Windows SDK and emulator archive

This archive contains SDK releases and updates for earlier Windows and Windows Phone platform versions, as well as emulator releases supporting development and UX testing for mobile device experiences.

For the latest editions of Visual Studio and the Windows 10 developer tools, see Downloads and tools for Windows.

Windows 10, version 20H2 is a scoped set of features for select performance improvements and quality enhancements. Developers should be aware of this release, but no action is necessary at this time.

A new Windows SDK will not be issued to accompany this version of Windows because this release doesn’t introduce new APIs. That means there’s no need to modify your project files or target a new version of Windows, and you should continue to use the Windows 10 SDK for Windows 10, version 2004. When setting the target version for your Windows app, Windows 10 build 19041 is still the most recent target version.

Windows 10

Released in conjunction with Windows 10, version 2004. Includes servicing updates 10.0.19041.685. Updated 12/16/20

• Resolved unpredictable and hard to diagnose crashes when linking both umbrella libraries and native OS libraries (for example, onecoreuap.lib and kernel32.lib)
• Resolved issue that prevented AppVerifier from working
• Resolved issue that caused WACK to fail with “Task failed to enable HighVersionLie”

See details

Release
Windows 10 SDK, version 2004 (10.0.19041.0)	INSTALL SDK	DOWNLOAD .ISO
Windows 10 SDK, version 1903 (10.0.18362.1)	Released in conjunction with Windows 10, version 1903.	INSTALL SDK	DOWNLOAD .ISO
Windows 10 SDK, version 1809 (10.0.17763.0)	Released in conjunction with Windows 10, version 1809. Includes servicing updates 10.0.17763.132. Addressed issue where Windows App Certification Kits crashes for any app that declares more than one Device Family in manifest Addressed issue where Windows App Certification Kit failed to deploy MSIX bundle Addressed issue where UWP projects that used multiple MinTargetPlatformVersions would fail with a build error related to XAML. Addressed issue where deriving from SelectorAutomationPeer in IDL raises MIDL error «Unsupported array pattern detected.» See details	INSTALL SDK	DOWNLOAD .ISO
Windows 10 SDK, version 1803 (10.0.17134.12)	Released in conjunction with the Windows 10 April Update (version 1803).	INSTALL SDK
Windows 10 SDK (10.0.16299.91) and Microsoft Emulator for Windows 10 mobile (10.0.15254.1)	Released in conjunction with the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update (version 1709).	INSTALL SDK	INSTALL EMULATOR
Windows 10 SDK (10.0.15063.468) and Microsoft Emulator for Windows 10 mobile (10.0.15254.1)	Released in conjunction with the Windows 10 Creators Update (version 1703). Addressed issue where build errors were encountered when including events.h Back ported tests to App Certification Kit Addressed issue where WinAppDeploycmd tool fails to connect to phone via USB Addressed issue where UWP Remote Deployment Pipeline silently swallows SMB exceptions. See details	INSTALL SDK	INSTALL EMULATOR
Windows 10 SDK (10.0.14393.795) and Microsoft Emulator for Windows 10 mobile (10.0.14393.0)	Released in conjunction with the Windows 10 Anniversary Edition (version 1607). This non-security update includes quality improvements. Addressed issue where developers could not build UWP apps on Windows 7 because MRMSupport.dll failed to load. Addressed issue where MidlRT and MDMerge failed to run on Windows 7 Addressed issue where SDK setup failed to install on Windows Addressed issue where deploying a legacy Store app to a 8.1 Phone caused Visual Studio to crash Addressed issue where application data was not preserved across remote debugging sessions when apps were getting un-registered.	INSTALL SDK	INSTALL EMULATOR
Windows 10 SDK (10.0.10586.212) and Microsoft Emulator for Windows 10 mobile (10.0.10586.11)	Released in conjunction with Windows 10, version 1511	INSTALL SDK	INSTALL EMULATOR
Windows 10 SDK (10.0.10240) and Microsoft Emulator for Windows 10 mobile (10.0.10240).	Released in conjunction with Windows 10, version 1507. Note: The version will display as 10.0.26624 during setup.	INSTALL SDK	INSTALL EMULATOR
Microsoft HoloLens Emulator	Run apps on Windows Holographic in a virtual machine without a HoloLens. This installation also includes holographic DirectX project templates for Visual Studio	INSTALL EMULATOR

Earlier releases

Released in October 2013, this SDK can be used to create Windows apps (for Windows 8.1 or later) using web technologies, native, and managed code; or desktop apps that use the native or managed programming model.

INSTALL SDK Windows Phone 8.1 development tools

The Windows Phone 8.1 development tools are installed with Visual Studio Community 2015 with Update 2. Features introduced in Update 2 include new emulators and universal app templates.

The Windows Phone 8.1 Emulators package adds six emulator images to an existing installation of Visual Studio 2013 so you can test how apps will work on phones running Windows Phone 8.1. (Requires Visual Studio 2013 with Update 2 or later.)

INSTALL EMULATORS Windows Phone 8.1 Update and Emulators

Supports use of emulators in test scenarios for phones running Windows Phone 8.1 Update 1. (Requires Visual Studio 2013 with Update 2 or later.)

Released in November 2012, this SDK can be used to create Windows apps (for Windows 8 or earlier) using web technologies, native, and managed code; or desktop apps that use the native or managed programming model.

Included in Visual Studio Community 2015 to support developing apps for Windows Phone 8 devices.

INSTALL VISUAL STUDIO MORE LANGUAGES Windows Phone SDK 8.0 Update 3 Emulators

Adds five new emulator images to an existing installation of Windows Phone SDK 8.0. With this update installed, you can test how your app will run on devices that have Update 3 (version 8.0.10492 or later) of Windows Phone 8. This update requires either Visual Studio 2012 with Windows Phone SDK 8.0 and Update 4 or later, or Visual Studio 2013 with the optional Windows Phone SDK 8.0 option selected during setup.

INSTALL EMULATORS MORE LANGUAGES Windows Phone SDK 8.0 Update for Windows Phone 8.0.10322 Adds four new emulator images to an existing installation of Windows Phone SDK 8.0. This update requires either Visual Studio 2012 with Windows Phone SDK 8.0 and Update 4 or later, or Visual Studio 2013 with the optional Windows Phone SDK 8.0 option selected during setup. INSTALL EMULATORS MORE LANGUAGES Windows Phone SDK Update for Windows Phone 7.8

Adds two new emulator images to an existing Windows Phone SDK installation. This update supports Windows Phone SDK 7.1 and Windows Phone SDK 8.0. With this update, use Windows Phone 8 Start screen experience in your Windows Phone 7.5 apps. You also can test how your apps will run on Windows Phone 7.8 devices.

Tools to help you develop apps for Windows Phone 7.5 and Windows Phone 7.0 devices.

Brings additional functionality to Windows Phone SDK 7.1. With this update, it’s easier to develop apps and games that are optimized to run on 256-MB devices.

INSTALL SDK MORE LANGUAGES Windows SDK for Windows 7 and .NET Framework 4

Released in June 2010, this SDK can be used to develop applications for Windows 7, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, and .NET Framework versions 2.0, 3.0, 3.5 SP1, and 4.0.

To avoid problems with installation, review this article first.

Windows Phone 8.1 ‘Blue’

Windows Phone 8.1, codenamed ‘Blue’, is the latest update to the Microsoft Windows Phone operating system. It was announced at Microsoft’s Build 2014 conference in April, with new devices like the Lumia 930 arriving later that month.

A Preview for Developers program was also announced at Build, with availability for the general public arriving on April 14th, 2014. It has been estimated that over 1.5 million devices have the 8.1 Preview installed after the first week.

All current Windows Phone 8 devices, including the Lumia 520, qualify to receive the update, which is expected to commence on July 15, though it will vary from carrier to carrier and could span 8 weeks or more.

Nokia devices are also receiving new firmware specific for Lumia phones called ‘Lumia Cyan’. This firmware comes packaged with the official Windows Phone 8.1 over-the-air update.

History and Future

Following the re-launch of Windows Phone 8 back in late 2012, the 8.1 update follows on Microsoft’s planned 18-month upgrade path for their mobile operating system. While Windows Phone 8 had three feature-adding updates during its life-cycle (‘Portico’, Update 2, Update 3), the 8.1 update is a significant overhaul of the OS.

After Windows Phone 8.1 was announced (May 2014), it is expected to receive numerous General Distribution Release (GDR) updates, finally being supplanted by a spring 2015 release of ‘Threshold’ aka Windows Phone 8.2 or Windows Phone 9. The first update for Windows Phone 8.1 should wrap development in July, with a release later that summer.

Related Coverage

Track the Lumia Cyan update releases so far on our tracker page here:

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