Andriod-x86 is an unofficial project to port Google’s Android operating system to run on devices with x86 processors… like the ones made by Intel and AMD. In other words, it lets you run Android on your laptop or desktop PC.

The team has released a new build based on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, and while it’s a bit rough around the edges, Android-x86 4.2 does let you run Android and install some Android apps on a PC.

I took it for a spin on the Chromebook Pixel.

Chromebook Pixel with Android 4.2 Jelly Bean

The Chromebook Pixel isn’t the ideal device for this sort of test drive — the touchpad and touchscreen aren’t supported so I had to plug in a mouse, and the notification bar and mouse look tiny on the laptop’s 2560 x 1700 pixel display — but apps like the web browser look great.

Android-x86 4.2 features a Linux 3.8 kernel, support for hardware-accelerated graphics using Intel and AMD graphics chips, and support for multitouch (if you have a supported touchscreen, WiFi-, and other hardware.

But this build doesn’t support Bluetooth or suspend and resume, and many apps available in the Play Store won’t run on a device with an x86 processor.

Some apps will run — but with mixed results. For instance, Google Play Movies worked just fine, but when I tried running the Dolphin web browser it rotated my screen to portrait mode (which is awkward to use on a laptop), and the only way I could switch back to landscape orientation was to install a third party screen rotate app.

Still, if you want to give Android a try on your laptop, there’s no simpler way than downloading Android-x86 and installing it on a bootable USB flash drive. You can always pop out the flash drive and reboot into Windows, Linux, Chrome OS, or what have you if you don’t like it.

I used the LinuxLive USB Creator tool to prepare a bootable flash drive.

via reddit

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42 replies on “Android-x86 4.2 lets you run Jelly Bean on your notebook, desktop PC”

  2. it was all good, but when i opened it again, it went back to the beginning.
    what should i do?

  3. already have it, its was working fine,
    i shut it down,
    went back to windows,
    but when i went back to check my andriod,
    my modifications are gone! it went back to naming the tablet part. can’t even play any apps.
    what should i do?

  4. I put Android 4.2 on my netbook (HP mini 110) and I get through set up by skipping the wifi connect. When I try to connect to wifi my laptop restarts. Any ideas?

  5. Hey Guys, I am also Install Android OS in My Computer and I use this Android OS, but can not find my computer Hard disk and other files, I am not open any files in android OS and can’t find and view my hard disk, & I am use wifi network in Laptop and this run,I am not use my broadband connection in this android OS on my ASUS Computer.
    Anyone can help me, my email id is [email protected]

  6. hey i installed android x86 jelly bean dual boot with my windows 7. Android is working correctly.but i have one problem my android OS is not detecting my flash drive(pendrive).and also it didn’t detecting my 3g dongle(idea netsetter). so i can’t connect to internet and so i can’t download apps .how to solve this anyone please give me a solution to this problem.

    1. I am sorry to say but it seems that play store doesn’t work properly, I’m still looking for a good solution but got nothing by now. Anyway, try changing your Android Machine network settings in virtualbox to “Bridge Adapter” and on the Advanced part of it change the Adapter Type to PCnet-FAST III and the Promiscuous Mode to “Allow VMs”. Make sure Enable Network Adapter is ticked and this should be enough for you internet connection. Again, I read that some apps won’t work properly, therefore have in mind that it still a beta project (from my point of view).

  8. there is a whole list on the android x86 website in the download section, like versions for eee pc’s, other asus laptops, certain tablets, etc. Which version did you use?

  11. Hey will this work on an an Intel 8742 with a CPU running at 12 MHz, 128 bytes of RAM, 2048 bytes of EPROM, and I/O in the same chip? Please Reply…

  14. I have it on my usb flash drive. But, its unusable for me because cannot connect to localwifi (Atheros adapter) and it doesnt have any file explorer installed so installing apks from flash drive doesnt work.

    Please help! I want to install it as dual boot with win7 but if i cant install any apps,
    its not worth installing…

    1. I mounted an USB flash drive using command line in 2 steps:

      mkdir /mnt/sdcard/sdcard2

      busybox mount /dev/block/sdb1 /mnd/sdcard/sdcard2

  15. @waferhead – How do you add the wacom support? I have a Lenovo x60. Wifi works out of the box (JB 4.2) pointer stick works but no touch screen.

  16. Is there a way to dual boot with windows and Ubuntu I have tried but either android won’t recognise Ubuntu or Ubuntu won’e recognise android. I tried a few tutorials but they only seem to work on 4.0, not 4.2.
    Any help would be greatly appreciated!

  19. Tried Successfully on a Toshiba L640 Satellite with 2.4 GHz Intel i5 processor and 320 GB HDD. Most hardware was working incredibly well, including, the in built laptop webcam, trackpad, wifi and sound card, the only things not working or found was the CD DVD drive and the USB ports. I wish Android would add support for these…booting was real quick, but couldn’t figure out the shutdown. I downloaded the eePC version of the Android ISO which is what most people download. I think Android on a laptop looks nice, better than on tablets, but hardware support is an issue. When will Android mini PC manufacturers start adding support for webcams and hard drives and better wi fi support on their HDMI stick PCs so that one can assemble a really cheap pc for around $ 200? ( $ 50 for the Android mini PC + $ 150 for the LCD HDMI screen and accessories?
    For those who are going to try this on their Toshiba using a USB pen flash drive, remember to use the eePC version of Android PC and not to install it on their hard drive cause otherwise it will wipe your Windows OS off the hard drive. All the best!

    1. did it run straight as it was or did you have to change a command line or some other setting? im trying them all on my toshiba which is running an i3 but a 17″ screen. it booting but the display is like twisted.

    2. Figured out the shutdown on Androidx86, aka Android 4.0.4, its the double click of the power button on your laptop……that is depress quickly twice with less than a second interval between them.

  20. Just a question…does this run on an AMD processor?
    I’m planning to run this on my laptop with AMD E2-1800.

  21. Will this run on older hardware? Anyone have a link to the hardware system requirements for Android X86?

    1. I’m running the most recent build, added inputattach so i could enable the wacom pen on my Lenovo X200 tablet… Almost a daily use quality system once there is a better way to set device model, as Play is completely lost on the current results. Setting model it in /system/build.props no longer works, seems to be getting it from BIOS. You may need to copy over your wifi firmware to /lib/firmware (if it works on your installed Linux distro, it should work in Android-x86)
      and modprobe your devices in /etc/init.sh as it is not fully automagic.

      Yet.

  22. before I do anything silly and mess up my expensive (for me) acer w510, do I simply download it on my flash drive and open/install by DOUBLE CLICKING? Is it that simple? I am probably mis interpreting something… Can a retard like me do it?

    1. 1. Download the LinuxLive USB Creator tool I mentioned at the end of the article.
      2. Download Android-x86.
      3. Plug in a USB flash drive.
      4. Run the LinuxLive USB Creator and choose the Android-x86 ISO file as your source and the flash drive as your destination.
      5. Sit back and wait for the process to complete.
      6. Turn off your Acer W510 or other device, and plug the USB flash drive into the USB port.
      7. This step varies from PC to PC, but you need to figure out how to boot from a USB flash drive — usually by pressing Esc, F2, or some other option during boot. Since you have a Windows 8 device you may have to go into your UEFI settings and find an option to “enable legacy boot” first… not all computers even have that option.
      8. The good news is that if you got this far and are able to boot from the flash drive, there’s virtually no risk of damaging your computer. The operating system is stored on the flash drive, not your PC. It just loads itself into RAM while you’re running it. To return to Windows, just shut down your PC, pop out the USB flash drive, and reboot.

      1. Thanks Brad, I will try it tonight, but I doubt if USB will work for me, I probably will need to burn a CD with above ISO and use external DVD drive to run it. Its probably because I have a 32gb version… But before I go in detail, let me try what you explained.

        1. Tried it, but couldn’t figure out last step, anyways, will try it using DVD tomorrow.

          1. if by last step you mean, step number 7, instead of just restarting/turning off and on your laptop, you should try holding shift and clicking on restart it should take you to a place where you can change the uefi legacy boot thingy, at least it worked for me on a sony vaio with win8

          2. Apparently tablets with Intel Atom Clover Trail processors are known for not allowing legacy boot — which means that you may be out of luck here.

    2. Many x86 builds of Android also work quite well installed in a VM under VirtualBox.

      1. FYI — Tried to get this going in latest VirtualBox. No Joy. (Other ISOs have worked without a hitch). I will experiment to see if I can find the proper ‘Formula” vs using something like BlueStacks (which works aok on win7 abiet a little slowly)

          1. Got it working without a hitch here on VirtualBox 4.2.6 r82870 (Windows version).

          2. Arrdee, could you explain how you swapped the one that came with iso with 4.2.6? Thanks.

          3. Very late getting back here but…

            I never swapped anything. I had this version of VirtualBox installed already. I just created a VHD “drive” for a new VM and installed onto this using the ISO. Truthfully I was unaware the ISO contained any versions of VirtualBox.

            Just mounted the ISO and looked, and there is no such thing inside.

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