[Q] First Time Root & Terminology Questions - G2 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I have read all I can regarding rooting, recovery, roms, and just wanted to do a quick terminology check before diving in.
Root = allow myself and certain apps to access settings/files not normally allowed by the OS?
Rom = akin to a non-stock OS that may have features and software added/removed and/or add functionality?
Recovery = some method to go back to a previous state?
Assuming I understand the above, what I believe I want to do, is Root (so that some apps that require 'root only' can work on my device), I should be able to do this by following one of the many guides in these forums. If I do not wish at this time to experiment with roms, I can stick with what came with the phone? And if, in the event of disaster, rather than restore from a backup or recovery, I should be able to Reset to Factory, re-root? and re-install everything (or possibly partially restore from Titanium backup), I do not need to concern myself with Recovery, correct?
Do I seem to have a good enough understanding or should I read some more? Does it sound like all I need to do is Root, and basically I don't need any Roms or Recovery?
Thanks in advance.

Klotar said:
I have read all I can regarding rooting, recovery, roms, and just wanted to do a quick terminology check before diving in.
Root = allow myself and certain apps to access settings/files not normally allowed by the OS?
Rom = akin to a non-stock OS that may have features and software added/removed and/or add functionality?
Recovery = some method to go back to a previous state?
Assuming I understand the above, what I believe I want to do, is Root (so that some apps that require 'root only' can work on my device), I should be able to do this by following one of the many guides in these forums. If I do not wish at this time to experiment with roms, I can stick with what came with the phone? And if, in the event of disaster, rather than restore from a backup or recovery, I should be able to Reset to Factory, re-root? and re-install everything (or possibly partially restore from Titanium backup), I do not need to concern myself with Recovery, correct?
Do I seem to have a good enough understanding or should I read some more? Does it sound like all I need to do is Root, and basically I don't need any Roms or Recovery?
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You pretty much got it. Only concern is your statement "I should be able to reset to factory". In case of catastrophic error you can't go into settings and factory reset. This is where the recovery comes in. You can use stock recovery to wipe data/factory reset but if you made changes with root apps, this option won't work. Only a nandroid restore or ROM flash or some third party recovery tool to reflash stock images using fastboot most likely.
You have a recovery partition with a recovery program installed. This can be booted into manually from a powered off state. In recovery you have options to backup, wipe, install .zip and much more. Installing a recovery and making a backup is first thing I do. You can use flashify (app on market) to flash the downloaded recovery .img for your device. Its very easy and you don't lose any data.

Excellent, thank you! I see Flashify is a root app, so basically, I should root, install Flashify, pull the recovery image off and I should more or less be set? That is, at least until I get comfortable with where I've gotten to so far (and done more reading). Thanks again.

Klotar said:
Excellent, thank you! I see Flashify is a root app, so basically, I should root, install Flashify, pull the recovery image off and I should more or less be set? That is, at least until I get comfortable with where I've gotten to so far (and done more reading). Thanks again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's it. Flashify should also have an option to boot into recovery. Do that (after recovery flash) and make a backup. Then reboot and have fun. That initial backup is important. Its your way back while you get comfy. Move that backup to computer also in case your /sdcard gets wiped.
What do you mean, pull recovery image off? You download the image for your specific device from XDA, then open flashify and follow instructions.

Mandelbrot.Benoit said:
That's it. Flashify should also have an option to boot into recovery. Do that (after recovery flash) and make a backup. Then reboot and have fun. That initial backup is important. Its your way back while you get comfy. Move that backup to computer also in case your /sdcard gets wiped.
What do you mean, pull recovery image off? You download the image for your specific device from XDA, then open flashify and follow instructions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I read too quickly what [kind of app] Flashify was, and where to get the image from. I thought it copied the image off of somewhere on the device to somewhere else, but I see now from your explanation what it is. And to save the image on PC, and to save the first backup off device (also onto PC). Thanks again, will work up the courage to do these in the next few days.

Klotar said:
I read too quickly what [kind of app] Flashify was, and where to get the image from. I thought it copied the image off of somewhere on the device to somewhere else, but I see now from your explanation what it is. And to save the image on PC, and to save the first backup off device (also onto PC). Thanks again, will work up the courage to do these in the next few days.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The recovery image isn't too important to save. Once its flashed its kinda hard to loose it, but for sure it can't hurt I guess. Good luck!

Just so you know that after installing custom recovery, you will not be able to update through OTA. If you update it, you'll get in trouble. So if want an official update, go to stock again and update.

marshygeek said:
Just so you know that after installing custom recovery, you will not be able to update through OTA. If you update it, you'll get in trouble. So if want an official update, go to stock again and update.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've waited for stock to push to my Xoom, Galaxy Nexus and Nexus 7 soooo many times but never make it. A rooted flashable zip made from the stock ota always lands and I get all flashy.
But yes as soon as you modify your recovery there is a chance you can soft brick your device if you accept the OTA.

Related

Rooting 32B Magic 'Perfect' SPL, whilst ensuring it can be returned to stock

First, thanks for taking the time to read this. I appreciate that these forums get a lot of frustrating posts with people asking questions that have already been answered, and it is not my intention to do that. I have been lurking on these forums for a while, and have read around quite a bit of information. However, I cannot find the exact answers I am after.
To start, I am now on my 2nd HTC Magic 32B (Voda UK), after I sent my initial phone off for repair. I was running Cyanogen Mod on this phone, and flashed this rom by fastbooting in to Cyanogen's Recovery and going from there.
I was careful to take a nandroid backup before I flashed, and as such, when the time came to said the phone off for repair, I was able to restore the backup and send it off with the stock firmware running.
Unfortunately, the phone I have now received has a 'perfect' SPL, HBOOT-1.33.0007, so I cannot flash a rom using the same method.
My primary concern through all of this, is finding a way to flash roms such that I can revert everything back to normal if the need arises.
I have read around 1-click rooting, so, my proposed method at the moment would be:
1) use Flashrec to boot into Cyanogen Recovery
2) Backup using nandroid
3) using adb shell to flash Cyanogen Recovery
4) use Cyanogen Recovery to flash rom
I should now be in a position where I can a) flash back to the original recovery if needed, using the backup from nandroid, and b) flash back to the original rom if needed, using the backup from nandroid.
Would this work as I hope?
I have read about having to 'downgrade' the SPL when wishing to restore a nandroid backup, but I did not need to previously. What are the circumstances where you do need to? - I would not want to do this, since I have no way of flashing the original SPL back. I presume there is no way to backup my SPL? so I could return to it if need be?
Thanks for taking the time to read this, and I appreciate any help you may be able to give me.
Cheers.
I have a Rogers 32A that had a Perfect SPL (1.33.0010) on it and I got a rooted recovery ROM by using One Click Root. The Perfect SPL wasn't allowing me to fastboot at all (giving me a "no access" error or something). So instead I booted running the stock software, and used the one click root program to backup my ROM and then flash a recovery ROM (used the default Cyanogen Recovery 1.4). Then when I rebooted while holding down Power + Home, I came right into my rooted recovery ROM where I could install whatever .zip ROM I wanted (AFTER I BACKED UP WITH NANDROID, of course).
I didn't need to use ADB for anything, and I still ended up with root. So I guess I'm confused when you say you're going to use flashrec to boot into cyanogen recovery and then use adb shell to flash cyanogen recovery. I was under the impresion that flashrec FLASHES cyanogen recovery for you, eliminating the need to use ADB/Fastboot. Assumed "flashrec" stood for "Flash Recovery ROM".
My steps were:
1) Install/run flashrec
2) In FlashRec: Backup your current ROM
3) In FlashRec: Select a new recovery ROM to Flash (has Cyanogen's by default, can change to something on your SD Card)
4) In FlashRec: Flash the Recovery ROM
5) Exit FlashRec and reboot into Recovery Mode (Hold Home and Power)
6) You're done, you have a rooted phone. Go ahead and Nandroid a backup, wipe your data, and install a new ROM.
Thanks for your reply.
It is my understanding that flashrec does not flash the recovery rom, but just allows you to boot to it. (Similar to the fastboot boot filename.img command). I would guess that if you reboot your phone using home + power now, that it would boot to the standard recovery.
If it is the case that flashrec does flash the recovery image, then that would be handy, and presumably the backup could be restored using either nandroid or adb.
Thanks, this clarifies that my rooting procedure is along the right lines, however I am still concerned whether flashing everything back to normal will go as I expect.
Just booted into recovery, and its still CyanogenMod v1.4 + JF.
I'm trying to think if I did anything special during my rooting efforts. I don't think I did. I know that I flashrec'd twice. the First was with Amon_Ra's recovery console, and then I did it again a bit later with Cyanogen's. But I'm positive I was never able to successfully use adb's fastboot command due to my perfected SPL.
And you're right, I didn't address your concerns about unrooting at a later date. I assume that is what you're doing when you use flashrec to create a backup of the stock Recovery ROM, but i'm not positive.
Taken from:
http://www.ryebrye.com/blog/2009/08/16/android-rooting-in-1-click-in-progress/
EVERY TIME YOU REBOOT YOUR PHONE INTO NORMAL ANDROID IT UNDOES WHAT YOU JUST DID. Every time android boots, it reflashes the recovery partition with the default one from a file stored in your phone. For safety reasons, we are not replacing this file – just flashing the partition directly. So if you boot to recovery mode, then boot back into your normal mode, and then boot back into recovery mode – you will see a triangle with an exclamation point and only 3 options.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I'm not sure what's going on.
Thanks for your input. I think I'm nearing enough confidence to go ahead and give this a try. Probably tomorrow.
Hi ParanoiaPersonified - can you post an update when you flash? I also have a new Voda Magic with the same SPL as yourself.....I got the OTA upgrade to Donut yesterday which I may have been silly about accepting.
I wasn't too impressed with the speed improvements in Donut and now want to flash something built by one of the XDA chefs, but am having problems rooting with the traditional methods - even 1 click doesn't seem to work....
Cheers.
It is my understanding that one-click-root only works on 1.5, and the exploit that it uses is patched in 1.6. I think you may need to use the 'gold card' method, radita.
I've realised that my handset has a fault (the scrollwheel does not work when scrolling to the right), so I will be unfortunately waiting for a replacement handset before taking any of the steps mentioned above.
Hopefully the replacement does come with 1.6 pre-installed!
"Gold card" method looks a little more involved....guess I don't have a choice though.
Thanks.

[RECOVERY] ClockworkMod Recovery for Captivate (FINAL! SAFE!)

First things first, if you flashed a previous version of Clockwork Recovery using Odin, FLASH BACK TO A STOCK KERNEL using this Odin package:
http://koush.tandtgaming.com//test/kernel-captivate-stock.tar.md5
This recovery is *very* safe to use. It does NOT flash your kernel; it is a completely uninvasive recovery method.
How it works: The recovery is packaged as an update.zip that you run from STOCK recovery. The update.zip unpacks Clockwork Recovery onto the ramdisk and restarts recovery. When you reboot, it reverts back to the original, unmodified, stock recovery. So, you will need to keep the recovery on the root of your SD card as an update.zip, and apply the zip every time you want to start Clockwork.
HOWEVER, if you use ROM Manager, all of the recovery installation and management instructions are done for you!
Installation instructions:
Download ROM Manager from the Market.
Flash Recovery.
Choose Captivate as your phone.
Accept the Superuser prompt.
Use ROM Manager to create a Backup.
On the very FIRST boot of Clockwork, you may need to manually select "reinstall packages" if Clockwork does not start. You should only ever have to do this once. It will be automatic from then on.
Watch the backup go!
That's it! This is completely painless and safe! There is no need for Odin anymore to replace the recovery or flash updates!
If you appreciate my work, please buy the Premium version of ROM Manager!
Sweet!
Nandroid'd!
Ah yeah....smooth like butter baby!!! Great work once again. Remember to donate people!!!
big99gt said:
Ah yeah....smooth like butter baby!!! Great work once again. Remember to donate people!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For us Noobs, can we get more information on where and when to use this?
In reading everything I get some of it, but not all. This is my first hackable android phone, so I am still learning the lingo.
With other phones, I would just Flash a custom ROM or Flash Factory ROM back.
So how do ROM Manager and Clockwork recovery come into play?
Are there any tutorials - not that just give step by step (like above) but explain what is happening in each step or why?
alphadog00 said:
For us Noobs, can we get more information on where and when to use this?
In reading everything I get some of it, but not all. This is my first hackable android phone, so I am still learning the lingo.
With other phones, I would just Flash a custom ROM or Flash Factory ROM back.
So how do ROM Manager and Clockwork recovery come into play?
Are there any tutorials - not that just give step by step (like above) but explain what is happening in each step or why?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The long and short of it is that you can now flash ROMs and make backups, and restore, without your computer.
The recovery is the tool that lets you do the backups and installations. ROM Manager is a convenient Android front end to the recovery.
After these steps you won't really have to "hack" your phone lol. Root your phone and download Rom Manager from the Android market...then have it flash a recovery (the first selection at the top) choose your device when prompted. Now after that finishes select "reboot into recovery" and as the above post states you may need to select "reinstall packages" (I did). Once that goes through, you'll see your new custom recovery menu. DO A NANDROID BACKUP of your current Rom as soon as you can....then (as long as your current rom isn't messed up, if its stock your fine) from there on out you can play as much as you want with very little risk of bricking your phone. There are others who can explain it better but your stuck with me till they chime in lol. Its a very easy process and nearly foolproof.
Koush said:
That's it! This is completely painless and safe! There is no need for Odin anymore to replace the recovery or flash updates!
If you appreciate my work, please buy the Premium version of ROM Manager!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome work! Premium version has been purchased by me. Thank you for the efforts.
Didn't work at first for me.
I installed Rom Manager (premium)
Installed CW recovery
Accepted SU
Tried to backup from within Rom Manager
I got a "Can't find update.zip" message.
When I rebooted and opened Rom Manager again, I got the "Error Occured" message, but it locked up on me and became unresponsive.
I uninstalled Rom Manager, rebooted, then reinstalled. I flashed CW recovery again, rebooted normally, opened rom manager again, and flashed CW recovery again.
After that I was able to use rom manager to reboot into recovery and backup.
Not sure if mine was just a fluke or what, but I figured I would share.
MSigler said:
Didn't work at first for me.
I installed Rom Manager (premium)
Installed CW recovery
Accepted SU
Tried to backup from within Rom Manager
I got a "Can't find update.zip" message.
When I rebooted and opened Rom Manager again, I got the "Error Occured" message, but it locked up on me and became unresponsive.
I uninstalled Rom Manager, rebooted, then reinstalled. I flashed CW recovery again, rebooted normally, opened rom manager again, and flashed CW recovery again.
After that I was able to use rom manager to reboot into recovery and backup.
Not sure if mine was just a fluke or what, but I figured I would share.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Titanium Backup did that to me also the first time I ran it....I've had quite a few freezes and slowdowns when opening a program for the first time and waiting for SU to kick in.
It should also be noted that when you chose to partition the sdcard via the recovery menu, it partitions the internal sdcard and not the external.
Maybe that can be made an option? I would like to do my nandroid backup to my external card so I have it for safe keeping.
Everything else working as expected, I enabled advanced options and downloaded the superuser package (from Extras) just to test things. Havent experienced any problems other than the sdcard wipe (which wasnt totally unexpected).
If something should happen to your phone (brick, unrecoverable error, etc), how can we reboot into this custom recovery to reflash the nandroid backup? Can we get into it via adb (adb reboot recovery)?
Yeah, having an external SD Nandroid would be a great option. Not just for safekeeping, but for easy transfer in case of hardware loss or replacement.
dweebs0r said:
It should also be noted that when you chose to partition the sdcard via the recovery menu, it partitions the internal sdcard and not the external.
Maybe that can be made an option? I would like to do my nandroid backup to my external card so I have it for safe keeping.
Everything else working as expected, I enabled advanced options and downloaded the superuser package (from Extras) just to test things. Havent experienced any problems other than the sdcard wipe (which wasnt totally unexpected).
If something should happen to your phone (brick, unrecoverable error, etc), how can we reboot into this custom recovery to reflash the nandroid backup? Can we get into it via adb (adb reboot recovery)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just did a reboot into recovery mode (the normal way, not with rom manager) and I had to click "reinstall packages" to get into the ClockworkMod recovery menu. So I'm not sure but I'm guessing (hoping) that its still available if we run into problems later.
Yep. It's pretty much how the Droid and N1 people are used to doing it anyway.
Clockwork is hella handy to manage and switch between working ROMs on the fly, as well as triggering recovery mode without keypress acrobatics, but having update.zip on the SD card to fall back on using the normal restore and the stock kernel is great in case of semi-bricking, and as this last week has shown us, the Galaxy phones are a bit prone to this.
THANK YOU!!! Been waiting for this since I got the phone, you are the man, I'll be adding to your Paypal account shortly!
Works like a charm. Thanks Koush!
Thank you. I am new to the scene, but looks like I chose the right hardware for hacking. The swift and easy way in which I have been able to advance my freedom on this gorgeous hardware makes me forget for a while that I am on AT&T, home of the fruit carrying zombie army.
Sweet! Can't wait to try this on my phone later tonight. Will deff be buying ROM Manager Pro
Thanks for this...I just bought the premium version...Since this is my first Android phone I have a question. I previously rooted my phone and uninstalled alll the AT&T bloatware, My question is about the backup I just made using this. If I restore the backup will it restore a rooted backup with out all the AT&T bloatware? Also when I ran the backup I go 2 messages at the end
No /sdcard/.andriod_secure found. Skipping backup of applications on external storage.. Is this normal?
No sd-ext found. Skipping backup of sd-ext. Is this normal?
Also I now have 2 ROM Manager icon in my application screens. 1 will open the program and the other tells me that the aplication is not installed on my phone. I tried to delete that icon but it won't go away, Any ideas? FIXED..I rebooted my phone and the extra icon went away...
Thanks for all help and these great apps...
jhernand1102 said:
Thanks for this...I just bought the premium version...Since this is my first Android phone I have a question. I previously rooted my phone and uninstalled alll the AT&T bloatware, My question is about the backup I just made using this. If I restore the backup will it restore a rooted backup with out all the AT&T bloatware? Also when I ran the backup I go 2 messages at the end
No /sdcard/.andriod_secure found. Skipping backup of applications on external storage.. Is this normal?
No sd-ext found. Skipping backup of sd-ext. Is this normal?
Thanks for all help and these great apps...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i got the same message, im assuming that you dont have an external sd card thats why it generated the message...
rabbivj said:
i got the same message, im assuming that you dont have an external sd card thats why it generated the message...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do have one in my phone but there is nothing installed on it yet..maybe that's why..

Factory Reset wiped out the internal SD card! I thought it's not meant to happen?!

This is the first time I'm using a device that doesn't have an external SD card, but I've all along understood that the internal SD card does not get wiped when you do a factory reset, and I'm sure I read that again on another thread just the other day.
My N7 is rooted using Wug's toolkit, with CM10.2 and Bulletproof kernel.
Yesterday I decided to do a factory reset (under Settings, Backup & Reset, Factory Data Reset), but after I did it, all the stuff I had on the internal SD was gone, including my backup files, the ROMs I had transferred there, etc.
Surely this is not meant to be the case, is it??
internal sdcard used to be a different partition.
Now it is just a directory in your /data and the "sdcard" is an emulated sdcard.
I know stock ROM and stock recovery wipes /data and everything in it including the virtual sdcard.
TWRP recovery will only remove the /data user stuff, leaving the virtual sdcard alone.
Which recovery are you running?
sfhub said:
internal sdcard used to be a different partition.
Now it is just a directory in your /data and the "sdcard" is an emulated sdcard.
I know stock ROM and stock recovery wipes /data and everything in it including the virtual sdcard.
TWRP recovery will only remove the /data user stuff, leaving the virtual sdcard alone.
Which recovery are you running?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for that! (Thanks coming your way). Well, better to know now than later! The down side is that I lost my CWM backups and my Titanium Backup files, but the good thing is that I think I have a TWRP backup that's on my computer.
I'm using TWRP, but not really liking it, cos I cannot boot into recovery from the phone and have to keep relying on the Wug Toolkit. I've just downloaded CWM and will be switching to that.
So the moral of this story is that if we are to do a factory reset, we should do it via recovery, correct? I'm presuming CWM will also leave the virtual sd card alone, yeah?
Oh one more thing, I think I lost root after the factory reset!!
I checked my All Apps and SuperSu wasn't there anymore. Just rooted it again using Wug kit.
oohyeah said:
I'm using TWRP, but not really liking it, cos I cannot boot into recovery from the phone and have to keep relying on the Wug Toolkit. I've just downloaded CWM and will be switching to that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am not sure what issue you are having with TWRP, but you can flash it to the recovery partition and boot to it automatically. If that's the only reason you don't like it, I'd work on fixing the install rather than jumping to another recovery.
oohyeah said:
So the moral of this story is that if we are to do a factory reset, we should do it via recovery, correct? I'm presuming CWM will also leave the virtual sd card alone, yeah?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would probably do it from recovery. I don't know what CWM does on this platform as I've only used it on other platforms.
What do you mean you can't boot into recovery with twrp? I'm using twrp and have no problem booting into recovery.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
geckocavemen said:
What do you mean you can't boot into recovery with twrp? I'm using twrp and have no problem booting into recovery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When I try to boot into recovery, it ends up showing a dead android with the red triangle "!" sign. I remember doing some searches and it seemed like this was normal. I remember the reason was that the N7 would always rewrite the recovery or something. From your responses, I'm guessing it's not normal?
The only way I could get into recovery was using the Wug toolkit using USB debugging/ADB, which really sucked, cos if it bootlooped and I can't get into the system to turn on USB debugging, then I'm not sure what I would do (though I read there's some way around it or something). I had never encountered any such thing with all my many other devices which all run CWM.
So what's up with all that?
"su" enter' next line "reboot recovery" in the Android Terminal window should also boot your device into recovery
User_99 said:
"su" enter' next line "reboot recovery" in the Android Terminal window should also boot your device into recovery
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This will work fine. If you have no aversion to installing apps, Rom Toolbox Lite gives you power widgets you can put on your desktop then go to recovery with one touch. I use Quick Boot PRO, although the free version of that all may do recovery also. One might work for you until you want to play with mods.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4
oohyeah said:
When I try to boot into recovery, it ends up showing a dead android with the red triangle "!" sign.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is stock recovery.
You need to get rid of /system/etc/install-recovery.sh
You can get rid of it by hand, or just install SuperSU from TWRP. Then flash TWRP to the recovery partition.
Thank you everyone for your input!
I'm happily back on CWM right now. If I revert back to TWRP next time at least I'll know what to do!
oohyeah said:
Thank you everyone for your input!
I'm happily back on CWM right now. If I revert back to TWRP next time at least I'll know what to do!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
None of your blunders has anything to do with TWRP.
khaytsus said:
None of your blunders has anything to do with TWRP.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK let me get something straight.
Obviously, the factory resetting that wiped out all internal storage (the original point of the thread) has nothing to do with TWRP, and I never said it did. On this point though, I'm surprised that it doesn't seem to be more well known that a factory reset would do wipe out all your data (did several searches and only found 'confirmations' that your internal SD data would be left untouched), though I'm glad that I know it now.
The suggestions on different ways to boot into recovery were helpful, though I believe that I would still have encountered the dead android, or would I not have?
What's certainly still not clear to me though is regarding the problem of not being able to boot into recovery and getting the dead android with the exclamation/triangle. After the first few replies, I expected to hear that this was NOT meant to be the case and that I did something wrong in the process or whatever.
However, what I seemed to get was that this is the expected behavior, and what I needed to have done was to "get rid of /system/etc/install-recovery.sh".
So let me ask these questions for clarification:
1. Is the dead android normal, given what I did/didn't do?
2. Is deleting /system/etc/install-recovery.sh part of the process of installing TWRP in order to be able to boot into recovery?
3. Would I also need to get rid of /system/etc/install-recovery.sh if using CWM?
(so far it doesn't seem to. After installing CWM I'm not getting the dead android and I didn't delete the install-recovery.sh).
Thanks. And just to be clear, I hope no one takes it the wrong way that I'm bashing TWRP or anything, because I"m not. Just been a long time user of CWM and this is the first time using TWRP and encountering the dead android.
oohyeah said:
So let me ask these questions for clarification:
1. Is the dead android normal, given what I did/didn't do?
2. Is deleting /system/etc/install-recovery.sh part of the process of installing TWRP in order to be able to boot into recovery?
3. Would I also need to get rid of /system/etc/install-recovery.sh if using CWM?
(so far it doesn't seem to. After installing CWM I'm not getting the dead android and I didn't delete the install-recovery.sh).
Thanks. And just to be clear, I hope no one takes it the wrong way that I'm bashing TWRP or anything, because I"m not. Just been a long time user of CWM and this is the first time using TWRP and encountering the dead android.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dead android = stock recovery, so normal there.
When you flash a custom recovery on a stock ROM, there is a file, /system/etc/install-recovery.sh, or I actually prefer just renaming /system/recovery-from-boot.p, which will automatically verify your recovery image and restore it to stock if it doesn't match. So you must always remove this file, or the ROM will restore the stock recovery on boot.
TWRP makes it easy to remove either file by mounting /system in read-write mode and using its built-in file manager to remove it. You can do the same in CWM using adb.
As for point 3, yes, try to reboot into recovery again. If you didn't remove (either file), you'll find stock recovery again.
Thanks, Khaytsus. I booted into recovery (long press power button, reboot menu, recovery), and it booted straight into CWM, like it always has with my other devices. (And to confirm, I have not even looked for the install-recovery.sh file, let alone removed or renamed it.)
So far it seems to me that TWRP requires removal of install-recovery.sh, whereas CWM does not, but this doesn't seem to be what you guys are telling me is supposed to be the case.
oohyeah said:
Thanks, Khaytsus. I booted into recovery (long press power button, reboot menu, recovery), and it booted straight into CWM, like it always has with my other devices. (And to confirm, I have not even looked for the install-recovery.sh file, let alone removed or renamed it.)
So far it seems to me that TWRP requires removal of install-recovery.sh, whereas CWM does not, but this doesn't seem to be what you guys are telling me is supposed to be the case.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It really depends on what ordering you do your actions in.
/system/etc/install-recovery.sh doesn't exist on a stock factory shipped system.
It only gets put in place after you install an OTA. If you do all your upgrades using the factory images, you'll never encounter it.
What it does is during your boot process, it will check to see if your recovery is different than what it expects (ie stock). If so, it will install stock recovery by taking the stock kernel and patching it.
If any of the following are true, it will not overwrite your recovery:
/system/etc/install-recovery.sh is missing (or modified to not run as the original file)
/system/recovery-from-boot.p is missing
you are not running the stock kernel
The most common way for install-recovery.sh to be missing is you always used factory images.
The most common way for install-recovery.sh to be modified to not do the original function is if you installed SuperSU. It will overwrite install-recovery.sh with its own.
So in all the back and forth, it is quite possible you got rid of install-recovery.sh or had it modified simply by installing root.
If you then subsequently installed custom recovery, it would stay in place.
Previously you were installing TWRP and flashing it onto the tablet, but upon booting into android, install-recovery.sh realized it wasn't stock recovery, and overwrote TWRP with stock recovery.
That is why whenever you rebooted, you got fallen android (which is stock recovery)
If the way you installed cwm is to use "fastboot flash recovery cwm.img" then the only reason it is around is because something else you did got rid of or modified install-recovery.sh. cwm would be no more immune to install-recovery.sh than twrp was.
oohyeah said:
Oh one more thing, I think I lost root after the factory reset!!
I checked my All Apps and SuperSu wasn't there anymore. Just rooted it again using Wug kit.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just to clarify, you didn't lose root. You just lost the supersu app, a root permission manager, because it was installed to your /data partition. The su binary was still in /system, all you would have had to do was install supersu from the market.
I'm not sure what else you were expecting from a "factory reset"
creaturemachine said:
I'm not sure what else you were expecting from a "factory reset"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you read the thread? He explained his reason for expectation quite well.
I just started up on a Nexus 4, and was also surprised to see this. Coming from a Galaxy S2, the "sdcard" being left intact was pretty convenient when flashing from ROM to ROM. Albeit, leading to some messiness. When did Nexus change to this behavior?
Skaziwu said:
I just started up on a Nexus 4, and was also surprised to see this. Coming from a Galaxy S2, the "sdcard" being left intact was pretty convenient when flashing from ROM to ROM. Albeit, leading to some messiness. When did Nexus change to this behavior?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Depending on which level you are looking at, it didn't really change the behavior, but rather how your data is organized.
Factory reset has always wiped out /data.
On older devices, they put the /sdcard in a separate partition and formatted fat32.
These are the ones that were surviving a factory reset.
On newer devices, the internal /sdcard is starting to migrate onto a directory in /data and the "sdard" you see is "virtual". Since it is on /data, when you wipe data, the virtual sdcard is also wiped.
Some recoveries try to simulate the previous behavior by doing a "rm" of every directory except the virtual sdard when you choose to wipe, instead of the erase/format that Android is doing.
The advantage of keeping the sdcard as a directory under /data is you don't need to decide how much space to split between the sdcard and your /data. Also permissions on files are more flexible being in an ext4 filesystem. Finally since everything is emulated and accessed via MTP, you don't need to unmount the filesystem, so your PC can access it.
There are also cons with this approach, but that is what Google is going with.

Lollipop Install Guide for OnePlus One

This guide will help you install the unofficial builds of CyanogenMod 12 and other Lollipop builds.
Disclaimer: These builds are not official and are very much pre-alpha builds. While many people have little issues, you may have issues yourself and without some knowledge of ROMing, you may end up bricking your device.
I and the people who built the ROMs are not responsible for you bricking your device or losing data.
Installation
Backup: If you do not backup your device, you will lose everything!
Install Titanium Backup and choose Backup all user apps from the backup batch actions
Titanium Backup requires that you are rooted to work. If you are not rooted, use a tool such as Helium.
Be sure to copy your backup to your computer just in-case the data in the "SD Card" partition gets deleted. Use Android File Transfer or ADB to do so.
Unlock Bootloader: If you did not root your device, you likely have not unlocked your bootloader and you will need to unlock your device using the guide here.
Recovery: You need to also make sure you have a custom recovery such as the TWRP recovery which an installation guide is also available here.
Downloads: If you have done all of the above, you are ready to begin the installation process.
First you need to download all these files to your device.
Google Apps from https://s.basketbuild.com/gapps
SuperSu from http://download.chainfire.eu/593/SuperSU/BETA-SuperSU-v2.19.zip (optional for root)
Next you need to get a copy of CM12, you can do so in the following 2 ways.
Download a lollipop ROM. Choose from one of these known to work ROMs, build your own ROM, or find a ROM from someone else you trust (if you find another good ROM, let me know).
https://www.reddit.com/r/oneplus/comments/2moqig/cm12_nonscheduled_builds_discussionupdate_thread/
http://forum.xda-developers.com/oneplus-one/development/rom-cm12-daily-builds-gapps-t2937887
Build your own copy by following this guide http://forum.xda-developers.com/oneplus-one/development/guide-building-lollipop-oneplus-one-t2947949
Flashing: This guide is using TWRP. If you have a guide for using ClockworkMod or another custom recovery, let me know.
1. Reboot into recovery, ether by adb reboot recovery in terminal or by holding down the volume down button as you reboot.
2. Go into wipe, and swipe to factory reset. This erases your data but should not erase the "SD Card" partition.
3. Go back home if it doesn't automatically do so.
4. Go into reboot then choose Recovery.
5. After reboot, choose install and select the Lollipop ROM you downloaded.
6. Swipe to confirm flash.
7. After successful flash, go back home and back into install and flash both Google Apps and SuperSu.
8. Reboot device to system and you should have Lollipop.
Restoring Backup: Now that you're on Lollipop, you will want all your app settings and apps back.
If you used the Titanium Backup option, install Titanium Backup, and choose Restore missing apps with data.
Common Issues
Slow Boot: The solution people have used was to remove GPS and location services. This means you will not be able to use any map program to navigate anywhere.
Using ES File Explorer, go to /System/priv-app and remove com.Qualcomm.location
NFC and Bluetooth: There was some earlier ROMs that had these issues, go to a more recent ROM.
Enable on screen keys and disable hardware keys: Follow this guide http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2032117 and flash this to disable the backlight on the buttons https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Byxnqyony5AybHFOeWJhMmczS09pd0JNaGFwWHFybHlYRmNJ/view credit @sd65
MultiROM: MultiROM does not support Lollipop as of right now. There has been success in installing Lollipop then using CM11(S) as a secondary ROM.
I will update this as I find other common issues.
Restore CM11S (Stock firmware)
Make sure you backup using the instructions above.
Download original firmware from https://cyngn.com/products/oneplusone/ and extract it.
In terminal, cd into the extracted folder.
On your phone, unplug it from your computer and hold down volume up and the power button until you see the fastboot icon, then connect to your computer and run the commands in the terminal window.
Code:
fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot flash system system.img
If you wish to flash the original recovery:
Code:
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
You can also try following this guide if you trust their download.
Once you are restored, so long as you didn't flash userdata, you should still have your backup from Titanium Backup in the "SD Card".
This looks great thanks for the post!
I already know the answer but just asking to be sure JUST in case I'm wrong, if I do a NANDroid backup before wiping and flashing the Lollipop ROM just to try it out, will I be able to go back to CM11S just by restoring the backup?
Mbennett156 said:
This looks great thanks for the post!
I already know the answer but just asking to be sure JUST in case I'm wrong, if I do a NANDroid backup before wiping and flashing the Lollipop ROM just to try it out, will I be able to go back to CM11S just by restoring the backup?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know much about NANDroid myself, but reading http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/NANDroid seems like it's just a clone of the flash in a file and can be restored using custom recoveries. So I would assume so, but not sure.
Mbennett156 said:
This looks great thanks for the post!
I already know the answer but just asking to be sure JUST in case I'm wrong, if I do a NANDroid backup before wiping and flashing the Lollipop ROM just to try it out, will I be able to go back to CM11S just by restoring the backup?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes you can. I've been switching between Lollipop and Paranoid Android for 2 days now with NAndroid backups
hyuratzu said:
Yes you can. I've been switching between Lollipop and Paranoid Android for 2 days now with NAndroid backups
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great thanks
I tried to use MultiROM instead of this guide (of course, setting the 11s as secondary and pushing a custom AK kernel on the Lollipop ROM) but sadly it doesn't boot.
Elvecio said:
I tried to use MultiROM instead of this guide (of course, setting the 11s as secondary and pushing a custom AK kernel on the Lollipop ROM) but sadly it doesn't boot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try searching this thread for MultiROM and see what others have done http://forum.xda-developers.com/one...s-rumors-talk-l-t2829974/page146#post56750165
Another stupid question, but if I follow this guide to install lollipop alpha, when I decide to go back to stock can I just flash a brand new stock image for the latest CM11S version through twrp? Instead of using fastboot?
Sent via quantum entanglement, focused through my OnePlus One.
Why do i need too download and install google apps?
beastlykings said:
Another stupid question, but if I follow this guide to install lollipop alpha, when I decide to go back to stock can I just flash a brand new stock image for the latest CM11S version through twrp? Instead of using fastboot?
Sent via quantum entanglement, focused through my OnePlus One.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure about installing with TWRP, it won't hurt to try. Just follow my instructions for installing Lollipop and apply it to CM11S
roktheman97 said:
Why do i need too download and install google apps?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you don't want the Google Apps (Includes Google Play), then you don't have to install it. I have heard people who didn't install it say that they had some weird issues such as when you put your screen to sleep it reboots or something.
GRMrGecko said:
If you don't want the Google Apps (Includes Google Play), then you don't have to install it. I have heard people who didn't install it say that they had some weird issues such as when you put your screen to sleep it reboots or something.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just installed android 5 and can't find Google play. Now I know why. Can I install it now or should I install it together with android 5. I'm asking if it matters. (Kind of a noob got opo in august and this is third time I'm doing this.)
---------- Post added at 08:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:41 PM ----------
OK I have Google apps now, I'm in the step with backuping the apps, the moment I pressed backup a error pop-uped that it has problems with parsing? Also seems like it's taking forever backuping my apps..
roktheman97 said:
I just installed android 5 and can't find Google play. Now I know why. Can I install it now or should I install it together with android 5. I'm asking if it matters. (Kind of a noob got opo in august and this is third time I'm doing this.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It doesn't matter if you install it later. I did the very same thing.
roktheman97 said:
OK I have Google apps now, I'm in the step with backuping the apps, the moment I pressed backup a error pop-uped that it has problems with parsing? Also seems like it's taking forever backuping my apps..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you mean restoring? You are suppose to backup before installing Lollipop. If you accidentally mess up the process of restoring, you will have to start again by going into the app switcher and quitting Titanium Backup.
GRMrGecko said:
Do you mean restoring? You are suppose to backup before installing Lollipop. If you accidentally mess up the process of restoring, you will have to start again by going into the app switcher and quitting Titanium Backup.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I backed up all the users app as instructed, now I wanted to restore all apps and its stuck with simple flashlight. As soon as I clicked restore it pop-ed up something about problems with parsing.
roktheman97 said:
I backed up all the users app as instructed, now I wanted to restore all apps and its stuck with simple flashlight. As soon as I clicked restore it pop-ed up something about problems with parsing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try reading things here http://www.titaniumtrack.com/kb/titanium-backup-kb/titanium-backup-troubleshooting.html
GRMrGecko said:
Try reading things here http://www.titaniumtrack.com/kb/titanium-backup-kb/titanium-backup-troubleshooting.html
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you very much for all information, I find this very helpful already. I think I will reboot the phone into recovery boot my previous OS and make another backup with newer version. Thanks again.
Thanks for this informative guide. The "Restore CM11S (Stock firmware)" is useful too.
roktheman97 said:
I backed up all the users app as instructed, now I wanted to restore all apps and its stuck with simple flashlight. As soon as I clicked restore it pop-ed up something about problems with parsing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's a system app, you can't restore those, you're only meant to backup/restore user apps.
Transmitted via Bacon
timmaaa said:
That's a system app, you can't restore those, you're only meant to backup/restore user apps.
Transmitted via Bacon
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Flashlight from Google play.

Backup fully an unrooted OnePlus 5

After a long research for finding a full backup method for an unrooted OnePlus 5 android, I'm now asking if anybody can help.
I have tried using ADB.
Code:
adb backup -apk -shared -all -obb -system -f "C:\backup.ab"
adb restore "C:\backup.ab"
Here I have to
But it does not restore everything. So I don't fully trust ADB.
Then I thought, what about backup the partitions to image files, and later be able to restore them via fastboot or something.
So my question is,
can you make a backup using "fastboot", to an image just like a rom with personal data.
Or if this is not possible, then can you use linux tool dd to make image backup of my Phone?.
If there is nothing left, but to root? Then I have seen a lot of tools, apps and windows utilities to make a backup.
But what do you recommend I use?
Easiest and safest would be to just do a nandroid from a custom recovery. If I am not wrong, this works also unrooted if you flash the recovery via usb.
chrismast said:
Easiest and safest would be to just do a nandroid from a custom recovery. If I am not wrong, this works also unrooted if you flash the recovery via usb.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes but you still need to have unlocked the phone
B0unze said:
yes but you still need to have unlocked the phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Also any custom recovery requires you to root (SuperSU or Magisk) because as soon as you boot to the system the custom recovery will be automatically be replaced with the stock recovery. So in effect to create a nandroid backup means being unlocked, having a custom recovery and flashing a root solution. You don't need to alter the ROM any more than that though.
egominus said:
After a long research for finding a full backup method for an unrooted OnePlus 5 android, I'm now asking if anybody can help.
I have tried using ADB.
Here I have to
But it does not restore everything. So I don't fully trust ADB.
Then I thought, what about backup the partitions to image files, and later be able to restore them via fastboot or something.
So my question is,
can you make a backup using "fastboot", to an image just like a rom with personal data.
Or if this is not possible, then can you use linux tool dd to make image backup of my Phone?.
If there is nothing left, but to root? Then I have seen a lot of tools, apps and windows utilities to make a backup.
But what do you recommend I use?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do you mean by it does not restore everything? I'm planning to root my phone but want to create a nandroid backup first
BenSow said:
What do you mean by it does not restore everything? I'm planning to root my phone but want to create a nandroid backup first
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have trouble backup with ADB, sometimes it hangs. And according to this link https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-nexus/general/guide-phone-backup-unlock-root-t1420351 it does not backup everything like SMS and Call Logs. And pictures can have problems.
I also have problems with ADB hangs, and does not finish.
chrismast said:
Easiest and safest would be to just do a nandroid from a custom recovery. If I am not wrong, this works also unrooted if you flash the recovery via usb.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So now I'm a little confused? Because you say I can boot into nandroid from a custom recovery.
What do I need to boot into custom recovery?
Do I need to unlock phone? Because this will wipe my phone, and would rather not.
Can I boot into custom recovery directly from image, without flash anything?
If I need to flash custom recovery, then do I need to root my phone?
egominus said:
Do I need to unlock phone? Because this will wipe my phone, and would rather not.
Can I boot into custom recovery directly from image, without flash anything?
If I need to flash custom recovery, then do I need to root my phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think I have the answer my own questions. But please correct me or tell me if it's the right direction.
According to this link https://aubykhan.wordpress.com/2013/07/21/android-tip-boot-into-twrp-or-cwm-recovery-without-flashing/ I can boot into custom recovery. But I need to Unlock my phone first. But the question remains, can I make nandroid backup without root, because here http://trendblog.net/android-guide-make-nandroid-backup-android-phone/ it says I need root?
egominus said:
I think I have the answer my own questions. But please correct me or tell me if it's the right direction.
According to this link https://aubykhan.wordpress.com/2013...t-into-twrp-or-cwm-recovery-without-flashing/ I can boot into custom recovery. But I need to Unlock my phone first. But the question remains, can I make nandroid backup without root, because here http://trendblog.net/android-guide-make-nandroid-backup-android-phone/ it says I need root?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, you will need an unlocked phone.
To my understanding you can then flash a custom recovery via usb whereas after reboot of phone it will be reset. This allows you though to boot into custom recovery and do a quick nandroid. Again I might be wrong, I thought you do not need root for this process but maybe someone can correct me.
Ur probably just going to need to hook it up to a computer and take everything off then just spend some free time logging back into each app. The only way i know without doing this is an app called Huawei Backup. It keeps all settings and logins for each app. If you can somehow find a way to install it on a one plus device you would be okay. Try an older version or inject it somehow.

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