Andrei Fedotov

Posted on May 8, 2020 • Edited on Jun 22, 2020

How to install Android emulator without installing Android Studio

#tutorial #android #mobile

This is the step-by-step note that answering the question: How to install and launch Android emulator without installing Android Studio itself.

Download and install JDK
Set JAVA_HOME variable.

Open Command Prompt (Win+R, type cmd and press Enter) or use any other terminal you like. For me path to JDK is E:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.8.0_251. Execute the following:
```
setx JAVA_HOME "E:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.8.0_251"
```
or use Start -> Edit the system environment variables -> Environment variables... -> New...
Download and install Intel Hardware Accelerated Execution Manager (HAXM) (you also need to switch off Hyper-V feature and enable Virtualization in BIOS for successful installation).
Download Command-Line-Tools: Go to Downloads page , scroll down to "Command line tools only" section and download the archive with tools.
Go to AppData\Local:
```
cd %localappdata%
```

Create the following folder structure and go inside:

mkdir Android\cmdline-tools
cd Android\cmdline-tools

Extract downloaded commandlinetools-win-*_latest.zip folder into cmdline-tools folder:
```
tar -xf C:\Users\a\Downloads\commandlinetools-win-6200805_latest.zip
```
Starting from Android SDK Command-line Tools 1.0.0 (6200805), in contrast to Android SDK 26.1.1 (4333796), the tools directory hierarchy has been changed. Previously it was placed right inside ANDROID_HOME, now it's still named as tools (the only thing you'll get after unpacking the downloaded commandlinetools zip file), but differently, you have to place it inside a directory called cmdline-tools on your own.

The structure is supposed to be the following:

├── cmdline-tools
   └── tools
       ├── bin
       ├── lib
       ├── NOTICE.txt
       └── source.properties

Set ANDROID_HOME environment variable:

setx ANDROID_HOME %localappdata%\Android

Create new entry in Path environment variable:
```
setx path "%PATH%;%ANDROID_HOME%\cmdline-tools\tools\bin" /m
```
Note: you'll probably need to restart cmd in order the changes take effect.
The next command allows us to see the list of available packages:
```
sdkmanager --list
```
We need to install such packages like platform-tools, platforms;android-* and system-images;android-*;google_apis;x86_64, where * means the version:
```
sdkmanager "platforms;android-29" "system-images;android-29;google_apis;x86_64" "platform-tools"
```
Next we have to accept a bunch of licenses. Type the next command and answer y to each question:
```
sdkmanager --licenses
```

Now we are ready to create new virtual device:

avdmanager create avd -n test_avd_29 -k "system-images;android-29;google_apis;x86_64"

To see the list of virtual devices just type:
```
avdmanager list avd
```
Go to emulator folder:
```
cd %ANDROID_HOME%\emulator
```
Last but not least thing is launching:
```
emulator -avd test_avd_29
```

Cheers!

Top comments (10)

Harsh Rathod • Jan 18 '23

Thanks! It is so much helpful.

HemanthJabalpuri • Jan 4 '21

Can you please update the guide to commandline-tools 3.0.
I am having error as said in stackoverflow.com/questions/655464...

Use ANDROID_SDK_ROOT instead of ANDROID_HOME according to stackoverflow.com/a/61176718/11620356

Also unzip correctly as said in UPDATE! in above stackoverflow link.

Thanks for guide.

Thong Truong • Jul 20 '21

Thank youuu

A.K. • Dec 17 '22

step 16 should be:

sdkmanager "emulator"
cd %ANDROID_HOME%\sdk\emulator

Anton Prafanto • Jan 29 '21 • Edited

thank you bro, it's work

Govarthenan • Sep 23 '20

Is this procedure guaranteed to work?
And also does the AVD save the changes or do I get a brand new one every time I boot it up?

Andrei Fedotov • Sep 25 '20 • Edited

Hey Govarthenan,
if by saying "procedure" you mean this step-by-step note for launching emulator then the answer is yes, it is. I use it for dev purposes and it works.
In terms of saving changes yes it does: you can launch emulator, do some actions, close it, open again and see the previous state