Getting an Android iso

The folks at Android-x86 have been making x86 builds of the Android OS for quite a while now, and none of this would be possible without them. They have ISO images for various versions of Android available, but most of them don't work very well in VirtualBox. For example, their "eeepc" image for Android 4.0 has issues with the audio drivers and the network (it has no Ethernet support built in, etc.)

So this means using one of the Android-x86 images from there won't get you too far because audio and networking won't work. Fortunately, somebody has put together an ISO image that's been custom tailored to VirtualBox. I don't remember where I found this ISO image; if it's yours, leave me a comment and I'll edit this post.

I have a copy of this ISO hosted here: android-x86-vm-20120130.iso (244MB). This ISO works much better.

In VirtualBox, create a new machine for Android.

• 
  Machine Name: "Android ICS" (you can name it anything you want)
  
• 
  Machine Type: "Linux 2.6"
  
• 
  Memory: I gave my VM 1024MB of memory.
  
• 
  Hard Disk: I created a new 16GB VDI image that dynamically expands.
  

• 
  Networking:
  
  • 
    Type: NAT
    
  • 
    Adaptor: "Intel Pro/1000 MT Desktop (82540EM)"
    
• 
  Audio: Intel AC'97
  
• 
  Storage Layout:
  
  • 
    IDE Controller:
    
    • 
      CD Device
      
  • 
    SATA Controller:
    
    • 
      Hard Disk
      

Make sure the VM boots from the ISO image.

1. 
   On the boot screen, select "Installation - Install Android-x86 to harddisk"
   
2. 
   Choose "Create/Modify Partitions". This takes you into cfdisk.
   
   1. 
      Choose "[New]"
      
   2. 
      Choose "[Primary]"
      
   3. 
      Press enter to accept the default partition size (mine was 17174.38)
      
   4. 
      Choose "[Bootable]"
      
   5. 
      Choose "[Write]"
      
   6. 
      Type "yes" to confirm writing.
      
   7. 
      Choose "[Quit]"
      
3. 
   Choose to install on the sda1 device (Linux VBOX HARDDISK)
   
4. 
   Choose to format the drive "ext3"
   
5. 
   Pick "Yes" to confirm formatting.
   
6. 
   Pick "Yes" when it asks to install the GRUB bootloader.
   
7. 
   Pick "Yes" when it asks to mount /system as read-write (this will be important later to install the Google apps).
   
8. 
   Create a fake SD card when it prompts. I made mine 2047MB (the maximum allowed).
   
9. 
   Choose ""
   

You'll want to disable mouse integration to be able to interact with the GUI at all. This can be done from choosing the "Machine" menu in the VM window and clicking "Disable Mouse Integration" -- or pressing HostKey+I.

The Escape key on your keyboard corresponds to the Back key in Android. The context menu key on your keyboard corresponds to the Menu button in Android (the context menu key is usually next to the right Windows key).

To power off the VM, press HostKey+H. This will cause Android to pop up the shutdown dialog that you'd expect on a real phone. You can also use the "Machine->Send Shutdown Signal" to do the same.

You may notice that this Android VM doesn't include the Android Market, GMail, or Google Maps. These are some of the Google Apps and due to some licensing restrictions Android-x86 doesn't include them "out of the box".

On a real Android device that's been rooted and flashed with a custom ROM, you'd install the Google apps by flashing them in recovery mode. But you can't get into recovery mode on VirtualBox. Thus, the method for installing the Google Apps is kinda sketchy, but it works (and if you know of a better way, feel free to tell me).

You'll need a file with a name like "gapps-ics-20120304-signed.zip". These are the Google apps (the date part might be different). You can Google them, but I have a copy of them here to download too.

You don't really need the entire Google Apps file, actually. Just the "system" folder inside the zip file. Create a new tar file of the "system" folder so that it will be easy to get it into your Android device. I have a prepared "system.tar.gz" for you if you just want to use mine.

• 
  GApps Download Links:
  
  • 
    gapps-ics-20120304-signed.zip (52MB)
    
  • 
    system.tar.gz (just the /system folder; 28MB)
    

1. 
   Download system.tar.gz to your Android VM somehow. I used the Web Browser app and downloaded it there. You could probably also use the Email app, or if you're really Android savvy, push it with the Android Debugger.
   
   • 
     If Android tells you that there is no SD card so it can't download the Google Apps, that's because you skipped that step while first installing your Android system. The very last step of the installer asks if you'd like to create a virtual SD card partition, and you should've had it do that. If you didn't, the only easy solution I know of is to reinstall the OS.
     
2. 
   Open the "Terminal Emulator" app in Android.
   
3. 
   Enter these commands (note: don't type the $ or # symbols at the beginning of these lines. These symbols indicate the prompt.)
   
4. 
   $ cd /sdcard/Download
   
5. 
   $ tar -xzvf system.tar.gz
   
6. 
   $ su
   
7. 
   # cd /sdcard/Download
   

Pay special attention to the cp -rf command. Make sure the slashes and *'s are in the right places.

8. 
   Reboot the phone.
   

I imagine that the unorthodox way of installing the Google Apps might be partly to blame for the Market being unstable. The other Google apps seem to work fine though.

This is a tip I discovered somewhere a while back for getting custom resolutions to work in your Android VM (for example, to mimic the screen dimensions of the Galaxy Nexus phone, or just to run the VM at a higher resolution like 1024x768). I've found that you can use just about any arbitrary resolution you want, but when the resolution isn't a standard 4:3 one (like 1024x768), the VM seems to get somewhat laggy.

The general steps are as follows. Substitute 1024x768 with whatever resolution you want. You can add multiple video modes by changing "CustomVideoMode1" to be "CustomVideoMode2", etc.

1. 
   In your Terminal or Command Prompt window on the host system, run this command:
   VBoxManage setextradata "Android ICS" "CustomVideoMode1" "1024x768x32"
   Substitute "Android ICS" with the name of your VM (but keep the quotes).
   
2. 
   Start your Android VM, and when you see the bootloader screen:
   
   1. 
      Press the "e" key to edit the boot arguments
      
   2. 
      Press "e" again to edit the kernel boot line
      
   3. 
      Add UVESA_MODE=1024x768 to the end of the boot arguments (make sure to hit Space first), and press Enter.
      
   4. 
      Press "b" to boot.
      

Android is primarily an ARM architecture operating system and the x86 version isn't supported by Google. While a lot of apps will work in Android-x86, some may crash in weird ways. If you're an Android developer though, this can be pretty useful because Android-x86 will run a lot faster on your hardware than the standard emulator from the SDK does, so you can test your apps much more rapidly (the Android-x86 site has some documentation on how to connect ADB to your virtual machine).

Your mileage may vary.

Updates

To answer common questions that come up in the comments...

• 
  Adobe Flash, Netflix, others... -- these apps won't work in Android-x86, because they aren't pure Java. They include C code that's compiled for the ARM processor found in most Android devices. They won't run on x86 processors.
  
• 
  Apps that rotate your screen... -- apps that force the orientation into portrait mode (thus turning your screen sideways) can be dealt with by changing your VM's screen resolution to be taller than it is wide (i.e. 800x1280). The app will recognize the portrait resolution and not rotate. However, your VM may be laggy when it's not in a standard 4:3 resolution. Alternatively, find an app that forces/locks your orientation to one direction or another -- however, some apps misbehave when forced to use the wrong resolution and may not be usable.
  
• 
  Don't expect a lot of apps to work -- for various reasons, apps that work on real Android devices may not function properly on Android-x86.
  
• 
  Text messaging and phone calls won't work -- Your virtual machine is not a phone. It doesn't have a cellular connection to AT&T or Verizon or anybody. The standard texting apps like Messaging and Handcent SMS are useless on an Android VM (this also goes for most Android tablets that don't have cell connections). If you want to text from your VM, you might try using the Tablet Talk app, connect it with your actual cell phone, and text through that app. If you want to make phone calls, you might have luck with a Voice over IP app -- however, I can't guarantee your microphone and such will work with the VM, as I haven't tested it.