Cannot download watchfaces on Forerunner 935

I had the same problem with my 935. In my case, the problem was with a file on the watch ("/Garmin/devices.xml"); this file has its own record of what firmware version you're on, and if it doesn't match your actual firmware version, you may be unable to install newer apps. In my case I manually edited the file to fix the version, but this way might be easier:

1) Connect watch to PC with USB cable
2) Make a copy of the file /GARMIN/DEVICES.XML (just in case)
3) Delete /GARMIN/DEVICES.XML (the watch will automatically regenerate this file)

Thanks a lot for the very swift reply - much appreciated. Unfortunately, deleting the .xml file did not solve the problem. Would it be possible for you to described how you manually edited the file to match the correct version?

Thanks.

Make sure you sync afterwards. First power cycle the watch, and then try Garmin Express first. If that doesn't do it, re-pair your watch with the phone. What's happening is the app store didn't know you'd update your firmware. You likely don't have to mess with garmindevices.xml at all

Oh, another thing, on the watch itself, check under Settings>about to insure the latest FW has actually been installed.

Well, in my case, every single possible indicator of firmware version claimed I was up to date, except for the XML file.
- Garmin Connect (website)
- Garmin Express
- Settings > About (on the watch)

Anyway, I think the actual filename is /garmin/garmindevice.xml (sorry, I don't have my watch connected to USB right now, and I misread my own previous post >_>.)

What I did was remove the read-only attribute in Windows Explorer (right-click > properties) and I changed the following section using a text editor (like Notepad):

<SoftwareVersion>402</SoftwareVersion>


In my case, garmindevice.xml was saying that my firmware version was 4.02. I changed it to "410".
<SoftwareVersion>410</SoftwareVersion>


Afterwards, there may have been some power-cycling involved and/or syncing with GE. But nothing worked before I edited the file by hand. The sync afterwards is most likely an important step, otherwise I don't see how the store would be able to see the updated contents of the xml file.

I can't be sure that the same thing is happening here, but I tried all the other stuff that people said:
- Make sure you have the right firmware
- power-cycle/reboot (twice!)
- sync with garmin express
- un-pair/re-pair watch with bluetooth

If your XML file already says "<SoftwareVersion>410</SoftwareVersion>", then it's one of those other things.

Hi,

So I tried all the steps described by jim_m_58 but still no luck - however, manually altering the xml file as described by WillNorthYork did the trick! Thanks a lot for the help, guys!

for future reference what also helps in this case (and is slightly a cleaner solution than to edit xml files) is to reset your device to default settings via the system menu (be sure to sync your runs to garmin connect first as all user data on the watch is deleted after a reset)

Hate to contradict you, but when this happened to me I had actually just previously reset to factory defaults...several times (for unrelated reasons). I tried resetting to factory defaults again and it didn't fix the problem. I followed every single piece of advice people gave me and nothing worked. Resetting to factory did NOT fix the XML file. As I said at the time, it's funny that Garmin's factory reset doesn't actually...reset to factory. (More on that below).

The ONLY thing which worked for me was editing the XML file.

FYI, there's actually several things which don't get reset to factory as would be expected. e.g. Screenshots aren't deleted, traces of copied activities/sports remain [which can lead to "invisible" activities in the faourites list]. I had a whole post on it in another thread. So a factory reset is not as clean as you might think.

It's just me, but I would rather have a way of fixing my watch that doesn't require me to lose several things which can't be restored from a backup, including:
- totals [despite what Garmin's Fenix support page says -- yes I know this isn't exactly the same product]
- daily/weekly activity tracking info
- training status/VO2 Max
- several settings which are not stored anywhere on the (visible) file system (and which therefore can't be backed or restored)
etc.

Sure, most of those things come back after a week or two, but it's nice not to lose them.

Having gone through the pain of resetting to factory several times, I would actually prefer to never do it again. Especially going through the hassle of restoring history/ activity settings from backup, re-pairing my phone, setting up WiFi again, changing a whole bunch of other settings which can't be restored from backup, etc., etc.

Hey,

It sounds like a version of an old bug has resurfaced here. I've got a ticket created to address the issue.

Thanks,
-Coleman

Hey,

It sounds like a version of an old bug has resurfaced here. I've got a ticket created to address the issue.

Thanks,
-Coleman

Just to tack on to (and bump up) this thread, I am seeing a spike in reports from users saying an update to their watch is required. The devices users reported this on are: f&#275;nix 5, f&#275;nix 3HR, vivoactive and vivoactive HR.

Cheers,
Douglas

I'm still getting reports of this. Is anyone else getting these or is this something to do with my account/apps?

Thanks,
Douglas