[Guide] Android SDK tools installation (CLI)

Hello friends,

Disclaimer: This guide is only tried on Windows 10, but it might even work on Mac and Linux.

With the introduction of Unity Hub I've been struggling to get all the diferent versions of Unity to work with my Android SDK tools (which I have installed seperately). When building for Android I kept getting errors like:

• SDK Platform Tools version 0.0.0 < 23.0.0.
• SDK Build Tools version 0.0.0 < 28.0.3.
• Required API level 26.

Step by step guide

1. Go to https://developer.android.com/studio/ and download Android SDK Tools. Close to the bottom of the page you'll find the section Command line tools only, there you'll find the link to a ZIP-file for Windows platform.
2. After it's done downloading, unpack it somewhere on your hard drive. I have unpacked mine in C:\Program Files\Android
3. Open Command Prompt and change folder to the tools\bin folder where you unpacked Android SDK-tools, i.e.

   cd "C:\Program Files\Android\tools\bin"

4. To get a list of all available packages type

   sdkmanager.bat --list

5. You need to install:
   1. SDK Build Tools
   2. SDK Platform Tools
   3. SDK Platform
6. Install the latest SDK Build tools (see version in list), type i.e.

   sdkmanager.bat "build-tools;28.0.3"

7. Install SDK Platform Tools, type

   sdkmanader.bat "platform-tools"

8. Install SDK Platform for your target API (see version in list), type i.e.

   sdkmanager.bat "platforms;android-26"

9. Just a note that you could also install all packages at once, type i.e.

   sdkmanager.bat "build-tools;28.0.3" "platform-tools" "platforms;android-26"

10. In Unity, open External Tools in your Preferences (Menu: Edit > Preferences) and uncheck the Android SDK Tools Installed with Unity checkbox and type in the path to your Android SDK Tools folder, i.e. C:/Program Files/Android

Useful links

• Download Android SDK Tools
• Unity's manual for Android environment setup
• Android SDK Manager guide

That's it! It should work to build now without errors.

 

Thank you very much! Very much helped out!

 

Helped me a lot, thank you for your time to share.

 

fyi, Unity Hub now installs the android sdk's for you so you should not need to install them manually as you describe above. I installed Unity 2019.1.7f1 and thought I'd checked the Android Build Support checkbox. After downloading and trying to build my app I got these errors. Had to go back into Unity Hub, and the Add Modules menu for this version, check the Android Build Support, to actually install the sdk's this time. (Unity Hub 2.0.2)

 

Hi,
I installed Android modules from Unity Hub too. But seems like it's have an issue. Because Unity Hub says 800MB+ download size. PlaybackEngines folder is under the 800MB. Also NDK folder is empty. I think Unity Hub or 2019.1.7 have issue with Android modules.

Sorry i f*cked up grammar...

 

Thank you SaeedPrez.

I installed the SDK and NDK with unity hub and the NDK was empty. Then I uninstalled unity and installed the Android studio first, SDK and NDK. Finally, I installed unity again and unchecked the NDK box to verify the path. I received an error message , unity wants an older version of the ndk r19. So now I will try to fix this with your tips using the command prompt.

I did open a ticket and the unity help desk is aware of the issue and they are working on it.

Thanks,
SisMoon

 

absolutely miserable...

 

Useful guide to install Android SDK without Unity Hub.
Thank you bro!

 

Running

sdkmanager.bat --list

was giving me this error:

Code (CSharp):

1. Warning: Could not create settings
2. java.lang.IllegalArgumentException
3.     at com.android.sdklib.tool.sdkmanager.SdkManagerCliSettings.<init>(SdkManagerCliSettings.java:428)
4.     at com.android.sdklib.tool.sdkmanager.SdkManagerCliSettings.createSettings(SdkManagerCliSettings.java:152)
5.     at com.android.sdklib.tool.sdkmanager.SdkManagerCliSettings.createSettings(SdkManagerCliSettings.java:134)
6.     at com.android.sdklib.tool.sdkmanager.SdkManagerCli.main(SdkManagerCli.java:57)
7.     at com.android.sdklib.tool.sdkmanager.SdkManagerCli.main(SdkManagerCli.java:48)

I had to follow exactly these steps to get the command line tools to work:
https://stackoverflow.com/a/60454207

 

Yes, of course, this was just a typo on my comment

 

Hey, I'm currently using a Mac. When I use sdkmanger.bat --list command it shows the error "-bash: sdkmanager.bat: command not found". Can anyone please help me?

 

Hi there, I'm running the same version of Unity, but I cannot build for Android platform level 29, the dropdown menu only goes to 28. However, the playstore requires a minimum of 29. I installed via Unity hub. Do you know how I can fix this?

 

problem fixed here :

 

it didn't for me
even I had chosen all platforms, android sdk openjdk files and else

 

Thank you, it has been a very useful content. But you've forgotten a lot of important details. As an example, as here https://www.gameplaydeveloper.com/unity-android-sdk/ Installing the Unity Android SDK with SDK Manager + Android Studio is very important. Please do not forget to include these parts.

 

thank you friend

 

worked.thank you

 

for Unity 2021.3.24f1, can't find package ndk through sdkmanager

./sdkmanager --install "ndk;21.3.6528147"