Howto Install and Run the Android Emulator

August 20, 2010

I am in the process of building some mobile apps for one of my clients, and while I'm pretty familiar with running the iPhone simulator and building iPhone apps, I'm pretty new to the Android development tools at this point. So I thought I would give a quick and easy guide for folks to follow, that might be interested in getting started with Android Development and running the Android Emulator.

I should mention that there is also an Eclipse Plugin for Android Development as well that you can use instead. Also, I'm using a Mac, but I think the steps should be pretty close if you are running Windows or Linux.

Step 1 - Download the Android SKD

Download the Android SDK, and unzip it somewhere. I placed the android-sdk-mac_86 folder in my /Applications/ folder, but you can put it wherever you want.

Step 2 - Optional Add to System Path

Since we are using the command line you might find it useful to add the android-sdk-platform/tools folder to your system path so you can run the android commands from any folder. If your interested in doing that, Google provides instructions here.

Step 3 - Install Android Platforms

At this point, I tried running the emulator command, but the SDK doesn't contain any Android Platforms, the Android platform is essentially Android OS, you need to install at least one version (eg 1.6, 2.1, 2.2, etc) to run the emulator.

To install platforms run the android command located in the tools folder of the SDK (use Terminal.app on a Mac, or the Command Prompt on Windows, Linux folks you know what to do :). This will pop up a window. Select Available Packages, pick some platform versions and install.

Step 4 - Create a Virtual Device

Still in the android tool, click on Virtual Devices on the left, and then click New. Here's an example of the settings for the new device:

android virtual device manager, create avd file

Once you create the avd file, it should show up in the listing of Android Virtual Devices:

Step 5 - Run the emulator

Now select the virtual device you just created and click Start on the right, and the emulator should start running:

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Comments

On 08/24/2010 at 10:13:36 PM EDT AAP wrote:

and I cannot read this on the Android Development Site, why? Please take a look here for detailed instructions: http://developer.android.com/guide/developing/tools/emulator.html

On 08/25/2010 at 12:17:33 AM EDT Pete Freitag wrote:

@AAP The Android site does provide useful and very detailed documentation. I am not trying to replace their documentation here, rather I'm trying to illustrate how to get up and running quickly.

On 08/30/2010 at 12:06:46 PM EDT Luciano Evaristo Guerche (Gorše) wrote:

When I first installed Android SDK on Windows it refused to work and no meaningful error message was displayed. Resorting to tools like SysInternals ProcMon I was able to figure out Android SDK depended on Java. I had Java JRE, but its path was not set on the PATH environment variable.

So if you happen to see similar behaviour when you first install Android SDK, check Java JRE/JDK is installed and the directory it was installed in is included on the PATH environment variable.

On 09/22/2010 at 4:50:17 PM EDT WP Themes wrote:

Nice dispatch and this enter helped me alot in my college assignement. Say thank you you as your information.

On 12/02/2010 at 8:41:19 PM EST marvin nubwaxer wrote:

Step 1 - Download the Android SKD

Download the Android SDK, PROOFREAD!

On 12/31/2010 at 7:59:50 AM EST pooja wrote:

hi, I want to run Android application in 2.1 versin but how to run i don't know. pl'z give me some suggestion

On 02/05/2011 at 11:10:10 PM EST DanielP wrote:

Here is an Android Gingerbread online click-through simulation. It is based on the Android emulator with a Nexus S skin. Give it a try: http://www.appdemopod.com/demo?id=1072001

On 03/02/2011 at 9:01:38 PM EST weimetrorse wrote:

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On 03/10/2011 at 10:31:30 AM EST Freepesog wrote:

I feel like I'm nothing without wildlife. They are the stars. I feel awkward without them.

On 03/15/2011 at 6:57:54 AM EDT uttebydoodo wrote:

Illegal immigration presents a huge problem. That is why I decided to spend a week along the southern border to see firsthand how bad the problem is and, more importantly, what Congress can do to fix it.

On 03/17/2011 at 12:21:33 AM EDT Matt wrote:

It just keeps says Android_ how can i load an apk file?

On 06/14/2011 at 12:42:48 PM EDT shabbir wrote:

how to run emulator from command line

On 08/21/2011 at 4:59:56 AM EDT Madhu wrote:

After creating virtual device when i click run i'm getting the following error "invalid command-line parameter: Files. Hint: use '@foo' to launch a virtual device named 'foo'. please use -help for more information"

On 08/24/2011 at 5:17:10 PM EDT bharat bhusan wrote:

How can i install android in Motorola Rokr E6

On 09/01/2011 at 4:16:13 PM EDT Bill Brasky wrote:

If you get the error "invalid command-line parameter: Files. Hint: use '@foo' to launch a virtual device named 'foo'. please use -help for more information"

What you need to do is move your SDK to a folder without spaces to the path.. so.. c:\android-sdk would work..

c:\program files\android-sdk would NOT work

On 09/13/2011 at 3:40:45 PM EDT Yoge` wrote:

@invalid command-line parameter error: Either use a file-name without spaces, or alternatively, use the older format for folder - the one which uses 8 chars, so replace c:\program files\android-sdk with c:\progr~1\android-sdk

On 09/24/2011 at 3:33:09 PM EDT altest wrote:

I can run Android Emulator and see my device inside, I also can add/install some apps. but how can I find the apps I have added in the emulator, are they in .apk files ? I need to transfer them to my MID/Tablet for installation. Tks.

On 09/24/2011 at 3:33:09 PM EDT altest wrote:

On 02/28/2012 at 3:49:35 AM EST Andrew Abogado wrote:

Helpful tutorial. Thanks you.

On 06/01/2012 at 3:17:26 PM EDT vijay deepak wrote:

i created an android emulator and when i click on start it says emulator is starting that's it nothing is getting started can you please solve my problem

On 06/01/2012 at 3:33:10 PM EDT vijay deepak wrote:

i created an android emulator and when i click on start it says emulator is starting that's it nothing is getting started can you please solve my problem

On 08/16/2012 at 10:50:13 AM EDT jean de dieu wrote:

i was installed eclipse and sdk ,but i don't where could i find android emulator !! please !! help me!!

On 02/06/2013 at 8:42:02 AM EST Deepanraj wrote:

I created an android emulator and when click contact image, i got "force to close" message. I need add contact...Please help me... Any idea..!!!

On 05/11/2013 at 11:36:45 PM EDT Arun Wadhwa wrote:

I am getting the following message:-

Starting emulator for AVD '40And4' Failed to create Context 0x3005 emulator: WARNING: Could not initialize OpenglES emulation, using software renderer. could not get wglGetExtensionsStringARB could not get wglGetExtensionsStringARB could not get wglGetExtensionsStringARB could not get wglGetExtensionsStringARB could not get wglGetExtensionsStringARB could not get wglGetExtensionsStringARB could not get wglGetExtensionsStringARB could not get wglGetExtensionsStringARB emulator: emulator window was out of view and was recentered

On 05/19/2013 at 3:36:19 PM EDT download apk wrote: