Could not find android.jar for API Level 26 in Visual Studio 2017

Question

Could not find android.jar for API Level 26. This means the Android SDK platform for API Level 26 is not installed. Either install it in the Android SDK Manager (Tools > Open Android SDK Manager...), or change your Xamarin.Android project to target an API version that is installed. (C:\Program Files (x86)\Android\android-sdk\platforms\android-O\android.jar missing.)

As you can see from below that I have the correct api sdk platforms installed but as you will notice on the error message, it is searching for an android-O directory.

Here is my directory which you will notice has everything in it but doesn't contain android-O

I looked in my visual studio project settings and here is what it shows for target framework

Does this mean that Visual Studio 2017 doesn't support Android SDK 26+?

Answer 1

I discovered that you can fix this issue with 2 steps:

1. Download and install Visual Studio 2017 Preview by going to https://www.visualstudio.com/vs/preview/

2. Download and install the Xamarin update extension on both versions of Visual Studio 2017 installed by going to https://developer.xamarin.com/recipes/cross-platform/ide/change_updates_channel/extension-gallery/ and follow the steps

Answer 2

If you're building for a Xamarin project, you may need to rename the folder in the SDK folder from "android-{alphabetOSVersion}" to "android-{numericOSVersion}" (IE change the folder "android-o" to "android-27").

This should be done in the C:\Program Files (x86)\Android\android-sdk\platforms folder.