• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

[TUT] How to force install apps to SD card without ROOT!!!

Hi Praky,

I did as like what you said in tutorial..everything went fine including pop up of last $ symbol..but still when i install apps now..they are going directly to phone memory..more over iam unable to see option "Move SD card" for installed apps.what to do now? pls help me in this issue..thanks in advance..waiting for your reply..
 
Upvote 0
Note: Works on both froyo & GB

Source:Androinica How to Install Apps to the SD Card by Default on Android 2.2 Froyo (not for Ace)

You can find the latest version of this tutorial here. Though I will try to keep updating this thread too.

Getting Ready:
1. First you have to enable USB debugging on your Android device from Settings > Applications > Development > USB debugging.
2. You need to download and install the latest Android SDK on your computer from http://developer.android.com/sdk/.
3. Install the latest java SDk if you don't already have one.

Tutorial:
1. Extract the package to the folder of your choice [Let's say- C:/android-sdk-windows/], run SDK Manager.exe

2. Close the command / windows command prompt window that opens.

3. In the new window, click on Available Packages to the left. Untick all options you are prompted to download except the USB driver option & Android sdk tools revisionx(13 as of now) & Android sdk platform-tools revision x(7 as of now) if they are there.
(Note-If you get an error message at this point, enable
 
Upvote 0
Just thought I would log in and say thanks very much. My xperia play was constantly on low memory warning, now after following this tutorial I have been able to free up loads of memory!

After doing the tutorial, open APP2SD program and you will find that the moveable apps list is filled with loads of applications.

Thanks again
 
Upvote 0
Note: Works on both froyo & GB

Source:Androinica How to Install Apps to the SD Card by Default on Android 2.2 Froyo (not for Ace)

You can find the latest version of this tutorial here. Though I will try to keep updating this thread too.

Getting Ready:
1. First you have to enable USB debugging on your Android device from Settings > Applications > Development > USB debugging.
2. You need to download and install the latest Android SDK on your computer from http://developer.android.com/sdk/.
3. Install the latest java SDk if you don't already have one.

Tutorial:
1. Extract the package to the folder of your choice [Let's say- C:/android-sdk-windows/], run SDK Manager.exe

2. Close the command / windows command prompt window that opens.

3. In the new window, click on Available Packages to the left. Untick all options you are prompted to download except the USB driver option & Android sdk tools revisionx(13 as of now) & Android sdk platform-tools revision x(7 as of now) if they are there.
(Note-If you get an error message at this point, enable
 
Upvote 0
Hi, all ...first i wuld like to thank you for giving such a wonderful post for doing such a great work.
I have done all the way and its working very well.
But now my concern is when am trying to update my phones Android OS to the latest its not happening. It will download everything to the system and start upgrading and will not move on. It will remain in 0% and my phone will display "downloading" and that also will remain same. I need to remove my battery and restart my phone to get back to the normal mode.


Please help me to upgrade my software version to the latest.
 
Upvote 0
ok im still stuck
when i do the first prompt it says "the systme cannot find the file specified"

also i installed the SDK program in one of my folders (that had other info) then i uninstalled the program and it emptied the whole folder! anyone know where missing files go to? ive recovered the unimportant ones but need to find the important ones :( (this is on my comp by the way)
 
Upvote 0
I've done this a couple times... and had no problems. so why am I getting these Errors now?
sdky.jpg
 
Upvote 0
Did everything the tut says and manage to make it work. But somehow, my phone doesn't seem to connect to any wifi after that. I've checked with my other phones and they all connect to the same wifi source like a charm so this has nothing to do with the router. Anyone might knows what's causing this?

EDIT: Problem solved using the old *#*#526#*#* method.
 
  • Like
Reactions: damewolf13
Upvote 0
Hi there,
I've tried follow your instructions but have come to a halt.
i cant seem to download the tools and usb drivers.
i get an error message,

"Downloading Android SDK Platform-tools, revision14
File not found:C:\Program Files\Android\android-sdk\temp\platform-tools_r14-windows.zip (Access is denied)
Downloading Google USB Driver, revision 6
File not found:C:\Program Files\Android\android-sdk\temp\usb_driver_r06-windows.zip (Access is denied)
Done. Nothing was installed."

I tried the command prompt instructions but got a message saying

"the system cannot find the path specified"

Any ideas.

thanks Graham
 
Upvote 0
Hi there,
I've tried follow your instructions but have come to a halt.
i cant seem to download the tools and usb drivers.
i get an error message,

"Downloading Android SDK Platform-tools, revision14
File not found:C:\Program Files\Android\android-sdk\temp\platform-tools_r14-windows.zip (Access is denied)
Downloading Google USB Driver, revision 6
File not found:C:\Program Files\Android\android-sdk\temp\usb_driver_r06-windows.zip (Access is denied)
Done. Nothing was installed."

I tried the command prompt instructions but got a message saying

"the system cannot find the path specified"

Any ideas.

thanks Graham

run your android SDK manager again but this time Run it as Administrator and then install the packages it is recommending to install once its done successfully, check which directory its installed and follow the same steps as above but the directory will very according to where android SDK is located
 
Upvote 0
ahh guyz help plz? i cant even start the command keeps sayin invalid directory no matter how i write it!!


you have to type it EXACTLY like this. it is very picky

while in shell you must type ie, the little $ is the only thing on that line

type pm setInstallLocation 2

yea, you HAVE to capitalize the I and L

and if you see no $

type: adb shell pm setInstallLocation 2

hope this helps, i had the same problem. i looked around, and someone mentioned it elsewhere
 
Upvote 0
step 5. Run command prompt in administrator.

Where exactly do I find "administrator"??

type adb shell in the directory of platform-tools
now you are an admin


also, disregard my last comment, as i misunderstood the question.

but for those who have the "permission denied" problem,
two things, you have to be in shell (see above)
and you HAVE to type it just right, including caps

if you do it right, it should just go back to the $

to check, type
pm getInstallLocation
again you must be in shell, and it will show a number
0/system default(internal)
1/internal
2/external

and this should auto move all apps you install to your sd card, at least it does for me, but i DID have to manually move alot of them after making the change.

yada yada yada, the problem with or i have a 344349208gb sd card, and 10mb on my phone....the app will leave a significant footprint on your phone some of the time, OR its not installing to your sd card right off the bat, clear some space, enough to hold the entire app, install it. move it to the sd card, then recover your apps you got rid of or whatever.

hope this helps everyone
 
Upvote 0
trying to do this on my galaxy ace.. have downloaded SDK manager and installed all the recommended bits etc.. but can't actually find the tools on my hard drive now. the path is shown at the top of SDK manager window but when i go through the hard drive to actually find the thing, its not there, there's no folder that matches the one where it apparently downloaded to.. seriously confused and now stuck as to what to do next.. help please?? :thinking:
 
Upvote 0

BEST TECH IN 2023

We've been tracking upcoming products and ranking the best tech since 2007. Thanks for trusting our opinion: we get rewarded through affiliate links that earn us a commission and we invite you to learn more about us.

Smartphones