Database Users

Install non-market apps without File Manager: Possible?

Simply put is there a way to get an app onto my phone without the market or file manager?
I ask because I want to use Haykuro's G build but I cant download any apps. I do however have all the ones I use regularly backed up onto my SD card but I cant access them without a File Manager (which I cant download to use). Is there a way?
|Spike|

There's always the option of using AppsInstaller/APKInstaller and putting APK's onto your SD Card. Though, to install AppsInstaller, you have to install it through ADB.

Unicornasaurus said:
There's always the option of using AppsInstaller/APKInstaller and putting APK's onto your SD Card. Though, to install AppsInstaller, you have to install it through ADB.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do I install thru ADB?
|Spike|

Get the android usb drivers, adb.exe and adbwinapi.dll from an Android SDK. Plug the Dream in via USB and point to the location of the drivers when it is installed. Then open your command line, navigate to whatever folder adb.exe is in and type adb install <full path to the apk>. If you run Linux hopefully you can figure it out on your own based on the steps above.
Alternately, upload all the apks you want to the internet somewhere. Check the box to enable installation from Non-market sources in the system settings, then type the full URL of the apk into the browser. The package installer will take over from there.

Here's how you do it. Assuming your G1 is rooted
1. Download the attched files, and copy them into your \system32 folder (Start > Run > %systemroot%\system32)
2. Sure your G1 is enabled for USB Debugging (Settings > Applications > Development > USB debugging) and that your G1 has the appropriate drivers installed. If not, download the USB drivers from HERE
3. Plug your G1 into your computer (Make sure you have USB 2.0 - Click here to find out how to check). When your G1 says "USB Connected" DO NOT click "Mount"..don't do anything
4a. Vista users - Follow these steps. For XP Users, skip to step 5
4b. On your computer, browse to the directory where the APK for your file is located
4c. Once located, hold SHIFT and right click on a blank area of the folder
4d. Click on "Open Command Window Here"
4e. Type "adb install nameofyourapkhere.apk" - without the quotes.
4f. It might say something like "daemon service not started" or something, but it will start it and continue. It'll then say something like 626k/1293k bla bla bla
4g. If it was successful, it will just say "Success". You can close the command window and SHAZAM! Your program will now be installed on your G1, and you can access it like any other program on your phone
5. XP Users - Follow these directions:
a) You can either go Start > Run > type CMD and press enter
OR
Windows Key + R > type CMD and press enter
Navigate to your APK file via the command prompt. For easy usage, put your APK file on your desktop. That way all you have to do is type "CD Desktop" into the command prompt
b)Type "adb install nameofyourapkhere.apk"
c)You may get a couple of messages like in the steps for Vista users
d)If all goes well, you too will get the success message
e)Enjoy your application!
Any confusions, let me know. Hope it helps, and Good Luck!

I've been using a local web server and the android browser.

untermensch:
Thats a possibility, but oddly enough, that requires a http-server
AGx-07_162:
With unicornasaurus's method above, you can install all the apk's you want... you can install apkinstaller and use that through that method, but you can just aswell install your apk's directly through it

I ran into the same problem. Here is the easiest ways to get the appinstaller on your G1. Download this file from your g1 browser or Gmail yourself this file, and download.
http://www.mediafire.com/?egy0mop2qqx

DX noob here. Anybody wanna help me out?

I ordered my DX earlier today and should have it tomorrow afternoon. (yay!)
I'm coming from the LG Ally, which I played around with quite a bit as far as root/roms go. I ended up bricking it when the Froyo update came out trying to get from 2.1 to one of the new 2.2.1 roms.
I've seen a lot of stuff about the DX and it looks like a lot of progress has been made (yay, again!). I love the look of Gingerbread, so I'd probably look into flashing one of the roms that supports a GB theme (Liberty looks cool!), but I don't want to run into trouble when the official GB release comes out.
So, how hard is this on the DX? What are the general steps? What in the world is a SBF?
Any sort of basic noob-friendly introduction would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!

Here is a bunch of stuff I have put together for various people that should get you started:
Ok, here are the steps for setting up the sdk, getting rooted, and all that good stuff... have a feeling I will be making this into a new thread...perhaps....
SDK:
First off... you will want to go to the following site to download the sdk:
http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html
Grab the following download: android-sdk_r08-windows.zip
I saved it to C:\sdk (i created a folder called SDK right at the root of C: drive). When it finishes, unzip this using 7zip (or any other unzip program you like) to the sdk folder. When it is finished unzipping, you should have a folder called "android-sdk_r08-windows". If you open up that folder, you will find a folder called "android-sdk-windows". Open this folder up and double click on the "SDK Manager.exe". This will open up a window, and bring up additional windows, one of which will ask you to "choose packages to install". You can download any or all of them. I recommend downloading the following:
• Android SDK Platform-tools, revision 1 (the top-most download)
• SDK Platform Android 2.3, API 9, revision 1
• SDK Platform Android 2.2, API 8, revision 2
• USB drivers (I don't think this shows up in the latest version of the sdk's first download window. I believe it is found if you go to the available packages section the "Android SDK and AVD Manager and expand the 3rd party section....but if you happen to see it in there...grab it)
This should be sufficient for now. All packages are accepted by default. If you do not wish to download all of them, simply highlight each one (one at a time) and then click the reject button towards the bottom middle of the window. When you have selected the packages you wish to download, click the install button.
After this has installed, you now have the Android SDK installed on your machine. You can close all windows related to the SDK, as we don't actually need to do anything with it, it simply has tools within it that we will need later. (This is where the adb command originates from. There is an adb.exe tool in the "tools" folder of the sdk install, but we will get to this later).
Now you will want to go to your desktop (or anywhere you have a shortcut or icon for My Computer), right click on My Computer, and select properties. Under the "advanced" tab of the window that opens, you should see a button at the bottom that says "environment variables". Click on this, and then find the "Path" variable under System Variables NOT user variables. Click Edit and go to the end of the "Variable Value" field. You will want to make sure there is a semicolon ( at the end of this before typing any additional info. You will want to add the full path of your android SDK install. For example, if you followed my example for download/saving/extracting/installing above, you would type the following information into the end of the "Variable Value" section:
C:\sdk\android-sdk_r08-windows\android-sdk-windows\tools
If you installed to another location, be sure to type the correct path to the "tools" folder within your installation of the Android SDK. Then click the OK button, and close any windows that were opened from adding to the "path variable".
Droid X Drivers
This section is a little more difficult to explain, as there are so many variables depending on what operating system you are running (windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, etc). and whether or not you are running a 32-bit or 64-bit instance of your chosen Operating system.
Here is one link for Droid X drivers:
http://www.verizon-phones.org/verizon-motorola-droid-x-usb-drivers-pc-charging-drivers-download.html
I simply googled Droid X drivers, I'm sure this isn't the best link, but just for example I'm throwing it out there. If you google Droid X USB drivers <your operating system> you should be able to find the drivers you need, as well as help and instructions on how to get everything working.
Once you get the usb drivers installed, you will want to connect your Droid X to your computer. If it is recognized, you will get a notification in your drop down bar on your phone. On your phone, press on the USB connection in the drop down menu, and select "charge only". Next, open up a command prompt on your computer. Type the following in and hit enter:
adb devices
You should see something simiilar to the following come up if everything is configured correctly:
C:\>adb devices
* daemon not running. starting it now on port 5037 *
* daemon started successfully *
List of devices attached
015A882315005010 device
If you see something similar to what I have above... then ADB is working correctly, and we can continue! Now we will move on to getting your device rooted! You will want to grab the z4root.apk that I have attached earlier in this thread and download it onto your computer. We will now test out if adb is indeed working! Save the z4root.1.3.0.apk and put it in the "tools" folder of the sdk we downloaded earlier. Now open up a new command prompt (or use the one we opened earlier if you haven't already closed it!) Change directories to the "tools" folder of the sdk:
If you installed the SDK where I used in my example.... type the following:
cd C:\sdk\android-sdk_r08-windows\android-sdk-windows\tools (press enter)
type the following: adb install z4root.1.3.0.apk (press enter)
You should now see the following:
C:\android-sdk-windows\tools>adb install z4root.1.3.0.apk
1833 KB/s (978414 bytes in 0.521s)
pkg: /data/local/tmp/z4root.1.3.0.apk
Success
z4root and ROOTING
If you get all of this, you have now installed a package using adb and we know the interface works. If you don't want to have to mess with this method of installing, you could also download "Astro File Manager" from the android market. You would then need to save z4root.apk to your sdcard of your Droid X. Then open the Astro program and browse to your SDcard and file the z4root.1.3.0.apk. Press on the .apk file and it should come up with a box that says something similar to "open with app installer" or "app manager"... don't recall exactly what it says, but should be something similar to package management or install of some sort. After pressing on that, you should see an install button. Press on that to install z4root.
Now that z4root is installed, you will want to go to your application list on your phone and press on the z4root to open the application. Press on the permanent root button and wait! This process may take a while, and your phone will reboot, but when it does, you are now rooted.
Removing BOOTSTRAP COMPLETELY
If you would like to completely remove Droid X bootstrap from your phone, here is what you need to do:
1) connect your phone to ur pc in charge only mode. Make sure it is recognized by adb
A) open command prompt and type "adb devices" (hit enter, your phone should show up)
2) in the command prompt, type "adb shell" (press enter)
3) type "su" (press enter)
4) type "mount -o rw, remount /dev/block/mtdblock4 /system" (press enter)
5) type "cp /system/bin/logwrapper.bin /system/bin/logwrapper"(press enter)
6) type "adb reboot" (press enter)
Your phone will reboot after typing adb reboot, and may take a little bit longer to boot the first time after bootstrap is removed (it may not, I just haven't gone through this process in a while).
Bootstrap should now be completely removed.
Note: all text in quotes is just what you should type...do not include the quotation marks when entering commands.
Disclaimer: I take no responsibility if you mess up your phone. Typing these commands incorrectly CAN mess up your phone. By following these directions, you do so at your own risk.
Installing Droid X Bootstrap
You can grab this .apk file from this thread as well, as I have it posted in one of my previous posts. You will then install this .apk file the same way that you installed z4root. Obviously if you are using the adb command prompt method, you will want to replace z4root.apk with the full name of the droid X bootstrap apk; if you are using a file manager or installer, just follow the same instructions as before as well.
With the bootstrap installed, you are now able to take backups and restore them as well in the event your phone has problems.

Thanks for the reply, but it's actually pretty confusing...
To install z4root, do I NEED to do any of those adb steps or can I just sideload it? I'm not sure if you're telling me to do both of those steps or just either/or. Sideloading is much easier, if it's an option.
And as far as the bootstrap goes - am I removing the original bootstrap and then installing the apk you attached to replace it with a custom bootstrap? Is this different than a custom recovery?
Also, what are SBFs and how do they fit into all of this?
Thanks!

lextex said:
Thanks for the reply, but it's actually pretty confusing...
To install z4root, do I NEED to do any of those adb steps or can I just sideload it? I'm not sure if you're telling me to do both of those steps or just either/or. Sideloading is much easier, if it's an option.
And as far as the bootstrap goes - am I removing the original bootstrap and then installing the apk you attached to replace it with a custom bootstrap? Is this different than a custom recovery?
Also, what are SBFs and how do they fit into all of this?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, you do not have to do it this way. I just used this as an example for something I was doing for someone else, especially since they needed the sdk anyways... Just was practice.
(PS, not sure what you mean by sideloading... sorry just not familiar with the term...) Nonetheless...
You can just download the file, and then use file manager to install the file or any app installer you may normally use. Just make sure that under Settings-->Applications-->Unknown sources, that the check box is marked. Then you should be good to go.
As for bootstrap... You are basically replacing a logwrapper file that tells the phone to boot to Motorola's built in recovery. Koush's bootstrap hijacks this and writes its own logwrapper and allows for the recovery process to be interrupted so backing up/restorying, etc. You can load that apk the same way you do Z4root.
As for SBF files, I'm can't recall what it actually stands for, but it is basically a file from Motorola that allowed their employees to flash a phone back to "out of the box" state in the event that a customer ruined their phone or had issues with it... this goes way back to even the Motorola Razor days I believe... In any event, it is used alongside a program called RSDlite. This program allows you to connect your phone to your computer and flash the sbf files that have been released, and as a result allows you to restore your phone back to a "clean" state in the event that you mess up the /system partition and for other uses as well.
I will be adding more to a basic guide for all things Droid X later this weekend. If you have more questions, feel free to post back. And check out my other post here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=940986
This includes the same info as I posted here already, but should have some more updates this weekend.
Good luck!

new here also.
i thought droid x could not be rooted.
i bought mine in october 2010; it's running 2.2.1
thanks in advance

Simplifying ADB installation

There's a lot of angst around getting ADB to work, particularly over USB, and it leaves a lot of folks frustrated. Some of the stuff I have seen is outdated for one and USB itself is problematic.
But, if you use Manual Nooter (for 1.2), GabrialDestruir baked in ADB Wireless, so it should be super easy to go from zero to ADB connected in nothing flat now. Here's some quick instructions that won't change.
1. Make sure you have Java installed (I'm sure you do). You *do not* need the JDK to do this!
2. Go to the android site and grab the Android SDK zip file (the windows executable *requires* the JDK so grab the zip file)
3. Unzip it to the root of your drive (it has the 'android-sdk-windows' folder in it)
4. Now go in the android-sdk-windows folder and launch sdk manager
5. Cancel out of the window that pops up with a list of a bunch of stuff
6. Click on available packages
7. Now expand 'Android Repository' and check 'Android SDK Platform-tools'
8. Now click 'install selected' and then 'install' on the next screen
9. After it finishes it will ask if you want to restart ADB, go ahead and select yes
10. Now do the standard path edit and add these two paths to your environment path: c:\android-sdk-windows\platform-tools and c:\android-sdk-windows\tools
11. On your nook, start up adb wireless and note the command it tells you
12. open a command window on your pc and type the command adb wireless gave you
Voila! You are using ADB to access your Nook Color! No special drivers or ini files, etc. I know there is an easy ADB USB thread, but I actually eventually had issues with that and went back to grab the original "official" kit to get things working. I just did the above on a fresh machine with nothing else and it worked flawlessly.
Anyway, I figured this might help a few people out there.

Portable Android Development

Hello everyone
Have you ever been bored in a borrowed pc and wanting to try out a new library/idea on your android but dont have admin privileges to install all the needed android tools? I was in this exact same situation, so i decided to engineer a solution (After all, i AM an engineering student ) to this boring problem. This solution works almost entirely like a standard Android SDK install (Only downside: Eclipse won't run your application) and has only been tested on Ubuntu Linux so you are on your own on other platforms, but the principle is the same, it might work after all.
Whenever prompted for a platform choose x86 , x64 needs ia32-libs which you cant install due to not having admin privileges
1. Create a directory for all the files and folders (I'll name mine "Development")
2. Download the JDK tar.bz file from http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/jdk7-downloads-1637583.html (You'd better search for an updated link when you read this tho) and extract it into Development
3. Download eclipse from http://eclipse.org/downloads/ (I used the Eclipse IDE for Java Developers) and extract it into the Development folder
4. Download the Android SDK from http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html (If you are on windows, choose the zip!. Again, i've only tested on Linux so you are on your own) and extract it into the Development folder
5. Open the tools/android (It's a shell script) file with gedit/any other editor and edit the line containing java_cmd=".." to read java_cmd="/home/xxx/Development/jdk1.7.0_06/bin/java" (This is my case, make sure this line actually points to the place where you extracted the jdk zip, else this will fail)
6. Open a terminal, cd to the location where you extracted the android sdk, then type "./tools/android" and press enter (Without the quotation marks) to start the sdk manager, install the platform-tools package, the Jellybean (4.1) SDK, and any other SDK you may want, then close the SDK manager.
7. cd to the Development folder and run this "./eclipse/eclipse -vm jdk1.7.0_06/bin" (Assuming you kept the stock folder names from the zips) to run eclipse, then install the ADT as described here http://developer.android.com/sdk/installing/installing-adt.html.
8. When eclipse restarts, it will ask you for the android sdk, just point it to the location where you extracted it.
That's it, your eclipse installation is ready for you to write code.
Now, to debug you'll need to do so manually as eclipse won't somehow recognize this workaround to the usb priviliges (Linux won't allow adb to communicate with the phone unless it's ran as root [Which you can't, that's why you are here] or a configuration file [Again, written as root] is present) system so you need to do this to make adb work:
1. Disconnect your phone from 3G (Optional)
2. Connect your phone to your pc via usb
3. Enable usb tethering on your phone
4. Enable ADB over Network on Application settings
5. On the terminal emulator, run "ip addr show" and look for the usb section
6. On your computer, open a terminal and cd to the tools directory fo the android sdk, then type "./adb connect xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx" (Replace the x's with the IP of your phone, as it appears on the output of the previous command. Remember to use the one on the USB section)
7. Verify adb picked up your device by runing "./adb devices", if it lists an IP as a device, you are ready
Each time you want to test your app, export a signed apk from your project (I may write a small guide for that later, google will help you if you dont know how to do it) and run "./adb install xxx.apk" (Obviously, replace xxx with the path to your exported apk). The icon(s) for your main activity(ies) will promptly appear on your launcher. Again, Eclipse won't run nor debug your app using this method. (Maybe it's an SDK bug?)
I know it's not exactly streamlined but it's something for when you are on the go.
Hope you find this guide useful someday. Until next time.

Installing app with ADB?

I'm getting an error "not enough space" when trying to install an app, can anyone please link me or post clear step-by-step instructions for installing an app using ADB on the NST? I can't find any.

How to install apps from ADB, super simple
Nevermind I figured it out, here's a short guide:
Download Android SDK bundle here: http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html
extract to C:\ drive
Go to C:\adt-bundle-windows-x86_64\sdk
SHIFT Right-click platform-tools folder
From context menu, select "Open command window here"
From there, if you're running the adbkonnect app, enter the IP address or whatever
If you want to install an APK, drag your APK to the platform-tools folder
After you connect to the device, type "adb install [x]" with x being the full name of your app (e.g. amazon.apk)
Let it do it's then then disconnect from ADB, go to your apps and viola! there it is!