Related
Hey Guys at first sorry for my english i'm not good in it. And I'm a Android newbie I just gained a bit exerience with my Touch Diamond but it's broken now..okay but that's not the probleme....
If got a question:
After about 2 days of searching for an android 2.0 or 2.1 ROM I was a little bit confused of the diffrent news everybody was talking about. I'm root on my Hero. That was the first an last thing I made with my device.
1. Everybody is gonna talk about MoDaCo 3.0 but when I was trying to download his ROM my browser never got a request. Is the site down, where that ROM is hosted ?? Could someone give me a working link with this ROM ??
2. Is there a ROM with Android 2.0 or 2.1 outside or even not ??? And if yes are they working well ???
Would be nice if someone can help me =) thanks a lot.
Please answer soon if you know something about that =)
Greetz BassdoxXx
you can get modaco's roms at his website, www.modaco.com.
in the android development section there are some 2.0/1 roms, none of them works flawless, see for yourself if it fits your needs.
Thanks a lot for your fast answer. =)
The problem that i couldn't open the modaco page was my isp -.- i downloaded it at school
BassdoxXx said:
Thanks a lot for your fast answer. =)
The problem that i couldn't open the modaco page was my isp -.- i downloaded it at school
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What? Does ISP's block that site? Lol, would never happened in Norway
there is a few 2.0+ roms out there for the hero.
most seem to be very usable now.
best sense ui would be lox/behnaam community release on 1.6.
http://htcpedia.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1448
there are two aosp roms worth looking at.
lox aosp ( im using that on a daily basis)
http://htcpedia.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1416
jnwhiteh aosp
http://htcpedia.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1528
Hello all,
I am having very specific request when it comes to choosing a proper rom for install on to my hero.
I am blind. Stock roms are only running Android 1.5. More robust accessibility features are available starting with Android 1.6 and improving even more with Android 2.0.
So for sure I am forced to upgrade my hand set.
There are various roms, some of their authors have even disable google specific features so I know I can't install such a rom.
All the accessibility efforts are being lead by the google developers.
Most likely these accessibility tools won't be usefull to most of you but please can anyone recommend me a rom where market is working and where the following applications can be installed and used?
- eyesfree suite of applications,
- talkback - the google screen reader for android,
- tts service.
All possible help is already appreciated.
sorry for the double posting. I've accidentally posted twice and I am unable to remove the post.
Hope anybody can help me please.
pvdeejay said:
Hello all,
I am having very specific request when it comes to choosing a proper rom for install on to my hero.
I am blind. Stock roms are only running Android 1.5. More robust accessibility features are available starting with Android 1.6 and improving even more with Android 2.0.
So for sure I am forced to upgrade my hand set.
There are various roms, some of their authors have even disable google specific features so I know I can't install such a rom.
All the accessibility efforts are being lead by the google developers.
Most likely these accessibility tools won't be usefull to most of you but please can anyone recommend me a rom where market is working and where the following applications can be installed and used?
- eyesfree suite of applications,
- talkback - the google screen reader for android,
- tts service.
All possible help is already appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i am on mcr3.0, i looked in the market, i can find 8 apps for eyesfree, tts is one of these. i didn't try to install one of these, but usually it works. the search for talkback returned nothing.
not that i want to be rude, but wouldn't you be better off with another phone if you are blind? i can not imagine a touchscreen only phone would be suitable for someone who is not able to see... especially because there are great devices out there that have a full qwerty keyboard, and come with android 2.0 out of the box... imho this would be a better solution.
again, the last thing i want to be is rude, but maybe this was your mistake: you posted in the htc hero section of this forum, the hero is a touch screen only device, including a virtual keyboard on the screen. it has only six buttons and a trackball, and two rocker buttons for the volume. just to make clear we are talking about the same device
if you are still up for the hero you could try the 2.1 rom from here: http://htcpedia.com/forum/showthread.php?p=30418&posted=1#post30418
best you try for yourself, it has some drawbacks, but maybe in areas you don't need (afaik syncing with exchange does not work for example, which wouldn't be a problem for me...). otherwise it might be worth to wait another week or two, we all are waiting unpatiently for the official eclair release from htc
keep asking if you need to know more, but maybe open a new thread, since your problems are very specific, and might drown between all the newbies question about "how to root my phone".
Hello,
Thanks for your reply and a great attitude.
Yes it may sound strange I have really got HTC Hero here. I know I'll be having problems with virtual keyboard but also I am afraid accessibility features of Android phones are not really such mastered one can use it daily. For example reading emails and content from the web browser is not yet possible. I just want to try how things work and I would also like to touch the virtual keyboard. If I can memorize computer keyboard and use it daily, typewriter keyboard, nokia mobile phone keyboard, then perhaps I might be able to make some use of this too.
I am sory but here are some more questions:
I haven't yet verified with some sighted friends but... is it possible my hero is running even older version of android like Android 1.5? I've based the assumption that it's most likelly running 1.5 because majority of the devices I was reading on the net are running it.
You've been triyng to locate eyes-free applications on the market but you were unable to find talkback. Are you sure you are running newer version of Android than 1.5?
Talkback is supposed to be installed with Android 1.6 andd 2.0 by default and you should be able to find it in the accessibility menu of your phone. I am not sure how well this applies to the custom roms.
Talkback requires google's accessibility api which is reported to be available on Android 1.6 upwards.
To tell you the full story first I've asked on the eyes-free google group whether some accessibility experts from there can help me but no one knowledgeable enough has replied to my query, so I'm trying my luck here then.
Oh I am really excited since I've got really well formed informative reply.
Thanks again
Edit:
Also, I've seen somewhere in the forums here this leaked HTC rom does not support the market. Has this been rectified already? You know if market does not work then most likelly I won't be able to install these applications I am tallking about.
Also you are mentioning possibility to wait a few weeks until HTC guys role out the official update for Hero. Wouldn't that break chances I will be able to root my device later?
Edit2:
Ooops, I should read better next time. Market works on this rom. The problem is paid apps can't be installed which is hopefully not a big issue for me since most of the accessibility enabled applications are free.
Which of the downloads from Hero 21 do I need?
63.18.55.06JU_6.35.09.26) or No Wipe Download. I will need a wipe I am sure but since this link says nowipe I am ehmmm. confused.
pvdeejay,
Unfortunately there is not an 'official' update for Android 1.6, 2.0 or 2.1 as of yet. There are rumours of one coming out soon, but nothing cast-iron yet.
You are correct in that the Hero runs 1.5. It does say it under Settings | About Phone (bottom item on list)| Firmware Version (bottom on list again), although without a working screen reader, there is probably little use in knowing how to find that.
If you did want to upgrade, I'm sure plenty of people could help find a ROM that would suit. The only issue with that is that you would need a rooted phone with a custom recovery image installed. Unfortunately, a lot of the procedures would not be easy for you, as the software that you might need to use to go through the procedure is probably not designed that well for accessibility tools. I don't know what kind of software you are using, but some of the instructions for making goldcards are quite complex, and involve editing some numbers in a 'table' which could be quite difficult for you, I would imagine.
I'm sure a friend would be able to help you out with making a goldcard/rooting if you did want to install a custom ROM (you'll probably be waiting a while otherwise ). They could even root their phone while doing yours (just share the goldcard between the devices).
Nonetheless, there is probably a ROM out there with little removed from it. I'll have a look just now, but you would need to have your phone rooted to do anything just now.
When it comes to rooting and installing custom recovery image. Do you thing the following instructions might work for me?
These instructions don't require a gold card:
- How to Root HTC Hero and Install Amon Ra Recovery Image
- How to install a custom rom on a HTC Hero
Hello,
Here are some numbers I've asked my friend to read from system -> about screen. The phone interface is in czech so I am unable to get some names translated to english, but I believe some of the geeks will understand these identifiers and might be able to help me what is best:
Code:
firmware: 1,5
63.118.55.O6U|6.35.04.25
2.6.27-a5504199
Build number: 1.76.405.6 146733 CL# 47214 release-keys
Software version: 1.0.0.A6288
pvdeejay,
to sum it up:
the hero definitly runs on android 1.5. there are no roms for older android versions, and a few homebrewn for newer versions, as we said already.
i searched for talkbalk on my 1.5 rom, so it is obvious that i couldn't find it...
about rooting of newer roms: it is just a matter of time, sooner or later there will be always methods of rooting a rom. what i meant by waiting is: wait until the official update is out, then wait a few more hours until the first rooted and customized rom is out
@pvdeejay,
I would have to agree with kendong2 that waiting for the official ROM is probably the best idea for you at the moment. There are no guarantees that an unofficial ROM would help, and it would be another user interface to try and learn.
@kendon,
I noticed he has the original, easily rooted version of the hero. IIRC, that is what I had on my G2 (and had the security unlocked bootloader out the box). If that's the case, would pvdeejay be able to 'fastboot boot' a full system img file for the purposes of testing it out to see if it meets the requirements.
The reason I ask is that I've only ever fastbooted my AmonRA recovery (I didn't flash it, because I never felt any need to). I'm guessing you could fastboot a full img, but I'm not sure about the practical issues of where it would be stored in memory...
Sorry guys originally I believed I am slowly getting into the matter and am begining to understand how flashing / rooting / upgrading home brew firmwares works on these phones.
After these 2 posts I feel like a total noob again.
Now again some very concrete questions:
What about these 2 guides I've posted links to?
Can I somehow got [Recovery] [13-Dec-2009] RA-hero-v1.5.2 installed so I will be able to do nandroid backup and then possibly flash some new roms?
Can I really brick my phone by trying to install amon ra?
Originally I thought the process works as follows:
1) get the custom recovery image installed (that's the amon ra in this case),
2) do a nandroid backup which will dump everything usefull on to the memory card,
3) backup and reformat the card,
4) download a rom, rename it to update.zip, put it onto the root folder of the cart, reboot the hero in recovery mode, do the wipe of the data partition, and run update,
5) reboot again and believe it's good.
Also some very significant bit is the thing you are all calling the radio. I am afraid I've not identified this bit thus it's missing in this summary.
Which files will I need to download if I decide to try Android 2.1 community edition 1.8? Are these files I've copied links to a few posts earlier both needed?
Can you please check this list, identify the things I am missing, and make suggestions and corrections why this may not work on my device based off of those number I tried to put down here?
Even if I won't be able to do this right now I'd be happy to get corrections as I can learn something new.
Of course I won't be doing all this on my own. I will ask my bro to read all the stuff to me and we'll do it according to your advices.
To give some bits about me and my computer skills, I believe I am a Windows power user, Basically I do also understand unix, I know what's bash how the files are arranged in a file system, can use command-line tools, telnet, ssh. I am working as a network administrator here so some background is there really.
Hi pvdeejay,
Answers to your questions here.
You can actually use fastboot to 'temporarily' load up the AmonRA recovery image into memory and run it from there. I do that on my phone, for the simple reason that I can't be bothered ) ) to flash the recovery. Once you get AmonRA running, the first thing you should do is make a Nandroid backup. It will be saved to your SD card, so then get the nandroid directory of your card and save it to your PC (just in case!)
So, here's how you'd go about this.
(Make sure you have the android sdk installed, and that adb and fastboot commands are working). USB cable should be plugged in throughout.
Before you begin, put the ROM you want (ie. Android 2.1 community edition 1.8) into the root of the microSD card (a .zip file).
Code:
adb devices
Should list your phone's serial number
Now turn off the phone, and turn it on with the back key held down (the one at the very bottom right of the device).
You should enter fastboot mode. Now type
Code:
fastboot devices
and you should see the serial number again.
Now type
Code:
fastboot boot AmonRA.img
where AmonRA.img is a file in your present working directory that is the filename of the latest custom recovery image. This does NOT flash your phone, it merely runs the image (pretty much as close as you get to risk free, other than sitting there with a tinfoil hat on )
See screenshot of the recovery image here:
http://www.sizzledcore.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/RA-hero-recovery-image-500x375.jpg
Make the Nandroid backup by choosing 'Nandroid Vx.x Backup' and waiting a while.
If your ROM needs a wipe first (most new ones do), select Wipe data/factory reset. You will lose all your user data on the device (but you've got a nandroid backup just in case)
You're now good to go. So choose "Apply sdcard:choose zip"
Now select the custom ROM zip file you downloaded. It doesn't even need to be called update.zip! Choose it from the list and push trackball.
Wait for the update.zip to go in. Do NOT turn off the device or pull the battery. First boot can take a very long time (upto 30 minutes). Just keep it plugged in via USB and wait...
As for radios, see http://android.modaco.com/content/h...-24-11-hero-roms-radios-in-update-zip-format/ and look at the section titled radios. The latest one is in bold. It is a .zip file as well, that you use these exact same instructions for to install (don't do the wipe or anything like that. Just install the .zip file)
anon2122 said:
@kendon,
I noticed he has the original, easily rooted version of the hero. IIRC, that is what I had on my G2 (and had the security unlocked bootloader out the box). If that's the case, would pvdeejay be able to 'fastboot boot' a full system img file for the purposes of testing it out to see if it meets the requirements.
The reason I ask is that I've only ever fastbooted my AmonRA recovery (I didn't flash it, because I never felt any need to). I'm guessing you could fastboot a full img, but I'm not sure about the practical issues of where it would be stored in memory...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this is correct so far, i did the same, except i installed the recovery. i play a lot with my phone, the installed recovery image with the nandroid backup is the best i have ever seen for a phone...
@pvdeejay
you always write so much...
i try to answer everything:
the two guides you posted are good for your situation. i never tried flashrec, but from what i read it is safe to use. i installed my recovery image through fastboot, the guide is here: http://android.modaco.com/content/h...ng-the-patched-recovery-image-on-your-device/
i have no idea how this works out for you, but my honest suggestion would be that you have someone seeing assisting you, you CAN brick your phone, though it is not likely if you follow the instructions precisely. the process is not very time consuming at all, so you don't need to bother anyone for days of their time.
edit: and now i read your post to the end and saw that your brother will be helping you, so you are on the right track
once you have the recovery installed you can make nandroid backups, and i would suggest that you do this first thing after installing the recovery, better make a backup too much than one too less...
the 5 steps you described are correct, except there is no need to rename the zipfile anymore, you can select any .zip from your sdcard.
the radio part is the number that begins with 63.18.55.06, then comes two letters and then more numbers. as by now the version can be identified by the letters, with JU being the up-to-date one. in general you can say the newer the better, but you have to try for yourself. start with the newest one, if you have problems go back.
thanks this seems to be pretty doable plus I will easily be able to restore the current data backed using nandroid backup.
Which android SDK do I need the latest one?
The commands I need to type are supposed to be typed on the PC or on the phone? I assume on the PC but I just would like to ensure.
Hero21 1.8 community edition has a recommended radio listed in the first post. Is it necessary to install that one as well? What should I install first the actual rom or the radio? Do I need installing radio at all? Should i do the same with radio i.e. renaming it to update.zip and using amonra to install it?
Also will I be able to use this method even if I install another rom (running amonra without actually flashing it)?
Edit:
sorry guys did not realize renaming to update.zip is no longer needed.
Edit2:
is there an easy way on how to access sd card from windows? I can't just remove the card from phone and insert it into my laptop because I don't have the proper adapter. Previously my boss was using the hero and perhaps it would be nice to backup the sd card first.
Edit3:
uhmmm, installing android sdk is perhaps not as simple as it sounds.
I have just seen this article.
I am on a limited gprs internet connection, can you please suggest sdk features I won't need to save some download bandwith?
- you need only the adb binary (thats adb.exe for windows) from the sdk, the rest is not needed for this.
- install the radio from the 2.1community-rom-thread, it is the newest. install the radio first. DO NOT PULL THE BATTERY until the phone has rebooted completely. if you pull the battery during radio upgrade your phone will be dead. it takes a few minutes, do not panic!
- you can copy the contents of the sdcard via the usb-cable, plug it into your pc and pull down the notification bar...
Do I need to run SDK Setup.exe when I have downloaded android sdk for windows?
Or can I simply run that binary from the command-line without the installation?
Do I need any USB drivers so my phone can be recognized?
My tablet was runnin dexter mod 1.4 with all the patches, buy always had problems with the sd card and the usb thumb and I also had problems running some applications. Right now my A7 is running [mod] update04-19 patched market + google apps and my tablet is working almost perfect. I think this mod is better that dexter mode.
I hope everybody use this mode in their tablets.
Thanks Bestialbub for your great job.
i jus got my elocity a7
i tried to mod mine with the dexter mod 1.41 and mines wont work,
1st- i download the file didn't unzip it then i sent it to the SD card and rename it "update.zip".
2nd- i did the factory wipe/reset then i select to wipe all data
3rd- i select update.zip but i notice an message saying( E. can't read from SD card). i dont know if that is apart of the mod or what.
4th- when it is finish then i select reboot option and when it is done rebooting i get nothing new. can you help me out are do you know something that i might be doing wrong. i also did do the 1.42 patch aswell didn't work. are is there another mod that you can tell me how to get it.
hasn't been tested for application on dexter's rom, though i don't know of reason they shouldn't work. gapps can be flakey like that; actually, the files are all stock as they come from cyanogen, minus my patched market, which doesn't have any reason not to work on dexter's rom and has nothing to to with the installation of the rest of google applications, including the calendar and text messaging services; i introduced no signature issues else it wouldn't install on stock firmware.
what i can suggest, is that if you're doing this under wiped conditions; is that you need to do a "factory reset" in recovery AFTER applying my gapps update.
if you don't do the factory reset, there will be settings put in place by the provision.apk in dexter's rom (not sure if this has changed in 1.42) that may conflict with the setup of google-apps. it didn't w/ the gapps in v1 i ported from dexters rom in previous tests, but i was going for a vanilla install w/out mixed signatures/versions/dates. provision.apk is generally suggested to be removed when google-apps is intended to be installed, and it is by my installer, but not the changes done in the data folders, which is why the wipe is suggested. i think its role is replaced by the googlepartnersetup.apk, but i could be wrong.
theres also some build prop differences; some unnecessary (gsm provider info), some improved (fingerprint for added apps in addition to patched market and added permissions), and the same ones necessary for apps like skype to run.
sorry if that was too much info. i do that.
EDIT: i reviewed my original post, its step *2B*. i did update it to underline it, and provide explanation for its probable necessity.
bestialbub said:
provision.apk is generally suggested to be removed when google-apps is intended to be installed, and it is by my installer, but not the changes done in the data folders, which is why the wipe is suggested. i think its role is replaced by the googlepartnersetup.apk, but i could be wrong.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
SetupWizard.apk replaces "provision.apk".
bestialbub said:
theres also some build prop differences; some unnecessary (gsm provider info), some improved (fingerprint for added apps in addition to patched market and added permissions), and the same ones necessary for apps like skype to run.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Audio fix, which enhances EQUlizer and probably a 10% audio increase, and rotation support for games is another one..
the gsm props were actually very much needed, as Google for a period enabled provider checking, so if no gsm provider was there, you could not activate a google account, so instead of ppl getting lost without MarketEnabler on a clean device, i included it for safety reasons so next time, we're prepared for such checks.. so it all serves a purpose, if you like to know more, XDA has excellent information on those topics.
SetupWizard.apk replaces "provision.apk".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for the tip. i did concede i could be wrong, and you're right, i could find that small detail that setupwizard is known to replace functions for provision.apk. the same posts i'm finding on xda and cyanogenmod don't say anything about googlepartnersetup, however, yet its provided with gapps packages..
i also learn from demonstrated and practiced examples..
demonstrated examples i learned from, including your 1.2 rom shows your remove provision.apk and provide googlepartnersetup.apk, then reverse the decision in 1.4, i ASSUME based on signiture issues you had stated (i generally don't have those as i know i can re-use existing containers without having signature issues).
i also learned/ported from various sdk's, including google's sdk for gapp imports, and neither is required, but what is provided is sdksetup.apk.. me seeing a relation from sdksetup for an sdk/emu android device kinda indicates one might want googlepartnersetup as a counterpart on a physical device. (your 1.4 example does prove that doesn't have to be true).. but the google sdk shows that i don't need setupwizard.apk for google services either.
thought i'd relate, since most the general posted information i've seen on xda and cyanogenmod seem like vague gueses at best. though i suspect the people posting this information aren't necessarily the devs working closely with the files. just hobbists and modders making educated guesses like me.
Audio fix, which enhances EQUlizer and probably a 10% audio increase, and rotation support for games is another one..
the gsm props were actually very much needed, as Google for a period enabled provider checking, so if no gsm provider was there, you could not activate a google account, so instead of ppl getting lost without MarketEnabler on a clean device, i included it for safety reasons so next time, we're prepared for such checks.. so it all serves a purpose, if you like to know more, XDA has excellent information on those topics.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i was refering to MY gsm provided build prop information, i wasn't ragging on your build prop or rom addons. i followed suit to the gtab tnt modrom and added DIFFERENT gsm provider information than yourself (service provider id, not google client information). but it made no difference in gapps present demonstrated performance as this information DOES NOT (the stuff i provided/borrowed from tntlite) get passed into the android system or database files, as no service provider id is listed when opening marketaccess.apk, as it does on a phone device that does genuinely have this information.
i do concede to the thread discussion, tho, DEXTERS ROM IS THE BEST AND ONLY FULL ROM MOD FOR THE A7 TABLET!!!
my gapps mod is only intended to provide google applications ommitted by the manufacture. nothing more.
thanks for the indirect market patching instructions!
thanks am going to retry and see what happends
bestialbub said:
but it made no difference in gapps present demonstrated performance as this information DOES NOT (the stuff i provided/borrowed from tntlite) get passed into the android system or database files, as no service provider id is listed when opening marketaccess.apk, as it does on a phone device that does genuinely have this information.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Had the same issues, so i found the trick to be adding it in the boot.img using the default.prop, and it is added during bootup.. but now we're OT! so let's leave it at that.
a7 installation problem
these are the exat message i got (E:can't open/usb/update.zip)
(E:Can't mount USB:update.zip)
then underneath that it say (Finding update package)
then it say (Wait for 5 second)
(Installation time out)
(installation aborted)
(Formatting MISC)
these are all the thing it say during installation
these are the exat message i got was (E:can't open/usb/update.zip)
(E:Can't mount USB:update.zip)
then underneath that it say (Finding update package)
then it say (Wait for 5 second)
(Installation time out)
(installation aborted)
(Formatting MISC)
these are all the thing it say during installation
why post the same thing every 10 minutes?
.............................
demamalu said:
My tablet was runnin dexter mod 1.4 with all the patches, buy always had problems with the sd card and the usb thumb and I also had problems running some applications. Right now my A7 is running [mod] update04-19 patched market + google apps and my tablet is working almost perfect. I think this mod is better that dexter mode.
I hope everybody use this mode in their tablets.
Thanks Bestialbub for your great job.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is not a mod it's the factory firmware with a patch to get market, I don't see in what way it is better than Dexter mod.
kevinppk said:
these are the exat message i got was (E:can't open/usb/update.zip)
(E:Can't mount USB:update.zip)
then underneath that it say (Finding update package)
then it say (Wait for 5 second)
(Installation time out)
(installation aborted)
(Formatting MISC)
these are all the thing it say during installation
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When this happen I remove the .zip from file name or just rename the file but most time removing. .zip does the job...
Hi,
First – thanks to all the developers and people who write those step-by-step posts.
I followed the CM7 threads ans got my Nook successfully Gingerbreaded.
Everything (but Netflix and video playback) works well. And then I had to go and enable the lock screen (well, I do have some private data on the Nook now).
But even though I'm 100% sure I keyed in the right pin, the Nook would not unlock after a reboot. I keyed it in twice to set it, and then tested it one more time, so I know that I have the right pin. But no I can't get in.
I’m hoping there’s a simple “D’oh” solution to this. And if not, an ADB hack or something. I’d hate to start from scratch for this.
Please help!
Thanks,
Guy
Gingerbread rooted Nook Color - problem using OverDrive Media Console
I am running a rooted Nook Color - I used ClockworkMod Recovery,
CM7 & Google Apps Pack to get to a nimble running Gingerbread version.
However, when I attempt to open a public library book. I get a request for id information. I enter it but the device is not recognized.
I had used OverDrive Media Consol prior to rooting I was able to authorize this device.
Anyone have a fix?
Thanks.
bertaf said:
I am running a rooted Nook Color - I used ClockworkMod Recovery,
CM7 & Google Apps Pack to get to a nimble running Gingerbread version.
However, when I attempt to open a public library book. I get a request for id information. I enter it but the device is not recognized.
I had used OverDrive Media Consol prior to rooting I was able to authorize this device.
Anyone have a fix?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
dude, you just totally hijacked androidguy7 post... LOL
androidguy7 said:
Hi,
First – thanks to all the developers and people who write those step-by-step posts.
I followed the CM7 threads ans got my Nook successfully Gingerbreaded.
Everything (but Netflix and video playback) works well. And then I had to go and enable the lock screen (well, I do have some private data on the Nook now).
But even though I'm 100% sure I keyed in the right pin, the Nook would not unlock after a reboot. I keyed it in twice to set it, and then tested it one more time, so I know that I have the right pin. But no I can't get in.
I’m hoping there’s a simple “D’oh” solution to this. And if not, an ADB hack or something. I’d hate to start from scratch for this.
Please help!
Thanks,
Guy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah, this reminds me of the time when I set my password late one night after some drinks and waking up the next morning not remembering the password. that sucks... lol
have you try to just re-flash a new nighty? wipe cache partition and dalvik but not data. if that doesn't work then you'll have to re-flash cm7 and apps. wipe cache, dalvik and data. all of your personal info and apps will be gone and you'll have to reinstall your apps
I need some help XDA. I don't know if you'll help or not, but I'm law enforcement and I need to access a locked Droid X. None of the forensic solutions available support bypassing the lock code and I don't have access to the Gmail password for this phone.
What I was looking for is a way to flash the phone with a rooted recovery image that would not overwrite the user data on the phone, so that I could recover the contents of the phone. I've looked at several different options including adb/custom recovery images but it looks like I need to access the USB debugging mode to root the phone.
Can this be done and if so how. Is someone out there willing to help me with building a custom recovery image that doesn't overwrite or dump the user data?
maybe im oversimplifying this but have you tried just plugging it in to the computer? my x will automatically connect as a usb drive and allow me to access the files on the sd card, obviously this wont help if you are wanting call logs or txt messages unless they backed them up to the sd card, just a suggestion before custom recovery
xsurferx, I have tried that and the only thing I get is the phone will charge. In device manager the phone is recognized as a Motorola MB810 USB device.
There is no way to access the device available through Windows Explorer.
My bet is that the person who took the time to ensure that privacy is more important than convience ( deny data connect from usb, wipe sdcard, and strong enough password/encryption) has looked further into other routes aswell. But I don't know of any kind of flashable that would both preserve data and reset the lock screen. The phone is probably one of the best suited to not devulging its information. It would probably be easier to get a court order for the cell records. But I wish you luck.
Dispatched at the Speed of Light from my XOOM
If you're trying to access the SD card, take it out and use a SD card reader on a computer and should be able to fix permissions that way? Maybe....
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App
Thanks chbennet, I've already retrieved the cell phone records from the provider (via Search Warrant) and examined the victim's phone in this case. But as always I'd also like to have all of the evidence including the suspect's phone contents. I already have the SD card contents.
There has to be a way similar to the iPhone to restore the system data to default while keeping the user data (call logs, SMS, Images, video, browser history, etc.) in tact.
The iPhone does this by creating a system partition and a user partition. Is this the same in Android phones? Or is it one partition and directories?
I'd still like to see if there is someone that could build a ROM flash that would disable the passcode.
If it is rooted, there was probably a nandroid backup on the card. If there was, this might help.
http://androidforums.com/evo-4g-all-things-root/319602-read-copy-contents-nandroid-backups.html
Dispatched at the Speed of Light from my XOOM
If you ever used CWM, CWMT or other non factory recoveries to wipe your data, you probably noticed that you lost the ability to encrypt your phone. Or maybe you did not even realize this is why encryption does not work.
For the Android phone encryption to work, it needs the /data (usrdata) partition to have a little bit of unused space between the end of the filesystem and the end of the partition. And as soon as you use CWM to wipe, it actually reformats using all space, and encryption does not work anymore.
User lolo250612 brought this to my attention, and together we created a update.zip that shrinks the /data filesystem by 1MB
In fact, we created 2 patches: One to shrink, and one to first repair the filesystem. The first will refuse to shrink if the file system is not clean and healthy. They will automatically find the correct usrdata partition device and its size. The shrink will then resize to 1MB less then the partition size (which means it could also be used to grow if you somehow had a filesystem a lot smaller, for example because you restored an smaller image from somewhere).
Both patches are created with statically linked e2fsprogs binaries and its own static copy of busybox shell interpreter. So they should work on all Android devices that use ext file system (probably all V2.3.1 Gingerbread and higher androids), and you should not lose any data because of this. But it is always good to make a backup.
We tested this on 2 phones, both ICS phones, and with both CWM and TWRP type recoveries, and are fairly certain it is safe to use. But to repeat, you should always take a backup of your phone.
Both patches can be found on my shared drive:
ICS_usrdata_fix-fs.zip
ICS_usrdata_shrink.zip
Procedure:
- Make backup of your phone
- Place files on SD card
- Boot into recovery
- Apply the shrink update
- If it tells you the filesystem is damaged apply the fix-fs update first
The patch only shrinks the filesystem, nothing is actually installed or removed on the phone. But if you use encryption, you could leave this patch on your SD card so that every time you wipe data, you can run the shrink patch again afterward to enable encryption again.
If you do use this, please report back in this thread, possibly mentioning your phone model and ROM you are using.
Quick encryption guide (and more)
I won't go deep into useless details as everything has already been described about Android phone protection somewhere on the internet. I will just give some meaningful links and tips by illustrating how I have protected my phone. Really nothing new or innovative, just a compilation of a few hints that I have put in practice to protect the numerous pieces of information that are on my phone.
Step 0: awareness
----------------------------
Why bother with phone security?
In short, I am clearly paranoid. Well, in fact, I don’t really feel at ease when I know all the information, both personal and professional I have on my phone. Over the month, my Androphone has become a real digital Swiss-knife and personal secretary. This includes:
Personal and professional contacts
Personal and professional agendas
Personal and professional digital exchanges (SMS and email)
Personal and professional photos
Banking account information
Trails where I run
Etc… etc…
Don't want someone looks at them. Not you?
Fist step: on-line protection
----------------------------------------
The first step in protecting your data consists in making hard to access indirectly the data that lay on your phone memory. This access consists in using the system when the phone is on, either via the GUI and the phone controls, or remotely (essentially by network connections, or phone basic functionalities like sms). So, basically, you need to lock efficiently your phone from preventing someone else to unlock the user interface that allows interactions with the system, and protect all communication channels.
To lock efficiently your phone, you must use a pin code of at least 4 digits (6 is better) or a pass-phrase. The latter is much less practical without improving online security that much. Above all, you must avoid those silly locking solutions like face recognition unlocking, or pattern lock. Those are toys for naive young boys. Not for those concerned seriously by security.
For protecting remote access to your phone, I would suggest:
1) Double check that USB debugging is disabled. This a major security hole.
2) Turn on data connections (bluetooth, wifi and 2/G/3G/4G) only when required (email checking, web-surfing session, data synchronising), and off rest of the time.
3) Avoid install cracked unofficial apks, or applications that asks for permission far beyond their obvious and principal utility
4) Install a software security app, if possible, open source and recognised by xda members. Once an adept of Droiwall, I have switched to Avast mobile security because of its extra features. But it is not opensource and it is a question of taste. But do this carefully, see that for instance before making a choice: http://download.cnet.com/8301-2007_4-57391170-12/dont-get-faked-by-android-antivirus-apps/ and http://www.av-test.org/fileadmin/pdf/avtest_2012-02_android_anti-malware_report_english.pdf.
But, you must be rooted (which is in itself a security hole if not mastered) and one must have a kernel with netfilter functionalities activated. This is the case with the stock kernel of the phone I use at the present time (Lenovo A789). But was not the case of 2 Samsung phones I used before. You have to either install a custom kernel adapted to your phone, or make your own if you have access to its sources (see tutorials as: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=22941057&postcount=1)
5) Personally, I would feel more at ease if I could find an easy to use firewall solution that could close, and better, make stealth all the local ports of my phone, especially when I am not behind a wifi router. But I haven’t found one yet. Droidwall, nor Avast, addresses this functionality, whereas it would be fairly easy to implement it with the netfilter system layer underneath.
Second step: offline protection
-------------------------------------------
Here we are. Now your phone is protected when it is on. But, what if you switch it off, or remove its sdcard? The data lay on the internal memory, unprotected (at best obfuscated). Really easy to find a custom recovery for almost all phones, write a script to dump /data on a sdcard and then make whatever you want with the copy.
Don’t like that? The only solution to prevent /data from being read by someone else is to encrypt the /data partition. To do that, your phone or tablet internal storage partitions must be seen by your system as block devices. This is the case with eMMC but not with Yaffs. So beware, if you want encryption you need to buy a device that answers this requirement. This is not always true and almost never documented. Notes on the implementation of Android encryption are there: http://source.android.com/tech/encryption/android_crypto_implementation.html
Now, as me, if you are reading these lines, you are certainly looking for extra information about your Android device and probably extra functionalities.
Certainly, the most frequent way to install extra functionalities and custom ROMs to your phone is to use an update zip file. With stock recovery, this zip file needs to be signed, otherwise it is rejected. For maximum flexibility and ease of use, alternative boot recovery have been developed, of which CWRP is certainly the most famous.
Usually, for 99% of users and operations, CWRP operates great. Sometimes, as nothing is perfect, a bug may occur. This is the case for built in ICS encryption process. As Cybermaus indicates in the first post, to be able to perform this encryption the /data filesystem must be slightly smaller than the underlying partition. But CWRP, at least up to the version 5.5, formats all the corresponding partition leaving no place for Android to store the required information to be able to start the encryption process. This is clearly described in the following links: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1792101 and http://rootzwiki.com/topic/25652-fixing-galaxy-tab-2-encryption/
I have discovered that by using aLogcat to track down the origin of the failure. The interesting part revealed to be: E/Cryptfs ( 87): Orig filesystem overlaps crypto footer region. Cannot encrypt in place.
To circumvent this problem, you will find in Cybermaus first post, two CWM update zip files that will do the trick in a simple and secure way. After flashing your ROM and wiping data with CWM, apply them, go to system encryption as described here:http://support.google.com/android/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1663755, and after waiting one or two minutes (not more), the system should restart automagically to encrypt your /data partition.
Third step: making your phone even more secure and practical at the same time
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Android built-in encryption is in fact more or less Linux LUKS (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_Unified_Key_Setup). Plus, it is open-source so that everyone with the required skills can make an audit of the code to see if no security hole is present in the Android implementation. The underlying mechanism is strong and secure, as long as you use a strong password. I mean by strong, at least 12 characters that includes at the same time lower-case letters, upper-case letters, numbers and symbols. And it must be something impossible to guess for others while easy to remember for yourself. You will find a lot of resources on the internet on how to create such a password. For instance: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/StrongPasswords .
The problem with Android, in its attempt to keep the system not too complicated to use, is that the GUI (I insist: only the GUI, not the system) does not distinguish between the PIN or passphrase that you use to lock your phone when it is on, and the password used to encrypt the data that lay physically on your phone storage. So the casual user is in front of a paradigm: either he chooses a strong password for its data, but this will rapidly become tedious to type at least 12 characters to unlock his device several times a day; or he decides to use a PIN code, which is more practical to unlock the phone, and consequently uses a really weak password to encrypt its data which contains only digits, and thus may be cracked in a breath by any PC.
Fortunately, this paradigm is addressed and solved by small tools like EncPassChanger or Cryptfs Password (both requiring that your phone be rooted, which is by the way, paradoxically, a security hole if not used with caution ). See: http://nelenkov.blogspot.fr/2012/08/changing-androids-disk-encryption.html for complete notes about that. So for me, the only way, both secure and practical, to secure your phone is by using a PIN code of at least 4 numbers (6 is better). Then use a handy tool like EncPassChanger to have a true complex password for decryption at boot time.
Fourth step: increase security, without sacrifying practicability
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As I am paranoid, but at the same time don’t want my phone to become a source of annoyances, the previous “basic” steps were not enough for me.
So I decided to improve security in two ways:
1) By following the following tip, which I find great and is itself self-explaining: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=26730989&postcount=2
2) By encrypting the photos I take with my phone, because these are linked with my private life and I won’t like that somebody gain access to them.
3) By encrypting documents I scan with CamScanner, for home and work, which may be sensitive.
4) By automating the action that disables USB debugging in case I forget to put it off after using it .
For point 2 and 3, documents lay on your sd card uncrypted. Android built-in encryption does not deal with both internal and external sdcard (just to be clear, by sdcards I mean partitions mounted as /mnt/scard or /mnt/scard2). To encrypt them you have to use once again an external tool. As I am an opensource fanatic for all that deal with security, I would recommend to use LUKS Manager (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nemesis2.luksmanager&feature=search_result and http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1141467) which is based on dm-crypt module (yes, the same that Android uses for its build-in encryption), or Cryptonite (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=csh.cryptonite&feature=search_result) which is completely open-source and implements the rock-solid Linux encfs on Android.
The latter is my personal choice. I do not use Crytonite in itself, except for creating the initial .encfs6.xml file. For everyday use, I use directly the Android port of the binary file encfs that comes with Cryptonite, and embed it into shell scripts. Up to now, no flaw, no problem. The password to open my encfs encrypted volumes is stored in a text file located on the /data partition. It is thus encrypted by Android and made accessible on boot when you decrypt this partition. So nothing more to remember.
To make things usable and practical, I use Tasker to automate the following things:
- Mount encfs volumes on start-up, by reading directly the password in the file located on /data
- Umount encfs volumes when usb is plugged
- Copy photos on a regular basis from the unencrypted /mnt/sdcard/DCIM to the safe place I created with encfs, delete AND wipe the original ones
Fifth step: be coherent about security
-----------------------------------------------------
Some people, torn apart by the paradigm described in Third step, by negligence or by lack of knowledge, strongly secure one part of the system, but make other parts big security holes.
Concretely, I am thinking about two examples: mixing encryption with pattern lock (or, even worse, with face unlock), or mixing encryption with usb debugging. Face recognition is just a jock. It is not reliable and fails very often. Moreover it is really easy to crack, with a photo for example. One of my colleague even achieved to unlock my phone with its own face, just because we are morphologically close enough. Pattern lock is not much better. (See: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=37649447&postcount=6 and https://www.google.fr/search?q=smudge+attack).
So always ponder over (two times rather than one) each action you take that may touch system security.
Thanks lolo
I'm trying to use this on my VZW Galaxy S3 16Gb and this is what I'm seeing in TWRP v2.2.0:
Mounting System
Extracting system fixes
Update script starting...
Update script started
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0p15: 13.1GB, 13140754432
4 heads, 10 sectors/track, 401024 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 64 * 512 = 32768 bytes
ERROR: unlikely size of KB
aborting operation!
Update script ended
Unmounting system...
Update Complete
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
edit: The same thing happens with both scripts.
I need to enable device encryption because my employer requires it for email and other Google Apps for Business apps. Thank you for your help!
Anyone know why full disk encryption isn't available on some (if not most roms)? Is it something that needs to be added with intent aside in the building process, or dependent on how the stock rom was set-up to work with?
I was hoping this would help get encryption working on an EVO ics rom which has encryption available, but when you click "encrypt phone" it just hangs on an android screen and doesn't actually do anything.
i was really happy to find your solution to enable encryption on my HTC desire S (ICS, rooted), but unfotunately it doesn't work. the same thing happen to me as it happened to mushu13, only different numbers in lines 5 and 6. same result whichever script i choose. please help, i really need system encryption.
thanky you very much!
First thing you should know, I am not an Android Guru. And unfortunately, if your phone is not an A789, I won't be able to help you deep in technical details. Cybermaus is the most skilled of the two of us, technically speaking, and he may lack time to answer correctly every request he is regurlarly faced with.
Okay, I do not know your phones and don't own them. So, distant debugging is much harder in these conditions. But the first things you should check, before applying Cybermaus' patches, are :
1) if encryption works with stock rom
2) follow thoroughly all steps I described in "Second step: offline protection" of the second post of this thread :
- your phone or tablet internal storage partitions must be seen by your system as block devices. This is the case with eMMC but not with Yaffs. If you don't have this information from the manufacturer, install Terminal Emulator from the Play Store and type 'mount' in it. You should see lines beginning with /[email protected] and /[email protected] If this is not the case, I fear encryption won't be able to work on your device.
- use aLogcat to track down the origin of the failure (see resources on the internet to learn how to use it, and links I have put in the second post)
3) Be sure that required modules are built into the kernel you use, especially dm-crypt
4) Post your results and cross your fingers that either this is a problem I have already encountered (in this case I may help you further), or Cybermaus see your posts.
While this script did allow me to encrypt my phone, it also shrunk my /data partition to roughly 1.1 GB.
Any ideas on how to expand it back to a reasonable size? I supposedly have 4 GB of ROM, and I assume more than 1 GB ought to be available for data.
Sent from my HTC Sensation using xda app-developers app
Thank you for your nice guide.
Only one thing is missing: baseband security.
Attacks on the baseband system requires very skilled people. Such as government agencies. It is believed they use baseband attacks to break into almost every mobile device. And there is only little you can do. Some vendors like Cryptophone have mobile devices with a hardened Android system. All others have no way to protect their device against baseband attacks.
Is this patch and reasoning still valid for newer android releases.
I am running a custom kitkat rom and twrp on a note 3 and can't encrypt so im looking for a fix.
I have been looking around for fixes but different posts blame different things.
Sometimes its the fact its a custom recovery, sometimes its that root is on the device and then there is this reasoning
Is there a way to find out the cause and fix for kitkat?
Virus
Hi, i tried to download your files
ICS_usrdata_fix-fs.zip
ICS_usrdata_shrink.zip
But the file are exe files with viruses.
Any ideas?
u2funker said:
Hi, i tried to download your files
ICS_usrdata_fix-fs.zip
ICS_usrdata_shrink.zip
But the file are exe files with viruses.
Any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe false alarm.
Lossyx said:
Maybe false alarm.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no, but if you search for these file, you will find some which work and which are without viruses. Check the link..it is not an zip file..it is an exe file
@cybermaus: just tried flashing the two *.zips on my Galaxy S 4 Mini running CM 12 (Android Lollipop) because my logcat tells me I'm getting the described cryptfs error. It seems my /data partition doesn't have that 1 MB of unused space needed for encryption. Now I would love to encrypt my phone using CM's integrated function without having to completely format the internal storage (because that's the other workaround I found: flash stock rom, wipe data (factory reset), flash Custom Recovery, flash CM again)
Do you have the time and device to update your script so it works with Android Lollipop as well? I see a lot of people come across this issue recently so there would be definetly use for such a nice script like yours!
Thanks for sharing this with us!
-Teutone
no available for download any mirror ?
Or write the script on the thread.
Thanks
Can you post the scripts? links are dead!
---------- Post added at 16:33 ---------- Previous post was at 16:32 ----------
cybermaus said:
If you ever used CWM, CWMT or other non factory recoveries to wipe your data, you probably noticed that you lost the ability to encrypt your phone. Or maybe you did not even realize this is why encryption does not work.
For the Android phone encryption to work, it needs the /data (usrdata) partition to have a little bit of unused space between the end of the filesystem and the end of the partition. And as soon as you use CWM to wipe, it actually reformats using all space, and encryption does not work anymore.
User lolo250612 brought this to my attention, and together we created a update.zip that shrinks the /data filesystem by 1MB
In fact, we created 2 patches: One to shrink, and one to first repair the filesystem. The first will refuse to shrink if the file system is not clean and healthy. They will automatically find the correct usrdata partition device and its size. The shrink will then resize to 1MB less then the partition size (which means it could also be used to grow if you somehow had a filesystem a lot smaller, for example because you restored an smaller image from somewhere).
Both patches are created with statically linked e2fsprogs binaries and its own static copy of busybox shell interpreter. So they should work on all Android devices that use ext file system (probably all V2.3.1 Gingerbread and higher androids), and you should not lose any data because of this. But it is always good to make a backup.
We tested this on 2 phones, both ICS phones, and with both CWM and TWRP type recoveries, and are fairly certain it is safe to use. But to repeat, you should always take a backup of your phone.
Both patches can be found on my shared drive:
ICS_usrdata_fix-fs.zip
ICS_usrdata_shrink.zip
Procedure:
- Make backup of your phone
- Place files on SD card
- Boot into recovery
- Apply the shrink update
- If it tells you the filesystem is damaged apply the fix-fs update first
The patch only shrinks the filesystem, nothing is actually installed or removed on the phone. But if you use encryption, you could leave this patch on your SD card so that every time you wipe data, you can run the shrink patch again afterward to enable encryption again.
If you do use this, please report back in this thread, possibly mentioning your phone model and ROM you are using.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
links are dead. Can you post the scripts?