Android Studio fails to install update (error : Failed to read or create install properties file.)

Screenshot of error

I am running [ Android Studio 2.3 Build #AI-162.3764568, built on February 24, 2017 JRE: 1.8.0_112-release-b06 amd64 JVM: OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM by JetBrains s.r.o] on Ubuntu 16.04. From last few days android studio gives me error on trying to update. I have no idea how to fix this.

I ran the Android studio as administrator and then it worked as it is a permission issue.

chmod 777 $ANDROID_HOME -R This is not a good solution like @spark mentioned.

I solved it by setting ownership to myself

sudo chown $USER:$USER $ANDROID_HOME -R

Problem Solved!

The permission of my Android directory was set to write only by root so android-studio was unable to write any changes. I changed the permissions to 777 and it fixed the problem.

Thanks for Help anyways.

Solution 1:

Use: sudo chown $USER: $ANDROID_HOME -R

My solution is setting folder permissions (and sub-folders using -R).

Root cause:

The permission of my Android SDK directory was set to write only by root so android-studio was unable to write any changes.

Detailed Process:

Take $ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools for example:

sudo chown $USER: $ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools

Before executing the command line:

bin ls -la $ANDROID_HOME/
total 56
drwxr-xr-x@  26 gongzelong  staff    832 Nov  3 01:51 .
drwx------@ 104 gongzelong  staff   3328 Nov  6 17:55 ..
-rw-r--r--@   1 gongzelong  staff  18436 Oct 26 21:17 .DS_Store
drwxr-xr-x    2 gongzelong  staff     64 Nov  4 01:47 .downloadIntermediates
-rw-r--r--    1 gongzelong  staff     16 Nov  6 17:46 .knownPackages
drwxr-xr-x   41 gongzelong  staff   1312 Nov  4 23:08 .temp
-rw-r--r--@   1 gongzelong  staff   1158 Aug 30  2018 SDK Readme.txt
drwxr-xr-x@   2 gongzelong  staff     64 Aug 29  2016 add-ons
drwxr-xr-x@  34 gongzelong  staff   1088 Nov  3 01:47 build-tools
drwxr-xr-x@   6 gongzelong  staff    192 Apr 24  2019 cmake
drwxr-xr-x@  51 gongzelong  staff   1632 Oct 24  2016 docs
drwxr-xr-x   17 root        wheel    544 Nov 12  2019 emulator
drwxr-xr-x@   8 gongzelong  staff    256 Jul 31  2018 extras
drwxr-xr-x@   3 gongzelong  staff     96 Nov  7  2017 fonts
drwxr-xr-x@   9 gongzelong  staff    288 Apr 21  2020 licenses
drwxr-xr-x@   6 gongzelong  staff    192 Apr 24  2019 lldb
drwxr-xr-x    7 gongzelong  staff    224 Nov  4 22:47 ndk
drwxr-xr-x@  20 gongzelong  staff    640 Sep 29  2018 ndk-bundle
drwxr-xr-x@   5 gongzelong  staff    160 Dec 15  2016 patcher
**drwxr-xr-x   19 root        wheel    608 Nov 12  2019 platform-tools**
drwxr-xr-x@  16 gongzelong  staff    512 Nov  3 01:47 platforms
drwxr-xr-x@  33 gongzelong  staff   1056 Feb 17  2020 skins
drwxr-xr-x@  14 gongzelong  staff    448 Nov  3 01:51 sources
drwxr-xr-x@  13 gongzelong  staff    416 Apr  8  2019 system-images
drwxr-xr-x@   2 gongzelong  staff     64 Feb  4  2018 temp
drwxr-xr-x   15 gongzelong  staff    480 Oct 26 21:18 tools

After executing the command line:

➜  bin ls -la $ANDROID_HOME/
total 56
drwxr-xr-x@  26 gongzelong  staff    832 Nov  3 01:51 .
drwx------@ 104 gongzelong  staff   3328 Nov  6 17:55 ..
-rw-r--r--@   1 gongzelong  staff  18436 Oct 26 21:17 .DS_Store
drwxr-xr-x    2 gongzelong  staff     64 Nov  4 01:47 .downloadIntermediates
-rw-r--r--    1 gongzelong  staff     16 Nov  6 17:46 .knownPackages
drwxr-xr-x   41 gongzelong  staff   1312 Nov  4 23:08 .temp
-rw-r--r--@   1 gongzelong  staff   1158 Aug 30  2018 SDK Readme.txt
drwxr-xr-x@   2 gongzelong  staff     64 Aug 29  2016 add-ons
drwxr-xr-x@  34 gongzelong  staff   1088 Nov  3 01:47 build-tools
drwxr-xr-x@   6 gongzelong  staff    192 Apr 24  2019 cmake
drwxr-xr-x@  51 gongzelong  staff   1632 Oct 24  2016 docs
drwxr-xr-x   17 root        wheel    544 Nov 12  2019 emulator
drwxr-xr-x@   8 gongzelong  staff    256 Jul 31  2018 extras
drwxr-xr-x@   3 gongzelong  staff     96 Nov  7  2017 fonts
drwxr-xr-x@   9 gongzelong  staff    288 Apr 21  2020 licenses
drwxr-xr-x@   6 gongzelong  staff    192 Apr 24  2019 lldb
drwxr-xr-x    7 gongzelong  staff    224 Nov  4 22:47 ndk
drwxr-xr-x@  20 gongzelong  staff    640 Sep 29  2018 ndk-bundle
drwxr-xr-x@   5 gongzelong  staff    160 Dec 15  2016 patcher
**drwxr-xr-x   19 gongzelong  wheel    608 Nov 12  2019 platform-tools**
drwxr-xr-x@  16 gongzelong  staff    512 Nov  3 01:47 platforms
drwxr-xr-x@  33 gongzelong  staff   1056 Feb 17  2020 skins
drwxr-xr-x@  14 gongzelong  staff    448 Nov  3 01:51 sources
drwxr-xr-x@  13 gongzelong  staff    416 Apr  8  2019 system-images
drwxr-xr-x@   2 gongzelong  staff     64 Feb  4  2018 temp
drwxr-xr-x   15 gongzelong  staff    480 Oct 26 21:18 tools

Then we do the update in SDK management:

before and after install sdk result screenshot

Solution 2:

Run Android Studio as administration.

sudo /Applications/Android\ Studio\ 4.1.0.app/Contents/MacOS/studio

It could also install the android sdk update successfully

for macos:

sudo chmod -R 777 ~/Library/Android

1. Delete old version
2. Reboot
3. Install new version

hope this helps :)

If you are on a *nix system, you should locate $ANDROID_HOME. Mine is installed inside /opt. Given that this directory belongs to root, you will need to invoke sudo before running your command.

I had the same issues on windows and the problem for me was where the SDK was related.

When you go to File - Project Structure - Android SDK Location you can see what SDK directory is defined. The default SDK location was C:\Program Files (x86)\Android\android-sdk and it seems you need to be an Administrator to be able to download packages.

I changed it to my user directory so I don't need admin privileges and I was able to download the required packages without any problems.

Also make sure you accpeted all licences before.

I ran in to this issue and when I navigated to the existing install of the SDK I found that it was symlinked to a previous version that I installed using Homebrew (which is no longer supported).

The fix was to remove this symlink, then Android Studio was able to install the updated SDK as expected.

I was facing the same problem, I solved it by first enabling the "Force https://... sources to be fetched using http://..." setting in the SDK Manager Tools > Options menu. and then I opened Android Studio as administrator.

In windows, you may run Android Studio as Administrator