RT 8.0 Jailbreak and recent updates? - Windows RT Development and Hacking

Hi all. Its been a while since I've lurked around here. Long story short, I've had a lot of life changes over the past year.. and I've also had a few system crashes/rebuilds so I've lost a lot of my old RT dev work & environment. Anyway, I'm looking to back into it and spare a few cycles playing around with things again. I recently dusted off my Surface RT and noticed I haven't updated it since Feb 2013 (!!). Given that the old JB thread is now locked, can anyone confirm that the JB still works with the latest/recent updates? If not, can anyone confirm the last update for which the JB still works correctly? I did some quick searches, but couldn't find any concrete info.
Thanks in advance!
Cheers!

It does with the new updates. Just don't install KB2973544 and KB2885699. One is an auto 8.1 update. Jailbreak doesn't work on 8.1.

Welcome back! Good to have you. The RT hacking scene has gotten pretty sad lately.
The jailbreak does still work on 8.0 (although I got one instance where it slowed the tablet terribly for a couple minutes then bluescreened with a stop message about a critical process dying, but usually it works fine). The current primary focus is on getting it working with 8.1. Read the first few parts of the 8.1 jailbreak threads to see what the problems are (in short: CSRSS is now a protected process so we can't debug it, and PatchGuard now checks the signature enforcement flag so the tablet will bluescreen after a while if you modify it). If you want to help, get in touch with @Myriachan (if you aren't already; I think there was somebody else working on it but I forget who) and see whether you can lend a hand.
If we can get past the first problem (protected process), I have some ideas how to handle the second one (PatchGuard). I can't guarantee it'll work, though; bypassing that stuff is hard and I've never tried before.
If you want to have a test install of 8.1 alongside your 8.0 install, that's possible. However, it takes a lot of storage space; I'm not sure if it can be done on the 32GB model.

GoodDayToDie,
Thanks for the summary! Glad to hear that I should be able to updated my 8.0 install and still JB.
I spent a few hours catching up on the 8.1 JB status/thread -- lots of good info in there. I might try my hand at dual booting (64GB Surface RT here) and poke around 8.1 -- I have a few ideas and I'd like to have a look at some of the binaries/changes.
I've also gotta setup my dev environment again -- but it looks like the newer WDK (for 8.1) makes life a lot easier. I'll see if I can get an updated build of ProcessHacker out soon.
Cheers!

On this front, is there any way to "selectively install updates" other than rushing to "Check Updates" and unchecking the ones we don't want, then immediately disable Windows Update afterwards? I'm concerned about downgrading to RT 8.0 and the auto 8.1 update automatically being installed, since RT auto-installs updates and I want to install the other updates...

They removed the UI for auto update behavior, but the registry value is still there and still works the same way. My tablet is set to notify me when there's updates but to not install anything (I forget if I told it to download them or not). You can also just turn off the automatic update feature entirely, in which case you need to remember to check manually as it won't prompt you.

Other than the awful 8.1 auto-grade "updates" already mentioned, there was an optional update released back in June, kb2962407, that seemed to break the jailbreak for me until I uninstalled it:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/win.../kb2962407-causing-jailbreak-to-hang-t2803626
It's no longer in the optional updates list so I'm not sure whatever happened to it. No one else ever mentioned anything about it that I saw, so perhaps my issue may have been a fluke, or nobody else ever bothered to install it. Jailbreak still works great on my Surface RT, and this is the only time I've seen anything that broke it (knock on wood).

Related

[Q] windows 8 jailbreak fail

My work just purchased window 8 RT tablets for us. (ASUS TF600T). I tried to jailbreak the tablet using the tool on this site. when I run the tool, it asks me to push the volume down button, the tablet says it detected an error and needs to restart. Sorry, no error code. Id like to able to install some small programs, like keepass, end eventually even a full version of office if it becomes available. Anyone know why it keeps failing and what I can do to jailbreak this thing.
try posting the the windows 8 section of the forum, they probably have tutorials for jailbreaking windows rt
http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1286
click thanks on the bottom part of the post if helped
Make sure it's got all of the updates installed. I have the same device - once all of the updates were installed on it, the worst I've found is that I have to wait for the system to settle (open Task Manager, wait until most of the usage is by Task Manager itself and not the system, about a minute) before the jailbreak will work, but then it works every time.
Most of the reason for failure that I've seen after startup looks to be because the kernel location that the jailbreak is tweaking isn't at the right location (which is why you need to be fully patched), though it will fail all the time if its done too soon after startup.
Meratiogerr said:
My work just purchased window 8 RT tablets for us. (ASUS TF600T). I tried to jailbreak the tablet using the tool on this site. when I run the tool, it asks me to push the volume down button, the tablet says it detected an error and needs to restart. Sorry, no error code. Id like to able to install some small programs, like keepass, end eventually even a full version of office if it becomes available. Anyone know why it keeps failing and what I can do to jailbreak this thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
irony_delerium said:
Make sure it's got all of the updates installed. I have the same device - once all of the updates were installed on it, the worst I've found is that I have to wait for the system to settle (open Task Manager, wait until most of the usage is by Task Manager itself and not the system, about a minute) before the jailbreak will work, but then it works every time.
Most of the reason for failure that I've seen after startup looks to be because the kernel location that the jailbreak is tweaking isn't at the right location (which is why you need to be fully patched), though it will fail all the time if its done too soon after startup.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did updates as soon as I took it out of the box. apparently it missed a couple, so I had to do It again. worked after all of the updates had been done. Unfortunately more research and it doesn't look like I'm ever going to be able to load access on this thing, which for my work makes it pretty much useless.
Hi
I have a samsung ativ tab.
I ended up downloading all the versions of the RT Jailbreak tool but still haven't succeeded to jailbreak windows RT on my Samsung Ativ Tab.
Any idea what could be the problem?
When I press volume down, it crashes and displays the blue screen with the REFERENCE_BY_POINTER error.
I installed all the updates, gave it about one to two minutes each time I ran it but still couldn't jailbreak.
any idea?
irony_delerium said:
Make sure it's got all of the updates installed. I have the same device - once all of the updates were installed on it, the worst I've found is that I have to wait for the system to settle (open Task Manager, wait until most of the usage is by Task Manager itself and not the system, about a minute) before the jailbreak will work, but then it works every time.
Most of the reason for failure that I've seen after startup looks to be because the kernel location that the jailbreak is tweaking isn't at the right location (which is why you need to be fully patched), though it will fail all the time if its done too soon after startup.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
crackero said:
Hi
I have a samsung ativ tab.
I ended up downloading all the versions of the RT Jailbreak tool but still haven't succeeded to jailbreak windows RT on my Samsung Ativ Tab.
Any idea what could be the problem?
When I press volume down, it crashes and displays the blue screen with the REFERENCE_BY_POINTER error.
I installed all the updates, gave it about one to two minutes each time I ran it but still couldn't jailbreak.
any idea?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't get mine to go either. No matter how long I wait after boot. no matter how little resources are using the cpu/ram. I've tried different versions. I've tried different download links. but all I get is a registry key error and it saying I didn't wait the 2 minutes even if I waited 30 min. ASUS TF600T Win8.1 RT.
If ANYONE has any idea. I would greatly appreciate the help.
EDIT: Just realized the pics are blurry. The error syas "ERROR: The system was unable to find the specified registry key or value. Waiting for uptime to reach two minutes." (This was after waiting 10 minutes)

[Q] Persistant update request

I've updated my MZ604 Xoom to an (Off)TheAir 4.1.1 ROM quite some time ago, as the official OTA in Australia is pretty slow. That's been working fine for me, and is a great step, from Honeycomb to JB on an old tablet. It has now, however, been (very persistently) informing me that later software is available (it is, 4.1.2 can now be had) and asking when would I like to install it etc. When I tried that though, the machine just rebooted back into its existing 4.1.1 ROM; I'm assuming some sort of mismatch in what the updater found and what it expected on the system.
I've looked for a way to turn off push notifications like this but can't find one. Is there going to be an easy way out of this ? I really don't want to update it again, and the message is there whenever I pick it up, or worse, appears when I'm in the middle of doing something.
TIA

Bluebox Security Scanner shows 4.3 to be vulnerable.

Very oddly I still see the screen attached below on Android 4.3 (stock, rooted, on a Galaxy Nexus).
What could this mean?
Bluebox Security Scanner is a fake and always shows vulnerable.
Google has forgotten to fix the security hole. (Kind of hard to believe.)
Bluebox Security Scanner always shows vulnerable on rooted phones. But why should it?
Bluebox Security Scanner is defective at least on some phones.
I have made some stupid mistake. But which?
Please report what you see on Android 4.3.
I think is safe to say that #2 is clearly not your problem
https://android.googlesource.com/platform/libcore/+/38cad1eb5cc0c30e034063c14c210912d97acb92^!/#F0
If you're running the OTA then is mostly the app itself having issues BUT if you didn't and are running some winzip creation then I would go ahead and wait til you get the OTA or just run CM10.2
Good luck dude!
Mazda said:
… If you're running the OTA then is mostly the app itself having issues BUT if you didn't and are running some winzip creation then I would go ahead and wait til you get the OTA or just run CM10.2
Good luck dude!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't frighten me! Now where did I get that ZIP file from?
I'm pretty sure that it came from one of Google's download URLs.
One moment; I have a near-identical phone here that I updated with the very same OTA ZIP file. Let's call it phone B.
I just installed the Bluebox Security Scanner on phone B, and it shows no vulnerability. Now that is really strange. What could be wrong with my phone A? I know that the OTA update file checks all files before patching them and makes sure that nothing has changed from the original 4.2.2 version. So from all I know the two phones should be identical, as far as Android is concerned. Weird!
Update: Found the cause. Bluebox Security Scanner only scans once, when you start it for the first time. Then it keeps showing you the very same result, no matter whether and how your phone's software has changed.
I solved the problem by forcing the app to stop, then deleting its data. When I started the program after that, it re-scanned the phone and came up with the expected result. Only even later I found that the program has a menu, containing exactly one command: Rescan.
That is a crude user interface design mistake, not to say, a trap. "Rescan" should be an always visible button or, simpler and even better, the program should rescan every time when it is opened.
Update: They have fixed it. Good job, Bluebox. Now the app scans every time it is opened.
You had me scared for a minute... I'm no n00b, but I'm still a junior when it comes to deep down coding, patches, security and stuff. I mean, I know how to lock down a Windows machine pretty well, but Android is a whole different ball game for me. I'm currently running rooted stock 4.3 on a N4.
Good to know about Bluebox... I'm never sure if I should get a security app or not, or just not be stupid and visit xyzapps dot com for that sweet "free" game....

[Q] How To Stop Forced Update to Windows 8.1 on Surface RT?

Hi,
I would like to know how to stop forced update to Windows 8.1 on Surface RT?
I get a blue pop up on Surface RT Windows 8, that is going to force me to update to 8.1.
I am happy with Windows 8, and would like to turn off this automatic update.
It is giving me increasingly limited options from a few days, down to a few hours now, to delay it, and will probably be forced on me next time I turn it on.
I need to disable this now, before I don't have the choice anymore. Please help!
I have received the same notification, that 8.1 will be installed the next time I restart...
Another user posted a write on his experience with this (awful) automatic upgrade:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/win...downgrade-rt-8-1-to-8-0-t2820217/post54314921
But to specifically answer your question you have to hide two updates as tonystuck described in the post:
ps/. finally nailed down the culprit: kb2973544. automatic upgrade to 8.1 ***without prompt***. is this even legal???
ps2/. if you don't want to upgrade to 8.1 too, uninstall and hide updates kb2885699 (nag screen), kb2871389 (nag screen and store). it seems that kb2973544 can't work without these 2 updates already installed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got lucky and caught this happening and stopped it. Then I found his post. I hid the updates as described and it hasn't attempted the "upgrade" since. So glad the nagging is gone too...

New OTA Android update, good or malware?

As I am sure all Alcatel Idol 3 owners noticed by now, Alcatel have, over the last year or so, released on Google Play "updates" for most of their builtin software - the launcher, file manager, radio player, photo gallery, calendar and more - with what is, if I can be blunt - malware, updates whose only intention is to show you ads and notifications (whereas the original applications, obviously, did not have ads) which you have no way of disabling, and who knows what else.
I avoided this crap by "uninstalling" the updated applications and getting back the preinstalled versions.
BUT, today I started getting on all my Alcatel Idol phones (I have 3 of them!), OTA Android update. And I'm worried what would happen if I click it. Will I get the "updated" (malicious) versions of all the builtin applications with no way to revert them?
Does anyone have an experience with the new OTA update that came out yesterday? Can you tell me if after the update, the "joy launcher", "file manager", etc., are decent versions or the crappy versions which show ads?
P.S. Alcatel, you guys are idiots. I love your phones, and in the past bought 5 of them, but I'll *never* buy another phone from you because of this malware issue.
i have been wondering the same thing, i was scared to even touch the notification to see if it is a large upgrade or just 1 or 2 megabytes, in case touching it forces me to download it. please note, i have no idea if the OTA is any good, but i'm going to continue this post to vent about alcatel idol 3.
i was a bit annoyed with the last system upgrade, which started flashing the screen on and off periodically when any notifications were left active... for me, i always leave some notifications going, so that i don't forget about them or just want to leave them up even if i never take any action with them...
so i'm sure this takes a toll on my battery, since the screen will be flashing on and off for a few minutes before it stops.
i was shocked when a few months ago (or even a year?) apps started sending ads to the notification bar, from reading some posts i figured out you not only had to stop auto-updates in the play store, but also go into the updates app and disable them there. i didn't even know ads on a stock system were a thing, until i saw my dad's BLU $50 phone and realized that's how they make a decent phone $50.
since my idol 3 4.7" was relatively cheap at $180, i could see how they might need to put ads, but if i got a brand new alcatel phone at over $400, i'd be even more furious, do they put ads on their brand new phones?
i see a lot of cheap phones on amazon now listed having versions with "lockscreen offers and ads" including idol 5s
as long as the ads aren't malicious, and if you can just block notifications in android (i dunno if they somehow disable that) then it's sort of worth saving the money
anyway, i've had my idol 3 4.7" for just about 2 years, it's still fine, but i guess i'm starting to think about getting something else. i'd love to get another small phone, right before this i had an xperia z1 compact which i loved but the the battery started failing and bloating after less than a year and a half, so i'm kind of thinking i should never spend over $200 for a phone again (that one was $350)
my android history has been
nexus one $529
galaxy nexus $435.50
xperia z1 compact $350
idol 3 4.7" $180
i've been looking at nokia's new androids lately, or some kind of honor maybe
but my idol 3 4.7" is still working fine pretty much
i just remembered one other thing i hated about the marshmallow updated, which is the adopted SD card storage...
from what i understand if your phone dies, everything that was on the SD card can never be read again, because it works only when plugged into your phone. i mean i guess that's good for security, but it should be optional. it'd be nice to just be able to take that SD card to a new phone and just have everything that was there on it again.
i just noticed someone's post about "semi-adopted" SD card, which i guess means making 2 partitions, which kinda makes sense, but it would be nice if android offered that as a preset option. i had just gotten an SD card a few weeks before the marshmallow update came out and moving apps to SD for apps that supported it, worked fine.
anyway, i don't think and kinda hope no one read this, i'm not sure why i wrote this
I know that feeling, bros
Actually, I managed to uninstall built-in apps using adb shell, which was described in the discussion about Debloater (the app itself did not work after Marshmallow update):
Code:
pm uninstall --user 0 com.package.name
(this uninstalls system apps for the current user, so that they cannot be launched, do not notify about their updates in Google Play, and this works without root)
nyh said:
BUT, today I started getting on all my Alcatel Idol phones (I have 3 of them!), OTA Android update.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dear nyh, what is your region and phone model (like, 6045K or 6039Y or with other letter in the end)? Here in Belarus (Eastern Europe), my 6045Y does not notify of any update (current system version 6.0.1-010 20).
Mankann said:
Dear nyh, what is your region and phone model (like, 6045K or 6039Y or with other letter in the end)? Here in Belarus (Eastern Europe), my 6045Y does not notify of any update (current system version 6.0.1-010 20).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the 4.7" model 6039S, and three more phones of the 5.5" model, I don't remember now their model number.
What I'm running now appears to be Android 6.0.1 build number "1BGD-UED2". I don't know how this relates to your number. I noticed the "update" program tells me the new version is "0100020" which is suspiciously close to the number you said, maybe it's the same. With your version, does "uninstalling" the "Joy Launcher" (and other) applications to get back to the preinstalled one, gets you a decent version, or one with ads?
nyh said:
I noticed the "update" program tells me the new version is "0100020" which is suspiciously close to the number you said, maybe it's the same. With your version, does "uninstalling" the "Joy Launcher" (and other) applications to get back to the preinstalled one, gets you a decent version, or one with ads?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, I understand now. It seems that your phone wants to update to the version that removes fastboot commands (so I suggest you triple-think and triple-check before upgrading).
"Uninstalling" system apps does not revert them to preinstalled versions, it makes them completely unavailable until hard reset (they are only listed in Settings labeled with "Disabled for current user" and cannot be run). If you decide to do this, you should first install some alternative apps (like Nova Launcher, Google Calendar etc), or else you won't be able to boot and use your phone.
I have the Idol 3 5.5 6045l(USA) Android 6.0.1 Build number 7VGE-UEE1.
I am reluctant to install the OTA I have pending:
______________________________
System update available
010 01 (471.5 MB)
New in this version
Version 7VGS-UES6 includes a security update that fixes Android major security flaw.
Update info:
- Netflix service
- Gameloft games
- UE improvements& bug fixes
______________________________
I am baffled that Alcatel would include Netflix & Gameloft with a major security fix.
After the adware riddled system app updates(that I've reverted to original) I will wait for more information before updating.
I love my phone and was considering buying a back-up or an Idol 4s especially as it seems that the front-facing speakers have been dropped from Alcatel's 2018 lineup.
But the bond of trust concerning system & app updates has been broken.
[Not sure whether one will be able to revert adware riddled system apps after the update]
That's real bad
Maybe this "security update" is resolving BlueBorne vulnerability (actually I wrote Alcatel about this, and they told me not to have bluetooth on all the time, wait patiently and install an antivirus which of course I did not do). But Netflix or Gameloft as system (priv-)apps is a no way (I struggled with TWO hidden Facebook services preinstalled on my phone until I found a method to "remove" them, which I described above).
If such an update comes to me (it may take days, weeks or months before it reaches all regions), and if no one installs it, I will do it and report here
I was stupid and sleepy and didn't fully check the update notes in depth when I saw it pop-up yesterday, I figured the majority of it was for security and maybe a couple of quality of life improvements like a new lock screen, even the entry about the Netflix app just sounded to me like they were fixing a problem people might have been having with it. suddenly I have and Netflix app I didn't want, a news app, some sort of Alcatel store front and two space wasting games (or at least one game and some gameloft "50 free games thing I have no use for).
I got rid of the apps that could be insta-deleted, and the netflix app can at least be disabled, but the filemanager is by far the worse offender. It's "boost" download and obnoxious UI, not to mention it clutters my notifications and lock screen. I've managed to quiet it down by canceling its access and whatever permissions I could. The fact that it restarts itself after a few seconds is just as irritating even before the reports that it actually may make my phone operate worse. I haven't experienced anything yet aside from the Google Play store crashing once while trying to figure out how to get rid of the update, but that was shortly after doing the factory reset and it's only been a day.
Whats mroe annoying is this now part of their most recent update on Idol 3. It's now impossible to revert or kill this as it's all baked in, not even factory reset will remove it. The new file manager app restarts at every turn, even after Force stop and will not allow you to disable it, and it seems to resist methods of hiding it from the user. I'm still seeking ways of getting rid of it that dont require rooting my phone but at this point it seems like the only possible answer, which is a shame because I was fine not rooting android, this was a really nice phone until they ruined it with this garbage. I know I'm pretty much screwed because My computer doesn't always seem to respond properly to Android stuff for some reason so any attempt to root will probably result in me bricking the thing, and even if I could root I'm not certain I'm comfortable with my phone being that open with other applications like this roaming around not to mention the questions of whether any of my desired apps will respond poorly to my doing it. But I wanted to at least add my voice to the rest that are complaining about this and telling Alcatel this is the last product of their's I'll ever own.
@PN04
Thank you for your very detailed report. Sorry to hear of the predicament you are now in. It goes without saying that I - thanks to you - will not be updating.
PN04 said:
I got rid of the apps that could be insta-deleted, and the netflix app can at least be disabled, but the filemanager is by far the worse offender. It's "boost" download and obnoxious UI, not to mention it clutters my notifications and lock screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
have you held down on a notification and hit the (i) and then block notifications?
does it somehow disregard that? that was a new feature added in marshmallow
zxcvb2 said:
have you held down on a notification and hit the (i) and then block notifications?
does it somehow disregard that? that was a new feature added in marshmallow
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have, it takes you to the app notification section where you can reduce it's priority, stop it from peeking and "hide sensitive content" (not sure what that last one means but I turned them all off anyway). As far as I can tell it's teeth are pulled as long as I don't actually start the app or give it any permissions when it asks, but the fact that constantly force stopping it only gets rid of the menu bar on my lock screen for a few seconds and that little stupid broom icon is constantly showing in my bar at the top means it's still an ugly scar on an otherwise nice phone. also App memory usage claims it's used 27 mb in the last 3 hours and I havent' even touched it.
I'll probably be studying up on rooting this weekend.
ichmoimeyo said:
@PN04
Thank you for your very detailed report. Sorry to hear of the predicament you are now in. It goes without saying that I - thanks to you - will not be updating.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here, no update for me either thanks to PN04's findings. I have managed to silence the Update app by uninstalling updates on the app and then turning off auto update and notifications. So far so good, no nagging messages about the update. Considering my latest security patch is from Nov 2016, I was not expecting to get any more anyway.
Shame on you Alcatel for ruining an otherwise perfect phone! Maybe i can get one more year on this one. The Xperia XZ1 Compact is looking more and more attractive, apart from the price (native Wifi calling, VoLTE and band 12 on TMO US, stuff that this phone didn't have and start to become more important for me).
Glad it helped. I guess I can take some measure of comfort in that at least.
The result of the upgrade.
nyh said:
Does anyone have an experience with the new OTA update that came out yesterday? Can you tell me if after the update, the "joy launcher", "file manager", etc., are decent versions or the crappy versions which show ads?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, I was surprised nobody came up to talk about their experience with the upgrade, so I took a risk and updated two of my Alcatel Idol 3 phones (mine and my son's) to the new update. Like in the old movie, I have good news, bad news, and ugly news:
The bad news was that the application content of the update was just as lousy as I feared it would be. It has the evil file manager and a bunch of other crap applications which spew notifications all the time, spontaneously install applications you never wanted to install, and so on. The strangest thing is that the update claims to add Netflix support, but actually uninstalled the Netflix app that I already had installed, which was very annoying (I had to re-install Netflix, re-download my downloads, and tell Netflix that I don't have the "old" device any more so it will let me download on the "new" one).
Also, the last on the bad list: after using the new system for two days, I haven't found a single thing to be better than the old system. This update doesn't upgrade Android - it's still exactly the same release 6.0.1 as it was before. The "patch level" is listed as November 2017, so maybe it has some security improvements, but I can't really tell.
The good news is that with some considerable effort, I was able to get rid of all of the crap (at least, everything I found so far). There is a new application called "Apps" which installs random crap. You can't uninstall it, but you can "disable" it and it never runs again. The evil file manager you can't uninstall (or disable), but its menu has an option to not send notifications, and then it doesn't. Then I went to the list of applications and uninstalled (luckily, that's possible) a bunch of games and other crap that Alcatel installed for me. If Alcatel had a better track record, I might actually enjoy trying out the new games they installed for me, but as it stands, I was worried about what might happen if I run them - I prefered to uninstall them. Anyway, after doing all that (sorry I don't have more detailed instructions), I am running with the updated Android for two days, and I haven't seen another ad, unexplained notification, or unsolicited application being installed. Hallelujah!
The ugly news is that after two days, I'm starting to worry that this version is less stable than the previous one. In two days I had to reboot my phone at least three times, once it hung during taking a video, once when Netflix suddenly couldn't find my downloaded content, and once when another app suddenly couldn't use the SD card (and a reboot solved these problems). I can't say I never had to reboot my phone, but this seems to be more frequent than I used to do it. I'm not sure this a real new problem or just a string of bad luck - only time will tell.
Mankann said:
Ah, I understand now. It seems that your phone wants to update to the version that removes fastboot commands (so I suggest you triple-think and triple-check before upgrading).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What is "fastboot commands", and why should I be worried if they are removed?
Mankann said:
"Uninstalling" system apps does not revert them to preinstalled versions, it makes them completely unavailable until hard reset (they are only listed in Settings labeled with "Disabled for current user" and cannot be run). If you decide to do this, you should first install some alternative apps (like Nova Launcher, Google Calendar etc), or else you won't be able to boot and use your phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is not my experience... In the Google Play app. For most applications, "Uninstall" lets you really uninstall an app. But for built-in applications, when you "Uninstall" it asks you if you really want to revert to the pre-installed version, and that is actually what happens. This is why I did on my Alcatel Idol 3 for a year before this latest update. In application tray, when you long-press an application, it lets you "uninstall" regular applications, but for built-in application, the uninstall operation is simply missing. I never found any way to do what you describe - "disable for current user". Somebody above suggested this can be done through adb, but I never saw a way to do this in Alcatel's normal UI.
I wrote above my experience from the upgrade, which you can read, but I have two small comments about your experience:
PN04 said:
I got rid of the apps that could be insta-deleted, and the netflix app can at least be disabled,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's hilarious (or more accurately, sad) how people who already had Netflix installed (like me), their installation got deleted - but for people who never had Netflix, it got installed and made unremovable. Great job Alcatel!
PN04 said:
but the filemanager is by far the worse offender. It's "boost" download and obnoxious UI, not to mention it clutters my notifications and lock screen. I've managed to quiet it down by canceling its access and whatever permissions I could. The fact that it restarts itself after a few seconds is just as irritating even before the reports that it actually may make my phone operate worse.
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What I did to solve this was to reduce its permissions and more importantly, go into the file manager, go into its "settings", and ask it to stop its notifications. Luckily, it worked, and I never heard from the filemanager again. I don't know if it continues to do evil stuff in the background. It appears it is still running (my app info tells me it has used memory in the last 3 hours), but using "0%" CPU.
PN04 said:
this was a really nice phone until they ruined it with this garbage.
I wanted to at least add my voice to the rest that are complaining about this and telling Alcatel this is the last product of their's I'll ever own.
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Yes, I wonder if someone in TCL lost their marbles with these adware updates... As I said, I bought *five* of these phones - for me, my wife (two phones), mother-in-law and son, and I would have continued to recommend their phones if it weren't for the tricks they started to pull off last year.
nyh said:
What is "fastboot commands", and why should I be worried if they are removed?
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One of the Alcatel's OTA updates (IIRC, it was from Lollipop to Marshmallow) removed the ability to send fastboot commands to the phone, so that it became very hard to unlock bootloader and install root or custom ROMs. Actually it was already discussed here many times.
nyh said:
Somebody above suggested this can be done through adb, but I never saw a way to do this in Alcatel's normal UI.
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You can either use adb shell or you can use shell directly on your phone via apps such as Terminal Emulator (Google Play, F-Droid). Of course you cannot do this within "normal" GUI, because it is designed not-to-be-able-to-break-things
I work from home/am self employed so most of the time so my phone doesn't get outside except for a few occasions a week otherwise it's usually connected to the home wifi so that I don't waste data. But this weekend I had to run a few errands and in a single hour outing using mobile data, I force quit the file manager maybe 26 times as opposed to 5 - 8 times just connected to wifi so I feel like it's constantly trying to ping servers unless you restrict it to mobile data. I also noticed that number dropped by half to maybe 3 or 4 times in the house when I had a few apps like AIMP or one of the games I do play on it to pass time idling in the background. As I said before I did cancel every permission I could find for it and it still manages to crawl out of the grave every so often but maybe those apps had a high enough priority level so having them active an in memory pushes it down the list.... Literally while typing this just now I was charging the phone and got the signal that the battery was full, woke it up to check if file Manager was running, saw nothing on the lock screen, unplugged it and File manager popped up again.
This update is a cancer. I haven't had to restart yet, but I've definitely noticed a few more app crashes. The loss of Fastboot might explain why my first attempt to hide the offenders with ADB failed. after installing every thing , switching to developer mode and connecting it to my computer the phone just refused to show up in the program (again, this might still be a computer issue because I've had trouble with minor developer tools in the past). I may not be an Android developer like some people on this side but feel like I fiollowed the instructions correctly. I get the feeling this is bad news. We might not be able to even get a different rom installed on it at this point.
Is it possible someone has an older version of the firmware that can be reinstalled over top of this some how? ugh, I really can't afford to have to buy a new phone right now.
PN04 said:
This update is a cancer
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I agree. People, please try to avoid this update. If you can find a way to stop the "update" process from notifying you, great, if you don't, learn to leave with them - it's better than doing the update.
After another day experience with this update, I figured out that:
1. The "Google Play Services" processes takes 30% of the CPU all the time, and causes my battery to run out after 6 or so hours. This was not the case before the update. I can't figure out what is calling the "Google Play Services". I see the evil "File Manager" running, but it's not taking up CPU, and nothing else takes CPU except the "Google Play Services".
2. Every once in a while - several times each day (!) - something "hangs" in the OS, and applications start to hang: sometimes they can't start, sometimes they can't read their data (!?), sometimes they can't connect to the network (!?), and other bizarre phenomena. Rebooting the phone solves the problem, and I've been doing this several times each day now. Before that I rarely had to reboot the phone (maybe once a week).
Avoid this update. Like the plague. Shame on Alcatel / TCL.
Mankann said:
Code:
pm uninstall --user 0 com.package.name
(this uninstalls system apps for the current user, so that they cannot be launched, do not notify about their updates in Google Play, and this works without root)
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Doesn't work for me:
pm uninstall --user 0 com.jrdcom.filemanager
Error: java.lang.SecurityException: Package null does not belong to 10096

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