# Android Emulator hypervisor driver

Android Emulator hypervisor driver is a hypervisor to accelerate
[Android Emulator][android-studio]. It is made by porting KVM to Windows
(Windows 8.1 or later, 64bit).

Android Emulator hypervisor driver runs as a Windows driver. User space
support for Android Emulator hypervisor driver is available from Android
Emulator.

## Notice of Planned Deprecation
Android Emulator hypervisor driver will be sunset on December 31, 2026.
Android Emulator users on Windows will have until the end of 2026 to
transition by enabling Windows Hypervisor Platform and performing the
required system reboot.

## Download and Install
Android Emulator hypervisor driver is released through [android-studio].
However, only Android Studio with version 4.0 canary 5 or above can both
download and install/update the driver. Otherwise, the Android
Studio will only download the driver package without performing installation.
In the latter case, users are required to install the driver manually.


Prerequisite:
1. CPU has virtualization extension and BIOS has NOT disabled the extension.
2. Hyper-V must be disabled. Refer to [this
   page](https://github.com/google/android-emulator-hypervisor-driver-for-amd-processors/wiki/Is-Hyper-V-really-disabled%3F)
   for more information.

Install Instruction:  
  
Use an administrator command console to execute "silent_install.bat" inside
the driver package. Make sure you see the desired output from the installer:
STATE: 4 RUNNING

## For Windows 7 users
According to Microsoft, SHA1 driver signing is deprecated (Read more
[here](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/install/deprecation-of-software-publisher-certificates-and-commercial-release-certificates)
). Version 1.8 to 2.1 cannot be loaded on Windows 7 by default. Please
use version 1.7 instead. Users may disable driver signature enforcement in
order to use version 1.8 to 2.1.

Starting from version 2.2, Windows 7 is not supported any more.

## Contributing
If you would like to contribute a patch to the code base, please read
[these guidelines](CONTRIBUTING.md).

## Reporting an Issue
You are welcome to file an issue at [Issuetracker]. Please remember to supply
your OS information, CPU model in addition to details on the issue.

## Notes
A patched QEMU can be found here at [github]. However, there is no support for
it. Use at your own risk.

## Historical Name of the Repository
Android Emulator hypervisor driver used to be called Android Emulator
hypervisor driver for AMD Processors. The renaming is to reflect the fact
that it supports both Intel and AMD Processors. In fact, it supports Intel
from version 1.0. The old name was chosen because Intel users were expected
to continue using Intel HAXM.

[android-studio]: https://developer.android.com/studio/index.html
[github]: https://github.com/qemu-gvm/qemu-gvm
[Issuetracker]: https://issuetracker.google.com/issues?q=componentid:192727