[android] In AVD emulator how to see sdcard folder? and Install apk to AVD?

I have created an Android emulator (Android Virtual Device), but I am unable to find out the SD card I have built during creation of this.

How can I find the SD card and its content and also how to install APK files to the AVD?

This question is related to android android-emulator avd

The answer is


//in linux

// in your home folder .android hidden folder is there go to that there you can find the avd folder open that and check your avd name that you created open that and you can see the sdcard.img that is your sdcard file.

//To install apk in linux

$adb install ./yourfolder/myapkfile.apk

These days the location of the emulated SD card is at /storage/emulated/0


I have used the following procedure.

Procedure to install the apk files in Android Emulator(AVD):

Check your installed directory(ex: C:\Program Files (x86)\Android\android-sdk\platform-tools), whether it has the adb.exe or not). If not present in this folder, then download the attachment here, extract the zip files. You will get adb files, copy and paste those three files inside tools folder

Run AVD manager from C:\Program Files (x86)\Android\android-sdk and start the Android Emulator.

Copy and paste the apk file inside the C:\Program Files (x86)\Android\android-sdk\platform-tools

  • Go to Start -> Run -> cmd

  • Type cd “C:\Program Files (x86)\Android\android-sdk\platform-tools”

  • Type adb install example.apk

  • After getting success command

  • Go to Application icon in Android emulator, we can see the your application


Adding to the usefile DDMS/File Explorer solution, for those that don't know, if you want to read a file you need to select the "Pull File from Device" button on the file viewer toolbar. Unfortunately you can't just drag out, or double click to read.


DDMS is deprecated in android 3.0. "Device file explorer"can be used to browse files.


if you are using Eclipse. You should switch to DDMS perspective from top-right corner there after selecting your device you can see folder tree. to install apk manually you can use adb command

adb install apklocation.apk

On linux sdcard image is located in:

~/.android/avd/<avd name>.avd/sdcard.img

You can mount it for example with (assuming /mnt/sdcard is existing directory):

sudo mount sdcard.img -o loop /mnt/sdcard

To install apk file use adb:

adb install your_app.apk

I have used the following procedure.

Android Studio 3.4.1

View>Tool Windows>Device File Explorer

enter image description here


Drag & Drop

To install apk in avd, just manually drag and drop the apk file in the opened emulated device

The same if you want to copy a file to the sd card


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