Mango
The news was released yesterday that a Beta2 version of the new Mango (7.1) update for Windows Phone 7 has been made available which will also allow you to push the update to your WP7 device. But is it ripe and how do you eat it? Here is a step by step guide for those of you wanting to get this update on your phone today so you can decide whether to go for it or not.
(For fixes for “UpdateWP has stopped working” and “No devices were found” please see details below.)
First off you need to be aware that this is a Beta release and there will be no upgrade path to future Beta releases (if there are any) or to the final full release of the Mango update. You will need to restore your phone to a supported state (e.g. NoDo update) before being able to install the supported mango update.
I’ve already seen people saying how unfair this is but those of us that have been involved in other Beta programmes are aware of this slight inconvenience which is hugely offset with the ability to get your hands on the code early.
Backup phone
So first up, back up your phone. If you are like me and just have the one WP7 device that you use for development and for business use then you want to make sure that you can quickly get it back to a supported state asap should it run into difficulties.
Part of the Microsoft update process includes making a backup of your phone using one of their utilities but by that point you’ve kind of committed yourself down the upgrade path (and I encountered the errors listed below when trying to do the Microsoft backup which wasn’t very inspiring) so prior to that I thought I would make my own backup. I have used the backup/restore app provided on xda-developers.com which quickly backed up my device and, just because I’m paranoid, I then made some changes to the device and carried out a restore to make sure it was put back as expected. And it did. And because I am even more paranoid I actually took a second backup and copied both of them to a separate store just to be sure!
WP7 backup
Note: When you do this restore, you will loose any of the changes you’ve made to your phone, this will include app installations, music added, game scores, photos, viseos, sms messages etc. After your restore you can then reinstall your apps from the MarketPlace without being charged for them again, unfortunately at the time of writing there is no way to export/import SMS messages from WP7 so you will loose any messages sent and received since the backup.
Install the Beta2 SDK
Visit the download page for the SDK and download and read the release notes. Important that you fully digest it’s contents to see if it is acceptable to you.
If you have previously installed the Beta1 SDK then you need to now go to your “Control Panel” > “Programs and Features” and uninstall that SDK tapping your fingers impatiently whilst waiting for it to finish.
Next up, back on the Beta2 download page, run the vm_web2.exe link and get yourself ready for another half hour or more of finger tapping.
At this point your should now be able to create a new Beta2 WP7 app and try it out in the Emulator but I’m guessing that this isn’t the main reason you’re doing the install in the first place!
Invitation from Microsoft Conenct
I probably should have said this earlier, if you’re not registered on Microsoft Connect as a WP7 developer (thats the $99 yearly subscription) then you’re not going to get the all important invite that will give you access to the tools to get your phone updated. Also you need to in one of the countries listed on the windowsteamblog.
Given that you’ve received your email (mine arrived 10pm BST on the 29th June, only a few hours after the initial announcement) then you just follow the link supplied.
The Survey
The next step is reading a fairly serious set of statements and ticking the check boxes to say you understand the consequences. About 3 of which are all telling you to MAKE A BACKUP OF YOUR PHONE!
Interestingly number 8 states:
8. Confidentiality: By participating in this program, the developer agrees to not publish any content, screenshots or comments in any media in advance of the official launch of Windows Phone ‘Mango’
Not too sure what this relates to seeing as they don’t ask this prior to installing the SDK which allows you to merrily take screen shots of the release running on the emulator and publish comments on those. This has been discussed in more depth on winrumors.com so I’d check back there to see how that progresses.
Update: Confidentiality statement updated for the better. See my next blog post on the subject.
Installing the tools
Next stage is to follow the other link to the download page that has an updated version of Zune along with other supporting utilities and the all important update instructions. Microsoft stress again to read every word of the update instructions as they want to avoid too many developers bricking their phones and hassling them to get a fix. Unfortunately it is a 14 page document so grab yourself a coffee.
It’s only at this stage is it obvious that Microsoft will provide a backup utility as part of the upgrade, too late for me as I followed their advice already and made my backup independently.
A couple of things that stood out to me were:
- Only supports update to one retail WP7 device per developer account (App Hub)
- Probably worth backing up the backup of your backup.
Apart from that basically it is an uninstall of Zune followed by an install of the new version of Zune and utilities followed by committing yourself to the final phone backup and then a couple of phone updates via Zune.
Problems and fixes
I did come across 2 problems when trying to run the DevRetailUpdate:
- “UpdateWP has stopped working”
- “No devices were found”
This was despite following the instructions to the letter. Turns out they are both due to the UpdateWP setup not overwriting existing files if they are already there. If you get this problem then just go to your “Program files” > “Zune” folder and delete both the UpdateWP.exe and wm7update.dll files (mine were both dated April) and rerun the UpdateWP setup file.
Mango Beta2
So apart from the couple of problems mentioned above, the install process has actually been very smooth although it has taken nearly 6 hours to get through it all.
As for Mango itself on an actual device… no comment (see 8. Confidentiality above)!
Update: Due to the updated confidentiality statement I can now say that the Mango update is a huge leap forward, really fast with loads of really useful improvements.
Image source: microsoft.com
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