How To Run Android 4.0 In Virtualbox (Linux)

By Yifan Peng | October 9, 2013


Sometimes I need to test my app or try some new apps on main Android devices available on the market. Of course I don’t want to install them on my working cellphone. Under such circumstances, I prefer installing a virtual machine on my PC and testing whatever on it. Here in this post, I provide a way to run Android in Virtualbox.

1. Choose an Android 4.0.3_r1 (20120518 build)
   
   • phone without Google play
   • tablet without Google play
   • tablet + phone without Google play
   • table with Google play
2. Install (import) the package into VirtualBox
   
3. Install Android SDK
   
   • Download Android SDK
   • Extract the file to “$ANDROID”, and go to $ANDROID/tools
   • run ./android and install Android SDK Platform-tools
4. Set up NAT
   
   • Open VirtualBox
   • Go to buildroid VM’s Settings → Network
   • Under Adapter 1 tab, choose Attached to: NAT.
   • Expand Advanced and click Port Forwarding button.
   • Click Insert new rule button, input 5555 into Host Port and Guest Port.
   • Click OK to return to VirtualBox.
5. Install Google play
   
   • Download Google apps
   • go to $ANDROID/platform-tools, and run

adb connect localhost adb push $PATH/buildroid-gapps-ics-20120317-signed.tgz /sdcard/ adb shell su mount -o remount,rw /system tar -xvzf /sdcard/buildroid-gapps-ics-20120317-signed.tgz mount -o remount,ro /system reboot