So you’re a student and want to develop for Microsoft technologies? Luckily our friends at Microsoft really see the potential in students and have invested heavily by providing
premium tools at no cost.

Step 1 – The key

Firstly you’ll need a DreamSpark card which has a verification code on it. The design of these cards change a good deal so don’t be concerned if the card you have you looks different.

Step 2 – Links

Navigate to https://www.dreamspark.com/Student/
Scroll to the bottom of the page and click “Create Account”

 

Step 3 – Fill in a simple form 🙂

 

Not much explaining to be done here.

Everything good? This is a breeze right?

Step 4 – Verification (Are you who you say you are?)

Quick grab your DeamSpark card!
See the 25 verification code? You do, awesome! Type those in. There is the odd chance that the code you have is no longer valid, simply request another.

Step 5 – Congratulations, Mapping and Congratulations!

You now have a DreamSpark account and access to premium Microsoft products free of charge 😀

It is now time to map (link) your DreamSpark account to a Windows Phone Dev account. Bare with me these next few steps can get extremely complicated.

Click “Map your Accounts”

You will need to sign in with your Microsoft account. Have an Outlook account? Sign in with those credentials.
Click login. You now have a Windows Phone dev account! Yeah you probably figured by now that I lied about this being complicated.

Step 6 – Publish

It’s now time for you to get your work published in the store and share your work with the world.
Sign in at www.dev.windowsphone.com