thank you!.....i can deal with that. i was literally going to throw this phone against the wall and chalk it up as a loss, but i found your post last night and it freed up about 35mb from the internal and on this device thats alot. i want to root it but i fear that i will brick the phone and render it useless, and plus i am new to android devices. i've owned iphones since the first one.
-
After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.
Forcing Apps to install to the SD Card without root
- Thread starter El Presidente
- Start date
-
- Tags
- htc wildfire s
thank you!.....i can deal with that. i was literally going to throw this phone against the wall and chalk it up as a loss, but i found your post last night and it freed up about 35mb from the internal and on this device thats alot. i want to root it but i fear that i will brick the phone and render it useless, and plus i am new to android devices. i've owned iphones since the first one.
Same with me was soo fustrated had to install/uninstall apps as required
finally some free space
thanks
gottuhaveit
Newbie
Thank you very much El Presidente. I do have just a couple questions for you. If you update your device will it lose this ability and my other question is once you have completed the procedure how do you make apps install to the sd card or does it automatically do it. I also wanted to let you know that when I tried it the first time I copy and pasted all of your commands and when I got to the end I copy and pasted Exit as you have it and it denied me permission so I tried it once again and typed in exit without the capital E and it worked perfectly. Thank you once again and I will be looking foward to your response.
Thanks, I'm not sure if you'd have to do it again unfortunately, I'd have to test. There would be no harm in doing it again then though, post update. They should automatically move too, no need for you to do anything.
Also, yeah, I'll need to amend the Exit to exit, as it's a linux shell, it's case sensitive.
gottuhaveit
Newbie
Thanks, I'm not sure if you'd have to do it again unfortunately, I'd have to test. There would be no harm in doing it again then though, post update. They should automatically move too, no need for you to do anything.
Also, yeah, I'll need to amend the Exit to exit, as it's a linux shell, it's case sensitive.
Yes that is why I told you about the Exit as it denied me permission when I copy and pasted it but I did the process again and typed in the word exit without the capital and it worked perfectly. You also did not answer my question about updating my phone. If I update my phone will I have to do this process again or will it stay the way it currently is installing apps on the sd card? Thanks again for your hard work.
i just have one question. after doing this procedure, do i leave "usb debugging" enabled and "fastboot" disabled?One of the biggest complaints levelled at the HTC Wildfire S is the severe lack of internal memory. There are ways around this, one of which is forcing downloaded apps to install to the SD Card. There are a couple of pre-requisites, but the process itself is relatively straight forward.
You'll need HTC Sync installed (or at least the drivers that come with HTC Sync) and ADB (Android Debug Bridge) or the Android SDK. The SDK itself is a >100MB download and can be relatively difficult to install, however if you head here, look under the section entitled Mini SDK, click show, you can download a zip file called SDK-Tools.zip. Once downloaded, extract the contents of that folder to a folder of your choosing. I recommend somewhere easy, like C:\SDK-Tools as you'll need to navigate to it via a command prompt later.
You'll also need to enable USB Debugging on your phone, that's easily enough done by heading to Settings -> Applications -> Development -> USB Debugging. You'll get a warning message, but just ok that you'll be fine.
Once you've done all the above, the process is as follows:
1. Connect the Phone to the PC in Charge Only mode
2. Open a command prompt (Start -> Run -> CMD, you'll need to run as Administrator)
3. Navigate to the folder you extracted ADB to. In my case, the command would be "cd\SDK-Tools" (minus the quotes).
4. Type adb devices and press enter. You should then see the serial number of your phone displayed on screen. If you don't check, that USB Debugging is enabled and you're connected in Charge Only Mode.
5. Type adb shell, press enter.
6. Type pm setInstallLocation 2 press enter (it's important you enter this exactly as written as it's case sensitive)
7. Type exit, then disconnect your phone.
8. PROFIT!
You can now move apps that are already on the handset to the SD Card. Head to Settings -> Applications -> Manage Applications -> All -> Click an app -> Move to SD Card. All new apps will install to the SD Card.
It's worth mentioning that apps with active widgets cannot be moved and a certain portion app will remain on the phones data partition, but this goes a long way to assist with the lack of internal memory!
Pics for the ADB stuff below:
You don't have too, but I do. Fastboot on means the phone is never really off, it just sits in a deep hibernation. It's only really beneficial to give you speedy boot times. I have fastboot off on all my handsets.
USB Debugging allows a PC better access to stuff over USB when connected. Not essential, but not a bad thing either. I have it enabled on all my handsets and a lot of custom ROMs have it enabled by default.
gottuhaveit
Newbie
I left usb debugging on with my htc wildfire s and it caused me some major issues. When I would answer a call sometimes the call would drop instantly and the other major issue was I could barely understand people and vice verse. When I disabled debugging all of those issues stopped immediately and besides it is so easy to go into the settings and turn it back on whenever you connect it to a pc. I just wanted to post this so other members would be aware that it can cause issues.
thanks for the info. that was happening to me last night and this morning. i just turned usb debuggin off and no dropped calls as of yet.
Very strange, USB Debugging is normally a good thing.
toocoolforipho
Lurker
I can't get it to work an dmy phones memory is very low with only two apps 
Poolesailor
Lurker
reading the rooting guide, it says i have to undone any tricks for forcing apps to the SD card before i try and root.
How do I undo the above process - do i just set the install location to 1?
Thanks from a total beginner that is currently lost in techno speak......
How do I undo the above process - do i just set the install location to 1?
Thanks from a total beginner that is currently lost in techno speak......
Just replace the '2' in "pm setInstallLocation 2" to 0 and you're done (for automatic selection of memory).
However i do not see any instruction to undo this setting before rooting, i changed this to a 1 for installing apps to internal memory to enable automatic linking of most apps by link2sd; this was after rooting.
I can't get it to work an dmy phones memory is very low with only two apps
may i know what are those two apps called? how much of your internal memory is left?
dan44762000
Well-Known Member
done it exactlly as it was said too , it done everything in the screenshots except for the daemon started stuff .
showed me my phones serial .
but i dont seem to be able to move anything too sd card .
only got 22 mb of space on internal memory .
it is a vodaphone branded phone running 2.3.5
i am guessing i wont be able to move the vodaphone stuff over but surely i can move facebook which is 20 + mb on its own .
thanks dan
showed me my phones serial .
but i dont seem to be able to move anything too sd card .
only got 22 mb of space on internal memory .
it is a vodaphone branded phone running 2.3.5
i am guessing i wont be able to move the vodaphone stuff over but surely i can move facebook which is 20 + mb on its own .
thanks dan
Have you tried again?
I've seen mixed reports of moving Facebook, I didn't think you could move it as it was a system app, but I'm sure if you have a scan through this thread, some folk have managed it iirc.
I've seen mixed reports of moving Facebook, I didn't think you could move it as it was a system app, but I'm sure if you have a scan through this thread, some folk have managed it iirc.
It should work on the Desire no problem.
Hello there! I'm truly glad you're still answering to this thread!!
I've encountered a problem, I'm terribly newbie with cellphones issue.
I've followed step by step your instructions, but it doesn't let me move any app to the SD card, even no widgets ones.
I do'nt know why, but seems like in the CMD part, some daemon thing is missing (can't post any images)
c:\windows\system32\>cd..
c:\windows\> cd..
c:\> D:
d:\> cd sdktools
d:\SDKTools\> adb devices
List of devices attached
sdsdefsfsdf device
d:\SDKTools\> adb shell
$ pm set InstallLocation 2
pm set InstallLocation 2
$ exit
exit
d:\SDKTools\> exit
Then goes back to Windows, but nothing happens.
I'm using Android 2.3.3, I read all the thread above mine, so I tried to reinstall HTC Sync, I used USB debugging on, tried lower case, and the sentece as you wrote it, and it's not working.
I'm begging for your help, and if you need further details, please let me know.
Best regards,
Hey yosoyines, what happens when you install an app? Where does it go?
Have you rebooted the phone?
Have you rebooted the phone?
What apps are you attempting to install?
I'm trying to install: WhatsApp, Viber
I'm trying to move: Facebook, Bolsa (that's spanish for market or sotck market, seems like an HTC app), Flickr, Peep, StreetView
Whatsapp goes directly to my SD Card, flickr won't install or move, Viber won't install directly, but will move if I do it manually (it leaves 3.6MB on the phone though).