Database Users

[SOLVED] How to Delete System Apps after Loosing Root Access From 1.72.405.3 ROM

Ok so after much lots of frustration realising I'd lost access to the delete system apps after installing HTC 1.72.405.3 (in LeeDrOiD 1.3) I've finally figured out a way to do it and without needing to use ROM Cleaner then re-flash a ROM wich would remove all my data/apps/ect I've loaded. Now this may well be a guide for you guys like me who are very new to Unix commands and the whole Android system. I hope that it helps someone coz honestly the last couple of days I've searched high and low and haven't gotten any answers that worked until I worked it out tonight.
Just as a quick note I was able to delete apps from the /system/app folder before this update when I was still on 1.32.405.6 using Visionary+ in loading R/W access to the system folder on boot and a simple file manager like Astro or AndroZip to delete. Since updating to 1.72.405.3 without Radio S-Off I've tried the following methods and found they don't work:
- Flashing rmk40's Super User/Root patch for 1.72.405.3 as in this thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=886999
- Visionary+ selecting R/W system access then using a file manager like Astro or AndroZip to delete.
- Terminal Emulator after getting "supposed" super user access after typing su then going to the /system/data folder and typing rm Facebook.apk ect... also using the other unix commands to try and change the system apps from read only to writable still no access.
- Using Root Explorer which is granted "supposed" super user access does not want to mount as R/W the system/app folder and of course then won't let me delete the apps.
- One click Radio S-Off doens't work as obviously I'm already locked out as I've loaded 1.72.405.3 (LeeDrOiD 1.3) before running Radio S-Off.
- Re-flashing to a previous 1.32.405 ROM then trying to run Radio S-Off followed by all the steps above. Nope nuthin...
Okay and here is is here's how it's done. I had to have the Android SDK installed with USB drivers (HTC Sync has the USB Drivers). I then in windows I opened up command prompt and using the good old DOS commands like "cd\program files (x64)" I go to my android sdk folder platform-tools. Once in the platform-tools let the foreign Unix commands begin
Without the exclamation marks type I type "adb remount shell"
Then "adb shell rm /system/app/Facebook.apk"
Now Facebook.apk being an example of the app you want to delete. I use a file browser such as Astro on my phone to go the the /system/app folder and easily look around and get the file names of the apps I want to delete. An important thing to remember for all the other's unfamiliar with Unix commands like myself, this ain't DOS. Unlike DOS, files and commands are case sensitive so if you try to delete the Facebook app and type it in "facebook.apk" all lower case it won't delete. Make note of any letters uppercase or lowercase in the folder name and file and type it in correctly in the Unix commands or they won't work.
The other two important things to note before you go on a Spring cleaning, delete frenzy (like I will be after I finish typing this up ) is: 1) If you delete some certain system apps (for example TelephonyProvider.apk) Android will **** itself and after booting enter a loop where you can't access anything & you can't stop it complaining about blah blah app failed. So make sure you have on your microSD card either a Nandroid backup done recently using the Backp/Restore function under the Bootloader installed with Clockwork Recovery or a working ROM that you've tried and know works such as the stock ROM or a custom ROM from LeeDrOiD, Cyanogen, ect. If you get into one of those non recoverable loops you'll need to flash the ROM and of course loose any data and apps not backed up. Okay this brings me to my next point. 2) If you want to copy any of the system apps off to your microSD card either to backup or just if you're not 100% sure if you may want to install it again later then in command prompt type this:
"adb shell cp /system/app/Calculator.apk /sdcard/"
Obviously here Calculator.apk is the app we are copying but you can choose any app to copy. Also /sdcard/ means it will go to the root folder of your MicroSD card.
Stick it to tha man and have fun cleaning up your ROM and deleting all that crap bloatware your service provider and HTC don't wanna give you access to and now without the cripple of HTC update 1.72.405.3 stopping you!

Are these persistent changes? If so I think you will be the saviour of many on here!

Are you sure the apps are not back when you reboot your phone?

I'd be pretty surprised if they're persistent.

sorry i can't see how this has worked. unless by some weird chance when trying to get s-off, gain root and what esle you have try to do. has caused you to be able to r/w to the system partition.

cattleprod sorry i can't see how this has worked. unless by some weird chance when trying to get s-off, gain root and what esle you have try to do. has caused you to be able to r/w to the system partition.
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Ok I assure you it has worked and continues to work. One possible major difference I've just been told supposedly the stock HTC RUU 1.72.405.3 reverts you back to original hboot eng s-on. Me on the other hand I never loaded a stock HTC ROM 1.72.405.3 or an update. I loaded LeeDroiD 1.3 which has in it the base as 1.72.405.3 but also his modifications to that. So never lost clockwork recovery hboot. I can still load ROMs fine, I just lost functionallity from Visionary+ or anything else for that matter on the phone to access System folder R/W access. Using ADB on my PC as described above however did solve this. Unfortunately the other issue is after loading LeeDroid 1.3 it's permanently done something to my phone and even after flashing back to previous stock 1.32ROM the 1click Radio S-Off patch does absolutely nothing. Luckily Vodafone supposedly offers a free SIM unlock and there are also cheap alternatives on ebay.
dr.m0x I'd be pretty surprised if they're persistent.
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Eddie1506 Are you sure the apps are not back when you reboot your phone?
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Click to collapse
andyharney Are these persistent changes? If so I think you will be the saviour of many on here!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes guys these are all persistant. I've rebooted quite a few times and none of the apps I've deleted have come back. These are the apps I've deleted from the "/system/app" folder and they 4 sure have not come back to annoy me: Facebook (crackbook as I like to say ), Twitter & Flickr including any widgets of the same name, stock or shares trading apps, default internet browser (replaced it with Dolphin HD), Flashlight (replaced it with moddified HTC one that says "torch" as I'm not a fan of US English), HTC Likes, HTC coin, probably some others I can't remember now.
So anyway go for it just use your clockwork recovery (modified hboot) to do a full backup first as if you remove the wrong system apps it goes in a non working error loop.
I'm only real new to the whole Android thing. Only had the phone 4 bout 2 weeks and never hit up any Unix commands before then. I'm happy to help out if I can though. Just message me and when I'm on next I'll try to help.

[Q] Lenovo K1 UMTS Base Firmware

Does anyone have the Stock Rom from the germarn UMTS model?
I have been rooting my device with the none UMTS version (US) and now can't go back. Unfortunately it is not posted in Lenovos OTA section and the versions with letter M in the name for other countrys fail to boot. Maybe some files are missing there (blob)!
The version I had before I updated and rooted it was:
K1 A301 01 01 111026 M GE.zip
I hope someone can upload it for me or get me a link.
Thank you.

You don't need the original firmware. Just flash US-02 (with nvflash). Next, take "K1_A301_02_02_111004_GE.zip" and then "K1_A301_11_11_111213_M_GE.zip". After that, you can get the latest OTA via the settings menu. This should work for the original US-02 as well as the rooted US-02.

Thanks. Working fine. Rooting again with nflash was a little complicated. But now I have the issue, that the external sd card could not be mounted, so i cant do app2sd.
Sent from my K1 using Tapatalk

Can you explain what you did exactly? It worked for me this way: flash rooted US-02-image with nvflash->turn on backdoor to keep root during OTA updates->install "K1_A301_02_02_111004_GE.zip" (move zip file to /sdcard/Download/update.zip and rebooot into recovery)->install "K1_A301_11_11_111213_M_GE.zip" (move zip file to /sdcard/Download/update.zip and rebooot into recovery)->perform OTA update via settings menu->install superuser and busybox and check if it works->reboot->turn off backdoor->reboot.
If you don't have the backdoor tools yet or a rooted US-02 image, look at this thread and download the file "K1 - PermanentRoot.7z".

I did all that.
But my root is gone after I flash K1_A301_11_11_111213_M_GE
I still got no sound after OTA to K1_A301_12_12_120109_M_GE
How to re-root?

You have no sound because the backdoor is still enabled. You have to install Superuser and Busybox (you can try to install "BusyBox Installer" and "Superuser" in Google Play). If both are working, reboot and disable the backdoor.

Superuser App installs fine but under Settings/General it shows:
SU binary vnull
If I try to update it tells me it does not find any old superuser and quits.
When I Try to install busybox it tells me it cant find superuser.
Yes I got no sound but how do I use the backdoor to install superuser?

...

Check out this post. This Rom (download K1_CWM_120109_M_GE_Rooted.zip)
should work , includes Root an CWM based on K1_A301_12_12_120109_M_GE.zip.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1564002

Did anyone know, or could add init.d support because of ability to move app2sd?

[Q] Stopping the OTA update??

My girlfriend has an S4 that I rooted and bootloader unlocked when she got it. This is her first Android phone - finally got her off the iPhone!! I want to block the OTA so I can still have my own fun with it. I know I could use an app, e.g., titanium backup or some other app, to freeze the OTA. But she just switched banks and doesn't have a card yet in order to purchase apps through the play store and I havent found an app that will do it for free.
Wondering if I can just rename the apks responsible for pushing the OTA with a root level access file manager without screwing anything up??
Saw somewhere to freezeI, I think: AT&Tupdate, FWupdate, and LocalFOTA.apk's.
Also saw on ScottsROMS site to rename: wssyncmldm.apk
Can I just rename all of these to '.......apk.bak' without any problem? What ones do I actually need to do something to??

Just run a custom ROM. I'm sure they all have the OTA update disabled.

How to Block OTA
Prerequisites
Must be rooted!
Must have a root level file manager. I prefer ES File Explorer
Instuctions
Start root explorer app
Mount /system as read/write
Navigate to /system/app/
Rename wssyncmldm.apk -> wssyncmldm.apk.bak
Reboot
[CREDIT: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2268946 and scrosler]

Wi-Fi hotspot problem with rooted MF3

I have 2 S4s, one that is running MDL and the other MF3, both rooted. I was able to install the hacked TetheringProvision.apk onto my MDL phone unlocking the Wi-Fi hotspot feature and it works perfectly. However, I am having problems installing it on my MF3 S4. I have the hacked file in the proper place but when I try to run the Wi-Fi Hotspot feature it says "Unfortunately, Settings has stopped".
I did the current root method for MF3 and SuperSU was installed fine, installed Root Checker and it showed I had root access as well as other programs that required root such as NoBloat and Titanium Backup, all work fine.
Using ES File Manager, I change /system to RW and then go into /system/app and rename TetheringProvision.apk and TetheringProvision.odex with .bak extensions, then copy the hacked TetheringProvision.apk into the /system/app folder. The original files have rw-r--r-- permissions, but the new version has only rw------- permissions. When I try to change the permissions on the new file, ES says "sorry, operation failed". Thinking that maybe this is a problem with ES, I logged into Terminal Emulator, su'd, cd'd into /system/app and tried to chmod 644 the new file and it's denying me even through the terminal emulator.
I'm assuming the reason why the Wi-Fi hotspot feature is failing is because of the permissions not allowing Group and Other to have the Read permission. I never had a problem changing the permissions on my MDL S4, so is there something different in MF3 that is stopping me from chmod'ing the permissions? At this stage, I'm at a loss as to what to try next.
I don't know if this makes any bit of difference, but I did notice that the TetheringProvision.odex on my MDL is 75.75kb while the MF3 version is 76.23kb, both TetheringProvision.apk files on MDL and MF3 are the same size, 203.53kb.
Any suggestions as to what my problem might be or how I can get this working on MF3 like I did on my MDL? I see that others that have rooted their MF3's are able to alter their Wi-Fi hotspot back into action, just not me.
Thanks!

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Rextiles said:
I have 2 S4s, one that is running MDL and the other MF3, both rooted. I was able to install the hacked TetheringProvision.apk onto my MDL phone unlocking the Wi-Fi hotspot feature and it works perfectly. However, I am having problems installing it on my MF3 S4. I have the hacked file in the proper place but when I try to run the Wi-Fi Hotspot feature it says "Unfortunately, Settings has stopped".
I did the current root method for MF3 and SuperSU was installed fine, installed Root Checker and it showed I had root access as well as other programs that required root such as NoBloat and Titanium Backup, all work fine.
Using ES File Manager, I change /system to RW and then go into /system/app and rename TetheringProvision.apk and TetheringProvision.odex with .bak extensions, then copy the hacked TetheringProvision.apk into the /system/app folder. The original files have rw-r--r-- permissions, but the new version has only rw------- permissions. When I try to change the permissions on the new file, ES says "sorry, operation failed". Thinking that maybe this is a problem with ES, I logged into Terminal Emulator, su'd, cd'd into /system/app and tried to chmod 644 the new file and it's denying me even through the terminal emulator.
I'm assuming the reason why the Wi-Fi hotspot feature is failing is because of the permissions not allowing Group and Other to have the Read permission. I never had a problem changing the permissions on my MDL S4, so is there something different in MF3 that is stopping me from chmod'ing the permissions? At this stage, I'm at a loss as to what to try next.
I don't know if this makes any bit of difference, but I did notice that the TetheringProvision.odex on my MDL is 75.75kb while the MF3 version is 76.23kb, both TetheringProvision.apk files on MDL and MF3 are the same size, 203.53kb.
Any suggestions as to what my problem might be or how I can get this working on MF3 like I did on my MDL? I see that others that have rooted their MF3's are able to alter their Wi-Fi hotspot back into action, just not me.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try this app.. I use it on my rooted MF3 S4 and do not have any issues with it at all. The dev that developed the app is on XDA and also came up with other nice applications.. Thank me if it works..
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eu.chainfire.hotspotcontrol&hl=en

Remount issues

Hello,
I am currently running the H918 model with twrp and full root. Root was successful and the phone is running well. Thanks to all those who put in their time and effort and providing such a quick root capability. Makes the phone even more amazing than it already is.
Unfortunately, I am having an issue with be able to modify system files as I am unable to edit them whatsoever. I have tried using adb and using mount and remount commands but nothing has worked. I was hoping if anybody would be able to assist me with my issue. Thank you.

I've tried reflashing super su and I have busy box installed. Adaway is working properly (only through system less root) and I have been able to hibernate apps through tibu. I still cannot edit any files under /system. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks.

use root explorer

Thanks for your response. I've tried many root managers (including root explorer), enabled root permissions, had them successfully granted through supersu and still a no go. I just ran recowvery again and flashed twrp (this time without formatting data) and I am still unable to edit any system files.