java.io.IOException: No original dex files found for dex location

Question

I'm trying to build an Android application using the latest SDK from project files that haven't been updated since 2015. With a little work, I've managed to get it building and installing, but when I launch I get an error that I can't find much information on: "java.io.IOException: No original dex files found for dex location".

Here's the full text of the error:

03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime: java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to instantiate activity ComponentInfo{com.xxx.xxx/com.xxx.xxx.LaunchActivity}: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: Didn't find class "com.xxx.xxx.LaunchActivity" on path: DexPathList[[zip file "/data/app/com.xxx.xxx-1/base.apk"],nativeLibraryDirectories=[/data/app/com.xxx.xxx-1/lib/arm, /system/fake-libs, /data/app/com.xxx.xxx-1/base.apk!/lib/armeabi-v7a, /system/lib, /vendor/lib]]
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:    at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2604)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:    at android.app.ActivityThread.handleLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2788)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:    at android.app.ActivityThread.-wrap12(ActivityThread.java)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:    at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1503)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:    at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:102)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:    at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:154)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:    at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:6209)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:    at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:865)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:    at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:755)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime: Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: Didn't find class "com.xxx.xxx.LaunchActivity" on path: DexPathList[[zip file "/data/app/com.xxx.xxx-1/base.apk"],nativeLibraryDirectories=[/data/app/com.xxx.xxx-1/lib/arm, /system/fake-libs, /data/app/com.xxx.xxx-1/base.apk!/lib/armeabi-v7a, /system/lib, /vendor/lib]]
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:    at dalvik.system.BaseDexClassLoader.findClass(BaseDexClassLoader.java:56)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:    at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:380)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:    at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:312)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:    at android.app.Instrumentation.newActivity(Instrumentation.java:1094)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:    at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2594)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:    ... 9 more
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:    Suppressed: java.io.IOException: No original dex files found for dex location /data/app/com.xxx.xxx-1/base.apk
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:        at dalvik.system.DexFile.openDexFileNative(Native Method)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:        at dalvik.system.DexFile.openDexFile(DexFile.java:373)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:        at dalvik.system.DexFile.<init>(DexFile.java:113)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:        at dalvik.system.DexFile.<init>(DexFile.java:78)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:        at dalvik.system.DexPathList.loadDexFile(DexPathList.java:359)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:        at dalvik.system.DexPathList.makeElements(DexPathList.java:323)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:        at dalvik.system.DexPathList.makeDexElements(DexPathList.java:263)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:        at dalvik.system.DexPathList.<init>(DexPathList.java:126)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:        at dalvik.system.BaseDexClassLoader.<init>(BaseDexClassLoader.java:48)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:        at dalvik.system.PathClassLoader.<init>(PathClassLoader.java:64)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:        at com.android.internal.os.PathClassLoaderFactory.createClassLoader(PathClassLoaderFactory.java:43)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:        at android.app.ApplicationLoaders.getClassLoader(ApplicationLoaders.java:58)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:        at android.app.LoadedApk.createOrUpdateClassLoaderLocked(LoadedApk.java:525)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:        at android.app.LoadedApk.getClassLoader(LoadedApk.java:558)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:        at android.app.ActivityThread.getTopLevelResources(ActivityThread.java:1902)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:        at android.app.LoadedApk.getResources(LoadedApk.java:774)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:        at android.app.ContextImpl.<init>(ContextImpl.java:2083)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:        at android.app.ContextImpl.createAppContext(ContextImpl.java:2028)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:        at android.app.ActivityThread.handleBindApplication(ActivityThread.java:5383)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:        at android.app.ActivityThread.-wrap2(ActivityThread.java)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:        at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1571)
03-19 23:32:37.418 10121 10121 E AndroidRuntime:        ... 6 more

And here is the relevant dex output:

-dex:
      [dex] input: /Users/alvion/df/xxx/xxx/Code/Host-Ant/Game/bin/classes
      [dex] input: /Users/alvion/df/xxx/xxx/Code/Host-Ant/google/play_apk_expansion/downloader_library/bin/classes.jar
      [dex] input: /Users/alvion/df/xxx/xxx/Code/Host-Ant/google/play_licensing/library/bin/classes.jar
      [dex] input: /Users/alvion/df/xxx/xxx/Code/Host-Ant/Game/libs/crittercism_v1_3_0.jar
      [dex] input: /Users/alvion/df/xxx/xxx/Code/Host-Ant/Game/libs/jackson-mapper-asl-1.8.4.jar
      [dex] input: /Users/alvion/df/xxx/xxx/Code/Host-Ant/google/play_apk_expansion/downloader_library/libs/android-support-v4.jar
      [dex] input: /Users/alvion/df/xxx/xxx/Code/Host-Ant/Game/libs/dropbox-android-sdk-1.5.4.jar
      [dex] input: /Users/alvion/Library/Android/sdk/tools/support/annotations.jar
      [dex] input: /Users/alvion/df/xxx/xxx/Code/Host-Ant/Game/libs/ouya-sdk.jar
      [dex] input: /Users/alvion/df/xxx/xxx/Code/Host-Ant/Game/libs/guava-r09.jar
      [dex] input: /Users/alvion/df/xxx/xxx/Code/Host-Ant/Game/libs/in-app-purchasing-1.0.3.jar
      [dex] input: /Users/alvion/df/xxx/xxx/Code/Host-Ant/Game/libs/jackson-core-asl-1.8.4.jar
      [dex] input: /Users/alvion/df/xxx/xxx/Code/Host-Ant/Game/libs/json_simple-1.1.jar
      [dex] input: /Users/alvion/df/xxx/xxx/Code/Host-Ant/Game/libs/commons-lang-2.6.jar
      [dex] Pre-Dexing /Users/alvion/df/xxx/xxx/Code/Host-Ant/google/play_apk_expansion/downloader_library/bin/classes.jar -> classes-81c328b1bd235b3a63ab7b7dc3612832.jar
      [dex] Using Pre-Dexed classes-8402751112432f9e98dc60e91b59aa39.jar <- /Users/alvion/df/xxx/xxx/Code/Host-Ant/google/play_licensing/library/bin/classes.jar
      [dex] Using Pre-Dexed crittercism_v1_3_0-3d69c6e931684bd63dfe2e833d0aebe6.jar <- /Users/alvion/df/xxx/xxx/Code/Host-Ant/Game/libs/crittercism_v1_3_0.jar
      [dex] Using Pre-Dexed jackson-mapper-asl-1.8.4-ffc362a66f3bc5bb8073e3401c4d7c7b.jar <- /Users/alvion/df/xxx/xxx/Code/Host-Ant/Game/libs/jackson-mapper-asl-1.8.4.jar
      [dex] Using Pre-Dexed android-support-v4-39781f5ab2494414fb73e335497fb91d.jar <- /Users/alvion/df/xxx/xxx/Code/Host-Ant/google/play_apk_expansion/downloader_library/libs/android-support-v4.jar
      [dex] Using Pre-Dexed dropbox-android-sdk-1.5.4-e975c3510f4992bd1ed860294caaaec6.jar <- /Users/alvion/df/xxx/xxx/Code/Host-Ant/Game/libs/dropbox-android-sdk-1.5.4.jar
      [dex] Using Pre-Dexed annotations-812d332b38fbdb408dd663820ddaf9f6.jar <- /Users/alvion/Library/Android/sdk/tools/support/annotations.jar
      [dex] Using Pre-Dexed ouya-sdk-7728ab2d7956de1baa1d2087c8b3543b.jar <- /Users/alvion/df/xxx/xxx/Code/Host-Ant/Game/libs/ouya-sdk.jar
      [dex] Using Pre-Dexed guava-r09-e1a6934eeb9a0381c562ff20974676c2.jar <- /Users/alvion/df/xxx/xxx/Code/Host-Ant/Game/libs/guava-r09.jar
      [dex] Using Pre-Dexed in-app-purchasing-1.0.3-fa4d8ee5ba37ef3c2e63307e237f5958.jar <- /Users/alvion/df/xxx/xxx/Code/Host-Ant/Game/libs/in-app-purchasing-1.0.3.jar
      [dex] Using Pre-Dexed jackson-core-asl-1.8.4-d94d4ec863304731c24c400b1f59e0be.jar <- /Users/alvion/df/xxx/xxx/Code/Host-Ant/Game/libs/jackson-core-asl-1.8.4.jar
      [dex] Using Pre-Dexed json_simple-1.1-162e5f2c569f2c90fd6fa9067260bced.jar <- /Users/alvion/df/xxx/xxx/Code/Host-Ant/Game/libs/json_simple-1.1.jar
      [dex] Using Pre-Dexed commons-lang-2.6-73a87249d3e4206fda186982d953eb0b.jar <- /Users/alvion/df/xxx/xxx/Code/Host-Ant/Game/libs/commons-lang-2.6.jar
      [dex] Found modified input file
      [dex] Converting compiled files and external libraries into /Users/alvion/df/xxx/xxx/Code/Host-Ant/Game/bin/classes.dex...
       [dx] Merged dex #1 (87 defs/139.5KiB)
       [dx] Merged dex #2 (371 defs/436.8KiB)
       [dx] Merged dex #3 (2 defs/1.1KiB)
       [dx] Merged dex #4 (50 defs/90.6KiB)
       [dx] Merged dex #5 (25 defs/35.5KiB)
       [dx] Merged dex #6 (133 defs/331.3KiB)
       [dx] Merged dex #7 (69 defs/199.7KiB)
       [dx] Merged dex #8 (73 defs/84.7KiB)
       [dx] Merged dex #9 (883 defs/1023.2KiB)
       [dx] Merged dex #10 (85 defs/58.1KiB)
       [dx] Merged dex #11 (129 defs/232.0KiB)
       [dx] Merged dex #12 (432 defs/535.7KiB)
       [dx] Merged dex #13 (12 defs/21.8KiB)
       [dx] Merged dex #14 (204 defs/181.7KiB)
       [dx] Result is 2555 defs/4209.8KiB. Took 0.6s

A few details about the app:

• It's a game, and it's really big. 2.5 gigs for the apk, and tons of c++ code, though very little Java code.
• When trying to install via "adb install" it was giving random errors along the lines of the following, but with different filenames every time. I presume this had something to do with the extraordinary size of the apk, but I'm not sure, and I'm not sure if it may be related to the current issue.

Failed to install drm_free/Xxx-debug.apk: Failure [INSTALL_PARSE_FAILED_UNEXPECTED_EXCEPTION: Failed reading assets/some/random/asset.bin in android.util.jar.StrictJarFile@710a502: META-INF/MANIFEST.MF has invalid digest for assets/some/random/asset.bin in assets/some/random/asset.bin]

The only related issue I could find was this one but it doesn't seem related, since there is very little actual Java code in this app, so hitting the dex method limit doesn't make sense. The solution offered there is very non-trivial because the multiDexEnabled property I need to set in my build process only seems to be exposed in the gradle build file, which I don't have because this is a legacy project.

Answer 1

In my case Setting > Build, Execution, Deployment > Instant run

Uncheck "Enable Instant Run to hot swap code/resource changes on deploy"

Worked Fine.

Answer 2

I had a similar problem, solution: go to build.gradle(Module: app) in debug block and disable minifyEnabled:

debug {
            minifyEnabled false

        }

Answer 3

I faced this error with Room. To solve it I just clean project then run it.

Answer 4

I had the same error but it seems that I forgot to add permission in AndroidManifest.xml. My app uses internet with a webview, so I need the permission.

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />

Also seems like there was a mistake in activity name in the manifest file.

<activity android:name=".(Wrong name)">

When I corrected these, the error disappeared.