App Inventor Companion Update parse error there is a problem parsing the package

like previously mentioned in There is a problem parsing the package i also faced the MIT App Inventor Companion Update error when starting straight vom setup version 2.2

i get
parse error "there is a problem parsing the package"
when trying to update the companion apk

i was able to solve this by running the aistarter with elevated privileges (right click run as administrator) or deactivating user-account-control (UAC).

There could be many other reasons which all derive from a write error to %userprofile%\.appinventor (e.g. access denied, out of space, faulty configuration [simply remove folder, it will be re-created], etc.)

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If you have built your app and are attempting to install it on a phone or tablet and you get the error "unable to parse package," then one of the most likely causes is that your phone/tablet does not have enough free memory to install your app.

Look under your phone/device's settings to see how much available storage you have.  You might need to uninstall some older apps to create the necessary space.  Android installs App Inventor apps in its internal memory, so even if you have space on the external memory (SD card) you might still have problems.

The installation process requires internal memory -- not SD card memory -- and many phones/tablets don't have a lot of that.  Also, the installation process uses more memory than the app itself: about 3 times a much.   If you are having problems, you should check how much free memory you have in your phone or device if you get the parse error, free up some space, and try again.

If your files are very large, you may get the same error.  One of the first things to check is your included assets.  These are files you have added to the project by uploading them in.  They could be graphics, video files, sound files, pdf files and other files.  Make SURE you remove any UNUSED assets.  If you're not using a graphic in your app, remove it before compiling.  If you have a pdf reference file in there, and you don't need it, remove it.  Take out any file you're not actually using in your app from the project.  Not only do they create overhead, unused items seem to also confuse the compiler.

The overall size of your app matters... try to keep it lean!

PLEASE RETURN TO THIS FORUM AFTER TRYING THE ABOVE AND RESPOND TO THIS THREAD AGAIN TO LET US KNOW IF YOUR ISSUE IS RESOLVED OR NOT!  THANKS IN ADVANCE!

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I had updated AI Companion once and then deleted .appinventor.

I got this error when I tried to update AI Companion again.  Disabling UAC seems to have been what helped.  Thanks!

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