Forcing Apps to install to the SD Card without root

[El Presidente]

Hi,

Thanks a ton for posting this. It worked right away and now I have a lot of free internal memory..Thanks

Glad it worked and happy it helped.

 

[starrys800]

Hi,

After doing this, when i try to download apps from the market, some of the apps are still getting installed into the phone memory and I am unable to move them to SD card.. Any ideas??

 

[tijdelijk]

Hi,

After doing this, when i try to download apps from the market, some of the apps are still getting installed into the phone memory and I am unable to move them to SD card.. Any ideas??

I have the same 'problem'. Some of the apps that I download are installed to the phone memory. However, then I use the app "move 2 sd" which moves the app to the sd-card, so all is well
From the 30 apps that I use, only 4 apps have to stay on my phone memory in order for them to work (market update, teslaled, colornote, traffic monitor).

Btw. Thanks again El Presidente for the clear instructions! I have done exactly what is instructed and now I have 40mb extra memory plus saving more whenever I install another app

 

[El Presidente]

Hi,

After doing this, when i try to download apps from the market, some of the apps are still getting installed into the phone memory and I am unable to move them to SD card.. Any ideas??

I have the same 'problem'. Some of the apps that I download are installed to the phone memory. However, then I use the app "move 2 sd" which moves the app to the sd-card, so all is well
From the 30 apps that I use, only 4 apps have to stay on my phone memory in order for them to work (market update, teslaled, colornote, traffic monitor).

Btw. Thanks again El Presidente for the clear instructions! I have done exactly what is instructed and now I have 40mb extra memory plus saving more whenever I install another app

No problem, glad it's helped!

Some apps can't be moved, there's a piece of code a dev needs to insert which will allow installation/moving to the SD Card. Also, you can't move anything with an active widget.

There's nothing that can be done about that I'm afraid

 

[Calomax]

No problem, glad it's helped!

Some apps can't be moved, there's a piece of code a dev needs to insert which will allow installation/moving to the SD Card. Also, you can't move anything with an active widget.

There's nothing that can be done about that I'm afraid

I can already move most downloaded apps to the SD card with Settings/Applications/Manage Applications. If I read this thread right, it still won't let me move those that I can't move now.

But, if I uninstall them, then reinstall them, will they then install to the card?

 

[Diretribe]

I don't normally get involved in online forums but while i was looking a good useful app I came across this chat, followed the instructions and it all worked well. Only had one App I could move though as most were already on the SD card.

 

[jamesbil]

nice easy tutorial and works! tho there are still a few with move to sd grayed out....

 

[marchitecto]

It works! Thanks a lot, I now have a lot of Internal memory to spare

 

[Calomax]

Will this allow those downloaded apps that can't currently be moved to the SD card, to install to the card please?

 

[Tipjar]

This worked beautifully for my phone. Can't tell you how pleased I am. I've already loaded a boatload of apps and have 60MB of internal storage still free, so much thanks. However, I just had a little scare several hours later. Found my phone with a frozen white screen and the text "0 update" at the top. Had to remove battery and hold power button for thirty seconds, then replace battery. It's all back for the moment. Since I've modified the OS to expand the internal storage am I at risk of automatic updates from either Google or one of the android apps turning my phone into a brick? If that risk exists, which updates do I need to turn off?

UPDATE: Screen freeze was isolated occurrence. Never happened again. I think a single restart after the change was all it wanted.

 

[El Presidente]

Will this allow those downloaded apps that can't currently be moved to the SD card, to install to the card please?

It's app dependant, the dev needs to insert a piece of code that allows installation/moving to the SD.

I can already move most downloaded apps to the SD card with Settings/Applications/Manage Applications. If I read this thread right, it still won't let me move those that I can't move now.

But, if I uninstall them, then reinstall them, will they then install to the card?

It might be worth a pop, but see the answer above, it's app dependant.

Since I've modified the OS to expand the internal storage am I at risk of automatic updates from either Google or one of the android apps turning my phone into a brick? If that risk exists, which updates do I need to turn off?

Nope you should be cool. I've done it on mine and accepted an OTA update with no problems.

 

[Calomax]

Thank you, I really can't see any advantage in doing this except it would save the step of moving the apps after installing them

 

[bornf3]

Oh my gosh, it worked! Just realised that my norton security cannot run from SD card, luckily it told me so cos the option actually let it move to it. I'm going to see if in fact any new apps install directly to the SD card now, gosh I feel spoilt for options!!, thanks lots.

 

[akmsk]

OMG! i dont know how to thank you for this useful guide... i have freed at least 10mb of my internal memory....... * thumbs up*

 

[swapneel]

when i type adb devices command it does not show my phone in connected list..
not able to move ahead of that step..
help wud b appreciated!!

 

[El Presidente]

Have you enabled USB Debugging and made sure you're connected in charge only mode?

 

[swapneel]

Have you enabled USB Debugging and made sure you're connected in charge only mode?

Yes i have enabled the debugging mode n made sure its in charge only mode. still it doesn't recognize my device..
do i need to install ADB saperately or jst need to dwnload tht sdk-tools.zip file and extract it..
Pls hv patience with me as m cmpletly new to ths wrld!!

 

[El Presidente]

Just the SDK tools zip is fine. Does HTC Sync recognised the phone at all? Can you connect in any other mode?

 

[Calomax]

Well I finally took the plunge and did this. I was surprised to find that I was then able to move some apps to the SD card that I couldn't do before. One thing that is happening now when I connect in charge only is that the box asking if I want to open the card to view files comes up, although I don't know if there is a connection. It's not a problem as I just close it and carry on.

 

[Sokong]

Please Help.......I saw this when I type adb shell
C:\sdk-tools>adb shell
adb server is out of date. killing...
* daemon started successfully *
$
C:\sdk-tools>pm setInstallLocation 2
'pm' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

 

[El Presidente]

When you type adb devices, does it list your phones serial number Sokong?

 

[jps0369]

Hello..Just saw this and new here to the forum. I followed the instructions step by step and in the end I was still unable to force some of the pre-loaded apps to my sd card. I have an Wildfire S Virgin Mobile, HTC A510c, android vers 2.3.4.

 

[sehri112]

Hello, my name is shaher, i tried typing in "cd\SDK-Tools" the name is my extracted file name, and when i press enter, it says the system cannot find the path specified, what do i do? and ive made sure my phone is connected in charge mode and debugging is on??

 

[El Presidente]

Hello..Just saw this and new here to the forum. I followed the instructions step by step and in the end I was still unable to force some of the pre-loaded apps to my sd card. I have an Wildfire S Virgin Mobile, HTC A510c, android vers 2.3.4.

Yep, there are some apps that can't be moved unfortunately.

Hello, my name is shaher, i tried typing in "cd\SDK-Tools" the name is my extracted file name, and when i press enter, it says the system cannot find the path specified, what do i do? and ive made sure my phone is connected in charge mode and debugging is on??

Just double check in Windows that's where you've extracted to. If you see an SDK-Tools folder, make sure there isn't another one inside it.

 

[Sokong]

When you type adb devices, does it list your phones serial number Sokong?

Yes of course I see the serial!!! but when i type pm setInstallLocation 2 it show like this:
C:\sdk-tools>adb shell
adb server is out of date. killing...
* daemon started successfully *
$
C:\sdk-tools>pm setInstallLocation 2
'pm' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.