unable to sign the unsigned APK

You need to remove the - in front of the keystorefile and add the flag -keystore:

$ jarsigner -verbose -sigalg SHA1withRSA -digestalg SHA1 -keystore my-release-key.keystore F:\mobile\moto\whatever_the_path_is_to_your_apk_file\HelloCordova-release-unsigned.apk alias_name

Generally I use these commands to generate a release build apk that I will publish in the Google Play Store:

cd ~/Projects/myappname/
cordova build android --release
jarsigner -verbose -sigalg SHA1withRSA -digestalg SHA1 -keystore certificates/myappname-cert.keystore -storepass myappname -keypass myappname platforms/android/ant-build/CordovaApp-release-unsigned.apk myappname
jarsigner -verify -verbose -certs platforms/android/ant-build/CordovaApp-release-unsigned.apk
~/android-sdk-macosx/build-tools/21.1.2/zipalign -v 4 platforms/android/ant-build/CordovaApp-release-unsigned.apk releases/android/myappname1.0.0.apk

Note that I created the dir. certificates with the .keystore certificate, and the dir. releases/android where I save all signed apk releases.

To generate a new keystore file with a new password:

keytool -genkey -v -keystore certificates/my-release-key.keystore -alias alias_name -keyalg RSA -keysize 2048 -validity 10000

Steps to sign Corodva apk using keytool, jarsigner and zipalign are:

1. Generate keystore for your app using keytool:

keytool -genkey -v -keystore android.keystore -alias android_app -keyalg RSA -keysize 2048 -validity 10000

2. Next create a certificate into a pkcs12 keystore format with keytool

keytool -importkeystore -srckeystore android.keystore -destkeystore android.keystore -deststoretype pkcs12

It will create two files in Project_root_dir as android.keystore (with pkcs12) and android.keystore.old (without pkcs12)

3. Sign apk with jarsigner:

jarsigner -verbose -sigalg SHA1withRSA -digestalg SHA1 -keystore android.keystore app-release-unsigned.apk android_app

First time you'll get below error as:

jarsigner: unable to open jar file: app-release-unsigned.apk

Then you just need to move .apk file from

/Project_root_dir/platforms/android/app/build/outputs/apk/release/app-release unsigned.apk

in to Project_root_dir/

Then again run the jarsigner command above, it will sign apk successfully.

4. Finally verify apk:

zipalign -v 4 app-release-unsigned.apk app-release.apk

Your apk is signed successfully, you can publish it in play store.

I hope this will help you.