Database Info

Root system mode

Hi guys,
My Pixel are systemlessly rooted with Magisk since many months now, but for some reasons I'm tired by the method of Magisk: I want to touch at the /system partition, move or delete or edit system files and apps, and with Magisk I can't do it.
Okay, Magisk was pretty useful for keeping Safetynet pass, but with Xposed this ability becomes useless for me. Only things I'm still using is Magisk Hide for using Netflix or NFC paiment app, and Sony Framework module for using PS4 Remote Play.
Before I'm using Magisk and his systemless mode I was using SuperSU, and with it I had no problem with the system partition or with différents things like flashing Viper4android (didn't works whatever the way I use, magisk module or old system mode, it says the drivers need to be reinstalled), mouting partition/making file partition in Linux Deploy, stop background app, modifying the booting apps...
So I'm here now: are they exist a method for having system mode root and still using magisk modules ? Or maybe I've using the wrong way with Magisk and I've missed something for properly having root access ?
Thanks for your help ?

billiepreks said:
So I'm here now: are they exist a method for having system mode root and still using magisk modules ? Or maybe I've using the wrong way with Magisk and I've missed something for properly having root access ?
Thanks for your help ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the whole point of magisk is to systemless modifications. I'm not sure that I follow all of the modifications that you want to make to the system partition?? or rather the specific apps that you want to use... but I can tell you that your /system partition (and others) are just mirrored with magisk and are tmpfs file systems...
I think the real /system lives in /dev/magisk/mirror/system, unless I'm mistaken....
question though; if you prefer SuperSU and only use magisk for safetynet, then why not just use a custom kernel that passes safetynet + SuperSU + suhide?. ... and then use that xposed or whatever....
anyhoo, you definitely have root access. but the intention with magisk and it's modules is to modify the system without actually modifying it directly....

nine7nine said:
the whole point of magisk is to systemless modifications. I'm not sure that I follow all of the modifications that you want to make to the system partition?? or rather the specific apps that you want to use... but I can tell you that your /system partition (and others) are just mirrored with magisk and are tmpfs file systems...
I think the real /system lives in /dev/magisk/mirror/system, unless I'm mistaken....
question though; if you prefer SuperSU and only use magisk for safetynet, then why not just use a custom kernel that passes safetynet + SuperSU + suhide?. ... and then use that xposed or whatever....
anyhoo, you definitely have root access. but the intention with magisk and it's modules is to modify the system without actually modifying it directly....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your help ?
If Magisk create a mirror of /system as your said, this explain many things that I didn't knew since now.
This night I've made a clean installation of my Pixel, on stock 7.1.2 NJH47F with ElementalX 1.15 for hiding the unlocked bootloader, then I've flashed SuperSU 2.82 SR5. On xda I've seen that suhide 0.55 are discontinued since one year, and suhide-lite 1.09 who works with SuperSU 2.89 are uncompatible with Xposed, so I didn't flash it. There is a way to hide SuperSU with Xposed ?
For my needs with the /system partition, I'll try to explain better myself, I give you some examples:
- Uninstalling system app in ES Explorer or TiBu, it works but after reboot those apps are still here.
- Editing files like build.prop, unable to save the edited file or to replace original file by a modified one
- installing Viper4android drivers, it says "drivers needs to be reinstalled" everytime I launch it
- Linux Deploy, an app for running GNU/Linux distrib on your device, works the first time I launch it, but after reboot he said he didn't get root permission or found busybox, it's very strange.
Many things who worked before with SuperSU 2.79.
Edit : and what about SuperSU and CCMT ?

billiepreks said:
If Magisk create a mirror of /system as your said, this explain many things that I didn't knew since now.
This night I've made a clean installation of my Pixel, on stock 7.1.2 NJH47F with ElementalX 1.15 for hiding the unlocked bootloader, then I've flashed SuperSU 2.82 SR5. On xda I've seen that suhide 0.55 are discontinued since one year, and suhide-lite 1.09 who works with SuperSU 2.89 are uncompatible with Xposed, so I didn't flash it. There is a way to hide SuperSU with Xposed ?
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Click to collapse
You should look in Magisk's log to get a better idea of how it changes your system. trting to modify /system is pointless since it is a tmpfs mount (temperary)...
unfortunately, i can't help much with xposed. i don't use it. after it didn't work with Nougat, i ported a couple of it's modules to my rom (at the time) and then i got the pixel and i run Oreo + my own custom kernel + magisk...
xposed isn't providing any 'suhide' tyype functionality?
billiepreks said:
For my needs with the /system partition, I'll try to explain better myself, I give you some examples:
- Uninstalling system app in ES Explorer or TiBu, it works but after reboot those apps are still here.
- Editing files like build.prop, unable to save the edited file or to replace original file by a modified one
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
again, no point in editing your /system partition, it's a tmpfs mount, of course - any modifications will disappear on reboot.... you probably need to edit the real /system partition to make any change stick.
as far as the other apps, they obviously are trying to modify your aystem partition, which is why they don't work.... i think that you could install soumd mods via magisk modules?
i would recommend.consulting relevant forum threads on specific topics/apps though. u are bound to get better solutions&.

@billiepreks
Did you find the solution?
I'm in the same situation.

Did you try using TWRP's filemanager? I think it has true system access. You just need to mount the partition.

[GUIDE] How to root any Pie-based GSI

I think anyone who tried flashing Magisk on any of the latest phh GSI discovered that wifi, mobile data and calls suddenly get their teeth kicked in.
Since nobody appears to care about that issue much, we have to make do with a workaround.
Credits go to @xJovs for being the one to actually provide proper steps in this post, but since not many people will be lucky enough to stumble upon it while desperately searching through threads, I decided to make a thread here for all the lost souls.
Although the custom kernel part is supposedly optional, one can't say no to a functional custom kernel on Pie.
1. Download the ab superuser and the superuser apk from HERE and the SmurfKernel
2. Get your hands on a TWRP image
3. Boot into it with fastboot ( at the moment we can only boot into TWRP since Magisk is a no go )
4. Flash the SmurfKernel
5. Reboot into the OS
6. Boot into TWRP again
7. Flash the superuser ab zip
8. Boot into the OS and install the Superuser apk
9. Enjoy raw root permissions ( without all the Magisk goodies but still better than nothing )

Niiiiiiice

Also no one cares that substratum still won't work with this root method anyone found also a workaround for that ?

CroW_D said:
Also no one cares that substratum still won't work with this root method anyone found also a workaround for that ?
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Click to collapse
Yeah, I don't know why it won't work. Root permission should be root permission, after all.

The Marionette said:
Yeah, I don't know why it won't work. Root permission should be root permission, after all.
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Click to collapse
I thinks since it needs vendor 9.0 and not 8.1 could be

CroW_D said:
I thinks since it needs vendor 9.0 and not 8.1 could be
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Click to collapse
Vendor should have no effect on root permission.
And we can't use the 9.0 vendor on any phh GSI due to incompatibility.

The Marionette said:
Vendor should have no effect on root permission.
And we can't use the 9.0 vendor on any phh GSI due to incompatibility.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried with coming from h2os last time and magisk and subs was working but breaking other things. So I guess it should be vendor

This method kinda roots the phone. You can't use system root. Things like moving files through root explorer won't work cause you can't access system root. Things like substratum won't work cause of that

Nice Work and thanks for sharing!

romen288 said:
This method kinda roots the phone. You can't use system root. Things like moving files through root explorer won't work cause you can't access system root. Things like substratum won't work cause of that
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Click to collapse
I guessed that but didn't get to confirm it since I switched back to OOS Beta 1.

Substratum theme left remnant apk in system/app but I can't delete it

I installed substratum with root access via magisk and tried to install a systemui theme for the fingerprint scanner on my oneplus 6t. The theme didn't take so I removed overlays (just in case) uninstalled overlays then uninstalled the theme and them substratum as well. When I look in /system/app I see a file _com.somefilename.apk that relates to the theme I installed. I cannot delete this file as it says device or resource busy.
It's taking up 15mb so I want rid of this but I can't work out how. Substratum seemed to think I have no themes installed or active at the point I uninstalled it.
Please help

beartiger said:
I installed substratum with root access via magisk and tried to install a systemui theme for the fingerprint scanner on my oneplus 6t. The theme didn't take so I removed overlays (just in case) uninstalled overlays then uninstalled the theme and them substratum as well. When I look in /system/app I see a file _com.somefilename.apk that relates to the theme I installed. I cannot delete this file as it says device or resource busy.
It's taking up 15mb so I want rid of this but I can't work out how. Substratum seemed to think I have no themes installed or active at the point I uninstalled it.
Please help
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Click to collapse
I'm guessing the file is locked by Android OS. You could try deleting it in recovery via ADB on a computer.
Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

Acid0057 said:
I'm guessing the file is locked by Android OS. You could try deleting it in recovery via ADB on a computer.
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I thought of that but when I mounted system in TWRP I couldn't find the file in the location. I'm not very well versed in the Linux fs and so don't know if maybe it's symlinked or something like that.

beartiger said:
I thought of that but when I mounted system in TWRP I couldn't find the file in the location. I'm not very well versed in the Linux fs and so don't know if maybe it's symlinked or something like that.
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Click to collapse
Sorry I'm also not much help beyond that suggestion. Maybe it's created on boot.
Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

beartiger said:
I thought of that but when I mounted system in TWRP I couldn't find the file in the location. I'm not very well versed in the Linux fs and so don't know if maybe it's symlinked or something like that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you're using magisk, open magisk manager's settings and switch to "core only mode" then reboot, and try deleting it again. Magisk can't mount the system as read/write properly if you have any modules running. This might be the problem.

Android 10: unable to "Mount R/W", what do I do?

I just installed the latest Android 10 for Pixel/Sailfish. I have use Magisk to root using the Boot Image Patching, as TWRP doesn't works yet for Android 10/Sailfish. I have enabled systemless host in Magisk and rebooted.
Now I have installed the latest version of FX File manager. When I goto root (granted root) within FX, I click mount R/W, it said that the folder is read-only. I had the same issue with EX file explorer.
I mainly want to edit a few files in /etc/permissions/ and move a few apps to system apps
What can I do to get the mount R/W to work? These are my normal steps on Android 9 to get this to work, I am unsure if I am missing anything

From my limited understanding and a few brief trawls of Google you can't write to system on 10 as you could in 9 or lower. Probably a job for a magisk module/terminal and edit it in a systemless way so to speak.
You can fastboot boot twrp 3.3.1-0, decryption works, it may show mounting errors but it does work, been using it to flash magisk and ROMs on my sailfish without problem.

junglism93 said:
From my limited understanding and a few brief trawls of Google you can't write to system on 10 as you could in 9 or lower. Probably a job for a magisk module/terminal and edit it in a systemless way so to speak.
You can fastboot boot twrp 3.3.1-0, decryption works, it may show mounting errors but it does work, been using it to flash magisk and ROMs on my sailfish without problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is what I suspect also. I do know 10 is quite new.
I have been able to flash Magisk no issues. Root access is fine (adblock, titanium backup works). HOwever, I can't seem to mount r/w using a file explorer. I suspect this has to do with the way Google have upgraded its security, but I'm not fully sure.

pennywaltz said:
I just installed the latest Android 10 for Pixel/Sailfish. I have use Magisk to root using the Boot Image Patching, as TWRP doesn't works yet for Android 10/Sailfish. I have enabled systemless host in Magisk and rebooted.
Now I have installed the latest version of FX File manager. When I goto root (granted root) within FX, I click mount R/W, it said that the folder is read-only. I had the same issue with EX file explorer.
I mainly want to edit a few files in /etc/permissions/ and move a few apps to system apps
What can I do to get the mount R/W to work? These are my normal steps on Android 9 to get this to work, I am unsure if I am missing anything
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can't do anything. As you've been told before, the system partition can't be edited by the user on Android 10. Whether it is because of security or something else I don't know, but it's not possible at the moment.

Here is the explanation:
https://www.xda-developers.com/android-q-storage-access-framework-scoped-storage/
There are some workarounds detailed in this article but I haven't been able to get them to work.

[Help] - Can't R/W on Root Explorer after root by Magisk

Dear All,
I am using the Pixel 5 with Android 13 Build No: TQ1A.230105.001 and I rooted by flashed the image from Magisk app through ADB.
I checked and the phone said ROOTED and I cant grant access to apps but when I change font by any app, it isn't work and I copy in Root Explorer, I can't change the button "MOUNT R/W".
What can I do now? Should I re-root or flash again???
Thank you and waiting for your help.

Some new versions of android restrict it, and you have to do so through recovery.

Arealhooman said:
Some new versions of android restrict it, and you have to do so through recovery.
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Click to collapse
can I install TWRP on Andoird 13???

dpn025 said:
can I install TWRP on Andoird 13???
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Click to collapse
Yes. You Amy be able to set your system to rw through stock recovery, take a look if you can mount it.

Arealhooman said:
Yes. You Amy be able to set your system to rw through stock recovery, take a look if you can mount it.
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Click to collapse
please help me, I can't understand it.

do you have atock recovery? Or TWRP?

Arealhooman said:
do you have atock recovery? Or TWRP?
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Click to collapse
I'm still stock recovery.

Boot into stock recovery. Take a photo for me. If you can’, just tell me if there’s a option that starts with “mount” and what does it say?

From Android 10 and above, the system has changed to one Super Partition. This means that the system cannot be mounted as R/W as it's Read-only by nature.
There is a tool Universal SystemRW that supposedly converts the Read-only to R/W. I haven't tried it personally but it looks very promising.

swangjang said:
From Android 10 and above, the system has changed to one Super Partition. This means that the system cannot be mounted as R/W as it's Read-only by nature.
There is a tool Universal SystemRW that supposedly converts the Read-only to R/W. I haven't tried it personally but it looks very promising.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, TWRP can mount too. And stock recovery for some devices

Root explorer is screwed up for some pixel ROMs including lineage so I don't know about stock. It will crash when trying to read many files, specifically text files you should normally be able to read or edit. It's working on the latest pixel experience ROM but crashed on two other roms I was trying

dpn025 said:
please help me, I can't understand it.
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Click to collapse
use material file manager. It's the only one that seems to be working right now