How-To #37: Install Android On Virtual Machines

Installing Android on Virtual Machine has become a very straight forward process. This guide will use the recently released Android-x86 4.0 and Android-x86 2.3 Live CDs. They will be running on Virtual Box, a free software released by Oracle for virtualization. 

For those of you new to Virtual Machines, what this software does is emulates a PC inside a PC. Confused? Think of it like inception, except for the PC. It does this by isolating a small chunk of your computer then uses that chunk to run another computer. What you do in the Virtual Machine can completely be isolated from the host machine. 

How To Install Android on a Virtual Machine
Step 1: Download&Install Virtual Box
Step 2: Download the Android image of your choice(if you are unsure, download the eepc builds.) 
Notes: 
 - I have gotten internet, network, and sound to work on eeepc builds 2.2 out of the box. 
 - You may need to follow the optional steps after this tutorial for network for some images. If you download/install the wrong image for your PC, the commands will say "interface not recognized or not found". 
Step 3: Open Virtual Box and press (Ctrl+N)
Step 4: Type in a name for the machine and "Other version" as other windows option

 Step 5: Click Next and then Next for "Dynamically Expanding Storage"

Step 7: Select the size of the disk(You really don't need that much space, about like 400-500 MB). Hit Next.

Step 8: Now that is done(you just created virtual storage space and the virtual machine), select the machine and press the green "Start" button. 
Note: You can move cursor out of the VM by pressing right Ctrl at anytime

Optional For Network/Sound: Right Click on Android and go into Settings. Change the following - 
- OS Type: Linux
- Sound device: change to Sound Blaster 16. ICH AC97 will not work. (if you have a solution, let us know)
- Network device: PCnet-Fast III, attached to NAT. You can also use bridged adapter, but you need a DHCP server in your environment.
Step 9: In the new running Window of the machine: Press Devices => CD/DVD Devices => Choose a Virtual CD/DVD Disk File. Select the Android Image you downloaded and press Open.

Step 10: In the same Window click on Machine => Reset

Step 11: When the machine reboots, you should see the Window below. Select "Option 4: Installation Install Android to Harddisk". 
Note: Stop here if you don't want to install and use Android directly off of the image. Select option 1: Run Android-x86 without Installation.

Step 12: Select Create/Modify Partition in the next window screen. Press Enter.
Step 13: On the cfdisk Window, use the left arrow key to select New. Press Enter until you see the screen below.

Step 14: In the "diskdrive" window, Select Bootable and press Enter. Then select Write and press Enter. You Should see "Boot" under "Flags".

Step 15: Press Yes for prompt to overwrite
Step 16: Press Quit. This should bring you back to the blue screen
Step 17: Select the new Disk Drive you just create, press Enter, then click format as Ext3.
Step 18: Press Yes/OK/Enter to the rest of the prompts.
Step 19: Press Enter on "Run Android"
Step 20: Done - remember to unmount the disc in "Devices" for your VirtualBox

*Optional Steps*
Setting up the Network/Internet for Android 3.2 x86 Images:
1) Make sure you have NAT and PCNetfast setup(step 8 above) for your network adapters. Press ALT+F1 to open terminal.
2) Type - dhcpcd

3) Type - setprop net.dns1
e.g. setprop net.dns1 75.3.76.123
Note: If you do not know the dns address go into command prompt(press WinKey+r and type in "cmd.exe") in one of your Windows PC. Then type in "ipconfig /all"  and look for "DNS Servers" at the top.
4) Done - Press ALT+F7 to exit

Sending and installing apk files(applications) to Android x86:
1) Make sure you have network setup correctly
2) Press ALT+F1 to go into terminal
3) Type - wget "URL location of file". 
e.g. wget ftp://192.168.0.102/helloworld.apk
Note: You can ftp to host the apk, or your can upload the apk to a webserver online. 
4) Press ALT+F7 to exit