Error: Execution failed for task ':app:clean'. Unable to delete file

Question

I'm trying to rebuild my Android Studio Gradle project (containing mostly Kotlin code), but it started to throw an UnableToDeleteFileException during the cleaning/rebuilding process:

Execution failed for task ':app:clean'.
> Unable to delete file: C:\Users\User\KotlinGameEngine\app\build\intermediates\exploded-aar\com.android.support\appcompat-v7\23.0.1\jars\classes.jar

This started happening after I tried to change my project's package structure. Unfortunately, I did it by renaming and moving the source folders rather than refactoring through Android Studio, which was a bad idea.

I've been searching for a solution to this problem all day, and these are the things I have tried to no avail:

Doing a Gradle sync;
Reinstalling Java JRE and Java SDK;
Reinstalling the latest version of Android Studio (1.4);
Rolling back to the previous AS version (1.3);
Invalidating the AS cache and restarting;
Deleting the gradle and .gradle directories in the project directory;
Deleting the .gradle directory in my user directory;
Running gradlew clean from the AS terminal;
Manually copying the sources over to a new project (weird that it somehow persists across projects...)

Things that I've tried with a little success, but only let me perform one more clean and rebuild before the error occurs again:

Closing AS, manually deleting the build files, and opening it again;
Killing the java.exe process while AS is running (this could technically be done every time, but it's tedious and slows down the build process)

So it seems that compile the Java process may put a lock on the build files for some reason, but it might also be something to do with Kotlin. I have a (more mature) Java Android project that I'm working on, though I can't reproduce this error when cleaning it. It seems to only happen to my Kotlin project.

Update:

I've found that the problem is being caused by the Kotlin Android plugin. The problem disappears when I remove apply plugin: 'kotlin-android' from the module's build.gradle file and comes back when I reinsert it. Feel free to offer any insight into this.

Update 2:

The last update isn't the cause. I found that if a project contains a Kotlin file then rebuilding and cleaning fails. It continues to fail, even if all the Kotlin files are removed, until the background Java process is killed, meaning it has some kind of lock on the build files. I submitted a bug here with more details and steps to reproduce the bug: KT-9440

I had already tried that, but I tried it again just in case. Still no luck though. — Bryony, Oct 02 '15 at 19:35
This kind of issue often occurs to me. if first option did not work then log off from system then start studio after logging in. — Mohammad Tauqir, Oct 02 '15 at 19:46
Restarted my PC and the problem still persists. Thanks for your help though. — Bryony, Oct 02 '15 at 20:02

score 138 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 26 '15 at 16:45

138

I killed all the java TM processes in the task manager and it let me to rebuild

answered Nov 26 '15 at 16:45

Andres Suarez

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+1. Zombie Java process was the issue. If you're on Win 10, open Task Manager; look for Java (TM) Platform SE binary; End Task. – Some Noob Student Nov 30 '15 at 07:55
34

You can use `gradle --stop` to stop any stuck daemons as an alternative. – Jayson Minard Jan 06 '16 at 20:44
1

Is there some automatic way to kill the processes. I waste so much time by killing it manually in every clean. – Riki Feb 13 '17 at 05:54
In my case, there was an open Meld (compare and merge tool) that was locking the folder to clean – Armando Nov 22 '18 at 20:03
in my case i didn't found Java TM so i restarted the windows – Dasser Basyouni Mar 06 '20 at 22:57
@DasserBasyouni try to kill "OpenJDK Platform binary" – wangqi060934 Mar 23 '20 at 06:23
Close all the windows which are opened except the cmd – Utkarsh Aug 14 '20 at 14:13
it works for me. I have deleted all running process of JAVA. – Sarang Jul 20 '22 at 18:38

Irfan · Answer 2 · 2016-03-04T05:10:45.890

123

If you are using Android Studio 2.0 Beta, this issue might appear (more likely if you are working on NTFS filesystem) and it seems like the "Instant Run" is the culprit. Search for "Instant Run" in settings and uncheck the box.

I have filed an issue on the bug tracker.

edited Mar 04 '16 at 05:10

answered Mar 02 '16 at 16:13

Irfan

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I'm using sshfs. Same issue here. Disabling instant run works for me. – Song Apr 07 '16 at 18:17
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Yes,DISABLING INSTANT RUN Studio 2.0 beta 7 made resolved this exception – Yogesh Seralia Apr 11 '16 at 05:31
1

My Android Studio 2.0 was stuck at refreshing a particular project. I tried everything and accidentally followed this answer & it solved by problem which was different from the question.I was stuck for so long . I wish I could upvote you more times! Thank you – Rachita Nanda Apr 12 '16 at 18:53
11

This worked for me. In case it helps someone: To disable Instant Run in version 2.1 of Android Studio that's File -> Settings -> Build, Execution, Deployment -> Instant Run and then un-check the first box "Enable Instant Run...". – Apr 29 '16 at 17:33
This worked for me, until Android Studio was updated. For v2.1.2 this is no longer sufficient. Any additional fixes gratefully received. – kshepherd Jun 07 '16 at 12:34
I have found, like some others, that killing java processes works. Don't kill the first one, it is probably your Android Studio: "ps -All | grep java" and then kill -9 nnnn for the process ids of the second, etc processes. – kshepherd Jun 07 '16 at 17:30
1

I'm using AS v2.1.3. In my case, the "Instant Run" box was already unchecked, so I checked it, applied it, Clean & Rebuid the project (the error was still there) and then unchecked it, applied it, Clean & Rebuid the project and the error was gone. – jose Sep 01 '16 at 09:10
Also using AS v2.1.3 and @jose 's solution works here, Win 7, NTFS. – J E Carter II Sep 27 '16 at 20:17
Instant run was already unchecked for me, as I get the 'can't delete file' error every studio upgrade (this time to 2.3 canary 2). I also had to check it, attempt project run, get error message 'need to install apk 23' (the apk of my test device), cancel the run, uncheck instant run, run project and wait 10 minutes for the gradle build with no error. – Androidcoder Nov 24 '16 at 17:42

score 53 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 15 '16 at 06:56

53

Try File -> Invalidate Caches and Restart

This worked for me

answered Sep 15 '16 at 06:56

Cloy

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The "Invalidate cache and restart" makes Android studio to stuck in Window 8 PC. I am using Android studio 2.2.2. I can use this feature at all. Anyone has a right solution for this?. – Nithinjith Oct 28 '16 at 04:38
File -> Invalidate Caches and Restart works but takes so much time it is not OK. The basic problem of Win10 file privileges malfunctions re-arrived for me updating to SDK 27 (I accepted the update message). And after the same update the AS cries for NDK 15 but there is only a NDK14 available, set build gradle compile SDK to 26 and it don't cry. Look like we are in between two generations here?? In Win10 x64 there is also problems with the emulators that need data to be wiped to be reused. Sound like an awful lot of details to fix? – Jan Bergström Apr 01 '18 at 23:31

Bryony · Accepted Answer · 2015-10-03T16:38:50.317

After I posted a bug report to the Kotlin bug tracker, I was notified of Issue 61300 on the AOSP tracker. That seems to be the cause. Since there's nothing I can do at the moment, I'll mark this question as answered, and I'll update the answer if the bug is fixed.

In the meantime, if you're running Windows, I believe I've found a workaround. You'll need to download LockHunter (at your own risk of course), then add the following to your module's gradle.build file, replacing the lockhunter variable with your path to LockHunter.exe:

task clean(type: Exec) {
    ext.lockhunter = '\"C:\\LockHunter.exe\"'
    def buildDir = file(new File("build"))
    commandLine 'cmd', "$lockhunter", '/delete', '/silent', buildDir
}

This causes LockHunter to forcefully and silently unlock and delete the build files when the app:clean task runs.

I solved the clean problem with this but unable to do the same for running the app. Still get the same error. Got any idea; maybe change the clean with something else? — codiac, Jun 01 '16 at 13:56
Error:(21, 0) Declaring custom 'clean' task when using the standard Gradle lifecycle plugins is not allowed. — Shashwat Gupta, Aug 23 '17 at 18:55

score 30 · Answer 5 · edited May 05 '19 at 14:44

30

Clean project from Terminal using this command gradlew clean.

edited May 05 '19 at 14:44

Gastón Saillén

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answered May 19 '16 at 05:41

Biswajit Karmakar

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Typing the above command started a download, unpack, and install, which took some time. After that, this solution worked for me. – Dale Jun 18 '16 at 18:15
It took 11 minutes for this to complete, but it seems to work.A stitch in time saves nine. This should be the accepted answer. – mwieczorek Jun 25 '16 at 00:23
I am on ubuntu i ran the gradlew clean as instructed above but did not worked ..:( .command not found . – Abhijit Gujar Oct 10 '16 at 11:14
1

@AbhijitGujar You should try `./gradlew clean` on Ubuntu instead. (It will run the `gradlew` executable from the project directory.) – TerraPass Nov 03 '16 at 00:34
11

`./gradlew clean` did not solve this problem for me. It showed the same error again i.e. "unable to delete directory" – abggcv Jan 03 '17 at 17:13
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try using sudo if that is UNIX based system – Mohamed Ibrahim Jun 04 '20 at 08:46
1

It worked for me, but before that, I need to give proper permissions to run ./gradlew, with chmod +x ./gradlew. Using Ubuntu 20.04 and Android version 4.1.1, and gradle version 6.5. – lubrum Nov 30 '20 at 19:37
Cleaning gradle from command line sometimes does the exact operation as you click on Clean Project. So instead, one should try to kill the process which is holding up the build files and preventing its deletion. That way, it gets solved. – Divya Gupta Oct 21 '21 at 09:32

score 25 · Answer 6 · edited Mar 28 '19 at 09:08

25

I solved with command:

taskkill /F /IM java.exe

and then:

gradle assembleDebug

edited Mar 28 '19 at 09:08

סטנלי גרונן

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answered Mar 28 '19 at 07:57

Rick

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taskkill /F /IM java.exe was the solution for me. Thanks! – Michel Fernandes Jul 30 '20 at 00:16
1

great.. worked for me <3 – user7418129 Nov 08 '21 at 11:02

score 17 · Answer 7 · edited Jul 12 '16 at 12:59

17

Deleting the directory intermediates is a quick fix for problem.

The directory will be rebuilt when the project is rebuilt.

edited Jul 12 '16 at 12:59

Aleks

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answered May 21 '16 at 16:02

DeaMon1

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I've tried to delete the intermediates directory, but Windows tells me I can't delete the directory. Weird. – tronman Aug 26 '16 at 22:12
It worked for me on one of the projects but not on another :( – abggcv Jan 03 '17 at 16:39

score 12 · Answer 8 · answered May 23 '16 at 06:42

I was facing same issue on Android Studio 2.2 preview 1, solution by @AndresSuarez was correct but for some reasons I couldn't find JAVA TM process in my task manager. So I tried the following solution and it worked -

Open command prompt and type TASKKILL /F /IM java.exe. This will kill all JAVA TM processes automatically. Now re-compile the app again, it will work.

Additionally, you can create a .bat file, add the above code in it and run it every time you face the issue.

score 6 · Answer 9 · answered Nov 18 '17 at 15:14

6

I had the same problem and this worked for me:

close Android Studio.
delete intermediates directory (as long as Android Studio is opened, this directory can't be deleted)
open Android Studio again

answered Nov 18 '17 at 15:14

M. Chavoshi

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Johan Lund · Answer 10 · 2017-10-06T10:49:11.897

5

I had this problem in Android Studio 2.3.

I simply restarted Android Studio and after that I could clean without complaints.

edited Oct 06 '17 at 10:49

answered Oct 05 '17 at 14:14

Johan Lund

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score 5 · Answer 11 · edited Aug 06 '19 at 03:28

5

For me, this happened because of an active debugging process. So, before cleaning or rebuilding, make sure to kill all active processes. To nail down the success, execute Invalidate Caches/Restart.

edited Aug 06 '19 at 03:28

JorgeAmVF

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answered Dec 07 '17 at 11:28

Dmitry Smolyaninov

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score 4 · Answer 12 · answered Jun 01 '16 at 16:38

4

For me it helps when I Exit Android Studio, click one more time Clean Project (it appears the same error) and next click Make Project - after that of course Run 'app' button in Android Studio.

answered Jun 01 '16 at 16:38

y07k2

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score 4 · Answer 13 · answered Jun 21 '18 at 23:12

For me, the culprit is adb holding onto the apk file since I utilise it to install and start the application on my physical device through command line.

So simply:

Task Manager > End process adb.exe

And then the file is free to be deleted and the project may be cleaned

score 3 · Answer 14 · answered Apr 19 '16 at 06:44

I solved this one in my ubuntu like this.

Check for the processes running in your system(Ubuntu) like in task manager in windows.

Ubuntu terminal command to list out all processes running ----> "gnome-system-monitor"
Terminate or end the JAVA and ANDROID processes in the list.
Again start the studio and import project.

Its works for me without any problems. Hope this helps...

I thought this is the problem with the process that are already created and Duplicated.

score 3 · Answer 15 · answered May 21 '16 at 12:20

3

The solution is quite easy.

This is one of the solution which worked for me.

It might be possible that your project's app/build/outputs/apk folder is opened.

so just close this folder and rebuild your project. and it will be solved.

answered May 21 '16 at 12:20

Mehul

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yes I was having this problem , there was a report file that is saved in build/report/checkstyle.html , closing this file solved my problem , thanks – tamtom Mar 02 '17 at 18:16

score 3 · Answer 16 · answered Nov 05 '16 at 18:25

3

Find programs who used app/build/outputs/apk folder, then just delete folder.

I think Android Studio have to delete old apk folder before rebuilding.

answered Nov 05 '16 at 18:25

Mete

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score 3 · Answer 17 · answered Sep 14 '20 at 07:15

3

For my case, I resolve it by -

First, close the app if it is running in the emulator.
Then run the command gradle --stop in the Terminal in Android studio.
Then clean project and rebuild project

answered Sep 14 '20 at 07:15

Gk Mohammad Emon

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tnx, that helps I had two demons run at the same time – gordinmitya Dec 07 '21 at 14:16
This solution is worked for me. I am on RN and just need to close all device connection before clean build. – Cuong Vo Dec 15 '21 at 06:21

Chetan Joshi · Answer 18 · 2017-01-24T07:57:53.743

2

Some times intermediates creates problem so delete it and Rebuild project

OR

simply run cmd command - > gradlew clean

in your project folder in work space (its work for me)

edited Jan 24 '17 at 07:57

answered Jun 30 '16 at 12:38

Chetan Joshi

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Jose Gómez · Answer 19 · 2016-12-08T12:19:06.713

2

As suggested in the bug report, uncommenting the line

idea.jars.nocopy=false

in the idea.properties file has solved the issue for me.

Note that this needs to be done every time Android Studio updates.

edited Dec 08 '16 at 12:19

answered Dec 06 '16 at 00:00

Jose Gómez

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score 2 · Answer 20 · answered Apr 22 '18 at 06:30

2

In Android Studio 3.0, I had the same issue. This fixed it:

Close Studio
Delete projectRoot/build/ and projectRoot/app/build/
Restart Studio

answered Apr 22 '18 at 06:30

Joseph Bani

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score 2 · Answer 21 · answered Sep 15 '19 at 13:42

2

react native devs

run

sudo cd android && ./gradlew clean

and if you want release apk

sudo cd android && ./gradlew assembleRelease

Hope it will help someone

answered Sep 15 '19 at 13:42

Muhammad Ashfaq

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score 2 · Answer 22 · answered Jun 05 '20 at 13:17

2

i simply run cmd command - > gradlew clean , And it fix the issue

answered Jun 05 '20 at 13:17

ABDESSAMAD FELOUACH

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score 1 · Answer 23 · answered Aug 10 '16 at 15:35

If you are testing with a local backend (java servlet on local google app engine) the running process blocks some files. So you are not able to live deploy. So in this case you can solve this by stopping the local backend before starting clean or build. You find the option under "Run -> Stop backend".

score 1 · Answer 24 · answered Feb 01 '17 at 21:01

1

I had the same error, tried multiple ways but the solution worked for me was to delete build folders from /android and /android/app directories.

run react-native run-android worked for me.

answered Feb 01 '17 at 21:01

Eltaf Hussain

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score 1 · Answer 25 · answered Oct 30 '17 at 10:01

1

I solved it by global searching the missing directory in the project. then delete any files containing that keyword. it can clean successfully after I remove all the build and .externalNativeBuild directories manually.

answered Oct 30 '17 at 10:01

wdanxna

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score 1 · Answer 26 · answered Jul 17 '18 at 08:18

I had the same issue after moving my project from D: to G: drive but disk checking solved my issue

I used chkdsk /f /r /x G: ** here some command line switches were used:**

/F Fixes errors on the disk

/R Locates bad sectors and recovers readable information (implies /F)

/X Forces the volume to dismount first if necessary (implies /F) (important)

Note: /X is important because it will dismount the drive and you can manually delete the build directory of your project,

now rebuild the project

This worked. Thank you! :) But it took almost 5 hrs. time to complete. — Rohit Sharma, Nov 18 '19 at 09:52

score 1 · Answer 27 · answered Jul 29 '18 at 08:33

1

My Solution for this was very very simple ( if you are using Windows). 1- Close Android Studio. 2- Run Android Studio as Administrator. 3- That is it.

answered Jul 29 '18 at 08:33

صلي علي محمد - Atef Farouk

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score 1 · Answer 28 · answered Jul 30 '19 at 10:29

I just solved this exact problem for myself.

The problem was that somebody else had created the file so even though I have admin rights on the computer I was unable to make changes to the file or files. You need to go into the properties of the file or folder and change the ownership or add ownership. This web page explains it well step by step what you need to do.

Once I did the above, I found the file in file explorer and manually extracted it. I don't think it's needed in the android studio project if it was trying to delete it anyway.

score 1 · Answer 29 · answered May 01 '20 at 11:26

1

Another application that can be using the resources is apparently Android Studio's Kotlin REPL. I closed that, and then I could build again no problem.

answered May 01 '20 at 11:26

user2061182

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score 1 · Answer 30 · answered Oct 07 '20 at 07:03

I have tried to remove all the Java services but still it is failing while executing the gradlew clean build command from IntelliJ terminal. I even verified the other applications I have opened somewhere the same path which I am trying the delete. But could not find any of such. So, finally restarted the IntelliJ IDE and able to proceed build smoothly.

score 0 · Answer 31 · answered Apr 12 '16 at 14:26

This issue appeared to me in android studio 2.0 stable channel and the solution was due to a problem happened while updating my android studio i solved this by installing a fresh android studio. after deleting all old files for the old installation. and to keep the very nice feature of Instant Run

score 0 · Answer 32 · answered May 02 '16 at 06:36

0

if you're still having issues then update to the latest version of Android Studio(its 2.1 as of now), might be it was a bug with older version of Android Studio. Its resolved for me now.

answered May 02 '16 at 06:36

Ishant Sagar

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Occurring in 2.2 preview 1 for me, so I don't think it is fixed. – Rohan Kandwal May 23 '16 at 06:24

score 0 · Answer 33 · answered Aug 01 '16 at 03:28

0

Cleaning the project in Android studio and running again fixed the issue. May be do "Make Project" as well.

answered Aug 01 '16 at 03:28

sofs1

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score 0 · Answer 34 · answered Dec 24 '16 at 13:56

0

I had the same problem and I solved it by moving project folder into ext4 partition

answered Dec 24 '16 at 13:56

Ahmed Esameddeen

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Yeah, I've read elsewhere that the Android Studio/gradle/React Native/packager/watchman system has issues (for some reason) on NTFS file-systems. – Venryx Nov 21 '17 at 19:33

score 0 · Answer 35 · answered Nov 02 '17 at 18:39

0

I am using Android Studio 3.0 Beta 7. Clean Project, Invalidate caches, restart studio did not work but Updating Kotlin version to 1.1.51 and restart studio solved this issue for me.

answered Nov 02 '17 at 18:39

adithya reddy

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score 0 · Answer 36 · answered Aug 06 '18 at 18:38

0

the thing that worked for me was to close visual studio code and open it again ... i guess the apk was folder was opened somewhere in code .... so just try it might work for you as well

answered Aug 06 '18 at 18:38

MSD

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score 0 · Answer 37 · answered Aug 23 '18 at 17:37

0

In my case node.js was using some resources in build folder (my app in reactnative). So I killed node.js and it solved.

answered Aug 23 '18 at 17:37

Ramin Bateni

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score 0 · Answer 38 · answered Dec 06 '18 at 01:31

0

simple solution :

in android or any jetbrains products when you click to you will find 'invalidate cache and restart ' click on it and all the problems will be solved

answered Dec 06 '18 at 01:31

Farouk Benarous

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Well, invalidate cache and restart is just a vague solution to any problem. Instead, one should focus on finding out what is the exact root cause of a problem, rather than compromising your local history of cache. – Divya Gupta Oct 21 '21 at 09:30

score 0 · Answer 39 · answered Apr 05 '20 at 20:36

0

Though this has already been answered, I came from a non-android project and found this, but it could not solve my issue. If someone does see this error, delete the "build" folder manually through your file manager. For me, this repaired the code failing to compile in Kotlin.

answered Apr 05 '20 at 20:36

Corie LeClair

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After you should run gradle build, then gradle clean. – Corie LeClair Apr 05 '20 at 20:37

score 0 · Answer 40 · answered Jan 15 '21 at 13:38

0

try to remove these files manually

In my case I just removed all build directories from project and subprojects

answered Jan 15 '21 at 13:38

yoAlex5

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score 0 · Answer 41 · answered Feb 16 '22 at 21:16

Here in 2022 I having the same unable to delete file gradle error while trying to build my android project in react-native. When working on the project on a mac I wasn't getting any issues, but when I switch to Windows my build would fail. I've found cleaning the project often resolve build failures and I'm lazy so I had added npm scripts for cleaning my project for both windows and mac, which was part of my problem.

On macOS my clean script included watchman watch-del-all and my Windows did not. Me being me, had totally forgot that I had installed the watchman beta and that somehow was why my project was unable to delete.

Long story short, if you are using react-native and you get this error watchman watch-del-all may help, even on Windows

score -3 · Answer 42 · answered Oct 30 '18 at 04:21

-3

Follow these Steps From Build Option tab: 1) Clean Project 2) Rebuild Project 3) Make Project

answered Oct 30 '18 at 04:21

saurabh yadav

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Error: Execution failed for task ':app:clean'. Unable to delete file

Update:

Update 2:

42 Answers42

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