Hosts files and the Google Android emulator

Using the Google Android emulator is a good way to test how a website behaves on Android devices.

Connecting to your local computer

http://10.0.2.2 is the URL to connect to a website hosted on your local computer. localhost or 127.0.0.1 will not work! This is all defined in the documentation on Android emulator networking.

Using a hosts file

The Android emulator will not make use of your local hosts file. This is unfortunate when your website relies on host headers to work correctly (eg. SharePoint). What you need to do is edit the hosts file on the Android emulator image itself.

start your Android Virtual Device (AVD):
```
emulator -avd myAvdNameHere -partition-size 128
```
Located in C:\Program Files (x86)\Android\android-sdk-windows\tools\ on Windows 64bit

Note
The partition-size parameter is needed to expand the image size to prevent an error in step 5. If you try and perform these steps after starting the emulator from the UI you will receive the following error:
failed to copy ‘c:\temp\hosts’ to ‘/system/etc/hosts’: Out of memory
remount the device image as writable:
```
adb remount
```
Located in C:\Program Files (x86)\Android\android-sdk-windows\platform-tools\ on Windows 64bit
save a copy of the existing hosts file to a temporary location on your host computer:
```
adb pull /system/etc/hosts c:\temp
```
edit the hosts file adding an entry pointing to your host computer:
```
127.0.0.1     localhost
10.0.2.2      mytesthost
```
save the edited hosts file to your Android emulator:
```
adb push c:\temp\hosts /system/etc
```

You can now browse to your entered hostname in the Android browser.

android, mobile, sharepoint, web

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This entry was posted by brad on February 13, 2011 at 4:49 pm, and is filed under Software. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

Msamsulbahri

Hi there,
Thanks i’ve been looking for this solution. You’ve helped me alot.
But do I have to do this every time I start the emulator?

http://www.bradcurtis.com Brad Curtis

I haven’t investigated how to save these changes permanently. There’s probably a way, but one method could be to just put the above commands into a batch file/script so that you can easily launch your emulator with a chosen hosts file.

Msamsulbahri

Thanks brad. I’ve created the script and combined it with snap shot.

David N

Caret to elaborate? I have the same problem but I too new to android to know how to fix this problem.

lu

For me the changes persist. from the Dev Tools app in your AVD there’s a Terminal emulator and
cat /system/etc/hosts
will show the contents of your hosts file

malbers

one variant on this, instead of step 3,4,5 I just: “adb shell” onto the device and then did a “echo ’1.1.1.1 newhost’ >> /etc.hosts’ which worked like a champ. I kept running into issues with the upload.

Shibailo

Previously I always had done as article author said and it had always helped me. But once I did it as usual and it didn’t help. So, I tried to do as malbers suggested and it helps. So both variants are working for me, but not always.
Girish

Hi, Is there a way to add exceptions to the proxy?

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Notelodigo

Thanks! this helps me!

Jozs

How? I tried it on more platforms. i can change the host file with the push. i see in the terminal with the cat command that the hosts file changed, but when i try to use address in the emulator browser which ip shold be different because the ip was rewrited in hosts file the old ip loaded under the address. when i try to phisical reboot rhe hosts file is the same like before. This project looks like stuckoverflow if anybody can help please do it.. Give me a gun or etc.

Quentyrion

Just check that your hosts file doesn’t contain tabs. Only spaces are allowed. If it contains tabs, it is ignored.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_JRZBAXKM33SANDGRRBQHDBEHIQ Gerard Araujo

i could not make this work on 2.2 sdk
Shreyasshanka

its not working on my 2.3.3 avd, the host file has been copied properly, checked that
can u pls help me?
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WilliamB

Tested with android 4.0.3 the host file is copied but it doesn’t seems to change anything
Robert Crago

After following this procedure I still couldn’t get past the “Out of Memory” error with the adb push command. So I tried -partition-size 256 instead of 128 on the emulator command and then the push succeeded.
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Crissy

After following these directions, I get to step 5 and the error I get is:
“failed to copy ‘c:temp1hosts’ to ‘/system/etc/hosts’: Read-only file system”

Does anyone know how to get around this?
Michielh

To everyone having as much trouble as I had, configuring the hosts; If you’re planning on using it in order to test your website for mobile use, a better way to test is by using chrome’s element inspector:

Open the element inspector screen and click the settings icon (bottom-right)
Select: Override user agent >> android 2.3, the devicce metrix should adjust by itself.

Cheers!
Sagimann

This can also be done from eclipse File Explorer, only you do need to run `adb remount` from cmdline while eclipse is running… then you can upload using File Explorer
http://twitter.com/rob_on_earth Rob Davis

the key is not to blindly copy your windows hosts file, make sure any references to 127.0.0.1 have been updated to 10.0.2.2. If in doubt

adb shell
cat /etc/hosts
and ping your host name
DfTg

I couldn’t get it to work with the pull / push method, even though it did NOT give an error or anything and my host-file was updated (I did a: adb shell cat /etc/hosts)

So what I finally did was:adb shellecho ’10.0.0.2.2 myhost’ >> /etc/hostsand then it worked like a charm!
István Ujj-Mészáros

This process works, but the hosts file resets after restarting the emulator, so you need to make these steps every time when restarting the emulator!
Higo Cidario

Also make sure you place an [enter] after your entry!
Jalpa Bhaliya

I followed above steps, But I am still not able to connect with the website that is hosted on local server. I am using android 2.3.3

Hosts files and the Google Android emulator

Connecting to your local computer

Using a hosts file

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