total noob coming across road blocks at almost every step.

[George_H_1]

Hello, So I have an idea for an app, and figured it needs to become a reality.  So a few days ago I started looking into development for the android.  I figure this will be a long hard road as my coding experience does not extend beyond a little HTML.

The first thing I learned about was Android Studio, and after a day trouble-shooting I was able to get it to run on my PC. The next thing I did Attempt to start up AVD.  But I got the following error: "J:\Users\Tatsuno\AppData\Local\Android\sdk\tools\emulator.exe -avd Nexus_S_API_21 -netspeed full -netdelay none
emulator: ERROR: x86 emulation currently requires hardware acceleration!
Please ensure Intel HAXM is properly installed and usable.
CPU acceleration status: HAX kernel module is not installed!"

So I looked up installing the HAX kernel module.  First I ensured that the Intelx86 Emulator accelerator (HAXM installer) was installed in the SDK manager.  I then looked up how to enable virtualization in the bios.  I reset my PC hit F10 to enter settings, nothing happened, changed keyboard and then I got into settings.  Once in settings I found a thing that said virtualization, and enabled it.  Finally I located my SDK folder and attempted to install intelhaxm-android.exe, where I got this error: "VT not suported This computer does not support Intel virtualization Technology (VT-x). HAXM cannot be installed Please refer to the intel HAXM documentation for more information".

I could not locate the intel HAXM documentation, but I did find https://software.intel.com/en-us/blogs/2014/03/14/troubleshooting-intel-haxm So I started going through the steps.

1) Make sure you have the latest version of Intel® HAXM.

I downloaded it yesterday, so I'm sure I have the latest version.  Also I think the problem is that I cannot install it.

2) Make sure your system supports VT Technology and that all VT features are enabled in the BIOS. A good utility to check your system's capabilities is: Crystal CPUID

I do not know how to check if my system suports VT Technology or what VT features are, I think they have something to do with virtualization.  So I check out the Crystal CPUID link click download, and now I'm looking at Shizuku Edition, CrystalDiskInfo, and anime chicks.  I think I'm at the wrong place, but there's nothing else not labeled as an add to click, so I download and install it.  Once running the anime chick says she cannot find the disk.  So I look that up and it says that CrystalDiskInfo supports only IDE (Parallel ATA) and Serial ATA disks connected internal ATA controller, and that it does not support RAID disks and IDE (Parallel ATA) and Serial ATA disks connected external ATA controller.  I have to be honest, I have no idea what any of that means so I moved on.

3) Make sure the Execute Disable bit is enabled (and supported). You can run the following command as administrator: >bcdedit /set nx AlwaysOn

So I run bcdedit and it starts up and immediately closes.  I look up how to fix this, and run CMD as administrator, type bcdedit.exe and hit enter.  it says that NX is "optin".  I type set nx AlwaysOn, and it responds with "Environment variable nx AlwaysOn not defined".  I think that means I'm typing it in wrong, but I cannot find how to type it in correctly, so I move on.

4) Make sure "Hyper-V", a Windows feature, is not installed/enabled on your system. Hyper-V captures the VT virtualization capability of the CPU, and HAXM and Hyper-V cannot run at the same time. Read this blog: Creating a "no hypervisor" boot entry.

I cannot find Hyper-V on my PC, so I assume it is not running.  Also I have windows 7 and the internet tells me that Hyper-V wasn't introduced till Windows 8

5) Do you have anything else running on your system that uses VT? (Like VirtualBox?) Same issue as with Hyper-V.

​Not to my knowledge.  I clearly need help and I have no idea where to turn.  Can any one help me or give me some good places to look to learn some of the basics that I clearly don't know?  I feel like someone who knows nothing of addition trying to learn trigonometry.

[Adrian_Stevens]

Yes Android development can be a bit frustrating when you're first getting started :)

1st - what is the model/specs of your development system? 

2nd - the easiest way to get up and running is to use a physical device - and I'd recommend starting with something from the Nexus family to avoid the need to hunt for drivers.

3rd - unfortunately as you discovered, selecting the Intel HAXM drivers from the Android SDK Manager doesn't actually install it - it only downloads it.  But what you did was the best way to try to install it - download the latest version directly.

4th - you should be able to launch an AVD from an older API level without hardware acceleration.  And I HIGHLY recommend using the lowest resolution possible if you're not using hardware accel.  Ideally create a custom AVD and go as low as 320x480.  Otherwise the startup time will be painful.

Alternatively/Finally - try installing Genymotion - it's free for personal use last time I checked.  It's basically an Android Virtual Machine that runs within Virtual Box: https://www.genymotion.com/ 

Good luck!

[Matthias_H_Intel]

VT-x / VT support has to be enabled in BIOS. If you have a recent machine it's likely your CPU supports VT. Depending on the BIOS manufacturer it can be pretty straightforward to enable it.

@4: Hyper-V can surely be used within Windows 7 (e.g. https://technet.microsoft.com/de-de/library/ee256062%28v=ws.10%29.aspx). However, if you're not aware of it you can be pretty confident it's not running