Error - Android Resource Linking Failed (Aapt2 27.0.3 Daemon #0)

The Android resource linking failed error can also appear if you have an error in any of your XML resources. In my case I was using the following line twice in one of my XML drawables in drawable folder:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

I removed the duplicate line and the error disappeared. The error was a bit misleading:

Android resource linking failed Output: /Users/johndoe/Desktop/myapp/app/src/main/res/layout/activity_main.xml:2: error: resource drawable/bg_main (aka com.example.myproject:drawable/bg_main) not found.

According to the above error, the first thing you need to do is to proof read all the drawable resources that are accessed in the activity_main because the chances are higher that you will find the error. In the worst case scenario you might end up checking all your resource files.

Note: Android Studio spits out a load of crazy errors like this if you upgrade the support libraries to 28.0.0 and your compileSdkVersion is not 28 also.

Problem fixed for me by replacing compileSdkVersion 23 with compileSdkVersion 28 in build.gradle (Project: build).

If you are using Windows 10, and Android Studio 3.2, you can simply go to the app's build.gradle, and change the version.

In your layout (xml) files almost every element has a property i.e. "id" which, can be assigned in order to refer to it from the java/kotlin code or from the xml itself.

Now sometimes or in some versions of Android Studio errors in xml files is either not reported or some random error is thrown while compiling, of which, this thread is an example i.e. when assigning an id to an element or when refering to another element in the layout we use the ID but ids are not just written like any other word rather they are prefixed by these characters: @+id/, otherwise the above error is thrown.

Hence the solution below should be considered:-

I resolved it by adding @+id/ before all my IDs.

i.e. @+id/your_item_id

feel so stupid - (for whatever reason) i had one empty xml in drawable folder. and AS produced dozens of unrelated errors ><

so, my general advice would be the same - check briefly every resource file.

com.android.support:support-v4 just recently got update and maybe affect to plugin that use updated version in their dependencies. But if you cannot find in the dependencies (like if you use crosswalk plugin), just put this code in top of your code gradle plugin (no need to add on build.gradle).

configurations.all {
resolutionStrategy.force 'com.android.support:support-v4:24.0.0'
}

Example location to put the code in crosswalk plugin here

Feel free to edit version of com.android.support (DO NOT USE THE 28.0.0) because thats the problem

I imported new colors to my project and got the same problem. So I opened styles.xml and re-assigned items to colors using new colors names.

I had the same problem and solved it by going to File -> Project Structure... -> Suggestions and then Apply all. Like suggested by @JeffinJ I think the problem was because of the Gradle plugin update.

There should be some error in resource files. It mean is there may be miss typed value of attributes. Go through the resource files and correct these value and enjoy the work.

There can be multiple reasons for this problem and these reasons are mainly in the resource or app level build.gradle file.

In my case, a view in the resource file didn't had the required dependency included in the build.gradle file.

So, make sure to include all the required dependencies in the build.gradle file.

Check your Gradle plugin version. Try downgrading it if you have updated to a newer version just before this issue showed up. Go to File -> Project Structure. Change to the previous version.

I was missing this line at the top of one of my XMLs:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

Try update latest build version, target and compile version and also update dependencies but not works for me

In my case change <meta-items/> to <meta-data/> in manifest works for me...

Hope its helpful for someone...

I had the same problem, but it was because in my buttons layout_width/height I forgot to put dp at the end when editing them. Added dp and problem fixed :/

It may sound banal, but for me Build > Clean Project fixed this error without any other changes.

For me, the error appeared after changing my launcher icon using Asset Studio. Turns out that the ic_launcher_foreground.xml file that was generated was missing the following line at the top of the file: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

In my case I accidentally wrote:

app:displayViewTitle="@string/instructions_defineExtract_confirm_email"

Interestingly, Android Studio were able to navigate the string via CTRL+click. It was just giving Build Time error. Changing to standard "dot seperation" did the trick

app:displayViewTitle="@string/instructions.defineExtract.confirm.email"

Found one of the reasons which causes this problem

When we try to use any

string,style,color,etc,

in manifest file that is not present in values (string.xml,style.xml,color.xml,etc,) then this type of error occurs

i got the same bug, and i fixed it when i close the AndroidStudio and delete the dir like C:\Users\Jalal D\.gradle\caches\transforms-1\ in the build error info.

I was having similar problem but I came out of the solution the problem was that you were using any thing in the dependency that correspond to same domain but with different versions make sure those all are same

I was facing same issue and it is resolved by removing error from resource files like style, colors files in values folder. In my case, error in style colors as below:

 <style name="AppTheme.AppBarOverlay" parent="ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Dark.ActionBar">
    <item name="android:textColorPrimary">**@color/colorPrimary**</item>
    <item name="android:textColorSecondary">**@color/colorPrimaryDark**</item>
</style>

Changing the version of the support library of the last one enabled (28.0.0) by the previous (27.1.0), the error Android Resource Linking Failed disappeared.

It should be noted that version 27.1.0 is the maximum allowed in our implementations, which works, but you could use an older one if you wish. And this has to be used in all dependencies that start with the string com.android.support:

project/app/build.gradle

implementation "com.android.support:appcompat-v7:$rootProject.supportLibraryVersion"
implementation "com.android.support:support-v4:$rootProject.supportLibraryVersion"