Launching windows games on android. How to open an exe file on Android - we erase the boundaries between operating systems

Greetings, dear reader. In today's article, I will tell you how you can run the Windows operating system on your gadget, based on a mobile operating system. Android systems... This can be done using a special software Such tools are called emulators. With the help of these programs, we will run Windows on your gadget (phone or tablet with Android OS).

The practical benefits of this operation can be quite substantial.... Besides the surprise of friends that you can cause running Windows on your device, quite specific tasks can be solved. For example, you need to run on your Android gadget e a program that only works under Windows. Also you will be able to run some simple windows games.

So, below you can find a list of emulator programs, as well as small descriptions and instructions for them. I would like to warn you right away, because Windows is a rather resource-intensive system, then your Android gadget should be relatively powerful.

QEMU

A good emulator that will allow you to run Windows 98 (95) on your device. Below you can see a little instruction for working with this software:

• Download the QEMU emulator (sdlapp.apk) from our website and install it on your Android device;
• Download the file from BIOS firmware, drivers, etc. Download this file you can also use a direct link from our website (sdl.zip). Unpack the archive to the root of the SDCard;
• Next, you need to download the operating system image Windows systems, this emulator only supports Windows 95 and Windows 98. Links - -;
• Next, from the downloaded archive, at the previous step, we get the C.img file and "throw" it into the "SDL" folder in the root of your SDCard;
• We launch the program installed at the first stage. If everything is done correctly, then Windows will start.

Running programs in the emulator

A small instruction on how to run programs in QEMU. So, let's begin:

• Downloading the archive with images (empty). Link from our site - qemu_hdd.rar;
• Load the WinImage program (winimage_8.10.8100.rar). Via this instrument you need to upload your files to a suitable size image;
• Next, you need to rename the image with your program files to “D.img” and transfer to SDL (folder) on your SDCard;
• In the sdl.conf file you need to add the line: “/ sdl -L. -m 128 -boot c -hda C.img -hdb D.img -usb -usbdevice tablet ";
• Start Windows, install required programs from disc “D”.

BOCHS

Another one for devices based on the Android operating system. Theoretically, this emulator will allow you to run any version of Windows, but, relatively, only two - 98 and 95 will work stably. If you want to install XP or 7, then get ready for the fact that they (XP, 7) will not work as you would like. So, let's get started setting up.

Developers from the studio CodeWeavers have released, which brings together operating Chrome systems OS / Android and Windows. Now on computers, tablets and even smartphones with x86 processors running Google's OS, you can run classic Windows applications... We tested this utility and made our own small opinion about it in this article.

Note: CrossOver utility works on devices under Android and Chrome OS, which have x86 processors, are Intel or AMD chips. Therefore, on most devices with ARM chipsets, it will not work to run Windows applications. The author of the article has tested CrossOver on ASUS laptop With AMD processor and the latest version of the Remix OS operating system.

What is CrossOver for Android

The developers at CodeWeavers are known for releasing CrossOver utilities for Linux and macOS to run Windows applications on these OSes. CrossOver utility is based on open source software source code called Wine. At their core, CrossOver and Wine is a virtualization tool that creates an emulated Windows environment for running related applications.

Emulation is only possible on x86 processors. Chipsets with ARM architecture not supported since the code Windows programs cannot be performed on them, but simple converter still no. Roughly speaking, CrossOver only works on computers with Chrome OS, as well as on Android tablets, where the processor is Intel Atom, for example - ASUS ZenFone.

How to install CrossOver for Android

On the this moment CrossOver utility is in beta testing on Google Play. There you can sign up for a program test, or you can download installation APK file utilities directly from Treshbox and install on your gadget (threats defined by antiviruses are just a feature of the application associated with emulation).

On chromebooks, the installation is more complicated. You must first send Chrome OS to recovery mode, activate developer mode there, go to the Developer - Unstable channel in the browser itself, and then enable support for Android applications in the settings and download the corresponding program from Play Store.

Installing and working with applications

By running installed application CrossOver, something like a virtual worker appears before us windows desktop with its own Start menu. All the icons of the Windows applications you installed will appear on this desktop. The program works better in full screen mode, but this only applies to Chrome OS. The easiest way to install any program on Windows is to use the internal installer. The developers decided to simplify this process by adding their own installer. Click on the "Install Application" inscription in the upper right corner. A window will open with text box, a drop-down list and the “Install” button.

Immediately CrossOver offers to install Steam - a catalog of games. You can just click the “Install” button and the installation will begin. The drop-down list suggests other Windows apps or games that definitely work on Android. If you uncheck the box "Only good-known applications", then in the drop-down list there will be a huge number of games and applications from Windows, which are installed with one click. But whether they will work is not guaranteed.

In the text box, you can search for applications or games by name. This is how Steam looks after installation on Android:

Most of the games from Steam will not work due to the fact that CrossOver only supports DirectX 9, but the developers of the utility promise to add support for versions 10 and 11. Some people, for example, were able to run Half-Life and classic Team Fortress, but for this they had to disable fullscreen and enable software rendering instead of OpenGL:

Screenshot: AndroidPolice.com

Of course, playing in such an emulator is almost impossible due to the low FPS and incorrect work mice. The controller is unlikely to function normally. But the fact that games are being launched already speaks volumes.

You can also install a Windows browser for surfing the Internet in such an emulator. For example Firefox 45 installs and runs without problems. Even the extensions are functional.

It is possible to install a full office suite... For example - OpenOffice, LibreOffice or Microsoft Office 2007 / 2010.

Moreover, those who wish can install Adobe photoshop... Unfortunately, on my device, many applications and games were giving errors, but the author of a similar article with Android Police managed to run a "heavy" graphics package from Adobe.

Outcomes

At the current stage of development, CrossOver for Android and Chrome OS is a very unstable and largely inconvenient utility that, although it can run many Windows applications, still does it badly. It is almost impossible to work with such emulation on tablets and smartphones, but for laptops based on Chrome OS or Remix OS, this is an excellent opportunity to use applications from Windows.

In the future, CrossOver may improve in terms of features and compatibility. Since Google itself is going to adapt Android for hybrid tablets and computers (), then we can say that CrossOver has a great future. The main thing is implementation. Let's hope that the developers at CodeWeavers will finish their utility up to a good state.

One way or another, if you have a desire to download Android emulator and try launching applications and games in Windows 10, 8.1 or Windows 7, here you will find several ways to do this. New way 2015: How to run Android APK in Google Chrome (so far works for very limited number applications).

Nox App Player

Studying the materials and reviews on this topic, we can conclude that Nox App Player - best emulator Android for Windows. After my acquaintance with him, I decided to bring this product to the first place in the review, because it is really good. The developers declare compatibility with Windows 10 (How to check your computer for compatibility with Windows 10), Windows 8.1 and 7.

Install the emulator and run it - we see the usual android screen(version 4.4.2, Cyanogen Mod, 30 GB internal memory) with shell Nova Launcher, with already installed file manager and browser. Despite the fact that the emulator itself does not have a Russian interface, “inside” Android you can enable the Russian language in the settings.

By default, the emulator opens in a tablet resolution of 1280 × 720 (if necessary, it changes on the settings tab (called by the gear icon in the upper right) Advanced). Also set by default poor performance(Performance Setting), but even on a weak PC (How to speed up computer startup and shutdown) works fine.

The controls inside the emulator are very similar to any Android device. There is Play Market(How to download apk from Google Play Store), from where you can download applications and games and run them in Windows. The sound, as well as the camera (if there is one on your PC or laptop) work in the emulator, the computer keyboard also works inside the emulator, as well as its on-screen version.

Additionally, on the right side of the emulator window (which, by the way, can be opened in full screen without a noticeable loss in performance), action icons are provided, among which are:

• Installing applications from APK files from a computer.
• Location spoofing (you can manually set a location that will be perceived by the emulator as received from a GPS receiver).
• Loading and exporting files (you can just drag and drop files onto the emulator window). This function did not work as expected in my testing (the files seemed to be imported, but after that I could not find them in the Android file system).
• Taking screenshots.
• For some purpose Nox App Player also creates a Multi-Drive icon for launching several emulator windows at once. However, I have not figured out how it is and what it can be used for.

To summarize this brief description, if you need to run Android games and applications on Windows, use Instagram from a computer and do similar things, while you want the emulator to work without brakes - Nox App Player will ideal option for these purposes, better optimization I haven't seen it yet (but I can't promise heavy 3D games will work, not personally verified).

Download emulator Android Nox You can free App Player from the official site http://en.bignox.com

BlueStacks - for those who don't need a full-fledged emulator

BlueStacks -One of the most popular programs for android launcher games in Windows. It is designed specifically for games and does not offer the user a full-fledged Android emulation, nevertheless, many will be enough and this, moreover, in BlueStacks games shows several better performance than most other emulators.

You can download BlueStacks from the official website http://www.bluestacks.com/home.html, it supports not only Windows (XP, 7 and 8), but also Mac OS X.

After installing the program, it will open in full screen mode, but you can enable windowed mode as well. In the main window, you will see a list of games available for download (you can also use the search). To install applications you will need google account(you can create a new one).

BlueStacks main window

In addition, if you have an Android smartphone or tablet, you can install BlueStacks app Cloud Connect to sync apps between it and Windows.

Genymotion is a quality Android emulator with rich features

The Genymotion emulator is quite easy to install, it allows you to emulate a wide range of real devices with different versions Android OS and best of all, it runs fast and supports hardware acceleration graphics.

You can download Genymotion for Windows or Mac OS from the official site http://www.genymotion.com/. This emulator is available for download both free of charge and in paid versions... For personal use quite enough and free option, there are no restrictions.

To download the Genymotion Android emulator you need to register on the site, then use one of the download links. I recommend using the first one, which includes VirtualBox and automatically generates required settings... When installing, do not launch VirtualBox, you will not need to launch it separately.

And after Genymotion was installed and launched, in response to a message stating that it was not found virtual devices, select the creation of a new one, then at the bottom right click the Connect button and enter the data that you provided during registration to access the list of devices. Choosing a new virtual android device, wait until the required components are loaded, after which it will appear in the list and you can start it double click or by using the Play button. In general, nothing complicated.

When you graduate, you get a full Android system with wide additional features emulator, which can be found in more detail in the help for the program (in English).

Android game running on Windows using Genymotion

Note: when creating the first device, after downloading the files, the program reported a mount error virtual disk... Restarting Genymotion as administrator helped.

Windows Android or Windroy

This program with an uncomplicated name from Chinese programmers, as far as I could understand and see, is fundamentally different from other Android emulators for Windows. Judging by the information on the site, this is not emulation, but porting Android and Dalvik on Windows, using all the real hardware resources of the computer and Windows kernel... I advise you to read the resource Tips for tuning and optimizing Windows.

Download Windows Android you can from the official website http://www.socketeq.com/, no problems were noticed during installation and launch (however, they say that not everyone starts), except that I could not switch the program to windowed mode (runs in full screen).

Note: install to the root of the disk, on thematic Russian-language forums there is a lot of information about Windroy.

Building emulators in Android Virtual Device Manager

On the Android developer site - http://developer.android.com, you can download everything you need for Android programming ( Android SDK). It goes without saying that this kit also includes tools for testing and debugging applications on virtual devices.

So it is official way but it is not too easy for regular user... If desired, you can find all instructions for installing the Android SDK and creating virtual devices on the specified site.

YouWave for Android

Youwave for Android is another simple program that allows you to run Android applications on Windows. You can download the emulator from http://youwave.com/. The developers promise high compatibility and performance. I myself have not launched this product, but judging by the reviews on the network, many users are satisfied with this option, while some YouWave have the only thing that started from Android emulators.

That's it, hopefully one of the above methods will allow you to experience Android on your Windows computer.

Hello everyone! Wandering through the pages of various sites in search of something interesting for the phone, I came across interesting article, which explained how to run Windows OS on Android. Those. you do not change the OS, but only run Windows emulator... There are three ways to start it, but I’m only too surprised by two ...

1 way - QEMU

So let's get started .. What are we going to do:

1. Download and install sdlapp.apk on your phone
2. Download sdl.zip and unpack the SDL folder to the root of the memory card
3. Download the OS image (Operating System):

And copy the C.img file to the SDL folder on the memory card

4. Restart the phone

5. Run the program from point 1. and see that we start to start OS Windows)))

Installing your applications:

1. Download qemu_hdd.rar (empty disk images)
2. Download Winimage_8.10.8100.zip and use it to copy your files into an image of the desired size
3. Next, we rename the image with your programs to "D.img" and drop it into the SDL folder on the memory card.
4. We register the following in sdl.conf - "/ sdl -L. -M 96 -boot c -hda C.img -hdb D.img -usb -usbdevice tablet"
5. We start Windows and try to run your applications ...

I would advise you to start with Windows 95. As for Windows XP - I don't know if it will work or not ??
This method is pretty simple, and there is nothing complicated about it ..

Method 2 - BOCHS

This method is very similar to the first one. And he is considered the most the best way... You can run both Windows 95 and Windows xp on it ... Less glitches, it works more stable and there are no problems with the mouse. But the emulator works as slow as QEMU. And many people write that it can run Windows XP too.

So, let's begin:

1. Download and install Bochs2_5_1.apk
2. Download SDL_for_BOCHS.zip and unpack all files from the archive into the SDL folder that you previously created in the SDcard root.
3. Download *. img image OS - Windows 98 ( OS IMAGE FROM QEMU(FIRST METHOD) SORRY WILL NOT FIT)
4. Rename the file from the archive to "c.img" and drop it into the SDL folder on the sdcard.
5. We launch the program installed at the first stage and wait ...

Here you can make mouse clicks using the volume buttons, the menu button - ENTER, and back - ESC!

If you want to run your programs or games, then you will need to create a disk image and connect it as drive D. Use the method described above for QEMU. To make your image act as drive D, open the file "bochsrc.txt" in the SDL folder and remove the # in front of the # ata0-slave line: type = disk, path = "d.img". Rename your image to "d.img" and drop it into the "SDL" folder

There is also a simpler option, without creating an image.

This version of BOCHS supports direct access to the phone's storage, and to activate it you need to add the following line:

ata0-slave: type = disk, mode = vvfat, path = / sdcard / HDD, journal = vvfat.redolo

You need to write it to a file "bochsrc.txt" ... Where "HDD" is the folder created at the root of the sdcard.

Experiment, try and write comments ...

Reviews

associate professor ashot | 08/15/2012 02:28 AM

So, then. I started Khryushu on my optimus one, everything is fine, the windows xp log and the download bar, and then .... Herak. BSOD got out, on my phone. Well, you must ...

vladik dubrovin | 22.06.2012 13:05

sanchez, I ran second now windows way 95, does not crash, but the mouse slows down and the graphics are bad. But it works, albeit slowly)))

Wine, which allows you to run Windows applications on Linux and UNIX systems, has been around for over twenty years. Recent versions of Wine do this job so well that it can work with most popular applications and play almost all games that support DirectX 9. Recently there was Wine for Android - commercial version CrossOver. And we, of course, could not pass by this event.

Wine is a recursive acronym for Wine Is Not an Emulator. And it really is true: Wine is an alternative implementation of the Win32 API written from scratch. CrossOver is a commercial version of Wine designed to run primarily Microsoft Office and Windows games on UNIX-compatible systems and provides all the necessary optimizations and compatibility settings for this. V CrossOver applications often work more stable and require less hassle with settings. In other words, CrossOver is an improved Wine. And dear: the developers are asking $ 50 for it.

In 2013, one of the Wine developers Alexandre Julliard at the summit Free and Open source Software Developers' European Meeting demonstrated preliminary version software for the Android mobile operating system, which makes it possible to run a variety of Windows applications. Portable devices With Intel processor x86 and Android were practically not on board at that time, so the project was interesting only as a proof of concept.

However, the story did not end there. In October 2015, CodeWaves opened registration for testing CrossOver for Android, where I happily signed up. The release was planned for the end of 2015. But neither at the end of 2015 nor at the beginning of 2016 there was any news. The beta version appeared only on August 25, 2016 and is currently available only to testers. And right away in the version for Android and for devices with Chrome OS (which have a Play Market).

So, in this article we will take a look at what CrossOver for Android is.

Test computer specifications:

• CPU: Intel Core i5 4200H
• Video processor: Intel HD Graphic 4600
• RAM: 8 GB (1600 MHz)
• Disk: SSD ADATA Premier Pro SP920 256 GB (22 GB allocated for Android)
• CrossOver: 15.5.0 alpha4

1 Desktop

Desktop

Immediately after launch, we are presented with a desktop with a blue background. At the bottom is the "Start" button, in the left upper corner the inscription CrossOver flaunts, and in the upper right - the main button Install Application. After clicking on it, a window with an application selection will open. And in the list itself there are only four programs: Steam, MS Office 2007 and 2010, WinZip 14.0, which plunges into despondency. But it is enough to uncheck Only know-good applications, and we will be presented with a list of more than a hundred programs and games.

Many of them can be installed via the Install button, but some still have to be downloaded separately. The list contains quite Interesting games: Bioshock Infinite, Tomb Raider 2013, Star Wars: Battlefront, World of Tanks, Dota 2, Batman Arckham City ... From the programs there is Adobe Photoshop CS3, Adobe acrobat Reader XI, Autocad 2013, Total commander... The links are those versions that must be earned.

All programs run in windows. But if you want, you can collapse them into the task bar, just like in Windows. There is also a tray, some programs can be minimized there and work in the background. Quantity at the same time running applications appears to be limited by volume random access memory devices.

The Android OS integration is amazing. For example, you can open a browser, run in it YouTube video, press the Home button and playback continues in the background. The clipboard is shared. You can copy text to Android application and insert into text editor launched in CrossOver.

If you go to "Start → Control Panel", then there we will find interesting items:

• Game controllers. Configuring joysticks and switching between them.
• Internet parameters. Setting up a home page for the browser (there is no browser itself in CrossOver, but there is an HTML engine that applications can use to display web pages), managing history, cache, cookies... There is also certificate management and security settings for different types internet connections.
• Add / remove programs. The name speaks for itself.

The "Start → Run ..." command does the same thing as pressing Win + R in Windows itself, that is, it opens the launch line. The regedit command will open the registry editor (yes, there is a full-fledged registry), cmd will open the command line (bat files work), explorer - primitive file manager.

2 Application tests

• Steam. CrossOver offers to install it immediately after launch. Works great, no freezes or lags. You can watch, download, buy any game. Which ones will work is a big question. So you have to try.
• Notepad ++. The x64 version could not be installed. There is no support for x64 programs. But the version for Windows x32 got up like on Windows ... No problems with plugins or settings. Only on devices with very small touch screen there will be serious management difficulties.
• SMath Studio. Requires NET Framework 2.0, after the installation of which it starts successfully, although it has problems with graphics: they are not displayed mathematical signs and mesh. But all calculations can be done.
• Total Commander. The version from the official site could not be launched. But the version from the CrossOver repository (unfortunately, this is not the latest 8.52a) worked fine.
• GPU-Z and CPU-Z did not work.
• AIDA64 gave an error during installation.
• The version from the site (5.36) could not be installed, but version 3.16.166 got up from the repository perfectly (it is the only one there) and even found some garbage.
• Firefox version 47.02 worked fine, but after updating to version 49 it stopped starting.
• LibreOffice. Latest version from the official site was installed and worked without any problems.

Support for MS Office 2010 is officially announced. And in the repository you can even find the 2013 version (based on experience, I will say that the 2016 office is unlikely to work). Also, Mathcad, Wolfram Mathematica and other complex and highly integrated applications will not work yet.

WOT Blitz from Steam failed to launch, although the native version of the game for Android worked fine. The installer for the desktop version of World Of Tanks also failed to start. And the version offered for installation by CrossOver itself is intended for a European server. By the way, even in it I could not find the "Install" button in the installer.

3 Settings

Graphics settings

You can open the settings by clicking on “Start → Builtin Tools → Wine Configuration”. Everything is exactly the same as in standard Wine for Linux:

• Applications. Here you can select the version of Windows that CrossOver will transfer to the application for its identification. The choice is available both for each application separately, and for all at once. You can install all versions from Windows 2.0 to Windows 10! Windows XP is installed by default. Steam stopped working after switching to Windows 10. No other changes were noticed. Settings Windows versions can be applied separately for each application.
• Libraries. Settings standard DLLs Windows. There are two versions available for each library, "Built-in (Wine)" and "Third-Party (Windows)". The point is that built-in Wine libraries are often not fully implemented and may be incompatible with some applications. In this case, you can download the native Wine library, put it in the virtual folder C: \ windows and select this library as a third-party one. You can find out which libraries certain applications and games may require in the Wine Compatible Application Database.
• Graphics. There are settings for the font, mouse interception by windows, as well as some other graphics parameters.
• Appearance and integration. There are theme settings (although there are no themes in the built-in catalog at all). And here you can independently configure many parameters, for example, the color of the desktop, window frames, font. In fact, it is a tool for creating your own themes. Also here you can mark folders used for documents, music, pictures, videos. By default, they are very interestingly integrated with the Android environment. I don't even want to change.
• Disks. Creation and editing virtual disks... By default, there is a C drive (system drive, located somewhere inside the application itself) and a Z drive, which refers to the root directory (/). So, if you need to install an application from a memory card, you need to open the Z: \ sdcard folder.
• Audio. Configuring audio input and output devices and checking their operation.

Also in the Builtin Tools menu you can find:

• Command Shell- command line. True, it has almost no functions;
• Notepad- notepad from Windows;
• File explorer- a primitive file manager.

4 Problems

• CrossOver can only be run on x86 processors. So even the most powerful ARM devices are in flight.
• There is no support for x64 programs, even though there is an Android version for x64 processors.
• There is no support for full-screen mode for all applications (it is not known how to remove the line with the name CrossOver and the point to go to the application repository).
• Support for DirectX 9 only. In the near future, the developers promise to add support for DirectX 10 and 11. But DirectX 12 is unlikely to be available at all in the coming years.
• Memory size - the same MS Office takes about 3 GB of disk space. And if you put Adobe Photoshop, Audition, Mathcad, then there will be too little space. Even in a device with 32 GB of memory.
• Most of the programs available through the CrossOver catalog are on English language and / or are European versions without Russian localization, tied to Euroservers.
• No task manager. This makes it somewhat difficult to manage processes.
• Joystick emulation, as, for example, on emulators game consoles, No. So on devices with a touch screen without a joystick, it is unlikely that you will be able to play something.
• Multi-window mode works only within CrossOver. So there is no optimization for Remix OS and Chrome OS yet.

5 Conclusion

The Wine project for Android now, unfortunately, is unlikely to be able to replace devices based on desktop Windows. But some are useful and interesting applications run it will work. The project is still in the closed beta stage, so by the time of release, I think, many bugs will be eliminated, and the list of working programs will expand several times. You can also hope that the release support will enter DirectX 10/11 and Vulkan API.

The only thing that darkens the picture is what is on mobile device desktop apps aren't that much use. And you can play games only if you have a joystick or a mouse with a keyboard. Added more fuel to the fire Intel when she left the smartphone market.