text:
Can I use my smartphone as a WiFi network adapter?
I have this PC that doesn't support wiFi and I have to use usb tethering.
But I want to see if I can project my phone's WiFi onto the computer, so it can see all the available wireless networks, whilst its still connected to USB.
I don't know how much difference this would be considering, even if I projected my wiFi on to a computer, so it can see available networks (just like a usb wireless adapter, you see these days - except using a phone) but still very much connected to a USB. So I'm not sure what the difference between this and USB/WiFi tethering, but I'd imagine it would be faster.
Edit: I actually want to be able to connect to a wiFi and see other available connections, using my phone and USB. This is to compensate for the fact that my computer doesn't support wiFi and hardware require for it.
USB network adaptors are a very good example, of what I'm trying to want to do, except with a phone.

Why do you want to see the list of networks using PC? Can't you operate the phone for some reason manually?

No, please re-read my question.

I don't think you would be able to project the Wi-Fi interface on your PC (perhaps a hack may do, but that's a different matter), but you can use ADB commands to list Wi-FI networks available, and you can even select a Wi-Fi using the commands. However, you would still need USB tethering to access the internet since as I said, Wi-Fi interface won't be available to the PC. // Other option is to use a screen-sharing program to control  the phone, but that's I think you don't want.

Hmm I see. I'll try Digvijay's method and I'll get back to you on that. But I don't see how a screen-share to control my phone would be applicable to my situation? But thank you!

I have asked similar question. I couldn't get access to PC connected via USB (USB Tethering) from PC connected via WiFi (Mobile HotSpot). Solution was add routing for USB Tethering net on second PC.
$ sudo ip route add 192.168.42.0/24 via 192.168.43.224 dev wlp5s0

Here 192.168.42.0/24 is USB Tethering net, 192.168.43.224 is IP of Mobile HotSpot, wlp5s0 is WiFi interface of PC (Linux). (In my question I had two Android devices, so maybe this step is optional, I haven't checked).
Second, you should flush all the chains in ip table on Android device, e.g through Android Terminal Emulator. Assumed that device is rooted:
$ su
# iptables -F

This way you'll have to add route on every device connected to WiFi hotspot or USB tethering network so that it can access devices on other network. A simple approach is to use Proxy-ARP on the device(s) used to create tethered networks. But it requires a rooted phone.

If you want to see all available networks on the PC over your phone, I can think only one solution.
Phone on screen. Connect your phone to PC, and all the function will be available on your PC desktop screen. Any function can be used by mouse.
Application Phone on Screen is official LG's software, but you can search on Google Play similar apps.
EDIT 2#
Small tutorial on
"How to use Android device as Network adapter".
This is alternative way, not the direct solution!
Small note, I have tested this on LG Flex device, and it works, plus the software is called "Phone on Screen" and it's LG's software for the same purpose as it says.

Download "On screen Phone" from this link or from LG's official page and install it.
Since this software is already installed on LG android devices (I think only newer) there is no need to download it.
Connect your device to your PC. And select tethering mode.
Start "LG On Screen Phone" software who you downloaded it from internet. (By this I mean start the PC software not the actual app on android device)
Connect your device with cable to your PC
Follow the wizard who will guide you easy trough the configuration part.
After you have been connected to your device you'll screen the screen and controls of your device on the PC screen.
Now enjoy your WiFi on your Phone and your PC.

The proof of my test is this image:
One note! There are possibilities that there would pop up some error while running configuration. The error is result of selecting tethering mode over Lg software mode, and when this happens just click "Next" a couple of times just so it could reconnect again to your device.
P.S There is a feature to connect Phone and PC with Bluetooth, if someone has installed Bluetooth adapter on PC, please try and comment the result, I'll add it to this small tutorial.

I think you misunderstood, I actually want to be able to connect to a wiFi and see other available connections, using my phone and USB. This is to compensate for the fact that my computer doesn't support wiFi and doesn't have the hardware for. USB network adaptors are a very good example, of what I'm trying to want to do, except with a phone.

As sad, you'll still be able to use the phone the same way + on the PC.
You'll still be able to connect to WiFi networks and view them on your phone and your PC.
Basically you'll control your phone normally + on PC.

Would you go over in detail on how to do this and maybe screenshots? It would be very much appreciated.


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Speaker and Mic stoped working on MotoG (1st Gen) after upgrade
Problem:
One day my mobile was dead because of empty battery. I recharged the battery and turned on the mobile. Mobile showed a message "Android is upgrading" while turning on. After that Speaker and Mic are not working. There is no any type of sound coming out of mobile and I cant input my voice through mic. Sometimes Phone app acts very slow.
Configurations:

MotoG 1st Generation
Android 5.0.2 (Lollipop)
Build No. LXB22.46-28
Dual Sim
Internal Memory 16 GB

What I have tried:

Restarted my mobile many times (No Result)
Restarted my mobile with Safe Mode (No Result)
Factory Reset (No Result)
Clear Cache Partition (No Result)
Once I restarted with QCom option from power options (Speaker and Mic started working . I restarted again with normal mode and still speaker and mic was working but after some minutes speaker and mic were dead again)

Any suggestions?

Surprisingly I was able to fix this issue in my phone by changing following wi-fi settings:
Go to advanced wi-fi setting. You will find a toggle option "Scanning always available". Disable this option.
Worked for me.

I was facing similar problem in my moto g 1st generation with Mic only.
I have also tried some option as you said. See my efforts at
Moto G  Microphone is not working
After update also it was not working. But after cleaning MIC hole in my mobile now its working fine.

source: Stack Exchange

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

sort: votes


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Android Emulator: Failed to sync vcpu reg Error

Machine: HP ZBook 15 G3
Processor:   Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6820HQ CPU @ 2.70GHz, 2712 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Processor(s)
System: Windows 10.0.16299 Build 16299
Android: Studio: Android Studio 3.1.4
Haxm version: 7.3.0
Hardware Virtualization enabled in Bios: Yes

Brand new install of Android Studio.
I cannot run any X86/X86_64 Android emulators. They terminate as soon as I start them with the error "Failed to sync vcpu reg". I have restarted several times and use no other virtualisation tools, although I believe the latest Haxm has solved that issue, so previous answers all suggest this.
Thanks in advance.

I should add that Hyper-V is not enabled in Windows

I have some suggestions, but please confirm if you have tried these workarounds suggested from StackOverflow??

I can confirm that I tried all of the suggested comments. Most of them are to do with multiple VM's which is no longer relevant

Do you have HP SureClick running? I had the same problem on the Zbook Studio x360 G5 until I disabled it.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


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Log ADB Commands?
I have an application that uses the ADB interface as communication with my Android phone. When I run the application and press the button, the application somehow sends commands to my android, to activate special features that exist on the android application.
My question is, can I save what action the application does? especially commands related to ADB? How does it work? What are the references and commands?
For Example, there is an app called "Gamesir World" installed on Android device, this app should be activated special feature called "remapper", with pc help, the name of pc app is "xiaoji-vtouch.exe". Between this platform, I see on '%temp%'  windows folder, that xiaoji app have a folder that contains ADB, then I assumed this app called some of ADB shell to activate the "Gamesir World, Remapper Special feature". I want to know what the xiaoji do with the ADB, because there another options to activate this feature using there device product called A3 remapper, but I want to pass this, perhaps I can activate this feature without another device.
Link of Applications
Android, https://www.xiaoji.com/gsw/index_en.html
Windows, https://www.xiaoji.com/download/vtouch/xiaoji-vtouch-1.2.0.zip
Documentations, https://www.xiaoji.com/help/gw/2274.html

If it runs adb commands locally... you can trick it.
Assuming it s a rooted android - Make a adb binary which calls the original one. What you would be doing is just a tee, send the command to the adb and log it somewhere too.

what is runs adb commands locally ? its from the phone its self ? , sadly my android was not rooted :)

This might be a legit question of "logging ADB commands on Android-side" (if it's even possible), but there's also reverse-engineering the .exe file (which is not about Android at all, even though it calls ADB commands). I've tried opening the .exe file using Notepad++ and found some ADB commands but hard to decipher. That said, we also have a sister site for [reverseengineering.se].

There are several solutions:
1. Replace adb binary (see comments by Curious Mind)
Replace the adb executable on the PC with one that calls the original adb executable and print all commands. This variant is pretty limited as it only works if the program calls every command in the staly adb shell commandxyz. If it opens a shell and sends multiple commands in the shell stream you will not be able to trace them.
2. Use an adb binary with trace activated
ADB has some trace capabilities in it's source code. by default it is not active, but using a self-compiled version of adb and a patch that activates this capabilities you would be able t see all commands.
See this question for details: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5791722/how-do-i-enable-adb-tracing
3. Use ADB over IP and capture the data via Wireshark:
Connect to your device via IP: adb tcpip 5555 and the use the IP instead of the USB connection. The IP connection can the be captured by Wireshark (set the capture filter to tcp port 5555).
The main problem is that adb does not transit commands but individual characters. Therefore reconstructing the command is pretty complicated, even when decoding the TCP traffic to port 5555 as ADB protocol (while running select "Decode As" in the context menu).
Then you can filter the traffic for outgoing adb commands: ip.src==<your PC IP> && adb.data
The main problem is that usually every character is sent as individual ADB DATA packet with it's data as 4 bytes length + 4 bytes character (ASCII character decoded as integer).
The following sample screenshot shows the capture of the command hello world 12345 typed in on open adb shell (see the last column and in it the last character of each data packet):

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


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How to repair/fix SD external SD card at 0 Mb?
After installing LineageOS 17.1 on my Xiaomi Redmi Note 7, the wizard offered me to use my sd card either internal or external storage. None of the options work.
If I select internal, the wizard crashes, if I select external, it goes through but then ask me later the same thing "SD card is uncompatible, do you want to format it as internal or external ?"
etc.
So I tried to repair or wipe it through TWRP recovery, and it gives me "Error code : 1".
TWRP shows the external SD is 0Mb. I don't know if it means it's detected and corrupted, or maybe not detected at all.
Then I tried to put my microSD card in an SD card reader in my Windows 10 Thinkpad T420, and it doesn't even show up.
I read several threads here and there. I already tried to use partitionning tools (3 of them), but the SD card doesn't show up there either. No "blank" partition shown or even a drive letter appearing.
Nothing.
I tried Play Store apps that could fix it but it was impossible.
I was wondering if I can repair/fix/reset/erase SD card so it will show at least my 32Gb blank partition on my laptop.
I'm able to use fastboot/adb shell or any command line solution.
I saw a solution using "parted" but it doesn't come included in TWRP, I should flash an old recovery, not recommandable I think.
EDIT : What I additionnaly tried.
Rooted my phone, and tried to use Aparted app, failure.
Tried from diskutily on my mac, "last block couldn't be written"
Tried on command line using diskutil erase on my mac, failure.
Tried filling the SDcard with cat /dev/random and then formatting.
Created a GPARTED USB live. The SDcard finally appeared after several times in/out but resulted with "impossible to create partition table"
Everything results with different code errors, depending on the machine (Windows, linux, OSX, Android...), I'm getting scared that the SDcard definitely died.
Thanks in advance for your answers.
Cheers

parted is dangerous tool, i recommend to use gparted instead. anyway you can just adb push parted binary to /tmp https://android.stackexchange.com/q/219992

Hi thank you for your answer, I'll give a try to Aparted, but I need to root my phone first. (It's the first time I install a custom ROM on this phone and I dddn't need root for my usage so far). I'll do it tonight.
Regarding Gparted, it's only a tool for linux if I remember well ? I don't have a linux machine at the moment.

try UNetbootin Xubuntu bootable usb flash drive

Yes I thought about creating live USB, will do if nothing else works.
I tried Aparted and ApartedPro tools. Aparted detects a corrupted sd card and offers to fix the sdcard, and says it has been fixed, however still showing 0Mb in Aparted app then.
ApartedPro shows a 32Gb Free Space when opening the app, then I try to format it to Fat32 or EXT4, and it fails with "Error formatting the partition No number detected"

Hi again, I tried to do it through disk utilty in MacOS, the SDcard shows up but when I format it, it says "impossible to format last block" (in french).
I tried Gparted Live on my Windows laptop, and the SDcard won't show up.
I cannot use Gparted Live on my mac because I need a physical keyboard and I just have a bluetooth one... Looking at other options, maybe command line ?

consider sd card is corrupted (emmc wear-out)

Hi, thanks for your help anyway ;-)


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Launch google now into listen mode by holding home button like in iOS
I just switched from iOS to android 5.0. With Siri, you are able to hold the home button (from the lock screen or otherwise) and it will immediately start listening for a command. I would like this same behavior with Google Now.
I realize you can set your phone to be listen for the "OK Google" initiation command. That is not what I want. I hate having to do that. I want to activate voice commands by holding the home button.
Is this possible?
Please any help would be appreciated!

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/


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How to remove Google box from home screen
I believe this app is called S Voice. How can I remove it completely?

Sometimes it pops up when I unlock the tablet without me trying to open it. And even if it didn't I would want to remove it anyway because I don't need the functionality it provides (I don't even know what it is.)

That's Google app (formerly known as Google Search).

Google app for Android: The fastest, easiest way to find what you need on the web and on your device.

Quickly search the web and your phone or tablet
Use your voice to search and more
Get personalised results based on your location

(Click image to enlarge; image modified but originally taken from Play Store)
As for how to disable it, see How to disable Google Search? -- usually, it is Settings → Apps → All apps→ Google (or Google Search) → Disable.
While I was able to disable this app in my CyanogenOS 12, there is an answer here which contradicts with my statement. Perhaps, it is still valid for some specific scenarios. I recommend a look at it.
To remove it, see Rooted Phone but still can't uninstall Apps.
Also consider https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/86475/nexus-5-stuck-in-boot-loop-after-disabling-google-search.

Remove bloatware on Galaxy S2 - what are my options?

Should I edit my question to say Google App instead of S Voice?

Good point. If you edit the question and write clearly that it is Google app and you want it removed, then both the answers will have to be edited as well. In order to avoid, write the title something like: "how to remove the search box from my home screen in" the device you have? As for body, leave it untouched since you were not really sure what the box was, and this way the other answer would remain valid without an edit.

So, did you disable it or remove it?

It got disabled, meaning nothing happens when I tap on it now and it no longer appears sometimes when I unlock the device. When I tried to disable it I got a popup asking if I want to replace it with the "factory version" of the app, and I had to choose to do that in order to proceed. So basically the box is still there but it doesn't do anything.

@user11177 If the box is still a nuisance, then you may try a different launcher app (like Nova Launcher). It would replace the home screen, and the box would be gone for good.  // Otherwise, rooting and then removing that app is always the best thing.

Well that should be the Google app.
You can try to deactivate it if you go into settings - applications - Google - deactivate / deinstall updates.
S-Voice is the samsung voice search. It gets triggered by a double home-button click on some samsung devices. If you open up S-Voice and go into the settings, you can deactivate the trigger.
You may even be able to deactivate it like the google application.
I hope this helps you.


text:
CM12 for Htc desire 610 at&t?
I have been looking for a download for a long time, and couldn't find one. I know this is a pretty little known phone, but I still want it. Are there any devs willing to port CM12 on to this phone? I am willing to flash a custom kernel, and do pretty much whatever it takes, aside from hardware mods.

Is there any reason why this question was bad? If so, please comment. I'm a noob and still learning the ropes.

I can only speculate the reason for downvote: it's not really clear what you want. Saying "Is there any way I can get CM12 on this phone" but then  saying "looking for a download" makes it look like you either want us to find the ROM, or give you instructions for it. In any case, note that any question asking us to find off-site resources are off-topic. However, we have a consolidated guide which may help you out. See Where can I find stock or custom ROMs for my Android device?. Other than that, I recommend purging everything except the issue.

Detail us your research and tell us what exactly do you want now, though remaining on-topic of course. See [help/on-topic] to know more about on/off-topic content.

Thanks, I looked on most of those resources and couldn't find anything. Will update my question.

At this very moment there is no cyanogenmod 12 available for your device. One developer tried to port it but it didn't boot up. The project seems to be dead.
What you can do and what has already been done a few times:
Visit the xda forum for your specific device and create a thread where you can ask devs for building cyanogenmod. Find other users and create a bounty. Make the device interesting for a developer and someone might pick it up and create cyanogenmod. But keep in mind that you would have to donate a small amount of money to the developer. If you can find enough people then that will be no problem.
Sorry that there is nothing much you can do.

Could I have a link to the first project?

Sure, here you go: http://forum.xda-developers.com/desire-610/development/ported-cm-12-htc-desire-610-t3128170

Google's site: & similar: searches will help you in finding this; took me less than an hour to find CM12 un-official port and Android 4.4.4 slim ROM just by searching your titled question (minus the at&t part) like so CM12 for Htc desire 610 site:forum.xda-developers.com
In fact it took me longer to writw this than to find the above links and others that I read though and didn't think worth sharing.
If you check CM's wiki you'll find instructions on how to compile CM7 for your device as well as auto-generated instructions on how to port other versions of CM to a device. By using the search tips above on the parts of compiling process that you've question on you'll be able to try it yourself. For example if you don't know how to compile a kernal then try how to compile kernel for <device name> similar:wiki.cyanogenmod.org/ and you'll find others that have tried and the steps they took.
I'd advise that you first try compiling the most stable version of CM for your device. Then once you know you can repeat the steps required for a working version start investigation of how it differs from the version you want ported and the unstable version already available. Looking at your devices' specs I see no emediat reason why you couln't have a better version it just hasn't been done yet because no one hasn't taken the steps required.
By taking your device and education into your own hands and under your own control you may find that it is very rewarding to solve things yourself. Lastly don't get to fixated on CM's ROMs there are ways to combine working bits and pieces from other ROMs into something that is your own.

I have no idea what you mean by compiling and kernel, and stuff like that. Side note, when android p comes out, I hope they call it popcorn so that we can make a kernel joke.


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Mobile hotspot working but no data with lollipop 5.1
I have a Motorola e xt1528 phone on Ultra.  When I try to start the mobile hot spot app it checks if the service is allowed and then activates the WiFi.  Any device that connects gets an IP however there  appears to be no dns and I can't ping an IP address numerically either.
I tried two different APN configurations for Ultra but neither worked when the client tries to ping or fetch html.
I am using the mobile hotspot app that is preloaded for this phone for Verizon/Motorola because when I tried a couple from the app store neither seemed able to activate the WiFi.
Any ideas on what I could try to fix this connection problem?
I've tried both APN configurations from http://bestmvno.com/apn-settings/ultra-mobile-apn-settings.html if I use the proxy even the phone looses its data connection.  The second APN setting seems to work ok but the devices connecting to the hot spot have no data.
Edit
I tried using T-Mobile APN setting and it briefly worked probably because Ultra is their wholesaler.  The T-Mobile network cut off my data connection completely after about 5 minutes to both the phone and the clients. So it seems there must be a configuration issue somewhere because with Ultra the clients are the only ones with data issues.

Turns out Ultra does not allow data sharing and they block it.  Too bad they don't mention this in any of their brochures.
The work around might be to set up a local vpn network and then bridge to Ultra with something like open garden.


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Smart phone factory reset, but forgot google account -- bricked now?
Motorola Moto E LTE XT1528 (Verizon) running Android 5.1  I bought this phone in Aug, 2015.  I have the box, the receipts and a copy of the transaction from Best Buy via ebay. (EDIT: the boatloader for this model can't be unlocked)
I pulled my phone out of my pocket this morning and was greeted with a "Select Language" screen.  Somehow it had preformed a factory reset.
To my chagrin, it required my google account to use the phone.  I set this up long ago and I never use the google account. I couldn't remember anything but a few letters of the account.
I tried all the recovery options on https://www.google.com/accounts/recovery/ but nothing worked.
It seems that now my only choice is to buy a new phone. Does anyone know if anything can be done?
Edit: In regards to the moderators suggested solution: With 5.1 you can no longer wipe the data and return to factory settings with the bootloader.
Edit 2: Verizon, Best Buy, Google were unable to assist.  Motorola at first told me the "phone is now bricked" (their words).  After talking with Google again they conferenced in Motorola who agreed since it was still under warranty they would service it.  So I am sending it back to them.
As a curiosity I tried all of the suggested solutions in the answers that were suggested in the duplicate question.  Specifically for the XT1528 there is no menu options in the pull down that allows you to try to bypass the boot loader block.  In other words at 0:41 in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLZOI-9tYg4 that button does not exist in the upper right. I added a screen shot showing the option that is not available so you don't have to watch a video:

This is unfortunate because when I bought this product I had no idea how significant that spontaneously made up google account would become over time.  The phone just said to create one, there was never any implication to how important it would be because there was no "Kill Switch" feature at the time that depended on it.
I'm well versed in the android tools, so if someone has an idea, I would be willing to see if it works before I send it back.  So far nothing has.

Is the bootloader unlocked or a custom recovery in place or are you willing to unlock bootloader (would void warranty)?

The bootloader for the XT1528 can not be unlocked.

@Mathew Read That linked answer doesn't work for 5.1.  You can not delete/wipe during a factory reboot anymore without access to the google account.


text:
What is the default DPI of HTC One (M8)?
I need to set my DPI back to default, but I never saved it. Does anyone know what the default DPI is for this device?
To clarify, PPI is pixels per inch, which is hardware-set, it's unchangeable. DPI is dots per inch and is what determines what scale of the elements on the screen, the manufacturer sets this by default, but I changed it with a root app and I want to know the original size without reflashing.

Did you change the density in build.prop? If not, then do adb shell wm density reset or use the density from adb shell getprop ro.sf.lcd_density.

@Firelord I used a root app to change it, so doing the second command with ADB tools will give me the default DPI before I changed it?

programming is correct, from gsmarena 1080 x 1920 pixels (~441 ppi pixel density)

@moonbutt74 I'm asking for the DPI though, not PPI. You can't change PPI, you can change DPI.

I really don't understand why I was downvoted... If someone could care to explain?

I had to flash a 5.1 RUU for my phone anyway, so after doing so, I used Firelord's comment to get the correct answer to my question.
The default DPI for the HTC One (M8) is 480.

441 is the default dpi for HTC one m8

I think that's the PPI...

No it's dpi look at the link

It may say DPI, but I looked up the PPI and it said 441. They mistyped.

Well i saw it in YouTube video and other places to and they said the same thing. Dpi for HTC one m8 is 441.

Check this: http://www.technobuffalo.com/2015/03/01/htc-one-m9-vs-htc-one-m8-spec-shootout/ It says the PPI (pixels per inch) is 441. DPI is dots per inch, which means what scale everything is set on the screen, the manufacturer sets the DPI, but you can change it. I want to know what the manufacturer set it to.


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How to create a profile with multiple context in Tasker?
Right now by default, Tasker runs my task when any of the context (aka. profile) are met.
I want to have the task only activate when all of the context are met:  location and time, et cetera.
How?

You can add more contexts to existing profile by:

Tap the profile to display the context
Long-press the context
Select Add +
Choose the context you want to add

For example, if you want to have location & time as the contexts:

On Profiles tab, tap + icon and select the first context: Location.
Create or choose the location
Create or choose the task
On Home profile, long-press the location name until a pop-up appears; press Add +
Select the second context: Time
After configuring the time, press Back to finish it

In case you want to remove a context without deleting the profile:

Tap the profile to display the context
Long-press the context
Select Delete
Select OK to confirm

Warning: if there is only 1 context, deleting it will also delete the profile.

Is there any way to have more than four contexts?

@Shayan I believe that is a good question that should be posted as a new, stand-alone question :)


text:
Tasker - If at least one context is true
How do I make it run the tasks when at least one context is met?
For example, when either the phone cell or GPS context is met, it activates...and only runs the exit task when both are not met.

From what I can tell you can't create a profile that will trigger when 1 of 2 conditions are met. To achieve what you are looking for tasker would have you create 2 separate profiles that choose the same task to active when the condition is met. If this doesn't answer you question dead on please provide more details since the example seems to imply you have another question.


text:
How can I upgrade the OS of my Samsung Galaxy Exhibit from Android 4.1 to 4.4 or higher?
How can I upgrade the OS of my Samsung Galaxy Exhibit (SGH-T599N) from Android 4.1 to 4.4 or higher?
I am trying to install Live on YouTube – by Xperia on my smartphone so that I can live stream videos on YouTube, but it's giving me this error message: "This app is incompatible with your device."
According to the app's Google Play homepage, which was updated last week, the app requires Android 4.4 or higher. I only have 4.1. :( So, I assumed it must be because of that (please correct me if this assumption might be wrong.) Also, when I press Software Update on my device, I get: "This device is up to date." Could it mean that I may never be able to update it anymore because it's too old?

Android updates are issued per device. Once the device is selected for update the update is distributed OTA(Over The Air) from your wireless carrier. Until then you have to use the current installed version of the OS.

I bought the device in the US, but I'm currently not in the US. And I don't have a data package for this phone. Can it receive updates over the internet (as opposed to the phone/data service provider)? I mean, do the updates have to be pushed through the service provider they have a contract with, or can it also be pulled by the user?

The other option is rooting the device along with a custom recovery, backing up the stock ROM, flashing a custom ROM with the 4.4 upgrade. Do your research thoroughly to avoid a brick. Best of luck.

authors: Михаил Матвеев


text:
Can I configure my Android Phone to block certain numbers calls?

Possible Duplicate:
How can I reliably screen or block callers on a number-by-number basis?

I'm receiving calls from call-center companies that wan't to offer me services that I don't want. I already ask them to stop calling but they keep trying.. Can I configure my 2.2 Android Phone(Galaxy 551) to block the incomming calls from certain numbers?

@Mathew the Question you point to is only resolved if you can use Google Voice service. At this time this service is not available in many countries.

I my contry, Brazil, google voice is still unavaiable for Android.

@Doliveras: There are two other answers there which do not require Google Voice, both of which work just fine.

I am not sure about an option in the system itself but the app mr number will do that for you:
The lifehacker article talks about the app http://lifehacker.com/5648876/call-block-unlimited-automates-call-blocking-and-routing-on-android-phones

I use this app too. It have a comunity list with telemarketers reported by the users. very powerfull.

Not positive which version they added the feature or if this is an HTC/T-Mo addition, but on my HTC G2 (running 2.3.3) it can be done without any apps.
While viewing a contact, I can go into the menu -> options and change the ringtone or route calls directly to voicemail. I configured this for a single contact I've called "Blocked" and add numbers to this contact as needed.
Even better, within Google Voice, which I use for voicemail, I go to this entry, edit the Google Voice settings for that entry, and change the selection from which phones to ring to block the caller.
Now my phone doesn't ring and I don't get any voicemails to delete.

I didnt find this option on my Galaxy 551.... However, thank you...


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My EVO 3D is narcissistic and won't stop taking pictures of itself
My SD card is filling up with screen caps. I mean, it's not a big problem that's taxing my storage. Still, with all the activity in my pockets, my phone frequently like to waste time photographing itself like some webcam girl.
I am running a stock EVO 3D from HTC; no roots, no screen cap apps or anything. I am thrilled that there might be native screen-capping. However, when I have googled to find out how to do it, there are either non-native instructions (it's native), or there are instructions to just shake the crap out of it (which I have tried, and does not cap screens). I admit it is totally possible there is some key-combo I have not found yet; but if there is one, I need to disable/remap it.
My question is two fold;

So assuming the problem is between the keyboard and chair, and assuming that the behavior leading to the screen caps isn't going to change (i.e. me putting my phone in my pocket); How can I get the phone to stop screen capping at random times?
As mentioned in the comment below, hitting [LOCK+Home] will take screen caps with my HTC EVO 3D; can these buttons or this behavior be remapped?

On the one hand +1 for the great title, on the other hand, how to take screencaps on the Evo 3D is in this previous question http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/1759/how-to-take-a-screenshot-with-an-android-phone/14166#14166 Is there anything about the way you hold/pocket it, or a case you use that makes those buttons particularly vulnerable?

(A) Glad to finally know the combination, thanks! (B) Is there a way to remap or disable the screen-capping? I am not using a case, and typically have headphones in with the base in the bottom of the pocket, the lock key not up against anything.

There is a bug on the sensation in which the lock bottom doesn't do its job and when you hit home a screenshot is taken. It could be that the Evo 3D has the same problem... no solution AFAIK

You could try this app: ButtonRemapper (XDA Thread)
It takes a little reading to figure out how to properly configure this to your needs but once it's done it should solve your problem.

Thanks much, unfortunately my phone is not rooted; are there any remapping apps that do not require root?

I don't think so because of security reasons. If I see something I'll get back to you!


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Where do I configure DNS and IP settings in HTC Desire S?
HTC Desire S seems to have very scarce WiFi settings. I'm trying to debug a Wifi connectivity issue and looks like it might be a DNS problem. I Googled and looks like many Android devices have some "advanced" settings including DNS server addresses. I can't find anything like that in Desire S.
What am I doing wrong? How do I change DNS and IP settings in Desire S?

In my HTC Desire I find it under:
Settings-> Wireless & networks -> WiFi Settings
Press Menu and select Advanced
Here I can see option to use static IP by selecting "Use static IP"

Thanks a lot. I didn't realize I had to press Menu.

OK just found it. In wifi settings press and hold the connected network you want to set IP to. Pick modify network and in there you scroll down, to DHCP settings and pick static and scroll down to et your IP. Kinda complicated comparing to non sense android. O well. Hope that helps OP or any other fellow searcher.

You probably don't have HTC sense (you're using other ROM). Hence you don't have those settings. I use Hox with Sense as well as OP myself, and I don't see any options there to set a static IP. HTC seems to have disregarded those settings. (ICS 4.0.4)


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Problems with SetCPU on Sidekick 4G
I installed SetCPU on my SK4G today, and for the most part things are running fine and I haven't had any problems.
At first I was getting a lot of lag and my phone kept freezing, so I checked this post and it helped me out a lot.
But I ran into one more problem. My phone keeps shutting off and I have to take out the battery and put it back in order to turn it on again. It's happened twice.
Could SetCPU be the cause of the problem?
Profiles:
Main / 816max - 312min (ondemand)
Temp > 35.6 C / 608max - 216min (ondemand / priority: 100)
Charging / 760max - 456min (ondemand / priority: 75)
Screen Off / 456max - 312min (ondemand / priority: 50)
I should also mention that I don't have a custom ROM or Kernel on my phone. It's just rooted.

Absolutely yes. I have a SK4G as well, and tried SetCPU out too.  It force closed regularly; whether it's due to overheating I can't say for sure, but it seems the most likely cause.
FYI, all the SK4G ROMs are based on the stock ROM as no one's reverse-engineered the hardware requirements to build custom kernels for it yet :(

Ah, that's good to know. I thought there were some custom Kernel's available for it, but I guess I read wrong on xda. I wish I'd gone with one of the Galaxy S phones. It seems like people have put more work into making ROMs and custom kernels for it.
Also, it looks like the Galaxy S phones either come with Gingerbread or are getting an update for it, and of course newer models will probably come with ICS as the default OS.

Yah, there are a few lightly customized ROMs (they just theme the stock ROM and add/remove some apps) but none of the XDA/cyanogenmod big boys see the SK as a good target for a kernel project, alas.
That being said, I don't regret buying mine as the physical keyboard absolutely rocks and for me that's a huge consideration.

I just flashed a ROM on mine today, and it looks and runs a better! No SetCPU needed. It does look like it has a custom kernel as well. 2.6.32.9-Platypus_Egg_v1

You don't say what ROM you're using, but looks like it's from sduvick's Platypus Dev Team.  I know Domination 1.5 came out recently, perhaps that's it?  Generally they're based off of the KJ2 stock ROM with a boatload of tweaks.

Yep, it's Domination 2.0. He just updated it a few days ago. It looks great, and it's pretty nice not having all that T-Mobile software taking up space.


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No OS installed message for specific ROMs
I'm having troubles with installing ROMs. I've been using a custom ROM (crdroid) on my Redmi 5 plus device for quite some time. I have recently decided to give another custom ROMs a try and downloaded Resurrection Remix and Evolution X. But I can't install them as after flashing, TWRP is saying there is no OS to boot from. But when I flash CrDroid back, it is booting perfectly fine. Here's how I am flashing ROMs:
First I'm wiping Dalvik & Cache, cache, system and data. Then I'm just flashing the ROM's zip. The strange thing is that it is working for CrDroid. I even tried wiping internal storage and formatting data but still no luck. Right now I'm posting this from CrDroid as I put it back.

This might be a weird question, but ensure that you're flashing the custom ROM specifically built for Redmi 5, not for other devices? (consider mentioning the DL link to the Resurrection Remix and Evolution X?)

@AndrewT. I added the links


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Music stops when the screen is off
After selecting a music file to open in file explorer in a floating mode, the music stops as soon as the phone is locked. I whitelisted both the player and explorer in battery saver settings but no luck. Playing music in the music player itself isn't creating this problem, though.

(Click to enlarge)
Edit: The device is Redmi 5 plus but it's on a custom rom (Havoc OS 3.3, Android Q). The music player is Hash Music Player

Could you reclarify on "playing music in the music player itself isn't creating this problem"? Did you mean the issue only occurs when playing music from file explorer, but not if directly from the player? Also, each music player has different behavior, so more details (as asked above) will help us more in finding the solution.

@AndrewT. I wanted to say that playing songs directly from the player doesn't create this problem. But when I open an audio file from explorer with a floating screen (see the screenshot above), the (floating) player stops working when the phone gets locked. I added more information in the edit above.

I don't think screen off/on has any bearing on this app. I installed the app, played the music from stock file manager. But the moment I switched to an another app music stopped. It is likely the app is not creating a background service (I didn't verify though) to continue the playback when its activity (that floating window) is destroyed.


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I need help identifying a feature
I have been using an app called Foodpanda that is able to show a button on top of other apps and, on the home screen.
It makes this little button which I have marked in the screenshots below with an arrow. Observations:

The app does not have any special permissions
The button appears only when a support chat is active on the app
The button takes me into that view and disappears when that view is active.
The button cannot be hidden if there is a chat active in the background.

What is this feature/functionality called? Is there a way to disallow it?

I found out that the feature is Draw over other apps. Funnily, this is not a permission that needs to be granted.
I've confirmed this. When I disable that permission, the app cannot draw that button.
Also, it is a long way down from the other permissions.

Another interesting thing I found is that it cannot show anything on the permission screens- both the general permission and the advanced one for drawing on other apps.


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Finding out what App causes unwanted new tabs in firefox on Android
Recently some app started opening new firefox tabs with the adress 'livemobilesearch.com'. I uninstalled the most recentently installed apps, but the problem still persists. I assume the pages get opened when I unlock my phone from standby, because sometimes after I unlock the phone the screen flashes for a second and if I open the firefox after that, a new tab with said webpage is open. I already deleted the 'cache' and 'data' of the firefox app but nothing changed. Also I tried an anti virus and malware software called "Malwarebytes Security: Virus Cleaner, Anti-Malware", but it didn't find anything. I have two ideas / questions to find out what causes this problem:

Does the firefox app have a logfile that tracks from where pages are openend?
Is there a way to see a list of receivers that are 'subscribed' to the SCREEN_ON Event?

If anyone has another idea to how to fix my problem I'd be glad to hear it.
Thanks in advance.
EDIT:
I've read and followed the instructions of the related articles from the comments. dumpsys activity activities shows the following:
* TaskRecord{3bf05cb #1075 A=com.android.chrome U=0 StackId=1 sz=1}
  userId=0 effectiveUid=u0a103 mCallingUid=u0a103 mUserSetupComplete=true mCallingPackage=com.android.chrome
  affinity=com.android.chrome
  intent={act=android.intent.action.VIEW dat=https://livemobilesearch.com/?utm_campaign=dist&utm_source=foobar flg=0x14002000 pkg=com.android.chrome cmp=com.android.chrome/org.chromium.chrome.browser.ChromeTabbedActivity}
  realActivity=com.android.chrome/org.chromium.chrome.browser.ChromeTabbedActivity

....

* Hist #0: ActivityRecord{bbeee47 u0 com.android.chrome/org.chromium.chrome.browser.ChromeTabbedActivity t1075}
      packageName=com.android.chrome processName=com.android.chrome
      launchedFromUid=10103 launchedFromPackage=com.android.chrome userId=0
      app=ProcessRecord{408bf79 18941:com.android.chrome/u0a103}
      Intent { act=android.intent.action.VIEW dat=https://livemobilesearch.com/?utm_campaign=dist&utm_source=foobar flg=0x14002000 pkg=com.android.chrome cmp=com.android.chrome/org.chromium.chrome.browser.ChromeTabbedActivity (has extras) }
      frontOfTask=true task=TaskRecord{3bf05cb #1075 A=com.android.chrome U=0 StackId=1 sz=1}
      taskAffinity=com.android.chrome
      realActivity=com.android.chrome/org.chromium.chrome.browser.ChromeTabbedActivity

The way I understand the output is, that the tabs were opened from chrome. I've disabled chrome for now, as I can't uninstall it.
EDIT 2:
The problem still persits. Even though I followed the steps in the similar thread in the comments, the unwanted page still gets opened. I can't uninstall Chrome since it is a system app (I have a sony xperia x compact on Android 8.0.0).
After I disabled Chrome the unwanted page is still opened. It now states in the dumpsys: "launchedFromPackage=org.mozilla.firefox". It would appear, that the solution form the comments is in my case not working.
Any advice would be much apreciated.

Hi. Can you do this? Connect the phone to PC, start saving output of logcat command into a file through adb logcat -v long,descriptive > logcat_output.txt, unlock the screen and wait for the browser with that URL to be launched, and when done launching, press ctrl + c to exit saving the logcat's output. After that, share the logcat file with us using "github paste" or pastebin website. // Logcat is a very important tool to troubleshooting issues with Android.

I've put the logcat here: https://pastebin.com/VZHXFeNW
You can search for "livemobilesearch" to find the place where the page gets opened.

Can you  give me the output of adb shell dumpsys package > dump_pkgs.txt or alternatively, adb shell 'dumpsys package | grep -B1 -e 10331   -e 10021'? Also, tag me with @Firelord to notify me of your comment. Thanks

@Firelord here is the "dumpsys package": https://gist.github.com/KArlkackt/5bc56b4b627bcd1772ec73d7c4d42420

Can you disable or uninstall the Farming Simulator app in your device and see whether the browser is still launched with that URL automatically upon unlocking the device? It is identified by some anti-malware programs as
potentially malicious. See https://www.hybrid-analysis.com/sample/f11ee8a9522d73c8af296a3eca21a7487db48923ae8bdccabef919651bc4c592?environmentId=200 for more

@Firelord After uninstalling the farming simulator, the problem went away. Thank you so much! I thought, because I paid for the app, the developer would not place malware in their product, but as it turns out I was wrong. Lesson learned. If you post an anwser I will mark it as the solution.

I'm glad we were able to work this out. However, I cannot post an answer here because the question is still a duplicate to that question. I've, however, added my findings from this answer into my other answer, so that it benefits people who would be spammed, like you, in future.  If you intend to vote, which is voluntary, you may upvote it there. Thanks!


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How to make it possible to save raw photos on Samsung Galaxy A3 2017?
I have a rooted Galaxy A3 2017 (SM-A320F) running Android 8.0.0. I'm trying to capture raw photos, but neither the stock Camera app nor Open Camera show any relevant options (I have enabled Camera2 API). This option wasn't present before rooting too. On another phone, unrooted Galaxy Note8, the option is present at least in Open Camera.
So I suppose the option is somehow disabled in my A3. Can it be re-enabled without switching to a completely different firmware? How?
Note that another question proposed as a duplicate is 1) asking about very old version of Android — 4.2.2, which doesn't have Camera2 API, and 2) asks simply whether there exist any apps with such functionality, which today is of course yes. So this one is not a duplicate. This question is about how to re-enable the missing raw photo support instead.

Possible duplicate of Taking raw photos using Android devices

@Zackary it's not, see the edit.

It appears to already be possible, with the stock firmware! I was about to try tracing an NDK-powered camera app (thanks to Sisik's tutorial with a demo) with strace to see which API calls lead to which ioctls to aid further searches, when, while trimming down the demo, I noticed that the native camera API exposes AIMAGE_FORMAT_RAW16 with dimensions 4144×3106 on my Galaxy SM-A320F/DS. After I went ahead and tried capturing an image in this format, I indeed got a true 16-bit Bayer output, which after simplistic demosaicing and white-balancing resulted in a pretty decent raw image.
There's a small strangeness though: the bottom part of the image (pixels 2333 through 3106) is always filled with zeros. I'm not sure why this is so, but at least the upper 75% of the data are present and usable.
How to get RAW support in OpenCamera
Currently, OpenCamera detects whether a camera supports RAW by REQUEST_AVAILABLE_CAPABILITIES_RAW. If there's no such capability, the detection simply gives negative result. For SM-A320F this is incorrect, because it doesn't report this capability, but RAW16 format is among the supported output formats.
To work around this misdetection, we can apply the following patch to OpenCamera 1.47.3, and build our own APK. This patch will stub out the check for the capability, making OpenCamera search for the format desired regardless.
diff --git a/app/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/opencamera/cameracontroller/CameraController2.java b/app/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/opencamera/cameracontroller/CameraController2.java
index 2c6463c..939b00b 100644
--- a/app/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/opencamera/cameracontroller/CameraController2.java
+++ b/app/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/opencamera/cameracontroller/CameraController2.java
@@ -2062,7 +2062,7 @@ public class CameraController2 extends CameraController {
         //camera_features.picture_sizes.get(0).supports_burst = false;

         raw_size = null;
-        if( capabilities_raw ) {
+        if( true || capabilities_raw ) {
             android.util.Size [] raw_camera_picture_sizes = configs.getOutputSizes(ImageFormat.RAW_SENSOR);
             if( raw_camera_picture_sizes == null ) {
                 if( MyDebug.LOG )

I've reported this at OpenCamera's issue tracker as ticket 661.

Camera2 API alone doesn't necessarily mean you can shoot RAW, though you can run the free app Manual Camera Compatibility. If it shows that your phone supports RAW, you should be able to shoot RAW with the Manual Camera app itself.
Photoshop Lightroom is another app capable of capturing and editing RAW, so maybe that's worth a shot aswell.

Lightroom also doesn't work, which is unsurprising, given that the capability is not exposed via the API. And Manual Camera simply lies, saying that the device supports raw shooting (see also its reviews). Of course, I'm not going to buy it simply to find out that it doesn't work.

Fair enough, I didn't know the Manual Camera test lied, I had phones showing incompatibility on it earlier. What is the output of this app? That developer doesn't have any camera app to sell so maybe that app is more truthful.

Oh, nevermind me, I just saw your edit. So you're already aware that your device's HAL3 doesn't do RAW at all which is nothing you can do about sadly. This would be up to the phone manufacturer to do.

The Camera2 probe app does confirm that raw capture is not available. This one looks much more reliable. The question of how to re-enable raw support remains...

You can't just re-enable RAW support yourself or by flashing a custom firmware or ROM. Try contacting the manufacturer for a solution as only they are able to provide you with that functionality. This comes down to hardware level drivers, Camera2 API is only an interface to use available functions like RAW. Even while your camera sensor (Sony IMX 258) might be perfectly capable, if the manufacturer decided not to include RAW support, sadly, you're out of luck here.

If the manufacturer decided to provide me with this functionality, how could they do this if you claim that flashing another firmware won't work?

I said custom firmware, there are plenty of communities modding and customizing all sorts of firmwares and operating systems. Still, you won't find a custom firmware (feel free to search XDA, the largest community of those) that enables RAW support, that was what I am saying.

If the manufacturer decides to provide you with an updated image that enables support, of course you would have to flash it. I apologize for my poor wording.


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What triggers Always On Display's display of seconds?
I'm using a Samsung A320F/DS with AOD in "show always" mode. Android is 8.0.0, AOD has only a single page (without the player). Clock style is set up as
  22:59
TUE 3 JULY
  84%

But one day, when I extracted my phone from the pocket, I found it displaying time as 12:00:41, changing seconds every second. I didn't pay attention at first, and hid the phone back into the pocket. After some time, when I extracted it again to use, the seconds appeared to have gone.
But now I wonder: what triggered this display of seconds? How do I reproduce this? I've tried tapping everywhere, pressing sensor buttons at the bottom, holding them, pressing/holding menu button, volume buttons, but the phone didn't react.
EDIT: I've found that on the Lock Screen, I can get seconds by tapping the clock area. Then the screen dims a bit, and the clock begins to display seconds — until the screen turns off. I still wonder how I triggered this in the Always On Display.

Apparently, what I saw was not the Always On Display. I suppose the sequence of events was something like follows:

While the phone was in the pocket, power button got pressed
Due to hot weather the touchscreen was activated by the side of the pocket (wetted due to sweat), thus tapping OK in the warning dialog to "continue using the phone"
The same activation mechanism resulted in a tap on the clock area on the Lock Screen
Lock Screen presented its "extended clock" or whatever it's called, which shows seconds — on a very dimmed out background.

The dimmed background is likely what made me think it's completely black and assume that it's the Always On Display.
And indeed, this agrees with my observation that after several seconds the extended clock format changes back to the MM:SS — this is simply the display going to sleep, turning on the real AOD.


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Moto g partitions deleted .How to flash internal partitions again Emmc
UPDATE
I have found this xda post with the partition table and sizes of the moto g.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=48855450&postcount=35
I also found this xda post where they partition the emmc
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2596521
, if someone could help me identify what should I put in adb.
My first gen moto g is stuck in a bootloop, everything i have done so far has not worked.I have tried to flash using fastboot and mfastboot with diferent stock images in all I get failed to erase partition, remote failure.
The internal storage says it has 0 mb of space.
I have Twrp installed and using cat /proc/partitions finds no partitions
~ # ←[6ncat /proc/partitions
cat /proc/partitions
major minor  #blocks  name
I have managed to push a Stock rom but can´t flash it with mount data error,mount sd card error, mount system error and mount cache error..
I have tried to use Adb remount but it fails
remount failed: Success
Any help will be greatly appreciated

Assuming you selected correct partition info file (I didnt verify that from first link you posted, so thats up to you), I will only tell you what you asked-> What to really do in terminal from that tutorial.
Part one of tutorial is settings up ADB and getting things ready. You can also follow this tutorial to get adb ready. Then its about backing up things and getting ready (follow tutorial for all steps).
Part two is where main terminal process begins and all you have to really enter in terminal is those commands inside "boxes" (or code area). Just be open minded and read the outputs and interpret them carefully.
If you are trying to repartition and assuming partitions are corrupt because of this->

I have managed to push a Stock rom but can´t flash it with mount data
  error,mount sd card error, mount system error and mount cache error..

Then dont. Because your method of mounting partitions from adb is kinda... (incomplete?). Try entering these commands first and then flashing (whatever method you are using from adb)->
adb shell
su
mount -o rw,remount -t yaffs2 /system
mount -o rw,remount -t yaffs2 /data
mount -o rw,remount -t yaffs2 /cache

This should mount your partitions and you should be able to proceed with flashing. Even if you want to flash through twrp, you can go to Mounts option and make sure system, data, sdcard, cache etc is mounted by check marking them. Though I still cant understand how you are trying to flash a stock rom through sdcard/adb (I never owned a moto so idk what methods are used for flashing process).... but anyway, I told you method to mount those partitions. You need root to use those commands. See if they work. Because a mount error does not mean partitions are corrupt in any way.
And make sure that adb can access your phone as root.

I think my partitions are corrupt or gone because using the command cat /proc/partitions it finds no partitions, in all the examples I seen they have a list of different mmcblk0 blocks.I tried to follow the code that you gave me but all my folders are empty in Twrp, I have folders but  nothing in them
adb shell
~ # ←[6nsu
su
/sbin/sh: su: not found
~ # ←[6nmount -o rw,remount -t yaffs2 /system
mount -o rw,remount -t yaffs2 /system
mount: can't find /system in /proc/mounts
~ # ←[6nmount -o rw,remount -t yaffs2 /data
mount -o rw,remount -t yaffs2 /data
mount: can't find /data in /proc/mounts

Ok, lets confirm that partition missing/corrupt theory. You use twrp right? In recovery mode, go to advanced, then Terminal Command, then enter the command    df and that should list you the partitions. If this command gives pesky output then we can confirm your partitions being corrupt and you shall follow your method then. In any case, please do tell me output if you can. Thanks for feedback.

It gives me a table
Filesystem        1K BLocks     Used       Available     %Use tmpfs/dev         443852              48         443804           0 tmpfs/tmp        443852              24         443828           0
I don´t know if it is wrong thanks for all the help.

If the output was similar to this-> http://s24.postimg.org/hm587meb9/screen.png then its ok. Though sizes and number of partitions may vary, but partitions still exist then.

I don´t know if they are similar, mine don´t have data cache or system.I have uploaded a recovery.log in http://pastebin.ca/3012018.Cheking that I think that I have the partitions but they don´t know their own size. Partition Logs:
/data |  | Size: 0MB Used: 0MB Free: 0MB Backup Size: 0MB.

ok, you do need to repartition. Its not about size, but they actually dont exist somehow (you can see recovery is failing to mount the partitions. This is never a good pointer, not with recovery). So well, I wish  you good luck with procedure then :)


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How can I stop an application from updating itself?
Not to be confused with applications auto updates.
I have this application as an APK file, once I install the application and choose open it starts working perfectly yet it starts downloading a newest version of itself which I dont want to for a certain reason.

The application is a full screen IPTV application. It runs on an Android box. It can be rooted as it's version 4.2.2. The application has no menus or option, it's not available on the store nor it has a specific name.
Disabling the "Uknown Sources" is not a good solution as I would have the "install blocked" message popping up every two minutes or less since the application does NOT give up on trying to update itself.

Obviously disabling the Internet access is not a solution.
Is there any solution that does not require modifying the APK file itself? I know nothing about Java development and it is impossible for me to modify the source code unless it can be modified to achieve my goal using a for-dummies software like APK Editor

Turn off ye interwebs, then open the app and see if auto-updates can be turned off.

@DanBrown would you care to explain a little bit more? Thanks

Turn off WiFi and mobile data (or just enable airplane mode.) Then open the app. find the apps settings menu (wherever that is) and look for an option along the lines of 'Automatic updates'

@DanBrown thanks for your suggestion but I believe you have not read my question carefully

I have - What app is it? (so i can have a look around)

@DanBrown it's not available in the store

@Ulkoma, the Dan Brown suggestion seems legit to me. Doesn't the app have a settings menu? Try find something about update

@Ulkoma I can look online. what app is it?

@esQmo I should mentioned in the question that the app have no menu at all, it's poorly developed for sure otherwise it wouldn't try to update itself in this crazy way

@Ulkoma, I would like to point out that sometimes these "updates" that we don't like as users are necessary for the app to continue contacting the necessary server database and back-end stuff. Also, DanBrown is suggesting that you try isolating the app from the source of its update by turning off your internet/WiFi/Cellular connections. During this time, see if there are options WITHIN THE APP (not within the app store) to disable auto-updates.

Just so you know, you can even disable the Install Blocked dialogs. See http://android.stackexchange.com/q/132951/96277

@Firelord I'll check that later on, this might solve my problem, if it's the case then I'll ask you to put it as answer so I can grant you the bounty

Maybe you can use an app such as Network Connections which has live capture capabilities to find the IP of the update server your app is accessing.
You can then add an entry to iptables to drop the connections to that IP.
For the changes to persist across reboots you'd need a kernel with init support. So you'd have to check that out as well and instal custom one if needed.
PS: I want to make clear that I have no real experience with actually trying any of it and that my answer is just put together from answers I found on other questions on Android Enthusiasts Stack Exchange. In particular, this one and this one.

Killing the connection stops the main function of the app, it's a live TV app

I have 2 methods which I suggest you try out:

Change time and date settings either ahead or behind and see if that could trick the application into not updating itself. Some apps can be auto updating depending on time and date.
Go to phone settings, and open Data usage. Check if the controversial app is listed there. If it's listed then click on menu and Restrict background data.

Now that you have done any of the methods above open the app and try to check its settings to see if has an option to prevent auto updating.

METHOD 1
You can disable auto-updates for every application that is installed on the device you're using via the Play Store. Visit the app's store page and at the top there is a 3 dot button that says Auto-Update. This feature is enabled by default and you can disable for each individual app.
But unfortunately, you can't edit or modify the APK itself using a APK editor program because auto-update is made by the device itself.
METHOD 2
In the Play Store, touch the menu button in the upper-left corner of the screen.

Touch “Settings” on the menu.

The “Auto-update apps” option is in the “General” section of the “Settings” screen. If it says “Auto-update apps at any time. Data charges may apply,” then your apps will be automatically updated. To turn this option off, touch “Auto-update apps.”
]
On the “Auto-update apps” dialog box, touch “Do not auto-update apps.”
The dialog box closes and the “Auto-update apps” option is updated with the “Do not auto-update apps” setting. Touch the Play Store icon in the upper-left corner of the screen to go back to the main Play Store screen. You can also touch the Back button on your device.
Hope this helps!

The app has not been installed via Play Store, also I have mentioned that it's not auto update, the app is designed to request a newer copy of itself

@Ulkoma So, you cannot do anything about it. Because it's integrated inside the app. You can't also edit the APK as I've mentioned. But you can try to edit. I don't have much experience about editing APK's but you can only try. And a question, is this app has a bigger size that you don't want it to update itself?

never say never, maybe someone will come up with a way to disable the system notifications or a firewall to block the download. No idea about the size

@Ulkoma maybe... :D

Use this App Mobiwol
Which,

can make enable/disable each/all app to connect/disconnect the Mobile data/Wi-fi/both.
Block background app activity

To do this, just Slide the firewall to enable

(Click image to enlarge)

The Blue highlighted one in Fig. 2 shows the App is allowed to connect.

Note: No root is required & works from version 4.0

Its depend on your Android version. If you carrying least lollipop, you will get an option in setting. Or you can simply visit to play store by searching your app. There just disable the auto update option.

The app is not in the store and it has no options, it simply requests a new version of itself and invokes the installer, any idea how to defeat that?


text:
Application Installation Error in Genymotion emulator
I am trying to run an application which I am developing currently in Android Studio 3.0 using Genymotion emulator with Android 5.0 - API 21 (Kernel version 4.4.10). All set up on Linux (Fedora 26).
I am not able to run the application.
There is no compilation error in application code as it builds successfully. But when I press run button, first I get this

However, neither the application is not installed on the Genymotion emulator as I can't find it there nor it is installing again. Although when I press OK button shown in above image, I get the following error in Run console, which appears by clicking the button in bottom left of status bar
11/18 22:29:34: Launching app
$ adb install-multiple -r -t /home/vpn/Projects/android/candy-coded/app/build/intermediates/split-apk/debug/slices/slice_4.apk /home/vpn/Projects/android/candy-coded/app/build/intermediates/split-apk/debug/slices/slice_5.apk /home/vpn/Projects/android/candy-coded/app/build/intermediates/split-apk/debug/slices/slice_9.apk /home/vpn/Projects/android/candy-coded/app/build/intermediates/split-apk/debug/slices/slice_8.apk /home/vpn/Projects/android/candy-coded/app/build/intermediates/split-apk/debug/slices/slice_7.apk /home/vpn/Projects/android/candy-coded/app/build/intermediates/split-apk/debug/slices/slice_3.apk /home/vpn/Projects/android/candy-coded/app/build/intermediates/split-apk/debug/dep/dependencies.apk /home/vpn/Projects/android/candy-coded/app/build/intermediates/split-apk/debug/slices/slice_6.apk /home/vpn/Projects/android/candy-coded/app/build/intermediates/split-apk/debug/slices/slice_0.apk /home/vpn/Projects/android/candy-coded/app/build/intermediates/split-apk/debug/slices/slice_1.apk /home/vpn/Projects/android/candy-coded/app/build/intermediates/split-apk/debug/slices/slice_2.apk /home/vpn/Projects/android/candy-coded/app/build/outputs/apk/debug/app-debug.apk
$ adb shell pm uninstall com.example.vpn.candycoded
DELETE_FAILED_INTERNAL_ERROR
Error while Installing APKs

And when I try to perform install command (as shown in above code snippet) using Linux terminal, it shows following
Failed to create session
WARNING: linker: libhoudini.so has text relocations. This is wasting memory and prevents security hardening. Please fix.
Success: created install session [726755356]

This is a new type of error I am facing since I installed the latest version of Android Studio.
It works fine when I run it using my phone Moto E4 plus which has Android 7.1.1.
The project which I am developing was created using the current Android Studio.

Here is my app.gradle just in case
apply plugin: 'com.android.application'

android {
    compileSdkVersion 27
    buildToolsVersion "27.0.1"
    defaultConfig {
        applicationId "com.example.vpn.candycoded"
        minSdkVersion 15
        targetSdkVersion 27
        versionCode 1
        versionName "1.0"
        testInstrumentationRunner
"android.support.test.runner.AndroidJUnitRunner"
    }
    buildTypes {
        release {
            minifyEnabled false
            proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro'
        }
    }
 }

dependencies {
    compile fileTree(dir: 'libs', include: ['*.jar'])
    androidTestCompile('com.android.support.test.espresso:espresso-core:2.2.2', {
        exclude group: 'com.android.support', module: 'support-annotations'
    })
    compile 'com.android.support:appcompat-v7:27.+'
    testCompile 'junit:junit:4.12'
}

Please help me with this.
Also please comment if anything I am missing in describing the problem properly, or any file or screenshot I need to include.


text:
Can't sync my new Nexus S to Google Calendar
First-time smartphone owner. I unboxed my new Nexus S and added my gmail account to it. So far, so good -- it sync'd my contacts perfectly.
But I'd never used Google Calendar (and in retrospect I think that's crucial).
So I signed on via my computer, went to Calendar, and set up a calendar with two events (one repeating, one not).
Then I went back to my phone and I find that in the calendar app I have no calendars. There are no events showing and I can't add events ("You have no calendars."). Moreover, in the Accounts & sync settings, under my gmail account, there is no Calendar item, just Books, Contacts, gmail.
I've waved every dead chicken I've heard of at this one, to no avail. The list of sync items won't grow a "Sync Calendar" item. To wit:
1) Obvious first choice, I thought. Power off the phone, power back on. Nope.
2) Read the FAQ Google Support FAQ
2a) Turned the auto sync off and on. Nope
2b) No notifications.
2c) Don't have a 2-step authentication.
2d) Cleared Calendar Storage data, power off, power back on. Nope.
3) Power off the phone, change my gmail password via web, power back on, re-authenticate. Nope.
4) Go to Accounts & sync, create a new google account, create a calendar in it, power down the phone, power back on. The new account has a Sync Calendar item that works, but not my real gmail account.
5) Go to Applications, all, and delete the data for "all the Google apps", power down the phone, power on. Nope. A caveat on this one, I don't know exactly what "all" means, so I hit Calendar & its storage again, Books, Contacts, gmail, everything whose name began with Google,...
see: Related Question
Ok, different device, but otherwise the description seemed a close match. Nope.
So...
Any other suggestions?

Have you tried setting up the Google Calendar from your computer first? I don't think it can be done from the device. Once it is set up it should sync to the phone. Those events you created are probably just in the phone calendar and not the Google calendar because you don't yet have a Google calendar.

Is it a Google Apps account?  If so, you need to flick some settings in the domain manager: Settings->Calendar->Share all information and/or Share all information, and outsiders can change calendars.
Have you tried going into the calendar settings and checking `Share this calendar with others'?
Wait a while.  Google Calendar settings changes often take a while to propagate, I've found (at least with Google Apps).  Possibly because the server I'm making my changes on is different from the server that my phone is hitting up.

#3 seems to be the winner. This morning the Sync Calendar item is there, as are the items I'd added via the web.
I've no way of knowing whether any of the actions I took had any benefit, it could be just the passage of time to cause the newly created calendar in my Google account to get noticed.


text:
Why does controlling CPU frequency require root access?
According to this answer one of the programs that requires root access is SetCPU that can lower the CPU frequency when the phone is not used thus prolong battery life.
I don't get one thing - why does that require root? What could be the harm in reducing the CPU frequency?

1) Because only the root user can change the system's frequency/governor. It's a system level function call and only root can do that.
2) Under clocking really isn't the problem...  It's over clocking.  You can't really damage the device, but you could end up in an infinite boot loop and an average user may not know how to get out of that.
3) Also: you usually want to replace the kernel when over/under clocking to get new frequencies and possibly under volting to save power (but at the same time, you're going out of the parameters of the CPU and it may end up boot looping because no two CPUs are made exactly alike when you are doing things outside their normal operating parameters).

If have to disagree with Sparx, if you change the CPU frequency via the supported methods that every modern CPU provides, changing it, even in a fast sequence, doesn't affect stability. I would even rule out hardware damage, because of the sophisticated security mechanisms in modern CPUs (overheat protection, etc.).
Why can only root set the frequency and the frequency governor? Well, first because it's Linux that only allows root to do so. Second, I think that it's because the average user shouldn't care about. It's the system that decides which frequency is the best in the current situation. It does so automatically, without user intervention and it does the job good under Android (IMHO). While thinks like SetCPU can prolong battery life, it also can shorten it, if it's done wrong. The question here is: Do you believe that a 3rd party App does better battery management than the one that the manufacturer of the device? In certain cases sure, but not always.

If I set my freq too low, my device doesn't wake from deep sleep. That renders it unusable, until I pull the battery and reboot. Constant overclocking adds heat which is bad for any electronic component. The odds of a hardware failure are much higher. Oh, and if you want setCPU allows a user to use different governers - these tell the CPU how and when to scale up/down to improve either performance or battery life as a user may see fit.

I get your point. But it seems that setCPU uses some internal quirks to under-/overclock. Thats why I added "via the supported methods that every modern CPU provides", which should be safe on every CPU.

But it would require "root", correct? I'm assuming you're talking about init scripts?

It would require "root", right. I am talking about everything the cpu freq governor is able to do and th e cpufred-set binary. Both are using the same system calls and won't be able to damage and/or make your system unstable.

Mucking about with CPU frequencies can lead to instabilities in your system and might also lead to hardware damage. Such a critical function is best left out of the hands of normal users who don't really need to make such changes.
Since this most certainly a core (important) function, one needs root access.

Allowing cpu frequency to be set directly by user level process is a security issue. It's a hardware functionality that could affect other processes running on the system. On an ideal system, no user level process should be able to affect the execution of another user's processes, except through explicit interprocess communication (e.g. pipes, signals, files, etc).
Examples of damages that could be done:

Battery life: a malicious or poorly written could set cpu at a constantly high level, draining more battery than is necessary, without attracting suspicion because it uses little cpu for itself.
Poor performance: a malicious or poorly written app could set the cpu frequency at constantly low level, resulting in poor performance. This could then be used to trick user into purchasing our downloading unnecessary optimizer apps, among others.
Conflicting cpu frequency set by multiple apps could lead to really unstable system performance and general havoc as they keep overriding each other. This reason alone could make the whole cpu frequency setting useless.

The solution to this? Any single process should not be able to directly set cpu frequency. Instead non root process should only be able to give hints, and the system could then pick the best frequency setting, taking into account the hints from all processes, system policy, and process accounting information. This is what cpufreq "governers" are. One of the job of operating system is to moderate access to shared resources.
Also, it should be noted that lowering cpu frequency does not always lead to better battery life, depending on the work load, lower frequency could also mean it takes longer time to finish the task, and this could easily negate the savings.


text:
Can I safely uninstall Flash and Facebook apps?
From this question I known how to remove vendor installed apps.
However is it safe to uninstall Flash and Facebook? I guess that the Android browser depends somehow on Flash and might brake after I remove Flash package.
I simply want to have more space for other apps and don't want to be reminded every time about updates for Flash and Facebook.
Update:
From my point of view both answers are correct. In general it is not safe to uninstall vendor installed apps. However my HTC Desire won't have any new OTA updates so in my case is it safe to delete them.
I just found out that latest ROM update (with Android 2.3) for HTC Desire isn't available as OTA update, you have to install it manually. And Facebook app is already removed from the ROM.
Unfortunately I cannot mark both answers as correct therefore I choose the answer with higher number of votes as correct one.

FYI, uninstalling vendor/system apps will prevent both OTA and manual updates.  My answer (thanks for marking it as correct!) doesn't specify the delivery mechanism, it just says "any future updates from your carrier/manufacturer will not install."

@roxan is incorrect, it is NOT safe to remove stock ROM apps.  If you do so, any future updates from your carrier/manufacturer will not install.
A much safer method is to use an app like Titanium Backup to 'freeze' the apps, preventing them from being seen by the system and running/being updated.  If you really feel the need to uninstall them, you can use Titanium Backup to back them up first (requires root).  That way you can restore them from backup in the future if you need to apply a ROM update.

That's not going to help if the goal is to free up memory.

I've never said its safe to remove all/any stock ROM apps. I've only said its safe to remove Flash and Facebook. And about not being able to update the apps, that's exactly what OP wants. And finally by removing doesn't mean you have to delete the file, you can back it up to SD card and install it again when required.

In addition to what @AlEverett mentioned, this also seems like a bit of a strange situation. If you're using Ti to freeze apps then you need root, which could (in some cases) break OTAs anyway. Further, if you want to retain root, then installing an OTA is generally a very bad idea. Not only will you lose root, it's always possible that you might not be able to get it back.

@roxan: It's not safe, as many phones have FB & Flash installed as systems apps, and  the OP makes it clear his phone is one of those.  Plus, the OP was talking about stopping updates to these types of apps, not Android updates - which your answer would wind up blocking.

@eldarerathis: I've never seen updates that block rooting - what phones have done that?  I'd like to know so I can avoid those manufacturers going forward, as that seems a nasty iPhone-esque kind of trick to play :P
As for a frozen app blocking OTA updates, if you freeze it you can at least unfreeze it again, apply the update, then freeze it again. Not so if you uninstall without a backup.

@AlEverett: actually, freezing an app can help with memory - most system apps also store their data on the internal SD, so if you clear out the app data and then freeze the app you'll at least regain that.  Also, I do go on to say that he can regain space by backing up and then uninstalling the app.

@Logos: Almost every major manufacturer (and Google in some instances) has patched a root exploit with an update at some point. Pretty much the only phones that are exempted are the ones with unlockable bootloaders. Examples: here, here, and here.

Also relevant is the last paragraph of this section from the Wikipedia article on rooting.

@eldarerathis: ah, that explains my ignorance. I don't buy/recommend phones that have locked bootloaders ;)

I've never heard that removing system apps can prevent OTAs.  Do you know why?  If it's something like verifying that the system partition contains everything in the backup system image, couldn't you just edit the system image to match?

@MatthewRead: I don't know the mechanism that it uses to check to make sure the update being applied is targeted to the existing system, but I'm sure XDA could tell you.  As for editing the system image, methinks that's beyond a casual user's abilities ;)

@MatthewRead: Some OTAs will do a hash check on system apps before applying the patches. Example here.

See this page on the CyanogenMod wiki which gives a pretty detailed analysis of what apps are "safe to remove" from the OS.

You can safely remove Flash and Facebook. Android browser won't be able to play flash content after you remove it. That's the only downside of it, no breaking or anything else.
Most of the vendor installed apps are installed in system partition. Even if you delete those apps you can't use that freed up space for installing regular program from market.

It is not safe to uninstall system/vendor apps if your phone still gets Android updates. See my answer for details.

@Logos: It's perfectly safe if you don't intend to install OTA updates direct from your manufacturer, though (provided it's non-essential; obviously removing e.g. the "Phone" app would likely be a bad idea).

I feel that it's an extremely important caveat that you didn't mention in your answer and as such worth making a fuss about.  I've fielded a lot of questions about "why won't my phone update anymore" after people have uninstalled bloatware and they wind up having to do a complete reset on their phone as they don't have the apps backed up.


text:
How to stop System update on Firefly intense 5
My phone is Firefly Intense 5 and I received a notification of system update. I accidentally hit it so my phone starts updating. Now, it suddenly turns off because it's low bat.And up until now, it is still updating. The update starts last Wednesday, now it's Friday. Is there any way I can stop it?

Try this:

Go to Settings
Then applications (or app)
Sweep to Running apps
Locate SystemUpdateService then stop it. (click on stop)
Go back to Download apps
Locate Google Play Service and Clear All Data
Now go check at Settings > About > Software update. You should see the update there just don't hit on download.


text:
Accidentally rebooted OnePlus 6 with no OS installed, how to get back to TWRP?
In the process of installing LineageOS on my OnePlus 6 A6003, I accidentally pressed "reboot to system" when there was no OS installed. How can I get back to TWRP? I've tried holding Power+Vol Down but it just boots with the oneplus logo then unlocked bootloader warning then black screen with the status LED on.

Let us continue this discussion in chat.

I solved my problem with this tool.
Instructions:

Download the zip;
  Unpack the zip in a folder;
  Reboot the OnePlus 6 in fastboot mode (Power and volume-);
  Connect the OnePlus 6 to PC;
  Run flash-all.bat flasher you need;
  Wait until the process end;
  The phone will automatically reboot.

Downloads: https://www.androidfilehost.com/?w=files&flid=271877

Hello. Would you please follow our [answer] guide to write a good, self-contained answer. As the answer currently is, it would lose its usefulness if the link expires. Links are supposed to be mentioned to download some item or suggest a reading material.

@Firelord but the answer will be useless anyway if the link goes down because the tool itself will be inaccessible...?

the tool might be available on some mirror or some other forum/website but the tutorial might not be.

You need to press vol-up + power and then briefly (1-2 secs) let go of the power button (don't let go of the vol-up button yet!) and hold it down again until you see the TWRP splash screen.

When I do this I just get back to fastboot mode


text:
How to fix TWRP bootloop caused by an OTA update attempt on rooted phone without losing any data (including apps')?
My wife, unfamiliar with rooting, agreed to update my rooted Moto C Plus when it requested an update. Needless to say, that didn't turn out well. As a result, now my phone is booting only to TWRP.
I would like to get it to boot normally again with all my data intact...meaning: everything the way it was (including my Google account) prior to this problem. Is it possible? How?
Phone: Moto C Plus (xt1723) 2GB Ram 16 GB Internal memory
OS: Android 7
Flashing tool: MediaTek SP Flash tool v5.1644.00

Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat.

Ok... This is possible, but it's a long task....

I know this is old, but I just saw it... The typical answer here is in TWRP just wipe the cache partition and reboot, at least it always has been the answer with Moto devices in the past. The update is held in cache, wiping cache removes the file and it is not seen by the bootloader, thus the boot progresses normally loading the kernel instead of starting recovery, leaving all apps and data intact.

Download a Stock Firmware
Backup Data in SP Flash Tool  (SPFT)
Flash Stock Firmware in SPFT
Restore Data in SP Flash Tool

A few things before you begin,

Never Use OTA Updates with Root Access or any customizations, Install the stock recovery first, and remove root access if you must have the latest update.
This information is intended for advanced user's that are familiar with SP Flash Tool and Meditek CPU's
You agree to take full responsibility for any damages and/or legal action that may arise from using and/or following the information in this guide.
DATA Partition,
The DATA partition holds your Apps and Data, it's the partition that gets wiped with a factory reset... So provided that you mean all the data that gets wiped in a factory reset.. This is the partition you'll need to backup in SP Flash Tool

Backup
I have answered this question many times, so to stop myself double handling the question, i made these two video's, this cover's nearly all aspects of using SP Flash Tool from Image Firmware Extractions to complete device clones and backups ... You'll need to watch these video's to get a better understanding of SP Flash Tool and what it's capable of...
Please be aware that the original video i made was over an hour and a half, i know nobody is going to watch that so i shrunk it to around 25min each video..
Also, i taught myself all of this over 4 years of tinkering and bricking devices... it's not something that can be lightly skipped over.
MTK Backup & Restore
The Second Video is the main video I'd like you to watch, it focusses on individual image extraction.
I don't have the link, but it's at the bottom of the page ( The Sequel - )
Ok so after you've done a DATA backup using your scatter file from a firmware online... You can go ahead and install the firmware...

After installation, restore the Data.

Easy as that :)


text:
Please help! Bootloop. Can't get into recovery
My wife, unfamiliar with rooting, agreed to update my rooted Moto C Plus when it requested an update. Needless to say, that didn't turn out well. It started booting to TWRP.
I tried finding a solution online. That led me to Troubleshooting: TWRP Boot Loop after OTA update in MOTO G4 (XT1621 Athene) where it gives the following method as a solution:
TWRP Method:
1 Go into TWRP -> Go to Advanced -> Go to Terminal: Enter

2 Please make a backup first of these files in SD card: `cp
/dev/block/platform/soc.0/7824900.sdhci/by-name/mota /sdcard/mota2
cp /dev/zero of=/dev/block/platform/soc.0/7824900.sdhci/by-name/misc
/sdcard/misc2`

3 Type this exactly: `dd if=/dev/zero
of=/dev/block/platform/soc.0/7824900.sdhci/by-name/mota HIT ENTER dd
if=/dev/zero of=/dev/block/platform/soc.0/7824900.sdhci/by-name/misc`
HIT ENTER

4 Restart the phone.

On my phone, there is no soc.0 in the platform folder, instead there is mtk-msdc.0. I tried searching online for a similar solution with the folder mtk-msdc.0, but I couldn't find any,except for https://jagadgetaholic.blogspot.com/2017/06/vernee-thor-e-twrp.html.
Desperate (not knowing which file to go with), I tried dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/block/platform/mtk-msdc.0/11230000.msdc0/by-name/boot. That executed something. But later, when i restarted the phone, it stopped booting to TWRP. Instead, it is now just showing me this logo (Moto) screen (the one that shows first when you turn on the phone, before the TWRP) for about 30 secs or so, and then the phone restarts back to the same screen...restart... screen...and so on. Basically a bootloop, I believe it's called.
What do i do now? The fix i was looking for is one where i don't lose my files. Everything is on the internal memory. No SD card. I want to be able to get my phone to start working again without losing my files. If I could get it to start working again with everything just the way it was before this problem, i would be super grateful.
Please help!
Phone: Moto C Plus (xt1723) 2GB Ram 16 GB Internal memory
OS: Android 7
Flashing tool: MediaTek SP Flash tool v5.1644.00

We will need much more information to give good recommendations here. Please [edit] your question and include at least: Android version it is running, whether it is official TWRP? Also check and update the tags you've used to match your issue.

You just erased your boot image,

I think you should stick with the proper terminology. When reading from /dev/zero it simply yields an infinite amount of (ASCII) zero bytes (after all it's a character device). /dev/null when used to write to is much closer to what one could describe as a black hole. But those are two different devices with different semantics.
  ( 0xC0000022L - comment)

dev/zero is 'an infinite amount of zero bytes' in Android, DD is used for copying.  Here's what you ran in English:
Copy ( IF ) Input File = Zero Bytes ( OF ) Output File = Boot File
You effectively flashed your boot with a series of zeros ( Erased ).
So now that's gone, you'll need to flash it back with Fastboot..
If your device has a locked bootloader, you'll need to flash it back via SP Flash Tool.
I am working on a solution using SP Flash Tool and the stock 7.0 boot image,

Ok before anything, do a complete backup of all regions using SP Flash Tool
MTK Backup & Restore video guide

Download a stock boot.img

You may need a full firmware to extract the boot.img
Here's the firmware i found, may be wrong moto c plus firmware on rootmygalaxy.net

Download these repair files MT6737M Files
Open SP Flash Tool version 5.16 or newer
Extract the files to a folder (Folder1) on your PC
Extract your boot.img from the firmware and place it in your folder (Folder1)
Now you'll have four files

MT6737M_Android_scatter.txt
Preloader_xx.bin
recovery.img ( twrp )
boot.img ( stock )

Open the Scatter file in SP Flash Tool

It should automatically locate the files if no names have been changed

Unselect Preloader

You are only flashing boot & recovery

Select DOWNLOAD as the method of Flash

NEVER SELECT FIRMWARE UPGRADE ETC..

Turn Off The Device

Make sure Quick Boot is not keeping your device switched on

Place the USB end into your PC
Hit start in SP Flash Tool
Plug the other end of the USB into your device
Wait for Flash OK

P.S Please follow the backup guide to make sure if anything gets overwritten by an incorrect scatter file, we can restore it.
Tips :
 Each connection is a called a Handshake with the preloader, you can only use one handshake per action in SP Flash Tool, so you'll need to disconnect the usb and reconnect it to make another preloader handshake for any following action.
Do not move your device while it's flashing, try to keep the usb cable as still as possible.

Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat.


text:
Can someone please help me understand this Linux command?
dmsetup create crypt1 --table "0 `blockdev --getsize /dev/sdb2` crypt aes-cbc-essiv:sha256 <Put the 16-byte hex key here> 0 /dev/sdb2 0"

I got it from step 6 of the first answer here.
I am trying to view the files on an android adopted SD card.
The card suddenly stopped working on my phone and I'm now trying to retrieve my files before I press on "forget" to unmount it from my phone and go back to using my phone normally on it's Internal memory.

Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat.

`blockdev --getsize /dev/sdb2` (in backticks) is a command to get partition size, where /dev/sdb2 is the (encrypted) partition and most likely has a different name on your pc
<Put the 16-byte hex key here> is a placeholder for the real encryption key you have previously extracted from /data/misc/vold
dmsetup create crypt1 is the actually command to decrypt /dev/sdb2
when successfull a new (decrypted) block device /dev/mapper/crypt1 (ext4) will created
Note: root permissions required. open root shell with sudo -i before running this Linux command


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Is there a way to log wifi probe request?
I am able to log wifi probe request with script like hoover, probeSniffer, and my favorite for the moment probemon on my ubuntu machine with a card able to run in monitor mode.
Is it possible to do the same on android ? a rooted android is not a problem.
But I guess one major problem would be to be able to switch the wifi card in monitor mode, if it is possible at all, depending on the driver.
Is there even script or software or app to be able to log the wifi probe request ?
At the very least, one can try to use the script I mention above but there are not meant to be run on android.
My question is perhaps too general. I use a moto G 4G (XT1039) with LineageOS 14.1 (peregrine)

As a work-around, buy a raspberry pi zero (W ?) with a usb wifi key that does monitor mode. This will be almost as portable than a phone but not as much.
You need the battery too to power the rpi0.

You can use you're favorite sniffing tools with kali NetHunter os  on a rooted device or with the kali NetHunter app if the device has support for monitor mode


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What are these icons on an Android?
Could someone please tell what these apps are?

Device is a Samsung s8 edge. Not sure about operating system.

Icon on the left is the notification by the app Musical.ly.

musical.ly is a global video community with editing tools and share video with the world.

Icon on the right is the notification by the app Smart Manager in Samsung.

This app is used to manage battery, storage, RAM, Device Security etc


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Being able to access LAN while using VPN
On Ubuntu, using network-manager, I am able to acces my local LAN while at the same time using a VPN to access internet.
On android 4.4.4, I am using the app of my VPN provider (PIA), and there is no route to the local LAN when the VPN connexion is active.
The official openVPN app seems to behave the same way, although I don't recall clearly my test when using it.
Using a non rooted android, possibly reverting back to openVPN app, will I be able to cast to my chromecast while using my VPN ? how ?


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How can I unlock my s6 Edge Lock Screen w/o having to factory reset it?
Given how sensitive the fingerprint sensor on this phone, the 5 tries were used and the phone was asking for the backup password after. The problem is that i cant even remember the PW. I can unlock it using my google account But I can't even enable my WiFi or MD.  What's the best way to do?
PLEASE HELP!!
THANKS IN ADVANCE! :)

Try enabling wifi using ADB and than sign in.
As per this answer
Enable using below script.
adb -s $PHONESERIAL shell "svc wifi enable"
You can also refer other Answers


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New LG G3 randomly crash
I have bought a new LG G3 (D855, 16GB Flash, 2GB RAM), and rooted and flashed CM12.1 on it.
The phone works great (somewhat), but sometimes the screen turns itself off and the phone gets stuck in this state. Holding the power button neither turns the phone on nor off, and I have to remove and reinsert the battery to turn it on.
It has happened 7 times since Sunday.
I thought it might be due to overheating (a hunch), but could not find anything to confirm this.
How can I solve this problem?

Have you tried a different kernel?

I have not. What can you recommend?

I can't recommend anything. it is up to you to find and decide. I've read about this issue somewhere and people reported success by changing the kernel.

Sounds like the fairly common LG bootloop issue, which Google (and I) attest also happens on the G3.  Some had success with a new battery, or using a heat gun, or tightening screws, or soldering.  I haven't tried all those, but did find that it worked best in cold weather.  Surprised there's no direct question about it here on ASE, as the forums suggest it has hit quite a many.

Had the same issue. Solced by connecting to external power supply. Did some searching and apparently, thus cyclic crashing can be due to a bad battery...