Unbearably slow android emulator -- is there a fix?

Question

I know that the topic was discussed here last year, but I am hoping that someone has since found a fix. The emulator is simply not working for me anymore. It took 15 minutes or so to load hello world a few days ago, and now I can't get it to load a simple MapsDemo from the api samples no matter how long I wait.

I'm using eclipse with the android plugin (sdk and avd manager). My pc is 2.31 GHz quadcore with 8GB ram and windows 7 x64. Nothing is being logged in LogCat apparently.

Are there any alternatives or certain fixes I can try before buying a phone? I'd just upgrade my phone to an HTC Incredible and debug from the phone, but Verizon won't have any for at least a month and I'd really like to have my app out by then.

Newberry

I have the same problem. There are 5-6 threads here discussing the slow emulator issue, but none of them provides a solution. If there is any of course... I have a 1.8ghz core2duo with 2gb of ram and the emulator is extremely slow. It loads fine, but the lag is awful. Basically no real development can be done on that. I will be very appreciative if a solution is found. Regards – Jamison

Anyone find anything out on this? Of course you can use a real phone for dev but then how do you handle testing different OS versions easily? – Cynarra

I'll be damned if I ever get a reasonable answer to this question. My app works perfectly on my device and other devices running 2.2.1 that ive tested it on. On every other phone/OS combo, it crashes immediately. The android emulator reports NO LOGCAT OUTPUT so I cant debug anything. What an absolute mess. Google ought to be ashamed of this platform. – Newberry

As for the missing logcat output, what works for me is to click the running emulator in DDMS. The logcat output will refresh to show the new session's output. – Bruch

I also encountered the same problem. My computer runs on a Core i7 8gig of Ram. – Marsala

Answer 1

Delete all your AVDs & re-install the SDK in a new directory. This should clear out any lurking config settings or AVD based issues which could be causing the slowdown.

Also try shutting down any virus/spyware scanner you may have running because you can then see if your AV app is trying to scan the AVD and or SD card images which could slow things down.

(btw, I'm running the emulator on a Quad Core Q6600 with 4gb RAM & Win 7 x64 and it starts in less than 1 min, so I doubt it's a compatibility issue).

Larondalarosa

this worked somewhat. the app is still running incredibly slow, but at least it loads. – Newberry

Im on a fresh load and its still dog slow. Only an Atom processor though to be fair – Shaughnessy

i did what u said on I5 win7 4gb memory and nothing it's still doing that. – Cataract

Answer 2

The best advice I've received is to use to target an older platform and a lower resolution. The emulator for Android 1.5 at HVGA is significantly faster to load than 3.1 at tablet resolution.

If you are running an emulator for a newer Android version, and want to see what it is doing while loading, you can watch on 'adb logcat'. It at least gives some better feedback than the word "Android" with a light shining across it!

Stokehold

Answer 3

I usually start it then after I see the "ANDROID" screen close it and restart it and it works and starts up a lot faster the second time.

Hereld

Answer 4

I have started using ubuntu v11 (with dual boot) ,emulator is now starting within 40sec and working without any errors ,which i have encountered in windows 7 and performance is also good.

Fawcette

I found the Android Emulators on Ubuntu 13.04 to run MUCH faster than on Windows 8 (unfortunatelly). dandar3.blogspot.com/2013/05/… – Goodwill

they both use Linux so there is less work.as opposed to windows which has to emulate Linux then build – Cultivable

Answer 5

I just had the very same problem today, after I received the advise, to create a 400MiB SD Card on my AVD. I did so, but nothing worked anymore. I waited half an hour for my App to compile, but nothing happened even though the LogCat was still runníng ... So I came in here to find a solution and I did!

Here`s what speeded the whole thing up again:

1. I went to the AVD Manager (Window > AVD Manager in Eclipse)
2. Above the AVDs you can see the path where everything is stored that is created by the machine
3. So I went to that folder of the path and it was filled with previously compiled stuff
4. So I deleted it and voila, my App is run within a minute again!

P.S. It might be the case, that you won`t find the last folders described in the path, because they are hidden. Just type in that path, and they will be there: The hidden folders looked like this: .android\avd Just type it in manually and erase all that stuff in there.

Pforzheim

Answer 6

Using SDK Manager download and Install Intel x86 Emulator Accelerator(After downloading this SDK Package can find executable file at path "SDK_LOCATION"\extras\intel\Hardware_Accelerated_Execution_Manager Install it) and also Intel x86 Atom System Image packages.

Then create a new AVD with CPU/ABI as Intel Atom(x86), and Check Use GPU Host. Done!

Fadden

how about android 2.2? – Hasten

@Hasten There is no Intel x86 Atom System Image for 2.2. – Fadden

and is there a way to speed it up (as per what the system image does for 4.0 and newer)? – Hasten

@Hasten Create or edit 2.2 emulator with Use Host GPU enabled. Just have look at this link – Fadden