Installing and running Android Emulator on Amazon AWS EC2 (Ubuntu 16.04 / m5.xlarge)

Android-Emulator-on-AWS-EC2.txt

Steps for installing the Android Emulator from EC2 console:
-----------------------------------------------------------
sudo apt install default-jdk unzip
wget https://dl.google.com/android/repository/sdk-tools-linux-4333796.zip
unzip sdk-tools-linux-4333796.zip -d android-sdk
sudo mv android-sdk /opt/
export ANDROID_SDK_ROOT=/opt/android-sdk
echo "export ANDROID_SDK_ROOT=/opt/android-sdk" >> ~/.bashrc
echo "export PATH=$PATH:$ANDROID_SDK_ROOT/tools" >> ~/.bashrc
. .bashrc
cd /opt/android-sdk/tools/bin
/opt/android-sdk/tools/bin/sdkmanager --update
/opt/android-sdk/tools/bin/sdkmanager --licenses
/opt/android-sdk/tools/bin/sdkmanager "system-images;android-25;google_apis;armeabi-v7a"
/opt/android-sdk/tools/bin/sdkmanager "emulator"
/opt/android-sdk/tools/bin/sdkmanager "platform-tools"
touch /home/ubuntu/.android/repositories.cfg
mkdir /opt/android-sdk/platforms
/opt/android-sdk/tools/bin/avdmanager -v create avd -f -n MyAVD -k "system-images;android-25;google_apis;armeabi-v7a" -p "/opt/android-sdk/avd"

Optional: eanbling/disabling certain HW features 
-------------------------------------------------
echo "hw.audioInput=no" >> /opt/android-sdk/avd/config.ini
echo "hw.audioOutput=no" >> /opt/android-sdk/avd/config.ini
echo "hw.cpu.ncore=2" >> /opt/android-sdk/avd/config.ini
echo "hw.camera.back=none" >> /opt/android-sdk/avd/config.ini
echo "hw.camera.front=none" >> /opt/android-sdk/avd/config.ini
echo "hw.gsmModem=no" >> /opt/android-sdk/avd/config.ini
echo "hw.gps=no" >> /opt/android-sdk/avd/config.ini
echo "hw.accelerometer=no" >> /opt/android-sdk/avd/config.ini
echo "hw.battery=no" >> /opt/android-sdk/avd/config.ini
echo "hw.trackBall=no" >> /opt/android-sdk/avd/config.ini
echo "hw.dPad=no" >> /opt/android-sdk/avd/config.ini
echo "hw.sensors.proximity=no" >> /opt/android-sdk/avd/config.ini
echo "hw.sensors.magnetic_field=no" >> /opt/android-sdk/avd/config.ini
echo "hw.sensors.orientation=no" >> /opt/android-sdk/avd/config.ini
echo "hw.sensors.temperature=no" >> /opt/android-sdk/avd/config.ini


Running the Emulator:
---------------------
/opt/android-sdk/emulator/emulator -ports 5554,5555 -avd MyAVD -no-window -no-audio -gpu swiftshader_indirect -show-kernel


Fixing 100% CPU: Disabling the "Ok Google" Hotword detection:
-------------------------------------------------------------
./adb shell "su root pm disable com.google.android.googlequicksearchbox"
Note: run after Emulator loaded


Notes:
------
1. We run ARM emulation on x86 instance.
2. We must use ARM ABI, since x86 requires KVM and EC2 instance doesn't support HW virtualization. 
3. We must disable GUI (-no-window) and audio (-no-audio) when running the emulator.
4. We must specify "-gpu swiftshader_indirect" when running the emulator to prevent a boot loop. 
5. First startup takes VERY LONG time. Use "-show-kernel" to see kernel messages and in secondary console window use "/opt/android-sdk/platform-tools/adb logcat" to see the system log while the emulator starts.