Related
This thread is about how to create your own action screen icons based on the Wedge Action Screen.
What you need to customize your action screen
- a set of icons you wanna use ;
- Paint.net for preparing your custom icons (you can use any tool but then you'll need to convert the templates first, PDN has the advantage of layers) ;
- BRN Convert to convert BRN to BMP and vice versa ;
- a PDN file with all the icons at a glance (Background_empty.pdn, see ZIP file);
- a PDN file with one icon (button_small_empty.pdn, see ZIP file);
- a file to edit your registry entries (action.reg, see ZIP file).
The basic steps fast explained
1. Prepare your preferred items so that they have a max.size of 102x102 pixels;
2. For each icon: open the button template and place the icon over it, save it under the appropriate name (e.g. 00P) and file format (BMP, keep a native format copy as well, you'll never know why);
2a. A little side note: the numbering starts top left with 00 and ends bottom right with 17, e.g. the second icon in the 2nd top row is icon number 4;
3. Do the same for the background screen: place each item into its place, attention do not use the buttons created under step 2, otherwise you'll loose the "animation" effect when pushing a button, save the file under the name "background.bmp" (+native format);
4. Convert your BMP files into BRN format;
5. Copy your BRN files over the files in the folder \Windows\ActionScreen\ - before you can copy background.brn, you should rename it, otherwise you get an error message à la "not enough memory" or similar;
6. Customize the registry entries - you can edit the attached action.reg file with a text editor, later I usually convert it with SK Tools into a cab file and install it. Naturally, you can do this manually using a registry editor, if you want.
Finished!
This process will take 1-2 hours depending on your motivation, skills and expectations.
reserved for future use
Hi all,
in the Windows directory you got the directorys RSK und LSK. This is the abbreviation for RightSoftKey and LeftSoftKey.
In these directories one find a link to the software which is supposed to start if one presses the left or right softkey.
Somehow my links are broken so I tried to fix them. For example: the left softkey is supposed to start the calendar.
So, this isnt working: couldnt find the directory states the errormessage.
So I look into the Windows directory, found the calendar.lnk and copied it to the directory LSK.
Not working. If I look at the properties of the link in LSK, I see that the file has changed !
Just by copying ...
The properties doesnt contain the necessary information for starting the calendar any longer: shortcut: pooutlook.exe calendar.
Again , these informations get lost just by copying the file into the LSK directory. Editing the link to enter these information isnt possible.
How can I fix this - any idea pleaase ?
regards
Thomas
fischtoeter said:
Hi all,
in the Windows directory you got the directorys RSK und LSK. This is the abbreviation for RightSoftKey and LeftSoftKey.
In these directories one find a link to the software which is supposed to start if one presses the left or right softkey.
Somehow my links are broken so I tried to fix them. For example: the left softkey is supposed to start the calendar.
So, this isnt working: couldnt find the directory states the errormessage.
So I look into the Windows directory, found the calendar.lnk and copied it to the directory LSK.
Not working. If I look at the properties of the link in LSK, I see that the file has changed !
Just by copying ...
The properties doesnt contain the necessary information for starting the calendar any longer: shortcut: pooutlook.exe calendar.
Again , these informations get lost just by copying the file into the LSK directory. Editing the link to enter these information isnt possible.
How can I fix this - any idea pleaase ?
regards
Thomas
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
PS: Interesting is, if I copy th elink to any other place on the phone, e.g. MyDocuments or something like this, the link is always workling ....
Only if I copy it to LSK , not
Ok .. solved, but not understood:
1.) click on directory LSK
2.) chose Property
3.) it says: TYPE: Removable Storage (ROM)
4.) click ok
5.) the direcoty LSK doesnt exist any more - only a new directory with weird combination of figures and letters
5.) renaming this combination to LSK
6.) property says noe: TYPE: FOLDER
7.) copying calendar.lnk into the new LSK folder
8.) pressing left softkey: calendar ist starting
so, its working. Although I really would like to understand why ...
fischtoeter said:
Ok .. solved, but not understood:
1.) click on directory LSK
2.) chose Property
3.) it says: TYPE: Removable Storage (ROM)
4.) click ok
5.) the direcoty LSK doesnt exist any more - only a new directory with weird combination of figures and letters
5.) renaming this combination to LSK
6.) property says noe: TYPE: FOLDER
7.) copying calendar.lnk into the new LSK folder
8.) pressing left softkey: calendar ist starting
so, its working. Although I really would like to understand why ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, after a softreset .. same problem: error opening the shortcut or locating ...
Although the properties of the link are ok
READ THIS ENTIRE GUIDE BEFORE ASKING QUESTIONS. READ THIS ENTIRE GUIDE BEFORE ATTEMPTING ANYTHING. READ THIS ENTIRE GUIDE FOR ALL THE HELPFUL INFORMATION CONTAINED IN IT. READ THIS ENTIRE GUIDE EVEN IF YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING.
This guide is for anyone that would like to build their own custom keyboard with a customized layout with customized keys (hit one keyboard button and your entire email is filled in for you automatically). This method of hacking should work with other .apk files for similar endeavors. With this guide you should be able to create a custom keyboard based on the gingerbread keyboard. Read this entire guide before asking any questions. I have added information on the many things that have personally caused me errors. If you have problems with the program itself, post here asking for help, ask on the android developers's IRC channel, or read the FAQs posted about the different programs that must be used.
this is a windows 7 based guide; the only differences between W7 and other OS's is minor path changes and downloads (I don't think that android commander is available on Mac OSX)
Things that are required:
very basic commandline experience
APKtool
Signapk
android SDK installed and working (install all available packages if you do not know how to set up an emulator)
android commander -or- knowledge of how to install a custom .apk on your device
notepad -or- your favorite code editor
lots of debugging time, patience
an ability to navigate the above programs
**Common Commands**
1. apktool b <NAME OF DECOMPILED KEYBOARD FOLDER> <PATH LEADING TO YOUR FOLDER CONTAINING SIGNAPK (NAME THE FILE), READY TO COMPILE FOLDER>
2. java -jar signapk.jar testkey.x509.pem testkey.pk8 <NAMEOFFILE FROM ABOVE> <PATH TO YOUR ANDROID SDK TOOLS FOLDER>
3. adb install testsign.apk
#Protip: in Windows 7 (Vista?) hold the shift button as you right click in a folder to open a commandprompt in that directory
Command 1. is to be run from the directory holding your apk folder (do not go inside the decompiled apk folder; if you can see Android Manifest you've gone too far). The command will place the compiled apk folder into your signapk folder assuming you have set up the above commands correctly. As a side note, the compiled apk will be called "test.apk". If you want to decompile (go from an apk to "undone" folder just use "apktool d <NAME OF APK> <OUTPUT FOLDER NAME INCLUDING ITS DESIRED DIRECTORY {EX: c:\android-sdk\keyboard\gingerbredkeyboard}>
Command 2. will sign the apk file called "test.apk" and save the result in your tools folder inside your android sdk folder.
Command 3. will install the apk into your running emulator. This is optional since you can from here install the file onto your device to test things out. However, I highly recommend using the emulator because it is easier to deal with. This command will fail if your emulator has been left alone for a little while. Just do some sort of action in your emulated device to "wake it up" so that the command will find the running emulator. After you install the apk, you may need to delete the old apk before you install a newer version that you have created.
-----
Keyboard stuff
When you decompile the keyboard file, you'll see a bunch of folders, the main folders that you'll want to focus on are inside res\xml and res\values (res\drawable-Xdpi if you want to make a complete theme with new images). From here the xml files governing the keyboard layout should be readable by any xml editor (notepad). Some of my notes will be written below so you can use what I've discovered to generate your own code. As a quick note, the cases of letters count, you must be perfect in your xml code.
The xml files are all named with self explanatory names, just look down the list at the names and you should find what you're looking for.
values and xml folders with letters after it mean that those are aspects that are only going to work for a specific language; if you want to make global commands for any language on the keyboard use the xml files that do not have a suffix. From here you can be creative and hijack a language that you won't normally use and use it as your own personal keyboard with special keys and whatnot (a keyboard just for accented letters? personal word shortcuts?)
code examples:
android:keyLabel="Hi"
this line is what will show up on the keyboard key in question, as above, "Hi" will be printed on this key
androidopupCharacters="★"
this line is what will show up when you hold down the key in question, you will get options for ★ with this code; do not use commas to separate symbols/letters, each individual character will be it's own separate key
android:keyOutputText=";] " self explanitory, anything contained inside the quotes will be printed when the key is pressed, leave a space like I did after smilies so that you dont' have to hit the spacebar after using this key; see exceptions below
droid:keyEdgeFlags="left" is used in the <key> entry of anything on the left "edge" of a <row>
droid:keyEdgeFlags="right" same as above, but used on the rightmost key
EXCEPTIONS:
Certain characters are used in coding, if you don't enter them a special way, you will receive errors in your code when compiling or the key will simply not work. In order to use commands that "print" text with exceptions in them, prefix the exception with a "\". For example: android:keyOutputText="\@" will print the character "@". A list of known exceptions are listed below, there may be others. Special, special exceptions also exist where even prefixing it causes coding problems, in these cases, use its "name" in place of its actual character. For example: the ampersand character '&", you must use the code associated with it; see the "popup_punctuation.xml" file for some of these exceptions. There may be more exceptions that I have not come across. If you're having problems with your keyboard and cannot figure out why your key is not showing up correctly, try to treat it as an exception.
Characters that are exceptions:
#
@
?
"
IMPORTANT EXCEPTION:
I couldn't get the popup_comma.xml file to work with the above exceptions rule or with the keyoutputtext code
Putting it all together:
<Key android:keyLabel="\@G!" android:keyOutputText="cheval.de.jeanvaljean\@gmail.com" android:keyEdgeFlags="left"/>
The above will draw a key that's labeled "@G!" that yields "[email protected]" that is also the leftmost tag in a given row. Personally, I have added similar code to the above so that I have keys for the handles "@gmail.com" and "@yahoo.com" (along with my personal email so I never have to type it out all the way ever again) to the period key on the keyboard (in xml "popup_punctuation.xml"). I have also tweaked the smilies on the enter key to my own personal smilies. Assuming you've read the above and have some minimal xml experience you can figure out the rest for yourself. There are many other things that I have left out code-wise that I found to be extremely easy to figure out just by browsing the source code. As a personal tip to you, I recommend highly that you use the emulator as it is far easier than pushing files to your phone, deleting them, blah blah blah.
---
Have fun and good luck =]
You have a Samsung galaxy tab bound to an operator and you want to unlock it.
I’ve been through a thorough search in the internet and finally I got a solution. My tab is now free. It’s a bit complex, but not impossible.
Below, I’ll give a very clear and detailed description of the whole procedure you have to go through to unlock your tablet.
I you follow all the steps, you will be sure to get the expected result.
Step 1: Root your tab
[ why root the tablet: unlocking the tablet requires access to hidden system files in the root. The root is not normally made accessible to the standard users]
- From the web, search a Root package (easy to find on the web, just google ‘galaxy’ ‘root zip’ you’ll get a small zip file, it may be root.zip, root2.zip, doesn’t matter),
- download the root zip file,
- Copy it to your tab and remember exactly the folder where you paste it.
- Turn off you tab,
- Press simultaneously the volume (-) and power buttons and continue pressing until you got a system screen with two items menu (download, and …),
- Press the volume (-) again to navigate through the two items of the menu, select upgrade,
- In the top of the screen, you’ll get a list menu with 4 items. Scroll to item “install from SDCard” (use volume (-) and (-) to scroll),
- Press power button to select,
- You’ll have to select the root zip folder, navigate through the folder structure using volume (-) (+) buttons,
- Press the power button to execute the zip file,
- Rooting operation will start, you’ll see many progress messages, just wait until the whole process finishes, it takes few seconds.
- Navigate back the menu item “reboot the tab”, press power button.
[ Your tablet will reboot now, you will notice no change, but the change is there, your tablet is now rooted]
Step 2: Preparing to unlock
- From the market, install the free app “super user”,
- Open the newly created shortcut “super user” and validate any message you get, close if necessary, [the SuperUser is an app that will work in the background and grant permissions –when necessary- to other applications to access root. Without it, rooting a tab is meaningless],
- From the market, install “root manager”,[root manager is now your file manager that can go deep through the folder structure and access root folders],
- Launch the “root manager”, the first time you do that, you’ll be prompted to allow “Super User” to grant permissions to “root manager”, allow that,
- Take some time to make yourself familiar with “root manager”, it’s a very simple but powerful file manager,
- Now go back to serious work, locate the folder \efs at the root, [efs folder is very important, it holds all the information to validate your tablet to the GSM/3G operator, it validates the authenticity of your IMEI]
- Just make a copy of the whole folder and save it in a safe place – your PC or a memory stick-. We’ll be back later to this copy, continue now on the tab,
- Open \efs folder, locate the file nv_data.bin,
- Make a copy of nv_data.bin in the same folder \efs and rename the file eg: ORIGINAL_nv_data.bin,
- Delete all the files in the \efs folder except nv.log. Don’t delete the sub folders ( you should normally have the following sub folders .files, imei, gyro….),
- Now leave the tablet powered on (don’t turn off) and move to your PC to continue job,
Step 3: Molding the nv_data.bin file
- In the copy of the \efs folder that you previously made, locate the original file nv_data.bin,
- Make a copy of this file somewhere in your PC. That’s the copy you will be working on,
- Edit nv_data.bin with HexEdit.[ If you are not familiar with depths of binary files, don’t be daunted by the array of codes and bytes],
- Locate the byte 0x181469, it should read 01 value, just edit it to 00 value, do nothing more, just save and exit,
- Now you have created the molded copy of nv_data.bin,
- You need to move this copy of nv_data.bin onto your tablet, either using a memory stick or by USB cable. Paste the file in the \efs folder,
Step 4: tweaking the molded nv_data.bin file
- Now that you pasted the molded nv_data.bin to \efs folder, it needs some minor adjustments before being used,
- In the “root manager”, press and hold on the newly pasted nv_data.bin,
- You’ll get a menu, select properties,
- In the properties box, check all the 9 options (read, write, execute), leave the others,
- Save and exit root manager,
- Go the market and install the free app “terminal emulator”,
- Launch the terminal emulator, accept any message for super user permission,
- In the terminal emulator, execute the following commands [press enter after each line of command]:
o su
o chown 1001:radio \efs\nv_dat.bin
o reboot
- It’s done, your tablet will reboot unlocked.
Verification to make sure everything is OK
- Go to settings, about device, status. Make sure you have a valid IMEI number, the one you have printed on the back of your tablet, not the fake one: 00004**********,
- Insert a valid SIM module, you’ll be promted to enter PIN code if configured so,
- Enter PIN code,
- Enter the APN provided by your operator (necessary to access internet 3G),
ENJOY FREELY
I have rooted AT&T version of tab 8.9, and there is no \efs\nv_dat.bin file on it...
hi
sir can you post an edited nv_data.bin? i cant hex it.. it says it cannot find the bytes you provide TIA
Same for me, /efs folder is completely empty?
no nv-data.bin at all, i tried everything with no luck.
efs folder has some files but no nv_data.bin
I know this is an old post but install from SD card doesn't work in my recovery mode because there is no SD slot. How else can I install the files?
I've edited my imageres.dll file and have it all nice nice, but when I try to paste it into system 32 (tried safe mode) It will not let me overwrite that file.
I've tried Safe mode, Taking Control, Granting full control permissions of file, system32 folder, windows folder, and C folder (both taking control, and granting full permissions to: User (me) and Administrator (also me) Yes, i'm on windows 7 64bit but there is no Win 7 Forum here, however the imageres.dll is mentioned here, and I'm assuming the file is more-or-less the same. Besides taking ownership in C for Win 8 being bad? I did this to both System32 file and Syswow64 file- its now apparent to me that both are in USE and thats why I can't overwrite/modify them =/ So how do I use my modded one? (startup sound etc.)
Following this:
Code:
How to Take Ownership in Windows 7
1. Locate the file or folder on which you want to take ownership in windows explorer
2. Right click on file or folder and select “Properties” from Context Menu
3. Click on Security tab
4. Click on “Advance”
5. Now click on Owner tab in Advance Security Settings for User windows
6. Click on Edit Button and select user from given Change Owner to list if user or group is not in given list then click on other users or groups. Enter name of user/group and click ok.
7. Now select User/group and click apply and ok. (Check “Replace owner on sub containers and objects” if you have files and folder within selected folder)
8. Click ok when Windows Security Prompt is displayed
9. Now Owner name must have changed.
10. Now click Ok to exist from Properties windows
Once you have taken the ownership of file or folder next part comes is Granting Permissions to that file/folder or object.
How to Grant Permissions in Windows 7
1. Locate the file or folder on which you want to take ownership in windows explorer
2. Right click on file or folder and select “Properties” from Context Menu
3. Click on Edit button in Properties windows Click ok to confirm UAC elevation request.
4. Select user/group from permission windows or click add to add other user or group.
5. Now under Permission section check the rights which you want to grant i.e check “Full Control” under the “Allow” column to assign full access rights control permissions to Administrators group.
6. Click Ok for changes to take effect and click ok final ok to exit from Properties window.
Now you can access files of folder in windows 7 with full permissions and take full control.
also tried cmd prompt
Code:
takeown /F "C:\Windows\System32\imageres.dll"
with Sucess message (probably the same as my right click takeown reg file context thing)
I'm the only person/login/user on my PC. Ugh this is a pain in the butt. No matter what I've googled/tried hasn't worked. I don't have a linux CD/USB boot *(dunno if I do? but don't think I do) to repair/replace file, I may have Win 7 repair on my CD, maybe not.
EDIT: replacing the startup sound in imageres.dll in System32 and SysWOW64 folders still leaves me with default windows startup sound =( Only other file was imageres.dll in winsxs folder- copied, edited the copy, deleted the original with Fileassassin (it was locked, wouldn't edit, blah blah) STILL uses old windows start up sound, WHyyyyyy? theres MUI files with info for imageres.dll but IDK what's left where this sound exists =/ or where its coming from.
there used to be this program made for replacing system files
i don't remember its name, though
http://www.askvg.com/right-click-re...utility-to-replace-system-files-in-windows-7/
No manual methods worked for me, but just came across this and it worked, WOOT!
http://winaero.com/download.php?view.10
Starting with Windows 8, the administrator is no longer the same as root. Microsoft has very, VERY severely limited the administrator's abilities with many aspects of the system. This was done in an ill-conceived notion that they could curb piracy of Windows Store apps (like there's anything worth stealing in there, including games). People have already found a way to pirate Windows Store apps, so it was all just a way to irritate admins and hobbyists in the end.
@dragon_76: Care to explain what you mean by that? For one thing, Administrator on NT has never been "the same" as root (on POSIX); there's always been the local SYSTEM SID (which does some of the things which root would handle, such as being the process that drivers and initial user-space processes run as) and while I'm not entirely sure when the TrustedInstaller SID was added (may have been there since NT3.1 for all I know), it's been a part of Windows since well before Win8. For another thing, unlike root on a POSIX system, Administrator does not (and never has) automatically have access to everything; it's a SID like any other, and ACLs can be put in place to control its access.
Now, two powers that Administrator (and members of the Administrators group) do have are as follows:
1) Take ownership of any securable object (this allows completely overwriting the ACLs).
2) Impersonate any other SID (although some, like TrustedInstaller, are possibly trickier to impersonate in Win8 than they used to be; I need to investigate that).
If what you're complaining about is the fact that \Program Files\WindowsApps\ is now owned by TrustedInstaller and harder to mess with than you'd like, um... sorry? It's not *that* hard to take ownership (or set it back) from TrustedInstaller; you can do it as Admin, in fact.
*Ahem*
Back to *actually* being on-topic, older versions of Windows* had a background service that would undo any modifications to system files by replacing them with un-tampered copies from a backup location. Starting with Vista, such a service supposedly no longer exists, but it would be easy to implement something like it using VSS. So, you should verify that the file isn't being reverted. The simplest check is the modify timestamp and (if it's different on your file than on the stock one) the size. Somewhat more advanced is to use a hash function, such as MD5 or something from the SHA family, on the on-disc file and see whether it matches the version you put there.
Beyond that, you can easily replace system files if you do it while the OS isn't booted. Linux can do it, although that has risks. Better is to use WinPE (the Pre-installation Environment that bootable Windows disks and recovery tools load) and replace it from there.
Incidentally, you can use the command line tool icacls (which may even be present in WinPE by default) to both change ownership and set permissions on files and folders.
* Pre-Vista, which was the first version to switch to using TrustedInstaller to protect system files rather than letting Admin write to them by default. That's the last major change I'm aware of in the powers of the Administrator account on Windows, incidentally...