Now that I have several Android devices – having just taken delivery of an ‘inexpensive’ 7in tablet – I decided it would be interesting to run the OS in a VMware virtual machine..

You can get a ‘VirtualBox’ Android 4 image at http://androvm.org/blog/download/  and then convert it to a VMware VM, by opening the xxxx.ova file using VMware, and following the prompts to convert it..   You may find that the process ‘fails’ the first time, with a vague error message, but if you run it a second time, it should be successful..     I used the ‘tablet/phone’ version (androVM_vbox86tp…), as I wanted a tablet-sized screen, but some apps (such as Firefox) won’t install on the ‘tablet-only’ version, for some odd reason..

Android VM with VMware

A couple of (minor) gotchas..   The keyboard layout seems to be US-only, despite the description being ‘UK’.    This means the @ symbol will be where the “ symbol is, on a UK keyboard..     There is no obvious way to power off within Android (as you would usually use the power button on a phone or tablet) so just use the ‘power off’ icon (red square) at the top left of the VMware window..

I will be writing more about my new Android 7in tablet, after I have spent more time using it..

Robert Gadsdon.  November 19th 2012.