Why can't I install my .apk files to my Samsung Galaxy Note ll (N7100)?

[AC Question]

why can't I install my .apk files to my Samsung Galaxy Note ll (N7100)?

I have a galaxy note ll and i am unable to re-install certain apps from the playstore, (mainly Skype and Ingress). i keep getting "Unknown error during installation: "-24"" for either app. After a little investigating, I found that I could directly download the .apk file. After doing so, neither app will install. I have set my phone to accept files from unknown sources, yet neither will install after download.

 

[Lethegames]

Re: why can't I install my .apk files to my Samsung Galaxy Note ll (N7100)?

A few weeks ago my father could not install anything on his phone from the play store as well, though I do not remember the error code. We searched on the internet and more people were reporting the problem. The next day it was working again.

At any rate, always try rebooting your phone first if you haven't yet

 

[Allan Steele]

I have done that and more- hard reset, reboot, removed the battery for a minute then rebooted, changed batteries, installed a couple different .apk installation apps. I even installed "Root Browser" to locate the existing folder of the app to be re-installed so that i could delete it for fresh install, but i couldn't find the folders. I don't know what else to do.

 

[Rukbat]

Error 24 means that there's some remnants of the app still not uninstalled, but there's not enough to update. You have to be rooted to fix the problem. You just navigate to /data/data/<whatever the app's folder is> and delete the entire folder. You can do this with a terminal app or through adb - but your phone has to be rooted. (An unrooted phone will show /data to be an empty folder.)

Or you can back everything up (see Backing up an Android Device), factory reset the phone, then restore everything.

 

[Allan Steele]

I wasn't informed that by installing "Root Browser" that my phone needed to be rooted in order for the app to be effective. I guess that makes sense. I will have to try rooting the phone because the Samsung people at Bestbuy have already performed a factory reset and I still can't get the apps to install.