Installing Metro Apps to another drive (for SSD Users) - Windows 8 Development and Hacking

title says it all, you see metro apps from the window store are huge, some games even reach 200 Megabytes. I'm thinking of upgrading my computer by using an SSD instead of an HDD, however unlike my HDD, the SSD is only 120GB while my HDD is 750 GB. I could easily fill 120GB with Steam Apps, Metro Apps, Desktop Apps in less than a month.

It's possible, but it does require some work. Microsoft doesn't make this easy. You can use directory symbolic links (symlinks) to put the files on one drive (say, D: ) but have them accessible via another (say, C: ). This avoids breaking all the install paths, etc. and ensures new installations will go to the correct disk. Please note that even the biggest Metro apps are pretty small compared to the typical Steam game. You'll save a lot more space moving your Steam library over to the other drive. It's also a lot easier; you can either use the built-in Steam feature to put games in different library locations, or you can use symlinks (similar to as below, but with a whole lot less "Takeown" and similar). However, if you really want to move the WindowsApps folder, try the following steps. Be aware that in cases of mistyped commands, failure to follow instructions correctly, gremlins, or plain bad luck, it's entirely possible that this will mess something up.
You'll need an Administrator command prompt (meaning you need Admin access) to do this.
These steps assume that your C:\ drive is your SSD, and that Windows is currently installed there, and D:\ is your large data drive, where you want to move the app folder.
You may adjust the paths, especially the destination, if you want; these instructions put the "WindowsApps folder on the root of the D: drive.
First, make sure you aren't running any "Metro" apps. It may help to do these steps immediately after rebooting.
Open a Command Prompt as Administrator (you can do this by right-clicking the Start button and selecting "Command Prompt (Admin)" from the menu).
Take ownership of the WindowsApps directory:
Code:
takeown /F "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps" /A /R
Make a copy of the "C:\Program FilesWindowsApps" folder onto the new drive:
Code:
robocopy "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps" "D:\WindowsApps" /E /COPYALL /DCOPY:DAT
Make sure that the copy succeeded (no Skipped or FAILED, etc. in the summary).
Delete the original WindowsApps folder:
Code:
rmdir /S "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps"
Create the symlink:
Code:
mklink /D "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps" "D:\WindowsApps"
At this point, you should be done. Try running a Metro app to verify that it worked.

My apps won't work because of the last step. It say's
Cannot create a file when that file already exists.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

That just means that the WindowsApps dir wasn't fully deleted. I actually recommend doing this step from the local Administrator account (disabled by default; use Computer Management -> Local Users and Groups to enable it, then log off (tap your name on the Start screen to get the log off option) and log in as Admin. That should ensure that anything using the WindowsApps dir stops, since local Admin can't run AppContainer apps.

It wont let me delete these files, im in admin mode
C:\Users\Administrator>rmdir /S "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps"
C:\Program Files\WindowsApps, Are you sure (Y/N)? y
C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\MICROS~2.135\images - Access is denied.
C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\MICROS~2.135 - Access is denied.
C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\MICROS~3.26_\LOCALC~1\CACHED~1 - Access is denied.
C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\MICROS~3.26_\LOCALC~1 - Access is denied.
C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\MICROS~3.26_ - Access is denied.
Access is denied.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

lowridincrew said:
It wont let me delete these files, im in admin mode
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it sounds like you nor elivated the CMD promt,you need to run the cmd prompt in elevated rights, not just logged in as administrator
click start
type cmd
right click
select run as administrator
or
Windows Key + X and select cmd prompt (administrator)

Uninstall all Apps currently installed (The registry tweak will cause errors when Apps get updated)
Regedit
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Appx\PackageRoot
Change location from "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps" to where you want them ie( "e:\WinApps")

RoyalWitCheese said:
Uninstall all Apps currently installed (The registry tweak will cause errors when Apps get updated)
Regedit
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Appx\PackageRoot
Change location from "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps" to where you want them ie( "e:\WinApps")
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would have thought you don't need to do this if you are using a symlink/junction
If you just manually moved the files and didn't create a link afterwards then YES you need to make this registry change

Everything seemed like it went smoothly but once I updated the main apps (mail, calendar, people, messaging) They will not open. All of the apps I installed after doing this procedure work fine, as well as Store and Bing. I tried uninstalling these apps and reinstalling to no avail. They just start to open and then close. All of the new apps are being installed in the correct "WindowsApps" folder on my D: drive so it seems to have worked. Any Ideas?
Tried to make the change in the registry but when I save it I get an error message:
"Cannot edit PackageRoot: Error writing the value's new contents."
This change seems like a logical solution but I'm not sure why I can't save the change.

I'm having trouble simply copying over the data >< I initially tried to write to a sub-folder, not the root of another drive. Both attempts to run robocopy on root and sub-folder failed giving the message:
Copying File C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\18476MPBrun.ShareMyFiles_1.4.0.0_neutral__5j38zygvezh8g\App.xaml
Access is denied.
Waiting 30 seconds...
I thought maybe I had something open so I booted up in Safe Mode with cmd prompt and still, I got the same error. Any ideas?

GoodDayToDie said:
It's possible, but it does require some work. Microsoft doesn't make this easy. You can use directory symbolic links (symlinks) to put the files on one drive (say, D: ) but have them accessible via another (say, C: ). This avoids breaking all the install paths, etc. and ensures new installations will go to the correct disk. Please note that even the biggest Metro apps are pretty small compared to the typical Steam game. You'll save a lot more space moving your Steam library over to the other drive. It's also a lot easier; you can either use the built-in Steam feature to put games in different library locations, or you can use symlinks (similar to as below, but with a whole lot less "Takeown" and similar). However, if you really want to move the WindowsApps folder, try the following steps. Be aware that in cases of mistyped commands, failure to follow instructions correctly, gremlins, or plain bad luck, it's entirely possible that this will mess something up.
You'll need an Administrator command prompt (meaning you need Admin access) to do this.
These steps assume that your C:\ drive is your SSD, and that Windows is currently installed there, and D:\ is your large data drive, where you want to move the app folder.
You may adjust the paths, especially the destination, if you want; these instructions put the "WindowsApps folder on the root of the D: drive.
First, make sure you aren't running any "Metro" apps. It may help to do these steps immediately after rebooting.
Open a Command Prompt as Administrator (you can do this by right-clicking the Start button and selecting "Command Prompt (Admin)" from the menu).
Take ownership of the WindowsApps directory:
Code:
takeown /F "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps" /A /R
Make a copy of the "C:\Program FilesWindowsApps" folder onto the new drive:
Code:
robocopy "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps" "D:\WindowsApps" /E /COPYALL /DCOPY:DAT
Make sure that the copy succeeded (no Skipped or FAILED, etc. in the summary).
Delete the original WindowsApps folder:
Code:
rmdir /S "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps"
Create the symlink:
Code:
mklink /D "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps" "D:\WindowsApps"
At this point, you should be done. Try running a Metro app to verify that it worked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You need to add a line to change the file access permissions using icacls, otherwise you'll get "access is denied" when you try to copy the files.

Ah, good point. (Sorry, as I mentioned somewhere, I did this rather haphazardly...)
A possibly better way (no changing permissions, including ownership) would be to use a shell under TrustedInstaller. There are, or at least used to be, a few ways to do this... but I can't get them to work now. Anybody know of one that works on Win8 x64?

built in apps(weather, mail, maps, news) not working after update. do you know how to fix other than refresh windows? thanks

Fienamie said:
built in apps(weather, mail, maps, news) not working after update. do you know how to fix other than refresh windows? thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I solved it, at least on my Surface. I ran this from an elevated command prompt after running into Access Denied on all content in the folder:
Code:
C:\windows\system32>icacls "c:\program files\windowsapps" /grant
Administrator:(D,WDAC)
I then re-ran the rmdir command.
---------- Post added at 03:48 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:38 PM ----------
CRAP - after all this, all of my Metro apps crash and fail to open. dammit.

looks like you have made a mistake, the apps are in windowsapps folder, while the data <say downloads or cache of an online video app> is in C:\Users\<user name>\AppData\Local\Packages. this folder will even larger.
I have tried to use junction to move some of the folders to sd card on my rt, the app can read / write, but cannot create a file.

GoodDayToDie said:
It's possible, but it does require some work. Microsoft doesn't make this easy. You can use directory symbolic links (symlinks) to put the files on one drive (say, D: ) but have them accessible via another (say, C: ). This avoids breaking all the install paths, etc. and ensures new installations will go to the correct disk. Please note that even the biggest Metro apps are pretty small compared to the typical Steam game. You'll save a lot more space moving your Steam library over to the other drive. It's also a lot easier; you can either use the built-in Steam feature to put games in different library locations, or you can use symlinks (similar to as below, but with a whole lot less "Takeown" and similar). However, if you really want to move the WindowsApps folder, try the following steps. Be aware that in cases of mistyped commands, failure to follow instructions correctly, gremlins, or plain bad luck, it's entirely possible that this will mess something up.
You'll need an Administrator command prompt (meaning you need Admin access) to do this.
These steps assume that your C:\ drive is your SSD, and that Windows is currently installed there, and D:\ is your large data drive, where you want to move the app folder.
You may adjust the paths, especially the destination, if you want; these instructions put the "WindowsApps folder on the root of the D: drive.
First, make sure you aren't running any "Metro" apps. It may help to do these steps immediately after rebooting.
Open a Command Prompt as Administrator (you can do this by right-clicking the Start button and selecting "Command Prompt (Admin)" from the menu).
Take ownership of the WindowsApps directory:
Code:
takeown /F "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps" /A /R
Make a copy of the "C:\Program FilesWindowsApps" folder onto the new drive:
Code:
robocopy "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps" "D:\WindowsApps" /E /COPYALL /DCOPY:DAT
Make sure that the copy succeeded (no Skipped or FAILED, etc. in the summary).
Delete the original WindowsApps folder:
Code:
rmdir /S "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps"
Create the symlink:
Code:
mklink /D "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps" "D:\WindowsApps"
At this point, you should be done. Try running a Metro app to verify that it worked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I can use the built in steam method to move my current installs on my pro, to my 64gb class 10 microsd card? I think I saw the place you talking about. In steam store, then view, then setting, then download tab. In there I see steam folder locations. When I press on it, it shows my current steam folder location and how much memory its used up. I have 12 installs taking up like 43gb on my Surface Pro 128gb. The only options I see in there is to "Add steam folder location" and "Remove Steam folder location".
Now how would I go about using that to move existing location of installs into my micro sd card? As far as built in steam method goes. Is it like if I make a new location those will automatically be moved there or only new installs from that point on. This mod would really help and free me up space. With steam games and metro apps, im only looking at about 22.8gb free space left. I've seen other methods of moving but afraid to mess my device up. This windows stuff seem to have more dire consequences than me taking risks with my android tablet. Pro is an expensive tablet.
Would performance still be the same once stuff moved to my SanDisk class 10 64gb card? As far as steam games go. I remember reading the class 10 card has similar speeds compared to built in ssd.
Any insight greatly appreciated.
---------- Post added at 10:36 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:21 AM ----------
I just came across this in steam help/how to's section. Bit this doesn't really describe built in steam method. More so going into file explorer and copying/pasting.
"Moving Your Steam Installation
Warning:
It is highly recommended that you create a backup of your SteamApps folder before attempting this process. Neglecting to do so may result in a loss of all of your game content should something go wrong.
If you're low on space on the drive you have Steam installed, you can move the Steam folder to a different location. Here's an example of how to move the Steam installation between two hard drives:
1.Log out and exit Steam
2.Navigate to the folder where Steam is installed (by default: C:\Program Files\Steam\)
3.Delete all of the files and folders except the SteamApps folder and Steam.exe
4.Cut and paste your Steam folder to the new location, for example: D:\Games\Steam\
5.Launch Steam
6.Steam will briefly update and then you will be ready to play
7.All future game content will be downloaded to the new folder D:\Games\Steam\Steamapps\
"
Would that be correct?

If you use the existing steam method to install new games on the SD card you can then use the method listed in the second link to move existing installs to the new location.

I took the risk and used second method of moving everything to micro sd card. it took a while but it went through successfully. games are playing fine so far off the microsd card. and now I freed up a ton of internal ssd memory space. only thing I had to do was make a new steam shortcut in desktop. but everything works as it usually does.
im hoping if I need to free up steam space on card, I can use usual method of uninstalling. Or can I have steam reading from both locations. like lets say my memory card fills up...which I only have like 13gb left on it now. can I just add another location and use internal also or does it have to be one or the other?
also by using second method, steam will automatically now install any new games to sd card. I checked in settings and the file path points to my microsd card,

demandarin said:
I took the risk and used second method of moving everything to micro sd card. it took a while but it went through successfully. games are playing fine so far off the microsd card. and now I freed up a ton of internal ssd memory space. only thing I had to do was make a new steam shortcut in desktop. but everything works as it usually does.
im hoping if I need to free up steam space on card, I can use usual method of uninstalling. Or can I have steam reading from both locations. like lets say my memory card fills up...which I only have like 13gb left on it now. can I just add another location and use internal also or does it have to be one or the other?
also by using second method, steam will automatically now install any new games to sd card. I checked in settings and the file path points to my microsd card,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I forget the exact settings but it is possible to specify 2 seperate steam library file paths and then when you install an game it gives the choice which to use

SixSixSevenSeven said:
I forget the exact settings but it is possible to specify 2 seperate steam library file paths and then when you install an game it gives the choice which to use
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's in your settings > Downloads > Steam Library folders

Related

[q] error with new kingston 32gb micro sd card

Hello there,
I need help with this error on my DZ:
'unable to install application data on the device. Error: /mnt/sdcard/Tecarta/50.dat_temp (I/O error).'
The application I was trying to launch is the NKJV Bible software.
Thanks for your advice.
So is this a new SD card that you haven't used before now ?
steviewevie said:
So is this a new SD card that you haven't used before now ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Correct, I only received it yesterday, and have spent hours formating and reformating to get rid of the "read only" error, and to copy the contents of the original 8GB that came with phone. But now have this problem.
Thanks.
Can you use it normally otherwise in the phone ? e.g. can you copy files to it within terminal emulator, or push files to it via adb etc ?
steviewevie said:
Can you use it normally otherwise in the phone ? e.g. can you copy files to it within terminal emulator, or push files to it via adb etc ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have not tried that. All I have used is the windows copy as well as making a .wrar file out of the 8gb contents, and then extracting the .wrar to the 32gb card.
Any suggestions?
YOSEFE said:
I have not tried that. All I have used is the windows copy as well as making a .wrar file out of the 8gb contents, and then extracting the .wrar to the 32gb card.
Any suggestions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would try to copy some files to it via Terminal Emulator, an "explorer" program or similar - so you can see if the phone just doesn't like the SD card, or whether it's only giving an error when installing an app.
steviewevie said:
I would try to copy some files to it via Terminal Emulator, an "explorer" program or similar - so you can see if the phone just doesn't like the SD card, or whether it's only giving an error when installing an app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have used the windows explorer to copy files, but what code can I used in terminal emulator to copy say, file "xyz" in the Androidsdk directory /tmp ?
YOSEFE said:
I have used the windows explorer to copy files, but what code can I used in terminal emulator to copy say, file "xyz" in the Androidsdk directory /tmp ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The copy command is "cp", so try something like :
Code:
cp /tmp/xyz /sdcard
If it works ok it should just come back to the command prompt. Also you can do "ls /sdcard" to see everything there, e.g. see if it really did copy it to the SD card.
steviewevie said:
The copy command is "cp", so try something like :
Code:
cp /tmp/xyz /sdcard
If it works ok it should just come back to the command prompt. Also you can do "ls /sdcard" to see everything there, e.g. see if it really did copy it to the SD card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. I will try it out.
EDIT: Solved. I had to follow advice from somewhere on the web. I had to put the card in a reader on my windows pc. Navigate to "Computer", then right-click drive "H" (that is what the msd card is on my pc), then click "Properties". After that, I selected "Tools", than clicked "Check now", and clicked "start". However, making sure that the first box (automatically fix file system errors) is checked. Leave "scan for and attempt..." unchecked.
Let the pc do its thing, and when it is done, that is it!
But hey, thanks steviewevie for being there and for being prompt to help me and others get our way around Android.

Could Android run Old PC Games?

Hey there,
I was wondering if there is any there is any PC emulator app to run old PC games?
I have some old PC games (Full Throttle, Street Wars, Brain Dead 13 etc etc) that I wish I could play again on my phone!
I looked in the market and found two apps, AnDOSBox and aDoxbox but none of them quite explain how to use it.
One of them is free which is fine, I downloaded and I will give a go but the other one is not free so...does anyone knows how to use it?
is it good? can I use the games files that I have to play it using the app?
Cheers!
Wow, play Full Throttle in my Arc would be awesome!
But seriously man, it should be at Q&A.
WoW, would be awesome.
Hopefully find something that works
It should be possible to play Full Throttle with ScummVM. There is an android version.
Interesting how fast a subject can be derailed.
While I have not yet used aDOSBox on my converted Droid X, I have used BOCHS (couldn't get QEMU to work) to emulate Windows 95 and 98 then run a program in it.
I am about to experiment with aDOSBox and do a similar thing since I have already created the image in the Windows version of DOSBox. I am hoping it runs faster. If I have any success I'll post instructions here.
Note: Looking for instructions on how to use aDOSBox will keep you doing a runaround with the DOSBox sites (not what I was looking for).
For those that go "Why Windows anything", the program I want to run is the old DC Builder program by Mike Love. My friends and I play (pen and paper) RPG games, one of which is the MEGS based DC Heroes/Blood of Heroes system (I have personally updated the powers list to add Blood of Heroes and several web introduced powers). The program only runs in Windows (I have gotten the program to run in all windows upto Vista, don't have a 7 to play around with).
Since you can't get an Android drunk (can't run WINE), this is the way I have to go.
Hello again,
I am going to attempt to help any wanting to use aDOSBox.
First of all, I will be vague on several parts because I do not know for which system you are coming from (Windows, Mac, Linux, other). Also some knowledge of DOS or the ability to do research is needed.
Programs needed or that will be helpful (I am using .74 version of DOSBox and the aDOSBox based on it)
BOCHS for your computer, or bximage (.exe using Windows) from that group of files
DOSBox for your computer
aDOSBox for your Android system
a DOS boot disk img, 6.22 is ok. If you are going to use a Win98 boot disk, disable the ASPI and CD-Rom checks - ASPI checks can freeze DOSBox, and the CD-Rom is unneeded by DOSBox (for below, I'll use a DOS 6.22 disk image). There are several sites on the web that can provide these.
Install the programs as per your systems.
I like using the harddrive approach for installing programs, mainly because when I move files, I only have to move the harddrive image between systems.
Keep names simple, follow the 8.3 format for all names. DOSBox follows the old DOS naming conventions.
Not all games need to be on a bootable drive. DOSBox provides a basic boot environment but some programs need other programs only accessible from a specific boot environment.
Using a harddrive image can save you from the old viruses that re-format or otherwise corrupt harddrives (if you use a SDCARD and not a harddrive image as your boot environment and are using an infected program, it could wipe the whole SDCARD, also this protects from those little accidents we can all make).
1) Using bximage (from BOCHS), create a harddrive image, follow the onscreen instructions.
Best to keep it relatively small, most DOS programs didn't take much space. Make note of the Cylinders count. I used a hdd image of 416mb which makes my cylinder count 845. I usually like to name my images according to what it relates to.
2) While not absolutely needed, it is a good idea to have that boot disk (mainly need the FDISK and FORMAT programs).
3) Make a folder that you will be accessing from DOSBox somewhere on your computer and move the img file to it or to a preexisting folder for this purpose.
Move the install files for whatever game/program that you want to use in aDOSBox to the same folder (your not using aDOSBox yet, it is just faster to use the computer to do the installing). Move the boot disk image here as well
4) Open DOSBox on your computer and type
mount e "full path to the harddrive image and install files"
replace "full path to the harddrive image and install files" with the system relative path (Windows uses drive letters and \, Linux uses devices and /, and I am not familar enough on Macs to say anything) to the install files and harddrive image; such as say my files are located (in Windows) on drive J: and in folder DOSBox, subfolder Temp - the line would read
mount e "j:\DOSBox\Temp"
Temp already has the hard drive image and install files, so now we need to access the harddrive image, I will name it Racer (fictious name for me, I don't normally have racing programs)
5) Mounting the harddrive: this uses the imgmount command
Non-bootable version or after the hdd has been made bootable:
imgmount c "e:\Racer.img"
or
imgmount c "e:\Racer.img" -t hdd
Create Bootable version:
imgmount c "e:\Racer.img" -t hdd -size 512,63,16,xxx -fs none
replace xxx with the cylinder count from bximage
6) Now boot into the DOS disk
boot "e:\622.img"
7) from the A: drive (where did A: come from-> when you booted into this image, the Z: drive (DOSBox drive) disappears, and a new drive A: is created)
Using FDISK, create a DOS partition, set Active if needed
Exit FDISK by pressing ESC button (or equivalent)
Shutdown DOSBox and restart it
commands:
mount e "full path to the harddrive image and install files"
imgmount c "e:\Racer.img"
boot "e:\622.img"
(remember to replace as needed)
use one of 2 commands here:
If you don't care if it is bootable:
format c:
If the image is to be bootable:
format c: /s
Shutdown DOSBox again
If you are going to be running several DOS programs, each with its own image, you can copy the harddrive image file after this on your computer giving each a unique name - saves time in the future of setting up and formatting the drive.
You now have a blank or mostly blank useable harddrive for DOSBox.
Now to put your DOS based software on it.
8) Restart DOSBox again, with these commands:
mount e "full path to the harddrive image and install files"
imgmount c "e:\Racer.img"
e:
type the name of the installer program (normally install.exe or .bat, setup.exe, or the program name.exe, some older programs may even end in .com)
Install to the c: drive
If the c drive was created as bootable (and formatted as such) type
boot "e:\Racer.img"
If the drive was not created as bootable
boot "e:\622.img"
c:
Change to the installed program's directory on C: and run startup program
cd "directory name"
Racer
9) Test your game out, making notes if needed. After you do research (or if you already know how), tweak the DOSBox's config file (it is a text file).
Example: After installing Windows 98, I was having problems installing mainly due to programs not running; changing the CPU from auto to pentium_slow fixed that problem for me.
10) Mount your tablet or smartphone that you installed aDOSBox on to your computer. Create a folder in the root of the card with a name similar to the game or program you will be running. Move your harddrive image (and boot image if the drive isn't bootable) to that folder. Unmount the device.
11) Open aDOSBox on your device then press Menu button and select the SDL option. Select your SDCARD as your data storage.
This gives you a chance to access later your aDOSBox config files, since it can be hard to find even if you are rooted.
12) Remount your device on your computer.
Browse the card to find the config file.
app-data/org.hystudio.android.dosbox/.dosbox/dosbox-0.74.conf
Note: that . before dosbox is the Linux/Android way to hide files and folder and is needed in the file path
Open the config file in any text editor, and jump to the end of the file, you are looking for [autoexec]
add to it something along these lines:
(if it starts up from booting, like OS's)
imgmount c /sdcard/folder you created/Racer.img
boot /sdcard/folder you created/Racer.img
or
(you start by running a program)
imgmount c /sdcard/folder you created/Racer.img
c:
cd Racer
Racer
If you did any tweaks in the computer version of the program, look for the same section(s) in the config file and make those here as well.
Save the file.
unmount the device again.
13) On the device, run the aDOSBox app. It should run as well or similarly as it did on your computer.
If you have to make more tweaks to the program, I personally find it is best to mount, change, unmount on the computer and retry on the device as needed. If you have a physical keyboard on your device (you connected one or it is built on), you may try editing the file locally - remember that the config directory is hidden and needs that dot before the dosbox folder name.
Again, sorry to be vague on some points but this is meant to be a general outline not a specific tutorial. I have no idea what your main computer, what android device you are using, nor your personal experience level. The internet is a great tool, and researching is a great way to learn new information. Good luck.
Notes: If you are wonder why I used drive e instead of c like others would: I usually use c as a boot drive, d as a data drive, and e as a temp drive when making virtual pc's. Using e right away leaves me that little bit of leeway.
Command group summary
1) Creating the image
bximage
4, 5, 6, 7a ) prepping the image
mount e "full path to the harddrive image and install files"
(any one of the following 3)
imgmount c "e:\Racer.img"
imgmount c "e:\Racer.img" -t hdd
imgmount c "e:\Racer.img" -t hdd -size 512,63,16,xxx -fs none
boot "e:\622.img"
fdisk
7b)
mount e "full path to the harddrive image and install files"
imgmount c "e:\Racer.img"
boot "e:\622.img"
(any one of the following 2)
format c:
format c: /s
8)
mount e "full path to the harddrive image and install files"
imgmount c "e:\Racer.img"
e:
(various versions of the following, 9 listed)
install.com
install.exe
install.bat
setup.com
setup.exe
setup.bat
program name.exe
program name.com
program name.bat
(one of the next 2)
boot "e:\Racer.img"
boot "e:\622.img"
c:
cd "directory name"
Racer
Update:
I can install both versions of Win9x, but as soon as they finish the install and boot into the final setup (a normal bootup) I start getting Regserv32, RunDLL32, and Explorer Errors.
It appears that these may be caused by Illegal Reads and Writes to 4 memory addresses (don't have the addresses with me at the moment, but do end in 0000-0003). All 4 address repeat over and over again, when written to they have the same data each time.
Also the problems seem to be related to video (since it happens right after the boot screen goes away (Reg and Run errors) and after the task bar loads (Explorer errors, at least 2). This happens in both DOSBox and aDOSBox.

Can't delete folder - permissions [SOLVED]

Hi
I recently restored my Nexus with the toolkit but when it put the files back, I think a permissions problem has occurred. I can rename folders, but I can't delete them. I have a rather large folder that I can't get rid of. When I try in various programs, it says delete failed, or no permissions, etc.
I am rooted, and have installed Terminal emulator, but am not terribly familiar with how to use it.
Any tips would be helpful.
Thanks
warlock257 said:
Hi
I recently restored my Nexus with the toolkit but when it put the files back, I think a permissions problem has occurred. I can rename folders, but I can't delete them. I have a rather large folder that I can't get rid of. When I try in various programs, it says delete failed, or no permissions, etc.
I am rooted, and have installed Terminal emulator, but am not terribly familiar with how to use it.
Any tips would be helpful.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Simple solution might just be that your file explorer app doesn't have root access. Force stop it in apps->settings, check your superuser app and clear any saved entries for it, and launch the app again. It should request root privileges.
Where are the files/folders in question located? If they're in a secure place like /system/ then it's more likely to be the above scenario. If they're just in your sdcard folder, are they user made, or at all special?
Edit: Also in the future, this sort of thing is what the Q&A forum is for.
JoeSyr said:
Simple solution might just be that your file explorer app doesn't have root access. Force stop it in apps->settings, check your superuser app and clear any saved entries for it, and launch the app again. It should request root privileges.
Where are the files/folders in question located? If they're in a secure place like /system/ then it's more likely to be the above scenario. If they're just in your sdcard folder, are they user made, or at all special?
Edit: Also in the future, this sort of thing is what the Q&A forum is for.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was using Root explorer, and have granted it root access
It is in /SDcard, so it shouldn't be anything that's protected
warlock257 said:
I was using Root explorer, and have granted it root access
It is in /SDcard, so it shouldn't be anything that's protected
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you check the permissions for what you're trying to delete? They're displayed right in the normal view in root explorer, and you can edit them from the long press menu.
Anything unusual about the files/folders themselves? Were they created on the phone? By you? By apps? Copied and pasted over USB from a computer? You could try deleting from your computer over USB.
As for command line options, you can try 'rm -r [path]' for a folder and just 'rm [path]' for a file. rm is the delete(remove) command, -r is the recursive flag to apply the action to all items in the directory if a directory is the target. Pretty sure that you can do that straight from terminal emulator on your phone, and from a command prompt over usb you'd need to use 'adb shell' first.
JoeSyr said:
Did you check the permissions for what you're trying to delete? They're displayed right in the normal view in root explorer, and you can edit them from the long press menu.
Anything unusual about the files/folders themselves? Were they created on the phone? By you? By apps? Copied and pasted over USB from a computer? You could try deleting from your computer over USB.
As for command line options, you can try 'rm -r [path]' for a folder and just 'rm [path]' for a file. rm is the delete(remove) command, -r is the recursive flag to apply the action to all items in the directory if a directory is the target. Pretty sure that you can do that straight from terminal emulator on your phone, and from a command prompt over usb you'd need to use 'adb shell' first.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In root explorer the info under the folder says
rwxrwxr -x
I'm pretty sure that the problem started when I restored from the nexus toolkit on pc. I had a similar problem with my camera in that it couldn't save pictures to a folder, but all I did was rename the folder, and the camera app created a new one.
rm -r [path] in terminal emulator says "permission denied"
EDIT
upon further googleing, the 'chmod' command might be what I want, but I'm not sure which syntax is right.
warlock257 said:
In root explorer the info under the folder says
rwxrwxr -x
I'm pretty sure that the problem started when I restored from the nexus toolkit on pc. I had a similar problem with my camera in that it couldn't save pictures to a folder, but all I did was rename the folder, and the camera app created a new one.
rm -r [path] in terminal emulator says "permission denied"
EDIT
upon further googleing, the 'chmod' command might be what I want, but I'm not sure which syntax is right.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For chmod you want 'chmod [number] [path]', where number is a string that's a bit complicated to explain. You can learn about it by googling chmod probably better than I could type it out here on the fly. But if you use 777, it should assign full permissions, which would display as rwxrwxrwx in root explorer.
You can achieve the exact same effect in root explorer though, long press and choose permissions and you'll get a 3x3 grid. All boxes checked= full permissions, same as chmod 777. The three lower boxes for special permissions should be unchecked (fyi, they would turn chmod's numeric component into a 4 digit number, and as far as I know, android doesn't really use them at all).
Also, did you type su in terminal first? It doesn't innately have root (just like any app) so you need to do that and confirm the popup first. You'll need to do this before using chmod, and if you didn't do it before using rm, try it again.
Worth a try but just for reference, rwxrwxr-x is the normal permissions set for folders on the sdcard, so that's not immediately looking like a problem.
at the top of root explorer, theres a button that says mount r/w. press it, now it should say mount r/o. go ahead and delete that file now
simms22 said:
at the top of root explorer, theres a button that says mount r/w. press it, now it should say mount r/o. go ahead and delete that file now
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Found the button, but didn't work
JoeSyr said:
For chmod you want 'chmod [number] [path]', where number is a string that's a bit complicated to explain. You can learn about it by googling chmod probably better than I could type it out here on the fly. But if you use 777, it should assign full permissions, which would display as rwxrwxrwx in root explorer.
You can achieve the exact same effect in root explorer though, long press and choose permissions and you'll get a 3x3 grid. All boxes checked= full permissions, same as chmod 777. The three lower boxes for special permissions should be unchecked (fyi, they would turn chmod's numeric component into a 4 digit number, and as far as I know, android doesn't really use them at all).
Also, did you type su in terminal first? It doesn't innately have root (just like any app) so you need to do that and confirm the popup first. You'll need to do this before using chmod, and if you didn't do it before using rm, try it again.
Worth a try but just for reference, rwxrwxr-x is the normal permissions set for folders on the sdcard, so that's not immediately looking like a problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it might be the files within the folder, rather than the folder itself. going into it, some of the files have a shield on them
When I go into its permissions, some of them were unchecked. I checked the 9 at the top, and it says:
"permissions change was not successful. Please note that some files systems (e.g. SD card) do now allow permission changes."
warlock257 said:
Found the button, but didn't work
it might be the files within the folder, rather than the folder itself. going into it, some of the files have a shield on them
When I go into its permissions, some of them were unchecked. I checked the 9 at the top, and it says:
"permissions change was not successful. Please note that some files systems (e.g. SD card) do now allow permission changes."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well under normal circumstances, individual files on your sdcard should have permissions rw-rw-r--, and folders have rwxrwxr-x. (For reference, this is read as read, write, execute for Root, System, and Other, with dashes indicating that a permission is denied. So rwxrwxr-x means all permissions are granted to all three groups except for write to Other). This ties into larger aspects of the OS that basically exist to stop individual apps from reading or writing whatever they want without being included in groups.
The fact that you can't do something that shouldn't require elevated permissions, and you're getting that kind of error when you try to execute commands with higher permissions, suggests to me that your sdcard partition is using the wrong filesystem. Sort of sounds like a program tried to treat it like a real sdcard and formatted it to something else, in which case I have a hunch you're going to need to back up your data and do a full reset.
You might get a simpler solution if you ask in the thread for the toolkit you used. It's not something I have any experience with so good luck.
Out of curiosity, are you on Jellybean now? Jellybean changed the address for the sdcard partition, so if the toolkit wasn't updated to reflect this, it seems like the likely place things may have gone wrong.
---------- Post added at 07:04 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:53 PM ----------
Actually if you want to check if it's using the right filesystem, run the command 'mount' from terminal. It'll give you a bunch of information, probably towards the bottom will be a line that mentions sdcard. Mine reads as
/dev/fuse /storage/sdcard0 fuse [more info about how it's currently mounted]
Yours -should- say that if you're on JB. If you're not, it should say something instead of /storage/sdcard0 (maybe /mnt/sdcard? I forget how it was on ICS). If it says something in place of fuse that may be the problem.
..I actually think mount used to say that the sdcard block was formatted as yaffs2, while everything else was formatted as ext4. Or maybe I just looked up that it was yaffs2 online, not from terminal on my phone? I wonder if this whole thing is the reason why some people seem bootloop-prone when flashing JB roms, if the changes have cut out access to important information about the filesystem, it may be triggering a really long error scan if their sdcard partition is large.
yes, backed up in ICS, and went to Jellybean.
doing a 'mount', I believe the line reads
/dev/fuse /storage/sdcard0 fuse rw,nosuid,nodev,realtime,user_id=1023,group_id=1023,default_permissions,allow_other 0 0
The files that have the shield icon have permissions:
rw-rw-r--
Yeah so everything that I can think of for you to check seems to be displaying as though normal. Although I don't know what aspect of these files root explorer is reading to mark them as protected and put the little shield on them.
You've tried these methods (rm, chmod) on individual files within the folder too, right? I guess this comes more from experience deleting protected files in windows, but I've found that sometimes a folder will deny deletion as long as it contains protected files, but it's relatively easy to give yourself permission to delete the individual files one by one, after which the folder goes down too. Possibly time consuming without a batch function, but easy.
My understanding of the fuse filesystem, by the way, is that it's just a virtual layer that allows the sdcard block to be treated differently than everything else on the phone, which is important for what happens when you plug it into a computer and the device is read. And I believe that the sdcard is supposed to be formatted as yaffs2 (everything else is ext4). Not sure how to check that directly, but it's possible that it has been changed to something else. But unless you can't delete -anything- on the sdcard, this seems unlikely.
JoeSyr said:
Yeah so everything that I can think of for you to check seems to be displaying as though normal. Although I don't know what aspect of these files root explorer is reading to mark them as protected and put the little shield on them.
You've tried these methods (rm, chmod) on individual files within the folder too, right? I guess this comes more from experience deleting protected files in windows, but I've found that sometimes a folder will deny deletion as long as it contains protected files, but it's relatively easy to give yourself permission to delete the individual files one by one, after which the folder goes down too. Possibly time consuming without a batch function, but easy.
My understanding of the fuse filesystem, by the way, is that it's just a virtual layer that allows the sdcard block to be treated differently than everything else on the phone, which is important for what happens when you plug it into a computer and the device is read. And I believe that the sdcard is supposed to be formatted as yaffs2 (everything else is ext4). Not sure how to check that directly, but it's possible that it has been changed to something else. But unless you can't delete -anything- on the sdcard, this seems unlikely.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah, I tried deleting files individually on the phone, and in windows. Wont let me do anything.
I guess the only sure fire method of clearing these files at the moment is to do a factory reset.
I can back up my stuff with titanium, so not that big a deal.
Your assistance has been much appreciated
:good:
warlock257 said:
yeah, I tried deleting files individually on the phone, and in windows. Wont let me do anything.
I guess the only sure fire method of clearing these files at the moment is to do a factory reset.
I can back up my stuff with titanium, so not that big a deal.
Your assistance has been much appreciated
:good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try deleting them directly from /data/media instead. If you're able to delete them there, reboot afterwards to ensure /storage/sdcard0, /sdcard, and /mnt/sdcard are updated properly.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus
Cilraaz said:
Try deleting them directly from /data/media instead. If you're able to delete them there, reboot afterwards to ensure /storage/sdcard0, /sdcard, and /mnt/sdcard are updated properly.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That worked :laugh:
It's gone from all those folders.
Thanks very much!!!!!
warlock257 said:
That worked :laugh:
It's gone from all those folders.
Thanks very much!!!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 This worked for me as well. Thanks for posting...:good:
Had the same problem. Deleting through the /media path worked.
Cilraaz said:
Try deleting them directly from /data/media instead. If you're able to delete them there, reboot afterwards to ensure /storage/sdcard0, /sdcard, and /mnt/sdcard are updated properly.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+4 You Sir are a genius! Thanks given!
Cilraaz said:
Try deleting them directly from /data/media instead. If you're able to delete them there, reboot afterwards to ensure /storage/sdcard0, /sdcard, and /mnt/sdcard are updated properly.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry to necro this thread almost 4 years later, but I had the exact same issue with deleting a folder on internal storage (Android Lollipop). Regardless if you're still here on XDA or not: thanks for this solution.
So.. Not really a I9250, but I guess my problem on i9100 is the same.
For some weird reason this just happened to WhatsApp directory.. But whatever.
After digging deeper and deeper in recovery, it seems like the folder wasn't own by media_rw group, but root
I just had to run
Code:
chown -R 1023:1023 <folder-path>
For some weird reason neither chown nor ls -l were correctly working when booted on normal system
Cilraaz said:
Try deleting them directly from /data/media instead. If you're able to delete them there, reboot afterwards to ensure /storage/sdcard0, /sdcard, and /mnt/sdcard are updated properly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
@Cilraaz, I have no idea if you're still on XDA but after at least a week of intense searching I found your advice which solved my problem! Thank you.
My problem was on i9500 (still) running stock Lollipop. I've been preparing to install a custom recovery, and did a TWRP (2.8.7.0) nandroid backup. Problem was I then couldn't find the TWRP backup folder. It would only show in TWRP's file manager. Root Browser didn't show it with SU privileges, nor ES File Browser and connecting it to the PC didn't help either. It's only after looking in /data/media/0 that I could find the TWRP folder.

[Q] .thumbdata3 file permanent removal?

Hey guys.
There has been something really annoying me lately. It's the .thumbdata3 file in /storage/emulated/0/DCIM/.thumbnail. Its always like a 200 mb + file and it just takes up wayy too much space on my internal storage. So is there anyway to permanently remove this file for good? Like somehow prevent it from forming again? By the way, i already have the latest albums app so that didn't fix the problem.
Sent from my C2004 using XDA Free mobile app
The only way I know about is deleting the folder .thumbnail and then creating an empty file named .thumbnail (this will prevent the folder being created again). However, be adivised that Album app may get laggy since it'll regenerate the thumbnails every time you open the app or use the photo widget. If you have a lot of them, your phone also may get hot and the battery will go quickly if you keep opening album app various times...
Furthermore, it's hard to know the real size of that file. Yes, it holds some space in internal memory, but it's definitely not the size shown. In my phone, for example, this file show as 870 MB, but once I delete it I get only 50-60MB of space back...
mbc07 said:
The only way I know about is deleting the folder .thumbnail and then creating an empty file named .thumbnail (this will prevent the folder being created again). However, be adivised that Album app may get laggy since it'll regenerate the thumbnails every time you open the app or use the photo widget. If you have a lot of them, your phone also may get hot and the battery will go quickly if you keep opening album app various times...
Furthermore, it's hard to know the real size of that file. Yes, it holds some space in internal memory, but it's definitely not the size shown. In my phone, for example, this file show as 870 MB, but once I delete it I get only 50-60MB of space back...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That worked for like an hour. Afterwards when i checked again, i actually found two .thumbnail3 files instead of one. They were both the same size. Any idea why?
Sent from my C2004 using XDA Free mobile app
This trick works only for folders (e.g. if you created empty .thumbdata3 file inside /DCIM/.thumbnails/ it won't work, that file will be replaced next time you open Album app). You need to remove the entire .thumbnails folder from DCIM and then create an empty .thumbnails file in DCIM. Next time it'll try to create the folder again to store the thumbdata3 files but it'll fail because a file with the same name already exist, doing nothing then...
Another way is opening a terminal (or adb shell) and running these two lines of code as root:
Code:
chown 0:0 /data/media/0/DCIM/.thumbnails
chmod 0440 /data/media/0/DCIM/.thumbnails
That way this folder will be accessible only if Album app run with root access (which never occur)
mbc07 said:
This trick works only for folders (e.g. if you created empty .thumbdata3 file inside /DCIM/.thumbnails/ it won't work, that file will be replaced next time you open Album app). You need to remove the entire .thumbnails folder from DCIM and then create an empty .thumbnails file in DCIM. Next time it'll try to create the folder again to store the thumbdata3 files but it'll fail because a file with the same name already exist, doing nothing then...
Another way is opening a terminal (or adb shell) and running these two lines of code as root:
Code:
chown 0:0 /data/media/0/DCIM/.thumbnails
chmod 0440 /data/media/0/DCIM/.thumbnails
That way this folder will be accessible only if Album app run with root access (which never occur)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I actually did both of the things you said above. And so far so good. Well done bro, you're amazing
Sent from my C2004 using XDA Free mobile app
mbc07 said:
This trick works only for folders (e.g. if you created empty .thumbdata3 file inside /DCIM/.thumbnails/ it won't work, that file will be replaced next time you open Album app). You need to remove the entire .thumbnails folder from DCIM and then create an empty .thumbnails file in DCIM. Next time it'll try to create the folder again to store the thumbdata3 files but it'll fail because a file with the same name already exist, doing nothing then...
Another way is opening a terminal (or adb shell) and running these two lines of code as root:
Code:
chown 0:0 /data/media/0/DCIM/.thumbnails
chmod 0440 /data/media/0/DCIM/.thumbnails
That way this folder will be accessible only if Album app run with root access (which never occur)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you please write full adb procedure for noobs please
I think this might be a very helpfull, since that problem exists in virtually all android 4.0+ devices and it is annoying as hell
It's simple. The first option is chown/chmod the .thumbnails folder but it may not work in all phones (however, it works fine in Xperia M). You have two ways to do that:
Using a computer:
1) Enable USB Debugging
2) Plug your USB cable (make sure you're in MTP mode)
3) Open adb shell from Terminal/Command Prompt and run the following commands:
Bash:
su
rm -r /data/media/0/DCIM/.thumbnails
mkdir /data/media/0/DCIM/.thumbnails
chown 0:0 /data/media/0/DCIM/.thumbnails
chmod 0440 /data/media/0/DCIM/.thumbnails
Using only your phone:
1) Install Terminal Emulator app if you don't have it
2) Run the same commands:
Bash:
su
rm -r /data/media/0/DCIM/.thumbnails
mkdir /data/media/0/DCIM/.thumbnails
chown 0:0 /data/media/0/DCIM/.thumbnails
chmod 0440 /data/media/0/DCIM/.thumbnails
If you get errors when running any of these commands, you should install busybox in your device and then try again. Also, as I said before, it may not work in all phones, and if that method failed, you can try the empty file method. In your phone, using a file manager of your preference, go inside DCIM folder and delete the entire .thumbnails folder. Then, create an empty file named .thumbnails and you're done. If this method also fails, your phone have a different filesystem layout (eg. doesn't have an emulated SD Card) and I don't know any method of archiving that in these devices.
Furthermore, be adivised that your gallery may get laggy since it'll regenerate the thumbnails every time you open the app or use a photo widget because you disabled thumbnail cache. If you have a lot of pictures, your phone also may get hot and the battery will drain faster, especially if you open your gallery frequently...

[GUIDE] Local access to System Files (ALL Newer Builds)

Here is an easy method of accessing the system files and folders on the main drive (formerly C.
Simply download the "shortcut.zip" file attached to this post and extract it to your device storage or sd card. Out of 3 different unzip utilities i tried only "RAR Opener" was able to properly extract the file, so search the Store for it and install.
Once extracted, open the built in File Explorer and locate the extracted shortcut. Tap on the shortcut and you'll be taken to the base of the system drive!
x_orange90_x said:
Here is an easy method of accessing the system files and folders on the main drive (formerly C.
Simply download the "shortcut.zip" file attached to this post and extract it to your device storage or sd card. Out of 3 different unzip utilities i tried only "RAR Opener" was able to properly extract the file, so search the Store for it and install.
Once extracted, open the built in File Explorer and locate the extracted shortcut. Tap on the shortcut and you'll be taken to the base of the system drive!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This U:\ shortcut , C:\Data
ngame said:
This U:\ shortcut , C:\Data
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, it's a shortcut directly to the U: drive. I created this and shared because of the difficulty of actually creating the shortcut itself. Simply editing the original C: shortcut will not work if you don't actually have a drive with that letter. I know many people would give up trying to create their own, so I shared my own.
still this doenst allow you to access everything and for the public apps folder for example you need a direct shortcut pointing there cause you cant navigate there cause subdirs not showing (due to the fact you dont have real complete access)
tofuschnitte said:
still this doenst allow you to access everything and for the public apps folder for example you need a direct shortcut pointing there cause you cant navigate there cause subdirs not showing (due to the fact you dont have real complete access)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see this. I will continue looking into this and see if we can make it work.

Categories

Resources