Learning Android: Installing an APK to the Android Emulator on Windows

I've started to learn some Android development by following a course on Udemy. One of the apps involved using the YouTube API, but I didn't realize at first that the API relies on the YouTube app being installed on the Android device. The Android emulator doesn't come with that, nor the Google Play Store so it is a little bit of a pain to get it setup. However, this is what I figured out:

• First get the YouTube APK from here: http://www.apkmirror.com/apk/google-inc/youtube/
• I chose the latest release, then picked the 480dpi version for x86. You might want x86_64 depending on how you setup your Android Virtual Device.
• You need to use the "adb" command line tool which comes with the Android SDK. To find it, using Android Studio click "File->Settings."
• Go to "Appearance & Behavior->System Settings->Android SDK"
• Near the top is the "Android SDK Location", e.g. "C:\Users\\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk"
• Now you can use the Terminal tab in Android Studio and change to the "platform-tools" folder within the SDK directory, e.g.
  "cd C:\Users\\AppData\Local\Android\sdk\platform-tools"
• Also copy the YouTube APK to that folder to make the command easier to run.
• Then you can run: "adb install youtube.apk"

FWIW I also added some code to my YouTubeActivity.java to make it a little nicer on the user having a problem:

    @Override
    public void onInitializationFailure(YouTubePlayer.Provider provider, YouTubeInitializationResult youTubeInitializationResult) {
        youTubeInitializationResult.getErrorDialog(YouTubeActivity.this, 0).show();
    }

Although since the Google Play Store isn't installed on the emulator the error dialog isn't as useful as it could be, since it directs you to install the app via a button click, but it at least tells you why the app isn't working.

I also had a fatal exception after that, without any really useful error, but I hadn't added the INTERNET permission to my app so it all worked after that.