Database Info

How to... copy/move files stored in a Smartphone ROM?

I can't copy or move files stored in device ROM.
I've tried with Resco Explorer and Total Commander, but without success.
I didn't understand if there's a registry hack that allows these operations.
I've notice (or so it seemed to me) that I was able to substitute/copy/move some files having the ROM attribute, but many others not (eg: I've tried to copy the nleddrvr_sec.dll, obviously without success, otherwise I'd post this here!).
Surfing in many forums, I read many others asking for the same thing, unfortunately I haven't seen answers to their question about this.
Hope someone explains to me how to do or why is impossible to do.
Mersì bo q.
Gubbài.

You can not copy / move / delete files in ROM. Thats the point of "Read Only Memory"
These files are not stored as individual files but are in fact packed in a special way as part of the device image which can only be written (flashed) by special tools.
If you want to extract OS files you need to use a ROM dump tool.
I suggest you look in the WiKi.
What you can do is overwrite one or more "ROM files". What will happen in reality is that a copy of the file with the same name will be placed in storage memory and the system will go there. If you hard reset your device or rename the file it will go back to the original file.

levenum said:
You can not copy / move / delete files in ROM. Thats the point of "Read Only Memory"
These files are not stored as individual files but are in fact packed in a special way as part of the device image which can only be written (flashed) by special tools.
If you want to extract OS files you need to use a ROM dump tool.
I suggest you look in the WiKi.
What you can do is overwrite one or more "ROM files". What will happen in reality is that a copy of the file with the same name will be placed in storage memory and the system will go there. If you hard reset your device or rename the file it will go back to the original file.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As you said here and here (Changing Files in Windows Dir )
it's impossible to move/copy ROM files, just overwrite 'em.
Doing so the system looking for these overwritten copies.
So now the question are:
- there's a registry entry that points to this substitute ROM files?
- to modify an existent file resident in ROM I MUST dump my ROM or another one same or similar?
Mersì bo q, anyway.
Gubbài.

Android app that roots your phone

Hi all I am putting together an android app that will making the rooting process much easier. This thread is discuss issues and suggestions with this app.
I have the app near done, the biggest problem is that I cannot format the sdcard as fat32. Is formatting to fat32 required. Why do we do this? What is the real need to do this?
I have not tested the app out yet, but so far this is how it has been put together. There is a main activity with textboxes that have the urls of the files needed to root (dreaimg.nbh, recovery.img, hardsplupdate.zip, JF_RC33update.zip) and there are buttons for each step in the process to download these necessary files and extract them if needed and put them on the sdcard and renaming them properly. You can change the urls to something else if needed.
so you click the first button it downloads the .nbh and puts it on the sdcard and then prompts the user to turn off, power+camera on, flash. when phone is on then reinstall this app and go to step 2 (because it would of been lost when flashed)
you click the second button it downloads recovery.img and hardsplupdate.zip. renames the files appropriately and puts them on the sd. it runs a script to do the recovery.img flash. It then prompts you to restart into recovery mode and gives the instructions on flashing the hardspl. and tells you to reopen this app when done
you click the third button it downloads the latest JF firmware (lets just say the RC33 flavor) puts it on the sdcard and renames it as update.zip. it prompts you to restart into recovery mode and do the flash.
Anybody see any possible problems with this logic? Also what do people think about maybe packing some of these files in the app instead of having them be downloaded?
Update: app is working http://allshadow.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=5229
I am still looking for help to make it better.
I need devs to help make it nicer.
I am also looking for someone who's familiar with the update.zip package, to pack the radio, hardspl, and jf_rc33 all in one update file.
If anybody is interested in helping, PM me

I dont think its that big of a deal to format the card yourself, but why not make an app on the desktop that does some of the work for you, like formatting the card, then downloading and renaming the files needed to get started?

Packing the files into the app is going to make the app big. I like this whole idea though.

when you flash the .nbh it does a wipe on its own so one would need to re-download the app after that unless you can get it to stick somehow, i like the idea, is each button of the app just running a script? like to get the dreaimg.nbh have a script that runs:
"$wget [url to the .nbh file]
$echo 'please reboot your phone into SPL by holding the camera and power button'"
or did you have some other idea?
i like the idea but i am just not sure how easy this would be to code as i am just used to writing scripts that do everything for me.
or you could follow Kllian's advice and make a desktop program that does all this. i could easily write a script for linux that would do it, and a .bat file wouldn't be too hard either. you would just need to have adb and you could have the scipt/batch reboot the phone into recovery to do the flashing of each update.zip
pm me if you have an questions or would like me to write a script to do all this

tubaking182 said:
when you flash the .nbh it does a wipe on its own so one would need to re-download the app after that unless you can get it to stick somehow, i like the idea, is each button of the app just running a script?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
tubaking brings up a good point.
I have an idea that possibly could resolve the "wiping" issue. What you do is, the initial app would be placed on the desktop (assume RC30). From here you'd downgrade the firmware to RC29.
The problem is though, the app you are scripting will be wiped. SO...
How about saving it on the SD temporarily.
THEN modifying the .nbh file to restore the <rooting app> to desktop (from SD)
Just throwing some stuff out there.
IF you need some help, hit me up.

if anyone knows how to convert a .sh bash script from linux to a .bat batch file for windows then i already have the script written, send me a PM to get it. or we could port it into java, but i don't know how to do that stuff. tomorrow i will upload my script onto 4shared and provide a link here as long as it works. keep in mind that i am on a linux machine and my script will not work in M$ windows. i don't know a damn thing about mac, so i have no idea if this will work or not for them.
my script is nearly completely automated, the only thing you need to do is hit ENTER a few dozen times, i will also write a completely automated one that sleeps rather than waits for you to hit enter, but it will take longer to run most likely since i will have to oversetimate the sleep time.
hopefully i can find a windows machine and learn what commands in the cmd are equal to the commands in my terminal

akapoor said:
tubaking brings up a good point.
I have an idea that possibly could resolve the "wiping" issue. What you do is, the initial app would be placed on the desktop (assume RC30). From here you'd downgrade the firmware to RC29.
The problem is though, the app you are scripting will be wiped. SO...
How about saving it on the SD temporarily.
THEN modifying the .nbh file to restore the <rooting app> to desktop (from SD)
Just throwing some stuff out there.
IF you need some help, hit me up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
modifying ,nbh files is no easy task, i tried it once and fortunately for many people GSLeon3 was able to help me fix my tilt. i think the .bat or .sh would be the easiest way to root your phone

Tubaking,
Send over the file you have. Ill work on converting it to a .bat, useable from windows.
Email : akapoor92_at_gmail.com
I should have it soon, but since its like 3:30am here, I'm off to bed. Haha

tubaking182 said:
modifying ,nbh files is no easy task, i tried it once and fortunately for many people GSLeon3 was able to help me fix my tilt. i think the .bat or .sh would be the easiest way to root your phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Uh, you'd not only need to modify the nbh file, but you'd also need to sign it with the Google OTA keys - otherwise the phone will refuse to flash it.
If it were possible to create Google-signed nbh files we'd dispense with all this downgrading nonsense and just create an nbh of the latest JF firmware with root and directly flash that.
The issue is that until you've patched the recovery loader the phone won't flash anything that isn't signed by Google. The reason we can get around this is that there is a leaked signed file with the old firmware version, and that version happens to contain a vulnerability that you can use to get root access. Once you have root access you can reflash the recovery loader with a new one which accepts the test keys. At that point you can dispense with the hacks and begin directly flashing whatever you want.
In any case, rooting a phone is serious enough of a matter that we probably shouldn't be encouraging anybody who can download an app to do it. They should at least have some confidence in reading and following obscure instructions online, because of anything goes wrong later that is what they'll be doing...

Thanks for all your input. I have been trying to hold hand people through the root process and it is a real pain. Biggest issues are people not being able to unzip files correctly, rename files correctly, and the biggest thing is the recovery.img step and typing in the commands.
- .nbh cannot be patched because it is signed.
- yes my app will get wiped because of the .nbh flash. It does tell the user to reinstall this app once done with the .nbh step and then continue
- i prefer an android app, so people can do it without a computer and without having to install the sdk
- the app does not run a script to get the files. it uses some android sdk functions to download files. it does use the unzip linux command to unzip, not sure if this will work because of permissions, i may have to figure out how to do it from the sdk. the app does run a script to do the recovery.img step, during this step we should already have root so no issue there with permissions.
Biggest problem I see is Fat32 format I heard it is not absolutely necessary. Does anyone have any more information about why this needs to be done?

it IS necessary, you need the card formatted in order to do the NBH flash, after that you should be ok. most card come formatted in the box they came in so anyone that said they didn't need to format their card is lying because is was already formatted to fat 32

in the RC29 firmware is there a su command in /system/bin/ or are all commands run as root without having to call /system/bin/su ??

moussam said:
in the RC29 firmware is there a su command in /system/bin/ or are all commands run as root without having to call /system/bin/su ??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
from what i've read, in the RC29 version andything you type on the home screen gets put through a root shell as well all on it's own

I have a feeling whoever makes this app is going to sell iot for a ridiculous price on the market

My script is written but requires the user to do certain things, later I hope to have it be completely automated after a certain point and it will be free. After I get it written in linux shell I will be converting it to use in windows. Expect my automated root to be available for download by the weekend.

I got the app pretty close to done. I hope to put something up tonight or tomorrow that you guys can test. I am not going to charge for this app, I want to give it for free so everybody can have root and a more rich experience.
The place were I am stuck right now is the unzipping of the DREAIMG.NBH file from its zip file after it is downloaded. I am using java.util.zip I am not sure if the problem is because the file is so big or if I am doing it wrong. does anyone have an android java unzip code snippet?

The app now downloads files for you and unzips them if needed. THere is an issue with the unzipping though, after around 25 MB of unzipping DREAIMG.NBH i get this error...
java.io.IOException at java.util.zip.InflaterInputStream.read(InflaterInputStream.java)
anybody have any suggestions? Is their not enough memory to unzip the files or something?

For now I am not going to let the .nbh file be zipped up. THe app instead will have to download the full uncompressed .nbh file.
So it is ready to be tested, if you want to try it out PM me, I do not want to just post it and have everybody use it until it has been tested more.

Good news the app works on downloading the .nbh file and then flashing you to RC29. It then successfully downloads the recovery.img and hardspl update.zip
I had someone testing it and when they ran the recovery script the mount command gave them mount: operation not permitted. Is this correct? I know without root it is supposed to give you mount: permission denied.
If this is correct the app is working, and I just need someone else to confirm.
Mike

Does anybody else want to help with the coding of this project? If so create an open-source repository and I will add the current source in there.

Google Experience only

I am happy with what I have since the new update from Viewsonic.
If I only want to add Google Experience, marketplace, do I still need to go through the process of rooting, installing clockwork and a new UI?
Is there just a simple way to add GE to the Classic UI?

Gapps install
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=842590

Everyone,
I have had zip luck with this method of installing zapps. Not a dev, but I've been doing this long enough.....
I moved the Recovery file to to /sdcard. Checked for command and command line inside that file All ok to my eye.
Downloaded the gapps file which my WinRAR pronounces a WinRAR/Zip file. So I tried renamein the original update.zip and didn't get any install. So I extracted using winRAR. Still no install.
I tried the permutations as well. Extracted using G-Tablet extract. Still no results.
There must be something I am missing here -- too much holiday cheer or too many crowds or whatever.
Suggestions?!
Rev

butchconner said:
Everyone,
I have had zip luck with this method of installing zapps. Not a dev, but I've been doing this long enough.....
I moved the Recovery file to to /sdcard. Checked for command and command line inside that file All ok to my eye.
Downloaded the gapps file which my WinRAR pronounces a WinRAR/Zip file. So I tried renamein the original update.zip and didn't get any install. So I extracted using winRAR. Still no install.
I tried the permutations as well. Extracted using G-Tablet extract. Still no results.
There must be something I am missing here -- too much holiday cheer or too many crowds or whatever.
Suggestions?!
Rev
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I HAD to resort to putting on Clockwork Mod 0.8 to get GApps on my G Tablet.
Putting the update.zip on the internal and sd card storage did not work for me either with the newest update installed.
Clockwork Mod is a super easy install - just follow the instructions on how to install G Apps...basically: put CWM on your SD card in it's root (meaning NOT in any directories) and rename it update.zip, put the corresponding recovery directory on the SD as well. I use Winrar as well, I drag the recovery directory right from the file itself and to the SD Card.
Will look like:
Drive: update.zip
Drive: /recovery/command
basically.
Flash it the normal stock way (power and volume +). I press Power and Volume + without even powering off the device, because if the device is powered down and then you start it and miss that first start up, the device WILL delete the recovery/command file and the update won't flash.
GL

I don't officially get to play with my GTab until after package opening tomorrow so I can't do anything today, but I'm trying to line up my to do list. I have never rooted, flashed, or modded anything but am not afraid to play around as long as I don't brick the tablet.
What do you mean when you say "put the corresponding recovery directory on the SD as well. I use Winrar as well"? What is the corresponding recovery directory? What do you use Winrar for? I Googled "winrar" and found " WinRAR is a shareware file archiver and data compression utility developed by Eugene Roshal, and first released in the fall of 1993.[1] It is one of the few applications that is able to create RAR archives natively, because the encoding method is held to be proprietary. " I cannot figure out why it would be needed to load the standard Android market.

MSU_Sparty,
When you do updates (or installs) that have to be flashed onto the internal sdcard, they usually com in pairs of files. You will have an update.zip file that has the update in it (DUH!) -- and accompanying it will be a "Recovery" directory that has a command file in it (The command file has only one line that "calls" the update.zip file.
WinRAR "Zip" utility enters the picture because most of the devs here use WinRAR to package updates. The when they tell you to decompress it, you use WiinRAR and are left with a .zip file to install.
That's the question I had about this update. The Gapp file show to be a RAR package, but when I un-RAR it I come up with no .zip file -- only regular files.
Hope this helps you understand.
Rev
P. S. -- If you are new to this business, take it slow and easy and read ahead on this site and make sure you understand what you are doing. I try to do that, but even with years of IT experience I still mess things up once in a while.

Neoprimal,
Thanks for the tip about CWM. I have two tablets and the other has CWM on it and is fairly modded.
But this tablet I am trying to keep basically stock so I can get updates, etc. and see what the "state of product" is.
As mentioned in my previous answer, I am stumped because I am not getting what looks to be an update.zip file from the Gapp download. When I use WinRAR to decompress the Gapp file, I don't get a .zip file -- only a couple of directories. On the other hand, when I rename the Gapp file update.zip and try to flash it it doesn't work.
Again, thanks for the reply.
Anyone else with suggestions!!!????
Rev

Thanks. What you've written really does clarify the previous post. I appreciate it.
But let me ask another naive question. Why don't the developers create their update programs so they can be installed by just downloading them OTA like most applications? That would sure make it easier for neophytes. I'm guessing that the reason is because we aren't really adding an application but replacing the OS.
I greatly appreciate your guidance and that of all of the folks who use this forum.
Happy Holidays!

[Q] can someone help me increase my test recipients above 10

I am using a Samsung Focus S, I have tried the Advanced Config, Registry Editor and everything and it won't save my settings. I am interlop and chevron unlocked

Welcome to the wonderful world of AT&T! Why would you ever want to do that? <eye-rolling goes here>
That said, while AT&T does appear to cap the recipients themselves, you can certainly try increasing that limit on the phone. To do that, you'll need to edit the registry, as you appear to have figured out.
The apps you mention (in fact, pretty much any interop-requiring app) won't work on a Focus S (or any other second-gen phone) right now - Samsung changed the drivers used for high-privilege access to apps, and the apps written for first-gen phones can't use them.
Instead, you'll need to use provxml, deployed using ZIP path traversal and processed using the Diagnostics app (basically, what you did for WindowBreak, but with your own file). First, you'll need to build the provxml file. If you look at the Windowbreak zip file (I suggest you use 7-Zip, as it will keep the .. folders correctly) you'll see that it has an xml file buried in it, which contains registry "provisioning" commands (the format is called "provxml"). Alternatively, you can look up the format for registry provisioning directly from MS: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/embedded/gg155017
OK, so you've created your provxml file (or edited an existing one) to update the correct registry value with the data you want to use. Next, get that file onto the phone. You can either put it in a ZIP file that you email to yourself, or put it in a XAP file (which is just a renamed ZIP, again 7-Zip is your friend here as it will automatically recognize the archive format) and install that file to the phone. In both cases, it'll need to be in a folder called something like "..\..\..\..\..\provxml\" (if you look at the Windowbreak zip file, you'll see this).
Then, just follow the same instructions you used for WindowBreak but select your own file instead. The registry should be changed!

GoodDayToDie said:
Welcome to the wonderful world of AT&T! Why would you ever want to do that? <eye-rolling goes here>
That said, while AT&T does appear to cap the recipients themselves, you can certainly try increasing that limit on the phone. To do that, you'll need to edit the registry, as you appear to have figured out.
The apps you mention (in fact, pretty much any interop-requiring app) won't work on a Focus S (or any other second-gen phone) right now - Samsung changed the drivers used for high-privilege access to apps, and the apps written for first-gen phones can't use them.
Instead, you'll need to use provxml, deployed using ZIP path traversal and processed using the Diagnostics app (basically, what you did for WindowBreak, but with your own file). First, you'll need to build the provxml file. If you look at the Windowbreak zip file (I suggest you use 7-Zip, as it will keep the .. folders correctly) you'll see that it has an xml file buried in it, which contains registry "provisioning" commands (the format is called "provxml"). Alternatively, you can look up the format for registry provisioning directly from MS: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/embedded/gg155017
OK, so you've created your provxml file (or edited an existing one) to update the correct registry value with the data you want to use. Next, get that file onto the phone. You can either put it in a ZIP file that you email to yourself, or put it in a XAP file (which is just a renamed ZIP, again 7-Zip is your friend here as it will automatically recognize the archive format) and install that file to the phone. In both cases, it'll need to be in a folder called something like "..\..\..\..\..\provxml\" (if you look at the Windowbreak zip file, you'll see this).
Then, just follow the same instructions you used for WindowBreak but select your own file instead. The registry should be changed!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You just got a thanks and I will learn that stuff one day...

[Modify BOOT LOGO!] Samsung Galaxy S6

Welcome. Today I am going to teach you how to modify your android boot logo!
Modify at your own risk! I strongly recommend that you do not try this. But if your going to attempt this, make a BACKUP! I will explain the backup process down the page!
This method has been tested on the Galaxy S6. I RECOMMEND you do NOT attempt this method on any other smartphone other than the S6!
I own a Samsung Galaxy S6 [SDK21 ARM64] and my carrier is Straighttalk. This method might possibly work with the newer Android smartphones. In other words, attempting to do my method will probably not work with androids running 4.4.2 or lower. I will first explain why.
According to what I researched, there is a file in the root directory of the Android system that contains a file called "initlogo.rle". That is your boot logo. Older Android phones had this. The .rle is a bitmap extension and cannot be edited with Android. Actually, let me rephrase that, the .rle COULD MAYBE possibly be edited if you were to download the right tools off of the Play Store but computers can identify .rle as a bitmap very easily and can be opened. Windows computers can open .rle according to what I researched.
The initlogo.rle is also part of the boot.img. The boot.img contains the kernel and the boot files (like init.rc), that are necessary for the phone to boot up. Modifying your boot.img requires a computer. You can't just replace the initlogo.rle with another one. To make changes to a boot.img, you need to unpack the ramdisk, replace or modify the files, repack, and THEN flash the modified boot.img to make the changes.
Newer Android smartphones don't have initlogo.rle. Or at least MINE doesn't. Instead, I had to search for my boot logo which took my quite a while. After searching deep into the android system and messing around with the files, I came accross PARAM.
If you were to go in the /dev/block/platform directory, you would come accross a file called PARAM. Mine was in the directory /dev/block/platform/15577000.ufs/by-name. Inside that directory is basically the whole system. You will find files like BOOT, EFS, OTA and all that. You will also notice that all those files look empty. They all show 0.00B. I don't know exactly why that is, but they aren't really empty files.
My official boot logo was in the file "PARAM". What I did was copied it to my internal directory and attempted to extract it. After trying different extensions, I founded out that .tar is the correct extension. So to extract it, I renamed "PARAM", to "PARAM.tar". After doing that, you will be able to actually extracted it and be left with files with .jpg. Basically pictures inside it. I used root browser. :good:
Inside, you should find "logo.jpg". And whatta ya know! It's your boot logo!
I used PicArt to create a custom boot logo. It is a really great app! You can get it off the Play Store. Then I renamed it to logo.jpg and replaced the original logo.jpg with my newer one. Make sure it is named "logo.jpg" or there will be errors!
Now the last step is to archive the files through .tar format. I used root browser to do that. To correctly archive the files, multi-select the .jpg files. In other words, DON'T SELECT THE "PARAM" FOLDER!!!
When archiving the files, use LZMA compression option along with tar.(Look for that with root browser). This will not compress the files as much which will reduce the risk of errors.
Once it's archived, rename the new archive file to just "PARAM".
LAST STEP! Before overwriting your PARAM, copy your modified PARAM into the /system folder and set the correct attributes (PERMISSIONS) to -rwxrwxrwx. Now you are ready. Copy "PARAM" to the same director where you originally got your unmodified PARAM file. It will ask you if you want to overwrite. Say yes.
I was now introduced with a different boot logo. My phone never got bricked during the process. However, with Android, ANYTHING can happen, so I will give you some advice. If you have a custom recovery, you can easily restore PARAM. Make a copy of your original PARAM and put it in your internal directory. If something ever goes wrong, you can use the file manager (like with TeamWin) and replace the currupt PARAM with your backup PARAM. Then set the permissions to -rwxrwxrwx or 0777
I strongly recommend that you do not try this. Yes, I took the risk and was able to safely change my boot logo. However, not all Android devices are the same so be very careful if you are attempting to do this one an Android device OTHER than the Galaxy S6.
Leave comments if you have any questions!