Hi All,
I am interested in possible options for installing the same apps into thousands of brand new
android phones, with least effort per-phone possible. Also, in future, some additional actions
might be needed, like changing phone configuration/settings, etc. Phones might be of different
manufacturers and models, Android OS versions, etc.
For now the best option I was able to find is using ADB (Android Debug Bridge).
Workflow would be following:
1. Unbox/unpack phone, insert battery, turn phone on
2. Using phone, navigate to Settings->Applications->Development, check “USB Debugging”
3. Connect phone to PC using USB
4. Run some self-made batch scripts, which would do "adb install", "adb push", etc.
(many phones could be connected, installing same apps simultaneously from one PC)
5. Disconnect, turn off, remove battery, pack phone back into box.
Is above workflow possible? Or am I missing something?
Maybe there is a better option than using ADB? Maybe inserting SD card into each phone,
which would contain some auto-run install script, if that is doable? It would eliminate time
needed for connecting to PC, navigating to "USB Debugging", etc.
Rest of the questions I still don't have answers to:
1. Maybe it is possible to install apps / configure phone without connecting battery
(using power provided by USB connection)? Tried on some phones, no luck so far.
2. Maybe it is possible to instal/configure via USB without manually checking "USB Debugging"?
For example maybe using download/recovery mode? Could Odin3 be used for this?
3. After APP is installed, is there some generic way of adding its icon on home screen, using ADB?
Or method is different for each UI (data stored in different folders, different formats, etc.)?
The sdcard method wont work for sure
The adb way works
The recovery way is possible but depending on the phones recovery, many new phones do not accept update.zip files signed with test key, if u use samsung phones there is no way without flashing a custom kernel first.
If u manage to produce a custom factoryfs.rfs file for samsung gs2 for example, you could use odin for this.
----------------------------------------
tapatalked
Please use the Q&A Forum for questions Thanks
Moving to Q&A
Scripted ADB apk install works OK.
But now I have problem of loosing "welcome screen / initial configuration wizard" (whatever it's called, but most phones, if not all of them, have it) for users.
I mean to use ADB, I have to enable "USB debugging mode". So I need to access main menu. This means I need to power on phone, and get past "welcome screen". Most phones don't have "skip" button in those. So I am forced go through "welcome / initial configuration" steps, and phone owner will not see it again, when he starts his phone (which is bad).
Is there some common way for most android phones to re-enable phone "welcome / initial configuration" screen, without doing factory reset? Or to do factory reset without loosing apps? Or to cancel welcome screen somehow (allowing me to access phone menu), so that it pops back on next phone restart?
Related
Hi,
I am completely new to android coming from WinMo.
I have 4 new Nexus S phones in the family. I need to transfer some files to all of the phones. There is no SD card, only 16GB Flash. All of the files I need are on my mac, but I can use PC as well if this is easier.
1. How do I transfer music and video files to the phones from the computer?
2. I have several large .apk files on my mac (Large enough that I cannot e-mail them). I would like to sideload them, but cannot use SD card method. How do I transfer them to the phone for installation?
Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Please be as specific as possible, as I never used android before. WinMo used to be easy with Windows on PC.
Thanks a lot
Sincerely,
Mike
You can connect the phone to your computer with a USB cable.
Hello,
The way i would do it is to transfer the files over usb via a micro usb to usb cable connected to your computer, of which should come with the phones. I only know the process for windows but mac should work the same.
Before you connect the phone to the computer you must make sure usb debugging is enabled on the phones you want to connect. This setting is found in your applications menu, in there click on settings then applications then development then check the box 'usb debugging'. It will come up with a warning message read if you want then press ok. While you are there you might as well check the box 'unknown sources' under applications which will allow you to install your large .apk's from your internal memory rather than the android market.
Once this is done you now need to connect the usb cable. If all is good you should see a green little android with a usb cable for a hand. Click on 'turn on usb storage'. This will hopefully send windows to fetch drivers for your phone to install it and any future sd card you intend to buy as a hardrive listed under my computer. IF you have software on the phone that is used to sync media this may take your phone and display it in my computer as a portable device.
Once the file is on your phone you can then send that file over bluetooth to the other phones if you prefer may save a little time if your in a rush. This is between phones. Go back into settings found in your applications menu. This time go to Wireless and Network, go to Bluetooth settings and in this turn on bluetooth (must be done for each phone though when you want to transfer). Now you must pair the phones that will be transferring before sending/recieving files. To do this make sure the THEIR phone is set to be visible and then 'search for devices' on YOUR phone. You can skip that 'search for devices' step simply by clicking on the name of the phone if it shows up saying 'paired but not connected'. You will get a warning if they are connected, and you wont have to pair the two devices again.
Now you can go back to the files you transfered from usb and find it in your file browser, long press on the file and select share, then bluetooth then it will send a notification to the other phone. On the other phone to accept the incoming bluetooth file you must pull down the dropdown menu (slide downwards with your finger from the top edge of the home screen) and accept via the notification.
Goodluck.
mike99 said:
1. How do I transfer music and video files to the phones from the computer?
2. I have several large .apk files on my mac (Large enough that I cannot e-mail them). I would like to sideload them, but cannot use SD card method. How do I transfer them to the phone for installation?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Use a USB cable.
2. Use this: http://forums.androidcentral.com/an...-central-sideload-wonder-machine-v-1-2-a.html . I recommend using the installer version (for windows) and make sure you have the drivers installed for your device.
Anyone know which app to freeze to prevent the Rezound from automatically triggering the prompt to load Verizon Media Manager on connect to PC?
There used to be a way to do it through a dial-in sequence on the Incredible; that doesn't work on the Rezound.
Doesn't pop up on mine. Are you talking about their website on your computer screen, or the app on your phone? In settings you can change how the phone reacts when connecting to your PC.
I know that. When I connect I get an immediate prompt to download Verizon's Media Manager software, and the web page pops up in a browser (or additional tab if the browser is already open). On the Incredible, there was an *.iso file in the system root that could be de-activated by dialing a sequence of numbers and getting a feature menu which would de-activate CD-ROM. That menu is missing from the Rezound, so something else is triggering the pop-up.
There might be an *.iso file somewhere in there, but I am hesitant to delete or write anything to the ROM. Last time I did that I had to do a factory reset. I'm hoping it's an apk that can be frozen by Titanium during temporary root.
you did check off to connect via "USB Debugging Mode" in settings right?...
i do it that way & when i connect to my PC the only thing it does will bring up the prompt on the phone itself asking if i want to do "charge only" or "hard drive".
voxigenboy said:
you did check off to connect via "USB Debugging Mode" in settings right?...
i do it that way & when i connect to my PC the only thing it does will bring up the prompt on the phone itself asking if i want to do "charge only" or "hard drive".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Usually keep USB debugging ON, not off, but even setting it to off produces the prompt when I connect. It appears to "see" CD-ROM which would suggest that there *is* an *.iso file somewhere. Guess I'll have to go back into temporary root and see what's in there.
hgoldner said:
Usually keep USB debugging ON, not off, but even setting it to off produces the prompt when I connect. It appears to "see" CD-ROM which would suggest that there *is* an *.iso file somewhere. Guess I'll have to go back into temporary root and see what's in there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah when i go to 'windows explorer' after the phone's connected, it shows that 'CD-ROM', as well as both the drives from the phone itself & then the sd card.
oh wait... perhaps it's because i have "autorun" in windows disabled. anytime i pop in anything, nothing happens. i just go into explorer and manually open things. so my guess is that it's your PC's autorun feature.
i believe once you have the phone connected, go into windows explorer and right-click on the 'CD-ROM' listing, there should be an option somewhere to "autoplay/autorun" & you can disable it.
there's a way to disable autoplay/autorun completely in windows & there's more info on that here:
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...indows-7/7ba51974-c009-44ad-9067-f3968744175b
or here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/967715
hgoldner said:
I know that. When I connect I get an immediate prompt to download Verizon's Media Manager software, and the web page pops up in a browser (or additional tab if the browser is already open). On the Incredible, there was an *.iso file in the system root that could be de-activated by dialing a sequence of numbers and getting a feature menu which would de-activate CD-ROM. That menu is missing from the Rezound, so something else is triggering the pop-up.
There might be an *.iso file somewhere in there, but I am hesitant to delete or write anything to the ROM. Last time I did that I had to do a factory reset. I'm hoping it's an apk that can be frozen by Titanium during temporary root.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It has never popped up for me. In any case, what if you just Freeze that app using TB? (I think I froze that one on my last trip into Temp Root.)
Hey guys.
I have Samsung galaxy ace 5839i (stock for 5830i) and I am using it for a few years, but this problem came for the first time.
Always, when I try to connect my mobile to pc using cable, it just won't connect, it won't even show me the notification of connecting.
Before this problem, I connected it to fedora linux and it was succesful, but now? It won't show me that USB sign even in windows.
Any help?
Thanks in advance
@LiQuDiAk, basically s5839i and s5830 i are identical in many areas ,, few questions though,, did you root your device or you are on android 2.3.6 stock version / kernel 2.6.35.7 ?
when you are in your windows device manager ( while you are connected , do you see any exclamation / question marks in front of the corresponding driver), you can always uninstall your old driver, reboot , then try compiled driver in attachment , and reboot to take proper effect in your registry (tested on win xp/7 -32bit) . Also check your device settings>Application>Development > USB Debugging and make sure the option is checked. now lets check your debugging mode through ADB command and see if your device is being recognized. download platform zip attachment, unzip it and put the folder someplace like your desktop. Now open your command prompt (cmd) through whatever means you are comfortable and change directory (cd) to the unzip folder or simply open your folder and drag/drop adb.exe into your CMD to be in the right place very fast. Then type "adb devices" without quotation marks and report for more troubleshooting .Assuming your Samsung cable is not faulty of course.
@ehsanotaku Yes i did root my phone on pheonix fire rom. No i do not see any. And debugging is checked, that was my first guess why it was causing this. I was checking, whether my device is recognized in linux (only available OS in present) and it was NOT, but the cable is not faulty, because it was charging my phone... but i will do recognize process on windows, hope it will get better. But thanks so far!
so, the driver didnt help, but the adb devices got me something long which i do not completely understand (i am a girl and not IT) so...
LiQuDiAk said:
so, the driver didnt help, but the adb devices got me something long which i do not completely understand (i am a girl and not IT) so...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
off topic though, gender discrimination is prejudice,, sorry if you are offended . Learning from each other despite your gender,does not undermine your knowledge EVER mate You might find it hard to believe, but I am quite novice in android stuff myself ( learning a great deal from some female members though ).
Back to topic at hand now,,,So let Perfectly Clear take away the time-consuming tasks and fix some stuff ..1. so you can not access your sdcard's content from either systems,, even if you try some live bootable Ubuntu disk/flash into your system and boot it up,, you can't access the mount drive content , right?
2. screenshot of your device manger while you are connected always help mate
3. those long streams of numbers and words is supposed to be your device name , it means your device is communicating with your pc ( /sdcard/ should not be corrupted). You can push (copy ) some vital files to your device with following command :
again same path >> put some file into your desktop (drag/drop to cmd)
i.e: "adb push C:\Users\ehsanotaku\Desktop\test.txt /sdcard/"
back to your device and check root of your files with whatever file explorer you got to approve the theory
4. forgot to ask , just to be on the safe side your device is not in boot loop process, stuck on samsung splash screen or something like that, right?
okay, thanks!
1. I cannot access it trough USB to mobile way, but from SD card adapter, yeah I can (it is just the weird feeling, when you always have to put out your sd and do it that way, i would like to sort this out)
2. http://s1.postimg.org/nkta50u3x/Untitleddas.png I suppose the unknown device is my phone.
3. Just a question, my phone is not connected, i cannot access it and this doesn't help
4. Nope, it is working, i can access everything, just this connecting problem i have. anything else is running smoothly.
Let's say any of this will work, do you think flashing a stock rom will help? I am not sure, if this is problem of rom or not, so...
And maybe i wasn't clear (my bad if not) but when i plug the cable in my device and pc, pc will make this sound of new device found, but it wont show me anything, so my phone. It will charge, but it wont connect, it is behaving like it is on a charger and not connected to the phone.
@LiQuDiAk, Hasty actions are done in a hurry, sometimes without the necessary care or thought. Now let's not leap to any conclusion about your Android custom Rom and flashing back to stock. lets focus on your first most obvious problems,which is driver related.
You didn't declare your flavor of windows: i.e: Windows x86 based-PC;professional 7
Not so sure of your OS Name/Version and System Type, search "system information" in your search box.
Your task manger depicted ACPI x64 ( 64-bit system, no wonder previous 32-bit compatible didn't work out for you ).
Symptoms observed so far:
1. USB cable only charges ( remember your USB cable data line might be the culprit. Just in case of only charging,checking with another set recommended. Your USB port might be problem, some dirt or faulty data line, checking with another USP port doesn't heart though.
2. Windows recognizes something more (like in your case, struggling to find proper corresponding driver), but cannot see it as a Samsung android device (cannot allocate the installed USB drivers to the device).
-If you got Kies (Samsung proprietary software) installed on your PC, delete it with a descent uninstaller program such as CCleaner free version .Kies might cause driver conflict , use it as only last resort , if all drivers failed to communicate with s5830i device.
-Also Uninstall your previous given driver same way, now restart , back to system and grab set of universal Samsung Drivers from attachment .
3.Can't see your "USB connected" in Android notification bar, so you cant click on it and mount your storage data part while you are connected to your PC.
-Normally, when you plug in your Android device, Windows will recognize it as an MTP (Media Transfer Protocol) device and quietly mount it.
However, if you’ve ever attempted to unlock your device such as to install a new ROM or root it, then such miss behaviors might be expected occasionally .
Before i go for more troubleshooting , please provide a full screenshot from your "About Phone" page in your settings . I am quite curious about this phoenix Rom you have mentioned though . I am quite familiar with at least dozen of discontinued/ported projects, but never heard of such ported Rom from other models into s5830i .
Couple of solutions :
Navigate to your settings,Storage and touch the upper-right corner for the “USB computer connection” options, if you have this part available.
make sure “Media device (MTP)” is selected. ( if you have USB Utilities section or whatever added section in your custom settings go there . Selecting that will do the trick. If it does not, then you likely have a driver problem.
Open your device manager, Right click on your unrecognized device in question,choose update driver software, choose Browse my computer,find it through given x64 drivers in your package ,Restart. ( After a successful installation, restart your PC, you must have something like the picture in attachment ) .
Problem was not resolved, Uncheck your debugging option,power off your phone. Now hold Volume(+) + Home + Power for a couple of seconds simultaneously to get to your Samsung Recovery or your Clockwork Recovery, choose Reboot( might be some process/service in your background, which interfere with your Auto USB connected feature of your device. See if the problem is being resolved .
Problems have been persisting, we might need to format your SD card, but before that, insert it into your card reader, in your file explorer window choose Tools>Folder options>select view tab> tick your select hidden file.folders. Now copy all of your SD card's contents into some folder, safe inside your PC.
We can format your card through your clockwork mod recovery console, or some partition tools such as free mini partition wizard,,
problem still persist? let me know
Hey
After some rest with this, my mobile got it solved (dunno why, just once tried to do it and it works.)
So, thank you very much with your answers!!!!
And about that screenshots, I will PM you
But, really, thanks a lot, mate!!!!
My screen has been completely destroyed and I managed to put TWRP on the phone like a blind man and start it.
That means I can access internal storage from the PC via USB.
Now I am wondering where the contacts are stored which I'd love to recover.
I start fearing that I need to apply more hacks to the phone which however is unrealistic given the circumstances.
To be honest I haven't really grasped all the layers of Android OS, but as long as I'm in recovery I should be allowed to access anything, or not?
UPDATE
Looks like I need to access "/data/data/..."
I guess the problem is that only Internal Storage "/sdcard" is exposed over USB. Can that be changed?
BTW "adb devices" shows "unauthorized".
How to access everything? What part of the system is blocking it?
UPDATE2
Almost there, pulled TWRP from official sources, that apparently has the engineering bit set so you don't need any authorization
Now I'm stuck will just "adb pull"ing the entire /data directory cause my crap Windows machine tells me it can't create directories *sigh*
Thanks.
(Oh BTW , it's an S3 Neo (Android 4.4) and TWRP is 2.8.5.0)
For those who come after me, here is how the entire situation was solved from beginning to end.
This is a Galaxy S3 Neo with the display completely broken, no input, no output My PC is a Windows 10 laptop.
* Got odin (flash tool) I used 3.12
* Got twrp (from URL twrp.me and looked for my phone model) I used 2.8.7.0, it's important to have an official/correctly compiled one, otherwise adb may show "unauthorized" or whatever
* Got Android SDK platform tools (includes adb)
Now on the phone, I go to download mode, flash the new recovery and then immediately boot into recovery (otherwise the stock ROM, if still working, will replace the newly flashed recovery again by the stock one):
* Remove and restore power (remove all cables and battery, and put them back on)
* Careful, maybe the phone will start automatically after you give it power in some situations, you have to be fast
* vol-down + home + pow
* wait 8 secs
* vol-up
* start odin 3.12, should see COMx (Windows Device manager shows Samsung USB device)
** untick autoreboot in odin options
** flash new recovery to "AP" (twrp-2.8.7.0-s3ve3g.img.tar)
* remove power (cable + battery)
* restore power (cable + battery) and immediately hold down vol-up + home + pow
* inside recovery I can do anything I want using adb (Device manager shows USB composite device) like "adb shell cp -a /data /external_sd/" (ignore "can't preserve ownership" messages, that because you're copying from ext to fat, no worries here)
* copying to the external sd card was the way that worked, just using "adb pull /data" to copy the data directory didn't work because the Windows part of adb somehow could not create files on the local system, no idea
(I had Windows device manager running all the time with the "Universal Serial Bus controllers" branch expanded, in order to see what was going on. Maybe take a screenshot with nothing connected, so you see the difference.)
Finally, when you're in recovery there are no other layers. Must tutorials talk about adb commands while the ROM is running with USB debugging turned on, which is obviously very much different, and you don't get very far without root(ed ROM).
Now for the contacts, on this phone they are located in data\data\com.android.providers.contacts\databases\contacts2.db (use your favorite sqlite browser to view). Noone says this data is easily readable though
Feel free to correct me if any of this is wrong =)
PS. I must add that during all of this I installed Windows drivers from different sources which made these things work YMMV
PS2. You may be able to use commercial tools in cases like this. However it depends on the level of brickage. I believe some have like advanced recovery options to retrieve files from broken phones where they will do automatically what I did here manually (flash new recovery and stuff). However you always need to make sure your exact device is supported, as always.
PS3. Now you have all the data. You will not be able to just restore another phone to the state in which the old phone was, but at least you have your data in some form. And you have the possibility of deleting everything left on the phone before recycling
Background:
I have a rooted SM-G900V (Verizon Galaxy S5) running Lollipop with a broken screen. I have Titanium Backup installed and it was supposed to be running weekly but wasn't. I have recovered my photos, contacts, etc. by connecting to my PC and copying the internal storage and from my gmail restore to a new GS5. I want to recover app data from a couple apps. The phone has USB debug turned on and I can connect with ADB.
I thought I could just run an ADB backup, but apparently in order for the backup to initiate I have to press a button on the lower right of the screen...which is broken. I suppose if I could connect via WiFi and then use a MHL cable I could use a keyboard/mouse to click the button on the phone but I don't have a MHL cable right now and I don't know if that would work anyway (WiFi ADB hasn't worked for me to this point).
THE QUESTION:
I've done a lot of reading and found a number of ADB options that sounded viable, but have not been successful. I have TitaniumBackup installed and thought that I could launch the "backup all" batch process but don't see how to make that happen. I have a new GS5 that is identical setup so I could record some actions on that one and play them on the broken one potentially.
I'm open to any suggestions.
bkenobi69 said:
......... THE QUESTION: I've done a lot of reading and found a number of ADB options that sounded viable, but have not been successful..........
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only thing I can think of is to guide you to the following thread that should, hopefully, be what you need.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2786395
Good Luck!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
UNLESS asked to do so, PLEASE don't PM me regarding support. Sent using The ClaRetoX Forum App on my Enigma Machine {aenigma = Latin for "Riddle"}.
I really appreciate the suggestion. FWIW, I sort of came up with a similar approach myself that I almost have working. I turned on ADB WiFi on the device and then plugged in my wireless USB mouse/keyboard. I set up a script that performs a screen capture every 2 seconds and downloads it locally. With Windows7 image viewer, it automatically updates when the image changes so I get a slide show of what's happening on screen. The only issue I have is that the SD card isn't set up for TitaniumBackup apparently since I get an error when I select the backup action. If I can get TitaniumBackup set up correctly, I should be golden!
Thanks for posting that link. Ironically, the solution I developed was very similar in concept. I will give a short description for others who may need to recover data from a phone with a broken screen.
Prerequisites:
* TitaniumBackup - This can be installed from the Play store even if the phone is not functioning
* USB debug mode enabled - Without this, you are stuck. The only issue here is newer phones don't always enable MTP on connection. My old on did but the new one does not. If it doesn't connect via MTP, you will need to install MTPEnabler or similar.
* USB keyboard/mouse combination
* USB cable
* Charged fully functional phone sans screen
* ADB software - You must have the same version on the phone and PC. If not, it won't work reliably/at all. I went with fastboot_adb(1.0.32)_071114_r21 since I have 1.0.32 on my SM-G900V.
Basic steps:
1) Unpack the ADB software on your PC in a convenient location (C:\ADB)
2) Connect phone to PC via USB
3) Send command to enable WiFi ADB connection
4) Disconnect phone from USB
5) Connect ADB via WiFi
6) Run following batch script:
:loop
adb shell screencap /sdcard/screen.png
del screen.png
adb pull /sdcard/screen.png
echo captured
timeout /t 2
goto loop
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This will dump a screen shot every 2 seconds
7) Open screen.png in Windows image viewer. It should automatically update when the image is refreshed.
8) Type "launch titaniumbackup" and press enter on wireless keyboard.
9) Using either tab or mouse, select the check box to launch TB.
10) Using either tab or mouse, select "menu" from upper right.
11) Using mouse, select "batch actions" from the list.
12) Using mouse, select "RUN" next to "Backup all user apps" from the list.
If all went well, you now have your phone backup up all application data to your SD card which can be easily used on a new phone to restore data.
NOTE:
It may be possible to also use the built-in ADB backup function. I attempted this at one point, but it requires selecting a button in the lower right on the phone. Since I was using ADB over USB at the time, I could not click the button on the phone since I only had one device connected (no hub). If you have a hub it may be possible to use that approach. Alternately, if you use ADB over WiFi, it should also work. However, be aware that there is no way to see where you are clicking or confirm that it worked other than looking at the files on the SD card as ADB backup doesn't appear to give any feedback. Also, this isn't as easy as TB when it comes to restoring as you either have to backup every app one at a time or all together. When restoring, it's also a one shot deal so you can't select specific apps to restore from a larger set.