Windows Mobile not syncing?

This might be a useful tip if your ActiveSync has stopped working. I've just been reading Larry Osterman's post on his Ping of Death story and there's a comment about how ActiveSync connections create network connections in device manager.

In a fit of fortuitous timing, I've been messing around with developing on Windows Mobile, and the device emulator has just stopped working with ActiveSync (well, Windows Mobile Device Centre). Setting the DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES environment variable (I set it to 1) then running Device Manager (compmgmt.msc) and selecting "Show hidden devices" gave me a couple of Windows Mobile Devices in my Network adapters.

Sure enough, deleting these and re-cradling the emulator fired up the "installing drivers" notifications and voila! up pops Windows Mobile Device Centre and I'm in. Since I had done a hard reset and I hadn't properly set up a partnership, I've no idea if it loses any existing partnerships, but it got me working...