Android Emulator Startup Failure on Arch Linux: 'The emulator process for AVD has terminated' Solution

While launching an Android Emulator on Arch Linux, you might encounter this frustrating error in Android Studio:

The emulator process for AVD Medium\_Phone\_API\_36.0 has terminated.

This message means the emulator failed to start — but it doesn’t explain why. Let’s dig into the real cause and fix it in just a few seconds.

🕵️ Diagnosing the Problem

When you see the message above, it’s time to check the logs.

How to view logs:
In Android Studio, go to Help → Show Log in Files or check manually at:
~/.cache/Google/AndroidStudio*/log/

Look for lines like this:

qemu-system-x86\_64: error while loading shared libraries: libbsd.so.0: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

This indicates that the qemu binary (used by the Android Emulator) is missing a shared library called libbsd.so.0.

🧠 Root Cause

Arch Linux is a minimalist distribution. If libbsd is not explicitly installed, the emulator cannot run due to the missing dependency.

The result is a silent crash with exit code 127, and the generic termination error in Android Studio.

✅ The Fix: Install libbsd

To solve the issue, install the missing library:

sudo pacman -S libbsd

Or if you use an AUR helper like yay:

yay -S libbsd

Once installed, try launching your emulator again — this time it should start correctly.

💬 Extra Tip

If you’re in a clean environment (e.g., VM, container, chroot), it’s common for shared libraries like libbsd to be missing. Keep an eye out for similar log messages for other .so files in the future.