how to resolve this emulator: ERROR: unknown skin name 'WVGA800' solution

Question

i am trying to start the android emulator from eclipse classic (juno) and it keeps giving me this error:

ERROR: unknown skin name 'WVGA800'

I developed my software using eclipse indigo, but since I installed eclipse juno and imported the same project it started to give me this error. any idea why? and how to resolve this issue?

score 42 · Accepted Answer · edited Jan 16 '17 at 20:19

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My solution was to create a new custom virtual device from the android virtual device manager and use that.

edited Jan 16 '17 at 20:19

Dale Wilson

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answered Nov 29 '12 at 09:51

Waqleh

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You created a new custom skin? or what? – LarsH Nov 13 '13 at 14:23
i created a new custom virtual device – Waqleh Nov 14 '13 at 18:10
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For anyone that's not a constant Android-SDK user, such as myself (I mostly do Cordova), that's wondering how to create your new virtual device: Try `android avd` from the command line, or if you're managing Android SDKs via Eclipse, Window > Android Virtual Device Manager. – Adam Tuttle Mar 21 '14 at 13:16
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For Android Studio users, it's under Tools > Android > AVD Manager. – TMN Jul 16 '14 at 20:19
There wasn't any default skin in my default AVD. So I just choose one – barak Aug 05 '15 at 13:10
@TMN or you can click that icon with the purple screen and green droid at the bottom right in the toolbar. OR on Mac (not sure of shortcut on Windows) you can click (Command + Shift + A and type AVD) Just a couple of extra options. – technoplato Feb 03 '16 at 18:43
@Waqleh I think since there are solutions that don't involve creating a new device that this particular solution isn't optimal. The error can be resolved by simply toggling the skin in the advanced settings of the ADV in question. – technoplato Feb 03 '16 at 18:44

score 18 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 07 '15 at 01:54

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For me on Mac OS X this error went away when I selected the skin in advanced setting it was saying is unknown. enter image description here

answered Jun 07 '15 at 01:54

PUG

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I did this.... Selected the Pixel_2 skin that I had error, clicked the ... button and then just selected open on the files that where there. – Recycled Steel Jun 11 '19 at 14:36

score 10 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 18 '12 at 22:18

I had the problem and fixed it... Here the main idea of the issue is that the emulator can't find your android-sdk base directory.. so what is the fix? here I will explain..

Find where you have installed your sdk. To do so go to Start->All Programs->Android SDK Tools->SDK Manager.. You will see that the path is written on the top of the window.. copy it somewhere so we need it later.. call it "SDK Path"
Go to Start and Right Click on Computer and select "Properties".. Then select the last option on the left menu which is "Advanced System Settings".. Go to the "Advanced" tab and click on the "Environment Variables.." on the first list see if there is a variable called "ANDROID_SDK_ROOT".. If it's there then check if the value is the same as the "SDK Path" we copied in the step 1.. if they are not the same then change the value of it to the SDK Path...and check if your problem is solved. if not then go to step 3..
If the "ANDROID_SDK_ROOT" matches the SDK Path or your problem didn't solve in step 2 then the problem is probably caused by your username.. This was my actual problem. my username had special characters in it like ( !,@,#,... ) or even spaces in some times. Speaking technically as I am myself a programmer, when the emulator program was trying to open the path, it was giving out an error because it couldn't open it because of the special characters..Guessing that the SDK is installed in your Local App Data folder ( Users\\AppData\Local ) as mine was, you should access it with another Enviroment Variable called "LOCALAPPDATA" which links to your Local App Data folder.. So in your SDK Path change the "drive:\Users\\AppData\Local" to "%localappdata" and your problem will be solved .. For example mine was "C:\Users\MiNuS !3\AppData\Local\Android\android-sdk" and I changed it to "%localappdata%\Android\android-sdk"... (without the double quotations)..

The same problem is present in some other java programs. I had the problem with the Zend Studio too...

Hope it will solve your problem, Good Luck

setting the environment variable ANDROID_SDK_ROOT in Ubuntu 13.10 did the trick for me too! Thank you! — Thanasis Petsas, May 22 '14 at 11:12
I had the ANDROID_SDK_ROOT variable set, seems Studio||Emulator lost its mind when I killed one of its props — emanuel sanga, Mar 07 '22 at 08:51

score 5 · Answer 4 · answered May 18 '13 at 18:55

I bumped into the same problem in Android Studio on Mac OS X 10.6.8 and there it helped to create a new AVD with target API Level 17 (the only one available after the standard setup it seems). None of the pre-existing AVDs work, however, only the new one (the old ones all use target APIs lower than 17).

score 4 · Answer 5 · answered May 30 '17 at 17:49

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The path to where it looks for the skin is in the ~/.android/avd/$deivce-name$.avd/config.ini

My issue like this occured because I had copied an avd to a different computer and the path was incorrect on that new computer.

answered May 30 '17 at 17:49

grgrssll

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for me, an update to the android-emulator package moved the skins from `/opt/android-studio/plugins/android/resources` to `/opt/android-studio/plugins/android/lib`. `cd /opt/android-studio; find -name '*your_skin_name*'`... then A manual update of the paths in the avd's `config.ini` helped. – kubi Jan 05 '22 at 16:42

score 4 · Answer 6 · answered Jun 22 '18 at 03:41

One solution, if you're happy to do this, is to not use a skin. To do this:

1> Tools/AVD Manager

2> Select the device

3> Click the pen icon in the "Actions" Column

4> Uncheck "Enable Device Frame"

Alternatively, if you want to select a preexisting skin, you can click on "Advanced Settings" and scroll down to the "Custom skin definition" drop down box.

And to see instructions on how to create a custom skin, you can click on "Advanced Settings" and scroll down to "How do I create a custom hardware skin", which links to here: https://developer.android.com/studio/run/managing-avds#skins

George Udosen · Answer 7 · 2018-12-04T11:01:12.327

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I had the same issue as I moved my avd files between systems and as in your case you have moved the relevant files. So the solution as to go to the .android folder and make changes to the files with .ini of conf in their names. In there you will see that the paths to various resources are different as a result of the move you made. So put in the correct path values.

That was how I solved mine.

edited Dec 04 '18 at 11:01

answered Dec 04 '18 at 10:56

George Udosen

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score 1 · Answer 8 · answered Aug 10 '12 at 02:00

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You may need to update your AVD manager. WVGA800 is the default skin for the emulator. You might try to update your software

answered Aug 10 '12 at 02:00

BlackHatSamurai

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every thing is up to date accordion to "Help > Check for Updates". – Waqleh Aug 10 '12 at 02:05
at least is there a way to change that skin to something else? – Waqleh Aug 10 '12 at 14:53
Yes, you can change the skin by going into your AVD and creating a new device; once you have the device created, there is a drop down for what skin you would like. – BlackHatSamurai Aug 10 '12 at 17:03
but that drop down list only shows this skin! how can i get other skins? – Waqleh Aug 10 '12 at 23:05
i have 2.1, 2.2 and 4.1 installed, and on the "package explorer" it shows android 2.1 – Waqleh Aug 11 '12 at 10:54

score 1 · Answer 9 · answered Jan 22 '16 at 18:47

As you upgrade your Android Studio, the skin.path value can become no longer valid. The best approach is to copy the set of screens to your own folder path. This way the screens are in more permanent folders.

For example for Macbook:

Find ~/Applications/Android Studio 1.5.1.0.app/Contents/plugins/android/lib/device-art-resources
Copy device-art-resources folder to a place like ~/dev/device-art-resources
For each config.ini in each of your avd folder, change skin.path value to point to the screen of your choice

score 1 · Answer 10 · answered Feb 06 '16 at 16:55

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For SDK-only installed

For who has not installed Android Studio but has only the SDK, to add a new device, or change a skin to an old device is

$ANDROID_HOME/tools/android avd

answered Feb 06 '16 at 16:55

Ivan Buttinoni

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score 1 · Answer 11 · answered May 23 '16 at 19:29

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My solution was to change the skin to nexus 5x !!

answered May 23 '16 at 19:29

Paul Razvan Berg

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score 0 · Answer 12 · answered Jun 26 '22 at 14:11

I solved by uninstalling and reinstall the emulator.

In Android Studio, go to: Tools -> SDK Manager Appearance & Behavior -> System Settings -> Android SDK SDK Tools tab Uncheck the Android Emulator check box, and hit the Apply button. Do the same, checking the Android Emulator check box.

how to resolve this emulator: ERROR: unknown skin name 'WVGA800' solution

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