Related
I've either made a hugely stupid error and turned on encryption and nobody will detail me why this is a bad idea.....
Or nobody who looks at my post in huge threads seems to want to answer this question:
I enabled encryption in my Galaxy Nexus settings. I am rooted on a custom ROM. I want to update/flash a new ROM.
Will things be different? Can I update like normal? or am I going to need to wipe/reset everything in order to flash an update?
XFreeRollerX said:
I've either made a hugely stupid error and turned on encryption and nobody will detail me why this is a bad idea.....
Or nobody who looks at my post in huge threads seems to want to answer this question:
I enabled encryption in my Galaxy Nexus settings. I am rooted on a custom ROM. I want to update/flash a new ROM.
Will things be different? Can I update like normal? or am I going to need to wipe/reset everything in order to flash an update?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Neither Clockwork Mod or even the stock recovery can access the storage on the device after it's encrypted. The fact that the stock recovery can't is exceptionally poor form on Google's behalf.
You can't even perform a factory reset. The only way to unencrypt the device is to flash it via fastboot.
I posted some details in this thread - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1392037
MrPendulum said:
Neither Clockwork Mod or even the stock recovery can access the storage on the device after it's encrypted. The fact that the stock recovery can't is exceptionally poor form on Google's behalf.
You can't even perform a factory reset. The only way to unencrypt the device is to flash it via fastboot.
I posted some details in this thread - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1392037
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you very much! Reading up on that was really a learning experience on this mess lol
Can I flash a ROM via Fastboot using a zip? Im not sure about that... any1 know?
XFreeRollerX said:
Thank you very much! Reading up on that was really a learning experience on this mess lol
Can I flash a ROM via Fastboot using a zip? Im not sure about that... any1 know?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Had the exact same problem and found out this solution the hard way. You can't do a factory reset to remove the encryption because the bootloader is different when you root.
The only way is to fastboot as mentioned above. You need to use the files provided for going back to stock. You should find them on here. Good luck.
I found this out the hard way as well, but I think this is the great benefit of encryption. If someone were to get a hold of your phone there would be no way for them to access anything without having or breaking the passcode. For serial rom flashers this kinda sucks but if you really care about your data and are willing to stick with either stock or stock rooted then this means you actually have a phone that's truly secure.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
You'd have to be extremely paranoid about your data to want to encrypt your phone. I couldn't care less, nothing of importance is on my phone anyway
EddyOS said:
You'd have to be extremely paranoid about your data to want to encrypt your phone. I couldn't care less, nothing of importance is on my phone anyway
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I run my business on Google Apps and my data would be sensitive. Not everyone uses there phones just for personal stuff.
I don't use it for that either! I delete SMSs after they've been read, email is downloaded to my PC once Outlook is opened and bar Facebook/Twitter and a small selection of other apps there's nothing personal on my phone
Funnily enough I use it as a phone more than anything
EddyOS said:
I don't use it for that either! I delete SMSs after they've been read, email is downloaded to my PC once Outlook is opened and bar Facebook/Twitter and a small selection of other apps there's nothing personal on my phone
Funnily enough I use it as a phone more than anything
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow, I couldn't operate that way, I use my phone for everything, even my laptop and tablet are a bit useless now Each to their own I suppose
Im having some trouble going back to stock image to factory reset the phone
I flashed stock bootloader, stock radio images and booted into the OS and did factory reset, doesn't seem to work...help? I can't get this encryption off
XFreeRollerX said:
Im having some trouble going back to stock image to factory reset the phone
I flashed stock bootloader, stock radio images and booted into the OS and did factory reset, doesn't seem to work...help? I can't get this encryption off
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Factory reset won't work. You need to completely wipe the phone by loading the stock img from Google that came on the phone. It is the only way it will work. You can find out how to do that on here, sorry I don't have the link on hand though so just search a bit. Feel free to PM as I had the exact same issue.
EDIT - try this toolkit to go back to the stock rom. You loose everything but it should remove encryption.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1392310
I don't know why Google don't give the option to decrypt from the Google Apps dashboard. So annoying! Good luck, hope you get sorted.
Thanks for posting that - in the end the g-nex toolkit ended up bringing the phone back to stock and rooted the device again and I've now successfully factory reset the device and am back to running a custom ROM with root and no encryption
Thanks for the help
XFreeRollerX said:
Thanks for posting that - in the end the g-nex toolkit ended up bringing the phone back to stock and rooted the device again and I've now successfully factory reset the device and am back to running a custom ROM with root and no encryption
Thanks for the help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yaaaaey glad you got sorted. Encryption from GApps at the moment is woeful. I am sure they are working on it.
jd1001 said:
Yaaaaey glad you got sorted. Encryption from GApps at the moment is woeful. I am sure they are working on it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hopefully they are as if you want a real secure device, its pretty pitiful to bypass if in the wrong hands.
Does this only apply if you've rooted your device and flashed a different ROM? If you have an unrooted phone and turn on encryption, will you have the same issues (i.e. unable to do a factory reset)? Is this only a problem with the Nexus or would any Android phone have this problem?
I ask because the company I work for is talking about forcing users to encrypt their phones if they want ActiveSync enabled. But they also want to be able to run a wipe on the phone if necessary. It would seem to me that encrypting the phone may prevent that as an option.
HuskerWebhead said:
Does this only apply if you've rooted your device and flashed a different ROM? If you have an unrooted phone and turn on encryption, will you have the same issues (i.e. unable to do a factory reset)? Is this only a problem with the Nexus or would any Android phone have this problem?
I ask because the company I work for is talking about forcing users to encrypt their phones if they want ActiveSync enabled. But they also want to be able to run a wipe on the phone if necessary. It would seem to me that encrypting the phone may prevent that as an option.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Touchdown.
It's a little pricy at $20 but well worth it in IMHO.
A remote wipe will only kill off touchdown and optionally SDcard storage.
Matridom said:
Touchdown.
It's a little pricy at $20 but well worth it in IMHO.
A remote wipe will only kill off touchdown and optionally SDcard storage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, they are already looking at using Touchdown for devices that don't support encryption natively, but those that do (support encryption natively) they just want to enable the devices' own encryption.
So I'm still not sure if with encryption turned on, will it prevent a phone from being remotely wiped?
XFreeRollerX said:
Hopefully they are as if you want a real secure device, its pretty pitiful to bypass if in the wrong hands.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you bypass it by flashing a new system over it you wipe all data that was ever on the phone. Ok your phone could be stolen, but no-one will ever know what CP you were hiding with that encryption. I'm very happy with the fact that there is a save backdoor... imagine forgetting your password for some reason or filling out the wrong password on setup... when that happend this thread would have been a "bricked my phone by forgetting the password. Who wants some nice spareparts for his phone" Q&A
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA
HuskerWebhead said:
Yeah, they are already looking at using Touchdown for devices that don't support encryption natively, but those that do (support encryption natively) they just want to enable the devices' own encryption.
So I'm still not sure if with encryption turned on, will it prevent a phone from being remotely wiped?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just don't tell them you are using touchdown. I've tested the remote wipe in Android, it can kill the whole phone. The only way to keep your personal info safe is to use touchdown
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus
Matridom said:
Just don't tell them you are using touchdown. I've tested the remote wipe in Android, it can kill the whole phone. The only way to keep your personal info safe is to use touchdown
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you're misunderstanding my intentions. I'm not looking for a way to bypass the encryption requirement they may be introducing. I'm just trying to understand if it will cause a problem for the remote wipe functionality if the phone is lost or stolen. If it will, I'll have to let them know so they can decide what is more important: encryption or remote wipe capabilities.
If a remote wipe functions regardless of encryption being enabled, then it's a moot point.
I've got the ToroPlus and recently just encrypted the device. I've noticed that performance has degraded, it's lost a bit of its snappiness. Anyone else experience this? I know that the encrypt/decrypt process has overhead but I didn't expect to see a noticeable difference.
Also, is there no way to turn off decryption without a full wipe?
YokoMotive said:
I've got the ToroPlus and recently just encrypted the device. I've noticed that performance has degraded, it's lost a bit of its snappiness. Anyone else experience this? I know that the encrypt/decrypt process has overhead but I didn't expect to see a noticeable difference.
Also, is there no way to turn off decryption without a full wipe?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I encrypted mine for a while and didn't notice much of a performance difference. I basically just got tired of having to use a password all the time.
You have to do a full wipe to remove the encryption. You can do the full-backup and restore method using ADB, though (although YMMV because it is a little buggy).
Seriously said:
I encrypted mine for a while and didn't notice much of a performance difference. I basically just got tired of having to use a password all the time.
You have to do a full wipe to remove the encryption. You can do the full-backup and restore method using ADB, though (although YMMV because it is a little buggy).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I figured I'd have to do a full wipe. I've got Titanium Backups, do you know if they would be rendered useless to restore from due to the fact that they were produced on an encrypted OS? I think the answer is "No," I should be able to restore from them, but I'm curious if anyone has had past experience with them...
YokoMotive said:
I figured I'd have to do a full wipe. I've got Titanium Backups, do you know if they would be rendered useless to restore from due to the fact that they were produced on an encrypted OS? I think the answer is "No," I should be able to restore from them, but I'm curious if anyone has had past experience with them...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
I encrypted on a rooted STOCK rom to add MS exchange email and even after putting a custom rom (XenonHD), it is still encrypted without my work email sync'd. I'd love to decrypt it without having to wipe if poss, not to mentioned wiping prior to installing XenonHD didn't seem to help?
YokoMotive said:
I've got Titanium Backups, do you know if they would be rendered useless to restore from due to the fact that they were produced on an encrypted OS?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your titanium backups will be fine. For all tb knows, your phone is no different than a non-encrypted phone. Encryption is handled down at the storage controller and filesystem level.
DNak206 said:
+1
I encrypted on a rooted STOCK rom to add MS exchange email and even after putting a custom rom (XenonHD), it is still encrypted without my work email sync'd. I'd love to decrypt it without having to wipe if poss, not to mentioned wiping prior to installing XenonHD didn't seem to help?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have to do a fast boot wipe.
Code:
fastboot erase userdata
Any other way will not clear the encryption.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
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
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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.
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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
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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?
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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.
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Yes - I had to factory reset the phone and format the SD Card. Never root AFTER encryption :silly:
Hello,
As Google has decided to turn encryption on as a standard in the upcoming Android 5.0, I thought I would give it a test on my CosmicCM 5.4.
I started the encryption and it prompts you that you for a passcode that will be used from now on, so far no problem.
It started encrypting my device and it was running for some time(I left it alone for an hour) and reboots a couple of times.
After he's finished the annoyance came.
first you will have to type twice your password with a reboot, one time do decrypt your device the second time to enter your device.
Be aware that performance can be slowed through encryption, and it can negatively impact battery life too.
So I decide to go back.
The Problem: Once encrypted, you can't decrypt it easily.
When encrypting the phone android will tell you you can only decrypt it using a factory reset. Naturally you assume it's talking about the "Factory Data Reset" option found in Settings --> Backup and Reset and this works.
Now I wanted to try a rom (TW 4.2.2 based) and see how this worked and after installing and booting.
I got prompted to enter the decryption and of course this didn’t work anymore as there is no data for the password.
So I assumed you can wipe everything from your custom recovery mod (CWM, TWRP, or one of those).
Wrong! You'll get beautiful "can't mount /data" messages and more.
After some hard time I got everything working again, by flashing CosmicCM again.
The phone booted al clean again without asking for encryption and when you check the menu it also mentioned encryption is deactivated.
Trying the previous rom again just triggerd the encryption again.
So It seems that there is still somewhere a hidden encrypted protection that will be activated when I flash a different rom.
So be warned and don’t play with encrypting your device as you could brick it.
Didn't have time to investigate further on how I can remove it completely, but my guess is I have to redo all the partitions.
I was on the same boat a month ago
akiratoriyama said:
I was on the same boat a month ago
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I wish you told me sooner
Did you redo all the partitions to get the encryption completely removed?
RichyE said:
I wish you told me sooner
Did you redo all the partitions to get the encryption completely removed?
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I think I had to wipe my data via Philz, CWM and stock to remove encryption.
akiratoriyama said:
I think I had to wipe my data via Philz, CWM and stock to remove encryption.
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Thanks for the info, will try to flash stock this week and see if this helps
Hello everyone sorry to bother. So I was flashing a custom rom for my op5t and followed the usual steps : wipe system data cache and flashed the rom+gapps+magisk. And when I tried to boot the device it got stuck at the oneplus logo it didn't even got into bootloop. So I decided to flash rom again and wiped the data again but there I saw all the files were encrypted. I don't know how did it happen I wasn't encrypted in the beginning and now I can't install anything, the phone does not have any OS so it can't boot up. I don't want to lose my data is there anything I can do without locking the bootloader?
No need to lock your bootloader, but I think your data is lost.
Format data, and flash system again.
Yup. Don't lock your bootloader or you really will be screwed. Your data is lost at this point. Live, learn and remember to back up you data.
crakerjac said:
Yup. Don't lock your bootloader or you really will be screwed. Your data is lost at this point. Live, learn and remember to back up you data.
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I did get a backup but since all the files are encrypted now i cannot access my backup folder or data also.
antarax23 said:
I did get a backup but since all the files are encrypted now i cannot access my backup folder or data also.
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Not that it helps you now, but typically backup data does not mean to the device you are messing with. You want to backup data to another device (like your PC). What would help at this point, is knowing exactly what you flashed. (What were you on, and what did you flash)
It sounds like you flashed two ROMs with different types of encryption, and the reason you can no longer read your data. Sometimes, and I mean sometimes, if you are lucky, you can go back to the ROM that you originally on and your data would still be readable. I've been able to salvage data this way before, sometimes just with the correct TWRP on some devices.
OhioYJ said:
Not that it helps you now, but typically backup data does not mean to the device you are messing with. You want to backup data to another device (like your PC). What would help at this point, is knowing exactly what you flashed. (What were you on, and what did you flash)
It sounds like you flashed two ROMs with different types of encryption, and the reason you can no longer read your data. Sometimes, and I mean sometimes, if you are lucky, you can go back to the ROM that you originally on and your data would still be readable. I've been able to salvage data this way before, sometimes just with the correct TWRP on some devices.
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I solved the problem but it cost me my data after all. I had access to TWRP and fastboot but it couldn't read any of the data neither transfer anything from pc so I wiped all the device via TWRP and mounted into my pc and could finally transferred necessary files to flash. After all I did not lock the bootloader but lose my data