Hi all and Happy New Year! :cyclops:
I have a Galaxy S7 edge (SM-G935F); as far as I have read, the contents of the internal memory is encrypted by default, but, when I connect the phone to a PC via USB, I can copy and see all the files in it.
I couldn't understand how this is possible, but, reading the manual, when I bought the phone some months ago and first connected it to PC, I tapped "Allow" to allow my PC to read its contents.
So, if the phone is connected to another PC (for example, because it has been stolen...) and "Allow" cannot be tapped, its contents can't be seen and copied, is it right? Or, as far as I have read, you can see and copy the files, but you can't open them.
Another question would be: is it possible to deny a PC previously allowed to read phone contents? I can't see any option.
A more clever option would be to ask to tap "Allow" everytime the phone is connected to a any PC.
If i remember correctly, when you first connect to a Windows PC, you cannot see the storage. You have to unlock your phone to see it.
So if your phone is stolen you dont need worry about someone seeing your files as they will need to be able to unlock it first. If you have no lock then they can access your files regardless but i dont believe you can encrypt your phone without lock enabled.
As to 'allowing' or 'unallowing' access, i dont remember this. I thought the unlock process is what gives access. So unplugging it and plugging it back in requires another unlock before access is allowed.
I cant confirm this as i dont use Windows anymore but thats how i remember it on my S5.
Try connecting your phone to a PC while locked. You will see you have no access. It'd your lock that encrypts the device.
Sent from my Galaxy S7 Edge Duos via Tapatalk
Thanks! I've just tried, and, if the phone is locked (I set fingerprint lock), I can't see its contents, it's empty. I never realized that. Good to know.
Related
Hey guys,
Haven't been here for a while. Okay, so I have a bit of a dilemma and every solution I've found requires something I just can't do. Here's the situation: my screen is broken, it has a lock screen, not in developer's mode, not unlocked.
This means:
I won't be able to transfer my files over, as I have to get past the lock screen
I can only install applications from Play store on my computer, but can't launch them
No use for any method that requires phone to be rooted
Can't even activate any USB options to transfer files some other way
Still need to be able to control it to create backups and such of important SMS messages, get files off
Does anyone have any suggestions at all? I don't want to have to resort to replacing the screen, as that'll end up costing me enough time and money where it's more cost-effective to purchase a new phone; however, I really need what's on my phone as soon as possible. Thanks in advance.
I think I have a solution for you: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2177440 Specifically, you'll want to read this post:
Carpetboy said:
So typically, just as I fill my claim to repair my nexus my wife drops her, smashing the screen even more than I did so she has absolutely no use of her screen. I went through the process again and though I'd post it in a more simple fashion.
1. Reset Nexus into recovery mode (power & volume down)
2. Connect to PC via USB. Install the USB driver from the SDK so that it appears as an ADB device
3. Fire up the updated toolkit. You should see the nexus as a fast boot device
4. Unlock bootloader
5. Using option 10 on the toolkit load up CWM on the phone. This gives you ADB access so can you pull files off the device via ADB although I could access the SD card through programs like Droid explorer.
6. If you want to carry on further and get into Android properly, you'll need to wipe the cache from within CWM
7. Reboot and hold down the volume key to get back into recovery
8. In the toolkit select root options (option 4) and load temporary image (6) If it hangs on the google or nexus logo you've not wiped the cache.
9. With this second phone I couldn't access it through droid explorer as it was popping up as an MTP device but I could pull the files via command prompt or through the toolkit
10. If you have any use of the touchscreen at all you can run the following command which will then mean that any touch will unlock the device
adb shell rm /data/system/gesture.key11. You can activate bluetooth via adb if you have a mouse or keyboard available but you will need to be able to press okay on the screen
12. Any changes you make in the unstable android image such as lockscreen, bluetooth, enabling debugging, etc will remain in place when you restart the device.
13. You can relock the bootloader if you wish via the toolkit. You just need to be in recovery mode first.
Hope this simplifies the process
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In the future, always enable USB debugging in case of incidents like this. You can then use ADB commands to do a heck of a lot of things. Of course, it does make your phone data vulnerable if it gets stolen, but I'm willing to take the risk, plus 10 wrong PIN tries = reset anyway.
machoman1337 said:
I think I have a solution for you: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2177440 Specifically, you'll want to read this post:
In the future, always enable USB debugging in case of incidents like this. You can then use ADB commands to do a heck of a lot of things. Of course, it does make your phone data vulnerable if it gets stolen, but I'm willing to take the risk, plus 10 wrong PIN tries = reset anyway.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now with 4.2.2 the adb device appears as offline and the only way to bring it online is to use the touch screen.... I have an important email on my phone just looking at me and its driving me completely INSANE that I cannot get to it.
I have to wait 4 days to get a screen in just to get to this important email..... THANKS GOOGLE!
oh and tmobiles insurance is a joke $100 deductable... the clear your phone. my way $79 new screen and same phone.
ikarma said:
Now with 4.2.2 the adb device appears as offline and the only way to bring it online is to use the touch screen.... I have an important email on my phone just looking at me and its driving me completely INSANE that I cannot get to it.
I have to wait 4 days to get a screen in just to get to this important email..... THANKS GOOGLE!
oh and tmobiles insurance is a joke $100 deductable... the clear your phone. my way $79 new screen and same phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
where did you get the screen for $79???
hi, what does this mean?
2. Install the USB driver from the SDK so that it appears as an ADB device
michaeliang said:
hi, what does this mean?
2. Install the USB driver from the SDK so that it appears as an ADB device
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. It means that if you have the SDK Manager installed on your computer, somewhere between the last packages at the bottom of the list, you'll see "android drivers" (or something similar). With those drivers, your device will show up in "Device manager"(the Windows' one) as an adb device.
2. But if you don't want to get the SDK Manager and be quicker, you can download only those drivers, directly from the "Google developers" page and install them manually by going to "Device manager", right clicking on the Nexus 4 (it will appear with a yellow triangle on it, maybe), then "Update driver", "...BROWSE computer...", then click again on "Browse", then go to where the drivers have been downloaded and select the entire folder by highlighting it and clicking ok (or something). The folder with the driver would look like this "latest_usb_driver_windows" and inside you'll see another folder called "usb_drivers". That's what you need to select and install.
So that's what you need to do to make your phone appear as an adb device in "Device manager". And, of course, adb let's you do a lot of stuff to your phone through your computer, but probably you already knew that.
Hello.
When I connect my S4 to my pc with the USB cable. The folder is automatically opened with all my files, docuements, photo...
As a usb key...
I would like to know if it is possible to block that please ?
On my old phone, I had an option to set by default only charge the phone when connected to the pc. And if i wanted to open the files of my sd card, I had to unlock the screen of my phone and choose "use as a device", and then my files was showed on my pc.
Now with the S4 anybody can take my phone and connect it on a computer and have access to all my files. I want to change that.
Help please.
Thank you.
I can't believe I did it, must of accidentally deleted photo album. Stayed up for hours last night and all of this morning trying to find a way to recover the album. I have a bunch of my daughter's pics in that album and I really need them back.
I have a Nexus 4 with 4.4.2 loaded on it and the phone is not rooted. I have been trying to find a way to root the phone without wiping the data so I can try to use diskdigger to recover what I can. I don't know if there is a way with this version, but if there is and you know, please post. If you can show me a way and it is successful you will have some paypal money coming your way. Thanks in advance!
rboklewski said:
I can't believe I did it, must of accidentally deleted photo album. Stayed up for hours last night and all of this morning trying to find a way to recover the album. I have a bunch of my daughter's pics in that album and I really need them back.
I have a Nexus 4 with 4.4.2 loaded on it and the phone is not rooted. I have been trying to find a way to root the phone without wiping the data so I can try to use diskdigger to recover what I can. I don't know if there is a way with this version, but if there is and you know, please post. If you can show me a way and it is successful you will have some paypal money coming your way. Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Perhaps the photos were somehow uploaded to your Google+ account?
A
scream4cheese said:
Perhaps the photos were somehow uploaded to your Google+ account?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They were to a point, but not like the last year
rboklewski said:
I can't believe I did it, must of accidentally deleted photo album. Stayed up for hours last night and all of this morning trying to find a way to recover the album. I have a bunch of my daughter's pics in that album and I really need them back.
I have a Nexus 4 with 4.4.2 loaded on it and the phone is not rooted. I have been trying to find a way to root the phone without wiping the data so I can try to use diskdigger to recover what I can. I don't know if there is a way with this version, but if there is and you know, please post. If you can show me a way and it is successful you will have some paypal money coming your way. Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My first response would be to use disk digger like you said, but as much as rooting is a wonderful thing, I don't think it is needed in this case.
Disk digger is actually derived from a desktop app of the same name, that does the same thing with desktop and laptop hard drives.
Web page here
http://diskdigger.org/
If you connect your phone to your computer as external storage then you should be able to run the program on the computer but targeted at your phone, hence recovering your lost files.
Note: if this works then LOTS of files will be found, (including ones you never knew were even on your phone) so be prepared to search through them all.
I really hope this helps, I know what it is like to loose precious files, safe to say you should backup everything valuable from hereon
Let me know what happens either way and I will try and help if it does not work
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk
captaindyson said:
My first response would be to use disk digger like you said, but as much as rooting is a wonderful thing, I don't think it is needed in this case.
Disk digger is actually derived from a desktop app of the same name, that does the same thing with desktop and laptop hard drives.
Web page here
http://diskdigger.org/
If you connect your phone to your computer as external storage then you should be able to run the program on the computer but targeted at your phone, hence recovering your lost files.
Note: if this works then LOTS of files will be found, (including ones you never knew were even on your phone) so be prepared to search through them all.
I really hope this helps, I know what it is like to loose precious files, safe to say you should backup everything valuable from hereon
Let me know what happens either way and I will try and help if it does not work
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah, just tried the pc software for diskdigger, phone doesn't show in list. Has a advanced tab, but only lets you choose .vhd files it looks like. If only you could get the phone into a vhd.
OK, so the first question is if the phone is mounted correctly, does it show in 'my computer' and when double clicked on can you see files?
Next question is if you are using the .exe correctly, take a look at this tutorial: http://diskdigger.org/node/1025
I'm sorry if this sounds condescending, but I don't know your experience with computers
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk
captaindyson said:
OK, so the first question is if the phone is mounted correctly, does it show in 'my computer' and when double clicked on can you see files?
Next question is if you are using the .exe correctly, take a look at this tutorial: http://diskdigger.org/node/1025
I'm sorry if this sounds condescending, but I don't know your experience with computers
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL...no problem. Been a systems admin for about 10 years. Anywho, yeah, this is the nexus 4 so it only has internal memory, no sd card. I can see the phone in my computer, but there is no drive letter assigned, apparently that changed in 4.3 up through 4.4.2, which I am on. So what that means is no mass storage option where drive letter gets assigned, so routine recovery software can't read it as an attached drive.
rboklewski said:
LOL...no problem. Been a systems admin for about 10 years. Anywho, yeah, this is the nexus 4 so it only has internal memory, no sd card. I can see the phone in my computer, but there is no drive letter assigned, apparently that changed in 4.3 up through 4.4.2, which I am on. So what that means is no mass storage option where drive letter gets assigned, so routine recovery software can't read it as an attached drive.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmmm, you should still be able to mount as external storage, I have done so before on that android version.
First thing then is if USB debugging is enabled, this will be in your settings under developer options and should not require root.
Then it is a question of whether your computers drivers are correct, android has a tendency of not liking to do drivers correctly, I used PDAnet to install the correct USB drivers (note these are different to the ADB drivers which you don't need)
Get back to me with the results of those 2 points
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk
captaindyson said:
Hmmm, you should still be able to mount as external storage, I have done so before on that android version.
First thing then is if USB debugging is enabled, this will be in your settings under developer options and should not require root.
Then it is a question of whether your computers drivers are correct, android has a tendency of not liking to do drivers correctly, I used PDAnet to install the correct USB drivers (note these are different to the ADB drivers which you don't need)
Get back to me with the results of those 2 points
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I had developer options enabled and USB Debugging mode on, maybe it could be a driver issue. I tried PDAnet and that didn't seem to update the drivers for the phone. The device shows okay in device manager, no exclamation point, shows as Nexus 4 as well and the driver seems to be a Microsoft driver. Are you sure you had the same android version? Everywhere I look any version after 4.2.2 cannot be used as a mass storage device because of the MTP-PTP change in 4.3 and 4.4.
rboklewski said:
Yeah, I had developer options enabled and USB Debugging mode on, maybe it could be a driver issue. I tried PDAnet and that didn't seem to update the drivers for the phone. The device shows okay in device manager, no exclamation point, shows as Nexus 4 as well and the driver seems to be a Microsoft driver. Are you sure you had the same android version? Everywhere I look any version after 4.2.2 cannot be used as a mass storage device because of the MTP-PTP change in 4.3 and 4.4.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am on 4.4.3 now, and have the phone connected fine right now, have you tried switching between MTP and PTP?
Note: I am on MTP and it is working.
I am sure there is a problem with something to do with connecting your nexus to the computer, as mine is doing so right now. If we can resolve that issue and access the internal storage then you should be able to then recover the files with disk digger.
My best guess would be a driver issue as android has never really played well when trying to set up drivers. But like you said the computer is recognising it correctly. I think perhaps testing the drivers connection my be the next step, use ADB with the command 'adb devices' (without quotes) to see the devices connected to the adb server. If nothing comes up then we may be able to start troubleshooting :good:
Perhaps ADB is the difference, i have it installed and sorted, do you?
If you have never used ADB before, here is a good place to get started and here is another mention of the drivers, perhaps another attempt may be worth a try, with a clean intall
Safe to say in my drivers list it is connected under android device > android composite ADB interface.
Actually yes, thinking about what i have just written i am confident it is ADB and drivers, you should not be connected with Microsoft drivers, they are the automatically installed ones and never work. Follow the guides above (and perhaps some googling) to get the proper drivers and ADB set up, once you think you have test it with the 'adb devises' command, once you get it returning a serial number for your phone then take a look in 'My Computer' again and see if the storage is visible.
nexus 4 only support MTP, not USB Mass Storage, so can't be mounted with a drive letter and can't be used with undelete software . If you know any working solution without root - please tell us, but test first yourself before writing please
P.S. you are on 4.4.3 ?
RolF2 said:
nexus 4 only support MTP, not USB Mass Storage, so can't be mounted with a drive letter and can't be used with undelete software . If you know any working solution without root - please tell us, but test first yourself before writing please
P.S. you are on 4.4.3 ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My most sincere apologies, i was mistaking the mounted MTP device for the mounted drive, i now see what you mean.
In this case rooting is your only option, you need to run the file recovery natively.
I had hoped that this would not be necessary as unfortunately the rooting process will perform a lot of write operations so you must be prepared for some of your images to become corrupted or incomplete, (hence why i wanted to attempt other options) this is just the risk that you will have to face. How many will be damaged is difficult to say.
So use one of the many tool-kits or root manually, install the disk digger APK and you are good to go.
to root you will need to unlock phone bootloader and that will wipe all your device ...
So I have a bit of an issue. Somehow last night, after trying to help my parents with our home theater system, with the device laying on a soft surface, the LCD (not the glass) somehow broke. I am really not sure how this happened, the phone itself didn't fall, it was laying on a bed the entire time. When I went to grab the phone and turn it on, I was pretty surprised. You can see what I mean in the attached file.
Now the problem with this is, while I would normally just walk into the Sprint Store, complain and get a new phone. I am not in the US for another 5 months. In the mean time of trying to figure out what to do, I would like to at the very least, grab any files off my phone, or back up my phones' file structure.
I am able to do a minimal amount of tapping on the phone, only on the upper half of the screen, but I can't see anything, nor does the device respond with any touch data from the bottom half.
I obviously can't access the files if the device is locked, which means I have to bypass the lock screen. I found this guide, but unfrotunately, Method 1 didn't work, and I can't get adb to recognize my phone for Method 2.
I also have tried using CWM (the non-touch version) to backup my data, but I let it sit there for 45 minutes and I couldn't tell if it was finished or not. It didn't appear to actually be doing anything.
Could someone help me navigate around this or provide some assistance in allowing me to just get the files off the phone while I search for a new one?
With that being said, does anyone have some recommendations? I was thinking of getting a Motorola X or Nexus 5.
EDIT: Update:
I have access to terminal via Cerberus shell. I was able to use Method 2 to disable the lock screen (or in this case set it to Swipe). It is still pretty difficult to use the phone but I can at least backup whatever data I still do have on the phone to my laptop.
Would anyone be able to give me some advice as to uninstall applications or XDA xposed modules via shell? Or perform a backup or enable ADB debugging?
You've conntected to your PC at least once so that the ADB has permission, correct? If so, you can get http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2786395 to get Android Control and view/Control your phone via USB. You need to have Java installed, which most have already. Been controlling my cracked LCD for the past week while waiting for my replacement.
Keep in mind this method is a little slow because of ADB. Hopefully you don't have to type too much.
Darnell0216 said:
You've conntected to your PC at least once so that the ADB has permission, correct? If so, you can get http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2786395 to get Android Control and view/Control your phone via USB. You need to have Java installed, which most have already. Been controlling my cracked LCD for the past week while waiting for my replacement.
Keep in mind this method is a little slow because of ADB. Hopefully you don't have to type too much.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know I have connected it at least once, but when connecting the phone and the pc together, adb cannot find the phone. I am not sure if this is because of a Cerberus setting (that disables debugging) or something else. I will give it another shot when I get home.
If I can't, is there any way for me to somehow accept the adb permissions on the phone via a command versus touching the screen? Say if I have shell access over Cerberus and adb access from my PC?
slixzen said:
I know I have connected it at least once, but when connecting the phone and the pc together, adb cannot find the phone. I am not sure if this is because of a Cerberus setting (that disables debugging) or something else. I will give it another shot when I get home.
If I can't, is there any way for me to somehow accept the adb permissions on the phone via a command versus touching the screen? Say if I have shell access over Cerberus and adb access from my PC?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's a bit of work to push the ADB acceptance key if you have a spare android phone lying around. Other than that, there probably is but might be more of a headache. I took the ADB key for my desktop from another android and pushed it in through TWRP which accepts ADB commands while in Recovery.
Darnell0216 said:
There's a bit of work to push the ADB acceptance key if you have a spare android phone lying around. Other than that, there probably is but might be more of a headache. I took the ADB key for my desktop from another android and pushed it in through TWRP which accepts ADB commands while in Recovery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a sony xperia P that I am using right now until the replacement phone I got arrives. Any idea how I could use that? I have had minimal success with the phone so far in trying to get that phone to flash custom recoveries, to root the device (not sure why, but my laptop just doesn't want to seem to do it, even using automated tools).
Is it better to just wait for the replacement phone to arrive and grab what I need from that and push it? Could you link me to any guide or steps that you used with yours?
Thanks for such quick responses by the way!
EDIT:
Flashing TWRP and booting into recovery with command prompt open and running adb devices / fastboot devices does not show any devices available.
Is there a specific menu setting or other option I need to use to be able to run adb?
When you use TWRP, the phone will be recognized by the PC but the driver doesn't install correctly off the bat. Go to Device Manager and look for your phone. You may need to click the View -> Show Hidden Devices option. Update the driver manually by selecting the one provided by your manufacturer. Some have a dedicated ADB driver for specific functions (bootloader, etc).
The adb key is stored in data/misc/adb/adb.keys -You can pull this file from any other android connected to that PC (or just copy it if you have a root explorer) and push it to the broken one if necessary. This will bypass any ADB authorization issues while the phone is fully booted and let you see the screen.
Hi. I am a Windows Phone transplant. I got my Nokia 6 from Amazon and I am connecting it up via USB to put my music collection on the SD card. When I connect, it mounts as a CD and there is a setup for what looks to be the drivers there. When I run setup, nothing happens. The computer is Win 10. When I took the phone out of the box (from Amazon US), I noticed that the Amazon preloaded app took me to the Chinese Amazon site. so I think that this version is based heavily on the Chinese ROM. Does anyone have a direct link to the USB drivers for the PC? The ones I have seen on searching all look very dubious.
It was pretty cool turning this phone into an Android powered/Microsoft Services phone.
thanks
The Amazon app is just configured for Chinese. You can select another language, just go to the link next to the flag, drop down box, find the USA flag.
For the USB connection, after you connect the phone to the PC, on the phone, swipe down from the top and you should see a notification "USB *****". The "****" could be PTP, charging, MTP, etc. You want to use MTP to transfer files to the phone.
I am using MTP to connect, but has I mentioned, The phone is opening as a CD-ROM on the computer where there is a setup program with Drivers on it and it is write protected. If I try to run the setup program that it presents, Nothing happens. It starts, and gives me the Admin make changes screen, but after that nothing. This is the drivers that I think need to be on my computer to mount the phone properly to transfer files.
Mine did the same but as the previous poster said change it to mpt on the phone then in file explorer Nokia 6 appeared and when I clicked on it both the internal and sd cards showed up and I copied my music folder directly to sd card
Sent from my SM-T800 using XDA Free mobile app
I have the same issue. I tried choosing the MTP, even PTP as well, from the USB options, but still no luck in seeing the internal storage of my phone. Maybe this is a Windows 10 issue? I tried connecting my phone on my windows 8.1 PC and it worked fine. Anybody has a workaround on this?
my phone always have a pop-up ask me if I want to enable file transfer when I connect to a pc, maybe check if yours have the same pop-up.
Sent from my TA-1003 using XDA Labs
Phone does not show as drive
When I connect my Nokia 6 via USB, I get a popup asking what i want to do (charge, charge and transfer and two I can't remember at the moment). It does not show up as a (USB) drive (i.e. it is not assigned a drive letter), but among the Libraries (like Downloads, Pictures, etc.). I see the CD-ROM drive with the USB driver setup as well, but I guess you only need that when the phone does not show up right away. (Maybe on older versions of Windows?)
I can write to the phone and the SD card. I have a 64 GB Samsung class 10 card, it writes at only 12 MB/s; is that normal?
When I clicked 'Properties' on the SD Card, I saw that it was formatted as FAT32, so that explains why I can't write large (>4 GB) video files to it. Shame. Does anyone have an idea if this is ever gonna change?. I tried formatting the card to ExFat, but then the phone just says 'incompatible file system' or something like that.
Can't get access to my phone data mother internal nor external
I am using MTP to connect, but has I mentioned, The phone is opening as a CD-ROM on the computer where there is a setup program with Drivers on it and it is write protected. If I try to run the setup program that it presents, Nothing happens. It starts, and gives me the Admin make changes screen, but after that nothing happens. Pls help me guy's......
I have the same problem on Windows 8.1 x64
Nevermind, I found the solution for my device, I can't guarantee it's the same for you.
Open your settings on your phone
Go to About Phone
Repeatedly tap on Build number untill a message pops
up saying that you're a developer now.
Go back into settings and open Developer options now
Scroll down and find USB Debugging and turn it on.
That's it, you should be able to manage your files now
Finally Nokia is making Andorid based phones now. Because Android is the kind of OS people need today. With tons of application choice.
You can download the ADB driver for your Nokia in this link:
https://dl-ssl.google.com/android/repository/latest_usb_driver_windows.zip
change your cable. That's what the problem is