Android N requires the IDE to be running with Java 1.8 or later?

Question

My XML layout is not rendering with this error message. I am already using Java 8.

Also using latest build tools in Gradle.

android {
    compileSdkVersion 'android-N'
    buildToolsVersion 24.0.0 rc1
    ...
}

XML Error -

Solution 1

Set JDK_HOME and JAVA_HOME environment variables, in my case C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.8.0_60.

Check Java version in Help > About. It should show the JRE version you just set.

That is it, now you can preview your layout in N.

Solution 2

I got the same error you describe but on OS X. I know this may not solve your problem (because I don't know the equivalent for Windows), but since this is not OS specific I am leaving the solution for any OS X fellow out there. Edit the file /Applications/Android\ Studio.app/Contents/Info.plist, and remove the 1.6 version (in my case), you may place 1.6+, 1.7+ or 1.8, whichever you prefer. Mine ended up like this

...
<key>JVMVersion</key>
<string>1.7+</string>
...

Be aware there's an incompatibility with drag and drop with java versions 1.8_60 to 1.8_75 (IDEA-146691) which the IDE will report once you successfully change the version.

For non Terminal Users

1. Find your Android Studio.app file. If it's in the dock you can right click it and choose Options > Show in Finder.
2. Right click it and choose Show package content.
3. Navigate to the mentioned file (Contents/Info.plist).
4. Edit the file with your favorite text editor.

Solution 3

Click on the letter N, next to the android icon in the Preview window and select API level 23 or lower. That should solve it.

Solution 4

For Mac users with this issue (I'm running OS X 10.11.5 and Android Studio 2.1.2), here's how you can solve it:

Currently, the Mac version of Android Studio is run with Java 6 (not necessarily the same as the JDK version for the app), because Java 6 has better font rendering than Java 7 & 8, and that's apparently more important than rendering your layout.

First of all, make sure you have JDK 8 installed.

Then run the following commands:

$ export STUDIO_JDK=/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_91.jdk
$ open /Applications/Android\ Studio.app/

You may need to change the 91 in jdk1.8.0_91.jdk to a different version. You can see which JDK versions you have with:

$ ls /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/

Unfortunately, this method requires opening the app from the terminal, but you could always create a script for it.

More info

Edit: And if you really don't want to open it from the terminal:

1. Create an AppleScript with contents: do shell script "export STUDIO_JDK=/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_91.jdk; open /Applications/Android\\ Studio.app/"
2. File > Save Choose file format Application. Save it somewhere.
3. If you want to change the icon, see here.
4. Drag the app to your launchpad if you like.

Solution 5

I met the same issue.

I installed jdk1.6,jdk1.7,jdk1.8, and deployed Studio as what you did.

My solution is uninstall jdk1.6 and jdk1.7, only leave jdk1.8

sudo rm -rf ${path to jdk1.6}
sudo rm -rf ${path to jdk1.7}

That's all.

View more solutions

Comments

[CommonsWare]

There are all sorts of rendering problems with Android Studio. I suggest that you provide a minimal reproducible example. In this case, that would include the layout file and the specific error.

[mihirjoshi]

@CommonsWare I updated the XML error image. Install a supported JDK redirected me to set up steps which I already did.

[Phyrum Tea]

I had to change to buildToolsVersion '24.0.0 rc1', the documentation was missing the quotes.

[mihirjoshi]

@PhyrumTea Didn't make the error go away.

[Phyrum Tea]

The error message suggest, that android studio was started with other (wrong) JDK. What is in the about box? Help->About

[mihirjoshi]

Finally, when I tried to build and run the project, it failed with Directory cannot have its readable permission cleared for everybody. Apparently it's a known bug and google is working on it.

[Suragch]

See also Android Nougat requires the IDE to be running with Java 1.8 or later.

[mihirjoshi]

But I want to preview in N not in API 23.

[santhyago]

This will change the virtual machine where Android Studio runs on. In my OSX, original value was: <key>JVMVersion</key> <string>1.6*,1.7+,1.8</string> And the new value is: <key>JVMVersion</key> <string>1.8</string>

[Kotik_o]

It works! Thanks for this solution. The question is: Why Google wants that his developers wasted his time on this issues?

[Totalys]

Thanks for solving google´s lack of documentation :). I wonder why this instruction is not here: developer.android.com/intl/pt-br/preview/setup-sdk.html#java‌​8 (This is the link displayed at android studio).

[Micro]

Works great!! Sadly, when updating Android Studio (which I just did to newest version), it resets the Info.plist file so I have to repeat the steps again to change my JVMVersion: <key>JVMVersion</key> <string>1.8</string> So annoying Android Studio!

[The_Martian]

I did what you said but when I do help->about it still points to my old jdk. Why is that?

[Zapnologica]

I have JRE: 1.8 (in about). However I cant build apps targeting v24. > compileSdkVersion 'android-24' requires JDK 1.8 or later to compile.

[terencey]

@The_Martian you need to restart your computer.

[lopez.mikhael]

On Mac Os I remove my old jdk version. After that, Android Studio pick the last version

[jmnwong]

Android Studio 2.2 uses <string>1.8*,1.8+</string>.

[Mike]

Mine still says "partially installed" after reinstalling.

[Micro]

is that safe to do

[youngwind]

@MicroR If you the other softwares haven't depended on jdk1.6 and jdk1.7, I think it is safe.

[mythicalcoder]

Mine too "partially installed" after reinstalling. @Andrew did you find any solution afterwards ?

[mythicalcoder]

I have set the JAVA_HOME="/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_91.jdk‌​/Contents/Home" Should STUDIO_SDK also be "/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_91.jdk/Contents/‌​Home" ?

[Mike]

@Maven for me, turned out that my problem was that I wasn't selecting the correct build variant when I tried building the app.

[Sergio A Guzmán]

@Maven theoretically you may set STUDIO_SDK variable which will be SDK path to run Android Studio (as said in Studio's config params tools.android.com/tech-docs/configuration). However, in my case I didn't setted that variable and IDE is running as expected.

[mythicalcoder]

You are right. I tried different things. It was indeed the problem of 1.8 not linked properly. This solved it stackoverflow.com/a/35935433/2369867. Thanks.

[Nishant Srivastava]

So the way it worked for me was that , in my OSX, original value was: <key>JVMVersion</key> <string>1.6*,1.7+,1.8</string> which I completely replaced with <key>JVMVersion</key> <string>1.8*,1.8+</string>.

[Showpath]

This solution fixed the problem for me. This way of uninstalling is safe and is the one recommended by Oracle (docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/technotes/guides/install/…)

[Saima]

I experienced the same issue on my mac. lowering the API level from 24 to 23 worked for me.

[Terix]

My system was missing all the JAVAx_HOME variables, I had jdk 1.6, 1.7, 1.8 installed, but I still had only 1.6 on my JAVA_HOME. Who is supposed to create those variables? Shouldn't Java do the job? Btw that fixed everything

[Pavneet_Singh]

not an answer , please follow the answer marked as right

[Dustin Butler]

This worked for me on Mac! Thank you! I am on OS X El Capitan 10.11

[Daniele]

when I try to run the script I get: error "sh: /usr/local/bin/studio: No such file or directory" number 127 any way to fix it? when I run it from terminal it works perfectly

[wumbo]

@Daniele Sorry, I forgot that I created another shell script for that. The AppleScript should have the same commands as above. See my updated answer.

[0xC0DED00D]

Do not do this, it'll mess with Android Studio updates. Just change STUDIO_JDK environment path.

[enadun]

This is not an answer. This is just ignoring the problem environment.

[Milon]

how to open this file? I am using Mac but could not find that location.

[arango_86]

Nicely done. Yes, It solved my problem. Thank you. :)

[zgc7009]

@lopez.mikhael that actually is the only thing that worked for me in the end. I changed every possible setting I could find, configured everything exactly how I was supposed to, kept getting the error. In the end, I moved the older jdk directories to a subdirectory I named old_jdks in the JavaVirtualMachine folder. Everything works great now.