Deploying and Debugging Windows 8 Apps on Microsoft Surface

Good testing is important when developing applications. So before you publish an app for Windows 8, it could make sense to test the performance and look and feel on a Surface RT device. As a developer using Visual Studio 2012 it is pretty easy to do this. With Visual Studio Remote Debugger Tools you can deploy and debug your application. Also this is the only way I know, to deploy an app to a Surface RT device without using the Microsoft Store.

Small Overview

The following is a small overview of how it works

1. Download Visual Studio 2012 Remote Debugger Tools

Power your Surface and download the tools for ARM devices and install it
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=30674

2. Start Remote Debugger

Search in your apps on your surface and start Remote Debugger

4. See Remote Debugger is running

You should note the name and the port for Visual Studio configuration.

5. Deploy and debug

Now you can switch to your developer machine and configure Visual Studio to deploy and debug on your surface device.

Expiration Date of Your Developer License

When your developer license on the Surface has been expired, you need to update the registration in the following way
– Start Powershell as Administrator
– Enter the following command: Show-WindowsDeveloperLicenseRegistration
This can also be useful, if you get the message: “Found 0 connections on my subnet.” in Remote Debugger Connections
Still no luck? Maybe it will help to switch your Wifi access point on and off -> works for me

More information

A good starting point with more detailed information can be found here…

http://msdn.microsoft.com/de-de/library/vstudio/bt727f1t.aspx