microg/GmsCore · error · FileNotFoundException

FileProvider creation failed

Error message

FileProvider creation failed

What it means

GmsFileProvider overrides openFile and deliberately throws FileNotFoundException when the provider's initialization previously failed (initializationFailed flag). This converts a broken provider startup into a standard file-not-found for callers of ContentResolver.open* on a content:// URI.

Source

Thrown at play-services-core/src/main/java/org/microg/gms/settings/GmsFileProvider.kt:51

    override fun onCreate(): Boolean {
        return true
    }

    override fun getType(uri: Uri): String? {
        if (initializationFailed) {
            return null
        }
        return super.getType(uri)
    }

    override fun openFile(
        uri: Uri, mode: String, signal: CancellationSignal?
    ): ParcelFileDescriptor? {
        if (!initializationFailed) {
            return super.openFile(uri, mode, signal)
        }
        throw FileNotFoundException("FileProvider creation failed")
    }

    override fun delete(uri: Uri, selection: String?, selectionArgs: Array<out String>?): Int {
        if (initializationFailed) {
            return 0
        }
        return super.delete(uri, selection, selectionArgs)
    }

    override fun query(
        uri: Uri, projection: Array<out String>?, selection: String?, selectionArgs: Array<out String>?, sortOrder: String?
    ): Cursor {
        if (initializationFailed) {
            return MatrixCursor(emptyProjection)
        }
        return super.query(uri, projection, selection, selectionArgs, sortOrder)
    }
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 157c9d86ac)

Solutions

1. Check device storage and the provider's declared cache/files directories; clear the microG app data to let the provider re-initialize
2. Restart the microG process so onCreate runs again successfully
3. Investigate why initializationFailed was set (look at provider startup logs) before retrying
4. Handle FileNotFoundException from ContentResolver.open* gracefully and retry after fixing underlying storage issues

Example fix

// before
val fd = contentResolver.openFileDescriptor(uri, "r")!!
// after
val fd = try { contentResolver.openFileDescriptor(uri, "r") } catch (e: FileNotFoundException) { null }

try {
    contentResolver.openFileDescriptor(uri, "r")?.use { ... }
} catch (e: FileNotFoundException) {
    Log.w(TAG, "GmsFileProvider unavailable", e)
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling openFile (via ContentResolver.openInputStream/openOutputStream/openFileDescriptor) on a GmsFileProvider content URI after the provider failed to initialize, e.g. because its underlying files/cache directory was unavailable at startup.

Common situations: Device storage issues or a corrupted provider state causing ContentProvider.onCreate to fail, then any later file access attempt surfaces this exception instead of a real descriptor.

Understand the failure class

Background: "File not found" and ENOENT errors: why libraries can't find a file that should exist — this error's family across 50 libraries.

Related errors

• Access denied, missing google package permission or GET_ACCO
• Unsupported method call %s(%s).
• Unknown key: $key
• deleteAll was set to true but keys were also provided
• Element in keys cannot be null or empty

AI-assisted analysis of microg/GmsCore@157c9d86ac (2026-09-06). Data as JSON: /api/errors/569efd00f6720588. Report an issue: GitHub.