Database Develop

Device Encryption Question/Issue with Unlocking

I have had some issues with my phone since unlocking with sunshine. See separate thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/droid-turbo/help/help-bricked-xt1254-unlocking-to-t3279581 for description. I have a theory about this now and would like some opinions from folks with more experience.
I used device encryption on my Turbo before the OTA update to Lollipop. After encrypting the phone I would be prompted to enter my PIN to decrypt the data partition before the phone would boot, and then I'd have to enter the PIN again after boot to unlock it. After the OTA I no longer had to enter my PIN when booting the phone, but I would still have to enter it after boot to unlock. After the OTA the phone still reported that it was encrypted in the system security settings even though it didn't need a PIN to decrypt at boot time. That makes sense from what little I know because encrypting the device re-writes the data partition, and the OTA didn't touch the data partition and could not un-encrypt it. I was baffled by this, but I didn't want to factory reset and wipe the data partition to let me re-encrypt the phone.
So after the OTA, the data partition of my phone was still encrypted, but magically the phone was able to decrypt data and boot without my PIN. I don't know why. But one clue is that after unlocking and installing TWRP I looked at TWRP log and saw a log message saying something about decrypting with default PIN. Anyway, I never wiped data, but my phone somehow manages to boot. Re-flashing system and recovery caused problems at first, but now it seems to be back to the way it was. I haven't flashed a new ROM yet, but I expect that when I do I'll have to wipe data and that will get everything back to normal.
My question is has anyone else experimented with device encryption and is this behavior expected?
Thanks.

Not having to enter a PIN with the factory image was a bug I initially discovered, and reported, during the *initial* Android L SOAK test. Needless to say, they never fixed the bug (plus one of the Stagefright CVEs) during the second SOAK rollout. I reported it then, too. They did nothing. That second SOAK was the straw that broke the camel's back, for me. I will never participate in another.
As far as this bug goes, what I would do, is an FDR, and re-encrypt your device to wipe the key store and start over.
Sent from my DROID Turbo via Tapatalk. Now with that cyanogenmod goodness.

I got notifications that the SU4TL-49 OTA was ready to install on my phone, and I had read that if you try to install it with anything but stock recovery that you get into a boot loop. I figured it was a matter of time before I ended up accidentally installing the OTA upgrade and so decided to wipe my phone and go back to stock, and I would use that opportunity to re-encrypt the phone. It took me a couple of tries before I discovered that factory reset isn't enough to remove the encryption, and that I had to reformat the data partition. This took a few hours of going back and forth between reverting to stock, upgrading, rooting, configuring and starting over before I finally got it right, but eventually the phone said that it wasn't encrypted and gave me the option to encrypt. What a pain. After setting up all my apps for the third or fourth time I thought I was done. Whenever I rebooted I was prompted for my PIN before android booted. I even had to enter my PIN to run TWRP.
At least that's the way it was for a few hours. Now when I reboot it just starts up android with no password again. All the effort to un-encrypt and re-encrypt seems to have been a waste. Oh well, at least I avoided getting into boot loop hell.
Hopefully this unencrypting without requiring password/PIN thing gets fixed when (if) they come out with M for the turbo.

This just keeps getting better and better. I decided to flash the Unofficial CM13 ROM this afternoon just for fun. I got it all set up when I found that the GPS receiver wasn't working. Searching the thread I found a link to a flash-able radio image to fix that, and when I rebooted to TWRP it prompted me for a password to decrypt the data partition! Unfortunately it didn't like my PIN no matter how many times I entered it. I don't know if there's something about entering a numerical PIN on the qwerty keyboard, but it had worked earlier in the day before it stopped prompting for passwords. After a bunch of tries and reboots I gave up and downloaded a fastboot flashable version of the same. I've spent most of the day screwing around with this phone already and I'm not going to reformat the data partition again today for sure! Maybe it just needs a good night's sleep.

Astrobrewer said:
This just keeps getting better and better. I decided to flash the Unofficial CM13 ROM this afternoon just for fun. I got it all set up when I found that the GPS receiver wasn't working. Searching the thread I found a link to a flash-able radio image to fix that, and when I rebooted to TWRP it prompted me for a password to decrypt the data partition! Unfortunately it didn't like my PIN no matter how many times I entered it. I don't know if there's something about entering a numerical PIN on the qwerty keyboard, but it had worked earlier in the day before it stopped prompting for passwords. After a bunch of tries and reboots I gave up and downloaded a fastboot flashable version of the same. I've spent most of the day screwing around with this phone already and I'm not going to reformat the data partition again today for sure! Maybe it just needs a good night's sleep.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Encryption is totally broken on CM13. The issue is that our version of TWRP cannot decrypt it. I contacted the maintainer of TWRP for our device about this issue and he said that he tried to fix the issue, but he failed.
Also, official CM13 has been out for a while now for the Turbo. No need to go with the unofficial version.

Thanks for the info @TheSt33v, but I'm not sure that it's totally broken.
The strange thing is that I was using TWRP 3.0.2 just fine after encrypting phone while on stock ROM, and it worked for a while even after flashing CM13. Then it just stopped liking my PIN. But CM13 takes my PIN and decrypts data just fine. So my phone is usable for now, and the problem of it decrypting without asking for a PIN is solved for now. I just went to cyanogenmod and see that there's a CM13 recovery. Based on your post I'm guessing that's what is broken, so no point in flashing that. Oh well, at least my phone is secure.

Astrobrewer said:
Thanks for the info @TheSt33v, but I'm not sure that it's totally broken.
The strange thing is that I was using TWRP 3.0.2 just fine after encrypting phone while on stock ROM, and it worked for a while even after flashing CM13. Then it just stopped liking my PIN. But CM13 takes my PIN and decrypts data just fine. So my phone is usable for now, and the problem of it decrypting without asking for a PIN is solved for now. I just went to cyanogenmod and see that there's a CM13 recovery. Based on your post I'm guessing that's what is broken, so no point in flashing that. Oh well, at least my phone is secure.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just FYI, our TWRP maintainer has fixed decryption. You can get the latest version here: https://www.androidfilehost.com/?w=files&flid=39562 (version 3.0.2-0 mod 02 as of this writing). I still had trouble decrypting a partition that was previously formatted using the stock recovery menu, but once I formatted the data partition using this version of TWRP and re-encrypted, it decrypted fine.

TheSt33v said:
Just FYI, our TWRP maintainer has fixed decryption...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes they have fixed it! I found TWRP Mod 2 over the weekend and saw from the change log that decryption was fixed. I flashed it and it works great. No problems decrypting my previously encrypted data partition since I flashed mod 2. The funny thing about it is that basic TWRP 3.0.2 (no mod) worked well enough for long enough for me to flash CM13, and it even seemed to work for a little while after that. But then it decided that it didn't know how to decrypt my phone anymore and I was stuck until Mod 2. I can't explain why it worked for a while and then stopped, but I'm very happy that mod 2 fixed it.
Thanks for your help and support. Sometimes I feel like I'm the only user who encrypts his phone. There don't seem to be a lot of threads about encryption/decryption issues.

Astrobrewer said:
Yes they have fixed it! I found TWRP Mod 2 over the weekend and saw from the change log that decryption was fixed. I flashed it and it works great. No problems decrypting my previously encrypted data partition since I flashed mod 2. The funny thing about it is that basic TWRP 3.0.2 (no mod) worked well enough for long enough for me to flash CM13, and it even seemed to work for a little while after that. But then it decided that it didn't know how to decrypt my phone anymore and I was stuck until Mod 2. I can't explain why it worked for a while and then stopped, but I'm very happy that mod 2 fixed it.
Thanks for your help and support. Sometimes I feel like I'm the only user who encrypts his phone. There don't seem to be a lot of threads about encryption/decryption issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most people don't seem to think it's worth the impact that it has on performance.

I was worried about the performance hit too before I tried it. But I don't notice any real difference in performance. Of there is a hit it's too small for me to tell.
Sent from my DROID Turbo using XDA-Developers mobile app

Astrobrewer said:
I was worried about the performance hit too before I tried it. But I don't notice any real difference in performance. Of there is a hit it's too small for me to tell.
Sent from my DROID Turbo using XDA-Developers mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is a very interesting thread. I would like to encrypt so I can setup my work exchange email as its a requirement. Just to clarify what is the order to do this in? Currently I am running RR 6.01 but have run CF's 1.3.6 ROM most of the time as its awesome.
Can I encrypt using RR or do I need to switch back to CFs ROM or to stock Lollipop after installing the upgraded TWRP in place of the standard version I am running now?
thanks for the help and information.

oldidaho said:
This is a very interesting thread. I would like to encrypt so I can setup my work exchange email as its a requirement. Just to clarify what is the order to do this in? Currently I am running RR 6.01 but have run CF's 1.3.6 ROM most of the time as its awesome.
Can I encrypt using RR or do I need to switch back to CFs ROM or to stock Lollipop after installing the upgraded TWRP in place of the standard version I am running now?
thanks for the help and information.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can encrypt on RR. Just make sure you're running TWRP version 3.0.2-0 mod 2: https://www.androidfilehost.com/?w=files&flid=39562
If encryption fails, you'll need to format your data partition (aka do a factory reset) using this version of TWRP. Then it will work.

TheSt33v said:
You can encrypt on RR. Just make sure you're running TWRP version 3.0.2-0 mod 2: https://www.androidfilehost.com/?w=files&flid=39562
If encryption fails, you'll need to format your data partition (aka do a factory reset) using this version of TWRP. Then it will work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks so much for the clarification! Being encrypted, how does that affect installing future updates or restores? Can I still flash ROMS and other ZIPS from TWRP the same as now?

oldidaho said:
thanks so much for the clarification! Being encrypted, how does that affect installing future updates or restores? Can I still flash ROMS and other ZIPS from TWRP the same as now?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only difference is that you'll have to enter your password/pin every time you boot twrp. Don't try to use a pattern lock. Everything else will be the same.

TheSt33v said:
The only difference is that you'll have to enter your password/pin every time you boot twrp. Don't try to use a pattern lock. Everything else will be the same.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thank you for the help! I was able to encrypt my RR MM install without having to wipe the data partition. It now prompts me to put my PIN in when booting up and when going into the modded version of TWRP. It then is able to decrypt the partition in TWRP so as you said just like before. Only difference is a little longer boot up time. Performance seems the same to me.

oldidaho said:
thank you for the help! I was able to encrypt my RR MM install without having to wipe the data partition. It now prompts me to put my PIN in when booting up and when going into the modded version of TWRP. It then is able to decrypt the partition in TWRP so as you said just like before. Only difference is a little longer boot up time. Performance seems the same to me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Guess I spoke too soon. phone was working fine for a day. Yesterday at work I'm looking at my phone as it reboots on its own (just sitting there). I then get cant decrypt partition message. Cant do anything and it wont boot up into the OS WO giving this error. In TWRP still cant do anything because it cant decript the partition. So I formatted the data partition and started over. I had saved a recent backup to my PC so I was able to get back to that. Now running CFs latest instead of RR. I need my phone, cant take a chance on this happening again as I was instantly dead in the water. Just wont encrypt.

oldidaho said:
This is a very interesting thread. I would like to encrypt so I can setup my work exchange email as its a requirement. Just to clarify what is the order to do this in? Currently I am running RR 6.01 but have run CF's 1.3.6 ROM most of the time as its awesome.
Can I encrypt using RR or do I need to switch back to CFs ROM or to stock Lollipop after installing the upgraded TWRP in place of the standard version I am running now?
thanks for the help and information.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
oldidaho said:
thank you for the help! I was able to encrypt my RR MM install without having to wipe the data partition. It now prompts me to put my PIN in when booting up and when going into the modded version of TWRP. It then is able to decrypt the partition in TWRP so as you said just like before. Only difference is a little longer boot up time. Performance seems the same to me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
oldidaho said:
Guess I spoke too soon. phone was working fine for a day. Yesterday at work I'm looking at my phone as it reboots on its own (just sitting there). I then get cant decrypt partition message. Cant do anything and it wont boot up into the OS WO giving this error. In TWRP still cant do anything because it cant decript the partition. So I formatted the data partition and started over. I had saved a recent backup to my PC so I was able to get back to that. Now running CFs latest instead of RRI need my phone, cant take a chance on this happening again as I was instantly dead in the water. Just wont encrypt.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, just as you used CM13 Marshmallow and RR Marshmallow just fine without encryption, not sure why you went to CF Lollipop instead of RR just because encryption didn't work. It just seems you were implying it's CM13 or RR at fault when you used them just fine before, and even now on CF you are NOT using encryption.
But it's your phone, so you can run what you want.
I do commend you for having a recent backup on your PC.

ChazzMatt said:
Well, just as you used CM13 and RR just fine without encryption, not sure why you went to CF instead of RR just because encryption didn't work. But it's your phone.
Just not sure why you are implying it's CM13 or RR at fault when you used them just fine before, and even now on CF you are NOT using encryption.
I do commend you for having a recent backup on your PC.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I should have clarified, I dont think RR had anything to do with my issue. I actually really liked RR, it has some great features, great performance and good battery life too. I just missed the Moto features in the stock and CFs ROMs.

oldidaho said:
I should have clarified, I dont think RR had anything to do with my issue. I actually really liked RR, it has some great features, great performance and good battery life too. I just missed the Moto features in the stock and CFs ROMs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Strange. I've been using RR M encrypted for several weeks now with no issues. Oh well. If you're happy with modified stock, that's all that matters. You can encrypt that too if you like. I'm a big fan of the Moto features as well, and RR M has basically all of them built in besides Voice (chop chop flashlight was removed for a while, but it has been added back). Although I've never understood what Voice offers that Google Now does not.

Mystery solved!
Astrobrewer said:
... At least that's the way it was for a few hours. Now when I reboot it just starts up android with no password again. All the effort to un-encrypt and re-encrypt seems to have been a waste. Oh well, at least I avoided getting into boot loop hell.
Hopefully this unencrypting without requiring password/PIN thing gets fixed when (if) they come out with M for the turbo.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have been running the CM13 ROM for the past few months and it's been great, but now that Verizon came out with official Marshmallow I decided to go back to a stock-based ROM again because I've been missing VOLTE. So I flashed ComputerFreak274_MM. After flashing and rooting I was back in the stupid state of the phone saying that it was encrypted but booting without a PIN. It seemed unreal that Moto/Verizon would have left this bug in MM too. So I reformatted data, re-flashed and rooted the ROM and tried encrypting. Then I discovered that it won't encrypt if it's rooted. So back to wiping, re-formatting and flashing again, but this time I am able to successfully encrypt before rooting. Success! Now root and start setting up the phone. Now I have to enter my PIN before it will boot into the system or into TWRP. Yay! By now it's 1:00am and I have to be at work early, so I let it sit overnight while my apps download. In the morning I flash SuperSU and notice that I wasn't prompted for a password to decrypt when I booted into TWRP and I wasn't prompted for password when booting system after flashing SuperSU. WTF!!! More time wasted. It seemed that stock ROMs just don't like encryption. :crying:
Anyway, after stewing about it all day I randomly chanced into the solution. In the Security settings menu there's an option under Encryption called "Secure start-up" which only becomes available when phone is encrypted. The Secure start-up options says:
"You can further protect this device by requiring your PIN before it starts up. Until the device starts up, it can't receive calls, messages, or notifications, including alarms. This helps protect data on lost or stolen devices."​Secure start-up defaults to disabled for some reason, and when it's disabled the phone automatically decrypts itself when it boots without requiring PIN entry. So you can encrypt your phone and still be totally unprotected. What a dumb-ass default!
But when I enable Secure start-up then encryption works the way it should -- with phone prompting for PIN before booting. Maybe I just didn't notice it, but I didn't see anything when I encrypted the phone saying to enable Secure start-up to actually protect the phone. I'm guessing that this option was there in Lollipop too; but who knew???

Encryption

The issue is that I updated to Validus Oreo and I set it to require a pin to start. Now the pin will not work. It keeps saying the pin is incorrect. There is no way I forgot the pin. What do I do? I cannot start my phone!

Wipe and reflash?

From post #115 in the Validus, et al
buffal0b1ll said:
Delete /data/system/locksettings.db in TWRP file manager. Then boot her up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
. If that doesn't work, wiping internal seems to be the only other choice. In that case, I hope you have a backup. I guess you've figured this out, but it a good practice to remove the security lock before switching ROMs.
"Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment." - Will Rogers

Would I ADB to get to the data/system/locksettings.db?

Also I wanted to note that I actually booted the rom after the flash! I went back to try to flash supersu and then before I could get to twrp the pin was no longer working!

SOLVED! In my complete knuckleheadery I failed to actually use the number on the keyboard when I created the pin in twrp! I used four letters. Thank you for all the ideas!

I spoke way too fast. I was able to (and still able) get into twrp. I deleted the locksetting database, but the pin is still required. In twrp I have the option to use the qwerty keyboard so I can easily enter the pin. However, to boot into android is just the number option. Help! Is there a way to use qwerty?

CAN Pattern Unlock TWRP. CAN'T Pattern Unlock Phone

I temporarily tried going back to a Factory Reset configuration with my OP3T.
When I was done, I restored my configuration with a TWRP backup that I made earlier this evening.
While it looks like the restore came back OK (I can see my normal lockscreen wallpaper), the phone says my unlock pattern is incorrect. However, I can still unlock TWRP fine.
Is there an easy fix? Are there files I might have backed up previously for the phone's lock pattern?
Thanks,
¿GJ?

¿GotJazz? said:
I temporarily tried going back to a Factory Reset configuration with my OP3T.
When I was done, I restored my configuration with a TWRP backup that I made earlier this evening.
While it looks like the restore came back OK (I can see my normal lockscreen wallpaper), the phone says my unlock pattern is incorrect. However, I can still unlock TWRP fine.
Is there an easy fix? Are there files I might have backed up previously for the phone's lock pattern?
Thanks,
¿GJ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Simply boot into TWRP and draw your pattern (if you've set one) to decrypt the storage.
Delete (or rename) the following files inside /data/system (note that probably not all of them exist for you, simply delete those you can find):
gatekeeper.password.key
gatekeeper.pattern.key
locksettings.db-wal
locksettings.db-shm
locksettings.db
Reboot the phone and draw your pattern to decrypt the storage one more time. After that you can simply unlock your phone with a swipe.
Go into Settings > Security and set your preferred unlock method again, Android will ask you if you want to set a boot-time code too.
Enojy yous 3T

Thanks , @Azaruddin!
You're right, that was simple, and worked like a charm!
I'm going to bookmark this page, just in case I run into this again in the future.

¿GotJazz? said:
Thanks , @Azaruddin!
You're right, that was simple, and worked like a charm!
I'm going to bookmark this page, just in case I run into this again in the future.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Welcome @¿GotJazz?

¿GotJazz? said:
Thanks , @Azaruddin!
You're right, that was simple, and worked like a charm!
I'm going to bookmark this page, just in case I run into this again in the future.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
or you can just flash this zip
Sent from my OnePlus 3T using XDA Labs

how CAN enable Pattern Unlock in TWRP ? it is asking me passwords. but no pw exists . only pattern

LiNEAGEOSANDROiDEVOLUTiON said:
how CAN enable Pattern Unlock in TWRP ? it is asking me passwords. but no pw exists . only pattern
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try The method described in section "Specific pattern decrypt note" for converting a pattern to a string in https://twrp.me/faq/openrecoveryscript.html
Sent from my OnePlus 3T using XDA Labs

failed to decrypt my own data
BillGoss said:
pattern to a string in https://twrp.me/faq/openrecoveryscript.html
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for this, i have bookmarkted this. Found my 3x3 pattern should be very easy number combination of a simple letter as pattern unlock. I have tried:
PHP:
1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8 9
but failed. i guessed it to maybe in numlock style
PHP:
7 8 9
4 5 6
1 2 3
failed to decrypt data
im running recovery twrp 3.2.3.0, well maybe im in wrong thread, because no owner of nePlus 3T
tried entering into both, twrp terminal and twrp password prompt. out of luck for now

LiNEAGEOSANDROiDEVOLUTiON said:
...
im running recovery twrp 3.2.3.0, well maybe im in wrong thread, because no owner of nePlus 3T
tried entering into both, twrp terminal and twrp password prompt. out of luck for now
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've never used this method as I've always used passwords or pins.
By the way, TWRP is asking for the decryption password, not the lock screen password (which can be different). When you set your pattern did you also specify for it to be used for secure startup? Does your phone ask for the pattern when it boots up or only on the lock screen?
Sent from my OnePlus 3T using XDA Labs

It is boot up pattern locked only. when booted. it used to require pattern unlock always.
afterwards i can choose to unlock by both, pattern or fingerprint.
So, basically i have no knowledge about any "decryption password" that encrypts my whole data Partition. that TWRP is asking for. it was worth to give a try to guess it by the pattern password by number table.
i was used to use password for boot on a older phone too. while restarting phone more often , got lazy and only set pattern & fingerprint on this actually. now i feel bad about this decision.

LiNEAGEOSANDROiDEVOLUTiON said:
It is boot up pattern locked only. when booted. it used to require pattern unlock always.
afterwards i can choose to unlock by both, pattern or fingerprint.
So, basically i have no knowledge about any "decryption password" that encrypts my whole data Partition. that TWRP is asking for. it was worth to give a try to guess it by the pattern password by number table.
i was used to use password for boot on a older phone too. while restarting phone more often , got lazy and only set pattern & fingerprint on this actually. now i feel bad about this decision.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, if you can boot into the system, then you could change to a password and set it for secure boot and then use it as the password to get into TWRP.
Sent from my OnePlus 3T using XDA Labs

Few questions about encryption/decryption, strange behaviors, etc....Read within

As of right now I am currently using FreedomOS CE 2.11 (7.1.1). It was the only rom I had on my hard drive that I knew would work. I own the OnePlus 3T for any of you curious. Here lately I have had some issues in getting certain roms to work. I'd go through the whole process of flashing: to include a clean wipe of everything. I'd flash the rom and get no working data whatsoever. That's the first issue. The next question I have is why exactly would I need to encrypt or decrypt my one plus 3t? I have heard it's for multiboot, but I've never had any reason to use two roms at once. I had an issue with liquid rom 8.1 earlier where it was asking me for a password during the initial bootup, so I entered 0000. A few moments later I got a message saying decryption successful, but wanted me to reboot into recovery for some reason. I've also experienced the password problem using stock recovery, but I haven't seen that in a week or two. I mainly used blu recovery or twrp (latest versions).

I can't say why others decrypt their phones, other than to avoid the inconvenience of typing in a password, but I always have my data encrypted so that, if I lose my phone, no one else can access the information on it.
I also always use a password (not pin or pattern) and require it to boot the phone.
Without this, because I have an unlocked bootloader, anybody could use TWRP to delete the password files and then boot the phone and have access to everything on it.
I have not decrypted my phone since I bought it a year ago. And have never had issues with passwords because, I'm guessing, I set it to be required on boot. I've used different versions of TWRP and ROMs all without problems.

Root [TWRP + Magisk] kills device Security :: Pin/Fingerprints broken

Hello XDA, I'm going to keep this short and sweet - I was able to root my device using the TWRP + Magisk method and some online guides. I believe after experimenting and flashing over the weekend, there is a bug, race condition, or something that prevents bio metrics and security from properly working on the Note 9.
If I set a pin, as it's required for me to add my fingerprints - when I later try to unlock the phone, the device will say the wrong pin. Deleting the cache, reading guides etc will only get you in a bootloop.
I'm in a state right now where I'm rooted with no device security, as adding a pin will effectively brick the device until flashing with Stock Android again.
_______
I was able to root last week Friday. I didn't bother setting a pin as I was happy to have root. Yesterday, I decided to go ahead and set my pin and soon enough, was prompted to use it to disable security.
I really thought I had mistakenly confirmed a stray character in my pin, and after toying, researching, and flashing my device over the weekend, Ive come to a crux where I could use some expert assistance.
Some guides I used had links to an RMM disabled or some ****, another guide had two zips for a different type of disabler. I'm not linking them, because apparently none of them work, but I believe this is where the problem lies. I think one of the zips is to remove the OEM Integrity Check or some **** Samsung wrote to secure the device. One of the packages I flashed took all those packages but nothing has worked.
Setting your pin during setup, or later in settings yields the same results - you will lock yourself out until you flash Stock Android to restart the process.
We're almost there guys, just need to be able to lock my device like a normal cellhpone user - thank you

dekalbcountyman said:
Hello XDA, I'm going to keep this short and sweet - I was able to root my device using the TWRP + Magisk method and some online guides. I believe after experimenting and flashing over the weekend, there is a bug, race condition, or something that prevents bio metrics and security from properly working on the Note 9.
If I set a pin, as it's required for me to add my fingerprints - when I later try to unlock the phone, the device will say the wrong pin. Deleting the cache, reading guides etc will only get you in a bootloop.
I'm in a state right now where I'm rooted with no device security, as adding a pin will effectively brick the device until flashing with Stock Android again.
_______
I was able to root last week Friday. I didn't bother setting a pin as I was happy to have root. Yesterday, I decided to go ahead and set my pin and soon enough, was prompted to use it to disable security.
I really thought I had mistakenly confirmed a stray character in my pin, and after toying, researching, and flashing my device over the weekend, Ive come to a crux where I could use some expert assistance.
Some guides I used had links to an RMM disabled or some ****, another guide had two zips for a different type of disabler. I'm not linking them, because apparently none of them work, but I believe this is where the problem lies. I think one of the zips is to remove the OEM Integrity Check or some **** Samsung wrote to secure the device. One of the packages I flashed took all those packages but nothing has worked.
Setting your pin during setup, or later in settings yields the same results - you will lock yourself out until you flash Stock Android to restart the process.
We're almost there guys, just need to be able to lock my device like a normal cellhpone user - thank you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
did you encrypt your device? when you reboot, do you see an animation of a pad lock?

bober10113 said:
did you encrypt your device? when you reboot, do you see an animation of a pad lock?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bober, first of all thanks for taking YOUR TIME to respond - as a senior member I feel like we can make progress
No, my phone is not encrypted - there is no lock when booting up, just the Stock Samsung animation
I do not use any system encryption or anything like that. I’m a hardware first guy, and use a suite of my own private encrypted cloud software
I played with my Note 9 before I rotted cow TWRP + Magisk - all tutorials out there mentioned flashing various encryption/security zips which I have - I think those zoos are geared for Knox
After you root the phone, you cannot set any type of biometric security or pin or you will be stuck in a bootloop/lock loop as the device is unable to authenticate your pin

dekalbcountyman said:
Bober, first of all thanks for taking YOUR TIME to respond - as a senior member I feel like we can make progress
No, my phone is not encrypted - there is no lock when booting up, just the Stock Samsung animation
I do not use any system encryption or anything like that. I’m a hardware first guy, and use a suite of my own private encrypted cloud software
I played with my Note 9 before I rotted cow TWRP + Magisk - all tutorials out there mentioned flashing various encryption/security zips which I have - I think those zoos are geared for Knox
After you root the phone, you cannot set any type of biometric security or pin or you will be stuck in a bootloop/lock loop as the device is unable to authenticate your pin
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you using Snapdragon or Exynos?

mmjs14 said:
Are you using Snapdragon or Exynos?
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Click to collapse
Sir, I am using a
Galaxy Note 9
SM-N960F Internationals Unlocked
Alpine White
Exynos
Boot loader is TWRP and OEM Unlock is staying open permanently
I have all the hardware required, just need to overcome this software quirk so I can lock my phone when I’m not using it

dekalbcountyman said:
Bober, first of all thanks for taking YOUR TIME to respond - as a senior member I feel like we can make progress
No, my phone is not encrypted - there is no lock when booting up, just the Stock Samsung animation
I do not use any system encryption or anything like that. I’m a hardware first guy, and use a suite of my own private encrypted cloud software
I played with my Note 9 before I rotted cow TWRP + Magisk - all tutorials out there mentioned flashing various encryption/security zips which I have - I think those zoos are geared for Knox
After you root the phone, you cannot set any type of biometric security or pin or you will be stuck in a bootloop/lock loop as the device is unable to authenticate your pin
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ive never seen this. what firmware are you on?
have you tried to download the very latest and completely wipe your phone? use samfirm tool 0.3.6 do dl the latest.
fill up all the slots with the md5 files u dled with samfirm and flash using odin( in csc slot use csc.md5 instead of home_csc.md5.)
go dl
magisk zip:
https://github.com/topjohnwu/Magisk/releases/download/v19.2/Magisk-v19.2.zip
and apk:
https://github.com/topjohnwu/Magisk/releases/download/manager-v7.2.0/MagiskManager-v7.2.0.apk
ketan oem fix +root
https://www.androidfilehost.com/?w=files&flid=281291
once back on latest stock firmware root again using twrp 3.2.x.x tar
flash it with odin but go to option and uncheck autoreboot
and flash twrp.tar in the AP slot.
once successful, manualy reboot phone to recovery( dont let it boot to homescreen! so hold vol up + Bixby +power
once in twrp swipe to get in recovery. go to wipe button and Format ( type yes) and go to reboot button and choose reboot to recovery
once back to recovery go again to wipe button and choose factory wipe.
once done flash dr ketan oem and root zip. ( within the aroma setup of that zip choose yes to both option for root and kernel)
once finished you can now flash the latest magisk.zip as dled earlier.
now reboot and setup your device. once done you can install magisk manger .apk that was dled earlier.

Bober, I did your steps exactly as described and used the links you provided and got it working w/ Biometric Security
I've flashed my phone like 20 times so the process took like 15 minutes max - this was also the first time I flashed all the files in the firmware download. Other guides out there tell me I only need to load the AP slot when flashing for this phone.
The "ketan oem fix +root" is the only security/system level zip I flashed using TWRP - besides looking like an early 2000s rootkit, the Terms of Use had an old version listed and said the binary was from 2015
I couldn't take screens, but everything went well when I checked the version
Thank You so much - in the future, will this root method hold for the life of the Note 9? Like when the new Android after Pie is released, will it be as simple as
1. Backing Up Phone
2. Flashing Android 10 Stock via Odin
3. Reflashing TWRP and Rooting
or is there a more streamlined approach to this? Thanks mate

dekalbcountyman said:
Bober, I did your steps exactly as described and used the links you provided and got it working w/ Biometric Security
I've flashed my phone like 20 times so the process took like 15 minutes max - this was also the first time I flashed all the files in the firmware download. Other guides out there tell me I only need to load the AP slot when flashing for this phone.
The "ketan oem fix +root" is the only security/system level zip I flashed using TWRP - besides looking like an early 2000s rootkit, the Terms of Use had an old version listed and said the binary was from 2015
I couldn't take screens, but everything went well when I checked the version
Thank You so much - in the future, will this root method hold for the life of the Note 9? Like when the new Android after Pie is released, will it be as simple as
1. Backing Up Phone
2. Flashing Android 10 Stock via Odin
3. Reflashing TWRP and Rooting
or is there a more streamlined approach to this? Thanks mate
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
actualy the root method that dr ketan created is just a way to bypass an issue that not all phones have(rmm state aka binaries error when booting.
but technically the method should be;
flash twrp, format, reboot again to recovery and flash official magisk .zip
you can also rely on rom developpers to flash their version instead of stock android via odin. this allows you to not always have to go through the twrp/root procedure each time and also rom devs include nice additional features.
anyways glad i could help.