Develop Bugs

Guide to Cook Extended ROM for Uni?

Hi,
looking for a guide to cook my own Ext Rom. I have looked at the Wiki, but found only tools for the Wiz. Can I use the same tools, or will I get into trouble. If there is a good Uni walk-thru available it would be highly appreciated. I already searched the forum, but did not find what I was looking for...
Thanks.

ireneus said:
Hi,
looking for a guide to cook my own Ext Rom. I have looked at the Wiki, but found only tools for the Wiz. Can I use the same tools, or will I get into trouble. If there is a good Uni walk-thru available it would be highly appreciated. I already searched the forum, but did not find what I was looking for...
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I unlocked my Extended ROM but I delete stuff it in. It seems its read only. Can anyone help me clean it up? I am sure that the WM speed will increase if the Ext ROM is clean. Also how can i lock it back after i clean it?

nuclear said:
I unlocked my Extended ROM but I delete stuff it in. It seems its read only. Can anyone help me clean it up? I am sure that the WM speed will increase if the Ext ROM is clean. Also how can i lock it back after i clean it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
read only? after a softreset the files are still there? so u can use extended ROM "unhider" from indra.AKU3.2.BETA5R2....so u unhide and unlock it...then delete and the files are deleted forever ;-)
see attached ZIP ;-) install / execute both on PPC

pixx said:
read only? after a softreset the files are still there? so u can use extended ROM "unhider" from indra.AKU3.2.BETA5R2....so u unhide and unlock it...then delete and the files are deleted forever ;-)
see attached ZIP ;-) install / execute both on PPC
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes after a soft reset i still see the extended rom and all the files within it. The files are those Cingular and all those service providers etc and some skype and other stuff. The extended ROM is giving me 10MB of space on the device and I find it quite valuable. Rather than having it occupied by unneccessary stuff. Now this Ext-ROM unhider you speak of will let me write/read things from the Ext-ROM? Does it work with other AKU versions? Like helmi's aku 3.5? Thanks pixx

Be Careful
As always, care needs to be taken unlocking and unhiding the ExtRom. You can use the tools provided and they work well.
- First make sure to rename your 'storage card' to something else than 'storage card' since unhiding the ExtRom will make that the 'Storage Card' and your apps will not run from the SD anymore..
- It is not possible (as far as I know) to lock the ExtRom once you run the tools. But you can delete all the files inside to make it clean.
- The extended Rom space (10MB) cannnot be merge with the other storage, but you can install apps to it, or use it as storage space for attachments or whatever.
I am still lookng for a cookbook to make my own ExtRom...

ireneus said:
As always, care needs to be taken unlocking and unhiding the ExtRom. You can use the tools provided and they work well.
- First make sure to rename your 'storage card' to something else than 'storage card' since unhiding the ExtRom will make that the 'Storage Card' and your apps will not run from the SD anymore..
- It is not possible (as far as I know) to lock the ExtRom once you run the tools. But you can delete all the files inside to make it clean.
- The extended Rom space (10MB) cannnot be merge with the other storage, but you can install apps to it, or use it as storage space for attachments or whatever.
I am still lookng for a cookbook to make my own ExtRom...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alright I formatted the Ext-ROM ^^ . Now that its empty i will relock it which will speed up the device right?

No (re-)lock possible afterwards... just leave it as is.

ireneus said:
No (re-)lock possible afterwards... just leave it as is.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No relock possible even after a hard reset? A hard reset usually restores the device to an unmodified state but it doesnt restore the data right?

Never tried the hard reset uption so I can't tell if that will work, I flash my device about once a week with different (new) versions.
I may try next time I flash. Does anyone know?

Actually there is a way to relock the Ext ROM. I can't find the thread I read it from, but from what I remember you have to copy the registry settings BEFORE you unlock the Ext ROM. Then install Buzz's Ext ROM Unlocker. After a soft reset, the Ext ROM is now unlocked. Now customized it to your heart's content. Then cut and paste the original Registry settings to replace the new one. Another soft reset and your Ext ROM is now locked again. This is what I read from another thread. I had never tried this proceedure myself, so I can't guarantee it will work.
But, this is what I usually do whenever I customized my Ext ROMs:
1st: Install Buzz's Ext ROM Unlocker.
2nd: Soft Reset.
3rd: Customized the Ext ROM with CAB files.
4th: Perform a Hard reset to check if all the CAB files installed properly.
5th: Once I know every CAB files worked and installed properly, I now proceed with installing my other applications.
So basically, my rule whenever customizing my Ext ROM is: DO IT FIRST BEFORE INSTALLING THE REST OF YOUR APPS. This way you don't have to worry about LOCKING it afterwards.

Sounds like a plan
The next time I will apply a new ROM (probably within the next couple of days) I will try this. One more question: Do I have to backup the entire registry, or are there some specific settings I should back up?
Merry Christmas!

ireneus said:
The next time I will apply a new ROM (probably within the next couple of days) I will try this. One more question: Do I have to backup the entire registry, or are there some specific settings I should back up?
Merry Christmas!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As mentioned, I myself had not tried that approach. But to be sure, make a copy of the entire Registry and try it.
Another suggestion, if you have SPB Backup, this I already tried, so I know it works. Use SPB Backup to DO A BACKUP OF THE ENTIRE SYSTEM BEFORE INSTALLING THE EXT ROM UNLOCKER. After the backup, install Ext ROM unlocker and unlock the Ext ROM. You can now customize your Ext ROM any way you want. To RELOCK it, just run SPB Backup to the BACKUP you created before you installed Ext ROM Unlocker.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!

cktlcmd said:
As mentioned, I myself had not tried that approach. But to be sure, make a copy of the entire Registry and try it.
Another suggestion, if you have SPB Backup, this I already tried, so I know it works. Use SPB Backup to DO A BACKUP OF THE ENTIRE SYSTEM BEFORE INSTALLING THE EXT ROM UNLOCKER. After the backup, install Ext ROM unlocker and unlock the Ext ROM. You can now customize your Ext ROM any way you want. To RELOCK it, just run SPB Backup to the BACKUP you created before you installed Ext ROM Unlocker.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
@Ireneus
If your purpose is just to delete the files in the "\Extended_ROM" (actual name when hidden) without unhiding it, there are a few ways, all works.
Method 1
- Google, download & install "Total Commander v2.exe" (freeware).
- In Total Commander's command line, just type \Extended_ROM , and you will see it.
- Before you do anything, suggest you copy everything to somewhere in case you need it back again.
- And now you can do anything to it. If it is really "READ" only, Total Commander also can "UNREAD" it. Think Total Commander can delete files with the "atrributes" (hidden, read, system, archive).
Method 2
- Download Helmi_c AKU3.5 V1.3, extract it, look for the ms_nbf in the Empty_Extended_rom, flash only this ms_nbf into you device, it should be empty.
Method 3 (need to unhide first)
- I am lasy to find out which Registry, so before unhide, I copied all the "Registry HKCR, HKCU & HKLM" (hidden).
- download Extrom_Unhider.cab & UNI_ext_rom_unlock.exe (should be in this forum or FTP)
- run Extrom_Unhider.cab first and following by running UNI_ext_rom_unlock.exe, you have unhide & unlock the "\ExtendedROM".
- Press POWER key to powerdown, then Soft Reset.
- You can also now copy "Registry HKCR, HKCU & HKLM" (unhidden/unlock) to different location of above "Registry HKCR, HKCU & HKLM" (hidden).
- So depend you want to hide/lock or unhide/unlock, just copy the respective set of registry. Easy.
@cktlcmd
Copy of Registry & copy back was my posting, anyway I also cannot find where it is, but it works, I tried it myself.

Empty ExtROM Storage, any good use for it?

Hi all,
I am currently using Jwright's WM6 ROM (so far so good, thanks J) and applied the ExtROM unlocker patch. I have 10MB free on this partition but not sure what to do with it.
I used to have Magician before and after emptying the ExtROM, I could use it for Program Files folder. But I dont think it's useful to do that for device with WM2005 or above.
So anyone has any idea to make use of it? Thanks.

you could put porn in there i suppose.....

I unlocked the extrom on my uni, helmi_c 1.1 rom.
However, when I delete the contents, it always re-appears. Any files copied in there, disapear.
Help.

willy792003 said:
Hi all,
I am currently using Jwright's WM6 ROM (so far so good, thanks J) and applied the ExtROM unlocker patch. I have 10MB free on this partition but not sure what to do with it.
I used to have Magician before and after emptying the ExtROM, I could use it for Program Files folder. But I dont think it's useful to do that for device with WM2005 or above.
So anyone has any idea to make use of it? Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I too am curious about this - is there a means of adjusting the Disk On Chip to utilise the space more effectively (as can be done on the Himalaya)?
@drsqueggy - that's what the 4Gb SD card is for
@Pyrofer - it sounds like it is un-hidden but still locked, ensure it is actually unlocked (and then search forum or start another thread if problems continue)
-sf

I gotta go with porn too.

You could put a few cabs in there of programs that you like such that if you have to 'system restore' the device, the programs auto-install for you.
It's a miniature time-saver, I guess, but I don't know if such programs could be uninstalled or upgraded when you were done.
Maybe keep one song you really, /really/ like in there?
Or porn.

how bout fonts???
and why not install progs which have today plugins/ load at start up....
a media player/photo viewer....so you can swap sd cards and still play media files..

with 10 mb porn on it, I have to be quick.

Man, 10k would be more than enough time for me... I'm over the hill

my suggestion is to make best use of the space available by storing your cab files.In case one needs to reload any application behaving strange it would help besides your storage card for other things.

willy792003 said:
So anyone has any idea to make use of it? Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use this space for Internet Explorer Cache file. This can be easily done by changing the location of cache file in the registry.

Creating a ROM image

Hi all
From some research i've been doing i think i need to create a ROM image but i'll tell you my problem and let you recomend me a solution.
Basically i need to setup 30 PDA's (XDA Argon's running WM5.0) These PDA's will be running a program called service director and also have TOMTOM installed. What i need to be able to do is be able to create an "image" that i can just copy to each PDA to speed up deployment. It would also be useful should there be any problems in the field with the PDA's that they could just be hard reset back to their modified state after deployment. E.g with Service Director and TomTom installed. I have found out that if i create a folder on a memory card with a directory name of 2577 and put my .cabs in there that they will automatically be installed on insertion of the card. This could also be beneficial to me, but i don't think that it would be robust enough, especially if they drop the device and put their memory card back in after its popped out.
So what do you think my best options would be?
Thanks for any help in advance and if you need any info, just let me know.
Thanks
Andy

kingpin83 said:
Hi all
From some research i've been doing i think i need to create a ROM image but i'll tell you my problem and let you recomend me a solution.
Basically i need to setup 30 PDA's (XDA Argon's running WM5.0) These PDA's will be running a program called service director and also have TOMTOM installed. What i need to be able to do is be able to create an "image" that i can just copy to each PDA to speed up deployment. It would also be useful should there be any problems in the field with the PDA's that they could just be hard reset back to their modified state after deployment. E.g with Service Director and TomTom installed. I have found out that if i create a folder on a memory card with a directory name of 2577 and put my .cabs in there that they will automatically be installed on insertion of the card. This could also be beneficial to me, but i don't think that it would be robust enough, especially if they drop the device and put their memory card back in after its popped out.
So what do you think my best options would be?
Thanks for any help in advance and if you need any info, just let me know.
Thanks
Andy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
do the 2577 option but create an autorun program that installs the cab files and then deletes the 2577 folder, thus it wont re-install when the cab is re-inserted

That's ok, but then the engineer would then have to send the card back to us so that we could set it up again. E.g the card would only allow them to set the software back up once and then they would have to send the PDA back to us for us to reconfigure it should it go wrong again. We can't really afford to do this as they need the PDA to find their next job/update jobs etc and can't really afford to have it sent back to us everytime it goes wrong.

well there is currently no way flashing custom ROM's to the xda argon (HTC Panda?) and wont be until one or more devs get thier hands on one so burining it into the rom isnt an option. the only thing I can think of is to have it ask if you want to install the software when it is inserted rather than doing it automatically.

I didnt think it wouldve been available yet. Oh well, looks like i'll have to make it do it via the memory card for the moment. Like all brilliant companies mine just told me, here's what we want, now go and make it happen! Haha!
I take it the card will need to have some kind of .inf file on it to ask you whether you want to install it or not. I would try it, but my company havent even given me the PDA to play with yet.
All i have is an SPV M500(My own old phone) and knowing my luck, they won't work the same with the software we're using.

In that case, why dont you have the autorun RENAME the folder instead of delete it. Your users should then be able to rename it back in case of need (they should be able to do that!), and do the insert sd card thing.
kingpin83 said:
That's ok, but then the engineer would then have to send the card back to us so that we could set it up again. E.g the card would only allow them to set the software back up once and then they would have to send the PDA back to us for us to reconfigure it should it go wrong again. We can't really afford to do this as they need the PDA to find their next job/update jobs etc and can't really afford to have it sent back to us everytime it goes wrong.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Why not on original installation have it delete the file from the folder and also have in the same folder a IE web shortcut to the original file on a Company server that would allow them to download the file again into the same folder, assuming they would have an internet connection and the file is not too large to download and you can direct the download to that particular folder?
They could then take out the card and re-insert it to automatically install the program again.
Maybe a poopoo idea, but I guess worth a thought?
Good luck
C

the autorun folder is the same for all devices with wm5/6 so thats fine and you would haev to write a progra to do it, not an inf.
if you cant do it yourself im sure someone else on the forum wouldnt mind for a modest donation (myself included)

kingpin83 said:
Basically i need to setup 30 PDA's.
What i need to be able to do is be able to create an "image" that i can just copy to each PDA to speed up deployment.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A software called SPB Clone was specifically designed to meet this need:
http://www.spbsoftwarehouse.com/products/clone/?en
Regards

Download link for extrom unlocker is dead. Help

Hey I want to add in a extrom for the first time on my siemens sx66. I read all the instructions and everything on the wiki. But they tell me I need a unlocker tool for it. I tried to find every link possible for it, but they all give me an error so Iam guessing there dead. Can anyone post up a new one please.

here you are, the unlocker and the repart doc

Thank you so much, appreciate it.

Okay, I downgraded back to wm2003, made it so total storage is 60mb. Now I upgraded back to wm6.5 explode. So now I just unhide, unlock and then just copy the extrom zip file to the extended_rom file???
Actually, I was reading another post of yours, and I remember you saying to put the /extrom folder in a sd card?? I dont remember reading that in the wiki. But anyways you think you could provide me with instructions on how to do that. I have the sd card.

by resizing the old extrom folder to (probably) 128kb, as suggested in the wiki, you don't have the old space to park the extrom, still the sd card has an autorun, as you might have experienced before, if for example there is a folder 2577 on the card, whatever is in there runs, when the card is inserted, but don't mind about that, just an example.
you have a file extrom.zip or something comparable, just unpack it and put it on the sd card, so that it shows EXTROM\ with a bunch of cabs in there and a cfg.txt, an autorun.exe and a picture custom.bmp.
- the autorun.exe is what executes the entire thing when inserted
- the cfg.txt holds the config, meaning it describes what happens there, there is a list of cabs in there, and how to process them,
- the cabs are the installation files of the programs to be installed, if you are uncertain, whether you need each one of them, maybe googling the name helps you determine that.
- the custom.bmp is the picture showing while installing the extrom and so rather uninteresting for you.
remember to make sure, the list of cab files in the folder is the same as listed in the cfg.txt, having it downloaded and extracted that is the case by default, but if you want to customize it, remember that simply copying the files into the folder is not enough, they need to be listed in the cfg.
i personally for example remove the adobe reader and arcsoft mms from extrom and put own apps in there.
every program in there is installed to the system storage, so make sure you don't stuff your device with to many apps that maybe you don't need.

Yay it worked!! Hey thanks alot for the help, didnt think it be so simple. Anyways, thanks again.
Heh I wrote this on my BA, more reasons to love this thing.

problems installing programs

I’m having problems getting programs onto my htc wing. I’ve got a 4gig sd card in it and not many things on the card. For some reason it wont install some programs unless I can get the cab and drag that directly onto the phone. Anyone know why this may be? And also is there a way to extract the cab from a program with out having to go through the windows installation process?

smwis007 said:
I’m having problems getting programs onto my htc wing. I’ve got a 4gig sd card in it and not many things on the card. For some reason it wont install some programs unless I can get the cab and drag that directly onto the phone. Anyone know why this may be? And also is there a way to extract the cab from a program with out having to go through the windows installation process?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know of any reason why you can't run some cabs from the SD card...maybe check in the Wing section of the forums to see if there's some device-specific factors at play..?
As for getting the cab out of a PC-based install, sometimes if you look in the install data folders, you'll find the cab buried there somewhere and can just take it out yourself. However, I don't know if there's a way to do it when the PC install is nothing but an .exe file

problem with install
sirphunkee said:
I don't know of any reason why you can't run some cabs from the SD card...maybe check in the Wing section of the forums to see if there's some device-specific factors at play..?
As for getting the cab out of a PC-based install, sometimes if you look in the install data folders, you'll find the cab buried there somewhere and can just take it out yourself. However, I don't know if there's a way to do it when the PC install is nothing but an .exe file
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks i'll look into that