When trying to obtain Signing Key Fingerprint I'm getting Invalid keystore format

Question

Hi,

I'm on an apprenticeship in the UK.
I'm trying to make a simple app that uses google maps with Xamarin for both iOS and Android.
My app just needs to display some objects overlaying them on the map using geolocalization

First of all I need to be able to use google maps with Visual Studio + Xamarin
I'm stuck at the first step where I have to retrieve the fingerprint from my keystore.

I'm running visual studio 2022
I've seen here there's quite a lot of steps to go through.

This is one command I've tried from a cmd run from the jre folder

C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.8.0_291\bin>keytool.exe -list -v -keystore "%LocalAppData%\Xamarin\Mono for Android\debug.keystore" -alias androiddebugkey

Enter keystore password:   

I have tried with android, then changeme and changeit but still the same output as follows

keytool error: java.io.IOException: Invalid keystore format  
java.io.IOException: Invalid keystore format  
        at sun.security.provider.JavaKeyStore.engineLoad(Unknown Source)  
        at sun.security.provider.JavaKeyStore$JKS.engineLoad(Unknown Source)  
        at sun.security.provider.KeyStoreDelegator.engineLoad(Unknown Source)  
        at sun.security.provider.JavaKeyStore$DualFormatJKS.engineLoad(Unknown Source)  
        at java.security.KeyStore.load(Unknown Source)  
        at sun.security.tools.keytool.Main.doCommands(Unknown Source)  
        at sun.security.tools.keytool.Main.run(Unknown Source)  
        at sun.security.tools.keytool.Main.main(Unknown Source)  

I've tried also to state what the password is manually. The following example shows what I get using android as a password. The results are identical for changeme and changeit

C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.8.0_291\bin>keytool.exe -list -v -keystore "%LocalAppData%\Xamarin\Mono for Android\debug.keystore" -alias androiddebugkey -storepass android -keypass android

keytool error: java.io.IOException: Invalid keystore format  
java.io.IOException: Invalid keystore format  
        at sun.security.provider.JavaKeyStore.engineLoad(Unknown Source)  
        at sun.security.provider.JavaKeyStore$JKS.engineLoad(Unknown Source)  
        at sun.security.provider.KeyStoreDelegator.engineLoad(Unknown Source)  
        at sun.security.provider.JavaKeyStore$DualFormatJKS.engineLoad(Unknown Source)  
        at java.security.KeyStore.load(Unknown Source)  
        at sun.security.tools.keytool.Main.doCommands(Unknown Source)  
        at sun.security.tools.keytool.Main.run(Unknown Source)  
        at sun.security.tools.keytool.Main.main(Unknown Source)  

This is what I get if I don't provide any password:

C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.8.0_291\bin>keytool.exe -list -v -keystore "%LocalAppData%\Xamarin\Mono for Android\debug.keystore" -alias androiddebugkey

Enter keystore password:  

I have literally just pressed enter here without typing anything. Just enter

***************** WARNING WARNING WARNING *****************
* The integrity of the information stored in your keystore *
* has NOT been verified! In order to verify its integrity, *
* you must provide your keystore password. *
***************** WARNING WARNING WARNING *****************

Alias name: androiddebugkey  
Creation date: Mar 3, 2022  
Entry type: PrivateKeyEntry  

Which makes me think I do have a keystore....
I don't understand why the keystore becomes an invalid one as soon as I provide a password

Is there something I'm missing? Any shell I should be running this command from?

Sorry for the formatting, this is literally my first post on this forum.

Thanks

Daniele

Answer 1

Hi, @Daniele Della Cioppa What keystore do you get from the cmd? Is it like this: SHA1: BB:0D:AC:74:D3:21:E1:43:07:71:9B:62:90:AF:A1:66:6E:44:5D:75? To get the key, try using the following code:

   keytool.exe -list -v -keystore "C:\Users\[USERNAME]\AppData\Local\Xamarin\Mono for Android\debug.keystore" -alias androiddebugkey -storepass android -keypass android  

For more details, you could refer to: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/xamarin/android/platform/maps-and-location/maps/obtaining-a-google-maps-api-key?tabs=windows#obtaining-your-signing-key-fingerprint

Answer 2

I had the same error. The problem is in VS2022 version 17.0.5 (not sure about ubdates). If you generate a keystore through the Archive Manager, the keystore is generated but is invalid because the expiration date is not set in the keystore.

The solution for me was to generate the keystore in VS2019. I kept it installed on my machine.