Eclipse keeps starting new emulators

Question

I\'m busy learning how to build apps for Android, and I come across a very awkward problem.

When I run my application (with the green circle with the play-icon in it

Answer 1

I don't think you're waiting long enough. There's 3 stages to go through

• Wait until the android logo disappears on startup (unless you've disabled boot animations)
• Wait for the locked screen to come up.
• Wait for the app to be actually installed onto the device (you'll get a message saying 'Installing nameOfApp on Emulator device #whatever')

This whole process will take anywhere from 3 - 15 minutes. To speed things up, make sure you leave the emulator ON then you just need to do step 3.

If you try to click Run again before this is all done, it will incorrectly assume no emulator is up and start up a new one.

You can also make sure your emulator is ok by selecting Window -> Android SDK and AVD Manager and selecting Virtual Devices. You can even start a device up first (stages 1 and 2) without actually installing your app. You can also check the status of the device using DDMS (and make sure that it isn't actually installing your app and then silently crashing) by selecting DDMS at the top-right of Eclipse or Window -> Open Perspective -> Other -> DDMS

Hope this helps.