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Installation Instructions on Windows

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Wenchao Wang edited this page Sep 24, 2021 · 17 revisions

Table of Contents

Introduction

This document will guide you through installing the Intel Hardware Accelerated Execution Manager (Intel HAXM), a hardware-assisted virtualization engine (hypervisor) that uses Intel Virtualization Technology (Intel VT) to speed up Android development.

Prerequisites

Intel HAXM requires the Android SDK to be installed (version 17 or higher). For more information, refer to the Android developer website (https://developer.android.com/studio/index.html).

System Requirements

Hardware Requirements:

  • Intel processor with support for Intel VT-x, Intel EM64T (Intel 64), and Execute Disable (XD) Bit functionality
  • At least 4 GB of available RAM, 8 GB recommended
Supported Operating Systems:
  • Microsoft Windows 10 64-bit
  • Microsoft Windows 8 and 8.1 64-bit
  • Microsoft Windows 7 64-bit*
Important: Intel HAXM cannot be used on systems without an Intel processor, or with an Intel processor that lacks the hardware features described in the "Hardware Requirements" section above.

To determine the capabilities of your Intel processor, visit http://ark.intel.com.

Additionally, Intel HAXM can be used only with Android x86 and x86_64 emulator images provided by Intel. Intel HAXM cannot be used with ARM Android emulator images or non-Intel x86 or x86_64 Android emulator images.

[*] For Windows 7 Service Pack 1, Microsoft security update KB3033929 is required when upgrading HAXM to the latest version (see Known Issues for details). Otherwise, keep using HAXM v7.3.2 instead.

Downloading Intel HAXM

Overview
Intel HAXM can be installed either through the Android SDK Manager (recommended), or manually, by downloading the installer from Intel’s website.
Note:
Intel HAXM does not currently check for updates automatically. To get the latest version, download the Intel HAXM package using the Android SDK Manager (recommended) or from the Intel Developer Zone Android developer site.

Downloading Manually

  1. Go to https://github.com/intel/haxm/releases.
  2. Choose the Intel HAXM installer package for your platform.
  3. Extract the installer and follow installation instructions for your platform.
Downloading through Android SDK Manager
  1. Start the Android SDK Manager.
  2. Under Extras, check the box next to "Intel x86 Emulator Accelerator (HAXM)."


    If there is no such option, manually add https://dl.google.com/android/repository/extras/intel/addon2-1.xml to the SDK Manager’s list of add-on sites via Tools > Manage Add-on Sites… > User Defined Sites > New…
  3. Click the "Install package…" button.
  4. Review the Intel Corporation license agreement. If you accept the terms, select Accept and click Install.
  5. The SDK Manager will download the installer to the "extras" directory, under the main SDK directory. Even though the SDK manager says "Installed" it actually means that the Intel HAXM executable was downloaded. You will still need to run the installer from the "extras" directory to get it installed.
  6. Run the installer inside the <sdk install location>/extras/intel/Hardware_Accelerated_Execution_Manager/ directory and follow the installation instructions for your platform.

Installing Standalone Intel HAXM on Windows

Warning: Intel HAXM installation will fail if your system does not meet the system requirements, including support for Intel processor features, such as Intel Virtualization Technology (Intel VT).

  1. Download the installer package from https://github.com/intel/haxm/releases or using the SDK manager.
  2. Run the installer (and accept the UAC prompt, if applicable).
    If an older version Intel HAXM is already installed, you will see a notification dialog: Click "Yes" to upgrade Intel HAXM, or click "No" to exit the installation and keep the currently installed version of Intel HAXM.  
  3. You will see a setup wizard screen:


    Click "Install"
    Note: You can access the documentation by clicking Intel HAXM Documentation
  4. When the Intel HAXM installation is finished, you will see the completion screen:

    Click "Finish" to exit the installer. Intel HAXM is now installed and ready to use.
To verify that Intel HAXM is running, open a Command Prompt window with administrator privileges (Run as Administrator) and execute the following command:

sc query intelhaxm

If Intel HAXM is working, the command will show a status message indicating that the state is: "4 RUNNING".

To stop or start Intel HAXM, use these commands:

Stop:

sc stop intelhaxm

Start:

sc start intelhaxm

Installing HAXM silently on Windows

  1. Download the installer package from https://github.com/intel/haxm/releases and extract it locally.
  2. Enter the extracted folder and run below command in an elevated Command Prompt or Windows PowerShell.
> silent_install.bat

The installer will check the system environment first. If the installation is successful, it will output as below.

Intel HAXM installed successfully!

The installer executable itself also supports to run in silent mode by passing /S on the Command Prompt or Windows PowerShell, e.g.,

> haxm-7.7.0-setup.exe /S

Please note that the parameter /S must be in uppercase.

Installing Intel HAXM on Windows via Android Studio

  1. Download the Android Studio installer package from http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html
  2. Run the Android Studio installer

  3. Select Performance (Intel HAXM) and click Next

  4. Accept the Android SDK License Agreement and the Intel HAXM License Agreement

  5. Select the install location for Android Studio and Android SDK (if you do not have it already on your system).
  6. Configure the amount of RAM available for Intel HAXM


    Note: This setting is obsolete since Intel HAXM 6.2.0.
  7. Click Next and then Install. Wait until the installation has finished. Intel HAXM is now installed and ready to use.
To verify that Intel HAXM is running, open a Command Prompt window with administrator privileges (Run as Administrator) and execute the following command:

sc query intelhaxm

If Intel HAXM is working, the command will show a status message indicating that the state is: "4 RUNNING".

To stop or start Intel HAXM, use these commands:

Stop:

sc stop intelhaxm

Start:

sc start intelhaxm

Removing Intel HAXM

Warning: Close all instances of the Android x86 emulator before removing Intel HAXM. Intel HAXM cannot be removed while in use.

To uninstall Intel HAXM, use Uninstall a program in the Control Panel or uninstall in silent mode as below.

  1. Launch an elevated Command Prompt or Windows PowerShell.
  2. Enter the extracted folder of installer package, which is previously downloaded from https://github.com/intel/haxm/releases, and run below command.
> silent_install.bat -u

Important: Removing Intel HAXM will disable acceleration of all Intel x86 Android emulators. Existing x86 Android Virtual Devices will not boot.

Installing Intel HAXM again will re-enable Android emulator acceleration.

Using Intel HAXM

Intel HAXM requires an Android x86 system image provided by Intel. These images can be downloaded through the Android SDK manager or manually from the Intel Developer Zone website.

Intel x86 Android emulator images will automatically be executed using the "emulator-x86" binary, provided with the Android SDK. If Intel HAXM is installed and working, emulation will be accelerated by Intel HAXM (using Intel Virtualization Technology).

Troubleshooting

Execute Disable Bit capability error

When installing Intel HAXM, you may encounter an error regarding Execute Disable Bit support. This error message can be triggered by the following conditions:

  • Execute Disable Bit is not supported by your computer’s processor.
  • Execute Disable Bit is not enabled.
Execute Disable Bit is not supported

Intel HAXM requires an Intel processor with Execute Disable Bit functionality and cannot be used on systems lacking this hardware feature. To determine the capabilities of your Intel processor, visit http://ark.intel.com.

Execute Disable Bit is not enabled

In some cases, Execute Disable Bit may be disabled in the system BIOS and must be enabled within the BIOS setup utility. To access the BIOS setup utility, a setup key must be pressed during the computer’s boot sequence. This key is dependent on which BIOS is used but it is typically the F2, Delete, or Esc key. Within the BIOS setup utility, Execute Disable Bit may be identified by the terms "XD", "Execute Disable", "No Execute", or "Hardware DEP", depending on the BIOS used.

Windows hosts may need to enable DEP (Data Execution Prevention) in addition to Execute Disable Bit, as described in this Microsoft KB article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/875352.

For specific information on entering BIOS setup and enabling Execute Disable Bit, please contact your hardware manufacturer.

Intel Virtualization Technology (Intel VT-x) capability

When installing Intel HAXM, you may encounter an error regarding Intel VT-x support. This error message can be triggered by the following conditions:

  • Intel VT-x is not supported by your computer’s processor
  • Intel VT-x is not enabled
Intel VT-x is not supported

Intel HAXM requires an Intel processor with Intel VT-x functionality and cannot be used on systems lacking this hardware feature. To determine the capabilities of your Intel processor, visit? http://ark.intel.com.

Intel VT-x not enabled

In some cases, Intel VT-x may be disabled in the system BIOS and must be enabled within the BIOS setup utility. To access the BIOS setup utility, a key must be pressed during the computer’s boot sequence. This key is dependent on which BIOS is used but it is typically the F2, Delete, or Esc key. Within the BIOS setup utility, Intel VT may be identified by the terms "VT", "Virtualization Technology", or "VT-d." Make sure to enable all of the Virtualization features.

For specific information on entering BIOS setup and enabling Intel VT, please contact your hardware manufacturer.

Tips and Tricks

Below are some recommendations to get the best experience out of the Android emulator using the Intel HAXM driver.

  • Enable the GPU acceleration in the AVD Manager for your image. The Intel HAXM driver executes most CPU instructions natively through Intel Virtualization Technology in the processor and the GPU acceleration offloads the OpenGL calls to the host GPU.
  • Make sure the "ANDROID_SDK_ROOT" environment variable is set either in Control Panel > System > Advanced System Settings > Environment Variables or manually each time a new command prompt is launched. The <sdk install location> below typically refers to "c:\Users\<your username>\AppData\Local\Android\sdk"
    • set ANDROID_SDK_ROOT=<sdk install location>
  • Launch the emulator from the command line to get more verbose output. Use the following command:
    • %ANDROID_SDK_ROOT%\tools\emulator –avd <avd_name> -verbose –show-kernel 
  • It is recommended to disable Hyper-V on Windows 8, 8.1 and 10. As Sandbox,Windows Hypervisor Platform(WHPX) and Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 (WSL2) conflict with HAXM, please disable them on Windows 10 build 1903 or higher version.The best way to disable Hyper-V is as below,
    • Open an elevated (i.e. Run as administrator) Command Prompt.
    • $bcdedit /set hypervisorlaunchtype off
    • Reboot your machine
  • Avast Antivirus may interfere with HAXM and cause Android Emulator or QEMU to run very slowly. A workaround is to uncheck "Use nested virtualization where available" in Avast Settings > Troubleshooting.
  • More command line options for booting the emulator can be found at Android developer website.
 
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