Install apps silently, with granted INSTALL_PACKAG

Question

I am trying to silently install apk into the system. My app is located in /system/app and successfully granted permission "android.permission.INSTALL_PACKAGES"

However I can't find anywhere how to use this permission. I tried to copy files to /data/app and had no success. Also I tried using this code

    Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW);
    intent.setDataAndType(
            Uri.parse("file:///sdcard/app.apk"),
            "application/vnd.android.package-archive");
    startActivity(intent);

But this code opens standard installation dialog. How can I install app silently without root with granted android.permission.INSTALL_PACKAGES?

PS I am writing an app that will install many apks from folder into the system on the first start (replace Setup Wizard). I need it to make firmware lighter.

If you think that I am writing a virus: All programs are installed into /data/app. Permission Install_packages can only be granted to system-level programs located in /system/app or signed with the system key. So virus can't get there.

As said http://www.mail-archive.com/[e-mail]/msg06281.html apps CAN be silent installed if they have install_packages permission. Moreover you don't need Install_packages permission to install packages not silently. Plus http://www.androidzoom.com/android_applications/tools/silent-installer_wgqi.html

Answer 1

!/bin/bash

f=/home/cox/myapp.apk   #or $1 if input from terminal.

#backup env var
backup=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/vendor/lib:/system/lib
myTemp=/sdcard/temp.apk
adb push $f $myTemp
adb shell pm install -r $myTemp
#restore env var
LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$backup

This works for me. I run this on ubuntu 12.04, on shell terminal.

Answer 2

You can simply use adb install command to install/update APK silently. Sample code is below

public static void InstallAPK(String filename){
    File file = new File(filename); 
    if(file.exists()){
        try {   
            String command;
            filename = StringUtil.insertEscape(filename);
            command = "adb install -r " + filename;
            Process proc = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(new String[] { "su", "-c", command });
            proc.waitFor();
        } catch (Exception e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
        }
     }
  }

Answer 3

I had no idea of how to do this, because nobody answered that time, and I found no documentation about this permission. So I found my own solution. It is worser that yours, but this is a solution anyway.

I installed busybox, that set 777 permission to /data/app (I dont care about security). Then just executed "busybox install" from app. This works, but has a big security leak. If you set permissions 777, no root required.

Answer 4

I have been implementing installation without user consent recently - it was a kiosk application for API level 21+ where I had full control over environment.

The basic requirements are

• API level 21+
• root access to install the updater as a system privileged app.

The following method reads and installs APK from InputStream:

public static boolean installPackage(Context context, InputStream in, String packageName)
            throws IOException {
        PackageInstaller packageInstaller = context.getPackageManager().getPackageInstaller();
        PackageInstaller.SessionParams params = new PackageInstaller.SessionParams(
                PackageInstaller.SessionParams.MODE_FULL_INSTALL);
        params.setAppPackageName(packageName);
        // set params
        int sessionId = packageInstaller.createSession(params);
        PackageInstaller.Session session = packageInstaller.openSession(sessionId);
        OutputStream out = session.openWrite("COSU", 0, -1);
        byte[] buffer = new byte[65536];
        int c;
        while ((c = in.read(buffer)) != -1) {
            out.write(buffer, 0, c);
        }
        session.fsync(out);
        in.close();
        out.close();

        Intent intent = new Intent(context, MainActivity.class);
        intent.putExtra("info", "somedata");  // for extra data if needed..

        Random generator = new Random();

        PendingIntent i = PendingIntent.getActivity(context, generator.nextInt(), intent,PendingIntent.FLAG_UPDATE_CURRENT);
            session.commit(i.getIntentSender());


        return true;
    }

The following code calls the installation

 try {
     InputStream is = getResources().openRawResource(R.raw.someapk_source);
                    installPackage(MainActivity.this, is, "com.example.apk");
     } catch (IOException e) {
                    Toast.makeText(MainActivity.this, e.getMessage(), Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
     }

for the whole thing to work you desperately need INSTALL_PACKAGES permission, or the code above will fail silently

<uses-permission
        android:name="android.permission.INSTALL_PACKAGES" />

to get this permission you must install your APK as System application which REQUIRES root (however AFTER you have installed your updater application it seem to work WITHOUT root)

To install as system application I created a signed APK and pushed it with

adb push updater.apk /sdcard/updater.apk

and then moved it to system/priv-app - which requires remounting FS (this is why the root is required)

adb shell
su
mount -o rw,remount /system
mv /sdcard/updater.apk /system/priv-app
chmod 644 /system/priv-app/updater.apk

for some reason it didn't work with simple debug version, but logcat shows useful info if your application in priv-app is not picked up for some reason.

Answer 5

You should define

<uses-permission
    android:name="android.permission.INSTALL_PACKAGES" />

in your manifest, then if whether you are in system partition (/system/app) or you have your application signed by the manufacturer, you are going to have INSTALL_PACKAGES permission.

My suggestion is to create a little android project with 1.5 compatibility level used to call installPackages via reflection and to export a jar with methods to install packages and to call the real methods. Then, by importing the jar in your project you will be ready to install packages.

Answer 6

I have checked how ADB installs apps.
- It copies the APK to /data/local/tmp
- it runs 'shell:pm install /data/local/tmp/app.apk'

I have tried to replicate this behaviour by doing: (on pc, using usb-cable)
adb push app.apk /sdcard/app.apk
adb shell
$ pm install /sdcard/app.apk
This works. The app is installed.

I made an application (named AppInstall) which should install the other app.
(installed normally, non-rooted device)
It does:
Runtime.getRuntime().exec("pm install /sdcard/app.apk").waitFor();
But this gives the error:
java.lang.SecurityException: Neither user 10019 nor current process has android.permission.INSTALL_PACKAGES.
It seems like the error is thrown by pm, not by AppInstall.
Because the SecurityException is not catched by AppInstall and the app does not crash.

I've tried the same thing on a rooted device (same app and AppInstall) and it worked like a charm.
(Also normally installed, not in /system or anything)
AppInstall didn't even ask root-permission.
But thats because the shell is always # instead of $ on that device.

Btw, you need root to install an app in /system, correct?
I tried adb remount on the non-rooted device and got:
remount failed: Operation not permitted.
That's why I could not try the /system thing on the non-rooted device.

Conclusion: you should use a rooted device
Hope this helps :)