Android SDK Content Loader failing with NullPointerException

Question

I've just recently started getting an error any time I interact with the Android SDK and AVD Manager in Eclipse Helios

I've tried reinstalling the Eclipse plugin and the Android SDK but to no avail.

If I go to the "Installed packages" page and click refresh (or install or remove a package) I get a popup box saying that

'Android SDK Content Loader' has encountered a problem. 
parseSdkContent failed 
java.lang.NullPointerException.

Here is the full log:

Stack Trace

java.lang.NullPointerException
   at com.android.ide.eclipse.adt.internal.sdk.Sdk.loadTarget(Unknown Source)
   at com.android.ide.eclipse.adt.AdtPlugin$10.run(Unknown Source)
   at org.eclipse.core.internal.jobs.Worker.run(Worker.java:54)

Session Data

eclipse.buildId=M20100909-0800
java.version=1.6.0_20
java.vendor=Sun Microsystems Inc.
BootLoader constants: OS=linux, ARCH=x86, WS=gtk, NL=en_IE
Framework arguments:  -product org.eclipse.epp.package.java.product
Command-line arguments:  -os linux -ws gtk -arch x86 -product org.eclipse.epp.package.java.product

Has anyone else encountered this recently? It doesn't seem to be affecting actual Android development but its just kinda annoying.

I should probably add that when I install/delete/refresh in the AVD manager outside Eclipse I get no such errors. ie when I run /tools/android from the command line — Tim, Feb 16 '11 at 17:30

score 39 · Answer 1 · answered May 24 '11 at 15:18

39

The issue is in the your-avd-name.ini that is located at ...\<user-profile>\.android on your Windows machine (if you're Windows user). When any error occurs during the avd.ini parser, the Google ADT plugin tries to access a map that is null. The workaround is to delete the offending .ini file and recreate your avd(s).

This information was posted here: http://community.developer.motorola.com/t5/MOTODEV-Studio-for-Android/Android-SDK-Content-Loader-has-encountered-a-problem/td-p/6565

answered May 24 '11 at 15:18

Surya Wijaya Madjid

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Thanks Surya but I'm afraid I am not a Windows used. I use Linux and sometimes Mac. – Tim May 24 '11 at 16:58
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+1 Its working fine in Linux. i have deleted .android directory – Paresh Mayani Aug 23 '11 at 09:28
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@PareshMayani thanks dude. I am using Ubuntu. after deleting .android directory, its working fine. – Raghu Nagaraju May 25 '12 at 05:24
working fine after deleted .android directory on user profile as mine path on windows 7 "C:\Users\Admin". – Suresh Kerai May 05 '13 at 10:20
Error occurred after SDK manager suddenly froze and I had to reset the computer. Deleting .android directory solved the problem. – joshas May 29 '13 at 21:01
Worked like a charm! On Linux, the file to delete will be on ~/.android - there you'll find the offending 0 bytes file that has to be deleted, and also the corresponding avd folder – Lord Khizir Oct 17 '13 at 13:32

score 25 · Answer 2 · answered May 04 '11 at 13:02

25

I solved the problem by deleting the .android directory in my user profile.

answered May 04 '11 at 13:02

ash

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J H C. Thanks man. This worked for me. I almost said F* android. – Kisaragi Oct 01 '14 at 21:35

score 9 · Answer 3 · edited Mar 22 '14 at 10:33

9

Solution:

Step 1. Find the folder named: > .android

This folder can be located in your Windows user directory, for example in Windows 7/8:

C:\Users\YOUR_WINDOWS_USERNAME.android

Step 2. Delete this folder .android

Step 3. Restart Eclipse and it is OK now

edited Mar 22 '14 at 10:33

Gnanz

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answered Mar 22 '14 at 10:13

Rokan Uddin

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score 6 · Answer 4 · answered Sep 06 '12 at 08:32

6

I solved the problem by deleting the .metadata folder from workspace

answered Sep 06 '12 at 08:32

reznic

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Works, but blows away projects and anything else that has been configured since installation – Paul Beusterien Oct 08 '12 at 23:27
I'm on Linux, I don't see .metadata in my workspace folder. Any suggestions? – OKGimmeMoney Jul 06 '14 at 04:51
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@CanIHaveSomeChange It's probably hidden (the '.' in front of the the file-name indicates so). Change your settings so you can see it. – gedr Aug 18 '14 at 23:30
@CanIHaveSomeChange in you workspace go to **View(from top left menu)--> check Show hidden files** . **.metadata** folder would appear. – Abu Shumon Sep 04 '14 at 09:09

score 5 · Answer 5 · edited Oct 20 '12 at 01:12

5

Go to C:/Users/<profile-name>/.avd and delete the .ini file of the AVD..Restart Eclipse.. otherwise if you don't know what file to delete or the above solution did not work for you, delete the entire created AVD folder..and restart eclipse..

edited Oct 20 '12 at 01:12

Rathakrishnan Ramasamy

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answered Jun 28 '12 at 18:51

Gurpreet Singh Sidhu

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score 3 · Answer 6 · answered Jul 28 '13 at 05:03

The issue is in the your-avd-name.ini (config files) that is located at .android (search it)on your Windows machine (if you’re Windows user). When any error occurs during the avd.ini parser, the Google ADT plugin tries to access a map that is null. The workaround is to delete the offending .ini file and recreate your avd(s).

score 3 · Answer 7 · answered Jul 14 '14 at 18:30

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Try to delete .android folder from

C:\Users\Your User Name\.android

and open your eclipse and follow this Structure to configure your SDK for either installing new SDK or from installed one

answered Jul 14 '14 at 18:30

user3785535

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score 2 · Answer 8 · edited Feb 19 '13 at 18:26

I get this parseSdkContent failed problem sometimes when I select improper values for a virtual device, if that improper value results in a blue screen of death upon AVD launch: After the crash when the computer restarts the "parseSdkContent failed" error will come when starting Eclipse.

This will give you all sorts of errors that does NOT at all give you any clue to the problem, from all the errors you may be tempted to reinstall Eclipse or even Java, but dont do that, it could be much simpler.

The solution for me is pretty simple: delete your .avd folder and the .ini file in ..Users\.android folder.

Backing up your AVD is therefore a good idea since it becomes corrupted if it crashes with Besod during launch.

problem is I have tons of ini files – barlop Aug 10 '14 at 14:12 — barlop, Aug 10 '14 at 14:12

score 2 · Answer 9 · answered Feb 16 '11 at 18:15

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I believe the trouble was with your ADT tools. If you had run eclipse plugin updates (which would update ADT), problem would have solved.

answered Feb 16 '11 at 18:15

Taranfx

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No unfortunately not. I reinstalled the eclipse plugin and it did not help. Thanks for help though. – Tim Feb 17 '11 at 11:13

Jeff Axelrod · Answer 10 · 2012-05-08T15:15:51.240

For me, the source of the NullPointerException problem was a host-side Junit test project that references (and tests) code from an Android project. It didn't have a project.properties file. It's not an Android project, but for some reason the newer versions of the SDK somehow expects the file there. To fix the problem, I just copied a project.properties file from an Android project to the host unit test project.

Vihaan Verma · Answer 11 · 2012-08-23T09:14:35.147

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First start the emulator from command line

emulator -avd yourDeviceName

after doing above step in my case eclipse started fine.

UPDATE:

There is no perfect solution to this problem other than starting all over again. The issue is still open.

edited Aug 23 '12 at 09:14

answered Aug 22 '12 at 12:54

Vihaan Verma

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score 1 · Answer 12 · answered Dec 17 '12 at 07:12

My solution was simply to go to help->look for updates-> and install all android related updates. Once done, I restarted Eclipse, it told me I need to start the SDK Manager to update some stuff, I clicked the "Open SDK Manager" button it shows me, updated the dev tools, platform tools, added some latest APIs and viola, all is fine :)

score 1 · Answer 13 · answered Feb 13 '13 at 06:36

just try to delete the avd folder inside the .android folder, which may also have ur sdk folder in the path. Just delete the avd folder and try to configure ur path of the sdk in the eclipse > preference > android. then try to configure ur new avd in the eclipse by clicking the avd manager and then adding a new avd with a new name and click the start. Ur new avd device will launch.

Cheers Prakash

score 1 · Answer 14 · answered Mar 13 '13 at 07:08

I have deleted the .android for windows user. if adb running stop it by adb kill-server and then delete the folder. this worked for me I am using adt-bundle-windows-x86 on window 7.

the issue is with AVD. AVD are saved under .android folder so after new installation of adt-bundle-windows-x86 we need to delete this folder also.

score 1 · Answer 15 · answered Mar 15 '13 at 22:20

I'm on Windows 7; I got this error on first startup of ADT-provided Eclipse. My particular variant referenced an inability to write to a location on my C: drive. I solved it using the .metadata trick from above; then I chose "Run as Administrator" and everything worked fine after that.

score 1 · Answer 16 · answered Mar 23 '13 at 17:23

i have solved the problem by deleting the newly created AVD(Android Virtual Device) in "C:\Users\EAST.android\avd" where \EAST is my user name, in avd folder you will find two folders for each device e.g. myDevice.avd and myDevice.ini delete both the files and run you eclipse again

score 1 · Answer 17 · answered Jan 28 '14 at 04:18

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Solved this by deleting metadata and .Android in workspace

answered Jan 28 '14 at 04:18

user3230484

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score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 16 '11 at 17:42

Ok I've no idea exactly what I did but I used the standalone AVD manager (/tools/android from the command line) and un-installed most apart from the "Android SDK Tools, revision 2". And then reinstalled the parts I wanted and the error seems to have gone away.. Confused!

score 1 · Answer 19 · answered Mar 31 '12 at 09:59

For some reasons my sdk/addons and sdk/platforms directories got corrupted and unreadable (computer crash), this caused my "'Android SDK Content Loader' has encountered a problem." error.

Had to delete/rename the entire sdk folder, download and install the sdk+packages again. In user/.android everything was fine.

score 0 · Answer 20 · answered Jan 01 '15 at 15:54

0

Add following lines to .bashrc file.

export PATH=${PATH}:~/android-sdk-linux/tools
export PATH=${PATH}:~/android-sdk-linux/platform-tools

replace "~/android-sdk-linux" with path where you have saved the sdk folder.

answered Jan 01 '15 at 15:54

vaibhavs

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score 0 · Answer 21 · answered Jul 02 '16 at 05:25

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This is a workaround (not exactly the solution). In Window > Preferences > Android > Lint Error Checking, uncheck "When saving files check for errors". I am sure this might work for you .

answered Jul 02 '16 at 05:25

Giri

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score -1 · Answer 22 · answered Oct 31 '14 at 11:31

Had a similar problem. From one day to another I wasn't able to start my (so far) well working App. "SDK Content Loader" and "NullPointerException" Errors would pop up. Read the Answers here but didn't want to delete my .android or .metadata. I tried to clean my Project and - tadaa - it worked.

So, before you start deleting your plugins and stuff. Try a clean or restart and clean. Maybe this will already fix your issue. ;)

Android SDK Content Loader failing with NullPointerException

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