Android SDK Manager Fails to Launch
by B.Russell on Dec.23, 2010, under Development, Tips and Tricks
Recently I ran into a unique problem that aggrevated me to no end. I downloaded the latest Android SDK and installed following the exact instructions on Google’s SDK site. I had all the pre-requisits installed and I was ready to launch the SDK Manager to begin grabbing my package components when I ran into the problem. Everytime I tried to launch the SDK Manager all I got was a quick flash of a Windows command prompt, then nothing. This occurred over and over, whether running from the shortcut link inside the Start Menu, or running directly from the command prompt. Nothing …
After some internet searches, I quickly realised I found similar problems posted on various forums, yet no absolute fix was ever posted. Long story short, I found the solution to my paticular problem so I shall outline it here for others out there that may run into the same problem.
Problem:
I actually had previous versions of Java JDE installed already on my machine that I forgot about from other development enviroments and IDEs. Running a simple “java -version” command from the command prompt showed the active JDE was v1.3. I had installed Java JDK v1.6 Update 23 and installed previously before installing the Android SDK so I knew something was wrong.
Solution:
You can have multiple PATH locations for your JDE \ JDK’s on your system, but what counts is what is first in the list that gets first pick. So in order to make sure your latest JDK version that Android SDK is requiring is actually first in the system PATH list, follow these steps under Windows 7:
- Right-click on My Computer -> Properties
- Click Advanced Settings on the left side of the screen
- Look at the bottom list called “System variables” and find the entry labeled “Path”
- Select “Path” from the list and click the Edit button
- If you haven’t already added the path to your Java JDK’s bin folder, then do so now at the Beginning of the list
- Otherwise, locate your previous Java JDK bin folder you inserted earlier and make sure it is at the front of the list
Example:
C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.6.0_23\bin;
Make sure you add the “;” semicolon to the end of the path when you insert it at the beginning of the string. Click Ok button(s) all the way out of the dialogs and reboot your PC. Upon rebooting, I ran the “java -version” command again from my command prompt and it correctly displayed my new install of Java JDK v1.6 Update 23. Android SDK Manager launched too and works great.
I hope this helps you if you run into this problem.
Enjoy!
January 12th, 2011 on 5:18 pm
Thanks a lot for saving the day from that infuriating problem!
Larry
January 13th, 2011 on 10:07 am
No problem, happy to help
January 24th, 2011 on 1:50 pm
Thats a nice post. I got run into same problem, and then I changed the path, now the java path shows latest(1.6.0_23). My bad is still the android sdk manager doesn’t launch. It shows and goes terminated in a flash. Any help is appreciated.
-Thanks
Rajesh
January 24th, 2011 on 1:55 pm
Hmm thats strange, are you running the latest version of the SDK?
January 24th, 2011 on 2:21 pm
yes, java sdk latest 1.6.0_23 and Android SDK _r08. I am drilling since this morning with no luck
January 25th, 2011 on 12:19 pm
looks like I need to set the swt_path and run the android.bat file before launching the “SDK Manager.exe”. That solved my problem temporarily.
-Rajesh
April 23rd, 2011 on 1:17 am
Thanks a lot for this nice, useful posting! I had the same problem. But may be because my OS is Windows XP, the solution was little bit different.
I had to add at the beginning of the “path” system varible two strings: one for jdk path and the other for jre path. So both strings were:
C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.6.0_23;
C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin;
Now everything is working fine!
Alex
April 26th, 2011 on 2:34 am
I found in my previous comment, that my jdk path is wrong. It doesn’t point do bin directory where java.exe resides. It’s enough to put only one string at the begining of the path variable pointing to java.exe location:
C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.6.0_23\bin;
Alex
June 6th, 2011 on 12:04 am
Hi Russel, I got the same problem and googled day by day but can’t find a solution for this. I tried your solution but it still doesn’t work. I prepended the bin path to JDK to “path” environment variables but nothing changes, the Manager cmd window still opens and closes. Hope you give me some advice.
This is my question from StackOverflow, hope you all can help. Thanks.
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6234403/sdk-manager-exe-doesnt-work-android
June 29th, 2011 on 6:17 am
Hello Emerald,
Have you found a solution yet to your problem? I’m interested in knowing if you did. I don’t know much more to try other than what I laid out in my article. Thats what finally worked for me.