Android Command line tools sdkmanager always shows: Warning: Could not create settings

This appears to be a bug with the way sdkmanager locates the SDK installation folder.

A work-around is to set the flag --sdk_root. You can move ANDROID_HOME declaration higher, then use it with the subsequent commands.

 - export ANDROID_HOME=$PWD/android-sdk-linux - yes | android-sdk-linux/tools/bin/sdkmanager --sdk_root=${ANDROID_HOME} --licenses - android-sdk-linux/tools/bin/sdkmanager --sdk_root=${ANDROID_HOME} "platform-tools" "platforms;android-${ANDROID_COMPILE_SDK}" >/dev/null 

Also, moved blanket license acceptance command to the first command to clean up the echo y parts.

Oddly enough if you run sdkmanager --sdk_root=${ANDROID_HOME} "tools" it will upgrade tools from 3.6.0 to 26.1.1 and sdkmanager no longer has this issue. This update takes time and bandwidth and isn't exactly necessary with the work-around.

For those who struggled with installing Android Command Line Tools for Appium on Windows 10/x64 just do as following:

1. Download latest Command line tools from android i.e. commandlinetools-win-6200805_latest.zip
2. Unzip the downloaded file
3. Create directory for storing commandline tools somewhere on your disk, with following path included: android/cmdline-tools/latest Basically when You unzip this Cmd line tools, just rename tools directory to latest and make sure You put this latest folder in android/cmdline-tools directory somewhere on your disk
4. Create ANDROID_HOME environment variable for directory that stores the cmdline tools directory location like: C:\YourLocationWhereYouStoreTheDirectory\android\cmdline-tools\latest
5. Create new entry in Path environment variable as %ANDROID_HOME%\bin

The sdkmanager tries to figure out the android-sdk path based in where it's unpacked, without use the environment variables, like ANDROID_SDK_ROOT. But it's get worse, because it have a hard coded parent folder named cmdline-tools and if you unzip commandlinetools inside a folder with another name, it doesn't work, forcing us to use the parameter sdk_root to feed the inside variable correctly.

So, with that in mind we can use the following approach to solve this.

I will assume that we are using Ubuntu OS, so if you aren't, you should adapt some of that instructions.

1. Install Android-SDK.

    sudo apt install android-sdk 

   After the instalation you will have a folder called android-sdk in /usr/lib

2. Create a folder called cdmline-tools inside the android-sdk folder

    sudo mkdir /usr/lib/android-sdk/cmdline-tools 

3. Download the Android command line tools zip from here (https://developer.android.com/studio?hl=en-419#downloads)

4. Unpack the file you just downloaded inside /usr/lib/android-sdk/cmdline-tools

    sudo unzip /path/for/commandlinetools-linux-6200805_latest.zip -d /usr/lib/android-sdk/cmdline-tools 

5. Go to you home dir and edit your .profile

    nano .profile 

6. Create an ANDROID_SDK_ROOT variable

    export ANDROID_SDK_ROOT=/usr/lib/android-sdk 

7. Put the sdkmanager folder in your path

    export PATH=$ANDROID_SDK_ROOT/cmdline-tools/tools/bin:$PATH 

8. Save and Exit

9. Reload you profile

    . ~/.profile 

10. Run

    sdkmanager --version 

You should see the version printed in your terminal.

Downloading the new cmdline-tools from Android Developer website requires the following directory structure to be respected.

Simple Solution:

1. Open Android Studio Tools Menu,
2. SDK Manager In the window that comes up there are inner panels,
3. Choose SDK Tools panel Tick Android SDK Command-line Tools
4. Choose Apply button near the bottom of the window

Mixing responses from Jing Li and caller9, this is my script:

variables: ANDROID_COMPILE_SDK: "29" ANDROID_BUILD_TOOLS: "29.0.3" ANDROID_SDK_TOOLS: "6200805" before_script: - apt-get update --yes - apt-get install --yes wget tar unzip lib32stdc++6 lib32z1 - export ANDROID_HOME=${PWD}android-home - install -d $ANDROID_HOME - wget --output-document=$ANDROID_HOME/cmdline-tools.zip https://dl.google.com/android/repository/commandlinetools-linux-${ANDROID_SDK_TOOLS}_latest.zip - pushd $ANDROID_HOME - unzip -d cmdline-tools cmdline-tools.zip - popd - export PATH=$PATH:${ANDROID_HOME}/cmdline-tools/tools/bin/ - sdkmanager --version - set +o pipefail - yes | sdkmanager --sdk_root=${ANDROID_HOME} --licenses - set -o pipefail - sdkmanager --sdk_root=${ANDROID_HOME} "platforms;android-${ANDROID_COMPILE_SDK}" - sdkmanager --sdk_root=${ANDROID_HOME} "platform-tools" - sdkmanager --sdk_root=${ANDROID_HOME} "build-tools;${ANDROID_BUILD_TOOLS}" - export PATH=$PATH:${ANDROID_HOME}/platform-tools/ - chmod +x ./gradlew [...] 

I found the solution to use the latest command-line tools following those steps:

1 - Extracting the Command-line tools into a folder with this structure: e.g.: $HOME/Development/android/cmdline-tools/latest (this folder must contain lib, bin, notice.txt and source.properties)

2 - Defining ANDROID_HOME as an environment variable:

ANDROID_HOME="$HOME/Development/android/cmdline-tools/latest" 

3 - Loading it on PATH:

PATH="$PATH:$ANDROID_HOME/tools:$ANDROID_HOME/tools/lib:$ANDROID_HOME/tools/bin:$ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools" 

I got the same error. After doing all solutions, i could not fix it. I solved this problem by reading: https://forum.unity.com/threads/android-build-not-working.844969/

Simplify an answer:

1. Opening sdkmanager.bat by notepad++

2. Changing this line from

   "%JAVA_EXE%" %DEFAULT_JVM_OPTS% %JAVA_OPTS% %SDKMANAGER_OPTS% -classpath "%CLASSPATH%" com.android.sdklib.tool.sdkmanager.SdkManagerCli %CMD_LINE_ARGS% 

   to

   "%JAVA_EXE%" %DEFAULT_JVM_OPTS% %JAVA_OPTS% %SDKMANAGER_OPTS% -classpath "%CLASSPATH%" com.android.sdklib.tool.sdkmanager.SdkManagerCli %CMD_LINE_ARGS% --sdk_root=%ANDROID_HOME% 

(Note: Adding --sdk_root=%ANDROID_HOME% at the end

Got the same issue, came here by Google. According to the AndroidStudio Archive, today was the release of 4.1. I suppose that's no coincidence.

This completely unrelated guide has a hardlink for an older version of the sdk-tools for linux. You can change the url to windows or mac for other OSs. I'll use that as a hotfix for now.

(that was supposed to be a comment not a solution)

Summarizing several useful posts here, and for people wanting a quick snippet, for example to plug in a Dockerfile, the following script is working for me:

RUN mkdir -p /opt/android/cmdline-tools/latest \ && cd /opt/android/cmdline-tools/latest \ && wget https://dl.google.com/android/repository/commandlinetools-linux-6858069_latest.zip \ && bsdtar --strip-components=1 -xvf commandlinetools-linux-6858069_latest.zip \ && yes | bin/sdkmanager --licenses \ && bin/sdkmanager "build-tools;29.0.2" "platforms;android-29" \ && rm commandlinetools-linux-6858069_latest.zip 

It just requires bsdtar to be installed (it's usually packaged in popular distributions). Android platform/build tools version 29 are installed, and Android sdk root will be then located in /opt/android. While this setup works for me without warnings as it is, I have an issue when reinstalling packages already installed, or possibly installing different version of the packages: it clashes with packages already present and create bogus directories in the sdk root, with -2, -3 suffixes. These directories are then ignored, and warnings like Observed package id 'emulator' in inconsistent location are printed, so this behavior is definitely not desirable. If you have a fix for that please write it in the comments or, if you are confident enough, just edit the script with the exact fix.

Just solved this issue with IDE, looks pretty simple to me. (Actually this duplicate previous answer but with the picture). Just install sdk tools and everything should work.

This happened to me when downloading the standalone command line tools (commandlinetools-mac-6200805_latest) on a new Mac.

Based on all the answers here, I was able to make it work like this

# Define ANDROID_HOME, if not defined already export ANDROID_HOME="~/Library/Android/sdk" # Create the folder if missing mkdir -p $ANDROID_HOME # Let the tool know that it should use that SDK location. sdkmanager --list --sdk_root=$ANDROID_HOME 

The docs for the --sdk_root option say "Use the specified SDK root instead of the SDK containing this tool". This made me think that, despite being shipped standalone, the tool expects to be part of a bundle where the SDK is installed aswell.

I would like to share my experience.

At first I try to explain why directory structure has to look the way shown in this answer - https://stackoverflow.com/a/60460681/1758733 . https://stackoverflow.com/users/668455/tristan asked for explanation several times so hope I will clarify the situtation with the next experiment:

1. unpack cmdline-tools to any path, for example c:\Android\tools; 2. create a folder for SDK, let it be c:\Android\SDK; 3. install cmdline-tools (yes, we install cmdline-tools again =)): c:\Android\tools\bin\sdkmanager --sdk_root=c:\Android\SDK "cmdline-tools;latest" 4. at this moment we can examine c:\Android\SDK and locate the path c:\Android\SDK\cmdline-tools\latest. If we compare this folder with the previous version c:\Android\tools we find out that they are identical. The new installed c:\Android\SDK\cmdline-tools\latest\sdkmanager works without --sdk_root argument so we could initially unpack cmdline-tools to cmdline-tools\latest. 

One may encounter another issue - Stuck at ".android/repositories.cfg could not be loaded."

Other issues & facts:

1. QtCreator works with another sdkmanager that placed in SDK_ROOT/tools/bin 2. SDK_ROOT/tools/bin/sdkmanager works only with JDK 8 3. Java uses its own storage for certificates and it's not convinient usually. Thus one may want to use Windows certificate store. Unfortunately Grandle has the issue - https://stackoverflow.com/a/59056537 - so use the following: set JAVA_OPTS=-Djavax.net.ssl.trustStoreType=Windows-ROOT -Djavax.net.ssl.trustStore=NUL 

To sum up the following recipe for development with Qt can be composed:

1. download commandlinetools-win-6200805_latest.zip 2. extract cmdline-tools so there will be hierarchy SDKROOT - cmdline-tools - latest - bin - sdkmanager.bat - ... - lib - ... 3. install JDK 8. set JAVA_HOME=c:\path\to\java so that %JAVA_HOME%/bin/java.exe exists. 4. set JAVA_OPTS=-Djavax.net.ssl.trustStoreType=Windows-ROOT -Djavax.net.ssl.trustStore=NUL 5. NDK may be downloaded manually or installed with sdkmanager 6. install required components: SDKROOT\cmdline-tools\latest\bin\sdkmanager "tools" "build-tools;BUILD_TOOLS_VERSION" "platform-tools" "platforms;ANDROID_VERSION" 7. run qtcreator from console so JAVA_OPTS is taken into account (or set it globaly for windows user or even station) 8. tools -> options -> devices set paths to JDK 8, SDKROOT and NDK 

Android SDK Tools now rest in following location: "android_sdk/cmdline-tools/version/bin/";

Therefore to solve this problem in Windows (same can be replicated in other OS), do the following:

1. Inside your android_sdk folder, create the folder: cmdline-tools and inside it create another folder: version extract / put all your files "/bin /lib NOTICE and sources.properties" files inside this version folder.

2. Set ANDROID_HOME to your android_sdk folder.

3. Add to your System Path: android_sdk\cmdlineAndroidSDK\cmdline-tools\version\bin\

Similarly, place your Android SDK Platform Tools inside your android_sdk/platform-tools/ and add corresponding PATH to ENVIRONMENTAL VARIABLES under System Variables

Based on updated suggestions from @Jing Li. Here's my version of gitlab-ci.yml

image: openjdk:8-jdk variables: ANDROID_COMPILE_SDK: "30" ANDROID_BUILD_TOOLS: "29.0.2" ANDROID_COMMAND_LINE_TOOLS: "6858069" GRADLE_OPTS: "-Dorg.gradle.daemon=false" before_script: - export GRADLE_USER_HOME=$(pwd)/.gradle - chmod +x ./gradlew - apt-get --quiet update --yes - apt-get --quiet install --yes wget tar unzip lib32stdc++6 lib32z1 - mkdir -p android-sdk-linux/cmdline-tools - export ANDROID_SDK_ROOT=$PWD/android-sdk-linux - cd android-sdk-linux/cmdline-tools - wget --quiet --output-document=android-sdk.zip https://dl.google.com/android/repository/commandlinetools-linux-${ANDROID_COMMAND_LINE_TOOLS}_latest.zip - unzip android-sdk.zip - rm android-sdk.zip - mv cmdline-tools version - echo y | version/bin/sdkmanager "platforms;android-${ANDROID_COMPILE_SDK}" >/dev/null - echo y | version/bin/sdkmanager "platform-tools" >/dev/null - echo y | version/bin/sdkmanager "build-tools;${ANDROID_BUILD_TOOLS}" >/dev/null - export PATH=$PATH:$ANDROID_SDK_ROOT/platform-tools/ # temporarily disable checking for EPIPE error and use yes to accept all licenses - set +o pipefail - yes | version/bin/sdkmanager --licenses - set -o pipefail - cd ../../ - chmod +x ./gradlew cache: key: ${CI_PROJECT_ID} paths: - .gradle/ 

This page from Unity 2018 documentation also has a good explanation of resolving this issue, including such points like:

1. Installing the Android SDK without Android Studio.
2. Workaround for “Warning: Could not create settings” and “java.lang.IllegalArgumentException”
3. The trick for Android Studio version 3.6 or newer.
4. Warning about Java 9 or later, a JDK must be version 8.

https://docs.unity3d.com/2018.4/Documentation/Manual/android-sdksetup.html

If you are using Linux and at the same time, you don't want to mess your hands with complex workarounds, I recommend you to download and use the Snap version of sdkmanager.

Remember to use androidsdk instead of sdkmanager in the terminal.

Since new updates, there are some changes that are not mentioned in the documentation. After unzipping the command line tools package, the top-most directory you'll get is cmdline-tools. Rename the unpacked directory from cmdline-tools to tools, and place it under $C:/Android/cmdline-tools

now it will look like $C:/Android/cmdline-tools/tools

and it will work perfectly.

The first requirement of installing SDK (Any method) is to install Java & setting JAVA_HOME path.

Then, SDK command-line tools need installation path without which it throws NullPointerException.
To overcome this just pass the path where you want to install SDK with argument "--sdk_root"
Eg. sdkmanager.bat "platform-tools" "platforms;android-" --sdk_root=

Working Solution for Ubuntu using Android Studio Here's the working procedure for Ubuntu and Debian like linux :

1. install Android studio as desribed in their website https://developer.android.com/studio/install
2. run : flutter config --android-studio-dir <location of android studio> then flutter config --android-sdk /home/user/Android/Sdk (this is the default location of the SDK)
3. add the bin to your PATH PATH=$PATH:/home/user/Android/Sdk/tools/bin/
4. Afterwards, run : flutter doctor --android-licenses and accept all licences To check if everything is ok run the doctor in verbos mode as following : flutter doctor -v

Here is very basic and simple solution just change the folder structure change main folder name to latest then create a folder named cmdline-tools create new folder inside cmdline called tools and put bin and other data inside tools folder so it will look like this user\latest\cmdline-tools\tools

I have searched alot but it worked for me

as of march 7th 2023 , the SDK manager states: Move the original cmdline-tools directory contents, including the lib directory, bin directory, NOTICE.txt file, and source.properties file, into the newly created latest directory. You can now use the command-line tools from this location.