The Xbox One dev kit comes with a preinstalled version of the Xbox One operating system (OS), but this OS should be updated with the latest releases as they appear, including on first use of the dev kit. The process described is also used for system recovery, to reset the content of the console memory and hard drive.
| Before you install any software to your development PC, consider creating a system restore point. |
To set up the software environment for developing titles complete the procedures described in the following sections, usually in the order presented, though, where noted, they may need to be followed out of order.
- Check the Release Notes for Setup Issues
- Install Visual Studio
- Install the Xbox One XDK on your Development Computer
- Select Dev Kit Mode
- Setting the Default Console IP Address or HostName
- Download the Latest OS Image for the dev kit
- Load Console Tools
- Enable debugging on Windows 7
- Side-by-Side Installations
Check the Release Notes for Setup Issues
Before following the procedures described in this topic, see "Setup Issues" in the Xbox One Release Notes.
If you have any setup issues, see Troubleshooting Common Issues in the Xbox One XDK.
Install Visual Studio
If you have not done so already, install Visual Studio 2012 on your development PC. This is the primary development tool for Xbox One applications, and the Xbox One XDK supports both Visual Studio Professional 2012 and Visual Studio Ultimate 2012; both the RTM version and the latest Update versions are supported. The latest update is recommended, and is required for some tasks including Visual Studio Graphics Debugging, and the ADK.
Visual Studio 2012 Professional is available for download from Xbox One XDK Software Downloads on Game Developer Network (GDN).
Install the Xbox One XDK on your Development Computer
It is no longer necessary to manually uninstall a previous version of the XDK before installing the latest version. Uninstalling the previous version is now handled automatically by the installation process. However, if you get any unexplained behavior (such as missing files that setup should have installed, older versions of files still present after they should have been upgraded, and similar issues) after an automatic upgrade, then manually uninstalling your current XDK, before installing the latest XDK, is the recommended approach. Manually uninstall by using the Uninstall a program option in Control Panel in Windows.
From Xbox One XDK Software Downloads on GDN, download the XDK and documentation to your development PC.
Installing the Xbox One XDK also installs project templates for Visual Studio that are designed for development of games and applications for Xbox One. For more information about the templates, see Project Templates in Visual Studio for Xbox One Development.
If you are an advanced user, you may want to install the XDK from a command prompt or build script; for more information about doing so, see Silent Installation of the XDK. You might also need to integrate specific files into your build system without installing the full XDK, which you can do by extracting the files as described in Manual Extraction of the XDK Payload.
In some advanced scenarios, you might not have Visual Studio and the XDK installed on a build machine, in which case, you must install the XVD driver as described in Manual Installation of the XVD Driver.
| If at any time you need to uninstall Visual Studio, you must first uninstall the Xbox One XDK. |
Select Dev Kit Mode
The Xbox One dev kit has two modes, Retail and Dev Kit. In Retail mode, the console is in the state that any customer or user of an Xbox One console would find: you can play games and run apps as a user. In Dev Kit mode, you can develop software for the console. When you receive a new console it will be in retail mode. You will need to follow these steps to convert the console to Dev Kit mode.
- Setup and turn on the new console and complete the initial setup (“Out-of-Box-Experience”) including updating the console to the latest recovery version.
- When prompted to sign in, use a retail account not a dev account.
- After you have completed the initial setup and the update process you will land on the Home page.
- Using the controller, navigate to My games & apps.
- Launch Settings.
- Navigate to System.
- On the controller press, in order, the Left Bumper, the Right Bumper, the Left Trigger, then the Right Trigger to bring up the Developer Settings title.
- Select Developer Settings.
- Check the Enable devkit box.
- Restart your console.
- After the console has rebooted, you will see the Home page.
- At this point you should either set the HostName of the console or record the Tools IP. To record the Tools IP use the controller to navigate to the My Games & apps, then select Settings then select Developer Settings.
- Now follow the steps in Setting the default console IP address, Download the Latest OS Image for the dev kit, and Load Console Tools.
Refer to the Provisioning a Development Kit section, if you are unable to select Dev Kit mode.
To switch back to Retail mode, simply disable Dev Kit mode.
Setting the Default Console IP Address or HostName
The Dev PC tools for working with the dev kit use either an IP address or (from the March 2014 XDK) a HostName to connect to the dev kit. You can configure a default IP address or HostName for the tools to use for connection, and you can override this default by specifying a different IP address or HostName when you execute one of the tools.
To set a default address for installing the OS and for the remote tools, or to query for the currently configured IP address, type one of the following in an Xbox One XDK Command Prompt window.
xbconnect Tools IP address, or
xbconnect hostname
For more information on the HostName option, refer to Setting a Hostname.
For more details of this command refer to Connect (xbconnect.exe).
For more information about the remote tools, see Remote Console Tools.
Download the Latest OS Image for the dev kit
If necessary, refer to the section: Setting the default console IP address.
On your development PC, open the following link to Xbox One XDK Software Downloads
- Download the XboxOneUpdate.zip file containing the latest version of the OS image.
- Extract the files in the XboxOneUpdate.zip file into a folder.
- Open an Xbox One XDK Command Prompt, and run Connect (xbconnect.exe) to ensure that the correct IP address of the dev kit is selected as the default.
- Either navigate in Windows to the folder where you extracted the OS image, and run XboxOneUpdate.bat, or navigate to the folder in the XDK Command Prompt and run XboxOneUpdate.bat from there. This will take 5 to 10 minutes to complete.
For information on some specific recovery scenarios (loss of devkit certificate, loss of power on the console, for example), refer to the white paper:
For information on some offline recovery options and system diagnostics, refer to Offline System Update Diagnostic Tool .
Load Console Tools
From the February 2014 XDK the provisioning of the console with the required and optional tools is now done by XboxOneUpdate.bat, so there is no need to run Provision (xbprovision.exe). The exception to this is when a factory reset is done on the console (by selecting Restore factory defaults from the Settings / System page), in which case the tools should be re-installed with a call to Provision (xbprovision.exe).
The tools loaded will vary with the release of the XDK, but can include Game OS, VoiceStudio, SpeechLab, PIX Analysis Engine, nuiview, and vgbview. The tools will be available on the console under My games & apps.
Enable debugging on Windows 7
To enable Visual Studio debugging on a development PC running Windows 7, Windows hotfix 2588507 must be installed. This update is not required if your development computer runs Windows 8 or later. The XDK installs this hotfix automatically if it is not already installed.
Side-by-Side Installations
The recovery and the ADK/XDK are no longer tightly paired, but some variations now work together. This section details which recovery/XDK/ADK combinations are supported. In general, a given XDK can be used with any newer recovery but not the other way around.
ADK/XDK side-by-side
- The February 2014 XDK and the February 2014 ADK may be installed side-by-side on the same machine. These two kits can be installed and uninstalled in any order.
- The August 2013 XDK QFE3+ may be installed side-by-side with the February 2014 ADK, but with restrictions:
- The August 2013 XDK QFE3+ must be installed before the February 2014 ADK can be installed.
- The February 2014 ADK must be uninstalled before the August 2013 XDK QFE3+ can be uninstalled.
- No pre-February 2014 ADK can be installed side-by-side with the February 2014 XDK.
Supported Recovery OS/ADK/XDK combinations
- The February 2014 ADK can be used with the February 2014 recovery. The February 2014 ADK cannot be used with older recoveries.
- The February 2014 XDK can be used with the February 2014 recovery. The February 2014 XDK cannot be used with older recoveries.
- The October 2013 ADKs can be used with the February 2014 recovery, for example when updating an app built on the October 2013 ADK.
- The August 2013 XDK QFE3+ can be used with the February 2014 recovery, for example when updating a title built on the August 2013 XDK.
Installation Scenarios
This section describes some common side-by-side installation scenarios. Follow the complete instructions in this document, but ensure the ordering matches that described here.
If you are using both the February XDK and ADK
If the XDK and ADK are going to be used on the same console the following steps must be used to provision the console.
If the ADK and XDK are installed on the same development computer:
- Install the XDK.
- Install the ADK.
- Install the February Recovery: run the XboxOneUpdate script to update the Console OS.
If the ADK and XDK are installed on different development computer:
- Install the XDK on PC1.
- Install the ADK on PC2.
- Install the February Recovery from the XDK PC1: run the XboxOneUpdate script to update the Console OS. This step must be performed on the XDK PC, or the console will be missing the era.xvd.
If you are using the August 2013 XDK and the February 2014 ADK
If the ADK and XDK are installed on the same development computer:
- Install the XDK.
- Install the ADK.
- Install a Recovery console OS that either matches the version of the ADK, or is more recent.
- Run Provision (xbprovision.exe) from either an XDK command prompt or an ADK command prompt.
Setup will enforce that the XDK is installed before the ADK in this scenario. If you install the ADK first, the XDK setup will prevent installation afterwards and you will be required to uninstall the ADK, install the XDK, then re-install the ADK.
If the ADK and XDK are installed on different development computers:
- Install the XDK on PC1.
- Install the ADK on PC2.
- Install a Recovery console OS that either matches the version of the ADK, or is more recent.
- Run Provision (xbprovision.exe) from either an XDK command prompt on the PC that has the XDK installed.
- Run Provision (xbprovision.exe) from either an ADK command prompt on the PC that has the ADK installed.
Both steps 4 and 5 must be performed or the console will be missing the era.xvd or have an older version of the systemtools.xvd. The order of steps 4 and 5 is important in this scenario. The ADK will ship with a version of systemtools.xvd that is equal to or newer than the version in the XDK. Running xbprovision from the ADK after running xbprovision from the ADK ensures that the more recent version of systemtools.xvd will be deployed to the console.
Enable Profiling Mode
Profiling Mode is a development kit configuration that provides additional system reserved memory to PIX, and other profiling tools, when a title is running on the Game OS. For more details refer to Profiling Mode. Profiling Mode can be set from within PIX or with the Configuration (xbconfig.exe) tool from the command line.
To enable Profiling Mode
There are several ways to set Profiling Mode:
- In the Xbox One XDK command prompt, run the following command:
xbconfig ProfilingMode=on
- In the command prompt, reboot the console using Reboot (xbreboot.exe). After the console has rebooted, Profiling Mode will be enabled.
Alternatively navigate to the Developer settings page on the console, and check the Enable profiling for game OS titles box.