Can I run Android Studio (Android SDK emulator) in a Microsoft hyper-v virtual machine?

Can I run Android Studio and Android SDK emulator in a Microsoft hyper-v virtual machine? Please read carefully.

I already use Hyper-V a lot for other purposes. Now I need to develop a app for Android.

I've installed a new virtual machine (windows 10) and installed Android Studio. I cannot run the android emulator because it's lacking the 'intel HAXM software'.

I read a lot about that it's not possible to install Hyper-V NEXT to Android Studio, but non of the post actually say anything about installing in a Hyper-V machine.

Refer to this link: How to run Android Studio on Windows without disabling Hyper-V

The solution (if you do not want to disable Hyper-V) is to use Microsoft’s Android emulator, which is a free download here.

In order to use this with Android Studio, you need to run the emulator first. Then, in Android Studio, go to Run > Edit Configurations... and select Show Device Chooser Dialog under Deployment Target Options.

Run your project, and select the VS Emulator, ignoring the invitation to “Turn off Hyper-V”.

Hyper-V added support for nested virtualization in the Windows 10 Anniversary Update (released August 2016) and Windows Server 2016. However, the only Microsoft-supported usage of nested virtualization is running Hyper-V within the VM, not HAXM. From the official documentation, "Virtualization applications other than Hyper-V are not supported in Hyper-V virtual machines, and are likely to fail."

That said, the change log for the latest release of HAXM reports that Intel "Fixed an issue with Hyper-V nested virtualization support, which had prevented Android Emulator from booting." So while it isn't supported by Microsoft, it seems running HAXM nested in a Hyper-V VM may be possible.

If that's the case, to get HAXM working in a Hyper-V VM, you will need to enable nesting for that VM. Run this command on the VM while it is in the OFF state:

Set-VMProcessor -VMName <VMName> -ExposeVirtualizationExtensions $true

After that, you should be able to install the latest version of HAXM within the VM, allowing use of the Android Emulator. Again, I haven't personally verified this, and it isn't supported by Microsoft, so your mileage may vary.

Full disclosure: I work at Microsoft on the Hyper-V team.

[Edit 7/2/2018]: Android Emulator support for Hyper-V acceleration was announced earlier this year, and is currently in preview. See the announcement post for details.