Windows Mobile Device Center (WMDC) problems on Windows 10/11

We have discovered that Windows Mobile Device Center does not work correctly on some Windows 10/11 installations, and in some cases, a working installation can stop working after Windows Updates.  This is apparently due to internal changes to some Windows 10/11 services by Microsoft.

We have found that this issue can often be resolved by changing two values in the Windows registry.

Open the command line as an administrator and run these two commands, one at a time:

  • REG ADD HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\RapiMgr /v SvcHostSplitDisable /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
  • REG ADD HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WcesComm /v SvcHostSplitDisable /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

After running these two commands, reboot your PC. Windows Mobile Device Center should now work, or work again.

Another possible solution, if Windows Mobile Device Center used to work, but has stopped working after Windows Updates, is to un-install Windows Mobile Device Center and then re-install it.