Install OpenGApps in Android Studio Emulator (Marshmallow)

Question

I wanted to install OpenGApps in an Android emulator (created in Android Studio). The emulator is running with Marshmallow. There is enough storage space available, so this is not the problem. I tried everything which I found on Google, but it just wont work.

While the emulator is booting up, and I keep spamming adb remount, first it shows remount succeeded, and just after the desktop shows up, it suddenly says remount of /system failed: Read-only file system and remount failed.

So it doesn't work either when I try to push an OpenGApp .apk using adb push. If I try after booting up, it says: adb: error: failed to copy 'Phonesky.apk' to '/system/priv-app/Phonesky.apk': Read-only file system (or whatever the .apk is).

I can't remount /system with rw either: When I make the following:

$ adb shell
> *some remount command*

Following shows up: mount: Read-only file system. I tried it with various commands (substitute one of them with *some remount command*, the output is always the same):

• mount -o rw,remount /system
• mount -o rw,remount /system /system
• mount -o rw,remount /dev/block/vba /system
• mount -o rw,remount /dev/block/mtdblock0 /system
• mount -o rw,remount -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock0 /system

I also tried to run su after adb shell, but it had no effect either. I also tried to remount rootfs to / first with rw. This worked without an issue, but the remount for /system gave the same error as without remounting rootfs.

Could anyone help me with this struggle?

Edit 1: I also tried it with various different emulator settings, it didn't change a thing either. So I guess this problem is not depending on the emulator itself...

Please note: A bounty was offered to resolve this question, but I don't have much time for this at the moment. I would be grateful if you would ping me on twitter if an answer worked for you, so I can eventually accept it after I have tried it by myself. But this would save me a lot of time. Thanks

Answer 1

I had the exact same problem before. I solved it by adding this simple option and running the emulator through the command line:

Note: you may need to adjust the slashes and .exe part if you use Linux, but the command args are the same.

<PATH_TO_EMULATOR>\emulator.exe -avd <YOUR_AVD> -partition-size 512

That should fix the problem.

Answer 2

I suggest using Genymotion for all your emulator needs. After getting Genymotion set up with emulated device of choice, download ARM translation and GAPPS. Those files come in a .zip format, do not unpack them!

I would have normally installed ARM Translation which will let those ARM apps be able to run on this x86 virtual device. Afterwards Install GAPPS (make sure to use appropriate version for the system you are building). To install the above mentioned files I have used the drag and drop technique. Restart the device when done. Hope this helps