[android] PANIC: Cannot find AVD system path. Please define ANDROID_SDK_ROOT (in windows 10)

While running an app on the virtual device (AVD) created on Android studio (in Windows 10), I am getting an error and panic.

Emulator: PANIC: Cannot find AVD system path. Please define ANDROID_SDK_ROOT Emulator: Process finished with exit code 1

While I have already defined my ANDROID_SDK_ROOT in the environment variables.

Can anyone please tell me how to resolve this problem?

This question is related to android android-studio avd

The answer is


define ANDROID_SDK_ROOT as environment variable where your SDK is residing, default path would be "C:\Program Files (x86)\Android\android-sdk" and restart computer to take effect.


Go to Control Panel>>System and Security>>System>>Advance system settings>>Environment Variables then set variable value of ANDROID_HOME set it like this "C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Android\sdk" set username as your pc name, then restart your android studio. after that you can create your AVD again than the error will gone than it will start the virtual device.


Go to following path Control Panel>>System and Security>>System>>Advance system settings>>Environment Variables then set the variable value of ANDROID_HOME set it like following "C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Android\sdk" set the username as your pc name, then just restart your android studio. Then you can create your AVD again after that your error will be gone and it will start the virtual device.


My problem was solved by creating a Windows user without an accent or special characters and reinstalling android studio on that user. Another change is to change the environment variables:

Left Click in My Computer > Advanced System Settings> Advanced > Environment Variables

ANDROID_HOME = c:\my_sdk_path

ANDROID_SDK_ROOT = c:\my_sdk_path

JAVA_HOME = c:\program files\Java\yourJavaPath

  • the default path of SDK is c:\users\youruser\AppData\LocalAndroid\sdk

Environment variables

Add in Path Variable the values:

  1. %ANDROID_HOME%\platform-tools

  2. %ANDROID_HOME%\tools

path variables

path values

After changes, restart windows and try again!


I had the same problem when I was trying to move the android studio to another Drive as it was taking a lot of space in my C(Windows drive) Drive, Here's what fixed my problem:-

  1. Copy the C:\Users\ #YourUserName\ .android folder to another drive,
  2. Go to start environment variable make a new variable named ANDROID_SDK_HOME and add the path of the new location like mine is F:\Android AVD( don't add .android to it )
  3. Then add ANDROID_SDK_HOME to the existing Path variable.
  4. Open android studio, go to configure --> AVD manager and you'll see that you've successfully moved to a new location.

Update Android emulator alone from SDK tool

enter image description here


Android Studio Picture

Make sure you have an Android Virtual Device selected to output the app to. In the picture I put on this post you can see I selected the Android Virtual Device "Nexus 5" as the output device. Doing this removed the error for me.


just create environment variable like this

create environment variable like in the screenshot and make sure to replace with your sdk path in my case it was C:\Users\zeesh\AppData\Local\Android\sdk replace zeesh with your username and make sure to restart android studio to take effect.


In Korean version of Windows 10, this problem happened because my Windows user name was in Korean not in English. After the user name was made again in English, the problem was cleared.


For those coming here with a Mac:

I had the same issue and the problem was, I created an emulator with API Level 29 but removed that SDK and installed 28 instead. The emulator that was not able to be launched anymore.

Therefore check the AVD Manager if your emulator really can be launched.


Check C:\Users\User path. Change User directory name (may be something different name) from your alphabet to English alphabet. Warning: it is dangerous operation, learn it before changing. Android Studio can not access to AVD throw users\Your alphabet name\.android.


Open Android Studio and under the Tools you will find the AVD manager. Click on it and ensure that you have a valid virtual device with the SDK downloaded (click "download" in the Actions column if shown). Then ensure that the correct virtual device is selected on the toolbar.


Find the ANDROID_HOME path values from environment variable. In my case it is like C:\Users\RuwanPr\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk. If this value not found please add ANDROID_HOME value as your sdk path. (To go to environment variable right click on my computer -> Properties -> Advance System Settings -> Environment Variable ) Then open cmd on windows and go to sdk folder and then go to tools folder Type emulator -list-avds in comd. It will shows avd name list. Then type emulator -avd avd-name. Ex - think avd-name shows as J2_Api_22 emulator -avd J2_Api_22


Try to use the argument: -sysdir <Your_SDK_DIR> and then check whether the error message displayed.

See also: https://android.googlesource.com/platform/external/qemu/+/1a15692cded92d66dea1a51389a3c4b9e3b3631a/android/emulator/main-emulator.cpp

Check out these clip you will find out the reason:

// Sanity checks.
if (avdName) {
    if (!isCpuArchSupportedByRanchu(avdArch)) {
        APANIC("CPU Architecture '%s' is not supported by the QEMU2 emulator, (the classic engine is deprecated!)",
               avdArch);
    }
    std::string systemPath = getAvdSystemPath(avdName, sysDir);
    if (systemPath.empty()) {
        const char* env = getenv("ANDROID_SDK_ROOT");
        if (!env || !env[0]) {
            APANIC("Cannot find AVD system path. Please define "
                   "ANDROID_SDK_ROOT\n");
        } else {
            APANIC("Broken AVD system path. Check your ANDROID_SDK_ROOT "
                   "value [%s]!\n",
                   env);
        }
    }
}

Then if you see emulator: ERROR: can't find SDK installation directory, please check this solution. Android emulator errors with "emulator: ERROR: can't find SDK installation directory"


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