Cannot install Google Play Store, Gmail, Drive in Work Profile?

hemlockiv

Has anyone else found that they recently (i.e. in the last week or so, possibly starting with the latest GOS update) they cannot install certain Google apps like Gmail, Google Drive, or even the default, sandboxed Graphene Apps version of the Play Store? Specifically in the Work Profile.

I noticed recently that these apps have disappeared from my Work Profile, though not the main profile (user 0). It's not all Google apps, though; my work profile still has Google Sheets.

In the work profile's Apps > Google Play Services > Google Play Store, there is an Install button. Tapping it brings up the a normal installer dialog that says "Do you want to update this app?", but tapping Update makes it say "Installing..." for a bit, then revert and just show an Install button again.

I use Shelter to manage the work profile, and I tried making Shelter clone Google Play from user 0 to user 10. It says it installs successfully, but nothing actually changes. The same happens for Gmail and Google Drive apps.

I also tried installing Aurora Store in the work profile and installing Gmail and Drive from there. Similarly, there's an Install button, which triggers the system installer that prompts me to "update this app". It says that it updates successfully, but nothing actually happens, and the app still appears to not be installed.

Running adb pm uninstall --user 10 com.android.vending returns:
Failure [not installed for 10]

And running adb pm install --user 10 com.android.vending returns:

Error: Unable to open file: com.android.vending
Consider using a file under /data/local/tmp/
Error: Can't open file: com.android.vending

Exception occurred while executing 'install':
java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Error: Can't open file: com.android.vending
	at com.android.server.pm.PackageManagerShellCommand.setParamsSize(PackageManagerShellCommand.java:688)
	at com.android.server.pm.PackageManagerShellCommand.doRunInstall(PackageManagerShellCommand.java:1557)
	at com.android.server.pm.PackageManagerShellCommand.runInstall(PackageManagerShellCommand.java:1523)
	at com.android.server.pm.PackageManagerShellCommand.onCommand(PackageManagerShellCommand.java:236)
	at com.android.modules.utils.BasicShellCommandHandler.exec(BasicShellCommandHandler.java:97)
	at android.os.ShellCommand.exec(ShellCommand.java:38)
	at com.android.server.pm.PackageManagerService$IPackageManagerImpl.onShellCommand(PackageManagerService.java:6364)
	at android.os.Binder.shellCommand(Binder.java:1080)
	at android.os.Binder.onTransact(Binder.java:900)
	at android.content.pm.IPackageManager$Stub.onTransact(IPackageManager.java:4494)
	at com.android.server.pm.PackageManagerService$IPackageManagerImpl.onTransact(PackageManagerService.java:6348)
	at android.os.Binder.execTransactInternal(Binder.java:1373)
	at android.os.Binder.execTransact(Binder.java:1299)

I'm really not sure what to do at this point. I've tried rebooting, Has anyone else experienced anything like this?

--
Pixel 7 running GOS build UP1A.231005.007.2023102300

other8026

hemlockiv

I'm not familiar with work profiles, so I can't be much help there, but I think you want to use a different adb command: adb pm install-existing --user 10 com.android.vending. Though you'd probably want to install in this order:

com.google.android.gsf
com.google.android.gms
com.android.vending

That said I don't know if this will work because of how GrapheneOS handles those apps' installs. I haven't checked if the Apps app does anything else when installing those three apps, like setting something for GmsCompat. I doubt it, but it's worth mentioning. Just know that if you install things the unsupported way and things break as a result, others in the community aren't likely going to be able to help you out.

hemlockiv

other8026 I think you want to use a different adb command: adb pm install-existing --user 10 com.android.vending

Thank you, you're right. To avoid any possible issues with the sandboxed play apps, I tried it with Gmail, using pm install-existing. It returned:
Package com.google.android.gm installed for user: 10
Sounds good, right? But it still doesn't show up in the apps list. And running pm uninstall for Gmail returns:
Failure [not installed for 10]
So the installation is not actually succeeding.

other8026

hemlockiv Really? I just tried on my phone and installed Gmail to a test profile.

I used pm list users to get the user ID, then pm install-existing --user 11 com.google.android.gm. It worked fine for me.

Kottonballs

Profile borked perhaps? I was able to do the same with my current alt profile.

hemlockiv

I fully uninstalled all 3 apps (from all users), applied the pending GOS update, rebooted, then tried installing them, Gmail and Drive from Aurora Store and Play Store from the GOS Apps repo. Drive is the only one that succesfully installed in work profile, so that's better than nothing.

I saw some articles today that Android is having bugs with multiple users. While it looks like they mainly involve storage access and getting locked out of the device, neither of which I've experienced, it's possible this could be a related Android bug that will be fixed soon.

hemlockiv

Strangely, I had gotten all 3 to install after fully uninstalling them from all profiles, but after the latest OS update, they're gone again. I guess I'll try to reinstall them... again. Thanks Google.