Moving default AVD configuration folder (.android) - windows

After installation of Android SDK, the folder .android was created on the E:\ drive. As far as I know, this is the default folder of Android Virtual Devices for configuration files.
How can I move .android folder to a different location?
(eg. from E:\.android to E:\Android\.android)

I've found the answer.
Move .android folder to E:\Android
Create environment variable called
ANDROID_SDK_HOME and set its value to
E:\Android
Setting the environment variable on Windows XP or Windows 7:
Right-click on My Computer and choose "Properties"
Click the "Advanced" tab
Click the button "Environment Variables".
Add New variable

By default, the emulator stores configuration files under $HOME/.android/ and AVD data under $HOME/.android/avd/. You can override the defaults by setting the following environment variables.
The emulator searches the avd directory in the order of the values in $ANDROID_AVD_HOME, $ANDROID_SDK_HOME/.android/avd/, and $HOME/.android/avd/.
This page provides the list of environmental variables supported by android studio: https://developer.android.com/studio/command-line/variables

The path set in ANDROID_SDK_HOME must exist. Otherwise the default path will be chosen.
But it is not necessary to include .android. The AVD Manager creates a .android folder, if not found in ANDROID_SDK_HOME.

If you go for this answer be aware of this note:
Starting with Android Studio 4.2, the ANDROID_SDK_HOME environment variable is deprecated and has been replaced with ANDROID_PREFS_ROOT.

In addition to the answer provided by Dariusz Bacinski, you have to include the .android folder in the ANDROID_SDK_HOME path. It was not working for me if I did not include the .android folder.

If you want to move just the AVD folder and not everything else, use those environmental variables.
ANDROID_EMULATOR_HOME: Sets the path to the user-specific emulator configuration directory. The default location is
$ANDROID_SDK_HOME/.android/.
ANDROID_AVD_HOME: Sets the path to the directory that contains all AVD-specific files, which mostly consist of very large disk images. The default location is $ANDROID_EMULATOR_HOME/avd/. You might want to specify a new location if the default location is low on disk space.

If you would like your avd sdcard and files on a different drive, go to $HOME/.android/avd and move the folder <AVD_NAME>.avd to someplace else
Edit $HOME/.android/avd/<AVD_NAME>.ini and change
path=<NEW_AVD_LOCATION>/<AVD_NAME>.avd
$HOME depends on your system. On windows it can be your user directory

(Optional) Download Rapid Environment Editor
Add a new system variable
ANDROID_PREFS_ROOT = D:\IDE\Externals\ANDROID_PREFS_ROOT (The folder you want to move to.)
Save and you're done.

Related

Git bash: how to change where the MinTTY configuration file is stored?

I'm using Portable Git, but it still creates some files in my user home folder. I would like complete portability.
I followed this answer and set the HOME variable to point to the folder I created, PortableGit\home\user (where PortableGit is my Git installation folder). Now I'm discovering that the .minttyrc configuration file that's created after I change the font size is still being stored in my user home folder, instead of \home\user.
How do I make it so git-bash stores and runs the configuration files for MinTTY in my specified folder instead?
Changing the HOME variable successfully worked for the global .gitconfig file. With this Portable Git installation, I'll be working both on repos on my computer, as well as repos located on my USB, if that information matters...
Consider the mintty wiki Tips:
For its configuration file, it reads /etc/minttyrc, $APPDATA/mintty/config, ~/.config/mintty/config, ~/.minttyrc, in this order.
For resource files to configure a colour scheme, wave file for the bell character, or localization files, it looks for subfolders themes, sounds, or lang, respectively, in one of the directories ~/.mintty, ~/.config/mintty, $APPDATA/mintty, /usr/share/mintty, whichever is found first.
The ~/.config/mintty folder is the XDG default base directory. The $APPDATA/mintty folder is especially useful to share common configuration for various installations of mintty (e.g. cygwin 32/64 Bit, MSYS, Git Bash).
In your case, try and move the C:\User\<yourLogin>\.minttyrc to the right HOME folder and see if it is taken into account by launching again a bash session.
Make sure HOME has been defined as a User environment variable, and that you open a new Window, in order to inherit said environment variable new value.
Sorry to necro this old post, but I couldn't see a solution anywhere else, and this might be of use to someone.
Note: Adding a HOME path to the PROFILE file in C:\Program Files\Git\etc does not relocate/re-path .minttyrc from the default installation folder. Instead you need to set a Windows Environmental Variable
This applies to Windows 10 Pro, Git 2.34.1
Let's say I want my .minttyrc to be read by Git Bash in C:\Users\Administrator\git instead of the default installation location, which for me is C:\Users\Administrator
Open Control Panel
In the Search box (top right on my screen), type: Advanced system settings
Then under the 'System' heading, click 'View advanced system settings'
A System Properties box will open, with the Advanced tab selected
At the bottom of this box, click Environment Variables. The Environment Variables box will open.
If you are just adding a $home variable for yourself, then click 'New' under 'User Variables'
Variable Name: HOME
Variable Value: Path to your custom git folder where you want .minttyrc to be located (for me, this is C:\Users\Administrator\git)
On a multi-user system, click 'New' under 'System Variables'
Variable Name: HOME
Variable Value: %USERPROFILE%\path-to-your-custom-git-folder (for me, I would add: %USERPROFILE%\git)
Now Git Bash will read and store configuration settings in .minttyrc in your custom Git folder
Note: You might need to be careful setting HOME in the System Variables - I'm unsure if other software might also use the HOME variable
Alternative: You can set a global 'minttyrc' by creating a file called minttyrc (no extension) in the folder C:\Program Files\Git\etc
Using this alternative method you can avoid setting Environmental Variables, but the settings in minttyrc at this location will apply globally

ANDROID_SDK_HOME

I've changed the AVD location from C to F folder cause lack space in C.Now AVD is not opening but giving this below message.Please advise why?
Note: The environment variable $ANDROID_SDK_HOME is set, and the emulator uses that variable to locate AVDs.
This may result in the emulator failing to start if it cannot find the AVDs in the folder pointed to by the
given environment variable.
Your Enviroment Variable ANDROID_SDK_HOME is set, but seemingly points to a wrong directory. You will have to update ANDROID_SDK_HOME to point to the new directory.
Setting the variable is described on similar questions, e.g. https://stackoverflow.com/a/23043099/1666181

How to change the default directory in RStudio Server?

By default RStudio-Server displays the contents of the Home (~) directory in the Files frame. Where does it load that frame? And how can it be changed so that it takes up a user specific directory?
Update: Kindly note, I was talking about changing the settings in RSTUDIO-SERVER edition. May be some JS or some code would load the working directory; I want that part of the code.
Go to Tools | Global Options - you will see the default directory.
or Session -> Set Working Directory -> Choose Directory
Or you can set your working directory on console like that
setwd("C:/Users/xxx/Desktop/R")

Make an app open on typing the name in run command

I want to open certain folders and files using run command.
I know that creating a shortcut for the required file or folder and placing it in the System32 folder will do the task. However i don't like to use System32 folder.
I would like to know if it is possible to create a folder under local hard disk and put the shortcuts into that and i would route it some how such that i would be able to open the apps and the files directly by typing the name of the shortcut into the run window.
Setting any Environment Variables would help?
Adding the folder to the PATH variable solved the issue.
As correctly answered by a_horse_with_no_name.

Possible to change where Android Virtual Devices are saved?

I've set up the Android SDK and Eclipse on my machine running Windows XP and AVDs (Android Virtual Devices) are saved to "Documents and Settings\user\.android" by default. Is there any way to change this behavior? I have all of the other components saved in a directory on a separate partition and would like everything to be consolidated. Obviously not a huge deal but does anyone here know a workaround for this?
Add a new user environment variable (Windows 7):
Start Menu > Control Panel > System > Advanced System Settings (on the left) > Environment Variables
Add a new user variable (at the top) that points your home user directory:
Variable name: ANDROID_SDK_HOME Variable value:
a path to a directory of your choice
AVD Manager will use this directory to save its .android directory into it.
For those who may be interested, I blogged about my first foray into Android development...
Android "Hello World": a Tale of Woe
Alternatively, you can use the Rapid Environment Editor to set the environment variables.
Based on official documentation https://developer.android.com/studio/command-line/variables.html you should change ANDROID_AVD_HOME environment var:
Emulator Environment Variables
By default, the emulator stores configuration files under
$HOME/.android/ and AVD data under $HOME/.android/avd/. You can
override the defaults by setting the following environment variables.
The emulator -avd command searches the avd directory in the
order of the values in $ANDROID_AVD_HOME,
$ANDROID_SDK_HOME/.android/avd/, and $HOME/.android/avd/. For emulator
environment variable help, type emulator -help-environment at the
command line. For information about emulator command-line options, see
Control the Emulator from the Command Line.
ANDROID_EMULATOR_HOME: Sets the path to the user-specific emulator configuration directory. The default location is
$ANDROID_SDK_HOME/.android/.
ANDROID_AVD_HOME: Sets the path to the directory that contains all AVD-specific files, which mostly consist of very large
disk images. The default location is $ANDROID_EMULATOR_HOME/avd/.
You might want to specify a new location if the default location is
low on disk space.
After change or set ANDROID_AVD_HOME you will have to move all content inside ~user/.android/avd/ to your new location and change path into ini file of each emulator, just replace it with your new path
Modify the file "virtual_android2.2.ini" in "C:\Documents and Settings{your windows login}.android\avd\":
target=android-8
path=E:\android_workspace\avd\virtual_android2.2.avd
And move the folder "virtual_android2.2.avd" from "C:\Documents and Settings{your windows login}.android\avd\" into "E:\android_workspace\avd\".
Move your .android to wherever you want it to.
Then, create a symlink like this:
# In your home folder
$ ln -s /path/to/.android/ .
This simply tells Linux that whenever the path ~/.android is referenced by any application, link it to /path/to/.android.
Go to the Android tools directory. Edit the android.bat command file. At about the end of the command file, find a line similar to
call %java_exe% -Djava.ext.dirs=%java_ext_dirs% -Dcom.android.sdkmanager.toolsdir="%tools_dir%" -Dcom.android.sdkmanager.workdir="%work_dir%" -jar %jar_path% %*
and replace
call %java_exe%
with
call %java_exe% -Duser.home={your_prefer_dir}
where {your_prefer_dire} is your preferred directory without braces but add doublequotes,
e.g.
call %java_exe% -Duser.home="E:\Program Files (x86)\android-sdk-windows"
For Visual Studio 2017 on Windows 10
Copy C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\.android folder to (for example) E:\avd
Open the environment variables window:
Go into Settings and click on System.
On the left, click About and select System info at the
bottom.
In the new window, click Advanced system
settings on the left.
Click Environment Variables at
the bottom of the resulting window.
Add a new variable:
Variable name: ANDROID_SDK_HOME
Variable value: a path to a directory (e.g E:\avd)
Don't include .android in the variable value.
Restart Visual Studio.
For change SDK & NDK location go to:
Tools -> Options -> Xamarin -> Android Setting
You can change the .ini file for the new AVD:
target=android-7
path=C:\Users\username\.android\avd\VIRTUAL_DEVICE_NAME.avd
I don't know how to specify where the .ini file should be stored :)
In Windows 10 I had that problem because My C Drive was getting full and I had needed free Space, AVD folder had 14 gig space so I needed to move that folder to another driver, first answer not work for Me so I tested another way to fix it this problem,
I make a picture for you if you have the same problem, you don't need to move all of the files in .android folder to another drive (this way not work) just move avd folders in ....android\avd to another drive and open .ini files and change avd folder path from that file to the new path.
Like this image:
I hope this works for you.
Note: careful about a separate character before and after the path in ini file that you cannot see,if you remove that character it's not works
Check this out.
using the android command to create avd you can specify where to place files.
-p --path Location path of the directory where the new AVD will be created
The environmental variable ANDROID_AVD_HOME can be used to define the directory in which the AVD Manager shall look for AVD INI files and can therefore be used to change the location of the virtual devices;
The default value is %USERPROFILE%\.android\avd on Windows (or ~/.android/avd on Linux).
One can also create a link for the whole directory %USERPROFILE%\.android on Windows (or a sym-link for directory ~/.android on Linux).
When moving AVDs, the path entry in AVD INI file needs to be updated accordingly.
Another way to specify ANDROID_SDK_HOME without messing around with environment variables (especially when using ec2) is simply create a shortcut of eclipse and add the following as target
C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /C "setx ANDROID_SDK_HOME YOUR AVD PATH /M & YOUR ECLIPSE.EXE PATH"
This will set ANDROID_SDK_HOME as system variable whenever you launch eclipse.
HTH
Paul
Please take note of the following : modifying android.bat in the Android tools directory, as suggested in a previous answer, may lead to problems.
If you do so, in order to legitimately have your .android directory located to a non-default location then there may be an inconsistency between the AVDs listed by Android Studio (using "Tools > Android > AVD Manager") and the AVDs listed by sdk command line tool "android avd".
I suppose that Android Studio, with its internal AVD Manager, does not use the android.bat modified path ; it relies on the ANDROID_SDK_HOME variable to locate AVDs.
My own tests have shown that Android tools correctly use the ANDROID_SDK_HOME variable.
Therefore, there is no point, as far as I know, in modifying android.bat, and using the environment variable should be preferred.
there are major 4 steps
1. copy the .android folder to your desired location as i did in D:\Android\.android
2. set ANDROID_AVD_HOME in environment variables like ANDROID_AVD_HOME D:\Android\.android\avd
3. change avd name.ini file contents with new location like
avd.ini.encoding=UTF-8
path=D:\Android\.android\avd\Pixel_2_API_29.avd
path.rel=avd\Pixel_2_API_29.avd
target=android-29
4. restart android studio
1 - Move AVD to new Folder
2 - start Menu > Control Panel > System > Advanced System Settings (on the left) > Environment Variables
Add a new user variable:
Variable name: ANDROID_AVD_HOME
Variable value: a path to a directory of your choice
3 - Change the file .INI Set new folder.
4 - Open Android Studio
WORKS - Windows 2010
MORE INSTRUCTIONS : https://developer.android.com/studio/command-line/variables
In my case, what I concerned about is the C: drive disk space.
So what I did is copy the ".avd" folder(not file) to other drive, and leave the ".ini" file there but change it to point to the moved
I think the easiest way is to move the avd folder from C:\Users[USER].android folder to your desired location then create a symbolic link to it in C:\Users[USER].android with the same name.
If you wonder how to do this, first install Link Shell Extension. After folder movement right click on it and select Pick Link Source then right click in .android folder and in Drop As... sub menu select Symbolic Link.
I followed https://www.mysysadmintips.com/windows/clients/761-move-android-studio-avd-folder-to-a-new-location.
Start copying a folder "C:\Users\user\.android\avd" to "D:\Android\.android\avd" (or something else).
Close Android Studio and running emulators.
Press Win + Break and open Advanced System Settings. Then press Environment Variables. Add a user variable ANDROID_SDK_HOME. (I didn't experiment with ANDROID_AVD_HOME.) In Variable value field write D:\Android. If you also moved SDK to another folder, change ANDROID_HOME (I forgot to change it and some emulators didn't launch, see https://stackoverflow.com/a/57408085/2914140).
Wait until the folder will finish copying and start Android Studio.
Open Android Virtual Device Manager and see a list of emulators. If you don't see emulators and they existed, then probably you entered wrong path into user variable value in step 3. In this case close AS, change the variable and open AS again.
Start any emulator. It will try to restore it's state, but it sometimes fails. A black screen can appear instead of Android wallpaper.
In this case you can:
a. Restart your emulator. To do this close running emulator, then in AVD Manager click Cold Boot Now.
b. If this didn't help, open emulator settings, found in file "D:\Android\.android\avd\Pixel_API_27.ini".
Change a path to a new AVD folder. Restart the emulator.
Delete old AVD folder from "C:\Users\user\.android\avd".
For Windows 10 :
ANDROID_SDK_HOME
this link helped me.
Then just moved all content of "avd" to the new location. Now you may need to change the value of "path=" in the configuration Setting file of each avds to the new location. You can see the old avds in avd manager in Android Studio and they work.
ANDROID_SDK_HOME also worked for me on Windows 8 x64
also find all location (in my case it was d:\.android) and delete it. You won't need it anymore.
In AVD manager, after setting up AVD using a target with Google APIs, on run was getting error.
Detail showed: "AVD Unknown target 'Google Inc.:Google APIs:...... "
During install (on Win7 system) I had chosen a SDK directory location, instead of accepting C:\Users\...
I'd then added that directory to environment variable 'path'
Command line: android list targets did show a couple of Google apis.
Setting ANDROID_SDK_HOME to my install path fixed the avd run error.
Variable name: ANDROID_SDK_HOME
Variable value: C:\Users>User Name
worked for me.
MacOs
Get a directory adv
./emulator -help-datadir
the default directory is:
/Users/{your_computer_user_name}/.android
and then Go to avd Folder edit .ini file with path to your custom emulator directory
example :
path=/Volumes/Macintos/_emulatorandroid/avd/Nexus_5X_API_27.avd
path.rel=avd/Nexus_5X_API_27.avd
target=android-27
and then save. Now your Emulator haschange
And Result:

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