Related
Ok, so this is my first Informative thread..so bear with me.
Im a VERY regular hero flasher, and to me, it always seems frustrating to do the whole routine of
Backup>Wipe>Format>Flash>Setup Process>Restore Backup.
especially after you get used to a Rom and you have some stuff that cant be backed up.
Well, i came up with a solution-type thing.
Some people might have tried it out..not sure.
You need:
Nandroid
Android SDK ---> Get it Here
First, do a nandroid backup..(you need it for this to work)
type this into adb
adb shell
echo /dev/block/mmcblk0 > /sys/devices/platform/usb_mass_storage/lun0/file ---->to mount SD in recovery..(or you could just reboot and mount or use an SD reader..whatever)
go to the nandroid folder, and recover the data.img file from your most recent backup. copy it somewhere on your computer.
Start up adb and type
adb shell
rm -r /system/sd/app_s
rm -r /system/sd/app-private -->to prevent bootloops
then wipe, and flash new Rom.
reboot and let the device go into setup process, then power off.
boot device into fastboot mode by holding the camera button + Power button.
open cmd, and cd to your android sdk directory. (or however you do it in linux)
now, type in
fastboot flash userdata <chosen path>/data.img
fastboot reboot
Thats it..all done. Now you have all your stuff from previous hero..and dont have to re-enter loadz of information...and also the benefit of having new stuff like "secret optimized apk's" and what-not.
if you have problem with touch-flo force-closing, go to
settings>applications>manage applications.
choose touch flo
choose clear data.
you should have ahome or some other type of home rplacement program because it seems touchflo DEFINATELy force-closes. and you'll need other home replacement to go into settings.
Or you could just assign a shortcut to settings by going to settings>applications>quick launch selecting what u like.
Hey, I really like the idea behind this approach, but being not as savvy as I'd like, lemme ask this:
Could I achieve the same thing by:
1. performing a nandroid backup.
2. Go thru all the steps to flash a new Hero rom.
3. perform another nandroid backup.
4. copy the data file from the first backup to the appropriate location in the new backup, replacing the newer data file with the old.
5. Perform a nandroid restore with the the newly modified backup file. Et voila!
Or not? If not, would someone mind explaining to me the difference in as layman's terms as possible. A clear explanation could likely go a long way towards teaching me alot about many things that I'm not quite clear on.
Thanks!
would this work with a non-Hero ROM? Or going from a Hero back to a cupcake (or whatever it's called?!)
Thanks!
kjdiehl said:
Hey, I really like the idea behind this approach, but being not as savvy as I'd like, lemme ask this:
Could I achieve the same thing by:
1. performing a nandroid backup.
2. Go thru all the steps to flash a new Hero rom.
3. perform another nandroid backup.
4. copy the data file from the first backup to the appropriate location in the new backup, replacing the newer data file with the old.
5. Perform a nandroid restore with the the newly modified backup file. Et voila!
Or not? If not, would someone mind explaining to me the difference in as layman's terms as possible. A clear explanation could likely go a long way towards teaching me alot about many things that I'm not quite clear on.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, that would work, because it's the same thing but rather than just flashing data.img with fastboot, you're reflashing data + everything from your current setup. If that makes sense. You could just use fastboot...
sorry double post..
jomtones said:
would this work with a non-Hero ROM? Or going from a Hero back to a cupcake (or whatever it's called?!)
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dont think so, dont think there is a data partition in google based ROMs, all your apps are in the system partition. I'm not entirely sure about that, but I expect you'll get a bootloop.
kjdiehl said:
Hey, I really like the idea behind this approach, but being not as savvy as I'd like, lemme ask this:
Could I achieve the same thing by:
1. performing a nandroid backup.
2. Go thru all the steps to flash a new Hero rom.
3. perform another nandroid backup.
4. copy the data file from the first backup to the appropriate location in the new backup, replacing the newer data file with the old.
5. Perform a nandroid restore with the the newly modified backup file. Et voila!
Or not? If not, would someone mind explaining to me the difference in as layman's terms as possible. A clear explanation could likely go a long way towards teaching me alot about many things that I'm not quite clear on.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes, that should work. sems abit more straight forward...especially for those who dont use adb
kjdiehl said:
Hey, I really like the idea behind this approach, but being not as savvy as I'd like, lemme ask this:
Could I achieve the same thing by:
1. performing a nandroid backup.
2. Go thru all the steps to flash a new Hero rom.
3. perform another nandroid backup.
4. copy the data file from the first backup to the appropriate location in the new backup, replacing the newer data file with the old.
5. Perform a nandroid restore with the the newly modified backup file. Et voila!
Or not? If not, would someone mind explaining to me the difference in as layman's terms as possible. A clear explanation could likely go a long way towards teaching me alot about many things that I'm not quite clear on.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dude that's perfect! I like your style of thinkin!
kjdiehl said:
Hey, I really like the idea behind this approach, but being not as savvy as I'd like, lemme ask this:
Could I achieve the same thing by:
1. performing a nandroid backup.
2. Go thru all the steps to flash a new Hero rom.
3. perform another nandroid backup.
4. copy the data file from the first backup to the appropriate location in the new backup, replacing the newer data file with the old.
5. Perform a nandroid restore with the the newly modified backup file. Et voila!
Or not? If not, would someone mind explaining to me the difference in as layman's terms as possible. A clear explanation could likely go a long way towards teaching me alot about many things that I'm not quite clear on.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds kinda round-about to me... You'd have to make a nandroid... flash... then nandroid again... those nandroid backup/restores take much longer than flashing a simple userdata from fastboot. Using fastboot, you could flash it in what... a minute vs another 7-8minutes, but I guess its alright for those terrified of a command prompt...
EDIT: Forgot. Instead of doing the long echo command to mount your sdcard in recovery, you can just type:
Code:
adb shell ums_enable
to start the service and
Code:
adb shell ums_disable
to unmount it from your computer
Thanks for the responses, folks. It's much appreciated.
Yeah, I'm still getting the hang of adb. I don't typically mess around in Terminal, (I'm on a Mac,) so I'm not used to it or the lingo. That doesn't stop me from trying very clear directions, and I do learn a little bit, but the drag-n-drop world makes more sense to me, at least for now.
For instance, when given instructions like this:
"open cmd, and cd to your android sdk directory. (or however you do it in linux)
now, type in
fastboot flash userdata <chosen path>/data.img
fastboot reboot"
I THINK I understand most of it, but I don't know what "cmd" or "cd" means or if it's a typo or what. Also, I think most instructions don't make it clear after what lines I should hit enter and what not. I know that stuff is old hat to most of you guys, but I'm still trying to get the hang of it.
Anyway, thanks for the help!
Drizzy NewVision
Does this work for Drizzy's NewVision? Does it back up the ext3 partition so you dont have to wipe it and get rid of all your apps??
Before we begin. This solution is for people who have tried everything multiple times, and failed. If you haven't read and have not tried the following solutions yet, please do so first:
How to start over: From original stock to rooted latest OTA (WiMAX working!)
[GUIDE] Bad WiMax MAC? Broken 4G after update? Fix HERE!
The guide below is ONLY for people who did not have success with above methods (i.e. they are really really hosed). And there are limitations for now, until everything is confirmed and tested. The most important part you need access to a second, healthy and rooted EVO. As of yet, this is the only way to guarantee that one binary dump is not used a million times, negating the effect.
Please read the whole guide before starting the process, so that you know the risks, limitations, and potential issues with all this.
I am going to sign off for a few hours, and go enjoy my life for a brief time, before returning to answer any questions that may arise.
Ok, so for now, this is more of a proof of concept solution, since I understand not everyone has more than one EVO to do what I did.
My idea about partitions was correct, so without further ado, here is how to restore a botched wimax.
What you need.
2 Fully rooted EVOs (step 1 and step 2), one with working 4G (any version of all firmware on either, all we care for is working WiMax)
System which can do fastboot commands. That means you will have to have Android SDK installed. I also add path to /tools folder into my system PATH, so I don't have to type out the full path to adb or fastboot every time
Custom recovery. I use clockwork for this, since I am not sure all the files are signed, as required by Amon RA's recovery
Broken EVO backup
Backup your existing wimax partition on your broken EVO. We may need it some day.
Open command line window (cmd)
Make sure you have no PC36IMG.zip files in the root of your SD Card, or it will take a while to power your phone up
Power down your phone
Power it up while holding down the Volume Down key
HBOOT will attempt to scan for PC36IMG files. Let's hope you read carefully and don't have it on your SD Card root
Once HBOOT fails to find the file, use Vol Up/Down buttons to go into Fastboot mode
Connect the USB cable to your phone (and PC). You may have to install the USB drivers that come with Android SDK, but chances are if you are looking for this solution, you already have them installed and working
The FASTBOOT mode will switch to FASTBOOT USB (that's good)
Test your fastboot by typing "fastboot oem h" in command window you opened earlier (note, no adb, or adb shell anywhere, the command is "fastboot oem h". From here on all fastboot commands are issued in that window
If you see less than ~40 lines of output, you don't have a propertly rooted phone, and you need to do step 1 and step 2 (see above)
Dump your wimax data by issuing "fastboot oem saveprt2sd wimax -n wimax.bin" command (varies, anywhere between 7 to 8.5 MB, mine was 7MB)
Dump complete partition (~12MB) by issuing "fastboot oem saveprt2sd wimax -n wimax.bin -a" command
Reboot your phone
Pull the data files you dumped to a safe place ("adb pull /sdcard/WIMAX.BIN" and "adb pull /sdcard/WIMAXRAW.BIN"). Note the capitalization, it's important
We are done with your "bricked" phone.
Getting correct wimax image from a working phone
Now, repeat the same steps for your working phone (steps 1-14)
Pull the files to a different (safer) place, and cherish them like they are the only thing you care about in this world (which you do, right?)
Make a copy of your WIMAX.BIN file from the working phone (do NOT edit the actual file, just in case something breaks with your working phone at any time)
Use hex editor to update the working file in 2 places, and change the MAC address (which should be your working evo MAC - 1) to your broken evo MAC - 1 (remember, A becomes 9, F becomes E, etc). It's a big file, so search for "00:18" to find the 2 places. There will be exactly 2, not 3+ and not 1.
Rename the file you just edited to "wimax_25641R01.img"
Fixing your bricked phone
Push it to your sd card root: "adb push wimax_25641R01.img /sdcard"
Push the attached zip file to sdcard root: "adb push new_wimax.zip /sdcard"
Reboot your bricked phone into recovery
Flash new_wimax.zip. This will force write wimax_25641R01.img you pushed earlier, including the certificates in it
Reboot from recovery, let it finish, and boot up into Android
If not running the latest evo WiMax firmware yet, use the second attached zip to do so
Reboot your phone. Allow everything to complete and boot into Android
If needed, update PRL/Profile (I didn't need to, but I already updated it 50 times by now, so YMMV)
Now, I can not attach any of my dumps yet, before I test and make sure whether both phones can stay online on 4G without interruption, I will do some more testing later, since the Encryption keys are different (between 2 working evos I dumped binaries from). I still have 1 more phone to check when I get home. So if you have another evo (friend, family, etc) - you can do that already.
Otherwise, be patient, more testing is needed to make sure we are not going to steal anything from your friend, family, etc, since encryption keys are unique.
But the above solution works for completely restoring your 4G into working state.
I am currently running latest rooted OTA update, too, so it definitely works fine on latest and greatest.
Red,
Have you actually seen the encryption keys in plain text? How many bits are they?
Also, when you restored the wimax part from the working phone to your non-wimax-working phone, did you keep the MAC the same between the two phones?
Red,
Now that you have 4g fixed, can you take a look at your *.tree.xml files? Look at the ones from when 4g was broke, and then look after. Everything from boot.bin gets written into that file, and I'm hoping the signature does as well. If so, we may be able to pull it out of an old xml file and somehow work it back into the wimax.img.
Thanks
EDIT: On second thought, I do recall there being a way to flash the signature via fastboot..
MAC addresses were kept different, exactly what they are on a label behind the battery. For each phone. Hence, the editing step for the wimax partition dump.
Tree.xml does not contain any signatures, I verified this some time ago before I even started playing with the wimax partition by taking one from a working evo.
The keys are in plain text, simple RSA keys, judging by the size looks like 1024 bit. both public and private key are stored. Who knows, maybe just faking one will do it but I am guessing they are signed by some sort of CA otherwise it would be too insecure of Sprint.
So if we had a Nandroid backup from when Wimax was working, the boot.bin in that backup would have the key in it right?
Let's pretend it does, it would get written over when you powered on the phone after flashing. What if we didn't reboot after the restore and went back to recovery? We would then be able to get the boot.bin via adb and get our respective signatures. If they are indeed 1024bit, I don't see us being able to regenerate them anytime soon.
This may be worth a shot. I am not sure boot.bin has the signatures, but I will check later tonight. If it does, I am guessing we should be able to just do a drop in replacement of signatures in the image file and it should work.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Also since nandroid is just a simple copy and I'd the keys are indeed preserved, I would think we can pull them from there.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
mpa4712 said:
So if we had a Nandroid backup from when Wimax was working, the boot.bin in that backup would have the key in it right?
Let's pretend it does, it would get written over when you powered on the phone after flashing. What if we didn't reboot after the restore and went back to recovery? We would then be able to get the boot.bin via adb and get our respective signatures. If they are indeed 1024bit, I don't see us being able to regenerate them anytime soon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does the Boot.bin actually store the keys? You are correct that once you restore a nandroid your working Boot.bin is replaced on boot of Android, in fact from what I saw it seemed it was replaced upon every boot but I could just be mistaken. With that said once you nandroid you can pull it by adb shell mount -a then adb pull /data/wimax/Boot.bin all from right within recovery without booting back into Android.
redsolar said:
Also since nandroid is just a simple copy and I'd the keys are indeed preserved, I would think we can pull them from there.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cordy said:
Does the Boot.bin actually store the keys? You are correct that once you restore a nandroid your working Boot.bin is replaced on boot of Android, in fact from what I saw it seemed it was replaced upon every boot but I could just be mistaken. With that said once you nandroid you can pull it by adb shell mount -a then adb pull /data/wimax/Boot.bin all from right within recovery without booting back into Android.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My thoughts exactly gentleman.
The only problem I forsee is that when you restore a nandroid backup, doesn't the phone reboot automatically afterwards? I think it does.
mpa4712 said:
My thoughts exactly gentleman.
The only problem I forsee is that when you restore a nandroid backup, doesn't the phone reboot automatically afterwards? I think it does.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ugh it shouldn't, not sure what recovery you're using but using toasts or Amon_Ra's recovery it just restores the nandroid and then you choose manually to reboot. In fact I've already pulled my Boot.bin from before I messed up my MAC this way already, I actually puled the whole wimax folder.
you can unyaff your data.img in your nandroid and dig thru watever you want.
david279 said:
you can unyaff your data.img in your nandroid and dig thru watever you want.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
*grumble* going to compile it now....*grumble*
david279 said:
you can unyaff your data.img in your nandroid and dig thru watever you want.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol or do that so much easier huh!
looking at my boot.bin from 6/20, I don't *think* the signature is in it. However, I will let Red confirm that since he knows exactly what to look for.
I've only dealt with rsa encryption using openssl, in a full screen terminal, not a tiny hex editor.
There are some fw files in the wimax directory that are worth a look too though.
mpa4712 said:
looking at my boot.bin from 6/20, I don't *think* the signature is in it. However, I will let Red confirm that since he knows exactly what to look for.
I've only dealt with rsa encryption using openssl, in a full screen terminal, not a tiny hex editor.
There are some fw files in the wimax directory that are worth a look too though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That was the reason I asked, I as well as others have looked through the Boot.bin before. I also looked through all the firmware files. Interestingly there is a default firmware and that a manufacturer firmware I'm guessing one to fall back on the other. You're mac is in the Boot.bin as well as wimax_properties. If these files stored the keys great, but either way they'd have to be changed on the actual firmware.
Interestingly enough, my boot.bin from my broken wimax is about 10kb smaller than my boot.bin from my nandroid backup that had working wimax.
Clearly there is something in that file that the other one does not have. I do think the rsa keys need to be stored somewhere though. I really do not believe the phone does on the fly encryption/decryption with them from the wimax partition.
If they come in an actual file, red will be able to extract the wimax.img he made and look.
mpa4712 said:
Interestingly enough, my boot.bin from my broken wimax is about 10kb smaller than my boot.bin from my nandroid backup that had working wimax.
Clearly there is something in that file that the other one does not have. I do think the rsa keys need to be stored somewhere though. I really do not believe the phone does on the fly encryption/decryption with them from the wimax partition.
If they come in an actual file, red will be able to extract the wimax.img he made and look.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you know for something that obvious I never noticed that. I never ran a diff on them. I just scanned through it to see if there was anything that struck out as being different and I stopped when I saw the different MAC's
I just went through the two boot.bin files and I'm pretty sure the keys are not in there. However, there are plenty of files that get overwritten on every boot, so I'm going to go through all of them. A 1024bit key should stick like a sore thumb if it's in plain text..
How can I tell if my keys were effed up? I'm currently out of 4G coverage and will be for the next week or so, but I'd like to get it fixed.
I know it was broken because my MAC was changed, I've fixed everything, my boot.bin is the same as pre-screwup as is wimax_properties, everything appears to be working fine, but I can't tell without coverage.
I just wanna know if I messed my keys up too, but I'm not sure whether I did or not?
Geniusdog254 said:
How can I tell if my keys were effed up? I'm currently out of 4G coverage and will be for the next week or so, but I'd like to get it fixed.
I know it was broken because my MAC was changed, I've fixed everything, my boot.bin is the same as pre-screwup as is wimax_properties, everything appears to be working fine, but I can't tell without coverage.
I just wanna know if I messed my keys up too, but I'm not sure whether I did or not?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From what we know, if you ever had a messed up MAC then your keys are also gone.
Hi all,
I am trying to make sense of how the android system is made up w.r.t to boot/kernel.
I have been looking at the .img files in the build (I built for the "passion" device), and have been googling around to find some more information about the various .img files.
I ran into a nice HOWTO in android-dls.com 's WIKI, titled HOWTO:_Unpack%2C_Edit%2C_and_Re-Pack_Boot_Images (I'm sorry, I'm a new user so XDA won't allow me to post links. I will try to modify my post a soon as I'm granted permission for that)
but I am afraid it is a little outdated:
I have several questions, but I will try to be brief, so I'll focus on
one of them, and if that works I'll proceed to the next questions, all related to "Android bringup for dummy embedded linux kernel experts".
I am fairly aware of differences between different linux
configurations, and I am very familiar with linux bringup concepts, so I will just use common examples from the linux world as my terminology. Hope it will be clear enough.
I understood that boot.img a combination of a kernel (e.g. bzImage in linux) and an initial ramdisk (e.g. initrd.gz), wrapped by some header, as in common linux kernel loading practice (piggy.o etc.).
Now, the aforementioned HOWTO says that the "recovery" image is built on
the same way, and that it is stored on the target's /system/
recovery.img .
I would assume that this would be compound of the ramdisk-
recovery.img, and some other kernel.
Now, the problem is that:
1. This /system/recovery.img does not exist from what I saw (on my
Motorola XOOM tablet)
2. What does exist is /system/boot-from-recovery.p , which is
created during the boot process in obj/PACKAGING/
recovery_patch_intermediates/recovery_from_boot.p .
I saw tons of posts referring to the files, all said that "in order to
replace the rescue disk image, this file needs to be renamed" - but I
am looking for a way to figure out what it is, and how to extract its
contents.
I assume /system/recovery.img is deprecated, is that correct?
3. I did not see any flash devices in /proc/mtd (which is strange).
I searched for hours before sending this post, so I would appreciate
your help. I also posted a similar message at the google android-building group, but it has not been answered yet, and I got the impression that these forums are more active and can help me get where I need.
If it is not the right place to ask the question please let me know -
I just assume this is a general android concept and not device
specific.
Thanks,
Ron
I meant of course /system/recovery-from-boot.p , and not recovery-from.boot.p
-R
Hi,
I don't know if you managed to find out what "recovery-from-boot.p" is, since this is quite an old post, but I think I'll try to help anyway.
recovery.img is not deprecated at all. From my own experience, it looks like "recovery-from-boot.p" is a protection measure introduced in Gingerbread, but not the recovery itself. What it does is replacing any recovery currently installed on the phone with the default one on every boot.
I discovered it after flashing a custom recovery on my Android 2.3.4 phone. It worked, but just during the first boot. The next time I rebooted the phone, the default recovery image was there again. After browsing several sites, I found that "recovery-from-boot.p" is responsible for that.
So, if you flash a custom recovery image on a Gingerbread phone and want to keep it forever, you must delete this "recovery-from-boot.p" from /system, or at least rename it. That way, your new custom recovery will never get overwritten buy the default one, unless you do it yourself.
I hope this helps you and clarifies this question.
Well, it helped me. I'm new to rooting and just came across mention of this file. I am trying to learn 'why' as well as 'how'', so your post was informative.
Was going to ask a dumb question but I figured it out
i need to delet those files
bigrammy said:
Was going to ask a dumb question but I figured it out
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello
can't delete those files >> i am rooted but every time i delete or rename it take permission then nothing happen >> how i can delete them plsssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
recovery from boot p
ahmed morsy said:
Hello
can't delete those files >> i am rooted but every time i delete or rename it take permission then nothing happen >> how i can delete them plsssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey good day. Did you get your problem fixed...? I have an xt912 it has the same file. For days I've been trying to wipe the phone. Tryed rooting it. I tryed reprogramming it. And I got through with all of that. But everytime the phone boots up it goes back to the same state. Then I used a root browser and while exploring I saw this recovery from boot file. I need help. And I don't think I can downgrade the Motorola phones. Thanks in advance.
jman0 said:
Hi,
I don't know if you managed to find out what "recovery-from-boot.p" is, since this is quite an old post, but I think I'll try to help anyway.
recovery.img is not deprecated at all. From my own experience, it looks like "recovery-from-boot.p" is a protection measure introduced in Gingerbread, but not the recovery itself. What it does is replacing any recovery currently installed on the phone with the default one on every boot.
I discovered it after flashing a custom recovery on my Android 2.3.4 phone. It worked, but just during the first boot. The next time I rebooted the phone, the default recovery image was there again. After browsing several sites, I found that "recovery-from-boot.p" is responsible for that.
So, if you flash a custom recovery image on a Gingerbread phone and want to keep it forever, you must delete this "recovery-from-boot.p" from /system, or at least rename it. That way, your new custom recovery will never get overwritten buy the default one, unless you do it yourself.
I hope this helps you and clarifies this question.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i have deleted it . then flash recovery ,, but it failed .. it wont even now go to stock recovery itself.. any help..
Does recovery from boot has to do anything with ota update applying ? or it will cause issues in system update ?
I have recovery-from-boot.p in my system and i cant root my phone i cant change the recovery img ... Help?
I hadn't had to deal with this for some time, perhaps because I've updated my devices (Nexus 4, Nexus 5, Nexus 7 '13) with the factory images, with "-w" removed from flash-all, then flashing CWM's recovery, ensure SuperSU was installed, then continuing. Today, I used the new OTA image on my Hammerhead/N5, and recovery-from-boot.p seems to be up to its old tricks again.
Solution is simple.
Flash your alternate Recovery in fastboot, fastboot flash recovery [recovery image file] . Boot into Recovery. Apply/install root app (typically via sideload). Mount /system. adb shell mv /system/recovery-from-boot.p /system/recovery-from-boot.p.bak. Reboot. Done. (If you're unfamiliar with fastboot, adb, and flashing new recovery partitions, you have some reading to do. Commence RTFM.)
I also used to have to move /system/etc/install-recovery.sh but that seems to be gone in Marshmallow. :} Or moved...?
well, after following a guide I have extracted the system.img from a pure-nexus ROM(The ROM I'm currently using), now I can see that "recovery-from-boot.p" file is responsible for recovery lock in my phone. I'll keep it short and straight to the question
"Can I remove this file and rebuild the .dat file and flash it?, so that I won't have any other problems at all"
I want to know if recovery-from-boot.p file is linked to anything other than just locking the recovery or re-flashing it innumerable times.
Hi there,
I am new to xda and new to Android hacking.
What I wanna ask is, (I guess it's of most newbies concern as well), can we have a 100% backup of our system (stock ROM)? Obviously, it is important because:
If we perform an official (OTA) update to a new Android version. And we don't like it. It is possible to get back to the old original one which we are used to. (not everybody likes new things, and/or not every new thing is good)
If our phones are having some problems. And we have to give it back to the company for a fix. In most cases they will flash a new ROM for us. If we wanna keep using the old one (explained in #1), we have to keep a copy of it by ourselves.
If we want to try new custom ROMs, we may want to switch it back after trying.
Whenever we do any modifications, it's always better to keep a backup/roll-back point. In case anything goes wrong, we have a safeguard.
For the official warranty issue.
Yup I do see there are some official stock ROMs downloads for some particular phones. But those are not really a backup of our original ROMs. And it's always hard to verify if those downloads are the original official releases. And, if those downloads are 100% stock ROMs, this means some guys out there could make it, so what is the way to do so?
Or, how those mobile phone companies do it in their labs?
I have been doing researches on this topic for a few days. Some posts claim that their methods are "backup stock ROM" or "backup before rooting". But after digging into it, they requires rooting and/or flashing CWM. Here comes a few questions:
Questions
Rooting will in fact changes some files/data of the system. So backup after root is NOT getting the original stock ROM. Is it?
Is there a method to "un-root", so ALL the changes are TOTALLY reverted?
Installing/flashing things like CWM in phone requires rooting, which would make the ROM not original. Is there a way to extract the system backup from a computer externally?
In addition, I have found some related pieces. which could be useful to anyone viewing this post, and might be useful for you to solve this (my) question. :fingers-crossed:
* as I'm a new user, I can't post links directly. Please delete the blank spaces in between.
ht tp://www .modaco .com/topic/351269-backup-original-rom/
In reply #5, user C3C0 raised a method of backing up the original stock ROM without root. But it seems he is flashing CWM and that method is only for ZTE Skate.
adb backup tool of Android SDK
At the first sight i came across this approach, I thought it is the official method to do whole system (ROM) backup (WOW - how nice!). But after studying for a few more posts, I think adb backup can only backup app+app_data, and possibly some system settings only. Am I correct? And also, adb backup is only for ICS (Android 4.0), isn't it?
adb backup usage: ht tp://forum.xda-developers .com/showthread.php?t=1420351
(But mentioned in the bottom of #1 the poster is having some issues on using adb backup. Perhaps there are some bugs and not reliable(?)
One more question on adb backup: Can it backup just one app+app_data, and restore just one app+app_data, without affecting other things? If yes, we don't need to root and don't need Titanium Backup (which requires root) for backup app+app_data. Isn't it?
** In case I have said anything or any terms wrongly in this thread, please DO correct me, for helping me and helping others.
P.S. i am using LG Optimus 3D.
Thanks a lot, wholeheartedly,
midnite_
Backup phone before root
Hello all this is my first post here...woohoo!:fingers-crossed: This forum is amazing as to the amount of information available. I just wish that in looking for what I need to do I did not need to look in so many places. I feel that if I want to root my T-Mobile GS3 that all the information should be in one subsection of the forum, but it is not that simple I guess....lol Anyway any help would be greatly appreciated.
I have a Samsung GS3 with T-Mobile that I want to root. Everyone says to back up the phone before you do it but I am not really seeing how to make a backup before I start. It appears that most of the guides to root just say to backup without telling you how to fo it. Another thing (correct me if I am wrong) I see the nandroid backup that I think is a backup of the phone however it seems to be done after you make changes to the phone and I thought the backup was supposed to be done before you do anything. Is it that there is not a way to make a complete backup with an unrooted phone?
My question is basically the same as the OP here. I have been reading and reading and reading posts here in the forum. There is much information here and much of it is duplicated with slight variances in some of the duplicates. I am not certain as to which rooting method I should use. There seem to be so many choices. As a new person to this forum I will say that you can find just about everything about any phone which is awesome. The hard thing is sifting through the many options to pick one to use for your issue.
I do see that Mr. Robinson has a thread with backups of the original roms. The only thing is that they are default roms that are like an out of the box phone and not my phone with my apps and my settings. That is what I want to backup...My phone with my settings and my apps.
:good: Thank you in advance for any one that can shed some light on this for me and the OP'er
ASharpEdge said:
Hello all this is my first post here...woohoo!:fingers-crossed: This forum is amazing as to the amount of information available. I just wish that in looking for what I need to do I did not need to look in so many places. I feel that if I want to root my T-Mobile GS3 that all the information should be in one subsection of the forum, but it is not that simple I guess....lol Anyway any help would be greatly appreciated.
I have a Samsung GS3 with T-Mobile that I want to root. Everyone says to back up the phone before you do it but I am not really seeing how to make a backup before I start. It appears that most of the guides to root just say to backup without telling you how to fo it. Another thing (correct me if I am wrong) I see the nandroid backup that I think is a backup of the phone however it seems to be done after you make changes to the phone and I thought the backup was supposed to be done before you do anything. Is it that there is not a way to make a complete backup with an unrooted phone?
My question is basically the same as the OP here. I have been reading and reading and reading posts here in the forum. There is much information here and much of it is duplicated with slight variances in some of the duplicates. I am not certain as to which rooting method I should use. There seem to be so many choices. As a new person to this forum I will say that you can find just about everything about any phone which is awesome. The hard thing is sifting through the many options to pick one to use for your issue.
I do see that Mr. Robinson has a thread with backups of the original roms. The only thing is that they are default roms that are like an out of the box phone and not my phone with my apps and my settings. That is what I want to backup...My phone with my settings and my apps.
:good: Thank you in advance for any one that can shed some light on this for me and the OP'er
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi ya,
It's so nice that you are having the same concern as I do.
As far as i know, the approaches of rooting differ from phones to phones. So we may have to find our own specific rooting method in the phone model sub-forums. It won't be hard for your popular S3
I would like to have a look at that Mr. Robinson's thread. If he can backup the stock ROM, those app+app_data wont a big issue (i guess).
cheers,
midnite_
midnite_ said:
Questions
Rooting will in fact changes some files/data of the system. So backup after root is NOT getting the original stock ROM. Is it?
Is there a method to "un-root", so ALL the changes are TOTALLY reverted?
Installing/flashing things like CWM in phone requires rooting, which would make the ROM not original. Is there a way to extract the system backup from a computer externally?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi midnight, welcome to a new and exciting world of Android and trying new things. First, let me assure you, what you want is NOT something new. People have been doing this type of thing for years. That is flashing and testing roms. As you will learn, it actually becomes quite addictive. We call those folks that get addicted to flashing: Flashaholics or crackflashers, lol
First let me talk about "root". This process consists of unlocking a lower level of the Android system known as the bootloader. Unlocking the bootloader of your device allows you to flash a custom recovery, flashing a custom recovery allows you to flash the Superuser binary and Superuser.apk, This is what allows you to use apps that require "root". The bootloader is not an OS file. So when you are unlocking your bootloader you are not modifying your stock rom. Only when you have flashed the Superuser package have you modified your stock rom. And even that isn't really modifying anything. When you flash the Superuser package, it adds two files to your rom at certain locations of the file system. It adds the Superuser.apk file to system/app and it adds the SU binary to system/bin. Basically you CAN have a totally S-OFF (unlocked) bootloader and still have an entirely stock rom if you want. But the real benifit is flashing a custom recovery like ClockworkMod Recovery and then flash the superuser package.
As far as extracting the stock system, you should try giving adb a go. Do it right now if you like. Ensure you have the android sdk installed and properly set up on your computer and your computer can recognize your phone. Ensure your phone is in debugging mode, connect your phone to your computer, open up a command window, and run this command:
Code:
adb pull \
This command will pull everything off your phone except for data which is where your market or Google Play apps are stored.
Beyond XDA there are aso more resources to learn from. For example, http://www.android.com is a good place to start, and to learn more about adb check out http://developer.android.com/tools/help/adb.html
If you need to learn how to setup the sdk here is the place to learn how: http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html
I'm sure others will add to this as well which is the good thing about this community.
Welcome to XDA, I hope you have fun learning, and maybe share back someday things you learn along the way.
wildstang83 said:
Hi midnight, welcome to a new and exciting world of Android and trying new things. First, let me assure you, what you want is NOT something new. People have been doing this type of thing for years. That is flashing and testing roms. As you will learn, it actually becomes quite addictive. We call those folks that get addicted to flashing: Flashaholics or crackflashers, lol
First let me talk about "root". This process consists of unlocking a lower level of the Android system known as the bootloader. Unlocking the bootloader of your device allows you to flash a custom recovery, flashing a custom recovery allows you to flash the Superuser binary and Superuser.apk, This is what allows you to use apps that require "root". The bootloader is not an OS file. So when you are unlocking your bootloader you are not modifying your stock rom. Only when you have flashed the Superuser package have you modified your stock rom. And even that isn't really modifying anything. When you flash the Superuser package, it adds two files to your rom at certain locations of the file system. It adds the Superuser.apk file to system/app and it adds the SU binary to system/bin. Basically you CAN have a totally S-OFF (unlocked) bootloader and still have an entirely stock rom if you want. But the real benifit is flashing a custom recovery like ClockworkMod Recovery and then flash the superuser package.
As far as extracting the stock system, you should try giving adb a go. Do it right now if you like. Ensure you have the android sdk installed and properly set up on your computer and your computer can recognize your phone. Ensure your phone is in debugging mode, connect your phone to your computer, open up a command window, and run this command:
Code:
adb pull \
This command will pull everything off your phone except for data which is where your market or Google Play apps are stored.
Beyond XDA there are aso more resources to learn from. For example, ht tp://www .android .com is a good place to start, and to learn more about adb check out ht tp://developer .android .com/tools/help/adb.html
If you need to learn how to setup the sdk here is the place to learn how: ht tp://developer .android .com/sdk/index.html
I'm sure others will add to this as well which is the good thing about this community.
Welcome to XDA, I hope you have fun learning, and maybe share back someday things you learn along the way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi Wildstang,
Thanks very much for your warm welcome and very informative reply. So are you a Flashaholics or Crackflashers yet?
As I am a newbie, please forgive me if I am asking dumb questions.
As far as I understand,
The steps of root is
1. Unlock the bootloader
2. Flash Superuser binary & Superuser.apk
** does "flash a custom recovery" means "flash Superuser binary & Superuser.apk"?
"Flash Superuser binary & Superuser.apk" is just "add SU binary to system/bin" and "add Superuser.apk to system/app". Then why not just copy them into place?
I just found on the web that "flashing" means replacing the OS of the phone with a new ROM. Would that still keeping the stock ROM?
To have a backup of the original stock ROM, can I
1. Unlock the bootloader
2. Flash Superuser binary & Superuser.apk
3. Perform the backup
And later, after I have flashed a new ROM, or whatever I do, as long as I didn't brick it, when I want to rollback my phone to its original, I can
1. Restore the backup
2. Delete "SU binary in system/bin" and "Superuser.apk in system/app"
3. re-lock the bootloader
Is this correct?
I don't mean to challenge you. But does adb pull \ really backup the system, or just all the files?
Thanks very much again!
midnite_
Hey midnite_,
I am a newbie too and have a lot of blank spots in my understanding of what we can do with android. I also came here with same question. I found how to root, this isn't a secret. Like you, I want to know how do I fix it if I break it.
So, with regards to your questions.
1. Unlock the bootloader
Not clear on this one, as not every tutorial even mentions this part. My feeling is that this might be specific to some phones, like HTC.
2. Flash Custom Recovery (such as AmonRa, CWR, TWRP...)
Recovery is an intermediate stage of phone booting process after bootloader but before OS.
It is there to allow OTA (Over the air) updates. During those, the OS is halted and replaced with a newer one.
What this means for us is that the recovery is capable of replacing OS (ROM - are these terms interchangeable?).
Recovery is the same as hidden partition on windows, that is sometimes present on a PC. It has a limited interface.
It can replace one OS image with another. It probably checks the checksum and creates the new one after the update. It is probably the gatekeeper.
Stock recovery will not replace OS with an image from SD card or from PC through USB. Only OTA.
This is the reason for flashing the custom (hacked) recovery on.
Custom recovery is made to allow additional options, such as allowing image sources such as PC or SD card, and also a ROM backup (write OS image to PC).
3. Flash update file using "upgrade from SD card" function of custom recovery now in place.
In this step, the Superuser.apk and bin files are placed. Stock recovery will not let us do that.
Also, I think the reason we can't just use ADB to "copy" superuser package to phone is because the system is either running or exists as an image (compressed?), and is probably protective of its modification. (So, likely the superuser package also replaces the checksum that the OS uses to check if it has been compromised?) Yes, this modifies your rom.
I assume that unrooting could be done after this by updating again with a file that removes superuser package and that would make your rom stock again.
4 OR flash custom ROM, which usually includes superuser package. Of course using custom rom means you no longer have stock rom.
To have a backup of original ROM, you would :
1 Unlock bootloader,
2 Flash (install) custom recovery
3 superuser doesn't matter here
4 Use custom recovery function to back up your stock ROM.
I want to know the answers to the rest of your questions as well as some clarifications to mine.
Personally, I am looking for a way to backup the stock recovery as well.
I know there are some people asking about this. The procedure appears to be as follows:
(pieced together so don't take it as a tutorial)
1 Unlock bootloader (again, unclear on this. Also some mention S-OFF and others don't)
2 With USB debugging allowed (meaning connect as device requiring a driver), Connect to a PC with ABD, and a driver installed.
3 From ADB, issue a command "adb boot recoveryimage.name" instead of the usual "adb flash recoveryimage.name".
This will make the phone boot into a custom recovery image that is residing on PC, without first writing it to the phone.
4 Unclear how, but make that custom recovery now being live to back up stock rom to pc.
5 Unclear how, but make that custom recovery now being live to flash either root or custom rom to the phone.
6 Disconnect, reboot the phone. Once in OS, use root privileges to mount recovery partition ? (this makes it visible as drive)
7 Don't know how, but use root privileges to back up now visible stock recovery partition to PC as image.
( This should give you two out of three original parts.)
Keep in mind that even if my peace-by-peace "know-how" ever works, there is at least one clearly faulty step:
The back up of the original state of the boot loader has been never made. I do not know if it is easily can be toggled back and forth from lock to unlock and back without leaving any trace. Also, like yourself, I probably don't quite understand what am I talking about, but I have tried to make as much sense of what I have read here and there.
This is my first smart phone, and my experience with linux is limited to building a minecraft server on MineOS, which was pre-made so that not much was required to make it run. I have "mounted" a partition for the first time last week, trying to break Win7recovery, booting it with Knoppix. This is why I think this is probably will come in play here too, as the recovery partition on W7 was hidden. Until then I didn't understand what mounting means, as windows always does it for you. So, take everything I say with a bunch of salt.
Please, let me know too, if you find out more. I want to flash the hell out of my Prism, but I want to be smart about it.
bump... midnite_ r u still around?
Hi Descent2,
Yes i am still around but i am busy with other stuffs at this moment. Thanks very much for your reply. You have studied a lot and you really did good summarisations. Very informative and I learnt a lot from it. Hope some of the masters or experienced ones would come by and bring us out of the mist
cheers,
midnite_
Descent2 said:
Hey midnite_,
I am a newbie too and have a lot of blank spots in my understanding of what we can do with android. I also came here with same question. I found how to root, this isn't a secret. Like you, I want to know how do I fix it if I break it.
So, with regards to your questions.
1. Unlock the bootloader
Not clear on this one, as not every tutorial even mentions this part. My feeling is that this might be specific to some phones, like HTC.
2. Flash Custom Recovery (such as AmonRa, CWR, TWRP...)
Recovery is an intermediate stage of phone booting process after bootloader but before OS.
It is there to allow OTA (Over the air) updates. During those, the OS is halted and replaced with a newer one.
What this means for us is that the recovery is capable of replacing OS (ROM - are these terms interchangeable?).
Recovery is the same as hidden partition on windows, that is sometimes present on a PC. It has a limited interface.
It can replace one OS image with another. It probably checks the checksum and creates the new one after the update. It is probably the gatekeeper.
Stock recovery will not replace OS with an image from SD card or from PC through USB. Only OTA.
This is the reason for flashing the custom (hacked) recovery on.
Custom recovery is made to allow additional options, such as allowing image sources such as PC or SD card, and also a ROM backup (write OS image to PC).
3. Flash update file using "upgrade from SD card" function of custom recovery now in place.
In this step, the Superuser.apk and bin files are placed. Stock recovery will not let us do that.
Also, I think the reason we can't just use ADB to "copy" superuser package to phone is because the system is either running or exists as an image (compressed?), and is probably protective of its modification. (So, likely the superuser package also replaces the checksum that the OS uses to check if it has been compromised?) Yes, this modifies your rom.
I assume that unrooting could be done after this by updating again with a file that removes superuser package and that would make your rom stock again.
4 OR flash custom ROM, which usually includes superuser package. Of course using custom rom means you no longer have stock rom.
To have a backup of original ROM, you would :
1 Unlock bootloader,
2 Flash (install) custom recovery
3 superuser doesn't matter here
4 Use custom recovery function to back up your stock ROM.
I want to know the answers to the rest of your questions as well as some clarifications to mine.
Personally, I am looking for a way to backup the stock recovery as well.
I know there are some people asking about this. The procedure appears to be as follows:
(pieced together so don't take it as a tutorial)
1 Unlock bootloader (again, unclear on this. Also some mention S-OFF and others don't)
2 With USB debugging allowed (meaning connect as device requiring a driver), Connect to a PC with ABD, and a driver installed.
3 From ADB, issue a command "adb boot recoveryimage.name" instead of the usual "adb flash recoveryimage.name".
This will make the phone boot into a custom recovery image that is residing on PC, without first writing it to the phone.
4 Unclear how, but make that custom recovery now being live to back up stock rom to pc.
5 Unclear how, but make that custom recovery now being live to flash either root or custom rom to the phone.
6 Disconnect, reboot the phone. Once in OS, use root privileges to mount recovery partition ? (this makes it visible as drive)
7 Don't know how, but use root privileges to back up now visible stock recovery partition to PC as image.
( This should give you two out of three original parts.)
Keep in mind that even if my peace-by-peace "know-how" ever works, there is at least one clearly faulty step:
The back up of the original state of the boot loader has been never made. I do not know if it is easily can be toggled back and forth from lock to unlock and back without leaving any trace. Also, like yourself, I probably don't quite understand what am I talking about, but I have tried to make as much sense of what I have read here and there.
This is my first smart phone, and my experience with linux is limited to building a minecraft server on MineOS, which was pre-made so that not much was required to make it run. I have "mounted" a partition for the first time last week, trying to break Win7recovery, booting it with Knoppix. This is why I think this is probably will come in play here too, as the recovery partition on W7 was hidden. Until then I didn't understand what mounting means, as windows always does it for you. So, take everything I say with a bunch of salt.
Please, let me know too, if you find out more. I want to flash the hell out of my Prism, but I want to be smart about it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
check here
All your answers can be found here: [REF] [GUIDE] Welcome to your device, the Galaxy S III. For more XDA related issues check here: [GUIDE] - XDA New User Guide - Getting started on XDA
Good Luck!
mf2112
XDA Moderator
ASharpEdge said:
Hello all this is my first post here...woohoo!:fingers-crossed: This forum is amazing as to the amount of information available. I just wish that in looking for what I need to do I did not need to look in so many places. I feel that if I want to root my T-Mobile GS3 that all the information should be in one subsection of the forum, but it is not that simple I guess....lol Anyway any help would be greatly appreciated.
I have a Samsung GS3 with T-Mobile that I want to root. Everyone says to back up the phone before you do it but I am not really seeing how to make a backup before I start. It appears that most of the guides to root just say to backup without telling you how to fo it. Another thing (correct me if I am wrong) I see the nandroid backup that I think is a backup of the phone however it seems to be done after you make changes to the phone and I thought the backup was supposed to be done before you do anything. Is it that there is not a way to make a complete backup with an unrooted phone?
My question is basically the same as the OP here. I have been reading and reading and reading posts here in the forum. There is much information here and much of it is duplicated with slight variances in some of the duplicates. I am not certain as to which rooting method I should use. There seem to be so many choices. As a new person to this forum I will say that you can find just about everything about any phone which is awesome. The hard thing is sifting through the many options to pick one to use for your issue.
I do see that Mr. Robinson has a thread with backups of the original roms. The only thing is that they are default roms that are like an out of the box phone and not my phone with my apps and my settings. That is what I want to backup...My phone with my settings and my apps.
:good: Thank you in advance for any one that can shed some light on this for me and the OP'er
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks mf2112. But those resources are seem only for GS3. And it seems it is not teaching us to backup our stock ROMs, it provides stock ROMs for us to download instead. Is there a general way to backup our stock ROMs?
Thanks,
midnite_
mf2112 said:
All your answers can be found here: [REF] [GUIDE] Welcome to your device, the Galaxy S III. For more XDA related issues check here: [GUIDE] - XDA New User Guide - Getting started on XDA
Good Luck!
mf2112
XDA Moderator
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You must unlock your bootloader then flash a custom recovery. You will then use that custom recovery to make a backup of your rom. That backup will be stored on your sd card.
Now, I have tried to help you and so have a couple other folks. You expect us to just give you answers step by step. I am sorry but this is simply not how XDA works. XDA is set up in a way which makes it for any users to find quickly what they want to know. Use the search feature on the site and you will find many answers. I tell you to go do your own research now and be proud of what you learn on your own. And if you cannot, please do not try to modify your phone further, you may just brick it if you aren't careful.
midnite_ said:
Thanks mf2112. But those resources are seem only for GS3. And it seems it is not teaching us to backup our stock ROMs, it provides stock ROMs for us to download instead. Is there a general way to backup our stock ROMs?
Thanks,
midnite_
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I put in the GS3 links since the OP was using that phone. Every phone will be different so I don't think a general way or guide would be practical.
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using xda premium
hey everyone,
I was looking around for a possible way to get around the root catchers, ie. android pay, snapchat, etc. and someone casually mentioned they use a clean partition to use those services and then boot their rooted partition for everything else. I've checked my secondary slot (_a) and it doesn't boot at all so im sure I've only got half some stuff flashed to it.
Is it as simple as switching to my secondary, booting into bootloader and simply flashing the required files like I did for my main partition? or do I need to just fastboot my system.img and boot.img? More importantly, does this actually work?
-I'm on 7.1.1 with TWRP alpha2 and SR5
Thank you thank you!
edit1: found this through some searching, my new question is assuming I use the "_a" prefix for the commands I should not touch my active slot correct?
edit2: It worked! For anyone wondering I just used the first set of commands from the thread linked in edit1. My custom kernel stayed on the system and I am able to use apps that normally lock out root!
I think it's important to flash both partitions and use the ignore secondary option and also make sure that the -w is not in the command line . Don't know the specifics, but a normal flash includes some files in the other partition, files it won't find if you only flash one slot. I could be wrong, but that's how I did it. Couldn't get it to run right when I only flashed one slot.ymmv.
dtrud0h said:
I think it's important to flash both partitions and use the ignore secondary option and also make sure that the -w is not in the command line . Don't know the specifics, but a normal flash includes some files in the other partition, files it won't find if you only flash one slot. I could be wrong, but that's how I did it. Couldn't get it to run right when I only flashed one slot.ymmv.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alright so to confirm, since I seem to always confuse myself, as long as I remove the "-w" and use the command to not touch the other partition my data and what not should be fine? I haven't messed with the flash all in a while so I might just manually input those commands to make certain I don't mess up haha.
I'll tell you what happened with me.
I could run the altered.scripts/bat files, but the last segment wouldn't run.. . meaning the script would flash boot, and radio but wouldn't run the update command portion. I had to copy and paste into fastboot the last instruction anyway. I don't know why but that's what happened. One thing is to make sure image file message in the script matches what you have downloaded and extracted
. Either edit the bat or sh file accordingly.