Database Users

ExtROM Cab Files

Hi all,
I've had my S100 for a week now. It came with ROM ver 1.06 (I think) and right on the 1st day I upgraded to 1.11 and finally decided to apply Anansky's Big Storage ROM. All work perfectly even with my Jabra BT800. I've been trying many different 3rd party software. As usual, after installing and deinstalling, my unit became unstable and therefore would like to start from scratch.
In XDA's ftp site there is a Qtek 1.11 Ext ROM zip file. At first I installed all, but I think I could do away with some. Based on the filenames, some are self explanatory but I don't know which ones I can do without. Could someone be kind enough to explain?
Delete_vdisk_shortcut_WWE.sa.CAB What does this do?
Caller_ID_Magician_Generic_WWE_RC13.CAB Selft explanatory
SmartDialing_Magician_Generic_WWE_RC13.CAB I've read in other threads that some don't install this when using sw like MSVoice Commands.
PhonePad_Magician_Generic_WWE_RC12.CAB I think this contains T9 and what else? How can I edit this file to remove unwanted languages other stuff?
CAB-ArcsoftMMS-20022-Magician-Generic-ENU-08Mar05.cab I believe this is essential, right?
CV2.41.386_WWE.CAB No clue. Is it essential?
JMM101257_WWE_1004.CAB No clue. Is it essential?
BTHUSB_PATCH_AKU26.CAB Self explanatory
Version_WWE_111129.sa.CAB What is it for? Is it essential?

And does anyone know of how to delete these .cabs? I hit soft reset before it autoloaded all of those above mentioned .cabs. IS it possible to delete them or at least make them non accessible?

johnannie said:
And does anyone know of how to delete these .cabs? I hit soft reset before it autoloaded all of those above mentioned .cabs. IS it possible to delete them or at least make them non accessible?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you have the Anansky ROM installed I don't think you will have the option to install the extended ROM when you do a hard reset, mine doesn't. You have to install the extended ROM seperately. You should have made a backup of your extended ROM before doing the Anansky hack. If you don't have it, maybe you can download it from the XDA ftp site. Remember only install .cab files, don't execute the autorun or you may wipe out your big storage. Even if you install all of the Ext. ROM files, they don't take up much space in the storage area (maybe 1.5 or 2 meg.) depending on your Ext. ROM.

Thanks for the responses but I would like some information from you experts on the following:
1. Which CAB files can I do away with and why?
2. How can I edit the PhonePad.CAB in order to remove unwanted languages? Any special software needed?
The Qtek 1.11 ExtROM found in this forum's FTP site has 9 CAB files. Some of them like the Caller ID is self explanatory, meaning this must definitely be installed if Caller ID is one of the functions one needs.

Install CABs from Extended ROM

Hi all,
I've upgraded to W2K5 on my XDA2. (respect to Buzz and all for their fantastic effort in making this possible) The Extended Rom is now unlocked/un-hidden
I'm confused about 1 thing. I've still got the orignal O2 extended ROM contents but after installing and hard resetting, I dont see the 'Customising' message and none of the CABs get installed.
This isnt a huge problem as I dont want most of them anyway but if I try to install them individually, the one I'm installing gives a message about removing the previously installed Customization Tools.
1. is the only way to install a few of these CABs to cook my own extended ROM?
2. Why would the original O2 extended ROM contents not even attempt to install after upgrading to W2K5/hard reset?
3. Is there a way to install individual CABs from the O2 extended ROM without the previously installed one being removed?
Many thanks in advance for any advice.

you can install whatever you like but
keep in mind that some programs there will not work in BUZZmobile 2005
search the ftp for a 2577 zip files there is the best colection made for BUZZmobile by another god thats really good ;-)

/extended rom/

how do i get to the extended rom directory? i have a t-mobile mda and have total commander (reg editor) installed. I can't find the /extended rom/ directory and also don't really understand what is or what it is there for. i know this might sound like a remedial question to HTC Wizard experts, but if someone could help me I'd greatly appreciate it. Also, if it matters, I'm running xelecin's custom 2.26 ROM.
Thanks.

You won't see it by browsing.. just type in "/extended_rom" and TC will open it. Don't forget the underscore (_) character..
Gee - my first post!

thanks. i entered "/extended_rom" and it brought me to the directory. now that i know how to find it, what is it exactly there for? What is it's purpose. Also, can you access it from activesync? Thanks again for answering these questions.. i'm a beginner with PPCs, but I'm curious about how they work.
Thanks again.

Use the advanced search feature (under the search option tab) to look within the wizard updating forum for the term "extended rom", and you can start to understand how some of the rom developers utilize it (There are 12 pages of entries). These guys are the real 'wizards' - I could not begin to explain the way they do (I'm too new myself).

Your extended ROM contains all of your customizations. If it is a stock ROM it will have all of your carrier customizations. If you have a cooked Ext ROM it could have lots of things. One of the benefits is that if you have to completely clear out the storage it would re-install all the customizations that were in the ext rom.

barrydavisjr said:
...One of the benefits is that if you have to completely clear out the storage it would re-install all the customizations that were in the ext rom.
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Click to collapse
so, in simple terms, if you were doing a hard reset (or clear storage in settings), the extended rom directory retains the files, and installs them if they are .cab files.. am I getting warm? Thanks for the info.

you got it. The carriers put it there so that one wouldn't have to call into tech support if you had to do a hard reset.

ok. i get this now. just a couple more questions..
-Do the .CAB files have to be in the main directory (/extended_rom/) or can they be in any subfolder?
-I was reading somewhere that it's a read-only directory.. is there a way to delete files, if so, can you delete the files one at a time or all once?
-finally, can you access the directory from active sync?
Thanks for all the help. I appreciate it.

As far as I know it is unable to be accessed through Active sync. And yes you can delete them off one by one. I would reccomend reading up on it. Faria has produced a wondrful guide on how to cook your extended ROM. When you delete a cab you also have to change the config settings in the notepad file. I have dabbled a little but Faria's guide will help you more.

!!!WARNING!!! if you delete the files from your ext rom and do a hard reset none of the carrier customizations will be installed.. furthermore.. you will not gain any extra space by deleting the cabs, it is a read only partition.. also with that being said, if you try to delete a file from there or add one you take a great risk of corrupting the ext rom and you will be forced to reflash the rom in order to get them back.

just one more question.. I have xelecin's 2.26 custom rom on my MDA. I'm thinking of switching over to either molski's or faria's latest rom. when i flash those roms, the extended rom from the current rom i'm using gets replaced with the custom rom's extended rom, right? does that make sense? Thanks for putting up with my dumb questions and actually answering them! Oh yeah, when i installed the rom i'm using now it did a CID unlock before flashing, so i assume my phone is still unlocked, right?
Thanks again for all the help. i really appreciate it.

thats right. - you'll get the new extended rom.

Extended Rom Contents
I only install a portion of the T-Mobile customization, which I accomplish by preventing the install of the extended rom. I have copied onto my miniSD the files I want to install, and then I just manually run the cabs from there. (Actually, that would erase them, so I copy them first.)
Then you can experiment with other ROMs, still getting the customizations that you need. Here is my thread on this topic:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=272613
I no longer install MP-Shorcut-MMS1-Voice-CV-TMUS-060404.CAB because that just adds MMS to the Messaging app and a shortcut for making voice tags and I don't use MMS.
By the way, it is really useful to install things like Total Commander, Memmaid, weather programs, RSS readers, Zagat, and so on to the miniSD, because then they don't need to be reinstalled after a hard reset. The only thing I have to do is add the shortcuts back, because shortcuts are erased after a hard reset. These programs will no longer auto-update, since nothing can run automatically from the miniSD, but with memmaid you can create automatic updates if you like.
Your backup program should always run from main memory! Also, programs that affect the today screen should also be run from main memory for increased speed. Pretty much everything else can go on the miniSD.

How to group cabs in one cab?

Is possible to group several cabs in one cab?
I want it to save in the Extended Rom of my TyTn, so that when I do a HardReset, automatic it starts to install all the modifications of registry and some programs that I have in several cabs from the pocket, without need of pc.
I search on the forum, but I don´t find any solution.
Thanks

Well first off, if you use the autorun.exe that already exists in the extended ROM and modify its configuration file (the name may be different for different devices, but it is usually a plain text file) you can get it to install several cabs in sequence.
Combining cabs is not always possible unless you are the one who created them in the first place.
Get a program called CE Cab Manager. It will show you everything that a given cab includes and let you edit it. As long as it's just files and registry settings there is no problem stuffing them all in one cab.
But if a two cabs contain a setup.dll there is no way of combining them without knowing exactly what that DLL does (it could be anything) and thats almost impossible (unless you can read ARM assembler well).

tristan1412 said:
Is possible to group several cabs in one cab?
I want it to save in the Extended Rom of my TyTn, so that when I do a HardReset, automatic it starts to install all the modifications of registry and some programs that I have in several cabs from the pocket, without need of pc.
I search on the forum, but I don´t find any solution.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what levenum said is correct... so the best thing for you to do is to edit the config.txt file in your extended rom to have them install... HOWEVER if the cabs you are using arent digitally signed then they wont install using that method, you would need to disable the security first... Since no one has a signed disable security cab that works with the tytn the only option would be to do this on a hard reset; soft reset before the customization, when it boots run the tweak program to disable security, then go to the windows directory and manually launch the preautoconfig.exe

software alternatives
tristan1412, you can also use a software dedicated to this task.
check spb airsetup (www.spbsoftwarehouse.com, i'm not sure if it allows more then one cab), or even better airwizard (http://www.teksoftco.com/index.php?section=airwizard)
the advantage of these programs is in my opinion the compression. then you also get several options like readme/eula (with airwizard you have spash image support and even sd card output support - that creates autorun content for the sdcard)
hope this helps
RM

shogunmark said:
....HOWEVER if the cabs you are using arent digitally signed then they wont install using that method, you would need to disable the security first...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First of all, thanks for the answers.
now, How can signed digitally my own cabs??

Automating Program Installs

Hey all,
I have a question.
I have been playing with my 8125 a lot lately and am constantly resetting my device. What I want to know is I have one main machine that I do all my application installs via active sync that way when I hard reset my device I just have to go to add remove programs in active sync and re-check all the programs I want to put back on my phone.
Here is what I want.
I don’t want to have to tell the phone where to install the applications (I want it to default to storage card without any prompts.) and.. I don’t want any confirmation prompts ie: security unsigned, approve this application to be installed, this application was installed properly… etc.. I want to streamline the process so I can just tick the check boxes for my apps, let them download and that’s it. Currently after refreshing I have to spend quite a bit of time clicking “ok” … storage card…. Ok… storage card… ok… I think you get it.
Thanks much!

I've seen a lot of different reg keys out there that may accomplis this. Is there a way to disable the notifications and pre-set the install path peramaters?

sledwrecker said:
I've seen a lot of different reg keys out there that may accomplis this. Is there a way to disable the notifications and pre-set the install path peramaters?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can do this with WinCE Cab manager

If you really reset your device that often why don't you use SPB BACKUP? A reinstallation of all your apps wouldn't be necessary - just load your backup and you're ready to go!

Ya I did think of that but here is my issue.
the reason I am constantly hard reseting is because I am changing and playing with roms pretty much on a daily basis. I've been cooking my own roms trying to come up with what works best for me and what is closest to RTM. Thus why I am always re-installing apps.
So if I use SPB backup (which I have) it saves system settings and such right? So if I am switching roms all the time will it break my device?
Thanks guys! I'm new to the forum here I just got my first PPC phone a couple weeks ago but I've been an avid windows mobile (smartphone) user for years and have worked on WM platforms as beta tester.
Gotta love this stuff!!!

sledwrecker said:
So if I use SPB backup (which I have) it saves system settings and such right? So if I am switching roms all the time will it break my device?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes you are exactly right, and so many people seem to miss this... Spb Backup, Sprite Backup, etc are full backups that backup and restore the registry and all. If you restore this from one rom to a different rom you are likely to break something (may not be obvious at first, but you have a very good chance of things being broken inside the registry that you will trip up on at some point).
So yeah, the only way around this (without building your own extended rom and such) is to create a folder (or set of folders) on your SD card with all the cabs, files, and settings that you need for when your flash a new rom. Then run through that to set things up. You can also use ActiveSync to reinstall apps (just check them all and it will put them all back on) but you have to remember which ones (if any) require a reset of your device as that can cause probs with the others that are installing (if all done together).

Yep,
but at least you can import contacts, email and pim data that way quite easy!
Since you continiously flash your device: there will be no other solution but reinstalling your applications again and again. You might want to look around for a CAB extractor and then create your own CABs with all the progs you would like to have in one large CAB ???
One such CAB Installer Creator is: WinCE CAB Manager
Take a closer look at MolskiBiz_DevPack and you will find a utility to extract CAB files. It will be a bit work to add all the registry values to the Installer you're going to create but finally you might save a lot of time since you only run 1 installation instead of xxx ...

This is good, I have been playing with wince cab and it is a solution.
Now I'm going to work on making my extended roms.. will this work? I did a full recover of my apps through active sync just an hour or two ago and it reported total size of all cabs as just over 112megs. That means I'd be flashing a MONSTER rom and would it even be possible?
2gig mini SD card.
thanks

I tried before to add some apps (cab installers) to a personalized extended rom but it never worked the way I wanted it to. You might have seen that you always have to give some inputs when ever you install programs, sometimes you get ask if you really want to install the app, sometimes you need to choose a location. So, if you add CAB installers UNCHANGED to the extended ROM it just won't install because during extended rom installation you have no way of providing that information.