Toolkits and Evals
MSDN Embedded with Visual Studio
Full (not eval) toolkits for Microsoft Embedded are available via download through certain MSDN subscriptions. These MSDN subscriptions also include Microsoft's Visual Studio and a broad array of Microsoft software at a fraction of the cost if bought individually. If you already have an MSDN subscription, follow this link to see if it includes access to Microsoft Embedded.
The least expensive MSDN subscription that includes the Embedded toolkits sells for around $1200 and can be purchased through Avnet.
Toolkits
Toolkits not obtained through an MSDN subscription are delivered on disks.
WES7's toolkit consists of 3 disks, a 64 bit Install Build Wizard (IBW) disk, a 32bit Install Build Wizard (IBW) disk and an Image Configuration Editor (ICE) disk. The IBW disks are bootable disks that allow for a quick, wizard-based installation of the OS directly on the targeted system. ICE installs on a development workstation. Using ICE, the developer can customize the WES 7 image, adding drivers and configuring features.
WES2009 (XP based) has a toolkit that consists of one disk. Unlike WES7, there is no IBW. Creating a working image with of WES2009 is more complex and takes many more steps compared to WES7.
The WES toolkits sell for around $1000 and can be purchased through Avnet.
Evaluation Toolkits
The eval versions of the Windows Embedded Standard 7 (WES7) and the Windows Embedded Standard 2009 (XP based) toolkits can be downloaded from the Microsoft Embedded Website. Warning: The eval version of the toolkit has all the functionality as the non-eval. However, be aware that an image made with the eval version cannot be converted into a non-eval version. You need to start (or recreate) an image using the non-eval version of the toolkit.
How many toolkits do I need?
Per “seat†licensing of the toolkit means it can be installed on just one development system at a time, with any number of platform/ images being worked on by one or multiple people.
If you have a toolkit installed on more than one system and they are concurrently being used, they’ll each need a toolkit runtime as each one will be a “seatâ€.