Develop Bugs

Factory Restore an Encrypted Galaxy S3

Model: Samsung Galaxy S3 AT&T i747
Hi!
I was forced to encrypt my galaxy s3 in order to receive corporate emails on my phone using the stock email app. However I never imagined that encrypting the phone would literally lock the memory and options to customize the phone.
I tried to root the phone to benefit from more flexibility and also debloat the phone. However during the rooting process, I could not mount /emmc/ when using ClockWorkRecovery in the startup menu. Based on what I found on the web, I figured it was due to the encryption.
I then tried to factory reset the phone to get rid of the encryption but I simply can't hard reset the phone from the OS or the startup menu. When doing the reset from the startup menu, the errors are "Can't mount /sdcard/". The reset continues but when the phone reboots, all my applications and personal data are there and the phone is still encrypted.
I read a lot about flashing a custom recovery via flashboot or ADB but I am reluctant to do it without guidance from the experts (you guys).
I deleted my corporate email account (It is my personal phone, I am not required to install exchange on it).
I tried to use an external sd card but as soon as the phone recoginizes it, I have to encrypt the card as well as a result from the corporate policies. I ejected the card and did not encrypt it.
I am new to android (long time iPhone user) and I would really appreciate your guidance on the methods to factory reset my phone or a different technique to get rid of the encryption because I am really stuck right now.

I have never encrypted an Android phone before. But maybe your response to these questions will serve as a "bump" to this thread.
1) What method did you use to encrypt the phone? Stock or 3rd party encryption?
2) Doesn't that same method also offer you the offer to unencrypt the phone?
3) If you used a stock method of encrypting the phone, then I'd assume your provider (AT&T?) tech support should be able to help you unencrypt it.

Eddie,
Thanks for your response.
1) I used stock method for encryption
2) Decrypt the phone is not possible apparently,only way is to factory restore the phone apparently
3) I went to the AT&T store and they were unable to factory restore (using the standard methods). They offered an exchange but since I purchase over the phone at a discounted price, I have to do the exchange using that method. Before shipping back the phone, I was wondering if I could fix it myself with the help of knowledgeable people.
CZ Eddie said:
I have never encrypted an Android phone before. But maybe your response to these questions will serve as a "bump" to this thread.
1) What method did you use to encrypt the phone? Stock or 3rd party encryption?
2) Doesn't that same method also offer you the offer to unencrypt the phone?
3) If you used a stock method of encrypting the phone, then I'd assume your provider (AT&T?) tech support should be able to help you unencrypt it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

I have never used the encryption but if the phone can turn on and is usable, cant you go into the encryption settings and turn encryption off? then you should be able to do anything (may be best to start with a factory restore first just so you have a fresh slate to work with)

1ofAKind said:
Model: Samsung Galaxy S3 AT&T i747
Hi!
I was forced to encrypt my galaxy s3 in order to receive corporate emails on my phone using the stock email app. However I never imagined that encrypting the phone would literally lock the memory and options to customize the phone.
I tried to root the phone to benefit from more flexibility and also debloat the phone. However during the rooting process, I could not mount /emmc/ when using ClockWorkRecovery in the startup menu. Based on what I found on the web, I figured it was due to the encryption.
I then tried to factory reset the phone to get rid of the encryption but I simply can't hard reset the phone from the OS or the startup menu. When doing the reset from the startup menu, the errors are "Can't mount /sdcard/". The reset continues but when the phone reboots, all my applications and personal data are there and the phone is still encrypted.
I read a lot about flashing a custom recovery via flashboot or ADB but I am reluctant to do it without guidance from the experts (you guys).
I deleted my corporate email account (It is my personal phone, I am not required to install exchange on it).
I tried to use an external sd card but as soon as the phone recoginizes it, I have to encrypt the card as well as a result from the corporate policies. I ejected the card and did not encrypt it.
I am new to android (long time iPhone user) and I would really appreciate your guidance on the methods to factory reset my phone or a different technique to get rid of the encryption because I am really stuck right now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1ofaKind,
Had EXACTLY the same thing happen to me. Encrypted my S3 in order to access work exchange server. Tried CWM but cannot mount /emmc/ problem after booting into recovery. Have not tried to factory reset yet as I am wanting to learn more before I go that route. But basically I am in the same boat as you. The only difference is I was not required to encrypt an external SD card when I put it in my phone. Read about flashboot as well...maybe the only way to actually factory reset after encryption??
Sorry I cannot offer any solutions at the moment...but I will keep scouring the forums looking for a way.
If I learn something valuable, I will try to post it here to help ya out.
EDIT: Maybe you have read these threads, but there is some decent info in them. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1451655 & http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1392037
good luck

Look into using Odin to restore a factory image.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium

I'm in the same boat here - had to encrypt my GS3 in order to receive corporate (Exchange Server) emails. Now can't update the OS on the phone which is more important to me than receiving corporate emails on the device.
Can someone tell me how to decrypt (UN-encrypt) the phone? Everything I've read says that a factory reset won't do it.
Please help!

CZ Eddie said:
Look into using Odin to restore a factory image.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Has anyone tried this? If so, did it work?

I clicked install rom from sd card in cwm selected f/w which i had copied into internal memory. Did factory reset in recovery.

Odin it back to stock.

This might be too late to help you guys, but here's what worked for me. I odined it back to stock. Then I went into recovery (volume down, power and home button) and selected wipe data/factory reset. This does of course erase all your data, so try to copy whatever you can onto a computer or something before doing this. You should end up with an unencrypted storage.

sid9102 said:
This might be too late to help you guys, but here's what worked for me. I odined it back to stock. Then I went into recovery (volume down, power and home button) and selected wipe data/factory reset. This does of course erase all your data, so try to copy whatever you can onto a computer or something before doing this. You should end up with an unencrypted storage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ODIN will not recognize my phone when it is in download mode ...

tamon77 said:
ODIN will not recognize my phone when it is in download mode ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After you hit start, unplug then replug the usb from the computer. I had some issues with it not recognizing it either to flash stock, but when i messed with the cord, it made the noise that i unplugged and it started working. Same thing with the root injected, only this time i fully unplugged it when the fiddling with it didnt work. Make sure you replace it into the same com port.
so, i seem to be having the same problem as all of you, only i encrypted to protect my data from agents. So, right now, i am *hopefully* :fingers-crossed: installing the root injected JB now. I had many issues. TWRP and CWM were no help, couldnt see phone to add new roms to it. ODIN was the only hope. I booted into recovery after going back to stock, did a new factory reset and am installing the stock with root. When i let it boot, it didnt go to encryption this time, but the first time i flashed the stock, it did. This is a mess to say the least.
EDIT: YEAH! done. No encryption and i got root. i used the image from here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1968625 DLK3 worked for me. Good luck. i hope this helps. Ill be happy to explain more if you want.

tamon77 said:
ODIN will not recognize my phone when it is in download mode ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ODIN (for me at least) wont see anything since im using Windows 8. On Windows 7, however, it works just fine.

Factory reset encrypted phone
hi,
I'm using CM11 as a rom.
I didn't want to reinstall stock rom, just to root it again later.
Installing updated version from external SD didn't work (updated the ROM but no decryption)
Tried to factory reset from recovery - didn't work, as the internal storage is encrypted it can't mount /sdcard/
however, from within settings menu, in backup&restore there's an option to do a factory reset - this is formatting internal memory altogether.
worked like a charm.

oxidase said:
After you hit start, unplug then replug the usb from the computer. I had some issues with it not recognizing it either to flash stock, but when i messed with the cord, it made the noise that i unplugged and it started working. Same thing with the root injected, only this time i fully unplugged it when the fiddling with it didnt work. Make sure you replace it into the same com port.
so, i seem to be having the same problem as all of you, only i encrypted to protect my data from agents. So, right now, i am *hopefully* :fingers-crossed: installing the root injected JB now. I had many issues. TWRP and CWM were no help, couldnt see phone to add new roms to it. ODIN was the only hope. I booted into recovery after going back to stock, did a new factory reset and am installing the stock with root. When i let it boot, it didnt go to encryption this time, but the first time i flashed the stock, it did. This is a mess to say the least.
EDIT: YEAH! done. No encryption and i got root. i used the image from here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1968625 DLK3 worked for me. Good luck. i hope this helps. Ill be happy to explain more if you want.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I understand this is very old but I am going to make a note here in case anyone else gets into this problem. When you go back to stock, do the factory reset using the STOCK recovery. Don't install TWRP or anything else until you have cleared the encryption. At least, that's what worked for me.

[Q] How to Root/use Recovery on a fully encrypted International Note 2 LTE?

Hi all,
I recently got a HK N7105 and because it lacked the possibility to use a french keyboard I upgraded to a stock unbranded ROM from Sweden (XXDLL1) and succesfully rooted with the relevant CF_autoroot through Odin. Also installed TWRP 2.3.3.1.
Then, I connected the Note 2 to my corporate exchange server which enforced a full encryption policy (device and external SD card) so I had to type in a password at each boot time (with a "nice" swedish prompt that took ma while to decypher), plus a password to unlock the screen. All was well as the root survived the process.
Next I upgraded to a later stock ROM from France (XXDLL4 from SFR) to try and get rid of the swedish prompt. That worked fine (and root was loast in the process, as expected) but I hated the branded stuff so much I reverted to XXDLL1 until a proper unbranded "english" or "french" ROM is available.
At this point I decided to root again. I was running XXDLL1 like the first time and used the same autoroot tar from Chainfire. Except my Note 2 was still encrypted and after that it would not accept my boot password (a four digit PIN) anymore so I was guted and had to factory reset and root then reinstall everything before reconnecting to the exchange server.
Question 1: Does anyone know of a safe, proven way to root a fully encrypted Samsung device so I can go another upgrade without having to wipe the device first?
Why reinstall everything? Why not backup everything first so you can restore after the wipe? Well, it so happens that no recovery (at least neither CWM or TWRP) can read any encrypted media on the Note 2 at the moment. And no Recovery can actually fully backup the device as well.
Question 2: Does anyone know of a proper way to handle this situation with minimum hassle?
So far, the best I can think of is doing a Titanium backup and FTP the files to my NAS so I can retrieve them later. But (Question 3) will this be enough to restore my phone to the expected state after a stock firmware upgrade?
Thanks in advance,
François

frankieGom said:
Hi all,
I recently got a HK N7105 and because it lacked the possibility to use a french keyboard I upgraded to a stock unbranded ROM from Sweden (XXDLL1) and succesfully rooted with the relevant CF_autoroot through Odin. Also installed TWRP 2.3.3.1.
Then, I connected the Note 2 to my corporate exchange server which enforced a full encryption policy (device and external SD card) so I had to type in a password at each boot time (with a "nice" swedish prompt that took ma while to decypher), plus a password to unlock the screen. All was well as the root survived the process.
Next I upgraded to a later stock ROM from France (XXDLL4 from SFR) to try and get rid of the swedish prompt. That worked fine (and root was loast in the process, as expected) but I hated the branded stuff so much I reverted to XXDLL1 until a proper unbranded "english" or "french" ROM is available.
At this point I decided to root again. I was running XXDLL1 like the first time and used the same autoroot tar from Chainfire. Except my Note 2 was still encrypted and after that it would not accept my boot password (a four digit PIN) anymore so I was guted and had to factory reset and root then reinstall everything before reconnecting to the exchange server.
Question 1: Does anyone know of a safe, proven way to root a fully encrypted Samsung device so I can go another upgrade without having to wipe the device first?
Why reinstall everything? Why not backup everything first so you can restore after the wipe? Well, it so happens that no recovery (at least neither CWM or TWRP) can read any encrypted media on the Note 2 at the moment. And no Recovery can actually fully backup the device as well.
Question 2: Does anyone know of a proper way to handle this situation with minimum hassle?
So far, the best I can think of is doing a Titanium backup and FTP the files to my NAS so I can retrieve them later. But (Question 3) will this be enough to restore my phone to the expected state after a stock firmware upgrade?
Thanks in advance,
François
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think using Exynos Abuse apk will do the work
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2050297

Thanks for the heads up, I'll look into it. But to be clear, that answers question 1, correct?
Sent from my GT-N7105 using xda app-developers app

frankieGom said:
Thanks for the heads up, I'll look into it. But to be clear, that answers question 1, correct?
Sent from my GT-N7105 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes that's a way to root the device.
Regarding encryption, very few people on xda seem to use it. So for that reason you'll have trouble finding out what works... I do use it though through choice so I can help you a bit.
When you encrypt the device, just consider /data to be off limits to anything not booted fully. That's why it asks you for your key in swedish - it can't see what language is in use until you unlock /data.
You will have issues using recovery with the device, since they can't read /data. You can use an external sd to perhaps load data to the device though.
I believe that TWRP might soon support the Samsung encryption on the device, meaning you could use it as recovery. Once you have a recovery that supports Samsung encryption, you should be able to consider it a fairly normal device.
Just be more cautious to backup your data as it is hard to recover if something goes wrong...

If your using stock rom 4.1.2, exynos abuse method of root will not work. It's been patched
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda app-developers app

pulser_g2 said:
Yes that's a way to root the device.
Regarding encryption, very few people on xda seem to use it. So for that reason you'll have trouble finding out what works... I do use it though through choice so I can help you a bit.
When you encrypt the device, just consider /data to be off limits to anything not booted fully. That's why it asks you for your key in swedish - it can't see what language is in use until you unlock /data.
You will have issues using recovery with the device, since they can't read /data. You can use an external sd to perhaps load data to the device though.
I believe that TWRP might soon support the Samsung encryption on the device, meaning you could use it as recovery. Once you have a recovery that supports Samsung encryption, you should be able to consider it a fairly normal device.
Just be more cautious to backup your data as it is hard to recover if something goes wrong...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fine, I understand. As long as I have a way to recover my data if I need to wipe I'm okay... I just have to hope Titanium backup gives me that until TWRP can manage encruption on the Note 2.
I'm really waiting for a stock rom that boots in English or French now.
Sent from my GT-N7105 using xda app-developers app

vash_h said:
If your using stock rom 4.1.2, exynos abuse method of root will not work. It's been patched
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not the case with xxdll1. When was it patched, xxdll4 or xxdll7?
Sent from my GT-N7105 using xda app-developers app

frankieGom said:
Not the case with xxdll1. When was it patched, xxdll4 or xxdll7?
Sent from my GT-N7105 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am on Stock 4.1.2 and Exynos Abuse did work on my device, it's successfully rooted using the Exynos AbuseAPK on 4.1.2 :good:

OK, now I have been experimenting a bit with backups and upgrade and have trouble restoring my device fully. Let me explain...
I got hold of a TWRP build that seems to handle Samsung encryption fine through one of the TWRP devs (thanks!), so I decided to go back and try to update my device.
Current ROM: N7105XXDLL1_N7105TLADLL1_N7105XXDLK7_HOME.tar (obtained from Samsung Updates)
New ROM: N7105XXDLL7_N7105OLBDLL2_N7105DXDLL1_HOME.tar (obtained from Samsung Updates)
First I performed a complete Titanium Backup on the device and pulled the files to my laptop using ADB.
Then I restarted into TWRP 2.4.0.0 (got a prompt for my password), performed a full backup and pulled the files to the laptop using ADB.
(for some reason, I could not install the new ROM from TWRP (unable to open ZIP), but the ZIP looked OK, as well as after a second download which TWRP since did not like, so I had to use Odin instead).
Next, I flashed DLL7 with Odin. It worked, asked for the password at boot, but the device was unrooted at this point (I expected that).
Then, I flashed CF-Auto-Root-t0lte-t0ltexx-gtn7105.tar from Odin, but the boot up password would not be accepted anymore as I already knew.
Tried to flash DLL7 again from Odin, same thing
Flashed TWRP back on recovery partition, but on startup it would not ask for password anymore and the external sdcard looked empty to it.
I then copied my backup to a different, non encrypted sdcard and could restore from TWRP but the password would still not work after reboot.
I did a factory reset, restored backup, same result.
At this point I decided to factory reset, wipe Dalvik and format /data. The format did the trick and after TWRP restore of my original back up the device booted up, did not ask for password and all my data was there. Except the Exchange account I use for Corporate email wants me to restore encryption in order to work (I expected that too).
Back at DLL1, so I flashed DLL7 again with Odin (OK), rooted the phone, triangled away the flash counter and reflashed TWRP to recovery.
I was where I wanted to be except for one thing: I need to restore Corporate access. But when I let it encryp the phone it does nothing. I let it through the night and nothing). And if I reboot the phone no password is needed at boot time, yet the phone seems to behave as if it thought the device was still encrypted...
I reflashed my original, full, backup (i.e DLL1) succesfully but Exchange still wants to encrypt my device. Isn't restore supposed to restore the encrypted /data I backed up?
At this point I'm left with possibly tryinjg to go back to full factory settings, not use the backup at all, encrypt the device then restore my data from the Titanium backup I made.
Is there a better option?

[edited jan 18 - TWRP/TB behaviour]
My comments apply to encrypted devices only! I am not trying to talk down TWRP or TB here, as they provide splendid performance on non encrypted devices. I have come upon hard time trying to upgrade/restore an encrypted device using thoise tools, that's all
For those considering upgrading & re-rooting encrypted devices, don't!
I am finding the hard way that this is a one way street. At this point, my TWRP made full backup does not restore the device to the expected status. Each time I apply it, subsequent bootup takes several minutes and I end up going through the initial setup procedure. It seems the device for some reasoin goes through a complete reset procedure.
[edit]
Clarification: The TWRP build I use, 2.4.0.0 is an alpha build and I was not current when I restored my backup. I so happens that it was overwriting the encryption header on the partition, which messed things up bad, and had issues writing back the data partition, ending up in a factory reset status!
Using the latest drop as of today (jan 27) I was able to restore my original backup and am now back to my original state. All is well.
[/edit]
Titanium Backup is none better. It keeps telling me that my Android ID has changed, a host of system applications start to fail when I try to restore and generally speaking I have now spent between a good 20 hours trying to simply restore my data.
[edit]
this behaviour is probably linked to encryption. I know for a fact that TB works very well on non encrypted phones. The 20h figure is overall, not just with TB.
[/edit]
The end story is: root before you encrypt, and either don't upgrade or don't re-root if you do! If you do, be prepared for some rough times...
Unless someone has a cleat idea of how to do this properly without losing all your data, that is.
François

frankieGom said:
For those considering upgrading & re-rooting encrypted devices, don't!
I am finding the hard way that this is a one way street. At this point, my TWRP made full backup does not restore the device to the expected status. Each time I apply it, subsequent bootup takes several minutes and I end up going through the initial setup procedure. It seems the device for some reasoin goes through a complete reset procedure.
Titanium Backup is none better. It keeps telling me that my Android ID has changed, a host of system applications start to fail when I try to restore and generally speaking I have now spent between a good 20 hours trying to simply restore my data.
The end story is: root before you encrypt, and either don't upgrade or don't re-root if you do!
Unless someone has a cleat idea of how to do this properly without losing all your data, that is.
François
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have had no issues despite doing upgrades, with and without wipes.
Titanium is fine, just stop restoring system app data. Seriously, what data do you have in a system app that you want to restore.
Restore your user apps, their data, and the xml based call, sms, Wifi backups. It will work fine.
Device ID isn't a problem - it's just trying to help you.

pulser_g2 said:
I have had no issues despite doing upgrades, with and without wipes.
Titanium is fine, just stop restoring system app data. Seriously, what data do you have in a system app that you want to restore.
Restore your user apps, their data, and the xml based call, sms, Wifi backups. It will work fine.
Device ID isn't a problem - it's just trying to help you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry if I came across dissing Titanium Backup and/or TWRP. This was not the intent... I am sure both tools work real nice in general cases (and I have had success restoring data on a Jetstream before).
My main issue here is _full device encryption_ enforced by my company's corporate IT to allow me on the corporate exchange server. Do you have full device encryption on?
On my device, even after a full wipe and flashing a fresh stock rom Titanium Backup just did not work as I hoped. When I had to confirm individual popups of apps closing unexpectedly while it was proceeding and got nothing back in the end, what was I supposed to think? It could be that I don't understand how TB works... I was neither able to restore missing apps after the flash (missing apps: 0) nor installed apps data (they would close unexpectedly when started after restoring the back up). So I say: until full operation of TB on encrypted devices is documented, I will stay away from it, even though I am a registered user (and I do not plan to seek reimbursment)!
Anyway, I got to a belated happy ending (previous post edited).

frankieGom said:
Sorry if I came across dissing Titanium Backup and/or TWRP. This was not the intent... I am sure both tools work real nice in general cases (and I have had success restoring data on a Jetstream before).
My main issue here is _full device encryption_ enforced by my company's corporate IT to allow me on the corporate exchange server. Do you have full device encryption on?
On my device, even after a full wipe and flashing a fresh stock rom Titanium Backup just did not work as I hoped. When I had to confirm individual popups of apps closing unexpectedly while it was proceeding and got nothing back in the end, what was I supposed to think? It could be that I don't understand how TB works... I was neither able to restore missing apps after the flash (missing apps: 0) nor installed apps data (they would close unexpectedly when started after restoring the back up). So I say: until full operation of TB on encrypted devices is documented, I will stay away from it, even though I am a registered user (and I do not plan to seek reimbursment)!
Anyway, I got to a belated happy ending (previous post edited).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup I use device encryption Enabled manually, but it's the same encryption.
You should find that titanium shouldn't even be aware of it - the encryption is transparent!
I wonder... I'm sure lenny had that issue on a recent 4.1.2 "stock" ROM... And he doesn't use encryption...
I personally have had no issues with titanium on an encrypted device anyway
I notice you were using the newest rom - that's the one lenny had issues on.

pulser_g2 said:
Yup I use device encryption Enabled manually, but it's the same encryption.
You should find that titanium shouldn't even be aware of it - the encryption is transparent!
I wonder... I'm sure lenny had that issue on a recent 4.1.2 "stock" ROM... And he doesn't use encryption...
I personally have had no issues with titanium on an encrypted device anyway
I notice you were using the newest rom - that's the one lenny had issues on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly like I thought, encryption should be transparent to Titanium Backup since it runs within the OS.
I have had problems restoring into 4.1.2 DLL1 (the build I came from) and DLL7 (the one I was trying to go to)
The point is moot anyway since the DLL7 I tried was actually branded (Singtel stuff all around the launcher) and did not include French, which is why restoring my TWRP backup was a tempting proposition.
Good to know TB runs fine with encryption as well. What ROM are you running?
François

frankieGom said:
Hi all,
I recently got a HK N7105 and because it lacked the possibility to use a french keyboard I upgraded to a stock unbranded ROM from Sweden (XXDLL1) and succesfully rooted with the relevant CF_autoroot through Odin. Also installed TWRP 2.3.3.1.
Then, I connected the Note 2 to my corporate exchange server which enforced a full encryption policy (device and external SD card) so I had to type in a password at each boot time (with a "nice" swedish prompt that took ma while to decypher), plus a password to unlock the screen. All was well as the root survived the process.
Next I upgraded to a later stock ROM from France (XXDLL4 from SFR) to try and get rid of the swedish prompt. That worked fine (and root was loast in the process, as expected) but I hated the branded stuff so much I reverted to XXDLL1 until a proper unbranded "english" or "french" ROM is available.
At this point I decided to root again. I was running XXDLL1 like the first time and used the same autoroot tar from Chainfire. Except my Note 2 was still encrypted and after that it would not accept my boot password (a four digit PIN) anymore so I was guted and had to factory reset and root then reinstall everything before reconnecting to the exchange server.
Question 1: Does anyone know of a safe, proven way to root a fully encrypted Samsung device so I can go another upgrade without having to wipe the device first?
Why reinstall everything? Why not backup everything first so you can restore after the wipe? Well, it so happens that no recovery (at least neither CWM or TWRP) can read any encrypted media on the Note 2 at the moment. And no Recovery can actually fully backup the device as well.
Question 2: Does anyone know of a proper way to handle this situation with minimum hassle?
So far, the best I can think of is doing a Titanium backup and FTP the files to my NAS so I can retrieve them later. But (Question 3) will this be enough to restore my phone to the expected state after a stock firmware upgrade?
Thanks in advance,
François
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
About a backup : have you tried Online Nandroid (Playstore) (or similar, based on Onandroid) ? This makes a CWM or TWRP compatible backup while the device is running (everything should be unencrypted at this moment).
See http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1620255
About rooting : you can try the same trick as above, by using ADB-shell and pushing the needed files to root to the device while it is running.
For my S3 there is a Toolkit that automates all this (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1703488), maybe there is something similar for your device ?
If not, you should still be able to do it using manual ADB-pushing.
I'm sorry I can't give you detailed instructions about the rooting as I'm not familiar with your device. Search here on XDA and you'll find more details.

pat357 said:
About a backup : have you tried Online Nandroid (Playstore) (or similar, based on Onandroid) ? This makes a CWM or TWRP compatible backup while the device is running (everything should be unencrypted at this moment).
See http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1620255
About rooting : you can try the same trick as above, by using ADB-shell and pushing the needed files to root to the device while it is running.
For my S3 there is a Toolkit that automates all this (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1703488), maybe there is something similar for your device ?
If not, you should still be able to do it using manual ADB-pushing.
I'm sorry I can't give you detailed instructions about the rooting as I'm not familiar with your device. Search here on XDA and you'll find more details.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the suggestions, and no I had not tried Online Nandroid as I was not aware of it. Anyway, my main issue is now resolved since TWRP has include support for Samsung TouchWiz based encryption in 2.4 and that works well.
For those interested, the only remaining issues I have with TWRP regarding encryption are that if you want to format /data from TWRP (say, to remove encryption) it will fail unless you _do not_ enter the password at boot, and the TWRP formated /data cannot be re-encrypted (you must use stock recovery to factory reset/wipe the device or else the encryption step will sit deat in the water doing nothing). I suppose the second one is a bug that will be fixed in a later version.
I will check Online Nandroid out anyway, being able to make a backup from a live system sounds good!
François

frankieGom said:
Thanks for the suggestions, and no I had not tried Online Nandroid as I was not aware of it. Anyway, my main issue is now resolved since TWRP has include support for Samsung TouchWiz based encryption in 2.4 and that works well.
For those interested, the only remaining issues I have with TWRP regarding encryption are that if you want to format /data from TWRP (say, to remove encryption) it will fail unless you _do not_ enter the password at boot, and the TWRP formated /data cannot be re-encrypted (you must use stock recovery to factory reset/wipe the device or else the encryption step will sit deat in the water doing nothing). I suppose the second one is a bug that will be fixed in a later version.
I will check Online Nandroid out anyway, being able to make a backup from a live system sounds good!
François
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a similar issue. I had the device encrypted and decided to ROOT (using CF-AutoRoot). Unfortunately I cannot bypass the password screen now, although I know that I'm entering the right password. You are saying that if I flash TWRP everything will be fine?

ludovicianul said:
I have a similar issue. I had the device encrypted and decided to ROOT (using CF-AutoRoot). Unfortunately I cannot bypass the password screen now, although I know that I'm entering the right password. You are saying that if I flash TWRP everything will be fine?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Two separate things:
Root messing up encrypted touchwiz devices and twrp not handling touchwiz encrypted partitions properly.
The 2nd one, as much as I can tell, is fixed since before 2.5 so if youwork with the latest (2.6) you should be fine.
The first one I haven't played with in a while, but my finding is that you don't want to root a device once it's been encrypted. I've tried several different methods including rooting as you flag as is possible with twrp and all end up the same:the password is not recognised anymore!
The only thing that works for me is rooting before encrypting or only flashing pre-rooted ROMs.

frankieGom said:
Two separate things:
Root messing up encrypted touchwiz devices and twrp not handling touchwiz encrypted partitions properly.
The 2nd one, as much as I can tell, is fixed since before 2.5 so if youwork with the latest (2.6) you should be fine.
The first one I haven't played with in a while, but my finding is that you don't want to root a device once it's been encrypted. I've tried several different methods including rooting as you flag as is possible with twrp and all end up the same:the password is not recognised anymore!
The only thing that works for me is rooting before encrypting or only flashing pre-rooted ROMs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes - I had to factory reset the phone and format the SD Card. Never root AFTER encryption :silly:

[Q] PLEASE HELP! galaxy s3 wont recover backup and liquidsmooth wont work properly

Hey guys.Im kinda a noob, so bear with me. I have a SGH i747 (att galaxy s3) and I rooted it on my mac using motochopper. I backed up all my apps and system data with titianium backup to my SD card, and i also backed up my stock ROM to my internal storage using ROM Manager. I then downloaded liquid smooth using my phones browser, and then I selected it within ROM manager and clicked "reboot and install' (keep in mind, i didn't wipe memory or anything) So it was stuck at the boot screen. Then i realized what i did and went and wiped data/factory reset, dalvic cache, and the other cache, within Clockworld mod recovery (vol up + power + home). After that, it worked, but only to find that all my apps were gone, and the play store and browser app didnt work. so basically softbricked however I can make phone calls and text (lost all contacts). Then i went into cwm and tried to restore my phone, at first it came up with two backups (neither of which had the name I named my backup) but said no files found and then when I mounted my storage, the bottom one said md5 mismatch but the top one worked. the top one would work for about 6 min then while it was restoring data it would reboot into liquid smooth and i would have like 3 apps i didnt have before (other times i would get stuck at the boot screen). I also tried restoring it right after I wiped data/ factory reset and cleared the caches, but then it would get stuck at the liquidsmooth boot screen. Tried pretty much everything.
I just want my phone back the way it was before root or anything, with all my data. But I backed up all my stuff besides apps to KIES, so willing to reset it to stock firmware if possible
need all the help i can get. thank you all very much

SuaveNNR said:
words...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, when you did a factory reset, that wiped out all your apps, contacts, personal data, etc. No big deal. Your phone is in good shape, not bricked in any way, you just don't have all your personal stuff.
The only way to get it back to stock is to flash a stock firmware via ODIN or mobile ODIN, tutorials for doing both can be found here. I'm not 100% on how to do it (ODIN) with a mac other than either booting windows if you have the capability on your computer or running windows in a virtual box and using odin that way.
Or...if you have an SD card you could stick it in your computer, download another rom or liquid smooth again and reflash the proper way in recovery to get it to work. It sounds like you neglected to flash the separate GAPPS file that is required for the AOSP ROMS.
All is good. Your phone is not in bad shape. Take a breath, do some research before you flash anything else. Don't compound the problem by flashing random things that you think might help.

worked. I owe you much gratitude
FIESTY2 said:
Well, when you did a factory reset, that wiped out all your apps, contacts, personal data, etc. No big deal. Your phone is in good shape, not bricked in any way, you just don't have all your personal stuff.
The only way to get it back to stock is to flash a stock firmware via ODIN or mobile ODIN, tutorials for doing both can be found here. I'm not 100% on how to do it (ODIN) with a mac other than either booting windows if you have the capability on your computer or running windows in a virtual box and using odin that way.
Or...if you have an SD card you could stick it in your computer, download another rom or liquid smooth again and reflash the proper way in recovery to get it to work. It sounds like you neglected to flash the separate GAPPS file that is required for the AOSP ROMS.
All is good. Your phone is not in bad shape. Take a breath, do some research before you flash anything else. Don't compound the problem by flashing random things that you think might help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I went to friends PC and ran odin. worked perfectly. no problem losing all my data as long as i have a phone that works. thank you

Need major help/advice from the community

I'm so disconcerted right now. I have the Verizon LG G3, everything stock but rooted, and just recently was fiddling with the Bump bootloader bypass. Everything was going well, and I remember this thread from a while back because I'm heavy on customizing my phone. Long story short, I download the "Clean Lockscreen" mod, flashed it, and now I get a "unfortunately the process com.android.systemui has stopped" when I boot up my phone. Skips the lockscreen, the home pages load up normally, but the only thing I can interact with is the Power Menu and the "Ok" to dismiss the "unfortunately..." message.
(mod was directly from http://forum.xda-developers.com/lg-g3/themes-apps/theme-g3-clean-look-kk-4-4-2-t2834442)
Short of factory resetting, is there any quick dirty fix that will let me stop having a panic attack? I'm so lazy/dumb for not having a backup, but I was so eager to start flashing things I couldn't be bothered to set one up. I gambled and lost. Hard.
Also, is there anyway to extract my photos before, worst case scenario, I do have to factory reset? I have so many pictures since I bought this phone that losing them all because of this little mistake is what's driving me crazy, on top of losing every little tweak I did here and there for the past few months.
Lastly, if I do factory reset, does that also erase everything on my SD card? The Quick Circle case is on there pretty snug.
**My theory is that someone with a Verizon LG G3 V10B (didn't update because I was afraid to lose root) has the original file that whatever the "Clean Lockscreen mod" file replaced, and I can just flash that and be sane again** please please please
TL;DR --> Verizon user, got Bump, got excited, started flashing things with no backup (dumb dumb dumb), going crazy, now hoping that I can replace that one thing I flashed with the stock original and be fine (whatever the Clean Lockscreen mod changed)

BE VERY CAREFUL READING THIS POST, IF YOU FOLLOW MY SUGGESTIONS AND LOSE YOUR PICTURES FOR ANY REASON I AM NOT RESPONSABLE.
~ You shoulda done a backup.
Just booting into recovery is 90% of the work needed to do a backup, The other 10% of the work is just clicking "backup" and waiting 15 seconds. (You were just lazy/impatient, Not dumb.)
~ Did you flash a mod that was specifically for your exact model?
~ Can you still get into your custom recovery?
~ Before you try anything in my list I would first see if you can locate the stock lockscreen files on the internet for your model and flash them back onto your phone.
~ The FC issues you're having is usually related to not having the proper permissions.
If you can still go into recovery, Boot into recovery and wipe the Cache, Dalvik cache, & go to advanced and click fix permissions.
~ It looks like to me that your launcher may be pooched.
(In my experience the lockscreen/keyguard seems to be tied to the actual launcher/UI itself, Which is why I believe your UI is broken)
Because you can't install a new launcher in the operating system I would try and find a flashable .zip version of another launcher, like nova launcher or something and flash that in recovery.
~ I'm 99% sure a Factory reset won't help your situation.
I'm almost positive you're gonna have to re-flash your firmware to return your phone to working condition.
~ Try a dirty flash, Using same type of rom. (YOU "COULD" LOSE YOUR PICTURES DOING THIS, BUT PROBLY WON'T, Use as one of your last resorts)
Try and find a flashable .zip rom that is flashable in recovery, One that is the same type as your current rom and try a dirty flash "without" wiping anything.
Only flash using the recovery without wiping "OR YOU WILL LOSE ALL YOUR PICS", Also if you flash using your PC it WILL DELETE EVERYTHING.
(If your current rom is stock or stock based rom, Find a stock/stock based .zip based rom and dirty flash in custom recovery)
(If your current rom is AOSP based rom, Find a AOSP based .zip based rom and dirty flash in custom recovery)
After you dirty flash, Backup your pictures & anything else you may need then do a clean flash.
~ There are apps that can recover "deleted/inaccessible" data. (THIS IS ABSOLUTLY LAST RESORT, DON'T TRY THIS UNTIL YOU HAVE ABSOLUTLY NO OTHER OPTION.)
When you delete something off a storage device, It doesn't delete the actual data, It deletes the operating systems directories where the said info is stored, Resulting in what looks like to the operating system as "empty space" Which it actually isn't.
If you "have to" wipe your phone before being able to recover your pictures, Avoid installing ANYTHING you can (If/when possible) until you recover your pictures if you have to wipe your phone, Because anything that goes on your phone while your stuff is deleted CAN be overwritten. (You're gonna have to google a bit to find what apps are capable of this on android.)

[Solved] Issues activating SGS3 SPH-L710 on Sprint with Custom ROM + lots of problems

Hello all!
This is my first foray into the world of custom Android systems, and I'm having a hell of a time with it... if somebody would be able to help me out, I would greatly appreciate it.
First off, the situation:
I am on Sprint, and I recently bought a Samsung Galaxy S3 (SPH-L710) from Sprint to use as a backup phone, I used it for a while on Stock, then deactivated it so I could give it to my wife. First though, I wanted to put a custom ROM on it, and experiment/play around a bit and see what this world of options could do for me. Long story short, I ended up flashing an AICP ROM, and everything seemed to go smoothly, but when I went to activate the phone on my account again and it would not work no matter what I tried (details below). I figured maybe I could activate on the stock setup then just restore my custom setup, so I tried to revert to my stock ROM backup and I couldn't do anything because I was constantly getting messages that various programs had closed... Then I tried to wipe and restore my custom ROM backup and I get stuck in a boot loop... so I tried to flash a stock recovery and I get stuck in a boot loop... I'm out of ideas here, and now I'm stuck with a phone I can't use or do anything with, and I can't activate.
Details:
The initial rooting/install process seemed to work ok, and was fairly straightforward. I followed various guides on http://galaxys3root.com/ to get my phone rooted and backed up (Don't recall which ones now, but I've read through so much by now I don't know if it matters...).
My phone:
Samsung Galaxy S3 (Sprint) SPH-L710
Modem: L710SPRDNJ2
My Desktop:
Debian Linux
Here's the steps I performed:
Rebooted phone in Odin mode
Downloaded CWM S3 Sprint Recovery from the http://galaxys3root.com/ website (can't find the link any more)
Flashed the CWM recovery using Heimdall then rebooted phone into CWM
Installed SuperSU through CWM, then rebooted
Checked that the phone was rooted successfully (it was), then ran Titanium Backup on the whole device to my SD card, then copied the backup files to my desktop computer
Rebooted into CWM, and performed a backup through CWM, then rebooted and copied the CWM backup to my desktop.
Downloaded AICP Rom for my phone from here: http://downloadandroidrom.com/file/GalaxyS3Sprint/roms/AICP/aicp_d2spr_lp-10.0-RELEASE-20150707.zip, put it on my SD card, then installed it through CWM and rebooted
At this point, I was happy with how everything was working, so I did some minor theme customizations then made another backup through CWM, and copied it to my computer, but I did NOT run Titanium this time...
After all of this, I tried to go ahead and activate it through the Sprint web service. This process failed continuously with an unhelpful error message of "Sorry, this device can't be activated right now". I then got on Chat to see if they could activate it manually, and then the problems began. They did their thing activating the phone, but when I booted up I got no data connectivity, and couldn't make calls, and the SIM was not changing over to the new number. I was on the chat with them for over an hour trying to get the situation resolved, but that finally ended when they started asking me to punch in ## codes, because I discovered that none of them worked on my custom ROM. Some quick research told me that this was non-trivial to get around so I had them switch everything back and I started researching the issue.
I found this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1626638&highlight=sph-l710 that looked like it would let me do what I needed from the custom ROM, but I couldn't tell if it would fix my problem for sure, so I figured "I'll just restore my stock setup from that backup I took, activate it and update, then start over". This is when things got really frustrating...
First I rebooted into CWM, went to 'backup/restore', and restored my stock backup
Rebooted, and as soon as I got past the lock screen, I get inundated with messages of various apps being closed unexpectedly.
I researched a bit, discovered the issue may be caused by stale dalvik cache, so I rebooted into CWM, cleared the dalvik cache, formatted the /cache partition, then tried to restore the stock backup again, but this time I get stuck in a boot loop.
I then rebooted into CWM, tried to restore the backup of my AICP ROM, only to be stuck in a boot loop as well.
Trying to get into any usable system, I rebooted to CWM, cleared dalvik cache, then formatted /cache, /data, and /system just to be sure, and re-flashed the base AICP ROM I started with. This worked fine, and before long I had stock AICP back
Since I still couldn't get the phone to activate in the custom ROM, and my backups are apparently completely useless, I rebooted into CWM, wiped dalvik, /cache, /data, and /system again and tried to install a different stock ROM I found in the XDA forums (here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s3-sprint/development/stock-rom-4-4-2-t3010642) only to be greeted by another bootloop
At this point I've spent well over 24 man-hours trying to get this to work, reading, researching, flashing, etc all to no avail. Nothing I do seems to work, and it seems like every article, tutorial, or forum thread I read either has nothing to do with my device, is too old, or doesn't describe my problem.
I'm at wits end, and am so frustrated I'm ready to just give up and smash this device and buy a new one... My questions to the community are as follows:
I know I screwed up on a couple of things, but in my initial research of doing this there was no indication that these were even things I needed to watch out for... Is there any more organized sources of information for doing this sort of thing?
Does anybody else out there use Sprint on a custom ROM, and if so how you you pull this off
Where else have I screwed up, and how can I fix this situation? (My end goal is still to get the S3 onto Sprint with a custom ROM)
What can I do differently next time? I would like to figure this out and do it to other phones and devices I have, but if it's this much trouble every time, I just don't have the time to mess with it.
Thank you in advance, and I appreciate any information that the community can provide.

This sounds like a CWM problem to me. If I were you, I'd boot the phone into Odin Mode and flash TWRP ( www.twrp.me ) then try flashing the latest aicp nightly downloaded from the official site ( www.aicp-rom.com ). Check the md5sums on everything! Then maybe try flashing a touchwiz ROM and activating your phone. Remember that you need to wipe the internal storage when you go between KitKat and lollipop.

I'm fairly certain you have to do activation with the stock Touchwiz roms -- once the phone is activated you can flash a custom.
You should go into recovery and wipe everything (System/data/etc) EXCEPT for the External SD Card
Power off - pull the battery for a few - power on directly into download mode
Odin NJ2 back onto the phone and reboot and activate it (skip through most of the setup since you'll flash a custom after)
Once you know it's activated and working under the stock Touchwiz, then again power off and Odin TWRP recovery
Then you can go back into recovery, wipe everything except External SD, and flash the custom rom back on.

Looks like swapping CWM for TWRP did the trick.
Flashed TWRP no problems, and put CleanBean on there to get the phone activated. Still wouldn't work automatically over the Sprint website, but I got on chat with them and they fixed me right up. Downloading a fresh copy of AICP now...
Is it worth it to keep the CWM backups I made earlier, or should I just go ahead and flush them? I figured just get rid of them since restoring them wasn't working anyway, but I figured I would ask.
Now to move all the data over to the new phone. Thanks so much for your help guys!

afarris01 said:
Looks like swapping CWM for TWRP did the trick.
Flashed TWRP no problems, and put CleanBean on there to get the phone activated. Still wouldn't work automatically over the Sprint website, but I got on chat with them and they fixed me right up. Downloading a fresh copy of AICP now...
Is it worth it to keep the CWM backups I made earlier, or should I just go ahead and flush them? I figured just get rid of them since restoring them wasn't working anyway, but I figured I would ask.
Now to move all the data over to the new phone. Thanks so much for your help guys!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Get rid of them. TWRP can't restore CWM even if the backup is good