An ActiveSync (Exchange Access) Desktop 'Client'

A momentary break in the normal animal-related posts to archive a little tech tip.

I was recently in Hong Kong in a network environment where my Blackberry did not work and that didn't allow VPN access out. So, I was stuck without access to work email.

Since I had free time on my hands, I did a bit of finagling and was able to get access from my laptop (running Vista Enterprise) to my corporate mail via Exchange ActiveSync (the mobile email service that the iPhone and Windows Mobile devices use for access).

The basic setup is a smartphone (PocketPC) emulator running Windows Mobile running under Vista. This is fairly simple to setup.

Here's what you need:

-Virtual PC (to provide virtual network interface driver for the smartphone emulator).
-Device Emulator with Windows Mobile OS images. This is 2 separate downloads, but both are accessible from the same page.

Once you have these installed, start up the PocketPC (cold boot) image. Then, do the following:

1. Go to the Start button and go to Settings.
2. Choose the Connections tab and go to Network Cards.
3. Select the 'Virtual Ethernet Intermediate Miniport' adapter.
4. Start up IE, and browse the Interpipez to make sure you have connectivity.
5. Go to the Start button and choose Messaging.
6. Go to Tools and New Account.
7. From here, you'll enter the settings that you would enter if you were setting up an actual Windows Mobile smart phone. Keep in mind your server must have Active Sync enabled on Exchange for this to work.

This worked well for me in my situation, and it was nice to have access to the full laptop keyboard. Much more convenient than sending mail on a smartphone.

One minor potential gotcha. The network I was on had a captive portal for wireless access. So, you'll need to get through this first on the emulator before mail will work.