Develop Bugs

Can't move any apk into /sys/app using root explorer

Hi guys I want to install keyboardmanager by installing from /sys/app try as I may i just can't move any apk into the root sys folder. Have read write permission in the folder but after paste or copy request the file remains on the sd. Can copy files from sd to /.
Have searched and searched but can't find out why I can move files to this path. I need access as would like to remove some stock apps also.
Rooted with evoke and am running a desire with cyanogen 6.1.0 stable and clockwork mod recovery 2.5.0.7
Any help would be much appreciated.
Q&ASent from my GT-P1000 using XDA App

Are you S-OFF?
If not you do not truly have RW access, just the appearance of it in File Explorer.
Try booting into recovery and using adb to move it, or go through the steps to S-OFF.

Try copying it to /system/app/
Not /sys/app/...wrong place.

Mercianary: I think he used sys as short for system.
To answer the question. The desire is nandlocked so even with root you can't write to system while it is booted. You need to hack the phone on bootloader level (get s-off) to gain this write access.

@cwakerly From what i understand, you are trying to install an apk from your sd card to /system/app while the phone is on and running? As suggested above, you cannot do this via a File Explorer app unless you have full root to the /system partition (S-OFF). Try it via ADB instead and follow these steps:
Perform a Nandroid backup first just incase anything were to go wrong.
1. You need to have USB Debugging enabled, HTC Sync and Android SDK installed (http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html).
2. To get adb running on the Windows OS platform, for example, download & extract the Android SDK to the following path: C:\android-sdk-windows.
3. Turn on your phone and connect it to your PC via a USB port, and then boot into Recovery mode..
4. Instead of placing the apk onto the SD card, place it into C:\android-sdk-windows\tools in Windows.
5. Open command prompt and type cd C:\android-sdk-windows\tools, hit enter.
6. Type adb shell mount /system, then hit enter, to mount the /system partition.
7. Type adb push keyboardmanager.apk /system/app, hit enter.
8. Type adb reboot.
Let me know if that is what you meant and if it works for you.

Hey guys thanks so much for suggestions will try them and let you know if it works
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

hi i have installed sdk, htc sync and java plug ins.
using command line when i try to run adb shell mount /system command i get the following error message:
'adb' is not recognised as an internal or external command. operable program or batch file.
any ideas what's happing here?

Have you navigated to the tools folder of the sdk?
Mine is C:\android-sdk-windows\tools
Yours maybe something similar....
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

cwakerly said:
hi i have installed sdk, htc sync and java plug ins.
using command line when i try to run adb shell mount /system command i get the following error message:
'adb' is not recognised as an internal or external command. operable program or batch file.
any ideas what's happing here?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
try it in smaller chunks, type adb shell, you will then get a # sign, now type mount /system

hi have navigated to tools folder of sdk, still the same error message. when i type adb shell i get the same error!

If you have latest sdk you need the "other" tools folder. I'm not at my pc so I'm not sure the exact name.
Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk

if you haven't got it done yet use this update.zip
open the zip then put the apk you want to install in /system/app then zip it back up. it wont be signed so turn off signature verification in recovery before you flash it.

Hurray using the update zip worked!! Thank you everyone for your help on this
Have a great Christmas.
Craig
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

[Guide] Get Swype back. For a Noob. By a Noob.

No ADB knowledge needed. Just follow instructions.
1. Download mini-adb Here
2. Extract that and put it on your desktop.
3. Download original image file Here
4. Extract the image file using winrar, and put the extracted file onto your desktop.
5. Go into the extracted image file you extracted in step 4, and navigate to
Desktop\ota_odex_V1.1\system\app and find swype.apk.
6. Take the swype.apk, copy it, and paste it into your mini-adb folder you extracted in step 2. Put it here: Desktop\EZ-MiniADB\MiniADB. The folder should also have RunMe.bat and adb.exe, and also the newly pasted swype.apk
7. Go back into the extracted image file you extracted in step 4, and navigate to Desktop\ota_odex_V1.1\system\lib and find libSwypeCore.so
8. Copy and paste that libSwypeCore.so into the same folder you pasted the Swype.apk
9. Go download HTC sync and install it.
10. Plug your phone into the laptop and make sure debugging mode is on.
9. Now go to your mini-adb folder on your desktop and double click RunMe.bat
10. When the black command prompt window pops up, type the following:
adb remount [PRESS ENTER]
adb push libSwypeCore.so /system/lib/ [PRESS ENTER]
adb push swype.apk /system/app/ [PRESS ENTER]
11. Unplug your phone, and you are done! You can set the option of using swype in your settings!
+1 Thanks if you got Swype Working
ADB KNOWLEDGE
Now that you used ADB to push the files, you can also use ADB to push other things to other places. Just make sure whatever you want to push is in the same folder as your RunMe.Bat....

or you could use the root explorer app and extract the files, move the files and install the apk from there... much easier and you dont have to use ADB

WarBird87 said:
or you could use the root explorer app and extract the files, move the files and install the apk from there... much easier and you dont have to use ADB
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Quite frankly I never came across with a guide with your method. If you think your way is better, go make a guide for it. All the guides I came across didn't work for me except for this one, so that is why I made a guide.

I also found this .apk called Swype Restore in the Cyanogen forums.
http://forum.cyanogenmod.com/topic/...over-your-swype-after-installing-cyanogenmod/

Does the tutorial mentioned in OP require me to have this Cyanogen mod installed ? .. I just got a Desire Z about a week or two ago and I'm just running the default stuff and would like to just install Swype into that directly if possible ..

Or just sign up for the beta and install it...

Mnemoch said:
Or just sign up for the beta and install it...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you take the effort to do it this way, you can always reinstall swype in like 3 seconds, beceause the apk and the lib file is already in ur mini adb folder.

need help with adb.. not to sure what i am doing wrong..

I have SDK installed..Installed SDK Tools, Platform tools and the Google USB Driver Packages..... I have been trying to push a boot animation I get all the way through CMD prompt I type "adb shell reboot" my phone reboots with the same boot animation........one thing though in device manager it says composite adb interface.. (composite) is that right???????? and also should I plug my phone in for charge or disk drive

First you need to put the bootanimation.zip file in the tools folder of the sdk folder.
Your phone should be plugged in as charge only.
Once you navigate to your folder, the only commands you need to run are:
adb remount
adb push bootanimation.zip /system/media [if on sense /system/customize/resource]
adb reboot.
And you'll be okay.

mbancroft41 said:
I have SDK installed..Installed SDK Tools, Platform tools and the Google USB Driver Packages..... I have been trying to push a boot animation I get all the way through CMD prompt I type "adb shell reboot" my phone reboots with the same boot animation........one thing though in device manager it says composite adb interface.. (composite) is that right???????? and also should I plug my phone in for charge or disk drive
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You want your phone to be plugged in and set as 'charge only.' Once it's plugged in, open up a command prompt. Depending on how you set things up, you may need to navigate to your sdk platform tools folder. Once your in the directory where your adb drivers are (if you put the adb.exe and adbwinapi.dll file's in the system32 folder, you should be able to issue adb commands from any directory). Anyways, type
adb devices (hit enter) you should see your device's serial number show up, if everything is set up correctly.
If so, then navigate to the directory where your boot animation file is. For instance, if I was doing this, and I was on a sense rom, I would do this
cd C:\Android (because that's where my bootanimation.zip file is located)
adb remount
adb push bootanimation.zip /system/customize/resource
adb reboot
Once it reboots, you should have your new bootanimation. (providing the boot animation you downloaded is not a flashable zip file, and it is indeed meant to be pushed with adb)
Edit: Damn, roxx you were way ahead of me on that one!

ok I'll try this... I was putting system/media... Did not know it varied per rom

k2buckley said:
Edit: Damn, roxx you were way ahead of me on that one!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol only a couple of minutes.
mbancroft41 said:
ok I'll try this... I was putting system/media... Did not know it varied per rom
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It doesn't vary by rom [in a sense] but the TYPE of rom:
You push the animation file to the following.
Sense roms: /system/customize/resource
AOSP roms: /system/media

ok it worked..... thanks ...u are the shizzel.....

mbancroft41 said:
ok it worked..... thanks ...u are the shizzel.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad that we could help and get it working for ya.

Trying to root for first time, bit confused by instructions...

I have the Tmobile G2 and its stock on 2.3.4
Im reading the G2 root wiki and it comes to a part that says
"Unzip the zip files and copy the contents to the same folder as adb (the /platform-tools folder within the Android SDK folder). "
When I installed the adb files, it went to c/program files/android sdk/ and within that folder, theres a separate platform folder and tools folder. I dont have a platform-tools folder by itself. Do I just place the unzipped files in the /android sdk folder, or do I place them in the tools folder or platform folder?

just make sure adb is in the same folder as the files you need.
make sure when you are in cmd to direct adb to the proper folder
or you can change the path under the advanced tab in environmental variables

demkantor said:
just make sure adb is in the same folder as the files you need.
make sure when you are in cmd to direct adb to the proper folder
or you can change the path under the advanced tab in environmental variables
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok turns out when I install the android sdk, it doesnt install platform-tools. I had to run one of the exe files and it let me download it

redspeed said:
Ok turns out when I install the android sdk, it doesnt install platform-tools. I had to run one of the exe files and it let me download it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For a more detailed and beginner friendly guide to downgrade and root check here

Guide to fixing a soft brick after editing build.prop

I've noticed several users having trouble with their phone when editing the build.prop. They will edit the file, reboot, anxious to use Google Wallet, and be greeted with a black screen of death. Their heart will jump in their throat and they think... "Oh no... I didn't nandroid backup... What's a nandroid backup anyway?" No worries! I have the solution for all of you. Hopefully this short guide will get you going again.
I'm going to run through a quick setup of the Android SDK so that you can use adb if you choose to go this route. The SDK will be useful all though rooted phone usage, so I suggest you download it and use it. ADB is a very powerful tool. First, Google Android SDK. The first result should be the official site for the Google developer section. Just open that top link and the page should have a huge button that says "Download the SDK for (Windows or Mac or whatever)". Click it. Mac users.. Yours does not actually setup. You need to find the SDK Manager app within that zipped download and run it. Windows users... Run the setup. When it's done it will open the SDK manager. Both Users... Check the box next to the "Android SDK Platform-tools". Bottom Right, Install x Packages. Make sure you take note of the SDK path displayed at the top of the manager. EG. C:\Users\Josh\AppData\Local\Android\android-sdk. Mac users: Yours will be in the downloaded folder that you extracted. All Users: Navigate to that folder via terminal (mac) or cmd.exe (windows). Windows: cd C:\Users\Josh\AppData\Local\Android\android-sdk ... Mac: cd /Users/josh/Downloads/android-sdk/ ... Then navigate to the platform-tools folder that is within the SDK folder. Here is where ADB is located.
You also need the naked ADB drivers if you're a Windows user... Here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1379875
Once you reboot your phone into recovery: Open start menu, right click on Computer, click properties. This will open the system panel. Top left, click device manager. Somewhere along there, see if you see your device name (something like "Samsung-SGH_I747") with an exclamation point or question mark. Double click it if it does. Click update driver in the window that opened. Click "Browse My Computer...." "Let me pick..." "All devices / next"... "Browse". Now go find where you downloaded and extracted the naked driver zip. Open the folder and double click on one of the available .ini files. You'll get some compatibility warnings, just continue.
Windows instructions:
Download adb.exe, either through the Android SDK or elsewhere. Use Google.
Connect phone to computer via USB.
Boot phone into recovery.
Use cmd.exe (Use Windows key+R, and type cmd in the run window) to navigate to the folder containing adb.
E.g. "cd c:\Users\Josh\Downloads\adb"
Run "adb shell"
This should initiate a shell to the phone allowing you to run commands on the phone. If you get an error, make sure you have the drivers loaded for your phone.
Run "cd /system"
Run "chmod 644 build.prop"
Optional: Run "ls -l" and make sure that the permissions on build.prop show RW-R--R--.
Reboot phone.
Mac Instructions:
Download the adb application, either through the Android SDK or elsewhere. Use Google. Make sure you download the Mac version, not the Windows or Linux version.
Connect phone to Mac.
Reboot phone into recovery.
Open Terminal on Mac. /Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app or use spotlight to find it.
Navigate to folder containing the adb app. E.g. "cd /Users/josh/Downloads/adb/"
Run "adb shell"
This should initiate a shell to the phone allowing you to run commands on the phone.
Run "cd /system"
Run "chmod 644 build.prop"
Optional: Run "ls -l" and make sure that the permissions on build.prop show RW-R--R--.
Reboot phone.

Thanks, worked like a charm on my SII. And I finally have ADB set up for any future hiccups!

ibanezbass said:
I've noticed several users having trouble with their phone when editing the build.prop. They will edit the file, reboot, anxious to use Google Wallet, and be greeted with a black screen of death. Their heart will jump in their throat and they think... "Oh no... I didn't nandroid backup... What's a nandroid backup anyway?" No worries! I have the solution for all of you. Hopefully this short guide will get you going again.
I'm going to run through a quick setup of the Android SDK so that you can use adb if you choose to go this route. The SDK will be useful all though rooted phone usage, so I suggest you download it and use it. ADB is a very powerful tool. First, Google Android SDK. The first result should be the official site for the Google developer section. Just open that top link and the page should have a huge button that says "Download the SDK for (Windows or Mac or whatever)". Click it. Mac users.. Yours does not actually setup. You need to find the SDK Manager app within that zipped download and run it. Windows users... Run the setup. When it's done it will open the SDK manager. Both Users... Check the box next to the "Android SDK Platform-tools". Bottom Right, Install x Packages. Make sure you take note of the SDK path displayed at the top of the manager. EG. C:\Users\Josh\AppData\Local\Android\android-sdk. Mac users: Yours will be in the downloaded folder that you extracted. All Users: Navigate to that folder via terminal (mac) or cmd.exe (windows). Windows: cd C:\Users\Josh\AppData\Local\Android\android-sdk ... Mac: cd /Users/josh/Downloads/android-sdk/ ... Then navigate to the platform-tools folder that is within the SDK folder. Here is where ADB is located.
You also need the naked ADB drivers if you're a Windows user... Here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1379875
Once you reboot your phone into recovery: Open start menu, right click on Computer, click properties. This will open the system panel. Top left, click device manager. Somewhere along there, see if you see your device name (something like "Samsung-SGH_I747") with an exclamation point or question mark. Double click it if it does. Click update driver in the window that opened. Click "Browse My Computer...." "Let me pick..." "All devices / next"... "Browse". Now go find where you downloaded and extracted the naked driver zip. Open the folder and double click on one of the available .ini files. You'll get some compatibility warnings, just continue.
Windows instructions:
Download adb.exe, either through the Android SDK or elsewhere. Use Google.
Connect phone to computer via USB.
Boot phone into recovery.
Use cmd.exe (Use Windows key+R, and type cmd in the run window) to navigate to the folder containing adb.
E.g. "cd c:\Users\Josh\Downloads\adb"
Run "adb shell"
This should initiate a shell to the phone allowing you to run commands on the phone. If you get an error, make sure you have the drivers loaded for your phone.
Run "cd /system"
Run "chmod 644 build.prop"
Optional: Run "ls -l" and make sure that the permissions on build.prop show RW-R--R--.
Reboot phone.
Mac Instructions:
Download the adb application, either through the Android SDK or elsewhere. Use Google. Make sure you download the Mac version, not the Windows or Linux version.
Connect phone to Mac.
Reboot phone into recovery.
Open Terminal on Mac. /Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app or use spotlight to find it.
Navigate to folder containing the adb app. E.g. "cd /Users/josh/Downloads/adb/"
Run "adb shell"
This should initiate a shell to the phone allowing you to run commands on the phone.
Run "cd /system"
Run "chmod 644 build.prop"
Optional: Run "ls -l" and make sure that the permissions on build.prop show RW-R--R--.
Reboot phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm having the same issue; I did the above procedures (using a Mac) but every time I type "adb shell", I get this:
"-bash: adb: command not found"
Help, please....
Thanks!

Nevermind, I figured it out.

good write up, thank you

Seems to be only when you use a gnex as build prop.
HTC jewel works great
I had two softbricks worked great
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium

very helpful. Thanks!

This doesn't do anything for me. It still shows rw-rw-rw after running that command in adb. Any other ideas?
It also seems like it doesn't modify any of the files at all. I even tried renaming because i have a build.prop.bak file that i want to use and it doesn't seem to rename it.
[update] I am using the Odin method just to reflash it to the stock rom. I have moved on from this useless method.

Hi i just edited the /system/build.prop
for able to play gameloft games
now my tablet cant boot
i use this room : http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=1816795
i tried your method
i got this error
>adb shell
error: device not found
what can i do i don't want lose data
i tried to recovery mode and normal booted mode no lucks

please help. ican't find my device in device manager

Thank You !!!!!!!
Thank You, Thank You, Thank You, Thank You, Thank You, Thank You - I was hours away from taking my phone back ... I found my build.prop file with 0 bytes but fortunately I already had a build.prop.bak in there. I'm fairly certain I softbricked my phone by not following the instructions closely on rahpyqui utube Google Wallet process. Thanks SO MUCH!

isn't just easier to re-install the ROM you are running? You don't loose any settings.

unable to chmod build.prop
Help me!!
Error: unable to chmod build.prop: Operation not permitted

lyrictenor1 said:
Nevermind, I figured it out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm having the same problem, how did you solve it?

IMEI unknown - invalid
I have problem with IMEI ,no sim cards work in lenovo A660.I have done some factory resets and tried all possible solutions referred in xda forums but none worked.DOu think that build.prop could cuz problem to the IMEI somehow? i had to overwrite a build.prop file from a friendly site because i couldnt use 160 characters in sms and they said that this would help.BUt now , no IMEI.Can anyone help?

Thank you for the info:highfive::highfive:

Help!!!
How do I boot my Xperia S into Recovery Mode? Do I have to press the power button + VOL UP Button so that the LED gets blue?
Anyways I did it that way, expecting it to be in Recovery Mode, but when I run the adb shell it says "Device not found." Can somebody help?:crying::crying::crying:
I guess its because I didnt install the naked drivers but I cant do it because I wont find my device in the device manager... Why not?

Very nice guide, thanks!!!:victory:

THANK YOU!

permission denied
I am getting this when starting adb shell
- exec '/system/bin/sh' failed: Permission denied (13)
is this just a driver issue as I installed the naked driver and rebooted after.