AndroVM-install Android on Windows/Ubuntu/MacOs with VirtualBox

AndroVM-install Android on Windows/Ubuntu/MacOs with VirtualBox

Posted: 10 years ago in  Unix | Windows | Mac OS | Miscellaneous |


This article may be interesting with mobile application developers and people who doesn't have an android phone. The way is using the open-source project called AndroVM that port Android to run in x86 based PC. You can do most of things as on mobile/tablet Android. It is good choice for testing Android app (install via adb) or experience Android on a big screen (with Google Playstore, install apps, play games...).


This article may be interesting with mobile application developers and people who doesn't have an android phone. The way is using the open-source project called AndroVM that port Android to run in x86 based PC. You can do most of things as on mobile/tablet Android. It is good choice for testing Android app (install via adb) or experience Android on a big screen (with Google Playstore, install apps, play games...).

The project is optimized to make it faster than Android run on emulator. However, there are some limitations such as old Android version (latest version is 4.1.1) and lack of hardware features (GPS, Accelerometer...etc). Luckily, there is also workaround to generate the fake data in case you need to test these feature in Android app but it is for another article :roll:

Here how we install AndroVM. First of all, you have to download the VirtualBox to create environment for AndroVM.

Go to VirtualBox homepage and pick the right version for your OS.

Step 1: Install VirtualBox as normal application by double click dog file and double click dpkg file to start install procedure.

Step 2: Download the AndroVM images that fit your purposes: All of release is Android 4.1.1. There are 2 types of release, t is release for Tablet and p for Phone. Google Playstore (gapp) is optional, if you want to login with google account, check email, sync contact..., pick the one with gapp. Here is the mirror of releases

Step 3: Import Appliance

Import appliance to VirtualBox

Step 4: Config Settings: network, storage, processor, RAM and graphic card _Increase graphic card to 128MB and choose 1 monitor output only. Do not enable 3D and 2D Acceleration because it is not suitable with Androidx86 (in Display tab) _Change amount of RAM, number of Processor and size of Storage as you want (in System and Storage tab)

Settings of RAM and Processor

_Then go to Network section, pick Adapter 1 and set it up as Bridged Network (Attached To field). Choose the network card you used (usually, Wifi (Airport) is Wireless Network Card, ethe0 is LAN card)

Step 5: Run Android virtual machine: wait it to boot up and unlock as using Android tablet/phone.

Step 6: Change resolution: After finish booting to Android, go to Settings to change resolution (maximum 1366x768) then it will reboot automatically to take affect.

Enjoy "magnified" Android tablet on your PC