F.A.Q. In this article we will try to provide step-by-step instructions with screenshots for installing the Android operating system on a personal computer, laptop or netbook. The capacity of the proposed Android 4.4.2 operating system is x86. In addition, you will be able to answer the following questions:
- How to create or burn a Live CD & Install installation flash drive with Android 4.4?
- How to boot Android on a computer from a flash drive (without installing the OS)?
The interface language of this assembly (Android 4.4.2 x86 4.4.2 RC1 + RC2) is Russian.
No “pills” are required, just install and enjoy. You can download the torrent file ANDROID - x86 4.4.2 RC1 + RC2 + R1 + R2(NEW) (Live & Install) from here.
By launching your torrent client, you will download two images:
The first is android-x86-4.4-RC1 - this assembly is based on Android 4.4. The second is android-x86-4.4-RC2 - this assembly is a newer Android 4.4.2
Both builds are found to be stable and working. The choice is yours.
To create a multiboot flash drive (Multiboot usb) with built-in Android OS We still need a simple program - Ultra ISO or its analogues. In this instruction we will work with it. You can download the mentioned program for free using this link.
The image files have been downloaded, as has the Ultra ISO program. Now we directly create a bootable USB flash drive with Android x86 4.4.2 for further installation of Android on a PC. To do this, you need to run the “UltraISOPortable” file, which was suggested in the link above. We put a flash drive in our PC, a sufficient amount of memory is 1 GB.
After starting the program, select the command “File” - “Open” and in the window that appears, select the image file we need: android-x86-4.4-RC1 or android-x86-4.4-RC2. For example, I choose the second one. Double-click and see the following:
Next, in the “Disk Drive” field, you need to find your flash drive and check the “Check” box. Then select “Record” and in the window that appears, click on “Yes”. The process of burning the installation flash drive with Android 4.4.2 will begin.
All data from the memory card will be erased!!!
When the green bar reaches the end of the line and you see “Recording complete” in the “Message” field, then you can close the program with relief. The flash drive is ready!
Now comes the logical question: How to install or run Android OS on a PC, netbook or laptop?
Very simple. Without removing the same flash drive from the computer, we reboot the Windows operating system and boot from our memory card. This is done a little differently on different devices, but there is nothing complicated about it.
So, the flash drive loaded and showed us this window:
As can be seen from the image, the first three options from the list involve running the Android operating system on a personal computer without installing the OS itself. In these cases, you can enjoy Android functionality on your PC, install games and applications.
But, all changes will lose their effect after restarting the PC.
If you select the fourth option - “Installation - Install Android-x86 to harddisk”, then you will begin the automatic installation of the Android operating system on your personal computer, more precisely on its internal memory - hard drive.
That's the whole simple procedure. When you start your computer again, the BIOS will offer you a choice of two of the installed operating systems: Windows or Android.
This is what the desktop of a home computer with Android looks like:
By analogy, you can install Android on an external drive (hard drive).
At the beginning of 2016, a new operating system was released, tailored for computers and laptops - its name is Remix OS 2.0. Essentially, this is the same Android that any user can install on their PC without any problems. It can be used under any version of the operating system Windows, Linux and even OS X. So let's figure out how to install Android on a computer. For a more or less advanced user, this instruction is not needed, but for users who are unsure of their knowledge, it will clearly be useful.
The main feature of Remix OS is that it is perfectly adapted for computers - it has the usual multitasking, windowed mode, user-friendly interface, hot keys, an analogue of the Start menu and, of course, keyboard and mouse support. And now the most interesting thing - by installing it on your computer, you can run any applications designed for smartphones and tablets on Android and download them from Google Play.
What do you need to install Android on your computer?
As mentioned above, there is nothing complicated in the installation process. However, you need to have a USB 3.0 flash drive with a capacity of at least eight gigabytes. The larger the volume, the more games and applications you can install.Such requirements guarantee the correct “flight” of the system. On the other hand, there are cases where users installed Remix OS 2.0 on USB 2.0 flash drives and were satisfied with the performance.
The process of installing Android on a computer
First of all, you need to download the image itself from the official website - www.jide.com/en/remixos-for-pc.If you have a 64-bit processor, then download the 64-bit system; if it is 32-bit, then download the appropriate OS version.
As you can see, even the most inexperienced user can easily cope with installing Remix OS 2.0 on a computer. In the future, to launch the Android operating system on your computer, you will only need to insert the flash drive, restart the computer and repeat the steps starting from step seven.
For your information, the system is still in the testing stage, so from time to time it should be updated - that is, reinstalled. However, if you are satisfied with its performance and performance, you don’t have to worry about this.
Of the minuses, it should be noted that not all games can be played normally. In some places you won’t be able to get by with a keyboard and mouse – you’ll actually need a touch screen. On the other hand, many people get used to these inconveniences and cope quite well. As they say, taste and color.
Finally, I would like to note that this operating system has analogues - Phoenix OS or installing Android on a computer using the Bluestacks emulator, but they all work much worse. That is why we only talked about Remix OS 2.0 and its installation on a computer.
How to install Android on PC.
On January 18, 2019, the final release of Android-x86 8.1-r1 was presented, this is a version of Android Oreo 8.1 ported to PC. Processors from AMD and Intel are supported. The release fixes problems with OS stability, and also adds a few nice little things
Key Features
Version 8.1-r1 is based on the latest Android 8.1.0 Oreo MR1 (8.1.0_r60). Features include/support:
- 64-bit and 32-bit kernel and userspace with the latest LTS kernel 4.19.15.
- hardware acceleration OpenGL ES 3.x for Intel, AMD, Nvidia and QEMU (virgl) from Mesa 18.3.1.
- OpenGL ES 2.0 via SwiftShader for software rendering on unsupported graphics devices.
- hardware accelerated codecs on devices with the Intel HD and G45 family of graphics processors.
- Secure boot from UEFI and install to UEFI drive.
- Text GUI installer.
- Add theme support to GRUB-EFI.
- Supports Multi-Touch, Audio, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Sensors, Camera and Ethernet (DHCP only).
- Auto-mount external USB drive and SDCard.
- Add the taskbar as an alternative launcher that places the Start menu and recent apps bar at the top of the screen and supports freeform window mode.
- Enable ForceDefaultOrientation on devices without known sensors. Portrait apps can run on a landscape device without rotating the screen.
- Supports arm arch applications through a proprietary bridge mechanism. (Settings -> Android-x86 Options)
- Support for updating from unofficial releases.
- Add experimental Vulkan support for new Intel and AMD GPUs. (Download via Advanced Settings -> Vulkan Support)
- Supports mouse integration for virtual machines, including VirtualBox, QEMU, VMware and Hyper-V.
[collapse]
Against the backdrop of this news, we decided to work on the topic of installing a mobile OS on a stationary PC (or laptop). Let's start with the fact that there are quite a few reasons why this may be required, from banal interest and curiosity to the production need to test developments (in the event that simple emulators are not enough and a full-fledged OS is needed)
Known Issues:
- The Google Play service may sometimes freeze on a 32-bit image.
- Pause and resume does not work on some devices.
- Nvidia GPU (nouveau) may freeze sometimes.
- VMware 3D support is broken. (only non-accelerated mode works)
- Taking photos does not work if Vulkan is enabled.
Distribution.
First of all, we go to the developer’s website (http://www.android-x86.org/download) and select the version that suits us, in our case it is “android-x86_64-8.1-r1.iso”.
Next, we make a bootable flash drive (see how, if you forgot), connect it to the computer, and reboot. In general, we then press F8, but there are options that are usually written at the bottom of the screen (for example, Esc or F12). We select our flash drive and let's go.
First of all, we are greeted with a dialog box for selecting further downloads. Here the first and second options are variations of launching without installation. Using them you can check the suitability of your system for installing Android. We need the 3rd option “Installation – Install Android-x86 to harddisk”
We get to the menu for selecting a disk to install or create the appropriate size.
In our case, we are performing a simple installation, so we will create one partition for the entire hard drive and deploy the OS there. If your system already has operating systems installed, then be careful; if you manipulate partitions incorrectly, you may lose your data.
Important! After partitioning, do not forget to mark the partition as bootable (“Bootable”)
After we have chosen the size and properties of the future partition, select “Write” and type “yes” on the keyboard. We have completed all the necessary operations with the disk, so we select “Quit” and go to the previous menu. We select the partition we created and inform that there is no need to format (in our case the hard drive is new, and we can do without the format)
In the next window we will be prompted to install the GRUB boot loader. If Android is installed in a partition next to another operating system, you should agree to the installation. We have a test bench, and there is nothing but Android on the hard drive, so we skip this stage.
Installation begins
Android works not only on tablets and phones, but also on computers and laptops. There are several installation options: as a second operating system, in a virtual machine, or as an emulator. The choice of answer to the question of how to install Android on a computer depends on what goals the user is pursuing.
To create installation media, you will need a flash drive with a capacity of at least 1 GB, the Unetbootin utility and an Android ISO image, which you download from the developers’ website: http://www.android-x86.org/download. When downloading the distribution, pay attention to the bitness - 32 or 64-bit system. You can download both pure Android, the latest version, and Remix OS, a special build for your computer. At the same time, you can install the Android OS on a laptop using the same scheme; only the system interface will differ.
To create installation media:
Creating the installation media takes about 10 minutes. After Unetbootin has finished running, you can reboot your computer to start from the media. Instead of Unetbootin, you can use another utility to burn the installation media - for example, Rufus.
To launch the installation media, you need to change the boot priority on the “Boot” tab in the BIOS or select boot from a flash drive in the Boot Menu, called up by pressing the F11 key. After booting from the installation media, a menu appears in which you can launch Android without prior installation. To take advantage of this offer, select the first option.
A short boot will take you to the preset screen. The mouse, keyboard and touchpad on your laptop should already work here. You don’t have to configure anything; anyway, after restarting the computer, the settings will be lost. Once you've done the initial setup (or skipped it), you'll be taken to the Android home screen.
Simply put, you don't need to know how to install Android on your computer. It is enough to create installation media to launch the system on a PC and see the main features. The only drawback is that any changes made by the user are not saved. Otherwise, the system works without errors, there is even Internet access, provided that the computer is connected to the network or Wi-Fi.
If you are going to install Android as a second system next to Windows, then it is better to create a separate partition in advance.
- Press Win+R, execute “diskmgmt.msc”.
- Right-click on the one from which you can take space for installing Android. You won’t need a lot of free space – 5 GB is enough, or even less. Select "Shrink Volume".
- In the “Size of compressed space” line, set the required number of megabytes and click “Compress”.
- Unallocated space will appear. Right-click on it and select “Create Simple Volume.”
There is no need to change any parameters when creating a volume. As a result, you will have a personal clean partition for Android.
System installation
You can install Android on any laptop; the technical requirements of the system are such that even the capabilities of an old machine are enough. An excellent option would be to install Android on a netbook - the system takes up little space and consumes minimal resources.
- Boot from the installation media, select the last item in the menu – “Install to hard disk”.
- Select a section created specifically for Android. The main thing is not to make a mistake, because if you write Android over Windows, then all data from the Microsoft system, like the system itself, will be deleted.
- In the formatting system selection window, select FAT32 or NTFS. A warning will appear indicating that all data will be deleted. Click Yes.
- Agree with the installation of the GRUB boot loader and the EFU GRUB2 subsection. Without these options, you won't be able to choose whether to boot Android or Windows.
- Allow data overwriting and working with files in Android by clicking “Yes”.
The system installation will start. Upon completion, the installer will offer to create a custom partition inside Android. By default, 512 MB is allocated for it, but it is better to increase the volume 4 times, up to 2000 MB. This completes the installation. To start, click “Run Android”.
When installing Android on a laptop, you may need an external USB keyboard. Otherwise there shouldn't be any difficulties.
If you have figured out how to download Android and whether it is possible to install it on a PC, then there will be no problems with the preliminary setup, especially since it is carried out in the same way as on a phone or tablet after purchase. The first point is choosing a language.
Next, the system will prompt you to select a network to access the Internet, configure geopositioning, add a Google account, and set the time and date. After this small setup, you can install Android games on your computer and generally enjoy all the features of Google’s OS. The installed tools are enough to perform any tasks implemented on a regular Android device.
If you do not want to install Android on your PC as a second system next to Windows, worrying about the state of the bootloader or saving data on the hard drive, and the option of launching without installation does not suit you due to the inability to apply changes, then use a virtual machine. Let's see how to install Android on a virtual machine using Oracle VM VirtualBox as an example.
- Launch VirtualBox, click "New".
- Write the name of the new machine (you can use anything, for example, Android). Set the type to “Linux”, the version to “Other Linux”. Be sure to correctly specify the system bit size, 32 or 64 bit.
- Allocate RAM. The recommended volume is 256 MB, but it is better to take more.
- Select Create New Disk and click Create.
- Set the disk type to “VirtualBox Disk Image”.
- Check the "Dynamic Disk" box.
- Write any name for the disk. Specify the size - at least 1 GB, it is better to take more.
An isolated environment has been created, you can install Android in it. Highlight "Android" in the menu on the left and click "Run." In the machine window, specify the path to the downloaded ISO file with the Android distribution.
Next, you need to install Android on your PC using the instructions above. The only difference is that we install Android not next to Windows, but inside an isolated environment created using a virtual machine.
If you only need Android on your PC to play applications from Google Play, then you can get by with an emulator. Rich choice:
- BlueStacks;
- Leapdroid;
- Koplayer;
- Genymotion;
- YouWave for Android.
The emulators listed have different purposes. If BlueStacks and Koplayer are more aimed at launching games and other applications, then Genymotion is more of a tool for developers, although Android games on a PC can also be opened with it.
If you want to get a full-fledged Android on your computer without downloading the distribution kit and installing the system, then use the Nox App Player emulator. It is compatible with all the latest versions of Windows.
The program does not have a Russian-language interface, but inside Android you can install the Russian language, just like you do on a phone. Sound and camera work without additional settings, as well as the computer keyboard inside the emulator.
By default, Nox App Player runs in tablet resolution, but if necessary, it can be changed in the settings, which can be accessed by clicking on the gear. Also, by default, low performance is set, which allows the emulator to work without brakes even on weak hardware. You can also change the performance level in the settings.