running android-x86 8.1

Discussions about using Linux guests in VirtualBox.
warbler
Posts: 10
Joined: 17. Dec 2016, 00:52

running android-x86 8.1

Post by warbler »

Hello,

I'm new to using VMs and to VirtualBox. I'm using VirtualBox 6.0.4 on Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit OS. I've successfully installed VMs for Linux Mint (Cinnamon) and for Ubuntu 18.04 - they boot up and run. My physical hardware is an AMD Athlon II x440 CPU on an ASUS mobo with 16GB RAM and two SATA hard drives (1TB and 3TB). I've placed the VM folders on the 3TB drive (e:\).

I've been trying to install an Android-x86 VM without success so far. Most recently, I'm trying to install android-x86_64-8.1-r1.iso from android-x86 downloads. I've also tried 7.1, 6.1 and 4.4. They started up and then hung displaying a blank screen with a prompt reading something like x-86#.

I've googled, found many tutorials to install an android VM in virtualbox, followed them but without success. I notice that the settings changed from one tutorial to another. I realize that VirtualBox does not support android but that it can be installed as a VM as evidenced by others successfully doing so. The VirtualBox documentation points out that the guest extentions under devices will not install because VirtualBox does not officially support android.

Obviously, I'm doing something wrong but don't know where I'm going wrong. Can someone spot where? Here are the steps I took to try installing on my pc using android-x86-64-8.1-r1.iso

0. started VirtualBox Manager and chose New VM
1. I gave the VM a name
2. chose type linux
3. chose version: other linux (64-bit)
4. memory 4096 MB
5. created a virtual hard disk
6. chose VDI (VirtualBox Disk Image) file type
7. chose dynamically allocated storage
8. accepted name
9. file size 8GB

next, I opened the settings option
General - accepted as is
System -
MOTHERBOARD
base memory: 4096
changed chipset to ICH9 (VirtualBox document said the other setting was becoming obsolete)
pointing device: USB tablet
enabled I/O APIC
disabled EFI (special OSes only)
enabled hardware clock in UTC time
PROCESSOR
left processors at 1
left execution cap at 100%
enabled PAE/NX
disabled Nested VT-x/AMD-V
ACCELERATION
paravirtualization interface - default
enable VT-x/AMD-V
enable nested paging
DISPLAY
video memory: 128 MB
monitor count: 1
scale factor: 200%
graphics controller: VBoxSVGA
acceleration: did not use
STORAGE
controller IDE
android8_00.vdi
empty
clicked on 'empty', found and opened android-x86-64-8.1-r1.iso
clicked on settings OK button

STARTED the VM
installation screen appears
chose "installation Install Android-x86 to harddisk
chose create/modify partition
did not use GPT
created new partition
chose primary
used all MB (8 GB)
toggled Bootable
wrote partition table (typed yes)
verified what I did anc quit screen
clicked OK on choose partition screen
reformated with ext4 (other choices were ntfs and fat32)
installed boot loader GRUB
installed /system directory as read-write
receive message that android-x86 installed successfully
and have two choices:
run android-x86
reboot

I do get confused at this point. All of the tutorials say that the disk with the ISO file needs to be ejected at this point, but none of them demonstrated how. One tutorial showed a CD/DVD icon on the screen, but nothing like that appears on mine. The closest thing I could think of was to pause the VM, go to devices and remove, then unpause the VM and choose reboot. That did not seem to work.

Help pointing out what I'm doing wrong will be appreciated. I think I've been trying various things for a few days now and think I'm just going in circles now.

I'm coming from a Windows environment. So I install GRUB as part of the installation steps but have never used it nor am I sure how to start it if I do need to use it. My installations of Mint Cinnamon and Ubuntu were fine and did not need any tweaking.

Another question deals with my choice of pointing device. It's not clear if I should be using the PS/2 option or USB tablet.

Thanks in advance.

John
mpack
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Posts: 39156
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Primary OS: MS Windows 10
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Re: running android-x86 8.1

Post by mpack »

Please provide a VM log file. With the VM fully shut down, right click it in the GUI. Select "Show Log" and save "VBox.log" (no other file) to a zip file. Attach the zip here.

Please be aware that Android is not a supported guest OS. In particular there are no "additions" for it, which are used in supported guests to improve graphics performance, improve integration with the host etc. In fact there isn't even a VM creation template for it, so it's entirely up to you to create a hardware "recipe" which is compatible with the guest's driver set: and getting more drivers into the guest is one of many problems you'll have.
warbler
Posts: 10
Joined: 17. Dec 2016, 00:52

Re: running android-x86 8.1

Post by warbler »

Hello,

I attached the zipped log file to this message.

John
Attachments
android8_log file.zip
log file requested by mpack
(24.04 KiB) Downloaded 253 times
mpack
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Re: running android-x86 8.1

Post by mpack »

You can go ahead and unmount that Guest Additions ISO, since as I mentioned above - there is no GA support for Android-x86 guests.

You also seem to have added two CD/DVD drives to the VM recipe. This usually causes confusion.

Otherwise, I'm not seeing any problem with the VM. I see a number of hardware components (like AC'97) that I doubt you have drivers for, but I wouldn't expect that to prevent a boot.

I think you're going to have to take this problem to an Android-x86 specialist site: or just download a ready-made VM.
warbler
Posts: 10
Joined: 17. Dec 2016, 00:52

Re: running android-x86 8.1

Post by warbler »

Thank you. When you suggest a ready-made android VM, do you mean something like BlueStacks?

Was there anything wrong in the steps I took to create and add the android VM? I pieced it together from reviewing various tutorials and reviewing some of the descriptions of the switches (term?) I found in Oracle's user manual. I had to guess for two or three of them because the tutorials didn't specifically discuss them.

About the two CD/DVD devices, I'm working from memory. When I created the android VM, the 'storage' tab underneath the 'settings' option showed both an IDE controller and a SATA controller. The icon underneath the IDE controller showed a CD/DVD icon labeled empty. The icon underneath the SATA controller also showed a CD/DVD icon; I forget what it was labeled though I'm sure it was not labeled "empty". I thought nothing of it because all the tutorials I read indicated that I would see an "empty" icon at this point and that that one ("empty") was the one for which I needed to point to the ISO file I would be using to install the android VM. So, I selected the IDE CD/DVD "empty" icon in which to point to the android ISO file to be used.
mpack
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Re: running android-x86 8.1

Post by mpack »

I'm not in a position to recommend any particular ready made VM. All I can tell you is that when I successfully got an Android VM working, I believe I started with something ready made by someone else, since "flashing" Android onto blank hardware is no simple thing for anyone not an Android expert. But, that was several years ago so I couldn't nominate a particular download today.
andyp73
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Re: running android-x86 8.1

Post by andyp73 »

Have you tried following the instructions on Android-x86 - Porting Android to x86

-Andy.
My crystal ball is currently broken. If you want assistance you are going to have to give me all of the necessary information.
Please don't ask me to do your homework for you, I have more than enough of my own things to do.
warbler
Posts: 10
Joined: 17. Dec 2016, 00:52

Re: running android-x86 8.1

Post by warbler »

Yes, that was one of the articles i used to write down the steps I should take to install android. The difference between it and my choices were that I used android version 8 and it referenced Android-x86 version 6.0-r3. The other difference is that it used VirtualBox 64-bit for Windows, version 5.2.0. I'm using VirtualBox 6.0 ISTR that there were one or two differences in VirtualBox 6.0 wrt screen options from what was described in that article.

The article, like most of the other how to articles I read, warned that you might have to use GRUB to tweak settings if the screen hung, but I only found one article that gave details of using GRUB https://www.lifewire.com/fix-android-sc ... ox-2202050 If I read those instructions right, it was almost as if starting GRUB would require split second timing on my part. I still don't understand its instructions to start GRUB, but I'll have re-read what I've found and see what I can make sense of.
Last edited by socratis on 19. Apr 2019, 08:51, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Removed unnecessary verbatim quote of the whole previous message.
BillG
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Re: running android-x86 8.1

Post by BillG »

warbler wrote:I do get confused at this point. All of the tutorials say that the disk with the ISO file needs to be ejected at this point, but none of them demonstrated how. One tutorial showed a CD/DVD icon on the screen, but nothing like that appears on mine. The closest thing I could think of was to pause the VM, go to devices and remove, then unpause the VM and choose reboot. That did not seem to work.

I'm coming from a Windows environment. So I install GRUB as part of the installation steps but have never used it nor am I sure how to start it if I do need to use it. My installations of Mint Cinnamon and Ubuntu were fine and did not need any tweaking.
John
You can eject the iso file from the optical drive of the vm from the Devices tab at the top of the vm window. Hover over Optical Drives and you get a dropdown list. Select Remove disk from optical drive. Or if the vm is stopped, you can eject the ISO frim Settings.


If you have installed GRUB it should start automatically and give you the boot menu. Unless you choose an option, it will automatically start Android (the default setting) after a few seconds.
Android.PNG
Bill
warbler
Posts: 10
Joined: 17. Dec 2016, 00:52

Re: running android-x86 8.1

Post by warbler »

Thanks. I interpreted the word "remove" to mean something very different. When the option said remove, I thought it meant the equivalent of physically removing - disconnecting - the disk drive as a device period. It didn't make much sense to me that way, but then I'm new and how things are done vary from one piece of software to another and this is a virtual machine, not a physical machine. I had expected Oracle to use the word 'eject' in their options because remove and eject have different meanings even if the end result is the same - the cd/dvd is gone.

I remember seeing the text you posted in the image labeled android.png. That seems to be where my display hangs. That prompt x86:/# is what I see. I've walked away from my pc for up to 10 minutes, but nothing ever advanced past it. I don't remember seeing any error messages, just that one line.
BillG
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Re: running android-x86 8.1

Post by BillG »

That is a prompt to enter something. What that is I have no idea, but it has nothing to do with VirtualBox. You are inside android-x86 .

https://github.com/jackpal/Android-Term ... -Reference
Android2.PNG
Bill
GRou
Posts: 7
Joined: 14. Jun 2019, 10:41

Re: running android-x86 8.1

Post by GRou »

Don't know if you're still watching this, but I found a solution to this issue tonight. I'm using 64-bit, but the same solution should work in 32-bit.

Shut down the Android VM if it is running. Then open up the settings for the VM in VirtualBox. On the Display tab, the Graphics Controller dropdown is likely set to VMSVGA. Change this to VBoxVGA, and check Enable 3D Acceleration. Click OK to save settings.

Now restart the Android VM. Be patient, after it shows the command prompt, it should eventually clear, switch to graphics mode and show the Android desktop. This can take anywhere from 10 to 30 seconds, depending on the speed of your CPU and system.

This worked for me, anyway. I didn't think of it, but found the suggestion by searching.
Colop
Posts: 2
Joined: 13. Nov 2019, 19:13

Re: running android-x86 8.1

Post by Colop »

GRou wrote:Shut down the Android VM if it is running. Then open up the settings for the VM in VirtualBox. On the Display tab, the Graphics Controller dropdown is likely set to VMSVGA. Change this to VBoxVGA, and check Enable 3D Acceleration. Click OK to save settings.
Hey man!
I had another problem related to installing and running Android on Kali and your answer solved the problem I was having
Thanks
socratis
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Re: running android-x86 8.1

Post by socratis »

GRou wrote:Change this to VBoxVGA, and check Enable 3D Acceleration.
Enabling the 3D acceleration has no effect unless the Guest Additions (GAs) are installed, and there are no GAs for an Android Guest. So that point is moot. What made the whole thing work is the change from VMSVGA to VBoxVGA...
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Man Lee
Posts: 1
Joined: 27. Nov 2019, 06:47

Re: running android-x86 8.1

Post by Man Lee »

I have a huge problem it's only stuck on the detecting progress of android -x86 and I never received any error message how can I overcome this problem :?: :cry:
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