Hello XDA-san
This is my first time working with cygwin and Android Kitchen and I wanted to make sure I didn't miss anything that will royally brick my s4. I have attached screenshots of my journey for reference.
I started with the stock ROM from you know where, version 4.4.2 (i337MOYAFNC1) and proceeded to remove the KNOX bootloader (using instructions from SilviuMik). I skipped the last step where it is re-md5, to continue on to the kitchen..
Using the de-knoxed tar file, I created a working folder for the ROM in the kitchen. It started unpacking, everthing went well. When i was prompted to choose if I wanted to extract the CSC, I said no.. because the DiskInternals Linux reader was giving me an error saying along the lines of cant read disk..
From my working folder, I proceeded to root & busybox, all went well. I then deodexed both the system apps and framework, all went well.
lastly, I made a build from the working folder. Selected all default options while doing so (see pictures) , signed the freshly minted rom and voila.
If the repacking was successful there is not much to fear about.
(You may want to lookup if there is any dependents (in the rom) by using the removed knox bootloader (atleast remove the knox apks I guess)
the CSC is really nothing important:
A common short code (CSC) is a short telephone number, usually consisting of five digits, that is used to address SMS and MMS messages from a cellular telephone. Common short codes may also be called mobile short codes or short numbers. Each common short code is designed to be unique to each operator.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just include the one from the stockrom. btw, I have successfully manually unpacked the CSC file a year ago or so with simg2img, it only contained crap (samsung only files for altering behavior in TW rom and bloatware), the hidden partition or preload partition may also contain unwanted crap btw
So go ahead and flash it, your phone will not get bricked by this in any way.
broodplank1337 said:
If the repacking was successful there is not much to fear about.
(You may want to lookup if there is any dependents (in the rom) by using the removed knox bootloader (atleast remove the knox apks I guess)
the CSC is really nothing important:
Just include the one from the stockrom. btw, I have successfully manually unpacked the CSC file a year ago or so with simg2img, it only contained crap (samsung only files for altering behavior in TW rom and bloatware), the hidden partition or preload partition may also contain unwanted crap btw
So go ahead and flash it, your phone will not get bricked by this in any way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi broodplank1337, thhank you for your reply
So would it be better to go into my newly minted zip file and hunt down the knox apks / dependencies? Or should I flash the ROM then use root browser to get rid of them?
I found this list "
Delete the files in the following files in this order.
/system/app/KNOXAgent.apk
/system/app/KNOXAgent.odex
/system/app/KLMSAgent.apk
/system/app/KLMSAgent.odex
/system/app/KnoxAttestationAgent.apk
/system/app/KnoxAttestationAgent.odex
/system/app/KNOXStore.apk
/system/app/KNOXStore.odex
/system/app/ContainerAgent.apk
/system/app/ContainerAgent.odex
/system/lib/libknoxdrawglfunction.so
/system/app/ContainerEventsRelayManager.apk
/system/app/ContainerEventsRelayManager.odex
/system/app/KNOXStub.apk <--- delete if you have, some will not
Delete the following folders
/system/containers
/system/preloadedkiosk
/system/preloadedsso
/system/etc/secure_storage/com.sec.knox.store
/data/data/com.sec.knox.seandroid
/data/data/com.sec.knox.store
/data/data/com.sec.knox.containeragent
/data/data/com.samsung.android.walletmanager
The French Tickl3r said:
Hi broodplank1337, thhank you for your reply
So would it be better to go into my newly minted zip file and hunt down the knox apks / dependencies? Or should I flash the ROM then use root browser to get rid of them?
I found this list "
Delete the files in the following files in this order.
/system/app/KNOXAgent.apk
/system/app/KNOXAgent.odex
/system/app/KLMSAgent.apk
/system/app/KLMSAgent.odex
/system/app/KnoxAttestationAgent.apk
/system/app/KnoxAttestationAgent.odex
/system/app/KNOXStore.apk
/system/app/KNOXStore.odex
/system/app/ContainerAgent.apk
/system/app/ContainerAgent.odex
/system/lib/libknoxdrawglfunction.so
/system/app/ContainerEventsRelayManager.apk
/system/app/ContainerEventsRelayManager.odex
/system/app/KNOXStub.apk <--- delete if you have, some will not
Delete the following folders
/system/containers
/system/preloadedkiosk
/system/preloadedsso
/system/etc/secure_storage/com.sec.knox.store
/data/data/com.sec.knox.seandroid
/data/data/com.sec.knox.store
/data/data/com.sec.knox.containeragent
/data/data/com.samsung.android.walletmanager
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh I thought you were building an odin rom? zip you say?
Anyways, just remove em from the system folder and test it's result. You can always test roms without damaging your device at any time, read: it's impossible for a ROM to brick a phone, the thing that can brick it is the kernel, but only if using a kernel from an other device or so.
so don't be afraid to test it, if it doesn't work just continue your work. if it works, good joob
broodplank1337 said:
Oh I thought you were building an odin rom? zip you say?
Anyways, just remove em from the system folder and test it's result. You can always test roms without damaging your device at any time, read: it's impossible for a ROM to brick a phone, the thing that can brick it is the kernel, but only if using a kernel from an other device or so.
so don't be afraid to test it, if it doesn't work just continue your work. if it works, good joob
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
One caveat to this, and this mostly applies to Verizon and AT&T users, but if you have upgraded to KitKat and kept root using SuperSu's survival mode and your planning to test a rom using Safestrap, you better make sure that the su binary is in xbin and bin (.ext/.su) and that the Superuser.apk is in /system/app. Also make sure that the permissions are set correctly for su (chmod 06755 chown 0.0) and have busybox in the rom as well, or at least have busybox install in the updater-script and make sure everything symlinks correctly.
The best thing to do when testing roms to avoid having to worry about losing root is to download Chainfire's SuperSu zip and flash it after you flash your rom you're testing (but before it reboots into the rom for the first time) the reason I even mention all of this is because currently we (Verizon and AT&T users) have no way to root a device thats taken a complete 4.4.2 OTA.
Surge1223 said:
One caveat to this, and this mostly applies to Verizon and AT&T users, but if you have upgraded to KitKat and kept root using SuperSu's survival mode and your planning to test a rom using Safestrap, you better make sure that the su binary is in xbin and bin (.ext/.su) and that the Superuser.apk is in /system/app. Also make sure that the permissions are set correctly for su (chmod 06755 chown 0.0) and have busybox in the rom as well, or at least have busybox install in the updater-script and make sure everything symlinks correctly.
The best thing to do when testing roms to avoid having to worry about losing root is to download Chainfire's SuperSu zip and flash it after you flash your rom you're testing (but before it reboots into the rom for the first time) the reason I even mention all of this is because currently we (Verizon and AT&T users) have no way to root a device thats taken a complete 4.4.2 OTA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seriously? wow, thanks for mentioning, I can't believe what a pricks Verizon and AT&T are. Same count for Samsung that handles knox regulation in the USA (while not in other countries). In the USA you get pretty much screwed by the carriers and manufacturers the hard way.
In The Netherlands (where I live) it's even illegal to sell smartphones that are not unlocked by default. and the only thing a carrier may do is adding a CSC (Consumer Software Customization) package. This should be in the USA as well!
In the USA companies get to private / independent it seems. they should be regulated by national government rules. instead of making their own. (this keeps the crap like the problem you described away)
But Samsung should be regulated as well, there is no chance that will happen (south-korea), and their phones will contain more and more backdoors / suspicious daemons / methods of screwing you and so on, because who checks it, no one. Oh yes only someone, the NSA that adds even more of this stuff, like a VPN Interceptor, which no one is waiting for as well.
Anyways, life (or actually companies) is (are) a *****. Only strict regulation could solve this, but who still believes in regulation after seeing what the NSA all did, they broke like every single rule and forced companies to merge their crap (most likely, or a huge payment, but no single company actually likes that)
- NSA 'was allowed' to break in all PC's because that where outside the USA. that just ridiculous but true
- NSA applied their 'jizz' to all super famous apps like Facebook.
Even though it sounds like I say USA is the culprit thats not true, The netherlands have BREIN, which is the anti piracy company.
This asshole tim kuik has,
a. destroyed the piratebay for the whole world (even though it's recuping soon)
b. have done a million requests on removing uploaded movies (on newsgroups)
I really went OT all the way at this reply xd but you get my point :good:
The product gets made, then infected by the creator, then gets forced to merge nsa crap. after that it goes to the carrier which installs even more crap.
there is not a single bit of freedom left
Thank you both for these tips. Being a rather unexperienced cook, I would have never thought of these important details mentioned above.
it really is a shame how tightly service provider have our collective balls in a grasp..
broodplank1337 said:
Seriously? wow, thanks for mentioning, I can't believe what a pricks Verizon and AT&T are. Same count for Samsung that handles knox regulation in the USA (while not in other countries). In the USA you get pretty much screwed by the carriers and manufacturers the hard way.
In The Netherlands (where I live) it's even illegal to sell smartphones that are not unlocked by default. and the only thing a carrier may do is adding a CSC (Consumer Software Customization) package. This should be in the USA as well!
In the USA companies get to private / independent it seems. they should be regulated by national government rules. instead of making their own. (this keeps the crap like the problem you described away)
But Samsung should be regulated as well, there is no chance that will happen (south-korea), and their phones will contain more and more backdoors / suspicious daemons / methods of screwing you and so on, because who checks it, no one. Oh yes only someone, the NSA that adds even more of this stuff, like a VPN Interceptor, which no one is waiting for as well.
Anyways, life (or actually companies) is (are) a *****. Only strict regulation could solve this, but who still believes in regulation after seeing what the NSA all did, they broke like every single rule and forced companies to merge their crap (most likely, or a huge payment, but no single company actually likes that)
- NSA 'was allowed' to break in all PC's because that where outside the USA. that just ridiculous but true
- NSA applied their 'jizz' to all super famous apps like Facebook.
Even though it sounds like I say USA is the culprit thats not true, The netherlands have BREIN, which is the anti piracy company.
This asshole tim kuik has,
a. destroyed the piratebay for the whole world (even though it's recuping soon)
b. have done a million requests on removing uploaded movies (on newsgroups)
I really went OT all the way at this reply xd but you get my point :good:
The product gets made, then infected by the creator, then gets forced to merge nsa crap. after that it goes to the carrier which installs even more crap.
there is not a single bit of freedom left
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The NSA can screw a cow. USA is Freedom? Like hell. I live here and am starting to become ashamed of my country. I hate the government, more directly this president. Anyway, whats a VPN Interceptor? Sounds scary..
But about the OP, can you build an Odin tar with the older Bootloaders in and newer system images to remove knox warranty and allow users to upgrade without screwing themselves? Last i checked, you needed a way to sign the tar file to match with the current bootloader checking.
broodplank1337 said:
the CSC is really nothing important:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
CSC is "Country/Carrier Specific Config", not "common short code"
While it's not so important, skipping it may produce many side effects in normal work.
The common way to deal with CSC is extract it and pre-integrate into system - that's what stock recovery is doing upon first boot after flash.
sorg said:
CSC is "Country/Carrier Specific Config", not "common short code"
While it's not so important, skipping it may produce many side effects in normal work.
The common way to deal with CSC is extract it and pre-integrate into system - that's what stock recovery is doing upon first boot after flash.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This doesn't always work. I used to try this with rooted dump/repacks for S4, N2 and E4GT and we got mixed results not including Samsung's cache.img. In Sprint's case this defaulted the carrier to XAS, an internal use only code that doesn't fully enable everything for Sprint. I don't recall if this was on images with a blank data.img only or "nodata" cases as well.
garwynn said:
This doesn't always work. I used to try this with rooted dump/repacks for S4, N2 and E4GT and we got mixed results not including Samsung's cache.img. In Sprint's case this defaulted the carrier to XAS, an internal use only code that doesn't fully enable everything for Sprint. I don't recall if this was on images with a blank data.img only or "nodata" cases as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've did it on GT-I9100, GT-I9300, SHV-E210K, GT-N7100, SHV-E330S. It worked always. Sometimes CSC is multi-CSC where you have to choose correct version.
I didn't use operator-specific models. So probably some additional steps required. But anyway, CSC from cache partition is simply copied to system by recovery. To be more precise, you can check command file in cache.img - this is where "magic" happens
Hi devs, i first time cooked prerooted deodexed rom from stock 4.4.2 rom using cygwin and andriod kitchen. every thing went well. my only question is can i remove modem from output zip as i don't want to use that modem.
Got status 7 error installation aborted.
navdeepavi said:
Got status 7 error installation aborted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
go to advanced > show log in recovery
As a follow up to the status 7 error, I spent quite a while figuring out what caused it and how to solve it. I posted this on another thread but ill quote myself here.
The status 7 failed to mount /preload error and why it happens:
Lets take a minute to go over why this happens and what it means. First what is /preload anyways? Well lets take a look at how it gets mounted, consider mount points below:
mount("ext4", "EMMC", "/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/system", "/system");
mount("ext4", "EMMC", "/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/hidden", "/preload");
We can infer from the point arguements that /preload is the mount point for the "hidden" partition. Well then what is this "hidden" partition then you ask? Well hidden contains some useless crap Samsung uses to verify integrity of the system partition when in recovery
So the idea is to wipe data/factory reset in recovery followed by making sure to flash hidden.img.ext4 prior to cache.img.ext4. I think my inclusion of cache.img.ext4 on accident in the first tar is the root of the cause so ive uploaded a new one that doesnt contain it so it wont fail at step 1.
So essentially you cant flash a a full-wipe or no-wipe Odin tar to go back. You have to use a custom made Odin tar. Also for people getting the status 7 error where /preload fails to mount after flashing cache the solution is to boot into stock recovery and factory data reset followed by flashing hidden.img.ext4 via Odin or Heimdall.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK
So I managed to create a flashable
.zip of I337MVLUFNE1:
Rooted, Deodexed, Knox-Free,
Zipaligned, Debloated, KT Kernel!
Will post link here if you guys want!
Adizzzle said:
OK
So I managed to create a flashable
.zip of I337MVLUFNE1:
Rooted, Deodexed, Knox-Free,
Zipaligned, Debloated, KT
Will post link here if you guys want!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
oh sweet, sure ill gladly test it out
ty!
go habs GO
The French Tickl3r said:
oh sweet, sure ill gladly test it out
ty!
go habs GO
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=23501681358539374
It has a TMO KT kernel so you may need a
different kernel depending on your device.
It's debloated, but only lightly.
I have a heavily debloated version uploading.
Adizzzle said:
http://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=23501681358539374
It has a TMO KT kernel so you may need a
different kernel depending on your device.
It's debloated, but only lightly.
I have a heavily debloated version uploading.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
awesome ty
i have the i337m with telus, and if i remember correctly, I had to use the TMO kernel when I flashed the maple leaf ROM a while back
The French Tickl3r said:
awesome ty
i have the i337m with telus, and if i remember correctly, I had to use the TMO kernel when I flashed the maple leaf ROM a while back
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah it was made for a Telus I337M
The only thing missing is the APN.
Made with ArchiKitchen.
Related
Some weeks ago, I decided to overclock my Ace: CyanogenMod-7.1.0-RC1-Cooper-KANG plus ClockWorkMod4. Got the overclocking kernel from ketut.kumajaya and started to play with frequencies while watching CSI Las Vegas.
In general, it's stupid idea to multitask things like this. In my case, I accidentally ticked checkbox "Set at boot", set the frequency to around 870 MHz and my phone rebooted. I have gone into the bootloop, tried almost everything:
-reinstallation of CyanogenMod
-reinstallation of some other ROM i have found on my disk
-cleaning caches, wiping etc
Without sucess of course
I have decided to check, what exactly happened with my phone, so connected it to PC and started logcat. There was a lot of errors related to files on /data partition - it did not mount for some reason. I was able to access shell from Recovery, but it did not helped me too much - /data partition was entirely broken.
I realized that Samsung uses its own filesystem for /data - RFS and I had no tools to work with it - at least did not find them. In such case, I have unpacked one of the older firmwares and found, that it contains files for soome partitions, but not for the /data.
Next steps were fairly simple - go to sammobile.com, download firmwares for my Ace and check, if it contains /data (data.rfs). Eventually found one, flashed it and my phone went back alive.
Don't know if this is best method, but at least it was interesting to investigate
Thnkx for dis info. All d noobs should read dis before flashing d oc kernel.
Sent from GT-S5830 using Grif's Cyanogenmod
domnic79 said:
All d noobs should read dis before flashing d oc kernel.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think, that most of them will read this after the catastrophe...
Regards
SetCPU has a "Safe Mode" flashable zip file
Sent from my GT-S5830 using XDA App
EmoBoiix3 said:
SetCPU has a "Safe Mode" flashable zip file
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In general, overclocking means that system can work in an undeterministic manner. Especially an overclocked processor can write some garbage to flash - in my case it was /data partition.
Can't belive that any "Safe Mode" could help - if you play with fire, you should be ready for some burns
Regards
Pawel
p.stradowski said:
In general, overclocking means that system can work in an undeterministic manner. Especially an overclocked processor can write some garbage to flash - in my case it was /data partition.
Can't belive that any "Safe Mode" could help - if you play with fire, you should be ready for some burns
Regards
Pawel
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It reverts the CPU speed back to 787Mhz .
Sent from my GT-S5830 using XDA App
EmoBoiix3 said:
It reverts the CPU speed back to 787Mhz .
Sent from my GT-S5830 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
exactly. it disable/revert the "set on boot" function that cause bootloop
Everyone knows the risks and there are more than enough warning messages floating around highlighting the BLATANT ramifications of over clocking. Call me harsh, but isn't this what we DIDN'T want to see cluttering the forums? Let this be a lesson to anyone else who decides to flash the kernel.
Sent from my GT-S5830 using Tapatalk
well some people need to learn the hard way. some will never learn until the day their devices blown to smithereens on their faces.
jimbo.levy said:
Everyone knows the risks and there are more than enough warning messages floating around highlighting the BLATANT ramifications of over clocking. Call me harsh, but isn't this what we DIDN'T want to see cluttering the forums? Let this be a lesson to anyone else who decides to flash the kernel.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
completely agrees
an0nym0us_ said:
well some people need to learn the hard way. some will never learn until the day their devices blown to smithereens on their faces.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah i see LOT OF people just bricking devices and then search for solutions.. but i see that many people search Google and see something and do it on device without confirming that it works or not...
in my opinion rom manager seriously should include warning or some mechanism to warn user that there device is not at all supported.. is there any?? just confirming as i haven't installed that ACE KILLER
madman_amit said:
completely agrees
yeah i see LOT OF people just bricking devices and then search for solutions.. but i see that many people search Google and see something and do it on device without confirming that it works or not...
in my opinion rom manager seriously should include warning or some mechanism to warn user that there device is not at all supported.. is there any?? just confirming as i haven't installed that ACE KILLER
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Rom manager says ace is supperted in cm7 roms. Bt 99% people bv bricked their fones using this app. So even if it shows samsung galaxy ace in d list, dont use it.
Sent from my GT-S5830 using Grif's CyanogenMod
Dont jus say thanks, use d 'Thanks' button. [XDA-RULE]
EmoBoiix3 said:
It reverts the CPU speed back to 787Mhz .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is good option to have such tool handy, but one can understand, that overclocking can hit the phone in more complex way. This was my case - overclocked system damaged partition /data.
My message is that overclocking is dangerous and one should be prepared for any results including bricking.
Comparing this with usual process of installing new firmware, recovery, bootloaders etc, overclocking is far more dangerous because of uncertainity generated by the unstable processor.
Regards
Hello,
I think I also broke my /data
p.stradowski said:
...
Next steps were fairly simple - go to sammobile.com, download firmwares for my Ace and check, if it contains /data (data.rfs). Eventually found one, flashed it and my phone went back alive...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've tried to download many firmwares, but cannot find any containing that precious data.rfs.
Is there some specific version or link you could give me please ?
Thank you so much !
Hi again,
Answering to myself : S5830XWKPO v2.3.3 makes the trick.
Bye
similar bootloop for CM7.2 perhaps with similar solution?
Hi,
I am having a similar bootloop problem for CM7.2.
I have Odin installed, but I don't think sammobile firmware page currently stocks the appropriate files. Clicking on the links for the files just links to mediafire, invalid or deleted files. for some of those files.
I do however have some backups I made with nandroid which may be incomplete: These are all of the files generated.
cache.rfs.tar data.rfs.tar nandroid.md5 system.rfs.tar
I also just installed Android Developer Tools for Linux.
Can I use any of these things especially data.rfs.tar in Odin to fix my phone.
I just interested in how you loaded the data.rfs.tar into Odin, because I have read it is very sensitive to file order, and Odin is a good canditate mechanism for bricking my phone.
I have CW5 installed. My phone can go into download mode, and I can see corresponding COM ports in Odin.
Sorry I have not posted on the most appropriate topic, but I am interested in the way you solved your problem with logcat, and then flashing data.rfs.tar
BTW: I also found this package somewhere: I think its the whole gingerbread stock rom. Simply adding the zip to the SDCARD and trying to install from SDCARD, after clearing cache etc. wont do anything. Yet on the other hand none of these files are any good for Odin either.
~/Desktop/android_device_samsung_cooper-gingerbread$ ls
AndroidBoard.mk BoardConfig.mk init.gt-s5830.rc liblight recovery sec_key.kl ueventd.gt-s5830.rc
Android.mk camerashutter kernel overlay recovery.fstab sec_touchscreen.kl unzip-files.sh
AndroidProducts.mk device_cooper.mk libaudio prebuilt recovery_kernel setup_fs UsbController.cpp
bdaddr_read egl.cfg libcopybit qwerty.kl recovery.rc setup-makefiles.sh vendor
bluedroid extract-files.sh libgralloc ReadMe sec_jack.kl system.prop vendorsetup.sh
I wonder if anyone knows the best way to get this format of ginger bread to unzip and expand off the sdcard?
Thanks so much for any help, It would be much appreciated (even if the help is just the suggestion that I should repost under a different forum topic).
p.stradowski said:
Some weeks ago, I decided to overclock my Ace: CyanogenMod-7.1.0-RC1-Cooper-KANG plus ClockWorkMod4. Got the overclocking kernel from ketut.kumajaya and started to play with frequencies while watching CSI Las Vegas.
In general, it's stupid idea to multitask things like this. In my case, I accidentally ticked checkbox "Set at boot", set the frequency to around 870 MHz and my phone rebooted. I have gone into the bootloop, tried almost everything:
-reinstallation of CyanogenMod
-reinstallation of some other ROM i have found on my disk
-cleaning caches, wiping etc
Without sucess of course
I have decided to check, what exactly happened with my phone, so connected it to PC and started logcat. There was a lot of errors related to files on /data partition - it did not mount for some reason. I was able to access shell from Recovery, but it did not helped me too much - /data partition was entirely broken.
I realized that Samsung uses its own filesystem for /data - RFS and I had no tools to work with it - at least did not find them. In such case, I have unpacked one of the older firmwares and found, that it contains files for soome partitions, but not for the /data.
Next steps were fairly simple - go to sammobile.com, download firmwares for my Ace and check, if it contains /data (data.rfs). Eventually found one, flashed it and my phone went back alive.
Don't know if this is best method, but at least it was interesting to investigate
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hello! i had your problem with my ace and i could not find a solution at first but after a while i had worked out a solution. i find this one a bit easier to follow for noobs NOT guaranteed to work. also you will lose ALL DATA
1.flash stock through odin (2.3.5 reccomended)
2.wipe/factory reset
3.flash this: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-eHBmC1vSXGc1BRSWlqRW1Nc28/edit - this will root your device
4.afterwards flash this: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-eHBmC1vSXGeWNBOXhCVjZTRkk/edit - this will give you cwm
5.turn off then boot into recovery again.
6.wipe data/factory reset, cache, dalvik cache, mount and format system
7. install this ROM: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-eHBmC1vSXGVU1TSjdpUlF4MDg/edit
8.boot up your phone. it will take about 5 minutes to boot again, and you will have xperiatized rom. you can now flash whatever rom you like or go back to stock. i hope i have helped you and if i have please hit thanks
Hi,
Thanks for your help and interest.There is no chance that that will work in my situation since I have never succeeded in flashing the stock android from the samsung website. In fact, I have never been able to flash anything with Odin at all. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling Samsung drivers. Uninstalling Kies etc, using specific Samsung data cable. No measure I took was able to satisfy the condition that Odin could flash a ROM onto my Samsung gts-5830, which made me sad for a while.
Also thanks for granting permission to share googledocs files. Unfortunately I was unable to download Root.zip from google docs. Due to following error, but given I can't flash stock Android, the downloading the files will not help anyway. (Browser gives error message
###
# corresponding URL for that Root.zip:
# has resulted in too many redirects. Clearing your cookies for this site or allowing third-party cookies may fix the problem. If not, it is possibly # a server configuration issue and not a problem with your computer.
###
If you just switched from iPhone or BB or this is ur first android. Read this thoroughly and see ur questions get eliminated by this guide. if you find this helpful than show your appreciation and hit that thnx button.
I don't take any credit I Googled everything. I do take credit of modifying some stuff in word. I won't have this Phone but I am just being helpful to the community.
Little in-depth information about Android. Must Read. Thank You Pirateghost.
Pirateghost said:
Android itself is OPEN. you can go and build your very own version of 4.0 ICS right now from source code. there are very few phones you can STABLY and RELIABLY run it on though.
The NEXUS line of phones exists for a reason. they are untouched by carriers (verizon teabagged the Galaxy Nexus a little), and do not have some stupid overlay on them. they are developer devices in that it is the first phone to get android updates straight from google (no manufacturer interference required).
every other phone is tainted with a manufacturer's UI. Touchwiz on Samsung phones (galaxy nexus is a samsung but they provided the hardware not the software), Sense on HTC, 'non-blur' on Motorola, whatever Sony calls theirs...lol, LG, etc
on top of that tainted Android interface is a carrier branding or lockdown (doesnt apply to the entire world, but im only referring to US here)
so google releases new version of Android
manufacturers build phone, and customize android to fit their model (this is where android almost stops being OPEN)
carriers get a hold of the manufacturers build of android and tweak and modify it themselves (more than likely they just tell the manufacturers what they want), as you know they love to include bloat and lock it down from the user
you receive your android phone after it has gone through all those steps....long process huh? we dont get updates to newer versions as quickly because of that long process...and they would rather us buy new phones instead of improving perfectly good hardware.
Android is open in the sense that manufacturers can use it however they wish, within reason. it is not necessarily meant to be 'open' to the average end user, and manufacturers dont want you messing with the phone they built. its the reason XDA is what it is today, albeit with roots deep in WinMo hacking.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ADB → Android Debug Bridge (adb) is a versatile command line tool that lets you communicate with an emulator instance or connected Android-powered device..
Android →Unveiled on 5 November 2007, Android is a mobile operating system running on the Linux kernel developed by Google.
AOSP → Android Open Source Project
Apps2SD → Move applications from the internal NAND memory on the device to a removable SD Card.
BLN → BackLight Notification
Bloatware → Software bloat is a process whereby successive versions of apps include an increasing proportion of unnecessary features that are not used by end users, or generally use more system resources than necessary, while offering little or no benefit to its users. Like all the crap that comes from At&t
Brick → When used in reference to consumer electronics, "brick" describes a device that cannot function in any capacity (such as a device with damaged firmware). This usage derives from the fact that some electronic devices (and their detachable power supplies) are vaguely brick-shaped, and so those which do not function are useful only as actual bricks. The term can also be used as a verb. For example, "I bricked my phone when I tried to modify its firmware."[
Hard Brick → When your phone does not turn on at all. When you can’t get in to CWR/CWM Or Stock recovery. You are basically screwed.
Soft Brick → When your phone bootloops. When you can get into CWR/CWM. When You can use jigtag to get into download mode.
Busybox → BusyBox provides several stripped-down Unix tools in a single executable. It runs in a variety of POSIX environments such as Linux, Android, FreeBSD and others, such as proprietary kernels, although many of the tools it provides are designed to work with interfaces provided by the Linux kernel. It was specifically created for embedded operating systems with very limited resources. Platforms counterparts, but they are pretty close and useful nonetheless.
CWR OR CWM ClockworkMod Recovery →A custom recovery for Android phones and tablets that allows you to perform several advanced recovery, restoration, installation and maintenance operations on your Android device that aren’t possible with the stock recovery.
DEODEX → Apk files have respective odexes that devs use to supposedly save space. Deodexing means you convert it back to a .dex file and put it back inside the apk. This allows you to easily replace file (not having to worry about odexes), but the main point was to deodex services.jar so that you can change all text to different colors (such as the clock color to white) and to deodex services.jar, you need to deodex everything.
Flashing → The process of applying a firmware image (or ROM) to a device. It generally entails a very specific order of steps. Failing to complete any one of these steps properly may result in bricking the device.
Firmware → is a term often used to denote the fixed, usually rather small, programs and/or data structures that internally control various electronic devices. Programs stored in the ROM, EPROM, or flash memory that usually control various internal electronic devices (Hard Drives, Keyboards, Displays, etc). Firmware is typically 'fixed' software that is not updated in consumer devices, however it is often updated (or 'flashed') by advanced users to fix bugs or add features to the device. Flashing firmware designed for one device onto a different device, or not following a specific procedure while flashing will often render the device unusable.
Kernel → is the main component of most computer operating systems; it is a bridge between applications and the actual data processing done at the hardware level. The kernel's responsibilities include managing the system's resources (the communication between hardware and software components
Radio → The cellular radio on the device which needs control software called firmware to control it.
ROM → Read Only Memory. In the context of an Android device, ROM is the internal flash memory where the core operating system resides. It can also refer to a specific version firmware that can be applied to a device through a process usually referred to as flashing. An improperly flashed ROM can often brick the device, rendering it unusable.
Superuser→ A program, which gives unlimited access privileges to perform any or all operations on the operating system.
ODIN → Odin is the Samsung software used to update Samsung phones. It does not work with any other devices other than official Samsung phones.
OTA or FOTA → (F)OTA stands for (Firmware) Over The Air and is the process by which required updates and enhancements to your phone's basic operating system can be sent to you through the cellular network. The Galaxy S II software update will be sent via FOTA and is available through Samsung Kies mini.0
ODEX → In Android file system, applications come in packages with the extension .apk. These application packages, or APKs contain certain .odex files whose supposed function is to save space. These ‘odex’ files are actually collections of parts of an application that are optimized before booting. Doing so speeds up the boot process, as it preloads part of an application. On the other hand, it also makes hacking those applications difficult because a part of the coding has already been extracted to another location before execution.
SDK → Software Development Kit.
Logcat → A debugging tool built into Android devices that displays system logs as they occur. See Logcat.
NANDroid → A set of tools that will enable anyone who has root on their Android device to make FULL system backups, in case something goes wrong or you want to try out that new experimental ROM/theme. NANDroid will backup (and restore) /system, /data, /cache, and /boot partitions.
Recovery Mode → A special environment that you can boot into for troubleshooting and upgrading purposes.
Kang → The process of creating a code based of someone else's code or reapplying code that someone else created into your own code (e.g. git cherry-pick)
Rooting → is a process that allows users of mobile phones and other devices running the Android operating system to attain privileged control (known as "root access") within Android's Linux subsystem with the goal of overcoming limitations that carriers and manufacturers put on some devices.
How to Root Your note????
There are two root methods for YOUR ATT GALAXY NOTE!
1 which uses kernel to root.
2 This one flash with Odin but in system level not boot kernel.
#1 root by Da_G!
Da_G said:
Hi!
This kernel enables custom boot animations (/system/media/sanim.zip), adb root, init.d support, runs a script to auto-root your /system partition, and then you're on your merry way
You may need the USB Drivers available here. (Support & Downloads for SGH-I717)
Once the USB Drivers are installed, power off the phone, then hold volume down and power it on, you'll get a screen asking you to hit vol up to continue, do so. This puts the phone in download mode.
Stick the provided pda.tar in the PDA box of Odin3 1.85, flash away!
Install Superuser from the market after booting.
Note that this will increase your flash counter, which is presumably used by Samsung as a reason to decline warranty service (not aware of any reports of this occuring yet...?)
Don't forget the donate link in my signature if you found this useful and want to motivate me to work on overclock/undervolt
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
#2 Root by mashi!
How to backup your current ROM????
Hard Way!
Get into CWR!
Scroll down to backup and restore!
Press backup.
How to Restore Your backup????
If You used ROM manager than!
Go to manage and restore backups!
And press the one you like to restore!
If you have Nandroid than!
Go to CWR!
Scroll down to backup and restore!
Press restore!
How to Flash a ROM????
Basic Steps
! Choose the ROM that you want and download its .zip file
!! Transfer the zip file to your phone’s sd card. Do not put it into any folder.
!!! Turn off your phone and reboot into recovery, usually by holding the down button and power button at the same time.
!!!! Do a Nandroid backup
!!!!! Wipe the phone 3 times by clearing cache/factory restore 3 times and wiping dalvik cache and system format
!!!!!! Flash the zip file that you put on your sd card
!!!!!!! Reboot phone
You can find all ROMS here!
How to flash Kernel with CWM????
_Download the Kernel You want to flash and put it in sd card.
__Boot in to CWM!
___Wipe cache & Dalvik Cache
____Press install from Sd card!
_____Select the kernel that you dloaded!
______Flash it!
_______Reboot!
________Check in CPU SPY to see if you successfully flashed Kernel.
You can find Kernels in development forum.
These will set you back to Stock and Unroot Your phone.
Da_G said:
Hi,
This is an odin .tar prepared with the stock AT&T Kernel, System, and Recovery.
Flash it from odin using the same instructions as my root thread
After flashing, you may need to boot into recovery by powering off, holding vol up + vol down, and holding power until you get into recovery. Then perform a factory reset, this should get you up and running after most brickery.
Note that this is a large file (~450MB), please spare my web host if you don't particularly need it
Download .rar here
Below are stock kernel-only odin tars:
AT&T stock kernel-only odin pda tar
TELUS stock kernel-only odin pda tar
Bell stock kernel-only odin pda tar
Rogers stock kernel-only odin pda tar
Don't forget the donate link in my signature if you find this useful
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very cool thank you! I will finally be upgrading from an iP 3G!
LOL . . . . ever since I got it no phone really wowed me until I saw the G Note in November. Anywhoo. . . I was hoping for a noob friendly guide like this
appdroid said:
reserved 1
How to Root Your Skyrocket????
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure why do i need to know how to root the Skyrocket for the ATT Note here? just saying
Sry just fixed it.
sweetboy02125 said:
Not sure why do i need to know how to root the Skyrocket for the ATT Note here? just saying
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
look at you go! haha good work !!!
I figure this is the least i can do to help young community here!
00mred00 said:
look at you go! haha good work !!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
tx appdroid, us noob's really appreciate it!
(in all my years i never seen the "Reserve" post idea b4...it was a DUH moment for me lol)
Excellent guide for us that are really green on the Android platform.
thank you for helping this noob
appdroid said:
I figure this is the least i can do to help young community here!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm just so young and I need your help
How do you permanently change the hostname on Android?
On CyanogenMod ROMs this is easy, there was an option for it in Applications -> Development Options. But I don't know what hooks that uses and I don't know how to do it on this flavor of Android we have.
Thanks for your post, it help me a a lot. I done a little scripting on unix using mostly tcl. I hope I can get back on it and develop a few applications for this phone once I have it on march.
Thanks!
Thanks for the noob thread. Switched over from an iP4 and its taking a little getting used to. Luckily I already had the Revue and TF101 to help a little.
On a side note I found the http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1505062 root method was very easy and didnt involve the counter getting screwed up or having to flash a whole new rom. Highly recommend it for anyone just wanting to root their device.
ANother Android Newbie
Coming from IP4 and looking forward to learning hot to make Android work for me.
How do I read your "Reserveds"???
For now simply follow the instructions and use the provided file download from the link posted below
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=48392009&postcount=1
I have personaly tested this method in full on My AT&T Samsung Galaxy S4 ZOOM SM-C105AUCUAMJ2 (4.2.2 Jelly Bean)
although it should be safe to use on any AT&T Samsung Galaxy S4 ZOOM running an android version prior to Kit-Kat
All Credit for this, "exellent completely safe", Root method goes to its creator k1mu
And please Know that it is only being shared with you via his explicit permission.
EDIT:
Q&A for [ROOT] Saferoot: Root for AT&T Galaxy S4 ZOOM SM-C105AUCUAMJ2_On 4.2.2 JB
Please if you are not on an AT&T Galaxy S4 ZOOM C-150a, Feel Free to Read
but Do not seek help,instruction, or any other type of advice by posting in this thread as it is hard enough to find information about a specific device when the said device does not have a dedicated forum. Thank You for your Understanding in this.
Instructions & Advice
If ?'s arise
and time allows I will add device specific instruction as well as any advice, Please bear with me. Same as above Q&A Link
Will this same method also work on the SM-C105AUCUAMJ2?
kbracing6 said:
Will this same method also work on the SM-C105AUCUAMJ2?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most Definitely as this was the reason for my post
Hey @Phatboyj420, as far as converting a raw OTA file to Odin files, here's what I can tell you. The OTA file should be filename.cfg, i.e. a cfg file. Believe it or not, this can be manipulated like an archive (like zip or rar or tar) so open that cfg file in 7zip, WinRar, or whatever. You're going to want to extract the files like (I can't guarantee this a full list, just the ones I can remember) modem.bin, NON-HLOS.bin, boot.img, recovery.img, aboot.mbn, rpm.mbn, sbl1.mbn, sbl2.mbn, sbl3.mbn (you might not have all 3, idk), and tz.mbn. Again, there may be others you need, and/or not all the ones I just listed might be necessary, they're just the ones I remember dealing with before. Oh, you're going to need to make sure the system, cache, and persdata partitions are all packed into .img.ext4 files, idk if they're like that in the OTA cfg archive.
Here's where it gets even hazier for me. So, I know from personal experience that you can take any of these files (I'll just use recovery.img for this example). In a linux terminal (I use Ubuntu for convenience's sake, my laptop has windows and ubuntu partitions) run this command:
Code:
tar -H ustar -c recovery.img > recovery.tar
So that's how you can take any one of those files I mentioned last paragraph and pack it into an Odin-flashable tar. I'm still a n00b when it comes to the linux terminal, so I can't really say the syntax for packing more than one at once.
So I guess I haven't really given you the complete process, but hopefully this is at least a decent starting point. Honestly I consider myself a hobbyist at best, not an expert. muniz_ri, who Devo7v mentioned earlier, did all the heavy work in this regard so he can probably help you much more, I just didn't want to volunteer him for the job
thisisapoorusernamechoice said:
Hey @Phatboyj420, as far as converting a raw OTA file to Odin files, here's what I can tell you. The OTA file should be filename.cfg, i.e. a cfg file. Believe it or not, this can be manipulated like an archive (like zip or rar or tar) so open that cfg file in 7zip, WinRar, or whatever. You're going to want to extract the files like (I can't guarantee this a full list, just the ones I can remember) modem.bin, NON-HLOS.bin, boot.img, recovery.img, aboot.mbn, rpm.mbn, sbl1.mbn, sbl2.mbn, sbl3.mbn (you might not have all 3, idk), and tz.mbn. Again, there may be others you need, and/or not all the ones I just listed might be necessary, they're just the ones I remember dealing with before. Oh, you're going to need to make sure the system, cache, and persdata partitions are all packed into .img.ext4 files, idk if they're like that in the OTA cfg archive.
Here's where it gets even hazier for me. So, I know from personal experience that you can take any of these files (I'll just use recovery.img for this example). In a linux terminal (I use Ubuntu for convenience's sake, my laptop has windows and ubuntu partitions) run this command:
Code:
tar -H ustar -c recovery.img > recovery.tar
So that's how you can take any one of those files I mentioned last paragraph and pack it into an Odin-flashable tar. I'm still a n00b when it comes to the linux terminal, so I can't really say the syntax for packing more than one at once.
So I guess I haven't really given you the complete process, but hopefully this is at least a decent starting point. Honestly I consider myself a hobbyist at best, not an expert. muniz_ri, who Devo7v mentioned earlier, did all the heavy work in this regard so he can probably help you much more, I just didn't want to volunteer him for the job
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks My guy,
This definately gives me a good jumping off point.
The phone shipped with JB-4.2.2 and I think there has been an AT&T OTA for KK so it would have to be a complete Firmware so thats good news.
I'm working on several projects at once so I don't know exactly when I'll get to this but when I do the first thing will be to verify whether the .img's for data/system/cache are img.ext4 or not and if not how to produce correctly.
Also I don't have a Linux Dev setup yet I'm running Windows On a 2011 Dell XPS-17_L702x with an intel 2720 quad core. So from your post I take it Ubuntu would be your suggestion for Linux Distro. and should I make a separate Linux Partition and run from it, or run from a VM-Box inside of windows? Which do you think would be most efficient?
Now that I think of it I'm going to start a dedicated thread for development discussion for this specific device. If I start the thread in the Development section for the general S$-ZOOM but title it specifically for the " AT&T-C105a_ZOOM " do you think the mods would want to move it to the general Q&A section?
" I would hope that, as it would pertain directly to the development of the specific device they would see fit to leave it in the development section.
Sorry for the randomness of my thoughts but I will link you to the thread when I get around to starting on it.
For now I'm going to get back to work on the S4_Active for My daughters B-day I intend to have it Rooted and rommed out for her. When I get that done I'll make my way back to this Project, and start the dedicated thread.
Thanks again,
" I look forward to future collaboration as it seem we share a similar Hobie at the least ",
Phatboyj
Unfortunately for the few lonely SM-C105a users still hanging on out there this does not appear to be a completely effective root. I get this in dmesg: <3>[ 2130.920856] c0 Restricted changing UID. PID = 11580(su) PPID = 11575(sh)
capt_planit said:
Unfortunately for the few lonely SM-C105a users still hanging on out there this does not appear to be a completely effective root. I get this in dmesg: <3>[ 2130.920856] c0 Restricted changing UID. PID = 11580(su) PPID = 11575(sh)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What is your build # because this is a fully effective root method for the ATT SM-C105a running build# SM-C105AUCUAMJ2
Please elaborate on where your dmesg is coming from.
Is it from running Saferoot to obtain Root?
Or is it from some other function you are attempting after obtaining root?
@Phatboyj420 Great to see you here--when I'm sure your S4 Zoom is long gone. Yeah, that's my build and I should point out that I get that in dmesg only for certain operations in the system folder (trying to copy modules I think). No biggie, for day to day this method works fine. I'm more interested in whatever happened with that unbrick image you were trying to make from dd. Did you ever test it? Was it effective? My current efforts are focused on developing a reliable unbrick method for our phones. Rather than the complete image I think we may need to extract and flash the original bootloader in many cases. Can you provide any feedback on this?
capt_planit said:
@Phatboyj420 Great to see you here--when I'm sure your S4 Zoom is long gone. Yeah, that's my build and I should point out that I get that in dmesg only for certain operations in the system folder (trying to copy modules I think). No biggie, for day to day this method works fine. I'm more interested in whatever happened with that unbrick image you were trying to make from dd. Did you ever test it? Was it effective? My current efforts are focused on developing a reliable unbrick method for our phones. Rather than the complete image I think we may need to extract and flash the original bootloader in many cases. Can you provide any feedback on this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
@ capt_planit
while I have moved on from using my [email protected] S4-Zoom, I do still have it and the dd dumps of it the problem with providing said dumps publicly is that some "idiot would inevitably flash the complete dd.image to there phone giving them an exact clone of my phone explicitly the IMEI via EFS parition are my concerns.
That being said if I know that the dd.images were to be used in a proper manner, by say a knowledgeable Dev. I would gladly supply them to further /Kickoff Development,
It sounds as if we are of like mind but I found myself at a stand still and did not recieve any response from the plea in my Sig.
But rest assured if there is something I can do to assist I will.
as far as an unbrick.img for the Zoom c105a
I did make one but have had no reason to use it to know if it works or if the SD unbrick method even works for the Zoom like it does on the Galaxy S3 that the method was originally discovered on.
Even if it does work the SD-Unbrick method only gets you to a state where Download
mode works SO unless I am mistaken and you can access adb through Download Mode witch I'm pretty sure you cant, we would still be at a stand still as there is no stock firmware publicly available for our device " Ludacris I know " but true none the less.
Edit:
1 thing we need is the OTA update from JB to KitKat available for our device we need some one to extract it before updating then and only then might we be able to create an install-able firmware for our device.
if I'm not mistaken after you download the OTA update you should be able to find it in /cache/fota just zip the entire fota folder move it to your sd-card and make it available to me and we'll make it happen from there.
If you don't want to except the update just delete it at this point and reboot.
...
...
I think this user @awwar describes an inability to access download mode>here. In anycase, I think that thread would be a great place to post your unbrick. image. I think your dd image seems too small. But if you still have it, that is what @moomoo was asking for when he started that thread. I can't provide mine, except as separate img files. My understanding is that flashing an efs image won't provide a real IMEI. I think flashing some combination of boot, system, cache (I'm surprised this would be necessary) and recovery should get the operator some kind of system. But so far it doesn't seem to work that way. Your help getting some working phone flash would be greatly appreciated. I believe, BTW that the OTA is dead...
Hello everyone,
This is my first Galaxy Gear. I am digging the communication watch very much. However, As silly as this may sound i really want to add my own ringtone/Notification. There is so much fun potential with this from **** Tracy, Jetsons, Power Rangers and many more that i think would be great. I have high hopes for this $400 investment. But i really want to change the the sounds. Thanks for your time.
Inspector Gadget for me. I really hope someone chimes in with a workable method.
artyourmind said:
Hello everyone,
This is my first Galaxy Gear. I am digging the communication watch very much. However, As silly as this may sound i really want to add my own ringtone/Notification. There is so much fun potential with this from **** Tracy, Jetsons, Power Rangers and many more that i think would be great. I have high hopes for this $400 investment. But i really want to change the the sounds. Thanks for your time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lots of us do but Samsung has locked down the file system section with the sounds in it, and they didn't give us an external folder to work with. This is why we need root my friend.
sbrownla said:
Lots of us do but Samsung has locked down the file system section with the sounds in it, and they didn't give us an external folder to work with. This is why we need root my friend.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How does one root it? If i have never done it before should i not touch it? haha I was looking around for info on it but am terrified to try it.
artyourmind said:
How does one root it? If i have never done it before should i not touch it? haha I was looking around for info on it but am terrified to try it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm no pro at it but from what I have gathered, rooting requires first installing an insecure boot image that allows the device to have root turned on and off via SDB (like ADB but for the Gear devices). SDB is basically a command-line interfacing shell we use to manage the Gear's files and system settings, among other things. Turning root on through SDB allows user access and the ability to modify "system" level files and applications.
Samsung has locked up access to quite a bit of files on the Gear S, including ringtones and sounds for example. In contrast, on your Android phone Google and your manufacturer have created alternate folders outside of the "system" level that can hold sounds and ringtones that the system can also assign, and that you can modify, without having to have direct access to the actual system itself.
What a modder, who is able to figure out how to obtain root, is able to do is find an exploit in the boot process, and modify a boot image, package it up and make it available to us as a flashable file or a small application. With the Tizen Gear/2/Neo, there is an insecure boot image that any user can use Odin to flash. After flashing that insecure image, they can turn root access on or off.
I think that's about it. The hardest part is figuring out where the boot exploit is. Pulling apart the insecure boot image that was posted by someone else somewhere on here, as a file to flash the device with using Odin, could reveal helpful information. But it would have to be modified to suit the Gear S.
I don't want to test it out though until I can find the full stock firmware for my Gear S (AT&T) but it isn't available for some weird reason. All of the other versions are available. Without that stock image for my device I can't restore to my factory Gear. I'd have to flash a foreign version and I'm not about to try that.
sbrownla said:
I'm no pro at it but from what I have gathered, rooting requires first installing an insecure boot image that allows the device to have root turned on and off via SDB (like ADB but for the Gear devices). SDB is basically a command-line interfacing shell we use to manage the Gear's files and system settings, among other things. Turning root on through SDB allows user access and the ability to modify "system" level files and applications.
Samsung has locked up access to quite a bit of files on the Gear S, including ringtones and sounds for example. In contrast, on your Android phone Google and your manufacturer have created alternate folders outside of the "system" level that can hold sounds and ringtones that the system can also assign, and that you can modify, without having to have direct access to the actual system itself.
What a modder, who is able to figure out how to obtain root, is able to do is find an exploit in the boot process, and modify a boot image, package it up and make it available to us as a flashable file or a small application. With the Tizen Gear/2/Neo, there is an insecure boot image that any user can use Odin to flash. After flashing that insecure image, they can turn root access on or off.
I think that's about it. The hardest part is figuring out where the boot exploit is. Pulling apart the insecure boot image that was posted by someone else somewhere on here, as a file to flash the device with using Odin, could reveal helpful information. But it would have to be modified to suit the Gear S.
I don't want to test it out though until I can find the full stock firmware for my Gear S (AT&T) but it isn't available for some weird reason. All of the other versions are available. Without that stock image for my device I can't restore to my factory Gear. I'd have to flash a foreign version and I'm not about to try that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are there other exploits used to root non US versions that might help?
Of the Gear S? Nothing I have been able to find at all. But of the Gear 2 yes and those will be telling. I'm going to take a little time to look at what's in the Gear 2 root image. I highly doubt I'm going to magically become smart enough to crack the code but I'm definitely learning a LOT as I poke around.
Seems like a very weird oversight by Samsung. Why not allow custom ringtones? I am hopeful this will be changed in an upcoming update.
ozaghloul said:
Seems like a very weird oversight by Samsung. Why not allow custom ringtones? I am hopeful this will be changed in an upcoming update.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is ... but they need to know we care ...
The multi user and guest account feature is not available on either of the two recent releases of Lollipop for the Z3v. I did some research and it appears this is the case, not only on other Verizon handsets like the Droid Turbo and the Galaxy S5 / S6, but a few other non-VZW devices as well. I'm not sure why it was removed but apparently it's just hidden. It can be enabled and I followed the instructions for doing this for the various other devices and can report that it works for our Z3v (see attached screenshots).
I've kind of cleaned up the instructions and put them below. Usual disclaimer - I'm not responsible for anything that may happen to you or your cat if you choose to do the following. You DO need root access to edit and write to the system file.
** To be safe, please make a backup of your phone and/or a copy of the build.prop file that you are going to edit.
Get ES File Explorer. Run it and enable Root Explorer setting. (You may be able to use any file explorer and editor with root access but this is used most in the instructions and works.)
With ES File Explorer, go to device/system/ and find the file: build.prop
Choose to edit it with ES Note Editor.
Scroll to the end of the file and type in the following:
fw.max_users=5
fw.show_multiuserui=1
Save the file.
I'm not sure if the next step is required but it was in half the instructions I saw, and I did it myself: Click and hold the file, go to Properties, and then change the permissions to Read, Write & Execute. [all three]
Reboot your phone.
When you're up and running, access multi user mode by pulling down your notification shade and then clicking on your user icon at the top right corner.
Notes so far:
A guest user does not have access to the original user's files on the internal drive - the guest user has their own file directory. The guest CAN access the External SD Card, though.
Therefore, an app such as Movie Creator can and will create a "highlight" movie that is composed from photos that are saved on the external SD Card. Just keep this in mind as far as privacy.
There is a per user option that lets you decide whether or not the additional users can use the phone and access the text messages. If you disable this ability, while they cannot open the phone app to make a call, the CAN receive an incoming call.
You can find out more about the nuances of additional users with your Google Fu.
Enjoy!
Wow! Great work!
AddictedToGlass said:
Wow! Great work!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! I really wanted this feature and it seemed like not many people care too much about it. It's my way of circumventing the awful permissions control we currently have in Android. That is, there are apps I want to use but refuse to install because of their overreaching permission requirements (contacts, etc) and so I can now create a second user with a new "dummy" Gmail account that has no sensitive information and install these apps without worrying.
By the way, something neat I figured out about this. Additional user accounts are not allowed to side load apps (the toggle to install from unknown sources is grayed out). I figured out that if the main user / owner restores an app through Titanium Backup, any other currently existing user will have it installed for some reason. I don't know why this happens but it's a neat glitch that gets you around that restriction.
Well I think most people simply don't let others touch their phones and so don't have a use for multiple user accounts. I find that my phone, as big as the screen is, is becoming more and more of a computer / tablet replacement. I like the idea of a multiuser functionality, but mostly to hide my own stuff. I'll silk never let anyone else touch my phone!
The use for multi-user that I've seen that makes the most sense is people with children. They will create a user profile for the child so they can't get into any of the parent's stuff or settings. That or the guest profile which will let them do whatever the heck they want without screwing up the phone.
Aside from that I have read that devs find the feature very useful for testing. Heck, that's not a bad idea to install and test apps, in general.
uh oh.
Well something didnt work. Maybe a certain build I have to be on or what. I followed the instructions to a t. Now stuck on endless boot loop. Only bad part is I'm on as hotel room working out of town without a laptop Or pc to fix it. I used a one click root just today and didn't install a proper recovery. Any thoughts
rpelljr said:
Well something didnt work. Maybe a certain build I have to be on or what. I followed the instructions to a t. Now stuck on endless boot loop. Only bad part is I'm on as hotel room working out of town without a laptop Or pc to fix it. I used a one click root just today and didn't install a proper recovery. Any thoughts
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had a problem with this also twice cause I'm always doing stupid things to my phone my guess is you didn't change the system to r/w but modified it anyway or you used a editor that would let you input the correct values I used s manager I think. As far as getting your phone working you could try safe mode or maybe a factory reset if you can hold power and the volume button down and enter recovery.
Tigerhoods said:
I had a problem with this also twice cause I'm always doing stupid things to my phone my guess is you didn't change the system to r/w but modified it anyway or you used a editor that would let you input the correct values I used s manager I think. As far as getting your phone working you could try safe mode or maybe a factory reset if you can hold power and the volume button down and enter recovery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe the mistake was made when i changed the permissions per instructions. I finially got to my house and im using adb to freeze the loop then going to push a script over to fix the permissions. I will update when i get it done and I will post my fix. Also I used ES file explorer, which i have already used it for years now. Never had anything like this happen before. it just baffles me. I have never got any instructions off of XDA that led to any malfuntion of my phone. But oh well, sh!+ happens.
rpelljr said:
I believe the mistake was made when i changed the permissions per instructions. I finially got to my house and im using adb to freeze the loop then going to push a script over to fix the permissions. I will update when i get it done and I will post my fix. Also I used ES file explorer, which i have already used it for years now. Never had anything like this happen before. it just baffles me. I have never got any instructions off of XDA that led to any malfuntion of my phone. But oh well, sh!+ happens.
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Click to collapse
Hey! I'm so sorry! I got a couple of new phones (Droid Maxx 2 and LG G4) and have been using those phones so I haven't been checking these forums like I was when I just had the Z3v. Really sorry to hear that you ran into that kind of trouble . Thing is, the instructions above are culled from 4 or 5 different sets of instructions for various devices that I found across the web. I performed them step by step myself while cross referencing them to each other and combined them all to the instruction set above as I did it. Did you ever fix it with the method you mentioned? I'm curious if it was the permissions thing (odd, because it worked for me).
Jurassic Pork Fried Rice said:
Hey! I'm so sorry! I got a couple of new phones (Droid Maxx 2 and LG G4) and have been using those phones so I haven't been checking these forums like I was when I just had the Z3v. Really sorry to hear that you ran into that kind of trouble . Thing is, the instructions above are culled from 4 or 5 different sets of instructions for various devices that I found across the web. I performed them step by step myself while cross referencing them to each other and combined them all to the instruction set above as I did it. Did you ever fix it with the method you mentioned? I'm curious if it was the permissions thing (odd, because it worked for me).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it is guys if done right your system needs to be switched to r/w then go back to r/o after modifying the build prop if you modify in r/o you will get bootloop to a hard brick it depends.
Jurassic Pork Fried Rice said:
Hey! I'm so sorry! I got a couple of new phones (Droid Maxx 2 and LG G4) and have been using those phones so I haven't been checking these forums like I was when I just had the Z3v. Really sorry to hear that you ran into that kind of trouble . Thing is, the instructions above are culled from 4 or 5 different sets of instructions for various devices that I found across the web. I performed them step by step myself while cross referencing them to each other and combined them all to the instruction set above as I did it. Did you ever fix it with the method you mentioned? I'm curious if it was the permissions thing (odd, because it worked for me).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I kinda fixed it. I went and bought a HTC M9. Lol but not yet, I'm still working on it. I have found scripts to run, even a specific build.prop fix to push, but I have windows 10 and couldn't get adb to find the device. Plus I'm a little rusty. So I broke out my old windows 7 laptop I have used just for rooting an modding phones and tablets. I did get adb and fastboot to find it once. Then some reason lost it. I didn't have it ready to go. But I'm almost 100 percent sure I can get it. Just need to play around with it a little bit more. Having trouble with drivers etc. I will let you know when I have it.
And didn't really hurt my feelings getting the phone I truly want. I never had problems with HTC since I was flashing roms on my old window phones. I just want my pictures I cannot replace.
"Run it and enable Root Explorer setting. (You may be able to use any file explorer and editor with root access but this is used most in the instructions and works.)"
Alas- I am not rooted, and therefore can not enable "Root Explorer" option. Unless someone has some other suggestions- I think I can't do this unless I'm rooted.
Well this is probably what I did to brick my first z3v.
I don't suggest anyone do this at all. There does seem to be an issue with the permission setting on the build.prop file. If it's not reset correctly after editing, you'll get stuck in a loop or worse. I'm stuck in bootloop, but can get into recovery. I made a backup hoping to learn how to edit the build.prop (delete it and rename the copied original to set it back as it was). But I can't even run the original zip that GigaSPX made up for us. (I don't have a backup like I hought I did.)
Anytime I try to install the flashable prerooted zip it tells me it's done after 2 seconds and says;
set_perm: some changes failed
I'm typing this on my z2 tablet, which has the multi user feature enabled. I'm going to see if RootExplorer will give me some clues as to why this doesn't work.
In the mean time I'm hoping someone can help me out?
If love to get this feature to work, but it has to be safe.
Just checked the build.prop on my tablet and got no clue.
AddictedToGlass said:
Well this is probably what I did to brick my first z3v.
I don't suggest anyone do this at all. There does seem to be an issue with the permission setting on the build.prop file. If it's not reset correctly after editing, you'll get stuck in a loop or worse. I'm stuck in bootloop, but can get into recovery. I made a backup hoping to learn how to edit the build.prop (delete it and rename the copied original to set it back as it was). But I can't even run the original zip that GigaSPX made up for us. (I don't have a backup like I hought I did.)
Anytime I try to install the flashable prerooted zip it tells me it's done after 2 seconds and says;
set_perm: some changes failed
I'm typing this on my z2 tablet, which has the multi user feature enabled. I'm going to see if RootExplorer will give me some clues as to why this doesn't work.
In the mean time I'm hoping someone can help me out?
If love to get this feature to work, but it has to be safe.
Just checked the build.prop on my tablet and got no clue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
a backup usually means going into your twrp and hit the back up button and make a copy of your system including data and all that. This is mandatory before messing with the build prop. If you want Pm me your build prop and I will send it back to you. With multi user enabled.
Yup, I know what a back-up is and how to do it, and I know it's a must before messing with the build.prop. I just really thought I had done it recently...
-and I had! But I forgot that a few days ago I bought myself a Christmas present; a 200 Gb micro SD, and copied most of the contents to the new card from my old one. I chose not to copy the backup because I had planned to make some changes and create a more recent backup. Never happened though because I got side tracked loading music and such. Lol!
So I'm all back together, but would still like to play with this feature. So I'm going to give it another shot.
A guest user does not have access to the original user's files on the internal drive - the guest user has their own file directory. The guest CAN access the External SD Card, though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Perhaps the wrong thread but: enabled multi user on a Cube T8 only to find that guest and other user can access INTERNAL sd but not external sd. I'd rather have it the other way round. So the kids (other users) can use the whole of 32 GB sd card rather than me having to share the small internal sd with them.
Any ideas how to fix this? Phablet is not rooted btw.
got bootloop..... but i'm safe as i've backup.... through recovery..
I've inserted two lines and fell in bootloop
Thanks bro.. working....!!!! but second step is not needed...