Can't install Corona Cards WP8 in VMWare with Windows 10 Preview with Visual Studio Express 2013

CoronaCards (Corona in native apps) CoronaCards for WP8
#1

I am trying to install Corona Cards using the same environment that Charles showed on this weeks Corona Geek show. So I downloaded and installed Windows 10 Preview in VMWare, followed by Visual Studio Express 2013 - all works OK - but when I try to install the Corona Cards VSIX file I get the error dialog attached.

The Install Log file is below. Any ideas what may be wrong?

22/10/2014 23:34:43 - Microsoft VSIX Installer

22/10/2014 23:34:43 - -------------------------------------------

22/10/2014 23:34:44 - Initializing Install…

22/10/2014 23:34:45 - Extension Details…

22/10/2014 23:34:45 - Identifier      : CoronaLabs.Corona.Cards.WindowsPhone.a5ff5638-698f-4bcc-81b8-6737246a6046

22/10/2014 23:34:45 - Name            : CoronaCards for Windows Phone

22/10/2014 23:34:45 - Author          : Corona Labs Inc.

22/10/2014 23:34:45 - Version         : 14.0.2468.0

22/10/2014 23:34:45 - Description     : Provides Windows Phone project templates for developing apps using the Corona framework.

22/10/2014 23:34:45 - Locale          : en-US

22/10/2014 23:34:45 - MoreInfoURL     : http://www.coronalabs.com/

22/10/2014 23:34:45 - InstalledByMSI  : False

22/10/2014 23:34:45 - SupportedFrameworkVersionRange : [4.5,)

22/10/2014 23:34:45 - 

22/10/2014 23:34:45 - SignedBy        : Corona Labs Inc.

22/10/2014 23:34:45 - Certificate Info : [Subject]

  CN=Corona Labs Inc., O=Corona Labs Inc., L=Palo Alto, S=California, C=US

[Issuer]

  CN=DigiCert Assured ID Code Signing CA-1, OU=www.digicert.com, O=DigiCert Inc, C=US

[Serial Number]

  0F7705C4A07A2578BFED5AEC3C35D902

[Not Before]

  10/06/2014 01:00:00

[Not After]

  15/06/2015 13:00:00

[Thumbprint]

  288E9FF2A4E7CC45F201259159D9263879E68B9F

22/10/2014 23:34:45 - Supported Products : 

22/10/2014 23:34:45 - Microsoft.VisualStudio.VPDExpress

22/10/2014 23:34:45 - Version : [11.0,13.0)

22/10/2014 23:34:45 - Microsoft.VisualStudio.VSWinExpress

22/10/2014 23:34:45 - Version : [12.0.30501,13.0)

22/10/2014 23:34:45 - Microsoft.VisualStudio.Pro

22/10/2014 23:34:45 - Version : [11.0,13.0)

22/10/2014 23:34:45 - Microsoft.VisualStudio.Premium

22/10/2014 23:34:45 - Version : [11.0,13.0)

22/10/2014 23:34:45 - Microsoft.VisualStudio.Ultimate

22/10/2014 23:34:45 - Version : [11.0,13.0)

22/10/2014 23:34:45 - 

22/10/2014 23:34:45 - References      : 

22/10/2014 23:34:45 - -------------------------------------------------------

22/10/2014 23:34:45 - Identifier   : CoronaLabs.Corona.Framework.WindowsPhone.36706714-9F1F-4691-969C-377BCFEA598A

22/10/2014 23:34:45 - Name         : Corona Framework for Windows Phone

22/10/2014 23:34:45 - Version      : [14.0.2468.0]

22/10/2014 23:34:45 - MoreInfoURL  : 

22/10/2014 23:34:45 - Nested       : Yes

22/10/2014 23:34:45 - 

22/10/2014 23:34:45 - 

22/10/2014 23:34:45 - Searching for applicable products…

22/10/2014 23:34:45 - Found installed product - Microsoft Visual Studio Express 2013 for Windows Desktop

22/10/2014 23:34:45 - Found installed product - Global Location

22/10/2014 23:34:45 - VSIXInstaller.NoApplicableSKUsException: This extension is not installable on any currently installed products.

   at VSIXInstaller.App.InitializeInstall()

   at System.Threading.Tasks.Task.InnerInvoke()

   at System.Threading.Tasks.Task.Execute()

#2

This error will be displayed if you do *not* have one of the Visual Studio versions required by CoronaCards installed as documented here…

   http://docs.coronalabs.com/daily/coronacards/wp8/index.html

In your case, double check that you are using “Visual Studio Express 2013 for Windows with Update 2”.

It needs to be the “for Windows” product and it must be at least the “Update 2” version.  (“Update 3” will work too.)

Note that Microsoft did not add WP8 support to “Visual Studio Express 2013 for Windows” product until the “Update 2” version.  Before that “Update 2” version, that particular Visual Studio Express 2013 product only supported building Windows Store Apps (aka: Metro Apps).

#3

Hi Joshua

I have Visual Studio Express 2013 for Windows Desktop (version 12.0.30723.00 Update 3 according to Help About) which was the latest version available for download from Microsoft. This looks to be a later version number than the one specified in the install log (12.0.30501,13.0) - is that the problem?

Stefan

#4

Hi spjnowak,

This is a little confusing and I had the same problem as well. The version you are mentioning is the wrong one.

“Express 2013 for Windows” and “Express 2013 for Windows Desktop” are different. You need to download the version that doesn’t have “Desktop” in the name.

#5

Thanks @prodesuka that would explain it!

“When is Windows not Windows … ?” 

#6

Finally got everything installed but now faced with another problem which I think is not possible to resolve without upgrading my hardware. 

When I set the Visual Studio Solution to run in Debug/x86 mode I do not see any emulators in the Run menu. As emulators should be installed as part of Visual Studio 2013 I checked by downloading them separately only to get the error message that I need to be running in hypervisor mode for the emulators to work.

Now if I try to set Intel VT-x/EPT mode in VMWare I get an error message on starting the virtual machine saying that this mode is not supported. Turns out that the processor on my MacBook Pro (mid-2010 model) is a Core 2 Duo which does not support this mode!

So be warned you will waste a lot of time downloading software from Microsoft to get Corona Cards WP8 working only to fail if you’re running an old CPU. I know I can still run on an actual device (except I don’t have one yet) but that defeats the objective, to see if my existing project could easily be ported in WP8 (it’s a business app and my client is a Windows shop so might be interested).

Could Corona Labs make their documentation a bit clearer about exactly what works? I’m sure I’m not the only developer that primarily uses a Mac (now considered ancient at 4 years old, which is how long I’ve been using Corona, but still happily running Yosemite) and occasionally dips into the world of Windows using VMWare. 

#7

Finally got everything installed but now faced with another problem which I think is not possible to resolve without upgrading my hardware. 

When I set the Visual Studio Solution to run in Debug/x86 mode I do not see any emulators in the Run menu. As emulators should be installed as part of Visual Studio 2013 I checked by downloading them separately only to get the error message that I need to be running in hypervisor mode for the emulators to work.

Now if I try to set Intel VT-x/EPT mode in VMWare I get an error message on starting the virtual machine saying that this mode is not supported. Turns out that the processor on my MacBook Pro (mid-2010 model) is a Core 2 Duo which does not support this mode!

So be warned you will waste a lot of time downloading software from Microsoft to get Corona Cards WP8 working only to fail if you’re running an old CPU. I know I can still run on an actual device (except I don’t have one yet) but that defeats the objective, to see if my existing project could easily be ported in WP8 (it’s a business app and my client is a Windows shop so might be interested).

Could Corona Labs make their documentation a bit clearer about exactly what works? I’m sure I’m not the only developer that primarily uses a Mac (now considered ancient at 4 years old, which is how long I’ve been using Corona, but still happily running Yosemite) and occasionally dips into the world of Windows using VMWare. 

#8

Looking further into this it seems that my MacBook Pro CPU should support Intel VT-x.

Running this in Terminal …

sysctl -a | grep machdep.cpu.features

machdep.cpu.features: FPU VME DE PSE TSC MSR PAE MCE CX8 APIC SEP MTRR PGE MCA CMOV PAT PSE36 CLFSH DS ACPI MMX FXSR SSE SSE2 SS HTT TM PBE SSE3 DTES64 MON DSCPL VMX SMX EST TM2 SSSE3 CX16 TPR PDCM SSE4.1 XSAVE

… shows VMX is supported, but VMWare Fusion 6 says ‘this host does not support EPT’.

Is Yosemite stopping VMWare using Hypervisor??

#9

Microsoft documents the system/hardware requirements for WP8 emulator support here…

   http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/ff626524(v=vs.105).aspx

The requirements are different depending on if you’re using an Intel or AMD processor.  Since you are using an Intel CPU, odds are that your CPU does not support “SLAT”.

Microsoft documents a procedure on how to check if your machine supports the required hardware features via the link below.  Have a look at section “Checking BIOS settings required by Hyper-V for virtualization and SLAT”.  This involves downloading and using a command line tool named “coreinfo.exe”.

   http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/jj863509(v=vs.105).aspx

Also, please realize that the WP8 emulator is really a virtual machine.  In my opinion, running a virtual machine within a virtual machine is not going to be a pleasant experience from a performance standpoint.  You’re probably not going to be happy with it if you do get it working.  I personally use a dedicated Windows PC for WP8 development.  In particular, a touchscreen laptop, which gives me the added benefit of testing multitouch support in the WP8 emulator.

#10

You could also try this with bootcamp perhaps.

There is also settings that have to be turned on in windows under “features and services?” which is listed under the hyper-v section

#11

I’m pretty sure this won’t work for him via BootCamp either.  His Intel CPU does not support SLAT (aka: EPT), which is required by the WP8 emulator.

#12

Joshua, on this note, do you think we might be able to get WP8 support straight out of the simulator one day? Just like the IOS & Android support we have in the regular Corona SDK today? Is that ability somewhere on the planning horizon? Thanks for all your hard work.

#13

Not in the near future.  The reason we released a CoronaCards version for WP8 is because we currently only support a subset of features compared to Corona Simulator built apps.  The features we do support for WP8 is at about the same level as it is for CoronaCards for Android/iOS (ie: no support for native UI, in-app purchase, ads, notifications, etc.).  But most of the features that are missing can be implemented on the native side via our Lua/.NET Bridge, making a CoronaCards-like solution the best option at the moment.  And since CoronaCards is your only option for WP8, we thought the reasonable thing to do was to make it freely available to Pro and Enterprise subscribers.  This seems like the most reasonable compromise at the moment.  Especially for those Corona developers who want to take advantage of Microsoft’s incentive programs to port their apps to the Windows App Store, of which their is a time limit.

But that said, even if we did add WP8 support to the Corona Simulator, you would still need a Windows machine to do the final app signing via Microsoft’s developer tools.  Meaning you would still need a Windows OS license.  So, why not give WP8 CoronaCards a chance?  You can get Microsoft’s Express version of Visual Studio for free and we offer WP8 CoronaCards at an unlimited trial basis.  And I’m proud to say that our CoronaCards integration with Visual Studio is far simpler to set up compared to what we have on Android and iOS.  We worked really hard to make it as easy as possible.  Check out the videos from the link below to see how simple installation and app project creation in Visual Studio is…

   http://coronalabs.com/resources/tutorials/coronacards-enterprise

#14

Hi Joshua, 

Thanks for taking the time to respond. I appreciate all the hard work that went into this solution and will make sure to check it out in the near future. For me, full API compatibility is most important and the current solution is hopefully a temporary transitional path.

Keep up the great work. Thanks much!!! 

Regards,

Kerem

#15

This error will be displayed if you do *not* have one of the Visual Studio versions required by CoronaCards installed as documented here…

   http://docs.coronalabs.com/daily/coronacards/wp8/index.html

In your case, double check that you are using “Visual Studio Express 2013 for Windows with Update 2”.

It needs to be the “for Windows” product and it must be at least the “Update 2” version.  (“Update 3” will work too.)

Note that Microsoft did not add WP8 support to “Visual Studio Express 2013 for Windows” product until the “Update 2” version.  Before that “Update 2” version, that particular Visual Studio Express 2013 product only supported building Windows Store Apps (aka: Metro Apps).

#16

Hi Joshua

I have Visual Studio Express 2013 for Windows Desktop (version 12.0.30723.00 Update 3 according to Help About) which was the latest version available for download from Microsoft. This looks to be a later version number than the one specified in the install log (12.0.30501,13.0) - is that the problem?

Stefan

#17

Hi spjnowak,

This is a little confusing and I had the same problem as well. The version you are mentioning is the wrong one.

“Express 2013 for Windows” and “Express 2013 for Windows Desktop” are different. You need to download the version that doesn’t have “Desktop” in the name.

#18

Thanks @prodesuka that would explain it!

“When is Windows not Windows … ?” 

#19

Finally got everything installed but now faced with another problem which I think is not possible to resolve without upgrading my hardware. 

When I set the Visual Studio Solution to run in Debug/x86 mode I do not see any emulators in the Run menu. As emulators should be installed as part of Visual Studio 2013 I checked by downloading them separately only to get the error message that I need to be running in hypervisor mode for the emulators to work.

Now if I try to set Intel VT-x/EPT mode in VMWare I get an error message on starting the virtual machine saying that this mode is not supported. Turns out that the processor on my MacBook Pro (mid-2010 model) is a Core 2 Duo which does not support this mode!

So be warned you will waste a lot of time downloading software from Microsoft to get Corona Cards WP8 working only to fail if you’re running an old CPU. I know I can still run on an actual device (except I don’t have one yet) but that defeats the objective, to see if my existing project could easily be ported in WP8 (it’s a business app and my client is a Windows shop so might be interested).

Could Corona Labs make their documentation a bit clearer about exactly what works? I’m sure I’m not the only developer that primarily uses a Mac (now considered ancient at 4 years old, which is how long I’ve been using Corona, but still happily running Yosemite) and occasionally dips into the world of Windows using VMWare. 

#20

Finally got everything installed but now faced with another problem which I think is not possible to resolve without upgrading my hardware. 

When I set the Visual Studio Solution to run in Debug/x86 mode I do not see any emulators in the Run menu. As emulators should be installed as part of Visual Studio 2013 I checked by downloading them separately only to get the error message that I need to be running in hypervisor mode for the emulators to work.

Now if I try to set Intel VT-x/EPT mode in VMWare I get an error message on starting the virtual machine saying that this mode is not supported. Turns out that the processor on my MacBook Pro (mid-2010 model) is a Core 2 Duo which does not support this mode!

So be warned you will waste a lot of time downloading software from Microsoft to get Corona Cards WP8 working only to fail if you’re running an old CPU. I know I can still run on an actual device (except I don’t have one yet) but that defeats the objective, to see if my existing project could easily be ported in WP8 (it’s a business app and my client is a Windows shop so might be interested).

Could Corona Labs make their documentation a bit clearer about exactly what works? I’m sure I’m not the only developer that primarily uses a Mac (now considered ancient at 4 years old, which is how long I’ve been using Corona, but still happily running Yosemite) and occasionally dips into the world of Windows using VMWare.