Running Android 4.0 (ICS) on Virtualbox

By Leo Gaggl

Debugging things on the Android Emulator (incluced in the SDK) can be a very slow and cumbersome process. Thanks to the Android-x86 Project it’s quite easy to run Android in VirtualBox. This is highly useful when you need to test mobile apps and websites from the Android Browser (as well as Chrome Mobile).

  1. Download an Ethernet enabled ISO from Tablets x86wget http://dl.dropbox.com/u/75945873/android-x86-4.0-eth0-generic_x86-20120426.iso.torrent<br></br>transmission android-x86-4.0-eth0-generic_x86-20120426.iso.torrent
  2. Create new ViratualBox VM
    VM Settings 1
    VM Settings 2
    VM Settings 3
    Important Settings (see screenshots)
    • OS: Linux, Version: Linux 2.6
    • Enable VTx/AMD-V
    • Use Bridged Network Adapter (if you want to allow direct Internet Access)
  3. Mount the ISO file downloaded previosly and start the VM
    Install dialog
  4. Create the Root Filesystem (ext3) on the VBox .vdi created with the new VM, mark as bootable
  5. Write the Filesystem changes to disk (VDI) and format the disk
  6. Install GRUB Boatloader
  7. Copy files from ISO to VDI
  8. Unmount the ISO image and reboot Note: You need to disable the mouse pointer integration (if you have installed VirtualBox Client Add-ons) in the menu of Virtualbox (‘Machine’ –> ‘Disable Mouse Integration’) when you start the VM (see screenshot). I have not found a way to disable this by default on Virtualbox on Ubuntu (If anybody has managed this I would love to know how !)

Disable Mouse Integration

  1. Start the Android Setup Wizard to set locale and you should be up and running (network should already function to test external sites from Android browser) !