Micha's Blog

Saved me tons of time again this year: Garmin Map Update HOWTO

Or so I thought… it’s never this easy, is it?  “There was an error installing the Update”.  Well, that’s bloody useful, isn’t it, Garmin? Have I mentioned before that your software SUCKS???

Luckily I’m an experienced hand with their shite, and creating a hard link on C: drive (where they INSIST on creating a temporary area to download their 5GB onto) to my D: drive (where I actually have room for it, and where I TOLD it to install the maps to) fixed this.

Specifically, it abuses C:\ProgramData\Garmin\CoreService\Downloads as a temporary download location.

To create a hard-link, also called a “Junction”, in Windows:

mklink /J Downloads D:\Garmin\Downloads

This still requires you to have at least 6GiB free space on C: drive, as the Garmin software still checks free space requirements even after you have already downloaded the maps prior to installing on your GPS device.

I repeat, Garmin SUCKS when it comes to software.