Several Windows 11 users reported failure of Android Emulator in Android Studio SDK. The issue is seen in all computers having Intel and AMD CPUs, using Hyper-V as the hypervisor.
While Microsoft and Google are already working on this, there’s a temporary workaround suggested until then to test Android apps in Windows 11. If not, users can try the Windows Subsystem for Android for performing similar operations.
Android Emulator in Windows
To let users and developers replicate an Android app in their Windows computers, Microsoft made a dedicated environment called Android Studio, with built-in virtualization support like Android Emulator. This will let users choose any hardware of their choice, to install and run Android apps in them.
As this is widely helpful for testing apps, crashing this software will impact everyone’s business. And it’s doing now! As seen in issue-tracker, the Android Studio Emulator is crashing in most Windows 11 systems. The issue is seen more common in PCs with Intel and AMD chips, using Hyper-V as the hypervisor.
I really love Windows 11 on the Surface Pro 8, but I'm having problems with the Android emulator and after hours of Google searching still haven't found a really good solution, so I think I'll switch back to Windows 10 for now, until it is fixed…????#SurfacePro8 #Windows11
— Marco (@musiolmarco) October 29, 2021
Hyper-V is Microsoft’s native hypervisor and the core element for supporting virtualization. AMD PCs running Android Studio Emulator using Hypervisor driver are working just fine. Also, this issue was reported only on Windows 11 PCs, with Windows 10 systems working fine.
The good news amidst the increasing reports, Microsoft and Google has acknowledged the issue, and are working on a fix.
While we expect it to arrive in the next major update, a temporary workaround was suggested till then. This is to either replace one file with a pre-compiled version that someone made or remove a line in the android studio emulator’s source code and compile it yourself.
This may seem slightly complicated, but can be done by Android developers who always tweak settings and code. If not this, the best alternative is the Windows Subsystem for Android, which performs similar functions in Windows 11.
