java.io.IOException: No original dex files found for dex location

Question

I'm trying to build an Android application using the latest SDK from project files that haven't been updated since 2015. With a little work, I've managed to get it building and installing, but when I launch I get an error that I can't find much information on: "java.io.IOException: No original dex files found for dex location".

Here's the full text of the error:

03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime: java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to instantiate activity ComponentInfo{com.xxx.xxx/com.xxx.xxx.LaunchActivity}: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: Didn't find class "com.xxx.xxx.LaunchActivity" on path: DexPathList[[zip file "/data/app/com.xxx.xxx-1/base.apk"],nativeLibraryDirectories=[/data/app/com.xxx.xxx-1/lib/arm, /system/fake-libs, /data/app/com.xxx.xxx-1/base.apk!/lib/armeabi-v7a, /system/lib, /vendor/lib]]
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:    at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2604)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:    at android.app.ActivityThread.handleLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2788)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:    at android.app.ActivityThread.-wrap12(ActivityThread.java)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:    at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1503)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:    at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:102)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:    at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:154)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:    at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:6209)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:    at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:865)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:    at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:755)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime: Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: Didn't find class "com.xxx.xxx.LaunchActivity" on path: DexPathList[[zip file "/data/app/com.xxx.xxx-1/base.apk"],nativeLibraryDirectories=[/data/app/com.xxx.xxx-1/lib/arm, /system/fake-libs, /data/app/com.xxx.xxx-1/base.apk!/lib/armeabi-v7a, /system/lib, /vendor/lib]]
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:    at dalvik.system.BaseDexClassLoader.findClass(BaseDexClassLoader.java:56)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:    at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:380)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:    at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:312)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:    at android.app.Instrumentation.newActivity(Instrumentation.java:1094)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:    at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2594)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:    ... 9 more
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:    Suppressed: java.io.IOException: No original dex files found for dex location /data/app/com.xxx.xxx-1/base.apk
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:        at dalvik.system.DexFile.openDexFileNative(Native Method)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:        at dalvik.system.DexFile.openDexFile(DexFile.java:373)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:        at dalvik.system.DexFile.<init>(DexFile.java:113)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:        at dalvik.system.DexFile.<init>(DexFile.java:78)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:        at dalvik.system.DexPathList.loadDexFile(DexPathList.java:359)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:        at dalvik.system.DexPathList.makeElements(DexPathList.java:323)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:        at dalvik.system.DexPathList.makeDexElements(DexPathList.java:263)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:        at dalvik.system.DexPathList.<init>(DexPathList.java:126)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:        at dalvik.system.BaseDexClassLoader.<init>(BaseDexClassLoader.java:48)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:        at dalvik.system.PathClassLoader.<init>(PathClassLoader.java:64)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:        at com.android.internal.os.PathClassLoaderFactory.createClassLoader(PathClassLoaderFactory.java:43)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:        at android.app.ApplicationLoaders.getClassLoader(ApplicationLoaders.java:58)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:        at android.app.LoadedApk.createOrUpdateClassLoaderLocked(LoadedApk.java:525)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:        at android.app.LoadedApk.getClassLoader(LoadedApk.java:558)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:        at android.app.ActivityThread.getTopLevelResources(ActivityThread.java:1902)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:        at android.app.LoadedApk.getResources(LoadedApk.java:774)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:        at android.app.ContextImpl.<init>(ContextImpl.java:2083)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:        at android.app.ContextImpl.createAppContext(ContextImpl.java:2028)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:        at android.app.ActivityThread.handleBindApplication(ActivityThread.java:5383)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:        at android.app.ActivityThread.-wrap2(ActivityThread.java)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:        at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1571)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:        ... 6 more

And here is the relevant dex output:

-dex:
      [dex] input: /Users/alvion/df/xxx/xxx/Code/Host-Ant/Game/bin/classes
      [dex] input: /Users/alvion/df/xxx/xxx/Code/Host-Ant/google/play_apk_expansion/downloader_library/bin/classes.jar
      [dex] input: /Users/alvion/df/xxx/xxx/Code/Host-Ant/google/play_licensing/library/bin/classes.jar
      [dex] input: /Users/alvion/df/xxx/xxx/Code/Host-Ant/Game/libs/crittercism_v1_3_0.jar
      [dex] input: /Users/alvion/df/xxx/xxx/Code/Host-Ant/Game/libs/jackson-mapper-asl-1.8.4.jar
      [dex] input: /Users/alvion/df/xxx/xxx/Code/Host-Ant/google/play_apk_expansion/downloader_library/libs/android-support-v4.jar
      [dex] input: /Users/alvion/df/xxx/xxx/Code/Host-Ant/Game/libs/dropbox-android-sdk-1.5.4.jar
      [dex] input: /Users/alvion/Library/Android/sdk/tools/support/annotations.jar
      [dex] input: /Users/alvion/df/xxx/xxx/Code/Host-Ant/Game/libs/ouya-sdk.jar
      [dex] input: /Users/alvion/df/xxx/xxx/Code/Host-Ant/Game/libs/guava-r09.jar
      [dex] input: /Users/alvion/df/xxx/xxx/Code/Host-Ant/Game/libs/in-app-purchasing-1.0.3.jar
      [dex] input: /Users/alvion/df/xxx/xxx/Code/Host-Ant/Game/libs/jackson-core-asl-1.8.4.jar
      [dex] input: /Users/alvion/df/xxx/xxx/Code/Host-Ant/Game/libs/json_simple-1.1.jar
      [dex] input: /Users/alvion/df/xxx/xxx/Code/Host-Ant/Game/libs/commons-lang-2.6.jar
      [dex] Pre-Dexing /Users/alvion/df/xxx/xxx/Code/Host-Ant/google/play_apk_expansion/downloader_library/bin/classes.jar -> classes-81c328b1bd235b3a63ab7b7dc3612832.jar
      [dex] Using Pre-Dexed classes-8402751112432f9e98dc60e91b59aa39.jar <- /Users/alvion/df/xxx/xxx/Code/Host-Ant/google/play_licensing/library/bin/classes.jar
      [dex] Using Pre-Dexed crittercism_v1_3_0-3d69c6e931684bd63dfe2e833d0aebe6.jar <- /Users/alvion/df/xxx/xxx/Code/Host-Ant/Game/libs/crittercism_v1_3_0.jar
      [dex] Using Pre-Dexed jackson-mapper-asl-1.8.4-ffc362a66f3bc5bb8073e3401c4d7c7b.jar <- /Users/alvion/df/xxx/xxx/Code/Host-Ant/Game/libs/jackson-mapper-asl-1.8.4.jar
      [dex] Using Pre-Dexed android-support-v4-39781f5ab2494414fb73e335497fb91d.jar <- /Users/alvion/df/xxx/xxx/Code/Host-Ant/google/play_apk_expansion/downloader_library/libs/android-support-v4.jar
      [dex] Using Pre-Dexed dropbox-android-sdk-1.5.4-e975c3510f4992bd1ed860294caaaec6.jar <- /Users/alvion/df/xxx/xxx/Code/Host-Ant/Game/libs/dropbox-android-sdk-1.5.4.jar
      [dex] Using Pre-Dexed annotations-812d332b38fbdb408dd663820ddaf9f6.jar <- /Users/alvion/Library/Android/sdk/tools/support/annotations.jar
      [dex] Using Pre-Dexed ouya-sdk-7728ab2d7956de1baa1d2087c8b3543b.jar <- /Users/alvion/df/xxx/xxx/Code/Host-Ant/Game/libs/ouya-sdk.jar
      [dex] Using Pre-Dexed guava-r09-e1a6934eeb9a0381c562ff20974676c2.jar <- /Users/alvion/df/xxx/xxx/Code/Host-Ant/Game/libs/guava-r09.jar
      [dex] Using Pre-Dexed in-app-purchasing-1.0.3-fa4d8ee5ba37ef3c2e63307e237f5958.jar <- /Users/alvion/df/xxx/xxx/Code/Host-Ant/Game/libs/in-app-purchasing-1.0.3.jar
      [dex] Using Pre-Dexed jackson-core-asl-1.8.4-d94d4ec863304731c24c400b1f59e0be.jar <- /Users/alvion/df/xxx/xxx/Code/Host-Ant/Game/libs/jackson-core-asl-1.8.4.jar
      [dex] Using Pre-Dexed json_simple-1.1-162e5f2c569f2c90fd6fa9067260bced.jar <- /Users/alvion/df/xxx/xxx/Code/Host-Ant/Game/libs/json_simple-1.1.jar
      [dex] Using Pre-Dexed commons-lang-2.6-73a87249d3e4206fda186982d953eb0b.jar <- /Users/alvion/df/xxx/xxx/Code/Host-Ant/Game/libs/commons-lang-2.6.jar
      [dex] Found modified input file
      [dex] Converting compiled files and external libraries into /Users/alvion/df/xxx/xxx/Code/Host-Ant/Game/bin/classes.dex...
       [dx] Merged dex #1 (87 defs/139.5KiB)
       [dx] Merged dex #2 (371 defs/436.8KiB)
       [dx] Merged dex #3 (2 defs/1.1KiB)
       [dx] Merged dex #4 (50 defs/90.6KiB)
       [dx] Merged dex #5 (25 defs/35.5KiB)
       [dx] Merged dex #6 (133 defs/331.3KiB)
       [dx] Merged dex #7 (69 defs/199.7KiB)
       [dx] Merged dex #8 (73 defs/84.7KiB)
       [dx] Merged dex #9 (883 defs/1023.2KiB)
       [dx] Merged dex #10 (85 defs/58.1KiB)
       [dx] Merged dex #11 (129 defs/232.0KiB)
       [dx] Merged dex #12 (432 defs/535.7KiB)
       [dx] Merged dex #13 (12 defs/21.8KiB)
       [dx] Merged dex #14 (204 defs/181.7KiB)
       [dx] Result is 2555 defs/4209.8KiB. Took 0.6s

A few details about the app:

It's a game, and it's really big. 2.5 gigs for the apk, and tons of c++ code, though very little Java code.
When trying to install via "adb install" it was giving random errors along the lines of the following, but with different filenames every time. I presume this had something to do with the extraordinary size of the apk, but I'm not sure, and I'm not sure if it may be related to the current issue.

Failed to install drm_free/Xxx-debug.apk: Failure [INSTALL_PARSE_FAILED_UNEXPECTED_EXCEPTION: Failed reading assets/some/random/asset.bin in android.util.jar.StrictJarFile@710a502: META-INF/MANIFEST.MF has invalid digest for assets/some/random/asset.bin in assets/some/random/asset.bin]

The only related issue I could find was this one but it doesn't seem related, since there is very little actual Java code in this app, so hitting the dex method limit doesn't make sense. The solution offered there is very non-trivial because the multiDexEnabled property I need to set in my build process only seems to be exposed in the gradle build file, which I don't have because this is a legacy project.

some more related questions http://stackoverflow.com/questions/22399572/java-lang-classnotfoundexception-didnt-find-class-on-path-dexpathlist and http://stackoverflow.com/questions/19523167/android-classnotfoundexception-didnt-find-class-on-path which might help — Manohar, Mar 20 '17 at 07:33

score 11 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 30 '18 at 10:08

11

In my case Setting > Build, Execution, Deployment > Instant run

Uncheck "Enable Instant Run to hot swap code/resource changes on deploy"

Worked Fine.

answered Oct 30 '18 at 10:08

Ananta Prasad

3,655
3
23
35

1

Thanks a lot. Worked for me – DrMorteza Mar 04 '19 at 13:12
1

This worked for me. It seems proguard ruins instant run. – finejustice Mar 14 '19 at 09:11
Thanks a lot. you save my day:) – anoop ghildiyal Jul 01 '19 at 09:08
My Pleasure @anoopbryan2 – Ananta Prasad Jul 01 '19 at 09:22

hofs · Answer 2 · 2018-10-18T11:35:24.093

10

I had a similar problem, solution: go to build.gradle(Module: app) in debug block and disable minifyEnabled:

debug {
            minifyEnabled false

        }

edited Oct 18 '18 at 11:35

answered Oct 03 '18 at 15:40

hofs

469
4
12

2

minifyEnabled will have code optimized and obfuscated. You should not set it to false. – Orlay Garcia Duconge Oct 09 '20 at 16:39

score 3 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 05 '19 at 09:13

3

I faced this error with Room. To solve it I just clean project then run it.

answered Mar 05 '19 at 09:13

MohammadL

2,398
1
19
36

lechat · Answer 4 · 2022-03-18T06:40:40.077

2

I had the same error but it seems that I forgot to add permission in AndroidManifest.xml. My app uses internet with a webview, so I need the permission.

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />

Also seems like there was a mistake in activity name in the manifest file.

<activity android:name=".(Wrong name)">

When I corrected these, the error disappeared.

edited Mar 18 '22 at 06:40

answered Jan 05 '19 at 05:18

lechat

390
2
15

score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Mar 09 '18 at 09:56

I also faced same kind of issue after installing my apk. After disabling PREOPT from android.mk and building the application then it started working.

Please see the below link for reference https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/android-building/NWpPusXEfN0

score 1 · Answer 6 · answered Sep 07 '18 at 09:31

I saw this error when I was forgetting to add

    <uses-library
        android:name="org.apache.http.legacy"
        android:required="false" />

https://developer.android.com/about/versions/marshmallow/android-6.0-changes#behavior-apache-http-client

score 0 · Answer 7 · edited Jun 23 '19 at 05:28

0

i had this problem and add this to the AndroidManifest:

<uses-library android:name="org.apache.http.legacy"
              android:required="false" />

edited Jun 23 '19 at 05:28

Jeroen Heier

3,520
15
31
32

answered Jun 23 '19 at 05:16

Mohsen Jamali

1

java.io.IOException: No original dex files found for dex location

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