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[GUIDE] Make your android device True Root! - by Napalm

[GUIDE] Make your android device True Root! - by Napalm​
I did this on my Nexus 7 but it should all still apply to most devices. You might need to follow different driver advice for other devices.
Pre-requirements:
Installation of the SDK platform-tools.
Have platform-tools directory of the SDK in your PATH environment variable (Google this if your unsure).
This was all done a Windows installation, but access to Linux will be required later on. Mac users might be able to get away with doing the Linux portions directly on there computer. Please let me know if your a Mac user and have had success with this and I will update the guide with details.
Step 1: Driver Installation (READ THIS, do not skip)
First I needed to update to the usb_driver from SDK and then modify the installation inf with the IDs for Nexus 7.
Browse to your SDK directory and futher into <SDK>\extras\google\usb_driver
Open android_winusb.inf in your favorite text editor.
Find the appropriate section Google.NTx86 if your on 32bit or Google.NTamd64 if your on 64bit (doesnt matter that your using intel chip). Now find the ";Google Nexus 7" line inside that section and you'll see a series of settings below. Add the following lines at the end of that block.
Code:
%CompositeAdbInterface% = USB_Install, USB\VID_18D1&PID_4E44&MI_01
%CompositeAdbInterface% = USB_Install, USB\VID_18D1&PID_D001
These are the identifiers for the Nexus 7 recovery and bootloader usb connections.
Step 2: Standard Root
Next you'll need access to the bootloader and recovery mode so follow this guide to unlock and "root" your device. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1741395
Here I've laid out the steps I did instead of the above. Remember this wipes your device and its internal memory completely, so backup your data.
All local work is done from the desktop, so when you first open a command prompt or if you close it and reopen it enter the following.
Code:
cd Desktop
Download CWM recovery image to Desktop. http://goo.im/devs/birdman/CWM-grouper-recovery.img
Download SuperSU CWM update zip to Desktop. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1538053
Go to Start or Start>Run and type in: cmd
Code:
cd Desktop
fastboot oem unlock
fastboot flash recovery CWM-grouper-recovery.img
adb reboot recovery
Now the device will reboot into recovery mode. If windows asks for drivers for the "new" usb connection direct the wizard to your <SDK>\extras\google\usb_driver. And the earlier modifications made in Step 1 should mean it installs the device and adb link.
Once drivers are installed and every is good go back to the command prompt, and type
Code:
adb devices
It should list your device with the word "recovery" next to it. If it doesn't then your device is not in recovery mode. Now enter in the following commands into the command prompt and it will make your devices CWM installation permanent.
Code:
adb shell
mount /system
cd /system
mv recovery-from-boot.p recovery-from-boot.bak
umount /system
exit
Now to install SuperSU. Tap "reboot system now" on the screen (if you dont see CWM, press the power button to show/hide it). Wait for the reboot. And then enter the following into the command prompt.
Code:
adb push CWM-SuperSU-v0.94.zip /sdcard
adb reboot recovery
Wait for reboot. You should see an image in the center of the screen. You might have to press the power button to toggle the visibility of the CWM menu. If you miss-tap on the screen, the power button acts like a back button and will return you to the previous menu screen.
Tap "install zip from sdcard" and then "choose zip from sdcard". Then select the CWM-SuperSU-v0.94.zip file (You may have to use the vol-up/down keys to highlight this if the file is listed off the bottom of the screen)
Let that install and then go back on the menus and choose "reboot system now".
Now if all is well after the reboot, if you run the following commands in command prompt.
Code:
adb shell
su
SuperSU might now prompt you on your devices screen to accept the root access, and then hopefully your command prompt should end in a # (this means you are root user 0). Now type exit twice to get back to the windows command prompt.
Now if you were to type "adb root" you will notice it tells you adbd is not able to go "full root". This will be solved in the next step. This is going to get complicated. You have been warned.
Step 3: True Rooting!
Now your device is "rooted". This is true, you now have a "su" binary installed and a visible app in the OS to manage super user privileges, but as a developer I want to be able to use things like "hierarchy viewer" on my live device. And have the room to do what I need to debug complex situations. So this is where True Root comes in. This essentially turns the device into a debug device that you would get direct from the manufacturer.
You may be able to get away with doing the following in a different way and you may not need to compile anything since fastboot has a boot flash option, but since I've never used this I've done it this way. If you prefer you can explore things in that direction, but be warned I've not tried it and so I have no idea if it would work.
Now for this step you will need access to a Linux installation. If you've never used Linux before don't be too afraid. But I am going to have to gloss over a few things. If you need further help on this step you will need to post in the topic and allow the community to advise on best pratices.
If you dont have access to a Linux installation or your newb to Linux then go here and follow the steps. It will add Linux to your PCs boot options and then you can go in and out of Linux when you need it. http://www.ubuntu.com/download/help/install-ubuntu-with-windows
Remember if your working on this step from a fresh Linux install like the above then you will probably want to install the android sdk for linux, at least enough to use adb from linux. This topic might help with this: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=537508
Ok now from Linux follow along. You'll need git installed for this "apt-get install git".
We now need to compile the apps needed to modify our boot image. Details can be found here https://gist.github.com/1087757 but you might just want to follow my specific instructions.
Open a console window and type.
Code:
git clone https://android.googlesource.com/platform/system/core
cd core/libmincrypt
gcc -c *.c -I../include
ar rcs libmincrypt.a *.o
cd ../mkbootimg
gcc mkbootimg.c -o mkbootimg -I../include ../libmincrypt/libmincrypt.a
cd ../cpio
gcc mkbootfs.c -o mkbootfs -I../include
cd ../..
git clone https://github.com/beide/Bootimg-scripts.git
cd Bootimg-scripts
cp ../core/mkbootimg/mkbootimg ./
cp ../core/cpio/mkbootfs ./
Ok that has prapared the a Bootimg-scripts directory with the perl scripts we need and compiled binaries they use. Now make sure you have perl installed "apt-get install perl".
This is where things are going to split and it becomes your best guess as to how to proceed. I will show you the method I used from Windows. But if you have a installation of the SDK in Linux then you should be able to just open a new console and continue from here and ignore the bits I used to transfer files between Linux and Windows.
Back to the command console on Windows. We use adb to identify our boot partition and extract it.
Code:
adb shell cat /proc/partitions
You will now be presented with a list of paritions on your Nexus 7. Each block here for my device is 1K. So I'm looking down the list and I see one thats 8192 blocks, called "mmcblk0p2". Thats 8MB and I'm taking a educated guess that this is the boot partition, and for my Nexus 7 it is. (Note: if anyone has a better way of determining the boot parition please let me know).
Now we need to take a image of the partition. From here on out replace my partition device name in the commands below with yours if it differs.
Code:
adb shell
cat /dev/block/mmcblk0p2 > /sdcard/boot.img
exit
adb pull /sdcard/boot.img
Now if you want to confirm that this is the boot partition you will need to open the image file in your favorite hex editor and confirm the first bytes of the file are "ANDROID!" in ascii.
Now I FTP'd this image file over to my Linux box and into the Bootimg-scripts directory we created previously. If your following these steps from Linux then you should be able to open up the file manager and move the file into the folder.
Now back to Linux. We'll need to modify repack-bootimg.pl with a text editor of your choice. I leave this up to the reader. We need to modify line 19 the system call so that it starts with "./mkbootimg" rather than "mkbootimg". This is so perl fines mkbootimg in the local directory rather than anywhere else.
Now type in the linux console we had open in the Bootimg-scripts directory the following command.
Code:
perl ./unpack-bootimg.pl boot.img
ls -l
You should see boot.img-kernel.gz and boot.img-ramdisk.cpio.gz and a directory boot.img-ramdisk.
Open boot.img-ramdisk/default.prop in your favorite text editor and make the following adjustments.
ro.secure=1 should be edited to ro.secure=0 and ro.debuggable=0 should be ro.debuggable=1 and if you want ro.allow.mock.location can also be changed to 1 if you like.
Now we've made the required changes to our initrd (initial ramdisk) files we need to repack them to put back on the device.
Code:
perl ./repack-bootimg.pl boot.img-kernel.gz boot.img-ramdisk boot-debug.img
You will now have a new file called boot-debug.img. This contains our modified initial ramdisk. It will probably be smaller than the original. This is no concern as the original we copied was an image of the entire disk including the unused areas, where as the new image is only the data we need.
I now FTP'd this file back to my Windows machine, but as before if your doing this from Linux then you can just carry on.
We now need to flash this image file back onto the Nexus 7 replacing our current boot image. To do this we need to put the device into bootloader mode.
Back to your console/command window, and enter in.
Code:
adb reboot bootloader
Windows might want to install drivers and as before direct the wizard to <SDK>\extras\google\usb_driver.
Once your device is in bootloader mode. Go back to the console/command and enter in.
Code:
fastboot flash boot boot-debug.img
fastboot reboot
Now cross your fingers and hopefully you will get the boot loading animation and your device will get back to the Android launcher.
Now finally from your console/command window type in:
Code:
adb root
Hopefully if all is well it should reply with "adbd is already running as root". Now if you type in:
Code:
adb shell getprop ro.debuggable
It should tell you that its set to 1, meaning it is switched on.
Congratulations!! You have now True Rooted your device!.
You can now debug even system level apps, see log messages from all processes and logcat will now resolve all app names. Use Hierarchy Viewer on a live device instead of the horrible emulator. Do absolutely everything with your device that you want.
Happy hacking,
Napalm :good:

better late than never.....a thorough quide

Thanks for this guide.
Sent from my Nexus 7

Thanks.

Napalm2 said:
[GUIDE] Make your android device True Root! - by Napalm​
I did this on my Nexus 7 but it should all still apply to most devices. You might need to follow different driver advice for other devices.
Pre-requirements:
Installation of the SDK platform-tools.
Have platform-tools directory of the SDK in your PATH environment variable (Google this if your unsure).
This was all done a Windows installation, but access to Linux will be required later on. Mac users might be able to get away with doing the Linux portions directly on there computer. Please let me know if your a Mac user and have had success with this and I will update the guide with details.
Step 1: Driver Installation (READ THIS, do not skip)
First I needed to update to the usb_driver from SDK and then modify the installation inf with the IDs for Nexus 7.
Browse to your SDK directory and futher into <SDK>\extras\google\usb_driver
Open android_winusb.inf in your favorite text editor.
Find the appropriate section Google.NTx86 if your on 32bit or Google.NTamd64 if your on 64bit (doesnt matter that your using intel chip). Now find the ";Google Nexus 7" line inside that section and you'll see a series of settings below. Add the following lines at the end of that block.
Code:
%CompositeAdbInterface% = USB_Install, USB\VID_18D1&PID_4E44&MI_01
%CompositeAdbInterface% = USB_Install, USB\VID_18D1&PID_D001
These are the identifiers for the Nexus 7 recovery and bootloader usb connections.
Step 2: Standard Root
Next you'll need access to the bootloader and recovery mode so follow this guide to unlock and "root" your device. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1741395
Here I've laid out the steps I did instead of the above. Remember this wipes your device and its internal memory completely, so backup your data.
All local work is done from the desktop, so when you first open a command prompt or if you close it and reopen it enter the following.
Code:
cd Desktop
Download CWM recovery image to Desktop. http://goo.im/devs/birdman/CWM-grouper-recovery.img
Download SuperSU CWM update zip to Desktop. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1538053
Go to Start or Start>Run and type in: cmd
Code:
cd Desktop
fastboot oem unlock
fastboot flash recovery CWM-grouper-recovery.img
adb reboot recovery
Now the device will reboot into recovery mode. If windows asks for drivers for the "new" usb connection direct the wizard to your <SDK>\extras\google\usb_driver. And the earlier modifications made in Step 1 should mean it installs the device and adb link.
Once drivers are installed and every is good go back to the command prompt, and type
Code:
adb devices
It should list your device with the word "recovery" next to it. If it doesn't then your device is not in recovery mode. Now enter in the following commands into the command prompt and it will make your devices CWM installation permanent.
Code:
adb shell
mount /system
cd /system
mv recovery-from-boot.p recovery-from-boot.bak
umount /system
exit
Now to install SuperSU. Tap "reboot system now" on the screen (if you dont see CWM, press the power button to show/hide it). Wait for the reboot. And then enter the following into the command prompt.
Code:
adb push CWM-SuperSU-v0.94.zip /sdcard
adb reboot recovery
Wait for reboot. You should see an image in the center of the screen. You might have to press the power button to toggle the visibility of the CWM menu. If you miss-tap on the screen, the power button acts like a back button and will return you to the previous menu screen.
Tap "install zip from sdcard" and then "choose zip from sdcard". Then select the CWM-SuperSU-v0.94.zip file (You may have to use the vol-up/down keys to highlight this if the file is listed off the bottom of the screen)
Let that install and then go back on the menus and choose "reboot system now".
Now if all is well after the reboot, if you run the following commands in command prompt.
Code:
adb shell
su
SuperSU might now prompt you on your devices screen to accept the root access, and then hopefully your command prompt should end in a # (this means you are root user 0). Now type exit twice to get back to the windows command prompt.
Now if you were to type "adb root" you will notice it tells you adbd is not able to go "full root". This will be solved in the next step. This is going to get complicated. You have been warned.
Step 3: True Rooting!
Now your device is "rooted". This is true, you now have a "su" binary installed and a visible app in the OS to manage super user privileges, but as a developer I want to be able to use things like "hierarchy viewer" on my live device. And have the room to do what I need to debug complex situations. So this is where True Root comes in. This essentially turns the device into a debug device that you would get direct from the manufacturer.
You may be able to get away with doing the following in a different way and you may not need to compile anything since fastboot has a boot flash option, but since I've never used this I've done it this way. If you prefer you can explore things in that direction, but be warned I've not tried it and so I have no idea if it would work.
Now for this step you will need access to a Linux installation. If you've never used Linux before don't be too afraid. But I am going to have to gloss over a few things. If you need further help on this step you will need to post in the topic and allow the community to advise on best pratices.
If you dont have access to a Linux installation or your newb to Linux then go here and follow the steps. It will add Linux to your PCs boot options and then you can go in and out of Linux when you need it. http://www.ubuntu.com/download/help/install-ubuntu-with-windows
Remember if your working on this step from a fresh Linux install like the above then you will probably want to install the android sdk for linux, at least enough to use adb from linux. This topic might help with this: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=537508
Ok now from Linux follow along. You'll need git installed for this "apt-get install git".
We now need to compile the apps needed to modify our boot image. Details can be found here https://gist.github.com/1087757 but you might just want to follow my specific instructions.
Open a console window and type.
Code:
git clone https://android.googlesource.com/platform/system/core
cd core/libmincrypt
gcc -c *.c -I../include
ar rcs libmincrypt.a *.o
cd ../mkbootimg
gcc mkbootimg.c -o mkbootimg -I../include ../libmincrypt/libmincrypt.a
cd ../cpio
gcc mkbootfs.c -o mkbootfs -I../include
cd ../..
git clone https://github.com/beide/Bootimg-scripts.git
cd Bootimg-scripts
cp ../core/mkbootimg/mkbootimg ./
cp ../core/cpio/mkbootfs ./
Ok that has prapared the a Bootimg-scripts directory with the perl scripts we need and compiled binaries they use. Now make sure you have perl installed "apt-get install perl".
This is where things are going to split and it becomes your best guess as to how to proceed. I will show you the method I used from Windows. But if you have a installation of the SDK in Linux then you should be able to just open a new console and continue from here and ignore the bits I used to transfer files between Linux and Windows.
Back to the command console on Windows. We use adb to identify our boot partition and extract it.
Code:
adb shell cat /proc/partitions
You will now be presented with a list of paritions on your Nexus 7. Each block here for my device is 1K. So I'm looking down the list and I see one thats 8192 blocks, called "mmcblk0p2". Thats 8MB and I'm taking a educated guess that this is the boot partition, and for my Nexus 7 it is. (Note: if anyone has a better way of determining the boot parition please let me know).
Now we need to take a image of the partition. From here on out replace my partition device name in the commands below with yours if it differs.
Code:
adb shell
cat /dev/block/mmcblk0p2 > /sdcard/boot.img
exit
adb pull /sdcard/boot.img
Now if you want to confirm that this is the boot partition you will need to open the image file in your favorite hex editor and confirm the first bytes of the file are "ANDROID!" in ascii.
Now I FTP'd this image file over to my Linux box and into the Bootimg-scripts directory we created previously. If your following these steps from Linux then you should be able to open up the file manager and move the file into the folder.
Now back to Linux. We'll need to modify repack-bootimg.pl with a text editor of your choice. I leave this up to the reader. We need to modify line 19 the system call so that it starts with "./mkbootimg" rather than "mkbootimg". This is so perl fines mkbootimg in the local directory rather than anywhere else.
Now type in the linux console we had open in the Bootimg-scripts directory the following command.
Code:
perl ./unpack-bootimg.pl boot.img
ls -l
You should see boot.img-kernel.gz and boot.img-ramdisk.cpio.gz and a directory boot.img-ramdisk.
Open boot.img-ramdisk/default.prop in your favorite text editor and make the following adjustments.
ro.secure=1 should be edited to ro.secure=0 and ro.debuggable=0 should be ro.debuggable=1 and if you want ro.allow.mock.location can also be changed to 1 if you like.
Now we've made the required changes to our initrd (initial ramdisk) files we need to repack them to put back on the device.
Code:
perl ./repack-bootimg.pl boot.img-kernel.gz boot.img-ramdisk boot-debug.img
You will now have a new file called boot-debug.img. This contains our modified initial ramdisk. It will probably be smaller than the original. This is no concern as the original we copied was an image of the entire disk including the unused areas, where as the new image is only the data we need.
I now FTP'd this file back to my Windows machine, but as before if your doing this from Linux then you can just carry on.
We now need to flash this image file back onto the Nexus 7 replacing our current boot image. To do this we need to put the device into bootloader mode.
Back to your console/command window, and enter in.
Code:
adb reboot bootloader
Windows might want to install drivers and as before direct the wizard to <SDK>\extras\google\usb_driver.
Once your device is in bootloader mode. Go back to the console/command and enter in.
Code:
fastboot flash boot boot-debug.img
fastboot reboot
Now cross your fingers and hopefully you will get the boot loading animation and your device will get back to the Android launcher.
Now finally from your console/command window type in:
Code:
adb root
Hopefully if all is well it should reply with "adbd is already running as root". Now if you type in:
Code:
adb shell getprop ro.debuggable
It should tell you that its set to 1, meaning it is switched on.
Congratulations!! You have now True Rooted your device!.
You can now debug even system level apps, see log messages from all processes and logcat will now resolve all app names. Use Hierarchy Viewer on a live device instead of the horrible emulator. Do absolutely everything with your device that you want.
Happy hacking,
Napalm :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
can't find recovery-from-boot.p. Y?

5implelove said:
can't find recovery-from-boot.p. Y?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try not to quote a post that big mate, makes navigation a pain

5implelove said:
can't find recovery-from-boot.p. Y?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That part is only for the Nexus 7, and if you are using a Nexus 7 with custom ROM then this file may not exist. If you are using stock on a Nexus 7 then the only other question is whether you have renamed/moved/deleted it before. Once you
Code:
cd /system
type
Code:
ls -l recovery*
and see if anything is listed.
Napalm

Where did you find the info for step one?
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

I worked it out. You can find your VID and PID from your unknown device in Device Manager. You have to right click the device > Properties > Details > Choose Hardware Ids from the list. Since the driver from Google supports the same interfaces for other devices we can assume it works with the Nexus 7. I made the modifications and it works. Below is a full list of IDs if anyone wants them.
Napalm
Code:
Nexus 7
USB\VID_18D1&PID_4E40 : fastboot
USB\VID_18D1&PID_D001 : adb-recovery
USB\VID_18D1&PID_4E42 : composite-adb-interface (with mtp)
USB\VID_18D1&PID_4E42&MI_00: mtp-composite
USB\VID_18D1&PID_4E42&MI_01: adb-composite
USB\VID_18D1&PID_4E44 : composite-adb-interface (with ptp)
USB\VID_18D1&PID_4E44&MI_00: mtp-composite
USB\VID_18D1&PID_4E44&MI_01: adb-composite
USB\VID_18D1&PID_4E41 : mtp-only
USB\VID_18D1&PID_4E43 : ptp-only
Galaxy Nexus
USB\VID_18D1&PID_4E30 : fastboot
USB\VID_18D1&PID_D001 : adb-recovery
USB\VID_04E8&PID_6860 : composite-adb-interface (with mtp)
USB\VID_04E8&PID_6860&MI_00: mtp-composite
USB\VID_04E8&PID_6860&MI_01: adb-composite
USB\VID_04E8&PID_6866 : composite-adb-interface (with ptp)
USB\VID_04E8&PID_6866&MI_00: ptp-composite
USB\VID_04E8&PID_6866&MI_01: adb-composite
USB\VID_04E8&PID_685C : mtp-only
USB\VID_04E8&PID_6865 : ptp-only

Great guide, but why not just post up the new initrd for people that don't want to do this? It looks as if its the same for all devices.

As requested. Attached are the compiled tools and modified scripts used and the original and modified boot partition image files for the Nexus 7 running Android 4.1.2.
Napalm

Update for Android 4.2
Attached is the original and modified boot partition image files for the Nexus 7 running Android 4.2.
You can update yours with the following:
Code:
adb reboot-bootloader
fastboot flash boot nakasi-jop40c-android42-boot-new.img
Napalm

Attached is the original and modified boot partition image files for the Nexus 7 GSM/HSPA+ running Android 4.2.1
You can update yours with the following:
Code:
adb reboot-bootloader
fastboot flash boot nakasig-jop40d-android421-boot-new.img
Napalm

Amazing !
Is it possible to post the same file for N7 4.2.1 Wifi version?
Thanks

JulienDev said:
Amazing !
Is it possible to post the same file for N7 4.2.1 Wifi version?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I'm not mistaken, they are the same for wifi and 3g versions?

Same as before.. just an update for Android 4.2.2... as per the previous posts.. no idea if the non-GSM variant has the same boot partition. If anyone can test please post.
Attached is the original and modified boot partition image files for the Nexus 7 GSM/HSPA+ running Android 4.2.2
You can update yours with the following:
Code:
adb reboot-bootloader
fastboot flash boot nakasig-jdq39-android422-boot-mod.img

Getting a No_Command error
Hi, I am trying to true root Android M on my Nexus 7 2012 Wifi edition. I followed the steps here and was able to create the boot.img with the ro.debuggable=1 and ro.secure=0. however if i flash this boot.img the device boots and gets stuck in a android bot with a Red ! (bang) triangle. and says No command.
Any idea how to get ro.debuggable on for Android M?

(How to) unpack/repack boot.img using terminal apk

This is a tutorial I've decided to put together as I'm learning to compile kernels. It will cover unpacking and repacking a boot.img and/or recovery.img, and also touch on unpacking the ramdisk after we have unpacked the boot.img This tutorial will only focus on executing this on a android device using the terminal emulator app but of course you could use these tools on a PC in a adb shell.
This would not be possible without the hard work of xda member @Modding.MyMind. I am not responsible for anything you do to your device by using these tools.
What you will need
1. Android device
2. Have root
3. Have busybox installed (1.23.1 is recommended)
4. Terminal Emulator app
5. Root Explorer app
6. Your devices boot.img and/or recovery.img
7. mkbootimg_tools-master.zip (download below)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/fiat0zrf2f533uq/mkbootimg_tools-master.zip?dl=0
DIRECTIONS
1. Let's pull the boot.img we are going to work with using dd. Open your terminal and type su > press enter. Type dd if=/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/boot of=/sdcard/boot.img > press enter and now you should see a file on your sdcard called boot.img
2. Place the zip file on the root of your internal sdcard and extract it. You will see a folder called mkbootimg_tools-master and inside that folder you will see 2 folders. One called ARM and one called README.md Now we are going to copy the ARM folder to data/local/tmp and paste it inside of the tmp folder.
3. Now we need to go the ARM folder that you just copied inside tmp and set the permissions to 0777 (rwxrwxrwx) and also set the same permissions for each file inside the ARM folder.
4. Now go inside the ARM folder and copy the bash file to system/xbin and set the permission to chmod 0755 (rwxr-xr-x)
5. Ok now copy the boot.img file that we pulled onto your sdcard inside the ARM folder and leave the permissions for that file 0666 (rw-rw-rw-)
6. Open up your terminal emulator app and type su > press enter
7. Now we are going to change directories to the ARM folder which we want to be in by typing cd data/local/tmp/ARM > press enter
########################################
Now to unpack your boot.img
1. Type ./mkboot boot.img bootfolder > press enter and you will see the magic happen. It will automatically create a folder called bootfolder which is your project folder and you can name it whatever you like but I like to call it bootfolder and if I was unpacking a recovery.img I would call it recoveryfolder
2. So now you have your unpacked boot.img.
3. Now go to your terminal and type cd bootfolder > and press enter. We are going into your bootfolder now because that is where your ramdisk.gz is located and we are now going to decompress your ramdisk by typing gunzip -dc ramdisk.gz | cpio -i > and press enter and it will decompress your ramdisk for you.
4. So now you have unpacked a boot.img and also learned how to decompress your ramdisk.
########################################
How to decompress a ramdisk in lzma format
1. ./mkboot recovery.img workfolder
2. cd workfolder/ramdisk
3. Now type lzma -dc ../ramdisk.lzma | cpio -i; strings *.ko
4. Now you will have your lzma compressed ramdisk inside your workfolder
#######################################
Now we are going to repack your boot.img
1. In your terminal type cd .. > and press enter so you will move back 1 directory into your ARM folder.
2. Now to repack you are going to type ./mkboot bootfolder boot.img > and press enter and that will repack your boot.img for you
*wherever you saw me type a > don't ever type that as I was just showing that you are done the command or syntax and your are ready to press enter
Source code https://github.com/ModdingMyMind/mkbootimg_tools/commit/6c44267b4a8a43504c870678c68df6a31b8e2f18
Screenshot - https://www.dropbox.com/s/se171tzgnf6wp0q/Screenshot_2015-03-12-02-49-50.png?dl=0
Screenshot - https://www.dropbox.com/s/5bzt8p6l2ltosl6/Screenshot_2015-03-12-02-50-04.png?dl=0
Thanks to @leonardoafa for being a great help & friend

How different is it for a recovery image file please?

Is the same, just put your recovery.img in the ARM folder and you might want to call your project folder something different than bootfolder (ex; recoveryfolder) so you don't get confused or forget

Oh yes, however ramdisk folder is empty when you use only a recovery image. Less content of course.

image45 said:
Oh yes, however ramdisk folder is empty when you use only a recovery image. Less content of course.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When i use twrp everything is working perfect. Your ramdisk is probably in a lzma format I'm guessing
As you can see im inside of my ramdisk folder, which is inside my recoveryfolder
https://www.dropbox.com/sc/ffyy2ndrkl57hn4/AACV__FpJuScCvIvErx2WFffa

@image45 i added how to decompress a ramdisk in lzma format to the op

Nice guide :good:

Yes very detailed, thank you.

@skulldreamz
Hi my friend, do you still want to learn about scripts.
Please go to telegram app.
Thanks

@image45 can you sendme your image that uses a lzma compressed ramdisk. The project supports lzma so there should be no need to decompress it manually however, if the project is not doing what it should already be doing then I need to debug the script, find the culprit, make my fix, and push the changes to my github. Would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

app
Hy,
I use this app for long time to open boot.img and extract ramdisk.
The app asked then if you want open the ramdisk also.
Only click on your boot.img and in 4 sec its open.
Second function is to pack a boot.img.
Very simple to use, also for beginners.

konsolen said:
Hy,
I use this app for long time to open boot.img and extract ramdisk.
The app asked then if you want open the ramdisk also.
Only click on your boot.img and in 4 sec its open.
Second function is to pack a boot.img.
Very simple to use, also for beginners.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It only decompresses gzip ramdisks. Doesn't support other types unless you modify the ramdisk.sh script used inside the apk. It also doesn't support images with dt binaries which is more common nowadays. I use to use this a long time ago but to say it simple, it is outdated and lacks support.
However, if it works then I say use it. Especially if the person isn't comfortable with command lines.

Very helpful thx

Thanks
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

I see this is an older thread but tried it on my Nexus 6p. When I repacked boot it was significantly smaller in size. It also has the warning of non standard address. Anything I should do or be aware of?

Fe Mike said:
I see this is an older thread but tried it on my Nexus 6p. When I repacked boot it was significantly smaller in size. It also has the warning of non standard address. Anything I should do or be aware of?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try using mkboot....
https://github.com/xiaolu/mkbootimg_tools

The Sickness said:
Try using mkboot....
https://github.com/xiaolu/mkbootimg_tools
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you, bare with me as Im fairly new to this. Just to be clear, when i go to link there is the ARM folder that has all the same stuff in it or the single mkboot file thats 9.46mb in size? Not sure how to download just the mkboot file. When i click it, it just opens up the code. Do i copy and paste the code?

Fe Mike said:
Thank you, bare with me as Im fairly new to this. Just to be clear, when i go to link there is the ARM folder that has all the same stuff in it or the single mkboot file thats 9.46mb in size? Not sure how to download just the mkboot file. When i click it, it just opens up the code. Do i copy and paste the code?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have to clone the source using "git clone" in your terminal. Which means you need to be on Linux

The Sickness said:
You have to clone the source using "git clone" in your terminal. Which means you need to be on Linux
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, I was able to clone using cygwin. But i was reading in the forums that the size of extracted boot from phone will not be the same as it being repacked. So I used original files from this post and and just extracted, unpacked, and repacked. Then just flashed img thru twrp and everthing went well. Thank you for your response.

SHM said:
It only decompresses gzip ramdisks. Doesn't support other types unless you modify the ramdisk.sh script used inside the apk. It also doesn't support images with dt binaries which is more common nowadays. I use to use this a long time ago but to say it simple, it is outdated and lacks support.
However, if it works then I say use it. Especially if the person isn't comfortable with command lines.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why haven't you made something like this, he's just using someone else's tools, please MMM, you're the man

[Tutorial] NOOB-Friendly Instructions on Packing and Repacking system.new.dat file

I am a Windows user, and I was having quite the trouble unpacking and repacking system.new.dat files. I tried all sorts of Windows Chinese tools for the job, but no matter what I did, when I put the system.new.dat file and system.transfer.list file back into the flashable zip (even if I made no changes to the system.new.dat file... just unpacked and repacked), I would get an error flashing the file.
I finally got around this by installing Ubuntu 16.04 Xenial Xerus on VirtualBox. You can find a lot of tutorials online about how to do that. I am basing my instructions off of xpirt's tutorial on unpacking and repacking with the tools he provides. But it took me about 2 days to figure it out because I kept running into problems since some of the instructions made assumptions that the user knows how to use Linux. I am very new to Linux. I am not completely sure how to do *everything* from the command line, so if someone wants to add to my instructions to make it easier, please do so. But these are the things I did to figure it out.
So here are the noob-friendly Linux Ubuntu instructions on how to unpack and repack:
Section 1: Getting everything Ready
1. Download your flashable .zip rom. In my case, I downloaded cm-12.1-20150619-UNOFFICIAL-afyonltetmo.zip to my Ubuntu Desktop. You can download it to your Home Directory as well. Doesn't matter.
2. Download sdat2img. I downloaded mine to my Home Directory.
3. Download img2sdat. I also downloaded this to my Home Directory.
4. Extract all 3 zips, by right clicking on them and choosing 'Extract Here.' It will extract them into their own directories. The main directories that you need to pay attention to are /sdat2img-master/ and /img2sdat-master/
5. Download ext4fs either right into the sdat2img-master folder, or anywhere you want and then drag and drop it into the sdat2img-master folder.
6. Open Terminal, and install Python 2.7, if it's not already installed. Put
Code:
sudo apt-get install python-2.7 python-pip
Section 2: Beginning the Unpacking Process
*Note, you can copy and paste the codes; however, you can't use keyboard shortcuts in terminal. You have to right click and choose your option.
*Another note: Where you see "user" in the terminal commands, substitute it with your Linux username.
1. In your extracted folder from your flashable zip, right click on system.new.dat and system.transfer.list and choose 'cut.' Then paste them in the sdat2img-master folder.
2. Back in Terminal put
Code:
cd sdat2img-master
. That will get you into the right directory.
3. Now put
Code:
./sdat2img.py system.transfer.list system.new.dat system.img
. That will create your raw ext4 .img file.
4. You want to create an output directory for all the files that are in system.img. Put
Code:
mkdir output
5. Now you can mount system.img, and it will mount it into that output folder. Put
Code:
sudo mount -t ext4 -o loop system.img output/
6. You might have the problem that you don't have ownership of all the files (they have little "locks" on them). To gain ownership, put
Code:
sudo chown -R user:user /home/user/sdat2img-master/output
. If you still can't get read and write access, just try rebooting your Ubuntu virtual computer. That was the only thing that finally worked for me. You can start modifying stuff as you wish.
Section 3: Compress files back to a raw ext4 image
1. You are now going to need your file_contexts file from your original extract rom zip. COPY (not cut) and paste it into the sdat2img-master folder.
2. You are also going to need your 'make_ext4fs' file. Make sure it is in the sdat2img-master folder. You might have trouble with permissions, so just in case, put
Code:
chmod 777 /home/user/sdat2img-master/make_ext4fs
into terminal.
3. In Files (Ubuntu's "File Manager"), in the sdat2img-master folder, right click on your system.img file and go to 'Properties'. Notice the information in "Size." Ignore the GB, but look at the bytes. Mine is 2,411,724,800. Copy that number, but remove the commas. So mine is 2411724800.
4. Next is the actual compressing part. Put
Code:
./make_ext4fs -T 0 -S file_contexts -l 2411724800 -a system system_new.img output/
into terminal, but substitute '2411724800' with whatever size you got from the Properties in system.img. You will now how a new file called system_new.img.
Section 4: Converting ext4 (raw image) to img (sparse image)
1. Now you will need to install img2simg. In Terminal, put
Code:
sudo apt-get install android-tools-fsutils
2. Now you can put
Code:
img2simg system_new.img system_new_sparse.img
You will now have a file called system_new_sparse.img that is ready to be packed in a new dat file.
Section 5: Converting img (sparse image) to dat (sparse data)
1. Cut and paste your system_new_sparse.img into img2sdat-master folder that you made earlier.
2. Now you need to navigate to that folder in terminal. Put
Code:
cd /home/user/img2sdat-master
3. Now you can put
Code:
./img2sdat.py system_new_sparse.img
to create your new dat file. It will first ask you which Android version it's for. Enter the number corresponding and hit enter.
4. You're now pretty much done. As you'll see, it created 3 files: system.new.dat, system.patch.dat, and system.transfer.list. Just paste these files into your folder where your flashable zip files are, replacing any original ones in there. Make sure you also have your file_contexts file in there as well. Highlight all the files in there, right click, and zip them up. Then name your flashable zip whatever you want and try flashing!

How to set zram swappiness for budget Android device

Today I'm gonna write on how to set zram swappiness for budget Android device which have zram built in it. This method does not requires rooting but involves boot.img editing and requires flashing.
What you need is:
1. Boot.img file extracted from the ROM file package or just dumped from your rooted device.
2. ADB tools installed.
3. Bootimg.exe tool (Download from the attachment here)
4. Notepad++
5. Patience
Here's how to do it:
1. Create one empty folder and place both boot.img and bootimg.exe tool in one place and then, Ctrl+right click to open CMD/PowerShell in the folder. If you're using PowerShell, run the command cmd after launching.
2. Run the command bootimg.exe --unpack-bootimg boot.img to extract the boot.img file.
3. Go to initrd folder and open up init.rc or init.[device-chipset-name].rc with Notepad++ and find the code snippet that are usually like this below (Press Ctrl+F and key-in the keyword swap or swappiness for quick search):
on property:ro.config.zram.support=true
setprop sys.vm.swappiness 80
write /proc/sys/vm/page-cluster 0
start zram
4. After finding the code snippet inside the init.rc or equivalent file, edit the setprop sys.vm.swappiness line and edit the default value to 100 which stands for aggressive swap mode. Then save the file.
5. Next, you have to repack the boot.img file back by running the command bootimg.exe --repack-bootimg and the file boot-new.img created.
6. Flash your device with boot-new.img via fastboot with command fastboot flash boot boot-new.img and boot the device.

[GUIDE] How to fix the touchscreen in TWRP (Moto G 5G)

In this guide a describe how you can easily fix the touchscreen issue in TWRP for Moto G 5G.
Before providing the necessary steps, I would like to express my gratitude to the guys here, especially Andrew Hexen for providing the sources and instructions to build the TWRP for this great device.
Building the TWRP from source might result in a recovery without the touchscreen support. To fix that, you can follow these simple steps.
First, we need to extract the touchscreen drivers from the phone. To do this, you need to boot to TWRP. Connect your phone to your PC, open up the terminal and type:
Bash:
# reboot to bootloader
adb reboot bootloader
# boot to recovery
fastboot boot twrp.img
Wait for the phone to boot to recovery. If your phone uses password/PIN or other forms of protection you might have to decrypt the filesystem before proceeding. You can use OTG mouse to do that.
On your PC, in terminal type:
Bash:
adb pull "/vendor/lib/modules/" <path to where you want the modules folder to be pulled>
This will pull from the phone all the necessary drivers, among those are the drivers for the touchscreen. (Probably you could pull just the touchscreen driver, but to be sure I pulled everything.)
On you PC, use Android Kitchen to unpack the recovey image. I usually use the terminal to go to the Android Kitchen folder and I run:
Bash:
./unpacking.sh <path to your twrp.img>
Then go to ramdisk folder that was created by Android Kitchen
Bash:
cd ramdisk
and manually create the following folder:
Bash:
sudo mkdir -p vendor/lib/modules
Then copy the drivers you previously pulled from your phone to this folder:
Bash:
sudo cp <path to modules folder with drivers>/* vendor/lib/modules/
In the ramdisk folder open the init.rc file. We need to open it as su user. You can use:
Bash:
sudo gedit
and then open the file from the editor.
Find the following lines:
Code:
# Load properties, Android 6.0+, vendor init lives here
on load_persist_props_action
load_persist_props
and add a line after load_persist_props so that you get:
Code:
# Load properties, Android 6.0+, vendor init lives here
on load_persist_props_action
load_persist_props
start load_modules # this is the line you must add
Use Android Kitchen to repack the image:
Bash:
cd .. # to move back to the folder where Android Kitchen is
./repacking.sh
You'll get a file called image-new.img. That's your new recovery with a working touchscreen!
I'm sure there's a better way to do this so feedback is welcome.

I tired your method and completed with a newimage file, and flastboot booted off it. Still had touch problems, files attached. Vendor.zip was placed in ramdisk\vendor\lib\modules. Any ideas?
Thankyou
PS (edit): would anything needed to be added to ramdisk/vendor/manifest.xml?

Lostwon said:
I tired your method and completed with a newimage file, and flastboot booted off it. Still had touch problems, files attached. Vendor.zip was placed in ramdisk\vendor\lib\modules. Any ideas?
Thankyou
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lostwon said:
I tired your method and completed with a newimage file, and flastboot booted off it. Still had touch problems, files attached. Vendor.zip was placed in ramdisk\vendor\lib\modules. Any ideas?
Thankyou
PS (edit): would anything needed to be added to ramdisk/vendor/manifest.xml?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
PPS I am trying this on the Moto G stylus xt2043-4. I just noticed thats not the phone you wrote this for, Im going to pull and umpack my stock recovery and compre that to the Twrp3.4 image and see whats missing .