Huh? Android Preferences page refuses to load after adding SDK 1.6

Question

This one is really weird. I had a perfectly working Eclipse + Android 2.2 SDK working in both Administrator account and LUA (Limited User Account) under Windows XP.

Then I decided to add the Android 1.6 SDK (I could do it from an Administrator account only). It seemed to have gone well, since it still works perfectly -- but only in that Administrator account!

When I try to start Eclipse under a LUA, I receive the following error message box:

Which disappears within 2-3 seconds and replaced with:

I then tried to check the Preferences page, but again, all I receive is error messages:

and:

Any idea why this is happening and how to fix this?

(I would love to be able to continue working from a LUA)

Update: I have uploaded the error log file (referred to in the "Show Error Log" in the message boxes), for your expert examination. Hopefully this can shed some light on the mystery.

Answer 1

The full answer is somewhat complex, concerning Eclipse's configuration area, the workspace area, etc. This is all documented on the Eclipse site, if you're interested.

But there's a simpler, more immediate approach, since you're not trying to run multiple users simultaneously on the same copy, over a network -- in which case you'd need the full answer.

Simply install Eclipse in a directory, say, C:/dev/Eclipse. Make sure both your limited user and your admin have write access to everything. Run Eclipse as the limited user. It should start right up, as there's nothing privileged that is needed by Eclipse.

At this point, you can lock it down as read-only if you desire. By default, all the configuration is stored within the Eclipse installation directory.

I'd suggest starting with a fresh install at this point, to eliminate any inconsistencies that you may have introduced. Though you should be able to reset things by deleting all the subdirectories of the configure/ directory (but not the config.ini). There's an official way to do that, but that's part of the full answer. :=)

I'd also suggest using a different workspace for each user, to avoid any permissions problems.

But my BIG suggestion is -- upgrade to Windows 7, and do NOT run Eclipse as an administrator!

Anyway, once you have it working -- to upgrade in the future, make the Eclipse directory completely writable by the limited user, and then update as the limited user, and then make it read-only again if needed.

Note: This is the cheating way. The REAL answer is to give each user their own configuration directory. This is only viable because you have control over both users and can coordinate any updates.

Answer 2

Try running eclipse by downloading the binary and unzipping and directly running the .exe rather than "installing" it. The android tools should work this way if you configure the appropriate paths to them, and if eclipse isn't "installed" but simply run from a the archive folder, it should try to download plugins and such into its own directory (owned by your user), which may solve your problem.

I doubt the Android developers who built the tools run under LUAs, so they probably didn't run into this problem...

Answer 3

Workaround found: Run Eclipse as Administrator (Right-click exe/shortcut, then select "Run as...", then enter Administrator's password).

This is a workaround, not a solution, but it does allow me to continue working while logged in LUA.

Thanks to @David who suggested this solution here: Android ADT Plugin doesn't show up in Eclipse

Update: Solution found:

1. Enable the Security tab in Windows XP Pro (""Use Simple File Sharing.")
2. Add the LUA account to C:\eclipse with Modify permissions.

That's it. No need to run Eclipse via "Run as". Also eliminates the need for a fresh install (which takes more time).