Database Develop

Root and OTA Updates

I have rooted my phone, but am not doing any custom ROMS or anything. I notice that I have an OTA update, and figure that it may be in my best interest to install it, and it would stop nagging me then too. I know if i un-root, I will loose everything. I use Titanium backup. So if I do a full backup, un-root, install update(s), re-root, I can re-install Titanium (I have the paid version) and recover everything right where I left off correct?

I am assuming that you unlocked the bootloader even though you are just rooting. That is how I roll. If so it would be far easier to download the latest image for your phone and flash it. Just skip flashing the user partition. That will save your apps, data and settings.
It is a 10 minute process and far less prone to errors. TI backups are great but can create lots of little gremlins when you restore them.
And with root there are so many other things you could have changed that might cause the update to fail that it just isn't worth the effort.
Sent from my Nexus 6 using XDA Labs

TonikJDK said:
I am assuming that you unlocked the bootloader even though you are just rooting. That is how I roll. If so it would be far easier to download the latest image for your phone and flash it. Just skip flashing the user partition. That will save your apps, data and settings.
It is a 10 minute process and far less prone to errors. TI backups are great but can create lots of little gremlins when you restore them.
And with root there are so many other things you could have changed that might cause the update to fail that it just isn't worth the effort.
Sent from my Nexus 6 using XDA Labs
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Awesome! Good to know. I know how to use the search function, but what should I search for to find how to do what you've recommended?
Thanks again

therealcrazy8 said:
Awesome! Good to know. I know how to use the search function, but what should I search for to find how to do what you've recommended?
Thanks again
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Googling "nexus factory images" will get you where you need to go. But also I'd like to add that on the SuperSU forums there are posts about using the SuperSU app's built in "full unroot" feature with systemless root allows usage of ota's. It works by just restoring a backup of your boot image that the SuperSU.zip takes before rooting with the new systemless root method. The caveat to this is that when you install the zip via TWRP you need to select the "Leave /system read-only" option upon first install and also not mount /system as R/W at any time during your usage of root.
The way I've personally been doing ota's lately is just taking a "system-image" backup in TWRP before modding anything that way when the ota rolls around I just restore the backup, apply the ota update the backup reflash twrp and root. Doesn't really save any time versus using a factory image but 10mb ota vs 2gb image is easier for me with crummy data limited internets

StykerB said:
...The way I've personally been doing ota's lately is just taking a "system-image" backup in TWRP before modding anything that way when the ota rolls around I just restore the backup, apply the ota update the backup reflash twrp and root. Doesn't really save any time versus using a factory image but 10mb ota vs 2gb image is easier for me with crummy data limited internets
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Interesting. As a rooted user though, why is flashing the entire (new) factory image an option, rather than just cherry-picking the files that you need (i.e boot.img, radio etc if altered)? I mean, I realize that you still have to download the whole image, but there are far fewer steps involved to getting a revised security update on your device than with resurrecting a stock Nandroid, applying the OTA, and then rooting again.

therealcrazy8 said:
Awesome! Good to know. I know how to use the search function, but what should I search for to find how to do what you've recommended?
Thanks again
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Click to collapse
At the top this sub forum is an FAQ that will get you going. Also in the development forum is a thread for Wugfresh NRT toolkit. It will do everything you need.
The option you are looking for in that is the 'no wipe' option to save your data.
But you should do it manually first, so you understand what is what if something goes wrong. And you should TI backup just in case.
If it bootloops or freaks out don't panic. It is fixable, as long as the bootloader is unlocked.
Sent from my Nexus 6 using XDA Labs

Not_A_Dev said:
Interesting. As a rooted user though, why is flashing the entire (new) factory image an option, rather than just cherry-picking the files that you need (i.e boot.img, radio etc if altered)? I mean, I realize that you still have to download the whole image, but there are far fewer steps involved to getting a revised security update on your device than with resurrecting a stock Nandroid, applying the OTA, and then rooting again.
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It's only restoring the /system so data and apps remain but the main goal of mine is just saving data by not having to downloading a factory image. Regardless of how you do it you still have a PC in the mix at some point so I might as well save some of my data plan.

Flashfire failing

I have a Fire 7" that is mysteriously failing when trying to flash with FlashFire. My process is:
- Downgrade FireOS
- Root using KingRoot
- Install SuperSU
- Install FlashFire
I've been restoring a backup of a Fire tablet that is set up how I need to. This process has worked on several other Fire 7 tablets recently, and in general I've been able to do this on about 50 tablets. On this particular tablet, I tried flashing the restore image twice with FlashFire 0.50, once with 0.51, and then the last time I decided to directly flash the CM 12.1 and GApps instead of restoring.
Every time, FlashFire appears to quite somewhere in the middle of flashing and I get stuck in a boot loop. I can sideload the downgraded FireOS to get it running again.
So, I was curious if anyone had any ideas as to how to approach this? Hopefully this is the last of these damn things I need to do this with.

Radixdiaboli said:
I have a Fire 7" that is mysteriously failing when trying to flash with FlashFire. My process is:
- Downgrade FireOS
- Root using KingRoot
- Install SuperSU
- Install FlashFire
I've been restoring a backup of a Fire tablet that is set up how I need to. This process has worked on several other Fire 7 tablets recently, and in general I've been able to do this on about 50 tablets. On this particular tablet, I tried flashing the restore image twice with FlashFire 0.50, once with 0.51, and then the last time I decided to directly flash the CM 12.1 and GApps instead of restoring.
Every time, FlashFire appears to quite somewhere in the middle of flashing and I get stuck in a boot loop. I can sideload the downgraded FireOS to get it running again.
So, I was curious if anyone had any ideas as to how to approach this? Hopefully this is the last of these damn things I need to do this with.
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In your shoes (and given your experience) I might try a stand alone, full-on wipe with FlashFire which, with any luck, will yield an 'empty', unbootable device. You can then reload FireOS via recovery menu and do the prep-for-custom-rom dance again. If FlashFire behaves the same way you might want to cut your losses and request an exchange from Amazon.

Davey126 said:
In your shoes (and given your experience) I might try a stand alone, full-on wipe with FlashFire which, with any luck, will yield an 'empty', unbootable device. You can then reload FireOS via recovery menu and do the prep-for-custom-rom dance again. If FlashFire behaves the same way you might want to cut your losses and request an exchange from Amazon.
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Word, I'll give that a shot. This one is already an exchange (last batch had a lot of stuck pixels), not sure I have the mettle to go through all that again.

Davey126 said:
In your shoes (and given your experience) I might try a stand alone, full-on wipe with FlashFire which, with any luck, will yield an 'empty', unbootable device. You can then reload FireOS via recovery menu and do the prep-for-custom-rom dance again. If FlashFire behaves the same way you might want to cut your losses and request an exchange from Amazon.
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Curious; doing a wipe (all boxes checked) with FlashFire 0.51 seems to just result in a factory reset. Blah.

Radixdiaboli said:
Curious; doing a wipe (all boxes checked) with FlashFire 0.51 seems to just result in a factory reset. Blah.
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Suggests the system partition is not writable in the manner FlashFire uses which points to a larger issue such as an underlying permission issue. Not sure how to further diagnose/remediate.

Broken Fire launcher fix

I tried to remove amazon fire launcher with the first two commands on this thread "http://forum.xda-developers.com/amazon-fire/development/tut-remove-default-launcher-amazon-fire-t3288310" but now its buged out and i can't fix it. I can root if needed but is there a easy fix. I did try a ota update but that did not work. Also i would like to keep my data.
Reuben

Reuben Talbott said:
I tried to remove amazon fire launcher with the first two commands on this thread "http://forum.xda-developers.com/amazon-fire/development/tut-remove-default-launcher-amazon-fire-t3288310" but now its buged out and i can't fix it. I can root if needed but is there a easy fix. I did try a ota update but that did not work. Also i would like to keep my data.
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Reload FireOS 5.3.1 (or 5.3.2 if you don't immediately care about root) from the stock recovery menu. Your apps and data will remain intact.

I tried that 5 times two days ago But it does nothing

Davey126 said:
Reload FireOS 5.3.1 (or 5.3.2 if you don't immediately care about root) from the stock recovery menu. Your apps and data will remain intact.
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Reuben Talbott said:
I tried that 5 times two days ago But it does nothing
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Well, once would have been sufficient.
If the problem persists:
- FireOS reloads are not occurring successfully (assume you have ruled that out)
- may have to bite the bullet and wipe the user data partition prior to reloading FireOS
- defective device (seems highly unlikely...)
If still no joy you can root, install FlashFire and use the 'wipe' function to completely purge your device of all content. Then reload FireOS via the stock recovery menu which will yield a fresh-out-of-the-box experience. Recommend using the 'SuperTool' to root as it also installs SuperSU (and removes KingUser) which is a FlashFire prerequisite.

I don't think I have a defective device I have had it sense July and its worked well until I Dido those commands

Davey126 said:
Well, once would have been sufficient.
If the problem persists:
- FireOS reloads are not occurring successfully (assume you have ruled that out)
- may have to bite the bullet and wipe the user data partition prior to reloading FireOS
- defective device (seems highly unlikely...)
If still no joy you can root, install FlashFire and use the 'wipe' function to completely purge your device of all content. Then reload FireOS via the stock recovery menu which will yield a fresh-out-of-the-box experience. Recommend using the 'SuperTool' to root as it also installs SuperSU (and removes KingUser) which is a FlashFire prerequisite.
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Click to collapse
Do you think i could wipe only the system partition and keep my data?

Reuben Talbott said:
I don't think I have a defective device I have had it sense July and its worked well until I Dido those commands
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Reuben Talbott said:
Do you think i could wipe only the system partition and keep my data?
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Can't hurt to try. Be aware that once you wipe the system partition the device will no longer boot into FireOS. If necessary you will need to power down the device (long press power button) and then boot into stock recovery using <power>+<vol-up>. Also note that while well considered/executed wipes are generally safe there is always the chance something could go wrong leaving you with an unbootable brick. Rather rare but would be irresponsible not to point out possibility since you seem to have some valuable data on the device. Might want to copy that to the SD card in advance (if possible).

Davey126 said:
Can't hurt to try. Be aware that once you wipe the system partition the device will no longer boot into FireOS. If necessary you will need to power down the device (long press power button) and then boot into stock recovery using <power>+<vol-up>. Also note that while well considered/executed wipes are generally safe there is always the chance something could go wrong leaving you with an unbootable brick. Rather rare but would be irresponsible not to point out possibility since you seem to have some valuable data on the device. Might want to copy that to the SD card in advance (if possible).
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That is what is what I was thinking of doing.

Does any one know were app data is stored?

Reuben Talbott said:
Does any one know were app data is stored?
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Many places. There are guidelines but somedevelopers opt to ignore. You'll need to do some searching and hope that you find everything. Could also try Android's native app backup/restore commands which operate via adb (USB tether). Do some goggling for syntax.

Create rooted Backup for sideloading

Hi there,
after some attemps I succesfully rooted my fire7. More than one time it happend, that my modding and flashing attemps lead into a bootloop. There was no choice than sideloading 5.3.1 Firmware and going through the whole rooting process again. (Annoying)
In the End I decided to stay with a rooted FireOs since it was the only Rom where screenmirroring worked flawlessly. Now I was wandering if there was a way to create a prerooted and modded backup img, that I can safely sideload. I think it could be possible since I'm still on the 'original' rom whixh I initially sideloaded.

snoerme said:
Hi there,
after some attemps I succesfully rooted my fire7. More than one time it happend, that my modding and flashing attemps lead into a bootloop. There was no choice than sideloading 5.3.1 Firmware and going through the whole rooting process again. (Annoying)
In the End I decided to stay with a rooted FireOs since it was the only Rom where screenmirroring worked flawlessly. Now I was wandering if there was a way to create a prerooted and modded backup img, that I can safely sideload. I think it could be possible since I'm still on the 'original' rom whixh I initially sideloaded.
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Click to collapse
No ready-made tools as most require access to a custom recovery (eg: TWRP) for assured recovery. Next best option is the backup/recovery capability built into FlashFire. Note this requires a bootable/functional/rooted/stable ROM to pull off a comprehensive recovery. More of a checkpoint than full restore.

so it's not possible to sideload the backupfile that flashfire created?
It's kind of annoying to go through the kingroot procedure again and again.

snoerme said:
so it's not possible to sideload the backupfile that flashfire created?
It's kind of annoying to go through the kingroot procedure again and again.
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Correct and agree. Lucky we can do anything with this device given bootloader state.

Stock Nexus 6, want to go to LineageOS, can I backup my device first?

As the title says, I have a completely stock Nexus 6. It has the Oct 2017 patch version of Android 7.1.1. I'm at the point where I want to upgrade to Android 9 using LineageOS 16.0. However, reading the LineageOS instructions it sounds like I can't unlock the bootloader without it wiping my phone contents. As the warning at the top says:
"WARNING: Unlocking the bootloader will erase all data on your device! Before proceeding, ensure the data you would like to retain is backed up to your PC and/or your Google account, or equivalent."
Is there any way for me to flash custom recovery without losing the phone contents so I can perform a backup of the phone in it's current state? Or maybe there's an ADB way to perform a backup to the PC before unlocking the bootloader?
Thanks,
-Greg

spikeygg said:
Is there any way for me to flash custom recovery without losing the phone contents so I can perform a backup of the phone in it's current state? Or maybe there's an ADB way to perform a backup to the PC before unlocking the bootloader?
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To flash anything, even the recovery, requires an unlocked bootloader, thus you would lose everything. Using ADB it is possible to back up a device with a locked bootloader, but I can't tell you the steps or commands off the top of my head. And restoring such a backup is not recommended in any event when switching ROMs.
Now, if you're looking to back up your personal files such as your music or pictures you don't even need ADB. Just your PC"s file manager.

Strephon Alkhalikoi said:
To flash anything, even the recovery, requires an unlocked bootloader, thus you would lose everything. Using ADB it is possible to back up a device with a locked bootloader, but I can't tell you the steps or commands off the top of my head. And restoring such a backup is not recommended in any event when switching ROMs.
Now, if you're looking to back up your personal files such as your music or pictures you don't even need ADB. Just your PC"s file manager.
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Good to know, that's what I suspected. Thanks for the confirmation.