How to Install Android in Windows using VMware (Part- 2 Installing Android)

This is the Second and the last Part of our article 'How to Install Android in Windows using VMware'. The Part-1 of this tutorial if very important (The tutorial on Configuring Android in VMware).

If you have completed the Part- 1 successfully then read the tutorial below to install android in Windows and if not then click here to read the first Part of this article.

NOTE: To get out of Virtual Machine windows press Alt+Ctrl button. (You will need this Key combination whenever you open a virtual machine).

Installing Android in Windows: 

1. Open the virtual machine window and Select 'Power On this virtual machine'. VMware will now power on this virtual machine and take you to the installation mode (See image below). Here you can select how you want to Run android. We will select the last option which says ' Installation - Install Android-x86 to hard disk' because we want to Install android.
    
   
   
   
2. Now wait for some seconds and then you will see a 'Choose Partition' dialog box. Highlight 'Create/Modify Partitions' and hit Enter.
      
   
   
   
3. [This is the most important step and it should be done carefully]
   Then you will a new window as shown in image below. First highlight 'New' and hit Enter then select 'Primary' and hit Enter twice.
   Now Select 'Write' and then it will ask you to write data, just type 'yes' and hit Enter. Then wait for some time while the data is being written.
    
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. Once the process is complete select 'Quit' and then you will be taken back to 'choose partition' window. Now select the newly made partition named:
   
   'sda1  linux       VMware Virtual-I'
    
   

   

      
5. In next window you have to choose file system. Select 'ext3', hit Enter and then select 'Yes' to format virtual machine primary partition. Then it will ask you to Install GRUB Bootloader, click 'Yes'. and then again click 'Yes' again when prompted.
    
   

   
    
6. After that it will start installing android in virtual machine. Don't worry if you see a blue screen for some time after the installation is complete.
   
   

   
7. Now select 'Reboot' and your Android will reboot to GRUB Bootloader, select the First option to boot into android system.
   
   

   

    
   

   
8. The first boot will take some time. Once the boot process is complete select your preferred language and complete the initial setup. It is not necessary to add your Gmail ID in Virtual Machine.
    
   
9. After completing initial setup you will be taken to your Android's home screen. Now you can experience Android in windows pc.
   
   

   

NOTE: Some of the apps like Camera, Messaging will not work in virtual machine.
If you have any other questions then you can comment below. 

How to Install Android in Windows using VMware (Part- 1 Configuring Android)

Android and Windows are two of the most popular OS(Operating System) now-a-days. Every PC runs on Windows OS and almost every touch screen device have Android installed in it. But all of the High End Android devices are very costly.

So what if you want to try the latest android version but don't want to buy a costly android device that runs the newest version of android? Well you can download and install Android inside Windows using VMware or any other virtual machine manager. And have the experience of a High End Android Smartphone by using the maximum power of your computer.

People who don't have an Android device but want to try Android to know how it looks and feels will definitely find this article useful.

I have divided this tutorial in two parts Part- 1 for configuring Android in Virtual Machine and Part- 2 for Installing and Running Android in Virtual Machine. This is because I have written everything in detail and if I merge both the tutorial then it will become very lengthy and hard to understand. So I hope you will find this tutorial useful and Let's start with the things you will need to run android in Windows.

Things You Will Need: 

• VMware Workstation - Download Here (Trial)
  OR VirtualBox - Download Here
   
• Android ISO File - Download Here
  (You can download any version of android. From Android 2.2 to latest stable version)

NOTE: You can also use VMware Player which is free for home use. Get it here

Tutorial:

The tutorial is same for all the above virtual machine managers. In the tutorial below I am going to use VMware Workstation.

1. Download and Install VMware Workstation in your computer.
    
2. Open VMware Workstation and select 'Create a New Virtual Machine' and then a dialog box will appear. Select 'Typical (recommended)' installation method and click 'Next'.
    
   
    
3. In Next Windows, select 'Installer disk Image File(iso)' and browse to the android version you installed. VMware Workstation will automatically detect it as 'FreeBSD'. Once this is done, click Next.
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. Give this virtual machine a name and hit 'Next'. I named it 'Android 4.4' because I am installing the latest Android Kitkat.
    
   
     
5. In next window you will have to give your Android a maximum disk space which will be used as Internal Memory. The recommended size is 20GB but you can change it as per your needs.
   One more thing you have to change here is how to save your Virtual disk. I suggest you to select 'Store virtual disk as single file' because this is good for performance. Click Next once this is done.
   
   
   
    
6. Click 'Customize Hardware...' button and a new dialog box will open. You have to make following changes here:
   Memory - Minimum 1GB or Half of your Installed RAM (recommended by us)
   Processors - Depends on your hardware but at least make it 2
   Don't make any other changes here and hit 'Close' button.
   
   Also Uncheck 'Power on this virtual machine after creation' and hit 'Finish' to finish the configuration.
   
   
   
   
   
7. Once the configuration is complete you will see a new window in VMware. (See image below)
    
   
   
   
8. The configuration process is now complete. To change settings for this virtual machine select 'Edit virtual machine settings'.

The first part of this tutorial is now completed. In next part we will be installing and running Android in Virtual Machine.

Part- 2 Installing and Running Android in Virtual Machine

If you have any questions related to above tutorial then you can comment below.  

What is Soft Brick and Hard Brick

Soft Brick and Hard Brick are two of the most used terms in Android rooting and flashing. Bricking your phone means that you can't use your android phone any more and it's kind of dead.
 

Image Source: unbrick.itcse.com

Bricking of Android phone is further classified into two parts. First is Soft Brick and Second is Hard Brick.
But what is Soft Brick and Hard Brick? Just  read below and you'll find out.

Soft Brick:

Soft Brick is the state when you can't boot your android phone to home screen and it keeps looping either in Recovery or in boot logo. This usually happens when you flash a wrong or bugged file that is not made for your device.

How to Solve? 

Soft Brick is very easy to solve if you made a backup before flashing or making any changes in your android phone. But don't worry if you don't have a backup you can solve this problem easily by flashing the official firmware of your device.

Hard Brick:

This is a nightmare for most of the android users. In this your state your device is completely dead and it is very hard to solve it. At this stage when you try to boot your phone it do nothing, you can't even see bootlogo and can't go to Download Mode or recovery mode. This usually happens when you flash custom roms or mods that are not made for your device.

How to solve?

To solve this problem you have to force your device to download mode and then flash the stock firmware using pc. You can use a USB Jig to force your phone to download mode(Samsung Users) or use JTAG Brick Repair.

If you have any more questions regarding this topic or want to add something in this topic then comment below.

Hardware devices that make Android experience better

Well I know this is a very unusual topic but this will surely help you to make your Android experience better. I searched a lot about this topic but didn't find any compromising article that explains this thing. So I decided to write this topic for our readers. Let's start with the first device in our list.

1. An External Battery Bank (Portable Charger):

We all know that the battery life of Android is very less. We can hardly use our android device for more than 8 or 9 hours. That's why external charger is on top of our list. An external charger helps you to charge your device when you are out or at the times of power cuts.

How much does it cost?
The cost of an external charger depends on its power. You can buy an external charger anywhere between 300Rs. to 2000 Rs.

Things to check before buying External Charger:

• First thing you have to make sure that you really need an external charger. If you only stay at home or office a lot of time than you probably don't need it but if you have a job that have a lot of outdoor work that you should definitely buy it.
• Know the capacity of your android's battery before buying an external charger. And buy a charger that have double or triple the power of your battery so that you can easily charge your phone multiple times.
• If you are buying online then first read the reviews of the product. Make sure that the product of from a good brand and doesn't have any problems.

Author's Choice: 

DigiFlip Power Bank 6600mAh Power Bank - 2 USB Output Ports, LED Indicator

2. An OTG Cable:

An OTG or On-The-Go cable helps you connect your pendrives to your android device. You can use this cable to connect any pendrive and view, cut or copy its contents. If your phone supports OTG then you should buy this product.

If you have a rooted android device that don't have an external memory card support than you can use OTG cable to connect a pendrive and make a backup of your ROM using recovery. This is really helpful sometimes.

How much does an OTG Cable costs?

The price of an OTG cable lies between Rs.50 to Rs.500.

Things to check before buying OTG Cable:

• The only thing to check before you buy an OTG cable is for what purpose you are going to use it. If you want to buy an OTG cable for copying or viewing small sized data(less than 1GB) then you can buy any cheap OTG cable but if you want to copy/view large sized data (usually more that 1 or 2 GB) than buy a little costly cable.

Author's Choice: 

APS AS070 Micro USB OTG - USB 2.0, Speed Upto 480 Mbps

Can be used to connect pen drive, flash drive, Keyboard, Mouse, Ext HDD and other USB devices (If your phone supports). Buy From Flipkart

3. USB Jig (Samsung Devices Only):

A USB Jig is a small devices that helps you to force your phone to go to download mode. If you have a rooted android phone and you flash a lot of things using custom recovery then there are chances that your phone will brick and will not boot. If that happens then you can use a USB Jig to force your phone to download mode and flash stock firmware so that your phone starts working again.

How much does it cost?

USB Jig's are available for around Rs. 200 online.

4. Gamepad for Android Devices:

If you like to play games in your android devices a lot then you can buy a Gamepad for your android device to enhance your gaming experience. You can connect a gamepad to your mobile phone using bluetooth pairing or NFC. Gamepads work with almost every android phone. 

How much does it cost?

You can buy a gamepad anywhere between Rs. 2500 to Rs. 6000.

Things to check before buying a Gamepad:

• Make sure your phone have awesome performance for gaming. If your phone lags while playing heavy games then you will not have a good experience with a gamepad. 
• Check if your android phone will support Gamepad or not. You can search online, ask on forums or just comment below.

Well this is not the end of this list. We will add more devices soon. If you need any help buying any device listed above or need some other help than you can comment below.
*Image Source: images.google.com