Android Emulator Error Message: "PANIC: Missing emulator engine program for 'x86' CPUS."

I am trying to run a Android Emulator by using AVD Manager. this is my avd: http://image-upload.de/image/fnx79V/52b0d050ee.png

and this is what happens by starting:

http://image-upload.de/image/vGpQfa/e912d83939.png

I have a Macbook Pro Retina. Installed the Haxm driver direct from intel page.

No emulator is working. All get the same "error" message.

Running Command (This error was when i used Homebrew for installing Android-sdk and Android-platform-tools | anyone who get the same problem should remove this or look where the conflict is)

export ANDROID_EMULATOR_DEBUG=1 test20

emulator:Found AVD name 'test20'
emulator:Found AVD target architecture: x86
emulator:Looking for emulator-x86 to emulate 'x86' CPU
emulator:Probing program: ./emulator-x86
emulator:Probing path for: emulator-x86
emulator:Found target-specific emulator binary: /usr/local/bin/emulator-x86
emulator:Probing for: /usr/local/bin/libOpenglRender.dylib
emulator:Probing for: /usr/local/bin/lib/libOpenglRender.dylib
emulator:Probing for: /usr/local/lib/libOpenglRender.dylib
emulator:Probing for: /usr/local/bin/lib64OpenglRender.dylib
emulator:Probing for: /usr/local/bin/lib/lib64OpenglRender.dylib
emulator:Probing for: /usr/local/lib/lib64OpenglRender.dylib
emulator:Could not find OpenGLES emulation host libraries!
emulator: ERROR: This AVD's configuration is missing a kernel file!!

emulator -avd test21
emulator:Found AVD name 'test21'
emulator:Found AVD target architecture: x86_64
emulator:Looking for emulator backend for x86_64 CPU
emulator:Probing program: ./emulator-x86_64
emulator:Probing path for: emulator-x86_64
emulator:Looking for emulator-x86 to emulate 'x86_64' CPU
emulator:Probing program: ./emulator-x86
emulator:Probing path for: emulator-x86
PANIC: Missing emulator engine program for 'x86_64' CPUS.

After I fixed the problem with Homebrew:

I tried a bit around and found this:

emulator64-x86 -avd test20
Creating filesystem with parameters:
    Size: 69206016
    Block size: 4096
    Blocks per group: 32768
    Inodes per group: 4224
    Inode size: 256
    Journal blocks: 1024
    Label: 
    Blocks: 16896
    Block groups: 1
    Reserved block group size: 7
Created filesystem with 11/4224 inodes and 1302/16896 blocks
emulator: ERROR: Could not load OpenGLES emulation library: dlopen(lib64OpenglRender.dylib, 1): image not found
emulator: WARNING: Could not initialize OpenglES emulation, using software renderer.
HAX is working and emulator runs in fast virt mode
qemu: could not load PC BIOS 'bios.bin'

For all who has the same problem, maybe these steps help:

Run your Emulator in Debug mode:

export ANDROID_EMULATOR_DEBUG=1 emulatorName

If there is a path that look strange check for other installations like Homebrew and remove the conflict (uninstall one)

When the library is missing you need to export the variable:

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:$ANDROID_HOME/tools/lib

And when error "qemu: could not load PC BIOS 'bios.bin'" appears, one fix is to run the emulator with the full path:

/Applications/Android\ Studio.app/sdk/tools/emulator64-x86 -avd test20
In your case it is maybe a other path.

If you are using macOS, add both Android SDK emulator and tools directories to the path:

Step 1: In my case the order was important, first emulator and then tools.

export ANDROID_SDK=$HOME/Library/Android/sdk
export PATH=$ANDROID_SDK/emulator:$ANDROID_SDK/tools:$PATH

Step 2: Reload you .bash_profile Or .bashrc depending on OS

Step 3: Get list of emulators available: $emulator -list-avds

Step 4: Launch emulator from the command line and Replace avd with the name of your emulator $emulator @avd

Don't forget to add the @ symbol.

This was tested with macOS High Sierra 10.13.4 and Android Studio 3.1.2.


I had this issue after upgrading Android Studio to 3.2 and even upgrade some SDK-Packages.

The cause was that the path to emulator had changed, so don't use ...../Android/Sdk/tools/emulator but instead ....../Android/Sdk/emulator/emulator.


The following work-around to start emulator-x86 worked for me:

cd $SDK/tools; 
ln -s emulator64-x86 emulator-x86

Or on Windows open Command Prompt (Admin)

cd %ANDROID_SDK_ROOT%\tools
mklink emulator64-x86.exe emulator-x86.exe

And now the emulator will start from the SDK manager.

Note: Emulators islocated in emulators folder in more recent versions.