channel.

The error occurs at the function PushNotificationChannelManager.CreatePushNotificationChannelForApplicationAsync()

After trying to add some features to the Server I finally managed to get it to work. This is a preliminary list of features that are installed on my server – I am sure that not all of them are required but I can’t do the testing at the moment.

Features installed on my server to enable Push Notifications:

• .NET Framework 3.5 Features (all features)
• .NET 4.5 Features
• ASP.NET 4.5
• Ink and Handwriting Services
• Media Foundation
• Message Queuing (all features)
• Quality Windows Audio Video Experience
• User Interfaces and Infrastructure (all features)
• Web Server (IIS) (all features)
• Windows Process Activation Service (all features)
• Windows Power Shell (all features except Power Shell Web Access)
• WoW64 Support

DISMUI v2.0

Today I have released the new version of my DISMUI tool. I implemented many new features therefore it became version 2 of the tool.

The most important feature of the new version is the support for POSReady 7. It now supports modifying the image easily and stay supported by Microsoft. This is done because the selection of the feature packages can be done online. But all the changes are done offline – DISMUI will do all this unattended by creating a Windows PE image on the fly.

There is no need for any tricky commands in command line or booting from the setup DVD to modify the image anymore. You just need to launch DISMUI – the tool will recognize that you run POSReady 7 and will preselect the “Online” – “Service image offline” functions of the tool. That is it – the only additional requirement of this feature is that you must have a setup media connected to your image as DISMUI needs files from there. But since the distribution share is also located on the setup media this should be no trouble.

A detailed description of all new feature can be found on the dedicated DISMUI page on the Elbacom website:

http://www.elbacom.com/embedded/products/tools/dismui/

DISMUI is still free and can also be downloaded from the link above.

New Windows Embedded Tool: Driver Injector

I have developed a new tool called Driver Injector for Windows Embedded which makes installing drivers easier and it helps a lot in case there are problem during a driver installation. The tool will automatically search for matching drivers and will inject them to the target system. This can help if you need to install lots of drivers from a driver DVD. In this case Driver injector will do the work for you. Just specify the devices.pmq file (run TAP.exe on your target device to get the device information) and specify the driver search directory – in this scenario it will be the driver DVD. After a few clicks all drivers are included in your image and Windows can install them automatically.

The tool also helps if there is a problem when installing a driver. Windows normally just shows that there was an error installing the driver (Cannot find file specified, The service specified is invalid,..). However it lacks important information. When this is the case just explore the INF file of the driver with Driver Injector. The tool will show you what is missing from your image within a few seconds. All missing files are highlighted. To solve the issue just copy the missing files to your image and install the driver again. This is the easiest and fastest way to solve these kind of errors.

The tool can be downloaded for free on the Elbacom Website: http://www.elbacom.com/embedded/products/tools

Also I have published a detailled how to on the techblog and will add additional howtos for specific usage scenarios within the next days.

Free Keyboard Filter Driver for Windows Embedded Standard 7

I have created a keyboard filter driver for Windows Embedded Standard 7 (32-bit & 64-bit) which allows you to block unwanted keys and key combinations.
The configuration of these key combinations is done via the command line tool kbfmgr. With it you can block any key and key combination by entering the scancodes of the keys.

The tool is free and can be downloaded on the Elbacom website: www.elbacom.com/embedded/products/tools/kbfd

It also works for Desktop versions of Windows 7.

TouchWUI – a new touch interface for Windows 7 – Do you like the idea?

Well it has been some time since I have put up the concept of TouchWUI and many people already had a look at the idea.
I was wondering what you think about the user interface idea. Therefore I have set up the following poll.

“Disk Mode Write Filter” or “Resetting Differential VHDs”

The Enhanced Write Filter is also shipped with Windows Embedded Standard 7. However it does not include the Disk mode known from earlier Embedded versions. The Disk Mode allowed to save all the changes on a separate hard drive.

There is an alternative approach available to create a scenario similar to the EWFs Disk Mode – you can use VHDs.

For a detailed description of the process please have a look here.

TouchWUI – a concept UI for Windows 7 for finger-friendly input

Windows 7 offers a great capability for Touch and Multitouch input – however lacks an easy to use and finger friendly user interface. Even though Windows 7 enables different gestures to enhance the input via fingers, the default shell is in no way perfect for tablet pcs or slates. The cause for this seems to be that the system evolved over time to provide a perfect solution for mouse navigation – however, finger input needs a different kind of UI to allow the user to interact with the system.

A special user interface in combination with the power of Windows can be used to create a powerful Slate Consumer Device not only for web browsing, sharing pictures, etc. but also for more powerful tasks.

“TouchWUI” is a combination of the new interface for Windows Phone 7 and Zune which allows the user to have all the important information at a central point and further provides a finger friendly UI because all the objects are large enough to easily interact with them via touch input. The UI shall display up to date information of the system state, e.g. the battery state and also notifications of various applications, such as a mail client or social network updates.

“TouchWUI” is intended to completely replace the current Explorer shell of Windows 7.

Please have a look at the concept guidelines for TouchWUI and let me know what you think.

Download Guidelines

I have also created a video demonstrating how TouchWUI should look like.

Download Video

Here are some concept drawings of a finished device.

  

The company, product, service names and graphics used in this post are for identification purposes only.
All trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Windows Phone 7 are registered trademarks of the Microsoft Corporation.
All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

WES7 Tool: Deployment Image Servicing and Management Tool User Interface (DISMUI)

To download the tool please visit the Elbacom Techblog. After a free registration you will be able to download.

The Deployment Image Servicing and Management Tool User Interface (DISMUI) allows you to modify your Windows Embedded Standard 7 image by using an easy to use graphical user interface. By using DISMUI you can add and/or remove Feature Packages at any time by just selecting the packages. The software will take care of the rest. A dependency check ensures that all needed Feature Packages are selected.

With DISMUI there is no need to use the DISM.exe command line anymore!

UPDATE
DISMUI has been updated to work with the RTM version of Windows Embedded Standard 7.

How it works

1. Run DISMUI.exe with Administrator permissions.

2. Specify the location of the Distribution Share.

3. Specify the target image
     – Online: This will service the current running Windows version
     – Offline: To service a Windows installation that is currently not running select the offline option and specify the image path.

4. Click Next.

DISMUI will now retrieve all available Feature Packages and preselects all installed Packages.

5. Select all the Feature Packages you want to install and unselect the Feature Packages which you want to remove.

    If “Highlight dependencies of selected Feature” is checked then DISMUI will highlight
    all the needed dependencies of the current selected Feature Pack.

6. Click Resolve Dependencies.

7. Click Next.

8. Please review all changes. 
    Important: DISMUI will not check for conflicts!
    Note: DISMUI will always reapply all language packs if Feature Packages change. This will ensure that all needed language files are in the image.

9. Click Next.

10. Finished. If you changed your image online please reboot your system.

 

Installation of DISMUI

Extract DISMUI to any folder

Download WiX from http://sourceforge.net/projects/wix/ 

Install WiX

Goto the installation folder of WiX and copy the following files from the SDK folder (Program FilesWindows Installer XML v3SDK) to the DISMUI folder:

  Microsoft.Deployment.Compression.dll

  Microsoft.Deployment.Compression.Cab.dll

Run DISMUI.exe

Additional Notes

The program is provided as is without any guarantees or warranty.
Although the author has attempted to find and correct any bugs in the software program, the author is not responsible for any damage or losses of any kind caused by the use or misuse of the program.
The author is under no obligation to provide support, service, corrections, or upgrades to the free software program.

The current version is still Beta but works already without any problems.
Author: Wolfgang Unger

To download the tool please visit the Elbacom Techblog. After a free registration you will be able to download.

7×7 Reasons for the new Microsoft Windows Embedded Standard

I have done a 7×7 countdown for Microsoft’s new version of Windows Embedded Standard.

Every day a new feature will be introduced.

You can find the 7×7 countdown here:
http://www.elbacom.com/embedded/7×7

PowerPoint Viewer 2007 – can’t load PPTX files

If you load pptx files using PowerPoint Viewer 2007 on XP Embedded or Windows Embedded Standard 2009 you will get the following error message:

“This file requires the Compatibility Pack for the 2007 Office system to view its contents”

 

The reason for this error message is that PowerPoint Viewer 2007 needs the t2embed.dll located in the Windowssystem32 directory.

To solve the error copy the t2embed.dll from a XP Professional system to your embedded system.