AVD - Android Virtual Device - HackTricks

# AVD - Android Virtual Device

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Thank you very much to @offsecjay for his help while creating this content.

## What is

Android Studio allows to run virtual machines of Android that you can use to test APKs. In order to use them you will need:

- The Android SDK tools - Download here.
- Or Android Studio (with Android SDK tools) - Download here.

In Windows (in my case) after installing Android Studio I had the SDK Tools installed in: `C:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\tools`

In mac you can download the SDK tools and have them in the PATH running:

    brew tap homebrew/cask
    brew install --cask android-sdk

Or from Android Studio GUI as indicated in https://stackoverflow.com/questions/46402772/failed-to-install-android-sdk-java-lang-noclassdeffounderror-javax-xml-bind-a which will install them in `~/Library/Android/sdk/cmdline-tools/latest/bin/` and `~/Library/Android/sdk/platform-tools/` and `~/Library/Android/sdk/emulator/`

For the Java problems:

    export JAVA_HOME=/Applications/Android\ Studio.app/Contents/jbr/Contents/Home

## GUI

### Prepare Virtual Machine

If you installed Android Studio, you can just open the main project view and access: Tools --> AVD Manager.

Then, click on Create Virtual Device

select the phone you want to use and click on Next.

> [!WARNING] If you need a phone with Play Store installed select one with the Play Store icon on it!

In the current view you are going to be able to select and download the Android image that the phone is going to run:

So, select it and if it isn't downloaded click on the Download symbol next to the name (now wait until the image is downloaded).
Once the image is downloaded, just select `Next` and `Finish`.

The virtual machine will be created. Now every time that you access AVD manager it will be present.

### Run Virtual Machine

In order to run it just press the Start button.

## Command Line tool

> [!WARNING] For macOS you can find the `avdmanager` tool in `/Users/<username>/Library/Android/sdk/tools/bin/avdmanager` and the `emulator` in `/Users/<username>/Library/Android/sdk/emulator/emulator` if you have them installed.

First of all you need to decide which phone you want to use, in order to see the list of possible phones execute:

    C:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\tools\bin\avdmanager.bat list device

    d: 0 or "automotive_1024p_landscape"
        Name: Automotive (1024p landscape)
        OEM : Google
        Tag : android-automotive-playstore
    ---------
    id: 1 or "Galaxy Nexus"
        Name: Galaxy Nexus
        OEM : Google
    ---------
    id: 2 or "desktop_large"
        Name: Large Desktop
        OEM : Google
        Tag : android-desktop
    ---------
    id: 3 or "desktop_medium"
        Name: Medium Desktop
        OEM : Google
        Tag : android-desktop
    ---------
    id: 4 or "Nexus 10"
        Name: Nexus 10
        OEM : Google
    [...]

Once you have decide the name of the device you want to use, you need to decide which Android image you want to run in this device.
You can list all the options using `sdkmanager`:

    C:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\tools\bin\sdkmanager.bat --list

And download the one (or all) you want to use with:

    C:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\tools\bin\sdkmanager.bat "platforms;android-28" "system-images;android-28;google_apis;x86_64"

Once you have downloaded the Android image you want to use you can list all the downloaded Android images with:

    C:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\tools\bin\avdmanager.bat list target
    ----------
    id: 1 or "android-28"
         Name: Android API 28
         Type: Platform
         API level: 28
         Revision: 6
    ----------
    id: 2 or "android-29"
         Name: Android API 29
         Type: Platform
         API level: 29
         Revision: 4

At this moment you have decided the device you want to use and you have downloaded the Android image, so you can create the virtual machine using:

    C:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\tools\bin\avdmanager.bat -v create avd -k "system-images;android-28;google_apis;x86_64" -n "AVD9" -d "Nexus 5X"

In the last command I created a VM named "AVD9" using the device "Nexus 5X" and the Android image "system-images;android-28;google_apis;x86_64".
Now you can list the virtual machines you have created with:

    C:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\tools\bin\avdmanager.bat list avd

     Name: AVD9
      Device: Nexus 5X (Google)
        Path: C:\Users\cpolo\.android\avd\AVD9.avd
      Target: Google APIs (Google Inc.)
              Based on: Android API 28 Tag/ABI: google_apis/x86_64

    The following Android Virtual Devices could not be loaded:
        Name: Pixel_2_API_27
        Path: C:\Users\cpolo\.android\avd\Pixel_2_API_27_1.avd
       Error: Google pixel_2 no longer exists as a device

### Run Virtual Machine

> [!WARNING] For macOS you can find the `avdmanager` tool in `/Users/<username>/Library/Android/sdk/tools/bin/avdmanager` and the `emulator` in `/Users/<username>/Library/Android/sdk/emulator/emulator` if you have them installed.

We have already seen how you can list the created virtual machines, but you can also list them using:

    C:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\tools\emulator.exe -list-avds
    AVD9
    Pixel_2_API_27

You can simply run any virtual machine created using:

    C:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\tools\emulator.exe -avd "VirtualMachineName"
    C:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\tools\emulator.exe -avd "AVD9"

Or using more advance options you can run a virtual machine like:

    C:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\tools\emulator.exe -avd "AVD9" -http-proxy 192.168.1.12:8080 -writable-system

### Command line options

However there are a lot of different command line useful options that you can use to initiate a virtual machine. Below you can find some interesting options but can find a complete list here

Boot

- `-snapshot name` : Start VM snapshot
- `-snapshot-list -snapstorage ~/.android/avd/Nexus_5X_API_23.avd/snapshots-test.img` : List all the snapshots recorded

Network

- `-dns-server 192.0.2.0, 192.0.2.255` : Allow to indicate comma separated the DNS servers to the VM.
- `-http-proxy 192.168.1.12:8080` : Allow to indicate an HTTP proxy to use (very useful to capture the traffic using Burp)
  - If the proxy settings aren't working for some reason, try to configure them internally or using an pplication like "Super Proxy" or "ProxyDroid".
- `-netdelay 200` : Set the network latency emulation in milliseconds.
- `-port 5556` : Set the TCP port number that's used for the console and adb.
- `-ports 5556,5559` : Set the TCP ports used for the console and adb.
- `-tcpdump /path/dumpfile.cap` : Capture all the traffic in a file

System

- `-selinux {disabled|permissive}` : Set the Security-Enhanced Linux security module to either disabled or permissive mode on a Linux operating system.
- `-timezone Europe/Paris` : Set the timezone for the virtual device
- `-screen {touch(default)|multi-touch|o-touch}` : Set emulated touch screen mode.
- `-writable-system` : Use this option to have a writable system image during your emulation session. You will need also to run `adb root; adb remount`. This is very useful to install a new certificate in the system.

## Rooting a Play Store device

If you downloaded a device with Play Store you are not going to be able to get root directly, and you will get this error message

    $ adb root
    adbd cannot run as root in production builds

Using rootAVD with Magisk I was able to root it (follow for example this video or this one).

## Install Burp Certificate

Check the following page to learn how to install a custom CA cert:

Install Burp Certificate

## Nice AVD Options

### Take a Snapshot

You can use the GUI to take a snapshot of the VM at any time:

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> Support HackTricks
> - Check the subscription plans!
> - Join the 💬 Discord group or the telegram group or follow us on Twitter 🐦 @hacktricks_live.
> - Share hacking tricks by submitting PRs to the HackTricks and HackTricks Cloud github repos.