Q:

How to get started with windows phone SDK 8.1? 

Situation: 
I am running windows 7 professional and I am trying to start developing windows phone 8.1 application.  I have downloaded :

VS2013_RTM_DskExp_ENU.iso that is Microsoft Visual studio 2013 Express RTM.  
Since this is RTM update and windows phone 8.1 developement needs 2 RC updated, I downloaded VS2013.2 RC.exe, which is online installer for the update mentioned.  To download the full local installation package (3.43 GB), I ran E:/vs/"VS2013.2 RC.exe" /layout on command line. 

For installation:

I first installed Microsoft Visual studio 2013 Express RTM
Then 2 RC update.  

Both of them installed sucessfully with no errors.  But when I open Visual Studio 2013>VS Express 2013 for Desktop from start menu, and File>New Project>Installed>Templates>Visual C#, there is no option for windows phone development.  That is what I want.  

Question: How can I get the options to develop windows phone 8.1 in visual studio 2013 express using C#? 

A:

Windows 8.1 is required to develop for Windows Phone 8.1
From the SDK download page: 

For Windows Phone development:

Windows Phone 8.0 development requires Windows 8.1 (x64) or higher    
Windows Phone 8.1 development requires Windows 8.1 (x86) or higher   
For the Windows Phone emulators, Windows 8.1 (x64) Professional
  edition or higher, and a processor that supports Client Hyper-V and
  Second Level Address Translation (SLAT)

