AAPT2 error: check logs for details: unknown eleme

Question

Here's my debug\AndroidManifest.xml

Getting so many errors like

Element action is not allowed here.
Element category is not allowed here.
Attribute android:versionCode is not allowed here.
Attribute android:versionName is not allowed here.
Attribute android:theme is not allowed here. and so many.

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
    <manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
        package="com.company.sqh.adio"
        android:versionCode="1"
        android:versionName="1.0" >

        <uses-sdk
            android:minSdkVersion="16"
            android:targetSdkVersion="26" />

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

        <application
            android:allowBackup="true"
            android:debuggable="true"
            android:icon="@drawable/logo_remaking2"
            android:label="@string/label"
            android:supportsRtl="true"
            android:theme="@style/AppTheme" >
            <activity
                android:name="com.company.sqh.adio.MainActivity"
                android:icon="@drawable/logo_remaking2" >
                <intent-filter>
                    <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />

                    <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
                </intent-filter>
            </activity>
            <activity android:name="com.company.sqh.adio.registraion_form" >
                <intent-filter>
                    <action android:name="com.company.sqh.adio.registraion_form" />

                    <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
                </intent-filter>
            </activity>
            <activity android:name="com.company.sqh.adio.contact_us" >
                <intent-filter>
                    <action android:name="com.company.sqh.adio.contact_us" />

                    <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
                </intent-filter>
            </activity>
            <activity android:name="com.company.sqh.adio.about_us" >
                <intent-filter>
                    <action android:name="com.company.sqh.adio.about_us" />

                    <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
                </intent-filter>
            </activity>
            <activity android:name="com.company.sqh.adio.ProfileActivity" />

            <action android:name="com.company.sqh.adio.ProfileActivity" />

            <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />

            <activity android:name="com.company.sqh.adio.EmplyReg" />
            <activity android:name="com.company.sqh.adio.SubCategory" />
            <activity android:name="com.company.sqh.adio.User_Profile" />
            <activity android:name="com.company.sqh.adio.Emp_list" />
            <activity android:name="com.company.sqh.adio.Forgot_Pass" />

            <meta-data
                android:name="android.support.VERSION"
                android:value="26.1.0" /> <!-- Include the AdActivity and InAppPurchaseActivity configChanges and themes. -->
            <activity
                android:name="com.google.android.gms.ads.AdActivity"
                android:configChanges="keyboard|keyboardHidden|orientation|screenLayout|uiMode|screenSize|smallestScreenSize"
                android:theme="@android:style/Theme.Translucent" />
            <activity
                android:name="com.google.android.gms.ads.purchase.InAppPurchaseActivity"
                android:theme="@style/Theme.IAPTheme" />
            <activity
                android:name="com.google.android.gms.common.api.GoogleApiActivity"
                android:exported="false"
                android:theme="@android:style/Theme.Translucent.NoTitleBar" />

            <meta-data
                android:name="com.google.android.gms.version"
                android:value="@integer/google_play_services_version" />
            <meta-data
                android:name="android.arch.lifecycle.VERSION"
                android:value="27.0.0-SNAPSHOT" />
        </application>

    </manifest>

Please check this

Answer 1

AndroidManifest.xml:15: error: unknown element found.

You have a misplaced tag.

To improve incremental resource processing, Android plugin 3.0.0 enables AAPT2 by default. In previous versions of AAPT, elements nested in incorrect nodes in the Android manifest are either ignored or result in a warning.
To resolve the issue, make sure your manifest elements are nested correctly. For more information, read Manifest file structure.

You have to modify your Manifest:

 <action android:name="com.company.sqh.adio.ProfileActivity" />         
 <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />

They should be included inside an <activity> tag.

You can read more here.

Answer 2

In my case i've gotten this error (AAPT2) building the apk with Cordova build command, turns out it was a problem caused by the path to ./gradle user dependencies. The problem was the path itself where my username had special characters. Gradle was reading "?" instead of "Á", creating a new user solved the problem.

OS: Windows 10