Enabling ICS on Windows Mobile 6

Recently I upgraded from the Samsung Blackjack to the Blackjack II. I got a great deal on it, so I figured why not upgrade? It comes with Windows Mobile 6 pre-installed, however it’s missing a key feature that I used extensively with WM5 on my original Blackjack: Internet Connection Sharing (ICS). However, thanks to the smart guys over on Howardforums, there’s an easy fix.

My blog entry on getting the modem configuration setup with WM5 so you could tether was very popular, so I thought I would share my findings for WM6. ICS with USB is very cool because if you are in a 3G area you can simultaneously 1) Charge your phone via USB 2) Tether your laptop and surf the internet 3) Send/receive text messages 4) Send/receive telephone calls. If you are not in a 3G area you are unable to send/receive voice calls while ICS is active.

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My instructions assume you use Vista, but similar steps should work on Windows XP using the Active Sync program.

1. If you haven’t already, download the Mobile Device Center 6.1 update for Vista here. This includes important device driver updates for WM6 and other fixes. They offer both 32-bit and 64-bit versions in a variety of languages. Wait for the installation to complete.
2. Connect your WM6 Blackjack or Blackjack II via USB to your PC, wait for any device drivers to install.
3. In the mobile device center, open Explorer for your device and browse to the My Documents folder.
4. Next, we need the application to unlock the phone. Download the unlocker here.
5. Copy the CAB file to your My Documents Folder on your mobile device.
6. On your mobile device, go to Start -> Applications -> File Explorer. You should be in the My Documents folder by default.
7. Scroll down and select the secpolicies file and acknowledge the warning.
8. Reboot of your phone.
9. Download the ICS enabling files here. When I downloaded the file Vista saved it with a weird file extension. If that happens to you, rename the file so it ends in CAB.
10. Copy the CAB to your phone, per step five.
11. Back in the File Explorer on your phone, select the BJ.WM6.ICS.enable file and run it. Acknowledge the warning, and notice that you now have a file called Certs in the directory.
12. Execute the Certs CAB and acknowledge any warning.
13. Reboot your phone again.
14. At the bottom of your Start Menu you should now have an Internet Sharing icon.
15. Click on the icon and make sure it is configured for USB operation and Media Net network connection.
16. Press the Connect button and after a few seconds you should get a successful connection.
17. If you want to save storage space, you can delete all of the CAB files you copied to your phone in the previous steps.

I used these steps on my BJII, and ICS now works like a charm..just like it did in WM5 on my original Blackjack. Enjoy!