Notes on Android Emulator for running React Native developed app on 4 GB RAM PC

Note: The current version of this post covers mainly installation of Android emulators. A later update is planned to explore running React Native developed Android apps on these Android emulators. Currently it shares a few articles related to the latter.


My old Android Kotlin programming quick exposure post: Getting exposed to Android App. Development – Quick Notes, https://ravisiyer.wordpress.com/2023/10/01/getting-exposed-to-android-app-development-quick-notes : briefly mentions Android Studio installation I did then in Oct. 2023 but does not mention other emulator tests that I recall I did then (like Nox). Related longish extract is given below (slightly edited):
  1. Recommended RAM is 8 GB for Android Studio! My desktop PC on which I installed it has 4 GB RAM. It did get installed but runs very slowly. Further, the Android emulator part is extremely slow and even then it does not seem to work. I think with 4 GB RAM, Android emulator cannot be used. Also I chose D: drive (240 GB SSD) as the main install drive for Android Studio but the emulators take up huge amount of space on (system) C: drive (don’t know if they can be chosen to be installed on D: drive). This results in free space in my small C: drive (60 GB SSD) coming down rather drastically to around 6 GB and that seems to slow down the system very much. [17 Dec. 2024 Update: How to move the emulator avd file (4 GB) to D drive from C drive is covered later on in this post.]
  2. The default installed phone emulator (Pixel 3a something) tripped up during installation/run. Learned from “Can’t install Android Emulator for AMD Processors”, https://stackoverflow.com/questions/59549988/cant-install-android-emulator-for-amd-processors that for my AMD PC, I need to enable virtualization in BIOS. That, after one or two restarts, seems to fix the issue and the emulator starts and comes up but super-slowly. However the app. display was not shown on the emulator. Maybe the emulator device is too old (Pixel 3a, if I recall correctly).
  3. Did not try connecting Android device as I don’t want to risk using my regular phone which is the only somewhat recent gen. Android phone/tablet I have.
  4. Later, I am planning to see if I can have Android emulator running on my Dell mini laptop, get the Android app. done in Android Studio, install the app. on the emulator on Dell mini laptop and run it. Related though more advanced usage (as I don’t want to run app from Android Studio) post: Run Emulator on One PC & Run The Code on Another PC, https://stackoverflow.com/questions/75410180/run-emulator-on-one-pc-run-the-code-on-another-pc . Don’t know if some of these emulators will be good enough for my needs: Best Android Emulators for 4GB RAM PC (Windows and Mac) in 2023, https://naijaknowhow.net/android-emulators-for-4gb-ram-pc/ .

--- end extract from above post ---

As mentioned in above post extract, minimum 8 GB RAM seems to be needed for Android Studio (including usage of Android Studio emulator). At that time in Oct. 2023, I was considering mentoring Puttaparthi rural youth for software development and I felt that 8 GB RAM laptop/PC would be a large demand for them, and further, I myself would need to upgrade my PC to 8 GB RAM from 4 GB RAM. So I decided to drop Android app. development as the area to focus on and moved to web app. development using MERN stack for which my 4 GB RAM PC was OK.

Now in Dec. 2024, with my knowledge of React app. development, I find that React Native with Expo Go gives me an interesting pathway to Android app development even on my 4 GB RAM PC as I can use Expo app on my mobile for testing the Android app. For some initial level testing of common code not specific to a platform (web/android), I can even use Chrome browser on my PC. At some stage, I would need to test the Android apk. That's where, as per my current understanding, I would need to use Expo CLI and EAS something to build and then download the apk. For testing the apk, I would ideally need an emulator. But such testing would be a kind-of late stage testing and so even if the emulator is somewhat slow, I may be able to tolerate that (not sure but I will know only after I try). Anyway a final test would be on an Android device for testing which, as of now, I do not have (I do not want to use my regular Samsung Android phone to sideload an apk file as it introduces some risks).

In this changed scenario, I felt I must re-explore possibility of using Android emulator on my 4 GB RAM PC and possibly even on my 4 GB RAM Dell Mini Laptop (DML). This post captures that exploration.

How To Install Android Emulator Without Installing Android Studio - Install only Android SDK and AVD, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9_hH0buapo , 12 mins, 2021 - Am watching video. Claims it will cover 4 GB RAM PC running Android emulator. ... Found the video instructions to be problematic. Dropped it.

Installing Android Studio on Dell Mini-Laptop (Intel Celeron Dual-core, 4 GB RAM)

Decided to install Android Studio (AS) on DML. I did not have Java installed on DML. Initially it seemed like AS does not install it automatically but needs it. I expected it to prompt me to install Java. It did not. But later I learned that AS installs Java components it needs and so there was no need to install Java separately.

From https://developer.android.com/studio downloaded Android studio Ladybug installable, android-studio-2024.2.1.12-windows.exe which is around 1.2 GB size.
The installation was fast - less than 10 mins. perhaps more like 5 mins.
Starting app. is taking lot of time. 'Fetch remote repository ...' seems to be taking long. Is it stuck? Eventually it came out of it to Welcome screen of AS.
Initial screens got done quickly. But after Next on License Agreement screen, the program seems to take long. The only UI indicator that it has taken my input is the Next button being grey. The disk activity light indicates that some disk activity is going on and so I presume AS is continuing installation. Task Manager shows small bursts of processor activity for AS.
...
I had to click on a 2nd license in left hand pane (intel-android-extra-license) besides android-sdk-license. Once I accepted that, then Finish button got enabled. My God! While browsing for this problem, I did see articles/posts mentioning some additional (extra) license to be accepted, but I presumed that it does not apply to me as I thought that would be shown in a new screen. Hmm. Terrible! Ref: Unable to install Android Studio even after accepting agreement, https://stackoverflow.com/questions/72923706/unable-to-install-android-studio-even-after-accepting-agreement - "You may need to accept also the extra license to continue".

Next it moved to starting download of https://dl.google.com/android/repository/emulator-windows x64-12414864.zip
In Details, the screen also showed: Preparing "Install Android Emulator v.35.2.10".
No idea how big it is.

https://developer.android.com/studio/emulator_archive lists 'Android Emulator (35.2.10) Stable' with date of Oct 01, 2024. Its details show:
Windows (64-bit): emulator-windows_x64-12414864.zip (419372875 bytes)
---
That comes to close to 400 MB.

Copy-pasted details from AS window:
Preparing "Install Android Emulator v.35.2.10".
Downloading https://dl.google.com/android/repository/emulator-windows_x64-12414864.zip
"Install Android Emulator v.35.2.10" ready.
Installing Android Emulator in C:\Users\ravi-user\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\emulator
"Install Android Emulator v.35.2.10" complete.
"Install Android Emulator v.35.2.10" finished.
Preparing "Install Google Play Intel x86_64 Atom System Image API 35 (revision 9)".
Downloading https://dl.google.com/android/repository/sys-img/google_apis_playstore/x86_64-35_r09.zip
--- EOC ---

I have just added a 6 GB data pack to my 1.5 GB/day plan.
---

No Package Name API Version OS Size (MB)
1 Google APIs Intel x86_64 Atom System Image.zip↓ 34 34.12 ALL 1470.15 MB
----
That's one version earlier but the size would be comparable I think. So we are talking of an around 1.5 GB download.

=====================
The full install log:
Preparing "Install Android Emulator v.35.2.10".
Downloading https://dl.google.com/android/repository/emulator-windows_x64-12414864.zip
"Install Android Emulator v.35.2.10" ready.
Installing Android Emulator in C:\Users\ravi-user\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\emulator
"Install Android Emulator v.35.2.10" complete.
"Install Android Emulator v.35.2.10" finished.
Preparing "Install Google Play Intel x86_64 Atom System Image API 35 (revision 9)".
Downloading https://dl.google.com/android/repository/sys-img/google_apis_playstore/x86_64-35_r09.zip
"Install Google Play Intel x86_64 Atom System Image API 35 (revision 9)" ready.
Installing Google Play Intel x86_64 Atom System Image in C:\Users\ravi-user\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\system-images\android-35\google_apis_playstore\x86_64
"Install Google Play Intel x86_64 Atom System Image API 35 (revision 9)" complete.
"Install Google Play Intel x86_64 Atom System Image API 35 (revision 9)" finished.
Preparing "Install Android Emulator hypervisor driver (installer) v.2.2.0".
Downloading https://dl.google.com/android/repository/aehd-windows_v2.2.zip
"Install Android Emulator hypervisor driver (installer) v.2.2.0" ready.
Installing Android Emulator hypervisor driver (installer) in C:\Users\ravi-user\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\extras\google\Android_Emulator_Hypervisor_Driver
"Install Android Emulator hypervisor driver (installer) v.2.2.0" complete.
"Install Android Emulator hypervisor driver (installer) v.2.2.0" finished.
Preparing "Install Intel x86 Emulator Accelerator (HAXM installer) - Deprecated v.7.6.5".
Downloading https://dl.google.com/android/repository/extras/intel/haxm-windows_v7_6_5.zip
"Install Intel x86 Emulator Accelerator (HAXM installer) - Deprecated v.7.6.5" ready.
Installing Intel x86 Emulator Accelerator (HAXM installer) - Deprecated in C:\Users\ravi-user\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\extras\intel\Hardware_Accelerated_Execution_Manager
"Install Intel x86 Emulator Accelerator (HAXM installer) - Deprecated v.7.6.5" complete.
"Install Intel x86 Emulator Accelerator (HAXM installer) - Deprecated v.7.6.5" finished.
Preparing "Install Sources for Android 34 (revision 2)".
Downloading https://dl.google.com/android/repository/sources-34_r01.zip
"Install Sources for Android 34 (revision 2)" ready.
Installing Sources for Android 34 in C:\Users\ravi-user\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\sources\android-34
"Install Sources for Android 34 (revision 2)" complete.
"Install Sources for Android 34 (revision 2)" finished.
Preparing "Install Android SDK Build-Tools 34 v.34.0.0".
Downloading https://dl.google.com/android/repository/build-tools_r34-windows.zip
"Install Android SDK Build-Tools 34 v.34.0.0" ready.
Installing Android SDK Build-Tools 34 in C:\Users\ravi-user\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\build-tools\34.0.0
"Install Android SDK Build-Tools 34 v.34.0.0" complete.
"Install Android SDK Build-Tools 34 v.34.0.0" finished.
Preparing "Install Android SDK Platform 34 (revision 3)".
Downloading https://dl.google.com/android/repository/platform-34-ext7_r03.zip
"Install Android SDK Platform 34 (revision 3)" ready.
Installing Android SDK Platform 34 in C:\Users\ravi-user\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\platforms\android-34
"Install Android SDK Platform 34 (revision 3)" complete.
"Install Android SDK Platform 34 (revision 3)" finished.
Preparing "Install Android SDK Build-Tools 35 v.35.0.0".
Downloading https://dl.google.com/android/repository/build-tools_r35_windows.zip
"Install Android SDK Build-Tools 35 v.35.0.0" ready.
Installing Android SDK Build-Tools 35 in C:\Users\ravi-user\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\build-tools\35.0.0
"Install Android SDK Build-Tools 35 v.35.0.0" complete.
"Install Android SDK Build-Tools 35 v.35.0.0" finished.
Preparing "Install Android SDK Platform-Tools v.35.0.2".
Downloading https://dl.google.com/android/repository/platform-tools_r35.0.2-win.zip
"Install Android SDK Platform-Tools v.35.0.2" ready.
Installing Android SDK Platform-Tools in C:\Users\ravi-user\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\platform-tools
"Install Android SDK Platform-Tools v.35.0.2" complete.
"Install Android SDK Platform-Tools v.35.0.2" finished.
Parsing C:\Users\ravi-user\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\build-tools\34.0.0\package.xml
Parsing C:\Users\ravi-user\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\build-tools\35.0.0\package.xml
Parsing C:\Users\ravi-user\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\emulator\package.xml
Parsing C:\Users\ravi-user\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\extras\google\Android_Emulator_Hypervisor_Driver\package.xml
Parsing C:\Users\ravi-user\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\extras\intel\Hardware_Accelerated_Execution_Manager\package.xml
Parsing C:\Users\ravi-user\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\platform-tools\package.xml
Parsing C:\Users\ravi-user\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\platforms\android-34\package.xml
Parsing C:\Users\ravi-user\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\sources\android-34\package.xml
Parsing C:\Users\ravi-user\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\system-images\android-35\google_apis_playstore\x86_64\package.xml
Android SDK is up to date.
Running Intel® HAXM installer
Intel® HAXM installation failed. To install Intel® HAXM follow the instructions found at: https://github.com/intel/haxm/wiki/Installation-Instructions-on-Windows
Creating Android virtual device
Android virtual device Medium_Phone_API_35 was successfully created
---- eod ----
After above log was shown, the 'Finish' button was enabled (don't recall if it was disabled earlier). I clicked it and then Android Studio app launched and opened.

On trying to run Android Emulator ("Medium Phone API 35"), I got a modal with error, "HAXM is not installed." ... "Install Intel HAXM for better emulation performance".

As below article mentions, the emulator is still supposed to work without Intel HAXM.


But when I tried to proceed, it gave some error related to HAXM. IIRC, it tried to install some HAXM stuff and failed.

After some time I retried it, but this time I chose 2 GB RAM as the RAM allotted for the emulator instead of the recommended 1 GB which I had used earlier. Then it succeeded in installing HAXM! The emulator is starting - very slow but some emulator window has opened. The Device Manager window gives the status as 'Booting'.

Note that having 125% text size for Windows display resulted in some Android installation/run screens getting cropped without possibility to scroll down to cropped area. So I had to set the text size to 100% for Windows display after which the screens showed full content (without any cropping).

Java seems to be included with AS and so I don't think I need to install Java separately. However, the AS Java seems to be sort-of internal to AS and so running 'java' on command line does not find a java exe file.

Did not time the AS emulator start but it is going on and on with status still shown as 'booting' in DM. Now it is 7.14 PM. Perhaps it has been running for 5 to 10 mins.
Task Manager shows qemu*** as the main CPU usage program.

Eventually sometime before 7.48 PM (I was not in front of laptop for some time), when I looked at DML, the DM showed 'Android 15.0 ("VanillaIceCream") x86_64' below Medium Phone API 35. But the Android emulator window was still blank with G logo in center.

On trying various clicks including on Power On in emulator, I got a powered by Android logo message followed by G logo in center. Hmm. So looks like, I may need to do some setup for Android OS screen to be shown there.

But I think I should first try setting the enable virtualization and/or hardware accelaration stuff to speed up emulator.
DML Virtualization is already enabled.

Spec's of DML's Intel Celeron 2955U:


H/w acceleration may not be supported in DML as its BIOS settings does not seem to show this option.

So looks like I can't make any BIOS settings in DML to speed up Emulator.
Let me try to time Emulator start-up till DM shows message indicating emulator is running Android.

AS itself starts up quite fast.
8.08 PM - Started emulator via DM.
DM msg changed from "Starting" to "Booting". Android Emulator window opened up with Android logo shown followed by G icon centered. But DM continues to show 'Booting'. By 8.19 PM the 'Booting' message was gone from DM. So this was much, much faster than the first attempt. Perhaps some caching is coming into play?

Playing around with Power button of the emulator resulted in first an Android 'status bar' appearing and then an Android home screen! It took some time to load but not too long. Tried running Chrome. It showed the first one or two screens and then got stuck. Now am trying Google Search. It took 2 to 3 minutes for first screen interaction. Now am trying Search (around 9.03 PM) ... it is showing a 'Loading...' screen ... Now it is showing Google screen with progress bar (9.04 PM) ... At 9.06 PM I was shown the Google search results!

Power Off and Power On on emulator did not show Android home screen even though I waited 10 minutes or so.

Conclusion: DML processor and 4 GB RAM config seems to be too weak for running Android Studio emulator even if one is willing to tolerate slow response.

Installing Nox (BigNox) on Dell Mini-Laptop (Intel Celeron Dual-core, 4 GB RAM)

Next option was to see if Nox emulator ran well on DML. I was able to download and install BigNox on DML quite easily. The program ran straight away without any issues I could spot. Google Search through its browser was much faster than on AS emulator on DML. So BigNox may be a very interesting option to run Android apps developed using React Native and Expo CLI.

Nox install attempts to install Opera and Avast. I missed out on rejecting Opera but rejected Avast. Later I could not find Opera in apps to delete but Opera seems to try to start up as I saw a blank Opera window. So Opera may still have been installed somewhere by Nox but not visible to Windows Settings -> Apps.

Installing Android Studio on desktop PC (AMD Quad-core, 4 GB RAM)

For my AMD processor, virtualization has to be set in BIOS (which was already set) and hyper-v Windows feature has to be disabled (it was disabled on my PC)

Can't install Android Emulator for AMD Processors, https://stackoverflow.com/questions/59549988/cant-install-android-emulator-for-amd-processors , Jan. 2020 

Is Hyper V really disabled?, https://github.com/google/android-emulator-hypervisor-driver/wiki/Is-Hyper-V-really-disabled%3F [I checked that all the points mentioned in the article for Hyper V being disabled were already set on my Windows OS on PC.]

Installed AS on PC. Full install log:
Preparing "Install Android Emulator v.35.2.10".
Downloading https://dl.google.com/android/repository/emulator-windows_x64-12414864.zip
"Install Android Emulator v.35.2.10" ready.
Installing Android Emulator in D:\Users\Ravi-user\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\emulator
"Install Android Emulator v.35.2.10" complete.
"Install Android Emulator v.35.2.10" finished.
Preparing "Install Google Play Intel x86_64 Atom System Image API 35 (revision 9)".
Downloading https://dl.google.com/android/repository/sys-img/google_apis_playstore/x86_64-35_r09.zip
"Install Google Play Intel x86_64 Atom System Image API 35 (revision 9)" ready.
Installing Google Play Intel x86_64 Atom System Image in D:\Users\Ravi-user\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\system-images\android-35\google_apis_playstore\x86_64
"Install Google Play Intel x86_64 Atom System Image API 35 (revision 9)" complete.
"Install Google Play Intel x86_64 Atom System Image API 35 (revision 9)" finished.
Preparing "Install Android Emulator hypervisor driver (installer) v.2.2.0".
Downloading https://dl.google.com/android/repository/aehd-windows_v2.2.zip
"Install Android Emulator hypervisor driver (installer) v.2.2.0" ready.
Installing Android Emulator hypervisor driver (installer) in D:\Users\Ravi-user\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\extras\google\Android_Emulator_Hypervisor_Driver
"Install Android Emulator hypervisor driver (installer) v.2.2.0" complete.
"Install Android Emulator hypervisor driver (installer) v.2.2.0" finished.
Preparing "Install Sources for Android 34 (revision 2)".
Downloading https://dl.google.com/android/repository/sources-34_r01.zip
"Install Sources for Android 34 (revision 2)" ready.
Installing Sources for Android 34 in D:\Users\Ravi-user\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\sources\android-34
"Install Sources for Android 34 (revision 2)" complete.
"Install Sources for Android 34 (revision 2)" finished.
Preparing "Install Android SDK Build-Tools 34 v.34.0.0".
Downloading https://dl.google.com/android/repository/build-tools_r34-windows.zip
"Install Android SDK Build-Tools 34 v.34.0.0" ready.
Installing Android SDK Build-Tools 34 in D:\Users\Ravi-user\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\build-tools\34.0.0
"Install Android SDK Build-Tools 34 v.34.0.0" complete.
"Install Android SDK Build-Tools 34 v.34.0.0" finished.
Preparing "Install Android SDK Platform 34 (revision 3)".
Downloading https://dl.google.com/android/repository/platform-34-ext7_r03.zip
"Install Android SDK Platform 34 (revision 3)" ready.
Installing Android SDK Platform 34 in D:\Users\Ravi-user\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\platforms\android-34
"Install Android SDK Platform 34 (revision 3)" complete.
"Install Android SDK Platform 34 (revision 3)" finished.
Preparing "Install Android SDK Build-Tools 35 v.35.0.0".
Downloading https://dl.google.com/android/repository/build-tools_r35_windows.zip
"Install Android SDK Build-Tools 35 v.35.0.0" ready.
Installing Android SDK Build-Tools 35 in D:\Users\Ravi-user\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\build-tools\35.0.0
"Install Android SDK Build-Tools 35 v.35.0.0" complete.
"Install Android SDK Build-Tools 35 v.35.0.0" finished.
Preparing "Install Android SDK Platform-Tools v.35.0.2".
Downloading https://dl.google.com/android/repository/platform-tools_r35.0.2-win.zip
"Install Android SDK Platform-Tools v.35.0.2" ready.
Installing Android SDK Platform-Tools in D:\Users\Ravi-user\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\platform-tools
"Install Android SDK Platform-Tools v.35.0.2" complete.
"Install Android SDK Platform-Tools v.35.0.2" finished.
Parsing D:\Users\Ravi-user\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\build-tools\34.0.0\package.xml
Parsing D:\Users\Ravi-user\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\build-tools\35.0.0\package.xml
Parsing D:\Users\Ravi-user\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\emulator\package.xml
Parsing D:\Users\Ravi-user\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\extras\google\Android_Emulator_Hypervisor_Driver\package.xml
Parsing D:\Users\Ravi-user\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\platform-tools\package.xml
Parsing D:\Users\Ravi-user\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\platforms\android-34\package.xml
Parsing D:\Users\Ravi-user\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\sources\android-34\package.xml
Parsing D:\Users\Ravi-user\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\system-images\android-35\google_apis_playstore\x86_64\package.xml
Android SDK is up to date.
Running Android Emulator hypervisor driver installer

SERVICE_NAME: gvm 
        TYPE               : 1  KERNEL_DRIVER  
        STATE              : 1  STOPPED 
        WIN32_EXIT_CODE    : 0  (0x0)
        SERVICE_EXIT_CODE  : 0  (0x0)
        CHECKPOINT         : 0x0
        WAIT_HINT          : 0x0
[SC] DeleteService SUCCESS

SERVICE_NAME: aehd 
        TYPE               : 1  KERNEL_DRIVER  
        STATE              : 4  RUNNING 
                                (STOPPABLE, NOT_PAUSABLE, IGNORES_SHUTDOWN)
        WIN32_EXIT_CODE    : 0  (0x0)
        SERVICE_EXIT_CODE  : 0  (0x0)
        CHECKPOINT         : 0x0
        WAIT_HINT          : 0x0
        PID                : 0
        FLAGS              : 
Creating Android virtual device
Android virtual device Medium_Phone_API_35 was successfully created

--- end of install log ----

No errors it seems.

C drive free space is now 13 GB.

AS starts up without an issue. x.40 PM: In DM starting "Medium Phone API 35" ... x.41 PM shows 'Booting' .. x.46 (perhaps a little earlier), msg has changed to 'Android 15.0 ("VanillaIceCream") | x86_64' ...

x.50 PM: The emulator window was positioned such that most of its display was above top of window. Tried some stuff and was able to get the full window shown. It is a regular Android Home screen!

The colours of the emulator are odd. Typed in text is not readable.

Power off button seems to only make phone display go blank. Then power on immediately shows screen.
Tried double click to simulate long press on Power button to shut down phone but that did not work. 

Closing emulator showed saving state message and then system froze/got hung, forcing me to do hard reboot of the PC. [This happened twice. Now I am concerned about closing emulator!]

After reboot, opening emulator resulted in emulator only crash.

Restarted (emulator, I think) again. Now booting has taken 9 to 10 mins and not yet done. But emulator window with most of top part out of screen and bottom part showing Home screen icons came up perhaps 3 to 5 mins after starting.

Oh! Even though DM shows booting, I can operate phone shown in emulator.

Virtualization was already set in BIOS ... Saved pics of key BIOS settings.

-----------

Android emulator data is saved on C drive!!!! That has drastically reduced C drive space (now 9.39 GB). Perhaps that's the cause of Save state crashing PC in earlier two cases (last case worked when most other apps were first closed including AS and DM).

How can I change the path to android\avd in my Android Studio, https://stackoverflow.com/questions/40501341/how-can-i-change-the-path-to-android-avd-in-my-android-studio . Key points:

Set environment variable for User, ANDROID_AVD_HOME : suitable-D-drive-directory
Move any existing AVD from C drive directory (default: C:\users\<username>\.android\avd) to suitable-D-drive-directory. Change .ini file for AVD to point to suitable-D-drive-directory.
If AS is open, restart it, else start it. Now it will pick up AVD from suitable-D-drive-directory
======

Followed above instructions. C drive free space is now 13.9 GB. ... Started DM and opened emulator which picked up image from new location and restored state from it. And that was done quite quickly ... less than 2 to 3 mins. ... Was able to shut down emulator using stop button in DM ... Emulator saved state and closed. System did not freeze!
Launched emulator from DM .. emulator opened up and is working though slow and the same colour issues persist.

Was able to close emulator using its close button which gave saving state message and then closed emulator window. No system freeze issue!

Conclusion: Android Emulator is slow in PC but barring the colour issue, seems to be working OK. The slow speed on PC could be tolerated if needed. But on DML, the speed is just too slow for it to be useful. When time permits, above mentioned colour issue has to be fixed.

Installing Nox (BigNox) on desktop PC (AMD Quad-core, 4 GB RAM)

Copied bignox install exe to PC but have yet to install it. If I install BigNox on PC, I should skip Opera and Avast install and also use D drive for install. ... Update: Installed nox/bignox on PC on D drive. Skipped Opera and Avast install. Now free space on C drive has reduced to 13.8 GB from 13.9 GB. Minor reduction in free space.

Nox works like a charm. No speed issues at all. If React Native -> Nox works out then that may be a great solution for me. But when both React and Nox are running there may be memory issues. Need to check that out when time permits.

Using Nox emulator with React Native

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVYDIc_C9cg is an amateur/student video based on above, it seems. Key point is that he gets an error multiple times but eventually it runs (react native connected to Nox and NOT APK copied into Nox which may be simpler but then we will not have the hot-reloading feature). The video does NOT demonstrate hot reloading.

10 Run React Native on NOX Player, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvQv4p3Bxx8 , 8 mins, Sep. 2022 seems to provide a possible solution though it is hard to follow the speaker's English. The description of the video mentions the solution but I think it is slightly different from what was done in the video itself. Description extract :
Run React Native on NOX Player

1. Enable root access in Nox Player
2. Go to settings, go to about tablet and tap build number for 8 times to enable developer options
3. Go to developer options and enable "usb debugging"
4. Open terminal and type adb connect 127.0.0.1:62001. Type adb devices to make sure your emulator is connected.
5. Go to your project, type react-native run android --deviceId 127.0.0.1:62001.
6. Your app run, done.

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As of now, I have not yet tried using React Native with Nox. When time permits, I should certainly do that. If that works out then it may be a great solution for me as AS emulator is slow on my PC (and unusable on my DML).

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