How to install AndroidSevenFull.apk as a new VM to supplant the provided Android OS?

J

JustinPS

Bit poster
I recently bought an android OS (AndroidSevenFull.apk) and would like to install it to supplant the restrictive free Android VM that can be dlownloaded in the Parallels 9 setup. This file is not a disk image so I can't use the usual new VM wizard. I would appreciate any suggestions as I have not been able to find this question addressed in the forum archives or in the knowledgebase.
Thank you,
Justin
 
Hello JustinPS,

Android Operating System is not completely compatible in Parallels Desktop and also it is not possible to convert .APK to .PVM formt.

The download which is provided along with Parallels Desktop 9 is an Experimental VM, which is for testing purpose

Thanks,
Maheeshwar
 
Interesting setup, but there's a key limitation here you can't install an .apk file as a full operating system or VM. APK files are just Android app packages, not disk images or bootable systems. That's why Parallels (or any VM software) won't recognize it in the "new VM" wizard.

If your goal is to replace the default Android VM, you'll need a proper Android OS image (like .iso, .img, or .ova). Options like Android-x86 or similar builds are usually what people install in VMs.

A few suggestions:

  • Look for a full Android OS build (ISO/IMG), not APK
  • Use Parallels' custom VM setup and load that image
  • If the APK is part of a larger package, check if there's a system image included
  • Alternatively, use an Android emulator instead of replacing the VM
So basically, the issue isn't your method it's the file type itself.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Hey Justin, just so you know you shouldn't ever have to pay for android, its a free open source OS and shouldn't be charged for - similar to most linux distributions

An .APK file is an android application package - essentially its what the google play store downloads to install an app from there

As far as im aware there is no current release of android that would be compatible to run on apple silicon Macs however if you are still using an Intel Mac - I would do some research into "Android x86" which is an installable version of android for x86 (intel) based PCs which intel Macs have 0 issues with running otherwise there are ways to import x86 VMs to parallels running on Intel Macs however they do run slowly as you are limited to 1 core and the Mac has to emulate another type of CPU to run this
 
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