Develop Bugs

SGH-I747 Block OTA updates

Device and OS: SGS3 AT&T (SGH-I747) 4.1.2.
Goal : Cancel the pending OTA update and its notification; prevent future OTA updates and notifications.
Assumptions: You've seen galaxys3root.com how-to-root-u-s-and-canada-galaxy fail-proofnoob-proof (Newbie here so can't yet post the outside link.)
This companion post simply collects the information into one place and optimizes the sequence of steps, instead of reading a whole disjointed thread, which I could not even find again anyway.
Phase 0 - Prep.
- Back up your data.
- Download the necessary files.
Phase 1 - Root the device.
- Connect via USB.
- Use Windows to copy SuperUser.ZIP onto device.
- Boot into download mode (Vulcan death grip with volume down).
- Use Odin to copy RecoveryGalaxyS3USCanada.TAR onto device.
- Disconnect USB.
- Boot into recovery mode (Vulcan death grip with volume up); the new loader launches.
- Install Chainfire's SuperSU (it's inside SuperUser.ZIP).
- Reboot normally.
Phase 2 - Stop OTA updates.
- Using Root Browser:
- Delete the one file in /cache/fota/.
- Rename /etc/security/otacerts.zip to otacerts-zip.bak.
- Add write-permissions on /system and /system/app (really not sure this is necessary).
- Copy FOTAKill.apk to /system/app.
- Rename /system/app/FWUpgrade.apk to FWUpgrade-apk.bak
- Reboot.
- Notification page may still say "New update postponed" (it does not swipe away).
- WAIT until the current postponement expires.
Now the notification is gone!
I feel like there may be one rename that I forgot, but it's listed around here somewhere.
Seemingly spurious information:
- Titanium Backup requiring Lucky Patcher requiring BusyBox; that whole stack failed so not used.
- Remounting /system using a terminal failed.

Wow.
A much easier way if you' ve obtained root would be to uninstall and reinstall titanium backup, click on backup/restore, then go down to where it says AT&T software update (or whatever it's called) click on it, then click uninstall. You will never receive any update notifications again.
Also, if you've already installed the recovery, the update will fail if you let one go through, so you don't need to do anything else to block updates after flashing that .tar file.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

uninstall and reinstall titanium backup, then uninstall AT&T software update (or whatever it's called). You will never receive any update notifications again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I first tried using TiBu to freeze AT&T software update, but it was failing for some reason, so I scrapped that approach.
I want to be able to accept OTA later, just not now, so not ready to completely uninstall anything.
if you've installed the recovery, the update will fail if you let one go through
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looks like that's what happened this morning.
Thanks for the clarify, this makes sense now that I have been through the process by overdoing it :fingers-crossed:

[Q] How do I stop phone downloading OTAs?

Hello guys,
I have this phone running ZVA, I don't want this phone to be updated to latest KitKat, every time I connect to internet it starts downloading 618 MB KitKat OTA.zip
I tried this 5689#*980# code and under wifi settings I disabled OTA download, but, it still it downloads the file.
I have even tried freezing/renaming some applications through Titanium Backup and Root Explorer, but none of them works, phone just downloads that file.
I have tried zeroing out some partitions but still no luck.
Does anyone know how do I disable downloading this updates and future updates too? I don't want phone to even check for the updates.
Please help!

keval32 said:
Hello guys,
I have this phone running ZVA, I don't want this phone to be updated to latest KitKat, every time I connect to internet it starts downloading 618 MB KitKat OTA.zip
I tried this 5689#*980# code and under wifi settings I disabled OTA download, but, it still it downloads the file.
I have even tried freezing/renaming some applications through Titanium Backup and Root Explorer, but none of them works, phone just downloads that file.
I have tried zeroing out some partitions but still no luck.
Does anyone know how do I disable downloading this updates and future updates too? I don't want phone to even check for the updates.
Please help!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try this...Must be rooted ofcourse. Use a file manager like Root Explorer or ES File Explorer or Astro, etc.
Disable OTA Update Notification
Go to /system/etc/security/otacerts.zip
Rename otacerts.zip to otacerts.zip.bak
Reboot phone.

PK1 firmware? What is this, and what are my options to go back to 100% battery?

So my wife, not knowing any better, installed the OTA update about 3 weeks ago. Since then she's been stuck at 60% battery. She isn't concerned about root, and her phone has never been rooted. I was going to do the Verizon Repair Assistant (as others have done) to restore her phone to a previous firmware that (depending on what they have on VZW's servers at this point in time) should revert back to a firmware that allows 100% battery. I know we cannot revert from PHE to PH1 firmware, but upon looking at her phone she has N930VVRS2APK1 . A google search of this build gives me ONE result. What the hell is PK1 on a Verizon phone? Now I'm wondering what exactly she has and what my options are to get her on a 100% battery firmware. I may still try the Verizon Repair Assistant, as there's nothing to lose, but any input on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Well, I still have no idea what PK1 firmware was, but I was successfully able to ODIN her phone to N930VVRS2APHE with 100% battery. I'm a happy camper.

NarcissusV said:
Well, I still have no idea what PK1 firmware was, but I was successfully able to ODIN her phone to N930VVRS2APHE with 100% battery. I'm a happy camper.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is just what I need to accomplish as well. What were the steps you took to do this?

Dude2 said:
This is just what I need to accomplish as well. What were the steps you took to do this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've never written a guide, but I just pieced this together after going back and retracing my steps. Feel free to post if you run into errors, but it should work if you're on the same firmware as I was. And, of course, I'm not liable for anything that goes wrong.
- Downloaded the N930VVRS2APHE firmware.
Direct link: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B40ItdHKfkyQZWM4dU56bjBsb2c
Link above is from this site (in case above direct link fails): http://samfirm.net/threads/update-safely-firmware-galaxy-note7-all-model-22-09-2016.119/ Download SM-N930V file
- Install Samsung drivers: http://www.devfiles.co/download/AbRa7wHc/SAMSUNG_USB_Driver_for_Mobile_Phones.exe
- Install ODIN: http://forum.xda-developers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=3787684&d=1466307212
- Place phone in 'Download Mode':
Step 1 – Turn OFF your Galaxy Note 7.
Step 2 – Now press and hold the following keys on your phone together:
Volume Down + Home + Power.
- Connect N7 to PC via USB
- Open ODIN
You should have a blue bar under ID:COM in the upper left hand corner if your phone is properly connected and recognized.
- Click on BL and find the BL_xxxxxxx file that you extracted from Step 1
- Click on AP and find the AP_xxxxxxx file that you extracted from Step 1
- Click on CP and find the CP_xxxxxxx file that you extracted from Step 1
- Click on CSC and find the CSC_xxxxxxx file that you extracted from Step 1
(note: you will not need the HOME_CSC_xxxxx file)
- Click 'Start'
- Hold your breath and pray it works
Don't forget that the initial bootup on a new firmware can take a few minutes, so be patient and let it do it's thing. Good luck! Hope it works for you as well as it did me.

NarcissusV said:
I've never written a guide, but I just pieced this together after going back and retracing my steps. Feel free to post if you run into errors, but it should work if you're on the same firmware as I was. And, of course, I'm not liable for anything that goes wrong.
- Downloaded the N930VVRS2APHE firmware.
Direct link: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B40ItdHKfkyQZWM4dU56bjBsb2c
Link above is from this site (in case above direct link fails): http://samfirm.net/threads/update-safely-firmware-galaxy-note7-all-model-22-09-2016.119/ Download SM-N930V file
- Install Samsung drivers: http://www.devfiles.co/download/AbRa7wHc/SAMSUNG_USB_Driver_for_Mobile_Phones.exe
- Install ODIN: http://forum.xda-developers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=3787684&d=1466307212
- Place phone in 'Download Mode':
Step 1 – Turn OFF your Galaxy Note 7.
Step 2 – Now press and hold the following keys on your phone together:
Volume Down + Home + Power.
- Connect N7 to PC via USB
- Open ODIN
You should have a blue bar under ID:COM in the upper left hand corner if your phone is properly connected and recognized.
- Click on BL and find the BL_xxxxxxx file that you extracted from Step 1
- Click on AP and find the AP_xxxxxxx file that you extracted from Step 1
- Click on CP and find the CP_xxxxxxx file that you extracted from Step 1
- Click on CSC and find the CSC_xxxxxxx file that you extracted from Step 1
(note: you will not need the HOME_CSC_xxxxx file)
- Click 'Start'
- Hold your breath and pray it works
Don't forget that the initial bootup on a new firmware can take a few minutes, so be patient and let it do it's thing. Good luck! Hope it works for you as well as it did me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
NV, thanks for these steps. Two questions as follow up:
1) is the process destructive? Does it effect any data or apps?
2) do I need to add the Over The Air Transfer block before or after running these steps?

I removed the SD card for safe measure, which as absolutely recommend you do. Sorry, forgot to mention that. You will lose all your app data, so upon initial reboot and login/setup it should ask you of you want to load apps from a previous phone (you'll select your N930V), at which point it will very slowly download and install all your apps you had before in the background. It may take 2+ hours, even in wifi. When they're done installing, you'll have to log back into each of your apps.
In regard to the OTA update, yes, you'll need to get Package Disabler Pro and disable the following two processes so you no longer receive any pop-ups or requests to update:
com.sec.android.soagent
com.samsung.sdm
Note: It appears now that Package Disabler Pro and EZ Package Disabler (Samsung) have both decided to completely f*!% over people like us that paid for the apps to disable Samsung bloatware and OTA update reminders. They have removed the ability to manually disable packages (such as the ones we need to deactivate the OTA update messages). If you try and install a previous versions that allowed manual disable it fails the license authentication. They force you to use the current version, which no longer does what we need. Shady business practice and total horse ****.

NarcissusV said:
I removed the SD card for safe measure, which as absolutely recommend you do. Sorry, forgot to mention that. You will lose all your app data, so upon initial reboot and login/setup it should ask you of you want to load apps from a previous phone (you'll select your N930V), at which point it will very slowly download and install all your apps you had before in the background. It may take 2+ hours, even in wifi. When they're done installing, you'll have to log back into each of your apps.
In regard to the OTA update, yes, you'll need to get Package Disabler Pro and disable the following two processes so you no longer receive any pop-ups or requests to update:
com.sec.android.soagent
com.samsung.sdm
Note: It appears now that Package Disabler Pro and EZ Package Disabler (Samsung) have both decided to completely f*!% over people like us that paid for the apps to disable Samsung bloatware and OTA update reminders. They have removed the ability to manually disable packages (such as the ones we need to deactivate the OTA update messages). If you try and install a previous versions that allowed manual disable it fails the license authentication. They force you to use the current version, which no longer does what we need. Shady business practice and total horse ****.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Whaaaat? So none of this can be accomplished and we are stuck with the 60% battery of the Verizon update?

No. You can go back to the 100% green battery, but cannot disable the packages so that the phone stops reminding you to update. Just don't accidentally hit it and you're okay.

Okay, but the 60% package was forced on the phone, will these new reminders force their way on to the Note 7?

NarcissusV said:
I removed the SD card for safe measure, which as absolutely recommend you do. Sorry, forgot to mention that. You will lose all your app data, so upon initial reboot and login/setup it should ask you of you want to load apps from a previous phone (you'll select your N930V), at which point it will very slowly download and install all your apps you had before in the background. It may take 2+ hours, even in wifi. When they're done installing, you'll have to log back into each of your apps.
In regard to the OTA update, yes, you'll need to get Package Disabler Pro and disable the following two processes so you no longer receive any pop-ups or requests to update:
com.sec.android.soagent
com.samsung.sdm
Note: It appears now that Package Disabler Pro and EZ Package Disabler (Samsung) have both decided to completely f*!% over people like us that paid for the apps to disable Samsung bloatware and OTA update reminders. They have removed the ability to manually disable packages (such as the ones we need to deactivate the OTA update messages). If you try and install a previous versions that allowed manual disable it fails the license authentication. They force you to use the current version, which no longer does what we need. Shady business practice and total horse ****.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
NV, when you say "you loose all the app data" will this process erase the email accounts and all the emails, contacts, etc, on the Note 7? I am just using the built in email for a couple of accounts.

I can not find these processes in disablere. Still asks update.
Maybe there is a way to obtain Root with this firmware?

I doubt we can get root, but here's how you can disable OTA update nags:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/android/software/debloater-remove-carrier-bloat-t2998294
http://forum.xda-developers.com/verizon-note-7/help/how-to-disable-samsung-ota-t3478488

Disbler pro did not help, they blocked these processes are associated with the upgrade. Install the new version does not work, wants to update.
Another program is OZ Disabler. Just need to install the earlier version.

shablovskiy said:
Disbler pro did not help, they blocked these processes are associated with the upgrade. Install the new version does not work, wants to update.
Another program is OZ Disabler. Just need to install the earlier version.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Shablovskiy, were you able to use OZ Disabler successfully?

NarcissusV said:
I've never written a guide, but I just pieced this together after going back and retracing my steps. Feel free to post if you run into errors, but it should work if you're on the same firmware as I was. And, of course, I'm not liable for anything that goes wrong.
- Downloaded the N930VVRS2APHE firmware.
Direct link: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B40ItdHKfkyQZWM4dU56bjBsb2c
Link above is from this site (in case above direct link fails): http://samfirm.net/threads/update-safely-firmware-galaxy-note7-all-model-22-09-2016.119/ Download SM-N930V file
- Install Samsung drivers: http://www.devfiles.co/download/AbRa7wHc/SAMSUNG_USB_Driver_for_Mobile_Phones.exe
- Install ODIN: http://forum.xda-developers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=3787684&d=1466307212
- Place phone in 'Download Mode':
Step 1 – Turn OFF your Galaxy Note 7.
Step 2 – Now press and hold the following keys on your phone together:
Volume Down + Home + Power.
- Connect N7 to PC via USB
- Open ODIN
You should have a blue bar under ID:COM in the upper left hand corner if your phone is properly connected and recognized.
- Click on BL and find the BL_xxxxxxx file that you extracted from Step 1
- Click on AP and find the AP_xxxxxxx file that you extracted from Step 1
- Click on CP and find the CP_xxxxxxx file that you extracted from Step 1
- Click on CSC and find the CSC_xxxxxxx file that you extracted from Step 1
(note: you will not need the HOME_CSC_xxxxx file)
- Click 'Start'
- Hold your breath and pray it works
Don't forget that the initial bootup on a new firmware can take a few minutes, so be patient and let it do it's thing. Good luck! Hope it works for you as well as it did me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do you install ODIN? I downloaded it to my Windows 7 PC but it is a ".rar" file, not sure how to install it and connect to my Note 7?

Dude2 said:
How do you install ODIN? I downloaded it to my Windows 7 PC but it is a ".rar" file, not sure how to install it and connect to my Note 7?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Please pm if you still.need help

Dude2 said:
Shablovskiy, were you able to use OZ Disabler successfully?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. I downloaded not latest version. Working good.
http://4pda.ru/forum/dl/post/8422541/EZ+Package+Disabler+v2.3.2P.apk
Sorry. Name is EZ disabler 2.3.2
---------- Post added at 06:30 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:34 AM ----------
jjayzx said:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
rar it's archive. You need to install the "win rar" app. Unpack the file "rar".
If you do not know what a "rar" better if not to experiment with it.
Verizon promises to turn off all note 7 of the fifth of January.

shablovskiy said:
Yes. I downloaded not latest version. Working good.
http://4pda.ru/forum/dl/post/8422541/EZ+Package+Disabler+v2.3.2P.apk
Sorry. Name is EZ disabler 2.3.2
---------- Post added at 06:30 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:34 AM ----------
rar it's archive. You need to install the "win rar" app. Unpack the file "rar".
If you do not know what a "rar" better if not to experiment with it.
Verizon promises to turn off all note 7 of the fifth of January.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know what it is, it's the person above that's lost and made my brain fry by not knowing what it is but wants to mess with odin.

Used a great step by step process to make this happen.

touching files in recovery mode results in factory reset

A week ago I flashed the current (lineage-14.1-20170504-nightly-oneplus3-signed.zip) lineage os nightly to my phone. I did not pay that much attention til I realize the impact, so no guarantee for the temporal order. I am pretty shure, that in the first place, I tried to flash the image via the update menu (is this called OTA update?). The previous update two weeks ago already results in partial data los. By this I mean some (maybe all) apps disappears after the update, but after installing them again, all of them provided the pre-update data - only exception was signal. This time the phone was like in factory state. But when I try to reinstall the telegram app - the app store refuses to install the app because of the presence of a identical named app.
Using adb shell shows me, that all apps and data where still present in the /data subdirectories. Even those I didn't had reinstalled til that time . So I took advantage of momentum and backed up some files and decided to perform a full pre factory reset formatting everything twrp let me format. After flashing the lineage update, another full format because things seems still weird, second lineage nightly flash, realizing I have to first flash OOS-x.y.z and a final third lineage flash, I thought I finally obtain a running system. After initial configuration I decided to only copy my previous wpa_supplicant.conf file back to the system. Since overwriting this file while running android didn't led to anything, I tried to replace this file in recovery mode. Instead of remembering my password, goatish oneplus 3 desides to perform factory reset.
After what seems to be a lower six digit number of flashing attemps I came to the conclusion that performing any modification to the file system while the native kernel is not running results in factory reseting the device. In the mean time I also figured out what dm-verity means - an error message I got used to and maybe a nice feature as long as you don't try to take your old config files to a new system. And I know I am the millionth person facing that problem in a dedicated thread, but I found nothing which links this annoying boot loader message to my reset problem.
I made my previous recovery attemps between the toilet and my bed, so I hadn't any strategy at all. But thank god its friday! I read: dm-verity is a feature of the device mapper which guarantees data integrity. When I alter the data using any other than the native system, the device mapper notices the integrity violation and reports to the system. I am only guessing that this makes the system to reset itself - Am I right? Even if I appreciate this concept, I think this might be a little too ambitious. Can I alter androids behaviour in this point? In the best case I want to temporary disable this feature, do some root stuff and turn it on again. Is this possible?
I could follow one of that numerous tutorials to remove that dm-verity message, but I am not confortable with flashing zip files from dubious file hosters as well as copy-pasting commands without any idea of what I am doing. So maybe someone could provide a little more information than the seven step recipe of getting rid of that error message blog posts.
I really appreciate material which explains my problem. I am quite new to android and I didn't figured out how to maneuver around all these google results which tells me to install a specific app which may will hide my problem. So thank you in advance.

hinerk0815 said:
A week ago I flashed the current (lineage-14.1-20170504-nightly-oneplus3-signed.zip) lineage os nightly to my phone. I did not pay that much attention til I realize the impact, so no guarantee for the temporal order. I am pretty shure, that in the first place, I tried to flash the image via the update menu (is this called OTA update?). The previous update two weeks ago already results in partial data los. By this I mean some (maybe all) apps disappears after the update, but after installing them again, all of them provided the pre-update data - only exception was signal. This time the phone was like in factory state. But when I try to reinstall the telegram app - the app store refuses to install the app because of the presence of a identical named app.
Using adb shell shows me, that all apps and data where still present in the /data subdirectories. Even those I didn't had reinstalled til that time . So I took advantage of momentum and backed up some files and decided to perform a full pre factory reset formatting everything twrp let me format. After flashing the lineage update, another full format because things seems still weird, second lineage nightly flash, realizing I have to first flash OOS-x.y.z and a final third lineage flash, I thought I finally obtain a running system. After initial configuration I decided to only copy my previous wpa_supplicant.conf file back to the system. Since overwriting this file while running android didn't led to anything, I tried to replace this file in recovery mode. Instead of remembering my password, goatish oneplus 3 desides to perform factory reset.
After what seems to be a lower six digit number of flashing attemps I came to the conclusion that performing any modification to the file system while the native kernel is not running results in factory reseting the device. In the mean time I also figured out what dm-verity means - an error message I got used to and maybe a nice feature as long as you don't try to take your old config files to a new system. And I know I am the millionth person facing that problem in a dedicated thread, but I found nothing which links this annoying boot loader message to my reset problem.
I made my previous recovery attemps between the toilet and my bed, so I hadn't any strategy at all. But thank god its friday! I read: dm-verity is a feature of the device mapper which guarantees data integrity. When I alter the data using any other than the native system, the device mapper notices the integrity violation and reports to the system. I am only guessing that this makes the system to reset itself - Am I right? Even if I appreciate this concept, I think this might be a little too ambitious. Can I alter androids behaviour in this point? In the best case I want to temporary disable this feature, do some root stuff and turn it on again. Is this possible?
I could follow one of that numerous tutorials to remove that dm-verity message, but I am not confortable with flashing zip files from dubious file hosters as well as copy-pasting commands without any idea of what I am doing. So maybe someone could provide a little more information than the seven step recipe of getting rid of that error message blog posts.
I really appreciate material which explains my problem. I am quite new to android and I didn't figured out how to maneuver around all these google results which tells me to install a specific app which may will hide my problem. So thank you in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your story is too long to go through. But most likely your issue will be solved if you install blue sparks twrp. Check his thread in the unified section

Help needed! Cannot access 'SD card' files on Pixel 3XL

I set up my new phone yesterday - rooted with some great help from folks on this forum. Everything was going smoothly and working properly until I did something (I was checking out All-in-One Toolbox and a screen popped up about a four-step process to select some particular 'file'). As a result, there are problems with my ability to access local files, for example:
When I open the built-in Files app, it displays an hourglass symbol with the message "Can't load content at the moment". Also, on the slide out panel, the icon that previously read 'Pixel 3XL' is missing.
When I tried to get a screen grab of the above, a notification indicated "Cannot save screenshot due to limited storage space".
When I launch Titanium Backup, it cannot find its backup folder.
Custom ringtones are not be used.
Note that when I use X-Plore, I can navigate to the 'SD Card' folder and all files are there. It is as if a 'symbolic link' was deleted.
Please help me resolve this problem!

groston said:
I set up my new phone yesterday - rooted with some great help from folks on this forum. Everything was going smoothly and working properly until I did something (I was checking out All-in-One Toolbox and a screen popped up about a four-step process to select some particular 'file'). As a result, there are problems with my ability to access local files, for example:
When I open the built-in Files app, it displays an hourglass symbol with the message "Can't load content at the moment". Also, on the slide out panel, the icon that previously read 'Pixel 3XL' is missing.
When I tried to get a screen grab of the above, a notification indicated "Cannot save screenshot due to limited storage space".
When I launch Titanium Backup, it cannot find its backup folder.
Custom ringtones are not be used.
Note that when I use X-Plore, I can navigate to the 'SD Card' folder and all files are there. It is as if a 'symbolic link' was deleted.
Please help me resolve this problem!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just my 2 cents worth, but I've never been a fan of toolkits. They work great sometimes, but then again they don't at times. I think it's better to learn adb/fastboot on your own. I would recommend fastbooting the factory image again, without the -w, and see if that resolves your problem. Then leave well enough alone. And uninstall the toolkit app as well if that's what it is :good:

groston said:
I set up my new phone yesterday - rooted with some great help from folks on this forum. Everything was going smoothly and working properly until I did something (I was checking out All-in-One Toolbox and a screen popped up about a four-step process to select some particular 'file'). As a result, there are problems with my ability to access local files, for example:
When I open the built-in Files app, it displays an hourglass symbol with the message "Can't load content at the moment". Also, on the slide out panel, the icon that previously read 'Pixel 3XL' is missing.
When I tried to get a screen grab of the above, a notification indicated "Cannot save screenshot due to limited storage space".
When I launch Titanium Backup, it cannot find its backup folder.
Custom ringtones are not be used.
Note that when I use X-Plore, I can navigate to the 'SD Card' folder and all files are there. It is as if a 'symbolic link' was deleted.
Please help me resolve this problem!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What were you trying/wanting to do when "checking out" the toolkit? I agree with Badger about installing the factory image, but I would go one step further and leave the -w in place just running the flash-all as is. At some point when you have done some normal work on the phone, you can run it again without the -w so you can start to understand what is not deleted as well as how to re-root since you will need to do it every month. From your description, it sounds like you have deleted some stuff on the user side that would not be restored without the -w.

Gents,
I really did nothing with the toolkit other than a) look at the features it offered (was trying to discover which apps were running at boot time) and b) step through the one dialog that messed things up. As such, I would hate to have to reflash and start from ground zero again - especially when I get the sense that there is a simple fix that could resolve this specific issue. (Upon rereading Sliding_billy's response - it seems that reflashing does not impact user files - is this correct? After reflashing, I would have to boot to TWRP, reinstall Magisk, and everything would be good to go?)
FYI - the dialog in question is one that I had seen previously, when I updated my Note 4 from Android 4 to Android 5. It had something to do with selecting the DocumentsProvider location or some such (sorry that I am being so nebulous - I just did a quick search to try to find an example of the dialog, but did not).

groston said:
Gents,
I really did nothing with the toolkit other than a) look at the features it offered (was trying to discover which apps were running at boot time) and b) step through the one dialog that messed things up. As such, I would hate to have to reflash and start from ground zero again - especially when I get the sense that there is a simple fix that could resolve this specific issue. (Upon rereading Sliding_billy's response - it seems that reflashing does not impact user files - is this correct? After reflashing, I would have to boot to TWRP, reinstall Magisk, and everything would be good to go?)
FYI - the dialog in question is one that I had seen previously, when I updated my Note 4 from Android 4 to Android 5. It had something to do with selecting the DocumentsProvider location or some such (sorry that I am being so nebulous - I just did a quick search to try to find an example of the dialog, but did not).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Running the flash all with the -w in place will completely wipe your device. If you don't want that then remove the -w. But, without wiping the device there may be something left over that'll continue to cause you your current problem.
Sent from my [device_name] using XDA-Developers Legacy app

groston said:
Gents,
I really did nothing with the toolkit other than a) look at the features it offered (was trying to discover which apps were running at boot time) and b) step through the one dialog that messed things up. As such, I would hate to have to reflash and start from ground zero again - especially when I get the sense that there is a simple fix that could resolve this specific issue. (Upon rereading Sliding_billy's response - it seems that reflashing does not impact user files - is this correct? After reflashing, I would have to boot to TWRP, reinstall Magisk, and everything would be good to go?)
FYI - the dialog in question is one that I had seen previously, when I updated my Note 4 from Android 4 to Android 5. It had something to do with selecting the DocumentsProvider location or some such (sorry that I am being so nebulous - I just did a quick search to try to find an example of the dialog, but did not).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
jd1639 said:
Running the flash all with the -w in place will completely wipe your device. If you don't want that then remove the -w. But, without wiping the device there may be something left over that'll continue to cause you your current problem.
Sent from my [device_name] using XDA-Developers Legacy app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly what jd said. Running flash-all with no modifications will essentially do a factory restore of that build. Removing the -w (for wipe) from the batch file leaves the non-system files/settings, etc in place and you will then need to fastboot boot TWRP.img and install Magisk. As both of us mentioned, it may be best to get over the pain of a full image instead of seeing what issues remain without the -w in place in the batch. I think the real lesson here is that the folks who make these toolkits do a lot of hard work but it is still better/safer (especially on this device) to understand doing things manually.

I reflashed without the -w and everything seems to be fine. Thanks for the help!