Generating your own key from a byte array is easy:
byte[] raw = ...; // 32 bytes in size for a 256 bit key
Key skey = new javax.crypto.spec.SecretKeySpec(raw, "AES");
But creating a 256-bit key isn't enough. If the key generator cannot generate 256-bit keys for you, then the Cipher
class probably doesn't support AES 256-bit either. You say you have the unlimited jurisdiction patch installed, so the AES-256 cipher should be supported (but then 256-bit keys should be too, so this might be a configuration problem).
Cipher cipher = Cipher.getInstance("AES");
cipher.init(Cipher.ENCRYPT_MODE, skey);
byte[] encrypted = cipher.doFinal(plainText.getBytes());
A workaround for lack of AES-256 support is to take some freely available implementation of AES-256, and use it as a custom provider. This involves creating your own Provider
subclass and using it with Cipher.getInstance(String, Provider)
. But this can be an involved process.