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==Emulation issues==
===Google apps===
Android is open-source, but the Google Play Store has to be licensed from Google in order to incorporate it into a build, including Play Services and many other Google apps. That often means developers pay a fee that can trickle back to the user in some form (either through adware, privacy-invading trackers, or by selling the emulator as a commercial product). Custom ROMs for real Android devices on Android 4 and earlier used to bundle the Google Play Store, but this changed with newer versions. The new method is to install a custom ROM and then install "GApps" through another service like [https://opengapps.org/ the Open GApps Project].
===Architectural differences===
Many games often optimize and compile specifically for ARM processors, which prevents them from being executable on x86 CPUs, even when using a project like Android-x86. Some emulators, like BlueStacks, have ARM translation layer by default; in others, like Genymotion, it is possible to install an ARM translation layer manually. See [[#Enhancements]] built-in translation layer section for more information.
===Conflict===
Many emulators like to uninstall each other for some reason. Droid4x, Andyroid, Genymotion, and Xamarin cannot co-exist on the same machine without modifying their installers, which can be a problem if one game works on only one of these emulators but other games do not.
===Antitamper protection===
In order to reduce cheating, many games refuse to run if they discover that the device has been rooted. If the emulator comes rooted by default, it must be manually unrooted before the game can be played. The rooting method for modern devices is Magisk, which installs itself in the bootloader instead of the system partition, which makes it harder to detect.
Some games take more aggressive measures to detect the presence of Custom ROMs (unofficial firmware) or Android emulators (like the ones listed on this page) in a variety of ways, such as checking for the existence or absence of system files in order to prevent the game from running in any unverified environments. These games are very difficult or plain impossible to play on emulators without resorting to cracked versions of the games.
===Android-based Operating Systems===
There are many [[wikipedia:Fork_(software_development)|forks]] of Android; some of these go beyond a custom UI and are instead entirely new OSes that use the Android code in addition to writing their own code, such as Amazon's Fire OS; in some cases these come as compatibility layers on top of an otherwise unrelated OS, such as Windows Subsystem for Android. Depending on how much (and what) new code, features, and APIs were added, will determine the effects they will have on Android emulation but if one thing is for sure, these forks are (most likely) going to cause some emulation issues.
==Emulator Specific Issues==
===BlueStacks===
* '''Can't root the device:'''
The latest Kingroot's .apk will do the job when loaded inside BlueStacks. It's that simple.
Alternatively, you could use Universal [[BlueStacks]] Rooting Software on an existing BlueStacks installation. Before opening it, go to the folder where BlueStacks is installed under Program Files, and run "HD-Quit.exe" once.
Then, from the extracted "BlueStacks RootEZ 32_64", open as administrator "BlueStacks RootEZ.exe". Click "Automatic Detect from Installed Bluestacks", enable "Enlarge System (Root.fs) Size to 400MB", and click "I'm ready for Step 1". A command-line window should appear. Now just wait until "Preparing Complete" appears. Then, click "Go for Step 2" and wait until "Rooting is Complete" appears.
Close the application, and open the "output" folder in the same directory as the extracted application. You should find a newly generated "Root.fs" file. You can use it to replace the existing one under "%programdata%\BlueStacks\Android" (Press Windows+R and go there), but it's recommended to keep a backup of the original in case the new one causes Bluestacks to hang in the loading screen for more than a few minutes.
The package also includes Nova Explorer and Root Launcher. You may verify the rooting status with the "Root Checker" app from Google Play. Considering some apps check for Google Play services for online checks, you can also install "Modded Google Play Store", "[https://www.luckypatchers.com/ Lucky Patcher]" and "Magisk".
===Andyroid===
* '''Unable To Launch VM Process:'''
On the taskbar, right-click Andyroid's notification icon, and choose Settings, Advanced, Set Andy Protocol. Type "tcp" and confirm, then launch Andyroid.
===Android-x86===
* '''3D Support is broken on VMWare when using newer kernels:'''
Kernels > 4.14 with version 8.1 break 3d acceleration in VMWare (see https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/android-x86/4.9%7Csort:date/android-x86/wB65vJnuJiI/ytJaWYWUBwAJ). Use kernel 4.9 with 8.1 instead.
* '''Setting resolution in VMWare'''
Pass in a kernel option to grub when booting. Select the boot entry and then press 'e' to edit it, and then 'e' to edit again. Add the kernel option here. For example, to use a video resolution of 1920x1080, add 'video=1920x1080'. Press return to save the changes (for this boot session only), and 'b' to boot (the keys to edit and boot may be different depending on your grub version, there are usually instructions on the grub screen for the requisite keys)
===KMRE===
* '''Installing third-party apks'''
Installing third-party apks requires a dedicated installer <code>kmre-apk-installer</code>. It could be acquired by command <code>sudo apt update && sudo apt install kmre-apk-installer</code>.
Notice that KMRE is still not designed with third-party apps in mind. Installing third-party apps may result in abnormal behaviors of KMRE such as unable to start & stop itself on demand due to clogged-up background processes of third-party apps.
Installing apks inside KMRE is specifically filtered out unless the application running is upgrading itself.
* '''Receiving a notice that the mobile environment is not running while trying to install third-party apps'''
Go to app store - mobile apps to trigger the startup process of KMRE. You can see a startup notice in the bottom right corner on the desktop while it's starting up.
* '''Accessing Android system settings'''
Execute command <code>startapp com.android.settings</code> in the terminal. Notice that changing system settings is very likely to break KMRE.
* '''Accessing files of Android'''
Files in <code>/storage/emulated/0</code> are mapped to <code>/var/lib/kmre/data/kmre-1000-${LOGNAME}</code>.
'''Notice that this path contains a hard link to <code>/home</code>. KMRE will filter out file deletion, but not creation and modification. Improper file management in Android could result in data loss in host machine.'''
As KMRE is not really an emulator/hypervisor, the <code>/</code> and other paths such as <code>/sys</code> on Android doesn't have mappings, but some paths are mapped to <code>/var/lib/kmre/kmre-1000-${LOGNAME}</code>.
==GM Android-based==
Some Generic Motor branded automobiles are equipped with onboard computer system powered by Android system.
[https://developer.gm.com/app-gallery App Gallery].
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<references group=N3/>
==Android consoles==
Because it's possible to fork and create your own Android-based OS, many developers have used Android to power their own commercial consoles. However, as mentioned before, just because it uses Android as a base does not mean they will all work correctly on a standard Android emulator, as they may require specific hardware setup, extra non-standard APIs or frameworks provided by the OS of the console, or extra authentication that relies on the services bundled with the console.
|-
|}
==Emulation issues==
===Google apps===
Android is open-source, but the Google Play Store has to be licensed from Google in order to incorporate it into a build, including Play Services and many other Google apps. That often means developers pay a fee that can trickle back to the user in some form (either through adware, privacy-invading trackers, or by selling the emulator as a commercial product). Custom ROMs for real Android devices on Android 4 and earlier used to bundle the Google Play Store, but this changed with newer versions. The new method is to install a custom ROM and then install "GApps" through another service like [https://opengapps.org/ the Open GApps Project].
===Architectural differences===
Many games often optimize and compile specifically for ARM processors, which prevents them from being executable on x86 CPUs, even when using a project like Android-x86. Some emulators, like BlueStacks, have ARM translation layer by default; in others, like Genymotion, it is possible to install an ARM translation layer manually. See [[#Hardware features]] supported ABI section and [[#Enhancements]] built-in translation layer section for more information.
===Conflict===
Many emulators like to uninstall each other for some reason. Droid4x, Andyroid, Genymotion, and Xamarin cannot co-exist on the same machine without modifying their installers, which can be a problem if one game works on only one of these emulators but other games do not.
===Antitamper protection===
In order to reduce cheating, many games refuse to run if they discover that the device has been rooted. If the emulator comes rooted by default, it must be manually unrooted before the game can be played. The rooting method for modern devices is Magisk, which installs itself in the bootloader instead of the system partition, which makes it harder to detect.
Some games take more aggressive measures to detect the presence of Custom ROMs (unofficial firmware) or Android emulators (like the ones listed on this page) in a variety of ways, such as checking for the existence or absence of system files in order to prevent the game from running in any unverified environments. These games are very difficult or plain impossible to play on emulators without resorting to cracked versions of the games.
===Android-based Operating Systems===
There are many [[wikipedia:Fork_(software_development)|forks]] of Android; some of these go beyond a custom UI and are instead entirely new OSes that use the Android code in addition to writing their own code, such as Amazon's Fire OS; in some cases these come as compatibility layers on top of an otherwise unrelated OS, such as Windows Subsystem for Android. Depending on how much (and what) new code, features, and APIs were added, will determine the effects they will have on Android emulation but if one thing is for sure, these forks are (most likely) going to cause some emulation issues.
===Emulator Specific Issues===
====BlueStacks====
* '''Can't root the device:'''
The latest Kingroot's .apk will do the job when loaded inside BlueStacks. It's that simple.
Alternatively, you could use Universal [[BlueStacks]] Rooting Software on an existing BlueStacks installation. Before opening it, go to the folder where BlueStacks is installed under Program Files, and run "HD-Quit.exe" once.
Then, from the extracted "BlueStacks RootEZ 32_64", open as administrator "BlueStacks RootEZ.exe". Click "Automatic Detect from Installed Bluestacks", enable "Enlarge System (Root.fs) Size to 400MB", and click "I'm ready for Step 1". A command-line window should appear. Now just wait until "Preparing Complete" appears. Then, click "Go for Step 2" and wait until "Rooting is Complete" appears.
Close the application, and open the "output" folder in the same directory as the extracted application. You should find a newly generated "Root.fs" file. You can use it to replace the existing one under "%programdata%\BlueStacks\Android" (Press Windows+R and go there), but it's recommended to keep a backup of the original in case the new one causes Bluestacks to hang in the loading screen for more than a few minutes.
The package also includes Nova Explorer and Root Launcher. You may verify the rooting status with the "Root Checker" app from Google Play. Considering some apps check for Google Play services for online checks, you can also install "Modded Google Play Store", "[https://www.luckypatchers.com/ Lucky Patcher]" and "Magisk".
====Andyroid====
* '''Unable To Launch VM Process:'''
On the taskbar, right-click Andyroid's notification icon, and choose Settings, Advanced, Set Andy Protocol. Type "tcp" and confirm, then launch Andyroid.
====Android-x86====
* '''3D Support is broken on VMWare when using newer kernels:'''
Kernels > 4.14 with version 8.1 break 3d acceleration in VMWare (see https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/android-x86/4.9%7Csort:date/android-x86/wB65vJnuJiI/ytJaWYWUBwAJ). Use kernel 4.9 with 8.1 instead.
* '''Setting resolution in VMWare'''
Pass in a kernel option to grub when booting. Select the boot entry and then press 'e' to edit it, and then 'e' to edit again. Add the kernel option here. For example, to use a video resolution of 1920x1080, add 'video=1920x1080'. Press return to save the changes (for this boot session only), and 'b' to boot (the keys to edit and boot may be different depending on your grub version, there are usually instructions on the grub screen for the requisite keys)
====KMRE====
* '''Installing third-party apks'''
Installing third-party apks requires a dedicated installer <code>kmre-apk-installer</code>. It could be acquired by command <code>sudo apt update && sudo apt install kmre-apk-installer</code>.
Notice that KMRE is still not designed with third-party apps in mind. Installing third-party apps may result in abnormal behaviors of KMRE such as unable to start & stop itself on demand due to clogged-up background processes of third-party apps.
Installing apks inside KMRE is specifically filtered out unless the application running is upgrading itself.
* '''Receiving a notice that the mobile environment is not running while trying to install third-party apps'''
Go to app store - mobile apps to trigger the startup process of KMRE. You can see a startup notice in the bottom right corner on the desktop while it's starting up.
* '''Accessing Android system settings'''
Execute command <code>startapp com.android.settings</code> in the terminal. Notice that changing system settings is very likely to break KMRE.
* '''Accessing files of Android'''
Files in <code>/storage/emulated/0</code> are mapped to <code>/var/lib/kmre/data/kmre-1000-${LOGNAME}</code>.
'''Notice that this path contains a hard link to <code>/home</code>. KMRE will filter out file deletion, but not creation and modification. Improper file management in Android could result in data loss in host machine.'''
As KMRE is not really an emulator/hypervisor, the <code>/</code> and other paths such as <code>/sys</code> on Android doesn't have mappings, but some paths are mapped to <code>/var/lib/kmre/kmre-1000-${LOGNAME}</code>.
==GM Android-based==
Some Generic Motor branded automobiles are equipped with onboard computer system powered by Android system.
[https://developer.gm.com/app-gallery App Gallery].
==See also==
