Database Develop

Avoid losing root with OTA update.

Warning: crawrj mentioned this wouldn't flash in TWRP. I use CWM, so not sure whether it's compatible with TWRP (or any other recoveries) at the moment. So, if you're not using CWM... I would suggest waiting a bit.
So as most people know, the new OTA update aims to kill root on the device and the motochopper root method. Once I received the update and saw that it removed root, I immediately set out to figure out what was causing the issue. I also noticed that I was getting the notice about an application performing unauthorized tasks, or something to that effect.
After doing a few file deletions and restores, I finally found the file (KNOXAgent.apk) that was causing the notice about unauthorized actions and needing to restart. I've been running the phone with the MDL update for a little over a week now, and I haven't had another notice. I did lose root during the update, but was able to easily root it again with the motochopper method once the KNOXAgent files were removed.
So, here are the steps I took to avoid losing my root.
1) adb shell
2) su
3) mount -o remount,rw /dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/system /system
4) rm /system/app/KNOXAgent.*
5) Reboot into recovery and flash the OTA zip provided below. It's the OTA update with the KNOXAgent patches removed from the updater-script. This will allow the update to continue installing without having an error about KNOXAgent not being found on the device.
The same process may have to be done with future OTA updates once KNOXAgent is removed, but it's better than losing your root method each time an OTA comes out. As I mentioned, I've been using this phone since May 13th with this being done. I also had to take out the My Files updates as well, since I have the CyanogenMod file browser (My Files doesn't have root support).
Unfortunately, it seems XDA has problems with filtering spam and requires that you have 10 posts before being able to post external links. Since I don't have anything else to post at the moment, and can't post on the development forums to report problems to developers in order to legitimately increase my count without having to spam threads I don't care about, you'll have to copy and paste the link to get the update package.
Update link: http://d-h.st/Dkl

RogueSly said:
So as most people know, the new OTA update aims to kill root on the device and the motochopper root method. Once I received the update and saw that it removed root, I immediately set out to figure out what was causing the issue. I also noticed that I was getting the notice about an application performing unauthorized tasks, or something to that effect.
After doing a few file deletions and restores, I finally found the file (KNOXAgent.apk) that was causing the notice about unauthorized actions and needing to restart. I've been running the phone with the MDL update for a little over a week now, and I haven't had another notice. I did lose root during the update, but was able to easily root it again with the motochopper method once the KNOXAgent files were removed.
So, here are the steps I took to avoid losing my root.
1) adb shell
2) su
3) mount -o remount,rw /dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/system /system
4) rm /system/app/KNOXAgent.*
5) Reboot into recovery and flash the OTA zip provided below. It's the OTA update with the KNOXAgent patches removed from the updater-script. This will allow the update to continue installing without having an error about KNOXAgent not being found on the device.
The same process may have to be done with future OTA updates once KNOXAgent is removed, but it's better than losing your root method each time an OTA comes out. As I mentioned, I've been using this phone since May 13th with this being done. I also had to take out the My Files updates as well, since I have the CyanogenMod file browser (My Files doesn't have root support).
Unfortunately, it seems XDA has problems with filtering spam and requires that you have 10 posts before being able to post external links. Since I don't have anything else to post at the moment, and can't post on the development forums to report problems to developers in order to legitimately increase my count without having to spam threads I don't care about, you'll have to copy and paste the link to get the update package.
Update link: d-h.st/Dkl
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Nice find

travisw0204 said:
Nice find
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Thanks. It took a bit to find, but I couldn't live without root. My battery is GAWD with the CPU limited. :3

OK I am messing around with this and providing feedback. It doesn't install on the stock recovery for obvious reasons. It doesn't install in TWRP. Gives update binary error. Have to backup my extsd so I can format to fat32 to test other recoveries.

crawrj said:
OK I am messing around with this and providing feedback. It doesn't install on the stock recovery for obvious reasons. It doesn't install in TWRP. Gives update binary error. Have to backup my extsd so I can format to fat32 to test other recoveries.
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Weird. Flashed for me on CWM when I used it.

RogueSly said:
Weird. Flashed for me on CWM when I used it.
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Yeah I am guessing it will work in CWM. But I have to backup and format first to test. Which recovery did you use?

crawrj said:
Yeah I am guessing it will work in CWM. But I have to backup and format first to test. Which recovery did you use?
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I've been using http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2254323. I tend to stay away from touch recoveries when there are 4 dogs in the house.

Lol, too little too late for me. :facepalm:

Ok it installed on Garwynn's CWM but it didn't install the modem. Is that your results also? Won't install with OUDhs either. Gives error 7. I can confirm that root works without knoxagent installed. That is runny really. We find out right away that knox was causing the security warning. But since the kernel was so widely talked about as being the killer of root we completely overlooked knox as being more than just the alert Thanks for figuring that out.
Edit: Also installs on Agat's recovery but doesn't install the modem.
Edit Again: Ok just as an FYI this no longer is an issue. Chainfire has done it again. His latest SuperSU 1.30 fixes the root issues on MDL. You can use the stock kernel and leave knox alone.

crawrj said:
Ok it installed on Garwynn's CWM but it didn't install the modem. Is that your results also? Won't install with OUDhs either. Gives error 7. I can confirm that root works without knoxagent installed. That is runny really. We find out right away that knox was causing the security warning. But since the kernel was so widely talked about as being the killer of root we completely overlooked knox as being more than just the alert Thanks for figuring that out.
Edit: Also installs on Agat's recovery but doesn't install the modem.
Edit Again: Ok just as an FYI this no longer is an issue. Chainfire has done it again. His latest SuperSU 1.30 fixes the root issues on MDL. You can use the stock kernel and leave knox alone.
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Awesome! Glad to hear it's fixed. Not sure why the modem didn't install. I didn't get any errors on my device after taking out the patches for My Files and KNOXAgent, as both were missing on my system. I'll try restoring back to MDC and updating to SuperSU 1.3 to test it.

crawrj said:
Ok it installed on Garwynn's CWM but it didn't install the modem. Is that your results also? Won't install with OUDhs either. Gives error 7. I can confirm that root works without knoxagent installed. That is runny really. We find out right away that knox was causing the security warning. But since the kernel was so widely talked about as being the killer of root we completely overlooked knox as being more than just the alert Thanks for figuring that out.
Edit: Also installs on Agat's recovery but doesn't install the modem.
Edit Again: Ok just as an FYI this no longer is an issue. Chainfire has done it again. His latest SuperSU 1.30 fixes the root issues on MDL. You can use the stock kernel and leave knox alone.
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I was going to ask an annoying question.... but decided it was annoying and did a search. here is what I found in the difference between SuperUser and SuperSU and SuperSU Pro ($2.49). Reference: http://android.stackexchange.com/qu...ruser-from-chainsdd-and-superuser-from-clockw
SuperSU improves everything about Superuser and adds more options. The free version offers faster notifications, there is possibility of disabling them for each app and a new interface, attractive and easy to handle. In addition, according to developer claims by using SuperSU you’ll enjoy higher speed from the apps that require root rights, especially on Android 4.0+. The paid version called SuperSU Pro provides the opportunity to keep root rights after a system update, which usually cancels these rights. Although the method is not guaranteed the option is very useful. We have password protection and advanced log configuration settings for each application.
You might also want to read SuperSU Brings Better SuperUser Root Permission Management to Android. Quoting from that article:
SuperSU is basically SuperUser on steroids. According to the developer, it “allows for advanced management of Superuser access rights for all the apps on your device that need root.”.
Edit: ::FacePalm:: What ever you do. Do not uninstall SuperUser after you install SuperSU. You will loose Root. LOL (Hey at least I can laugh at myself.) I am not worried about it yet... I know I will get it back eventually.
Edit 2: After reading the OP, all you have to do if you have TWRP Recovery installed is do the OTA, your update will install and you will automatically reboot into TWRP.
Go to Mount first and mount System.
Go to back to home and select Advanced.
Go to File Manager. NOTE: This can be very frustrating! Use BACK and Sort Options to reset Sorting if it keeps doing things you don't want it to do. Also (Up A Level) is handy. If you are on "/" directory, touch Sort Descending: Name and you will see System. Select Sysytem.
Now Sort Ascending you will see App. Select App.
Gentally and slowly Swipe down in the middle to reach Knox. I found 2 files. Select one at a time and delete them.
Reboot
Then rerun Motochopper Root method.
I am on Stock MDC still. So if you are on MDL I am not sure if this would work. Now follow the directions that I failed to see when you install SuperSU.
Install SuperSU. Open SuperSU and make sure SU binary is switched from SuperUser to SuperSU. Once you do that you can remove SuperUser.
Edit 3: Once you check to make sure SuperSU has Binary after a reboot... SuperSU will remove SuperUser for you. No need to do anything.
After all said and done... I am thinking that the TWRP stopped the OTA from installing. I have been extremely busy with work, so no time to read XDA lately has been stopping me from keeping up to date. I just need more time in the day.

crawrj said:
Ok it installed on Garwynn's CWM but it didn't install the modem. Is that your results also? Won't install with OUDhs either. Gives error 7. I can confirm that root works without knoxagent installed. That is runny really. We find out right away that knox was causing the security warning. But since the kernel was so widely talked about as being the killer of root we completely overlooked knox as being more than just the alert Thanks for figuring that out.
Edit: Also installs on Agat's recovery but doesn't install the modem.
Edit Again: Ok just as an FYI this no longer is an issue. Chainfire has done it again. His latest SuperSU 1.30 fixes the root issues on MDL. You can use the stock kernel and leave knox alone.
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Click to collapse
Well, crawrj.. I just rawly patched the modem.bin with the modem.img.p, and the baseband version and such still hasn't increased. My software version and baseband version are still showing MDC, while build number is showing MDL. The weird thing about it is the kernel also updated from its original. How does the modem not update when it's being directly flashed onto the partition? Trying to get all of my stuff over to MDL, if that's what it's supposed to be. It has the new boot sound and such, but the inconsistent version numbers make me hesitant that the update fully applied.

RogueSly said:
Well, crawrj.. I just rawly patched the modem.bin with the modem.img.p, and the baseband version and such still hasn't increased. My software version and baseband version are still showing MDC, while build number is showing MDL. The weird thing about it is the kernel also updated from its original. How does the modem not update when it's being directly flashed onto the partition? Trying to get all of my stuff over to MDL, if that's what it's supposed to be. It has the new boot sound and such, but the inconsistent version numbers make me hesitant that the update fully applied.
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There is some kind of write protection of security that locks the modem down. I have tried 100 different ways of installing the modem and can't. It looks like the official installs are the only ones that work. So right now the ota is the only way to get the modem. But I am sure we will get it figured out in time.
Sent from my SPH-L720 using xda premium

crawrj said:
There is some kind of write protection of security that locks the modem down. I have tried 100 different ways of installing the modem and can't. It looks like the official installs are the only ones that work. So right now the ota is the only way to get the modem. But I am sure we will get it figured out in time.
Sent from my SPH-L720 using xda premium
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Well, that sucks. I guess I will give up trying to flash it for now. Already removed KNOXAgent again and dropped faux's kernel on here. It's showing my build as MDL, so at least I don't get pestered by the update message.

aww come on lol too late for me too. I went through hell rooting my phone when i upgraded to MDL. I flashed the stock rom like 3 times before getting my phone rooted and the last piece of the puzzle were the knox files. Instead of deleting the files i froze them using the system tuner off from the playstore after i installed shabbat's custom kernel.
Do we know of a way to avoid all these run arounds to root on MDL by keeping the stock kernel and without removing knox???

tones160 said:
aww come on lol too late for me too. I went through hell rooting my phone when i upgraded to MDL. I flashed the stock rom like 3 times before getting my phone rooted and the last piece of the puzzle were the knox files. Instead of deleting the files i froze them using the system tuner off from the playstore after i installed shabbat's custom kernel.
Do we know of a way to avoid all these run arounds to root on MDL by keeping the stock kernel and without removing knox???
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I think there are a few posts in the development sections that will help out with getting root on MDL. If it were me, I would just pull the SuperSU apk and unzip it. Grab the su binary out of there, push it to /system/xbin/, and then install SuperSU on the phone once it restarted. Now, I can't confirm that works... because I haven't had to get that dirty with rooting my phone. Motochopper worked perfectly fine when KNOXAgent was removed, so it should work if you have KNOXAgent frozen too.

Cf autoroot

wanna make sure I understand this right. I'm gonna flash this no knox update on top of forcesrom (which has knox removed), I should be ok right? but the modern still not install this way, is that correct? and I won't be able to update my modem until a new method comes out. do I got it all right? thanks! :thumbup::what:

gershee said:
wanna make sure I understand this right. I'm gonna flash this no knox update on top of forcesrom (which has knox removed), I should be ok right? but the modern still not install this way, is that correct? and I won't be able to update my modem until a new method comes out. do I got it all right? thanks! :thumbup::what:
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That's apparently right, for now. I'm working on figuring out why the MDM partition won't flash. I tried to patch the files manually, as mentioned previously and here, but it seems that it didn't flash as the baseband didn't change?
Hopefully figure it out soon.

Getting E:Error in /external_sd/OTA 5-13-2013 (No Knox Agent), Status 7. Any advice?

MRA58N Available

I noticed that MRA58N (Android 6.0.0 with November 1, 2015 Android security patch level) was available tonight. Since I didn't see any posts about it so I downloaded and installed it. I was able to root with the method in #1 here and install BusyBox and everything is working so far. I haven't tried the "Root without modifying /system" in #2 of that same post so I'm very interested in seeing if it still works with that method or if something has been done to block that method in MRA58N.

alryder said:
I haven't tried the "Root without modifying /system" in #2 of that same post so I'm very interested in seeing if it still works with that method or if something has been done to block that method in MRA58N.
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I was on MRA58K with the experimental "systemless" root method. I extracted and flashed the system.img from MRA58N and still had root afterwards. No need to reflash the modified boot.img or anything. I did have to reinstall BusyBox and edit my build.prop for lower dpi, multiwindow, etc again.
The only issue I'm having is SELinux Mode Changer can't gain root access and Titanium Backup can't delete any apps. I have to do that manually with Root Explorer.

Face_Plant said:
The only issue I'm having is SELinux Mode Changer can't gain root access and Titanium Backup can't delete any apps. I have to do that manually with Root Explorer.
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Thanks for your update. I didn't run into that issue using the root method #1 that uses the modified boot.img and SuperSU 2.52. I was able uninstall five system apps and reinstall them as user apps. Looks like there is still a bit of work to be done on the "systemless" root method before it's ready for prime time.

hmm..
can i just flash system.img if i have stock rooted with elementalX, rooted using SuperSU.46 or whatever awhile back...

darthchilli said:
hmm..
can i just flash system.img if i have stock rooted with elementalX, rooted using SuperSU.46 or whatever awhile back...
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Unfortunately I'm not sure about that. The only method I have used to root Marshmallow is to flash the shamu-mra58k-boot.zip system.img from here and then flash SuperSU 2.52 from here. I haven't tried any other methods for rooting. The steps I used are:
- flash/upgrade to Marshmellow
- flash modified boot.img
- flash/boot TWRP and sideload v2.52
Sorry I can't be more helpful on this.

I've been waiting for this first update to give me the incentive to look at decrypting my N6, which I managed to encrypt (duh...) when I flashed MRA58K. Although to be honest I see no difference, it annoys me to know that there must be some performance and battery hit (yeah, I'm an anal retentive... ).
A second wish is to switch from SuperSU to doitright's open-source superuser just because of the news that SuperSU has been sold to a commercial company, and like many others I don't like the sound of that. But as mentioned in doitright's thread, it's not for noobs (yet), so I'm not clear on the process.
Would someone please be kind enough to lay out a step-by-step guide to achieving this? I could just flash the system.img as described above, but that wouldn't decrypt nor would it swap Superuser, and I don't want to end up yet again with the "wrong" configuration.

some reason every time i try to use systemless root it just says binaries are not installed, and it doesnt work, OR the modified boot will not flash at all

One-time temp TWRP boot to install SuperSU

I think I already know the answer, but with a £550 device I'd rather double-check with the experts.
Is there any reason that I should not boot temporarily to TWRP to install SuperSU 2.62 ("fastboot boot twrp.img")? I don't believe that a permanent TWRP installation is a necessity, and if I understand Chainfire's comment correctly:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/apps/supersu/chainfire-systemless-root-android-6-0-t3271137
leaving the device as stock as possible, including stock recovery, means an easier upgrade path for OTAs. The best of both worlds - regular OTA security updates plus root.
Any reason that this would not work, and more importantly any reason that it might risk the integrity of my N6? I don't want an expensive paperweight...
Thanks...

dahawthorne said:
I think I already know the answer, but with a £550 device I'd rather double-check with the experts.
Is there any reason that I should not boot temporarily to TWRP to install SuperSU 2.62 ("fastboot boot twrp.img")? I don't believe that a permanent TWRP installation is a necessity, and if I understand Chainfire's comment correctly:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/apps/supersu/chainfire-systemless-root-android-6-0-t3271137
leaving the device as stock as possible, including stock recovery, means an easier upgrade path for OTAs. The best of both worlds - regular OTA security updates plus root.
Any reason that this would not work, and more importantly any reason that it might risk the integrity of my N6? I don't want an expensive paperweight...
Thanks...
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having root = no ota, so having twrp is besides the point. anyways, twrp is one of the mist useful tools to have if you mod your device. you can make, and restore, a nandroid backup. if you make a mod, and it messes up, you probably wont noot anymore, but a nandtoid backup restored will bring your device back to how it was.

Yes, thanks, Simms, I get all that, but it's not really answering my question. Is there any problem with using temporary TWRP to install SuperSU?
Also if you read Chainfire's comment he makes it clear that his systemless root doesn't prevent OTA, whereas having a non-stock recovery might.

dahawthorne said:
I think I already know the answer, but with a £550 device I'd rather double-check with the experts.
Is there any reason that I should not boot temporarily to TWRP to install SuperSU 2.62 ("fastboot boot twrp.img")? I don't believe that a permanent TWRP installation is a necessity, and if I understand Chainfire's comment correctly:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/apps/supersu/chainfire-systemless-root-android-6-0-t3271137
leaving the device as stock as possible, including stock recovery, means an easier upgrade path for OTAs. The best of both worlds - regular OTA security updates plus root.
Any reason that this would not work, and more importantly any reason that it might risk the integrity of my N6? I don't want an expensive paperweight...
Thanks...
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Click to collapse
Don't usually encourage use of toolkits but Wug's toolkit includes and option to do this kind of one time boot, I don't know off the top of my head what actual process it uses for that or I'd just tell you that. But yea I'd just recommend leaving TWRP on and after first flashing it and booting into it twrp should prompt you something along the lines of keeping /system mounted as read-only, do that and make a backup including the "system image" and boot. Then in Advanced>uncheck "mount system as read-only."
Whenever an ota rolls around you can go back into twrp and restore that boot and system-image backup when you boot up android will replace twrp with stock recovery and the ota should work.

Thanks again - I appreciate the answer, but again it doesn't really answer my question. I've been using TWRP for years and I'm well aware of its benefits. What I want to know if there's any problem with using it as a one-off to install SuperSU, leaving stock recovery in place when I reboot so that TWRP can't interfere with the OTA.
I'm also very well aware of NRT, which again I've used for years and have donated to several times (excellent program), but I don't need it when "fastboot boot recovery twrp.img" will do the job faster.
Am I not explaining myself properly?

dahawthorne said:
Thanks again - I appreciate the answer, but again it doesn't really answer my question. I've been using TWRP for years and I'm well aware of its benefits. What I want to know if there's any problem with using it as a one-off to install SuperSU, leaving stock recovery in place when I reboot so that TWRP can't interfere with the OTA.
I'm also very well aware of NRT, which again I've used for years and have donated to several times (excellent program), but I don't need it when "fastboot boot recovery twrp.img" will do the job faster.
Am I not explaining myself properly?
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Click to collapse
nah there should be no problem with that.

theres no issue with it, just keep your bootloader unlocked, or you can have issues in the future. btw..
fastboot boot recovery recoveryname.img as opposed to fastboot flash

Thanks, both - I appreciate the help.

Just in case anyone might find the confirmation useful, yes, it did work. I used "fastboot boot twrp.img" to install SuperSU 2.62-3 and it's all working fine. If I understand Chainfore correctly in the link quoted above, using SuperSU's "full unroot" will allow the next OTA, then I can repeat the fastboot install, which should be far simpler than overwriting the system.img.

why would you want an OTA? this is XDA Developers, the worst ROM here is better than ANY OTA that you can have, plus you get it sooner and can try them all and have a backup of your favorite one. This sort of thing always makes me laugh!

I am glad to have brought some laughter and joy into your life. Though I hope that you can find better in your real life, right...?

buschris said:
why would you want an OTA? this is XDA Developers, the worst ROM here is better than ANY OTA that you can have, plus you get it sooner and can try them all and have a backup of your favorite one. This sort of thing always makes me laugh!
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For noobs, Android Pay is one reason they may want to stick with factory stock with OTA capabilities. Systemless root is not easy for noobs to grasp.

January ota update help needed

OK I got the notification to update today it's MMB29S, I am on K. I am rooted but stock, unlocked using systemless root for root. I've always been rooted and expected it to fail and have to install manually but this time because I'm not rooted like the old way. So i downloaded and went to install to my surprise dead Android with the triangle didn't show but it went to custom recovery screen twrp. I just hit restart because I've never not had a fail and never seen it do this before. Well when it restarted I was not updated and still on K. I also for the life of me can't get it to redo the ota. Tried to clear system service in apps and recheck but nothing.
So my question is since I'm new to systemless root what should I have done when it went to custom recovery? So that way if I can get it to pop up again I can be updated. Thank you in advance for any help and it would be awesome if possible to update this way without having to manually do it.

My best guess, based on what Chainfire replied to me when I asked about OTA, is that because you're somehow rooted the OTA will refuse to install. He said that using the "unroot" function in v2.63 (and I suppose in subsequent versions) he was able to apply the OTA and then just had to re-root.
As to the OTA, I read in the long-distant past that once it's been provided to your device you sort of go to the back of the queue, and even pressing the "check for system update" button has no effect. One day your turn will come again. When it happens, before you press the "install now" button, use the unroot function, reboot, and give it another go.
And I would really appreciate it if you could report back on the success or failure, just so we all know - thanks...
And before I close... your alternative is just to download the full ROM from Google, unzip everything in sight (including the zip within the zip), copy system.img to a convenient folder, and use Fastboot to flash system. After that you'll need to re-root (simple flash) and when you reboot everything will be as it was, apart from the version and security update date. I did it myself to MMB29S a week or so ago.
But my lawyer advises me to advise you to take a full backup first and store it off your device before you do anything to your device - just in case, you know?

I will definitely reply if I get the update again in a few days. If it doesn't I'll probably do it manually. I was just really surprised I hadn't gotten the error, just so used to it. Thank you for the info though.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but to install an OTA don't you need to be completely stock, including recovery?

If I'm not mistaken but since 4.3 (I'm probably wrong) if your rooted (before systemless root) when you try to the ota you will always get the dead Android because rooting changes the system files causing the update when it does is checks to think your system is corrupt.
Also it was really bad when people tried going from 5.x.x to 6.x even doing it manually some of us got bootlooped or when starting the phone up after updating manually saying system is corrupt but still starting up fine. Leaving like me having to completely clear out everything and installing the factory image just to not be corrupt and able to use Android pay.
Systemless root though I've not had a single problem and still able to use AP. And is also the first time in years I've gotten as far as I did with the OTA.

Rbh50815 said:
OK I got the notification to update today it's MMB29S, I am on K. I am rooted but stock, unlocked using systemless root for root. I've always been rooted and expected it to fail and have to install manually but this time because I'm not rooted like the old way. So i downloaded and went to install to my surprise dead Android with the triangle didn't show but it went to custom recovery screen twrp. I just hit restart because I've never not had a fail and never seen it do this before. Well when it restarted I was not updated and still on K. I also for the life of me can't get it to redo the ota. Tried to clear system service in apps and recheck but nothing.
So my question is since I'm new to systemless root what should I have done when it went to custom recovery? So that way if I can get it to pop up again I can be updated. Thank you in advance for any help and it would be awesome if possible to update this way without having to manually do it.
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Click to collapse
These small ota's can be done with boot modifications because they don't include any boot.img changes and if they do then they just blanket overwrite what's already there. The only part that is checked is /system. However TWRP won't ever install an ota update for compatibility reasons. Even if you reflash the stock recovery then you'll fail the ota because when you installed TWRP it protected itself (by modifying /system) from being overwritten by the stock recovery which is what unmodded stock android will always do on boot by default. And there are 2 things the ota verification looks for when updating: 1. It looks for whether /system has been ever mounted as Read/Write. 2. It hash checks the /system, if it finds any mismatch it fails. As for the update not showing up again, the ota checker hides the update after a failure to stop from flooding the download server. If you want to extract the update zip you can look in /cache for the zip. But since you don't have an unmodded /system you might as well just download the newest factory image and manually flash the system.img

You can use Wug NRT, unroot with MMB29S provided in the NRT , then root.

question about maintaining root

So far I've been running my OP3T with stock rom with TWRP recovery and SuperSU to have root. This was mostly because I wanted the Adaway and titanium backup to work. I undid everything so I could update to the latest OxygenOS version, and now I'm on the stock recovery too, but with bootloader still unlocked I believe. I no longer have root after doing the upgrade as far as I can tell, still a bit new to all this flashing, haha. The last time I did this was when the nexus 4 came out
What is the best option for maintaining root while still being able to upgrade smoothly? I'm not against using one of the custom ROMs if that will help, but I do kinda like the stock rom so far!
thanks!

bluesrph said:
So far I've been running my OP3T with stock rom with TWRP recovery and SuperSU to have root. This was mostly because I wanted the Adaway and titanium backup to work. I undid everything so I could update to the latest OxygenOS version, and now I'm on the stock recovery too, but with bootloader still unlocked I believe. I no longer have root after doing the upgrade as far as I can tell, still a bit new to all this flashing, haha. The last time I did this was when the nexus 4 came out
What is the best option for maintaining root while still being able to upgrade smoothly? I'm not against using one of the custom ROMs if that will help, but I do kinda like the stock rom so far!
thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This thread should answer all your questions and doubts
https://forums.oneplus.net/threads/...-or-custom-recovery-without-data-loss.479265/

saurabh40629 said:
This thread should answer all your questions and doubts
https://forums.oneplus.net/threads/...-or-custom-recovery-without-data-loss.479265/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you, I have seen that post. I'm guessing any route I go I'll have to flash updates then? I was hoping to find a way to be able to use OTA updates.
I've also never been able to get rid of the dm-verity error, even after going back to stock and locking the bootloader. Is there anything I need to worry about with that or is it just an annoyance?
Sent from my OnePlus3T using XDA Labs

bluesrph said:
Thank you, I have seen that post. I'm guessing any route I go I'll have to flash updates then? I was hoping to find a way to be able to use OTA updates.
I've also never been able to get rid of the dm-verity error, even after going back to stock and locking the bootloader. Is there anything I need to worry about with that or is it just an annoyance?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dm-verity u can bypass but bootloader one, you can not. Look at the apps, mods section.

bluesrph said:
Thank you, I have seen that post. I'm guessing any route I go I'll have to flash updates then? I was hoping to find a way to be able to use OTA updates.
I've also never been able to get rid of the dm-verity error, even after going back to stock and locking the bootloader. Is there anything I need to worry about with that or is it just an annoyance?
Sent from my OnePlus3T using XDA Labs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You shouldn't try to flash the partial OTAs while you are rooted and have a custom recovery installed. The partial zip will try to make specific changes in the restricted partitions (/system, /boot, /recovery, etc.) related to the update and prior modifications to these files may cause the update to fail and the phone to brick. You can still use the "Update" tab in the Settings menu to download the update though as OOS will detect root and download the full zip of the update for you. Simply flash the full zip in TWRP, wipe cache/dalvik, then flash SuperSU and you're good to go the next time an update rolls out. Updating by this method (rooting immedately after flashing update) will also prevent OOS from replacing TWRP with the stock recovery again. When you download the update, you'll know if it's the full zip if the file is >1 GB (they're usually ~1.4 GB,, whereas the partial zips are a few hundred MB).
Unlocked bootloader warning screen is cannot be removed without relocked and fully resetting (wiping) the phone. DM-verity warning screen can be removed by following this guide. Make sure that you are flashing the correct firmware for you current version of OOS though, flashing the wrong version can brick you phone.