Can't update Android Studio - only download

Question

I have not updated my Android Studio for a while and am presented with this dialog box when trying to update:

Usually there is an "update and restart" option, but not here. The only option is "Download" which directs me here where I can only download the entire bundle again which gives me a link for Build Number - 130.737825. As you can see that's before what I already have so I don't see how that would fix the problem?

I feel like I'm missing something blaringly obvious, but how can I just update like I have been able to before?

Answer 1

Here is how you update when you are not presented with a Update and Restart button, but instead only have a Download button. The solution involves a side-by-side installation, which is an acceptable and supported configuration¹

1. Download the zip file
2. Extract the zip file in the same location folder your previous installation (adjacent to, not overlaying) Note here that I already had two versions of Android Studio running. The executables under the Android Studio folder, and another set of code under the android-studio-beta folder. The android-studio-dev is the folder created from the downloaded zip file.
3. Start ../bin/studio64.exe inside the the unzipped folder and select the appropriate place to pull your configuration from. Note that if you are unsure of which configuration is connected to which install, you may examine the .home file: Note here that the AndroidStudioPreview2.2 configuration set is aligned with the installation located at android-studio-beta, and not with the installation located at Android Studio (the two options shown in step 2). Wait for the installation to complete, then exit.
4. Change your start icon from the previous location to the new location, and restart from the icon.
5. Reassert your updates channel before accepting any update prompts. As you use your various installations, make sure that your preferred updates channel hasn't changed. I can't be sure, but it seems like this setting might leak across during installs. Better safe than sorry. The image is of my old install, which I did not want to affect by this upgrade.

At some point, probably once you're satisfied that the new installation will work you you, you may remove the previous installation.

^{1 Here is an official page to show that it's ok to have side-by-side installs: Android site multiple installation page}

Answer 2

The chosen answer is somewhat wrong. I know It's a little confusing an therefore I'm posting my solution.

Sometimes Android Studio reminds about a new available version for the stable channel but the way to update automatically (as stated in the release info page) is to switch the Channel in your preference:

File -> Settings -> Appearance & Behavior -> System Settings -> Updates

and change the setting "Automatically check updates for" to Beta Channel.

Then, perform a Check for updates (or restart your ide) to be prompted with the option to install automatically.

BTW you cannot install upgrades that are totally incompatible with the previous version, but as I'm aware of, the compatibility list is also available on the update page per version release. I.E.: You can upgrade from 1.4/1.5 to 1.5.1, but not from 1.3.

I hope this will help someone.

Answer 3

I found a solution without reinstalling the AS!

As the sollution in https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=56068 goes, We can manually download the patch.

But for examble, if I put the number of current version and newest version in the URL http://dl.google.com/android/studio/patches/AI-(current_version)-(newest_version)-patch-unix.jar, I got a 404 error, which means there is not a patch between my version and the current version.

At last, I found the solution. For example, the version of my Android Studio is 141.2135290, then I find the version closest to my version (just now is 141.2178183) instead of the newest version "141.2288178", and I got the patch!

But unfortunately, I have modified the file in the folder of Android Studio, so the patch didn't work well, otherwise it will work well.

Answer 4

I was on version 0.4.4 trying to update to 0.5.8. At first I thought I would have to do it manually, but I found a workaround.

First I had to update to the latest version in the dev channel, which I switched to in the IDE setting under file -> settings -> updates. This allowed me to automatically update to 0.5.2. Android Studio then detected the 0.5.8 build and allowed me to update automatically.

YMMV, and so will your versions when you see this, but maybe try not going from a really old version straight to the recent canary channel build.

Answer 5

well ,you can go ahead and download the patch and unzip it . In its bin directory run studio64.exe file it will ask to import configuration from older version just click that option and get your newer version running

Answer 6

I too ran into this problem. I did not want to uninstall and reinstall it again. What I did was to unzip the downloaded file and just copy and replaced the bin, lib, license and plugins folder into my original install path and it worked.

I am on Windows.