Install .Net Compact Framework 2.0 on Storage Card? ... No and Yes!

EDIT: Yes, you can. Microsoft have shipped .net Compact Framework 2.0 SP1 with 'install to Storage Card' support.

The Update can be downloaded HERE.

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(old post)

There has been a number of applications requiring the .Net Compact Framework 2.0 to be installed on the device. And, more applications that require this would certainly be coming out in the near future. But the seeming problem to this is that installing the .net compact framework 2.0 takes up about 5.4MB of your precious internal memory. Now, that could be very unappealing to most device owners, and hence, could b a big turn-off to many! I, for one, has always been too conscious in keeping my Storage memory at least 20MB free.

Inasmuch as we want to keep installing applications on the Storage memory to the minimum, we cannot forego with the fact that sooner or later, many applications would be requiring the .net compact framework 2.0 to be installed on our devices, and hence, we will be forced to reserve around 5.4MB of our internal memory for this.

So, the question now arises... Can we install the .Net Compact Frawmework 2.0 on the Storage Card instead?

The answer is NO. Even if you choose to install on the Storage Card during the installation process, the files would (by default) be installed on the \Windows directory.

But, Yes, there's a workaround to that!

I read in the forum of Pocket PC Thoughts that somebody named Menneisyys has done a "hack" that enables you to "relocate" the .NetCF files from the \Windows directory to a directory on your Storage Card!

How? Read it HERE.

I did the hack based on his article, and it really worked! I could now run (and create my own, hehe) applications that requires .Net Compact Framework 2.0 with the common language runtimes and class libraries "stored" on my Storage Card.

For those who dares to try out the "hack", i suggest you edit your device registry on your PC using a remote registry editor. It will save you one big headache! =)

Menneisyys, you're a saviour! :-)