"Starting emulator for AVD" then Panic: could not open..."

Question

I'm new to android app dev. When I created a new AVD, when I click start on this AVD: I get the following:

Starting emulator for AVD 'Nexus_4_16_AVD'
PANIC: Could not open: Nexus_4_16_AVD

Answer 1

This is a bug in the ADT Plugin. For a workaround until it is fixed use a NTFS symbolic link.

I have a C: drive for windows 7 and a D: drive for all my work and data. After installing windows 7 I relocate all my special folders from C:\Users\John Doe to D:\John Doe. The ADT Plugin is trying to load the emulator from C: when it and the configure files are on D: (PANIC: Could not open etc.). NTFS can get the ADT Plugin to read from D: using a NTFS symbolic link. Open a command prompt in C:\Users\John Doe (obviously use your user name), use the mklink command.

 mklink /J "C:\Users\John Doe\\.android" "D:\John Doe\\.android"

Now when the ADT plugin is trying to reference .android on C:, NTFS sends the request to D: and the emulator starts correctly.

Original Source

OR

If it is not a path issue, then:

Create a environment variable called: ANDROID_SDK_HOME and set it to C:\Users\Administrator Open Eclipse > Window > Preferences and click in Run/Debug and String Substitution Add a new variable called: user.home and set it to C:\Users\Administrator Create an AVD and run it.

Original Source