For the best results, make sure to pick the correct partition type—either MBR or GPT—and use the recommended ext4 filesystem. Most common installation problems happen when GRUB is skipped, if you use an unsupported filesystem like NTFS, or if your UEFI settings aren’t set up correctly.
Requirements:
If you are using Ubuntu, you can install UNetbootin by running this command in the terminal: sudo apt-get install unetbootin If you are using Arch Linux, use this command: pacman -S unetbootin
USB Flash Drive Installation
For CD / DVD Installation
The installation steps are almost identical, except you’ll burn a bootable CD/DVD from the Android x86 ISO. There are many ISO burners you can use – for example, Free ISO Burner.
Installing to a Virtual Machine
Adding Android x86 to the GRUB Menu
First, install GRUB Customizer to make this process easier. After installing, launch GRUB Customizer and create a new GRUB entry. Click the ‘Sources’ tab and enter the following commands: A few items in the commands above are bolded, as you’ll need to customize them for your setup: – For set root=’(hd0,4)’: Change (hd0,4) to the partition where Android x86 is installed. hd0 refers to the first drive (SDA), hd1 would be the second (SDB), and the number is the partition (so hd0,4 is SDA4). – For –set=root e1f9de05-8d18-48aa-8f08-f0377f663de3: Replace the UUID string with the actual UUID of your Android x86 partition. You can find this in GRUB Customizer by creating a new entry, then selecting your partition under the Options tab; the correct UUID will be displayed in the Source tab. – Where you see androidx86/: This is your Android x86 installation root. Go to your Android x86 partition and look for a folder named ‘android’ – use that as the root. androidboot.hardware: Use your specific hardware value here. For example, on older Android x86 versions (such as 4.03), use androidboot_hardware (with an underscore, not a period). However, on the latest versions, you usually don’t need to set this – the init process will detect your hardware automatically. Here are some options you can use:
How to Display the Correct Battery Value
Android was designed for specific hardware, so on different platforms (like laptops), the battery values may appear incorrect. Here’s how you can adjust it: In Linux, applications get the battery status from /sys/class/power_supply/. However, Android expects a certain directory structure, which can be different on various computers. To fix this, edit vendor/asus/eeepc/system.prop and adjust the entries as needed for your system: These changes tell Android where to find the correct battery information on your computer. If you want to create your own battery status code, you’ll need to re-implement the IBatteryServiceStatus class in frameworks/base/libs/utils/IBatteryServiceStatus.cpp, replacing frameworks/base/libs/utils/BatteryServiceStatus.cpp with your own version.
To Wake up the Machine
Unlike some other operating systems, you can’t always wake up Android x86 from sleep by moving the mouse or pressing any key. You can only use the ESC, Menu, Left, Right, Up, or Down keys to wake up the system. Hold one of these keys for at least 1 second. If the keyguard screen appears, press the Menu key to unlock, or use the mouse to unlock the screen by turning the wheel on the keyguard.
How to Boot Android x86 on Unsupported Graphics
If you have trouble with your graphics when booting the Live-CD, here’s what to do: When the boot menu appears, press the Tab key to bring up the boot prompt. You’ll see something like: First, remove “quiet” from the line so you can see more detailed boot messages from the kernel. Next, try different video mode parameters: – nomodeset: Disables kernel mode setting, so the kernel won’t automatically set the screen resolution. – xforcevesa: Forces the use of the basic VESA graphics driver. You can use them both together like this: nomodeset xforcevesa. Try different options to see which one works for you.
