How to enable Developer Mode on Windows 10 Mobile Technical Preview

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As at May 5 2015, Windows 10 Mobile Technical Preview, OS Version 10.0.12534.59 with Visual Studio 2015 RC running on Windows 10 build 10074. 

Hopefully this will save you some time as the UX for enabling Developer Mode is not yet implemented on the current build of Windows 10 Mobile Tech Preview.

You can get the developer preview for Windows Phone 10 by signing up at to the Windows Insider Program, see https://preview.windows.com.

Step 4 is key to success, be sure to the Windows.Universal framework min and max versions.

 
 

This summary is taken from https://msdn.microsoft.com/library/windows/apps/xaml/dn706236.aspx 

 
 

  1. Windows 10 Phone: Register your phone to enable developer mode using the existing Windows Phone 8.1 tools

     
     

  • Use gpedit to enable your device

    • Open a cmd prompt with administrator privileges.

    • Run Gpedit.msc.

    • Go to Local Computer Policy > Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > App Package Deployment

    • Edit the policies to enable the following:

      • Allow all trusted apps to install (Enables your device for sideloading apps)
      • Allows development of Windows Store apps and installing them from an integrated development environment (IDE) (Enables your device for development from Visual Studio)

    • Reboot your machine.

       
       

  1. Use PowerShell to enable your device

    1. Run Windows PowerShell with administrator privileges.
    2. Run the following command: PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\AppModelUnlock" /t REG_DWORD /f /v "AllowDevelopmentWithoutDevLicense" /d "1"
    3. Run this command too: PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\AppModelUnlock" /t REG_DWORD /f /v "AllowAllTrustedApps" /d "1"

     
     

  2. In the Package.appxmanifest file (reference https://stackoverflow.com/questions/29991693/cant-deploy-blank-universal-app-to-phone-with-windows-10-mobile-tech-preview)

 
 

Change the existing min and max version numbers to the following

 
 

<Dependencies>

<TargetDeviceFamily Name="Windows.Universal" MinVersion="10.0.1.0" MaxVersionTested="10.0.1.0" />

</Dependencies>