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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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olefrank said:
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
Click to expand...

I can't personally see that step as being necessary (Although I could be wrong). Try skipping it and see how you get on.
 
im getting errors on cmd prompts for documents and settings either cmd is incorrect or invalid also lots of access denied on windows 7
 
There is no "Documents and settings" in windows 7. Its been renamed to "users",

All command prompt is doing is giving you a command line access to the fiolder structure instead of the Windows GUI. If you ever get that sort of error on a folder or file in cmd, check in windows that the folder or file exists.

Also, run cmd as an administrator
 
Hey williamj1,

Just joined this forum because I'm interested in your method.
The latest SDK package is r09.

:confused: Are there differences in the way how to use SDK? The options you mention to untick look different to me, the USB option is unavailable.

Any hint would be very much appreciated.
Thanks in advance!

Greetz, Nedden
 
Nedden said:
Hey williamj1,

Just joined this forum because I'm interested in your method.
The latest SDK package is r09.

:confused: Are there differences in the way how to use SDK? The options you mention to untick look different to me, the USB option is unavailable.

Any hint would be very much appreciated.
Thanks in advance!

Greetz, Nedden
Click to expand...

Welcome :)

I don't understand the question... do you mean step 6 or 7?

The phone's usb drivers must be installed for this to work. If you haven't used HTC sync before they need to be installed by the SDK, if you have used HTC sync before then the drivers will be installed already.

On the phone, USB debugging (settings>applications>usb debugging (development) must be ticked on.

Does this help? I don't understand the dilemma sorry.
 
Ive got to say William, and I am sorry to say it, but this guide vastly over complicates this.

Without going into detail, all you really need to do is:

1) download and install htc sync

2) download sdk and extract to C:\

3) Open command prompt and navigate to C:\android-sdk-windows\tools (or platform tools)

4) "ADB shell"

5) "pm setinstalllocation 2"

Everything else is superfluous.

in regards to step 2, C: is better because its universally the same where as desktop is in a different directory depending on windows version.

Step 3, If everyone downloads the version I linked earlier, its always tools, not platform tools.
 
I don't agree. The whole reason I made the guide is that other advanced people like yourself found these processes rather simple. All the other guides made by people were a lot simpler and less detailed. Consequently, they missed out crucial pieces of data which they assumed noob's knew and understood.

Hence forth, I made this guide. It goes through every step in great detail. It may be complicated, but it expains it all and the instructions are clear so even a noob can follow them. You illustrate my point in your above post. "download sdk and extract to C:\", then "Open command prompt and navigate to C:\android-sdk-windows\tools (or platform tools". I can guarantee many of the people who came on here won't know how to do any of that!

Maybe it could be simplified a little, but I think that would defeat the point. Plus, there seems to be many satisfied people already :D

I appreciate your continued support in this thread btw, I will try and check back more often from now on to give you a break from it :P
 
Sorry, you misunderstand. I'm not talking about the level of detail. I did say...

Without going into detail
Click to expand...
Its not about the level of detail. That IS required, so great job.

All I am saying is that you only need the steps I mentioned above (agreed in detail).

You can expand with detail on these 5 steps and completely lose the other 11. Most of the steps are not needed at all. It is that which is overcomplicating things IMHO
 
William - this is great!!
but have one more noob question.....does the source memory of the app remain on the phone even if the app is force moved to sd card? if yes, can that too be moved to sd card...?
 
williamj1 said:
Ok thanks, but its not from another blog. Obviously I didn't come up with the method, but I haven't just copied and pasted the method under my name. I typed it all up, in my own words and if you compare it to the "other blogs" you will see that mine includes substantially more detail, pictures and basic information which many take for granted. As I say, the other guides are a bit more complicated and difficult to follow than they need to be. I made this guide, using information already available, and put it into simpler "noob" language.
Click to expand...

Why does it say so when I reach the very last stage? invalid command setinstallLocation

is any file missing?

I dont see any file called USB driver but it syncs well and on running adb devices does identify my phone.

my email address is abdul.jabbar@aku.edu
 
William thanks for the tip. I got as far as
C:\Documents and Settings\Sheri\Desktop\android-sdk-windows\platform-tools>adb s
hell
$ pm setInstallLocation 2
pm setInstallLocation 2
[1] Killed pm setInstallLocation 2
$
C:\Documents and Settings\Sheri\Desktop\android-sdk-windows\platform-tools>

then I disconnected as you said, but nothing is different. When it said "[1] Killed" did I do something wrong? Any help would be awsome.
Thanks
 
Well now when you install apps, they will automatically install to SD card, or you can move them via manager applications.
 
bingobango said:
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.
Click to expand...

I believe adb got moved from "android-sdk-windows\tools" to android-sdk-windows\platform-tools"

I did this all on windows 7 the other night (I used the installer instead of the zipfile) and it worked like a charm.
 
SUroot said:
Sorry, you misunderstand. I'm not talking about the level of detail. I did say...

Its not about the level of detail. That IS required, so great job.

All I am saying is that you only need the steps I mentioned above (agreed in detail).

You can expand with detail on these 5 steps and completely lose the other 11. Most of the steps are not needed at all. It is that which is overcomplicating things IMHO
Click to expand...

I see your point, but only now as a more advanced user. If I were to use your steps 1-5, I would have to use more detail to make it a "noob guide" as such, because like I say many people wouldn't understand all that. But once I have detailed your steps 1-5, you are left with more or less my guide. Which steps in mine for example, do you feel overcomplicate things? I'm interested to improve the guide as much as I can, as I think it's really useful and has helped lots of people, so please show me which of my steps you feel over complicate things.

Thanks Dan :) (why did you change your name btw?)
 
williamj1 said:
I see your point, but only now as a more advanced user. If I were to use your steps 1-5, I would have to use more detail to make it a "noob guide" as such, because like I say many people wouldn't understand all that.
Click to expand...

Not really, look at this:

1) download and install htc sync




2) download sdk and extract to C:\



3) Connect your phone by USB and select the HTC sync option


4) Open command prompt (in Windows)


  • Go to Start > Run
  • Type "Cmd" and press OK



5) In the black window:


  • Type "cd\android-sdk-windows\tools" and press enter
  • Then Type "adb shell" and press enter
  • Then Type "pm setInstallLocation 2" and press enter


Done

williamj1 said:
why did you change your name btw?
Click to expand...

Identity protection ;)
 
Thanks for the above process, it really helped free up some space, worked like a dream. A question though, can I use this method for any other tweaks on an unrooted phone?

Ive seen sites suggest moving the cache (for market, internet etc) to sd, but when I tried I got 'permission denied', I guess that's cos I'm unrooted.

Updated Move Caches To SD Card! - Android Forums

Any other ways of freeing up space? only the latest updates of maps, Flashplayer, Youtube etc really hog the memory, so at the moment I've just not updated them to keep my memory free.

Any suggestions would be great...thanks in advance.
 
SUroot - i have followed your 5 steps but everytime i type in ABD Shell, a message pops up in bottom corner on pc saying HTC sync is diconnect in 10 secs and and needs to be connected. once step 5 has been completed the phones is always disconnected from the PC and HTC snyc.

There are no other errors and the process seems to go through ok but i still cant move any apps to sd.

Any suggestions would be great, cheers
 
Actually, Im not even sure you need to use the htc sync option. I dont have htc sync or a htc rom.

Try it in charge only mode and let me know please. I'll amend it if not.

It may be you need to remove HTC sync too.
 
Brooky said:
SUroot - i have followed your 5 steps but everytime i type in ABD Shell, a message pops up in bottom corner on pc saying HTC sync is diconnect in 10 secs and and needs to be connected. once step 5 has been completed the phones is always disconnected from the PC and HTC snyc.
Click to expand...

The exact same happened to me. I simply carried on following the instructions and ignoring the message on my PC (I recommend that you copy and paste the commands rather than risking typo errors) and all was well. :)
 
I tried this before and it worked like a dream. I've just got my phone back after having to send it away for repair (the reboot issue) and now it won't find the new htc sync and the sdk is taking forever to download.

I've tried SUroot's version but in the black box, when I paste in the first command I get "The system cannot find the path specified" so can't get any further with that one.
 
Update: finally, I don't know which version has worked, but it has. And without HTC Sync which still won't connect. I will thank you both, williamj1 and SUroot :D
 
Shazbat said:
Update: finally, I don't know which version has worked, but it has. And without HTC Sync which still won't connect. I will thank you both, williamj1 and SUroot :D
Click to expand...

Further edit: HTC Sync finally worked and whilst it's a different version to what I had previously, can't really see the point of it tbh. Also, I couldn't move all my apps to the SD card - although the prog did work. Not sure why, but have moved some of them so I'm ok with it.
 
Everytime I get to type "adb devices" or "adb shell" in the command window I get

"adb server is out of date. killing...
* daemon started successfully *

and my phone disconnects from the computer.

Has anyone had any luck solving this problem?

EDIT: Actually it did work following Mitz101 advice

mitz101 said:
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
Click to expand...
 
Nice tutorial!

If you are using App2SD, so you do not need to reboot your phone to take effect. Just simply use App2SD to move your apps.
 
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