Database Users

[TIP/TRICK] Stop Stock Gallery From Creating .thumbnails Folder! Save SD Card Space!

[TIP/TRICK] Stop Stock Gallery From Creating .thumbnails Folder! Save SD Card Space!
First off, I'll start by saying: "I am not responsible if you brick your phone! Always make a nandroid backup before using my steps/messing with Autostarts! (It's a very powerful application!)"
If you use a 3rd party gallery app (Like QuickPic, my personal favorite...) - You are probably tired of wasting over 100mb of space on your SD card... (And waiting a long time for booting up as well...) I had no need for the /sdcard/DCIM/.thumbnails folder taking up space on my SD card, so this is how to disable the stock Gallery app from doing so!
I researched a little on how to accomplish this and came up with little information, so I thought I'd share:
What you'll need:
1.) Autostarts app (I used: Version 1.7.0)
---
Steps/Directions:
1.) Run Autostarts
2.) Look for these entries: Media ejecting/mounted
3.) Choose either entry (ONLY CHOOSE ONE, IT DOES NOT MATTER WHICH! Choosing one entry will disable both entries in Media ejecting AND Media mounted!)
4.) Click on BootReceiver
5.) Choose Disable (A popup will show saying "This is a system app, are you sure? etc.)
6.) Done! Reboot. On boot, go to /sdcard/DCIM/ and look inside for the usual .thumbnails folder, it should be contained with a few (SMALL) files now!
Note: (Make sure you disable the entry BootReceiver ONCE, it should "strikeout" (as in: draw a line through) the entry BootReceiver, to show it has been disabled on boot.) - zmag

Hmm, seems I just looked in my folder and I saw the darn .thumbnails file again... If anyone knows how to disable the stock Gallery app from wasting boot time & sd space; PLEASE TELL ME!!! - zmag

Well, it looks like this is not a big issue for anyone out there - but it still annoys me.
I have since "frozen" the stock Camera and Gallery apps with Titanium Backup Pro, and still; no luck.
Now, granted when I reboot my phone and look in my DCIM folder it doesn't seem to be creating the .thumbnails folder 100% of the time. But the folder is still being created somehow, and my only guess is from a third-party app (and I can't seem to pinpoint which one) but I'm gonna test to find out which and post my results...
I wish someone out there could give me some input, I've been talking to myself here for too long. - zmag

This isn't the same, but you can create a filetype named '.nomedia' and place it at the root of the folder where you want and it will stop displaying the thumbnails in the gallery app.
http://smartadopter.wordpress.com/2...mbnails-showing-in-the-android-photo-gallery/

OK I believe I may have found the possible solution to this problem.
I was searching around on how to fix this problem as well, and tried a few things myself and believe I have found a solution, so I had to sign up for xda to share with everyone else. So please be gentle as this is my first post, although im a long time lurker.
I also got rid of the stock gallery (uninstalled with Titanium Backup) and now use Quick Pic. although I have removed the stock gallery it still builds that 60mb+ thumbnails directory on my SDcard. I was using SD Maid to delete it but it gets annoying that it kept reappearing even after the uninstall of stock gallery.
Now to start fixing,
I realized it was actually a large single file itself named ".thumbdata3-1967290299" in "sdcard/DCIM/.thumbnails/" that was taking up the 60mb+ , the smaller individual thumbnails Quick Pic created only added up to a 1mb or so.
So what I did was I just grabbed a random useless file from my SD card I didn't need anymore (an alarm clock plus backup .bak file, but I would assume the *new file" option in root explorer would do the same) and I renamed the unneeded file the same name as the file in /.thumbdata/ (the the .thumbdata3-19672902099).
Now I had a .thumbdata file that was only 1.75kb and just simply moved it to the sdcard/DCIM/.thumbnails/ folder and replaced the 60mb .thumbdata file with the smaller one.
After a few restarts of my phone, opening and browsing Quick Pic, checking my thumbnail size a few times with both SD Maid and Root Explore - I now have a much smaller 1.75kb file instead of the old 60mb file.
Hopefully this well help some of you out and solve your problem as well, as far as I can tell it is no longer making that thumbnail file expand so large on my phone.
Phone: HTC Hero CDMA
ROM: Cyanogenmod 7.1
Carrier: i-wireless/sprint

hewillmakehell said:
OK I believe I may have found the possible solution to this problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i've tried both your copied file trick and making a new file with root explorer, both to no avail. ".thumbdata3--1967290299" always reverts to its old size if any app associated with the gallery is opened.
has yours really stopped reappearing?
i can't figure out where the large thumbnail data is stored, but it must be in the system somewhere...

problem solved
hey i figured out how to fixed this on my atrix. should be the same for all android phones.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=28447099#post28447099

There's no "external.db" inside my "com.android.providers.media" folder.
However, I didn't even understood what I was supposed to do with this file. What he meant with "trim the thumbnails table with an sql editor"?
I quoted the post you linked below:
i found the place where the thumbnail data is stored, which was making the huge thumbnail file and crashing Entertainment Center.
it isn't storing the entire ".thumbdata3--1967290299" file (which can be hundreds of mb for some people), rather a large (tens of mb) .db database file that is being used to recreate it on demand.
/data/data/com.android.providers.media/databases
external.db
with Root Explorer i could view the file, and Speed Software also sells an sql editor which you can use to trim the thumbnails table.
*be careful: deleting entries from this file also seems to delete it from the device! i deleted all records from the thumbnails and images tables..
learn from my mistake. i thought it would regenerate, but it deleted all images from /sd card. good thing i backed up all my photos first, but better to use the filter option and trim out only the records for files that are no longer on the device.
".thumbdata3--1967290299" now reappears, but a whole lot smaller.
Gallery opens so much faster now, and Entertainment Center works again!
hope it helps!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

i bet it is hiding somewhere. maybe it's slightly different on other phones.
the issue was that i had an ever-expanding sdcard/dcim/.thumbnails/.thumbdata3--1967290299 file being recreated every time i accessed the gallery viewer, even after that thumbnails folder was erased.
my device was keeping track of ALL the media files that were ever on it, not just the ones presently on it. so the more files that passed through my device, the bigger the thumbdata file kept getting. the external.db file contains a table that lists all media files along with a bunch of attributes for each. apparently this db file is used to generate the thumbdata file. all the info for deleted files just leads to more padding inside the thumbdata file, so it keeps getting bigger.
by trimming the table i meant to delete the records in the external.db that correspond to thumbnails for media no longer on the device. that file is an SQLite file, so to open it you need a special viewer/editor. i first used the SQLite Viewer that comes with Root Explorer. with that, i could see the all the redundant thumbnail entries. to edit it, i got the SQLite Editor, though i'm sure there are other ways. then it's a matter of recognizing which files it lists that are no longer on your device, and getting rid of those rows from the table. in my case the external.db file went down from 8mb to 500kb after i did that.
screenshot 1 showing tables inside external.db, using SQLite Editor
screenshot 2 showing 'thumbnails' table

TBN FILE 2gb
hi
i have a huge thumbnail file in he sd card its almots 2GB
i have already came to opeing the list for thumbnails in the editor
but i dont know how to filter it that i can delete only the files which are not in the sd card (i.e already deleted ) plss guide me throught ,,, this and u will be a star:good:

whitebreadstyle said:
i bet it is hiding somewhere. maybe it's slightly different on other phones.
the issue was that i had an ever-expanding sdcard/dcim/.thumbnails/.thumbdata3--1967290299 file being recreated every time i accessed the gallery viewer, even after that thumbnails folder was erased.
my device was keeping track of ALL the media files that were ever on it, not just the ones presently on it. so the more files that passed through my device, the bigger the thumbdata file kept getting. the external.db file contains a table that lists all media files along with a bunch of attributes for each. apparently this db file is used to generate the thumbdata file. all the info for deleted files just leads to more padding inside the thumbdata file, so it keeps getting bigger.
by trimming the table i meant to delete the records in the external.db that correspond to thumbnails for media no longer on the device. that file is an SQLite file, so to open it you need a special viewer/editor. i first used the SQLite Viewer that comes with Root Explorer. with that, i could see the all the redundant thumbnail entries. to edit it, i got the SQLite Editor, though i'm sure there are other ways. then it's a matter of recognizing which files it lists that are no longer on your device, and getting rid of those rows from the table. in my case the external.db file went down from 8mb to 500kb after i did that.
screenshot 1 showing tables inside external.db, using SQLite Editor
screenshot 2 showing 'thumbnails' table
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had the sam issue, but unfortunately your solution didn't help me. I have only a couple of pictures on my phone, but a lot of GBs of music on SDCard and I think this is he reason why .thumbdata3 file is so large on my phone.
I also tried using SDRescan as proposed here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=28516079&postcount=6, but that didn't help either.
I've done some more research and found a solution here: http://www.mobilephonetalk.com/show...in-memory-card&p=311954&viewfull=1#post311954. After I deleted the .thumbdata3 file, created a blank one with Root Explorer and removed write permission to it, the file stays at 0 bytes and Camera and Gallery apps still work fine.

mihir880 said:
hi
i have a huge thumbnail file in he sd card its almots 2GB
i have already came to opeing the list for thumbnails in the editor
but i dont know how to filter it that i can delete only the files which are not in the sd card (i.e already deleted ) plss guide me throught ,,, this and u will be a star:good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it sure would be nice if android did that automatically
i don't know how though, sorry.. maybe there is a way, but it is surely safer to backup the media files to another drive, trim the db, then move them back if necessary.
---------- Post added at 09:47 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:42 PM ----------
strom87 said:
I've done some more research and found a solution here: http://www.mobilephonetalk.com/show...in-memory-card&p=311954&viewfull=1#post311954. After I deleted the .thumbdata3 file, created a blank one with Root Explorer and removed write permission to it, the file stays at 0 bytes and Camera and Gallery apps still work fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i guess that's one way of doing it. it just means all the thumbnails have to be recreated every time you open the gallery or file browser.

strom87 said:
I had the sam issue, but unfortunately your solution didn't help me. I have only a couple of pictures on my phone, but a lot of GBs of music on SDCard and I think this is he reason why .thumbdata3 file is so large on my phone.
I also tried using SDRescan as proposed here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=28516079&postcount=6, but that didn't help either.
I've done some more research and found a solution here: http://www.mobilephonetalk.com/show...in-memory-card&p=311954&viewfull=1#post311954. After I deleted the .thumbdata3 file, created a blank one with Root Explorer and removed write permission to it, the file stays at 0 bytes and Camera and Gallery apps still work fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How did you removed write permission from the thumbdata3 file with RootExplorer. If I try this, then I get a message, that that is not possible on the SD-Card and nothing happens!! The permissions stay !!!

Sunnymen1975 said:
How did you removed write permission from the thumbdata3 file with RootExplorer. If I try this, then I get a message, that that is not possible on the SD-Card and nothing happens!! The permissions stay !!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can try creating a folder instead of a file(no need to set permissions). So far, it's working

lbrfabio said:
You can try creating a folder instead of a file(no need to set permissions). So far, it's working
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Another quick way that seems to work:
Code:
rm -rf /mnt/sdcard/DCIM/.thumbnails && touch /mnt/sdcard/DCIM/.thumbnails
rm -rf /mnt/sdcard/external_sd/DCIM/.thumbnails && touch /mnt/sdcard/external_sd/DCIM/.thumbnails

Hello, I also have this problem. Now I put another file with that name and that seems to work.
However, I came on this because my device went suddenly very slow.
Is it possible that the application that writes these .thumbnail files is still searching through the complete device, even when it cannot update the file?
And, how can I inspect what app is causing this file or slow down?

Fixed!... deleted .thumbnails folder and then created a file called .thumbnails using root explorer....thats worked for me in my THL w1..saved 1.2 gb of space!

Is there anyway to stop the stock camera from posting pics in the DCIM folder? I am somewhat ocd and would like them to be posted in a folder of my choosing.

estranged1977 said:
Fixed!... deleted .thumbnails folder and then created a file called .thumbnails using root explorer....thats worked for me in my THL w1..saved 1.2 gb of space!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Created a file or a folder?

petrsiri said:
Created a file or a folder?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
try create folder (I do this and see no more thumbdata3-files yet two months)

[GUIDE] Living with CM9 ICS alpha - Tips & tricks / Troubleshooting

I have been using CM9 ICS on my Note for 4 days on and off. And needless to say, it has been a great experience. So I thought I would start this thread for everyone else who is using CM9 and would like to share their tips/tricks.
- I would like to start off with this particularly useful tip I discovered. The music player crashes a LOT and when you boot back up you notice several copies of you tracks. This happens to me the most with the stock music player. Hence I have switched to winamp which seems to be a lot more stable. The fix for the duplicated files after a crash (force close) is very simple. You either need to perform a factory wipe from clockworkmod (messy) or go to Settings>Apps>ALL>Media Storage>Clear Data and REBOOT. Once you have a fresh start, you need to backup the "[PLAYLISTS] Media Storage" data with Titanium Backup. Next time you have a crash, fire up Titanium Backup and restore the DATA ONLY from the Media Storage backup you made earlier. Reboot. Your library should be free from duplicates now. I also recommend switching to winamp. Winamp too crashes sometimes but you can use the same fix for it. If you happen to load more tracks, launch winamp and make sure the library has updated fine and perform another backup of Media storage from Titanium Backup. BTW, winamp also has an option for lock screen integration.
-I use ES explorer for general messin around with the filesystem. How you set it up is also simple. Get ES explorer, go to settings and enable Root Explorer, superuser will ask for permission, say yes. Now scroll up a bit and you will see the Home Directory option. Set it to "/". Yes, that is just slash. Now when you hit 'up' in the explorer window you can leave the sdcard location and explorer the system files. Now you internal sdcard's(storage) location is "/sdcard" or "/mnt/sdcard". The external (microsd) path is "/mnt/extsdcard". I haven't tried OTG USB mounting but the path for that would be "/mnt/usbdisk".
-There are SEVERAL ways of getting files on you sd, internal or external. The easiest way is to reboot>recovery>mounts & storage>mount USB storage. But that gives you access only to the internal sd. You can use ES explorer for sharing files wirelessly with your windows machine using the SMB protocol which is very robust. I suggest you google for instructions. You can also use QtADB, which gives you access to you external card too. And then there is dropbox. Dropbox now uses a temp system location for downloading files. The path to the temp folder is "/sdcard/Android/data/com.dropbox.android/files/scratch". You can use ES explorer to go to that path and 'retrieve' your downloaded files. Works especially well with .zip's.
-Now, the default boot animation is cropped on the sides and is kinda lame. So I thought I would try and fix it. I couldn't fix it with resizing the jpegs. So I just snagged some bootanimations from the web. I liked the one I attached below the most. It's called Machina and runs full screen on the Note. No cropping Now once you download that zip, you need to get it on your sd. Do it any way you like. Set up root on ES explorer and also enable Write Mode. DON'T FLASH THE ZIP WITH CLOCKWORKMOD. Locate the file on ES explorer, copy it, navigate to "/system/media" and paste it. You'll notice there is a bootanimation.zip there. That is the default one and you should back it up on your sd. Once backed up, delete the default one and rename the download zip to "bootanimation.zip". Reboot. BTW, I take no credit for the boot animation.
Please hit the thanks button if any of this helped you. I will be adding more info as I come across it.

Click HERE to see a quick youtube video of the boot animation.

Camera doesn't work, I'll pass

I got the nexus bootanimation to be fullscreen. I 'borrowed' hdr jpgs from a tablet build. HERE is a short youtube clip. You will find the zip attached below. Again, DO NOT FLASH WITH CLOCKWORKMOD.
stefan.buddle said:
Camera doesn't work, I'll pass
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not everyone cares about the camera lol

Thank you for the thread and the animations!
Another tip for file transfer (which has been mentioned earlier, in the CM9 thread) is to use Airdroid. I use that method as it feels more convenient to be able to keep the phone on.

I like the machanic bootanimation thx

Akerskuuug said:
Thank you for the thread and the animations!
Another tip for file transfer (which has been mentioned earlier, in the CM9 thread) is to use Airdroid. I use that method as it feels more convenient to be able to keep the phone on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Airdroid is quite possibly the best/most useful app I have seen on Android until now! Thanks for the tip.

acidburn89 said:
-Now, the default boot animation is cropped on the sides and is kinda lame. So I thought I would try and fix it. I couldn't fix it with resizing the jpegs. So I just snagged some bootanimations from the web. I liked the one I attached below the most. It's called Machina and runs full screen on the Note. No cropping Now once you download that zip, you need to get it on your sd. Do it any way you like. Set up root on ES explorer and also enable Write Mode. DON'T FLASH THE ZIP WITH CLOCKWORKMOD. Locate the file on ES explorer, copy it, navigate to "/system/media" and paste it. You'll notice there is a bootanimation.zip there. That is the default one and you should back it up on your sd. Once backed up, delete the default one and rename the download zip to "bootanimation.zip". Reboot. BTW, I take no credit for the boot animation.
Please hit the thanks button if any of this helped you. I will be adding more info as I come across it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Also you can put the bootanimation.zip to /data/local which makes it permanent if you update the rom(in the future i hope )
Placing the bootanimation in /system/media makes it change in every rom update-flash cause the flash formats the system but leaves /data as it is
And if you have different bootanimations in /system/media and /data/local the /data/local bootanimation wins

afilopou said:
Also you can put the bootanimation.zip to /data/local which makes it permanent if you update the rom(in the future i hope )
Placing the bootanimation in /system/media makes it change in every rom update-flash cause the flash formats the system but leaves /data as it is
And if you have different bootanimations in /system/media and /data/local the /data/local bootanimation wins
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice. I can confirm that it works. Thanks!

acidburn89 said:
-There are SEVERAL ways of getting files on you sd, internal or external. The easiest way is to reboot>recovery>mounts & storage>mount USB storage. But that gives you access only to the internal sd. You can use ES explorer for sharing files wirelessly with your windows machine using the SMB protocol which is very robust. I suggest you google for instructions. You can also use QtADB, which gives you access to you external card too. And then there is dropbox. Dropbox now uses a temp system location for downloading files. The path to the temp folder is "/sdcard/Android/data/com.dropbox.android/files/scratch". You can use ES explorer to go to that path and 'retrieve' your downloaded files. Works especially well with .zip's.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What i also discovered.If you connect phone to the pc with usb cable you can not see the sdcards in windows explorer....BUT i installed some time ago the Android Commander windows application (google it) and i can see both sdcards (ext and int) and i can also copy paste files from/to phone to/from pc

afilopou said:
What i also discovered.If you connect phone to the pc with usb cable you can not see the sdcards in windows explorer....BUT i installed some time ago the Android Commander windows application (google it) and i can see both sdcards (ext and int) and i can also copy paste files from/to phone to/from pc
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe I'm just plain stupid and I have missed something, but I tried installing AC and connecting the phone without result. Did you do anything more than just connect it using USB?

Akerskuuug said:
Maybe I'm just plain stupid and I have missed something, but I tried installing AC and connecting the phone without result. Did you do anything more than just connect it using USB?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope.Do you have usb debugging ticked?i also have google drivers installed in my pc

Adjust Touch Sound volume
Hi,
I recently flashed my SGN to CM9 Nightlies. still in practical mode
Does anybody know how to lower down the touch sound volume? quite noisy typing at night..
Thanks.

[Q] [help]how to reset the screen saver setting?

I have just made a stupid mistake!
I connected my NST to my laptop with USB and deleted the "screensavers" folder, and now:
1. the NST will show a whole black screen while it sleeps
2. I can NOT open the "Screen" setting now
The worse thing is I used my own screen saver and I forgot the folder name of my own screen saver, so I could not make my "screensavers" folder restored!
How can I make the screen saver back? Any comments are welcome!

Well, the best place to put screensavers in my opinion is in:
/system/media/screensaver/authors
That's because there are hardwired paths in the B&N software and this is the only way to get rid of the Bronte sisters without going black.
From a Linux perspective the user screensavers are in /media/screensavers
Mounting the Nook over the USB this appears as /screensavers
If you copy an image to /screensavers/Bogus/boring.png it will be selectable as Bogus on the screensaver setting.

Renate NST said:
[...] and this is the only way to get rid of the Bronte sisters without going black.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was tinkering with the default screen saver images, trying to get rid of the girls. It does seem that that first default image is hardcoded to that specific image. A few tries at moving and renaming files didn't work.
I'm relieved to hear that "going black" is the only consequence of removing the default screensavers. I was concerned I'd get a bootloop or similar annoyance by breaking the images in there. Knowing that, I'm going to try a few more adventurous changes to the system.
---------- Post added at 10:12 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:08 AM ----------
flyisland said:
[...] How can I make the screen saver back? Any comments are welcome!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The device still shows up on your PC when you plug it in, right? You should be able to recreate the screensaver folder. I don't have the file handy to confirm, but I believe you can find the original folder in one of the B&N update .zip files, extract it and just copy it over the NOOK (internal) folder when your device is mounted.
If you had it set to a non-default folder, it may still cause problems, but perhaps that folder being present will be enough to show the option again.
Good luck with it!

I believe bobstro is correct, it appears that the default image is hardcoded somewhere to /system/media/screensaver/authors/Bronte_Sisters.png. However, any image with this name will end up being the default image.
So get or create the image you want to be your default screensaver.
Connect to your nook using adb.
remount /system as read/write (mount -o remount rw /system)
copy the image you want to be your "default" screensaver over the /system/media/screensaver/authors/Bronte_Sisters.png (make sure the name of your image is /system/media/screensaver/authors/Bronte_Sisters.png).
After a reboot, the nook will display your new image as the default screensaver.

[Q] copying image files to my N7 and viewing them in Gallery

Okay, before I delve in, I will say I did try to find an answer to my noob question, and did see some posts about similar stuff, but really didn't find an answer and much of it was too technical for me. So . . .
I've been downloading photos to my Nexus 7 using my OTG cable, and placing them in folders like:
(sdcard) /storage/emulated/0/pictures/my images/
I noticed when viewing in my file manager app, that these folders (with files) seem to get copied/emulated in a 'root' folder:
(Root) /storage/emulated/Legacy/pictures/my images/ (It looks like the same string, but '0' is replaced by 'legacy' and of course its in the 'root' directory, not 'sdcard'.)
Three questions about this:
I wonder, are these files and folders being copied, so they're taking up more storage on my device, or are these 'legacy' folders virtual, and only look like they've been duplicated?
When I go to view my images in the Gallery app supplied with my N7, it sometimes shows both 'versions' (including the 'legacy version in the 'root' directory) of the folder(s)/files, and sometimes it only shows one version--the one I created. I can't tell, why is it doing these two different things?
And, to remove this duplicate folder from the Gallery view, I have to temporarily copy over the files to another folder, delete the folders they were in and recreate a folder to copy the images back to. So, is there a way to not have this happen in the first place?
Thanks David.

[SUPER EASY] [ROOT] Change lock screen wallpaper without ANY apps or mods

Ok so I figured out how to change the lock screen wallpapers WITHOUT the use of an app, wallpaper picker or modifying the framework or systemui. It's nothing short of amazing.
PROS:
-NO image quality is lost because of a crappy cropper.
-NO application or modifications to the framework are needed for this to work so you can officially get rid of Amazon Photos
CONS:
-Only one wallpaper at a time
-Requires root. However this is done through /data where it is mounted as R/W. This would't be a problem if you could symlink the /data folder to internal storage or /mnt. I have tried a few ways on the HD 8 with no success.
Instructions:
1. Download your favorite HD wallpaper (as close to 1920x1200 as possible). I have a collection of dozens of stock Android wallpapers from various versions and devices at your disposal.
2. When you have chosen your wallpaper and downloaded it, the file extension should be a .jpg. Please go here and convert it to a .png https://jpg2png.com This should be done for all wallpapers. Changing the file extension is not the same. This web based tool also compresses the file to reduce the loss of image quality.
3. Using a file explorer like Total Commander copy the wallpaper.JPG from your download folder on internal storage to this /data directory:
Code:
/data/securedStorageLocation/com.android.systemui/ls_wallpaper/0
4. Activate your lock screen to see your custom wallpaper. A reboot shouldn't be required.

DragonFire1024 said:
Ok so I figured out how to change the lock screen wallpapers WITHOUT the use of an app, wallpaper picker or modifying the framework or systemui. And it's glorious.
This is done on my rooted HD 10, but there is a huge possibility this does NOT require a rooted tablet. Why? Because it's done through /data where it's writable without root this is so easy I kick myself for not discovering this earlier. So if you have an HD 8, any model or year (NOT on Nougat) I need you test this.
1. Download your favorite HD wallpaper (as close to 1920x1200 as possible). I have a collection of dozens of stock Android wallpapers from various versions and devices at your disposal.
2. Using a file explorer like Total Commander copy the wallpaper.JPG from your download folder on internal storage to this /data directory:
Code:
/data/securedStorageLocation/com.android.systemui/ls_wallpaper/0
3. Activate your lock screen to see your custom wallpaper. A reboot shouldn't be required.
I've only tried this with one wallpaper so you might be able to have several in that directory so it's different every time the lock screen is activated. I look forward to your reports!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Trying right now... brb...!

DragonFire1024 said:
Ok so I figured out how to change the lock screen wallpapers WITHOUT the use of an app, wallpaper picker or modifying the framework or systemui. And it's glorious.
This is done on my rooted HD 10, but there is a huge possibility this does NOT require a rooted tablet. Why? Because it's done through /data where it's writable without root this is so easy I kick myself for not discovering this earlier. So if you have an HD 8, any model or year (NOT on Nougat) I need you test this.
1. Download your favorite HD wallpaper (as close to 1920x1200 as possible). I have a collection of dozens of stock Android wallpapers from various versions and devices at your disposal.
2. Using a file explorer like Total Commander copy the wallpaper.JPG from your download folder on internal storage to this /data directory:
Code:
/data/securedStorageLocation/com.android.systemui/ls_wallpaper/0
3. Activate your lock screen to see your custom wallpaper. A reboot shouldn't be required.
I've only tried this with one wallpaper so you might be able to have several in that directory so it's different every time the lock screen is activated. I look forward to your reports!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, I was pulled into something for a bit. And then I became distracted making this lovely new lock screen wallpaper, lol...
Unfortunately, it does not seem we are able to access that folder without root. I tried four different file managers. When I finally typed the direct address verbatim as you provided, the device didn't say the folder did not exist, but said I did not have access. I did however notice a different com.android.systemui folder, which was located at /data/data/ , but also did not have access to this folder.
Screenshots of my attempts to locate/access the folder you described are here if you want to see for yourself.
I just bought a new soldering iron today. I'm about to hardmod root this sucker ✔ ??*???

richaardvark said:
Sorry, I was pulled into something for a bit. And then I became distracted making this lovely new lock screen wallpaper, lol...
Unfortunately, it does not seem we are able to access that folder without root. I tried four different file managers. When I finally typed the direct address verbatim as you provided, the device didn't say the folder did not exist, but said I did not have access. I did however notice a different com.android.systemui folder, which was located at /data/data/ , but also did not have access to this folder.
Screenshots of my attempts to locate/access the folder you described are here if you want to see for yourself.
I just bought a new soldering iron today. I'm about to hardmod root this sucker ?*
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My beautiful wallpaper will have to wait for now... :crying:

richaardvark said:
Sorry, I was pulled into something for a bit. And then I became distracted making this lovely new lock screen wallpaper, lol...
Unfortunately, it does not seem we are able to access that folder without root. I tried four different file managers. When I finally typed the direct address verbatim as you provided, the device didn't say the folder did not exist, but said I did not have access. I did however notice a different com.android.systemui folder, which was located at /data/data/ , but also did not have access to this folder.
Screenshots of my attempts to locate/access the folder you described are here if you want to see for yourself.
I just bought a new soldering iron today. I'm about to hardmod root this sucker ?*
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Update: Ultimately however, I was able to set the lock screen wallpaper, using the "Prime Photos" app. This however changed my launcher/home screen wallpaper as well. I then downloaded the standard Google "Wallpapers" app from the Play store and was able to set my wallpaper back to what it had been, and was also able to keep weird cat sweater lady as the lock screen image. So, ultimately same end result, just a tiny bit more effort to make it happen, but not really a big deal.
Updated screenshots in my shared folder.

richaardvark said:
Update: Ultimately however, I was able to set the lock screen wallpaper, using the "Prime Photos" app. This however changed my launcher/home screen wallpaper as well. I then downloaded the standard Google "Wallpapers" app from the Play store and was able to set my wallpaper back to what it had been, and was also able to keep weird cat sweater lady as the lock screen image. So, ultimately same end result, just a tiny bit more effort to make it happen, but not really a big deal.
Updated screenshots in my shared folder.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What a shame. Well at least this is a lot easier now rather than taking the time and effort to mod the systemui.

Ok so this is disappointing. I'll have to post a rewritten guide. This one is tough to explain. But I am pretty sure I did this through the Amazon Device Settings application.

I plugged my HD 8 into my PC and opened ADB in an attempt to access the directory. I was able to cd into /data/securedStorageLocation just fine. However I tried to make the directory com.android.systemui and got an error of 'permission denied', but not because of no root, 'the directory already exists'. So it's there, just not totally accessable.

So this has to be exclusive to Amazon, or a result of or a combination of things. I have literally found only two forum posts that mention the directory perfectly. However the website is in Japanese. Thankfully Google translate helped. The good news is, it looks like you can gain entry by symlinking. When I saw this entry, and sdcard was mentioned, I did realize one thing I did yesterday that I've never done before. Optimized the databases. Specifically I used SDmaid (bought full version but I don't think that mattered). So it occurred to me, it likely 'fixed' whatever Amazon took out of the databases. This is a wild guess though.
Reporting on the rom copied Stock ROM reporting that it was possible to download amazon instant video,
and copied /data/secureStorageLocation/com.amazon.avod to each directory / sdcard
· Then the following So evacuate the original and
　create a symbolic link (su with adb shell and executed). Once done, restart
　cd / data / secureStorageLocation /
　mv com.amazon.avod com.amazon.avod.org
　ln -s /sdcard/com.amazon.avod com.amazon.avod
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

I went ahead and did a little bit of a rewrite to change the title. Just set up flash to stock and just saw the folder had already been there. I honestly cannot believe it's been there this entire time and I honestly can't believe I've missed it this entire time. Unfortunately this requires root access unless somebody can figure out how to symlink the folder to internal or external storage. though it is located in part of the data that is read and write, the folder is not.
Sent from my Galaxy S4 using XDA Labs

Update:
I just want to add, wallpapers can be in .jpg format, but for best compression, least amount of quality loss and if you have the same wallpaper for both lock screen and desktop, convert your .jpg to a .png for both (this should be done regardless of the wallpapers are the same or not). This handy, web based tool does exactly that, and compresses the file at the same time. This has resulted in my wallpapers being 100% in sync. https://jpg2png.com

I have copied my wall paper in png format to the location (with root access). However, it's not used as the wall paper or lock screen background, even after reboot. What am I missing?
In the meantime, I can use an image browser (Quick Pic) to set it as wall paper. However, it does not last. It may revert without reboot.

redhonker said:
I have copied my wall paper in png format to the location (with root access). However, it's not used as the wall paper or lock screen background, even after reboot. What am I missing?
In the meantime, I can use an image browser (Quick Pic) to set it as wall paper. However, it does not last. It may revert without reboot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Make sure you are in the right directory/folder and all the way to the end of com.android.systemui:
/data/securedStorageLocation/com.android.systemui/ls_wallpaper/0. Your wallpaper goes in the '0' folder. So far as I know no special permissions needed. But it won't hurt to set permissions to:
rw-r--r-- (0644). Make sure you have a lock screen set

# ls /data/securedStorageLocation/com.android.systemui/ls_wallpaper/0
-rw-r--r-- root root 11833019 2018-12-08 16:19 Wallpaper-Florida-Keys.png
So it all looks right. Just not taking effect. I don't know if it depends on some package that might get disabled (I've disabled a bunch).

redhonker said:
# ls /data/securedStorageLocation/com.android.systemui/ls_wallpaper/0
-rw-r--r-- root root 11833019 2018-12-08 16:19 Wallpaper-Florida-Keys.png
So it all looks right. Just not taking effect. I don't know if it depends on some package that might get disabled (I've disabled a bunch).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It very well may have been patched on 5.3 or 5.6.3 (whatever it really is)

The good news is that I can just set it using a image viewer. However, they do revert back though it's not clear what triggers revert.

redhonker said:
The good news is that I can just set it using a image viewer. However, they do revert back though it's not clear what triggers revert.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try disabling com.amazon.kindle.kso and deleting it.

I am on the latest 5.6.3.0, and copying to the '0' folder works for me. I had ads removed when I first got the device, so I don't have com.amazon.kindle.kso. So as Dragon said, maybe disabling and deleting will help.
Note that if the image is subsequently deleted from the '0' folder, the "7 cycling wallpapers" return. I don't know if they would return if some other method of setting the lock screen wallpaper is used, like the Prime Photos app.
---------- Post added at 09:55 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:17 PM ----------
Dragon, with regard to the "7 cycling wallpapers" in your other thread, I was able to use your post 2 to get my own 7 wallpapers to cycle on the lock screen. So even though I wanted your info on how to recover if I screwed up SystemUI.apk, I didn't need it! If you ever get around to it, I'd still like to know how to recover without having to reinstall stock, reroot, etc.
This post really should be put over in that thread, but I didn't know if you were getting notified there, so I continued to write here (and in another thread that I knew you would see). Thanks for your great work!

sga999 said:
I am on the latest 5.6.3.0, and copying to the '0' folder works for me. I had ads removed when I first got the device, so I don't have com.amazon.kindle.kso. So as Dragon said, maybe disabling and deleting will help.
Note that if the image is subsequently deleted from the '0' folder, the "7 cycling wallpapers" return. I don't know if they would return if some other method of setting the lock screen wallpaper is used, like the Prime Photos app.
---------- Post added at 09:55 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:17 PM ----------
Dragon, with regard to the "7 cycling wallpapers" in your other thread, I was able to use your post 2 to get my own 7 wallpapers to cycle on the lock screen. So even though I wanted your info on how to recover if I screwed up SystemUI.apk, I didn't need it! If you ever get around to it, I'd still like to know how to recover without having to reinstall stock, reroot, etc.
This post really should be put over in that thread, but I didn't know if you were getting notified there, so I continued to write here (and in another thread that I knew you would see). Thanks for your great work!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sometimes it's easier to make a new thread and index them into one as you go along...I sorta have one started. Anyways, if the SystemUI fails when you install it, the tablet will still boot...just without any user interface. So you can just push your back up back to the tablet. It's tricky if you come to it because you have to keep your tablet attached to PC while running a few shell commands.

I have copied my wallpaper in png format to the location (with root-access) and used a website like https://convertx2y.com/png-to-jpg/ to convert between the image formats. Is it a good one?