Database Develop

Cracked Screen, How to blind copy data to replacement??

I just got my captivate 1 month ago (first android). I rooted the phone and installed Cognition 2.3b6 right when i got it. I have never backed up the phone.
2 days ago the phone dropped from about 18 inches onto the bathroom floor. Cracking the interior of the screen. Origintally i could see the top half, the touchscreen hardly works. Now i can only see a faint blue color when i boot hte phone. It still works, i get alarms and feel it vibrate.
I understand that I might be able to do a nandroid backup (is it possible to do it blind?), but is that the correct thing to do? Will that change the deviceID of my replacement phone from AT&T (insurance replacement).
I would like to get the data backed up and transferred over asap so i can pack the old phone up and ship it off before the holidays.
Thank you guys!

adb pull /sdcard
Some one else might be able to help you with the specifics, but pull the /sdcard data from your phone.
From a phone

what?
I figured i need to probably copy it to the sd card. But from what i understand, some applications rely on DeviceID's and not the actual phone. Ergo, if you do a complete nandroid backup it will also copy over the DeviceID (from what i understand, correct me if i'm wrong).
Or is that something different than what you are suggesting?

Your data is stored in /sdcard. The external sdcard is /sdcard/external_sd for froyo, cant remember file path for 2.1. What else could you be wanting to transfer to the new phone?
From a phone

I've never done it before, I want to be able to transfer all data (ie, installed apps, cached notebooks for evernote, preferences, etc) to the other phone.
I have never done this before on an android phone and don't know the best way to tackle this using a cracked screen (can't even unlock the phone)
I think I can manage to do a nandroid backup ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEqbjUb4WxM ) but i'm concerned about the device id

Cassetti said:
I've never done it before, I want to be able to transfer all data (ie, installed apps, cached notebooks for evernote, preferences, etc) to the other phone.
I have never done this before on an android phone and don't know the best way to tackle this using a cracked screen (can't even unlock the phone)
I think I can manage to do a nandroid backup ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEqbjUb4WxM ) but i'm concerned about the device id
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are 2 way i can think of.
1- Like mentionned in prior post do a adb pull /sdcard
2- Boot into recovery and try to a backup from there blindly (following online pictures/video of the different menus and pressing the buttons accordingly).
I don't see the big deal about your deviceid. Many users have had a auto generated id with roms. It will be ported with the nandroid. Not sure just how wide spread the use of deviceid is used in apps.

Thanks I was really confused about the whole DeviceID thing. Figured it was best to play it safe.
I'll give it a try, i'm sure i can manage to do a nandroid backup on my phone
I'll keep you posted

There are ways of getting your device id back. First of all theres a market app that can backup the device id on your new phone and restore it back after you restore the backup http://www.appbrain.com/app/android-id-changer/adaptive.cogid Or you could search around the forums and/or google for ways of changind and backing up your device id, there are multiple ways of doing it. And don't forget about backing up your sdcard, like boborone said, do an adb pull /sdcard from the clockworkmod screen (adb works from recovery in case you didn't know).

Hell man, you can adb pull the whole phone if you want.
From a phone

Can you send the link to where i can find out how to do and adp full pull from the pc? The only instructions i'm seeing are for the android sdk (bit confused)

the sdk is downloaded to your pc, and then you run that command from a terminal/command prompt with the phone connected.

kmac1914 said:
the sdk is downloaded to your pc, and then you run that command from a terminal/command prompt with the phone connected.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do i need to have left the phone in USB debugging mode? I believe 3 days before the accident, i turned off USB debugging on purpose (for file transfers)

Check out my Screencast video...It may help you here.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=877652

Cassetti said:
Do i need to have left the phone in USB debugging mode? I believe 3 days before the accident, i turned off USB debugging on purpose (for file transfers)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe you can use adb from recovery screen.

connexion2005 said:
Check out my Screencast video...It may help you here.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=877652
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, the screencast helped, but i honestly think that 2 days before i did this, I turned off usb debugging (so i could use my phone as a hard drive)
I think that is why whenever i plug in my phone, it vibrates really hard and droid explorer doesn't find any devices. Suggestions?

[FIXED] Password glitched, need help

Hi there guys.
First I just want to explain that I am not new to Android in general, but have almost no knowledge of Samsung models specifically. It seems they work much differently than my xperia, and so I am lost.
Anyway,
My niece has a Rogers captivate, stock 2.3.3 that was password protected. She changed the password to something new, and the phone glitched and won't accept the pass now.
Her password was very simple, only one word, so we know it was the phone and not her mistake. We tried different spellings, even typos just in case. Didn't work.
Basically, now she's locked out. I read on multiple sites the phone would ask for her email (we know those details ofc), but instead it just does a 30 second timer, then allows the pass to be put in again..
I'm trying to find out how to disable the password without wiping the phone. She has a lot of games, and some apps that are no longer in the market. Is it possible to install recovery and use an update zip to replace the file where that setting is stored? Or alternately, would we be able to access adb from recovery and do it that way?
The bottom line is that we need this:
A way that allows her to keep the apps and personal data while removing the password.
Thanks in advance.
UPDATE: I couldn't find info on adb password removal (I saw for pattern unlock but not password), or loading adb through recovery, so instead I did this:
-Flashed a cwm kernel with Odin
-mounted storage through cwm
-backed up everything from sd to my computer
-installed cm7
She is now enjoying cyanogen although her contacts hadn't been set to sync for some reason, so they're all gone. But hey, at least the phone is usable again.
Sent from Silent Earth 3

How to: AT&T EPTT push to talk working on any rooted ATT Android model phone.

EDIT: I have figured out how to make the EPTT work on any rooted android phone. Skip to post #6 for the tutorial and proof.

ProStreetCamaro said:
I have rooted and installed SU. I have tried Helium to backup the app on my old S3 then install the app on my new S5. It wont register that way. I tried Device spoofer to make it look like an S3 and it still wont register. I found an older thread where the guy said it worked with both above mentioned methods on his Note 3. But they dont seem to work on the S5. Anybody have any other ideas? Is the network possibly seeing the S5 sim card and simply going NOPE not happening or does it read the device info instead? If it is the sim maybe they can reactivate my S3 sim and maybe I can get it working that way?
Any thoughts or help would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try using Titanium Backup and doing the exact same thing; back up the app on your S3 to your SD card, move the card to your S5, restore the app. Should work fine. I've never worked with Helium.

cmerlyn said:
Try using Titanium Backup and doing the exact same thing; back up the app on your S3 to your SD card, move the card to your S5, restore the app. Should work fine. I've never worked with Helium.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will give that a try. It seems like helium backs everything up except for the registration data and the network even when i spoof it still knows it is an S5. They told me at the store they expect eptt to be updated to work with the S5 soon but how long is "soon"? A week or two is no big deal but any longer becomes a real issue. I use it all the time. Luckily I have a paid subscription to titanium so when i get home I will give her a whirl and see what happens.

Same issue. It tries to activate on the network and it wont allow it.

You have to fix your sd permissions use this app.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nextapp.sdfix

Ok guys here is the way to do it if anybody else ever runs into this situation. Device spoofer does work but it makes everything on the screen super small and after you activate EPTT and get it up and working then switch back to the stock profile it then stops working again.
In order to get the EPTT app to work on all non supported ATT android phones you must change the phones model number. I followed this tutorial and it worked perfectly. You must be rooted.
http://www.skytechblog.com/2013/01/change-mode-number-to-galaxy-s4-or.html
"Requirements:- A rooted Android device, Root explorer & patience
So let's Start..!! Video Tutorial
1. Start the Root Explorer app.
2. Go to System folder its in the root if the device
3. Make sure that System is in Read/Write from the top right
corner.
4. Look for a file named
build.prop in system folder.
5. Long press it for Options and then choose Text editor.
7. Search the line as followed ro.product.model= and then change the text after = sign to whatever you like your Model number to be displayed.
8. Press back and hit Save.
9. Exit the app and Reboot or simply Power off and on it.
That's it...its done now check the edited name in Settings>About phone> Model number
To get back to the original:- Just delete the build.prop and rename the build.prop.bak again to build.prop and reboot "
I changed mine to an S4 which is supported. The registration network looks for the Model number to verify it is being used on a supported device. Simply change it to the name of a supported device and waaa laaaa working EPTT.
As you can see by the icon at the top left I am signed in to EPTT and it does work great on the S5.
I know very few use this but for those that do and want a newer phone then here is your 100% working answer if you are willing to root your phone.

[Q] Interop-unlock Ativ S with latest software (8.1 Update 1 or later)?

Hi,
with all those Lumia posts I'm wondering if it is also possible to interop-unlock a Samsung Ativ S with the latest software (8.1 Update 1 or later) on it *without* a prior downgrade to 8.0 GDR2/GDR3. If it is possible please tell me how or where to find the answer (my search yielded no result so far).
With interop-unlock I mean accessing the 'full' file system and registry and having additional capabilities just like it was/is possible with 8.0 GDR2.
Thanks.

Unblock RPC (file called "Non-production errors.txt" in the Documents folder of the phone, if I recall correctly). There are now two options:
First option: use chamber hijacking.
* Move an app with ID_CAP_INTEROPSERVICES (I like to use HTC's silly "Converter" app; it should still be available on all devices, but other targets are more popular) to the SD card.
* Either sideload or unzip and copy the contents to the SD card an app that uses Samsung RPC to write to the registry. You may need to remove ID_CAP_INTEROPSERVICES from the app before sideloading.
* Use any of the several tools for app hijacking, or do it manually (remove the Hidden and System flags from D:\WPSystem, then rename D:\WPSystem\apps to something like D:\WPSystem\apps1, then delete the files from the install folder of the app that you're hijacking, then move or copy the files from the install folder of the app that uses RPC into the install folder of the app you're hijacking; don't forget to un-rename the apps folder afterward).
* Run the hijacked app; it should by the registry editor app you replaced it with instead, and you can now interop-unlock the phone.
Second option: Use @djamol's "Root Tool" app from the Store, or another app that can modify its own capabilities via SD card tricks.
* Install "Root Tool" from the store; it should show up in Search.
* Move it to the SD card if it wasn't installed there to start.
* Run the app, hit Help, and follow the instructions (several of them are similar to the manual instructions above, but at the end you have to move the app from SD back to Phone before the trick works).
Note that in either case, the EnableAllSideloading app won't work (technically BootstrapSamsung will, but you shouldn't use it since it assumes EnableAllSideloading will be used afterward). Microsoft basically removed the capability that EnableAllSideloading relies on.

Thanks for your reply! So basically the same way works with Ativ S that works with Lumia and you don't need the Samsung diagnosis tool anymore. You just need SamWP8 or a similar tool that uses Samsung RPC after unblocking RPC.
I'll give this a try on the next weekend(s). :good:

Yeah, basically just that. The diagnosis app no longer has the registry editor, and the steps needed to launch to a specific page in an app (such as the reg editor) are technically still possible but are identical to just installing an interop-based registry editor (via hacks), so do that instead.

GoodDayToDie said:
Yeah, basically just that. The diagnosis app no longer has the registry editor, and the steps needed to launch to a specific page in an app (such as the reg editor) are technically still possible but are identical to just installing an interop-based registry editor (via hacks), so do that instead.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But after is it possible to unlock all capabilities?

How to interop-unlock now?
Mattemoller90 said:
But after is it possible to unlock all capabilities?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm curious about that as well.
I tried the second option from (you) GoodDayToDie: It is not possible to use Samsungs Registry Editor component from Root Tool after following the instructions (moved app to SD, deleted the two files, moved stuff from HACK-subfolder to its parent, moved app to phone memory; file "Non-Production Errors.txt" exists in Phone\Documents -- BTW: Is the file name case-sensitive?). The general registry editor from Root Tool works, but with this one it is not possible to write several important keys (e. g. MaxUnsignedApps).
After this I tried the first option: I can successfully deploy CustomPFD (replacing Preview for Developers by hand or with CustomWPSystem). But what to do then?
I tried replacing Preview for Developers with SamWP8, but the app won't start then (getting "Loading ..." for about ten seconds then it closes); also tried commenting some capabilities of SamWP8 and repeating, but has no effect.
Deploying SamWP8 or IO Explorer using application deployment tool obviously fails because of missing interop capability.
This is a fresh and clean installation of WP 8.1 Update 2 now if it should matter.
Any further hints would be appreciated.

My Samsung died months ago (spontaneous hardware failure; I wasn't even hacking on it at the time) so I can't test Samsung-specific things anymore.
The steps as described (by both you and me* *should* work - I assume you rebooted the phone afterwards - so if it's not then I'm confused. The registry editor in Root Tool is mildly terrible and sometimes gives error messages when stuff actually works, but if it's really not working then I'm not sure what you do about that.
As for unlocking all capabilities, that's going to take a little work. The hack used by BootstrapSamsung unlocks one capability, and technically it could be applied to *all* the capabilities, but it changes the registry value type and loses a couple of NULL bytes at the end of the value every time you do it, which is potentially going to break things if you do it to all the capabilities / leave the capabilities in that state for long.
For what it's worth, if you're willing to hard-reset, the OemSettings.reg method mentioned in a few other threads should work too. It requires writing to a normally-unreachable part of the file system, but the Samsung RPCComponent class allows you to do this. I haven't tested it, though, and it does require a hard-reset.

Im interested in this too
If it does not work then what to do if im on 8.1 update already?
@up
AFAIK path is
Unblock RPC Functions proved easy. You just need to create an empty file:
Phone \ Data \ Users \ Public \ Documents \ Non-Production Errors.txt
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe that's why it didn't worked if you put it just in documents.
I just want to change black/white background-color and accent color in registry. That's all.
Regards

GoodDayToDie said:
My Samsung died months ago (spontaneous hardware failure; I wasn't even hacking on it at the time) so I can't test Samsung-specific things anymore.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ouch, too bad. Would be really useful to have your helping hands on getting this done.
The steps as described (by both you and me* *should* work - I assume you rebooted the phone afterwards - so if it's not then I'm confused. The registry editor in Root Tool is mildly terrible and sometimes gives error messages when stuff actually works, but if it's really not working then I'm not sure what you do about that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did reboot.
Is there an app with a basic registry editor out there so I could at least change phone manufacturer like I could with Root Tool (Root Tool doesn't seem to be available in the store anymore)?
As for unlocking all capabilities, that's going to take a little work. The hack used by BootstrapSamsung unlocks one capability, and technically it could be applied to *all* the capabilities, but it changes the registry value type and loses a couple of NULL bytes at the end of the value every time you do it, which is potentially going to break things if you do it to all the capabilities / leave the capabilities in that state for long.
For what it's worth, if you're willing to hard-reset, the OemSettings.reg method mentioned in a few other threads should work too. It requires writing to a normally-unreachable part of the file system, but the Samsung RPCComponent class allows you to do this. I haven't tested it, though, and it does require a hard-reset.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried to use ROMRebuilder, but it just gave me "Failed " when tapping "Backup". But with full file system access I copied OEMSettings.reg zip-file out of the known C:\Windows subdir, extracted the .reg-file, appended all the unlock stuff, repacked and put it back to its original place overwriting the original file (with Root Tool, because in Windows Explorer I didn't have the right to write - Root Tool told me it was successful. I didn't double check ). But after resetting (About - Reset phone) no unlock or access to C:\ was there. Looks like the stock ROM. What went wrong..?
Edit: Used CustomPFD for registry access. Looking at "This PC\Samsung ATIV S\Phone\Windows\Packages\RegistryFiles\OEMSettings.reg" I can see that it is the original file, not my modified one. Is this file restored from somewhere upon reset or did my copy action fail?
Edit2: Tried using vcREG_1_2_BOOTSTRAP (replaced Extras & Info). It gives me an error about missing ID_CAP_INTEROPSERVICES, so it can't do anything.
And CustomPFD can't write MaxUnsignedApp. :-/

Not sure if ROMRebuilder is smart enough to use Samsung's RPC instead of Nokia's for moving the file into place, but regardless it requires interop itself (at least, I'm not sure how it could work otherwise). Root Tool definitely requires interop in order to overwrite Windows files, although it can do so. For the record, for stuff like just reading files or registry values, you can use the (normal-caps) version of my webserver; might be a bit easier.
vcREG should work, assuming it supports Samsung RPC - I think so, but I haven't checked - and you use the whole app hijacking thing correctly. Did you launch the hijacked app after the installation? Pretty sure Extras+Info has interop, so that *should* work.
EDIT: Assuming that the Samsung RPC service is working at all. I don't know of any easy way to test that short of just trying to do things with it, though. I don't think they "fixed" the RPC unblock, though...

GoodDayToDie said:
Not sure if ROMRebuilder is smart enough to use Samsung's RPC instead of Nokia's for moving the file into place, but regardless it requires interop itself (at least, I'm not sure how it could work otherwise). Root Tool definitely requires interop in order to overwrite Windows files, although it can do so. For the record, for stuff like just reading files or registry values, you can use the (normal-caps) version of my webserver; might be a bit easier.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay, so it probably didn't replace the file at all but only showed a success message. Grmbl. Which file manager would you recommend for moving the file to its place or in general?
vcREG should work, assuming it supports Samsung RPC - I think so, but I haven't checked - and you use the whole app hijacking thing correctly. Did you launch the hijacked app after the installation? Pretty sure Extras+Info has interop, so that *should* work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ohhh, you mean if I started the app that's about to be hijacked before actually hijacking it? No, I did not. (Not sure what Extras+Info would do on a Ativ S...)
But I do have to?
Edit: Removed Extras&Info (with dummy.xap), installed it again, started it (it actually works) and replaced it with vcREG_1_2_BOOTSTRAP.xap. Started vcREG, but it still gives me "error initializing. check if you have correct permissions (ID_CAP_INTEROPSERVICES). registry functions disabled".

I've also deployed CustomPFD and original preview for developers to sdcard. I have access to the registry but can't write values
Have you tried to hijack Extra+Info permissions with CustomPFD? It does not work with original PFD but it may work with Nokia one. I can't find Extra+Info xap to test, sorry.
Ok tried to deploy ROMRebuilder and hijack original PFD permissions. ROM Rebuilder just crashes on start (no message) WP 8.1 14157.

Installed ROMRebuilder with deleting Capabilities from xap and deployed it from deployment tool.
Manually removed PfD with SD hack and replaced it with ROMREbuilder.
It starts but when pushing "Backup" it says FAILED
Jesus im so tired with this phone...
ROM flasher does not work at 8.1 x64 even with test mode..

Ezio21 said:
Have you tried to hijack Extra+Info permissions with CustomPFD?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes I have. CustomPFD doesn't start in this case (it does when I'm replacing Preview for developers).

cerebos said:
Edit: Removed Extras&Info (with dummy.xap), installed it again, started it (it actually works) and replaced it with vcREG_1_2_BOOTSTRAP.xap. Started vcREG, but it still gives me "error initializing. check if you have correct permissions (ID_CAP_INTEROPSERVICES). registry functions disabled".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your phone can't initialize Lumia RPC.

So what can we do?

What apps are there that use Samsung RPC to write to the registry? I know SamWP8 and IO Explorer. Any more?

@cerebos
Huh im sorry but it seems that only one way to get that Interop unlock is to flash GDR3

I flashed GDR3 but there is NO WAY to unlock your phone anymore. WP 8.0 developer registration is down. You can't install developer unlock helper and can't interop unlock your phone.
Also because of Samsung firmware update you can't install custom rom on wp8.0
How to interop unlock WP 8.0 without developer unlock? Any way? Or we're locked forever?
As far as I know you can still use beta apps on windows store. Is there anyone with personal developer account reading and could upload Interop_Unlock_Helper_Debug_ARM.xap as BETA to the store and send me the link? I would be very grateful (
@-W_O_L_F- maybe?
We're in very bad situation now. Thanks for any help or advices

Based on the Posting here (by @-W_O_L_F-) it looks like 8.1 Update 2 can't be interop-unlocked. So I'll need to downgrade first.
Edit: Assuming vcREG could write to Samsung Registry is only true for a small set of values, it is never true for interop-unlock. For this you need a registry editor with Samsung's RPC components.

custom Rom or change of 4.4.2.Retail.EU

Hello,
I'm a beginner lost in reading all the useful information on this forum.
I started with the idea to reduce the permissions of applications of my Razr I.
Google pointed to this http://www.xda-developers.com/protecting-your-privacy-app-ops-privacy-guard-and-xprivacy/
And I'm really happy and surprised about all information I can find here, thank you that much for
making this possible to all of you!
As today I feel ready to start playing around with my phone I wanted to ensure I understood the items right.
May be for you it takes only some seconds to verify my guess and can give a short notice
about Step 2 or 3 is easier to become implemented.
Step 1.) I wanted to do a full backup before I start, following this thread:
So I'll install ADB on my PC and run "adb backup -f FullBackup.ab -apk -all"
This works on a Razr I with 990.43.74.xt890.Retail.en.EU - of the shelf and is not risky at all - or?
Could you pls. tell whether it is really true I can switch back to my backup if I'm not happy with my System?
Step 2.) My first intention was to root my device and install Xposed framework
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2299428
http://repo.xposed.info/module/de.robv.android.xposed.installer
And to use Permission Master out from google play store
First of all I wanted to ask you whether this is feasible technicaly and esp. for a beginner?
Alternative to Step 2 Step 3?
Step 3.) In general I'm happy with my Razr I Android 4.4.2 (990.43.74.xt890.Retail.en.EU)
But I'm wondering whether it would be easier or has less risk to use a custom ROM instead of implementing Step 2.
By reading in this forum I found out there is a planty of features FM-Radio, enhanced stand-by current ,
to get rid of preinstalled aps and so on.
I'm an embedded developer but do not have the overview about the architecture of Android devices, what I got so far is:
There is a bootloader which needs to be changed from OEM closed to open.
There is a boot partition I flash ROMs in.
I need some tools on my PC combined with SDK and Motorola drivers to allow a USB-Debuging and flashing.
And sure as always once your bootloader is damaged you are lost, so I understand even backup will not help here.
So I'll keep my fingers crossed.
Thanking you in anticipation and pls accept my excuses about my english and stupid beginners questions.
Best Regards
gonso
PS:
As I main entry point I used the
http://forum.xda-developers.com/razr-i/general/index-razr-t2832722
from there I'll try to get ADB, drivers etc.

Hi GonsoXDA,
Step 1: I have never used it. Didn't even know that it existed. On the internet there are numerous people who uses it and it seems to work. Maybe someone else can give some info about this or just try it. U can try it with a non-important app and see if it works. Just backup it, delete it and restore it.
Step 2: This works just fine. But do know 3 things:
1. First root: To get root on stock rom, u need to use kingsdroot methode afaik. And that one sends your IMEI to some rare ip adress. I personnaly don't trust this and stay away from it, but there are many people who use it.
2. Xposed requires a recovery to install the framework. It can be done mannually or by the app i suppose. With only root u don't have a recovery on your device that can perform such action.
3. If something goes wrong only a full restore with RSD-Lite can most of the time help u out. Because u don't have a recovery that works than.
Step 3: We only have 2 full roms. 1 for JB (stock) and a working CM11 rom (kitkat).
Only the Jellybean roms support fm-radio, on every newer rom fm-radio is cut out of the audio firmwares. The risk of going to this is even less as Step 2, because u can do a full backup and restore of ur phone. ( I would chose for this if u want to play a bit with the phone and ur warranty is already out of years)
The gereneral idea about the android architecture is this (it is different for almost every device and the Razr I has many more thing to hold into account, but if u are here only for the roms and xposed, there is no more to know):
Bootloader: Is like an uefi bios for PC, but then for android. It also contains fastboot
Bootimage(boot): Has all the info like kernel and ramdisk to boot the system
Recovery: Is like 'boot', but boots into the recovery partition that lets u change every aspect of the device if u know how. Its mainly used to flash a custom recovery to, backup and restore a nandroid backup and flash/wipe roms, mods, (all/specific) data and packages.
Systempartition: Is the system the boot boots into. It's android.
Datapartition: Where all the user data is stored.
Cachepartition(dalvik): Where all cache is stored and in earlier android versions also dalvik. But not now anymore.
Fastboot: To flash/wipe the above partitions and many more (needs drivers)
Adb: To push, pull, command things in system or recovery (needs drivers)
Sdk: contain the abd and fastboot packages, but aren't needed for adb and fastboot because with the right drivers can work on there own (see the internet)
If u have a custom recovery and only change things on the system, data and cache partition there is almost no way to damage the phone. There is always a backup through recovery. As long as u stick to the things u can do in recovery.
The only thing tha can mesh up your phone beyond repair is doing wrong stuff withint the bootloader and other inner parts in the phone(like i did to get newer kernel working) or u are in bad luck and you internal memory blocks. See 'Super brick samsung phones' (emmc error).
I suggest:
- Unlock your bootloader
- Install custom recovery
- Make a backup with the recovery
- Do what u want, xposed on stock rom, try CM11?
- If things won't boot, restore through recovery
And always, read up before doing anything. There are thousands of articles about android, flashing things, repairing android, using adb and fastboot. AND ALWAYS HAVE A BACKUP PLAN!

Hello,
always having a backup seems not to be that easy.
So I unlocked my boot loader and tried to install twrp2850 and twrp2860 via mfastboot.
The mfastboot with 533.353kB caused the following "(bootloader) Variable not supported!"
I rebooted into bootloader and tried recovery -> horizontal Android man with a red !-rectangle
After reboot to normal power up my phone seems to be in factory reset, all my data is gone :crying:
ok crying dosn't help so I looked around and tried with another mfastboot 186.178kB and recoverycwm6.0.5.1.4.img.zip
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2441224
The twrp I tooked from here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2278483 seems not to work.
I did a backup with cwm is there a change to get back my data? I think I know the answer.
In the meanwhile I installed
http://forum.xda-developers.com/razr-i/development/rom-unofficial-cyanogenmod-11-t2966855
And will try to install
http://forum.xda-developers.com/xposed/modules/tool-installer-xposed-installer-zenfones-t2983589
Thank you for the help, work and excuse the stupid beginner posts.
Regards
gonso

gonsoXDA said:
Hello,
always having a backup seems not to be that easy.
So I unlocked my boot loader and tried to install twrp2850 and twrp2860 via mfastboot.
The mfastboot with 533.353kB caused the following "(bootloader) Variable not supported!"
I rebooted into bootloader and tried recovery -> horizontal Android man with a red !-rectangle
After reboot to normal power up my phone seems to be in factory reset, all my data is gone :crying:
ok crying dosn't help so I looked around and tried with another mfastboot 186.178kB and recoverycwm6.0.5.1.4.img.zip
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2441224
The twrp I tooked from here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2278483 seems not to work.
I did a backup with cwm is there a change to get back my data? I think I know the answer.
In the meanwhile I installed
http://forum.xda-developers.com/razr-i/development/rom-unofficial-cyanogenmod-11-t2966855
And will try to install
http://forum.xda-developers.com/xposed/modules/tool-installer-xposed-installer-zenfones-t2983589
Thank you for the help, work and excuse the stupid beginner posts.
Regards
gonso
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Than u know the answer, it is no I think.
Both twrp images should work just fine, but always chose the latest. The message "(bootloader) Variable not supported!" doesn't do anything So don't worry about that one. There should be a lot more in you log that the message if twrp didn't install. U did extract it and flash it with the command: mFastboot flash recovery <recovery-image>. Where <recovery-image> could be C:/users/*/Downloads/recovery.img.

Hello,
yes sure "The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future"
So I use CM11 now for about 2 days and I'm really impressed, so far everything works :good: THANK YOU!!!
As I asked already I installed XPosed and Permission Manager, but I found XPrivacy might be the better solution and switched to this.
(Today I do not have all the technical background to judge whether it is technically equivalent, but I'll investigate on it)
Esp. one thing I'm wondering, why XPrivacy is reading my Contacts once I check the permissions of an app?
But the more important thing I recognized differences between CM11 and the Stock ROM. One is the Entry
"Privacy" in the settings. It seems to be more or less the XPosed and XPrivacy, or?
But it seems the Restrictions are not shared, so I can restrict in the one and do not see the restriction in the other tool.
So first is there a risk to use both, is it useful or just doing the same twice.
Thank you
Gonso

gonsoXDA said:
Hello,
yes sure "The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future"
So I use CM11 now for about 2 days and I'm really impressed, so far everything works :good: THANK YOU!!!
As I asked already I installed XPosed and Permission Manager, but I found XPrivacy might be the better solution and switched to this.
(Today I do not have all the technical background to judge whether it is technically equivalent, but I'll investigate on it)
Esp. one thing I'm wondering, why XPrivacy is reading my Contacts once I check the permissions of an app?
But the more important thing I recognized differences between CM11 and the Stock ROM. One is the Entry
"Privacy" in the settings. It seems to be more or less the XPosed and XPrivacy, or?
But it seems the Restrictions are not shared, so I can restrict in the one and do not see the restriction in the other tool.
So first is there a risk to use both, is it useful or just doing the same twice.
Thank you
Gonso
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's a sentence.
Why XPrivacy needs it i don't have a clue. For that sort of things u need to be by the dev of the app.
CM has a lot of features out of the box compared to stock, but stock is most of the time a bit more optimized in terms of proprietary stuff like camera.
So as u noticed, CM had an inbuilt security app. This app (CM) and XPrivacy don't share there settings, so that's the difference u see. But most likely if u disable something in one of the apps it is disabled even tho the other doesn't say it because it doesn't know of it.
I don't think it will be a risk. They both do the same thing, but they don't know about it. To be on the safe side, just use one and restore the other to default. U can always search on the web if they don't get along.
U can now make a full backup, so everything can be reverted and your data should be relative safe.

Hello,
thank you again - I now find the answer by reading in the development part of the forum. For me as a beginner it is sometimes not easy to interpret the discussions there.
If accepted I will use the thread now as a kind of diary, may be some other users will have similar destinations and my learn from my mistakes.
So to answer my question a little more detailed, but with less background know how than Hazou. Pls. do not trust me I'm a beginner, I have not analyzed the code just the behavior - feel free to correct or contradict my words!
The XPosed is in the area of permissions just a framework which allow other modules to put some code between an app requesting permissions and the Android core granting this permissions. The Xposed it self doesn't handle settings or permissions you did in modules like the CM Privacy, Permission Manager or XPrivacy.
As a result I came to the same conclusion it is not a risk, but an overhead to have more than one pice of code between the app requesting permissions and the Android core. -> My proposal: Do not use more than one of this Permission control apps in parallel.
From the privacy perspective the Permission is just a starting point, it allows you to hide your private information from the app. On the other side many apps will need access to the data to work and most of them are able to connect to the internet.
So I realized the next step would be the restriction of internet usage of apps. Here permissions are sword but we need a scalpel, to separate the necessary from the unwanted connections. This scalpel could be AFWall+ and "Netzwerk Log", this is a firewall and a sniffer.
What I can say to day the apps run on CM11 installed on my Razr I.
So it looks like I see my destination raising on the horizon and I will try to formulate it in the following order:
1.) Hide Contacts, Calls and SMS from Apps who do not need this to work -> XPrivacy
2.) Disable some Android features I think I don't need.
(e.g. Captive Portal Check - settings put global captive_portal_detection_enabled 0)
3.) Restrict the internet access of some apps to servers they need to connect. ( e.g. E-Mail client is restricted to connect to the mail server)
4.) Limit the access to my pictures, stored on SD card. [I have not found a solution so far]
If you read this I think 1 is reasonable for most of you, even if you do not have deep Android or Network know how (as I have), you just restrict the permissions - if app crashes or doesn't do the job you expect you may permit access or uninstall the app. (XPrivacy allows you also to fake data)
3 is a usual task of a network administrator, if you are used with iptables it is just work. I'll try to find out whether there is somewhere a source of "Templates". Usually the network admins share there common settings based on services, once I find out I'll post.
To restrict the access to SD Card I only see the change to extend the sandbox of Android to the SD and to hide files which does not belong to the app. As I would store my pictures on SD as I would store my Navi Data, but neither the Navi app should see my pictures nor the Cam and Gallery my Navi Data. ...
I don't know whether there is an app out there but It should be possible the same way like XPrivacy fakes the other data.
Thank you
Gonso

Hello,
Most of the time I used the numbers to just put in the extension, so if I want to call 0049 9876 54 321 I put the numbers 321 the Motorola dialer will show a list of all contacts where the number contains 321.
Some Numbers of contacts are not shown as well, seems if a contact has more numbers only one or two are shown.
The CM11 dialer doesn't show the number, is there a setting to get this feature?
I tried to get my Stock dialer back, so I copied dialer.apk from stock into the /system/sec-app/ directory of the CM11 and restarted the phone -> doesn't change the dialer ....
Any proposals? I'm terrible sorry for my stupid questions, I read several threads and still no idea about a possible solution
Gonso
PS: CM11 file manager shows a secure storage /storage/emulated/0/storage/secure - what is the algorithm used for the encryption.

gonsoXDA said:
Hello,
Most of the time I used the numbers to just put in the extension, so if I want to call 0049 9876 54 321 I put the numbers 321 the Motorola dialer will show a list of all contacts where the number contains 321.
Some Numbers of contacts are not shown as well, seems if a contact has more numbers only one or two are shown.
The CM11 dialer doesn't show the number, is there a setting to get this feature?
I tried to get my Stock dialer back, so I copied dialer.apk from stock into the /system/sec-app/ directory of the CM11 and restarted the phone -> doesn't change the dialer ....
Any proposals? I'm terrible sorry for my stupid questions, I read several threads and still no idea about a possible solution
Gonso
PS: CM11 file manager shows a secure storage /storage/emulated/0/storage/secure - what is the algorithm used for the encryption.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Stock CM dialer doesn't have that function afaik. The moto one doesn't work because it needs the Moto framework to work. Just download a dialer U trust from the playstore.
I don't have any clue about the secure storage, sorry.