HOW TO RUN ANDROID 4.4/ANY ON PC WITH VIRTUALBOX

STEP 1: Download Virtualbox and install it (version 4.3.16 at the time of writing this): www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads (You can also use vmware software)

STEP 2: Download the latest Android-x86 4.4-r1 or latest and download this file: android-x86-4.4-r1.iso (approx. 360 Mbytes) via http://tinyurl.com/n4ypn59

STEP 3: Launch the Virtualbox software and click the “New” button on the toolbar and on the screens that appear, fill out this information, pressing next between these screens:

NAME: Android-x86 (or choose any name for yourself as a reference)

TYPE: Linux VERSION: Linux 2.6/3.x

MEMORY: 1024MB (use the slider, or type 1024 in the box)

HARD DRIVE (DEFAULT): “create a virtual hard drive now”

HARD DRIVE FILE TYPE (DEFAULT): VDI (VirtualBox Disk Image)

STORAGE ON PHYSICAL HARD DRIVE (DEFAULT): Dynamically allocated

FILE LOCATION AND SIZE: Leave the filename as it appears, but increase to 16GB; however I have seen reports of people getting away with 8GB and also as low as 4GB. If you can spare 16GB on your PC, choose that.

Now you’re ready to press the “Create” button. This will configure a brand new “virtual computer” with exactly the specifications you have just provided, such as 1GB of RAM and 16GB hard drive

STEP 4: Press the “Settings” icon on the toolbar and in the settings window that appears select “Storage” in the left hand pane, then click on the word “Empty” in the Storage Tree section. Now click on the small disc icon to the right of “IDE Secondary Master” and click “Choose a virtual CD/DVD disk file…” and now find the Android-x86-4.4-r1.iso file you downloaded earlier. Press OK to save the settings and return to the main Virtualbox window. Now it’s time to start your virtual machine and install the Android operating system software.

Press the green arrow icon on the toolbar in Virtualbox to start. Now that your new virtual machine is up and running it should “boot” from the ISO image we connected in the previous step and you’ll see a screen like this:

STEP5: Select “Installation – Install Android-x86 to harddisk” after which there are a number of steps you’ll need to follow carefully all documented here: www.android-x86.org/documents/installhowto

FINISHING TOUCHES:

Since Android was designed for touchscreen devices, and your PC has a mouse

instead we just need to tell Virtualbox to draw a mouse pointer on the screen so you know where you are! At the bottom-right of the virtual Android device window are some settings – you’ll need to find “Disable Mouse Integration” and turn it on for the best experience possible. The default screen resolution that your virtual Android tablet will use resembles that of a tablet device, but if you want to simulate a smartphone instead you’ll need to tweak a hidden Virtualbox configuration setting for this. I would only recommend this for advanced users comfortable with editing a configuration file using a text editor. (Advanced Users Only) Follow the instructions provided here:

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6202342/switch-android-x86screen-resolution

The native screen resolution for an Android Nexus 4 smartphone is 768 x 1280 but I’ve found this doesn’t fit nicely on a PC screen, try 576 x 960 instead.