Android Emulator: Create avd, sd card and other handy commands

Android Emulator cmd line arguments:

1. Start->Run

2. type in - cmd

3. to change drive say D drive to C drive type D:\>C:\

4. to list all the directories and files in D drive C:\> ls
5. to change directory within the same drive
C:\>cd android
(shortcut: copy the path of the android development folder if for e.g. C:\android\android-sdk-windows-1.5_r2\tools and then right click on cmd prompt and paste)
C:\>cd C:\android\android-sdk-windows-1.5_r2\tools

6. to go to emulator help C:\>cd C:\android\android-sdk-windows-1.5_r2\tools\emulator -help
Android Emulator usage: emulator [options] [-qemu args] options:
· -sysdir <>> search for system disk images in
· -system read initial system image from
· -datadir write user data into
· -kernel use specific emulated kernel
· -ramdisk ramdisk image (default /ramdisk.img
· -image obsolete, use -system instead
· -init-data initial data image (default /userdata.img
· -initdata same as '-init-data '
· -data data image (default /userdata-qemu.img
· -partition-size system/data partition size in MBs
· -cache cache partition image (default is temporary file)
· -no-cache disable the cache partition
· -nocache same as -no-cache
· -sdcard SD card image (default /sdcard.img
· -wipe-data reset the use data image (copy it from initdata)
· -avd use a specific android virtual device
· -skindir search skins in (default /skins)
· -skin select a given skin
· -no-skin don't use any emulator skin
· -noskin same as -no-skin
· -memory physical RAM size in MBs
· -netspeed maximum network download/upload speeds
· -netdelay network latency emulation
· -netfast disable network shaping
· -trace enable code profiling (F9 to start)
· -show-kernel display kernel messages
· -shell enable root shell on current terminal
· -no-jni disable JNI checks in the Dalvik runtime
· -nojni same as -no-jni -logcat enable logcat output with given tags
· -no-audio disable audio support
· -noaudio same as -no-audio
· -audio use specific audio backend
· -audio-in use specific audio input backend
· -audio-out use specific audio output backend
· -raw-keys disable Unicode keyboard reverse-mapping
· -radio redirect radio modem interface to character device
· -port TCP port that will be used for the console
· -ports , TCP ports used for the console and adb bridge
· -onion use overlay PNG image over screen
· -onion-alpha <%age> specify onion-skin translucency
· -onion-rotation 0123 specify onion-skin rotation
· -scale scale emulator window
· -dpi-device specify device's resolution in dpi (default 165)
· -http-proxy make TCP connections through a HTTP/HTTPS proxy
· -timezone use this timezone instead of the host's default
· -dns-server use this DNS server(s) in the emulated system
· -cpu-delay throttle CPU emulation
· -no-boot-anim disable animation for faster boot
· -no-window disable graphical window display
· -version display emulator version number
· -report-console report console port to remote socket
· -gps redirect NMEA GPS to character device
· -keyset specify keyset file name
· -shell-serial specific character device for root shell
· -old-system support old (pre 1.4) system images
· -tcpdump capture network packets to file
· -bootchart enable bootcharting
· -prop = set system property on boot
· -qemu args... pass arguments to qemu
· -qemu -h display qemu help
· -verbose same as '-debug-init'
· -debug enable/disable debug messages
· -debug- enable specific debug messages
· -debug-no- disable specific debug messages
· -help print this help
· -help- print option-specific help
· -help-disk-images about disk images
· -help-keys supported key bindings
· -help-debug-tags debug tags for -debug
· -help-char-devices character specification
· -help-environment environment variables
· -help-keyset-file key bindings configuration file
· -help-virtual-device virtual device management
· -help-sdk-images about disk images when using the SDK
· -help-build-images about disk images when building Android
· -help-all prints all help content

7. to run emulator, create avd (android virtual devices), but before creating avd, listthe details needed
C:\>cd C:\android\android-sdk-windows-1.5_r2\tools\android list targets

following message is displayed:
id:1
Name: Android 1.5
Type: Platform
API level: 3
Skins: HVGA , HVGA-L, HVGA-P

8. to create avd
C:\>cd C:\android\android-sdk-windows-1.5_r2\tools\android create avd -n myandroid -t 1
where -n name of avd or emulator -t target ID (which is 1 from pt. 7)

9. to run emulator
C:\android\android-sdk-windows-1.5_r2\tools\emulator -avd myandroid

10.if now there is any upgradation in tools or any platform files, to run emulator
C:\android\android-sdk-windows-1.5_r2\tools\emulator -wipe-data
and now again type cmd from pt.9

11.to create sdcard
C:\android\android-sdk-windows-1.5_r2\tools\mksdcard -l sd500m 500M
C:\android\android-sdk-windows-1.5_r2\tools\mysdcard.img
where -l label

12. to mount on emulator
C:\android\android-sdk-windows-1.5_r2\tools\emulator -sdcard mysdcard.img

13. to push songs on the emulator
Eclipse->Window->Open Perspective->DDMS
there is sdcard folder with d--rxrwx permissions
drag and drop audio files with all possible extensions.

14. To install, upgrade Android Development Tools, android SDK go to http://developer.android.com/sdk/1.5_r3/index.html

15. To install, eclipse, go to http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/
and download Eclipse IDE for Java EE Developers (189 MB)