If you've been looking for a way to develop your Xamarin Android apps in a Parallels Desktop Windows VM, but run the app in an Android emulator on your Mac, this post is an attempt to distill the information from across multiple sites to get you started.
Many thanks to James Montemagno for pointing me to Paul Batum's post on the Xamarin forum.
My Configuration
- Intel MBP running OS X Mavericks
- Parallels Desktop running a Windows 8 VM
If you have an OS X developer account, and want to work with OS X 10.9 Mavericks, you may prefer to do so using a virtual machine, in Parallels Desktop or VMware Fusion. However, you won't be able to create a new virtual machine in either of these programs using the Mavericks installer. For information about running Parallels Desktop 8 on OS X 10.9 Mavericks Developer Preview please check. MacOS Mojave 10.14, macOS High Sierra 10.13, macOS Sierra 10.12, OS X El Capitan 10.11, OS X Yosemite 10.10, OS X Mavericks 10.9, OS X Mountain Lion 10.8, and OS X Lion 10.7.x; Parallels Desktop for Mac App Store Edition includes seamless integration features between Mac. OS X 10.10 Yosemite or later, OS X 10.9.3 Mavericks or later, OS X 10.8.5 Mountain Lion or later, or OS X 10.7.6 Lion or later. To identify your computer's processor, memory, and Mac OS X version, choose Apple menu About This Mac. Internet connection required for product activation, select features, and online updates. One of the following.
Set up your Mac
1. Download & Install the Android SDK
Nothing can get done until the Android SDK is installed, so let's start there.
Install the Android SDK
You should end up with an SDK directory somewhere on your Mac with subdirectories like: extras, platform tools, tools, etc.
Yeah? -- Okay. Next.
2. Install the Intel HAXM
Intel HAXM - What?
Intel Hardware Accelerated Execution Manager. In short, it speeds up Android app emulation on Intel host machines. This step is necessary if you plan on creating custom AVDs that leverage the much faster Intel x86 images.
Install the Intel OS X HAXM Zip
Do you use OS X Mavericks + Parallels Desktop 9 ?
Install the OS X 10.9 HAXM Hotfix
If you don't do this, when you launch an Intel x86 emulator image, your entire computer will freeze up forcing you to perform a hard reboot. No one wants that.
3. Configure your Mac for SSH sharing
In OS X Go To:
System Preferences > Sharing > Enable Remote Login
Mac Os X Mavericks 10.9
Leave the other options set to their defaults.
4. Start the Android emulator
Several AVDs came pre-configured when you installed the Android SDK. For the sake of this tutorial, we'll use one of those devices which use ARM images. To view the configured devices, start the AVD Manager:
Open a command line
Navigate to the tools directory of your Android SDK: yourandroidsdkdirectory/tools
Enter the following command:
./android avd
The AVD Manager will open
Start an Android device:
- select a device with a green check
- press Start..
- the Launch Options dialog will appear. Press Launch
Earlier, we installed HAXM which allows the use of the Intel x86 images which run much faster than their ARM counterparts. If you'd like to try those out: open the SDK Manager, download the x86 images, then configure devices in the AVD Manager to use the x86 images instead of the ARM images.
Open a command line
Navigate to the tools directory of your Android SDK: yourandroidsdkdirectory/tools
Enter the following command:
Midi Quest Waldorf Blofeld Editor and Librarian for Macintosh and Windows Sound Quest's Midi Quest multi-instrument editor/librarian gives you the tools to get the most from your Waldorf Blofeld.
./android
download the x86 images
edit a device in the AVD Manager to use an x86 image instead of an ARM image
5. Kill the ADB Server
Open a command line
Navigate to the platform-tools directory of your Android SDK: yourandroidsdkdirectory/platform-tools
Enter the following command:
./adb kill-server
Okay! -- Your Mac is ready.
Set up you Windows VM
1. Start your Windows VM in Parallels Desktop Eliwell ewpc 901 manual.
2. Download and install PuTTY SSH Client
Install the PuTTY SSH Client Simplify3d keygen torrent.
3. Create a new connection to your Mac
Let's connect to the Mac.
- Start PuTTY SSH Client
- Select Session from the Category panel on the left
- In the Host Name (or IP Address) field, enter the IP Address of you Mac (found at: System Preferences > Sharing)
- Leave the Port set to its default (should be 22)
- Make sure SSH is selected under Protocol
4. Configure port forwarding
Select Connection > SSH > Tunnels from the Category panel on the left side of the PuTTY SSH Client. From here add two forwarding configurations.
First
- Source Port: 5555
- Destination: localhost:5555
Second
Source Port: 5554
Destination: localhost:5554
Click on Open
You will be presented with a command line console. When prompted, enter your Mac admin username and password to open a connection from your Windows VM to OS X.
5. Kill then Start the ADB Server
Open a command line
Navigate to the platform-tools directory of your Android SDK: yourandroidsdkdirectory/platform-tools
Enter the following command:
adb.exe kill-server
Then enter the following command:
adb.exe start-server
Confirm that your Mac emulator device has been picked up by entering the following command:
adb.exe devices
You should see a device listed something like: emulator-5554
6. Open a Xamarin Android project
Parallels For Mac Os X Mavericks
Now for the big test!
Parallels For Mac El Capitan
Launch your Xamarin IDE of choice and open a Xamarin Android project. Once the project initializes, you should see your already running Mac emulator listed in the device dropdown.
And that's it! -- You can debug all day long from Parallels over to your Mac.
The Bonus Round - Genymotion Emulator
The AVD emulator that comes with the Android SDK is fine, but it could be better. Enter Genymotion.
The Genymotion emulator is noticably faster, but it requires some baggage: VirtualBox - which doesn't play well with Parallels Desktop 9 out of the box.
[Detailed tutorial coming soon]
Popular desktop virtualization client Parallels released an update to their desktop app for Mac on Wednesday, allowing Apple developers to run beta versions of OS X Mavericks in tandem with older versions of the Mac operating system.
Parallels Desktop 8 for Mac has been updated to version 8.0.18494, giving developers more flexibility to test their apps in Mavericks, without needing to dedicate an entire machine to a potentially buggy beta build of the operating system. Parallels 8 also allows any user to run a virtualization of other popular operating systems such as Google’s Chrome, Linux and Windows 8.
While Parallels 8 does not support Mavericks as a new, blank virtual machine (VM), users can alter an existing VM to run the developer versions.
To enable this feature, simply update to the latest build of Parallels before opening an existing VM running OS X. Then, take a snapshot of the VM to prevent any data loss and increase the video memory to 128 MB in that bank. Once the Developer Preview of Mavericks is installed it can be run on the same machine as current builds of Snow Lion or other versions of OS X.
Developers running Parallels 8 for Mac have been attempting to run Mavericks as a VM since the first beta build were released during this year’s WWDC, but many were unable to do so. The new update to the software brings what the company calls 'experimental' support for developer builds of Mavericks, and should resolve some of the issues developers faced in recent weeks.
Mac Os X Mavericks 10.9
Leave the other options set to their defaults.
4. Start the Android emulator
Several AVDs came pre-configured when you installed the Android SDK. For the sake of this tutorial, we'll use one of those devices which use ARM images. To view the configured devices, start the AVD Manager:
Open a command line
Navigate to the tools directory of your Android SDK: yourandroidsdkdirectory/tools
Enter the following command:
./android avd
The AVD Manager will open
Start an Android device:
- select a device with a green check
- press Start..
- the Launch Options dialog will appear. Press Launch
Earlier, we installed HAXM which allows the use of the Intel x86 images which run much faster than their ARM counterparts. If you'd like to try those out: open the SDK Manager, download the x86 images, then configure devices in the AVD Manager to use the x86 images instead of the ARM images.
Open a command line
Navigate to the tools directory of your Android SDK: yourandroidsdkdirectory/tools
Enter the following command:
Midi Quest Waldorf Blofeld Editor and Librarian for Macintosh and Windows Sound Quest's Midi Quest multi-instrument editor/librarian gives you the tools to get the most from your Waldorf Blofeld.
./android
download the x86 images
edit a device in the AVD Manager to use an x86 image instead of an ARM image
5. Kill the ADB Server
Open a command line
Navigate to the platform-tools directory of your Android SDK: yourandroidsdkdirectory/platform-tools
Enter the following command:
./adb kill-server
Okay! -- Your Mac is ready.
Set up you Windows VM
1. Start your Windows VM in Parallels Desktop Eliwell ewpc 901 manual.
2. Download and install PuTTY SSH Client
Install the PuTTY SSH Client Simplify3d keygen torrent.
3. Create a new connection to your Mac
Let's connect to the Mac.
- Start PuTTY SSH Client
- Select Session from the Category panel on the left
- In the Host Name (or IP Address) field, enter the IP Address of you Mac (found at: System Preferences > Sharing)
- Leave the Port set to its default (should be 22)
- Make sure SSH is selected under Protocol
4. Configure port forwarding
Select Connection > SSH > Tunnels from the Category panel on the left side of the PuTTY SSH Client. From here add two forwarding configurations.
First
- Source Port: 5555
- Destination: localhost:5555
Second
Source Port: 5554
Destination: localhost:5554
Click on Open
You will be presented with a command line console. When prompted, enter your Mac admin username and password to open a connection from your Windows VM to OS X.
5. Kill then Start the ADB Server
Open a command line
Navigate to the platform-tools directory of your Android SDK: yourandroidsdkdirectory/platform-tools
Enter the following command:
adb.exe kill-server
Then enter the following command:
adb.exe start-server
Confirm that your Mac emulator device has been picked up by entering the following command:
adb.exe devices
You should see a device listed something like: emulator-5554
6. Open a Xamarin Android project
Parallels For Mac Os X Mavericks
Now for the big test!
Parallels For Mac El Capitan
Launch your Xamarin IDE of choice and open a Xamarin Android project. Once the project initializes, you should see your already running Mac emulator listed in the device dropdown.
And that's it! -- You can debug all day long from Parallels over to your Mac.
The Bonus Round - Genymotion Emulator
The AVD emulator that comes with the Android SDK is fine, but it could be better. Enter Genymotion.
The Genymotion emulator is noticably faster, but it requires some baggage: VirtualBox - which doesn't play well with Parallels Desktop 9 out of the box.
[Detailed tutorial coming soon]
Popular desktop virtualization client Parallels released an update to their desktop app for Mac on Wednesday, allowing Apple developers to run beta versions of OS X Mavericks in tandem with older versions of the Mac operating system.
Parallels Desktop 8 for Mac has been updated to version 8.0.18494, giving developers more flexibility to test their apps in Mavericks, without needing to dedicate an entire machine to a potentially buggy beta build of the operating system. Parallels 8 also allows any user to run a virtualization of other popular operating systems such as Google’s Chrome, Linux and Windows 8.
While Parallels 8 does not support Mavericks as a new, blank virtual machine (VM), users can alter an existing VM to run the developer versions.
To enable this feature, simply update to the latest build of Parallels before opening an existing VM running OS X. Then, take a snapshot of the VM to prevent any data loss and increase the video memory to 128 MB in that bank. Once the Developer Preview of Mavericks is installed it can be run on the same machine as current builds of Snow Lion or other versions of OS X.
Developers running Parallels 8 for Mac have been attempting to run Mavericks as a VM since the first beta build were released during this year’s WWDC, but many were unable to do so. The new update to the software brings what the company calls 'experimental' support for developer builds of Mavericks, and should resolve some of the issues developers faced in recent weeks.
The last major update to Parallels Desktop 8 came last November, when the software was given expanded support for Microsoft's latest Windows 8 platform. The update also gave users the ability to use Mountain Lion's Dictation feature in Windows applications.
Parallels Desktop 8 launched last September, boasting 30 percent faster 3D graphics, and a 25 percent faster startup for Windows. The release also added support for Apple's MacBook Pro Retina displays, and is optimized to work with OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion.
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