Develop Bugs

How can you install APKs from other ROMs?

I have looked around quite a bit, and haven't really figured out the straight answer on this.
I have seen apks that can be downloaded of things like the clock or gallery app, and then I have seen custom roms that include things like the AOSP dialer, contact app, browser, etc. However in my small amount of trying, I couldn't install them on top of another ROM (or stock).
Is there an issue with signing them, or does it have to be done in recovery mode, or do I have to remove the existing stuff in something like Titanium backup and then install the other APKs, or would my only option be to learn the dark arts of rom cooking?
Edit: Answered thanks to mrchu001. Doing an "adb remount" and then issuing the install command from the shell worked.

I'm not sure if this works for ALL apks between roms, but when i flashed Fresh it didn't have the cooliris 3d gallery that DC has, so i opened the zip, and copied the APK from one rom to the other then flashed it. I'm sure there are some programs that just won't work even if you did it this way, but something to consider.

That works in most cases..
Just get the zip on your computer, open it extract the apk you want and adb install it to your connected device.

No luck with either method mentioned above. I'm sure I don't know what I'm doing... but I did an adb install <apk name> and got an error:
Code:
MacBook: tools laydros$ adb install CarDock.apk
1344 KB/s (238640 bytes in 0.173s)
pkg: /data/local/tmp/CarDock.apk
Failure [INSTALL_PARSE_FAILED_UNEXPECTED_EXCEPTION]
And I grabbed one of the base rooted roms, unzipped, added the CarDock and DeskClock apks to the system/app folder with everything else, and the ROM failed to load. I did the same clockwork rom manager install rom from SD card methods I have done before. I assume this means that the zip was not properly signed.
The apks I was testing were ones from bugless beast 0.4, any ideas?

laydros said:
No luck with either method mentioned above. I'm sure I don't know what I'm doing... but I did an adb install <apk name> and got an error:
Code:
MacBook: tools laydros$ adb install CarDock.apk
1344 KB/s (238640 bytes in 0.173s)
pkg: /data/local/tmp/CarDock.apk
Failure [INSTALL_PARSE_FAILED_UNEXPECTED_EXCEPTION]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it looks like you didnt direct your terminal correctly. i'm assuming you have the sdk on your computer btw. now try to upload the rom you want on your phone. plug it in. make sure usb debugging is set. make sure the apks you want to put on your phone are on your desktop. and try this:
Code:
cd ~/*where every your sdk is*/tools
./adb remount
./adb shell
./adb install ~/desktop/*apk name* /system/app
./adb shell reboot

maybe you already tried but just incase.. do you have the Unknown sources check box "Checked" under "Settings/application" menu? if not you need to to install apps not from the market..

mrchu001 said:
it looks like you didnt direct your terminal correctly. i'm assuming you have the sdk on your computer btw. now try to upload the rom you want on your phone. plug it in. make sure usb debugging is set. make sure the apks you want to put on your phone are on your desktop. and try this:
Code:
cd ~/*where every your sdk is*/tools
./adb remount
./adb shell
./adb install ~/desktop/*apk name* /system/app
./adb shell reboot
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The remount part did it, and then doing the install from adb shell. Thanks so much.
For the sake of anyone else that finds this, once you type adb shell, you are working from the phones shell instead of the one on your computer, so you would skip that command. I ended up moving the files to the sdcard, and then doing
Code:
cd ~/*where every your sdk is*/tools
./adb remount
./adb shell
(at this point you are at the phone's prompt)
install /sdcard/*apk name* /system/app
exit
(now you are back at the computer's prompt)
./adb shell reboot
Now I need to figure out what to install to get the phone/contacts working. Calendar and Mms applications were easy, but after installing several apks for the phone and contacts I just have a mess.

FroydVillain 1.0.0 install *.apk files in /system/app
Hi has anyone tried installing another apk file in FroydVillain 1.0. I follow the steps in the thread described i am able to issue adb shell commands and i have placed the apk files in the SD card as described. but i am getting an error as below that the file or dir is not found. tried several paths:
# install /mnt/sdcard/*.apk /system/app
install /mnt/sdcard/*.apk /system/app
install: can't stat '/mnt/sdcard/*.apk': No such file or directory
# install /sdcard/*.apk /system/app
install /sdcard/*.apk /system/app
install: can't stat '/sdcard/*.apk': No such file or directory
I use /mnt/sdcard path cause on Froyo the SDCARD folder is under /mnt.
any help solving this. i am trying to install some of the HTC Sense UI app to sys app. Like Stock.apk for test. and HTCAlbum.apk and others same result every time.
I have tried also AndroidCommander 0.7.9.6 updated for froyo. installing with it's install option button, and also from the console i run the shell command for install, successfully adds the apk in sys app folder but the apk is not installed, and asks for installation.
Thanks.
Regards Alek

help
Hi,
Can you explain to begginers (like me) how do you installed the apk in system/app? please, I want to install contacs.apk form CM9 to other rom.
Thanks.

[Q] how to uninstall system Apps (f.e.Flickr) ?

is there a way to uninstall system apps like FLICKR service?
Maybe via console?

Via ADB with the phone in recovery.
adb shell mount /system
adb ls /system/app
then find the apk file you want to delete and:
adb shell rm /system/app/(app name here).apk

You can also delete the files before you install a new version of the ROM you're using. You can delete .apk files from the ROM.zip file to flash so when you flash it they wont install.

philje123 said:
Via ADB with the phone in recovery.
adb shell mount /system
adb ls /system/app
then find the apk file you want to delete and:
adb shell rm /system/app/(app name here).apk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you only have to put yourself in adb shell once,
adb shell
mount /system/
ls /system/app/
rm /system/app/xxxx.apk will do lol
btw roms with the new file overlay system can delete system apps normally now, using a file explorer!! ive done it

AndroHero said:
btw roms with the new file overlay system can delete system apps normally now, using a file explorer!! ive done it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sounds great

I use root explorer to do this
sent from my mind to yours using the power of suggestion

I'm in recovery and have no idea how to follow that instructions.
I see my options, don't see what you wrote.

Bump, sry
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

[Q] How to push HTCFacebook.apk to /system/apps

Hey guys, before saying anything else, I'm a complete newb to this. That being said, I have MetroDroid 1.0 as my ROM and it doesn't have htcfacebook.apk installed on it, so no contacts syncing. It angers me! What I need is the htcfacebook.apk and .odex files, and a good tutorial on how to install them on my EVO. Im a noob, so you'll need to be detailed lol. I've been looking around but I cant find clear instructions, so I tough I might as well ask. Thank in advance

Nevermind, I figured all that out. Now it says 'failed to copy. out of memory'
After trying to install using the
adb install HtcFacebook.apk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
command it says
Failure INSTALL_PARSE_FAILED_NO_CERTIFICATES
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
^that was when I was trying to install it while not in recovery. In recovery it says
/sbin/sh: pm: not found
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Anyone? Help? I'm stuck. lol.

Try this. Put the apk in the Android sdk tools folder and open command prompt and navigate to the tools folder. Then run;
adb push HTCFacebook.apk /system/app/ (press enter)
adb shell reboot
Hope this helps.
Sent from my HTC SUPERSONIC

dglowe343 said:
Try this. Put the apk in the Android sdk tools folder and open command prompt and navigate to the tools folder. Then run;
adb push HTCFacebook.apk /system/app/ (press enter)
adb shell reboot
Hope this helps.
Sent from my HTC SUPERSONIC
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alright so I tried what you said and it gives me the error
failed to copy 'HtcFacebook.apk' to '/system/app/': Is a directory
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To be more exact, this what I had typed in
C:\AndroidSDK\tools>adb push HtcFacebook.apk /system/app/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Also, my EVO was in recovery when I did this.

type "adb remount" before you push
and if that doesnt work, lose the first '/'

if you are in recovery you will need to
adb shell
#mount /system/
exit
then you can push them to system
adb push /yoursdklocation/tools/yourapk.apk/ /system/app
if not in recovery the
adb remount
will suit your purpose

[email protected] said:
if you are in recovery you will need to
adb shell
#mount /system/
exit
then you can push them to system
adb push /yoursdklocation/tools/yourapk.apk/ /system/app
if not in recovery the
adb remount
will suit your purpose
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alright, I did what you said (for pushing in recovery, because out of recovery it would say i didnt have enough memory) and now it said
C:\Users\Marius>adb push HtcFacebook.apk /system/app
1226 KB/s (164592 bytes in 0.131s)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm guessing that was supposed to happen? Now what do I do? just run the command 'adb install HtcFacebook.apk'?

[Q] having trouble re installing Sony Ericsson Home apk

Here is what i want to do:uninstall home from this rom http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1336461 and update it with the one from 2.3.3 or 2.3.4 (doesn't matter) because i like the new one.
i have tried every method i could find to install the new one including
installing with the old one already installed (which it says "application not installed")
uninstalling old one and installing the new one (which it says "application not installed")
using adb command "adb install home.apk" (without qoutes) (which gives me "installation failed missing shared library")
using "adb push" (which just puts it in system/app and rebooting does nothing)
copy and paste home.apk into system/app and setting permissions to what i found on the net (can't remember) and rebooting (which does nothing)
any ideas?

set the permissions so it looks something like this
RW RW -
RW - -
RW - -

Do this:
adb remount
adb shell
su
rm /system/app/home.apk
exit
adb push home.apk /system/app
exit
Done
Sent from my R800i using Tapatalk

DeanBoro said:
set the permissions so it looks something like this
RW RW -
RW - -
RW - -
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that's exactly what i did, and it does not show up as an option to switch, it just changes to my backup launcher (which is adw launcher pro)

AndroHero said:
Do this:
adb remount
adb shell
su
rm /system/app/home.apk
exit
adb push home.apk /system/app
exit
Done
Sent from my R800i using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks i'll try that when i get back from my doctor's apointment

loismustdie555 said:
thanks i'll try that when i get back from my doctor's apointment
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
go to application settings click on launcher pro and click clear defaults

Missing Gmail

I deleted my gmail by mistake. Using root explorer. I cant download it from the market. Were can I get the apk to restore.

You could download one of the ROMs in the Dev section. Take the .apk out of there and push it to /system/app.
However, I'm not 100% positive it will work because of the .odex file.

I found one that was 2.3.5.2 and was modded for the go launcher ex notifactions. Works but not the same as the one that was installed. Its a different look basically. Why wouldnt google have this in the market.

Here's the stock image from google. You can pull it from there.
I take it you have the VZW GN : https://dl.google.com/dl/android/aosp/mysid-icl53f-factory-65895fa8.tgz

yes verizon. i did try and pull the gmail.apk from a rom and tried to install and it wont.

how do i pull the gmail from that file u linked??

You should try pushing it with ADB.
Code:
adb push Gmail.apk /system/app

El Daddy said:
You should try pushing it with ADB.
Code:
adb push Gmail.apk /system/app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i suck with adb. what do i need to do?

1) Put the .apk in the same folder as adb.exe (located in Android SDK\android-sdk-windows\platform-tools on my computer. Yours could be different.)
2) Open the command window directed at that folder. (Hold shift and right click then from the drop down window click "open command window here")
3) Then enter
Code:
adb push Gmail.apk /system/app
4) Then
Code:
adb reboot
I've attached the Gmail.apk

it says im a read only file system and will not push it.

The file you sent me is working now. All I did was install the apk file like any other apk using root explorer. Thanks alot for all the help.

Yeah I forgot you had to be rooted.
Glad it worked for you.

Iam rooted. Thats what is werid. Only way I can use root explorer is if im rooted.