Install APK from external_sd

Question

I'm tearing my hair out trying to figure this out. I've read that you can copy an APK file to the SD card and use the browser to activate the installer to install it with this:

file:///sdcard/yourApp.apk

(from: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4268803/android-how-to-install-apk-from-sd-card)

But, I cannot seem to get that to work with external_sd card. I've tried

file:///external_sd/yourApp.apk

I keep getting the following message:

"Data connectivity problem - The Web page contains an error."

Whats the message you are getting? It also depends on how your sdcard is mounted. Mine is mounted as 'sdcard' others are mounted as you mentioned 'external_sd' — Daniel, Apr 15 '11 at 21:42

score 6 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 15 '11 at 21:44

6

If you have a Samsung phone, some of them have separate "internal" and "external" SD storage. If it's on the external SD card, then you need this adress: file:///sdcard/external_sd/yourApp.apk

answered Apr 15 '11 at 21:44

Matthew Read

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+1 I didn't know about the path being /sdcard/external_sd I thought it was just /external_sd – Daniel Apr 15 '11 at 21:48
Yeah, Samsung is weird with their storage. – Matthew Read Apr 15 '11 at 23:43
Thanks, I also didnt realize that you needed "sdcard" before "external_sd". Another thing that I just ran into - You can type in the following: file:///mnt/external_sd/yourApp.apk. That seems to work for me! – psiko.scweek Apr 18 '11 at 17:20
Yep, it's aliased. – Matthew Read Apr 24 '11 at 06:48

score 5 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 15 '11 at 21:39

Try downloading a file explorer like ES File Explorer, find the apk and select it. Android should prompt to install from there.

The selected answer you are referring to says to download Astro - which is another file manager. I'm not sure about the default Android browser though.

Install APK from external_sd

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