Visual Studio 2015 Android Emulator issue

Question

I downloaded "Visual Studio 2015 Preview" with "Visual Studio Emulator for Android".

Emulator is working good with Apache Cordova App (that can be created from File -> New -> Project -> "Apache Cordova Blank App").

But when I try to debug simple x86 android c++ app (that can be created File -> New -> Project -> "Native Activity Application Android"), Visual Studio Android Emulator is launched successfully, and after that Visual Studio give an error:

1>------ Deploy started: Project: Android.Packaging, Configuration: Debug x86 ------
1>Starting emulator...
1>Error installing the package. The device '169.254.191.177:5555' is invalid or not running.  Please switch to another device, or use the Android Virtual Device (AVD) Manager to start a compatible emulator, or connect a compatible Android device.
1>The device is invalid or is not running.
========== Deploy: 0 succeeded, 1 failed, 0 skipped ==========

I've checked:

• Android Emulator has ip address 169.254.191.177 - I can see it in emulator settings.
• "ping 169.254.191.177" - is working;
• "telnet 169.254.191.177 5555" - is working too.

Some details:

• In VS2015 in upper combobox I select "VS Emulator Android Phone (x86 - offline)"
• I compiled c++ app in x86 architecture
• I have Windows 8.1
• Official AndroidSDK emulators works correctly with Visual Studio 2015 c++ debugging

Update1: adb.exe doesn't see VS Android emulator. Why - that's the question.

Update2: "adb devices" began to see VS emulator only after command "adb connect 169.254.191.177:5555". Why by default adb don't see VS emulator - that's the question.

Answer 1

make sure HKLM\Software\Wow6432Node\Android SDK Tools\Path is correct

Answer 2

Do you see any error message in the beginning regarding ADB? Considering that it is working on cordova, try rebooting once to make sure there is no one-off problems. If that doesn't work, you can manually connect adb using

adb connect <ip>:5555

And then try the project again.

Also, make sure you have all the pre-requisite installed in your machine. When you create a new project, it will open a web page listing the pre-requisites.

Answer 3

You can update the registry manually:

1. In regedit, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node.
2. Create a new key named Android SDK Tools.
3. Navigate to that key.
4. Create a new string value named Path. Set its value to the location of your Android SDK, which will be like C:\Users\YourName\AppData\Local\Android\sdk.
5. then restart the emulator.

Now, You will see VS emulator by using "adb devices".