Android Studio 4.1.1 Select Device choice Grayed Out ?

Question

Android Studio 4.1.1: Trying to solve a problem I went to the Gradle menu right side, followed project-name | build | build. I do not now recall what was next but when I came out of it the Run menu had changed. The Select-Device option is grayed out, the Run-App choice is missing, other Run choices are presented. I need to get Run | Select-Device and Run | App back. Any ideas appreciated :)

Note: I decided the best approach was to uninstall Android Studio and re-install. Only takes 5 minutes. Always solves this type of problem. Well, I guess it has a secret place to keep settings, a place that persists un-install because the error simply came back :(

If you know of this place please let me know. Thank you, Mick

James Watson · Answer

Would you like to post a screenshot about your issue? (smug)

Goddeo · Answer

send us a screenshot

Mick Dawdy · Answer

I have done a full days work on this since my above post - I found a post on Stackoverflow that listed ALL of the things that need to be deleted to completely remove Android Studio. There are tens of thousands of files to be deleted from several places. **.gradle** is one example. I went for coffee. In addition I cleaned the registry with CCleaner, and ran a couple of other similar programs.

Then I reinstalled Android studio and no joy. It still found my project directory, automatically loaded my project, and had the same anomaly. So I need to know what files in the project directory I can delete without losing the needed ones. Otherwise next step is to save the obvious ones [java, xml, etc], delete all else, re-install Android Studio again, restart it as a new project, and hope :)

I'll attach two pics, one of the project directory showing all of the files/directories from which I must make keep/delete decisions, and the one you requested - the screen shot of the anomalous behaviour. I used red arrows to indicate two of the places of concern. Note especially the Select Device is grayed out. If you are familiar with the utility of the project directories/files list then you could offer an opinion on what can be deleted, otherwise there are people about other forums who will know. Thank you :)

![image][1]

![image][2]


  [1]: https://fscl01.fonpit.de/userfiles/7713852/image/forum/AndrStud.png
  [2]: https://fscl01.fonpit.de/userfiles/7713852/image/forum/AndrStud-1.png

James Watson · Answer

> [[cite Mick Dawdy]]
>
> I have done a full days work on this since my above post - I found a post on Stackoverflow that listed ALL of the things that need to be deleted to completely remove Android Studio. There are tens of thousands of files to be deleted from several places. **.gradle** is one example. I went for coffee. In addition I cleaned the registry with CCleaner, and ran a couple of other similar programs.
> 
> Then I reinstalled Android studio and no joy. It still found my project directory, automatically loaded my project, and had the same anomaly. So I need to know what files in the project directory I can delete without losing the needed ones. Otherwise next step is to save the obvious ones [java, xml, etc], delete all else, re-install Android Studio again, restart it as a new project, and hope :)
> 
> I'll attach two pics, one of the project directory showing all of the files/directories from which I must make keep/delete decisions, and the one you requested - the screen shot of the anomalous behaviour. I used red arrows to indicate two of the places of concern. Note especially the Select Device is grayed out. If you are familiar with the utility of the project directories/files list then you could offer an opinion on what can be deleted, otherwise there are people about other forums who will know. Thank you :)
> 
> ![image][1]
> 
> ![image][2]
> 
> 
>   [1]: https://fscl01.fonpit.de/userfiles/7713852/image/forum/AndrStud.png
>   [2]: https://fscl01.fonpit.de/userfiles/7713852/image/forum/AndrStud-1.png

Okay. Are you sure that you had an AVD online or a physical device connected in USB Debug mode then?

Mick Dawdy · Answer

I would have posted this yesterday except I could not see anywhere on the home page to locate these help threads. Only things I could find using the row of home page links were the consumer interest items, nothing about this forum. Frustrating :(

Also I could not login using my original email and password from a few years ago. I tried the forgotten password link but it kept telling me that my email was already registered and would not let me use the temporary password. :( :(

Finally I registered using a different email. So now it thinks that I am a new member. :( :( :(
very frustrating experience. :( :( :(

I am not new to using computers and forums. I have been moderator for a forum for 10+ years, retired computer science professor, hi-tech programmer, etc. Hard to believe I had such trouble. Must be something wrong with your system. You'd think though that you would know about it if it were really broken. Very odd.

If you can fix my original login with FeMick@hotmail.com and delete my account with MultiMIPS@gmail.com I'll come back :)

Anyway here is yesterday's post...

Problem solved, almost as mysteriously as it started. I made some planned changes to the app and went thru the process of setting up an AVD and editing the run configuration. Then the Select Device became un-grayed, the Run menu reverted to normal, and everything worked.

How did you all help? Well, you gave me a structured place to think and prepare how to fix this, and it worked. I had to think hard so that I could present the problem properly. That has been enough. Thank you for being here :)

James Watson · Answer

> [[cite Mick Dawdy]]
>
> I would have posted this yesterday except I could not see anywhere on the home page to locate these help threads. Only things I could find using the row of home page links were the consumer interest items, nothing about this forum. Frustrating :(
> 
> Also I could not login using my original email and password from a few years ago. I tried the forgotten password link but it kept telling me that my email was already registered and would not let me use the temporary password. :( :(
> 
> Finally I registered using a different email. So now it thinks that I am a new member. :( :( :(
> very frustrating experience. :( :( :(
> 
> I am not new to using computers and forums. I have been moderator for a forum for 10+ years, retired computer science professor, hi-tech programmer, etc. Hard to believe I had such trouble. Must be something wrong with your system. You'd think though that you would know about it if it were really broken. Very odd.
> 
> If you can fix my original login with FeMick@hotmail.com and delete my account with MultiMIPS@gmail.com I'll come back :)
> 
> Anyway here is yesterday's post...
> 
> Problem solved, almost as mysteriously as it started. I made some planned changes to the app and went thru the process of setting up an AVD and editing the run configuration. Then the Select Device became un-grayed, the Run menu reverted to normal, and everything worked.
> 
> How did you all help? Well, you gave me a structured place to think and prepare how to fix this, and it worked. I had to think hard so that I could present the problem properly. That has been enough. Thank you for being here :)

Congratulations for that your issue has been solved at last. (smug)
Welcome, professor. It's a so tortuous course. :D Let's help each other here.(smug)

Jobassy · Answer

Your issue is not clear.