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A friend of mine has an HTC Aria on AT&T. On his application settings screen, he does not have the option to allow installation of apps from unknown sources. Is there any way to change this option to allow him to install downloaded apps (*.apk files) without rooting the phone?

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4 Answers 4

Reset to default
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Unfortunately, it seems like the HTC Aria does have that ability, but AT&T has removed it.

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You can install apps on the HTC Aria using the ADB client.

You'll need to install the android SDK on your PC, and then use ADB to install the .apk files.

To install the android SDK, follow the steps in the Android Developer's guide to setting up your phone for development.

If you're on Windows, you'll need to go to HTC to get the device drivers, as Google only provides drivers for their devices. For some reason HTC doesn't publicise the ADB driver well, but it is included in the HTC Sync software. You can grab the latest version from HTC's Aria downloads page.

Mac and Linux users do not need to install device drivers to use ADB.

Finally, connect your device to your PC, making sure that debugging mode is enabled on the device. You should see an entry in the system tray stating that the device is in debug mode. On your PC, run the following command:

adb install yourapp.apk

This will install the app on your phone, and you'll be good to go! Note that you'll either need to have the android-sdk/platform-tools directory in your path, or run the command from that directory.

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  • The HTC download page is htc.com/us/support/aria-att/downloads. I'd have added that but I can only post one link per article at the moment.
    – Symmetric
    Commented Jan 29, 2011 at 22:43
  • This works for the amazon web store downloads as well. I just searched the contents of my phone (after mounting it as a disk drive) found the .apk files and installed them using adb. Take THAT AT&T ;)
    – TJB
    Commented Mar 26, 2011 at 1:43
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I know this is a really old (and probably no longer relevant) post, but as I have an HTC Aria and I shared the same issue, I thought it was worth posting another option. I would suggest checking out a program called SuperOneClick. With it, I was able to permanently enable my Aria to install non-market apps. It will also allow for the installation of the Amazon market. All of this without having to root your phone or do anything to void the warranty (at least to my knowledge). It was very easy to use.

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You could try the instructions in this XDA post. Be aware that doing this will disable your ability to send/receive MMS messages, and will require a hard reset to fix:

  1. Go To Your "Settings"
  2. Go To "Applications"
  3. Go To "Manage applications"
  4. Go To The "All" Tab (or any tab that will display all your apps)
  5. Find The Applications "Customization Settings Provider"
  6. Click On "Clear data"
  7. Go Back To "All" Tab (or any tab that will display all your applications)
  8. Find The Program "Settings"
  9. Click On "Clear data"

Finished If You Go Back To "Applications" You Will Now Have The Option To Enable "Unknown Sources"

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  • 1
    Please stop it with the formatting
    – pzkpfw
    Commented Jul 14, 2013 at 12:56
  • Please link back to places where you find your content, both so that others can easily find it (rather than a vague "found on XDA" statement) and to give proper credit to the original author(s).
    – eldarerathis
    Commented Jul 14, 2013 at 18:46

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