Android-studio: Unable to locate adb

Issue

I read the answers "unable to locate adb" using Android Studio and Error:Unable to locate adb within SDK in Android Studio and it didn't solve my problem.

I use the 4.0 android-studio and Ubuntu 18.04

When I click on "launch this AVD in the emulator", I get an error message "Unable to locate adb". I did look in the Android/Sdk/platform-tools, I have an "adb" executable.

After the "unable to locate adb" error message, the AVD still launches. But, when I try to run my react native app on it, I get the error

error Failed to install the app. Make sure you have the Android development environment set up: https://facebook.github.io/react-native/docs/getting-started.html#android-development-environment. Run CLI with --verbose flag for more details. Error: Command failed: ./gradlew app:installDebug -PreactNativeDevServerPort=8081

I'm pretty sure the react-native part is fine, but that route to the emulator is not the same as before.

It was working before. Yesterday, out of the blue, when I launched my android-studio, it "restarted" (showing me the install wizard, etc), and it seems it messed up its configuration.

EDIT: [bad way] I created a new ubuntu user, re-install android studio + react-native. I still get the error message, still the AVD launches, but now React-native can install the app on it. So, now I can work with my new user, but I did not fix the problem.

EDIT2: [good way] @jpatmore fixed the android-studio part (see his answer). The react-native was still not working. There was probably some parameter of android-studio 3.6 still in the [my project]/android/[gradle or something] I cloned my repo in another folder, do another "npm install", "react-native link", and it was working.

Solution

I started getting this error after updating Android Studio from version 3.6.3 to 4.0. It didn't stop the emulator working, but it was vaguely annoying.

I checked that adb.exe was in the folder C:\Users[username]\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\platform-tools. I also ran it in a command-line to prove that the exe worked OK.

Finally after a bit of a struggle I found a solution:

Start the SDK Manager, File menu -> Settings -> Appearance & Behavior -> System Settings -> Android SDK, SDK Tools tab (Or click the cube with blue down arrow icon in the toolbar).

Firstly I updated the Android SDK Platform-Tools (now v30.0.2). This didn't fix the problem. I also tried manually deleting the platform tools folder and reinstalling.

Eventually I decided to click the "Edit" link next to the "Android SDK Location" box. This opens a new dialog for SDK Components Setup. How well hidden is that?!?! I had always assumed it was to edit the SDK path!

You should now see that Android SDK - (installed) has a tick in the checkbox, as do any SDK Platforms you have. Click on the Next button and your SDK will update. Problem solved.

HTH

Answered By - SadSack963