Bypass LockScreen and access USB data - Samsung Galaxy Nexus

When connected via USB to the PC, the GNex only displays USB contents if the lock screen is unlocked. What surprised me was when I plugged the USB cable, just after the boot animation started, the entire contents were available even before the lock screen was unlocked, I could access all folders. I started rebooting to find out how repeatable it is. If I hit F5 on the PC and keep refreshing 'my computer' it seems to have a higher chance to allow you to access data without unlocking. The phone is rooted 4.2.2 stock ROM, stock kernel (initially saw this with Franco`s, swapped to stock kernel to make sure its happening on stock kernel also). The bootloader is locked and USB debugging is disabled, I see no reason why the USB contents should be accessible without unlocking the phone. I did do a couple of searches with USB and lock screen bypass and came up with no other thread, if this has been a known scenario I apologize for starting a new thread.

Just wanted to know if it was something I did which was causing this or if it was a common scenario.

Have you checked Google groups under Android?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

Related

[Solved] Disable MTP For Security

Hi,
I'd like to disable USB everything (MTP, ADB, whatever the camera mode is) on my phone for security reasons. Currently if I plug my phone into a computer (even with the screen locked), I can download data via gMTP. I read here: http://www.nimdae.com/?p=851 that encrypting my phone won't solve this problem.
I still want to encrypt my phone, but if I can't disable MTP, then I'm not that interested.
How can I disable USB stuff completely? I know how to turn off ADB, and the phone lets me select betwene MTP and camera mode under settings->storage->USB Connection Settings, but it won't let me select neither option, only one or the other.
In older versions of Android, when I connect a phone to a computer, I get a message on screen telling me that it's connected and that I can enable mass storage if I like. I get that the reason they had that message was because they _needed_ it because mass storage had to unmount the SD card for it to work. However, how can I get something like that back for MTP?
If there's not a GUI way to disable this stuff, is there a setting for "persist.sys.usb.config" that would disable it instead?
I just don't want to waste the effort of dealing with phone encryption if plugging it into a computer completely avoids the issue.
Edit: I'm on a VZW LTE/CDMA gNex on JB Sourcery 2.3, but I'd be willing to migrate ROMs if necessary.
kbitz said:
Hi,
I'd like to disable USB everything (MTP, ADB, whatever the camera mode is) on my phone for security reasons. Currently if I plug my phone into a computer (even with the screen locked), I can download data via gMTP. I read here: http://www.nimdae.com/?p=851 that encrypting my phone won't solve this problem.
I still want to encrypt my phone, but if I can't disable MTP, then I'm not that interested.
How can I disable USB stuff completely? I know how to turn off ADB, and the phone lets me select betwene MTP and camera mode under settings->storage->USB Connection Settings, but it won't let me select neither option, only one or the other.
In older versions of Android, when I connect a phone to a computer, I get a message on screen telling me that it's connected and that I can enable mass storage if I like. I get that the reason they had that message was because they _needed_ it because mass storage had to unmount the SD card for it to work. However, how can I get something like that back for MTP?
If there's not a GUI way to disable this stuff, is there a setting for "persist.sys.usb.config" that would disable it instead?
I just don't want to waste the effort of dealing with phone encryption if plugging it into a computer completely avoids the issue.
Edit: I'm on a VZW LTE/CDMA gNex on JB Sourcery 2.3, but I'd be willing to migrate ROMs if necessary.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Stock Jelly Bean won't enable MTP/PTP until you have unlocked your lockscreen. The same goes for CM10 by the way. It seems that JB Sourcery modified this behavior.
You could try enabling USB fast charge mod using a custom kernel (when enabled, phone see computer as an ac charging source, disabling USB data connection PC and only charges, but at a higher rate).
Other than that, I'm not sure.
Also, encryption only works really at boot time and shutdown time. When you shut down, everything is "locked" and upon booting up, it requires the key to "in lock" everything. But once it's" unlocked" it stays that way until you reboot.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
geoffcorey said:
You could try enabling USB fast charge mod using a custom kernel (when enabled, phone see computer as an ac charging source, disabling USB data connection PC and only charges, but at a higher rate).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks.
Also, encryption only works really at boot time and shutdown time. When you shut down, everything is "locked" and upon booting up, it requires the key to "in lock" everything. But once it's" unlocked" it stays that way until you reboot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, this is the reason why I'd like to be able to disable MTP. My point was that it's not worth the hassle of encrypting the data at rest if all anybody would have to do to get the data off was plug it into a computer. Like most people, my cell phone is running all the time. We can force action after a bunch of failed passwords, but if the attacker doesn't have to interact with the unlock screen at all, then there's no protection there.
Petrovski80 said:
Stock Jelly Bean won't enable MTP/PTP until you have unlocked your lockscreen. The same goes for CM10 by the way. It seems that JB Sourcery modified this behavior
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! This was the ticket. Here's what I failed to notice: Once I've unlocked the screen while it's plugged in, I have MTP for the entirety of the time it's plugged in, even if the phone is locked again before the connection is started. If, however, I plug it in locked and don't unlock it before starting the connection, I get nothing.
I'm marking this solved.
Thanks so much to both of you.
Disable MTP in Samsung Tab A
Hello,
I have a samsung Tab A 2016 (SM-T580) & in developer options i put the USB configuration into charging mode, & turn the developer options off. But whenever i plug it into a PC it turns into MTP automatically & I want to disable this. Any help please?

Hardware Defect in Screen / Recovery of Data

Hi,
I am having an issue where half of my screen (right side) is blinking white and the other is black where I can occassionally see information on the right side and even unlock my phone via pin, but then the right side blinks white and the phone is unusable.
Unfortunately, due to the fact that I dona't have enough posts I cant post links to others experiencing the same problem.
Google has sent me a replacement, but I currently have no way of getting my old data off the old phone. When I plug it in to the computer nothing shows up in the Pixel XL folder. I would like to recover the files downloaded and also the text messages and SMS, etc.
Is there a way to do this? I have a few days before I have to send the bad phone in.. Help would greatly be appreciated.
some other information. My phone is not rooted, nor does it have USB debugging enabled. it connects to my android wear and I can get notifications through there and it works with Android Auto in my truck.
thoughts?
Is the bootloader unlocked?
If so, boot into bootloader, fastboot boot twrp, and connect to a pc. Once the phone boots into twrp, your pc should identify the pixel as a abd device (if not, you can make it load teh drivers via device manager.).
Then you can simply run "adb pull /sdcard C:\Users\etc" (of course change the second directory to wherever you want to backup.
On another note, Your pixel should have came with a data transfer tool (a usb type c male to type a female). while setting the new phone up, when it ask if you want to restore data hit yes, then youll be able to connect the old pixel to the new one, and it should transfer everything.
Take this as a learning experience. Backup Often, use google photos (unlimited storage for a pixel).
noidea24 said:
Is the bootloader unlocked?
If so, boot into bootloader, fastboot boot twrp, and connect to a pc. Once the phone boots into twrp, your pc should identify the pixel as a abd device (if not, you can make it load teh drivers via device manager.).
Then you can simply run "adb pull /sdcard C:\Users\etc" (of course change the second directory to wherever you want to backup.
On another note, Your pixel should have came with a data transfer tool (a usb type c male to type a female). while setting the new phone up, when it ask if you want to restore data hit yes, then youll be able to connect the old pixel to the new one, and it should transfer everything.
Take this as a learning experience. Backup Often, use google photos (unlimited storage for a pixel).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bootloader is not unlocked unfortunately. Unfortunately, I tried the data transfer tool, but it requires you to click something on the old phone that I am unable to do. Photos were all backed up with Google Photos, but I have a few other things I want to recover, like messages.
Well i can show you roughly where the button would be you would have to click, but that may not work.
If only fastboot had backup/pull options we would be good.
Its not looking good for you man.
Is there any sort of USB-C hub I can use that would allow me to connect a monitor and a mouse?
Sadly, the pixel and pixel xl Do not work with hdmi adapters because we lack "VESA DisplayPort Alternate Mode".
heres some info
http://www.androidpolice.com/2016/10/10/psa-pixel-pixel-xl-not-work-googles-usb-c-hdmi-dongle/

Broken screen, no data

Hello everybody.... I write because I'm facing a problem that's causing lot of headhache:
I have this Samsung A3 (SM-A320FL) with broken screen, no USB debug, no root and stock recovery and I need to retrieve data from it.
I tried almost everything:
- programs like Dr.Fone, but the model wasn't supported
- connect the smartphone to the pc, but I can't confirm the mtp connection from the first
- used a USB otg splitter, one port filled with a mouse and another connected directly to the pc, but the smartphone wasn't even seen
I was thinking to flash a custom recovery to use adb, but:
I don't even know what version of Android is installed, nor firmware and I think that encryption was automatically turned on, so unless someone of you has a solution, the best for now is to repair the screen.
The situation is interesting but honestly I didn't see as many solutions...
Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

I Guess I Discovered a New Form of Hard Bricking on my Device???

I was running the Developer Preview Beta 2 and noticed that my device would no longer communicate correctly with my OTG usb jump drive, I tried all the normal trouble shooting techniques and nothing worked. I than tried connecting my phone to my computer and my computer would no longer connect to my device either. I didn’t think this was a big deal so I was going to just flash back to the May factory image from my computer.
This did not work, so I did a factory reset in TWRP hoping that this would clear out the issue that was stopping the phone from usb communication. It did not fix the issue. So normally in TWRP I can always plug a flash drive into the phone through the otg and explore the files, however for some reason this was still not possible, something has happened to the device where it no longer allows incoming or outgoing usb communication. The device still charges however it is no longer recognized at all by my computer nor does the device recognize usb drives. I have all the latest USB drivers and updates needed. I uninstalled and reinstalled my drivers on my computer as well. The main issue I feel like I am having here, is that the device no longer wants to communicate with usb asides from charging, this is why it is not seeing the otg storage when I plug it in while I am in TWRP.
I am at a loss, I can boot into twrp and explore the device, this is useless as i deleted all the files on the device, TWRP will not allow a usb to be found so i cannot flash anything to the device. My computer does not see the phone so i cannot fastboot anything to the device. I have tried everything, DUECS script, skipsoft, none of them have identified a device. This is further verified by running cmd and typing in adb devices, to which the response is a blank line.
How can a device be bricked, but somehow have TWRP recovery working, along with the ability to boot the device into fastboot/the bootloader (and yes the bootloader is unlocked still)? If anyone has any ideas of how I can get this thing to be recognized by my computer please let me know.
jasonstackhouse said:
I was running the Developer Preview Beta 2 and noticed that my device would no longer communicate correctly with my OTG usb jump drive, I tried all the normal trouble shooting techniques and nothing worked. I than tried connecting my phone to my computer and my computer would no longer connect to my device either. I didn’t think this was a big deal so I was going to just flash back to the May factory image from my computer.
This did not work, so I did a factory reset in TWRP hoping that this would clear out the issue that was stopping the phone from usb communication. It did not fix the issue. So normally in TWRP I can always plug a flash drive into the phone through the otg and explore the files, however for some reason this was still not possible, something has happened to the device where it no longer allows incoming or outgoing usb communication. The device still charges however it is no longer recognized at all by my computer nor does the device recognize usb drives. I have all the latest USB drivers and updates needed. I uninstalled and reinstalled my drivers on my computer as well. The main issue I feel like I am having here, is that the device no longer wants to communicate with usb asides from charging, this is why it is not seeing the otg storage when I plug it in while I am in TWRP.
I am at a loss, I can boot into twrp and explore the device, this is useless as i deleted all the files on the device, TWRP will not allow a usb to be found so i cannot flash anything to the device. My computer does not see the phone so i cannot fastboot anything to the device. I have tried everything, DUECS script, skipsoft, none of them have identified a device. This is further verified by running cmd and typing in adb devices, to which the response is a blank line.
How can a device be bricked, but somehow have TWRP recovery working, along with the ability to boot the device into fastboot/the bootloader (and yes the bootloader is unlocked still)? If anyone has any ideas of how I can get this thing to be recognized by my computer please let me know.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would try a different cable as this device is very finicky; that solved my issue of the computer not recognizing the phone.
Is it possible that your device's USB port data transfer function is damaged, but the charging portion is functional, making it a weird hardware failure?
You know, like the old days when the charge port would break or wiggle loose, and sometimes it would charge and sometimes it wouldn't, depending on the angle of the cable in the mini usb port?
Az Biker said:
Is it possible that your device's USB port data transfer function is damaged, but the charging portion is functional, making it a weird hardware failure?
You know, like the old days when the charge port would break or wiggle loose, and sometimes it would charge and sometimes it wouldn't, depending on the angle of the cable in the mini usb port?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That would be nice if that were the problem, but unfortunalty I do not think it is. For example, when the issues first began, before I did the factory reset on the device, windows would pop up a message that said unknown device, and failure to connect. After the factory reset in TWRP the computer gave up all together in recognizing the phone. Another sign it was likely not a hardware failure was when the device was on and i was attempting to connect the otg usb to the phone it would give me some weird options. With android P the options were, allow this device to control the usb, or allow the USB to control the USB. that made no sense to me since why would i want the the USB to have any control, it couldnt do anything its not a computer its only a storage device. However, even though I had file transfer selected in developer options, it would not allow this connection. The options were all greyed out and it would not allow the pixel to have control over the usb device.
As for USB cords I have used without fail the google issued USB cord that came with the Pixel 1 xl, It has never faile me or had any issues. It is still fully functional as I was able to use it to connect my girls note 8 to my computer for file transfers and all other things my phone is not doing anymore.
I reached out to google and explained the situation to them, after i told them I was on Dev preview beta and they verified this to be true they told me this is likely a hardware failure and offered to replace the device. I am now waiting on the new device to be sent to me, however still cant accept that i cant recover the current device with an unlocked bootloader, TWRP installed, and access to fastboot/bootloader screen. I have seriously bricked phones before as in they would not even turn on and I was able to get them back up and running, this would be my first ever device I could not recover and what makes it worse is that it actually has TWRP installed and powers on and off just fine.
Sorry for the obvious question: Do you have the latest drivers? I don't have the drivers set to the whole system (Windows), so if I don't CD into my fastboot folder, I can't do anything because the system wide drivers aren't current. Don't know if that could be your issue?
I'm too lazy to fix the PATH of my drivers ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I had an issue similar to this. I was trying to hook up a USB c to Ethernet adapter. It worked fine on April's patch but after I flashed Mays the phone wouldn't recognize it. After I plugged it in my phone rebooted and I no longer had access to developer options and it wouldn't read any usb device. Luckily I had a TWRP backup on my device. Once I flashed the backup which was only about a week old everything worked again. I haven't tried using the adapter again. I think something in the data partition got corrupted. I tried just restoring the boot and system partition and that didn't fix it. Try doing an advance wipe and formatting the data partition. That might get you back up and going.
have we even seen a bricked device yet?
twiz0r said:
have we even seen a bricked device yet?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't think it was possible, I still dont understand how this is happening. For the other responses above, I have all the drivers up to date, and I already formatted data, wiped everything. At this point I would like to see if there is anyway to delete TWRP recovery from the device, anything, I have no OS on the device, but for some reason still have TWRP on both A and B.
I almost dont want to give the phone back to Google because I want to figure out what happened and how to fix it, its definitely not broken/bricked like you see when someone flashes the wrong files to a device, it just has no USB connection capabilities which in-turn have rendered the device useless.
When I had Samsung phones if you bricked a device to the point it doesn't even turn on correctly you could always save it still using ODIN. Its weird that the google flagship device and software doesn't have its own proprietary flash software like Samsung, LG and HTC, we just have adb/fastboot, I feel like if we did, i may be able to get this thing started again.
have you tried using something like quickboot from the playstore to be able to get to fastboot?
I had a similar thing happen a few weeks ago on oreo. PC wouldn't 'see' the phone, but it would charge very slowly.
I installed quickboot, booted to fastboot and was able to flash the factory image
Pyr0x64 said:
have you tried using something like quickboot from the playstore to be able to get to fastboot?
I had a similar thing happen a few weeks ago on oreo. PC wouldn't 'see' the phone, but it would charge very slowly.
I installed quickboot, booted to fastboot and was able to flash the factory image
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't access the play store on the device in it's state. I do have access to fastboot. I can boot the phone to fastboot, and into TWRP, only problem is the phone doesn't communicate with the computer in either state. If the pixel had a SD card slot I would just load up a recovery but unfortunately we don't have that luxury
What cable are you using to connect to the PC? Is it USB c to USB c?
Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using XDA Labs
Triscuit said:
What cable are you using to connect to the PC? Is it USB c to USB c?
Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using XDA Labs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The cable is not the issue, I confirmed this by testing all my cables with the new device that I just received for my warranty exchange. I also tried my luck with Linux, after a complicated installation on my computer I was able to have Linux actually detect the device (partially) when the device was plugged in at splash screen I got nothing, at fastboot/bootloader screen nothing, but once the phone booted into TWRP it came up as AOSP device, when I attempted clicking on the AOSP device being detected by Linux an error message popped up telling me mtp or midi error, not sure for sure what one it said. Either way I couldn't connect for any transfer of information, I tried adb sideload and that failed as well.
This has been an experience for the memory books, glad that old device is gone and I'm back up and running on a working phone. No more beta testing for me, I'll be ready for Android P when they get it out of beta, I don't have the time or patience to deal with any more warranty exchanges.

USB not working

I am rooted with magisk and have had no issues until recently I cannot do any file transfers via USB. I also cannot use fastboot to Flash Android p. I want to unroot and remove magisk and Flash the latest OTA however I can't determine if I can remove magisk and unroot without being able to connect to fastboot. I'm also thinking that I may have to do an RMA. Any thoughts? Has anyone else had their USB data transfer stopped working. I've tried multiple cables, multiple computers and Chromebooks.
pbrian138 said:
I am rooted with magisk and have had no issues until recently I cannot do any file transfers via USB. I also cannot use fastboot to Flash Android p. I want to unroot and remove magisk and Flash the latest OTA however I can't determine if I can remove magisk and unroot without being able to connect to fastboot. I'm also thinking that I may have to do an RMA. Any thoughts? Has anyone else had their USB data transfer stopped working. I've tried multiple cables, multiple computers and Chromebooks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here, happened out of the blue last week. No Android Auto and no computer would see it. Still charged but no data. I reset it but no go. I RMA'd and new one is perfect. The thing I knew it was messed up for sure is when I got new phone and you use cable from old one to new one to transfer data and it would not see old phone.
We're you rooted on the device you sent back? I'm worried Google will not approve my return
jawmail said:
Same here, happened out of the blue last week. No Android Auto and no computer would see it. Still charged but no data. I reset it but no go. I RMA'd and new one is perfect. The thing I knew it was messed up for sure is when I got new phone and you use cable from old one to new one to transfer data and it would not see old phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I flashed the new update yesterday and afterwards I had this exact same issue. the reason why I discovered was I never got the prompt to allow usb debugging I had to enable and disable usb debugging several times while plugging it into the pc and after a few tries I got the message and was able to enable it and then I could use the phone on the pc
I had the same problem but I eventually got it to work again. Heres how:
1) Enable developer mode by going into Settings > System About Phone > Build number and tapping a few times (5 I think!)
2) Click back and then select Advanced > Developer Options
3) Scoll down the menu until you see "Default USB configuration". Tap and then select the option you require (ie: File Transfer)
4) Click back, then scroll up the menu till you see "USB Debugging". Enable USB Debugging.
5) Connect your Pixel 2 to you laptop/PC. The phone should appear in the Devices list in 'Control Panel\Hardware and Sound\Devices and Printers. Leave it connected for another 5 or 10 minutes and it should become available in "This PC"
6) Disconnect the Pixel2 from your laptop/PC
7) Disable "USB Debugging" and disable "Developer Mode" on the phone.
8) Reconnect the Pixel2 to your PC/Laptop. It should now appear under "This PC" every time you connect and you should now be able to view and transfer files between you PC and Pixel2.
Let us know if this worked for you.
having the same issue. stock not rooted pixel 2 xl 128gb. is the usb port fried? kind of doesn't make any sense how can it just stop working?? anything else left to try? I spent an hour and half with google support and couldn't figure it out. I can't RMA for warranty b/c I don't have original Order ID. :-/ what do I do?
piotrus22 said:
having the same issue. stock not rooted pixel 2 xl 128gb. is the usb port fried? kind of doesn't make any sense how can it just stop working?? anything else left to try? I spent an hour and half with google support and couldn't figure it out. I can't RMA for warranty b/c I don't have original Order ID. :-/ what do I do?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try cleaning up with a brush. I could be too much dust interfering with the connection.
I read on another thread that someone used post-it strips to do the cleaning.
To close the loop. Cleaning worked. Thank you.

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