Android SDK Emulator won't load

Question

So i'm having awful trouble trying to get the Emulators in the Android SDK to start up. I can create the AVDs just fine, and then when hitting the 'start' button from the SDK Manager, bring up the small loading console window, indicating that the emulator is launching. However, after that, nothing happens!!

I have read many threads and posts with people having the same problem, maybe to do with the settings requiring too much memory, with some people waiting 30 minutes for the emulator to load!!

When trying to run the AVD emulator through terminal, I simply get a 'Bus Error' with no further indication of what could be going wrong...could it be a memory issue?

What I did to get where I am now:

• Download the Android SDK package for Mac. I'm extracting the sdk only, not eclipse. I'm on Mac 10.6.8.
• Install the SDK, and download the latest version of Android in the SDK Manager, along with default tools.
• create a AVD and hit start.
• window pops up to boot the emulator, that process is complete and window closes. Nothing happens.

My knowledge of the sdk tools are very limited, all I want is to be able to do some testing...

Any help greatly appreciated!

Thanks

Answer 1

Actually, the simplest way to get emulators running right now is probably GenyMotion . They provide an interface, and pre-configured emulator images to make it pretty simple to get running.

This is not an endorsement (I use the standard ADT myself) but a lot of people find their tools useful.

Answer 2

Here is my suggestion: instead of using AVD, start using espresso and virtual remote android hardware emulator from Google servers - also known as android-test-kit. You will have the possibility to run and test you App on several different devices, without the need to spend money on actually all different devices for developing and testing purposes before releasing your Apps. You find further details here:

1. android-test-kit
2. Why Espresso

The 2 videos are somewhat long, but worth watching.

Taking this approach will solve your problem, save you money, and improve your productivity.

Answer 3

I run into the same issue on my mac 10.6 and it only works if i do

emulator64-x86 -avd my_android

Besides, my virtual device has to configured using x86 but not ARM

maybe this link can help you.