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Android app that roots your phone

Hi all I am putting together an android app that will making the rooting process much easier. This thread is discuss issues and suggestions with this app.
I have the app near done, the biggest problem is that I cannot format the sdcard as fat32. Is formatting to fat32 required. Why do we do this? What is the real need to do this?
I have not tested the app out yet, but so far this is how it has been put together. There is a main activity with textboxes that have the urls of the files needed to root (dreaimg.nbh, recovery.img, hardsplupdate.zip, JF_RC33update.zip) and there are buttons for each step in the process to download these necessary files and extract them if needed and put them on the sdcard and renaming them properly. You can change the urls to something else if needed.
so you click the first button it downloads the .nbh and puts it on the sdcard and then prompts the user to turn off, power+camera on, flash. when phone is on then reinstall this app and go to step 2 (because it would of been lost when flashed)
you click the second button it downloads recovery.img and hardsplupdate.zip. renames the files appropriately and puts them on the sd. it runs a script to do the recovery.img flash. It then prompts you to restart into recovery mode and gives the instructions on flashing the hardspl. and tells you to reopen this app when done
you click the third button it downloads the latest JF firmware (lets just say the RC33 flavor) puts it on the sdcard and renames it as update.zip. it prompts you to restart into recovery mode and do the flash.
Anybody see any possible problems with this logic? Also what do people think about maybe packing some of these files in the app instead of having them be downloaded?
Update: app is working http://allshadow.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=5229
I am still looking for help to make it better.
I need devs to help make it nicer.
I am also looking for someone who's familiar with the update.zip package, to pack the radio, hardspl, and jf_rc33 all in one update file.
If anybody is interested in helping, PM me

I dont think its that big of a deal to format the card yourself, but why not make an app on the desktop that does some of the work for you, like formatting the card, then downloading and renaming the files needed to get started?

Packing the files into the app is going to make the app big. I like this whole idea though.

when you flash the .nbh it does a wipe on its own so one would need to re-download the app after that unless you can get it to stick somehow, i like the idea, is each button of the app just running a script? like to get the dreaimg.nbh have a script that runs:
"$wget [url to the .nbh file]
$echo 'please reboot your phone into SPL by holding the camera and power button'"
or did you have some other idea?
i like the idea but i am just not sure how easy this would be to code as i am just used to writing scripts that do everything for me.
or you could follow Kllian's advice and make a desktop program that does all this. i could easily write a script for linux that would do it, and a .bat file wouldn't be too hard either. you would just need to have adb and you could have the scipt/batch reboot the phone into recovery to do the flashing of each update.zip
pm me if you have an questions or would like me to write a script to do all this

tubaking182 said:
when you flash the .nbh it does a wipe on its own so one would need to re-download the app after that unless you can get it to stick somehow, i like the idea, is each button of the app just running a script?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
tubaking brings up a good point.
I have an idea that possibly could resolve the "wiping" issue. What you do is, the initial app would be placed on the desktop (assume RC30). From here you'd downgrade the firmware to RC29.
The problem is though, the app you are scripting will be wiped. SO...
How about saving it on the SD temporarily.
THEN modifying the .nbh file to restore the <rooting app> to desktop (from SD)
Just throwing some stuff out there.
IF you need some help, hit me up.

if anyone knows how to convert a .sh bash script from linux to a .bat batch file for windows then i already have the script written, send me a PM to get it. or we could port it into java, but i don't know how to do that stuff. tomorrow i will upload my script onto 4shared and provide a link here as long as it works. keep in mind that i am on a linux machine and my script will not work in M$ windows. i don't know a damn thing about mac, so i have no idea if this will work or not for them.
my script is nearly completely automated, the only thing you need to do is hit ENTER a few dozen times, i will also write a completely automated one that sleeps rather than waits for you to hit enter, but it will take longer to run most likely since i will have to oversetimate the sleep time.
hopefully i can find a windows machine and learn what commands in the cmd are equal to the commands in my terminal

akapoor said:
tubaking brings up a good point.
I have an idea that possibly could resolve the "wiping" issue. What you do is, the initial app would be placed on the desktop (assume RC30). From here you'd downgrade the firmware to RC29.
The problem is though, the app you are scripting will be wiped. SO...
How about saving it on the SD temporarily.
THEN modifying the .nbh file to restore the <rooting app> to desktop (from SD)
Just throwing some stuff out there.
IF you need some help, hit me up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
modifying ,nbh files is no easy task, i tried it once and fortunately for many people GSLeon3 was able to help me fix my tilt. i think the .bat or .sh would be the easiest way to root your phone

Tubaking,
Send over the file you have. Ill work on converting it to a .bat, useable from windows.
Email : akapoor92_at_gmail.com
I should have it soon, but since its like 3:30am here, I'm off to bed. Haha

tubaking182 said:
modifying ,nbh files is no easy task, i tried it once and fortunately for many people GSLeon3 was able to help me fix my tilt. i think the .bat or .sh would be the easiest way to root your phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Uh, you'd not only need to modify the nbh file, but you'd also need to sign it with the Google OTA keys - otherwise the phone will refuse to flash it.
If it were possible to create Google-signed nbh files we'd dispense with all this downgrading nonsense and just create an nbh of the latest JF firmware with root and directly flash that.
The issue is that until you've patched the recovery loader the phone won't flash anything that isn't signed by Google. The reason we can get around this is that there is a leaked signed file with the old firmware version, and that version happens to contain a vulnerability that you can use to get root access. Once you have root access you can reflash the recovery loader with a new one which accepts the test keys. At that point you can dispense with the hacks and begin directly flashing whatever you want.
In any case, rooting a phone is serious enough of a matter that we probably shouldn't be encouraging anybody who can download an app to do it. They should at least have some confidence in reading and following obscure instructions online, because of anything goes wrong later that is what they'll be doing...

Thanks for all your input. I have been trying to hold hand people through the root process and it is a real pain. Biggest issues are people not being able to unzip files correctly, rename files correctly, and the biggest thing is the recovery.img step and typing in the commands.
- .nbh cannot be patched because it is signed.
- yes my app will get wiped because of the .nbh flash. It does tell the user to reinstall this app once done with the .nbh step and then continue
- i prefer an android app, so people can do it without a computer and without having to install the sdk
- the app does not run a script to get the files. it uses some android sdk functions to download files. it does use the unzip linux command to unzip, not sure if this will work because of permissions, i may have to figure out how to do it from the sdk. the app does run a script to do the recovery.img step, during this step we should already have root so no issue there with permissions.
Biggest problem I see is Fat32 format I heard it is not absolutely necessary. Does anyone have any more information about why this needs to be done?

it IS necessary, you need the card formatted in order to do the NBH flash, after that you should be ok. most card come formatted in the box they came in so anyone that said they didn't need to format their card is lying because is was already formatted to fat 32

in the RC29 firmware is there a su command in /system/bin/ or are all commands run as root without having to call /system/bin/su ??

moussam said:
in the RC29 firmware is there a su command in /system/bin/ or are all commands run as root without having to call /system/bin/su ??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
from what i've read, in the RC29 version andything you type on the home screen gets put through a root shell as well all on it's own

I have a feeling whoever makes this app is going to sell iot for a ridiculous price on the market

My script is written but requires the user to do certain things, later I hope to have it be completely automated after a certain point and it will be free. After I get it written in linux shell I will be converting it to use in windows. Expect my automated root to be available for download by the weekend.

I got the app pretty close to done. I hope to put something up tonight or tomorrow that you guys can test. I am not going to charge for this app, I want to give it for free so everybody can have root and a more rich experience.
The place were I am stuck right now is the unzipping of the DREAIMG.NBH file from its zip file after it is downloaded. I am using java.util.zip I am not sure if the problem is because the file is so big or if I am doing it wrong. does anyone have an android java unzip code snippet?

The app now downloads files for you and unzips them if needed. THere is an issue with the unzipping though, after around 25 MB of unzipping DREAIMG.NBH i get this error...
java.io.IOException at java.util.zip.InflaterInputStream.read(InflaterInputStream.java)
anybody have any suggestions? Is their not enough memory to unzip the files or something?

For now I am not going to let the .nbh file be zipped up. THe app instead will have to download the full uncompressed .nbh file.
So it is ready to be tested, if you want to try it out PM me, I do not want to just post it and have everybody use it until it has been tested more.

Good news the app works on downloading the .nbh file and then flashing you to RC29. It then successfully downloads the recovery.img and hardspl update.zip
I had someone testing it and when they ran the recovery script the mount command gave them mount: operation not permitted. Is this correct? I know without root it is supposed to give you mount: permission denied.
If this is correct the app is working, and I just need someone else to confirm.
Mike

Does anybody else want to help with the coding of this project? If so create an open-source repository and I will add the current source in there.

Google Experience only

I am happy with what I have since the new update from Viewsonic.
If I only want to add Google Experience, marketplace, do I still need to go through the process of rooting, installing clockwork and a new UI?
Is there just a simple way to add GE to the Classic UI?

Gapps install
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=842590

Everyone,
I have had zip luck with this method of installing zapps. Not a dev, but I've been doing this long enough.....
I moved the Recovery file to to /sdcard. Checked for command and command line inside that file All ok to my eye.
Downloaded the gapps file which my WinRAR pronounces a WinRAR/Zip file. So I tried renamein the original update.zip and didn't get any install. So I extracted using winRAR. Still no install.
I tried the permutations as well. Extracted using G-Tablet extract. Still no results.
There must be something I am missing here -- too much holiday cheer or too many crowds or whatever.
Suggestions?!
Rev

butchconner said:
Everyone,
I have had zip luck with this method of installing zapps. Not a dev, but I've been doing this long enough.....
I moved the Recovery file to to /sdcard. Checked for command and command line inside that file All ok to my eye.
Downloaded the gapps file which my WinRAR pronounces a WinRAR/Zip file. So I tried renamein the original update.zip and didn't get any install. So I extracted using winRAR. Still no install.
I tried the permutations as well. Extracted using G-Tablet extract. Still no results.
There must be something I am missing here -- too much holiday cheer or too many crowds or whatever.
Suggestions?!
Rev
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I HAD to resort to putting on Clockwork Mod 0.8 to get GApps on my G Tablet.
Putting the update.zip on the internal and sd card storage did not work for me either with the newest update installed.
Clockwork Mod is a super easy install - just follow the instructions on how to install G Apps...basically: put CWM on your SD card in it's root (meaning NOT in any directories) and rename it update.zip, put the corresponding recovery directory on the SD as well. I use Winrar as well, I drag the recovery directory right from the file itself and to the SD Card.
Will look like:
Drive: update.zip
Drive: /recovery/command
basically.
Flash it the normal stock way (power and volume +). I press Power and Volume + without even powering off the device, because if the device is powered down and then you start it and miss that first start up, the device WILL delete the recovery/command file and the update won't flash.
GL

I don't officially get to play with my GTab until after package opening tomorrow so I can't do anything today, but I'm trying to line up my to do list. I have never rooted, flashed, or modded anything but am not afraid to play around as long as I don't brick the tablet.
What do you mean when you say "put the corresponding recovery directory on the SD as well. I use Winrar as well"? What is the corresponding recovery directory? What do you use Winrar for? I Googled "winrar" and found " WinRAR is a shareware file archiver and data compression utility developed by Eugene Roshal, and first released in the fall of 1993.[1] It is one of the few applications that is able to create RAR archives natively, because the encoding method is held to be proprietary. " I cannot figure out why it would be needed to load the standard Android market.

MSU_Sparty,
When you do updates (or installs) that have to be flashed onto the internal sdcard, they usually com in pairs of files. You will have an update.zip file that has the update in it (DUH!) -- and accompanying it will be a "Recovery" directory that has a command file in it (The command file has only one line that "calls" the update.zip file.
WinRAR "Zip" utility enters the picture because most of the devs here use WinRAR to package updates. The when they tell you to decompress it, you use WiinRAR and are left with a .zip file to install.
That's the question I had about this update. The Gapp file show to be a RAR package, but when I un-RAR it I come up with no .zip file -- only regular files.
Hope this helps you understand.
Rev
P. S. -- If you are new to this business, take it slow and easy and read ahead on this site and make sure you understand what you are doing. I try to do that, but even with years of IT experience I still mess things up once in a while.

Neoprimal,
Thanks for the tip about CWM. I have two tablets and the other has CWM on it and is fairly modded.
But this tablet I am trying to keep basically stock so I can get updates, etc. and see what the "state of product" is.
As mentioned in my previous answer, I am stumped because I am not getting what looks to be an update.zip file from the Gapp download. When I use WinRAR to decompress the Gapp file, I don't get a .zip file -- only a couple of directories. On the other hand, when I rename the Gapp file update.zip and try to flash it it doesn't work.
Again, thanks for the reply.
Anyone else with suggestions!!!????
Rev

Thanks. What you've written really does clarify the previous post. I appreciate it.
But let me ask another naive question. Why don't the developers create their update programs so they can be installed by just downloading them OTA like most applications? That would sure make it easier for neophytes. I'm guessing that the reason is because we aren't really adding an application but replacing the OS.
I greatly appreciate your guidance and that of all of the folks who use this forum.
Happy Holidays!

where is the ringtone file?

Hello guys. I am new to android coming from windows mobile. Where is the file or folder for the ringtones? With the windows mobile, I can navigate very easily and look for files. This one (android) seems to be hard to find.
thanks in advance.

I'm a newbie to Android to but I think they are here :-
/system/media/audio/ringtones
I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong

Thanks but....how do I do that. Like I said, I'm new to the whole android scene. Can you tell me where to go on the phone. Thanks

You need to download a file explorer. I use ES File Explorer.
Also if you're looking to add your own ringtones/alarm sounds/notifications then add a new folder to the root of your microSD card & name it Ringtones/Alarms/Notifications & put the sound in the respective folder.
As for finding the ringtones that are currently on the device? I have no idea

Ah yes of course, as above you need to download a file explorer.
I personally use Astro, but check out the market and try a few and see what suits you best
Why they don't ship one install I don't understand, but I'm guessing its too stop people meddling under the hood too much as if anyone would eh

You also need S-OFF to change anything on the /system partition. As already said just create a folder on the SD card called media and stick your MP3s, etc. in there

[Q] task rpcrouter:15 blocked (CDMA)

Same as posted here "I have an HTC [differing: Touch Pro (Alltel CDMA)]. I followed the instruction on forum.xda-developers.com for [FRX*] but it [enters an endless loop] at "task rpcrouter:15 blocked for more than 120 sec". The solution that worked in that link does not solve the same problem with a CDMA RAPH800.
The solution given there (paraphrased from that thread):
Link to the fix. The issue is caused by not having a data plan; the install gets stuck in a loop looking for a signal.
The solution that worked for a GSM phone
download RIL file from http://forum.xda-developers.com/atta...9&d=1302817139 and place in the root of microsd.
download rootfs file from http://www.megaupload.com/?d=1NGCVCTT and place in the root of microso.
add to the end of /conf/froyo.user.conf file "/sdcard/libhtcgeneric-ril.so /lib/froyo/libhtcgeneric-ril.so" before the last "}"
Please help me find a solution for a CDMA phone - next month I'd like to take a dozen of these phones and use them as learning aids in a construction course for laborers, but I cannot start testing construction applications since I cannot get the OS to work.

I'm curious as to what happens when you format your microSD and run FRX7.1MR without anything additional. Could I get you to try this method without the additional stuff?
To be explicit, I'd like you to format your microSD with something other than the Windows method and I'd like you to download THIS (if you haven't already) and THIS. Extract the contents of both files to the root of your microSD. You should see a folder called "FRX07.1" and under that folder, you should see 3 folders and 7 files. Move the contents of that folder up to the root of the microSD. Look under the folder called "STARTUPS" and locate your device type (ie RAPH800) and copy over to the root of your microSD. Once done, run Haret on your phone and let me know what happens.

do you have an application you suggest for "format your microSD with something other than the Windows method"; sourceforge did not turn up anything.

forest.peterson said:
do you have an application you suggest for "format your microSD with something other than the Windows method"; sourceforge did not turn up anything.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
use SDFormatter

wow that SDformatter link has a lot of popups - this link feels less like I just found a date at the bus-stop sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_3 ; but it will not install on either Server2008R2 x64 or Server2003 R2 SP2 x32.
I reformatted the microSd with the format tool in Server2008R2 as FAT format. Installed the files, and boom - I see little green guys swirling around the screen. After awhile a dialog appeared "Sorry! The process com.android.phone has stopped unexpectedly. Please try again"; the dialog closed and it seems like it works! Thank you. I will try again with the HPtool and as FAT32.
Now I just need to learn how to use Android - and the screen calibration seems off? Deleting ts-calibration and rebooting to calibrate.

Glad to hear using the latest bundle works for you! Yeah, that might be a slight issue with an outdated kernel. The main thing I wanted to do is get you booted up first!
Before we continue, make sure you make a backup of your current configuration by copying the contents of the microSD and either moving it to your computer or some other storage device. This way you know you have a "working" bundle.
Next we update the kernel package from HERE; might I suggest using THIS kernel package. Be sure to delete the old files (should be located under root of the microSD and called modules-xxx and zImage) first! Extract till you see two files then rename zImage-xxx to just zImage and feel free to delete the files you extracted from. I've always created my own ts-calibration file but just wanted you to have it, "just in case".
Additionally, you may also need to update the rootfs by deleting the file called rootfs and downloading THIS file. Extract the file and rename to just rootfs and be sure to place it where the file called Haret is (default location is root of the microSD).

files are downloaded and installed - everything seems to work

[GUIDE] Save apps to sdcard Surface RT 8.1

Assuming that you have:​
Not modified the registry.
Surface RT with Windows 8.1
Patience (Essential)
First: Taking ownership.​Use
Code:
takeown /F "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps" /A /R
Second​ Let's remove the C:\Program Files\WindowsApps folder (As we have already taken ownership we can do this) just use "SHIFT+SUPR".
There is also a way to preserve already installed apps, this shouldn't affect but in the proccess I just deleted everything, anyway, you decide...
Code:
robocopy "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps" "D:\WindowsApps" /E /COPYALL /DCOPY:DAT
and then just use "SHIFT+SPR" to delete the folder.
Assuming that your news apps folder is at "D:\WindowsApps" change it to the directory where you want to have the apps.
Third​Now let's create the symbolic link
Code:
mklink /D "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps" "D:\WindowsApps"
Restart
Try to install an app and... d*mn! Error 0xd00000bb
Don't worry just right click over the new app directory, in my case "D:\WindowsApps" and choose properties... then Security tab and then Advanced now we must be sure that there is the "ALL APPLICATION PACKAGES" with full control if it isn't then just add it. Enable inheritance and tick the option "Replace all child permi..." then ok and wait... when it's done go to the Windows Store and click "Retry" and.... voi lá app get installed.
Be hapy :good:

I'll try to do this later. But has anyone else tried this and confirmed it works. Also, I'm not a pro, so I don't understand what "use "SHIFT+SPR" to delete the folder." means. Can you elaborate?
I just bought one of these cheap 16gb Win tablets for my son and I'm SOOOOOOO mad that I can't install apps on the SD card. What a joke.

Ok. So I created the D:\WindowsApps and did the robocopy. That took about 30-45minutes.
I tried to create the link, but it said the link was already created. So I don't know about that. Does the robocopy create a symbolic link?
PS. I discovered with some Googling 'Shift+SPR' is 'Shift Delete in Spanish.

thehotrod11 said:
Ok. So I created the D:\WindowsApps and did the robocopy. That took about 30-45minutes.
I tried to create the link, but it said the link was already created. So I don't know about that. Does the robocopy create a symbolic link?
PS. I discovered with some Googling 'Shift+SPR' is 'Shift Delete in Spanish.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you deleted original folder in C:\ yet?

I tried this procedure three times today. I was never able to delete the WindowsApps folder from my C drive. And it would continue to install my apps on the C drive. Moreover there were no security options on the WindowsApp folder on my SD card. Frustrated that I spent so much time on this and didn't get anywhere.

If there are no security options on the SD card, then the SD card isn't using NTFS. FAT obviously doesn't support ACLs, so it has no security settings.
If you can't rename or delete the original folder, then obviously you can't replace it with a symlink. You'd have two things with the same name! Robocopy doesn't move files and folders, it copies them (surprise...).

Thanks GDTD
GoodDayToDie said:
If there are no security options on the SD card, then the SD card isn't using NTFS. FAT obviously doesn't support ACLs, so it has no security settings.
If you can't rename or delete the original folder, then obviously you can't replace it with a symlink. You'd have two things with the same name! Robocopy doesn't move files and folders, it copies them (surprise...).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HI again internet.
I tried this method with little success. Then again I had a bitlocker encrypted SD not sure if that makes a diff??
Have fun
Wcomhelp

Would this work on 8.1 with Bing? Could someone write a script, to automate the process?
Thanks!

"robocopy" Not Working?
First, i tried to post a comment but since my hotspot was a sprint isp, it denied me. Such a pain and waited a long time to finally register. I finally got around to accessing cable internet to register. But by now, I already found my answer. So here it is.
If you cannot successfully complete the robocopy (says access denied for certain files), you need to fix the permissions first.
1-Before starting these instructions; you must have "ALL APPLICATION PACKAGES" added in the permissions of D:\WindowsApps or wherever that folder is on D. But also be sure to hit the "Full Control" box before saving.
2- Start this tutorial and the robocopy should work.

Hi,
I cannot seem to get the permissions in the SD card folder to work permanently and folder permissions keep reverting to read-only. I have been able to install one app in the SD card folder but now I am continuing to get the error.
Any kind soul would like to explain how to permanently set the permissions to that will make sure that this works?
Thanks a lot.

You didn't mention that the SD Card must be formated as NTFS system in order to take into account correct NTFS Right access.

Does it valid only for Windows 8.1 RT version ??? I am trying on Windows X86 32Bits but doesn't works

Deleted

I'm also interested if it is possible to do this on other machines with Windows 8.1.
I followed the instructions above, but when I'm trying to install i.e. Adobe Touch app, I'v got an error: 0x80244022.

tried in windows 8.1 pro and it does not work. As soon as i open an installed app it opens for a few secconds and the exit imediately.
Please help.