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Installing and creating Emulators with AVDMANAGER (For Continuous Integration Server or Local Use)
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emulator-install-using-avdmanager.md

Install and Create Emulators using AVDMANAGER and SDKMANAGER

TL;DR

For generic skin emulator with default apis (without google apis):

  1. List All System Images Available for Download: sdkmanager --list | grep system-images

  2. Download Image: sdkmanager --install "system-images;android-29;default;x86"

  3. Create Emulator: echo "no" | avdmanager --verbose create avd --force --name "generic_10" --package "system-images;android-29;default;x86" --tag "default" --abi "x86"

    I recommend adding these lines to: ~/.android/avd/generic_10.avd/config.ini

skin.name=1080x1920        # proper screen size for emulator
hw.lcd.density=480
hw.keyboard=yes            # enables keys from your laptop to be sent to the emulator

If you cannot do this, you can still pass -skin 1080x1920 as an argument when starting the emulator.

  4. Run Emulator: emulator @generic_10 &

About

  • The goal of this gist is to quickly pre-install a range of system images to provide our project teams the ability to run emulators on a range of API levels, from API 19 to API 28.
    • These can be run locally or on the base build agent.
  • Note: X86 is the fastest architecture for emulators, though x86_64 would probably be better to test against because most phones are 64 bit now.
  • We create two sets of emulators here, one set with pixel hardware emulation and one set with default oem emulation.

See: Google Documentation on Start the emulator from the command line for more info

Steps

  1. Run the sdkmanager --install commands.
  2. Run the avdmanager commands.

Extra Steps

  • Add aliases to run the emulators with parameters more easily. Or add these parameters to your build steps in TeamCity.
    • Instead of using emulator @{EMULATOR NAME} to run devices, you can use the aliases if they are added.
  • If you run this locally, you can use the -read-only parameter to run multiple devices at the same time. You can then manually run automation against various APIs for added device coverage during regression.

Step 1 - Run the sdkmanager commands

KITKAT (4.4) API 19

sdkmanager --install "system-images;android-19;google_apis;x86"

LOLLIPOP (5.0) API 21

sdkmanager --install "system-images;android-21;google_apis;x86"

LOLLIPOP (5.1) API 22

sdkmanager --install "system-images;android-22;google_apis;x86"

MARSHMELLOW (6.0) API 23

sdkmanager --install "system-images;android-23;google_apis;x86"

NOUGAT (7.0) API 24

sdkmanager --install "system-images;android-24;google_apis;x86"

NOUGAT (7.1) API 25

sdkmanager --install "system-images;android-25;google_apis;x86"

OREO (8.0) API 26

sdkmanager --install "system-images;android-26;google_apis;x86"

OREO (8.1) API 27

sdkmanager --install "system-images;android-27;google_apis;x86"

PIE (9.0) API 28

sdkmanager --install "system-images;android-28;google_apis;x86"

Step 2 - Use AVDMANAGER to create emulators

Pixel Emulator with Google Apis and x86 architecture

echo "no" | avdmanager --verbose create avd --force --name "pixel_4.4" --device "pixel" --package "system-images;android-19;google_apis;x86" --tag "google_apis" --abi "x86"

echo "no" | avdmanager --verbose create avd --force --name "pixel_5.0" --device "pixel" --package "system-images;android-21;google_apis;x86" --tag "google_apis" --abi "x86"

echo "no" | avdmanager --verbose create avd --force --name "pixel_5.1" --device "pixel" --package "system-images;android-22;google_apis;x86" --tag "google_apis" --abi "x86"

echo "no" | avdmanager --verbose create avd --force --name "pixel_6.0" --device "pixel" --package "system-images;android-23;google_apis;x86" --tag "google_apis" --abi "x86"

echo "no" | avdmanager --verbose create avd --force --name "pixel_7.0" --device "pixel" --package "system-images;android-24;google_apis;x86" --tag "google_apis" --abi "x86"

echo "no" | avdmanager --verbose create avd --force --name "pixel_7.1" --device "pixel" --package "system-images;android-25;google_apis;x86" --tag "google_apis" --abi "x86"

echo "no" | avdmanager --verbose create avd --force --name "pixel_8.0" --device "pixel" --package "system-images;android-26;google_apis;x86" --tag "google_apis" --abi "x86"

echo "no" | avdmanager --verbose create avd --force --name "pixel_8.1" --device "pixel" --package "system-images;android-27;google_apis;x86" --tag "google_apis" --abi "x86"

echo "no" | avdmanager --verbose create avd --force --name "pixel_9.0" --device "pixel" --package "system-images;android-28;google_apis;x86" --tag "google_apis" --abi "x86"

Generic Emulator with Google Apis

echo "no" | avdmanager --verbose create avd --force --name "generic_4.4" --package "system-images;android-19;google_apis;x86" --tag "google_apis" --abi "x86"

echo "no" | avdmanager --verbose create avd --force --name "generic_5.0" --package "system-images;android-21;google_apis;x86" --tag "google_apis" --abi "x86"

echo "no" | avdmanager --verbose create avd --force --name "generic_5.1" --package "system-images;android-22;google_apis;x86" --tag "google_apis" --abi "x86"

echo "no" | avdmanager --verbose create avd --force --name "generic_6.0" --package "system-images;android-23;google_apis;x86" --tag "google_apis" --abi "x86"

echo "no" | avdmanager --verbose create avd --force --name "generic_7.0" --package "system-images;android-24;google_apis;x86" --tag "google_apis" --abi "x86"

echo "no" | avdmanager --verbose create avd --force --name "generic_7.1" --package "system-images;android-25;google_apis;x86" --tag "google_apis" --abi "x86"

echo "no" | avdmanager --verbose create avd --force --name "generic_8.0" --package "system-images;android-26;google_apis;x86" --tag "google_apis" --abi "x86"

echo "no" | avdmanager --verbose create avd --force --name "generic_8.1" --package "system-images;android-27;google_apis;x86" --tag "google_apis" --abi "x86"

echo "no" | avdmanager --verbose create avd --force --name "generic_9.0" --package "system-images;android-28;google_apis;x86" --tag "google_apis" --abi "x86"

Extra Steps - Aliases and notes on resolutions

Aliases to run emulators more optimally

Note: Add this alias to ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc, or just run using these parameters for best results. -skin 768x1280 is useful to run default emulators successfully because they have a very low resolution out-of-the-box.

alias generic_4.4='emulator @generic_4.4 -no-boot-anim -netdelay none -no-snapshot -wipe-data -skin 768x1280 &'

alias generic_5.0='emulator @generic_5.0 -no-boot-anim -netdelay none -no-snapshot -wipe-data -skin 768x1280 &'

alias generic_5.1='emulator @generic_5.1 -no-boot-anim -netdelay none -no-snapshot -wipe-data -skin 768x1280 &'

alias generic_6.0='emulator @generic_6.0 -no-boot-anim -netdelay none -no-snapshot -wipe-data -skin 768x1280 &'

alias generic_7.0='emulator @generic_7.0 -no-boot-anim -netdelay none -no-snapshot -wipe-data -skin 768x1280 &'

alias generic_7.1='emulator @generic_7.1 -no-boot-anim -netdelay none -no-snapshot -wipe-data -skin 768x1280 &'

alias generic_8.0='emulator @generic_8.0 -no-boot-anim -netdelay none -no-snapshot -wipe-data -skin 768x1280 &'

alias generic_8.1='emulator @generic_8.1 -no-boot-anim -netdelay none -no-snapshot -wipe-data -skin 768x1280 &'

alias generic_9.0='emulator @generic_9.0 -no-boot-anim -netdelay none -no-snapshot -wipe-data -skin 768x1280 &'

Note: Add this alias to ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc, or just run using these parameters for results. Pixel emulators should run at default resolution of 1080x1920 by default, but can specify this just in-case with the parameter: -skin 1080x1920

alias pixel_4.4 ='emulator @pixel_4.4 -no-boot-anim -netdelay none -no-snapshot -wipe-data -skin 1080x1920 &'

alias pixel_5.0 ='emulator @pixel_5.0 -no-boot-anim -netdelay none -no-snapshot -wipe-data -skin 1080x1920 &'

alias pixel_5.1 ='emulator @pixel_5.1 -no-boot-anim -netdelay none -no-snapshot -wipe-data -skin 1080x1920 &'

alias pixel_6.0 ='emulator @pixel_6.0 -no-boot-anim -netdelay none -no-snapshot -wipe-data -skin 1080x1920 &'

alias pixel_7.0 ='emulator @pixel_7.0 -no-boot-anim -netdelay none -no-snapshot -wipe-data -skin 1080x1920 &'

alias pixel_7.1 ='emulator @pixel_7.1 -no-boot-anim -netdelay none -no-snapshot -wipe-data -skin 1080x1920 &'

alias pixel_8.0 ='emulator @pixel_8.0 -no-boot-anim -netdelay none -no-snapshot -wipe-data -skin 1080x1920 &'

alias pixel_8.1 ='emulator @pixel_8.1 -no-boot-anim -netdelay none -no-snapshot -wipe-data -skin 1080x1920 &'

alias pixel_9.0 ='emulator @pixel_9.0 -no-boot-anim -netdelay none -no-snapshot -wipe-data -skin 1080x1920 &'

Note You can run all of the emulators above with a -read-only parameter to run multiple emulators at the same time, but this is an experimental feature right now.

Other

  1. Certain emulators, like Pixel, need to be started at a higher resolution than default oem emulators. Either define this in the ~/.android/avd/{name of avd}/config.ini file, or start emulator with -skin {RESOLUTION} as seen above.
  2. emulator -list-avds will print list of available devices
  3. avdmanager list , avdmanager list target, avdmanager list devices , avdmanager list avd
-   avdmanager list              : Lists existing targets or virtual devices.
-   avdmanager list avd          : Lists existing Android Virtual Devices.
-   avdmanager list target       : Lists existing targets.
-   avdmanager list device       : Lists existing devices.
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