Develop Bugs

Step by step to flash CM7 from stock without losing data

I did a lot of reading before I did this to be sure I wouldn't lose anything. Here's the step by step for others, since I was unable to find it all in one place. This is for the MT4G/Glacier, no idea if the process is similar on other phones. You should probably still read, but I couldn't find any of this all in one place:
If you flash, here's what you need:
- Rooted phone (if you need to root, search for the gfree method, it's the easiest)
- ROM Manager from the Market. Get the premium version.
- TitaniumBackup from the Market.
- Sync turned on for your contacts and calendars in your google account.
1. Go into TitaniumBackup, set the option to store the settings on the SDCard. Go into Backup/Restore, hit menu, and run the batch to do a full backup of system and user apps/data.
2. Go into ROM Manager. At the top, click the option to install ClockworkRecovery. Make sure it installs version 3.0.0.5. Then click the option to reboot into recovery mode. In recovery, make a ROM backup of your existing ROM. It will store on the SD card. Reboot back into the OS.
3. Go back into ROM Manager, scroll down to Download ROM's. You should see CM7 Nightlies in there. Download the latest build. It will ask you if you want to also download the GAPPS package, grab that also. When it's done, it will ask you what you want to do... just cancel. Go to reboot in recovery mode.
4. In recovery:
- Wipe/Factory Reset
- Clear cache partition
- Advanced -> clear Dalvik cache
- On main screen, install ZIP from SD
- Navigate to sdcard->clockworkmod->downloads->teamdouche and select the CM7 zip for your phone that was downloaded
- When that is done, install another zip from sd, go into the goo.inside.me directory and install GAPPS zip
- Reboot phone from main menu
5. Enter your gmail creds that you used for your primary account from before
6. Cancel the additional downloads thing when it pops up, this will pop up again later after you enable wireless
7. Go into ROM Manager, Select the Fix Permissions option, reboot (wifi won't work unless you do this)
8. Enable wifi and join to your network
9. Eventually you will get the popup again. Select the stuff that you want installed.
It will pull down all of your apps from the market and install them. If you want to restore user data for the apps, you can go into titanium and click on the app, and restore it with the data. Don't do this until it's done updating from the market. Do NOT restore system level stuff. You will cause problems if you restore system level stuff from 2.2 or earlier on 2.3.x.
You should also install SetCPU from the market, set to start on boot, set conservative mode, and create a screen off profile that limits to 368mhz/conservative. In advanced, leave the defaults, except change the cpu up threshold to 75, and the scaling percent to 11 or 12. Massive battery improvements. You can overclock with this also, mine is only overclocked to around 1100mhz. Some people are running 1800mhz. I heard smartass mode instead of conservative is also good, but haven't tried it.
Keep in mind that if you have an HTC phone with the Sense Framework, you won't have that anymore. So if you liked the Sense dialer (which I did), you can't get it. The stock dialer is functional, but not the best. DialerOne and Dialer2 look the most interesting, but they still aren't as good. If you have CSipSimple installed, remove it. CM7 has SIP built into it, and CSipSimple confuses the phone when trying to make calls. If you liked the Sense clock widget, you can get a replacement, search for Beautiful Widgets on the market. The built in camera app is not Sense either, but does all the same things. The Gallery is awesome, best gallery I've ever seen (stacks that you can pull apart and flip through, very cool).
If GPS doesn't work, download GPS Status from the market and use it to clear the A-GPS data and cache. It's the only app that can do it. It's free.
Also, if you want to go back to your previous ROM, you can flash back with the ROM Manager backup that you made. The only thing is, you'll have to downgrade the clockwork recovery bootloader to 2.5.1.2 first. You can do this by flashing a zip from your SD card. The zip is available somewhere on these forums. I don't have a link, but you can find it by searching a bit. The 3.0.0.5 version cannot flash a Froyo or earlier ROM for some reason. I'm not going back, so I haven't done this.
My TitaniumBackup realized somehow that I installed fresh, and it automatically restored my apps and data. It did NOT on my friend's phone. But, he has the free version and I have the paid one. If it doesn't restore your app settings, you can manually go in and do it. One thing that I've never been able to restore is Good corporate email. It restores, but it won't send or receive. If anyone has ideas on this, post them.
Note that I flashed with build 35, and it's been rock solid. Your mileage may vary. If you already have the software noted above, the whole process only takes about 5-10 mins.
Edit: Recovery 3.0.0.6 was released, and works with 2.2 and 2.3. So you wouldn't have to downgrade the recovery to go back a version. As of this edit, you can grab it here if it's not showing up in ROM Manager yet: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=952433

Something to add... if you are using ADW or LPP do a backup if those also. I find that if you install it fresh from the market and not TB then press restore settings in their preferences it will load all the custom icons and custom dock. It saves alot of time. Nice writup for the peeps that need the pointers for a fresh and fast install of a nightly

FYI, Titanium backup works great at restoring apps. I would be weary of restoring data between android versions however, because some of the data will be of a different type and could cause lots of issues. Thats the reason for the full data wipe before flashing in the first place.

option94 said:
FYI, Titanium backup works great at restoring apps. I would be weary of restoring data between android versions however, because some of the data will be of a different type and could cause lots of issues. Thats the reason for the full data wipe before flashing in the first place.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought that was mostly because of system. The apps themselves still store their data in sqlite databases, and their schema should not change between versions of the actual OS. I might be wrong.

app data is fine, system data is what causes issues. I should have been more specific.

option94 said:
app data is fine, system data is what causes issues. I should have been more specific.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only system stuff I install is the accounts back up, email data, wifi access points, and account and sync settings. I usually dont have a problem installing this kind of stuff. I had a few problems in the past restoring some system stuff and it made things not work, a lot of force closes. etc.. I would open up say the sound settings in settings and it would never open it would fc 100% of the time. You know I bet a lot of the issues people have with stuff not working when other's have no problems are due to bad restores. I have not once in any of the builds(since 26 when I started flashing CM 7) had an issue with wifi or gps(knock on wood)

option94 said:
FYI, Titanium backup works great at restoring apps. I would be weary of restoring data between android versions however, because some of the data will be of a different type and could cause lots of issues. Thats the reason for the full data wipe before flashing in the first place.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But the market automatically downloads all your apps for you. last time i did a full wipe i only used TB to restore data only, since the apps had been installed automatically from market.

You can use My Backup Pro to back up your SMS and MMS, plus bookmarks and a few other things. Very useful if you want to wipe and save your text.

speoples20 said:
You can use My Backup Pro to back up your SMS and MMS, plus bookmarks and a few other things. Very useful if you want to wipe and save your text.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Checkout sms backup+
It backs up all texts to your gmail account automatically.

speoples20 said:
You can use My Backup Pro to back up your SMS and MMS, plus bookmarks and a few other things. Very useful if you want to wipe and save your text.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can also use My Backup Root (free in market) It is the same as My Backup pro but it is free.

Ok so I just barely rooted and flashed cm7 #40 to my glacier. Everthing is great. I love the rom. I just need help on 2 things. First, how do I get my contacts to sync back to my phone? I had done a factory reset twice before and they always synced back after I logged in my gmail account but not this time. I did sync my gmail before rooting and flashing and I also backed everything up with titanium backup but nothing. Second, when I first flashed the cm7 #40 rom I liked how when I locked the screen it shut off like if you were turning off a tv. I don't know what I did that it does not do it anymore. If anyone knows hows to fix my 2 problems I greatly appriciate it. Thanx.
EDIT: I figured out how to get the screen off animation back but I still have problems getting my contacts to push back to my phone. If anyone knows how to get them to sync it would be helpful.
EDIT#2: Figured out how to get contacts back. Was not able to sync them but just went to the tmo website, wrote them down and re-added them to my phone.

issues after upgrade to gb
I have rooted and upgraded to cm7. I have followed all directions, however, i do not have android market or any google apps reinstalled on the phone. Something got messed up during the upgrade, anyone got any ideas how i can install android market back on my phone? This is a big issue for me, i can not even get back into my titanium backup. How do i recover it from sd card? PLEASE HELP!!!! Stressing big time over this!! Also, when i try to set up my account to sync the contacts its asking for a domain name, i assume its for gmail, how do i find it? Any examples or ideas? I lost a grip of contacts, over 200! Please help!!! Thank you!

RusRap said:
I have rooted and upgraded to cm7. I have followed all directions, however, i do not have android market or any google apps reinstalled on the phone. Something got messed up during the upgrade, anyone got any ideas how i can install android market back on my phone? This is a big issue for me, i can not even get back into my titanium backup. How do i recover it from sd card? PLEASE HELP!!!! Stressing big time over this!! Also, when i try to set up my account to sync the contacts its asking for a domain name, i assume its for gmail, how do i find it? Any examples or ideas? I lost a grip of contacts, over 200! Please help!!! Thank you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you install the GAPPS zip that came with the rom? if you didn't, do. Its the google apps file. That will load the market and apps.

coupetastic-droid said:
Ok so I just barely rooted and flashed cm7 #40 to my glacier. Everthing is great. I love the rom. I just need help on 2 things. First, how do I get my contacts to sync back to my phone? I had done a factory reset twice before and they always synced back after I logged in my gmail account but not this time. I did sync my gmail before rooting and flashing and I also backed everything up with titanium backup but nothing. Second, when I first flashed the cm7 #40 rom I liked how when I locked the screen it shut off like if you were turning off a tv. I don't know what I did that it does not do it anymore. If anyone knows hows to fix my 2 problems I greatly appriciate it. Thanx.
EDIT: I figured out how to get the screen off animation back but I still have problems getting my contacts to push back to my phone. If anyone knows how to get them to sync it would be helpful.
EDIT#2: Figured out how to get contacts back. Was not able to sync them but just went to the tmo website, wrote them down and re-added them to my phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
howd you get the animations back?

mbernusg said:
howd you get the animations back?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
wiped, re-flashed the rom and re-boot. it was the only way i was able to get the animation back.

I'm curious if there's a way to batch-restore data only in Titanium Backup? Only way I can see is to do it app by app.
Likewise, any way to batch-backup data only?

[Q] Unroot a custom rom?

Hey All,
For Work I need to install the app Good for Enterprise so I can get my calendar and work email pushed to my phone. Unfortunately it is company policy that it be unrooted. Presumeably a security issue. Is it possible to unroot a custom rom? i'd rather not go back to stock for the simple reason of app storage. I love A2SD+ and being able to have as many apps as I want installed. Also nandroid backups, that would go away without root too wouldn;t it? Can I just remove the SU.apk? Will that suffice to be "unrooted"? Is that even possible?

Tweak_four17 said:
Hey All,
For Work I need to install the app Good for Enterprise so I can get my calendar and work email pushed to my phone. Unfortunately it is company policy that it be unrooted. Presumeably a security issue. Is it possible to unroot a custom rom? i'd rather not go back to stock for the simple reason of app storage. I love A2SD+ and being able to have as many apps as I want installed. Also nandroid backups, that would go away without root too wouldn;t it? Can I just remove the SU.apk? Will that suffice to be "unrooted"? Is that even possible?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you want to unroot, you'll need to go back to stock.
The reason they want unrooted phones, is not so much a security issue, as it is they just don't understand or don't wish to deal with possible problems.

If you backup your apps and data you can run the official RUU, and it will put the original unrooted system to your phone. I don't know other method.
Here are the official ROMs: http://shipped-roms.com/index.php?category=android&model=Bravo

Removing the SU binaries will unroot you, I don't see the need as to why you have to be unrooted though.

apparently you can't use the new movie-rental feature of google's market, when you are rooted.
Is it possible to stick to a custom rom but unroot it, so that google recognises your phone as a not-rooted device and allows you to watch movies from market?
I don't need root-permissions every day - in fact I only need it for Titanium Backup, so deleting su-binaries and/or superuser.apk would be ok - but it must be possible to restore them (via recovery/adb) to run TB.
This probably isn't what google wants you to do since you can download the movie to watch later and if you have a working recovery you probably could get you hands on the downloaded files, but still - would be nice, if this was possible.

Easiest way to unroot and go back to stock is to stick a PB99IMG.zip on your sdcard, and turn your phone on with volume held down

How about this:
1) Go back to stock ROM via RUU
2) Install Good For Enterprise (I guess your IT department installs this, so they can check you are not rooted?)
3) ROOT the stock ROM using UnRevoked
4) Take a Titanium Backup of Good For Enterprise
5) Re-install your custom ROM
6) Restore the Titanium Backup of GfE
-> You have a rooted, custom ROM with GfE installed. And your company will never know!

madcr0w said:
Easiest way to unroot and go back to stock is to stick a PB99IMG.zip on your sdcard, and turn your phone on with volume held down
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Congratulations for not reading the post. Here is your cookie.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA Premium App

Demonic idea
kuroneko007 said:
How about this:
1) Go back to stock ROM via RUU
2) Install Good For Enterprise (I guess your IT department installs this, so they can check you are not rooted?)
3) ROOT the stock ROM using UnRevoked
4) Take a Titanium Backup of Good For Enterprise
5) Re-install your custom ROM
6) Restore the Titanium Backup of GfE
-> You have a rooted, custom ROM with GfE installed. And your company will never know!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I like your idea mate! Hahahahahaha....
Edit: Bad boy! Bad bad boy! hahahahahahahaha....

kuroneko007 said:
How about this:
1) Go back to stock ROM via RUU
2) Install Good For Enterprise (I guess your IT department installs this, so they can check you are not rooted?)
3) ROOT the stock ROM using UnRevoked
4) Take a Titanium Backup of Good For Enterprise
5) Re-install your custom ROM
6) Restore the Titanium Backup of GfE
-> You have a rooted, custom ROM with GfE installed. And your company will never know!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Has anyone ever tested this?

Or why don't you just delete superuser via adb or android commander

good for enterprise checks for root access/ su every time it starts. It's not an issue of not being able to install the app. It's available for free on the market. The problem is when entering all your info and starting it up, it checks for SU.
I am guessing the best way around this is to install custom rom, set everything up that you need that requires SU/root. Then delete all the su/root related files. Then install Good.
Unfortunately I don't have a list of all the files that have to be deleted for this to work.
There have been reports that other users who have tried this method got it to work but the App stopped syncing after a few days.

List:
/system/app/superuser
/system/bin/su
Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk

I tried this method, renamed the 2 files. It has been working for last 24 hours. I'll update again after a week if it still works..
Edit:
yep this works perfectly.

vvelumm said:
I tried this method, renamed the 2 files. It has been working for last 24 hours. I'll update again after a week if it still works..
Edit:
yep this works perfectly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You renamed SU.apk to SU.apk.bak most likely...
What did you rename the libs file to?

vvelumm said:
good for enterprise checks for root access/ su every time it starts. It's not an issue of not being able to install the app. It's available for free on the market. The problem is when entering all your info and starting it up, it checks for SU.
I am guessing the best way around this is to install custom rom, set everything up that you need that requires SU/root. Then delete all the su/root related files. Then install Good.
Unfortunately I don't have a list of all the files that have to be deleted for this to work.
There have been reports that other users who have tried this method got it to work but the App stopped syncing after a few days.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have rooted my HTC Salsa to get apps2sd which is great, but now my mobile banking app says it will not work on a rooted device, similar to your issue.
I am new to android modding, what commands do i need to enter where to rename the files you mention ?
Thanks in advance.
Mike

wont work good enterprises would more than likely check every time like sky go. you would have to removed a2sd command line i think and all su binarys ( and su.akp ( difficult as its normally a system app and once one of the su has been removed you dont have premition to remove the other/
and to the donunt who said ( the dont understand root) wanna cookie 0. basicly good enterprise is a secure web client for companys to send information to mobiles, i have it on my work (iphone) <<<< scummmy.. anyways as root gives to the option to do what ever you or anyone else wants with the phone in theory you could use that system to breack the law or for instance chaindd could possible put an update in to su that will take data from the company> for google videos ) well with root you can screen record ( basicly ) excuse the spelling im trying to find out how to un root and keep all of my system ui mods and themes and my rom ( proving difficult)

hey I know that this is based on a old post but I have a question did you ever find out how to unroot a custom rom that is pre-rooted?

Few Newbie Questions

Hi guys,
OK, so I'm not really a newbie as I loaded Android onto my HD2, both SD and NAND versions (RIP HD2 ).
But, it has been a while and I have a couple of questions I've been trying to find answers to:
I got my nexus though vodafone UK, if this makes a difference.
Can I root this phone without wiping the device? I'm currently quite happy with the stock rom , but I'd like to push some custom boot animations, etc.
I've been looking into backing up apps that I've downloaded as I don't currently have wifi access - I do get unlimited data for a few months, but it'll take ages to download it all again!
Titanium Backup was my first port of call, but says it requires root...
And lastly, if I were to use Titanium to back up, say, a game, would my progress in that game be saved?
Many thanks for any info
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App

phanteh said:
Can I root this phone without wiping the device? I'm currently quite happy with the stock rom , but I'd like to push some custom boot animations, etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Rooting your phone doesnt wipe your device, however in order to root your phone you will need to unlock the bootloader which is a very simple process but this process DOES wipe your device. It only needs to be performed once though but without doing it you wont be able to do anything else.
Use the Sticky Thread to find out how to install fastboot drivers which you will need to unlock the bootloader. Then you can use pauls r3 Superboot to root the phone.
I've been looking into backing up apps that I've downloaded as I don't currently have wifi access - I do get unlimited data for a few months, but it'll take ages to download it all again!
Titanium Backup was my first port of call, but says it requires root...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any app that will backup your apps/settings will require root. You can also flash ClockworkMod and make a NAND backup of your device, then restore the DATA partition on a new Rom to restore your apps.
And lastly, if I were to use Titanium to back up, say, a game, would my progress in that game be saved?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Im pretty sure it saves app data so that would include saved games or settings.
Mark.

Cheers Mark!
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App

AT&T Update Help

I received the notification to update this morning to 4.4, however the update started to apply, it kicked it out with a suspected root error. Before applying the update, I had already uninstalled Xposed and unrooted my phone, so I am not sure what set off the root checker. I was wondering what my options were at this point. I know I can flash back to stock, but I would like to avoid this if at all possible. Are there any alternatives, or will I be forced to flash back to stock?
Thanks in advance for your help.
Sent from my LG-E980 using XDA Free mobile app

marksman81 said:
I received the notification to update this morning to 4.4, however the update started to apply, it kicked it out with a suspected root error. Before applying the update, I had already uninstalled Xposed and unrooted my phone, so I am not sure what set off the root checker. I was wondering what my options were at this point. I know I can flash back to stock, but I would like to avoid this if at all possible. Are there any alternatives, or will I be forced to flash back to stock?
Thanks in advance for your help.
Sent from my LG-E980 using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm having exactly the same issue. I used the one click root method and have unrooted using full unroot in SuperSu.
But it appears full unroot per SuperSu is not enough? I tried root checker in Play Store and it says I am not rooted.
When I run the install it takes a long time to download and gave 0x13e error after the reboot while upgrading.
I also tried the LG PC Suite but it says my phone has the most current version, that is weird...
This OTA seems to be very picky as I was able to update in January 2014 fully rooted....
I wonder if I need to flash the IOT and go through the hassle of reinstalling all apps and config....that's a lot of hassle...

View92612 said:
I'm having exactly the same issue. I used the one click root method and have unrooted using full unroot in SuperSu.
But it appears full unroot per SuperSu is not enough? I tried root checker in Play Store and it says I am not rooted.
When I run the install it takes a long time to download and gave 0x13e error after the reboot while upgrading.
I also tried the LG PC Suite but it says my phone has the most current version, that is weird...
This OTA seems to be very picky as I was able to update in January 2014 fully rooted....
I wonder if I need to flash the IOT and go through the hassle of reinstalling all apps and config....that's a lot of hassle...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is very strange but if I try update recovery it says my battery does not have enough charge. (but battery is at 100%).
I even bought a new battery. I did disable carrier iq spying service before I unroot.
Do I have to enable carrier iq spy in order to upgrade?

View92612 said:
It is very strange but if I try update recovery it says my battery does not have enough charge. (but battery is at 100%).
I even bought a new battery. I did disable carrier iq spying service before I unroot.
Do I have to enable carrier iq spy in order to upgrade?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your phone needs to be 100% stock in order for OTA updates to work. This means:
no custom recovery (CWM, TWRP, etc)
all bloatware must be present
you can't be rooted
all system services must be like stock (this includes carrier IQ, so yes, it needs to be reenabled).
If you can't get the OTA to update after fixing everything, try flashing this:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2760895
This IS the ATT stock ROM, but mildly debloated. The creator only debloated things that could be installed via the Play Store though (like Google Music, Newstand, Books, etc), so there isn't anything like the remote app or something missing.
I flashed this version because I'm too lazy to try and return my phone to pure stock just to get the OTA and then have to reflash root and a custom recovery. Too much work for me.
EDIT: I'm not too sure what's going on with your recovery... I hope someone else can answer that for you.

The easiest thing to do is just flash the 4.4.2 Rom found here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2760895
This route saves allot of time having to flash back to pure stock, wait for your phone to receive the update again, and your phone taking forever to download said update.

spexwood said:
If you can't get the OTA to update after fixing everything, try flashing this:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2760895
This IS the ATT stock ROM, but mildly debloated. The creator only debloated things that could be installed via the Play Store though (like Google Music, Newstand, Books, etc), so there isn't anything like the remote app or something missing.
I flashed this version because I'm too lazy to try and return my phone to pure stock just to get the OTA and then have to reflash root and a custom recovery. Too much work for me.
EDIT: I'm not too sure what's going on with your recovery... I hope someone else can answer that for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks a lot. This is my wife's phone so she'd rather not to update if a data wipe is required. She's actually quite happy with 4.1.
Anything extra would only be a "good to have". I think I'll keep it on 4.1 until she switches to another phone.
I did download the slightly customized stock rom so that it could be updated in the future.
In fact, I still have stock recovery and the only reason I rooted was to disable carrier iq because it was doing funny things with the GPS, very annoying.
There is no other way to disable carrier iq without rooting...unfortunately...

View92612 said:
Thanks a lot. This is my wife's phone so she'd rather not to update if a data wipe is required. She's actually quite happy with 4.1.
Anything extra would only be a "good to have". I think I'll keep it on 4.1 until she switches to another phone.
I did download the slightly customized stock rom so that it could be updated in the future.
In fact, I still have stock recovery and the only reason I rooted was to disable carrier iq because it was doing funny things with the GPS, very annoying.
There is no other way to disable carrier iq without rooting...unfortunately...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you flash that ROM over her current stock ROM, it should act just like an OTA update and replace the JB OS with the KK OS. It should also replace JB version Google apps with KK ones too.
If you decide to do this, you will need to do 3 things:
1) Make a backup just in case, but then copy the backup to your PC
2) Backup the internal SD to a PC and then format the internal storage. (see *2 below as to why)
3) After the flash, you will need to install the apk from the following thread and use it to install a Kitkat compatible CWM. If you don't while in recovery at any time, you may get stuck in what's called the Recovery Bootloop. Basically, every time you try to reboot the phone into the system (whether from a powered off state or from recovery), you will always go back to recovery.
The only bad thing about this recovery is that it can't read external SD cards, so anything you want to flash/backup will need to be stored on internal storage.
*2) Kitkat uses a different directory system for internal storage. If you were to not wipe the internal SD and managed to get the OTA working, it would wipe the drive for you automatically (which means all your data would be gone!).
However, with this flashable stock ROM, what will happen instead, is that all your data will remain, but will be hidden from view/access. If you have root, you can get it and move it, but it's a pain. Otherwise, your files are hidden from you, yet the system reads X amount of your internal storage as being occupied by "Miscellaneous" files, yet shows that nothing is there.
So just backup the files, then format the internal storage (which will leave her apps alone) before updating. Then flash that ROM and then copy the files back over.
All this is up to you and your wife as to whether or not you deem it to be worth the effort.

[Q] Need advice for flashing GApps onto stock Desire 816t

I got the phone as a gift from my uncle in China, it's working fine except I need google apps. From what I've read here and elsewhere I can download the correct version of GApps for my version of android and simply flash it by saving it going into the SD card and entering recovery mode.
I have some questions:
Is there a specific GApps file for the Desire 816 or can I just use any one such as from team android for 4.4 KitKat?
Will this procedure void warranty and how risky is it?
Should I do a back up of the stock OS? Nandroid requires root access and I don't want to root the phone unnecessarily. Also the methods for system back up without root such as holo backup seem unreliable for some devices. Has anyone done a back up for the Desire 816 with holo/Ultimate Backup Tool?
Device Specifications
Android Version: 4.4.2
HTC Sense 5.5
ROM 1.31.1403.1
Kernel Version: 3.4.0-g77ac3fc
[email protected] # 1
SMP PREEMPT

Chiarro said:
I got the phone as a gift from my uncle in China, it's working fine except I need google apps. From what I've read here and elsewhere I can download the correct version of GApps for my version of android and simply flash it by saving it going into the SD card and entering recovery mode.
I have some questions:
Is there a specific GApps file for the Desire 816 or can I just use any one such as from team android for 4.4 KitKat?
Will this procedure void warranty and how risky is it?
Should I do a back up of the stock OS? Nandroid requires root access and I don't want to root the phone unnecessarily. Also the methods for system back up without root such as holo backup seem unreliable for some devices. Has anyone done a back up for the Desire 816 with holo/Ultimate Backup Tool?
Device Specifications
Android Version: 4.4.2
HTC Sense 5.5
ROM 1.31.1403.1
Kernel Version: 3.4.0-g77ac3fc
[email protected] # 1
SMP PREEMPT
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If you want to install the Gaaps, you should have clockworkmod recovery for sure, which requires unlocking your bootloader and rooting. Once you do that you will loose warranty. But do you really think that you ever claim for warranty ? I have used 11 smart phones so far and never went back to the vendor for any issues. I completely relied on XDA forum and never got disheartened. Anyways, thats your choice, whether to live without google apps in your smartphone until your warranty period expires and live like a king by rooting and installing the gapps? If you choose the later option, then start with unlocking the bootloader, followed by rooting, followed by custom recovery installation and then gaaps zip installation.
Btw, use the gapps from the following link http://www.androidfilehost.com/?w=files&flid=10238 rather than the one you found that are for cyanogenmod roms.

vbrsekhar said:
If you want to install the Gaaps, you should have clockworkmod recovery for sure, which requires unlocking your bootloader and rooting. Once you do that you will loose warranty. But do you really think that you ever claim for warranty ? I have used 11 smart phones so far and never went back to the vendor for any issues. I completely relied on XDA forum and never got disheartened. Anyways, thats your choice, whether to live without google apps in your smartphone until your warranty period expires and live like a king by rooting and installing the gapps? If you choose the later option, then start with unlocking the bootloader, followed by rooting, followed by custom recovery installation and then gaaps zip installation.
Btw, use the gapps from the following link http://www.androidfilehost.com/?w=files&flid=10238 rather than the one you found that are for cyanogenmod roms.
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Thanks for the advice. I wound up rooting the phone with Clockwork Recovery Mod. I've tried flashing the gapps-kk-20140606-signed.zip file that you linked, the flashing completes successfully and the phone boots. However as soon as I try to go past the lock screen the error message "Setup wizard has stopped working" is repeated on loop. I did a system restore, tried a package from here to the same effect. I saw a post where someone had a similar issue and did something along the lines of wiping user data and dalvik however for the life of me I can't find it again.
EDIT******
Nevermind, I did a full system restore, wiped Dalvik, Cache, User Data then flashed the modular gapps package I got from the second link I mentioned. I then wiped everything again and started the phone. Went through initial set up and now everything seems fine. Will update if google apps starts playing up.
EDIT # 2
Play store doesn't work properly Will try again in the morning using the package you suggested.

Chiarro said:
Thanks for the advice. I wound up rooting the phone with Clockwork Recovery Mod. I've tried flashing the gapps-kk-20140606-signed.zip file that you linked, the flashing completes successfully and the phone boots. However as soon as I try to go past the lock screen the error message "Setup wizard has stopped working" is repeated on loop. I did a system restore, tried a package from here to the same effect. I saw a post where someone had a similar issue and did something along the lines of wiping user data and dalvik however for the life of me I can't find it again.
EDIT******
Nevermind, I did a full system restore, wiped Dalvik, Cache, User Data then flashed the modular gapps package I got from the second link I mentioned. I then wiped everything again and started the phone. Went through initial set up and now everything seems fine. Will update if google apps starts playing up.
EDIT # 2
Play store doesn't work properly Will try again in the morning using the package you suggested.
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Sorry to note the hiccups you are facing dude. I should have told you about setupwizard thingy, which I learnt about it ages ago. My sincere apologies. Flashing gapps on chinese roms will corrupt the existing setup wizard. So the work around for this is to, backup that system apk, using titanium backup or any other popular ones and then reinstall it once the gapps are installed. But now that you confirmed it working, I am now bit relaxed. But yeah so sorry for that.
Re your play store apk, Google has updated his play store apk recently. Try the new version apk from http://www.androidpolice.com/2014/0...issions-bigger-buttons-and-more-apk-download/ and then go to Apps, playstore and delete data and cache. Wipe dalvik cache (optional) from the recovery and then try if it works. I am sure it should work without having to delete all this caches and data, but yours being chinese version mobile and had troubles before with it, try those tricks.
All the best.

vbrsekhar said:
Sorry to note the hiccups you are facing dude. I should have told you about setupwizard thingy, which I learnt about it ages ago. My sincere apologies. Flashing gapps on chinese roms will corrupt the existing setup wizard. So the work around for this is to, backup that system apk, using titanium backup or any other popular ones and then reinstall it once the gapps are installed. But now that you confirmed it working, I am now bit relaxed. But yeah so sorry for that.
Re your play store apk, Google has updated his play store apk recently. Try the new version apk from http://www.androidpolice.com/2014/0...issions-bigger-buttons-and-more-apk-download/ and then go to Apps, playstore and delete data and cache. Wipe dalvik cache (optional) from the recovery and then try if it works. I am sure it should work without having to delete all this caches and data, but yours being chinese version mobile and had troubles before with it, try those tricks.
All the best.
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Thanks again, I followed your advice and my apps now seem to be working ok. I think play store is a little unstable still, I occasionally get errors attempting to download apps (Error 904 I think) but those go away if I just restart the download. I had Facebook messenger force close once but that was when it was going through its tutorial mode. It's now also working fine.
Unfortunately this process seems to break the FM Radio app which is a minor blow, attempting to back up and restore with Titanium Backup gives the message "App was not installed". Same applies when restoring setup. I'm not sure if having a corrupt set up wizard will create problems for me in the future.
The only thing I can think of which would cause the problems restoring system apps is that I didn't apply the wp_mod.ko which is recommended as part of this root procedure. That's meant to allow me to write to the system. The instructions for doing so weren't particularly clear and everything else seemed to be working at the time so I skipped it (I know, probably not the best idea).
Any advice would be appreciated, however right now I'm pretty happy with the rest of my phone working with google apps! I'm also investigating whether spiritFM will work as an alternative to the stock radio app.

Chiarro said:
Thanks again, I followed your advice and my apps now seem to be working ok. I think play store is a little unstable still, I occasionally get errors attempting to download apps (Error 904 I think) but those go away if I just restart the download. I had Facebook messenger force close once but that was when it was going through its tutorial mode. It's now also working fine.
Unfortunately this process seems to break the FM Radio app which is a minor blow, attempting to back up and restore with Titanium Backup gives the message "App was not installed". Same applies when restoring setup. I'm not sure if having a corrupt set up wizard will create problems for me in the future.
The only thing I can think of which would cause the problems restoring system apps is that I didn't apply the wp_mod.ko which is recommended as part of this root procedure. That's meant to allow me to write to the system. The instructions for doing so weren't particularly clear and everything else seemed to be working at the time so I skipped it (I know, probably not the best idea).
Any advice would be appreciated, however right now I'm pretty happy with the rest of my phone working with google apps! I'm also investigating whether spiritFM will work as an alternative to the stock radio app.
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Thanks for updating us with your issues. I think by your description, i can see that it could be cache's problem. What I usually do is, when you install any rom via backup, I try to do factory reset twice from the systems setting and security. This will eliminate all the cache issues that you are facing with google play and fmradio. If you cannot restore the factory settings for any reason, I would then try going to settings --> Apps --> find google play app - -> delete the data and clear cache. This will make you to re enter your google account again. Hopefully, your google play should work fine. Apply the same trick to your fmradio too and see if it makes any difference ?
Hit thanks if it works, so that others would learn from your experience and know that this trick worked.

vbrsekhar said:
Thanks for updating us with your issues. I think by your description, i can see that it could be cache's problem. What I usually do is, when you install any rom via backup, I try to do factory reset twice from the systems setting and security. This will eliminate all the cache issues that you are facing with google play and fmradio. If you cannot restore the factory settings for any reason, I would then try going to settings --> Apps --> find google play app - -> delete the data and clear cache. This will make you to re enter your google account again. Hopefully, your google play should work fine. Apply the same trick to your fmradio too and see if it makes any difference ?
Hit thanks if it works, so that others would learn from your experience and know that this trick worked.
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Unfortunately it didn't fix the radio. Play store was working though.