Step #2: Get Ready for the x86 Emulator

Your next decision to make is whether or not you want to bother setting up an emulator image right now. If you have an Android device, you may prefer to start testing your app on it, and come back to set up the emulator at a later point. In that case, skip to Step #4.

Also, this book does not cover the Apple M1 CPU — you will need to determine what the current instructions are for getting a working emulator in that environment.

Otherwise, here is what you may need to do, based on the operating system on your development machine.

Windows

If your CPU met the requirements, and you successfully enabled the right things in your system’s BIOS, the Android Studio installation should have installed HAXM, and you should be ready to continue with the next step.

If, on the other hand, you got some error messages in the installation wizard regarding HAXM, you would need to address those first. Unfortunately, there is so much variety in PC hardware and possible problems that this book cannot help you diagnose and fix your HAXM problems.

Mac

The wizards of Cupertino set up their Mac hardware to be able to run the Android x86 emulator without additional configuration. This is really nice of them, considering that Android competes with iOS. The Android Studio installation wizard should have installed HAXM successfully, and you should be able to continue with the next step.

Linux

The Android x86 emulator on Linux does not use HAXM. Instead, it uses KVM, a common Linux virtualization engine.

If, during the Android Studio installation process, the wizard showed you a page that said that you needed to configure KVM, you will need to do that before you can set up and use the x86 emulator. The details of how to set up KVM will vary by Linux distro (e.g., Ubuntu).