Recently, we curated a list of best Android emulators for Linux systems and were disappointed to find that there is no suitable app that can emulate Android on Linux distro. That said, we found a cool way to run Android on Linux using a virtual machine that supports Play Store. And in fact, it works better than emulators due to better binary translation and desktop features. So in this article, we are going to show you how to run Android on Linux using a virtual machine. On that note, let’s go ahead and learn the steps without further ado.
Run Android on Linux Using a Virtual Machine
Before moving forward, let me briefly explain how we are going to run Android on Linux. We will use a open source project called Android-x86 which brings the ARM-based Android operating system to x86-based systems. Basically, with Android-x86 ISO image, you can boot Android on any desktop platform, be it Windows or Linux.
You can also install and run the best Android games and apps on your Linux machine. So here are the instructions you need to follow to install Android on Linux as a virtual machine. You can click on the link below to move easily between the different sections.
Basic Setup
1. First of all, download android 9 iso image of here. Depending on your computer architecture, choose a 64-bit or 32-bit ISO image. By the way, currently Android 9 is the latest operating system ported to desktop computers.
2. Once you have downloaded the Android ISO image, go ahead and download VirtualBox. You can find the installation file for all Linux distributions from here. Once the download is complete, install VirtualBox on your system.
3. Here I am running VirtualBox on Ubuntu. Now click on “New” in the menu bar and give your virtual machine a name. For example, I entered “Android”. Additionally, select the type as “ Linux” and choose “Other Linux (64-bit) under Version. If you have a 32-bit machine, select “Other Linux (32-bit)”. Finally, click “Next”.
4. In the next window, assign at least 2 GB of RAM. If you have extra RAM, increase it to 4GB for better performance when using Android.
5. Next, select ” Create a virtual hard disk now” and click on “Create”.
6. Next, select “ VDIand click “Next”.
7. Select ” Dynamically assignedand click “Next”.
8. Here, enter the amount of storage you want to allocate to Android. The default is 8 GB, but you can increase the storage to 16 GB or more depending on your usage. Finally, click on “Create”.
Configure Android virtual machine on Linux
1. Now that you’ve created the virtual machine, it’s time to configure a few things to get the best performance when running Android on Linux. On the VirtualBox, click “System“.
2. Go to the “Processor” tab and assign at least 2 processor cores. You can also increase it to 4 for better game performance.
3. Next, switch to the “Acceleration” tab and choose ” KVM in the drop-down menu.
4. Once you’ve done that, go to the “Display” section and change the “Graphics Controller” to ” VBoxSVGA“. This is the most important step otherwise you will be stuck on a blank screen. In addition to that, increase the video memory to at least 64-128MB.
5. Finally, go to “Storage” and select the “Empty » sub-menu. Here, click on the disc icon and select “Choose disc file”.
6. Now select the Android ISO Image that you downloaded in the first step. You’re basically done. Simply click on the “OK” button.
Boot Android to Linux
1. After basic installation and configuration, you are now ready to boot Android on Linux. Simply select “Android” in the left pane and then click “To start up“.
2. Here, move to the “ Advanced options“.
3. Now select “ Auto_Installation…” and press Enter.
4. On the next screen, select ” Yes and press Enter.
5. Finally, you will have the option to “ Run Android-x86 on your Linux machine. Hit enter and Android will then start booting to your Linux machine.
6. You can browse the initial setup screen just like Android smartphones.
7. Finally, here it is. Android 9 running Linux with near-native performance. It’s awesome ? From now on you just have to press the “Start” button in VirtualBox and Android will be ready for you.
9. In case you want remove android from linux then simply right-click on the Android virtual machine you created and choose “Delete”.
10. Next, click “Delete All Files”. It will be remove virtual hard disk and all associated files freeing up all the space on your computer. That’s it.
Install Android VM on Linux and Enjoy Android Games and Apps
This is how you can install and run Android on Linux without using an emulator. One of the added benefits of this setup is that it allows things you can’t do on your Android smartphone, like taking screenshots on Snapchat without notifying the sender, screen-recording protected content , play games like PUBG, and more.
You can even use Android as your desktop with the taskbar launcher that comes with the Android-x86 ISO image. Anyway, it all comes from us. If you face any problem, comment below and let us know. We will surely try to help you.
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