Accessing 'Medion E4504' (Lollipop 5.1) - forgotten PIN - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hello,
my wife recently found her (very) old 'Medion E4504' and now claims that it appartly has many important pictures and messages stored, but she does not remember the PIN.
I can boot it up normally, but of course without the PIN we cannot get past the lockscreen.
As far as I can tell, it runs on Android 5.1 Lollipop, developer options (and USB-debugging) are disabled and it is not rooted.
If I hook it up to a PC, it is recognized, but I cannot see any files on the internal storage, I assume because it is locked.
Is there any way to either bypass the lockscreen (without hard reset and loosing all data of course), or alternatively somehow accessing the internal storage?
I tried this, but it does not work, since I cannot paste anything into the PIN field:
Android 5.x Lockscreen Bypass (CVE-2015-3860)
sites.utexas.edu
Perhaps the phone runs on a later software version where this was fixed.
I tried adb, but when I adb devices when it is booted up to the lockscreen, I cannot see it.
If I boot into bootloader, I can see it in the list if I adb devices, but it seems other commands do not work, I assume because developer options and USB-debugging are not enabled.
Thus, this did not work:
[Android][Guide]Hacking And Bypassing Android Password/Pattern/Face/PI
- DISCLAIMER - This Is For Educational Purposes Only You Shall Not Use This On Other People Phones Without Permission Under Any Circumstances I'm Not Responsible For Any Eventual Errors And Misbehaving Of Your Devices Files And Tutorials Are...
forum.xda-developers.com
Does anyone have any idea?
I would have thought that Android Lollipop 5.1 would be easier to beat . . .
I welcome all suggestions!
Regarding adb, please explain it to me as if I was a five year old, as I do not know much about adb.

Quick update:
I was able to boot into recovery and backup data on a microSD.
I now have two files: 'userdata_20150101_000026.backup' and 'userdata_20150101_000026.backup1', and am trying to figure out if it is possible to extract data from these files on a windows machine.
Sorry, if this is maybe trivial to some, but I am not a pro . . .

Related

[Q] I'm stuck on a boat without paddles!

I WANT TO START OFF BY SAYING THAT THIS IS THE FIRST TIME I HAVE MADE A THREAD ON THIS SITE.
I FEEL MY ISSUE IS UNIQUE AND ALL HELP WILL BE MUCH APPRECIATED. THANK YOU
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The tablet that I am dealing with is a "Cruz Velocity Mini Tablet" running android 2.0 and no means of installing apk's.
Currently this is the situation:
A friend of mine lent me her Chinese reader tablet.
I told her that I could probably flash a newer version of Android on it, thinking that I could finally try my hand at making a ROM because I know for a fact that there aren't many ROMs if any at all out there for a chinese off brand reader like this.
After rooting the tablet I deleted the pre installed bloatware via ADB commands (shell) including a file manager (Astro) that I believe was the only way that you could browse files on the tablet, as well as some other pre installed applications that must have been necessary in retrospect. There is no existing vending capability or market application.
I am looking to make a custom ROM (Using android Kitchen and Cywign) through following this tutorial by lokeshsaini94 yet I feel like following that tutorial won't even get me where I need to be.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Things that I have tried at this point include:
Attempting to connect the tablet to my computer with the SD inserted (with and without debugging turned on) [Failed to show up on my computer as a device or anything]
Downloading the APK that I need from a file sharing website [Downloads fail]
Uploading the APK that I need to my Google drive and downloading it from the tablet [Says waiting for data connection and doesn't download even though connected to our WiFi]
Inserting the SD card into my computer, copying the APK I need over to it, then inserting the SD card back into the tablet, going into the browser and typing "File:///sdcard/<name here>.apk" to install an APK but getting an error in the installer after pushing 'install' -> 'Application not installed'
Trying to perform a factory reset; this simply makes the tablet reboot with everything the same as it was before.
Essentially guys and gals, my tablet here is running Android 2.0, I want to update it by making my own rom for it to something at least >4.0, and it seems that I've made things worse and have no way out of this mess. I think I've essentially bricked it even though it still works. :silly:
What do I need to do to make a custom ROM let alone flash/wipe this tablet?
All help will be incredibly valuable
There should be plenty of info here http://www.slatedroid.com/forum/93-velocity-micro-cruz-reader/ to get you on the right track. Not likely you'd be able to get anything beyond Gingerbread on there running due to lack of source code. Your only hope would be to see if there is a newer tablet with the same chipset that has something newer on it to port over.
Still no paddles
es0tericcha0s said:
There should be plenty of info here < > to get you on the right track. Not likely you'd be able to get anything beyond Gingerbread on there running due to lack of source code. Your only hope would be to see if there is a newer tablet with the same chipset that has something newer on it to port over.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you very much for your response. It looks like on that website I've already found multiple useful roms!
In fact I already downloaded one and put it onto the SD card. Apparently for these tablets you're supposed to, while powered off, turn it back on by holding the power button and the volume up button but all this seems to do as a whole load of nothing.
I fear that what I've done to it by deleting potentially sensitive programs previously, I have somehow managed to make this process impossible.
Is there some kind of way that I can plug this tablet into my computer and be able to completely wipe it so I can, at the very least, have a functional tablet that will work at all? I've done approximately 5 factory data resets yet the background image that my friend has on the tablet as well as seemingly every single setting and application is remaining untouched..
Try the ones here that also install a custom recovery: http://www.slatedroid.com/topic/33586-a-clockworkmod-rom-compendium-for-the-cruz-reader/
You'll want to make sure and rename the file exactly as mentioned there on the OP. Install instructions are included too. I don't think there is a way to reload via the PC. The right zip should get everything working properly.

[Q] SD CARD fix (KitKat or higher)

I have a question, and if possible the answer should be as wide as possible to work on as many systems as possible. While I am not fully conversed in Android functions, syntax, and interfaces, I have been programing various computers since the mid 80's and have applied rooting/jailbreaking methods to several systems (if it functions like a computer, I want my Admin rights, much thanks to each and all authors of these). I know that someone somewhere out there may have asked and already found a solution to this very annoying problem.
Thanks to the Google's decision to increase security in the Android OSes (KitKat and higher) by removing write access to the SD Card (as I call it a very 'bonehead' and brute force decision), most of the older apps do not work properly anymore with the user added SD Cards and most are not being updated with some form of support (create a folder on SD Card). The solution for most persons is to root the system then either run an app that corrects the problem or install a new LRAM image (Lockable RAM: 'unlock' the RAM and overwrite its data with a new image then re-lock it. I don't like the term 'ROM' for this as it has been incorrectly used since the late 80's). I have found at least 2 file managers that say they have a (in-app) solution, but these solutions don't extend to all of your other apps (ie "Root Explorer" or "B1" solution doesn't help your File server/uTorrent/Photo Gallery app).
But what of the owners that for one reason or another can't root their system (unable to root, not authorized or allowed to root, etc.) but want/need to have write access to the user added cards (mainly because their internal storage is just too small)? Example, in my case my personal phone has several apps that require it to remain in an unrooted state for certain work related programs (security issues).
So here is my question:
Is it possible, on an unrooted and stock LRAM android device, using ADB to PULL the "platform.xml" file, add the line '<group gid=”media_rw” />' to it, then PUSH the edited file back to the android device?
I realize this may require entering (various name versions) Recovery or Update mode which is specific to each device (I think Samsung calls their ODIN). But I think the ADB commands and computer side instructions should be the same. So if it is possible, please list all ADB instructions (I know the text editor used will depend on the PC/MAC OS used).
Thank you one and all that give any advice or assistance.
Well it looks like there have been a lot of lookers since I first posted this but still no reply by anyone that knows Android OS inside and out. Most of you are probably thinking "tl:dr" to all of it.
I know there has to be a way to update/upgrade system files that doesn't require rooting or a way to find the manufacturer's or cellular vender's access path or password.

Need help to backup my pictures and video from my keeping restart kindle fire HDX 8.9

My device is Amazon Kindle Fire HDX GU045RW 64GB Black 8.9" Wifi 3rd Generation Tablet, and it has had a keeping restart issue since last week, the device is not rooted, and firmware version is 4.5.5.2. I think a factory reset might bring it back to work, but I forgot to back up my pictures and videos in the DCIM folder.
so far the device can start the fire OS for around 10 seconds and restarts again when it is powered by a PC, which recognizes it as a portable device and I can explore the internal storage for a very short time, but when it is powered by a charger, it rarely enter into the main menu, looks like the USB storage enumeration would pend the restart a little bit longer, I am not sure if such info is helpful to narrow the possible causes, just hope anyone who met similar issue would give me some hint about it. Thanks in advance for any comment!
I have managed to install the kindle adb driver on my laptop, and could run "adb devices" and serial number showed , is there any adb command I could use to diagnose my device? Thanks in advance for any suggestion
godhand_sh said:
My device is Amazon Kindle Fire HDX GU045RW 64GB Black 8.9" Wifi 3rd Generation Tablet, and it has had a keeping restart issue since last week, the device is not rooted, and firmware version is 4.5.5.2. I think a factory reset might bring it back to work, but I forgot to back up my pictures and videos in the DCIM folder.
so far the device can start the fire OS for around 10 seconds and restarts again when it is powered by a PC, which recognizes it as a portable device and I can explore the internal storage for a very short time, but when it is powered by a charger, it rarely enter into the main menu, looks like the USB storage enumeration would pend the restart a little bit longer, I am not sure if such info is helpful to narrow the possible causes, just hope anyone who met similar issue would give me some hint about it. Thanks in advance for any comment!
I have managed to install the kindle adb driver on my laptop, and could run "adb devices" and serial number showed , is there any adb command I could use to diagnose my device? Thanks in advance for any suggestion
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tough nut to crack. There is no adb magic that will assist in diagnosing/remedying the situation without root access. You can not utilize adb nor see the DCIM folder unless FireOS is running and USB debugging enabled; I believe the latter resets on every reboot. Given the stability window (10-15 sec) there is barely sufficient time to navigate to the option under settings before the device restarts. You could root and unlock but the limited FireOS run time presents an insurmountable obstacle as the procedure takes some time.
I don't think a factory reset will resolve the issue but is likely the only recourse. Sorry to share the bad news ...
Davey126 said:
Tough nut to crack. There is no adb magic that will assist in diagnosing/remedying the situation without root access. You can not utilize adb nor see the DCIM folder unless FireOS is running and USB debugging enabled; I believe the latter resets on every reboot. Given the stability window (10-15 sec) there is barely sufficient time to navigate to the option under settings before the device restarts. You could root and unlock but the limited FireOS run time presents an insurmountable obstacle as the procedure takes some time.
I don't think a factory reset will resolve the issue but is likely the only recourse. Sorry to share the bad news ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the information! I have connected my device with adb shell command, and also measured the time from adb server on to device reset, it was around 30 seconds, is it enough to perform the root with adb assistance? I think 30 seconds is enough for moving the jpg files out one by one, but might be insufficient for the mp4 files because some of them are over 1GB.
I can make the device enter FireOS original recovery and it never restarts, so I am thinking maybe it is possible to replace it with some custom recovery like TWRP which supports mount function and adb connection as well, but per my research from the forum, the custom recovery needs a unlocked bootloader, which needs the device to be rooted at first.
BTW, I found the jpg and mp4 files in /sdcard/DCIM/Camera, would it be affected by the factory reset? Or just data and cache would be affected? I know TWRP can perform a factory reset without affecting the internal storage, but not sure what the original recovery would do. Please kindly refer to the attached snapshot for more details.
Thanks in advance for any help
godhand_sh said:
Thanks for the information! I have connected my device with adb shell command, and also measured the time from adb server on to device reset, it was around 30 seconds, is it enough to perform the root with adb assistance? I think 30 seconds is enough for moving the jpg files out one by one, but might be insufficient for the mp4 files because some of them are over 1GB.
I can make the device enter FireOS original recovery and it never restarts, so I am thinking maybe it is possible to replace it with some custom recovery like TWRP which supports mount function and adb connection as well, but per my research from the forum, the custom recovery needs a unlocked bootloader, which needs the device to be rooted at first.
BTW, I found the jpg and mp4 files in /sdcard/DCIM/Camera, would it be affected by the factory reset? Or just data and cache would be affected? I know TWRP can perform a factory reset without affecting the internal storage, but not sure what the original recovery would do. Please kindly refer to the attached snapshot for more details.
Thanks in advance for any help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately, your research is accurate. Device must be rooted (and usually unlocked) to install a custom recovery. Rooting requires a functioning ROM and typically takes some time (more than 10-30 sec) to complete.
As I recall a stock factory reset is comprehensive including contents of the DCIM folder. So you'll want to move out whatever you can before going that route. I also think the chances are small a reset (basically a user app/data wipe) will resolve the looping problem as it does not touch the system partition.
As a test turn off your AP before powering up the HDX. Outside chance establishing a WiFi connection is somehow contributing to the boot loop. Graphing at straws - not much else you can do in the absence of root.
I would also reach out to Amazon given the value of the device ($400+ USD). While likely out of warranty they may provide some accommodation if you play your cards right and get a compassionate agent. Highly unlikely you'll get anything close to full value but perhaps something.
Davey126 said:
Unfortunately, your research is accurate. Device must be rooted (and usually unlocked) to install a custom recovery. Rooting requires a functioning ROM and typically takes some time (more than 10-30 sec) to complete.
As I recall a stock factory reset is comprehensive including contents of the DCIM folder. So you'll want to move out whatever you can before going that route. I also think the chances are small a reset (basically a user app/data wipe) will resolve the looping problem as it does not touch the system partition.
As a test turn off your AP before powering up the HDX. Outside chance establishing a WiFi connection is somehow contributing to the boot loop. Graphing at straws - not much else you can do in the absence of root.
I would also reach out to Amazon given the value of the device ($400+ USD). While likely out of warranty they may provide some accommodation if you play your cards right and get a compassionate agent. Highly unlikely you'll get anything close to full value but perhaps something.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the suggestion! I have moved all the pictures and part of mp4 files out of that device by adb pull command, and I found the time from adb connection built to device restarting allows around 300MB data transfer, so the mp4 files more than 300MB are still left in the device. I am thinking if it is possible to copy busybox into my device, and use split command to divide large files into files less than 300MB. Is it ok to use the one from https://busybox.net/downloads/binaries/1.21.1/ directly? Thanks in advance for any comment
godhand_sh said:
Thanks for the suggestion! I have moved all the pictures and part of mp4 files out of that device by adb pull command, and I found the time from adb connection built to device restarting allows around 300MB data transfer, so the mp4 files more than 300MB are still left in the device. I am thinking if it is possible to copy busybox into my device, and use split command to divide large files into files less than 300MB. Is it ok to use the one from https://busybox.net/downloads/binaries/1.21.1/ directly? Thanks in advance for any comment
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Click to collapse
Shouldn't be a problem download from that source. Splitting large files is a good idea.
Regardless of what eventually happens with your device I suspect there will be a take away regarding performing regular backups against personal files. Even something simple like drag/drop of important files/folders on occasion.
Davey126 said:
Shouldn't be a problem download from that source. Splitting large files is a good idea.
Regardless of what eventually happens with your device I suspect there will be a take away regarding performing regular backups against personal files. Even something simple like drag/drop of important files/folders on occasion.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah! I did it! Thanks for the powerful busybox, which can continue to split large files even when it is interrupted by device restarting. With this feature I could pull any file out of a keeping restart device given there is enough disk space for storing the split files. The following shares my process & scripts used in the backup. Hope that helps others might meet the similar case.
1. move busybox in the device
adb push busybox /data/local/tmp/
adb shell chmod 755 /data/local/tmp/busybox
2. split the large file
adb shell /data/local/tmp/busybox split -b 300m /sdcard/DCIM/Camera/%%i /sdcard/tmp/split /*used in a DOS bat file*/
3.pull the files out
for /f %%i in (%1) do if not exist .\kindle\tmp\%%i adb pull /sdcard/tmp/%%i .\kindle\tmp\ /*used in a DOS bat file*/
4.combine the split files into what it should be.
cat splita* > a.mp4

Non-Phone/Tablet Android Inquiry

Hello all,
I did a lot a searching but cant seem to find much in terms of what I am looking for, though who knows maybe I am looking for the wrong thing. If so, hopefully can direct me to the correct place.
So I have a device, lets call it a TV for arguments sake. It runs a manufacturers custom android OS. It uses / runs on nvidia jetson architecture. I have successfully gained access to the device via ADB but when I attempt to get it to go to a bootloader, it doesnt seem to have one? Which I know is wrong from my reading but when I do either of the following two commands: adb reboot bootloader / adb reboot recovery, I result at a blank screen indefinitely.
So the question I have is I must be doing something wrong to be unable to find the bootloader. Is there a place in the file structure I can confirm/look?
End goal: So Id really like this device to run a full android or some type of android where I can utilize typical android apps instaed of the locked down shell of an OS the manufacturer has put on. I am open to this being accomplished in any way really whether, booting from USB to android stored on USB, dual booting (both manufacturers OS and full android being available), wiping current OS and only having android, etc. Open to any options really.
Mainly looking for some guidance on how to figure out what this actually runs and how to replace it/modify it.
Thanks in advance for any pointers!

[Android 7.0][Nougat] Recovering files/pictures after factory reset...Is it possible?

Hi,
Ok, so... I think this is going to be more a guide than a question, but I guess it might come in handy for those after me.
I've a Huawei P9 (EVA-L09) which had some photos deleted. Then, I also wiped the whole system via factory reset. Is there any reasonable way to recover said photos?
I've been reading and trying a few things all week. A few of the unsuccessful solutions & problems I've ran into:
One possible approach is to connect the phone as a USB mass storage device to the PC. Then, any recover software on your PC (e.g.: recuva) can see the device as a drive letter (C:\, D:\, E:\, F:\...) and try to undelete the pictures. I tried this, but the USB mass storage connection option is not there anymore. Seems like Android 7.0 doesn't include it at all. I've rooted the phone. Couldn't make this mass storage thing to work in any way.
For USB mass storage, I even tried UMS Enabler. Didn't work on my device: "Device Not Supported - No Memory Card support or VoId Blocks found.!"
Of course, I also tried the classic Android recovery apps like:
Asoftech Data Recovery
EaseUS MobiSaver for Android
FonePaw Android Data Recovery
Yolisoft Android Data Recovery (this one was detected as some kind of malware by my AV software, so I didn't even run it)
None of them worked/found anything. Only #3 really worked (the others didn't detect the device or didn't accept it as rooted) and didn't really seem to scan the whole partition. It just tried to find deleted pics on the current Android instance after 10 seconds of searching (there's no way to know what's under the hood).
Then, I tried the weird method of "copy your whole partition to your PC as an image and run the recovery software on the image". (link 1, link 2, link 3 (last section). Update: Link 4 (better explained)). Couldn't really make it work. The tutorials are a bit confusing and some of the commands simply don't work/aren't available. Link 1 explains that this method doesn't work anymore on newer phones (Android >4.3)
So... Any help here? Does anyone know of a proper method to recover deleted stuff from an Android phone once it's been wiped? I'm very happy to test any new reasonable methods and report my findings

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