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Fix Couldn’t Install on USB storage or SD Card Error While Installing Apps in Android

by Fahad Saleem

A lot of users have reported couldn’t install on USB storage or SD card error on Android and other systems while installing apps. The error seems to stem from installing apps after switching to different ROMS on Android. In this article we will see how to fix error couldn’t install on USB storage or SD Card.

Fix Couldn’t Install on USB storage or SD Card

Unmount SD Card

Launch Settings in your Android phone and then head over to the ‘Storage’ tab.

Now click on unmount SD Card, which is the external storage card.

After you have unmounted the sd card, install the apps which were giving issues again from the Play Store or any other source having the apks.

Now go back to the storage section of ‘Settings’ in your Android device and Mount your SD card and restart your phone.

Do you have enough space?

Always make sure you have enough space in your Android device. All the errors related to the SD card usually come when you do not have enough space. The system always reserves space for it, so you must have extra space to incorporate apps and related data. You can check the remaining space by going to SD card and storage section in Settings. You can check our article on how to free up space in Android.

Try other Apps

Sometimes couldn’t install on USB storage or SD card error only comes for specified apps. Always try installing famous apps or games to check whether the issue is with all the apps or just a few apps. Chances are that you will face the problem with lesser known, less trustworthy apps. This is because of the faulty code or backend issues with the apps. You can let go of these apps or try again after a day or two because the developers tend to fix the backend issues after some time.

Install Apps via Computer

Connect your Android device with your laptop/computer and then turn on the USB storage by going to Wireless and networking settings or USB settings in the Settings of your Android device. Now open browser and open Google Play Store. Open the app which you want to install by searching it in the Play Store. You will see an ‘install’ button. Click on that button and the system would install the app on your device. This bypassing of phone via laptop fixes the issue, as reported by a lot of Android users who were facing SD card problem.

Delete smdl2tmp1.asec File

Another solution to the problem is to delete a temporary file called  smdl2tmp1.asec. This file is used during many installations via SD card. Deleting this file won’t affect any of your phone functions. You can delete this culprit file from /sdcard/.android_secure (this is the folder which is invisible on the SD card, but you can access it via apps and file managers like ES file explorer, Astro and Root Explorer), or /mnt/secure/asec/ (this location requires root access and a need to use an explorer app like ‘Root Explorer’).

Locating smdl2tmp1 app

If you cannot locate the temporary file smd12tmpl, just go to the control panel and head over to the folder options and check the “show hidden files” and uncheck “hide protected operating system files” is unchecked. After doing that, connect your phone with the computer and find smdl2tmp1.asec file. You will be able to find the file easily now.

Format SD Card

Some users report that deleting this file won’t work or they just cannot find the temporary file. In that case, just format the SD card, of course by taking a backup of your data first. A format will fix couldn’t install on USB storage or SD card error on Android once and for all.

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