[Tilt, TyTN II, MDA Vario III Themes and Apps] joel2009:
Documenting Microsoft Voice Command (MSVC) functionality has proved to be a lengthy (and tricky!) proposition. There are many scattered posts out there as to how to install and configure it. I hope to bring as much information as I can to this central location. I will also offer some custom tools to overcome some of the current limitations of MSVC. For information on what MSVC is, or basic information on how to use it, please refer to the official Microsoft site for MSVC here

There are several steps to get MSVC working; generally they fall into the following categories:

Obtaining MSVC (or locating an installed copy)

Installing/Upgrading MSVC

Testing Basic MSVC functionality

Mapping a button to MSVC

Configuring the BT headset

Configuring Incoming Call Announcements

Obtaining MSVC:

Use a ROM with MSVC already installed – This is probably the best way to do it. In many cases if you have ROM with MSVC already installed you hopefully won’t need most of this guide. Official ROMS with MSVC should work out of the box. In addition, most cooks who include MSVC spend some time ensuring that it works. You may still want to refer to the guide to tweak or optimize your MSVC installation.

Purchase a copy of MSVC – If you don’t have a ROM with MSVC installed, you can purchase a copy from various online vendors. Be aware that the retail versions of MSVC currently for sale may not function fully on newer Windows Mobile devices.

Download a copy of MSVC – You can download a copy of MSVC from this guide or another location. The legality of downloading copies of MSVC has been much disputed and more information on that below.

MSVC Versions

RETAIL VERSIONS:

1.5 – There are retails version of MSVC 1.5. These are very outdated, and will not work on Windows Mobile 6.0+ devices. I will not discuss them here

1.6.4622 - Retail localized versions (available in US, UK, and French versions). Should work on WM 6.0 but WITHOUT incoming announcements.

1.6.17913 - Updated retail US version. Should work with some WM 6.0 and 6.1 builds.

EMBEDDED VERSIONS:

1.6.19209 - Embedded WM 6.0 US version, not available for retail. Should work with most WM 6.0 and 6.1 builds. RECOMMENDED FOR 6.0 devices.

1.6.19213 – Updated WM 6.1 US version. Should work with newest 6.1 builds. RECOMMENDED FOR 6.1 devices.

1.6.19214 – Latest WM 6.1 US version. Should work with newest 6.1 builds. RECOMMENDED FOR 6.1 devices.

You will note that the Microsoft has not release a retail version since 1.6.17913. Unfortunately most 6.0 and 6.1 device will not work without at least version 1.6.19209 or newer. This has left the user community in a difficult position: User’s cannot buy a working version, but the legality of obtaining an updated version has been put into question.

With the latest HTC official ROM release for the Kaiser, MSVC is included. Because of this many accept that MSVC is now in the public domain for usage, since anyone can download this ROM.

In reality, you should probably be an AT&T customer or own a retail version of MSVC in order to use the newer non-retail versions.

Below are downloadable copies of non-retail MSVC versions below. These CABs were created by packaging the appropriate embedded files and registry entries from the various test and official ROMs that HTC/AT&T has released and that are available for download elsewhere on this forum.

NOTE: I have not been able to find any discernable differences between the functionality of .19209, .19213, and .19214. In fact, I continue to use .19209 because of this. This guide was written with 1.6.19209 in mind.

Download MSVC 1.6.19209​

Download MSVC 1.6.19213​

Download MSVC 1.6.19214​

Notes on Older Versions, Methods, and Hacks

This information is provided for informational purposes only. It is not recommended that you use these older methods, but rather run one of the newer MSVC versions.

Version 1.60.4622 (Localized versions) has been tested to work but WITHOUT incoming announcements (either to phone or BT). To get incoming announcements to work you can replace the voicecmd.exe with the version from 1.6.17913 or 1.6.19209.

The file voicecommandreplacementfiles.zip that is circulating is simply a set of 4 files from version 1.6.17913. Copying these over your current installation in effect upgrades it to that version. There should be no need to apply those files if you are running 1.6.17913 or above.

The older methods of updating the audio gateway and using xcsdm's BTVoiceCommand (the 0.9f hack) do not seem to be valid for the Kaiser. Covering these methods is out of scope of this guide, but you can find more information by searching xda-developers and looking at info for other devices like the Hermes. Check out the section on MSVC here

How to Determine MSVC Version

To determine which version of MSVC is running on a device, do the following:

Go to Start > Settings > Personal Tab > Voice Command

This is the Voice Command settings applet. Open the applet to see the version number you are running.

Installing/Upgrading MSVC

Installing MSVC is as simple as running the CAB to install.

NOTE: Always install MSVC to your device's internal system memory, not to an external storage card.

In general MSVC will be installed in one of two locations:

\Windows – This is common on devices using ROMS with MSVC already built-in.

\Program Files\Voice Command – This is common on devices where MSVC has been installed separately from a .CAB file. Most retail versions will install in this method, as well as the embedded CABs offered for download from this guide. This method is preferred, as it isolates the MSVC files and allows for easier upgrading.

Once MSVC is installed, you should

reboot your device

and then follow the instructions above for determining MSVC version to see if it installed.

To upgrade MSVC you should first uninstall the old version and reboot before attempting to install the newer version.

Unfortunately, if you have a ROM with MSVC built-in it may impossible to upgrade

. This is because ROMs with MSVC built-in have files which cannot be overwritten, as they are burned into the ROM. All of MSVC can be placed in alternate locations except for the Voice Command applet in Settings. This must always be placed in the \Windows directory. As most ROMs place their MSVC files in the \Windows directory, you can attempt to install one of the non-retail versions offered in this guide. This would mean that you would be using the old applet file, and MSVC may function improperly, or not at all. For more information, see the additional information section.