Android Studio: Background task running indefinitely

Question

After updating the Android SDK, I started Android Studio. Now its showing background task continuously running with message

Updating indices: Scanning files to index.

In this mode, it is nearly hanged and I can not work on it. Not able to find a way to stop background task. A restart of Android Studio didn't work either.

Try using the `Invalidate Caches / Restart` option - it can be found in the `File` menu. — free3dom, Jul 25 '13 at 07:48
I'm having the same issue, this didn't work. Has OP figured it out yet? — BBB, Oct 06 '13 at 14:42
It would be nice if OP could select an answer that worked for him! Invalidating the Caches fixed the problem for me. — Tim Rasim, Sep 30 '15 at 07:42
This might be fixed in Android Studio 2.2. See https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=211761 — Mr-IDE, Jan 28 '17 at 12:01

score 84 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 19 '15 at 20:55

84

I've find out that I should use the solution of @free3dom which is the Invalidate Caches / Restart option in the File menu.

I have to do this every time I change some project file by switching branches in GIT.

And yes, Android Studio really sucks and is full of bugs...

answered Jul 19 '15 at 20:55

Orabîg

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I recently faced the issue on AS 3.1.2 and your answer saved me. AS is sucks these days :( – Hesam Apr 26 '18 at 16:12
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Version 2 was better. Sometimes on version 3 logcat does not show until three or four restarts of android emulator... :( – FonzTech Jun 14 '18 at 11:15
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@FonzTech I always do `adb kill-server` and `adb devices` on a terminal window. This makes sure I don't have to restart emulator. It might help you. – Surya Teja Karra Aug 16 '18 at 12:49
I also faced this in 3.1.4. Google should release stable issues. – Android Killer Sep 07 '18 at 07:24
I just faced that same issue with Android Studio 4.1 The Invalidate Caches / Restart option in the File menu solution still works. – Regis St-Gelais Nov 04 '20 at 20:14

score 30 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 08 '15 at 22:31

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Unplug all the phones and plug them again, it gets working. It is related to adb as stated here : https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=172387 and a known bug that is to be fixed in the future

answered Aug 08 '15 at 22:31

Buddy

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well the bug isn't fixed yet – has19 Aug 14 '16 at 16:33
Thanks Buddy. This unblocked me :) – Vineet Setia Jan 10 '19 at 20:30
2019 reporting in - issue is still open. Had the same indexing situation when opening existing project in AS 3.5.1 (btw build Help -> About copy function is not working also). Had to shut down emulator for it to start indexing – Alexandr Zhurkov Oct 21 '19 at 09:43

score 3 · Answer 3 · edited Jun 19 '15 at 00:33

The indexing is triggered through inotify on Linux.
There is a limit to how many directories a single user can set watches on. If your project is large, then this limit may be exceeded, and Android Studio falls back to recursive scanning mode, which is very slow.

To fix this, add this line to /etc/sysctl.conf file:

# Increase the limit for Android Studio
`fs.inotify.max_user_watches = 500000`

Then run sudo sysctl -p.

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Apr 14 '20 at 20:46

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Stopping and closing the emulators that I had running solved this issue for me on the latest version of Android Studio.

answered Apr 14 '20 at 20:46

sepulchre01

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Even today, your answer saved me :D – CantThinkOfAnything Jul 02 '20 at 17:48

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Oct 27 '13 at 21:59

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I've this problem recently and in my case I'm using a linux 64bit SO and my android studio was in a ntfs disk. Since ntfs doesn't support executable permition the file fsnotifier64 was unable to execute and android-studio fallback into a compatibility mode that is much slower. The solution was copy the android-studio folder into my home folder that was ext4 and that way i was able to set permitions.

answered Oct 27 '13 at 21:59

Pedro Rainho

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This can't be the solution, as I've got the same issue on Windows – Orabîg Jul 19 '15 at 14:54

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Jun 09 '18 at 18:17

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I struggled with this issue for almost one hour, and after that found that this is the adb connection issue, you can disconnect your device once and stops all the working adb processes. This issue may get resolved.

answered Jun 09 '18 at 18:17

Nisargi Joshi

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score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Feb 01 '19 at 12:54

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I'm also facing this issue, I've tried almost all the methods mentioned in this post, but none of them worked. The only solution that worked for me is to upgrade Android Studio to 3.5(which is still a test version at the time of writing this answer).

answered Feb 01 '19 at 12:54

Searene

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score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Apr 13 '20 at 08:29

This happens to me after updating the Android Gradle plugin version from (3.5.3) to (3.6.2) and Gradle version from (5.4.1) to (5.6.4) it solved after downgrading the plugin again to change Android Gradle plugin version and Gradle version: File > Project Structure > Project

reference: https://developer.android.com/studio/releases/gradle-plugin.html

score 0 · Answer 9 · answered Oct 06 '20 at 15:05

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In my case, it was a module circular dependency problem. It wouldn't show until I removed all the changes into all build.gradle files, then reopen it and apply the stash.

It works :)

answered Oct 06 '20 at 15:05

Rafael Ruiz Muñoz

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score -1 · Answer 10 · answered Oct 09 '18 at 16:39

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This was happening in my project every time I added a new Activity. So I included my R file in that class and it stopped.

eg: import com.domain.appname.R;

This fixed the problem.

answered Oct 09 '18 at 16:39

ayushsri2011

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Android Studio: Background task running indefinitely

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