Description of Windows Mobile Device Center

This article describes the new application that replaces ActiveSync in Windows Vista.

Applies to: В Windows
Original KB number: В 931937

The content in this article is for Windows Mobile Device Center which is no longer supported. The corresponding downloads have been removed from the Microsoft Download Center. Here are some additional references for Windows 10 environments.

To access your phone on your PCs, you can use Your Phone application on your system. For more information review Your Phone app help & learning — Microsoft Support and Your Phone updates — Windows Insider Program | Microsoft Docs.

To learn more about mobile device management on Windows 10 review Mobile device management — Windows Client Management | Microsoft Docs.

For more information on configuring Windows 10 mobile devices review Configure Windows 10 Mobile devices — Configure Windows | Microsoft Docs.

Introduction

Microsoft Windows Mobile Device Center replaces ActiveSync for Windows Vista.

Windows Mobile Device Center offers device management and data synchronization between a Windows Mobile-based device and a computer.

For Windows XP or earlier operating systems, you must use Microsoft ActiveSync.

More information

Download and install Windows Mobile Device Center 6.1 if you run Windows Vista on your computer and you want to sync content between your mobile phone and your computer. Windows Mobile Device Center is compatible only with Windows Vista.

If you run Windows XP or an earlier version of Windows, you have to download Microsoft ActiveSync.

You can use Windows Mobile Device Center 6.1 only with phones that run Windows Mobile 2003 or a later version. ActiveSync and Windows Mobile Device Center do not work with Windows Embedded CE 4.2 or 5.0, Pocket PC 2002, or Smartphone 2002 devices.

To determine which Windows Mobile operating system you’re using if your phone doesn’t have a touch screen, click Start, click Settings, and then click About.

If your phone has a touch screen, tap Start, tap the System tab, and then tap About. To sync content to any of these devices, you must use a USB or serial cable, your computer’s Internet connection, and File Explorer.

Windows Mobile Device Center includes the following features:

Windows Mobile Device Center has a new, simplified partnership wizard and has improved partnership management.

The photo management feature helps you detect new photos on a Windows Mobile-based device. Then, this feature helps you tag the photos and import the photos to the Windows Vista Photo Gallery.

You can use Microsoft Windows Media Player to synchronize music files and to shuffle music files on a Windows Mobile-based device.

A new device browsing experience lets you quickly browse files and folders. Additionally, you can open documents that are on a Windows Mobile-based device directly from a computer.

You must use Microsoft Outlook 2002, Outlook 2003, or Office Outlook 2007 to sync your email, contacts, tasks, and notes from your computer.

Enhanced user interface

Windows Mobile Device Center has a simple user interface that helps you quickly access important tasks and configure a Windows Mobile-based device.

Frequently asked questions

Q1: How do I start Windows Mobile Device Manager?

A1: First, make sure that your device is connected to the computer. A splash screen will be displayed when Windows Mobile Device Center detects your phone and starts. You must use a USB cable to connect your phone to your computer the first time that you use Windows Mobile Device Center to sync.

Q2: Can I install Windows Mobile Device Manager on Windows XP?

A2: No, you have to use ActiveSync with Windows XP or earlier Windows operating systems.

Q3: How do I sync my Windows Mobile phone with Windows Device Manager on Windows Vista?

A3: Follow these steps to set your phone’s sync settings your phone with Windows Vista:

1. Plug your device into your computer by using the USB cable or cradle. The Windows Mobile Device Center Home screen appears on your computer.
2. On your computer, click Mobile Device Settings.
3. Click Change content sync settings.
4. Select the check box next to each information type that you want to synchronize, and then click Next.
5. To synchronize with an Exchange Server, enter server information that was provided by a network administrator, and then click Next. Otherwise, click Skip.
6. Enter the Device name, and then clear the check box if you do not want a shortcut for WMDC created on your desktop.

Q4: Does Windows Mobile Device Manager work with phones that don’t run Windows Mobile?

Device will not connect

The driver installation may not have completed successfully. If you think this may be the case, follow these steps:

1. Keep your Mobile device connected to the computer.
2. From the desktop, click Start, and then type devmgmt.msc in the Search programs and files box.
3. In the Device Manager window, look under the Network adapters node for Microsoft Windows Mobile Remote Adapter. If this is not present, go to step 5. Otherwise, right-click Microsoft Windows Mobile Remote Adapter, and then select Uninstall.
4. Look under the Mobile Devices node for Microsoft USB Sync. If this is not present, go to step 6. Otherwise, right-click Microsoft USB Sync, and select Uninstall.
5. Disconnect and then reconnect your device. Your device driver will be reinstalled, and Windows Mobile Device Center will be launched.For more information about connectivity-related problems, see the ActiveSync USB connection troubleshooting guide.

Device is disconnected when syncing large files

If you have problems syncing music, pictures, or other large files in which the connection suddenly closes, there may be an issue with a serial driver that is installed on the device. Unless you are using a VPN server or a firewall that is blocking your large files from synchronization, you may try switching your device into RNDIS mode to fix your large file sync problem. If your device has a USB to PC option, you might use this workaround:

On the device, go to Settings and then Connections. Look for a USB to PC option.

To enable RNDIS USB, select the Enable advanced network functionality check box in the USB to PC options, and then tap OK.

If this option is already selected, do not clear this selection or this workaround will not work.

Warm-boot the device. To do this, hold down the power button and then press the reset button, or remove the battery.

Turn on the device.

When the device is restarted, dock the device and try again.

RNDIS takes a little while to connect. Please be patient and wait for the device to connect.

If, after you follow the previous steps, you cannot connect at all, just switch back to serial USB to sync.

Драйвер для USB-устройства MTP

При подсоединении смартфона к компьютеру через USB может происходить отказ в установке программного обеспечения MTP устройства. Предлагаем несколько способов решения проблемы в зависимости от причины ее возникновения.

Вариант 1. Проверьте в диспетчере задач не отключено ли у вас «Приложение для передачи медиафайлов» (МТР) в автозагрузке.

Вариант 2. Зайдите в Диспетчер устройств и посмотрите, нет ли проблем с драйвером MTP. Если устройство помечено желтым треугольником, а в свойствах устройства вы видите ошибку с кодом 1 или 10 (Запуск этого устройства невозможен):

1. Кликните по строке MTP правой кнопкой мыши.
2. В выпадающем меню последовательно выбирайте:
   • Обновить драйвер;
   • Выполнить поиск;
   • Выбрать из списка имеющихся;
   • USB-устройство МТР.

Вариант 3. Если отсутствует запись USB-устройство МТР, уберите маркер с Только совместимые устройства и выберите установку стандартного MTP-устройства.

Вариант 4. Код ошибки 19, сведения о конфигурации оборудования в реестре повреждены:

1. Кликните по строке MTP правой кнопкой мыши;
2. В выпадающем меню выберите Удалить;
3. Обновите конфигурацию оборудования для переустановки драйвера.

Вариант 5. Если требуется указать путь к драйверу, то скорее всего сначала вам понадобится его где-то найти. Загрузите последнюю версию драйвера с сайта производителя устройства. Или попробуйте найти подходящее ПО через Центр Обновления Windows.

Вариант 6. Иногда может помочь установка дополнительных компонентов Windows Media Feature Pack. Ссылки на скачивание из Центра загрузки Miсrosoft:

Вариант 7. Если ничего не помогает и Windows по-прежнему отказывается работать со смартфоном или другим медиаустройством, вероятно, ошибка вызвана сбоями в операционной системе. Переходите к этой статье и выполняйте рекомендации по восстановлению системы, начиная с раздела Проверка компьютера на вирусы.

PLACEHOLDER DATA FOR PI — DO NOT DELETE

Bring your own device is no longer just a trend—it is arguably the dominant workplace culture. More employees are using personal devices for work, creating a unique set of challenges for IT teams that must balance user convenience and data security. Microsoft uses Enterprise Mobility Suite and other services to manage identity, devices, and applications. Now, simplified and integrated IT solutions enable employees to be productive on any device.

Situation

In a bring your own device (BYOD) work environment, users expect to be able to work from any location at any time, on the device of their choice. Moreover, users now typically have several identities, meaning that they use their devices in both work-related and non-work-related contexts. For example, they might bring a personal tablet to a business meeting and expect to access files on a team’s Microsoft SharePoint site, or they might present a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation over Microsoft Skype for Business. They’re likely to check both work and personal email accounts on their phone, and may use their phone camera to take photos of whiteboard sessions to help them remember what a work group collaborated on during a meeting. On both types of device, they’re likely to have a mix of apps, some for personal use and some for work.

But as the traditional boundaries between work and personal life blur the use of these devices, it’s critical that devices be managed in a way that is acceptable to the entire business. Data policies, such as encryption, password length, password complexity, and password duration, must provide corporate data security on all devices while maintaining the privacy of workers’ personal information.

IT must be able to identify, with certainty, who a user is and if a device should have access to corporate resources. Current trends suggest that workers change jobs and companies several times over the course of a career, so IT needs a way to account for this flux of people and devices. What should IT do if a device is lost or an employee leaves the company? What is the best way to ensure that corporate resources are wiped from a personal device that should no longer have access to them?

In short, the situation for IT is about managing data, managing access to that data, and handling the use of multiple accounts and identities on a device.

Solution

Microsoft Digital has been involved in mobile device management (MDM) for several years and is evolving strategies and best practices to ensure the proper balance between convenience and security as BYOD becomes the norm in organizations of all sizes.

Microsoft Digital approaches MDM a bit differently today than it did in the past. Even as recently as 2013, the focus was much more on providing access to applications. Now, however, the focus is on access as defined by certificate and profile provisioning. In the future, the focus will be on conditional access that is based on the state of the device as interpreted through the MDM system and Microsoft Azure Active Directory.

The Microsoft Intune and Microsoft Azure teams are working together to provide solutions so that Microsoft Digital can address a range of related issues: identity and access management, mobile device and app management, and information protection. The first step is to make Microsoft Digital cloud-based and enable a mobile workforce.

Identity and access management

For employees who use multiple devices for work, a key convenience—a requirement, even—is to have single sign-on (SSO) and a common identity, so that they can get their work done on whatever device suits them at the moment. A common identity enables application access management, regardless of whether those applications are on the device or in the cloud. This ensures that the user can have a consistent experience across devices and remain as productive as possible.

Microsoft Digital is delivering identity and access management by providing that SSO experience, using federation to manage access to external resources, and consistently managing identities across on-premises and cloud-based identity domains. This helps Microsoft Digital address the matter of managing access.

The following are some specific features:

Microsoft Digital provides users with a common identity across on-premises and cloud-based services through Microsoft Windows Server Active Directory and by connecting to Azure Active Directory.

Microsoft Digital uses Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS) to connect with Azure for a consistent, cloud-based identity.

Through their accounts in Azure Active Directory, users have a common identity across Azure, Microsoft Office 365, and third-party applications.

Developers can build applications that use the common identity model, integrating applications either with Active Directory Domain Services for on-premises applications or with Azure for cloud-based applications.

Azure Active Directory syncs with on-premises Active Directory Domain Services through Azure AD Connect. Azure Active Directory enables self-service password changes and resets, and self-service group management for internal users. It also supports multifactor authentication, so that internal users don’t have to carry around their smart cards.

Multifactor authentication provides an additional layer of security in case a device falls into the wrong hands or is used improperly. When a user attempts to log on or perform an action that is subject to multifactor authentication, the application or service confirms the user’s identity by sending a text, making a phone call, or using a mobile app. Typically, this additional authentication factor is a numeric code, such as a personal identification number (PIN), and may only be intended for a single use. The user must respond (usually within a limited period, such as 10 minutes) before the application or service allows him or her to proceed.

Credential caching enables enterprises to determine how long credentials can be cached on a device. This allows the enterprises to customize the user experience when users access applications and resources on devices. For example, enterprises can specify how long credentials pass through during logon or device registration, so that users do not have to enter their credentials so many times.

Mobile device management

Users prefer a consistent experience when they access and work with their line-of-business (LOB) apps, no matter what device they use, how often they use it, and what platform it runs. Device enrollment should be simple, and the process for finding and working with apps and other internal resources should be familiar. In addition, policies should help users feel secure that their personal data is protected on devices that they also use for work, and it should be possible to remove devices that users no longer want included in a managed environment.

Device enrollment

Users can enroll a device relatively quickly in Intune. Notably, the process is opt-in rather than opt-out. This sets a friendlier tone for the experience, because it doesn’t feel like a mandate. Users recognize the value of being able to use personal devices for work, and voluntarily enroll them.

Similarly, when users no longer want to use a device for work, they can easily remove it by using the Intune console (the web portal for information workers). For example, if a device has been lost or stolen, the user can either remove it for himself or herself, or request that Microsoft Digital do so. When a device is removed, corporate assets are automatically removed from it. Devices can be completely wiped or just selectively wiped. See the “Device retirement/wiping” section later in this document.

Intune provides a single administrative console that it can use to manage all enrolled devices. One administrative advantage of this solution is the ability to create reports, such as security and audit reports.

Provisioning of the Company Portal

For users who connect to corporate resources on mobile devices, Microsoft Digital now relies on its Company Portal to provide a kind of “one-stop shopping” experience for installing and using the Microsoft Windows or LOB apps that they need. Currently, users on iOS or Android platforms install the Company Portal from a separate site. For users on Windows or Windows Phone platforms, the Intune service pushes the Company Portal out to the device.

The Company Portal includes approximately 350 apps—and the number is growing at a rate of 10 to 15 new apps per month. Provisioning also includes updates of existing apps—as many as 35 to 40 are updated per month. Each month, there are approximately 30,000 application installations, and availability of the service has been more than 99 percent.

One goal that Microsoft Digital has for the Company Portal is to create apps that package streams of content and functionality for specific roles and use cases. For example, for users in field sales and marketing, the GearUp app provides a quick reference to every product that Microsoft sells, including value propositions and competitive differentiation. For users who do a lot of business travel, an app is available to instantly track expenses while they are on the go, helping users complete expense reports more quickly for improved compliance.

Policies across mobile devices

Whether they are related to encryption, passwords, security, email management, or another fundamental issue, policies are the cornerstones of MDM in an organization. In Intune, users see a dialog box that informs them about policies. They can then select to allow apps and services from Microsoft Digital, or they can cancel device enrollment.

Although users do not always fully appreciate this fact, policies are a form of protection for them too. Their own personal data on the devices that they use for work is more secure when other users and devices in the same environment are managed by policies. For more information about compliance settings for mobile devices, see the “Policy and security configuration” section.

Mobile application management

From an application standpoint, user and device provisioning is an important piece of the mobility landscape in organizations. For example, after app deployment, the app owner can use tools such as Operations Manager in Microsoft System Center to discover issues such as application dependencies, monitor application components, and isolate the cause of issues that are found during monitoring. They can even triage and remediate in Microsoft Visual Studio to fix any issues in the code. From an IT perspective, apps must be managed securely within the overall MDM service. LOB apps should be signed and should be accessed only by managed users.

Information protection

Microsoft Digital has several goals for information protection, such as keeping corporate data secure, managing data rather than the user, and providing access to data on any trusted device. Techniques for achieving these goals include encryption and policies, as mentioned earlier.

Additionally, Intune enables access to company resources through certificate profiles. When certificate profiles are used to configure managed devices with the certificates that they need, device users can connect to on-premises company resources by using connections such as Wi-Fi or a virtual private network (VPN). When Microsoft Digital deploys certificate profiles, it provisions devices with a trusted root certificate for the company’s public key infrastructure (PKI) and configures them to request device-specific certificates.

Microsoft Digital will be offering conditional access features to help improve the precision of access and protection. For example, users who require just read-only access to a file or resource will be restricted from editing, printing, or forwarding it. One of the most significant scenarios for conditional access is email provisioning, but other scenarios include certificate provisioning and profile provisioning. Taken together, these techniques help address data management.

Deployment

Although Microsoft Digital is evolving its approach to MDM, it’s important to consider, from a tactical perspective, how exactly it performs MDM. The information in this section describes, in detail, a deployment solution for a hybrid environment that includes both System Center Configuration Manager and Intune. Although smaller organizations might need only Intune (a stand-alone rather than hybrid environment), most medium to large organizations, including Microsoft, already have Configuration Manager and use it in combination with Intune.

Architecture

MDM consists of a series of components that work in concert:

Configuration Manager provides the central administration console for administering both on-premises and cloud-based devices.

The Intune subscription establishes the connection between Configuration Manager and Intune. It specifies the configuration settings for the Intune service, such as which users can enroll their devices and which mobile device platforms should be managed.

Microsoft Intune Connector site system role, which is a Configuration Manager site role, acts as a gateway between Intune and on-premises Configuration Manager, sending settings and software deployment information to Intune, and retrieving status and inventory messages from mobile devices.

Figure 1. Microsoft Digital MDM infrastructure

The following sections describe the various activities that are involved in the Microsoft Digital MDM deployment.

Deployment process

Microsoft Digital took a five-step approach to deploying MDM in its existing Configuration Manager environment.

Step 1: Build a Configuration Manager 1511 or SP1 environment

Microsoft Digital added a Configuration Manager 1511 primary site that is specifically for MDM to the corporate domain hierarchy. Server hardware consisted of the following:

A primary site server that uses a virtual machine with 12 gigabytes (GB) of RAM and four core processors

A Microsoft SQL Server with 64 GB of RAM and six core processors

A separate site for MDM is not required. Because MDM can scale to large volumes of devices, most small and medium organizations will not need a separate site and can incorporate MDM into their existing site hierarchy.

Step 2: Provision users

Microsoft Digital performed user discovery for the entire Microsoft corporate Active Directory forest by using the existing production Configuration Manager environment. This process took a few hours because of the large user base in Microsoft, but it ensured that all users were added to a user collection before MDM was enabled.

Organizations must consider the extent of their BYOD environment to determine if they need to perform a full user discovery, or whether the users who are allowed to enroll their mobile devices should be added manually to Configuration Manager.

Step 3: Provision Intune services

Microsoft Digital worked with the Azure Active Directory team to provision Intune services for the Microsoft IT organizational user (tenant) account and set up the MDM services Admin (the account that is used for authentication when the Intune subscription is created in Configuration Manager). Microsoft IT also worked with the Active Directory team to configure Azure AD Connect and Active Directory Federation Services Windows Server 2012 R2. Azure AD Connect ensured that all users were synchronized into the cloud, and AD FS enabled users to use SSO to access all cloud services.

Microsoft had an existing tenant account because it already used Microsoft Office 365 and other cloud services; it also had Azure AD Connect and AD FS in place to synchronize data into the cloud. Companies that do not have these services in place will need to complete these tasks:

Sign up for an Intune organizational (tenant) account.

Deploy and configure Azure AD Connect to synchronize on-premises Active Directory users with the Azure AD Connect, creating the user ID that is used for cloud-based applications.

Deploy AD FS to allow for a single identity for each user across both on-premises and cloud-based applications.

Step 4: Set up DNS redirection

Most companies will benefit from creating a Domain Name System (DNS) alias (CNAME record type) to redirect enterprise enrollment to .com to allow for server auto discovery. This means that users will not need to know the actual server name when they enroll their device.

Step 5: Acquire device-specific certificates

Each device platform has different requirements for loading applications. Microsoft Digital worked with the Microsoft App team to acquire the certificates that are required for the supported mobile devices.

MDM configuration

Enabling MDM requires creating an Intune subscription and defining an Intune Connector role in Configuration Manager. MDM is now equipped to work with any device platform, including iOS, Android, and Windows Phone. To set up and configure MDM, Microsoft Digital completed these steps:

Create a new Intune subscription. In the Subscription Wizard, Microsoft Digital selected Allow the Configuration Manager console to manage this subscription. This enabled Configuration Manager to become the authoritative source for managing all mobile devices, providing a single administration console for on-premises systems, cloud-connected devices, and application life cycle management.

Define a user collection. Microsoft Digital created a custom user collection for all Microsoft employees, based on the users who were discovered during user discovery for the entire Microsoft corporate Active Directory forest. This ensured that members of this collection were licensed for enrollment in MDM.

Configure the platform, certificates, and keys. For each platform, Microsoft Digital applied the required certificates.

Assign a connector role. Microsoft Digital added the Intune Connector site server role to the Central Administration Site (CAS) server. The Intune Connector server role communicates directly with Intune and provides the communication gateway between Configuration Manager and Intune for all incoming and outgoing communication.

Cloud User Sync monitoring

After MDM is configured, a Configuration Manager component named Cloud User Sync provides communication between Configuration Manager and Intune. It monitors the collection of users for additions, synchronizes changes with Intune to license users, and enables users to enroll their devices.

Microsoft Digital makes the following recommendations for Cloud User Sync monitoring:

Use delta user discovery and incremental updates. When delta discovery is enabled in AD User Discovery settings, and incremental updates are selected in the collection settings, updates are synchronized more often. This ensures that licensing new users and removing licenses for disabled users occur quickly.

Use default Cloud User Sync settings. Cloud User Sync synchronizes changes, such as when new users who have been added to the collection are licensed and enabled for enrollment or when the Intune license is revoked for users who have been removed from the collection. By default, synchronization occurs every five minutes and is a minimal burden on the Configuration Manager hierarchy and network.

Monitor the following Intune Connector log files:

Dmpdownloader.log to monitor policy changes that are downloaded from Intune to Configuration Manager

Dmpuploader.log to monitor policy changes that are uploaded to Intune from Configuration Manager

Cloudusersync.log to monitor user licensing in Intune

Use the CloudUserID field in the User_Disc table in Configuration Manager to identify whether users are licensed:

Null indicates that a user is not licensed to enroll devices.

All zero GUID indicates that a user was previously licensed but is no longer a member of the user licensing collection.

Non-zero GUID indicates that a user is licensed to enroll devices.

Users do not have to be licensed separately for each device. When a user is licensed, he or she is licensed for up to 20 devices.

Device enrollment

In addition to configuring the MDM architecture, Microsoft Digital had to plan the user experience as part of its deployment. It wanted to ensure that the process for enrolling devices had these characteristics:

It provides a good user experience, where users can enroll their devices, gain access to the Company Portal, and install LOB applications with minimal user intervention.

It enables users to become productive quickly with LOB apps by providing a seamless SSO installation. AD FS enables Microsoft users to use the same credentials (their corporate user ID, email account, and network password), regardless of device.

When a user enrolls a device, Microsoft Digital collects general information about the device, such as the manufacturer and any LOB apps that are installed from the Company Portal (but not from the Microsoft Store). The Company Portal is a required app for every newly enrolled device.

Troubleshooting enrollment

Microsoft Digital experienced enrollment failures because some users had a non-standard User Principle Name (UPN). The enrollment process is based on a user’s UPN, but the UPN of some Microsoft users deviated from the standard naming convention and also differed from their user alias. To resolve this issue, Microsoft Digital created a DNS redirection.

Because there are no client logs for enrollment troubleshooting, Microsoft Digital needed to take a systematic approach to troubleshooting.

Microsoft Digital recommends that the following issues be verified when troubleshooting general device enrollment issues:

The Admin has configured MDM.

The Admin has enabled enrollment for specific device types.

The Admin has provisioned the user for mobile device enrollment.

The user is not trying to enroll several devices at the same time and has not enrolled more than 20 mobile devices in the system.

For Windows Phone 8.1 devices, the code signing certificate is configured properly.

For iOS devices, the Apple Push Notification Service certificate is configured and hasn’t expired, and the device is running iOS v5.0 or later.

Enrollment lessons learned

Microsoft Digital learned lessons from a few issues that occurred during the enrollment process, particularly regarding user education requirements:

Users were concerned about the type of information that Microsoft Digital could see and collect about their personal devices. Microsoft Digital needed to reassure users that it collects only general information about the device itself (such as the manufacturer) and any LOB apps that are installed from the Company Portal—and that it collects no personal information, such as phone numbers, personal apps, or apps that are installed from the Microsoft Store.

Users were sometimes confused about differences in the enrollment process for the various mobile devices platforms (for example, one platform might have additional screens for adding management profiles on the device). To address this issue, Microsoft Digital documented the enrollment process for each device and made this documentation available through the company support website, ITWeb.

Policy and security configuration

To help ensure that corporate security was maintained while also providing a good end-user experience, Microsoft Digital had to coordinate with the following Microsoft teams:

The Microsoft Security team, to define the policies that would enforce Microsoft corporate compliance settings on mobile devices, such as password policy and encryption settings.

The Exchange team, to align policy settings between Exchange ActiveSync (EAS) and MDM.

Microsoft Digital took advantage of default compliance rules for mobile devices that are built into Configuration Manager. It created new configuration items (CIs) for mobile devices (different CIs for each device type, to make troubleshooting easier) and added built-in compliance rules whose values are based on Microsoft Digital security requirements (see Table 1). It then created a configuration baseline for those CIs and targeted the configuration baseline to the collection of mobile devices.