How to remove unfinished installation files

[sillydude20]

Hi, I was trying to install Asphalt on my phone which was having around 2 GB of free space, while the installation was in progress, I get a message that there is insufficient space, so I decided to remove the app by long-pressing the ongoing installation and tapping uninstall. Now the installation process is stopped and the app is nowhere listed any more, but my phone is showing available space of around 700 MB, I believe there are some temporary installation files which did not get removed in uninstall process, so how can I get the space back, I have tried restarting the phone but there is no change, I really don't want to factory-reset my phone, would appreciate if I can get some help on this.

Thanks all...

 

[lpforthewin]

Windows phone tends to hold onto them for a fortnight so you could try changing the date on your phone to a month's time and using lumia storage check (if you have a lumia) to delete temporary files or the built in temporary file delete option if you have gdr3
Then change your date back
That may solve it

 

[QilleRz]

I do have this problem too. What I do is, use Lumia Storage Check to remove temporary file and then restart my phone. I got some storage recovered that I believe it's the temporary installation file. But so far I use this method for small installation files like 10mb+. IDK if it works with 500mb+ installation files but I believe it should works.

Windows phone tends to hold onto them for a fortnight so you could try changing the date on your phone to a month's time and using lumia storage check (if you have a lumia) to delete temporary files or the built in temporary file delete option if you have gdr3
Then change your date back
That may solve it

Btw, I am afraid of this changing date trick will create a new of temporary files with the new date. Say like you change your date to 2015 and then by accident your phone create new temporary files with 2015 date atm you change your phone's date. So next time, you will need to change your phone's date to 2020 to remove this temporary files. Later, if you change to 2020, then your phone may have a chance to create another temporary files with 2020 date on it. This will create an infinite loop.

On the other hand, I admit this changing date trick works because the first time I know this trick, I do it on my phone, change the date to 2020 then I got 350mb recovered with 50mb+ left undeleted ! But then 2 weeks later, the temporary files build up again and I use this trick again. This time I change my phone's date to 2015 and this time I was left with 60mb undeleted. So yeah, I guess some of the temporary file's date has been recorded with date 2020. So I do not recommend you to change your phone's date as this problem may occur.

 

[sillydude20]

Thanks guys for your valuable comments, I did tried the date changing method which recovered around 200 MB of space, still there is around 1.5 GB of data which is not recoverable, I am attaching few screenshots to give you a better idea, I see lot of space occupied in "Settings" and "Others"

BTW, I have a Lumia 720 with Amber update.

 

[WP8_Lover]

WOW

What a coincidence!! I am under the same crisis, from the morning. I downloaded Asphalt8.xap and put it on my SD card. Everything else is just like what happened to you :/ I am confused. Should I wait for GDR3 before hard reset? Or go ahead and do it right away??

 

[Gaurav Paul]

I faced this issue sometime ago when I purchased Asphalt 8. There are two remedies for the same:

1) I'm assuming you are trying to install the game from SD Card (From my case). In which case just try to install it again. At some point it will notify that there isn't enough space to continue installation. The app will show "Attention required". Tap on it and it will take you to the store page. Long press and hold and select cancel download. It may take some time but keep patience and don't restart your phone. After a while notice that the space used up in settings is reverted back.

2) Hard reset. But you are smart enough to understand that this should be the last resort if all else fails.

Hope the screenshots help you.

 

[KrisJoeEll]

Thanks guys for your valuable comments, I did tried the date changing method which recovered around 200 MB of space, still there is around 1.5 GB of data which is not recoverable, I am attaching few screenshots to give you a better idea, I see lot of space occupied in "Settings" and "Others"

BTW, I have a Lumia 720 with Amber update.

View attachment 55311View attachment 55312View attachment 55313View attachment 55314

I faced the same problem with Halo SA. I tried clearing temporary files, using 'storage cleaner' app, and date changing trick. None of those worked. I had to hard reset my device in the end.
So my future advice to you : If a app is in 'installing' phase do not try to remove it. If the low space message appear, skip it wait for the OS to manually stop the installation program and it will say 'attention required'. then you can remove it.

 

[sillydude20]

Thanks much guys... I don't have my phone handy, will try the steps Gaurav has suggested and will update you all.

 

[WP8_Lover]

I couldn't make space to reinstall A8 :/ But I did your procedure with another xap.. Now, waiting as you said.. Lemme see :/

 

[sillydude20]

Further issues, as suggested, I tried to re-install the app from SD Card, but its now disabled and can't be selected for installation. If I try to install from market, it says not enough space. I am stuck

 

[Lance_WPCentral]

The app requires around 2.5 GB of internal memory free space at the time of installation (via the SD card method) even though after the installation it takes 1.4GB. I got the error that I was out of space couple of times and I had to keep uninstalling other apps and games to make space.

@ sillydude20 : I would have definitely gone by point 1 that Gaurav Paul suggested. However yours is one typical case where you cannot reinstall it via the store or SD card either. If your helpless then go in for a hard reset.

 

[Gaurav Paul]

This is very weird. I have just 1.2 GB of free space on my 720. Yet I'm able to at-least start the installation process. It gives the same error messages though after sometime which I posted earlier. Can I suggest you perform a soft reset and try to install the app again?

 

[WP8_Lover]

:/ Well lemme try making some more space by uninstalling some more apps..

 

[Gaurav Paul]

PM'd you.

 

[WP8_Lover]

Sorry, I went AWOL for a few days. I tried installing over WiFi, but with no success. I prepared myself for the worst and hard-reset my phone. :/ But now I have the xap of all the necessary applications Installed Asphalt 8 : Airborne too. And back in action. In fact, my phone has got better. I had that pesky multiple-copies-of-media bug. Not anymore Great now. I was a little jaw-dropped to see how seamlessly A8 ran on my 512MB device!