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Blocking the OTA Updates

I am going to bring this up to the group. I am looking for the method to block the OTA updates. I enjoy my rooted Evo phones. It is a freedom I enjoy and plan to protect.
I am getting tired of pressing cancel every day. If I want to update, I want to be the one to control it.
I have been looking for a method to disable the OTA update prompts. From the board, I was able to find this.
Thread 6450334
I have tried it on my Evo with no luck
adb shell
# mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock4 /system
mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock4 /system
# cd /etc/security
cd /etc/security
# mv otacerts.zip otacerts.zip.bak
mv otacerts.zip otacerts.zip.bak
failed on 'otacerts.zip' - Directory not empty
# ls
ls
otacerts.zip
cacerts.bks
# mv otacerts.zip otacerts.zip.bak
mv otacerts.zip otacerts.zip.bak
failed on 'otacerts.zip' - Directory not empty
Anyone know why otacerts.zip is in use and cannot be renamed. I did some different methods, but no luck.
Has someone done this before or knows of a better method of blocking the OTA updates from Sprint. I am open for a solution.

check with chuckhriczko, he successfully completed what you are trying to do. Also check out his ROM...it already has this action implemented into the ROM

techie4971 said:
I am going to bring this up to the group. I am looking for the method to block the OTA updates. I enjoy my rooted Evo phones. It is a freedom I enjoy and plan to protect.
I am getting tired of pressing cancel every day. If I want to update, I want to be the one to control it.
I have been looking for a method to disable the OTA update prompts. From the board, I was able to find this.
Thread 6450334
I have tried it on my Evo with no luck
adb shell
# mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock4 /system
mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock4 /system
# cd /etc/security
cd /etc/security
# mv otacerts.zip otacerts.zip.bak
mv otacerts.zip otacerts.zip.bak
failed on 'otacerts.zip' - Directory not empty
# ls
ls
otacerts.zip
cacerts.bks
# mv otacerts.zip otacerts.zip.bak
mv otacerts.zip otacerts.zip.bak
failed on 'otacerts.zip' - Directory not empty
Anyone know why otacerts.zip is in use and cannot be renamed. I did some different methods, but no luck.
Has someone done this before or knows of a better method of blocking the OTA updates from Sprint. I am open for a solution.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am assuming you are in the system when doing this? If so, you need to back out into recovery and do it. We currently don't have write access to the system partition while Android is running. Only in recovery. Highly recommend you look up Rom Manager on the market and use that to install the "fake-flash" recovery. It's truly the best recovery we have atm.
But you are doing it correctly except you wrote cd /etc/security. It should be /system/etc/security. The following is all you need.
Code:
adb shell
mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock4 /system
cd /system/etc/security
mv otacerts.zip otacerts.zip.bak
You can ls to make sure it worked but that should do it. Reboot and voila. Never press cancel again.

chuckhriczko said:
But you are doing it correctly except you wrote cd /etc/security. It should be /system/etc/security. The following is all you need.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
from my brief experience last night with this, /etc is a symlink to /system, so /etc or /system/etc is the exact same thing, doesn't matter.
i took the build.prop in the PC36IMG.zip which shows itself with test-keys, removed those and used release-keys, and the OTA appeared when it hadn't before!
now it downloaded the OTA but verification failed. i had to copy over ota-certs.zip from a stock EVO and those allowed the OTA update to pass verification.
if you wanted to reverse the process and prevent OTA updates from downloading, you can manually change your build.prop to show you as already having .6 software package loaded and it won't show any OTA available anymore.
it might be better to actually load the .6 software though which will adjust the build.prop, but thats my personal recommendation and not related to your request. im also running PC36IMG.zip on .1 software and also get the OTA update prompt but i plan on loading .6 software soon.
another factor to consider is the radio version also ...

joeykrim said:
from my brief experience last night with this, /etc is a symlink to /system, so /etc or /system/etc is the exact same thing, doesn't matter.
i took the build.prop in the PC36IMG.zip which shows itself with test-keys, removed those and used release-keys, and the OTA appeared when it hadn't before!
now it downloaded the OTA but verification failed. i had to copy over ota-certs.zip from a stock EVO and those allowed the OTA update to pass verification.
if you wanted to reverse the process and prevent OTA updates from downloading, you can manually change your build.prop to show you as already having .6 software package loaded and it won't show any OTA available anymore.
it might be better to actually load the .6 software though which will adjust the build.prop, but thats my personal recommendation and not related to your request. im also running PC36IMG.zip on .1 software and also get the OTA update prompt but i plan on loading .6 software soon.
another factor to consider is the radio version also ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh I didn't know about the symlink. Good call.
Good point. I forgot to mention I did change the build number in the build.prop to be .6 instead of .1 so maybe that helps.

chuckhriczko,
I first tried it in system and no luck, then I went to recovery. I figured the active system partition was the issue.
Now I know I was in the wrong place. I will get Rom Manager and take a look at your customized ROM.
Nice job on the ROM. Love to say goodbye to those Sprint Apps.
Thanks for the quick response.

C:\Program Files (x86)\android-sdk\tools>adb shell
# mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock4 /system
mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock4 /system
mount: mounting /dev/block/mtdblock4 on /system failed: Invalid argument
# exit
exit
C:\Program Files (x86)\android-sdk\tools>adb devices
List of devices attached
HT05VHL13839 recovery
C:\Program Files (x86)\android-sdk\tools>
I get stuck there. I am rebooted into recovery mode and properly attached as you can tell from the adb devices command. Any ideas?
Problem solved:
adb shell
mount /dev/block/mtdblock4 /system
cd /system/etc/security
mv otacerts.zip otacerts.zip.bak

chuckhriczko said:
But you are doing it correctly except you wrote cd /etc/security. It should be /system/etc/security. The following is all you need.
Code:
adb shell
mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock4 /system
cd /system/etc/security
mv otacerts.zip otacerts.zip.bak
You can ls to make sure it worked but that should do it. Reboot and voila. Never press cancel again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Will this work on the Incredible as well?

SteelH said:
C:\Program Files (x86)\android-sdk\tools>adb shell
# mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock4 /system
mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock4 /system
mount: mounting /dev/block/mtdblock4 on /system failed: Invalid argument
# exit
exit
C:\Program Files (x86)\android-sdk\tools>adb devices
List of devices attached
HT05VHL13839 recovery
C:\Program Files (x86)\android-sdk\tools>
I get stuck there. I am rebooted into recovery mode and properly attached as you can tell from the adb devices command. Any ideas?
Problem solved:
adb shell
mount /dev/block/mtdblock4 /system
cd /system/etc/security
mv otacerts.zip otacerts.zip.bak
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So to reverse this could I use cmd
mv otacerts.zip.bak otacerts.zip
??
Thanks.

How about:
adb shell
su
pm disable com.google.android.gsf/com.google.android.gsf.update.SystemUpdateActivity
pm disable com.google.android.gsf/com.google.android.gsf.update.SystemUpdateService
pm disable com.google.android.gsf/com.google.android.gsf.update.SystemUpdateService\$Receiver
This should disable the OTA updates without removing any files from system.

[Q] Problem pushing files to phone

I tried copying files to the system folder but I keep getting "failed to copy, out of memory". Any idea why? I also tried using Root Explorer but despite the pasting animation being displayed, the files were not copied.
I've tried both the terminal emulator
Code:
$ su
# mount -o rw,remount -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system
# cp /sdcard/libt9.so /system/lib
and adb
Code:
adb remount
adb push lib/libt9.so /system/lib/libt9.so
It seems the file has been moved successfully through recovery mode, but I still can't see the file when the phone is booted.

[Q] Can't mount /system as r/w

Have an HTC hero with CM7 stable. Been trying to modify sysctl.conf to increase the speed a little (if thats possible, CM7 is fast). I've used the command in ./adb shell and terminal emulator:
mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system
When I type mount it displays /system as a r/w partition but I still can't edit the sysctl.conf file. When I do try to edit, the shell says that the directory doesn't exist (/ect/sysctl.conf).
Even with simpler commands like "adb pull /system/ect/sysctl.conf /" still come back as directory doesn't exist.
What am I doing wrong? Ultimately if I can want to get the sysctl file to my PC to edit and place back on the phone.

Have you tried using something like Root Explorer? While learning & knowing ADB comes in handy, I find most things are easier through Root Explorer. You can just copy the file to your SD card, then to your computer.
EDIT: On second look, you have /system/ect... instead of /system/etc...
I also believe it should be mtdblock4 instead of mtdblock3, but I could be wrong. I'm not good with this kind of stuff.

Type in mount to see what device is currently mounted as /system...I would just double check
Sent from my Droid using XDA App

This command should also work:
Code:
mount -w -o remount /system /system

I typed mount in cmd. Says that /system is in mtdblock3. I will try root explorer and see if it fixes my woes. Thanks.

Mac Terminal system remount syntax

I have an Atrix on AT&T. Which means there's a bootloader encryption, and the carrier prevents non-market apk installations, which I have resolved since my phone is rooted and I have changed the boot animation already.
In order to do these things, I found Ghost Commander that would let me chmod my system directories...which is fine, but I feel kind of gimped that I can't do it on terminal.
Basically, what I want to be able to do is remount /system as rw using terminal.
This method doesn't work on both terminal and emulator on my phone. I have done:
Terminal:
Code:
sudo su
cd [sdk directory]
./adb devices
./adb shell
su
mount -o remount,rw -t ext3 /dev/block/mmcblk0p12 /system
and this is where I get stuck because I just get an Invalid argument error.
Here is some info about my sytem -
Usage: mount [-r] [-w] [-o options] [-t type] device directory
/dev/block/mmcblk0p12 /system ext3 ro,noatime,nodiratime, data=ordered 0 0
Been searching for the answers for a while now and tried all kinds of syntax, and now I'm here. What am I doing wrong? Thanks

Try:
mount -o remount,rw /system
The remount option automatically looks up the info for /system so you shouldn't have to bother with the details.

Hmm, I tried that thanks, and I still got 'Usage: mount [-r] [-w] [-o options] [-t type] device directory'

Hmm, I can't think of any reason that wouldn't work but it sounds like your phone is locked down pretty tight. Do you know if others have been able to remount /system?
What version of busybox do you have? Maybe you could try updating it. There are one or two free busybox updater apps on the market, if you can use them.

Have you tried just 'adb remount'?
Does the mount command require busybox? Do you have that properly installed?

That requires adbd itself to be run in root mode (this is different from being rooted on the phone) & you could do that only on insecure boot image. mount/unmount both happen to come from the busybox package. It would be hard to contemplate that Motorola actually changed that but nothing would stop them from. You could try updating the busybox utility onboard your phone. There is nothing with your usage of the command - it would work the same way on my Nexus S

I do have Busybox in /system/xbin. Thinking that maybe the xbin directory may need to have the rewrite permissions, I changed its permissions to 777 using the chmod command in phone Terminal. I did the remount command 'mount -o remount,rw -t ext3 /dev/block/mmcblk0p12 /system' in shell on the phone, and I THOUGHT I BRICKED! Haha, but it just turned off, and I rebooted to find that my button backlights were turned off...which I fixed with the brightness file.
Anyhow, I think I'll just use the chmod command because that seems to work. NeoA, I think you are right about the adbd to run in root mode, because I've seen discussions about that before.
Thanks for the feedback guys! At least I know I wasn't having syntax errors to say the least

So did it remount it as rw? The mount command was running before, just giving errors, but if it's running that should mean the permissions were ok.

try
Code:
busybox mount -o remount,rw /system

Fr4gg0r said:
try
busybox mount -o remount,rw /system
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
"mount: can't find /system/app in /proc/mounts"
but
Code:
busybox chmod 777 /system
is good enough for me, for now

marlasinger said:
Code:
busybox chmod 777 /system
is good enough for me, for now
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Using chmod to change permissions won't actually give you rw access to the system partition since it won't change whether it's mounted as read-only or r/w. To be able to run the chmod command, the system must already have been mounted as r/w or you would have received a "Read-only file system" error. It must have gotten mounted as read/write when the remount command caused a reboot. You can see how /system is mounted by just typing "mount" in adb shell which will list all of the mounted partitions.

[Q] Restore build.prop can't mount system rw

I have an apex solo 7i (TM772) and I was able to gain root access from adb only. I modified the build.prop file and it is now stuck in a boot loop.
I have the original build.prop file on my PC (I also have the entire /system directory) but from recovery mode the only adb access I can get is to side load a zip.
I can access fastboot through droidboot.
During the boot loop it is found as a device (in production builds so I can not use the "adb root" command).
With the adb device shell I can use the su command, but while trying to mount the system rw it fails and says:
Code:
# mount -o rw,remount -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mccblk0p8 /system
mount: Operation not permitted
Is there any way to make it mount the system partition rw or could I make a flashable zip file to restore the build.prop?