Database Users

[Think Tank] Installing Non-market apps without a custom ROM or ADB

OK, I made a zip. Who wants to be my guinea pig? It's at the bottom of the post. (erase -signed and put it on the internal sd)

blackjackboy said:
I guess my idea would be to take the settings.apk from either the Vibrant dump or cyanogenmod 5.0 and push it to /system/app or wherever the settings.apk is located. Does anyone think that this would work or be willing to try it? I'm just worried that this will brick the touchwiz, and without an "original ROM" or RUU and custom recovery, I'm afraid to try it. Is there anyone braver than me?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you check this thread?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=728121

tbae2 said:
Did you check this thread?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=728121
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The thing is, root explorer isn't free. I want to give people an easy, free solution (maybe flashing something from recovery?). For now, ADB will work for me, but in the future I want to provide something flashable from recovery.

Well, the best thing to do, simply run a sql command along with the rooting update.zip.
I will work on this today and get back to you guys soon.

http://androidforums.com/samsung-ca...e-sideloading-apps-captivate.html#post1178618
Been done.

blackjackboy said:
The thing is, root explorer isn't free. I want to give people an easy, free solution (maybe flashing something from recovery?). For now, ADB will work for me, but in the future I want to provide something flashable from recovery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It isn't free but it isn't expensive either. You just dropped a large wad of cash for the phone, seems like another $3 to get it the way you want it wouldn't be such a big deal.

blackjackboy said:
The thing is, root explorer isn't free. I want to give people an easy, free solution (maybe flashing something from recovery?). For now, ADB will work for me, but in the future I want to provide something flashable from recovery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Droid Explorer is.

I'm an android noob but experienced linux user, so I came up with my own free solution: download a terminal emulator app (the one i got was free, and called, simply, Terminal Emulator, I think).
Then (in the terminal emulator):
Copy the settings.db file to the SD card:
To get superuser access so you can get to the settings.db file (need a rooted phone, obv):
Code:
$su
And confirm the popup allowing access.
Code:
#busybox cp /dbdata/databases/com.android.providers.settings/settings.db /sdcard/settings.db
Then hook up your phone via USB (mass storage method) and use your window manager to copy that from the phone to the computer, edit with an SQL database browser, save it, verify it's still good, move it back to the SD card, then, back on the phone in the terminal emulator:
To get superuser access again:
Code:
$su
Shouldn't have to confirm the popup allowing access again, as the first time appears to do it.
Move the original file to a backup name (just to be safe):
Code:
#busybox mv /dbdata/databases/com.android.providers.settings/settings.db /dbdata/databases/com.android.providers.settings/settings.db.old
Copy the new (edited) file into place:
Code:
#busybox cp /sdcard/settings.db /dbdata/databases/com.android.providers.settings/settings.db
Then reboot, and enjoy the ability to install non-market apps. My first install was Flash 10.1. Works fine on the Captivate.

blackjackboy said:
The thing is, root explorer isn't free. I want to give people an easy, free solution (maybe flashing something from recovery?). For now, ADB will work for me, but in the future I want to provide something flashable from recovery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Grab Android Mate from the market, it is free and has root level exploration

blackjackboy said:
OK, I made a zip. Who wants to be my guinea pig? It's at the bottom of the post. (erase -signed and put it on the internal sd)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This might also work, I have used it, pretty simple
http://m.androidcentral.com/sideload-android-apps-all-you-want-sideload-wonder-machine

Superoneclickroot has a one click enable non market apps next to the root button, fyi.

terrymc said:
This might also work, I have used it, pretty simple
http://m.androidcentral.com/sideload-android-apps-all-you-want-sideload-wonder-machine
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Smasher816 said:
Superoneclickroot has a one click enable non market apps next to the root button, fyi.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
:faceplam:
bump a year old thread? with these no less....

whats wrong with bumping a (insert # here) old thread? it hasnt been closed or deleted. as long as info pertaining to the OP is being posted shouldnt it be a non-issue? now if it was bumped with something like 'why bump this fossil thread?' then that would be a pointless bump. i gained info from the 1 year late post about superoneclick and thanked the guy for posting it.
EDIT: you spelled 'facepalm' wrong.

Well first it shouldn't even be here in development. And second thread closed.

How to confirm I have unrooted?

Okay unfortunately 5 mins after rooting my phone I noticed my replacement Vibrant has a bad screen. I used the one-click program to root, so I did the same thing to unroot. I downloaded ROM Manager after I unrooted to confirm the phone was unrooted and ROM Manager seems to think so (it told me to root my phone).
However, I am wondering if there is any way to *confirm* my phone has been unrooted (i.e. manually look for the root files and make sure they are not there)? I ask because I reset my phone to factory settings after unrooting, but updated.zip and chromemod folder were still present when I looked under files, which sort of scared me into thinking T-Mobile may be able to detect I had rooted.
Thanks for all the help and wish me luck for my *third* Vibrant.

DarkAgent said:
Okay unfortunately 5 mins after rooting my phone I noticed my replacement Vibrant has a bad screen. I used the one-click program to root, so I did the same thing to unroot. I downloaded ROM Manager after I unrooted to confirm the phone was unrooted and ROM Manager seems to think so (it told me to root my phone).
However, I am wondering if there is any way to *confirm* my phone has been unrooted (i.e. manually look for the root files and make sure they are not there)? I ask because I reset my phone to factory settings after unrooting, but updated.zip and chromemod folder were still present when I looked under files, which sort of scared me into thinking T-Mobile may be able to detect I had rooted.
Thanks for all the help and wish me luck for my *third* Vibrant.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can test this to un-root.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/pyg5sypm9qto7rw/Galaxysroot.apk
I wrote it today. with help.
its posted on another thread.

Erm.. couldn't you just download Terminal Emulator (if it already isn't installed) and type in: "su" (without quotations)

zephiK said:
Erm.. couldn't you just download Terminal Emulator (if it already isn't installed) and type in: "su" (without quotations)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
^^I second this, if you are not rooted, you will get a "su not found" type of error.
Also in this thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=728471 you will find
How to unroot
su
rm -r /system/app/Superuser.apk
rm -r /system/xbin/busybox
rm -r /system/bin/su
you could also do it from adb.

rhcp0112345 thanks for the app but I think the su way sounds easier.
Thanks zephiK and d_bot! I did the su thing and got a "su not found" error so I guess I am good.

Lakjin said:
rhcp0112345 thanks for the app but I think the su way sounds easier.
Thanks zephiK and d_bot! I did the su thing and got a "su not found" error so I guess I am good.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, no su, no root

New to Andriod, sry for noob question, What are the benefits to Root, What changes on your phone??

30Glock said:
New to Andriod, sry for noob question, What are the benefits to Root, What changes on your phone??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I know there will probably be a lot of people freaking out on me, but from how I use my phone the only use I've had so far is using cachemate to clear cache, and possibly modding the look of the os. I personally used to it to remove the annoying tmo boot and shutdown sounds/video.

30Glock said:
New to Andriod, sry for noob question, What are the benefits to Root, What changes on your phone??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Welcome to Android 30Glock
the main benefit of rooting is to be able to remove bloat-ware. Bloatware plagues the vibrant. Besides that there are other things you can do like custom roms(not many for the vibrant but they will come), with custom roms comes custom themes, also you can increase you cpu frequency. There are a few awesome apps out there that require root (Titanium Backup).
Basically think of it as you have just been given a new windows machine at work, and the admin gave you User permissions, so yeah you can do some cool stuff, but to really get in and have some fun you need admin permissions. To root/unroot this phone it is jaw dropping easy! Thank you samsung. Thank you DEVS!

Install Root Explorer and try to navigate to your system folder.

Moved to general section.

Picked up a FRG83D updated Nexus One- easiest way to root on Mac?

As the title suggest, I have a 2.21 based Nexus One. And I use a Mac. Is ther an easy way to root it?

ajaffarali said:
As the title suggest, I have a 2.21 based Nexus One. And I use a Mac. Is ther an easy way to root it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=8315805&postcount=2

He's right. There is nothing really different about the mac rooting process since the SDK tools are generally the same.

efrant said:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=8315805&postcount=2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This guide was for the main 2.2.1 update. Since the last time that post was edited, there was a second 2.2.1 OTA pushed, which I believe was a small fix for adjusting partitions or something similar and gave a slightly different build number. You know if this still works for FRG83D?

Xel'Naga said:
This guide was for the main 2.2.1 update. Since the last time that post was edited, there was a second 2.2.1 OTA pushed, which I believe was a small fix for adjusting partitions or something similar and gave a slightly different build number. You know if this still works for FRG83D?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Rooting by the method quoted works on all Android builds to date.

Ok- finally found some time for this but I'm getting a permission error at the step:
./busybox cp busybox /system/bin
Everything above that works well but when I reach this step, it messes up.

ajaffarali said:
Ok- finally found some time for this but I'm getting a permission error at the step:
./busybox cp busybox /system/bin
Everything above that works well but when I reach this step, it messes up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The guide is prob missing a step. Make sure you change the permissions on busybox to allow it to run before you try using it. Try chmod 755 busybox

ajaffarali said:
Ok- finally found some time for this but I'm getting a permission error at the step:
./busybox cp busybox /system/bin
Everything above that works well but when I reach this step, it messes up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Make sure you actually did get root, I had to run the first step a few times until I got the root prompt on my friends phone.

efrant said:
The guide is prob missing a step. Make sure you change the permissions on busybox to allow it to run before you try using it. Try chmod 755 busybox
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! That did the trick. Nexus One is now rooted. Now to make the hard decision on which ROM to flash it with

ajaffarali said:
Thanks! That did the trick. Nexus One is now rooted. Now to make the hard decision on which ROM to flash it with
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First thing to do after rooting is to make a backup. You would be surprised as to how many people forget to do this.

ajaffarali said:
Thanks! That did the trick. Nexus One is now rooted. Now to make the hard decision on which ROM to flash it with
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First, flash any custom recovery if you already hadn't.
Then make a nandroid backup. It's a 'must' so you can go back if custom ROM flashing goes wrong. Also, backup your applications and their data is recommended.

So what to do when I'm temp-rooted?

After having the phone for 3 weeks, today i finally temp-rooted.
Only because I needed to edit the root folder so that I can use ad-hoc internet, which stock android phones can't find. Well now it works and it feels pretty cool!
what else can I do now while I am temp rooted?

thunder9111 said:
After having the phone for 3 weeks, today i finally temp-rooted.
Only because I needed to edit the root folder so that I can use ad-hoc internet, which stock android phones can't find. Well now it works and it feels pretty cool!
what else can I do now while I am temp rooted?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Get rid of the annoying stock apps that come with the phone

i was trying to do that just now, but when i was in the application manager the uninstall button was still darkened out..
am I supposed to go to the superuser app and give it access first?
will uninstalling those stock apps have any effects? i still plan on continuing to use the stock htc sense rom as i see nth wrong with it.

No point because you're temp rooted, after a reboot.. they come back.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using Tapatalk

true. found that out the hard way.
sucks, even the wpa_supplicant that i editted will go back to the original which means i will lose adhoc again.
now everytime i want to use adhoc i will have to temp-root, then use root explorer to edit the wpa_supplicant.
since i used visionary to temproot and it has the permroot option, would doing so allow me to save all my file settings after root explorer?
would the permroot still be revertable using the unroot option?
all this for ad-hoc internet

thunder9111 said:
true. found that out the hard way.
sucks, even the wpa_supplicant that i editted will go back to the original which means i will lose adhoc again.
now everytime i want to use adhoc i will have to temp-root, then use root explorer to edit the wpa_supplicant.
since i used visionary to temproot and it has the permroot option, would doing so allow me to save all my file settings after root explorer?
would the permroot still be revertable using the unroot option?
all this for ad-hoc internet
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you're going to 'perm-root' then don't use visionary. Use the Gfree method, it's the most current and safest. I don't have the link to the G2 wiki right now but Google should find it for you. Rooting with Gfree is at the bottom section of the wiki.

I would use this method as it seems to be the quickess and user friendly one
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=928160

noodles2224 said:
No point because you're temp rooted, after a reboot.. they come back.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm curious, even if you're only temp rooted, wouldn't remounting /system rw make any changes permanent?

noodles2224 said:
No point because you're temp rooted, after a reboot.. they come back.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh thats there was a way to disable them though so they wouldn't show up or even get ran. If memory serves you would go into terminal emulator, cd to the system/app directory, and then you would pm disable the apks that you didnt want

tan-ce said:
I'm curious, even if you're only temp rooted, wouldn't remounting /system rw make any changes permanent?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No. It's been a while since I've even thought about NAND locks and stuff but basically the system is protected from permanent changes unless the proper key is used. When you reboot your phone the system is compared to an image of it stored on the NAND and any changes are overwritten - sort of like a system restore on windows except it's automatic at every boot. That's how I understand it working from my memory.

KCRic said:
When you reboot your phone the system is compared to an image of it stored on the NAND and any changes are overwritten - sort of like a system restore on windows except it's automatic at every boot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So do I correctly assume that s-off removes the locks?
Edit: Never mind the question, some searching paid off. Answer is yes.

How to get rid of the default emoji?

I'd like to have the hangout's emoji.
Not the Samsung.
BTW I'm not rooted

If you're not rooted then there's no way to do so. If you are rooted however, it's pretty easy. Reply to me if you want to know how.

guetzli32 said:
If you're not rooted then there's no way to do so. If you are rooted however, it's pretty easy. Reply to me if you want to know how.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I want for sure, maybe I'll root because of it
TY

paolobacci said:
I want for sure, maybe I'll root because of it
TY
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
THis only works if you are rooted, as I stated before.
I'm pretty sure you have to this:
With root access,
1. go to /system/fonts
2. rename NotoColorEmoji.ttf to anythign you'd like(lika a backup of it)
3. rename AndroidEmoji.ttf to NotoColorEmoji.tff
4. reboot
That SHOULD do the trick. I'm more used to changing the emoji to apple's Emoji to match them with Whatsapp.

guetzli32 said:
THis only works if you are rooted, as I stated before.
I'm pretty sure you have to this:
With root access,
1. go to /system/fonts
2. rename NotoColorEmoji.ttf to anythign you'd like(lika a backup of it)
3. rename AndroidEmoji.ttf to NotoColorEmoji.tff
4. reboot
That SHOULD do the trick. I'm more used to changing the emoji to apple's Emoji to match them with Whatsapp.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do I go about getting the apple Emojis?

blackguy101 said:
How do I go about getting the apple Emojis?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Grab AppleColorEmoji.ttf and place it into /system/fonts/
Set /system/fonts/AppleColorEmoji.ttf to have permissions 644 (rw-r--r--) and owner:root group:root.
then do the process mentioned above, but use AppleColorEmoji instead of AndroidEmoji.
Also, right now there's no reason not to root, since towelroot doesn't trip the Knox Counter. That way, you keep your warranty and also have the benefits of a rooted phone. (Don't quote me on that, that's at least what I read )

guetzli32 said:
Grab AppleColorEmoji.ttf and place it into /system/fonts/
Set /system/fonts/AppleColorEmoji.ttf to have permissions 644 (rw-r--r--) and owner:root group:root.
then do the process mentioned above, but use AppleColorEmoji instead of AndroidEmoji.
Also, right now there's no reason not to root, since towelroot doesn't trip the Knox Counter. That way, you keep your warranty and also have the benefits of a rooted phone. (Don't quote me on that, that's at least what I read )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is it possible if you can link the apple color emoji file again because the link is dead :/

Renaming the Android didn't do the trick.
I got only a few emoticons to choose.
I just did the root with towel root but I tried before with cf auto root and I'm waiting for a solution to reset knoxx counter back to 0.

This didn't seem to work at all. Anyone else have an idea? Samsungs emoji's are terrible.