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How To Install and Run Android x86 On VirtualBox

The document provides instructions for installing and running the Android x86 4.2 operating system as a virtual machine on VirtualBox. It describes downloading the Android x86 4.2 ISO image, configuring a new VirtualBox virtual machine with 512MB RAM and a 3GB hard drive, installing Android x86 to the hard drive, and running Android x86 without installation from the live CD. Key steps include creating a new partition, formatting it as ext3, installing the GRUB bootloader, and mounting the /system directory as read-write. Once installed, the document notes you can access Google apps and install additional Android apps from the Play Store.

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337 views

How To Install and Run Android x86 On VirtualBox

The document provides instructions for installing and running the Android x86 4.2 operating system as a virtual machine on VirtualBox. It describes downloading the Android x86 4.2 ISO image, configuring a new VirtualBox virtual machine with 512MB RAM and a 3GB hard drive, installing Android x86 to the hard drive, and running Android x86 without installation from the live CD. Key steps include creating a new partition, formatting it as ext3, installing the GRUB bootloader, and mounting the /system directory as read-write. Once installed, the document notes you can access Google apps and install additional Android apps from the Play Store.

Uploaded by

alfarysi
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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How to install and run Android x86 on

VirtualBox
Posted on May 6, 2013 by Dan Nanni 21 Comments

While the Android OS was originally developed for ARM processor architecture,
there exists an Android port for x86 hardware platform, which is called Androidx86. You can run Android-x86 as a virtual machine (VM) using any x86-based
hypervisor or QEMU hardware emulator.
In this post, I will show you how to install and run the latest Android-x86
4.2 on VirtualBox.
First, download the latest Android-x86 4.2 iso image to use.
$ wget https://android-x86.googlecode.com/files/android-x86-4.2-20130228.iso

Create a new VM by using VM creation wizard on VirtualBox. Use the following


configuration for the VM:

OS Type: Linux
OS Version: 2.6
Memory: 512MB
Hard drive type: VDI
Hard drive storage: dynamically allocated
Hard drive size: 3GB
Network: NAT

Once you power on the VM, you will see Android-x86 live and installation GUI as
follows. Choose "Install Android-x86 to harddisk" option at the bottom.

Create a new partition for the VM by choosing "Create/Modify partitions".

On disk partitioning menu, select "New" and press Enter.

Choose "Primary" as disk partition type.

Select "Bootable" to make the partition bootable, and then choose "Write" to
write your change. Once change is written, choose "Quit".

You are back to the earlier disk partitioning menu, but you will notice that there
is a new menu at the top which says "sda1 Linux". This is the new partition that
you just created. Choose this partition.

Select "ext3" filesystem to format the partition as ext3 type.

Choose "Yes" to install boot loader GRUB.

Choose "Yes" to install /system directory as read-write. Mounting /system as


read-write is necessary when you need to update any system configuration on
Android later.

Once installation is completed successfully, you will see the following message.
Now reboot the VM.

On Android-x86 live and installation GUI, choose "Live CD - Run Android-x86


without installation" option at the top.

Upon booting, you will see the Android welcome screen. If mouse does not work
inside Android-x86 VM, go to "Machine" and choose "Disable Mouse Integration"
on VirtualBox menu. You can press right-"Control" key to move mouse cursor out
of the Android-x86 VM.

During initial setup, you will be asked to provide your Google account login.
Once initial configuration is done, you can fully access Android as follows.

By default, Android-x86 is set up to access the Internet via eth0 wired interface.
Android-x86 version 4.2 comes with Google apps such as Play Store, Gmail and
Google Maps. You can also install Android apps via Play Store as you would do
with real Android devices.
However, note that if an Android app uses any ARM-native library in it, you won't
be able to install and run it on Android-x86, unless the library has been ported to
Android-x86 or ARM binary translator (e.g., Houdini) is used.

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Categories: Android, VirtualBox
Tags: android-x86

21 thoughts on How to install and run Android x86 on


VirtualBox
1.

Reply

Mike on May 15, 2013 at 4:35 am said:


Hi Dan,
Thanks your instructions on installing Android X86 on Virtual Box VM.
However, having the newest version of Virtual Box for my OS and the 20130228
iso, I couldn't get the installation to work as you've depicted.
After mounting iso and selecting to install in the very beginning, the process
paused at "Detecting Android-x86... found at /dev/sr0" for a minute or so and
then restarted itself back to the beginning selection screen.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-IekQOQ6N9nE/UZCEXdX6AI/AAAAAAAAADU/WcKaZdUBjgM/s1600/2.png
Could you please shed some light on the matter? I don't think I've done anything
different. I followed your instructions to the letter.
Thanks in advance,
Sincerely,
Mike

Reply

Dan Nanni on June 24, 2013 at 2:37 pm said:


I see people reporting similar issues, especially on 64-bit Windows host
machine.
What OS/processor architecture are you using?

Reply

matbur on July 5, 2013 at 10:07 pm said:


Hi, I have the same problem. I use Ubuntu 13.04 32-bit. What I should do?

Reply

guest on May 13, 2014 at 7:21 am said:


I have HP430 Laptop with win 7. I had the same problem. But I figured out
the solution.
While booting the computer with win7 I entered BIOS menu. There was a
option to optimize pc for virtualization. I selected it. After that every thing ran
smooth.
Later I noticed in virtual box that, in system settings the acceleration type
was VT-x AMD, Nested Paging,PAE/NX. VT-x AMD was missing before
optimization.
Hope this gives some idea.
2.

Reply

C Pollitt on May 30, 2013 at 2:55 pm said:


Here is the solution for the error Detecting Android-x86 found at /dev/sr0?
http://www.osnews.com/comments/25383
***********************************************************
Here are the details to changing the controller to SATA in VirtualBox that worked
for me.

1. right click the machine name and select Settings


2. click Storage
3. in the middle section of the window will be an area labeled 'Storage Tree'
which shows your current controllers. The default is IDE, which is the problem.
4. Look at the bottom of the box; just below the box are four icons. Pick the third
one from the left. It has a angled box with a green plus sign over it and the
mouse over says 'Add Controller' - click it
5. Choose Add SATA controller; your new controller will now be in the Storage
Tree
6. Use the two icons on the line for your new SATA controller to add the new
virtual hard drive and your CD drive
7. Remove the IDE controller
8. Mount the ISO in the CD drive and enjoy some sweet ICS

Reply

jost on June 24, 2013 at 1:56 pm said:


Hi! All seemed well, but also mine stopped with the "Detecting....." message
and writingANDROID under it. Here it hangs! I checked storage conf and two
controllers are there. One to the iso file (IDE) and the other to the vdi file
(SATA). From what I read above this is correct. Any idea what can be wrong?

Reply

Dan Nanni on June 24, 2013 at 2:38 pm said:


What OS and processor architecture (e.g., 32/64-bit) are you using on your
host machine?
3.

Reply

David on June 5, 2013 at 1:42 pm said:


Thank you for the instructions. Works pretty much the same on Parallels 8.
4.

Reply

Marek on June 10, 2013 at 7:18 pm said:


Works OK - thank you
But /system is read only. Of course I did as you suggested - i.e. mounted /system
as rw.
Do you know why I have /system read only?

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