Database Users

Anyone heard of a android virus/trojan yet?

Sometimes I come across an app thats not on the Android market and you have to install it manually. Has anyone come across a virus/trojan on Android yet? Im curious how easy or hard it is to modify a legit applications and put a virus/trojan in it?

Lol have not seen one yet. Android isn't that big yet so doubt hackers would really spend time putting trojans to get stuff like your email password lol.

Take everything you know about microshaft windoze and forget it. The system architecture of android is almost completely invulnerable to viruses/worms/etc.
In a typical unix system, hacks can take one of very few possible approaches;
1) service bug targeting, i.e., if one were to discover a security vulnerability in the Apache HTTP server, one could theoretically compromise it. That particular service I mean.
2) user account targeting, i.e., one could convince a user to run something dangerous, which would infect that specific user's account, of course, this attack would limit itself to damaging that user's personal data and would not be able to take down the whole system unless it also targeted a kernel or X-server exploit.
Note specifically regarding #1, that in a well configured system, that targeting a particular service would be restricted to a specific user account just as in #2 since each service runs as its own username.
3) Targeting KERNEL defects; this is perhaps the most frightening possibility. It is also the least likely since it would also require #1 or #2. Any particular kernel attack, particularly in Linux is also very unlikely to work for long due to the open sourced nature of Linux. There are a LOT more people involved in monitoring the fundamental securities of the Linux kernel than any other OS because of its open nature. It is also a source of PRIDE for kernel HACKERS that they ALSO be responsible for openly providing the SOLUTION to any exploits that they discover. And they usually do this with their REAL NAME since it basically immortalizes them. The end result is that every time a kernel exploit is discovered, it tends to be patched within hours of its first application.
Now of course you want to know how this affects Android, since by all appearances, there is no user-level security. WRONG. The Android security level is actually on par with service level security on unix servers. EVERY SINGLE application installed is granted is own user account, which means that if any particular application is dangerous, its range of damage is restricted to that particular application's private data, as well as any permissions that the application is explicitly granted (i.e. when you install an application, it gives you the required security list). There is also the very slim possibility of a kernel exploit (though this is extremely unlikely), and it could damage the data on the sdcard (since it is an MS-crap filesystem with no security restrictions).
Of course you will note that older versions of the ADP1 system image came with an unregulated 'su' command (which you could also end up with using a "cat sh > su; chmod 4755 su" root approach) which basically can be used by any application to take over the whole system. Make sure that you don't have any such su command on your droid. Either use a password-protected su command (which will cause problems for trusted apps requesting root privileges), or the gui-supported su command. Subsequent ADP1 images came with an su command that was restricted to the debugging terminal user, which is fine.
In other words... you don't have much to worry about. Just don't do anything really stupid, like installing an untrusted application that wants a boat load of privileges that it shouldn't be asking for.

lbcoder said:
EVERY SINGLE application installed is granted is own user account, which means that if any particular application is dangerous, its range of damage is restricted to that particular application's private data, as well as any permissions that the application is explicitly granted (i.e. when you install an application, it gives you the required security list).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Might be worth pointing out that android apps are for the most part interpreted language apps, meaning the onus of security and stability (just from an apk standpoint) falls largely on the vm. All the lower level subsystems are pretty well protected by the Linux kernel, and these have been significantly tried in fire by decades of Linux server deployment.

lbcoder said:
The system architecture of android is almost completely invulnerable to viruses/worms/etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
jashsu said:
Might be worth pointing out that android apps are for the most part interpreted language apps, meaning the onus of security and stability (just from an apk standpoint) falls largely on the vm. All the lower level subsystems are pretty well protected by the Linux kernel, and these have been significantly tried in fire by decades of Linux server deployment.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All the points about the protection offered from the Linux kernel and the VM are valid. Computer secuity is an ongoing battle between the software originators and the hackers trying to get in. I'm not saying it's remotely likely, particularly due to the market share, but rule one in my book is don't taunt the hackers.

lbcoder said:
Take everything you know about microshaft windoze and forget it. The system architecture of android is almost completely invulnerable to viruses/worms/etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Until the Android Dev team screw up again and lets any app run in the system process when requested (which was why cupcake was delayed in the US).

thanks for the post.
I was curious if someone could unpack a .apk file and modify a application easily, say have it send personal info to xyz server instead of the server the app was designed for or send it to both servers so the user doesnt think anything is wrong.
Are the files in the .apk editable, like an .exe is compiled for windows and the .exe cannot be edited (since its machine code).

androidmonkey said:
thanks for the post.
I was curious if someone could unpack a .apk file and modify a application easily, say have it send personal info to xyz server instead of the server the app was designed for or send it to both servers so the user doesnt think anything is wrong.
Are the files in the .apk editable, like an .exe is compiled for windows and the .exe cannot be edited (since its machine code).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, apks are basically just zip files with cryptographic signatures. If you get your apks from Market then there is little to no risk of apks being tampered with. If you install your apks from any source other than Market, then you just have to trust the source that the apk hasn't been modified. Obviously if the apk itself doesn't ask for many permissions then it shouldn't be a problem. For example if you download a game apk from a developer's personal webpage and it asks for just permission to keep the screen alive, there's little risk to your data. However if you download an app that has read/write access to your contacts, or has root access, then you better be sure that the site you get it from is trustworthy.

jashsu said:
Yes, apks are basically just zip files with cryptographic signatures. If you get your apks from Market then there is little to no risk of apks being tampered with. If you install your apks from any source other than Market, then you just have to trust the source that the apk hasn't been modified. Obviously if the apk itself doesn't ask for many permissions then it shouldn't be a problem. For example if you download a game apk from a developer's personal webpage and it asks for just permission to keep the screen alive, there's little risk to your data. However if you download an app that has read/write access to your contacts, or has root access, then you better be sure that the site you get it from is trustworthy.
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Click to collapse
So the files in the .apk not executables, rather interpreted with the VM? Im curious if those files can be read and changed. For instance, can someone open the file in a Java SDK and change the code? Or are those files protected so they cant be modified? For instance, could you download soundboard app from the Market, "unzip" the .apk, and put your own sounds in it?

androidmonkey said:
So the files in the .apk not executables, rather interpreted with the VM? Im curious if those files can be read and changed. For instance, can someone open the file in a Java SDK and change the code? Or are those files protected so they cant be modified? For instance, could you download soundboard app from the Market, "unzip" the .apk, and put your own sounds in it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unless the classes are specifically performing security/sanity checks, there's nothing keeping you from replacing asset files (pngs, wavs, etc) and then resigning the apk with any key of your choosing. However, altering xmls and classes is more difficult as they are obfuscated/optimized by default.
For apps distributed officially through the Android market, the only way Google can provide assurance for the app producer against tampering is app-protected folder. Of course that assumes that root access is not provided, which is most likely a prerequsite for any phone to be branded "with Google" and have Market access. From the viewpoint of the consumer, apps are guaranteed by Google against tampering only if retrieved through Market. Once the app is on the device, it is protected via Android's use of Linux user access permission model (each app is its own user). The consumer may of course alter the file him/herself, unless it is a protected app, in which case root is required.

sounds buggy. i hope not. this reminds me of when Mozilla firefox became popular i slowly starte dto see code become available to make pop ups n my belloved browser

Virus found on Android phone...
Article 1:
NEWS
An employee at Spanish antivirus firm Panda Security received a new Android-based Vodafone HTC Magic with malware on it, according to researchers at Panda Labs.
"Today one of our colleagues received a brand new Vodafone HTC Magic with Google's Android OS," researcher Pedro Bustamante wrote on the Panda Research Blog on Monday.
"The interesting thing is that when she plugged the phone to her PC via USB, her Panda Cloud Antivirus went off, detecting both an autorun.inf and autorun.exe as malicious," he wrote. "A quick look into the phone quickly revealed it was infected and spreading the infection to any and all PCs that the phone would be plugged into."
Article 2:
Mariposa virus back on Vodafone Android smartphones
HTC Magic According to a Spanish blogger, around 3,000 memory cards supplied by Vodafone Spain were infected with the Mariposa bot client. The mobile network operator has now reportedly confirmed that these included HTC Magic Android-based smartphone models, as well as other devices. A spokesperson for the company has told CNET that it is a "local incident". Vodafone says it has identified customers that could potentially be affected and it will be sending them new memory cards. It has also offered to supply them with tools to restore the integrity of their devices.
Reports of an HTC Magic smartphone carrying the virus were first published less than two weeks ago, however the malware is not able to harm the Android smartphone itself. The bot only attempts to contact a command & control server when connected to a Windows PC. The virus should be detected by most up-to-date anti-virus solutions.
Personal take:
Interesting to note that the virus being carried on an Android phone and was used to infect PC's NOT other Android phones. It came straight from manufacturing with the virus on, so as of yet I still haven't heard of a virus that can infect an android phone.
Further more, I have seen Anti-virus software on the market place AND being offered by Norton. What do they protect against if there are no known virus threats? Do they just draw a nice pretty anti-virus logo on the screen to make you feel comfy? hehehe.

Trojans in the hacked up ROMs people are distributing
androidmonkey said:
Sometimes I come across an app thats not on the Android market and you have to install it manually. Has anyone come across a virus/trojan on Android yet? Im curious how easy or hard it is to modify a legit applications and put a virus/trojan in it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've found a trojan in at least one of the ROMs being distributed on here. Even reported directly from the developer's own file sharing site.
"Stock" ROM http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2066023
Attached is a photo of the file scanned from the linked file sharing site for the KERNEL he wants you to INSTALL!!
Click the link to JB_KERNEL_3.17.841.2_EVITA_Init.d_Support_Installer.zip - 8.54 MB in that thread and see for yourself.
Be careful what you install on your device. ANDR.Trojan.GingerBreak takes full administrative control of your device and downloads more trojans to siphon out your private personal data.

[XAP][Source] Webserver v0.6.0 (File uploads)

Version Alpha 0.6.0 is now available
I'm back! Not dead yet, I promise. This is actually a relatively small update in terms of user-facing features, with only one really big new thing - support for file uploading - but that's a lot bigger than it might sound. It's the first write support I've implemented in the server, and it also required some fairly massive updates to the HttpServer component (support for binary requests, for POST parameters, for MIME multipart parsing). These will be built upon in forthcoming versions to add support for things like registry editing, in-browser file viewing (possibly editing), and so on. There are also a large number of small fixes and improvements that I've made over the last two-weeks-shy-of-a-year, which should make the server faster, more robust, better able to support concurrent connections, and lighter on device resources. Finally, while the app still targets WP8.0 and should run on 8.0, it now is designed for 8.1 compatibility (especially the AllCapabilities version).
Previous update (0.5.6): This version is mostly bug fixes and UI changes. The biggest changes are: clearer display of weird registry data types, the server now consumes fewer threads (it used to spawn them with wild abandon) and does faster string compares, the app version is now shown on the phone, error pages are now better, if you launch the app without a WiFi IP address it'll offer to take you to the WiFi settings page, connections are no longer closed as soon as the app starts sending a response, and the server now defaults to using the Connection: keep-alive header, with a two-minute timeout. The last change, combined with the second-to-last, should hopefully both do away with the tendency to have the app fail to display a page. However, I shouldn't have *needed* to switch it to "keep-alive" - using "close" should have worked - but it still veeeery occasionally would kill the connection early. Agh. Anyhow, this is better in the meantime.
DevDB offers me a support / Q&A thread. Please use that thread to ask questions; don't PM me unless it needs to be kept private for some reason!
ISSUES ON WP8.1:
It *should* work to deploy the app with "Application Deployment", but if you have a problem try deploying with "Windows Phone Application Deployment 8.1" instead.
Problems have been reported in the past when the app is installed to the SD card. It's small, though; putting it on internal storage shouldn't be a problem.
RESOLVED The AllCapabilities version included a few capabilities that were present in 8.0 but removed in 8.1. Those capabilities have been removed; the AllCapabilities version now deploys and runs on capability-unlocked WP8.1 phones.
IN CASE OF OTHER ISSUES: Please provide a *detailed* error report - what phone and OS version you have, what hacks you've installed, what Webserver version you're running, what you do to get the error to occur, and exactly *what* occurs - and I'll fix it as soon as I can! There's a DevDB section for posting bug reports, and you can also use CodePlex if you want.
I finally implemented file upload! I'll work on getting more stuff like that (file delete, possibly file rename/move/copy, various registry edits), hopefully soon! I also hope to add support for different areas, like an "Applications" path, a "Processes" path, a "Services" path... eventually. Many of those are really hard without good privileges. I'm also looking at moving the server to a background process and making the app just a control UI for it, adding support for authentication and/or HTTPS, adding some stylesheets to the web UI, adding caching, and much more. I did finally implement Connection header support.
Once again, the XAP is published twice. One is a fairly standard XAP that any phone can sideload, and the second has many exotic capabilities to enable viewing of (and writing to) slightly more of the file system and registry. The standard XAP has had its list of capabilities expanded to pretty much all of them that can be used without interop-unlock. The high-capability variant requires not just interop-unlock, but the additional capability-unlock hack available in the interop-unlock thread. The AllCapabilities version now works with WP8.1; sorry for the long delay on that!
An item of note: the AllCapabilities version (or either version, on WP8.1) can open other drives in the file system. On phones with an SD card, it is mounted at D: and you can browse it as normal. Credit to @hjc4869 for this discovery!
DESCRIPTION: This is a simple webserver app which can enumerate those files that are in folders readable from the sandbox, can download and upload (access permitting) files, can browse the registry, and can display the contents of registry values of any type. It runs on WP8.x (not yet tested on W10M). It is a spiritual successor to the Functional Webserver / WebServer (Mango) projects from WP7. This version is still missing a lot of functionality as I decided to implement it from scratch, but it is advancing swiftly. Note that there's no access controls implemented; use it on a public network only at your own risk!
Instructions are simple: sideload the XAP, connect to WiFi (required), run the app (called "WebServer Native Access"), point a web browser (on a PC or phone that is also on that local network) to the URL that the app displays. You should get a basic index page. Click on a Filesystem or Registry link to begin browsing the phone. There's a textbox near the top of all filesystem pages, type in a path there (for example, "C:windows" with no quotes) and hit Enter or click Get Files. You'll see a list of the contents of that folder. Click on a file to download it or a directory to open it. There's also a box for uploading files, one at a time, to the current directory. Navigating the registry is similar, except you'll need to specify the registry hive and then the path from that hive (or no path, to access the root of the hive).
As of v0.6.0, uploading files is finally supported! Other modifications (editing files, creating, deleting, or changing registry keys or values) are currently not supported. They will be "soon" although my personal testing suggests that basically the whole registry, and most of the file system, is off-limits for writing unless you use restricted capabilities.
You might see an error code (error 5 is "ACCESS_DENIED", you'll see it a lot; I should replace it with an appropriate 403 or whatever). Or you might see a status 500 message because of an exception in the server. Or the server may just crash (hopefully not so often anymore...). I'm making it more resilient, but there are still bugs. Please report any previously-unreported issues you find, including how to reproduce them, and I'll fix them if possible.
Also feel free to request features or changes; I'll implement them if reasonably possible. The app is a mixture of C++ and C# code; I could probably have done it all in one or the other but wanted to have a C++ component in case I ran into something that wasn't available in C#, and although it probably would have saved some time, I decided that hacking up a web server in C++ was maybe not the best idea.
The source code is on Codeplex, at the following projects: https://wp8webserver.codeplex.com/ for the server and the app (C#) and https://wp8nativeaccess.codeplex.com/ for the native access wrappers (C++). You may have to fix up the reference paths to get the C# component to see the C++ component correctly. The code is reasonably well documented, but let me know if you have any questions. Permission to re-use the code or components is granted under the MS-PL (Microsoft Permissive License) as posted on Codeplex.
Go forth and find cool stuff!
Version history (see the git commit logs for more detail:
07 July 2013 - 0.2.0: Initial release, FS only, 920 downloads (source: 652 downloads)
14 July 2013 - 0.3.2: initial registry, HTTP server and web app encapsulation, source on Codeplex, 225 downloads
0.3.3: bugfixes, 454 downloads
0.4.2: basic registry values display, 86 downloads
0.4.3: bugfixes, 326 downloads
0.4.6: multistring registry values, bugfixes, updated libraries, first AllCapabilities version (950 downloads), 453 downloads
25 Oct 2013 - 0.4.8: binary and long registry values, formatting and bugfixes, 451 downloads AllCaps, 201 normal
22 Dec 2013 - 0.4.9: all registry value types, better threading, proper resume, remembers port, 97 downloads AllCaps, 53 normal
24 Dec 2013 - 0.5.0: background operation using Location APIs. Downloads: 1011 AllCaps, 963 Normal
20 Jul 2014 - 0.5.1: More capabilities, better navigation. Downloads: 358 AllCaps, 352 normal
07 Aug 2014 - 0.5.3: .REG export, better traversal, bugfixes. Downloads as of 0.5.5 release: 260 AllCaps, 164 normal
10 Oct 2014 - 0.5.5: Bugfixes and back-end work. Downloads as of 0.6.0 release: 140 AllCaps, 113 normal
25 Oct 2014 - 0.5.6: Bugfixes and UI tweaks. Downloads as of 0.6.0 release: 1720 AllCaps, 1334 normal
12 Oct 2015 - 0.6.0: Binary requests, file uploads, bugfixes.
XDA:DevDB Information
WebServer Native Access, Tool/Utility for the Windows Phone 8 General
Contributors
GoodDayToDie
Source Code: https://wp8webserver.codeplex.com/
Version Information
Status: Alpha
Created 2014-10-17
Last Updated 2015-10-12

I'm going to use this space to mention something that's pretty cool:
J. Arturo of http://www.komodosoft.net is using a modified version of the HTTP server that powers this app in the ShareFolder app (http://www.windowsphone.com/s?appid=e2b9c82e-eaa1-4a3b-9d4a-8a2933a8bdb4) to support opening video files directly from Windows network shares! This was done to work around a limitation of the WP8 media control: it can only source from an isolated storage file or a HTTP URL. By running a server in the background and streaming the video file through it, and pointing the video player control at the localhost URL, it becomes possible to play the file on the phone without first copying it to the app's isolated storage. A very cool way to solve the problem! Also, reviewing the changes that were made to the network code of the server pointed me toward those threading fixes I made that have hopefully much improved version 0.4.9.
Please note that the updated version of ShareFolder with this feature may not yet be available, although it should be soon. It is a commercial (paid) app, but the author sought and received permission to use my code (although the license does not require such permission be received).

What exactly is the problem with sockets? I am battling myself with sockets atm too, maybe we can share knowledge?

Strictly speaking, the problem was with the phone's limited subset of the Sockets API forcing me to access it through functions I wouldn't normally use (asynchronous everything, SocketAsyncEventArgs and lambdas and AutoResetEvents and so on everywhere...) but I've got a pretty good handle on it now, at least for the System.Net.Sockets.Socket and its friends. The new .NET 4.x ones (using the async keyword and all) are in a different namespace; I didn't mess with them. They are more abstracted from the Bekeley sockets interface that I'm used to from C, but they are also (supposedly) more user-friendly, especially if you don't feel like writing all your own thread management code (and in fairness, I should re-write the webserver's threading to use threadpools; they're better for this type of work).
If you want to ask questions about the topic, I suggest starting a new thread (possibly in the Q&A subforum, although it's also dev related...) and I'll answer if I can.

GoodDayToDie, just an idea: how about sharing your source code via CodePlex or GitHub?

Oh man, this is pretty nice! GoodDayToDie does it again!

So far, I can read \Windows, the current install folder which you access just by typing "." with no quotes and the current application folder by typing ".." I can access the .dlls, .winmd and AppManifest.xml from the current install, but from everywhere else, it goes boom. This is a great step towards something awesome though!
EDIT:
I was wrong. For some reason, when you click on a folder it's trying to "download" it, rather than chdir. I can get pretty far into the Windows directory.
THAT's what you meant by "Click on a file (note: there's no current way to tell the difference between files and folders) to download it.
You might see an error code (error 5 is "ACCESS_DENIED", you'll see it a lot). Or you might see a status 500 message because of an exception in the server. It's getting a lot more resilient but there are surely still some bugs. ".
If you see a folder, just type the full path to it instead of clicking on it and you will be able to read the contents.
ANOTHER EDIT:
I just found a file inside of the \Windows\System32 directory named [guid].devicemetadata-ms (It's easier to just search for "devicemetadata-ms"). It's a cab file with some metadata about WP8 with a sign.cat and packagesign.cat file in the archive. I don't know what these files could potentially be useful for.

New version in a day or two (busy tonight). Features I plan to implement (not necessarily in the next version or at any particular time):
File upload (IsoStore and, of all crazy things, install directory are writable. I think I'll put a flag on each FS page that says whether the current dir is writable...).
File deletion (where possible, of course).
File and Directory distinction in the listing (clicking a dir should open it, not error out).
Filesystem index page with links to folders that can be accessed successfully (since the root isn't readable).
Some more file info (size, probably attributes, possibly permissions).
Possibly an option to preview a file (as plain text) without downloading it.
Some kind of background mode (the server uses minimal resources when not actively servicing a request, so I'll see if I can get it to work in the background, perhaps by abusing the music transfer agent...)
Some kind of offline mode (at least basic file browsing within the app, as an alternative to using the web interface, though I might just make a second app for that).
Source code changes: separate the server code from the webapp / phone app code (move it into its own project).
Source code changes: move to a hosted version control service, probably CodePlex (good suggestion sensboston).
Maybe add an icon and such...
Any other suggestions?
I also want to try experimenting with various non-standard capabilities and see if I can get access to more of the system . I've already added the ability to access removable storage, but I've also found a bunch of really weird and frequently undocumented capabilities in the OS's policy configuration files, and I need to look into those... The interesting (and possibly the uninteresting) ones are probably blocked for unsigned sideloaded apps, but it's worth checking on anyhow.

Yeah sorry, I should have been more explicit about clicking on dirs. not working in 0.2.0. Also, it's "unofficial" but if you check the URL bar you'll see a URL parameter called something like "pattern" (by default, it's *) and if you change that, you can filter the results. For example, "foo*.exe" (note: no quotes!) will search for EXE files whose names start with "foo". Among other uses, this makes it a lot faster to load large dirs like System32. This will be added to the UI at some point. Also note that URL decoding is applied correctly to querystring parameters (Probably already noticed with the path sometimes written using %5C for \) so you can add special characters that way if needed, though currently any of them but \ will probably just cause an exception.
...
Actually, does this filesystem support Alternate Data Streams? If so, you should be able to download them by appending a : and the ADS name to the filename in the download URL...

OK, so that was a new version in five days. Sorry, stuff takes time.
The source code is now on Codeplex. The native access portion is at https://wp8nativeaccess.codeplex.com/, and the web server portion is at https://wp8webserver.codeplex.com/. Both are licensed MS-PL and use Git for version control. The full XAP is also available for download from the Webserver project on Codeplex.

GoodDayToDie said:
OK, so that was a new version in five days. Sorry, stuff takes time.
The source code is now on Codeplex. The native access portion is at https://wp8nativeaccess.codeplex.com/, and the web server portion is at https://wp8webserver.codeplex.com/. Both are licensed MS-PL and use Git for version control. The full XAP is also available for download from the Webserver project on Codeplex.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are a god. I'll be sure to post my findings .

Hmm. When I first load up WebServer File Access then access from my laptop, I get the main page then the program crashes on my phone. It seems to hold a lock on to the socket as i can no longer access port 9999 from any other device when re-opening the app. I can access it again when I reboot, but the same thing happens.
EDIT: I think it may be due to the WiFi at work... it's junky. I'll try again when I get home. I was just able to browse some directories.

Wow, that's completely unexpected... I can beef up the error chacking and handling around the listener port though. That part of the code is really straightforward, so I actually haven't hardened it very much. I can also put in a Finally block to close the socket and/or mark the socket as re-usable so that other apps (or the same one again) can listen on it in the future.
I also plan to add support for setting your own port, but that doesn't solve the underlying problem. I'll put in more error reporting as well, to enable better debugging. Thanks for the report! Always good to have users report problems so I know where to prioritize fixes.

GoodDayToDie said:
Wow, that's completely unexpected... I can beef up the error chacking and handling around the listener port though. That part of the code is really straightforward, so I actually haven't hardened it very much. I can also put in a Finally block to close the socket and/or mark the socket as re-usable so that other apps (or the same one again) can listen on it in the future.
I also plan to add support for setting your own port, but that doesn't solve the underlying problem. I'll put in more error reporting as well, to enable better debugging. Thanks for the report! Always good to have users report problems so I know where to prioritize fixes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried the app at home and it DOES crash on the first hit of the home page, but I'm able to open it up again and it works fine.

The new version 0.3.3 should be more rebust; try it and let me know if you still have issues. If you do, let me know what the exception message is (and any other info you can provide) and I'll try to track it down.
Downloading really big files should also work now. The app will read and push files in smaller chunks (the code to do this existed in the NativeAccess library before, but wasn't used).

a simple SDK?
Dear Sir
Will it be possible for you to make some sort of SDK from this so other developers can integrate this into their apps and enable browsing isolatedstorage?
Sorry if it is a stupid question.

Bruce_X_Lee said:
Dear Sir
Will it be possible for you to make some sort of SDK from this so other developers can integrate this into their apps and enable browsing isolatedstorage?
Sorry if it is a stupid question.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With the restrictions in permissions, this app only allows browsing of the app's isolatedstorage locally. You are able to use the IsolatedStorage API within your app to browse files and directories already.

snickler said:
With the restrictions in permissions, this app only allows browsing of the app's isolatedstorage locally. You are able to use the IsolatedStorage API within your app to browse files and directories already.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's right. What I want is to allow the end user to be able to browse the isolatedstorage. Imagine I have a video download app, I want the user to be able to transfer those downloaded videos from the app's isolated storage to, say, a PC.
One can do this by integrating the webserver code into the said app.

Bruce_X_Lee said:
That's right. What I want is to allow the end user to be able to browse the isolatedstorage. Imagine I have a video download app, I want the user to be able to transfer those downloaded videos from the app's isolated storage to, say, a PC.
One can do this by integrating the webserver code into the said app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ahh I see what you mean now. That sounds like a pretty nice idea. I think more research needs to be done to see whether it would even be allowed in the marketplace.

The webserver portion is stand-alone (builds to its own .NET DLL with no dependencies on the other parts) and has a pretty clean interface. You'd need to implement the web application portion of it yourself - the thing that generates the response pages for a given request - but the HttpResponse class in the server does a lot of the work of that for you; you basically just specify the content you want to send (as a String or byte array) and it sends it.

[Q] NST General Questions

Hello fellow Nookers,
I've been lurking around here for the past couple of years, only to join about 8mo ago. I find the amount of knowledge and willingness to help at XDA fascinating. There are clearly A LOT of intelligent people here that could probably solve many of the worlds problems, if collectively asked. So, a big virtual thumbs up to all of you.
Well, enough of the mushy stuff. I'm here for a reason right? I have quite a few general questions regarding things such as... a rooted nook, Google Play, .apk files, transferring .apk files, searchmarket, etc.. Rather than start separate threads, or jump on many existing threads, I figured it might be easier to list them in one thread.
So, here we go.
Above all other questions below, here is what I am ultimately after...
I am looking to download .apk game files from Google Play so that I can transfer/install them on my Kindle Fire HD. So why not root the KF? I have read posts that rooting a KF using Amazon Prime will render Prime useless. I need my Prime for watching movies/shows. The games I want from GP are not available on the less-than-stellar Amazon App Store. I value my KF device more than my outdated NST, which is why I have no issues rooting the NST.
Now for the questions...
(1) I've followed the [Root] NookManager post here at XDA ( http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2040351 ) and successfully rooted my NST running 1.2.1. Per the post, there were quite a few steps not mentioned according to this nook devs page ( http://nookdevs.com/Nook_Simple_Touch/Rooting ). [Q] Are the below areas from nook devs not necessary when following the [Root] NookManager post?
After you have burned the uSD card
#3
At the Android Welcome Screen skip "Sign In"
Enable Location Services when given the option.
Connect to Wifi and launch Youtube from ADW App Drawer.
Click the Menu button (On top at the right, next to the time.).
Select "My Channel" and Login using your Gmail Account (ensure the [email protected] format to link)
Exit Youtube and Launch Gmail.
Sync your Gmail Account and Exit. (If it fails to sync that is fine - it will do so later on if you give it a few minutes)
Open up Market and Accept Terms and Service.​
(2) Before rooting, I changed the email address on B&N associated with the NST. The email with B&N matches the email I use for GP. However, the email on the NST, in account settings, is the previous email address. [Q] Is this an issue?
(3) When accessing GP on NST via the Browser App in ReLaunch, there are many games I cannot download. I get the message "This app is incompatible with your device". I've read a few posts online (outside of XDA) showing ways to spoof an older Android device to a current Android device. But, as with most things, it came with warnings and only working for devices running firmware higher than 1.2.1. [Q] Assuming this would trick GP into thinking I have a newer Android, is there a known way to accomplish spoofing a 1.2.1 device?
(4) Something worth pointing out... when accessing GP, and navigating to Settings/My Devices, "phone" is listed. However, when I go to Settings/Android Device Manager on GP, it states No Active Device Listed. [Q] Should there be a device in the Android Device Manager? If so, how to accomplish this?
(5) As it has been widely reported, the search feature on GP doesn't work when on the NST. For the record, I have noticed while in Settings, the search feature does in fact work. So, it has been suggested to use SearchMarket (which I have installed). However, this app seams to have its limitations. When I search for a game on SM, that I know is on GP, SM is not finding it. Also, the Market App within ReLaunch cannot find the game either. [Q] Is SM searching Market, and is Market different than GP?
(6) These next questions relate to downloading, rather than installing, apk files to the NST. Since my goal is to obtain apps from GP, that are not available via AAS, so I can install them on the KF, [Q] how can I have them sent to the mSD Card? [Q] Aside from using download/torrent sites to obtain .apk files, are there any "legal", safer, ways other than GP?
Well, I think that about covers it. I may regret saying this, but all of this came about because of one game... Blackout: Bring The Color Back. I am soooo hooked on that game. I first played it at Dave & Busters, and was hooked within minutes. I think I sat there playing it for a good 45 minutes. Then I found it on Apple's App Store. Now, I need it on the KF. If I could download this one game from GP, I would be ecstatic. LOL... can't believe I admitted that.
Thanks in advance.

Too detailed? I can dumb it down, if you think it'll help.

diditall4danook said:
(1) I've followed the [Root] NookManager post here at XDA ( http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2040351 ) and successfully rooted my NST running 1.2.1. Per the post, there were quite a few steps not mentioned according to this nook devs page ( http://nookdevs.com/Nook_Simple_Touch/Rooting ). [Q] Are the below areas from nook devs not necessary when following the [Root] NookManager post?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
At the end of that guide did you follow and install the NTGAppsAttack package ?
If you read that guide it tells you the steps you read on nookdevs are some of the steps to sign in for first time to google.
I used NTGAppsAttack last night just fine. It is a little time sensitive so follow the intructions directly after installing.
Google recognized my NSTG instantly. The youtube trick is basically one of the methods to make google play acknowledge your device.
diditall4danook said:
(2) Before rooting, I changed the email address on B&N associated with the NST. The email with B&N matches the email I use for GP. However, the email on the NST, in account settings, is the previous email address. [Q] Is this an issue?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe. Try suggested above and if does not work after a day go backup to your backup de-register nook and try again with other email.
diditall4danook said:
(3) When accessing GP on NST via the Browser App in ReLaunch, there are many games I cannot download. I get the message "This app is incompatible with your device". I've read a few posts online (outside of XDA) showing ways to spoof an older Android device to a current Android device. But, as with most things, it came with warnings and only working for devices running firmware higher than 1.2.1. [Q] Assuming this would trick GP into thinking I have a newer Android, is there a known way to accomplish spoofing a 1.2.1 device?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
NST is a android 2.1 device also known as Eclair.
Its an old version very old. Even those games you can run on the nook with norefresh/fastmode you will still sometime need to get hold of an older version thats supports 2.1.
Try Simon Tatham's Puzzles (the B n W at least)
diditall4danook said:
(4) Something worth pointing out... when accessing GP, and navigating to Settings/My Devices, "phone" is listed. However, when I go to Settings/Android Device Manager on GP, it states No Active Device Listed. [Q] Should there be a device in the Android Device Manager? If so, how to accomplish this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Step one go to "Cog"->"Settings" on google play website. On right hand side click on EDIT on phone line and rename "phone" to be something better like "NST_1". Believe me you will regret not doing so when you have more than one!
Android Device manager requires a very up to date version GAPPS to work.
You want it to location your nook or blank it?
diditall4danook said:
(5) As it has been widely reported, the search feature on GP doesn't work when on the NST. For the record, I have noticed while in Settings, the search feature does in fact work. So, it has been suggested to use SearchMarket (which I have installed). However, this app seams to have its limitations. When I search for a game on SM, that I know is on GP, SM is not finding it. Also, the Market App within ReLaunch cannot find the game either. [Q] Is SM searching Market, and is Market different than GP?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If your GAPPS updated itself then yes search may work. Searchmarket i expect does have different result ordering or interprets keywords slightly different or simply hides incompatible apps from you. Does it matter? You can use web version and install to device if your desperate.
diditall4danook said:
(6) These next questions relate to downloading, rather than installing, apk files to the NST. Since my goal is to obtain apps from GP, that are not available via AAS, so I can install them on the KF, [Q] how can I have them sent to the mSD Card? [Q] Aside from using download/torrent sites to obtain .apk files, are there any "legal", safer, ways other than GP?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No idea what AAS and KF mean. Personally I use titainium backup or esfile explorer to save my apks. You can get them on your NST using dropbox or over windows shares (samba) using esfileexplorer. If you get hold of version 1.6X of esfileexplorer it has option for white background still (might have brought it back in later versions). One advantage of saving your apks you can keep the version that does what you want not be forced to update to something breaks what you want like esfileexplorer.
Hmm KF = KindleFire?

Parental Control Settings Problem

Hi folks, I have a problem. I wanted to set up a parental control for my brother, and when I go to App restriction to restrict apps, it pop-up a C++ Library error. I don't know why this happen. Pictures bellow.
First is the Error, second is the Installed Visual C++ (they are installed from games)

Kir3 said:
Hi folks, I have a problem. I wanted to set up a parental control for my brother, and when I go to App restriction to restrict apps, it pop-up a C++ Library error. I don't know why this happen. Pictures bellow.
First is the Error, second is the Installed Visual C++ (they are installed from games)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You either need to reinstall the C++ runtimes (see on microsoft's website)
or windows is FUBAR and needs reinstall.

mcosmin222 said:
You either need to reinstall the C++ runtimes (see on microsoft's website)
or windows is FUBAR and needs reinstall.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, I'll try, but what the hack is FUBAR

I'd suggest using this Internet thingy you're on to look up what is obviously an acronym (a well-known one in this case) but your parental controls are probably blocking you... I can't for the life of me understand why anybody would "use" such things (they are almost entirely useless; kids at my school bypassed them whenever they felt like it).

GoodDayToDie said:
I'd suggest using this Internet thingy you're on to look up what is obviously an acronym (a well-known one in this case) but your parental controls are probably blocking you... I can't for the life of me understand why anybody would "use" such things (they are almost entirely useless; kids at my school bypassed them whenever they felt like it).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Aye.
Setting up a different user count is a cleaner and more elegant solution.

mcosmin222 said:
Aye.
Setting up a different user count is a cleaner and more elegant solution.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
EEhh, I have a different user account for that. I created a Standard account for my brother and set it up the Parental Control for it.

Kir3 said:
EEhh, I have a different user account for that. I created a Standard account for my brother and set it up the Parental Control for it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ummm....then what you use the parental control for? This is like trying to do the same thing twice. A properly set up account should be enough. Or are you trying to restrict his access to video games/internet? In my experience, limiting never works, unless you make him understand why it there should be a limit. And he will probably find a way to bypass it sooner or latter.
As GoodDayToDie mentioned, your parental settings are probably messing up with windows up to the point where windows goes FUBAR. So if you can't get this to work, deleting his account and recreating it should help fix the issue.

Well, removing the Visual C++ Redistributables and creating a new account didn't work, I reinstalled them, still no luck

Kir3 said:
Well, removing the Visual C++ Redistributables and creating a new account didn't work, I reinstalled them, still no luck
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's always the posibility to repair/reinstall windows.
try running this in the command prompt (with admin rights)
sfc/scannow
you should preferably have an internet connection active while this is happening.

mcosmin222 said:
There's always the posibility to repair/reinstall windows.
try running this in the command prompt (with admin rights)
sfc/scannow
you should preferably have an internet connection active while this is happening.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Code:
C:\Windows\system32>sfc /scannow
Beginning system scan. This process will take some time.
Beginning verification phase of system scan.
Verification 100% complete.
Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some
of them. Details are included in the CBS.Log windir\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. For
example C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. Note that logging is currently not
supported in offline servicing scenarios.
I cannot post the log becuase it has logs since I installed Windows.

Kir3 said:
Code:
C:\Windows\system32>sfc /scannow
Beginning system scan. This process will take some time.
Beginning verification phase of system scan.
Verification 100% complete.
Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some
of them. Details are included in the CBS.Log windir\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. For
example C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. Note that logging is currently not
supported in offline servicing scenarios.
I cannot post the log becuase it has logs since I installed Windows.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then you are left with repair/reinstall windows.

Well, it seems that it was corrupted Windows. I upgrade it to 8.1 and now is working, no errors Thanks again.

Shortcut to Books Library...

Thank you all for the wonderful support you are giving this device. While am an expert tinkerer, I do not have the time or knowledge necessary to take this device to the level I desire without the help you all afford.
So, having said that, I recieved my refurb unit (rollback was not an option when I contacted customer support, and 13.4.5.3 broke many things for me, The native Kindle app was among them.), I was able to toss twrp on it and update to 13.4.5.2, root it, and trick it to near perfection. Yet, I hate having to jump through hoops to get to my amazon books, so I played around with adb logcat and xda searches, and stumbled upon this...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1479858
izomiac found a way to make a link on the older Kindles. I tried it, and though it looks like there are only a few changes, it does not work out of the box.
I would like to create a link to my books library as well as links to individual books.
Code:
Action: com.amazon.kindle.otter.action.SHOW_BOOKS
Category: android.intent.category.HOME
fails with an error of
Code:
Action: com.amazon.kindle.otter.action.SHOW_BOOKS
Category: android.intent.category.HOME requires com.amazon.SHOW_CONTENT_LIBRARY
I am using QCustomShortcut to try this as launching the intent from shell did not work either.
Does anyone have any suggestions? I asked over in iziomac's thread too, but it is really old, and I did not know if anyone would even see it.
Incidentally, his code for linking to individual books works incredibly. That is an android level intent, so there is less which could go wrong.
Code:
android.intent.action.VIEW
Data: kindle://book/?action=open&book_id=AMZNID0/<bookid>/0/
He explains pretty clearly how to get the book id as well.
izomiac said:
All that you want to change in that data string is the escaped book_id field. You can extract the book's ID from any Amazon Kindle product page (go to Manage your Kindle on Amazon.com). So, the book ID in this example is: B002WB0XW0 and the URL of the product page is http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002WB0XW0 (plus some useless SEO keywords and tracking cruft I omitted).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Again, this is all Izomiac's work, not mine.
~Leko

Could you not edit the APK and manually add the missing permission it requires?
https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/security/permissions.html

Thanks. When using a shortcut created with that app, who calls for the intent?
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