Android Studio - Update to 2.3 - Studio doesn't have write access

Question

I didn't have this problem before. When i am trying to update Android Studio to 2.3, i get this:

Studio does not have write access to /private/var/folders/00/n4yy8fsx0njck05bfll1t3_w0000gn/T/AppTranslocation/2D9E214E-60BE-41D9-9843-3536E011FD7E/d/Android Studio.app/Contents. Please run it by a privileged user to update.

The account that i am in is Admin account and i also tried to give full access to that directory.

chmod -R 777 /private/var/....

but nothing worked. Any help will be much appreciated.

score 58 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 07 '17 at 20:43

58

I experienced the same issue. Resolved it by running Android studio with sudo from the command line:

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

After the update has been downloaded you have to run the command one more time for Android studio to copy over the correct files.

Next time you run Android studio with your non-privileged user it should be updated.

answered Mar 07 '17 at 20:43

luckytommy

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But this keeps happening each time you open/update Android studio. – sud007 Aug 19 '17 at 04:36
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This is answer is completely wrong. Never run a program like Android Studio as super user! Just give your user permission to write to that folder. – ig343 Dec 23 '17 at 02:46
iguarna this was the correct answer in many scenarios. thanks – j2emanue Mar 28 '18 at 03:14
This is the best answer. Worked perfectly. – Botond Kopacz Mar 03 '20 at 16:59

score 37 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 03 '17 at 04:18

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This also happened to me, but it was because the app was not in the /Applications folder, after moving it to the right folder it ran without problems.

answered Jun 03 '17 at 04:18

jgutix

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Perfect answer. – Chandra Sekhar Dec 13 '17 at 18:00
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Killed 2 birds with 1 stone :) – Positive Navid Mar 02 '20 at 19:25

score 24 · Answer 3 · edited Dec 07 '18 at 17:34

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Case Android Studio is already under the Application folder run the following command on the terminal.

sudo chmod -R 777 /Applications/Android\ Studio.app/Contents

edited Dec 07 '18 at 17:34

Andrei Calazans

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answered Sep 28 '18 at 15:28

Prashant Gaykar

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score 7 · Answer 4 · answered Jul 25 '18 at 12:15

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The studio needs write access for all files and folders in it. We use Recursive (-R) for it.

Try this in terminal:

sudo chown -R username:username /opt/android-studio

username is the name of your computer.

answered Jul 25 '18 at 12:15

Shachi

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score 6 · Answer 5 · answered Aug 19 '17 at 04:36

Nothing to worry about. Here is when it hapens:

Reason When you have the Android Studio as a package in MAC OS, placed in Downloads OR anywhere on the Dashboard. Some such apps do not have appropriate permissions.

Running sudo command, will resolve this issue for once but will still be the same next time when you open/update studio.

Solution

Close all instances of Android Studio if running.
Open finder window and lok for 'Applications' label in the 'Favorites' section.
Simply drag and drop the Studio package over the 'Applications' (move to applications).
Your problem should now be resolved! Run it. Update it.

score 5 · Answer 6 · answered Mar 27 '18 at 13:48

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sudo chmod -R 777 [android studio folder]

answered Mar 27 '18 at 13:48

Kai Wang

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in my case.. My android-studio folder was in home. as I execute sudo chown shahzad -R android-studio and it done. – Shahzad Harim Mar 20 '20 at 14:07

score 4 · Answer 7 · answered Sep 29 '18 at 07:19

This also happens if you have installed your Android Studio with Homebrew Cask (by running brew cask install android-studio someday earlier).

To verify if your AS has been installed with Homebrew, run brew cask list and see if the list contains android-studio.

If it does, to upgrade Android Studio to latest version, just run

brew cask upgrade android-studio

score 3 · Answer 8 · answered Apr 15 '20 at 17:29

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If you downloaded it using Jetbrains toolbox try to update it using the toolbox. That fixed the issue for me.

answered Apr 15 '20 at 17:29

Faaatman

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score 1 · Answer 9 · answered Feb 10 '21 at 15:53

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If you're using JetBrains Toolbox, you can update it through Toolbox instead of the IDE.

I think this is related to jgutix's answer:

This also happened to me, but it was because the app was not in the /Applications folder

answered Feb 10 '21 at 15:53

Victoria Gonda

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score 0 · Answer 10 · answered Feb 11 '20 at 10:36

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I have Macbook pro, I had a similar error when updating from version 3.6 rc-01 to version 3.6 rc-03. I moved the app from the downloads folder to the Applications folder.

answered Feb 11 '20 at 10:36

Ogulcan Ucarsu

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score 0 · Answer 11 · answered Apr 15 '20 at 14:39

I faced the same issue when I was updating Android Studio. I fixed it by locating where the Android Studio file was present, opened Finder, on the left side under Favourites tab click Applications Tab and dragged the file in to the Applications Folder. If you can't locate the file just Right Click from dock and "Show In Finder" and then drag in the Applications

score 0 · Answer 12 · answered Mar 29 '21 at 14:45

What worked for me is just: setting my user to own /Contents: In my case I was solving this problem for a different JetBrains Software Datagrip.

~ $ sudo chown $(whoami) /Applications/DataGrip.app/Contents

or for Android Studio specifically:

~ $ sudo chown $(whoami) /Applications/Android\ Studio.app/Contents

Then restarting the application. I think its really more accurate to say that I own it rather than I have the perms to read/write on it. Also, I preferred not to use the -R flag since I want the minimum amount of ownership.

Android Studio - Update to 2.3 - Studio doesn't have write access

12 Answers12