Emulator does not display media in Mac lab -- Multiple users issue

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I am using AppInventor in a Mac lab, where students all have accounts linked to 
a server. Naturally, they are permitted only limited access to the system. 

So, running the new emulator produces this error when I try to connect it to 
the Blocks Editor:

"It appears that the device cannot access its external storage. Check that the 
device is not in USB Mass Storage mode. Please Restart the Phone App after 
fixing the device."

This appears in a dialog box once for each media file (image or audio) included 
in the project. The emulator then displays only the non-media elements.

BTW, I did not have this problem with the earlier version of the emulator.

What can I do to fix this? 

Original issue reported on code.google.com by lscarla...@yahoo.com on 2 Mar 2011 at 3:55

[GoogleCodeExporter]

This problem here is a result of our emulator setup mechanism not working when 
different users work on the same machine.  When user 1 starts the emulator, 
there is a file written in a directory /tmp/android.  Later, when user2 tries 
to start the emulator, there is a permission problem trying to write in that 
same file.

We have that on our list to fix.  In the meantime, try the following:  Before 
using App Inventor, loo for a folder /tmp/android and delete it  See if this 
fixes the problem.

Original comment by halabel...@google.com on 6 Mar 2011 at 2:02

• Changed title: Emulator does not display media in Mac lab -- Multiple users issue
• Changed state: Accepted

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Perhaps this helps ...

When I'm logged in as a student (987654321) and  run the emulator from the 
terminal (using ./run-emulator) I get the following:

"
emulator: WARNING: ignoring locked user data image at 
/Network/Servers/xsrv2.lab/Volumes/Users/987654321/.appinventor/emulator/Appinve
ntor-emulator-data
emulator: WARNING: Another emulator is running. user data changes will *NOT* be 
saved
emulator: WARNING: ignoring locked SD Card image at 
/Network/Servers/xsrv2.lab/Volumes/Users/987654321/.appinventor/emulator/sdcard.
img
emulator: WARNING: system partition size adjusted to match image file (84 MB > 
66 MB)

2011-03-09 15:26:42.073 emulator[18942:903] Warning once: This application, or 
a library it uses, is using NSQuickDrawView, which has been deprecated. Apps 
should cease use of QuickDraw and move to Quartz.
"
What puzzles me is that there is no other emulator running on the system 
(typing ps -a shows none).

Original comment by lscarla...@yahoo.com on 9 Mar 2011 at 8:52

[GoogleCodeExporter]

BTW, this happens whether or not I first remove /tmp/android. And right now, 
I'm the only one using the lab.

Original comment by lscarla...@yahoo.com on 9 Mar 2011 at 8:55

[GoogleCodeExporter]

What are the protections on the .appinventor/emulator/sdcard.img file?

If that file isn't writeable by you, change them.  Or try deleting that entire 
emulator folder.

Does that work?

Original comment by halabel...@google.com on 9 Mar 2011 at 10:47

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Issue 1352 has been merged into this issue.

Original comment by halabel...@google.com on 9 Mar 2011 at 10:48

[GoogleCodeExporter]

There is not a problem with the protections; we checked that.

It appears the problem is that the student accounts in the lab are maintained 
on a file server. We discovered that if we have the students use a local guest 
account (not on the file server), they can run the emulator just fine. So, this 
is our temporary fix.

BTW, this was not an issue with the earlier version; we had AppInventor running 
just fine in this lab last semester. The bug was introduced in the most recent 
update.

Original comment by lscarla...@yahoo.com on 11 Mar 2011 at 1:42

[GoogleCodeExporter]

app inventor emulator: WARNING: system partition size adjusted to match image 
file <84 MB > 66 MB>

Emulator does not show up on a Windows XP machine which has admin privileges

Please help.

Thanks

Original comment by naveen...@gmail.com on 19 Apr 2011 at 5:44

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I am seeking also seeking help on the same error as commented on April 19.  I 
have found that the emulator opens even though I get the error as a teacher, 
but my students will not get the emulator to open.  We have loaded all app & 
emulator files to our local hard drive.

Original comment by Hitesh.M...@gmail.com on 6 May 2011 at 3:05

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Issue 1702 has been merged into this issue.

Original comment by halabel...@google.com on 10 Jul 2011 at 12:22

[GoogleCodeExporter]

WARNING: system partition size adjusted to match image file <84 MB > 66 MB>

Original comment by compania...@gmail.com on 21 Nov 2011 at 8:12

[GoogleCodeExporter]

FWIW if I start the emulator manually (./run-emulator) then the Blocks Editor 
can use it just fine, but it completely refuses to start from the Blocks Editor 
button.  I get the "you may have to wait for a while" popup box but then 
nothing further happens.

Works fine when I start it from the command line. . . 

Original comment by bri...@palaver.net on 9 Mar 2012 at 11:49

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Addendum to comment #11: Running on Slackware Linux i386, regular user with no 
special privileges.

Original comment by bri...@palaver.net on 9 Mar 2012 at 11:50

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I fixed it here; get root; cd /usr/google/appinventor
chmod -R go+rx *

There are some wonky permissions set in some of the subdirs. . . 

Original comment by bri...@palaver.net on 10 Mar 2012 at 7:13

[GoogleCodeExporter]

At a high school, we had a similar issue to Hitesh (Commented May 6) with 
teachers/admin able to open the emulator but students were unable - and no 
error message; clicking the [new emulator] button on a student account would 
pop up the "starting the emulator, please be patient" message, but nothing 
after that.

We discovered this was because students are blocked from using Terminal at our 
school.  We created temporary accounts with terminal access which allows the 
emulator to open, however, now it gives us the USB storage error, telling us it 
can't upload the media in the file "/var/folders/mS/[random 
string]/-Tmp-/assets/*"

This is also a restricted folder - students don't have access to this either.  
Is there any way to have this temporary assets folder go to the desktop 
instead?  Or just someplace else?

Thanks.  Lauren

Original comment by lauren.p...@gmail.com on 16 May 2012 at 10:53

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I am using this app for the first time and I get the same message that was in 
the fit posting:

"So, running the new emulator produces this error when I try to connect it to 
the Blocks Editor: It appears that the device cannot access its external 
storage. Check that the device is not in USB Mass Storage mode. Please Restart 
the Phone App after fixing the device." This appears in a dialog box once for 
each media file (image or audio) included in the project. The emulator then 
displays only the non-media elements."

This has been a HUGE issue for me.  I have to design a functional app for a 
class I am taking and it  will count for 70% of my grade... I can't get the 
emulator to stay up running long enough to see if it works. Needless to say I 
am unbelievably frustrated.  Have you made instructors (on their part of your 
web site) aware of this issue so they don't think us students are making up 
excuses???

Original comment by DLRi...@gmail.com on 6 Aug 2012 at 4:22

[GoogleCodeExporter]

We had a similar issue on our Windows network (sound / image media visible in 
the designer but not in the emulator) and we discovered that it was to do with 
our Internet blocking - .zip files were blocked from being downloaded from 
non-approved sites, and the Java block builder attempts to download all of an 
app's 'assets' from beta.appinventor.mit.edu when it starts up - causing the 
issues mentioned above.

We added appinventor.mit.edu to a ZIP download whitelist on our HTTP proxy 
server, and it all worked fine after that.

Hope this helps!

Original comment by ch...@crgs.co.uk on 6 Dec 2012 at 4:47

[GoogleCodeExporter]

WARNING: system partition size adjusted to match image file <84 MB > 66 MB>
i am not able to start emulator
one more warning:opening audio input failed

Original comment by dubeypar...@gmail.com on 9 Apr 2013 at 6:48

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Has a fix been implemented yet? 

We just upgrade our lab to a virtual desktop environment and this bug just 
killed the use of app inventor as it uses the single lock file for all users 
logon to the same backend server to run the app inventor. It's better to create 
multi instances of the emulator for different users and leave the lock files in 
the user directories.

Original comment by acs1805U...@gmail.com on 30 Sep 2013 at 3:55