Deleting files in use? - Windows Mobile Development and Hacking General

There are some files in my windows folder, that I can't delete even after a soft rest and hard rest. The files I want to delete are useless demo and sound files that I don't use, which take up space. So is there a software I can use that some how helps you delete the files? Thank you.

If they're in the ROM, then you can't delete them. You'll need to use an image editor to edit the .nbh and remove them.

Shoot. There is a bunch of useless sounds and ringtones that I hate and will never use. That is like 500k each for 5-7 files.

Yea, we all have to cope with the same thing. If you'd like, i can cook a custom ROM for you (depending on your device, check my signature) and remove everything that you want.

Related

Removing Junk File??

How can i remove the junk files installed in my /windows directory? i saw many but i dont know if it is important. is there any programs that deletes any unusefull files or junk files? Thanks
your windows dir is filled with the files that windows contain
most are located in rom and can never be deleted
Some files like when i install a software and uninstall it some files will not be deleted. (ie. Help files, images, .txt etc)
got some exampes ?
i know that sometimes shortcuts are not removed from programs
and it's temp dir is also likely to get some temp files once in awhile
but i havent had issues with alot of space being lost to files not being removed
suppose you could always make a backup using activesync and then try
to remove stuff and softreset if it cause issues with programs or windows stuff then do a hardreset and restore your backup
maybe i was wrong. maybe the files that i saw is important and not a junk files. Thank You anyway.
There are utility programs like SpaceMaker and MemMaid which will do housekeeping for you. They delete the "junk" files from your device.
Ed

How to move "pim.vol" location to Storage?

Hi there is a way to move "pim.vol" by register changes?
Re: There is way to move "pim.vol" location to Sto
zpdy said:
Hi there is a way to move "pim.vol" by register changes?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi I have asked this many occasions - in fact I would also like to get rid of the document and settings directory. It currently takes about 1.5mb on my device.
There is a program cleartemp that will remove contents of directories during reboot. However I am pretty sure that the files contained in the above directory and pim.vol are needed by the system, so removing them could crash your device.
Matt
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, please.
I believe that if you were to make your own ROM you could edit the registry and move the files before flashing it into your Uni.
At the same time you could rip out WMP and PIE, replacing them with more useful apps like TCPMP and Opera, putting these programs into the 128MB flash instead of the 64MB storage. However, after reading a thread here about using MP3 ringtones and having WMP doing the decoding, I wonder how integrated it is and just what would happen if you took it (and it's registry entries) out of your system. Maybe just taking some crap like the Welcome program and some help/graphics files would leave you enough room in ROM to do this?
Grr, I should really get on and try this so that I can speak with certainty, shouldn't I?

Install Programs from SD...Field recovery tip...

Just thought I'd share this for those that don't know about it.
When you install programs from your computer onto your phone, CAB files are typically left on your computer. Either in a newly created program directory or under the ActiveSync directory.
Since I work in the field a lot and have had to hard reset on the fly and away from my ActiveSync, I've copied all of these CABS to my SD card. If I ever have to do a hard reset, I can also install ALL of the programs I use on my phone directly from the card. This can be done manually or scripted, whichever you chose. I've chosen to do it manually because of several reasons.
I just created a folder on my SD card named !Install! and when I need to install something while away from my system I go here.
ltxda said:
Just thought I'd share this for those that don't know about it.
When you install programs from your computer onto your phone, CAB files are typically left on your computer. Either in a newly created program directory or under the ActiveSync directory.
Since I work in the field a lot and have had to hard reset on the fly and away from my ActiveSync, I've copied all of these CABS to my SD card. If I ever have to do a hard reset, I can also install ALL of the programs I use on my phone directly from the card. This can be done manually or scripted, whichever you chose. I've chosen to do it manually because of several reasons.
I just created a folder on my SD card named !Install! and when I need to install something while away from my system I go here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Excellent advice. Never thought of sharing that useful bit of 'good practise'. I allways have a 'cabs' folder just for this on my SD card.
Also to add to this...Rebuilds can take hours just because of a lack of organisation, so I put all software in to respective folders, i.e;
1) Cabs
2) Exe's
3) Serails
This really saves a lot of time, not having to look for each app and their respective serials.
Then I zip it all up ready for a rebuild or fresh build when changing ROMs, as the old backup files from a previous ROM should not be used....but that's really for another thread.
Cheers for that ltxda, great suggestion for the noobs and all.
Thanks for adding to it!
Oh yea, one more thing. I'm picky about what I install to ROM, SD, MD...so I have a folder in each program install folder and name it respectively - Device - SD - MD, so I don't have to think when reinstalling everything.
Yes it is a good idea, just don't turn on encryption? oops just installed new rom, took a minute or ten to find out why none of the cabs would install! Doh
Ixtana_ran said:
Yes it is a good idea, just don't turn on encryption? oops just installed new rom, took a minute or ten to find out why none of the cabs would install! Doh
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL, for sure.
Of course we could use a backup restore...before someone mentions it...but if my phone is buggy and locking up, I don't want to restore anything...fresh install for everything....also of course like Mackaby mentioned...after ROM upgrade. ;-)
How ever true your advice is, I find it very cumbersome to get everything installed again from the CABs and more important ... to get all settings again the way you like it.
I rather advice to spend 20USD on this great backup program
http://www.sunnysoft.cz/software.php?idarticle=245
, (regularly) make a self extracting compressed image to the SD card,
and you will be up and running again after a hard-reset in ~10min with all your own settings.
Oh and one more thing....just in case you have to reflash your device from the field...if you ever do..dont forget to copy the apppropriate file to the SD card and ensure you have a copy of the how to flash from SD instructions. Doubt you might ever need this but you never know. Better prepared than sorry.
I have a 2gb MicroSD and carry all my install cabs on there, with skins, and serials for apps I need to install from scratch. That way if I am ever travelling and foobar things badly, I can hard reset and reinstall. Keep a PPC Contacts backup, and/or a full backup app, and you should be able to get working again quite quickly.
To grab cabs, monitor your temp folder, activesync folder, and sometimes specific third party folders (eg SPB might make a folder in \program files\spb with cabs in).
Additionally, use the Universal Extractor to extract cabs from somet troublesome apps.
V
vijay555 said:
I have a 2gb MicroSD and carry all my install cabs on there, with skins, and serials for apps I need to install from scratch. That way if I am ever travelling and foobar things badly, I can hard reset and reinstall. Keep a PPC Contacts backup, and/or a full backup app, and you should be able to get working again quite quickly.
To grab cabs, monitor your temp folder, activesync folder, and sometimes specific third party folders (eg SPB might make a folder in \program files\spb with cabs in).
Additionally, use the Universal Extractor to extract cabs from somet troublesome apps.
V
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great info! Gotta love Universal Extractor!!!

Save 6 megs on the UK O2 Oribit ROM

For those who want to save a little space, you may notice that there are some useless pictures and HTML files built into the ROM that you can't delete with Resco or any other File Explorer. Well you can replace these useless files with ZERO byte files if you don't mind having zero byte files on your device.
Just Unzip and copy the stuff over to the Windows Folder on your device with Resco Explorer, this should be enough.
I've backed the original crap up and will upload these if anyone wants them back.
doubt it will work - those files are still in ROM - Try 2 do HardRST and they'll be back - only one way how 2 remove them fysically is to remove them directly from rom(so U have to cook one). Other think is if files are copyied during first boot(iniflashes.dat) then they can be removes-usually branding rubbish, tsk, lnk...
No it overwrites the ROM files.
again i doubt it - it doesnt owerwrites them. they only appears in Fexplorer || Resco as 0sized. Only one way how can i imagine to owerwrite them physically is using pdocwrite (maybe, not sure about it) did U try to HR UR device, and they appeared there with 0b size? Try it - files are still there. If editing ROM would be so easy, why anyone will spend time with building NBH.... Flashing....

[Solved][Q] EXT packages + app.dat = duplicates of files in \windows\

I tried to keep the title as descriptive and short as possible, I hope it makes sense
I picked up the kitchen of nhathoa (a retired Topaz cook) hoping to get it customized to make it exactly the way I want but I'm running into some issues.
Long story short, I'm using Ervius Visual Kitchen (1.8.2) and I noticed that the EXT packages I added end up leaving two copies of the files, a copy under \windows\ and another one in the places I specified using app.dat using:
Code:
Directory("\Program Files\bla\"):-File("bla.exe","\Windows\bla.exe")
Is there some way to get rid of the copy under \Windows\ ??
I know that I could simply leave everything there and discard the app.dat files but I would really prefer having everything organized properly (I have a bit of an OCD when it comes to organizing everything neatly ).
I'm pretty sure that this is a rather simple and noobish issue but I couldn't find anything relevant by searching and I took a look at some ext packages by various cooks and noticed the same behaviour.
MusikMonk said:
I tried to keep the title as descriptive and short as possible, I hope it makes sense
I picked up the kitchen of nhathoa (a retired Topaz cook) hoping to get it customized to make it exactly the way I want but I'm running into some issues.
Long story short, I'm using Ervius Visual Kitchen (1.8.2) and I noticed that the EXT packages I added end up leaving two copies of the files, a copy under \windows\ and another one in the places I specified using app.dat using:
Code:
Directory("\Program Files\bla\"):-File("bla.exe","\Windows\bla.exe")
Is there some way to get rid of the copy under \Windows\ ??
I know that I could simply leave everything there and discard the app.dat files but I would really prefer having everything organized properly (I have a bit of an OCD when it comes to organizing everything neatly ).
I'm pretty sure that this is a rather simple and noobish issue but I couldn't find anything relevant by searching and I took a look at some ext packages by various cooks and noticed the same behaviour.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, it's call Read-Only-Memory (ROM) and is the reason you can hard-reset your phone. Every file you cook into the ROM is in \windows. Two ways I know of to reduce the amount of files would be to zip them and have a mortscript unzip them to the proper location during customization or cook in a cab containing all of the files and have it run during customization.
That makes a lot of sense, I really feel ashamed that I didn't figure it out earlier
EXT packages seemed easier than bothering to read about customization but I guess it's time to start reading about this kind of stuff.
Thread marked as solved.
Thanks for the quick reply!
Yup, files in rom are in rom forever, or until you flash again, lol. The trick is to just run bla.exe from \windows. I would say that 90% of the time, bla.exe runs just fine out of the windows directory (especially if it's the only file in the package). When people create cabs, they naturally install the app in \program files, but in general apps don't need to be in a specific folder. If there are other files present, usually an .exe will search within its own folder for those files. So, if you just cook everything straight into windows, you'll be good to go. It's easy enough to test: just move all the files from program files to windows after installing a cab, fix the shortcut in the start menu, and then try to run the app. It's always a good idea to do a soft reset and try again (found this out the hard way many times). The one thing you have to watch out for is settings files, like .dat files. These files frequently have to be archived (not read-only). Particularly with apps that use net 3.5, if there's a setting file that is read-only, the app won't boot and you'll get an error message. The fix is to name the file settings-1.txt (or whatever) and have an app.dat rename it to settings.txt (and keep it in \windows).
Also, remember to fix the shortcut path in the start menu, and examine the registry entries to see if there are any paths for files present-you may need to change them to point to \windows (this could also be true in settings files).
mwalt2 said:
No, it's call Read-Only-Memory (ROM) and is the reason you can hard-reset your phone. Every file you cook into the ROM is in \windows. Two ways I know of to reduce the amount of files would be to zip them and have a mortscript unzip them to the proper location during customization or cook in a cab containing all of the files and have it run during customization.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This actually made me think a little bit. When you think about read only, I always thing can't delete or overwrite. Obviously I can run a cab and replace a file that is located in the \Windows directory, that leads me to believe there is a way to delete a file or maybe even replaced with an empty file of the same name.
You can over-write a rom file, but the rom file is still there. The file system just flags it somehow or another and tells the device to ignore it and instead use the new file.
TMartin03 said:
This actually made me think a little bit. When you think about read only, I always thing can't delete or overwrite. Obviously I can run a cab and replace a file that is located in the \Windows directory, that leads me to believe there is a way to delete a file or maybe even replaced with an empty file of the same name.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The new file you copy over goes into the "user" partition of the file system and windows knows to use that file instead. Once you delete this newly copied file from \windows, the old one from the ROM will take its place back in the filesystem.
Farmer Ted said:
Yup, files in rom are in rom forever, or until you flash again, lol. The trick is to just run bla.exe from \windows. I would say that 90% of the time, bla.exe runs just fine out of the windows directory (especially if it's the only file in the package). When people create cabs, they naturally install the app in \program files, but in general apps don't need to be in a specific folder. If there are other files present, usually an .exe will search within its own folder for those files. So, if you just cook everything straight into windows, you'll be good to go. It's easy enough to test: just move all the files from program files to windows after installing a cab, fix the shortcut in the start menu, and then try to run the app. It's always a good idea to do a soft reset and try again (found this out the hard way many times). The one thing you have to watch out for is settings files, like .dat files. These files frequently have to be archived (not read-only). Particularly with apps that use net 3.5, if there's a setting file that is read-only, the app won't boot and you'll get an error message. The fix is to name the file settings-1.txt (or whatever) and have an app.dat rename it to settings.txt (and keep it in \windows).
Also, remember to fix the shortcut path in the start menu, and examine the registry entries to see if there are any paths for files present-you may need to change them to point to \windows (this could also be true in settings files).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First of all, a small question about the underlined part, just to make sure that I got it right: it won't be exactly a rename just a copy with a different name, correct?
Some of the apps I use need a specific directory structure for the resources and files they use, so just dumping them in one big folder won't work.
Another possible issue that I think I'll run into is having two files sharing a generic name (let's say settings.xml) while each belongs to a different app. I didn't personally encounter such a situation just yet but my packages are still a work in progress and I did see a post or two about this while searching.
I was still hoping there would be a simple way to arrange the files in folders while keeping them under \windows\ but I can't find such a method either. Doesn't seem like I have other options than to decided on a firstboot customization method: Runcc, autorun, xda_uc or something that I haven't read about yet...
"Runcc" is currently used in the base kitchen so that gives it an edge right now.
Edit:
Remembered that I had another question, and it's probably not worth a new thread.
I was looking at how to manually create .lnk files and I noticed something that I didn't understand and couldn't find info about.
For example:
Code:
21#"\Windows\MSDict.htm"
What exactly does the "21" refer to?? I tried changing it randomly to other values a couple of times and it didn't effect anything.
NRGZ28 said:
The new file you copy over goes into the "user" partition of the file system and windows knows to use that file instead. Once you delete this newly copied file from \windows, the old one from the ROM will take its place back in the filesystem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok now that makes a lot of sense. I guess I'm just use to Android and being able to see that separate partition. Thanks for the explanation.
That sort of leaves me to another question. Can't someone develop a way to overwrite directly to the "system" partition? It would almost be like a root/superuser for WinMo.
Sent from my HTC Evo 4G!
MusikMonk said:
First of all, a small question about the underlined part, just to make sure that I got it right: it won't be exactly a rename just a copy with a different name, correct?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup, that's correct. Another approach is to take all similar files that go into windows and stick them in a zip file that unzips to the windows directory. I do that in a few cases (power radio comes to mind; it has an ini file). What I do in most cases though is use a backup/restore mortscript. The backup copies all settings files (and similar things) on my device to my sd card. During customization, the restore copies them back. It's convenient for apps where I change the settings a lot and I don't want to have to constantly fuss with the packages.
Some of the apps I use need a specific directory structure for the resources and files they use, so just dumping them in one big folder won't work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What you do in that case is move the sub-folders into windows. In this case, I'll use a zip file to unzip those folders into windows. Using app.dat files to copy large numbers of files blows. It increases the rom file count as well as the storage used. A zip file is a single file, and usually it saves space.
Another possible issue that I think I'll run into is having two files sharing a generic name (let's say settings.xml) while each belongs to a different app. I didn't personally encounter such a situation just yet but my packages are still a work in progress and I did see a post or two about this while searching.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In that case, you're screwed unless there's a registry key that lets you change the name. I've run into a few complications; tcpmp and OMarket both use a common.dll. My solution was to buy Core Player, lol.
I was still hoping there would be a simple way to arrange the files in folders while keeping them under \windows\ but I can't find such a method either. Doesn't seem like I have other options than to decided on a firstboot customization method: Runcc, autorun, xda_uc or something that I haven't read about yet...
"Runcc" is currently used in the base kitchen so that gives it an edge right now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Using cabs or zip files is the way to go if you want to copy large folders in one shot (with a mortscript; you can also un-rar rar files, but I don't know how. Yet, lol). Zips are easier to make and edit than cabs, but you need to have mortscript cooked in and know how to write the simple script (aka cut-and-paste).
Edit:
Remembered that I had another question, and it's probably not worth a new thread.
I was looking at how to manually create .lnk files and I noticed something that I didn't understand and couldn't find info about.
For example:
Code:
21#"\Windows\MSDict.htm"
What exactly does the "21" refer to?? I tried changing it randomly to other values a couple of times and it didn't effect anything.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The 21 is the number of bytes after the #. It doesn't matter. I usually just change the first number to 1. It works fine. Counting bytes blows.
That was extremely helpful. Too bad these boards don't use a rep system
Farmer Ted said:
Yup, that's correct. Another approach is to take all similar files that go into windows and stick them in a zip file that unzips to the windows directory.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, if I'm going to follow this method, and it seems like I am, I don't see why I would still have to limit myself to the \windows folder. I can just put everything the way I originally wanted to do. I only looked at arranging files under \windows when I found out that there's no way to get rid of the duplicates.
Farmer Ted said:
Using cabs or zip files is the way to go if you want to copy large folders in one shot (with a mortscript; you can also un-rar rar files, but I don't know how. Yet, lol). Zips are easier to make and edit than cabs, but you need to have mortscript cooked in and know how to write the simple script (aka cut-and-paste).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't tried writing mortscripts yet but I've seen enough to figure out the basic and notice how easy it is. I'm gonna check how usable is the WM version of 7zip, as long as it accepts arguments combining it with mortscript will be easy and perfect for me.
7z archives can get smaller in size than half of the zip archives for the same files. And cabs are too annoying to work with and keep updated later on.
Only issue remaining now is checking whether I should put the archived files under \windows or use the sdcard for customization. I'm leaning toward the first but I'll have to wait and see how much memory I would be sacrificing that way.
Farmer Ted said:
The 21 is the number of bytes after the #. It doesn't matter. I usually just change the first number to 1. It works fine. Counting bytes blows.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah! I thought about counting bytes/characters and noticed that it works sometimes. But I thought it was a coincidence after I experimented in changing the value and noticed that it wasn't always the right count in the .lnk files that I found.
[rant]
Nice, I was messing around with some packages to free up ram and storage and I seem to have ended up with a rather b0rked up xTask. And then there's still convincing Resco Explorer that the registry add-in IS in fact there.
Figuring out the causes should keep me happily busy for a while (and probably heavily pissed for another while afterwards).
[/rant]
Edit:
Just for the record, I ended up using xda_uc it's a lot easier than doing things manually. Although it would help if there was some kind of documentation available, took me a while to understand what .xda, xdai, xdas & .xdaz files are supposed to be.
hi by the way is it possible to convert ext packages of QVGA phones to one another?

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