Database Info

Need Help, We Believe We are Being Remote Accessed.

My friend had a nerd friend of hers root her phone for her. She reports it took the person 7 hours to finish the job, which we find suspicious. Here is the phone info after root job, please let us now if there's any other info you need in order to help us:
T-Mobile::
Samsung SGH-T769
Android Version 4.1.2
kernel version 3.0.49-cyanogenod-ga56844d
[email protected]#1
CyanogenMod Verson
10-20121125-NIGHTLY-1769
CM Updater has been stuck downloading for two days now.. I've only ever done one successful root myself, to my Galaxy S3, so the only thing I can think of is to unroot. The main concern we have is that the person who did the rooting now has remote access to her device functions and cameras, seeing as he also did work to her laptop and once it connected to her home network after she got it back from him, it was remote accessing her other devices and shared files on her network, as well as her webcam and microphone.

What you posted is what anyone running cyanogenmod has in /about phone, same as mine.lol
Just look through your file explorer and see what you find and than Google search it. Install avast from play store and it can detect malware or conflicting apps, it also has firewall settings if you install as rooted when prompted. If you find a suspicious app please do post. For curiosities sake..
Its not cyanogenmod its good no worries, ask the other 3 million+ users

Hah, if you are worried about remote access, cyanogenmod doesn't have anything to do with it.
Having said that, there *are* things that a malicious person could install on your phone, especially with access to it for 7 hours, to make you frightened.
Many of these kinds of apps are geared towards peace of mind for the owner, so they can retrieve it if the phone gets lost or stolen.
However, the tools are very powerful. Being able to remotely take audio/photos/video, show your location, turn off the phone, upload photos/video taken with the phone, etc...
Some of these services will survive a "return to stock" when done in the phone. Heh, you're probably really freaked out right now.
The first thing I'd look for is to check the device administrators via settings/security/device administrators
I have one checked myself, because I like the peace of mind that I have a way of getting the phone back, or at least wiping data, should I lose it. (assuming the person doesn't pull the battery and doesn't go through the effort of removing it)
Odds are, this person hasn't done anything seedy...that's not what I'm saying, what I am saying is:
Don't trust people with your phone.

Hey there fellow blazer,,
Recommend you go back to stock and wipe everything there is on the phone, only backup things you absolutely need. It's simple but be careful and follow the steps carefully.

OK
well i went into factory hard reset it, but it is still rooted with cyanogen mod, ur saying that that level of restore will be fine? Ook, im putting AVG & Kaspersky on it, ill let you know how it goes. ok AVG did find one infected program, but it was another AV, either way got rid of it, also used Titanium backup to wipe pretty much everything, including caches and system data. Also went through sdcard0 and sdcard1, removing anything that did not look standard issue.
Cirkustanz said:
The first thing I'd look for is to check the device administrators via settings/security/device administrators
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that is the one thing i forgot to do, but i wil text her and let her know to check. I checked the one for my GS3, and it has a "com.sec.sprextension.phoneinfo.D.." checked, and none else listed. since that seems to be a system file, and cant be unchecked, it must be okay. Should i tell her that as long as what's listed in her device administrators is either nothing or only a system file then it is fine?

if you're still shady, you could try another rom after wiping :/

Ok so here is how you fix it....
Go to http://10.cmxlog.com/?device=t769#cm-10-20130128-NIGHTLY-t769.zip and download the latest CM10 Rom
Go to http://goo.im/gapps/gapps-jb-20121011-signed.zip and download your Google Apps (google play and frameworks needed for all google stuff)
Boot into recovery mode (long press the power button, choose recovery)
Go into mounts, then format system
Go back to the main screen and format data/factory reset
Go to install zip from sd card and choose internal or external depending on where you put the files.
Install the CM10 zip first.
After CM10 install is complete, install Gaaps zip
Reboot.
This will fresh wipe everything. You will start from scratch and setup when it turns on. You will have to install your apps again, so use Titanium if you want to keep data. Best to start fresh if you are really worried about that sort of thing though. Hope this helps.

I recommend the above suggestion and do a full wipe just to be safe, with formatting the /system partition. When you do a factory reset it do not wipe the system apps, some app like Cerberes can hide in the system partition. Additionally with root, you can install the app LBE (link in my sig) that can prevent permission and internet connection for apps, among other things.
I don't think it's anything to worry about, but it depends on the person who did the rooting, you might be blaming an innocent person. But then there are creeps out there as well.
Sent from XDA app

Rooted/Custom Rom'd my AT&T S4, now for some basic a

[Thread in wrong area! Mods please move to AT&T S4 under Q/A!]
I recently rooted/installed CleanROM for my S4, but now I have some basic questions regarding what actually happened in the process and how I could improve it. (First smartphone, first Android).
1. Is flashing the exact equivalent of installing a kernel/ROM/app in a recovery like TeamWin that is zipped in an SD card? All I did was select my zipped file and install--the guide says to use GooManager but I never used it. Also, does updating TWRP, kernel, or ROM (same application/kernel/ROM, but newer version) require that you delete the old ZIP, copy over the new ZIP, then install it? Is there a cleaner method (I feel that since we have to wipe to prevent old files from interfering with new ROM that maybe parts of the old version of a ROM may be redundant or may interfere with the new ROM?
2. Is there a way I can save the phone settings when dealing with one ROM and transferring these settings to another ROM? I really don't want to spend 20 minutes to go through all the settings and change it to my liking every time I install a new ROM.
3. With TWRP I could backup the entire ROM and also be able to install that backup ROM if I don't like the new ROM installed? What does Titanium Backup offer in regards to this aside from backing up app data and the ability freeze/uninstall system apps?
4. Does Titanium Backup leave any residual files? I see other apps designed to uninstall system apps and Titanium Backup seems like an all-in-one jack of all trades.
5. I thought I wiped everything and to me, that sounds like reformatting the entire drive. I only wiped system, boot, and data though (good enough for ROMs, according to what I've read). I was surprised when I saw my videos that I had already backed up to my PC accessible on the phone. Should I just wipe literally everything (I assume it would be cleaner) like cache, preload, EFS, modem, recovery, etc.? Will wiping literally everything be like reformatting my phone (since my phone was not reformatted because my personal videos was still there when I installed my custom ROM? If I were to install completely different ROMs cleanly and wanted to keep my personal files, I would only need to wipe system, data, and boot?
4. Do I have to use CASUAL again to install an updated TWRP?
5. Does backing up a ROM also backup its root? I'm going to assume this is a dumb question and the answer is no. I'm also guessing I have to block OTA updates from AT&T to ensure I keep my root. How would I go about doing this? Also, would my phone be "safe" if I stick to my ROM (no updates or anything) for 4+ years? I'm asking this as an extreme case because I feel like I'm missing out on AT&T security updates that could protect my phone and also I don't think the developer my ROM (CleanROM) will do frequent updates).
6. I had problems with my computer not being able to recognize my phone and my SD card in the phone after I wiped everything and before I installed a ROM. I literally had to take the SD card from the phone and use an SD card reader to transfer my custom ROM/loki then put it back into the phone. Was I missing a driver?
7. What are some must-have apps a newly rooted user would want?
8. I read that you only need 1 EFS backup and you don't need to back it up every time you are going to install a custom ROM. Can I get a confirmation?
9. What does Goo Manager do and would I want it?
10. Is it essential that I keep up to date with news about my custom ROM/phone to ensure my phone is secured?
**Not Root/ROM related--Is swiping an app away from the Recent Apps List (long-press home button) the equivalent of killing an app? I use the Recent Apps List often but I don't want to go about swiping apps away if means it is killing it, since I read that killing apps are bad and actually drains battery life. Also, is there a mod that lets you access the Recent Apps List by long-pressing the menu one? I only see a mod that kills the app if you long-press it.
Thanks. I'm hoping for many responses as I have more questions to ask but not a lot of free time (I will check back on this thread every several hours until there are no more responses on the thread.

I think you are in the wrong forum.

@work said:
I think you are in the wrong forum.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know, I clicked the edit/delete thread but can't find the delete button. Under reason for editing I told the mods to move it to AT&T S4 under Q/A. I'm new to XDA, what should I do?

otumsel and
just wait,someone will be along and move it.

How to flash your Tab 7 Plus (P6200) with the carbon rom and have google apps work

Hi all,
Obviously you need the Carbon ROM for the P6200 first. Here is the link http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2723566
Step One: Unlock Your Bootloader and Flash a Custom Recovery
How to Flash a ROM to Your Android Phone
First, let's clear up some confusion: Contrary to popular belief, you do not actually need to root your phone to flash a ROM—you just need to unlock your bootloader and flash a custom recovery. However, this process usually goes hand-in-hand with rooting—and most custom ROMs come with root access—so what you think of as "rooting your phone" is probably what you're going to have to do first.
Unfortunately, we can't go through this step in detail here, because it's different for every phone! So, I highly recommend checking out our everything root guide to learn a bit more about what's involved, what all the different terms mean, and what to watch out for. Then, search around sites like XDA Developers for instructions on how to unlock the bootloader of your specific phone, which recovery you should use (usually TWRP or ClockworkMod), and how to flash it.
I also recommend rooting your phone during step one, since it'll make the backup process in step two easier—and save you some hassle along the way. A lot of methods and one-click apps will root your phone anyways, so it might be included in the process. Again, this can vary from phone to phone. (If the instructions require you to flash SuperSU.zip, you can refer to step three of this guide for info on how to do that—ironically, it's just like flashing a ROM).
NOTE: Unlocking your bootloader will most likely wipe your phone, and without root access, you won't be able to back up very much. So, save anything you want to keep on your computer—you will have to set up your phone from scratch just this once before continuing.
When you're done, return here and continue to step two for the rest of the ROMming process.
Step Two: Make a Backup of Your System, Apps, and Data
Now that you've got a custom recovery on your phone, the first thing you should do—before you ever make a big change to your system—is back it up. First, we'll make a Nandroid backup, which is basically a image of your current system. That way, if something goes wrong, you can restore your phone to exactly the way it was before you started tweaking. This will save you a lot of hassle if something goes wonky (which, let's be honest, can happen often). To do this:
Reboot your phone and enter recovery mode. This is a bit different on every phone, but usually involves some permutation of pressing the power and volume buttons at the same time.
Head to the "Backup" or "Nandroid" section of your recovery mode. The default settings should be fine. If given the option, give your backup a name that helps you remember what it is (like "Pre-CyanogenMod Backup 01-17-14"). Confirm your backup and let it run.
Wait for the backup to finish. This may take awhile.
I also recommend making a second type of backup: your apps and settings. If you just unlocked your bootloader and wiped your phone, you can skip this step, but any time you flash a ROM in the future, you'll want to back up your apps first, since you may have to wipe your phone before you flash. With a backup, you can easily restore those apps and data after flashing, making the process a lot simpler. We recommend using Titanium Backup.
How to Set Up a Fully Automated App and Settings Backup on Android
In an ideal world, your Android's apps, their settings, and your system settings would…
Read more
How to Flash a ROM to Your Android Phone
This is different from a Nandroid backup because it just backs up the apps themselves, which you can then restore on any ROM you want. Nandroid backups take your entire system as it is, ROM included.
Note that you'll need to be rooted to use Titanium Backup (which is why I recommend you root in step one). To perform a backup in Titanium:
Open Titanium Backup and grant it root permissions if it asks for them. If it experiences any problems with root, it'll tell you right now.
Tap the "Batch" button in the upper right-hand corner (the one that looks like a little checkbox). Scroll down to the "Backup" section and find "Backup All User Apps." Tap the "Run" button. This will back up any apps you've downloaded from the Play Store, and their data. (You can try backing up your system data as well, but I find this usually doesn't work very well).
Wait for it to finish. If you like, you can also sync these to Dropbox as described here, but you don't have to for this process.
This may seem like a lot of unnecessary backups, but trust me: it's going to save you a lot of time in the long run. Now if something goes wrong, you have a nandroid backup to fall back on and don't have to start from scratch. And, when your ROM flashes successfully, you don't have to start re-downloading and setting up all your apps yourself because you can restore them with Titanium.
Step Three: Download and Flash the ROM of Your Choice
How to Flash a ROM to Your Android Phone
Now comes the fun part: flashing your ROM. First, obviously, you need to find the ROM you want. Again, this chart is a good place to start, as is our list of the five most popular. You may also want to poke around sites like the XDA Developers forums to see what's available for your particular phone.
When you've found a ROM you want to try, download it and save it to your phone. It should come in the form of a fairly large ZIP file, so you'll probably want to be on Wi-Fi to download it. You can either download it directly from your phone, or download it on your computer and transfer it over via USB.
To flash your ROM:
Reboot your phone into Recovery mode, just like we did back when we made our Nandroid backup.
Head to the "Install" or "Install ZIP from SD Card" section of your recovery.
Navigate to the ZIP file you downloaded earlier, and select it from the list to flash it.
Wait for the process to complete; it may take a few minutes.
Depending on your situation (see below), you may also need to wipe your data and/or cache. In TWRP, you'll find this under the "Wipe" section, and in ClockworkMod, you'll need to either choose the "Wipe Data/Factory Reset" option or the "Wipe Cache Partition" option. When you're done, you're free to reboot into your new ROM.
So, when should you wipe your data and cache? Here are a few general guidelines:
If you're flashing a ROM different than the one you're currently running, you should wipe data and cache. Essentially, this performs a factory reset on your phone, and you will lose all your data.
If you're flashing a new version of a ROM you're already running, we recommend wiping your data and cache—but you should be able to get away with just wiping the cache, meaning you get to keep all your apps and settings.
Remember, if you backed everything up with Titanium, then doing a factory reset isn't all that bad, since you can just restore most of it. Keep in mind that even if you're just upgrading your existing ROM, factory resets can be helpful. If you only wipe your cache, note that a few apps may run into issues, but reinstalling them or wiping that app's data usually fixes the problem.
When you reboot, you should be in your shiny new ROM, ready to play! But what? There's no Play Store? Read on for the last step of the process...
Step Four: Download and Flash Google Apps
How to Flash a ROM to Your Android Phone
Because Google's apps are not open source, custom ROMs can't bundle Google's apps—like Gmail, Hangouts, or the Play Store—with their ROMs. That means you'll need to download and flash them separately. Luckily, this is pretty easy to do: just head to this page on RootzWiki to find out which ZIP file you need, download it to your phone, and flash it just like you did the ROM in step three. Gapps Manager is also a great app that'll help you find the right package if you're stuck, and you can download the APK from XDA Developers.
Gapps Manager Gets You the Right Google Apps for Your Rooted Phone
Android (Rooted): If you root your phone and install a new ROM, the first thing you may notice is…
Read more
Once you've flashed the latest Google Apps package, you should be all set! You'll have a new ROM with tons of settings to play with, the Play Store to download new apps, and—if you made a backup with Titanium—you can now head into Titanium Backup and restore all your apps and their settings. Enjoy!

Is a (ClockWorkMod) Backup any good after upgrading (to cyanogenmod)?

I'm about to do an upgrade from an stock ROM to Cyanogenmod on a phone I have a lot of apps and settings on.
I know the guides always say "back up before upgrading in case it fails, then upgrade, you'll lose all your previous data". And I know that's the normal way it goes.
I'm a noob to the android OS structure, but is it possible to manually take any parts of the pre-upgrade backup data and paste it in the new OS?
For example how you can copy a lot of programs and AppData (profiles, settings etc) from one installation/version of windows to another.
In my case it would take a lot of extra configuration work even after I use the play store to re-download all the apps. Not to mention some apps are from for ex fdroid or github. And then there's the xposed modules.
Cheers!

I guess I'll upgrade and then try to overwrite app data folders and see how that goes.
I know a lot of you here upgrade your ROMs like every week. Do you spend like 3 days customizing your phone back after each flash?
[EDIT] Found an answer. No thanks to you friendly community (why did someone rate my thread down without saying anything?).
- I found out that Titanium Backup can batch-store all your apps and app data - I wonder if it stores stuff like my Catapult Launcher screen layout and folders.
- Also if all you're doing is an OTA upgrade, you can do it without loosing root: http://www.howtogeek.com/192402/why-androids-ota-updates-remove-root-and-how-to-keep-it/
So flash the new ROM, Root, restore from Titanium (since CWM does a system(-based) image afaik).

[GUIDE] Easy decryption guide for GSI users

Step 0: introduction
Hello everyone. As you may or may not know, after unlocking, rebranding, updating and patching our P9's, we can now install a part of a big universe of brand new Treble ROMs into our devices. An example of that kind of ROMs is the OpenKirin team's AOSP-based ROMs, AndyYan's LineageOS or phhusson's Phh-Treble for a barebones pure Android experience.
But that experience so far is far from perfect. Aside from Q ROMs not booting yet on hi3650 devices like ours, some features may be missing such as camera support, GApps or [insert favorite mod here] which come in the form of flashable zips. A major problem now is that our phone's internal storage must always be encrypted at every ROM install. This poses some problems such as:
* Having to install Huawei's stock recovery every time you need to do a factory reset otherwise your brand new ROM is not booting when you wipe with TWRP.
* Not being able to flash ZIPs in TWRP from the internal storage.
* Having to install custom ROMs by flashing to /system through fastboot which is slow and can be interrupted
* On a fresh ROM boot, the phone takes extra time to encrypt and then on every subsequent boot it will take longer to boot.
Encryption brings extra security, but at the cost of usability and speed. Luckily for us, it can be disabled in favor of having a more traditional custom ROM + TWRP flashing workflow. This can be done by editing a fstab file in our device's vendor partition. Once the procedure is done you will be able to:
* do factory resets from TWRP without problems
* mount internal storage in TWRP and flash ZIPs without problems
* not need to juggle .img files to switch recoveries because everything will be possible from TWRP
Note: This effect is permanent. No need to do it again. You can also easily reverse it manually.
WARNING: YOUR INTERNAL STORAGE MUST BE WIPED CLEAN. BACKUP ANY IMPORTANT DATA TO AN EXTERNAL STORAGE BEFOREHAND. YOU WILL LOSE ALL YOUR FILES AND APPS.
Note: If you ever decide to reflash your stock EMUI firmware, remember that your device will be re-encrypted. If you get stuck at the boot logo after going back to EMUI from a decrypted device, reboot manually to recovery, do a factory reset in the stock recovery and try again.
Required:
* A backup of your important data
* A computer
* working Android install with root
* A working ADB/fastboot environment
* A USB-C cable with data connections
* Pretoriano80's TWRP for Treble-enabled Huawei P9
Your ROM, custom kernels and Magisk will survive the procedure. Don't worry about them.
Step 1: Modify the vendor fstab
Using MiXplorer, navigate to /vendor/etc. We're going to modify the fstab.f2fs.hi3650 file. Back it up in your SD card, because the internal storage will be wiped clean so if you mess the process up you don't want to lose it. Now open the original file with a text editor and edit it, go to the line that contains /data and change the forceencrypt word to encryptable.
Step 2: Flash TWRP
Through Fastboot, install Pretoriano80's TWRP. This is the best TWRP available for our device.
Code:
# fastboot flash recovery_ramdisk twrp.img
For the next step, we need to reboot to the recovery.
Code:
# fastboot reboot recovery
Step 3: Format internal storage
On TWRP, back your internal storage up if you haven't already. This is your last chance to do a backup.
After that, wipe your internal storage. Go to Wipe -> Format Data and confirm. The deed is done.
Now boot your system. ROMs should no longer push their encryption on you, and you can now mount the internal storage in TWRP.

Wattsensi said:
Step 2: Modify fstab and format /data
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This part is confusing, how to modify fstab?

copy pasted a guide from other users. You shouldnt modify anything and the decryption is a one time story, it breaks after first use.

I tested it on my P9 Plus & it worked man, thank you so much <3

dkionline said:
copy pasted a guide from other users. You shouldnt modify anything and the decryption is a one time story, it breaks after first use.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. No, it doesn't. I tried switching between several "Open"Kirin ROMs and GSIs using a TWRP flash+factory reset workflow, it works well.
2. This entire forum is either sparse solutions spread in deep crevices or hacks from juggling files and editing words in text...surely the guides are so unique, reformatting /data after removing its forceencrypt attribute in /etc/fstab is so unique and special! I'm not trying to throw down zgfg's effort but again, that guide was confusing and required juggling three TWRP copies. I'm just trying to make anyone unfortunate enough to still need to have one of these devices to be able to lessen the pain in the behind that is working with ancient unmaintained Treble implementations, buggy sdcardfs drivers, obscure camera interfaces, broken audio routing and drivers, and secretive ROM cooks who won't share their secret fixes restricting the universe of good ROMs to their own proprietary ROMs that don't get updated, or get updated once every 6 months. Sadly I don't have the time or resources to set a build farm or cook my own ROMs (you probably already know, hundreds of GBs downloaded and 6GB+ of RAM used) Please don't be like this, I like your work.
md sabuj said:
This part is confusing, how to modify fstab?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With TWRP, mount /vendor. Then, use TWRP's ADB shell capabilities. Open a command prompt in your computer, and type 'adb shell' and enter. Then, navigate to /vendor/etc/, with the command 'cd /vendor/etc'. Then using vi or nano, edit the fstab.hi3650 file.
Look for the entry that starts with /data. Replace in the same line, 'forceencrypt' with 'encryptable'. Then save, wipe /data and reboot. Remember to investigate thoroughly for consequences and side effects on everything you do.

Btw, developing discussion and instructions from early 2019 about decrypting Data and Internal memory on P9 Oreo - decryption can be done also by use of TWRP instead of manually editing fstab:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/p9/how-to/emui-8-decryption-guide-wipe-t3906245
And a revised summary:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=80029346&postcount=1843
They were not necessarily targeting GSI but (at that time) OpenKirin ROMs.
Also, doesn't matter if for EVA AL10, DL00, etc.
Also for stock EMUI 8, but to be able to fully use TWRP (nandroid backup, wiping Dalwik - it's on Data partition, installing zip or img files from Internal memory instead from SD card)
Btw, instead of Terminal and Vi editor (for most of nowadays users their parents were not born yet in the era of pre-WYSIWYG editors, and I doubt if 0.1% would be familiar to navigate with Vi to a particular line and to delete/replace or insert something), one can simply use standard tools like MiXPlorer (root explorer) with its integrated text editor.
In MiXPlorer choose Root, grant the root access, visually navigate to /vendor/etc, click on fstab.hi3650 file, open as Text and edit without frustrations like with Vi editor ?

zgfg said:
Btw, instead of Terminal and Vi editor (for most of nowadays users their parents were not born yet in the era of pre-WYSIWYG editors, and I doubt if 0.1% would be familiar to navigate with Vi to a particular line and to delete/replace or insert something), one can simply use standard tools like MiXPlorer (root explorer) with its integrated text editor.
In MiXPlorer choose Root, grant the root access, visually navigate to /vendor/etc, click on fstab.hi3650 file, open as Text and edit without frustrations like with Vi editor ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for that, I revised and simplified the guide as much as possible.
btw, my P9 is now a secondary device meaning that I can experiment a little more on it. I can't build ROMs for now but will try to create a barebones kernel with useful features.

Wattsensi said:
Thanks for that, I revised and simplified the guide as much as possible.
btw, my P9 is now a secondary device meaning that I can experiment a little more on it. I can't build ROMs for now but will try to create a barebones kernel with useful features.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have ECOKernel by @dkionline for Oreo

zgfg said:
You have ECOKernel by @dkionline for Oreo
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know, I am using it right now and it's a good kernel but I'd like to add some more things like lower minimum brightness, voltage control for undervolting and AutoSMP hotplugging. It runs pretty hot and the IPS display backlight burns my eyes even on the lowest setting

Can I use this method to decrypt P9 installed EMUI8?

md sabuj said:
Can I use this method to decrypt P9 installed EMUI8?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
@ant0nwax and me did use decrypted storage with b540, see the post #6 above:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=83386207&postcount=6
Specially, look at the second post linked there (post was in HWOTA7 thread):
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=80029346&postcount=1843
There was one catch there (was written for b540):
zgfg said:
Reboot to TWRP and perform the following, in this order:
- Wipe, Swipe to factory reset (not Advanced Wipe, neither Format Data)
- Install three ZIPs (all ogether, in queue): update_data_full_public.zip (from b540 download), b540-update_full_EVA-AL10_all_cn.zip (from b540 download, but fixed by Tecalote to be flashable by TWRP) and Enable-Huawei-OTA.zip (from Tecalote's OP instructions)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I recall correctly after the long time ,(year and a half) - when you format Data you have to restore your b550 part that was installed to Data.
You must not use eRecovery bcs it would encrypt Data again.
Hence you must flash b550 by TWRP and there was a problem with that all_cn zip at that time, reporting me an error (cannot find now TWRP logs from that time to see what was the problem)
I discussed then with @Tecalote and he corrected me the script from the original update all_cn zip for b540 that TWRP was able to flash
As a result, we had EMUI 8, b540 with decrypted storage, giving to TWRP the full access to Data and Internal memory
It was also possible to go back to EMUI 8 with encrypted storage, basically by putting back stock Recovery, by installing latest firmware from eRecovery and by performing Factory reset with Wiping the cache

@Wattsensi: unfortunately, It doesn't work like this in my case. After switching to Chinese EMUI 8, I install Play Store, login to my Google Account and do Play Store things.
After modifying that file in Vendor, I go to recovery, wipe internal storage, wipe Data and restart.
At this moment, it's like after a factory reset, I have to start all over again, but I'm not encrypted.
Well, no matter what I do, I can't login to Google. I open Play Store, it tries to log me in ( the big circles started to spin), at that moment Play Store closes. I go to Accounts and try to login to my Google account from there, same thing. So, for me, Emui 8 is usable only before decryption.
I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong.

Nightwish1976 said:
@Wattsensi: unfortunately, It doesn't work like this in my case. After switching to Chinese EMUI 8, I install Play Store, login to my Google Account and do Play Store things.
After modifying that file in Vendor, I go to recovery, wipe internal storage, wipe Data and restart.
At this moment, it's like after a factory reset, I have to start all over again, but I'm not encrypted.
Well, no matter what I do, I can't login to Google. I open Play Store, it tries to log me in ( the big circles started to spin), at that moment Play Store closes. I go to Accounts and try to login to my Google account from there, same thing. So, for me, Emui 8 is usable only before decryption.
I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is indeed strange, and I do not recall the Chinese ROMs having Google services by default, you had to install GApps if I'm not wrong. Try flashing pico OpenGapps for 8.0 ARM64, wiping cache and doing a factory reset again. Sometimes GApps have issues when you don't flush the cache between fresh installs.
https://opengapps.org/

Nightwish1976 said:
Unfortunately, It doesn't work like this in my case. After switching to Chinese EMUI 8, I install Play Store, login to my Google Account and do Play Store things.
After modifying that file in Vendor, I go to recovery, wipe internal storage, wipe Data and restart.
At this moment, it's like after a factory reset, I have to start all over again, but I'm not encrypted.
Well, no matter what I do, I can't login to Google. I open Play Store, it tries to log me in ( the big circles started to spin), at that moment Play Store closes. I go to Accounts and try to login to my Google account from there, same thing. So, for me, Emui 8 is usable only before decryption.
I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wattsensi said:
This is indeed strange, and I do not recall the Chinese ROMs having Google services by default, you had to install GApps if I'm not wrong. Try flashing pico OpenGapps for 8.0 ARM64, wiping cache and doing a factory reset again. Sometimes GApps have issues when you don't flush the cache between fresh installs.
https://opengapps.org/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Be careful. Chinese EMUI 8 does come with Google Play Services (OP posts in HWOTA7 thread) and one only needs to install Google Play app.
Google Play Services were also preinstalled for users who recently updated to b550.
Btw, you didn't write are you on Al10c00b550 or what, but you also wrote that you had Playstore working on EMUI 8 before decrypting and formatting Data
Anyway, before installing MicroG, Open GApps or something, inspect do you still have or not Google Play Services installed.
There are apps like Play Services Info to inspect if Google Play Services, Google Services Framework and Google Play Store are installed (and what are their versions).
E.g, use this app from ApkMirror (since you cannot look for them and install from Playstore):
https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/weberdo/play-services-info/
(Not sure would it work installing Open GApps if stock Google Play Services are still beneath)

Thank you, guys gor your help. Yes, Ch EMUI comes with Google Play Services, one normally has to install only Google Play.
At the moment I'm just setting up my phone with the Lineage OS MicroG Pie ROM and I'm really enjoining it, but as soon as I decide to try something else, I'll put your suggestions to use.