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I want to run/test Android apps on the Android emulator and I want to type using my PC keyboard, as it lets me type and test faster. When I use the emulator though, it only accepts input from the native Android (on-screen) keyboard. How can I enable my PC keyboard for use within the Android emulator?

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1  
My keyboard works with default settings on an emulator instance. Do you have any advanced settings configured for your AVD? What OS are you running? I'm not entirely sure what would have an effect on this, but we might need more detail on your setup. – eldarerathis♦ May 23 '12 at 13:39
I didn't do any thing thing special other than normal settings, and my OS is Win7 32bit – Hafiz May 24 '12 at 5:27
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As @eldareathis said, by default, your keyboard should work in the emulator... Not sure what would cause it to not work – Bryan Denny♦ May 24 '12 at 17:44

6 Answers

up vote 76 down vote

I had the same issue after upgrading the developer tools (v20.0.0v2012...). All of a sudden none of my android virtual devices would accept any input from my physical PC/Mac keyboard.

This is how I fixed it:

  1. Eclipse > Window menu > AVD Manager
  2. Select your virtual device and click Edit
  3. Under Hardware, Click New
  4. Select Keyboard Support then click OK
  5. Edit its value to yes
  6. Now you have to click off onto another item in the list, like "Abtract LCD Density" or something. This seems to make the UI keep the "yes" change.

My other AVDs that don't have this "keyboard support" hardware property added do NOT accept my physical keyboard input.

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3  
Seems like a bug for me. This trick works. – Kumar Bibek Jul 3 '12 at 5:38
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Doesn't work for me, the Keyboard Support value resets back to "no" after saving and closing out the window... – Justin Aug 31 '12 at 14:13
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Justin, my original post mentioned a click-off step but some dummy (looking at you Flow or ce4) removed that info. After you change to "yes" click-off onto another item in the list and this seems to make the UI remember the "yes" setting. I updated my butchered post with a step 6. :-) – Smitty Sep 5 '12 at 5:23
up vote 8 down vote

Please try the following settings. My environment (Target: Android 4.0.3 - API Level 15) successful.

AVD - Edit - Hardware: - New... - Keyboard support - yes

AVD - Edit - Hardware: - New... - Keyboard lid support - no

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Do you know of a way to enable while the emulator is running? – jcollum Jul 20 '12 at 18:20
What's up with the Keyboard lid support? – KevinOrr Mar 24 at 23:13
up vote 2 down vote

You need to change the config.ini file in your .android directory. This file is found under the main hard drive directory. From there, open the avd file and you will see a list of virtual devices. Open the desired device and then open the config.ini in notepad. Then copy this text: "hw.keyboard = yes" (minus the quotes) and then save and close. The next time you open your emulator, you should be able to use the keyboard.

You can also open up the hardware-qemu.ini file in the same directory as the config.ini and then you can see a list of all the hardware options. Change the hw.keyboard from "no" to "yes".

Hope this helps!

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up vote 1 down vote

This answer is for those who built the emulator from source (i.e. Following instructions from source.android.com). You need to modify a property in the following file:

external/qemu/android/avd/hardware-properties.ini

In the following section of that file change the default value from no to yes:

# Keyboard support (qwerty/azerty)
name        = hw.keyboard<br/>
type        = boolean<br/>
default     = yes<br/>
abstract    = Keyboard support<br/>
description = Whether the device has a QWERTY keyboard.<br/>

Then rebuild (using make). At least this worked for me.

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1  
It's even easier. You can set this property in the AVD manager: Add a key 'keyboard' with value 'yes' in the hardware properties list. – ce4 Sep 3 '12 at 19:19
up vote 0 down vote

As a few have indicated here, the PC keyboard should be enabled for the AVD Emulator instances. Judging by what the emulator page on Android Developer says about key commands and such, it does not appear there is a way to enable/disable PC keyboard usage within the SDK. Your best bet is re-installing the SDK then, and try again.

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I already have installed newer version of sdk – Hafiz Jun 24 '12 at 10:17
up vote 0 down vote

Try Ctrl + F11 or NumPad 7. That should enable your keyboard, unless is disabled from somewhere else.

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i thought Ctrl+F11 was Portrait/Landscape orientation? – jlehenbauer May 23 '12 at 18:29
Yes Ctrl+F11 switch between orientations and not enable the keyboard, same with numpad 7 – Hafiz May 24 '12 at 5:30
Yes it does switch between the orientation, but it also brings up the keyboard. – slybloty May 24 '12 at 13:45
@slybloty I am talking about enabling keyboard of my PC in emulator not side keybarod in the emulator – Hafiz May 24 '12 at 21:18
@Hafiz Have you solved this issue? If so, how? – slybloty Jun 14 '12 at 2:07
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