How to Create an Android Emulator in Windows

7/28/2019 How to Create an Android Emulator in Windows

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May 7, 2013 02:54 PM EDT by Avram Piltch, LAPTOP Online Editorial Director

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How to Create an Android Emulator in Windows

If you want to run an Android emulator in Windows, you have a few choices. You can configure the incredibly slow and difficult-to-use

Android SDK. Or you could try the BlueStacks emulator, which is incompatible with many important apps and doesnt provide an

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Android interface. But your best bet is create your own Android emulator that runs in a Window.

By creating a virtual machine that runs Android x86, a version of Googles OS for computers with Intel/AMD processors, you can have

the full Android experience in a window, complete with a desktop, navigation buttons and access to the Google Play store.

To create your own Android emulator that runs under Windows:

1. Download and install VirtualBox.

2. Download the latest version of Android x86 from android-x86.org. You will need the live and installation iso. As of publish

date, the latest available version was android-x86-4.2-20130228.iso.3. Launch VirtualBox.

4. Click New. A dialog box appears with fields for the name and type of operating system.

5. Enter Android x86 for name then select Linux and Other Linux under Type and Version and click Next.

6. Select at least 1024MB of RAM and click Next when prompted for memory size. If you have 8GB of RAM or more in your

computer, select 2048MB for the virtual machine.
http://www.android-x86.org/https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads


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7. Select Create a virtual hard drive and click Create when prompted to choose a drive.

8. Select VDI then click Next when prompted to choose a hard drive type.


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9. Select Dynamically allocated or Fixed Size then click Next when asked what type of drive you want to use. A fixed size

virtual hard drive will be a little faster, but will immediately eat up a certain amount of storage space on your real-life storage

drive. A dynamically allocated drive file will only use as much space as it needs and grow up to the amount you set. So, if you

have a dynamically allocated 8GB drive but only use 2GB, the file will only take up 2GB of your hard drive.

10. Select 8GB and click Create when prompted for storage size. You can choose a greater drive size if you plan to install a ton of

apps, but otherwise, 8GB should be more than enough for your emulator. An icon for Android x86 appears in VirutalBoxs left

window pane.


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11. Right click Android x86 and select Settings.

12. Set the video memory to at least 64MB under the Display submenu.


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13. Select the Optical drive under the storage submenu.

14. Click the optical drive icon under attributes and select Choose a CD/DVD disk file.


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15. Select the Android x86 ISO file you downloaded earlier then Click Ok.

16. Click Start with Android x86 selected. The virtual box will boot off the ISO file and present an install menu.

17. Select Installation from the menu.

18. Select Create /Modify Partitions and Click Ok. A partition menu appears.


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19. Select New then Primary to create a single, primary partition on your virtual hard drive. Click Enter to configure the partition to

use all available space on the virtual hard drive.

20. Select Bootable then Write and type yes to confirm. Then select Quit to return to the installation program.


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21. Click Okto install onto the partition you just created.

22. Choose ext3 when prompted for a fileystem format. Click Yes to confirm. The system will now copy some files.


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23. Click Yes when asked if you want to install GRUB.

24. Click Yes when asked if you want to install /system as read-write. This will allow you to make some hacks if you choose to in the

future. The system will now copy a few files.

25. Select Devices -> CD/DVD Devices -> Remove disk from virtual drive from VirtualBoxs top menu bar then clickForce

Unmount from the dialog box.

26. Select Reboot and click Ok. The system will boot into Android and after offering you the chance to boot to Debug or regular

mode.


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27. Step your way through Android setup as you would on any phone or tablet, entering your Google account info and changing

any settings you like. Dont configure Wi-Fi because VirtualBox already gets its Internet connection from your PC. After hitting

the Start button on the welcome screen, there may be a minute or two delay.

28. Select Disable Mouse Integration from the VirtualBox Machine menu to make sure your mouse pointer stays synced with

your movements. Use the right CTRL key to move your mouse pointer out of the VirtualBox window. Hitting Right CTRL + C

will allow you to scale the Android window as you resize it.


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Printfil capture PRN: or LPT1-9 forward it to USB or other printers

Waking the Android Emulator from sleep

While Android x86 provides a true Android experience on your PC, it has a few quirks of its own. Perhaps the most obvious of these is

that you cant wake it from sleep, simply by clicking on the emulator window. If the screen goes to sleep, you must hit the menu keyon your keyboard, which is usually between the right Windows key and CTRL key on your keyboard, to wake it.

Change the Android Emulators Screen resolution

By default, the emulator window is set to 800 x 600 resolution. To boot into a higher resolution:

1. Hit the a key when the GRUB menu appears at boot time.

2. Type vga=ask at the end of the command that appears and hit Enter.3. Hit Enter again to see a list of video modes.

4. Input the number of the mode you want (ex: 1152x864x24 is number 34B) and hit Enter.

In our experience, many of these video modes did not work and required us to reboot. However, you can feel free to experiment.
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Fortunately, you don't need to sit there and stare at the screen waiting for som ething to happen, nor do you

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youwave. Says you need a real device with 2.2 or higher. I think its is cause the build.prop says something like

model:custom_19999 instead of a real device. What i need to do is use the emulator to look like a real device. I also need

terminal to be able to do a busybox rm id on the sd card. I installed android terminal and busybox but busybox will not install

correctly. Is there any other place where i might get help?

So sum it up I need help with

Making emulator look like a real device

Be able to use terminal to do a busybox rm id to the sdcard.

8. reux Says:May 24th, 2013 at 9:55 am

I got lost on Step 17. On step 16, I choose Installation and press Enter, the partition menu does not appear. What am I

doing wrong?

9. RaikenJenova Says:May 25th, 2013 at 4:23 am

Battery Low and the simulator turn itself off. How to fix it? Urgent.

10. KhatSays:May 27th, 2013 at 8:48 pm

Speed is decent, but it wont install most apps, and others run incorrectly. Pixel Dungeon not compatible, Beastie Bay flips the

display and it wont go back.

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How to Create an Android Emulator in Windows