HTC One M7 - App will not stick on /system - One (M7) Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hi everyone
I'm trying to get the infamous GPS Location Spoofer installed as a system app on my rooted HTC phone, but so far no luck, so I figured I would try to ask for help here, in case anyone went through a similar situation, or knows what I've been doing wrong. This is what I tried so far:
Installed the app from Google App store, and using File Explorer with root , tried to move the app folder to /system/app or /system/priv-app, , but pasting the folder there would result in an instant reboot and the app would not be there.
So I installed lucky patcher , and using apk downloader, downloaded the apk file from the App Store, copied it over to the phone, and used the "Rebuild and Install" option, choosing the option to install it as a system app , and it would process it and say that the installation was sucessfull, needs to reboot to complete, but after the reboot the app would not be there (not only not showing on the apps list, but navigating to the /system folder with File Explorer and checking app and priv-app I could verify that it was not installed).
SO I tried to use adb shell to do the work , and this is what I did:
mount -o remount /dev/block/mmcblk0p35 /system
to mount the /system filesystem as read write , and it did
cp /sdcard/Download/com.incorporateapps.fakegps.fre-55.apk /system/app
to copy the file under /system/app
chmod 644 com.incorporateapps.fakegps.fre-55.apk
to set the permissions as required
and reboot the phone, but after the reboot, the file would not be there. I tried also to create a folder under /system/app named com.incorporateapps.fakegps.fre-55, move the apk inside; installing normally , changing the mount point to read-write and moving it from /data/app to /system/app or /system/priv-app using the shell and chaning ownership / permissions , but the app will not stick , either rebooting or just re-mounting the filesystem as read-only again will cause everything that was done to be lost; and after trying any of the above one time, doing it for a second time would cause the phone to reboot.
I figure that there must be an image of the /system mount point somewhere , which gets installed every time there is a remount to read-only or reboot , or something of that nature, that will cause any changes made under /system to be lost. Maybe I'm wrong but it seems to be related to HTC phones, since there's load of people doing it on other models without issues, or maybe I'm doing something wrong, since I'm no android expert
Does anyone knows what could be the issue, or what can I do ? I searched the net quite a bit for a solution to no avail (here as well), any help is appreciated
Thanks

sasteck said:
Hi everyone
I'm trying to get the infamous GPS Location Spoofer installed as a system app on my rooted HTC phone, but so far no luck, so I figured I would try to ask for help here, in case anyone went through a similar situation, or knows what I've been doing wrong. This is what I tried so far:
Installed the app from Google App store, and using File Explorer with root , tried to move the app folder to /system/app or /system/priv-app, , but pasting the folder there would result in an instant reboot and the app would not be there.
So I installed lucky patcher , and using apk downloader, downloaded the apk file from the App Store, copied it over to the phone, and used the "Rebuild and Install" option, choosing the option to install it as a system app , and it would process it and say that the installation was sucessfull, needs to reboot to complete, but after the reboot the app would not be there (not only not showing on the apps list, but navigating to the /system folder with File Explorer and checking app and priv-app I could verify that it was not installed).
SO I tried to use adb shell to do the work , and this is what I did:
mount -o remount /dev/block/mmcblk0p35 /system
to mount the /system filesystem as read write , and it did
cp /sdcard/Download/com.incorporateapps.fakegps.fre-55.apk /system/app
to copy the file under /system/app
chmod 644 com.incorporateapps.fakegps.fre-55.apk
to set the permissions as required
and reboot the phone, but after the reboot, the file would not be there. I tried also to create a folder under /system/app named com.incorporateapps.fakegps.fre-55, move the apk inside; installing normally , changing the mount point to read-write and moving it from /data/app to /system/app or /system/priv-app using the shell and chaning ownership / permissions , but the app will not stick , either rebooting or just re-mounting the filesystem as read-only again will cause everything that was done to be lost; and after trying any of the above one time, doing it for a second time would cause the phone to reboot.
I figure that there must be an image of the /system mount point somewhere , which gets installed every time there is a remount to read-only or reboot , or something of that nature, that will cause any changes made under /system to be lost. Maybe I'm wrong but it seems to be related to HTC phones, since there's load of people doing it on other models without issues, or maybe I'm doing something wrong, since I'm no android expert
Does anyone knows what could be the issue, or what can I do ? I searched the net quite a bit for a solution to no avail (here as well), any help is appreciated
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you using stock kernel?

donkeykong1 said:
Are you using stock kernel?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, kernel is the default that comes with the phone (3.4.10.g96cae32 , android 5.0.2)

sasteck said:
Yes, kernel is the default that comes with the phone (3.4.10.g96cae32 , android 5.0.2)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And there's your problem. Stock kernel has system write protection, so you can't mount system as writeable. You can, but after reboot, it comes back to read only, and nothing will stick into system partition. You have 2 choices now - disable system write protection on stock kernel, or flash a custom kernel

donkeykong1 said:
And there's your problem. Stock kernel has system write protection, so you can't mount system as writeable. You can, but after reboot, it comes back to read only, and nothing will stick into system partition. You have 2 choices now - disable system write protection on stock kernel, or flash a custom kernel
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
oh I see.. didn't know about that , thanks! I'll check about disabling system write protection , otherwise look for a custom kernel, never did it before but will give it a try

donkeykong1 said:
And there's your problem. Stock kernel has system write protection, so you can't mount system as writeable. You can, but after reboot, it comes back to read only, and nothing will stick into system partition. You have 2 choices now - disable system write protection on stock kernel, or flash a custom kernel
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Shhhhhh, don't help him, he's going to steal everyone's pokemons
Sent from my HTC One using XDA Labs

alray said:
Shhhhhh, don't help him, he's going to steal everyone's pokemons
Sent from my HTC One using XDA Labs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ooooohhh... That's why he's trying the spoofer.... If I knew, I wouldn't help at all [emoji6]

donkeykong1 said:
Ooooohhh... That's why he's trying the spoofer.... If I knew, I wouldn't help at all [emoji6]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry you feel that way, but I appreciate the help anyway. This is something that I never tampered with before, so I still had some doubts about the process, but I am liking the whole thing and will install a custom rom on my own phone, been reading about the Ressurection rom and it looks very nice, will try it as soon as I'm better informed

sasteck said:
Sorry you feel that way, but I appreciate the help anyway. This is something that I never tampered with before, so I still had some doubts about the process, but I am liking the whole thing and will install a custom rom on my own phone, been reading about the Ressurection rom and it looks very nice, will try it as soon as I'm better informed
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That was a joke mate. I don't care what you do with your phone, but I'm here to help if I can [emoji6]

Related

Install A System App

Hi I've searched the forums to the best of my ability, and cant figure out how to install a system app. I pulled the app (Via ADB Pull) and tried to push it back into /system/app and it works, but never installs? And i cant find it with astro or other software. =( Im using a G1 with Cyan, If you need more information please tell me!
Pushing does install. It doesn't have the install text like adb install does, but that is how you push files so it should work.
You could check to see if you have it set as read only, or delete the file then copy over the new one.
Im not sure what i did but i just kept trying and rebooting untill something worked =/ Lol Thanks though.. What do you mean by Read Only?
System partition is read-only by default, you need to change it to read-write if you want to install or push anything to it. I can never remember commands but they are all over this forum.

Help to remove disastrous apk - please android Wizards

I REALLY need some assistance, think I screwed my phone, really want to avoid a hard wipe.
I installed Lockbot the other day, has some issues with dual lock layers (i.e. the lockbot app wasn't disabling my HTC lock so I had two unlocks.). emailed dev and he sent me a beta version to hopefully correct issue. I only received an apk file from him.
FYI I am on fresh 1.1, rooted.
I used the kitchen to puch this file: "LockBotPro_1.10.0_beta.apk" to /system/app.
The install went successfully, but later after a reboot I face a HUGE issue. The lockbot app is hanging upon reboot and will not unlock. At first I thought i would still be okay, I had ATK and Advanced Task manager both running at start up, so I can enter both of them through my notification drop down menu. I used both to kill the task-to no avail it is still locked. I tried to use advanced task manager to uninstall lockbot - to no avail, it cannot be removed.
Then I tried to pull back the file through kitchen, to no avail.
I don't know what to do. I cannot get my phone to unlock and i cannot pull the file off through adb or kitchen. DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY IDEA ON HOW TO FIX THIS??????
I would suggest pulling the battery and rebooting into recovery then use adb to cd to system/app and use rm to remove the apk that way and then boot the phone
wtphoto said:
I would suggest pulling the battery and rebooting into recovery then use adb to cd to system/app and use rm to remove the apk that way and then boot the phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have tried to pull the file in both adb and in kitchen. Would it have installed as something other than the name I pushed it under?
Even if the phone is hard locking (kind of rare of android. even in all the stupid f'd up things I've done I've only hard locked my phone to the point that I couldn't even get in to adb once or twice) then the file system is still completely accessible while it's booting up. You can use the "pull any file" from the kitchen and check off that you want it to delete it after it's done. Just get it all queued up in the kitchen and then power on your phone. Once it gets passed the HTC logo wait a few seconds and then run the pull file from the kitchen. Should work just fine for you.
The alternative (if you are comfortable with adb) would be to boot your phone in to recovery (can also be done through the kitchen, even when it's in the middle of booting) and then type the following from a command prompt:
adb shell mount /system
adb shell rm /system/app/your-application.apk
FYI for future reference you should push these types of applications to /data/app. Your hard locks could either be caused by the fact that the beta just broke things, or it could be that you have a copy of it in both /data/app and in /system/app.
the problem is that you dont want to just pull the file all that does is create a copy of the file where ever you pull it to you need to use the rm cmd to actually remove the file and have you tried to do this from the recovery menu before the phone boots? I mean I am by no means an expert but commonsence says that if you do it in the recovery menu that it would be gone when the phone actually boots and the problem would be gone.
edit: sweet im not a complete noob anymore I was right about removing from the recovery. flipz explained it better though.
thanks flipz, I'm going to try this. I will try via adb first, then via kitchen. Last time kitchen gave me a message to "post" but I didn't figure I would catch you online. Hope you're still around in 15-20. thanks for the how-to!
TF1984 said:
thanks flipz, I'm going to try this. I will try via adb first, then via kitchen. Last time kitchen gave me a message to "post" but I didn't figure I would catch you online. Hope you're still around in 15-20. thanks for the how-to!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll be here.
hmmm. I think I've really screwed something up.
I opened CMD, ran adb, here's where I am and what I have (fyi I get the same thing no matter in Recovery, boot or after normal start up)... and I use apps2sd
C:\android-sdk-windows\tools>adb shell mount /system
mount: cannot read /etc/fstab: No such file or directory
If I use Kitchen to pull file: It says "Files Deleted".
Now on my Hero, after fresh reboot...
Well maybe it's okay. But now many of my apps are giving FC error. AHH Crap!!!
That app is demonic... LockBot, I'm gonna get my moula back!
TF1984 said:
hmmm. I think I've really screwed something up.
I opened CMD, ran adb, here's where I am and what I have (fyi I get the same thing no matter in Recovery, boot or after normal start up)... and I use apps2sd
C:\android-sdk-windows\tools>adb shell mount /system
mount: cannot read /etc/fstab: No such file or directory
If I use Kitchen to pull file: It says "Files Deleted".
Now on my Hero, after fresh reboot...
Well maybe it's okay. But now many of my apps are giving FC error. AHH Crap!!!
That app is demonic... LockBot, I'm gonna get my moula back!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have a nandroid backup... don't you? Actually what you can try doing is flashing fresh right on top of itself. You won't lose any settings and it will overwrite everything in /system/app.
I haven't made a recent Nandroid backup.
All of my third party apps are giving FC upon trying to execute any action within them. I think I might just reinstall each. I think something happened with my sdcard through this process trying to get rid of lockbot. Not sure.
If I flash fresh it wouldn't remove any data right, will anything change? I think I remember last time I flashed it I even retained my scenes and all, but I have a bad memory. I guess I'll give it a go.
TF1984 said:
I haven't made a recent Nandroid backup.
All of my third party apps are giving FC upon trying to execute any action within them. I think I might just reinstall each. I think something happened with my sdcard through this process trying to get rid of lockbot. Not sure.
If I flash fresh it wouldn't remove any data right, will anything change? I think I remember last time I flashed it I even retained my scenes and all, but I have a bad memory. I guess I'll give it a go.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea so in general when it comes to the phone /system should remain untouched and /data is where all saved settings and market apps go. Obviously we change that by rooting the phone and creating custom roms. But that concept still applies when flashing a rom. It will only wipe /system and not /data (unless the rom dev does something wrong heh).
Flipz I swear one day I am going to make a sizeable donation to you. If I can only find some extra money.
I think you have helped in every issue I have had after rooting, there haven't been many but you are always helpful when I run into trouble.
Well I flashed 1.1 again, but it didn't help to fix the FC on every app.
Guess I will just remove and install each one by one. This will make for a good time to review each app and decide which I should part with for non-use.
Thanks again, my lock issue is resolved!
Maybe I'll try the lockbot again but install to app/data as you suggested in earlier posting.
TF1984 said:
Well I flashed 1.1 again, but it didn't help to fix the FC on every app.
Guess I will just remove and install each one by one. This will make for a good time to review each app and decide which I should part with for non-use.
Thanks again, my lock issue is resolved!
Maybe I'll try the lockbot again but install to app/data as you suggested in earlier posting.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Might be worth it for you to try clearing your dalvik-cache to see if it fixes your FC's. If that doesn't work then my guess is you are using apps2sd and the symlink got broken somewhere along the way.
And no problem.
Yes I am using apps2sd. I tried the davlik clear cache in kitchen earlier today in attempt to fix the lockbot (I don't know, figured maybe it would work since i have no idea what that does to begin with).
Question, I did pull my sd card out earlier while the phone was off. Then booted and it only went into a boot loop, is that likely to have caused the FCs?
Does that mean that I cannot ever remove the sd card at all or will always cause this problem...cause that would friggin suck a big one!
flipzmode said:
Yea so in general when it comes to the phone /system should remain untouched and /data is where all saved settings and market apps go. Obviously we change that by rooting the phone and creating custom roms. But that concept still applies when flashing a rom. It will only wipe /system and not /data (unless the rom dev does something wrong heh).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=4942088&postcount=2 -- post #2 from the fresh rom thread from back in november.
The reason I don't like it is because it puts your phone at a huge risk of having problems once anything goes wrong. If you install a program that causes issues, a nandroid backup will not resolve the issue because the application is installed on your SD card not your phone. If your phone starts going crazy as reported here and here, then even just a restore possibly won't fix it. You might need to go as far as to wipe your SD card too. If you are lucky enough to have a restore fix your problems you will still need to reinstall every app, even if you didn't wipe your card. And on top of that when you try to reinstall any app it will think it's still installed, even though you restored your phone. But when you click "uninstall" it will just freeze half the time because there's nothing on the phone for it to actually install. I have also read many threads that say if you happen to boot the phone up without the SD card in then it will screw everything up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yikes.
I guess it is a gamble, do I want the space provided while keeping apps on my card (I do have A LOT of apps) or do I go the safe route?
Hmmm. thanks again. Quick question, earlier you said I needed to install that apk in data/app, not system/app. I pushed it back via kitchen to data/app and it isn't showing up anywhere. Was there an additional step I am not aware of?
TF1984 said:
yikes.
I guess it is a gamble, do I want the space provided while keeping apps on my card (I do have A LOT of apps) or do I go the safe route?
Hmmm. thanks again. Quick question, earlier you said I needed to install that apk in data/app, not system/app. I pushed it back via kitchen to data/app and it isn't showing up anywhere. Was there an additional step I am not aware of?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Make sure you aren't forgetting the leading slash. /data/app not data/app. But no, nothing special. That should work. Although if using apps2sd you might want to push to /data/sd/app. It should work regardless because a2sd sets up a symlink but if your stuff is messed up then it might not be working right.
TF1984 said:
hmmm. I think I've really screwed something up.
I opened CMD, ran adb, here's where I am and what I have (fyi I get the same thing no matter in Recovery, boot or after normal start up)... and I use apps2sd
C:\android-sdk-windows\tools>adb shell mount /system
mount: cannot read /etc/fstab: No such file or directory
If I use Kitchen to pull file: It says "Files Deleted".
Now on my Hero, after fresh reboot...
Well maybe it's okay. But now many of my apps are giving FC error. AHH Crap!!!
That app is demonic... LockBot, I'm gonna get my moula back!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Type this command in to mount:
mount -o rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system
That will mount the /system volume and put it in read-write mode.
Once you are finished deleting the file, type:
umount /system
Then reboot the phone.
Edit: If you want to mount the /data volume, type: mount -o rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock5 /data

[Q] Camera Force Close after OTA

Hello Everyone,
So I unfroze all of my apps in Titanium Backup and flashed the OTA that is posted in the development forum for the Droid 3 and it seems to have worked great other than one small problem. Every time I try to use the camera or camcorder they will open for about 2-3 seconds and then they close and I end up back at my home screen. Does anyone have any ideas on what I can try to make my camera apps work again?
EDIT: Sorry, forgot to mention that I did try rebooting the phone as well as clearing the cache for the camera app, no change. Also Camera Zoom FX stays open but just has black where the camera image would normally be.
Thanks!
Maybe you... forgot to unfreeze the camera app lol.
No but id check what you do have frozen, maybe there's a service the camera app is dependent upon you might have accidentally frozen (assuming you rerooted after update)
Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk
I did re-root after applying the OTA update and then I froze about 15 apps that I found to be annoying/un-needed, however even after unfreezing all of them, any app involving the camera still isn't working. I also just noticed that my flashlight app that worked before the OTA is not working either.
First thing I would try is "clear data" for the Camera app and reboot.
rtbrjason said:
First thing I would try is "clear data" for the Camera app and reboot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tried that a couple of times but no change. I just also noticed that the camera app flashes a small message up at the bottom of the screen really quickly stating that the camera is unable to initialize.
Uninstall any third-party app that uses the camera (if you have any) the try again.
kishin14 said:
Uninstall any third-party app that uses the camera (if you have any) the try again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for the suggestion, I hadn't thought of that. Unfortunately that did not work either. No change, still getting the same message for about a second or two and then it closes.
Try re-uploading the camera apk and odex files, might need to set permissions the same as the other system apps.
Unzip and use something like rootexplorer, delete current BlurCamera.apk and BlurCamera.odex, set write access on system/app folder then copy these.
-smc
The problem is the camera firmware, amongst other things, is first deleted and then replaced during the OTA update - if something happens, that firmware is never copied back causing the camera to fail.
The problem I had was too much stuff installed in /system and it simply ran out of space. This also caused my recovery to fail to update which then failed checksum if I tried to boot to recovery.
I had a bunch of binaries I installed in /system/xbin taking up several MB of space. I deleted them - including busybox - and reran the update. Now everything works fine.
If your recovery is hosed, I posted how to fix in the update thread.
If you need help and haven't wiped /cache yet, post /cache/recovery/last_log
limaxray said:
The problem is the camera firmware, amongst other things, is first deleted and then replaced during the OTA update - if something happens, that firmware is never copied back causing the camera to fail.
The problem I had was too much stuff installed in /system and it simply ran out of space. This also caused my recovery to fail to update which then failed checksum if I tried to boot to recovery.
I had a bunch of binaries I installed in /system/xbin taking up several MB of space. I deleted them - including busybox - and reran the update. Now everything works fine.
If your recovery is hosed, I posted how to fix in the update thread.
If you need help and haven't wiped /cache yet, post /cache/recovery/last_log
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
also, one note, i'm seeing alot of people reporting issues with the stock apps AFTER they've removed bloat (any method). the first thing people should do is put the bloat back, or in worse case scenario, do a wipe to see if there's really something wrong.
i froze an email service and it cause my text messenger to stop working. you don't know what libraries are shared with what. freeze with caution.
640k said:
also, one note, i'm seeing alot of people reporting issues with the stock apps AFTER they've removed bloat (any method). the first thing people should do is put the bloat back, or in worse case scenario, do a wipe to see if there's really something wrong.
i froze an email service and it cause my text messenger to stop working. you don't know what libraries are shared with what. freeze with caution.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree, and would suggest to anyone to use the script for removing and replacing the bloat - it makes it much easier to do (especially from adb when you foul it up) and keeps track of what you've done.
That said, I highly doubt that is the issue here. The update script first checksums everything that needs to be patched and deletes everything that is to be replaced. So if you have anything removed, it will either cause it to fail (if the file is to be patched) or not matter (if it is to be deleted or simply isn't touched). In other words, if you have anything missing that is needed, the update wouldn't touch anything.
Furthermore, I don't think any of the commonly removed bloatware serves as a dependency for the camera. At least not as far as I can tell.
I can tell you that /system is filled to the brim with all of the bloatware. The current ROM is just barely shoehorned in there. Many 'for-root-users' apps like to install stuff to /system and since the updater script doesn't check for free space, it may very well fail to extract in the middle of execution even though it already deleted a bunch of files.
So I think more importantly than restoring bloat, you should remove anything you added.
I tried your directions and re-ran the update after fixing recovery, however my camera still doesn't work because of the same basic issue, running out of space before the update completed. Upon re-rooting and going in to my system directory with root explorer I noticed that I now only have 195k free there. I checked the xbin folder and do not see busybox or anything else there that I recognize that I could delete to free up space. How can I tell what is safe to delete and what isn't so I can free up enough to fix my recovery again and hopefully get the update to work properly?
You can see a breakdown of disk usage with this command:
Code:
du -sh /system/*
Here's mine with busybox removed:
Code:
147.6M /system/app
7.5M /system/bin
11.0K /system/build.prop
5.5M /system/etc
5.1M /system/fonts
35.5M /system/framework
75.7M /system/lib
1.0K /system/lost+found
19.2M /system/media
0 /system/preinstall
304.0K /system/recovery-from-boot.p
4.6M /system/tts
8.3M /system/usr
135.0K /system/xbin
And my free space is
Code:
$ df /system
Filesystem Size Used Free Blksize
/system 320M 317M 2M 1024
Other than su, the only files you need in xbin are (don't worry about the symlinks)
Code:
backup dexdump drm1_func_test run_backup run_restore ssmgrd
I think the only extra bits I now have on /system is su.
I also found the system dump from this post to be very helpful.
Whenever I'm trying du It's saying that the command wasn't found. What are you using for your terminal access?
Hmm it seems du isn't a standard binary even though I have it in bin. I sure don't remember putting that in there...
Anyway, I use adb or Better Terminal Emulator Pro, depending what mood on in.
To use adb, you'll need to install busybox to /data somewhere (I have mine in /data/local/bin) and use
Code:
$ /data/local/bin/busybox du -sh /system/*
BTEP has a fairly complete set of CLI tools included - such as du - so you don't need busybox.
I figured out how to do the command through busybox and have come up with some interesting results...
I am over yours on...
Code:
153.8M /system/app
1.9M /system/xbin
I am under yours on...
Code:
4.7M /system/bin
4.9M /system/etc
71.8M /system/lib
And I match yours on...
Code:
11.0K /system/build.prop
5.1M /system/fonts
35.5M /system/framework
1.0K /system/lost+found
19.2M /system/media
0 /system/preinstall
304.0K /system/recovery-from-boot.p
4.6M /system/tts
8.3M /system/usr
This is with busybox installed in the xbin folder so that is probably why I am over on that one, however the app folder is quite a bit over as well but I can't figure out why. The only file that I can find in there that doesn't seem to belong is Superuser.apk but it is only 191k.
UPDATE: I finally found a large app that wasn't present in the system dump that you had mentioned before. I backed it up to my sd card and removed it, went through the update, and now my camera is working. Thank you very much to everyone who helped, especially limaxray!
Glad I was able to help!
This is a great example for why we should always wipe data/cache before any rom update.
dsw361 said:
This is a great example for why we should always wipe data/cache before any rom update.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That wouldn't have helped here at all. If anything, it would have made it impossible to use adb in case of a boot loop.
These are not like community ROM updates and don't need anything wiped.
limaxray said:
That wouldn't have helped here at all. If anything, it would have made it impossible to use adb in case of a boot loop.
These are not like community ROM updates and don't need anything wiped.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly. the last thing I would do is wipe data/cache if we encountered a bootloop. Adb is so important to us right now because we don't have a custom recovery or an sbf.
Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk

[FIXED] [Q] XT860 - Broke my /system/app folder...

EDIT: Fixed! Procedure I used was to download Danifunker's system dump, move it to /sdcard/ via adb push, then run the following:
Code:
adb shell
su dd if=/sdcard/mmcblk1p21.img of=/dev/block/mmcblk1p21
This completely refreshed my /system folder. Original post below:
--------------------------------------------------------------
Hello XDA forumgoers, longtime reader first time poster here. I'm currently posting because I made a few mistakes. Several mistakes, actually.
1. In my quest to de-bloat my XT860, I accidentally removed one file too many, which caused my phone to mysteriously not have a cell signal. (com.motorola.service.main kept crashing.) So I hit the forum and grabbed a system dump from this thread (thanks Willis111):
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=17501981
I had bought the phone with some version of Cyanogenmod Recovery installed by the previous owner, so I was able to use that and ADB to stick the .apks and .odex files in the /system/app folder, chmod 644 them, and even factory reset for good measure.
2. As I soon found out, I had somehow made things worse. The phone, when boot into, shows the "press android to begin" page, but com.motorola.service.main and some other apps keep FCing on me, and I can't progress past that screen. In my haste, I didn't backup any of my system folders at all, though, I still backed up my apps with Titanium.
Tl;dr:
presumably none of the /system/app apks boot, most notably com.motorola.service.main. How do I fix this? Can I?
Try to flash
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1288823
You also need to chown 0:0 both the apk and the odex
Have you tried using my original system dump? It was taken with dd, so things like symlinks and the other sort should be functional. The only caveat is that a number of apps were frozen at the time, so you may need to unfreeze them with titaniumbackup.
http://www.multiupload.com/SORQERFAYT
DoubleYouPee: Is this that chinese rom I've heard of? I heard that if I flash this, I can't root my phone. So I think I'll save this one as a last resort.
eww245: chown'd, no result.
daniflunker: how do I open this?
jonsicoli said:
DoubleYouPee: Is this that chinese rom I've heard of? I heard that if I flash this, I can't root my phone. So I think I'll save this one as a last resort.
eww245: chown'd, no result.
daniflunker: how do I open this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What about rootkeeper?
DoubleYouPee said:
What about rootkeeper?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't get past the "click android" screen, so I probably can't install or run it. Any way to do it via adb or Cyanogenmod Recovery?
I really appreciate the help.
jonsicoli, if you want to restore your *entire* /system folder (not just apps) you would run a similar command-set as this.
1. Copy the file to the internal memory
adb push c:\path.to.folder\mmcblk1p21.img /sdcard
the file will be located in the root of the sdcard (or you could drag and drop the file in USB storage mode)
2. Do a full restore on system memory *I have not checked to ensure this is working... but a command similar to this should work
adb shell
su dd if=/sdcard/mmcblk1p21.img of=/dev/block/mmcblk1p21
- wait -
(it would have to write about 500mb and replace all of the contents of /system )
reboot
_______________________________________________________
Okay, if you just want to look at the files, you could use a linux machine to mount the filesystem (it is a standard ext3 FS) or you could do what I have done on my windows system:
Install EXT2FsD from http://sourceforge.net/projects/ext2fsd/files/latest/download?source=files
Then install OSFMount from http://www.osforensics.com/tools.html
Point the OSFMount program to the img file that you downloaded and assign it a drive then voilla!
I am pretty sure this is a bit of overkill, but this should completely restore your system close to factory (minus the APKs that were upgraded/disabled, plus the fact root was done)
Thanks Danifunker! I reset my entire /system folder, and restoring my user app backup. I'm just relieved to have my phone back. Now to mark this thread as solved.
Awesome!!!!!! Glad to hear my system dump works! Thanks for testing
My command lines were written correctly also I guess?
Sent from my XT860 using XDA App
searched for like 8 hours until i found this thread. Just what i needed, i had system image for 2.3.6 from your other post but no command.

mount -o remount,rw /system mount: Read-only file system

Im on Android M preview 2 with Desparis 3.3 kernel, rooted.
I would like to update build.prop and change user -> userdebug.
Before on Lollipop all I had to do is remount /system in rw and change the file.
Android M doesn't allow me to remount /system in rw.
adb push fails to overwrite the file.
Any solutions please ?
jodvova said:
Im on Android M preview 2 with Desparis 3.3 kernel, rooted.
I would like to update build.prop and change user -> userdebug.
Before on Lollipop all I had to do is remount /system in rw and change the file.
Android M doesn't allow me to remount /system in rw.
adb push fails to overwrite the file.
Any solutions please ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dont think you can write to system at all anymore, even with root. I do it all in recovery for right now.
Thanks! At least it's one possible solution !
david279 said:
I dont think you can write to system at all anymore, even with root. I do it all in recovery for right now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, can you elaborate how do you do it ?
I've just tried booting into TWRP, then connected the phone to PC, did adb push of changed build.prop into /system, reboot the phone and realized that the phone still has the old build.prop.
jodvova said:
Actually, can you elaborate how do you do it ?
I've just tried booting into TWRP, then connected the phone to PC, did adb push of changed build.prop into /system, reboot the phone and realized that the phone still has the old build.prop.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First in twrp make sure you mount system in the mount menu then you should be able to push and pull. You probably pushed the file nowhere even though I think you should've got a error message. I pulled the build.prop straight from twrp edited it then pushed it right back. Did it for the tethering hack. ? ?
david279 said:
I dont think you can write to system at all anymore, even with root. I do it all in recovery for right now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sure you can. all i use is root explorer. i change what i need, save it, then reboot for it to take affect. works every time.
simms22 said:
sure you can. all i use is root explorer. i change what i need, save it, then reboot for it to take affect. works every time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't think write to system was working in the M builds. Must be something wrong with his root method.
david279 said:
I didn't think write to system was working in the M builds. Must be something wrong with his root method.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
maybe. im using despair and sometimes elementalx kernels. does everything else root work for you? all is working here.
edit.. i should ask him, not you
simms22 said:
maybe. im using despair and sometimes elementalx kernels. does everything else root work for you? all is working here.
edit.. i should ask him, not you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Root works great in all apps.
The only problem I have is with RO system. Before M I would use ES explorer to modify and save build.prop and Android Terminal to remount system as RW. But it doesn't work like that anymore in M.
Ive never tried root explorer.
jodvova said:
Root works great in all apps.
The only problem I have is with RO system. Before M I would use ES explorer to modify and save build.prop and Android Terminal to remount system as RW. But it doesn't work like that anymore in M.
Ive never tried root explorer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it works exactly like it did before over here. and ive manuslly changed my build.orop several times already.
I'm on Preview 2, rooted, Despair kernel 3.3.
Still confused as to how to enable mounting /system r/w from within Android and not TWRP. Trying FX file explorer as well as Terminal Emulator with no success. I have Busybox installed and under Applet Manager it shows the "Mount" applet as installed and symlinked to /system/bin/toolbox.
KnifeSkills said:
I'm on Preview 2, rooted, Despair kernel 3.3.
Still confused as to how to enable mounting /system r/w from within Android and not TWRP. Trying FX file explorer as well as Terminal Emulator with no success. I have Busybox installed and under Applet Manager it shows the "Mount" applet as installed and symlinked to /system/bin/toolbox.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haven't tried M as it buggy but have used Root Explorer the grand father of file explorers on everything since TBolt.
prdog1 said:
Haven't tried M as it buggy but have used Root Explorer the grand father of file explorers on everything since TBolt.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
root explorer since 2009 here
simms22 said:
root explorer since 2009 here
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Root Explorer FTW. Always works and same file system as shows on PC.
Well Root Explorer wasn't the answer, surprisingly enough haha...
Needed insecure boot.img obtained here flashed with help from this thread, with further reading here for better understanding or doing it yourself.
Also I apparently forgot that adbd insecure by chainfire exists until just now, which could have potentially been another solution.

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