Original error: Could not find adb Please set the ANDROID_HOME environment variable

chris-carela · April 2, 2018, 5:46pm

Hi everyone,

Relatively new to Appium, apologize in advance! I keep running into an issue whenever I try to start an Appium session:

"An unknown server-side error occurred while processing the command. Original error: Could not find adb Please set the ANDROID_HOME environment variable with the Android SDK root directory path."

I believe my bash_profile is set correctly (let me know otherwise):

export ANDROID_HOME=/Users/chris.carela/Library/Android/sdk
export PATH=$PATH:$ANDROID_HOME/tools:$ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools
export NODE_PATH=usr/local/bin/node

Things to note:

typing adb devices in Terminal does list my Android devices
Hardware: MacOS High Sierra
NPM/Appium GUI Version: 5.6.0/1.1.0
Tried setting up Appium Doctor but it states that a package.json file is missing

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance!

wreed · April 2, 2018, 9:28pm

Are you getting this error in some kind of IDE?

chris-carela · April 2, 2018, 10:35pm

In the Appium Desktop application.

wreed · April 2, 2018, 10:57pm

I can’t tell what version you are using. Can you try 1.5.0 from here:

Mobile_Automation · April 3, 2018, 3:32am

@chris-carela This is environment issue, can you check ANDROID_HOME path in your terminal by “echo $ANDROID_HOME”, try it in new terminal window.

chris-carela · April 24, 2018, 10:13pm

I don’t seem to get any info when I run this command in Terminal. I uploaded a screenshot of my .bash_profile set up below as well.

chris-carela · April 24, 2018, 10:20pm

This is what I’m getting in the Appium logs whenever I attempt to “Start Session”.

Appium logs

wreed · April 25, 2018, 12:57am

As I said before, reinstall, make sure you are on the latest version. Here is a troubleshooting list you can use, but if it’s not working you should reinstall:

meviks · April 25, 2018, 4:49am

in Eclipse go to Run > run configuration > Environment tab > tap on new > set ANDROID_HOME variable and JAVA_HOME Variable > Apply > Run… hopefully this will resolve this issue.

wreed · April 25, 2018, 3:43pm

This person has not said they are using an IDE. They say it’s just in Appium Desktop that this happens. Look at the screenshots.

chris-carela · April 25, 2018, 10:41pm

Actually, I am going to write my test in Eclipse but this specific issue is with Appium Desktop. I’ll keep this in mind once I figure this issue out though.

meviks · April 26, 2018, 2:24am

below is what my bash profile is setup, and I am not facing any issue,

export ANDROID_HOME="/usr/local/share/android-sdk"
export JAVA_HOME=/usr/libexec/java_home -v 1.8
export PATH=$PATH:$ANDROID_HOME:$ANDROID_HOME/tools:$ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools:$JAVA_HOME/bin:$JAVA_HOME$

additionally, please check the permission of your SDK folder.

Swapan_Chhabra · April 26, 2018, 5:32am

@chris-carela I also faced same issue few days ago, can you please check which shell you are using? using command “echo $0”. In my case I was using “zsh” instead of “bash”

chris-carela · April 26, 2018, 6:36pm

Typing echo $0 returns -sh for me, is this correct?

Swapan_Chhabra · April 26, 2018, 6:57pm

I should be “bash” instead of “sh”, just change shell to bash using command “chsh -s bash”
Please verify after this

wreed · April 26, 2018, 7:59pm

Also try ‘echo $SHELL’ to see what the default shell is. I think this is what Appium Desktop will use also. Mine:

wreed$ echo $SHELL
/bin/bash

Remember that other shells will not necessarily read the bash config files.

chris-carela · April 26, 2018, 8:18pm

I changed the default shell to /bin/bash and tried to relaunch Appium but I’m still getting the same error. However, I’m noticing that the Appium logs state that:

[ADB] Checking whether adb is present
[ADB] The ANDROID_HOME environment variable is not set to the Android SDK root directory path. ANDROID_HOME is required for compatibility with SDK 23+. Checking along PATH for adb.

According to my bash_profile, this is already specified.

export ANDROID_HOME=/Users/chris.carela/Library/Android/sdk
export PATH=$PATH:$ANDROID_HOME/tools:$ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools
export NODE_PATH=usr/local/bin/node

I even made sure to drag that sdk folder into Terminal to copy/paste that path directly into my bash_profile.

wreed · April 27, 2018, 5:49am

Did you log out & back in or make a new terminal window? You could also try sourcing the configs:

source ./.bash_profile

^^^In your home directory.

Then check to make sure things are set by using the echo command on the $ANDROID_HOME

More info here:

chris-carela · April 27, 2018, 8:59pm

It works now! I reconfigured the bash_profile according to the guide, rebooted my computer, and, sourced the new bash config.

Thank you everyone!

Swapan_Chhabra · April 28, 2018, 6:11am

@chris-carela Welcome!
If you want to get good learning on mobile application automation or Appium, Have a look at my youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/MobileAutomation and subscribe for latest videos.