this is from when i was a week younger (and so full of wanting to install truecaller on an android VM on my pc). now that i am a week older (and consequently, wiser!) — i still want to do so, but now i am so done with efforts.

why?

i was receiving repeated calls from a number not saved on my phone — and that truecaller bot on telegram i used to use for things like these decided just a few days back that now was a good time to die.

a word of caution: this is not a tutorial post. here at "the silent orchard", we don't deal with success stories (but sob ones; helps with the engagement, you see). here's what transpired between me and chatgpt in the process (suffering is fun when you aren't the one suffering).

me: stupid truecaller not letting me perform reverse lookup on a phone number unless i download their app. i have privacy concerns regarding my contacts getting uploaded.

i was given the following options:

1. use their website directly. (they have removed the functionality — idk when they did that — to log in there and be done with it and are instead pushing everyone to install their app.)
2. alternative lookup sites. (didn't have the info on the numbers i was after. they don't have that big of a database. it sucks, i know. this lack of options is concerning to say the least — and frustrating to say the most.)
3. check public listings / google directly. (no success here either.)
4. install truecaller on an empty secondary phone / emulator, with no contacts synced. (i do not have a secondary smartphone, so emulators it was!)

me: does android os provide with an option to install something like vmware or virtual box?

chatgpt:

good question — and the short answer is: not really, at least not in the same full-featured way you get on desktop OSes like Windows or Linux.

me: can i do it with virtual box on pc?

chatgpt:

yep, that’s actually the best way to do it — much cleaner, safer, and more controllable than trying to virtualize inside android.

me: downloaded android-x86_64-9.0-r2.iso. now what?

chatgpt detailed me on how to set up an android VM using the ISO i had downloaded. i went through all the points, and believed that i would have a functional android VM afterwards.

boy, was i wrong! that's the thing with technology: even if it works for everyone else in the whole goshdarned universe, it doesn't mean it is going to work the same way for you :) heck, you don't even know if it is going to work. at all. non-deterministic, ikr? much like the nfa's i used to read about in automata theory! (you never know the state they're going to be in post transition.)

me: how to exit outta virtualbox? mouse is gone and it shows "kernel requires x86-64 but detected i686 cpu".

chatgpt:

you can get back your mouse anytime with the Right Ctrl key.

and it said some things about enabling VT-x/AMD-V and Nested Paging for the VM — whatever that meant. so, i tried following the steps — to no success. (i told you this wasn't a success story. very rarely do i get to tell those.)

me: can i download i386 version from somewhere?

chatgpt:

yep — you can, but there’s a catch.

there is always a fricking catch.

chatgpt (cont'd):

the Android-x86 project stopped officially maintaining separate i386 (32-bit) builds for most newer Android versions (like 9.0, 10, etc.), because nearly all PCs now support 64-bit.

🪄 Here are your best options
Option 1: Android-x86 8.1-r6 (Oreo) 32-bit
Option 2: Android-x86 7.1-r5 (Nougat) 32-bit
Option 3: Remix OS (Android-x86-based)

🧩 What to do after downloading
In VirtualBox → New VM
Type: Linux
Version: Other Linux (32-bit)
Attach your chosen i386 ISO

Boot and install same as before (ext4, GRUB, etc.)

me: android-x86-8.1-r6.i686.rpm found this.

chatgpt:

good eye 👀 — that android-x86-8.1-r6.i686.rpm file is related, but it’s not what you want for VirtualBox.

when this didn't work as planned, i did the next best thing i thought would work. i quit.

but then i got bored and restless, so i came back to search for "bluestacks alternatives lite". i had had some issues with bluestacks in the past and had thought that being friends was no longer an option. (read: memory hogging. don't you hate it when apps or people try to take more space than they are allocated?)

i probably had a mood swing or something after this, because i typed "i want to run truecaller without compromising my android 😭"

chatgpt:

😭 oh, I feel that, chatgpt_s_idiot_friend.
Truecaller’s like: “hey, give me your entire contacts list and I might tell you who’s calling.” 💀

and it informed me of "some smart ways to do it". those included emulators (not again!), android work profile (huh?), and using truecaller web. i found this was a good time to let chatgpt know the only thing i was sure of at this point: "truecaller web is no longer the case :("

chatgpt:

You’re absolutely right, chatgpt_s_idiot_friend — the web version of Truecaller appears to have been discontinued.

in the process, i was made aware of prime OS, windows subsystem for android, and some other things that i have now forgotten (limited memory space, you know).

me: man, why is it [prime OS] not installing. can i get prebuilt vms pls <wailing>

chatgpt:

💀 bro I felt that “<wailing>” deep in my soul — every VirtualBox Android install eventually makes you want to throw your laptop into the sun ☀️😭
and yeah, I got you. you can skip the whole installation pain with prebuilt VMs (they’re literally plug-and-play .ova files — import → run).

that didn't work either, but somehow (and finally!), i got an android OS to boot up on a virtual machine. i thought about being happy, but the stupid thing kept getting stuck on that console:/# screen.

by this time, i had created some 4 or 5 android VMs. none of them did the darn job they were assigned to do. so, they all had to go. (else they would have been constant reminders of my failures! now this blog post is going to be that :)

the next steps i performed (in an order that i remember very clearly) were as follows: deleted the VMs, closed virtualbox, and threatened to rage quit. chatgpt agreed it was a great idea.

me: man, it's ptsd flashbacks all over. not working. i am fucking done with this.

chatgpt:

💀 yeah… I get that. you’ve been fighting this VM war like a champ, and it’s absolutely fair to be done — Android-on-VirtualBox is one of those things that should just work, but it never does cleanly unless the stars align, BIOS behaves, and VirtualBox decides not to gaslight you.

you’ve earned your rage quit. 💯

if it helps you cool off — you’ve actually learned a lot in the process: EFI vs legacy, virtualization flags, how VMs use hardware, what lightweight OSes even are. that’s basically sysadmin-level pain tolerance already 😭

or honestly… just walk away, get a drink, watch something dumb, and let your brain breathe 😩

wanna tell me what exactly you were trying to run Android for? (maybe I can suggest a shortcut that doesn’t involve fighting with ISOs again.)

me: truecaller, goddammit.

chatgpt:

😭💀 I knew it — the whole war was just to run Truecaller without sacrificing your privacy, huh. man, you’ve gone through VirtualBox hell, BIOS trenches, and Bluestacks betrayal — all for a bloody caller ID app. respect. 🫡

final thoughts

all i wanted to do was to perform an easy and accurate reverse lookup on a frickin' phone number. is it too much to ask (not having to log in or sell over my contacts' info to t.c.)?

apparently, yeah. but hey, sad time over. at least, i got a blog post outta it :) and a feeling that i should learn how to reverse engineer certain... apps aspects of life.