Permission denied when creating new file on external storage

Question

I need to copy a file from the assets to the external storage. Here is my code:

    File f = new File(Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory() + File.separator
            + "MyApp" + File.separator + "tessdata" + File.separator + "eng.traineddata");
    if (!f.exists()) {
    AssetManager assetManager = getAssets();
    try {
        f.createNewFile();
        InputStream in = assetManager.open("eng.traineddata");
        OutputStream out = new FileOutputStream(Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory() + File.separator
            + "MyApp" + File.separator  + "tessdata" + File.separator + "eng.traineddata");
        byte[] buffer = new byte[1024];
        int read;
            while ((read = in.read(buffer)) != -1)
                    out.write(buffer, 0, read);
            in.close();
            in = null;
            out.flush();
            out.close();
            out = null;
        } catch (IOException e) {
            Log.e("tag", "Failed to copy asset file: ", e);
        }
    }

I've also added the permission in the manifet

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

The exception occurred when is executed f.createNewFile(), saying "Permission denied".

How can I fix it please?

Answer 1

In my case it was due to the Permissions popup required for API 23+, even if u have added permission in the manifest.

// Storage Permissions
private static final int REQUEST_EXTERNAL_STORAGE = 1;
private static String[] PERMISSIONS_STORAGE = {
        Manifest.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE,
        Manifest.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE
};

/**
 * Checks if the app has permission to write to device storage
 *
 * If the app does not has permission then the user will be prompted to grant permissions
 *
 * @param activity
 */
public static void verifyStoragePermissions(Activity activity) {
    // Check if we have write permission
    int permission = ActivityCompat.checkSelfPermission(activity, Manifest.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE);

    if (permission != PackageManager.PERMISSION_GRANTED) {
        // We don't have permission so prompt the user
        ActivityCompat.requestPermissions(
                activity,
                PERMISSIONS_STORAGE,
                REQUEST_EXTERNAL_STORAGE
        );
    }
}

Call this function when the app launches or when you need the permission.

AndroidManifest.xml

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

Detailed sample code for permissions can be found here.