[Q] Changing recovery without data loss? - Nexus S Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hi!
Can I root and change my recovery to CWM, and than again change back to stock recovery without having to reinstall and setup everything? I would like to remove a few system apps, which only use battery and ram, but this time without keeping the custom recovery and root. I need the stock recovery to get the official 4.0 through the air. Isn't there a 1-click root method, which roots, and restores everything after, like z4root?
Also if I use Adfree when rooted, and than unroot, will I stay "adfree"? I understand I won't be able to update the host file after that

I wouldn't worry. Within a couple hours of the OTA going out someone will have it available to download from here. Then you can just flash it with CWM like any other ROM.

You do NOT need stock recovery to receive and install a ota. Anybody that says so is wrong and frankly stupid.
But if you delete any system apps the ota will fail. You could back them up and put them back to install the official ota.

Wow, thanks. But why will it fail with removed sys apps? Obviously i deleted the unnecessary apps.

Related

[Q] should I update to 2.3.2 and reroot?

I recently just rooted my sns and got a notification for 2.3.2 and was wondering if I should install the update and see if the root sticks or
Unroot then install the update then root my sns
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
I'm assuming you're on stock rom.
Go ahead and update; some people are reporting they don't even lose root. I lost root privileges when I updated on stock rom but the files were still there, they had just had their executable permissions changed by the update. They're easy enough to get back.
I made some steps to follow using Clockwork Recovery that ensure you update and keep your root without needing a computer or any reboots. They're here" http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=10811723&postcount=29
If you have stock recovery and don't want to use Clockwork, go to the first post in that thread, and there's a link for stock recovery updates.
Edit, if you've got the OTA notification, you can just let it do its thing, and if you do lose root, just use fastboot to flash clockwork and then re-run the su zip file from it. You're back to full root.

unroot confirmation

hey all, currently have a g2x rooted with cm7, and i've been looking to unroot;
just to make sure i dont do anything stupid, i wanna run this through with you guys:
first i would flash the stock 2.3.3 ota rom for g2x
then use the http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1056847 (one click nv flasher) to get back to lg stock recovery by clicking 'flash stock recovery' (do i need to dl anything extra for this?)
then im done, correct? if i boot up, ill get all the stock rom and apps and bloatware and etc back right?
thanks!
edit: how do i know which version of clockwork mod i have installed? im not sure if i did the external sd support or not...
You've gone back to a stock ROM, you've gone back to the stock recovery, but you haven't actually unrooted.
Whichever method you used to root, you should be able to use that same method to unroot.
UPDATE:
I was originally under the assumption that your 2.3.3. ROM was rooted. If it is stock you should be fine.
sorry for bump, but i read in tga_gunmans post that ppl should flash a rooted 2.3.3 rom and use superoneclick to unroot...would my method work too?
No your way would not work because the stock OTA by xboarder is rooted. Do what tga_gunman said. Flash the rom, use my unroot zip in CWM (deletes root files) and then flash the stock recovery. Busybox will still be on the phone but nobody should be looking for that.
Unroot zip: http://www.mediafire.com/?2vr7cmgg7qcdn14
Easiest way to confirm if your not rooted would be to install Superuser from the market. It'll tell you if the phone's not rooted.
There is an app on the market called Root Checker which is free. It will tell you if you are rooted or not.
A little extra help for me?
jboxer said:
No your way would not work because the stock OTA by xboarder is rooted. Do what tga_gunman said. Flash the rom, use my unroot zip in CWM (deletes root files) and then flash the stock recovery. Busybox will still be on the phone but nobody should be looking for that.
Unroot zip:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your help jboxer. Forgive my noob-like understanding of rooting/unrooting terminology. Hopefully you'll be able to understand what I did.
Last night I went ahead with the unrooting process on my G2X which was running Gingerbread & CM7 following this youtube video (can't post link due to noobiness: watch?v=ryGIv8KQVIE), the order that this guy goes in is:
1. Wiping all cache/user data/formatting in CWM recovery
2. Restore to a barebones stock data in CWM recovery
3. Flash to go back to Stock using OneClickRecovery
4. SuperOneClick to unroot phone
What I ended up doing was restoring my phone to the backup that I created on my sd card when first rooting my phone rather than download that zip file in the video description which is a completely fresh start.
However, whenever I flashed to go back to stock using OneClickRecovery, it gave me that total barebones fresh start where I had to completely set up my Android from the first start screen and I lost my backup. Also, when I go to unroot the phone with that zip file, I don't know how to 'install from zip' after I've lost CWM Recovery menu. So, I flashed back to CWM so I could recover my backup from my SD Card again and install the 'unroot.zip' that you linked and it ran alright and I restarted, but I still had 'SuperUser' in my App drawer telling me that I was still rooted.
I ended up calling it good last night after spending two hours on it. I left my phone rooted, with CWM recovery still on my phone, but I at least I had my backup Gingerbread image with no CM7 mod. So, my phone is functional, but I would like to complete this process of unrooting completely.
Could you perhaps give a little guidance and clarity to what I'm missing or not understanding? I'd love to unroot/flash back to stock recovery/remove all evidence of rooting AND keep my recovered backup that I have before I even started rooting my phone.
Thank you so much for all your help, everybody.

[Q] Restore backup to get ICS OTA Update?

Before I go wiping my device again in anticipation of getting the OTA ICS update...
I made a backup of my device when I was on the original Honeycomb build after rooting. I then switched to the Prime ROM. I'm assuming that I can just restore my Honeycomb update, get Root Keeper and install the OTA update. Am I correct, or is there something that will stop me from doing this?
Edit: Also, when restoring a backup using CWM, does it automatically wipe the device before restoring, or does that need to be done manually?
I believe you also need to restore the original recovery. The last time I tried to flash an upgrade on my rooted stock image using CWM, it rebooted after downloading and rejected the (non-stock) recovery. I'm guessing the ICS update will require a reboot into the stock recovery as well.
Spookymonster said:
I believe you also need to restore the original recovery. The last time I tried to flash an upgrade on my rooted stock image using CWM, it rebooted after downloading and rejected the (non-stock) recovery. I'm guessing the ICS update will require a reboot into the stock recovery as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Indeed, no OTA update when original recovery is not installed.
I looked around a bit and saw how to unroot and restore to stock recovery... is there an easy way to just restore stock recovery? My plan was to restore my stock backup (to get off revolver) and then can go from CWM -> Stock, I just wasn't sure how to do the last part without undoing everything and fully returning to stock/no root.
It's also very possible that Root Keeper will not work since this is a new firmware form the ground up.
chadcspencer said:
It's also very possible that Root Keeper will not work since this is a new firmware form the ground up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OTA Rootkeeper do not work if the system partition is formatted. Which is not the until now. Also people reported OTA rootkeeper worked to get root back after ICS update.
Otherwise use vipermod option 1 to root on ICS.
darkstar107 said:
Before I go wiping my device again in anticipation of getting the OTA ICS update...
I made a backup of my device when I was on the original Honeycomb build after rooting. I then switched to the Prime ROM. I'm assuming that I can just restore my Honeycomb update, get Root Keeper and install the OTA update. Am I correct, or is there something that will stop me from doing this?
Edit: Also, when restoring a backup using CWM, does it automatically wipe the device before restoring, or does that need to be done manually?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just did exactly this. I had a nandroid backup of my original stock honeycomb so I restored the backup (I had some problems with the kernel after restoring from Revolver with some OC kernel, but flashing "plain" Revolver and then restoring the stock rom from the backup did the trick).
After that I made sure that everything is OK - I checked that I'm on the correct pieces of the software, in particular the kernel. All looked fine so I pulled OTA update, but before applying it I had to restore stock recovery. For this I used the stock recovery linked in this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1154947 Just downloaded it, placed it on my SD card, rebooted into CWM recovery and flashed it (pleas note - I only downloaded this single file, not needed to download any other files mentioned n the above thread since I already been on rooted stock rom).
After booting the TF again, I made sure that my root is backed up with Supercurio's Root Keeper, then I applied the OTA and after a few minutes I was happy user of ICSed Transformer.
Please note that what worked in my case may not work in yours though. So be careful, think twice, and keep in mind that it's your decision - your risk (and if something goes wrong - your brick )
BTW, all applications, data, etc. are still in place. Root was restored via Root Keeper. Then I downloaded some updates of applications and so far I'm fine.

[Q] How Do I Prep My Device For JB Installation?

OK, so the MotoDev team advised me to return my phone to stock before installing JB, which will be pushed to my phone tomorrow morning...
What do I need to insure my system won't crash?
I have an unlocked bootloader, and am rooted. I already did a factory reset on my device. Some system apps are gone though, as I have deleted them (mostly Google stuff though, nothing crucial). Will I be good to go? (And yes, I will save the SBF and post it, no worries, have a Dev Host account and will upload).
In order to get official OTA updates from Sprint I've always needed to do 2 things:
-Remove Root (eith via OTA Rootkeeper or stock kernel)
-Flash Stock Recovery (OTA has never worked for me w/ custom recovery)
I'd recommend wiping and flashing both stock images in the thread below via fastboot to avoid bootloops and other hassles.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1856456
hope things go well! :good:
hagforz said:
In order to get official OTA updates from Sprint I've always needed to do 2 things:
-Remove Root (eith via OTA Rootkeeper or stock kernel)
-Flash Stock Recovery (OTA has never worked for me w/ custom recovery)
I'd recommend wiping and flashing both stock images in the thread below via fastboot to avoid bootloops and other hassles.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1856456
hope things go well! :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you, I will do exactly as you directed...hope things go well also, it's about damn time for JB!
Moto Q stock with Arrrghhh's kernel v.0.10
galacticservant said:
Thank you, I will do exactly as you directed...hope things go well also, it's about damn time for JB!
Moto Q stock with Arrrghhh's kernel v.0.10
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you want to grab the update package and save it you should prevent it from being deleted. I know that twrp could not install asa14 OTA update when I got it so it was just hanging there in /cache along with md5 (or sha1, I can't remeber) checksum file.
I do not know if there are other ways of saving the update package nor if devs actually need it. But ASA14 got to my bootloader unlocked, gsm modded, rooted stock rom and after booting to recovery it just stayed there, no install happend (I installed it manually) because twrp did not pass the command properly or what ever the reason.
This update is coming from motorola directly, not sprint, right?
Anyway, perhaps someone can give you more accurate details. I personally would flash twrp and see if updated arrives. Because /cache is wiped by the update installer after installation. All automated process. After device boots to recovery it installs the package, wipes caches and reboots, if I am not mistaken.
I believe for the past updates we had the best luck by reverting the recovery back to stock as well. You have missing APKs that you removed so those will very likely be looked for by the update and will fail the update process if missing.
So if all goes well this should be the bare minimum I'd say for getting the update to work:
MAKE A BACKUP, don't want to have a bricked phone yeah? I mean you could have Jelly Bean on it finally... but still bricked...
Revert the recovery to stock if you installed TWRP or ClockworkMod, adb reboot bootloader | fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
Restore any and all apps you deleted from the stock image, either by restoring fully to stock or putting them back manually, wouldn't hurt to do another update check in the play store for them as well.
Temp unroot with OTA Rootkeeper
Download the update, reboot it, do a song and dance, ???, profit.
Now, you might try to restore root asap, it may or may not work, we won't know till we try.... I'm using Superuser 3.1.3 and on their website it claims its for arm devices 2.0-4.1 so maybe it'll work. Your bootloader should still be unlocked I'd imagine, so you can reflash your custom recovery and make a new backup.

How to update with TWRP

Hi,
Basically I'm trying to update to lollipop via OTA so I dont lose all my data, but whenever I try and install the update, my phone reboots into TWRP, but then it just goes to the main menu and doesn't update anything.
Just wondering how I should update? Do I have to install the stock recovery? Or will that make me lose my data too?
Cheers,
Jack
I don't think it's a very good idea to update ota when your phone is rooted. I don't think it will update either because you don't have the stock recovery.
What I did personally... I backed up my 4.4 ROM and followed the instructions on bixie's stock ROM. I didn't delete my internal storage and everything carried over.
If you don't have the latest twrp. You can either download flashify from the market or you can use adb/fast boot.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Free mobile app
So I used TWRP to install that rom but lost my root in the process. Any idea's what I screwed up?
I made sure to backup using TWRP before starting.
Root is removed as the OTA removes it, just root again (if you read any of the guide threads on here you'd know this)

Categories

Resources