Develop Bugs

Read Only File System when removing apps

I am trying to remove some apps I dont use or want like the mail app and others and I know i have nand protection unlocked becasue I can run nand backup and restore. But when i run adb shell and rm Mail.apk i get message of rm failed for Mail.apk, read only file system. I am a noob with adb but is it possible i dont have nand unlocked?

Being able to NAND backup and restore doesn't have anything to do with having NAND unlocked.
You obviously don't have full root.

download or find (please pay for it on the market)
root explorer, run it, this will put you on the / directory which is the root of the phone, not the sd card, and up in the top right corner it says mount r/o or mount r/w
by default it is read only r/o
hit the button and beside it you will see small text saying 'mounted r/w'
if it lets you mount r/w then you should be good to go.
just navigate to your /system/app filder, long press on the apk file you want to delete and choose delete, it will error out if you dont have r/w access, but make sure the upper right corner still says 'mounted r/w' - sometimes when you mount the phone in the opening page, it doesnt mount everything as r/w so you might have to mount the /system/app folder.
so, if you have it mounted r/w and it says so, and it wont let you delete or rename anything, then you know that you do not have a full root, just the partial root and you will have to go thru and reroot it for full access.
there are simpler ways i imagine but root explorer is the king of file explorers as far as i am concerned.
the only thing it needs is a built in FTP and SMB (windows network) explorer.

FAndroidHTC said:
I am trying to remove some apps I dont use or want like the mail app and others and I know i have nand protection unlocked becasue I can run nand backup and restore. But when i run adb shell and rm Mail.apk i get message of rm failed for Mail.apk, read only file system. I am a noob with adb but is it possible i dont have nand unlocked?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Would you be running the stock rooted ROM?
Sent from my PC36100

rafroehlich2 said:
Would you be running the stock rooted ROM?
Sent from my PC36100
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
stock rooted rom doesnt matter, thats what i run from time to time and i can delete/move/rename anythign i want anywhere on the phone (ok i havent tried every folder but have not hit a file/folder i couldnt alter yet, because i have full root access.

v_lestat said:
stock rooted rom doesnt matter, thats what i run from time to time and i can delete/move/rename anythign i want anywhere on the phone (ok i havent tried every folder but have not hit a file/folder i couldnt alter yet, because i have full root access.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I asked because I had a similar problem when I had stock rooted. Once I changed it went away.
Sent from my PC36100

rafroehlich2 said:
I asked because I had a similar problem when I had stock rooted. Once I changed it went away.
Sent from my PC36100
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hmmm wierd.
maybe a bad rooted rom?
someone correct me here but do you have SuperUser installed?
doesnt he have to have superuser installed to do it via root explorer, or login to a terminal via adb with 'su' to rename/move/delete
if you didnt type su, and then get the $ prompt you cant do what you are trying to do. ... ???
i dont think you need to type su to do the following command but it probably wouldn't hurt ??
i am very adb green but do know enough to run some commands, its just that i prefer to do it with root explorer rather than command prompt.

download or find (please pay for it on the market)
root explorer, run it, this will put you on the / directory which is the root of the phone, not the sd card, and up in the top right corner it says mount r/o or mount r/w
by default it is read only r/o
hit the button and beside it you will see small text saying 'mounted r/w'
if it lets you mount r/w then you should be good to go.
just navigate to your /system/app filder, long press on the apk file you want to delete and choose delete, it will error out if you dont have r/w access, but make sure the upper right corner still says 'mounted r/w' - sometimes when you mount the phone in the opening page, it doesnt mount everything as r/w so you might have to mount the /system/app folder.
so, if you have it mounted r/w and it says so, and it wont let you delete or rename anything, then you know that you do not have a full root, just the partial root and you will have to go thru and reroot it for full access.
there are simpler ways i imagine but root explorer is the king of file explorers as far as i am concerned.
the only thing it needs is a built in FTP and SMB (windows network) explorer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can use Estrongs File Explorer and use the root option. No payment required. Unless you are running CM ROM, be sure to turn off the root option before closing the program, otherwise next time you open ES it will give a force close.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

wow I love this forum what a huge response in such a short time I'm gonna test to see if I don't have nand properly unlocked and I tried using android mate to delete the apks and that didn't work either but I'm running fresh 1.0.2 currently

Just tried using es file explorer with root explorer and mount file system as writable and deleted the apk and everything worked great the app is gone! Thank you for the help this means i have nand unlocked right? I must have been doing something wrong in the adb shell

You can also issue the command 'adb remount'.
The system partition is mounted read only at start up and this command mounts it read/write. It has nothing to do at all with your NAND.

Ok good to know thank you for the advice like I said I'm an adb noob lol

do adb remount then try again

I removed wireless_tether using root explorer. When i try to install another version of wireless_tether, it says i am trying to overwrite another app, then wont let me install because it says its a system app. then I go in to look and see if I had truly removed it , it has a different name "andro tether" under settings/apps/manage apps. It doesn't show this in the root explorer for me to delete it. How can I fully delete it if its not showing there anymore.
I still cant install the new version. Help

[Q] A2SD+ Forcing to system memory

hi im using LeeDrOiD_V2.1a_A2SD , is there any way to force apps to be run from the system memory instead of the sdcard, as far as i can tell it automatically goes to the sdcard?
would prefer to use the system memory for security software such as wavesecure?
thanks
John

Yes to run it from the system partition so it can not be removed the regular way, you just have to move the apk file from /sd-ext/app/ to /system/app/
This can be done using adb commands when in recovery or by applying the s-off hack and use an app like root explorer.

thanks
the apk file was in the folder /system/sd/app
and root explorer let me enable r/w access in it, without enabling s-off
i'm hoping i did it right
:-0
thanks again
John

Well you might be able to do it this way without s-off but it is not actually on the system partition. It depends on what Rom you are using.
But are you able to uninstall it using the settings menu?

it still gives me the option to uninstall yes, but at this point i just wanted to get it running off the phones memory, rather than off the sd card
thanks
John

ok it turns out root explorer didn't copy them over, so i copied them over with adb commands , and wavesecure doesn't show up as uninstallable
ta
John

jcat00uk said:
ok it turns out root explorer didn't copy them over, so i copied them over with adb commands , and wavesecure doesn't show up as uninstallable
ta
John
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah, most of the programs out there (like root explorer) won't throw out an error if they can'y mount it as R/W... because HTC was clever enough to hide that it can't be mounted RW without S-off

Root Explorer Error

I just unlocked, rooted and restored all files in my nexus. I went into root Explorer to delete unwanted files and am getting a delete failed error every time I try to delete a file. Also my screen shots are no longer saving it says storage is in use. Anybody experience anything like this after rooting?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus

Marcg23 said:
I just unlocked, rooted and restored all files in my nexus. I went into root Explorer to delete unwanted files and am getting a delete failed error every time I try to delete a file. Also my screen shots are no longer saving it says storage is in use. Anybody experience anything like this after rooting?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you trying to delete system files? Do you have SU installed? Are you clicking the R/W option. More details please.....

Several people have reported the issue with screen shot, to fix it they've had to rename the pictures folder(Seems like the folder is read only).
Swiftkey'ed on my CM9 Galaxy Nexus

No system files just old pictures, music files and other misc. It is set as r/w, also I am getting a few apps saying I need storage available that is writable. Something has to be up with the internal storage not allowing me to access or write to it.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus

Well I am able to take screen shots by renaming he folder. However, I am still unable to write anything to my sdcard or modify files through root Explorer or any other file manager app.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus

Root explorer - How to text edit
Hi All,
I have a problem with my root explorer. I am not able to open a file to edit. If i long press on a file , i dont get any option to open/edit the file.
i was supposed to edit gps.conf file under /system/etc but unable to do so from root explorer.
PS: i mount r/w from the root explorer every time i try..
Please help.

If you have any directories/files that you can't modify or delete, then boot into CWM recovery, plug in the USB cable, go into adb shell. Also make sure that /data is mounted in the CWM mounts menu. Then:
cd /data/media
chown -R media_rw.media_rw *

root explorer delete failed
danger-rat said:
If you have any directories/files that you can't modify or delete, then boot into CWM recovery, plug in the USB cable, go into adb shell. Also make sure that /data is mounted in the CWM mounts menu. Then:
cd /data/media
chown -R media_rw.media_rw *
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i'm having this crazy "delete failed" error every time i try to delete any file in sdcart, external, and root directory (copy-paste, root, permissions works fine )
i tried to delete any remains of root explorer with es file explorer ((which works fine btw so its not a problem of partitions i think), re installed the program again but its the same . Flashed the rom from the beginning with a full wipe but its the same
this error happened first when i updated from blackmart alpha to some rootexplorer v.99. I uninstalled that but it left this error
Any idea what is causing that
I'm very curious and would appreciate it
thanks

I found a way to delete the files you suggest using Root Explorer. Go into /data/media/<navigate to the directory that you want to delete files>.. make sure the folder is mounted as r/w and delete the files you want to delete. This is how I bypassed the delete failed issue in Root Explorer...

rester555 said:
I found a way to delete the files you suggest using Root Explorer. Go into /data/media/<navigate to the directory that you want to delete files>.. make sure the folder is mounted as r/w and delete the files you want to delete. This is how I bypassed the delete failed issue in Root Explorer...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
^^^^ this

Thank you rester, this worked for me too. Was pulling my hair out.

[Q] Can't rw on /system

I backed up and then deleted my play store using titanium backup but when I went to restore it it wouldn't let me. So I tried to move it to system/apps using a few file explorers like root explorer,Es explorer and super manager but non of them let me put system folder into rw mode , and yes I did give all of them root rights. I also tried to use the adb command on the terminal with su rights but that did nothing, does anyone have any advice besides reseting my phone.i am also running Jedi mind trick x3(i know I need to update)

erden99 said:
I backed up and then deleted my play store using titanium backup but when I went to restore it it wouldn't let me. So I tried to move it to system/apps using a few file explorers like root explorer,Es explorer and super manager but non of them let me put system folder into rw mode , and yes I did give all of them root rights. I also tried to use the adb command on the terminal with su rights but that did nothing, does anyone have any advice besides reseting my phone.i am also running Jedi mind trick x3(i know I need to update)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In ES, you have to go to 'Root Explorer' under 'Tools', then 'Mount R/W', then use the radio buttons to give it write permissions (given that you have root already).

treefrog321 said:
In ES, you have to go to 'Root Explorer' under 'Tools', then 'Mount R/W', then use the radio buttons to give it write permissions (given that you have root already).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly what I did ,i allows access to all the others and system but as soon as I press ok and go back to check the permissions again system is the only one that reverts back to read only

erden99 said:
Exactly what I did ,i allows access to all the others and system but as soon as I press ok and go back to check the permissions again system is the only one that reverts back to read only
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have this problem too! I am currently trying to uninstall the system youtube app because it wont let me install the new 5.0 update without doing that as I have a modded youtube apk. I am on AOKP custom ROM

[TIP] USB-CD-begone

This is a well-known tip, but it certainly couldn't hurt to aggregate it here.
Once you've installed (or blithely ignored) HTC Sync Manager, you don't want to deal with a file browser popping up every time you plug in your phone. To remove it:
Flash a recovery image (for example, CWM)
Code:
adb shell mount /system
adb shell rm /system/etc/CDROM.ISO
adb shell umount /system
reboot
enjoy freedom

should it be 'unmount'?

No, the command is named "umount"

I just deleted the CDROM.ISO with Root Explorer. I didn't need to reboot before I connected it again, it was gone.

IceDragon59 said:
I just deleted the CDROM.ISO with Root Explorer. I didn't need to reboot before I connected it again, it was gone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you need to root access to delete that? I just tried with es file explorer and it wouldn't delete. I'm stock unrooted.
Sent from my phone using an app

sanders539 said:
Do you need to root access to delete that? I just tried with es file explorer and it wouldn't delete. I'm stock unrooted.
Sent from my phone using an app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes you do... any root file explorer will do the trick, and it does ask for root access when deleting that file.

I figured that was the case. I was rooted so long on my rezound that I never had to worry about it.
Sent from my phone using an app

Thanks I've been wondering why that thing pops up. I'll just use Root Browser to get rid of that.