More than a month back, I presented you with a way to install and run Windows XP Embedded Studio Tool Suite on Windows Vista. I said it then and I am going to do it again, at the chance of repeating myself that Windows XP Embedded SP2 Feature Pack 2007 contains all the technical documentation you will ever need, being also a great resource that should be used accordingly.

The problems I want to address today are related to the functionality of the Windows XP Embedded Studio Tools in Windows Vista. Target Designer, Component Designer, or Component Database Manager will not integrate seamlessly with Vista. In fact, Vista will continually prompt you with error messages.

Here is an example: "target Designer cannot log on to the component database on "SoftpediaTest-PC". Possible causes; the database is already opened by another user in exclusive mode, or the database does not exist on server, or you do not have permission to access the database."

But what if none of the above is the case. Well, with Windows Vista, this exception can occur simply because of the User Account Control. "There are many ways to work around UAC. The simplest workaround is running the tools as the administrator from the Start orb: Click on the Start orb, Type the name of the tool, e.g., Target Designer, in the Search box, Hold - and hit , Click Continue or Allow," revealed Cuong Pham, Product Manager with the Windows XP Embedded Team.

Alternatively, you will be able to create a shortcut to the tools and in the Compatibility Tab accessible via right click, check the "Run this program as an administrator box."

"Yet another workaround is executing a couple of stored procedures to grant full access to the component database to a particular user such as yourself:

Run sqlcmd as Administrator on your system where the component database resides - Execute
EXEC sp_grantlogin ''
EXEC sp_addsrvrolemember '', 'sysadmin'
where is your domain and your username
Exit sqlcmd - Run the Embedded Studio tools as usual," added Cuong Pham.