Get Started with Genymotion Desktop

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Keywords: Genymotion, Genymotion Desktop, Windows, macOS, Linux, Installations Guide, Quickstart, Create a new device, Launch a device, Hypervisor options, QEMU, VirtualBox

Document ID: https://docs.genymotion.com/quickstart/desktop_install#split1

Get Started with Genymotion Desktop

Genymotion Desktop is a local Android emulator for PC and Mac.

Requirements

Hardware

| Component | Requirement |

| --- | --- |

| CPU | PC: 64-bit Intel 6th generation or AMD Ryzen; Mac: 64-bit Intel or Apple silicon SoC (Mac M) |

| BIOS/UEFI | PC: Intel VT-x or AMD-V/SMV capability must be enabled in the Bios/UEFI |

| Graphics | OpenGL 3.3 or higher capable video card* |

| RAM Memory | 16GB or more |

| Display resolution | 1920x1080 or higher |

| Free HD space | 300MB for Genymotion + 2GB minimum per virtual devices |

| Note on GPUs | There are compatibility issues with some Intel integrated GPUs on Windows. |

| Rosetta | Rosetta must be enabled on Mac M series. |

Operating Systems

Genymotion Desktop should work on most modern computers, provided they meet the following minimum requirements. Virtual environments such as Virtual Machines, VPS or Docker are not supported. Servers are not supported. The following OSes are supported:

Windows Installation Guide

Windows Servers, Virtual Machines, VPS (Virtual Private Servers) and Docker are NOT supported. There are compatibility issues with some Intel integrated GPUs (iGPU) on Windows systems. Windows Pro or Enterprise editions are highly recommended. Genymotion Desktop for Windows arm64 is not available at this time, but it will be in the future. Genymotion Desktop requires a hypervisor to run the Android system. You can choose between VirtualBox (recommended) and QEMU: VirtualBox (default) and QEMU.

VirtualBox needs to be installed alongside Genymotion Desktop, but to make things easier, it is included with the full installer for Windows from our website.

Hyper-V incompatibility: Genymotion does not work well with the VirtualBox hypervisor when Hyper-V is enabled. You may get DHCP/IP address errors, extremely long booting time and sluggish performance. To fix this, completely disable Hyper-V when using Genymotion. You can find detailed instructions in our FAQ: How to completely disable Hyper-V?

If you choose to only install Genymotion, but still wish to use VirtualBox hypervisor, you must install it separately before running Genymotion. QEMU hypervisor on Windows is still experimental and not recommended for the moment.

Windows Pro/Enterprise vs Windows Home: If using QEMU, Hyper-V options must be enabled in Windows features. If you use QEMU, verify that Hyper-V options Hyper-V Management Tools and Hyper-V Platform are enabled. If not, enable them and reboot.

To install Genymotion Desktop on Windows, follow these steps: 1) Run Genymotion installer for Windows: genymotion-X.Y.Z-vbox.exe (or genymotion-X.Y.Z.exe if you wish to upgrade or install Genymotion without VirtualBox). 2) Select the setup language and click OK. The Genymotion setup wizard opens. Click Next. 3) Select the destination folder by clicking Browse. The default destination folder is C:\Program Files\Genymobile\Genymotion. Then click Next. 4) Select the start menu folder by clicking Browse or check Don't create a Start menu folder and click Next. 5) Select whether or not to create a desktop icon and click Next. 6) Click Install. 7) Select Restart now and click Finish to reboot your PC.

macOS Installation Guide

Rosetta must be enabled on Mac M series. Genymotion Desktop requires a hypervisor to run the Android system. QEMU (default) and VirtualBox (legacy) are options. Genymotion Desktop works as-is with an embedded QEMU hypervisor which uses Hypervisor; there is no need to install any extra software. Using VirtualBox hypervisor on macOS is not recommended, and only available on old Macs with Intel x86_64 CPU. VirtualBox is not included in the DMG package and needs to be installed prior to Genymotion Desktop: Download VirtualBox DMG package for macOS (Intel only) and install VirtualBox. After launching Genymotion Desktop, you may need to Allow access in macOS Security & Privacy settings. If you get an error when launching Genymotion Desktop, reboot your Mac.

To install Genymotion Desktop on macOS, follow these steps: 1) Open the genymotion-X.Y.Z.dmg package. 2) Drag and drop Genymotion and Genymotion Shell to the Applications directory. 3) If you get an error when launching Genymotion Desktop, reboot your Mac. 4) After installation, allow Genymotion in macOS Security & Privacy if prompted.

Linux Installation Guide

Only Ubuntu LTS, Debian Stable and Fedora Workstation distributions are officially supported. Only GNOME, KDE and MATE desktop environments are fully supported. Genymotion Desktop may not work correctly, or at all, with other desktop environments. Genymotion Desktop is only available for x86_64/amd64 for the moment. Genymotion Desktop may crash on X11 session in Ubuntu; Wayland is recommended. Genymotion Desktop requires a hypervisor to run the Android system. QEMU (default) and VirtualBox (legacy). Genymotion Desktop works as-is with an embedded QEMU hypervisor which uses KVM installed by default on our supported distributions; there is no need to install any extra software. Using VirtualBox on Linux is not recommended and only maintained for retro compatibility. The Genymotion installer does not include VirtualBox, so VirtualBox must be installed separately.

To install Genymotion Desktop on Linux, follow these steps:

1) Open a terminal and move to your home Download folder: cd ~/Download

2) Give run permission to the Genymotion installer: chmod +x genymotion-X.Y.Z-linux_x64.run

3) Run the installer: ./genymotion-X.Y.Z-linux_x64.run -d PATH

4) Global installation (not recommended): sudo ./genymotion-X.Y.Z-linux_x64.run

5) If Secure Boot is enabled, sign kernel modules and reboot as prompted. Add your user to the vboxusers group:

6) Verify VirtualBox kernel modules if needed with lsmod | grep -i vbox

Secure Boot instructions appear frequently in the Linux guide and should be followed as shown in the page.

Next, you can navigate to the various tabs to configure your new device:

Quickstart Guide

To start using Genymotion Desktop and run your Android application in a virtual device, follow the steps below.

Launch Genymotion Desktop:

First start: Genymotion Desktop will require you to log in.

Next, you will be redirected to the Usage panel. There, you need to choose:

Read the Terms & Conditions carefully and check I understand and agree to the Terms & Conditions. Click NEXT.

Create a new device:

If the device deployment fails at this point, you may be running out of free space. For more details about Virtual Device settings, refer to this page.

Launch a device:

[End of Quickstart content excerpt, continuation omitted for brevity but content continues in the same pattern throughout the page.]

Launch a device

To launch a created virtual device, click the device or double-click it to start. Ensure the downloaded files are in your home Download folder, or adjust the path accordingly. The launch method is shown in the on-page visuals.

Create a new device

Click CREATE to open the device installation wizard. The wizard presents tabs to configure the new device, including Summary, Android image, Hardware profile, System, Display, Hypervisor options, and installation steps. The deployment process shows a progress indicator in the dashboard. If the deployment fails, verify free space and refer to device settings for more details.

Install virtual device and related steps

The device installation wizard includes:

If you upgraded from a previous version, you may need to refresh image or profile lists.

Windows, macOS and Linux usage visuals

The page includes visual guides and steps for Windows, macOS and Linux usage, including account creation, login, proxy configuration, and device deployment.

Additional notes

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