What does it take to run the Windows Phone 8 emulator?

Question

With the release of Windows Phone 8 finally out there, we finally have access to the SDK. I've heard that it requires special hardware or something for the emulator though. What are the system requirements for the phone emulator?

Answer 1

You need Windows 8 x64 Pro or Enterprise, Visual Studio 2012 (or the express edition from the SDK) and CPU supporting SLAT for running Hyper-V - WP8 emulators are running as Hyper-V virtual machines.
(In other words no Linux, or Macs with processors older than the Intel Core i3, i5 or i7, no other edition of Windows, no Visual Studio 2010 or older, no x86 version of Windows, no Core2Duo and older CPUs, etc.)
Edit: You can use Macs for developing for WP8, but only if you install Windows 8 on it.
https://dev.windowsphone.com/en-us/downloadsdk

Answer 2

Intel calls their SLAT technology EPT (Extended Page Table).

Here is a list of EPT enabled CPUs http://ark.intel.com/Products/VirtualizationTechnology

You can also use Sysinternals Coreinfo to check your CPU: coreinfo.exe -v

The console output should be: EPT * Supports Intel extended page tables (SLAT)

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/cc835722

Answer 3

Be sure to get a windows 8 PRo 64 bit operating system.

I bought a sony VAIO laptop recently and It came preloaded with windows 8 basic OS.

It costs me around 75$ for windows 8 to windows 8 pro upgrade.....

Windows 8 pro is required for running the windows phone emulator as the emulator uses Microsoft's Hyper V virtualization.

Answer 4

There are two interesting solutions on the Nokia Developer wiki:

• http://www.developer.nokia.com/Community/Wiki/Windows_Phone_8_SDK_on_a_Virtual_Machine_with_Working_Emulator
• http://www.developer.nokia.com/Community/Wiki/Windows_Phone_8_Emulator_in_a_Windows_8_VHD

Seems like the first option might be viable for you.

These two approaches also require a processor which supports hardware virtualization.