I thank you all for reading this lengthy question. It's really important and I will appreciate it if you can assist me :)
The problem -------
I am have been using the Windows 7.1 SDK for about two months now. The emulator has worked without any problem so far. However, today, it began displaying this error (The saved state (Name of File).dess is corrupt. Please delete the corrupted saved state file and then retry). I had not made any significant changes to my project code, or moved any files. I had just added some Visual State animations for a button.
As it suggested, I went ahead to delete the file. I then started debugging again. However, the emulator now opened and displayed the message (Windows Phone Emulator is doing a complete OS reboot). This message was displayed for a very long time. I closed the emulator and project. Since then, I have been unable to use the emulator. I am able to code normally in Visual Studio, but I cannot test my application.
What I have tried ------
I read up on this issue and found many others who faced the same emulator issue. Following their suggestions, I have run one repair of the Windows Phone SDK 7.1. I have also tried uninstalling and then re-installing the SDK 7.1 once.
System Specifications -----
I am using Visual Studio Express 2010 for Windows Phone (Windows 7 64 bit)
I have downloaded the Windows Phone SDK 7.1 from this link: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=258412
I have read that this issue might be because of some hardware incompatibility. However, I think my machine is compatible with the emulator. Here is some information.
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
8GB RAM
Driver Model: WDM 1.1
Additional Information:
I have read that installing the 'January Update' might fix this issue. I tried downloading the update from this link: http://www.microsoft.com/enus/download/details.aspx?id=23854
However, the installer said that the update is not compatible with the product/version of the product I am using.
Usually the Repair function of the WP7.1 SDK is enough to fix all the issues. It runs the generation of the saved state of the emulator again.
Please try to delete files in %ProgramData%\Microsoft\XDE folder first (make sure you backup them somewhere else.), then run the emulator. If the emulator runs with a message "Windows Phone Emulator is doing a complete OS boot," let it boot. It takes some time though. This way you will know that the emulator actually can run on your computer. This won't generate a new saved state image, but the emulator should at least load.
Next, try installing WP7.1.1 SDK update from http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=29233. This update also installs additional 256MB emulator image besides the original 512MB image. It also generates emulator's saved states in the process, potentially fixing the issue.
If everything fails, then try these instructions to fix the saved state of the emulator:
Edit: Btw, have you tried to reboot your computer? Once this fixed the issue for me.