3/28/2016

FixGooglePlayinsufficientstorageerrorwithoutrootingmyphoneAndroidEnthusiastsStackExchange

Ifyouchangeyourmindanddecidetorootyourphone,IsuggestyouinstallAndroidSDKTools
Onlyonyourcomputer,thenrootyourphone,gotoAndroid'sSettings,thenDeveloperOptions,
thenactivateUSBDebugging.Afteryoudothis,useaUSBcabletoconnectyourAndroiddeviceto
thecomputerwhereyouinstalledtheSDKtools.
TheSDKtoolshaveADB(Androiddebugger).Openashellwindow,gotothefolderwheretheSDK
toolswereinstalled,lookforafoldernamedplatformtoolsandaccessit.Insidethisfoldertherewill
beanexecutablebinaryfilenamedadb(oradb.exe,ifyou'reusingWindows).Thenrunthefollowing
commandinordertomakeADBaccessthecommandpromptofyourAndroiddevice:
adbshell

Nowthatyou'reinyourAndroiddeviceshell(commandsinterpreter),runthiscommandinorderto
becomeroot(alsoknownassuperuser):
su

Afterwards,runthiscommandtocheckwhat'syoursystem'sdefaultAPKinstalllocation:
pmgetinstalllocation

Ifthecommandabovereturns2,itmeansthattheAndroidpackagemanager( pm )isincorrectly
configuredtoinstallAPKsinyourexternalstorage(e.g.microSDcard)insteadofinyourdevice's
internalstorage(whichisthecorrectone).
Inordertofixit,runthiscommand:
pmsetinstalllocation1

1meansinternalstoragemedia.
Nowrestartyourdevicewiththiscommand:
reboot

AfteryourAndroidsystemisrestarted,runtheGooglePlayStoreappandtrytoinstall/update
something.Ifitinstalls/updates,theissue'sbeenfixed.
Ifoundthissolutionbymyselfanditwastheonlyonethatworkedforme.MydeviceisaMotorola
RAZRHD(XT925)runningAndroid4.4.2(stockROM).Ithad2GBoffreespaceinitsinternal
storageand6GBoffreespaceinitsexternalstoragewhentheissuehappened,butnoneoftheother
solutionsworked:cleaningGooglePlayStore'scacheanddata,wipingthe/cachepartition,cleaning
theDalvik/ARTcache,uninstallingtheupdatesofGooglePlayStoreandGooglePlayServices,
runningfstrimonthe/dataand/cachepartitions,remounting/systemasreadwriteandthenrunning
fstrimonit...Nothing.
Asolutionthatseemstoworkinsomedevices(youcantryitifmysolutiondoesn'tsolveyour
problem)istoaccess/data/applibandthendeleteallduplicatefoldersexcepttheoneswith
thelargestnumber.
Example:let'ssupposethatin /data/applib therearethefolders com.waze1 , com.waze
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3/28/2016

FixGooglePlayinsufficientstorageerrorwithoutrootingmyphoneAndroidEnthusiastsStackExchange

2 and com.waze3 .Insuchcase,you'llhavetodeletefolders com.waze1 and com.waze2 ,butdo

notdelete com.waze3 .

Afterdeletingallduplicatefolders,restartyourdeviceandrunGooglePlayStoreappagain.Diditfix
theissue?
Ifyou'restillexperiencingtheissue,gobacktotheterminalemulatororADBshell,becomerootagain
( su ),thenrun cd/data/applib andfinallyrunthiscommandinordertorecursivelyfix
ownerships:
chwonsystem:system*

Nowrestartyoursystem( reboot )andcrossyourfingers.Sometimesanotherappmesseswiththe

ownershipofthesefolders,hencemakingsystemtheirownerandgroupfixestheissue.
Goodluck.
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editedJan13at2:31

answeredJan13at1:50

YuriSucupira
31

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comment

ThisworkedformeonmySonyXperiaE3andmyGalaxyNote10.1:
a)settingsappsallgoogleplayuninstallupdates(youwillhavetodothiseverytimeyourestart)
b)Ifthisdoesn'twork:clearcachewithanapplike1tapcachecleanerorsettingsstoragetap
cacheclearcache.:)
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