Database Users

Photos Lost from Rom Flashing; Any way to recover?

Pre-flashing, I created a backup with TWRP's backup, which contains the system, data, and boot folders. After flashing to a new rom (AOSP Google offical kit kat ver), I flashed back to stock, using Kies. However, no matter how hard I tried, I can't seem to find my pictures anymore. I attempted numerous recovery methods but to no avail.
I thought factory resets/ full wipes didn't remove the DCIM folder, but I was careless enough to forget to backup the folder seperately.
No folder I can find contains a .nomedia file, and I hopefully haven't overwritten the SD data yet.
I can't seem to connect my phone as a UMS, even though it shows up as a Drive. It just reports being empty (Windows asks to insert a disc).
I'm currently on a rooted, 4.2.2 JellyBean.
Also, does the /data contain the DCIM?
Is there any way to recover the photos, since I have the backup?
Edit: All data from other apps (Phone, Messages, Contacts, games, etc.) have been restored properly. However, music was wiped, which gives off an impression that I can't restore the photos. I won't give up hope; I believe in the skills of the community!
Thanks!

If you did a factory reset in the stock recovery you're sol. Don't know away to restore your photos.

Ah, dammit. Thanks for answering.

xEden said:
Ah, dammit. Thanks for answering.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would not give up so fast.. There might just might be a recovery program out there that can help.. I have recovered from formatted partitions numerous times.. Google is your friend and good luck know how crappy it is to lose all your pics..:good: Edit try recuva if there is lost data on sd card..

hankbizzo5 said:
I would not give up so fast.. There might just might be a recovery program out there that can help.. I have recovered from formatted partitions numerous times.. Google is your friend and good luck know how crappy it is to lose all your pics..:good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I understand, but I've been using Google for about 2 days to no avail. From checking .nomedia, using ~10 common recovery tools, always failing in some way.
As a side note, do you know how to mount my phone (4.2.2 Jellybean, rooted) into UMS mode? I've gotten it to UMS mode, but I can't seem to be able to have Windows recognize it. It just shows as a blank F:\ drive that says "Please insert a disc". I think I would be able to progress further if I could have a fix to that. The majority of results say that it's impossible for 4.2.2, since one of the primary parties removed the feature (Samsung, I think?), or there's a fix for older versions.
Thanks for the good luck!

Not so Easy Backup; storage snafu has MXPE stuck in cyclical forced reboots

So I ran into an issue with my locked-bootloader, unrooted MXPE 2015. I am running stock Marshmallow. I will note that I don't think this is really a bootloop, it seems to boot for a few seconds before a crash/reboot. I am able to boot into recovery, and am even able to trigger a safe-mode boot during the few seconds of uptime, where the safe-mode boot does not crash/reboot. I also suspect a Factory Reset will fully resolve the issue, unless the factory image got corrupted somehow... I do apologize, this is a long post.
I was essentially trying to make a backup to do a factory reset. Long story short, I was trying to use an app called Easy Backup that consolidates sms, mms, call logs, and that I had used in the past without issue. However this time that was not the case. I have a 16 GB version with an SD card, but have used ~8.5 GB of the internal free ~9.8 GB (I can't remember the exact numbers) and I constantly run into low storage situations with app caches and install sizes when doing updates. Normally clearing all app cache data is enough to get the downloads to go through.
So I go to run this backup app (with the default storage directory set on my external SD card) to have it uploaded to Google Drive, and after it gets close to finishing, I get errors about running out of storage, and then a cascade of apps crashing, and then a reboot. After the reboot, I check my Drive folder and see that the file never uploaded; the storage seems to have cleared up, but I clear my cache and the backup app's storage just in case (though it had already pretty much cleared back to the 8.5 GB used from before). I also notice some oddities like random settings suddenly having changed in certain apps. But I stupidly think no harm has been done, so maybe retrying after clearing up Cache space will work. So I tried to get the backup to run again after verifying the upload and storage location options (SD Card -not internal - and G Drive), but the same storage and crashing thing happens. It "finishes" the backup, and after a few seconds of the phone hanging and lagging, it reboots again. This time after the reboot I notice that apps are missing from my Nova Launcher home screen (but still in my app drawer), and go to restore a backup of Nova, except the overview and home buttons don't do anything, and then see that the notification shade can't be pulled to open the settings toggles. Then it suddenly reboots again. And now, unless I boot into safe mode, I get a few seconds of of it sitting at the home screen before the phone reboots. This same nav button and settings shade behavior are persistent in safe mode.
I guess my question is whether or not there is a way to pull off my SMS, MMS, Call log data (maybe in ADB?) while in safe mode. I have been trying to uninstall extraneous apps in Safe Mode to see if I can break the rebooting cycle, but no luck thus far.
On another note, should I go ahead and do a factory reset or should I contact Moto first (I have a Moto Care policy, though I've heard horror stories). I have never had this issue with this app before,
Any other recommendations and tips? It almost seems like the app tries to cache on my internal storage before moving to the destination folder, and in a low storage situation it seems to have corrupted something in the actual OS as well as my other apps.
Thank you, I appreciate your time!

If memory serves, apps like Easy Backup may store things on external storage or upload to the cloud, but use app cache space as temporary working space, thus most likely causing your storage issue. Erasing app cache likely wiped that out, and your are correct that a factory reset will likely clear up this issue.
Moto care doesn't care if an app messed up your system, and they won't help you with it other than to walk you through a factory reset first before sending the device in for replacement, as I suspect a factory reset will clear your issues up.
Have you tried clearing the cache partition in recovery?
Recovering your data will be impossible if you can't get it booted long enough to enable ADB and copy the files off.
If you can get if booted, I suggest using SMS Backup & Restore over your existing backup tool for this type of data... I have used it successfully for many years without issues (except when they accidentally had it set by default to delete all but the last 2 backup file on Google Drive, geesh, that sucked, but that isn't an issue anymore).

acejavelin said:
If memory serves, apps like Easy Backup may store things on external storage or upload to the cloud, but use app cache space as temporary working space, thus most likely causing your storage issue. Erasing app cache likely wiped that out, and your are correct that a factory reset will likely clear up this issue.
Moto care doesn't care if an app messed up your system, and they won't help you with it other than to walk you through a factory reset first before sending the device in for replacement, as I suspect a factory reset will clear your issues up.
Have you tried clearing the cache partition in recovery?
Recovering your data will be impossible if you can't get it booted long enough to enable ADB and copy the files off.
If you can get if booted, I suggest using SMS Backup & Restore over your existing backup tool for this type of data... I have used it successfully for many years without issues (except when they accidentally had it set by default to delete all but the last 2 backup file on Google Drive, geesh, that sucked, but that isn't an issue anymore).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I did try cleaning the cache partition, but to no avail. Ironically because I was messing with ROMs on my old 2013 moto x, I'm currently using that with CM 13. When I get back from work tonight I'll see about ADB, I think I may have set it up on it in the past, however I may have deactivated it. And yeah, I think I may have used that tool in the past, so I'll have to give it another look!
I thought that the Moto Care route may not be worth it, but I thought that I might as well check. If a reset doesn't solve things, I'll take another look. Thanks for the help, really appreciate it!

acejavelin said:
If memory serves, apps like Easy Backup may store things on external storage or upload to the cloud, but use app cache space as temporary working space, thus most likely causing your storage issue. Erasing app cache likely wiped that out, and your are correct that a factory reset will likely clear up this issue.
Moto care doesn't care if an app messed up your system, and they won't help you with it other than to walk you through a factory reset first before sending the device in for replacement, as I suspect a factory reset will clear your issues up.
Have you tried clearing the cache partition in recovery?
Recovering your data will be impossible if you can't get it booted long enough to enable ADB and copy the files off.
If you can get if booted, I suggest using SMS Backup & Restore over your existing backup tool for this type of data... I have used it successfully for many years without issues (except when they accidentally had it set by default to delete all but the last 2 backup file on Google Drive, geesh, that sucked, but that isn't an issue anymore).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I did get in and take another look, however developer options just shows "Developer permissions not available for this user." So I think i may be hosed. I'll give it another go and see what I can try to salvage from booting into safe mode again. Thank you for the help and recommendations, this willteach me not to be using something like SMS backup instead (and consistently, haha).

jtflynnz said:
So I did get in and take another look, however developer options just shows "Developer permissions not available for this user." So I think i may be hosed. I'll give it another go and see what I can try to salvage from booting into safe mode again. Thank you for the help and recommendations, this willteach me not to be using something like SMS backup instead (and consistently, haha).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like you are in a Guest user account, can you switch users?

acejavelin said:
Sounds like you are in a Guest user account, can you switch users?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I looked at that, and it says I am logged into my account. Photos below:
So coincidentally, I just got it connected to my wifi while in safe mode, and it hasn't crashed/rebooted since that (it still was doing that prior). I can get into the play store, so I am going to try to get my sms/call logs/mms. Home and overview buttons are still broken, and the notification shade is still borked. So No ADB backup, but at least I have most things on my SD card and was on MM, so the app backups should help get restarted. Once I get everything checked/backed-up that I can, I'll try a factory reeset, and failing that a call to moto care *cringes*.
Thanks for the help everyone! I learned my lesson on small-storage phones...

jtflynnz said:
So I looked at that, and it says I am logged into my account. Photos below:
So coincidentally, I just got it connected to my wifi while in safe mode, and it hasn't crashed/rebooted since that (it still was doing that prior). I can get into the play store, so I am going to try to get my sms/call logs/mms. Home and overview buttons are still broken, and the notification shade is still borked. So No ADB backup, but at least I have most things on my SD card and was on MM, so the app backups should help get restarted. Once I get everything checked/backed-up that I can, I'll try a factory reeset, and failing that a call to moto care *cringes*.
Thanks for the help everyone! I learned my lesson on small-storage phones...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have a corporate account on the device that is a Device Administrator? That is the only other thing I can think of that could cause something like that.

acejavelin said:
Do you have a corporate account on the device that is a Device Administrator? That is the only other thing I can think of that could cause something like that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, nothing like that. It's my own personal device with no work emails, and in fact I had previously used USB debugging to backup pictures when my SD Card got corrupted. All of this weirdness occured after the failed backups, and just speculating it honestly seems like when the app ran out of room it just kept going and started overwriting random bits (ie the Nova Launcher settings/ homescreen), and might be why the Navigation buttons/Notification shade are broken. But that's just me spit-balling , so really there might be no telling what happened.

jtflynnz said:
No, nothing like that. It's my own personal device with no work emails, and in fact I had previously used USB debugging to backup pictures when my SD Card got corrupted. All of this weirdness occured after the failed backups, and just speculating it honestly seems like when the app ran out of room it just kept going and started overwriting random bits (ie the Nova Launcher settings/ homescreen), and might be why the Navigation buttons/Notification shade are broken. But that's just me spit-balling , so really there might be no telling what happened.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well... Try to get off what you can, then factory reset, I imagine things will improve greatly.

I just had an issue similar to this... phone (1575) would reboot (continuous reboot) after about 30-45 seconds every time (reminded me of TV show Lost where you had only a certain amount of time before you had to reset)... enough to uninstall a GPS app I was tinkering with a few hours prior... enough to delete cache... enough to reboot into recover to wipe cache partition... about 4 reboots to finally download a Google app update (which in the end said it couldn't successfully install) etc. Sometimes powering off would reboot instead (and after a while could not reboot into safe mode, just a normal reboot) so the few times I had the phone off, I took out/reset the SIM and SD card. What seemed to solve it was taking out the SD card (formatted as External, but was always a pain -- a week or so ago it "disappeared" and had to reformat the SD card (just downloaded stuff)) and when I powered it up this morning, no more reboots. Of course for now, no more added storage But saved me a full factory reset.

Home and Recents Button not working after device reboot

Hi all, been trying to solve this problem for a while, can't seem to figure it out.
Yesterday, when my phone died and I charged and turned it back on, the recents and home buttons wouldn't work, in addition to my notifications not showing and the quick settings drawer not coming down. This seems to be a problem others have ran into. Here's what I've tried so far:
clearing dalvik cache and regular cache
updating my ROM (I use AICP)
restoring an old backup of AICP
starting my phone in safe mode (all errors persist)
using ADB to attempt to get into the SetupWizardTestActivity as advised here
The error I get from this:
Code:
adb shell am start -n com.google.android.setupwizard/.SetupWizardTestActivity
Starting: Intent { cmp=com.google.android.setupwizard/.SetupWizardTestActivity }
java.lang.SecurityException: Permission Denial: starting Intent { flg=0x10000000 cmp=com.google.android.setupwizard/.SetupWizardTestActivity } from null (pid=12048, uid=2000) not exported from uid 10072
at android.os.Parcel.readException(Parcel.java:1684)
at android.os.Parcel.readException(Parcel.java:1637)
at android.app.ActivityManagerProxy.startActivityAsUser(ActivityManagerNative.java:3160)
at com.android.commands.am.Am.runStart(Am.java:643)
at com.android.commands.am.Am.onRun(Am.java:394)
at com.android.internal.os.BaseCommand.run(BaseCommand.java:51)
at com.android.commands.am.Am.main(Am.java:124)
at com.android.internal.os.RuntimeInit.nativeFinishInit(Native Method)
at com.android.internal.os.RuntimeInit.main(RuntimeInit.java:264)
I also tried switching from my user to a Guest user, but it won't allow me to go into the Users. At this point, I decided to take a backup on my laptop and factory reset, but after plugging my phone into my laptop, I realized I can't change the USB connection type from charging to mass storage (or whatever it is) to access the files on my laptop since I can't see notifications. This lead me to Developer Options, where I get the message "Developer options are not available for this user."
So then I tried to make an activity in Nova for the SetupTestActivity as detailed here, but the closest thing I can find in there is under Settings about activating the cellular service, and when I try to use that I just get "Permission denied" error.
After all of this, I looked into backing up my device via ADB using this command:
Code:
adb backup -apk -shared -all
It tells me to unlock my device to confirm the backup operation, but there is nothing shown on my device indicating a confirmation.
Then I went into my file manager (I use Xplore) and it indicates that my device is not rooted. I don't know how that could've happened, although I have not tried re-rooting it to see if that helps. Any suggestions or do I just have to do a factory reset and lose all my data?

markgnarza said:
... Any suggestions or do I just have to do a factory reset and lose all my data?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why not use TWRP to create a newer backup? You can also use TWRP's MTP to move anything off the phone you want. Then flash a full Google image with flash-all.bat. You can try it without the -w switch first if you like. I doubt it's a hardware issue, but stranger things have happened, and returning to stock briefly will let you know right away.

v12xke said:
Why not use TWRP to create a newer backup? You can also use TWRP's MTP to move anything off the phone you want. Then flash a full Google image with flash-all.bat. You can try it without the -w switch first if you like. I doubt it's a hardware issue, but stranger things have happened, and returning to stock briefly will let you know right away.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I ended up uploading my Titanium backups/other files I wanted to keep to Google Drive and factory resetting, but now the setup wizard keeps crashing. Think I'm gonna try a full wipe and flash of AICP again to see if that does it.

markgnarza said:
I ended up uploading my Titanium backups/other files I wanted to keep to Google Drive and factory resetting, but now the setup wizard keeps crashing. Think I'm gonna try a full wipe and flash of AICP again to see if that does it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay, hope that works for ya. Nowadays with Google backup for market apps and TiBu for everything else, it doesn't take long (less than one hour) to completely wipe, clean install, and restore everything back the way it was. Especially if you have a good internet connection. I use my Solid Explorer to zip the TiBu folder into a single file and transfer that off to my PC. Try that next time and see if it saves you some time. My TiBu zip files are well over 1GB, so I don't u/l them to the cloud. Curious if you have TWRP why you did not have MTP file transfer from recovery to laptop?

v12xke said:
Okay, hope that works for ya. Nowadays with Google backup for market apps and TiBu for everything else, it doesn't take long (less than one hour) to completely wipe, clean install, and restore everything back the way it was. Especially if you have a good internet connection. I use my Solid Explorer to zip the TiBu folder into a single file and transfer that off to my PC. Try that next time and see if it saves you some time. My TiBu zip files are well over 1GB, so I don't u/l them to the cloud. Curious if you have TWRP why you did not have MTP file transfer from recovery to laptop?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It worked! And all my Titanium backups + photos are still intact on my phone? Seems strange to me. I hadn't thought of zipping my TiBu folder, good idea!
As for using TWRP to transfer to laptop, I'm not sure how that process works! I'll look around in TWRP once I'm done restoring everything to see what you mean, good to keep in mind for the future. Thanks for the help!

My honor got the same problem... I know they were working but now they don't.. what should i do??

[Q] How would I create a full backup with ADB?

I assume this is possible. Usually I would do this with TWRP (which you can do), but this method does not require root necessarily.
I want a backup I can restore in case things go sideways.

I managed to do this. Here are the basic instructions.
Have developer options available, select USB debugging. On PC, install minimal adb and fastboot, install essential drivers. Connect phone to PC, select transfer files MTP under USB connected options in notifications. If USB debugging prompt prompts up on phone, check alway allow and ok.
Run cmd.exe as admin and navigate to you ADB install directory. Type "adb root" if rooted or just "adb" if not. ADB should start.
Type adb backup -system -apk -shared -all -f C:\filenameyouchoose.ab
On the phone, type a password for encryption if wanted and touch Back Up My Data.
Presto, now all that's left is to wait. The -apk is to back up apps and -shared is to backup internal SD card data. Change those if you don't want that data backed up.
The command to restore the backup is adb restore C:\filenameyouchoose.ab
Full XDA guide here: https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-nexus/general/guide-phone-backup-unlock-root-t1420351

Thanks! I'm attempting this procedure for the first time. I am at the place where I am supposed to enter a password to encrypt my backup. The "Back Up My Data" button does nothing. I've tapped all over and around it. The "Do Not Backup" button works just fine and it cancels the operation instantly. My adb session ends. If I tap all over the "Back Up My Data" eventually the operation times out. What could I possibly be doing wrong? Has anyone ever seen this behavior before? (It's super hard to troubleshoot problems with no feedback or error codes.)

I set a desktop backup password in developer options. It still wouldn't go. Then I rebooted and it worked after a fresh boot. Not sure why. I hope that is helpful to someone.

Grep_The_Truth said:
Thanks! I'm attempting this procedure for the first time. I am at the place where I am supposed to enter a password to encrypt my backup. The "Back Up My Data" button does nothing. I've tapped all over and around it. The "Do Not Backup" button works just fine and it cancels the operation instantly. My adb session ends. If I tap all over the "Back Up My Data" eventually the operation times out. What could I possibly be doing wrong? Has anyone ever seen this behavior before? (It's super hard to troubleshoot problems with no feedback or error codes.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh, while I was typing out the message, seems you already solved it.
Previous message: I had similar issue when I was trying to install apps using apk(s) files. It turned out to be the app Twilight app which didn't allow me to click install button except cancel: "The prompt for screen overlay detected is presented when an installed application is allowed to Draw over other apps is running in the background" See if your issue has something to do with an app.

Charkatak said:
...It turned out to be the app Twilight app...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Brilliant! That was it. Jolly good show, sir!

File size of backup
Just wondering if anyone gets vastly different file sizes when they do a complete backup? The first time i tried this i got a backup file of about 600mb. I did it again with a different file name to the same folder and it was double the size. The third time i tried it was back to the original smaller size. My fear is that this is not a reliable means for complete backup. Is there any way of seeing whats inside this backup?

I have stumbled upon this command and my question is, is this as powerful as a nandroid backup? Since we don't have permanent TWRP (Yet?), I feel really unsafe while messing with the phone (The whole A/B thing which I still need to get used to doesn't help either) and considering the times nandroid backup saved my device I could really use something equally powerful to fall back on.

I tried the ADB backup and it took a while and generated a ~10GB file for me, but restoring to a new phone didn't work. No errors or anything, it just went real fast and didn't seem to do anything. I didn't care to try to investigate it because I just needed to get my new phone up and send the broken one back.
I ended up using TWRP from the boot partition (obviously not backing up boot), then installing twrp on boot on the new phone and restoring the system and data, next copying the sdcard contents to the computer using adb pull and adb push onto the new phone, finally flashing the correct boot.img, and I was back up and running on a replacement phone right where I left off on the old one. ...
One caveat is if your old phone is on a different firmware you have to update the new phone to match before all this.

How to Recover From a BK Disabler-induced Boot Loop

Note: To skip the following lengthy background information, skip down to the numbered steps below.
Package disablers from a Vietnamese developer "Kunkunsoft" have popped up in the Play Store under various names as this poor (and clearly very bright) guy plays "whack-a-mole" with Google and Samsung. Neither company is happy about Kunkunsoft's "Swiss Army Knife" ability to efficiently disable individual services associated with system apps and to thus selectively limit telemetry while maintaining app functionality, especially without root. The routine is that a newly-named Kunkunsoft package disabler appears in the Play Store, sometimes with a plugin listed with a covert developer name that is not Kunkunsoft, becomes popular, and the developer is harrassed by the big guns until they finally force him to modify his app/plugin to delete the capability of disabling individual services and/or they take his app down. Its a sad situation.
The last no-root incarnation of the Kunkunsoft app ("BK Disabler for Samsung" with "BK Plugin v2") disappeared about 6 weeks or so ago. It is now replaced by "Service Disabler" which requires root. I am writing this "how-to" mainly for any users of BK Disabler for Samsung (no root) who may disable some boot-critical system package or service like I did and be stuck with the spectre of data and cofiguration loss. I spent way too much time trying to figure out how Kunkunksoft disables packages and services without root, in order to try to recover my phone by undoing his magic from a custom recovery. To his credit the dev responded to my email for assistance. However, he merely insisted that I would need to factory reset and lose my data and would provide no clue about how his app operates.
After much trial and tribulation I figured out how the app works and why it cannot be undone. BK Disabler implements its services control magic without root by skillfully exploiting a subset of Samsung's home-grown security system, Knox. Specifically, the app operates as a Samsung Enterprise Mobile Device Management ("MDM") manager. Normally an MDM manager sits on a corporate server and allows IT personnnel to create and distribute device policies to Samsung phones. But BK Disabler is an Android app that is also an MDM manager, both running on the phone and controlling the phone! Pretty clever, huh? More specifically, BK Disabler creates a protected Knox MDM container, turns on Kiosk-mode in the phone, and allows only apps/services that have not been disabled to run in that Kiosk environment! This is all done in real time, so the user is unaware that every time he/she disables or re-enables an app or service, BK Disabler actually goes into MDM management mode and modifies the Knox Kiosk mode container! As you can see, the dev is very clever and engages in substantial recursive thinking to pull this off! He also had to purchase a Knox MDM Management license from Samsung. That is why the app is called "BK Disabler for Samsung." It only works on Samsung devices because Samsung, in an effort to capture the corporate market, has placed this powerful control mechanism in the hands of the corporate world, giving corporations the power to implement controls that are otherwise unavailable without root. You can also see why it would likely be near-impossible to undo BK Disabler's freezes from a recovery environment. You would need to break into Ft. Knox... (I was actually surprised to find that I could read an SqLite database containing signed lists of the packages that I had disabled. I thought about editing the unencrypted database but finally gave up after realizing that it was a Knox MDM setup. The disabled system apps/services preventing boot were protected in a Knox container and boot would have failed before my edited database could have been read by BK Disabler, if at all.
With that way-too-lengthy background in place, this is the way to recover should you become too aggressive with BK Disabler for Samsung or any other package disabler for that matter:
Notes:
(a) I tested the method described only on my ancient Samsung Galaxy S5 running "Marshmallow" (Android 6.0.1). The BK Disabler (Samsung) app will only install on Samsung models which include the older Samsung Knox security system and Enterprise MDM included in the stock ROMs. That said, this recovery procedure is generalized to recover data from any phone that is flashable using Odin, which can accept a flash a version of TWRP applicable to the phone and which can be rooted.
(b) Its a good idea to have the back cover of the phone loose because you will need to pull the battery during this procedure. If you have a phone without a removable battery, I'm not sure how you can turn the phone off following an Odin flash, as I have no experience with a phone without a removable battery. Turning the phone off after flashing TWRP is necessary to prevent TWRP from being removed by an automatic boot to the OS after the TWRP flash. The first boot following a TWRP flash must be to recovery and not to system in order to make TWRP "stick."
(1) Note that flashing TWRP in this step will set the warranty bit on Samsung phones, which allegedly voids the Samsung warranty. Whether or not doing so actually legally voids the warranty varies according to consumer protection and contract laws of various jurisdictions. Boot into download mode (hold volume down and home button while pressing power button.) Using Odin (I used v3.13.1), flash TWRP 3.2.1-0 KLTE. Make sure that Odin recognizes your phone. It will show up in the upper-left window "ID:COM." Press the middle tab and unselect "automatic reboot." The reason is that your initial boot following the flash must be into recovery; otherwise TWRP will be deleted by the normal system boot process. TWRP fixes this problem when you first boot into TWRP recovery. Press the "PDA" button and navigate to the TWRP flash file. After the TWRP flash loads into Odin ("ready"), press start. You will see a message in the upper left window that the flash completed successfully. Pull the battery to turn the phone off. Re-insert battery.
(2) Boot into recovery (hold volume up and the home button while pressing the power button); you will see the TWRP recovery screen. TWRP recovery is a work of art!
(3) TWRP recovery will mount both the internal and external SD cards as MTP devices, allowing you to see all of your user folders and files on both SD cards in Windows Explorer.
Note: FYI for noobs, the "internal SD card" is a portion of internal flash memory within the Android Linux /data partition that is allocated for user storage. The "external SD card" is an actual microSD card plugged into the slot above the SIM card and just above the top edge of the battery. Generally speaking, when Android refers to "SD card" it is referring to the internal SD card and not to a microSD card that you plug into the phone above the battery.
(4) In Windows Explorer, copy and paste all folders from both internal and external SD cards to a safe place on your desktop PC, laptop, etc. Note that you do not even need TWRP to perform this operation for the external SD card because you can take the microSD card out of the phone and transfer the files from an external microSD card reader.
(5) Now we will create a nandroid backup of the entire system, all Android Linux partitions. The reason that we copied the SD card data using Windows Explorer is that a TWRP nandroid backup does NOT include either internal or external SD card data. All bits of all other partitions are included in the TWRP nandroid backup. The TWRP folks consider us to be smart enough to copy our photos, videos documents, etc. from both internal and external SD cards using Windows Explorer. However that still leaves lots of our data, like our contacts, calendars, text messages, emails, phone call logs, etc. buried in the nandroid backup.
(6) In TWRP, select the external SD card as the backup destination (if you don't have an external SD card, go buy one before doing anything else. Format it to fat32 in a USB card reader plugged into a Windows system (separate from the phone). Then insert the microSD card into the phone above the SIM card.
(7) In TWRP, select all partitions to back up, with the external SD card selected as the destination to write the nandroid backup to.
(8) Swipe the indicated TWRP screen area to the right (as indicated by the arrows) to start the backup. It will take awhile to create a nandroid of 6-8 GB.
(9) Make sure that you have a good nandroid backup created. If you want to be extra cautious, reboot into TWRP and restore the nandroid backup that you just created. TWRP should indicate if it was able to successfully restore the nandroid backup. Note that we are not going to use the TWRP restore function in this recovery process; we just want to make sure that the nandroid backup is good.
(10) TWRP will create an entire directory structure on the external SD card, top-level being "TWRP." Copy this entire directory stucture to a safe place on your PC.
(11) Now take a deep breath and, using the TWRP wipe function, wipe all partitions except EFS. TWRP has a screen showing all partitons to be wiped, with check marks beside all of them. Uncheck the EFS partition. That partition should not have been affected by BK Disabler and every write into EFS is somewhat risky. (Keeping in mind that restoring the nandroid backup or re-flashing to stock will both re-write the EFS partition; but those functions presumably know what they are doing.)
Also note: Wiping the /data partition by itself is equivalent to a factory data reset and should delete all of the BK Disabler Enterprise MDM/Kiosk-mode setup (as well as all of your non-system apps, data, settings, etc.) However, we are going to make sure that the phone is in completely factory stock pristine shape by re-flashing the stock ROM. Doing so will flash all partitions except /data, which we just wiped.
(12) Download the factory stock firmware from Sammobile that corresponds to your phone model, your version of Android and your carrier. It will download as a .zip file and will unzip to a file name reflecting your stock image and ending in _HOME.tar.md5. Don't change the file name or further decompress. Open Odin, press the "PDA" button and navigate to the _HOME.tar.md5 image. The other three file slots are left blank. Odin knows to extract all partitions from the image file in "PDA." By default, Odin is set to reboot the phone normally when the flash completes. Press the middle tab and uncheck that so that you can observe that the flashing operation terminated normally and completely. Do not select any other option. DO NOT select "repartition." Make sure that Odin recognizes your phone in the upper left box "ID:COM." Press "Start" and you will see the Odin log file populate on the Odin screen and you will see a flash progress bar on the phone. You will see a green "success" notification at the upper left of the Odin screen when the flashing operation completes successfully. Pull the battery to power the phone off and then re-insert battery.
(13) Next we will boot normally into the newly-flashed system. Before powering on, though, give this some thought. You will be faced with the "new phone" setup dialog and so should know your Google email address and password, name you want to use for the phone, etc. Also keep in mind that while you are fiddling with the setup, Google is busy getting your location, defaulting all of the settings to its best advantage, etc. And your carrier is busy downloading OTA Android and security updates to your phone. E.g., the big boys are infecting your phone as fast as they can and any controls that you previously set in place (e.g., via settings, freezing apps, firewall settings, etc.) to hold off the hoardes are no longer in place. It might be a good idea to put the phone into airplane mode immediately, pull the SIM card, turn off your wireless router, or whatever, to slow things down while you go through the new phone setup and adjust some of your settings. Just a thought...
(14) Now root your phone using your favorite rooting method. (This is necessary because the next (recovery) step uses the Titanium Backup app, which requires root.) For example, download Chainfire's SuperSu v2.82-SR5 zip file from here: https://download.chainfire.eu/1220/SuperSU/SR5-SuperSU-v2.82-SR5-20171001224502.zip Do not unzip. Move the SuperSu zip file to the internal or external SD card (to the top directory or any other directory is fine.) Use the Install function from within TWRP to navigate to the SuperSu zip file, highlight the zip file and swipe the TWRP action strip to install SuperSu. Now boot the phone normall (into the Android system) and you will be greeted by the SuperSu app. You may be given a choice whether to install SuperSu as "systemless" or to install it in the system partition. I prefer "systemless" because flashing a ROM (which overwrites the /system partition) does not wipe out root if SuperSu is installed as "systemless."
(15) Now download Titanium backup from the Play Store (paid Pro edition to be able to complete these steps). Also download and install any apps from which you need to recover data that are not system apps. (For example, if you use the stock messaging app, no need to download any other app to recover messages. However, if you use a non-stock messaging app, download and install that app now.)
(16) Now plug phone into PC USB and transfer the entire TWRP nandroid directory structure from whereever you copied it to on your PC to the internal SD card (Titanium will not recognize the nandroid file on the external SD card and will likely not recognize the nandroid file by itself without the TWRP directory structure).
(17) Now the amazing magical coordination between the TWRP team and the Titanium dev will become clear. Fire up Titanium and hit "Menu..." "Import/Export..." "Extract from Nandroid backup." Give Titanium awile to look into the Nandroid backup file and analyze it. When finished, Titanium will present all the apps and app data that it could find in a list for you to select from via checkmarks. Note that at the top of the screen you can select to restore apps only, data only, or apps + data. Also, the Titanium legend (font colors and icons) is quite extensive. You can study it under "Menu..." "Help/Licensing." Suffice it to say, though, the legend will indicate that few if any apps are available to restore. Why? Because, remember, the apps were hid away in a secure Knox container by the BK Disabler MDM app! So, logically TWRP was not able to include the apps in the nandroid backup. That's ok, because system apps were restored via re-flashing the stock ROM and you downloaded other apps that you needed to recover data for from the Play Store. I believe that its best just to choose "restore data" to avoid any problems with Titanium attempting to find apps in the nandroid when they don't exist there. However, if that is unsuccessful you could try restoring "apps + data." I would suggest restoring one app's data at a time. After each such restore, start up the app to make sure that its data is restored, then restore the next, etc.
(18) I was able to successfully recover all data, including contacts, calendar, SMS/MMS, phone log, K-9 email, etc. That said, going forward I will not go even one week without doing a full Titanium backup of all apps + data and less frequent TWRP nandroid backups, copying each to safe backup folders on my Windows PC. Of course, you could just enable Google Cloud sync. After all, why make Google work to get your data, why not just hand it to them?!
(19) Also, I am not too bitter about the Kunkunsoft BK Disabler for Samsung time-wasting experience. I did it to avoid burning time with the whole "rooting" scenario. But in the end I wasted much more time than would have been the case by just "doing it right" with TWRP and Titanium in the first place. I might even consider using Kunkunsoft's new whack-a-mole Play Store pop-up "Service Disabler," because Titanium does not freeze an app's individual services. But I would only do that if I can confirm that Service Disabler does not come anywhere near the "Samsung Knox Enterprise MDM/Kiosk Mode" area. What a nightmare!!
Update... I just read on a Kunkunsoft blog that his latest "no root" disabler "Package Disabler (All Android)" uses Google's Android SELinux "Device Owner" Enterprise Management "Device Policy Controller" functionality. This is the same old bad-boy unrecoverable "lock yourself out of your device" scenario as described above except even worse because it is probably even more secure than Knox and applies to all SELinux Android on any device after Kit-kat 4.4 or so. Basically the app takes over your phone as though it were a company-owned and managed phone. I would not touch it with a ten-foot pole and suggest that you just root your phone to avoid problems. I plan to contact Kunkunsoft to ask how his root version, "Service Disabler" works. If it works via Package Manager, like Titanium, then I will use it to re-acquire the ability to disable individual services. Otherwise I will just live without that luxury.