I actually recommend developers to avoid using the Android emulator as it is slow and unreliable.
If you have a real device then use it with B4A-Bridge or with the standard USB debug mode.
Genymotion emulates a standard device. I don't know why ADB fails here. You may try to reinstall Android SDK.
When you say GM emulates a standard device, are you saying that I can use the B4A bridge with it as if it were a real device?
As for reinstalling the Android SDK -- It is working fine with the IntelliJ and Xamarin IDEs I've been using, as does the GM emulator. It's only the B4A IDE that doesn't see the GM emulator.
Also, and possibly related -- When I use the Android emulator with B4A I can programmatically change text in an editText view, but I cannot manually change it by typing. The cursor arrows will move the cursor within the box, but neither the computer keyboard nor the emulators keyboard will type characters in it.
I'm really hoping that B4A can get me back to the Windows environment without having to pay the absurdly exorbitant price that Xamarin demands for the Pro version.
I cannot tell you how much I hate the unix/java love of configuring a crapload of standalone utilities to act as if they were one app. Please help me get this working.