How can I run Android emulator for Intel x86 Atom without hardware acceleration on Windows 8 for API 21 and 19?

Question

I have not enabled Hyper V or hardware acceleration and don't want to either.

Is there any way that I can start android emulator for Intel x86 Atom Without hardware acceleration on Windows 8

I have created AVDs with every combination possible and each one has failed to start the AVD emulator instance , throwing the same error when starting

emulator: ERROR: x86 emulation currently requires hardware acceleration! Please ensure Intel HAXM is properly installed and usable. CPU acceleration status: HAX kernel module is not installed!

OR is it that, the images given for Intel Atom 86 and 64 cannot run without HARDWARE ACCELERATION AND hyper V for API 21 and 19

I have found lots of similar question and read almost all documentation, but it is not clear if they can or cannot run without hyper v and hardware acceleration, hence this direct question

How do you test on android in such cases ?

*"I have not enabled hyper v or hardware acceleration and don't want to either"* ***Why not?*** (Particularly with regard to "...and don't want to") If it would make something work that you clearly need to work? In 2014, when just about all CPUs have virtualization baked in? — T.J. Crowder, Oct 19 '14 at 21:48
Thanks Tj I appreciate your answer and time , as I am equal believer in performance boost and engg. That it can get, but original question still stands , can we or can we not run them without hardware accelerator — dcoder, Oct 19 '14 at 22:05
Presumably there are methods which can do so in a purely software manner, however the error message would suggest that *the emulation engine you are currently using* cannot do so without hardware assistance. — Chris Stratton, Oct 19 '14 at 22:19
If you don't want to enable Hyper V for hardware acceleration, I suggest you to use a physical device instead to avoid these problems. — Raptor, Nov 20 '14 at 02:24
If I enable Hyper V, I get the same error message that @dcoder got, so the hardware acceleration necessary for Android emulator apparently conflicts with it. — Bjarte Aune Olsen, Jan 01 '15 at 18:35
Remember, a lot of us *can't* run with HAXM. AMD users specifically. — A.Grandt, Jan 08 '16 at 09:46
Possible duplicate of [VT Not Supported when Installing HAXM](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/20019231/vt-not-supported-when-installing-haxm) — Abhijeet, Mar 11 '16 at 10:45
For AMD users, this is discussed in the question *[Intel's HAXM equivalent for AMD on Windows OS](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/25263360/intels-haxm-equivalent-for-amd-on-windows-os)* and the general consensus is to use the Genymotion emulator instead. — Simon East, Mar 17 '16 at 01:27

Eslam Sameh Ahmed · Answer 1 · 2015-02-24T23:17:45.377

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In current AVD manager you can't. You just have the opportunity to use ARM images which will not need hardware virtualization.

To run ARM images:

Open AVD manager.
Create a new 'Virtual Device' OR right click an existing image and select 'Duplicate'
Choose arm* instead of x86/x64.
Continue with the wizard.
Run!

Although this is the available solution but still a slow one !!

edited Feb 24 '15 at 23:17

answered Nov 12 '14 at 09:20

Eslam Sameh Ahmed

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This should be the chosen answer. – user3041539 Jan 24 '15 at 12:56
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very slow, but the way allows to execute android emulator without hardware acceleration. – constructor Feb 24 '15 at 21:43
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Just after selecting the device size you will get option to select the system image where some of them marked as armeabi-v7a under column of ABI – Eslam Sameh Ahmed Feb 27 '15 at 00:27
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yess..thank you. This works. Why is does not work for x86/x64? – Geddon Apr 08 '15 at 03:27
x86/x64 android images requires built-in hardware virtualization which is not exist in all PCs – Eslam Sameh Ahmed Apr 08 '15 at 07:45
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i guess arm is slow as compare to arm. – Android Killer Jun 05 '15 at 09:07
Sure ARM is slower than x86 Atom images running on x86 machines. – Eslam Sameh Ahmed Jun 05 '15 at 23:45
Choosing armabi doesn't allow debugging x86 specific bugs. – Graeme Gill Dec 01 '15 at 12:40
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This is not an option here. – Eslam Sameh Ahmed Dec 22 '15 at 18:25
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@HappyCoder "3. Choose arm* .. means chose the one that starts with 'arm' – tormuto Jan 11 '16 at 20:37
Thank you for this answer – TiyebM May 03 '16 at 11:06
With pleasure. I am happy to find something useful for some one. – Eslam Sameh Ahmed May 03 '16 at 17:07

score 34 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 02 '15 at 22:54

You can still force the use of the soft x86 emulator by running it from the command line and using the -no-accel option, i.e. from the SDK/tools directory:

emulator -avd AVD_NAME -memory 768 -no-accel -gpu on

BUT this still won't work with the current (V24) SDK, because the current x86 system images crash the soft x86 emulator :-(

The only way I got this working again was to downgrade the SDK tools to V22.3 from here: http://dl-ssl.google.com/android/repository/tools_r22.3-windows.zip and to buld an AVD using a downgraded system image, for instance https://dl-ssl.google.com/android/repository/sys-img/android/sysimg_x86-17_r02.zip. (So this is no help if you need to test on more recent versions of Android).

Google have moved on to an updated version of their emulator based on a more recent version of qemu, and provide binaries for arm and mips emulators, but have omitted to ship the x86 equivalent (there is no emulator-ranchu-x86.exe and emulator64-ranchu-x86.exe). If they did so, or if someone else went to the trouble of setting up and compiling their emulator source with the "x86" flag on, then _x86 soft emulation could conceivably be made to work again.

THIS should be the accepted answer. All other answers explain how to run _with_ acceleration, not _without_ — Jamby, Aug 05 '16 at 10:10
This made my emulator run on virtual box. Slow but running, yeah! — Jankapunkt, May 29 '17 at 09:26
@Graeme After downloading SDK tools V22.3 into a separate folder for testing and running the emulator with the `-no-accel` option, the command line says `unknown option: -no-accel`. Did this option really work in the past ? Is the indicated SDK tool version correct ? Or did Google 'update' the V22.3 package to not work anymore ? — MrCC, Sep 07 '17 at 13:03

score 8 · Answer 3 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:46

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Same issue as in Error in launching AVD:

1) Install the Intel x86 Emulator Accelerator (HAXM installer) from the Android SDK Manager;

enter image description here

2) Run (for Windows):

{SDK_FOLDER}\extras\intel\Hardware_Accelerated_Execution_Manager\intelhaxm.exe

or (for OSX):

{SDK_FOLDER}\extras\intel\Hardware_Accelerated_Execution_Manager\IntelHAXM_1.1.1_for_10_9_and_above.dmg

3) Start the emulator.

edited May 23 '17 at 11:46

Community

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answered Oct 30 '14 at 14:04

Daniel

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IntelHAXM is used to set up hardware based emulation which is not available to original poster – Tom Cerul Aug 28 '15 at 19:31
This does not solve OP's question, but it sure helped me figure out why I could not run an x86 image, even after installing HAXM. Thanks! – Raj Apr 05 '16 at 02:41
Well the question clearly asks can android emulator for Intel x86 Atom work without what you have posted here. i.e. HAXM enabled? How can this post solve the problem @dcoder has asked? – Siva Senthil Jan 05 '17 at 11:31
Any way to achieve this with linux (ubuntu), using only the terminal? – Vini.g.fer Jul 06 '17 at 19:49

score 8 · Answer 4 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:25

Short Answer: No. Until recently(about 1 month ago), you could do that but with the latest updates, it is not possible. (see Update to Android SDK Tools 23.0.5 and avd doesn't start).

I was doing something similar: Doing development in a virtual machine and hence couldn't use the Hardware acceleration features as they are available only in the host machine. I was using Intel x86 images with Use Host GPU option; as they were much faster than the ARM version even without hardware acceleration. But then, after this update, my emulator AVDs which were working earlier are no longer starting with the same exact error message. Also, both genymotion and Xamarin Android emulators can't be used as they also need hardware acceleration(they are actually VMs which use Hardware acceleration for speed, and hence can't be run inside another VM).

I have found this solution but haven't tried it yet. The basic idea is that to still develop inside a VM; but for testing connect to an Emulator running on the host machine(and this Emulator VM can now use the hardware acceleration feature).

Thx , I figured the same , I am now running avds with HA – dcoder Nov 18 '14 at 18:47 — dcoder, Nov 18 '14 at 18:47

score 3 · Answer 5 · answered Oct 19 '14 at 23:10

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Is there any way that I can start android emulator for intel x86 atom Without hardware acceleration on windows 8

Not with the standard Android SDK emulator, as it requires Intel's HAXM, and HAXM wants virtualization extensions to be enabled.

Whether Genymotion or something else from another independent developer can support your desired combination, I cannot say.

answered Oct 19 '14 at 23:10

CommonsWare

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Thx cw , if so is the case then let me try on Genymotion and get back to you, Thx again – dcoder Oct 20 '14 at 00:01
@dcoder Could you make Genymotion work? Because I also have trouble about AVD and HAXM. My other option is Genymotion. So I'd like to learn did it work for you or not. – eluleci Jun 05 '15 at 14:03
The point is that it used to work on previous version of the SDK using soft x86 emulation. So the question is either a) how to re-enable soft x86 emulation, or b) how to downgrade the SDK to the point where this will work again. – Graeme Gill Dec 01 '15 at 12:44
@GraemeGill: "it used to work on previous version of the SDK using soft x86 emulation" -- to the best of my recollection, x86 emulator images always required HAXM. HAXM has certainly been required since late 2012. If you have evidence to the contrary, please supply links. – CommonsWare Dec 01 '15 at 13:02
@CommonsWare: See my answer below for versions of the system which had a working soft x86 emulator. – Graeme Gill Jan 22 '16 at 05:07
Tried Genymotion, it doesn't work without Genymotion either – Matvey Rybakov May 02 '17 at 09:57

score 3 · Answer 6 · edited Mar 14 '15 at 03:35

The usage of the Hardware acceleration depends on the System Image you choose on the emulator.

So,

Go to AVD manager, create virtual device, select hardware, click next.
Choose the System Image that does not require HAXM (hardware acceleration) for running. (That is appears at the right bottom of System image window.)

Note: for other systems that require HAXM, there no way to run them without hardware acceleration.

score 3 · Answer 7 · answered Jul 29 '16 at 20:49

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use bluestacks as a emulator for best performance. blusestack working fast without hardware based emulation

To connect bluestack to android studio.

Close Android Studio.
Go to adb.exe location.(Bydefault its C:\Users\Tarun\AppData\Local\Android\sdk\platform-tools)
Run adb connect localhost:5555 from this location.
Start Android Studio and you will get Blue Stack as emulator when you run your app.

answered Jul 29 '16 at 20:49

Gopi Raj

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Cannot assign requested address – Elia Weiss Jan 26 '20 at 04:55

score 1 · Answer 8 · answered Dec 25 '14 at 12:17

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refer intel.com's requirements : Important: Intel HAXM cannot be used on systems without an Intel processor, or with an Intel processor that lacks the hardware features described in the "Hardware Requirements" section above.To determine the capabilities of your Intel processor

[Installation Instructions for Intel® Hardware Accelerated Execution Manager ] https://software.intel.com/en-us/android/articles/installation-instructions-for-intel-hardware-accelerated-execution-manager-mac-os-x

My PC does not support vt-x, I can not use android studio 1.0.2.

answered Dec 25 '14 at 12:17

OpenCode

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You still can use android studio, but please use "arm" not "x86" image when creating new virtual device in AVD Manager – robson Jun 04 '15 at 04:43
Using arm emulation doesn't help you test x86 native code. – Graeme Gill Jan 22 '16 at 05:09

score 1 · Answer 9 · answered Sep 25 '15 at 15:11

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yes is possible to run your android emulator without have a hardware accelerator. In fact to do that, you need to open your android virtual device. When you reached to system image configure, it suggest you which version of android image you want to use. Whatever version of android system image that you select,you need to make sure that,ABI is armeabi-v7a and, you target is System image ameabi-v7a with google APIs. And then complete the rest of task and check out your emulator.

answered Sep 25 '15 at 15:11

ludovic

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This is not what the question was asking. – Rory McCrossan Sep 25 '15 at 15:34
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Running armabi doesn't help in debugging x86 specific bugs. – Graeme Gill Dec 01 '15 at 12:39

score 0 · Answer 10 · edited Oct 27 '14 at 11:29

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I've run into the same problem, I found the solution at http://developer.android.com/tools/devices/emulator.html#vm-windows

Just follow this simple steps:

Start the Android SDK Manager, select Extras and then select Intel Hardware Accelerated Execution Manager.
After the download completes, run [sdk]/extras/intel/Hardware_Accelerated_Execution_Manager/IntelHAXM.exe
Follow the on-screen instructions to complete installation.

edited Oct 27 '14 at 11:29

einverne

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answered Oct 24 '14 at 15:01

Vicenç

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This doesn't answer the question "Can we run it without hardware acceleration?" – Pacerier Nov 11 '14 at 10:09
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This is not the answer! Have you even read the question? And who are they upvoted this answer??!!!!! – Morteza Mar 14 '15 at 02:03
You answering to install Intel Hardware Accelerated Execution Manager which this question don;t want – Rajeev Kumar Jun 03 '15 at 09:52
This isn't a solution if HAXM doesn't work on your x86 host processor because it lacks the latest visualization features. – Graeme Gill Dec 01 '15 at 12:42

user3309272 · Answer 11 · 2014-12-31T16:41:37.433

I have a pc with intel c2d without hardware accelaration i am having same problem in android studio. firstly i get bored with android studio and installed eclipse+sdk+adt then i have installed every thing and started emulator it worked then the same emulator worked in android studio for direct launching application in android studio and i have also runned the sample app that emulator so you can run android studio without virtualization technique even your processor does not sopport vt-x

score 0 · Answer 12 · answered Apr 17 '15 at 12:46

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You need "VT-x supported processor" at least to run Android emulator with Hardware acceleration.

If you have enabled or installed "Hyper-V" in your windows 8 then please remove it and disable the "Hyper threading" and enable "Virtualization".

answered Apr 17 '15 at 12:46

Muzammil Peer

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Why doesn't it automatically fall back to soft x86 emulation when virtualization isn't available ? The SDK used to be capable of this. – Graeme Gill Dec 01 '15 at 12:46

score 0 · Answer 13 · answered Feb 04 '16 at 17:32

When Run 'app' (green triangle): In Device Chooser select Launch emulator and click the button [...] Rigth click on Nexus (or other) click on Duplicate In the O.S. (Android 6.0 example) click change: Clic on Show downloadable system images. Look for armeabi-v7a O.S. and click download. Set this O.S. in the device. Finish, and choose this Device for the emulation.

How can I run Android emulator for Intel x86 Atom without hardware acceleration on Windows 8 for API 21 and 19?

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