When it comes to app development, it helps to have a test environment. Google has provided Android developers with an emulator for quite some time but made some major improvements to it just a couple years ago. Now, the company has once again, brought improvements, offering support for AMD processors and Microsoft's Hyper-V on Windows.
Starting today, you can download the latest release of the Android Emulator which is optimized to run on computers utilizing AMD processors. Previously, many users were limited to just software support, now, hardware accelerated performance will be possible. The Hyper-V compatibility was made possible by contributions from Microsoft of open-source materials and the recently released Microsoft Windows Hypervisor Platform (WHPX) API.
Those that are using an AMD processor and curious to try out the new update, you can follow the directions below:
Microsoft Windows
On Intel x86-based computers, the Android Emulator will continue to use Intel HAXM by default. Intel HAXM is a mature and open-sourced hypervisor solution developed by Intel. Thanks to on-going development by Intel, the fastest emulator performance on Windows is still with Intel HAXM. To download the latest Intel HAXM v7.2.0, check for updates in the Android SDK Manager.
If you have an AMD processor in your computer you need the following setup requirements to be in place:
- AMD Processor - Recommended: AMD® Ryzen™ processors
- Android Studio 3.2 Beta or higher - download via Android Studio Preview page
- Android Emulator v27.3.8+ - download via Android Studio SDK Manager
- x86 Android Virtual Device (AVD) - Create AVD
- Windows 10 with April 2018 Update
- Enable via Windows Features: "Windows Hypervisor Platform"
Those that are using Hyper-V and curious to try out the new update, you can follow the directions below:
If you want to use Hyper-V at the same time as the Android Emulator on your Intel processor-based computer, you will also need the same Android Studio and Android Emulator versions as listed above, but with the additional requirements:
- Enable via Windows Features: "Hyper-V" - Only available for Windows 10 Professional/Education/Enterprise
- Intel Processor : Intel® Core™ processor that supports Virtualization Technology (VT-x), Extended Page Tables (EPT), and Unrestricted Guest (UG) features. Additionally VT-x needs to be enabled in the BIOS.
Despite this being a stable release, feedback is appreciated. If you experience any issues, you can report them here.
Source: Android Developers Blog
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