Database Users

Device Encryption and Root

Hi everyone,
it's my first post on the xda-developers forum, so if the kind of my posting mismatches any rules, please let me know!
I'm using this forum for quite long time now, but so far all of my questions were answered by search & read... Some weeks ago I had another question, for which I colun't find an explicit answer yet. So based on some hints from different sources (thanks to google!) I did some experiments aka try and error and would like to share my experience with you (to give something back to the comunity, who helped me a lot in the past) and see whether I finally found the answere to my question... So please let me know, whether it worked for you as well or whether you know a different / better way to solve this kind of problem.
As usual: Use this guide at your own risk!
Problem statement:
I wanted to have my SM-P900 (stock rom) both rooted and encrypted (using device encryption). I've already done this for GT-I9100 (Galaxy S II) and GT-I9192 (Galaxy S4 Duo) in the past and it worked like a charme. But for some reason I couldn't get it working on the SM-P900...
Trial log (for short version see below):
I have successfully rooted this device via the CF-Auto-Root method by Chainfire (many thanks for the greate job!). When I later tried to activate the device entcryption, it first looked like the process has started (I got a black screen with a green android manikin), but after some time (~1min) the device just re-started and booted in normal mode. I tried it several times with the same end of story - no success, no harm either.
After some time of googling I found a hint, that on KitKat devices Superuser should be temporarily de-activated in order to get the device encryption starting properly and activate it after the encryption process has finished. So I tried that and indeed, this time the encryption process started after the reboot. I let it finish and after a reboot it looked like I was where I wanted to be at. But then I realized that I wasn't able to activate the Superuser back (SuperSU said "Can't find the su binary... You need to restore it manually" or something similar). Damned! I thought "OK, let's try CF-Auto-Root again". The root process itself seemed to work, but after that the device just hang at boot... Soft-brick... :crying:
Taking a more deeper look at the script source of an Update-Super-SU package from Chainfire I realized that it also does some writes to the /data partition. Well, I guess this broke the partition, since it was encrypted... (If anyone has a better explanation for this, please let me know!)
So everything back to the start: I flashed the stock rom, did a factory reset and re-ran CF-Auto-Root... Now the device was operating properly and was rooted, but no encryption. Before starting another try of encryption, I wanted verify that the temoprary un-root wasn't broken by the encryption. So I did a temorary un-root (by removing the tick at the option "Activate Superuser" in SuperSu settings) and then activated it back right away. This worked fine. I rebooted (just to confirm everything is still working) and Superuser still worked as expected. Then (to try one more thing) I "de-activated" su again and rebooted. Trying to activate it back after the reboot, I realized that I now was at the same situation as just after the encryption, but without the encryption. I.e. the problem was not the encryption itself, but kind of a bug in SuperSU - it was not able to activate su back after a reboot (I'll try to check it via a bug report to Chainfire).
So I digged a bit deeper into this and realized that SuperSU was simply deleting the su binary in /system/xbin on de-activation and writing it back on activation. And it looked like it wasn't able to write it back after a reboot (probably because of missing permission).
Knowing that, I decided to go a step further: I flashed the TWRP (many thanks to the TeamWin guys!), booted into recovery, mounted /system and copied the su binary manually to /system/xbin. After a reboot I tried once again open SuperSU, but it still said, it couldn't find the su binary. Hmmm... There must be something more... Having another look at the script source of the Update-Super-SU package I found that at the end it was calling the su binary with the option "-install". So I booted back to recovery and tried that as well... Hurra!!! After a reboot SuperSU was finally starting and the root-apps were able to get su access... So this seemed to be the desired solution.
I deactivated su again, rebooted and started the encryption. It ran and finished successfully, as expected. After that I booted to recovery and installed su manually, as I've done it before... Reboot... finger crossed... Tadaa!!! System is back, encrypted and root is working! :good:
Solution approach:
Device is not rooted and not encypted (if already rooted, scip 2; if already encrypted, decrypt or do a factory-reset - don't try CF-Auto-Root on an encrypted device, it'll soft-brick)
Root the device (e.g. using Auto-Root-CF by Chainfire (it'll trigger the Knox-counter)
Temporarily un-root the device (when using SuperSU: go to Settings and remove the tick at the option "Activate Superuser")
Reboot
Activate the device encryption (the battery must be at least at 80% and the device must be plugged in the wall charger)
The device will restart after a short period of time and start the encryption (this will take some time, but you should see a progress bar indicating how far it is)
After the encryption is finished the device will reboot and ask for the password, just log in
If not yet done, flash a custom recovery where you have a console access or can use ADB as root (I used TWRP)
Boot into recovery
Mount /system (it's not mounted automatically, at least not in the version I used - TWRP 2.7.1.0).
Open the console or ADB shell
Copy the su binary (if you use SuperSU: cp /system/xbin/daemonsu /system/xbin/su)
Execute the installation (if you use SuperSU: /system/xbin/su --install)
Reboot
You should be done

Thank you for the info and the simple steps. I was considering something similar to what you wanted with your device.

bruzzy,
I've followed your steps and managed to re-enable SuperSU after encryption! (used twrp)
Thank you!!!!!

Hello Bruzzy,
Thanks so much for the awesome post!
I am just having difficulty with the final steps. I am a complete newbie in regards to rooting and using these android tools.
Everything else was quite clear in your post except for these final steps.
Could you please simply a bit more step by step how I proceed to do the final steps listed below?
[*]Mount /system (it's not mounted automatically, at least not in the version I used - TWRP 2.7.1.0).
[*]Open the console or ADB shell
[*]Copy the su binary (if you use SuperSU: cp /system/xbin/daemonsu /system/xbin/su)
[*]Execute the installation (if you use SuperSU: /system/xbin/su --install)
[*]Reboot
Thanks so much!
EndlessAdventurer
bruzzy said:
Hi everyone,
it's my first post on the xda-developers forum, so if the kind of my posting mismatches any rules, please let me know!
I'm using this forum for quite long time now, but so far all of my questions were answered by search & read... Some weeks ago I had another question, for which I colun't find an explicit answer yet. So based on some hints from different sources (thanks to google!) I did some experiments aka try and error and would like to share my experience with you (to give something back to the comunity, who helped me a lot in the past) and see whether I finally found the answere to my question... So please let me know, whether it worked for you as well or whether you know a different / better way to solve this kind of problem.
As usual: Use this guide at your own risk!
Problem statement:
I wanted to have my SM-P900 (stock rom) both rooted and encrypted (using device encryption). I've already done this for GT-I9100 (Galaxy S II) and GT-I9192 (Galaxy S4 Duo) in the past and it worked like a charme. But for some reason I couldn't get it working on the SM-P900...
Trial log (for short version see below):
I have successfully rooted this device via the CF-Auto-Root method by Chainfire (many thanks for the greate job!). When I later tried to activate the device entcryption, it first looked like the process has started (I got a black screen with a green android manikin), but after some time (~1min) the device just re-started and booted in normal mode. I tried it several times with the same end of story - no success, no harm either.
After some time of googling I found a hint, that on KitKat devices Superuser should be temporarily de-activated in order to get the device encryption starting properly and activate it after the encryption process has finished. So I tried that and indeed, this time the encryption process started after the reboot. I let it finish and after a reboot it looked like I was where I wanted to be at. But then I realized that I wasn't able to activate the Superuser back (SuperSU said "Can't find the su binary... You need to restore it manually" or something similar). Damned! I thought "OK, let's try CF-Auto-Root again". The root process itself seemed to work, but after that the device just hang at boot... Soft-brick... :crying:
Taking a more deeper look at the script source of an Update-Super-SU package from Chainfire I realized that it also does some writes to the /data partition. Well, I guess this broke the partition, since it was encrypted... (If anyone has a better explanation for this, please let me know!)
So everything back to the start: I flashed the stock rom, did a factory reset and re-ran CF-Auto-Root... Now the device was operating properly and was rooted, but no encryption. Before starting another try of encryption, I wanted verify that the temoprary un-root wasn't broken by the encryption. So I did a temorary un-root (by removing the tick at the option "Activate Superuser" in SuperSu settings) and then activated it back right away. This worked fine. I rebooted (just to confirm everything is still working) and Superuser still worked as expected. Then (to try one more thing) I "de-activated" su again and rebooted. Trying to activate it back after the reboot, I realized that I now was at the same situation as just after the encryption, but without the encryption. I.e. the problem was not the encryption itself, but kind of a bug in SuperSU - it was not able to activate su back after a reboot (I'll try to check it via a bug report to Chainfire).
So I digged a bit deeper into this and realized that SuperSU was simply deleting the su binary in /system/xbin on de-activation and writing it back on activation. And it looked like it wasn't able to write it back after a reboot (probably because of missing permission).
Knowing that, I decided to go a step further: I flashed the TWRP (many thanks to the TeamWin guys!), booted into recovery, mounted /system and copied the su binary manually to /system/xbin. After a reboot I tried once again open SuperSU, but it still said, it couldn't find the su binary. Hmmm... There must be something more... Having another look at the script source of the Update-Super-SU package I found that at the end it was calling the su binary with the option "-install". So I booted back to recovery and tried that as well... Hurra!!! After a reboot SuperSU was finally starting and the root-apps were able to get su access... So this seemed to be the desired solution.
I deactivated su again, rebooted and started the encryption. It ran and finished successfully, as expected. After that I booted to recovery and installed su manually, as I've done it before... Reboot... finger crossed... Tadaa!!! System is back, encrypted and root is working! :good:
Solution approach:
Device is not rooted and not encypted (if already rooted, scip 2; if already encrypted, decrypt or do a factory-reset - don't try CF-Auto-Root on an encrypted device, it'll soft-brick)
Root the device (e.g. using Auto-Root-CF by Chainfire (it'll trigger the Knox-counter)
Temporarily un-root the device (when using SuperSU: go to Settings and remove the tick at the option "Activate Superuser")
Reboot
Activate the device encryption (the battery must be at least at 80% and the device must be plugged in the wall charger)
The device will restart after a short period of time and start the encryption (this will take some time, but you should see a progress bar indicating how far it is)
After the encryption is finished the device will reboot and ask for the password, just log in
If not yet done, flash a custom recovery where you have a console access or can use ADB as root (I used TWRP)
Boot into recovery
Mount /system (it's not mounted automatically, at least not in the version I used - TWRP 2.7.1.0).
Open the console or ADB shell
Copy the su binary (if you use SuperSU: cp /system/xbin/daemonsu /system/xbin/su)
Execute the installation (if you use SuperSU: /system/xbin/su --install)
Reboot
You should be done
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

@EndlessAdventurer,
I'm sorry, but I don't know, what you mean with "more step by step". There are no more steps in between, the steps are as granular as possible. If you use TWRP, there is a menu "Mount" (go there and tick /system) - you should have seen it already (if not, have a look at the TWRP documentation). But you could also mount your system from the console or ADB shell.
If you don't know, what "mount", "console" or "ADB" is and are not able to use google to lern it yourself, then you should really not use this guide and even avoid rooting your device...
Beeing a newbie is not an excuse, it's completely up to you to spend some time and change this!
Please avoid quoting the whole post! If you want to reference some part of a post, pick only the relevant part and quote that.

Alternative Method
Hi,
I have used another method that also works. It worked with my Galaxy S4, Note 10.1 and now with Note Pro. Hope this can help:
1-Root your device and install/update SuperSu;
2-Convert SuperSu to system app (there is an option in SU config). Reboot.
-OBS: If your root method has already installed SuperSu as a system app, this step can be skipped;
3-As SuperSu is now a system app, it can be deactivated through Applications Management in settings. Deactivate it;
-OBS: does NOT use deactivate in SU own config;
4- Reboot in Safe Mode. This can be done pressing both Volume Up/Down while rebooting;
5-Start encryption the normal way and wait until it finishes. Enter your password and wait device boot normally;
6-Go to Applications Management in settings and activate SuperSu;
7-Reboot one more time and your system is encrypted with SuperSu working normally.

I was able to follow all of the posted solutions through but for some reason my phone insists on just booting back into Android instead of actually encrypting my phone. Any ideas?
I have a SM-G900T, TWRP, SuperSU

m33rkat said:
I was able to follow all of the posted solutions through but for some reason my phone insists on just booting back into Android instead of actually encrypting my phone. Any ideas?
I have a SM-G900T, TWRP, SuperSU
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is some more things that you can try with the solution I´ve posted:
1-Put original recovery instead of TWRP. I have never tried to encrypt with custom recovery;
2-When you boot in "Safe Mode", go to Application Management, running applications and stop as much processes as you can (do not stop google services).
OBS: To ensure that you have booted in Safe Mode, look at the bottom left corner of the screen an see if it shows “Safe Mode”.

rooting and encrpytion
The alternative method worked like charm....Thanks guys
NB:My tab got soft bricked after I did the factory reset and tried to root. I had to install a stock rom b4 proceeding with the guide.

Sorry to resurrect this thread but I just ran into this issue for the first time. (Thanks for posting this, btw, it's encrypting as we speak). A couple questions....what happens if we apply an OTA update after doing this? Will that cause any problems when we try to re-root it? I'm guessing after doing this CF Auto root won't be much of an option without soft bricking, right? I can always install custom recovery and fix root manually after an OTA. I'm just wondering what happens when (you know, some year) we eventually get 5.0. Thanks again!

To be on the safe side, I always unencrypt my device before a FW update with ODIN or Kies or OTA, because I root again after the update.
If you use OTA or Kies you can do the update with the device encrypted, BUT, as you are going to root again, when you install CFAutoroot your device won´t boot, because of the difference in kernel. This is the reason that I unencrypt before FW updates and proceed with encryption again after I check that everything is working as expected.

I may just fully unroot it temporarily, install the update, and then root after with custom recovery. We shall see. I suspect since we're still on 4.4.2 on the Note 10.1 2014 I got quite some time before I have to worry about it. LOL
P.S. I asked because 5.0 is going to turn encryption on by default, so decrypting may not be an option going forward.

After hours of trying to get encryption an root at the same time for my Galaxy Note 10.1 (2014), temporary disabling SuperSU just worked. Thanks! :good: (I even could skip the part with copying the su binary, probably chainfire has fixed the bug. Just tried enabling SuperSU did it perfectly.)

Hi there
I'm facing a similar problem like you on my Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 LTE.
I have my device:
- rooted
- twrp recovery installed
- run custom ROM
However even when I disable SuperSU and reboot the device and then start encrypting. I only see the Android Logo and no progress. AFter a while (10 minutes or so), it reboots the tab and I end ab at screen lock login and devices is not encrypted. Any ideas?

Thank you for your great effort to help!
But, none of the methods, including the alternative from Nickfreedom did not help me...
I have a Sony Xperia Z1 with rooted Lollipop and SuperSU.
I tried to kill daemonsu with ADB before encrypting, I tried to disable the SuperSU app and I always booted into safe mode before starting encryption.
Nothing helped.
In previous times I had Xposed framework on my device, but as far as I can see, Xposed framework is no longer on my device, I installed a fresh, clean Sony ROM from scratch, I think this has erased Xposed.
Does anyone has a hint?

Thanks to everyone for the posts on this topic. I too have struggled to get my Sprint Note 4 to encrypt after rooting. I was able to encrypt with the stock unrooted ROM but I flashed the Noterized ROM and was not able to get encryption to work. I have verified the following:
1) Busybox is installed and is the latest version
2) SuperSU is deactivated. I tried this through terminal emulator and also the process defined in this thread within the SuperSU app itself. I also verified through Root Checker that SU was not active.
3) Tried in normal and safe mode with the same result
I am getting the Android screen for a few minutes and then the phone reboots. Each time I was hoping to see the encryption start but it just reboots the phone and never works. I am at a total loss for what could be causing this as the reason is beyond my capability. If anyone has ideas let me know because I am willing to try anything.
As a longshot I tried to flash back to stock ROM and encrypt which worked fine. I then tried to flash the Noterized ROM back on the phone and that didn't work. I froze on the Sprint yellow screen of death for over 6 hours.

Simplified steps for rooting &encrypting your device.
Thanks Bruzzy, I took your instructions and applied them to the Note 4. I also simplified them. I will make a universal instructions set for pretty much ALL DEVICES! Will let you guys know here when i take the time to do that.
Here is the SIMPLIFIED INSTRUCTIONS:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/not...sk-encryption-root-easy-steps-how-to-t3197425
bruzzy said:
Solution approach:
Device is not rooted and not encypted (if already rooted, scip 2; if already encrypted, decrypt or do a factory-reset - don't try CF-Auto-Root on an encrypted device, it'll soft-brick)
Root the device (e.g. using Auto-Root-CF by Chainfire (it'll trigger the Knox-counter)
Temporarily un-root the device (when using SuperSU: go to Settings and remove the tick at the option "Activate Superuser")
Reboot
Activate the device encryption (the battery must be at least at 80% and the device must be plugged in the wall charger)
The device will restart after a short period of time and start the encryption (this will take some time, but you should see a progress bar indicating how far it is)
After the encryption is finished the device will reboot and ask for the password, just log in
If not yet done, flash a custom recovery where you have a console access or can use ADB as root (I used TWRP)
Boot into recovery
Mount /system (it's not mounted automatically, at least not in the version I used - TWRP 2.7.1.0).
Open the console or ADB shell
Copy the su binary (if you use SuperSU: cp /system/xbin/daemonsu /system/xbin/su)
Execute the installation (if you use SuperSU: /system/xbin/su --install)
Reboot
You should be done
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Did you solve your problem whit encryption on t805 ?
sjau said:
Hi there
I'm facing a similar problem like you on my Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 LTE.
I have my device:
- rooted
- twrp recovery installed
- run custom ROM
However even when I disable SuperSU and reboot the device and then start encrypting. I only see the Android Logo and no progress. AFter a while (10 minutes or so), it reboots the tab and I end ab at screen lock login and devices is not encrypted. Any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you solve your problem whit encryption on t805 ?
I have the same problem on T800 on 5.0.2.
On 4.4 encryption whit CFroot works good, but on 5.0.2 its not work

Vitaly_G said:
Did you solve your problem whit encryption on t805 ?
I have the same problem on T800 on 5.0.2.
On 4.4 encryption whit CFroot works good, but on 5.0.2 its not work
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi guys,
there is an alternative instruction from Nickfreedom in my original thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=54679223&postcount=6
I used for several devices and it works like charme (and is much simpler)...

Hey guys this is probably a dumb question but what is the advantage of encryption and does it matter if the knox is tripped since these notes are out of warranty or is it due to resale? I found a cf autoroot link that supposedly wont trip knox which is the odin method since towelroot wont work.

[Q] Can someone help me resolve a root access issue?

I have a Advent Tegra Note 7
Upgraded to kitkat and OTA 2.4.1
Used Tomsgt supertool 2.4.1 tool to root, installed TWRP (and made a backup image of my freshly installed system)
I've since added some games and apps and spent a fair bit of time customizing the system, but when I attempt to run Titanium Backup it tells freezes when "asking for root rights" so I ran "root checker basic" from playstore, which tells me I don't appear to have proper root access..
Here's a break down of what I've done, I've tried to keep it conscise...
I have tried installing a SuperSU, SuperUser and SU Update fixer, Also reinstalling the SuperSU-v1.94.zip using both cwm and twrp... Still no proper root access.
Ideally I'd like to try some other things to get root access before reflashing and having to reinstall my apps and settings, can anyone help or suggest anything else I could do.? I can't think of anything I could of accidentally done to break root access, this is still quite a clean system just setup in the past two days.
P.S.When using the supertool impacter tool and scan for usb driver I get a "no such device" error, even though the device is listed in the previous screens.. also I suspect the correct drivers are there as ADB seems to work fine

they flashing SuperSU-v1.99r4.zip from http://download.chainfire.eu/447/SuperSU/. I haven't had issues with root via either method.
If that fails you can use the n7root.img which is downloadable here: https://github.com/linux-shield/shield-root/blob/master/root_tn7.img?raw=true then go into fastboot mode and then type fastboot boot root_tn7.img. DO NOT USE FASTBOOT FLASH BOOT with this image as it will make it bootloop, just use fastboot boot command.

SOLVED
Thanks for the pointers hacktrix2006.. I tried supersu-v1.99r4.zip also v2 no luck. Had a quick look for how to get into fastboot mode.. couldn't access it from the bootloader.. so decided to take a backup image and restore to stock kitkat 4.4.2 via tomsgt latest tool 2.4.1 including doing Wipe data. then reinstalled TWRP then applied root.... AND noticed a screen saying something like ROOT ACCESS MAY BE FAULTY.. WOULD YOU LIKE TO FIX THIS.. I also think there was a warning about "be careful this action is irreversable" - I suspect the previous time I hadn't understood this properly and selected NO !! Anyway this time I said yes and now have ROOT YAY!
Now I start a re setup of the system and installation of apps etc.. I guess it's often a bit smoother 2nd (or 3rd 4th etc) time around
OK thx again for the encouragement, plus now I have a little more experience to offer someone else who may be struggling in this area.

no problem!

successful root, ongoing problem installing a recovery

yesterday i successfully rooted my Tab 4 using CF Root matissewifi-matissewifizs-smt530 - then spent the entire remainder of the day trying to understand the difference between 'recovery mode' and 'ROM' and 'recovery' 'img', 'tar', 'zip' and 'nandroid' and backup and TWRP the app and TWRP the recovery and Rom Manager and Clockworkmod and why the apps don't want to download the roms I want and why my Tab 4 10.1 isn't listed in the TWRP devices so...
i attempted to install a recovery in about 50 different ways and got my Tab stuck in reboot loop about 50 times -
WHEN I DID get what i thought was TWRP (or GooIm-whatever) to download the correct recovery and reboot into the proper recovery mode i ALWAYS saw the usual recovery options: Reboot, something using ADP, something using external, Factory Reset, wipe cache, something using cache.
nothing related to TWRP or ANY custom recovery.
I'm not quite sure that all of the directions i can ever find about how to do this are written on the assumption that the user knows half of what's going on here. there are some of us who do NOT know what "Flash" means, and other terminology.
******* Can someone please tell me what i need to do to install ANY custom recovery so that I CAN create a Nandroid Backup?
I'm trying to install the new Magazine UX theme or whatever it is. (apparently this replaces the TouchWiz theme? Mine came with TouchWiz?)

glennnall said:
yesterday i successfully
rooted my Tab 4 using CF Root matissewifi-matissewifizs-smt530 - then spent the entire remainder of the day trying to understand the difference between 'recovery mode' and 'ROM' and 'recovery' 'img', 'tar', 'zip' and 'nandroid' and backup and TWRP the app and TWRP the recovery and Rom Manager and Clockworkmod and why the apps don't want to download the roms I want and why my Tab 4 10.1 isn't listed in the TWRP devices so...
i attempted to install a recovery in about 50 different ways and got my Tab stuck in reboot loop about 50 times -
WHEN I DID get what i thought was TWRP (or GooIm-whatever) to download the correct recovery and reboot into the proper recovery mode i ALWAYS saw the usual recovery options: Reboot, something using ADP, something using external, Factory Reset, wipe cache, something using cache.
nothing related to TWRP or ANY custom recovery.
I'm not quite sure that all of the directions i can ever find about how to do this are written on the assumption that the user knows half of what's going on here. there are some of us who do NOT know what "Flash" means, and other terminology.
******* Can someone please tell me what i need to do to install ANY custom recovery so that I CAN create a Nandroid Backup?
I'm trying to install the new Magazine UX theme or whatever it is. (apparently this replaces the TouchWiz theme? Mine came with TouchWiz?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Follow these instructions and you will have a custom recovery installed on your SM-T530. Yes I know the title of the post is root your tablet, but this is accomplished by installing a custom recovery. Nobody here is going to take much pity on you for not understanding the terminology, we all took it upon ourselves to learn it at some point or another, it just kind of comes with the territory. XDA University can be very helpful if you feel lost or overwhelmed

thanks -
2 of the problems i encountered yesterday were:
Run Odin. Disable the "Auto-Reboot" and "Re-Partition" options... Auto Reboot and F-Reset options were grayed-out, unchangeable.
Connect tablet via USB. Hit AP button in Odin, select the TWRP tar file... there IS no AP button, just the PDA button. everything else is grayed-out (i ran it as Admin)
not optimum conditions for new people who are TRYING to learn how this stuff works. (I'm a Web programmer and not incapable of grasping Android technology, assuming i'm reading from the correct 'literature'.) The link looks promising - but these hurdles need to be crossed first.
yesterday, CF Auto Root installed SuperSU already, so i don't know which of the following promising instructions to follow... can i just run these instructions on top of my rooted device and get the newer SuperSu, recovery etc?

glennnall said:
thanks -
2 of the problems i encountered yesterday were:
Run Odin. Disable the "Auto-Reboot" and "Re-Partition" options... Auto Reboot and F-Reset options were grayed-out, unchangeable.
Connect tablet via USB. Hit AP button in Odin, select the TWRP tar file... there IS no AP button, just the PDA button. everything else is grayed-out (i ran it as Admin)
not optimum conditions for new people who are TRYING to learn how this stuff works. (I'm a Web programmer and not incapable of grasping Android technology, assuming i'm reading from the correct 'literature'.) The link looks promising - but these hurdles need to be crossed first.
yesterday, CF Auto Root installed SuperSU already, so i don't know which of the following promising instructions to follow... can i just run these instructions on top of my rooted device and get the newer SuperSu, recovery etc?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes this will install safely over your current configuration. PDA button is the correct option, on newer versions of Odin it is renamed AP, sorry. You should be using at least Odin 3.07
Since you're already rooted, you shouldn't have to worry about the auto reboot, but do install that newer version of superSU at some point, it's designed for lollipop, works better than old versions.

can I run this on top of my rooted Tab, or do i need to "unroot" it?
yesterday, CF Auto Root installed SuperSU already, so i don't know which of these following instructions to follow... can i just run all of these instructions on top of my rooted device and get the newer SuperSu, recovery etc?

sorry, reposted in my impatience. thanks for the help.

ok, great - worked as advertised.
SuperSU updated normal, reboot, now i'm sitting on "Samsung" ... hmmm...

Updating To MM from LP (Moto X Pure)

So I wanted to create a thread dedicated to performing this function. I know as someone who does this quite often, I like to have all my ducks in a row to ensure everything works perfectly. I'm not big on fragging my phone and then frantically trying to find a way to undo all the chaos. I do a lot of research and ask a lot of questions before doing anything.
On that note I would like to first thank all the amazing people on here, whether they be developers or just experienced Tech Guru's, everyone is always a big help. I take absolutely no credit for any of the awesomeness that can be found on XDA, I'm just creating a thread that I hope will help folks find everything in one place for this function. So here we go, I'm going to explain the way I did it, which is the way I have been doing stuff like this for years. I have a preferred method as it has always resulted in perfect flashes and no bricks, not even soft bricks. So I feel it works pretty well.
Just so it is understood, this is for the Moto X Pure, which has been bootloader unlocked and has TWRP and root installed. Also it should be noted that you need to have Developer Options enabled and USB Debugging enabled. You should also be familiar with the ADB process, to some extent, maybe you have at least heard of it.
Steps to follow:
1. Use Titanium Backup and backup all your User Apps, NOT SYSTEM APP's, system apps will not restore across updates and will most often corrupt your new install.
2. Make a Nandroid backup using TWRP, I backed up system, boot, data, and EFS, but I don't think EFS is necessary.
3. Make sure you have the Motorola Drivers installed, get them from here http://www.motorola.com/getmdmwin
4. Get Shawn5162's Restore to Stock Tool, I know others have said it's not necessary to perform a complete restore, but this is part of my process that I have always done, and it's always worked. Get it here by using one of the mirror's created by patt2k in post 6, and don't forget to thank him for the mirrors http://forum.xda-developers.com/moto-x-style/development/windows-tool-moto-x-style-pure-edition-t3199905
5. Unzip Shawn5162's zip to a folder on your desktop, and before you move onto the next step, make sure you have backed up everything valuable on your phone, such as pictures, messages, etc..., because everything is going to be erased in the next step, except for the stuff on your MicroSD. I'm so anal, I even remove the MicroSD before flashing. Connect your phone to your computer using a USB and make sure you have USB debugging enabled under Developer Options.
6. Inside the folder you created run the FLASH-ALL.bat, which will reboot your device to the bootloader and begin the restore to stock flash. This will remove root and TWRP, but will not remove the fact you have an unlocked bootloader. Your phone will reboot when complete and should boot back into your system within a short period of time.
7. Once you are rebooted, you may need to do a little setup before you get the message that a System Update is available. DO NOT waste your time installing any apps, wait until you have full root on MM before doing any of that. Once the Update message appears, accept it and download the MM update file, then install it once it is finished downloading and asks if you want to install.
8. The update takes about 20 - 25 minutes so be patient. Once complete your phone will once again boot back to system, now you have MM in it's complete unrooted greatness.
9. Now go into settings, about phone, and tap on build number a bunch of times to enable Developer Options. Then go into developer options and enable USB Debugging.
10. Next download a bunch of stuff from the following links, if you desire to install TWRP and regain root.
TWRP 2.8.7.1 here https://dl.twrp.me/clark/twrp-2.8.7.1-clark.img
Modified Boot Image from here, required to perform systemless root , not sure about the Cowboy hat dude, but click on him, it will download the file.
SuperSU 2.52 from here https://download.chainfire.eu/743/SuperSU/BETA-SuperSU-v2.52.zip?retrieve_file=1
11. Next copy the modified boot file and SuperSU file directly to your internal or external SD on your phone, either works fine, although I prefer my External SD.
12. Next copy the TWRP file you downloaded into the same folder you made for Shawn5162's files. This folder has all the adb and fastboot files you need to perform the TWRP flash. Now hold shift and right click and choose open a command window here. Then ensure your device is detected by running the command adb devices, it should show your phones S/N and the word device. If it doesn't, you may need to look at your phone and respond to the prompt about allowing your computer to have access to adb. Try the command again after that. Then run the command adb reboot bootloader, which should reboot your phone to bootloader fastboot mode.
13. Once it fastboot mode run fastboot devices just to make sure your device is still detected, then run the command fastboot flash recovery twrp-2.8.7.1-clark.img. That will flash TWRP to your recovery partition. Then type the command fastboot reboot twrp-2.8.7.1-clark.img or use the volume rocker to toggle to recovery then select the power key to boot to it. Make sure you choose the slider at the bottom to allow modification. Once on the main screen you can choose reboot and then select recovery. This makes sure that you have booted to TWRP at least once, and ensures by rebooting to it, you can get back to it.
14. Now perform a Nandroid Backup, using the TWRP Backup option, of your completely stock MM system, data, boot, and EFS partitions. Enable compression if you like and store it to your External SD if you have one. This allows you to have an unrooted backup on your SD, which is good for future updates. After the Nandroid is complete now flash the modified boot image zip using the TWRP Install feature, and when it's complete, then flash the SuperSU zip file. After I always perform the option to erase Dalvik and Cache, I just think it is a good thing to do, it's probably placebo, but I do it anyhow.
15. Go back to TWRP Home and choose reboot and select system. Your device will reboot and you now have a fully updated and rooted Moto X Pure on MM.
Thanks go out to all the folks who have contributed to the many threads that contain this information. Special thanks to Shawn5162, DaMadOne, Chainfire, and Hashbang173 for their awesomeness. Hope this helps folks that are concerned about performing these procedures. I can say that it worked perfectly for me with no issues at all, but of course I take no responsibility if it doesn't work for you and causes your device to fail. Again these are similar steps I have taken in the past with other devices and I have never had a single brick, so hopefully it works for others as well.
Enjoy!!

I have a Moto X Pure as described with the bootloader unlocked and rooted. The popup message to upgrade to MM comes up constantly now - what happens if you just let it try to update?

I think I am in way over my head. I am receiving my phone Friday and was looking to unlock to root but from the looks of it, I will not be able to do that.
I've never unlocked & rooted a phone before. So all that looks like the bible to an uneducated man "me".

superkev72 said:
I have a Moto X Pure as described with the bootloader unlocked and rooted. The popup message to upgrade to MM comes up constantly now - what happens if you just let it try to update?
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Click to collapse
If I'm not mistaken it will download to your phone but not be able to be installed because of an error

Is there no way to upgrade from LP to MM without a wipe?

superkev72 said:
Is there no way to upgrade from LP to MM without a wipe?
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Click to collapse
Yeah, if you rooted already, you must reflash the original boot.img. Then update, and then restore your root. Read here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/mot...t-moto-x-style-xt1572-br-marshmallow-t3259380
At the bottom of the post, you get the original file you need and it is mentioned here:
And enjoy!
Now you have a rooted MotoX Style Marshmallow. To apply any OTAs, you only need reflash stock boot.
K?

Why would you want to update without a wipe? You must like sluggish performance

i have no wifi after this

No WIFI either
I ended up with no WIFI after following these steps also.

is it true, we cannot downgrade from 601 to 6.0 or 5.1.1?

skimaniaz said:
I ended up with no WIFI after following these steps also.
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Click to collapse
Same here. Anybody got a fix?

So the last three posts complain of no wifi yet people keep using this method?

The modified boot zip breaks the wifi. You can root by flashing superSU 2.62, I think, or any SuperSU zip that is specifically systemless.

ilovemeow said:
is it true, we cannot downgrade from 601 to 6.0 or 5.1.1?
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Click to collapse
Not true.

lafester said:
Not true.
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Click to collapse
coz i tried before, it fail in first 2 flash steps

Are you unlocked?

ilovemeow said:
coz i tried before, it fail in first 2 flash steps
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Click to collapse
The partition always fails. Just ignore it. You should be able to downgrade the bootloader. I have been able to so I don't know why you would be having issues with that unless your bootloader is locked/re-locked.
Sent from my XT1575 using XDA Labs

So is this safe or not?

lafester said:
Are you unlocked?
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Click to collapse
yup, it's unlocked, but currently fine for using android M at this moment

Fire TV 3 (needle/stark): TWRP

Disclaimer: If you go through with this and encounter issues, I (or the others here) will try to help you, but the risk is all yours.
I see a few posts mentioning TWRP for the AFTV3, so here it is for the pendant (needle): link. Extract twrp.img from the archive, copy it to /sdcard, and flash as follows:
Code:
adb shell
su
dd if=/sdcard/twrp.img of=/dev/block/recovery
Note: You will need a Y (OTG) cable to connect a mouse and/or a keyboard.
I have tested this on the pendant (needle), but it should also work for the cube (stark).
You can also boot or flash this from fastboot (reboot bootloader or run from aml_reboot in the root thread) if you so desire.
To enter recovery from a terminal running on the AFTV3:
Code:
reboot recovery
To enter recovery from ADB:
Code:
adb reboot recovery
For those interested, here's what I did:
-- Rather than build from scratch, I used an existing TWRP for Amlogic's S905X as the base. Quite a few of them are here.
-- You can't just use a random TWRP and expect it to work on the AFTV3 (due to hardware and partition mismatch). I first replaced (and repacked) the ramdisk with that from needle's boot image (using magiskboot).
-- While TWRP booted up, USB OTG was absent. Without OTG, TWRP is not of much use (w/o OTG, I used openrecoveryscript as a workaround). Turns out the random TWRP images lack the correct USB modules. I extracted the correct modules from the AFTV3, copied them to the TWRP image, and everything works.
If something doesn't work, please post here.

Great job, i flashed it from fastboot.
adb reboot bootloader (or install a app that will reboot into bootloader)
fastboot flash recovery C:\(this TWRP version)
Seems to be functional.
the old Firestick 1's you could control the mouse from a adb shell. I dont know how to make that functional for those without a OTG.

Confirmed, it works on the cube (stark) as well...

That's really a great job. As stated here: https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=78958467&postcount=165 I (hopefully soft) bricked my pendant trying to install Google services. Now it just reboot at the white amazon logo. Ordered a OTG cable to test TWRP but was trying random versions. Now this confirmed woirking version is a life saver to me. Now I just have to find a way to remove the offending google service apk.
Thanks again.

Sorry to bother again.
I still have my pendant in bootloop (bad google service installation).
Tried OTG cable but using it doesnt let me go in fastboot mode and I dont know how to navigate in recovery without it.
Since now the pendant is rooted and can recover OTA files maybe my next attempt could be to try to find a .bin rom file and flash it using fastboot?
If so does anyone know if there is such a file yet (pre rooted version should be great)?
Thanks.

Does anyone know where to get the updated firetv3 roms? with TWRP now i would like to attempt updates.

Michajin said:
Does anyone know where to get the updated firetv3 roms? with TWRP now i would like to attempt updates.
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Click to collapse
None available yet, but there are a couple of methods by which we may obtain them.
The first one has some risk involved. you would have to re-enable OTA updates and allow the device the check for and download the current version
and then again disable the OTA update apps. Then pull a copy of the update from the device before clearing the cache.
I have noticed that as long as the device is busy, say running a sideloaded app, it will not initiate a downloaded update.
The second is dependent upon if the individual will help us. There is a member on this forum who has modified the DeviceSoftwareOTA.apk for OS 5
that allowed update check and download to stay enabled because the installation procedure was removed from the APK. So you could simply pull the
update from the cache at any time. I will pull a copy from OS 6 and post it today and see if he would be willing to assist.
I'm with you, I'd like to update mine as well after seeing some of the changes that have been posted.

2WhlWzrd said:
None available yet, but there are a couple of methods by which we may obtain them.
The first one has some risk involved. you would have to re-enable OTA updates and allow the device the check for and download the current version
and then again disable the OTA update apps. Then pull a copy of the update from the device before clearing the cache.
I have noticed that as long as the device is busy, say running a sideloaded app, it will not initiate a downloaded update.
The second is dependent upon if the individual will help us. There is a member on this forum who has modified the DeviceSoftwareOTA.apk for OS 5
that allowed update check and download to stay enabled because the installation procedure was removed from the APK. So you could simply pull the
update from the cache at any time. I will pull a copy from OS 6 and post it today and see if he would be willing to assist.
I'm with you, I'd like to update mine as well after seeing some of the changes that have been posted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Would the update fail anyway if I replaced Amazon recovery with TWRP?

Michajin said:
Would the update fail anyway if I replaced Amazon recovery with TWRP?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, TWRP would be over written by an OTA update.

2WhlWzrd said:
No, TWRP would be over written by an OTA update.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you sure about that? i just screwed up and was rooting my "tanks" and forgot to update one. Then i took the update, it ran the amazon update though open recovery TWRP and updated. Booted without issues, i know its a firestick2, but almost thinking i should test on a pendant...

Michajin said:
you sure about that? i just screwed up and was rooting my "tanks" and forgot to update one. Then i took the update, it ran the amazon update though open recovery TWRP and updated. Booted without issues, i know its a firestick2, but almost thinking i should test on a pendant...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is a difference between writing outside of TWRP and with TWRP, it's hard to overwrite something that's doing the writing.
If you read in the first post of the tank rooting thread, the author explicitly states: "Only ever flash boot/recovery images using TWRP",
anything outside of that will not be root aware. Better to be safe, than sorry.

How may I get the "su". It said, I don't have permision.

eSephiroth said:
How may I get the "su". It said, I don't have permision.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Open Magisk Manager, Select the Menu in the top left corner.
In the sidebar navigate to "Superuser", you should see "com.android.shell".
Toggle the switch to right to enable it.

2WhlWzrd said:
Open Magisk Manager, Select the Menu in the top left corner.
In the sidebar navigate to "Superuser", you should see "com.android.shell".
Toggle the switch to right to enable it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you didn't root the device, how can you have superuser?

eSephiroth said:
If you didn't root the device, how can you have superuser?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I assumed you were already rooted. Since you are not, start here:
[ROOT] Rooting the FireTV Cube and Pendant with FireFU
Anything from firmware 6.2.5.8 and up, the exploit has been patched.

This is the most complicated root method I have ever seen. Mine is 6.2.8. too bad.

eSephiroth said:
This is the most complicated root method I have ever seen. Mine is 6.2.8. too bad.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This isn't the root thread. But yeah, it's the only thing we've got for these devices, so we make it work

Hi,
I was able to recover my Pendant using a finally working OTG cable and using mouse with your TWRP and finally delete the offending google.gsm app so thanks a lot for that.
The only thing I noticed is that adb doesn't work for me once booted into TWRP (I wanted to use adb backup to backup bigger partitions directly to my PC). Is that just my issue or it's happening for everyone?
Thanks.
Pino.

moving it to the right place.

anyone have interest in the update files? If i turn on my update, download the update, but before rebooting copy the .bin file to a different folder, delete from the cache folder then disable updates again. I can share the file if anyone wants it to see if we can modify to keep root and update? I am thinking i might download it, move it and change it to a .zip, then reboot into TWRP. Flash the update and flash magisk before a reboot. Anyone have thoughts about risk of a BRICK?