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How to move apps to sd card on an unrooted device: A noobs guide. **Updated 09/02/11**

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Hi,

Your description seems good enough but still I am having a trouble going beyond step 15. Whenever I try the first command it gets executed but when i type
"adb devices" and the ones after them my command prompt says that adb is not a known command but in my sdk manager i can see that adk server is successfully started.
Can you please help me with this. It is a great thing if i can get to work on my htc desire.
 
Hi,

Your description seems good enough but still I am having a trouble going beyond step 15. Whenever I try the first command it gets executed but when i type
"adb devices" and the ones after them my command prompt says that adb is not a known command but in my sdk manager i can see that adk server is successfully started.
Can you please help me with this. It is a great thing if i can get to work on my htc desire.

read the last page of this thread.
 
i had the same problem, not being able to find the "adb devices" but using the platform tools way it worked:D the new download has it placed there
just to help everyone:)

"cd desktop\android-sdk-windows\platform-tools"
"adb devices"
"adb shell"
A $ sign should pop up
"pm setInstallLocation 2"
Another $ should pop up

i thought mine failed at first, but after the reboot of the phone, found it worked, thanks for the guide!:D
 
My Noob's Guide to this Process. (The phone doesn't need to be rooted)

*Updated: Widget Info / Guide / Fix *


Note:

  • This requires Froyo 2.2
  • It doesn't void your warranty
  • It doesn't delete existing apps
  • It's perfectly safe
  • It doesn't require rooting.

I realise there are a few threads about this, but I thought I would make a new one for my easier guide, and hopefully people will find it more easily as they won't have to scroll through pages of other threads to find an answer.
I am now successfully running most apps from my SD Card now. I just thought I would make an easier guide as the others are fairly complex for noobs like me. So here is my guide - hope it helps :)


  1. Download the SDK from here- Android SDK | Android Developers
  2. Extract using something like WinRar
  3. Copy the second folder into the sdk named "android-sdk-windows" to the desktop.
  4. Open the folder on the desktop and open the file, SDK Manager.exe (as no such file as setup.exe exists in the new version of the SDk)
  5. Close the command / windows command prompt window that opens
  6. Untick all options you are promted to download except ones like the manuals, and Essentially, ensure the USB driver option is selected / ticked.
  7. Let these files download
  8. Ensure on your phone, USB Debugging is on - Go to Settings/Applications/Development/USB Debugging and ensure its ticked / on.
  9. Download and install HTC Sync from HTC's website for your device.
  10. Connect your phone by USB and select the HTC sync option when it pops up with charge only, disk mode etc.
  11. Allow the sync to complete.
  12. Open windows command promt. Start / Run
  13. Type in (without quotations) "cmd"
  14. The following should appear. (with your user account instead of William
    2u7rrm0.jpg
15. Type in the following after the ">" at each step (without quotations,and including spaces and capital letters)

"cd desktop\android-sdk-windows\tools"
"adb devices"
"adb shell"
A $ sign should pop up
"pm setInstallLocation 2"
Another $ should pop up

And your done. Close everything, disconnect phone, turn off phone and then turn it back on again.

16. Now the phone will be set to install all apps you install onto the SD card. However, current apps on phone will mostly still be stored on the internal memory. This process doesn't move these apps for you, it adds the ability. So you must now manually move those already installed on the phone.

To do this, go to settings / applications / manage applications
Then you just click on an app, and the move to SD card box should no longer be Grey. So you must now move all the apps you want onto the SD Card.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note: I would not advise moving apps like widgets, or anything system related. Furthermore, for example, I have the 3g watchdog app constantly running, so it is advisable to keep apps like that on the internal memory.
See below for more information on widgets...

If you get an invalid path message, it suggests it cannot find the required folder you are asking it to. My method only works if you have saved it to the desktop. If you have saved it elsewhere it won't work. You would have to redirect the desktop part of the code ("cd desktop\android-sdk-windows\tools") to somewhere else.

For example if you saved it in my docs instead, it would be - "cd My Documents\android-sdk-windows\tools". That's why I used the desktop, it's far easier to code the cmd to find the file.

Finally, part of the problem is that when you extract the core sdk rar file, it is extracted to a folder wherever it was saved originally titled android-sdk-windows, but in that is another folder called android-sdk-windows, and then only once you open that second folder do you gain access to the tools, usb driver folders and so on. Therefore, you must either, remove the first folder so you are left with just a folder named android-sdk-windows which inside contains tools... or you must recode my above to say "cd Desktop\android-sdk-windows\android-sdk-windows\tools".

Likewise, beware as I can't remember for certain, but I think the sdk in its core form is called android-sdk_r07-windows or something, so rename this to android-sdk-windows.

One final note. Fairly irrelevant to this process but since this is being viewed a lot I'll say it anyway. Don't ever use a task killer. Wrecks the phone! Happened to me, happened to thousands. Ask below for more info.....

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Widget Fix / Guide

Just to clarify about widgets for anyone unclear. There seems to be a bit of confusion here. This may have been said earlier I don't know, but again hopefully this is simpler. Ill add this to the first post too.

With this process, you can still use widgets, but not if they are on the SD Card (which they automatically will be assuming you got my original guide process to work.) Ive tested this, and it works every time for me. I know some widgets are weird but I think it will work. So to get a working widget....

Note: Some irritating widgets may require you to uninstall the app before you proceed to step 1.


  1. Download and install the widget from the android market
  2. Go to Settings/Applications/Manage applications/Downloaded (or All) and find/select your widget.
  3. Select move to phone.
  4. Turn off the phone
  5. Turn on the phone
  6. Voila. Widget should now work.
------------------------------------------------


Good luck. Any questions just ask. Ill check back regularly too. Hopefully, this guide is a little simpler for noobs :)

William
Dude i followed this but i cudnt find a "USB Driver option" in that list. But i found "Google USB driver with a question mark prefixed to it. I checked it along with one Documentation file and with some essential file and unchecked all other options. After it downloaded evry thng I attached my phone to PC and using the command prompt I did what specified until it showed me a message that "adb is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.

I have Windows7 Enterprise edition with HTC Sync version 3.0.5481 running.

Can you please suggest me with it!
 
Worked beautifully!

I had to edit the first command in the cmd promt to
"cd desktop\android-sdk-windows\platform-tools"
because of the new sdk-package but after that it worked flawlessly

...and now thanks to a hard reset and this perk, I saved myself around 50mb of internal storage on my desire

thanks again
 
i bought samsung galaxy 3. after a week i am out of phone memory .i installed only few applications .
i have 8 gb memory card with me. how can i install applications to sd card.
plz reply me regarding this issue.with out memory this phone is nothing but trash.
 
But even if i tried the "cd desktop\android-sdk-windows\platform-tools" it still showing that the system cannot find the path specified............But i can see the folder in the android-sdk-windows folder and it contains files!
 
Anyone help with this? Where is this adb devices in the SDK download?

C:\Users\Steven\Desktop\android-sdk-windows\tools>adb devices
'adb' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

I have followed the instructions and installed HTC sync. The phone wont sync as there is nothing to sync.

USB debugging is enabled.

Any ideas?
 
Hi, can anyone help me out?
When I click on 'SDK Manager.exe' the black box flashes up for a second then closes down, nothing happens after that.
I searched the 'android-sdk-windows' folder for 'adb' and nothing was found.
Have I made an error when downloading the SDK?

I downloaded it from Android SDK | Android Developers
I chose android-sdk_r08-windows.zip and then unzipped it to my desktop.


Someone mentioned that adb may be missing from the latest version.

Try this one:

http://dl.google.com/android/android-sdk_r06-windows.zip

In this one it is android-sdk-windows\tools\adb.exe (this is the one I use)
 
Someone mentioned that adb may be missing from the latest version.

Try this one:

http://dl.google.com/android/android-sdk_r06-windows.zip

In this one it is android-sdk-windows\tools\adb.exe (this is the one I use)

I used this one, but when I click SDK Setup (that's what starts the SDK Manager) I get the command prompt, but after that, I get the following error:

probg.jpg


When I click on Close, it does ask me what I want to download, but it's empty, there is nothing that I can choose from.

What could be the problem? Should I maybe use the SDK Manager from the latest version?

Oh, and I'm sorry if my questions are kinda dumb..but honestly I'd rather be safe when it comes to my phone :o
 
Why are you using sdk manager at all? Just manually.open command prompt and set the directory to the adb location

Edit. I see the guide says to do that but there's no need

Step 4 to 7 you don't need. Unless thats for the new sdk?
 
Doesn't work for me either i get
"even if i tried the "cd desktop\android-sdk-windows\platform-tools" it still showing that the system cannot find the path specified............But i can see the folder in the android-sdk-windows folder and it contains files"

C:\Users\Steven\Desktop\android-sdk-windows\tools>adb devices
'adb' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

I have followed the instructions and installed HTC sync. The phone wont sync as there is nothing to sync.

USB debugging is enabled.

Any ideas? Help needed please
 
I've just done this using the latest sdk and had no issues whatsoever. The only change is they've moved adb to the "platform-tools" folder instead of "tools". Thanks for the guide William.
 
Why are you using sdk manager at all? Just manually.open command prompt and set the directory to the adb location

Edit. I see the guide says to do that but there's no need

Step 4 to 7 you don't need. Unless thats for the new sdk?


I just did this (followed the guide without steps 4-7) using the older sdk from Danfrance's previous post. It seems to have worked.
I've moved several apps to the sd card and free'd up about 20mb. Phone seems to be working ok so far! Thanks for the help.
 
Hi,

I am struggling with the last step, when i try and to use the pm setInstallLocation 2 command i get an error message -setInstallLocation: permission denied, any ideas what i'm doing wrong????

Cheers

Andy
 
Hi,

I am struggling with the last step, when i try and to use the pm setInstallLocation 2 command i get an error message -setInstallLocation: permission denied, any ideas what i'm doing wrong????

Cheers

Andy

I googled it and you're not the only one. Unfortunately I haven't seen a resolution in any of those threads.
 
hi,

thnx for the reply and the effort of googling. I did some googling myself and had the same result :( I can't see what i am doing wrong, hopefully i'll sort it out sooner or later - hopefully sooner!!!

Ta

Andy
 
Hey everyone!

I tried to follow the guide but gets stuck with htc sync. I can't get the damned thing to recognize my phone. Any advice on how to do this????

Best regards,
O
 
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