Improve Windows Mobile Device Center Stability and connectivity issues in Windows 10

Microsoft has dropped support for Windows Mobile Device Center and it doesn't always function properly when using it in Windows 10. Below are some changes you can make to improve the reliability of Windows Mobile Device Center in Windows 10.

1. On your handheld device, try changing the Enable advanced network functionality setting under Start--Settings--Connections--USB to PC. If this does not resolve then move on to the below steps. You may also want to try changing this setting after completing the remaining steps if you are still having issues.
2. Enable .NET Framework 3.5. To do this copy SXS folder from Windows 10 installation ISO locally to a PC, run CMD as an Admin and type the following command: DISM /Online/Enable-Feature /FeatureName:NetFx3 /All /LimitAccess /Source:d:\sources\sxs
3. Update the Windows Mobile-2003-based device connectivity service:
   1. Open the start menu and type in Services followed by 'Enter' to launch the Services Console.
   2. Scroll down to the Windows Mobile-2003-based device connectivity service and double click to open the settings.
   3. Change Startup type to Automatic.
   4. On the Log On tab, enable the Local System Account option and enable the Allow service to interact with desktop option.
   5. On the Recovery Tab, set First failure, Second failure, and Subsequent failures to Restart the Service.
   6. Click on Apply and you will be notified this setting won't take effect until the service is restarted. 
   7. Click OK to close the window.
   8. Do not restart the service yet as you will also need to update the below service first. Proceed to step 3 below.
4. Update the Windows Mobile-based device connectivity service:
   1. Double click the Windows Mobile-based device connectivity service to open the settings for it.
   2. On the Log On tab, enable the Local System Account option and enable the Allow service to interact with desktop option.
   3. On the Recovery Tab, set First failure, Second failure, and Subsequent failures to Restart the Service.
   4. Click on Apply and you will be notified this setting won't take effect until the service is restarted. 
   5. Click OK to close the window.
   6. Right-click this service and choose Restart. This will restart the service with the new changes.
   7. Right-click the Windows Mobile-2003-based device connectivity service and choose Restart to apply its changes.
5. Two Reg keys need to be added. To do so open a Command prompt as admin and run the following commands:

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

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

6. Reboot the PC.

The reason for this:

The creators update has a new feature, related to svchost.exe, the services will not share by default the same svchost.exe.

Rapimgr and Wcescomm (Windows Mobile-based device connectivity and Windows Mobile-2003-based device connectivity) are such services: they are defined to be started in the same shared svchost.exe (-k WindowsMobile). RapiMgr creates a kernel semaphore AS_ACCEPTANCE_SEMA, because it starts first.  WcesComm tries to do this too but fails: the semaphore has been already created and should be only opened. This will fail: not enough permissions (remember: two different svchost.exe, different SID, etc).  So, wcescomm is just stopped.”

Updating the above service should improve the usability of Windows Mobile Device Center in Windows 10.

Note: Continued updates to Windows 10 can cause these changes to be reverted so they may need to be repeated after each update.