diff --git a/Laerdal.Dfu/Laerdal.Dfu.csproj b/Laerdal.Dfu/Laerdal.Dfu.csproj
index 267b0d1..b2e745f 100644
--- a/Laerdal.Dfu/Laerdal.Dfu.csproj
+++ b/Laerdal.Dfu/Laerdal.Dfu.csproj
@@ -12,10 +12,17 @@
 
     <!-- ==================== TARGET FRAMEWORKS GROUP ===================== -->
     <PropertyGroup>
+
+        <!-- - note that we build against net8.0 merely as a dud-placeholder for windows in which we are bound to get not-implemented exceptions all over the place    -->
+        <!-- - the dud build for net8 also comes in handy when we want to launch an application inside an ios-simulator in the macos desktop (for UI testing purposes) -->
+
+        <PackageVersionPostfix Condition=" '$(BuildOnlyDudNet8)' == 'true' ">-force-dud</PackageVersionPostfix>
+
         <TargetFrameworks>$(TargetFrameworks)net8.0;</TargetFrameworks>
-        <TargetFrameworks>$(TargetFrameworks)net8.0-ios;</TargetFrameworks>
-        <TargetFrameworks>$(TargetFrameworks)net8.0-android;</TargetFrameworks>
-        <TargetFrameworks>$(TargetFrameworks)net8.0-maccatalyst</TargetFrameworks>
+        <TargetFrameworks Condition=" '$(BuildOnlyDudNet8)' != 'true' ">$(TargetFrameworks)net8.0-ios;</TargetFrameworks>
+        <TargetFrameworks Condition=" '$(BuildOnlyDudNet8)' != 'true' ">$(TargetFrameworks)net8.0-android;</TargetFrameworks>
+        <TargetFrameworks Condition=" '$(BuildOnlyDudNet8)' != 'true' ">$(TargetFrameworks)net8.0-maccatalyst</TargetFrameworks>
+
     </PropertyGroup>
 
     <!-- =================== TARGET FRAMEWORK DETECTION ===================== -->
diff --git a/Laerdal.Dfu/Laerdal.targets b/Laerdal.Dfu/Laerdal.targets
index 7178570..86b57a9 100644
--- a/Laerdal.Dfu/Laerdal.targets
+++ b/Laerdal.Dfu/Laerdal.targets
@@ -121,7 +121,8 @@
 
         <!-- Apply Version parts according to packaging standards -->
         <Version>$(Laerdal_Version_Full)</Version>
-        <PackageVersion>$(Laerdal_Version_Full)</PackageVersion>
+        <!-- keep this because it is needed to generate the *-force-dud nuget packages! -->
+        <PackageVersion>$(Laerdal_Version_Full)$(PackageVersionPostfix)</PackageVersion>
 
         <AssemblyVersion>$(Laerdal_Version_Full)</AssemblyVersion>
         <AssemblyFileVersion>$(Laerdal_Version_Full)</AssemblyFileVersion>
diff --git a/Laerdal.Scripts/Laerdal.Builder.targets b/Laerdal.Scripts/Laerdal.Builder.targets
index bdc452d..813306b 100644
--- a/Laerdal.Scripts/Laerdal.Builder.targets
+++ b/Laerdal.Scripts/Laerdal.Builder.targets
@@ -24,6 +24,11 @@
         <PackageOutputPath Condition=" '$(PackageOutputPath)' == '' ">$(BUILD_ARTIFACTSTAGINGDIRECTORY)</PackageOutputPath>
         <PackageOutputPath Condition=" '$(PackageOutputPath)' == '' ">$([System.IO.Path]::Combine($(MSBuildThisFileDirectory), `..`, `Artifacts/`))</PackageOutputPath>
 
+        <Laerdal_Script_FolderPath>$(MSBuildThisFileDirectory)</Laerdal_Script_FolderPath>
+        
+        <Laerdal_RootDirectory_Folderpath>$([System.IO.Path]::Combine( '$(Laerdal_Script_FolderPath)', '..' ))</Laerdal_RootDirectory_Folderpath>
+        <Laerdal_RootDirectory_Folderpath>$([System.IO.Path]::GetFullPath( '$(Laerdal_RootDirectory_Folderpath)' ))</Laerdal_RootDirectory_Folderpath>
+
         <Laerdal_Source_Branch Condition="                    '$(Laerdal_Source_Branch)'                    == '' ">$(BUILD_SOURCEBRANCH)</Laerdal_Source_Branch>
         <Laerdal_Repository_Path Condition="                  '$(Laerdal_Repository_Path)'                  == '' ">$(BUILD_REPOSITORY_NAME)</Laerdal_Repository_Path>
         <Laerdal_Dependency_Tracker_Server_Url Condition="    '$(Laerdal_Dependency_Tracker_Server_Url)'    == '' ">https://dep-tracker.laerdal.com/api/api/v1/bom</Laerdal_Dependency_Tracker_Server_Url>
@@ -85,7 +90,10 @@
         </PropertyGroup>
         
         <!-- RUN -->
-        <MSBuild Projects="$(Laerdal_Project)" Properties="$(_Laerdal_Build_Parameters)" Targets="Restore;Build"/>
+        <MSBuild Projects="$(Laerdal_Project)" Targets="Restore;Build" Properties="$(_Laerdal_Build_Parameters)" />
+
+        <!-- -force-dud build aiming just pure net8 without bindings   this is meant for desktop simulators of android and ios for ui testing purposes of apps -->
+        <MSBuild Projects="$(Laerdal_Project)" Targets="Restore;Rebuild" Properties="$(_Laerdal_Build_Parameters);BuildOnlyDudNet8=true;SourceRoot=$(Laerdal_RootDirectory_Folderpath)/Laerdal.Dfu/;" />
     </Target>
 
     <!-- GITHUB RELEASE -->
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index f7aaa42..1e40eb9 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -22,3 +22,23 @@ git clone https://github.com/Laerdal/Laerdal.Dfu.git
 ```bash
 dotnet msbuild Laerdal.Scripts/Laerdal.Builder.targets /m:1 /p:Laerdal_Version=9.0.x.0 /p:Laerdal_Github_Access_Token=<place your github access token here - its needed by carthage>
 ```
+
+## Known issues
+
+- Trying to use the iOS/Android flavours of this library in desktop-simulators for iOS/Android will probably result in compilation errors. If you want to perform general purpose
+  UI-testing on your desktop using such simulators you need to tweak your nuget references to use the `-force-dud` nuget of `Laerdal.Dfu` like so:
+
+```xml
+<PackageReference Include="Laerdal.Dfu" Version="x.y.z-force-dud">
+    <NoWarn>$(NoWarn);NU1605</NoWarn>
+</PackageReference>
+```
+
+Alternatively you can achieve the same result by overriding the reference to `Laerdal.Dfu.Bindings.iOS` like so (note: this solution is only applicable for iOS and will work only
+for iOS sdk 18.x or below!):
+
+```xml
+<PackageReference Include="Laerdal.Dfu.Bindings.iOS" Version="x.y.z-ios-sim-arm64">
+  <NoWarn>$(NoWarn);NU1605</NoWarn>
+</PackageReference>
+```