Fixing Windows Mobile Device Center and your phone

That was a painful ordeal.  Apparently I got plagued with multiple problems at once which is why it was so hard to get it all working (and I didn’t want to rely on a hard reset).  I’ve put together all the possible solutions I found related to connecting Windows Mobile Device Center (ActiveSync) to your phone

Symptoms:
WMDC just hangs when you connect your device, you get a red x or error message in WMDC, or just generally not being able to connect your phone to your computer

Solution 1:
1) Connect your device
2) Go to Manager (Computer > Properties)
3) Find the Portable Devices node
4) Locate the Windows Mobile device entry
5) Choose to uninstall the driver
6) Reconnect your device

Solution 2:
1) On your phone, go to Start \ Settings \ Connections
2) Select USB to PC
3) Uncheck the box next to Enable Advanced Network Functionality

Solution 3:
Turn off your firewalls (Zonealarm, Window’s built-in firewall, Live OneCare)

Symptoms:
You can connect to WMDC, your phone even says it’s connected, but you still get a red x or error message in WMDC.  You can browse your phone and open files, but you are unable to copy, delete, move, or install files.  No applications appear in the Remove Program screen.  Missing icons in your start menu.

Solution:
1) Soft reset the device
2) Start \ Office Mobile \ Word
3) Create a new document (click on New)
4) Type some text (no formatting)
5) File \ Save As…
6) Save as Plain Text (*.txt)
7) Click No When asked whether to save as a Word document instead
8) Soft reset the device
9) Start file explorer, find the file (My Device \ My Documents), click on it
10) Add some formatting (change to bold)
11) Close Word – Click Yes when asked again whether to save as a Word format
12) Soft reset the device