text:
"Converting to multimedia message" when forwarding large SMS
When I receive a large SMS and when I select "Forward" from options, it shows "Converting to multimedia message" and I'm getting charged more. Furthermore, if the person on receiving end doesn't have a multimedia phone he is not able to receive it.
I have un-rooted Samsung Galaxy 3 I5801
I don't want to convert it to Multimedia message.

This was fixed in Froyo. Anything over 3*160 (480 characters) will convert to an MMS prior to Froyo.
You do have a couple options.

Use a 3rd Party Messaging App, like Handcent, for example.
See if you are able to install this "Hack"
Root your phone and flash a Froyo Rom
Wait for a Froyo update from Samsung

Edit: Some additional information
Anything over 160 characters, technically, is no longer an SMS. The stock Messaging app, and others too, allow for "longer" messages but it is just splitting up the messages in to 160 characters. In Eclair (Android 2.1) a message will be converted to an MMS after it exceeds 480 characters. At that point, the default Messaging app will no longer split up the messages, instead it just sends it as one MMS. If you are using a 3rd party messaging application and find that you are still being charged the MMS rate, it may be that your carrier is grouping messages that come through "at the same time".

Thanks very much for the answer. I don't trust that hack. I'm waiting for upgrade from Samsung. I've installed Handcent, and I still had the problem. Currently uninstalled it. Is there any option in Handcent that I've to change?

That is what I am stating, using a 3rd party messaging app, like handcent, will prevent the "Converting to Multimedia Message" bug that was in android prior to froyo.

No, but I had also tried to send it through Handcent when I had it installed and it didn't showed me that message, but when I sent it, I got charged for MMS. And the reciever didn't recieved it as her phone was not supporting it.

I've flashed to Froyo. Very happy with it.

Use Handcent and change the default settings:

Settings -> Send message
settings
Auto-convert to MMS - Uncheck this
Split 160 - Set this to one of the Split options (I recommend Split by word & add counter but you may prefer a different one - I don't fully understand the differences between them all).

Rather than using Handcent, which is quite bulky, slow and doesn't really add any new features to the stock SMS application provided by Android, I recommend BigSMS.
It's a free application that provides you with a simple, yet powerful interface that allows you to send unlimited length SMS. It doesn't claim to be big or clever, it is simply a solution to this problem which the developer also appears to have encountered.
I've been using it for a couple of days and it seems to do exactly what it says. Running perfect on Xperia Arc S running 2.3

not sure. I just downloaded BigSMS off android and it appears to save all my sent sms in my sent box as used by Android. I don't really know. It's a great app though. It solves the problem it says its going to solve without including any frilly crap.

BigSMS doesn't exist anymore? Tried Android Messages, but this also automatically converts to MMS.

As of 2019, Samsung and Google Messaging apps convert SMS into MMS if the SMS is greater than 10 fragments.  But Play Store has an open-source app called QKSMS by Moez Bhatti, which I have tested will still send as SMS even at hundreds of fragments.
But then you must check the limit of your network, and the limit of the receiving phone.  For example, in my tests I could send a 127-fragment SMS over Vodafone UK's network but 128 failed, and an old Samsung Galaxy S2 phone (using its default messaging app) could receive a 120-fragment message but consistently failed with a 121-fragment message (the message is never shown).  When the receiving phone was on the UK's "EE" network, I had trouble making it receive texts longer than 17 fragments, and when the sending phone was on the "O2" network I had trouble sending SMS longer than 2 fragments.


text:
Galaxy S9: Most apps keep stopping
Galaxy S9: All day, most apps that I open will stop and immediately close. Apps running i the background repeatedly give the message "(app) keeps stopping".
I've removed the SD card, and started it in Safe Mode. I also wiped the cache partition and cleared the Chrome cache.
I'm using 57.1 GB out of 74, and memory shows 2.3 GB out of 4 used.

Uninstall Android System Webview on the play store. I just did this and it fixed the issue.

That did it, thanks! I guess this was a known issue! In fact, Play Store says Webview was updated on my phone today -- and it had a lot of 1-star reviews yesterday!

+1, this did the trick on a Samsung Galaxy A5. How did you find out about this?

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
Do any data-recovery solutions still work on android 11?
Question: All data-recovery solutions I can find on this site are from 6 or more years ago. Similarly, commercial solutions (such as Dr. Fone) are only good up to android 4. Are there any tools or techniques that still have a reasonable chance of success on Android 11?
Background: I have an ASUS Zenfone 6 that I recently updated. After the update, I was asked for the lock pattern, which I somehow forgot (I usually use the fingerprint scanner). Without bypassing the lockscreen (or somehow reactivating the fingerprint without the lock pattern) the only option I see is to reset the phone (which I understand will delete the user partition). If it is possible to create an image or recover data after the factory reset, there is at least a chance I can recover the contacts and a few months worth of photos that defaulted to internal memory after a previous update. I know that android has encrypted the user partition by default since Android 5, so maybe recovering data is no longer possible.
Perhaps a successful method would include rooting the phone, although I don't intend to keep it rooted. At this point any method is better than no method.

How to recover a deleted file from /data partition?

Since about Android 6 all devices come with enabled user data encryption. I think since about Android 8 Google enforces that this encryption is hardware backed, which means you can't export the used encryption key and once the key has been deleted all data are gone forever.
These measures have been introduced to protect user data e.g. of a stolen device. Unless the thief knows the unlock code the device does not allow user data access.
There were a few cases were you could trick the lock screen to bypass it, however this only affects devices that were already running. If you boot the device you need to provide the lock screen PIN/password/pattern otherwise the user data encryption key is not released (the exact way this works was changed with every Android version a bit).
From the device perspective you are not the device owner unless you have authenticated using the required password/PIN/pattern. Therefore it now protects the data from any access.
There is no way to bypass this protection, otherwise a thief could do the same and in the get access to your data:
rooting: Requires an bootloader unlocked device or for an device with a vulnerability access to the UI is required. Unlocking a bootloader locked device automatically performs a factory reset which deletes the encryption key -> data gone. And that you don't have UI access to the device is obvious.

I suppose it's a good thing that my phone lock screen is more secure than my windows lock screen. There are all kinds of ways to get around that. Thank you for your answer, even if it was not what I hoped to hear. I hoped there would be an exploit out there somewhere.

If you ever enabled Google's "Find My Device", you might be able to unlock your phone by locking it there with another password. You can check if your device is listed in Find My Device. There you should be able to set a new temporary password to unlock your device. However, it seems like that's not always the case. Or that even the right password doesn't always work. But maybe it's worth a try if nothing else works.
See also this question about unlocking after locking with Find My Device.

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


text:
Removing app from download queue in Amazon App Store
A few weeks ago I installed Amazon App Store and tried to download a game that was free for that one day. I "bought" it for free according to my Amazon account, but I've never been able to download it as the file size is large and download's wi-fi only. My wi-fi's very patchy so I've never been able to complete the download, apart from once when it said there was a "package error" after downloading.
I'm not even that bothered about downloading this game - I just wanted to check it out since it was free - so now I just want to get rid of it from my "My Apps" download queue. There seems to be no way I can find to just delete it. Anyone know how I can get rid of this?
Many thanks

Thanks everyone for your comments. Being unable to remove that one app in my download queue was mildly annoying, but today I noticed that every app I've downloaded from Amazon App Store and have since uninstalled is in that queue now. This happened after I was asked to sign back into my Amazon account via the app. It's ridiculous. I think I'll get rid of Amazon App Store and stick to Appbrain and the conventional Android market.

Go to My apps-> cloud-> hold the app you want to remove (it is valid only for installed or downloaded apps not for paused ore ongoing download).
If you want to remove ongoing download, then you must cancel that. To cancel, you have to go to setting-> running apps-> amazon app store.
You will see 4-6 processes there. You have to stop download process from there. Note: the download process will only appear if that download is running at that time and it may take a few seconds to appear.
After stopping download process, when you will return to that app in app store's cloud section, you will see download cancelled. Now you can hold that entry and safely choose remove from upcoming box.

AFAIK, you cannot remove items you have "purchased" from this list. It keeps them on the amazon side, not on the device. I have wiped all data from my device, and once I reinstalled amazon app store, all of my purchased apps appeared in the list.

I would try clearing the data for the Amazon Appstore via Settings -> Applications -> Manage applications -> All.  You'll have to log into it again and whatnot the next time you open it, but hopefully that will do the trick.

I think the question is more related to the download-able list of all purchased apps, not 'about to be downloaded' queue. Your answer would be correct if the question was actually about canceling a bunch of apps selected for download.

@StephenSchrauger Yep, I based this on the phrase used by the OP.  His comment makes it more clear though.

Yeah, the OP's title does seem to imply the problem to which your solution applies.

You can remove purchased apps by going to Amazon's website and viewing all of your apps. There is an option under Actions to Delete this app, which will remove it from your account. If you want it again, you will have to repurchase it.
This feature has been available for quite a while now (not sure when they added it; obviously after you asked the question).

As of today I don't think this is possible.  You can however find the list of items on the Amazon website.
Log in to Amazon, click the "Your Digital Items" at the top right of the page, click "Your Apps & Devices".  From there you can see all of your app purchases.  Maybe some day they'll allow removing from the list.

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


text:
SSH to localhost on android
I am trying to get ssh working on my android phone. I am currently able to ssh out, from my phone to another device. But I am struggling to be able to ssh in. To test things, I am just working on my the phone and trying to establish an ssh connection with localhost.
Working in termux, I ran the command
ssh localhost -p 8022
Then I am given the prompt
u0_a316@localhost's password:
I'm struggling a bit to understand this. I know that u0_a316 should be a user on my phone, but I don't quite know how users on the android oprating system work. I tried entering the lock screen password I have for myself, as well as no password. But neither of these work. Could someone help explain whats going on here, or point me to some (hopefully not too dense) documentation on this?
this question is cross posted from stackoverflow, following a recommendation in the comments

Android uses user accounts to separate each app in it's own sandbox. Therefore every installed app gets it's own user account.

gotcha, so I should be able to set a password just for this app? @Robert

https://wiki.termux.com/wiki/Remote_Access#SSH

No you can't change the password, all user accounts are managed by Android and they are not designed to be used for user authentication.

You simply need to set a password for your Termux session. You will not be asked for it at any time when you start Termux, so it is safe to do. Just type:
passwd <enter>

and type in a password. You will be asked to repeat it to confirm.
So when you ssh to your phone from another device/machine, this will be the password required. The command to type on the other machine will be:
ssh u0_a316@<your_phone's_IP> -p 8022


text:
How can I retrieve WiFi passwords via (rooted) ADB on a Pixel 4a with LineageOS?
I have a Pixel 4a with LineageOS (Android 13) that can connect to various WiFi networks. Not all passwords can be viewed through the WiFi page in settings, e.g. those with WPA Enterprise or those added through third-party app.
How can I retrieve the passwords of these WiFi networks?
I tried finding the location of it via Google, but all the suggested paths turned out to be empty or missing:

/data/misc/wifi/WifiConfigStore.xml (does not exist)
/data/misc/wifi/wpa_supplicant.conf (does not exist)

/data/misc/wifi/wpa_supplicant is a directory, but it is empty. The only other thing in /data/misc/wifi is the empty /data/misc/wifi/socket folder.
This question is not a duplicate of the following questions:

How can I find a saved Wi-Fi password? – /data/misc/wifi/WifiConfigStore.xml, /data/wifi/, /data/etc/wifi/, /data/misc/wifi/
How can I find saved WiFi passwords within non-rooted phone? – /data/misc/wifi/wpa_supplicant.conf
How to find saved wifi password? – Show password doesn't work for some networks, explained above.
How to find the Wi-Fi Password of a Connected Network on Android mobile – /data/misc/wifi/wpa-supplicant.conf, /data/wifi, /data/misc/wifi
Where can I find saved WiFi AP passwords? – data/misc/wifi/wpa_supplicant.conf
Retrieve WiFi password – adb backup com.android.providers.settings produces an empty archive
How do i recover my wifi pass from android using adb? – /data/misc/wifi/wpa_supplicant.conf
How to show wifi password? – /data/misc/wifi/wpa_supplicant.conf

Monitoring file wrote activity could show you where the WiFi passwords are stired. I would use Termux to install inotify-tools for arm64 and then use it in Termux or vis adb with root permissions to monitor the data tree of your file-system for write operations when you add a new WiFi password.

I cannot give you the direct answer but cannot comment yet on Stack Exchange.
However, with ADB you can try searching for it in two ways.

search for file names

cd / ; find | grep supp | grep conf

or take a known SSID password and search for it in the files.

cd / ; grep -R "known SSID password"
Number 1) is supposed to give you various names, like wpa_supplicant.conf or bcm_supp.conf or whatever the file might be named. It seems to not always carry the same name.
Number 2) would give you the file name IF your Wi-Fi password appears in clear text in a file. Other passwords should likewise be in that file or at least in that directory.
Alternatively, if ADB is just an alternative for you to find the passwords, this app had worked for me on a Samsung Note 10+ with original firmware in which the "regular" location also hadn't worked; that is my reason for answering here.
https://android.izzysoft.de/repo/apk/ua.sytor.wifipass
-Sources are linked from the site on GitHub.

On this Phone/OS combination, it turned to be in /data/misc/apexdata/com.android.wifi/WifiConfigStore.xml.
Check out boro's answer for a more general approach on how to find it. I simply found it in the source code of the suggested app: https://github.com/syt0r/WifiPass/blob/1c649924649cb182e60535f27384793d2b6c09fc/app/src/main/java/ua/sytor/wifipass/core/network_data_collector/NetworkDataCollectorContract.kt#L38-L42.


text:
Custom font in AnkiDroid in Android 9? (Kanji Stroke Order)
Short version
How to use custom font, namely Kanji Stroke Order, in cards in AnkiDroid which is running on Android 9?
Full version
I'm learning Kanji characters. It's important to learn also how to draw them - the order of strokes. This is shown in Anki cards by using a special font - Kanji Stroke Orders - and simply printing the character in card with this font. However, I'm unable to make AnkiDroid to use the font, but it was working on my previous device (Android 5.1).
The deck describes that the font file should be copied to fonts sub-directory of AnkiDroid directory. And that it might be needed to remove version part of file name. So I copied the fonts to following paths:

/storage/emulated/0/AnkiDroid/fonts/KanjiStrokeOrders_v4.002.ttf
/storage/emulated/0/AnkiDroid/fonts/KanjiStrokeOrders.ttf

Doesn't work (the character is drawn simply with Arial or something like that).
I found another way - Installing Fonts in Anki documentation. This guide describes following approach:

Add underscore to the font file name.
Copy it to "collection.media" sub-directory of "User 1" sub-directory of AnkiDroid directory. I couldn't find the "User 1", but there was "collection.media" in AnkiDroid directory, so I used that.
Add @font-face { font-family: myfont; src: url("_arial.ttf"); } to style section of a card and use font-family: myfont in style of the kanji text block.

So what I added to the style section is:
@font-face
{
  font-family: KanjiStrokeOrders;
  src: url("_KanjiStrokeOrders.ttf");
}

Then I added to card text:
<span style="font-family:KanjiStrokeOrders;">{{Expression}}</style>

And copied the font files to:

/storage/emulated/0/AnkiDroid/collection.media/_KanjiStrokeOrders_v4.002.ttf
/storage/emulated/0/AnkiDroid/collection.media/_KanjiStrokeOrders.ttf

And just in case, I also created files:

/storage/emulated/0/AnkiDroid/fonts/_KanjiStrokeOrders_v4.002.ttf
/storage/emulated/0/AnkiDroid/fonts/_KanjiStrokeOrders.ttf
/storage/emulated/0/AnkiDroid/collection.media/KanjiStrokeOrders_v4.002.ttf
/storage/emulated/0/AnkiDroid/collection.media/KanjiStrokeOrders.ttf

Still doesn't work, the text replacing {{Expression}} placeholder is still rendered in Arial (or similar).
Other notes

The /storage/emulated/0/AnkiDroid directory was already created and contains Anki data, similar to what is in ~/Anki/User 1 on my PC (Linux, Ubuntu).
I'm sure the cards/notes are correct (correct format, content, etc.), because it works on PC and worked on my older Android 5.1 phone (I used export/import to migrate and for backups). (I don't rember where I put the font file in my previous phone; the device screen died and so I cannot check now.)
It seems that the AnkiDroid actually see the font; in settings / Appearance / Default font, there actually is option to select Kanji Stroke Orders (all four versions - with/without underscore and with/without version suffix). When I choose it (and set Default font applicability to Always), nothing change. But the font is also available under Browser and editor font - when I set this one to Kanji Stroke Orders, it will change questions and answers in Card browser and field values in note editor. So the font seems to be recognized by AnkiDroid and working.

Have you tried all of these debugging steps? https://github.com/ankidroid/Anki-Android/wiki/FAQ#i-followed-the-instructions-in-the-manual-but-i-still-cant-get-my-custom-font-to-work

@NicolasRaoul Thanks for pointing that, I totally missed the page! So I started thoroughly checking one point after another. At point 5 - I already tried the PC version, but when I tried AnkiWeb now, it wasn't working. So I opened developer console in Firefox - and it contains errors like "glyf: Bad glyph flag (111), bit 6 must be set to zero for flag 529" for the font - it seems there's some problem with it. So I searched for another version (4.004 at https://www.nihilist.org.uk/ ) - and it's working (looking bit weird, but usable). So thanks a lot for pointing the way!

@NicolasRaoul But I'm not sure how to handle this question now. Should I delete it? Or create an answer that the problem is with the font and Android 9 is unable to open it unlike 5? Or should you create answer from your comment?

Just post your own answer, and accept it. It might be useful to others :-)

Short answer
The problem was in the font file. In case of Kanji Stroke Order, I used version 4.002 while newer version (4.004 when writing this answer), which can be downloaded at www.nihilist.org.uk, is working.
Long answer
I somehow missed faq when custom font is not working on AnkiDroid - it's good idea to check all of them.
My problem would be caught at point #9 (try different font) or #10 (if #9 is working, it means my font is not supported), although I found it already during test #5 - test on both Anki Desktop and Anki Web. As stated in question, I already tried the desktop, but until now I didn't try the web version. Turns out that web version wasn't working, but I could open developer console where I found out that the font file is referenced correctly, but browser has an issue with it.
Moral of the story:

AnkiDroid is using web browser functionality to display cards. Whether something on card (e.g. a font) works depends on the device.
When trying troubleshooting steps, do them all and as exactly as possible. I was really tempted to skip Anki Web (I already proved that my cards and font are working in desktop version) which actually pointed me in the right direction (you can open developer tools in desktop web browser while there is no such thing in AnkiDroid itself).


text:
Where are the download images for Android?
I'm attempting to update my older Samsung 10.1 to a newer version of Android (7.1) which has been confirmed on a few sites that it's working.
However, the only download links I've found are on sites I'm not so sure I trust to download Android.  I want to get it directly from Google/Android.
Does anyone know how to get the OS APKs?

As regular users usually do not install firmware images by hand most manufacturer (exception e.g. Google) don't provide public lists of firmware image download links. If you search XDA you may find links to firmware images hosted on the manufacturer servers. Theoretically original firmware images should be signed by the manufacturer but I am not sure how to verify this signature.

That explains that...  I thought that since Google was more open and that they'd have default OS compilations like I've used for linux.

OEM firmware images are not distributed as APK files, and most manufacturers do not distribute them at all, however some have special tools to flash the latest images. Otherwise as @Robert noted, check out XDA but also sammobile.com for some possible options. Note that installing it usually not as straight forward as installing an app and clicking update, it usually involves using a computer and specialized applications that do have a possibility of bricking your device.

It seems like for Samsung devices the image download servers are available but there is no user interface to select an image for download. According to XDA blog there is a new Python based command-line tool that allows to search and download Samsung factory images:
https://github.com/nlscc/samloader
As the download information and the firmware images are original downloads from Samsung servers they can be considered trustworthy.
The original article from XDA:
https://www.xda-developers.com/samloader-download-updates-samsung-galaxy/


text:
ADB does not see connected Samsung S4
I'm on Windows 7 and have developer options including USB Debugging enabled. I have opened Kies and it recognizes the S4. However when I try adb devices, nothing to be found. It works perfectly fine with my Nexus 10.
I've also tried adb kill-server, adb start-server and then adb devices to no avail.
Anyone else have this issue?

Are the proper (ADB) drivers for the S4 installed on your Windows-7 machine?

Close Samsung Kies and make sure you have the right drivers (adb/fastboot) for your phone. IIRC, Kies has to be closed to use adb (never used a Samsung device).

Izzy, pretty sure. KIES and windows explorer recognize it. @K1chy, how do I make sure they are on my s4?

@EricH. the drivers are for windows not on the phone. Most likely you do not have adb driver for your phone installed on Windows. Try reinstalling samsung drivers. If the problem persists, you may try installing adb driver from Universal naked driver from XDA.

Make sure you are using the right edition of Samsung Kies. For me, I also have a Samsung S4, and the proper version is Samsung Kies 3. (If you install the earlier version, it will report that it does not work.) However, "Samsung S4" is actually a marketing term, the underlying device models can differ depending on country and geographical (market) location.

Same issue on Mac OS X.

Re-install these official Samsung drivers.

Uninstall current drivers by going into Device Manager. Make sure to check off the delete drivers option if given.
Reboot.
Reinstall the given drivers above without connecting the Galaxy S4
Reboot.
Go ahead and connect phone and verify that in device manager Samsung ADB Device or equivalent is shown.
If it shows an exclamation mark on it or other problem, then in device manager right click on the driver, update, let me choose from a list and choose the correct android adb driver.

Thanks for the help. I just re-installed the drivers from KIES with the device plugged in (Tools >> Reinstall Device Driver). It then showed up unauthorized. So while plugged in, I changed toggled the USB Debugging option in Developer OPtions on the phone. All set now.

Those 2 reboots are ridiculous, just download and install driver, then approve PC for debugging on the phone when asks. All while plugged in.

The fix for me was using a different micro-usb cable. No software change, no drivers to update, just the usb cable. Apparently they aren't all created equal.

This was my solution! Oddly enough my phone was recognized the first few times I plugged in with the first cable, then stopped working when I updated the drivers. Changing the cable worked.

Same for me here! Really strange!!!

Also changed the cable and it is working now

Changing the USB cable worked for me.  I was using a cheapy old one that was laying around.  When I replaced it with a newer one that I had, adb devices showed my Samsung Note 4 easily.

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


text:
lpmake error "Partition should only have linear extents:"
I'm trying to extract the content of super.img, modify some elements then repack it again. I followed all the steps correctly to extract the contents of super.img file.
When running stat '%n %s *.img for all images, I get the following sizes:
super.img 9663676416

For the partitions within super.img, I get the following:
mi_ext_a.img 4096
mi_ext_b.img 0
odm_a.img 755478528
odm_b.img 0
product_a.img 2827481088
product_b.img 0
system_a.img 644575232
system_b.img 0
system_dlkm_a.img 98304
system_dlkm_b.img 0
system_ext_a.img 503472128
system_ext_b.img 0
vendor_a.img 1484333056
vendor_b.img 0
vendor_dlkm_a.img 37294080
vendor_dlkm_b.img 0

I noticed that the sum of the partitions is 6252732416 which is less than the super.img size (don't know if this is the problem)
Now, without even modifying any partition content, I wanted to use lpmake to re-create the super.img again, hence, I created this batch
lpmake \
 --metadata-size 4096 \
 --super-name super \
 --metadata-slots 2 \
 --device super:9663676416 \
 --group main:6252736512 \
 --partition system_a:readonly:644575232:main --image system_a=./system_a.img  \
 --partition system_b:readonly:0:main --image system_b=./system_b.img \
 --partition system_ext_a:readonly:503472128:main --image system_ext_a=./system_ext_a.img  \
 --partition system_ext_b:readonly:0:main --image system_ext_b=./system_ext_b.img \
 --partition system_dlkm_a:readonly:98304:main --image system_dlkm_a=./system_dlkm_a.img \
 --partition system_dlkm_b:readonly:0:main --image system_dlkm_b=./system_dlkm_b.img \
 --partition product_a:readonly:2827481088:main --image product_a=./product_a.img  \
 --partition product_b:readonly:0:main --image product_b=./product_b.img \
 --partition vendor_a:readonly:1484333056:main --image vendor_a=./vendor_a.img \
 --partition vendor_b:readonly:0:main --image vendor_b=./vendor_b.img \
 --partition vendor_dlkm_a:readonly:37294080:main --image vendor_dlkm_a=./vendor_dlkm_a.img \
 --partition vendor_dlkm_b:readonly:0:main --image vendor_dlkm_b=./vendor_dlkm_b.img \
 --partition mi_ext_a:readonly:4096:main --image mi_ext_a=./mi_ext_a.img \
 --partition mi_ext_b:readonly:0:main --image mi_ext_b=./mi_ext_b.img \
 --partition odm_a:readonly:755478528:main --image odm_a=./odm_a.img \
 --partition odm_b:readonly:0:main --image odm_b=./odm_b.img \
 --sparse \
 --output ./super.new.img

Yet, I'm getting the below error:
lpmake I 02-07 20:36:57 3610213 3610213 builder.cpp:1012] [liblp]Partition system_a will resize from 0 bytes to 644575232 bytes
lpmake I 02-07 20:36:57 3610213 3610213 builder.cpp:1012] [liblp]Partition system_ext_a will resize from 0 bytes to 503472128 bytes
lpmake I 02-07 20:36:57 3610213 3610213 builder.cpp:1012] [liblp]Partition system_dlkm_a will resize from 0 bytes to 98304 bytes
lpmake I 02-07 20:36:57 3610213 3610213 builder.cpp:1012] [liblp]Partition product_a will resize from 0 bytes to 2827481088 bytes
lpmake I 02-07 20:36:57 3610213 3610213 builder.cpp:1012] [liblp]Partition vendor_a will resize from 0 bytes to 1484333056 bytes
lpmake I 02-07 20:36:57 3610213 3610213 builder.cpp:1012] [liblp]Partition vendor_dlkm_a will resize from 0 bytes to 37294080 bytes
lpmake I 02-07 20:36:57 3610213 3610213 builder.cpp:1012] [liblp]Partition mi_ext_a will resize from 0 bytes to 4096 bytes
lpmake I 02-07 20:36:57 3610213 3610213 builder.cpp:1012] [liblp]Partition odm_a will resize from 0 bytes to 755478528 bytes
Invalid sparse file format at header magic
Invalid sparse file format at header
Invalid sparse file format at header magic
Invalid sparse file format at header
Invalid sparse file format at header magic
Invalid sparse file format at header
Invalid sparse file format at header magic
Invalid sparse file format at header
Invalid sparse file format at header magic
Invalid sparse file format at header
Invalid sparse file format at header magic
Invalid sparse file format at header
Invalid sparse file format at header magic
Invalid sparse file format at header
Invalid sparse file format at header magic
lpmake E 02-07 20:36:59 3610213 3610213 images.cpp:320][liblp]Partition should only have linear extents: odm_b

Regardless of changing the order above, it keeps giving the same error for the last partition in the script.
Any idea how to get it properly configured?

The command is not completed to check if the super.new.img works or not. I'm stuck in the error

try with metadata 65536

Tried it. Same error

what is the origin of lpmake

try this https://blog.senyuuri.info/posts/2022-04-27-patching-android-super-images

I checked the build log and found the part of building the super_empty.img includes the full lpmake command, but with 0 sizes for all images. I changed the size of the images of all a slot to fit the new sizes of the created images, and the below code worked as a charm. I noticed also that the order of the partitions makes a difference.
lpmake \
 --metadata-size 65536\
 --super-name super --metadata-slots 3 --virtual-ab \
 --device super:9663676416\
 --group xiaomi_dynamic_partitions_a:9659482112 \
 --group xiaomi_dynamic_partitions_b:9659482112 \
 --partition odm_a:readonly:1327194112:xiaomi_dynamic_partitions_a \
 --partition odm_b:readonly:0:xiaomi_dynamic_partitions_b \
 --partition product_a:readonly:1524256768:xiaomi_dynamic_partitions_a \
 --partition product_b:readonly:0:xiaomi_dynamic_partitions_b \
 --partition system_a:readonly:965316608:xiaomi_dynamic_partitions_a \
 --partition system_b:readonly:0:xiaomi_dynamic_partitions_b \
 --partition system_dlkm_a:readonly:348160:xiaomi_dynamic_partitions_a \
 --partition system_dlkm_b:readonly:0:xiaomi_dynamic_partitions_b \
 --partition system_ext_a:readonly:457531392:xiaomi_dynamic_partitions_a \
 --partition system_ext_b:readonly:0:xiaomi_dynamic_partitions_b \
 --partition vendor_a:readonly:1512812544:xiaomi_dynamic_partitions_a \
 --partition vendor_b:readonly:0:xiaomi_dynamic_partitions_b \
 --partition vendor_dlkm_a:readonly:13971456:xiaomi_dynamic_partitions_a \
 --partition vendor_dlkm_b:readonly:0:xiaomi_dynamic_partitions_b \
 --sparse --output ./super_new.img

It really doesn't matter the size of --device super: in the third line of the code as long as it's bigger than the total of images which I found to be 5801431040.

It means that odm_b cannot be at the end of the statement. You need to order your statements according to how the images expect to be treated inside the super.img They are referred to as extents.
imjtool should be able to give you information like this, but i was not able to get it running properly.
Debug through https://github.com/rumplestilzken/lpunpack somewhere inside at the end of read_metadata
and find out how it should be ordered according to LpMetadataPartition.num_extents and order accordingly.
Additionally the super:[SIZE] should always be larger than the total sum of its parts, ideally you would set this as the maximum size of the devices super partition.
I had a problem like this crop up and by moving the issuesome statement to the top of the list (as it had 0 for num_extents) i was able to create the needed super.img. I don't have the device the super.img belongs to and am relying on external testers to test in the future, but i was able to create the super.img.
This should set you on the right path to getting where you need to be.
EDIT: Your metadata size looks a little low, the device i'm working with has 65536

I'm using lpmake built from this repo: https://github.com/LonelyFool/lpunpack_and_lpmake
Maybe it's a bug of source code. I print some log trace, and there is a vector overflow:
AddPartitionImage vendor_b ./vendor_b.img size:7 index:7 type:0

You can just comment the check, and lpmake works well.
// if (extent.target_type != LP_TARGET_TYPE_LINEAR) {
//     LERROR << "Partition should only have linear extents: " << GetPartitionName(partition);
//     return false;
// }


text:
How to access Remote Desktop from Android 2.1?
Suppose I am developing my application in WPF, for windows 2008 R2, and the tablet will be running Android in a LAN with Wi-Fi, and I would like to try to use the existing .net technology via RDP on the Android Emulator.
How to install Remote Desktop Client on Android 2.1?

I had no idea what you're trying to do, try editing your question so it is less vague. In particular, are you using a Windows machine to connect to an Android tablet are are you using Android to connect to a Windows machine? And how does WPF comes into play within this?

I plan to use a Android 2.1 Tablet + wifi with Remote Desktop to access a WPF application running on a Windows computer.

Xtralogic has a RDP client for Android.
There's also Omnidesk's free app.
And there's Remote.
If necessary there are implementations of Teamviewer for Android, and no doubt there's VNC apps.

Search the Market for Remote Desktop.
I use "Remote Desktop Enterprise".


text:
Will Honeycomb get an update to add email search (Xoom)?
I am an avid user of Android and resisted the urge to get an iPad in favor of a Xoom - staying loyal to Android.  I was very disappointed to learn that the email function (which I sync with a corporate exchange server) does not have a search function.  Hard to believe.  As a business traveler, getting thousands of emails, it is critical to be able to search my email.  Does anyone know if this will be addressed.  I do not want o have to use a third party app like touchdown.  Please advise.  Thank you!

I don't think this is a Xoom problem so much as it is an Android problem. The non-Gmail Email app with Android has been lacking in features for so long I think it's a foregone conclusion that people are going to go out and choose something else.

I am not sure who should be addressing the issue (Motorola or Android) - but if you can't search email, you cut out a huge potential user base.  How would one go about asking Android?

To address your question in the comments: Star this issue and perhaps leave a comment. Hopefully Google will take notice and improve the email app!
In the meantime, though, I do suggest using a third-party app.  Depend on your company's rules, you could even create a secondary Gmail account and either have your work emails forwarded to it or have Gmail grab mail from your work account via POP3 or IMAP, and then you could use the Gmail app for search.


text:
Does Nexus factory Images work on all android devices other than Nexus devices
Hi I would like to know if the factory images for the Nexus found on this link Nexus images can also be flashed onto other devices other than the nexus devices only maybe other LG phones or SAMSUNG phones

The reason why there is factory image for each different Nexus device might already give you a hint.

Short answer, No.
Nexus images are built for the specific hardware in the device. This is true for all devices, even variants of the same device. For example, You may not be able to install a ROM that is for the LG G3 D855, the international version of the device, on the LG G3 D851, the T-mobile version. Even though the D851 and the D855 are very close to being the exact same device. They are even closer than the D850 (AT&T version) and the D851 are to each other.
Even the slightest hardware differences requires different drivers and configurations. For this reason, it requires the manufacturers (or ROM developer) to build specifically for a device.
See can I flash nexus factory image to any tablet as it is related as well.

Thank you so much Ryan Conrad I will further research into it to get more clearer details but I thank you for your insight. also thaks for the link i'm getting to it ASAP.

No they wont work on devices other than nexus because nexus uses pure android while OEMs uses modified android.

This is only partially true. They will not work on other device, but not the reason you said. There are non-nexus devices that run Pure Android. The real reason has to do with hardware support. Nexus images have support for the nexus device(s). If you build AOSP (pure) android specifically for your device, and you have all the drivers for the hardware, any device can run AOSP. IF you have the drivers.


text:
Understanding Sync & Transferring one account to another
I've tried to find information about understanding syncing account information on Android but cannot find any definitive guide to answer the below questions

What does syncing actually mean? Is it the act of an app contacting a server in the cloud and making sure they are both have indentical information?
What information can be synced on Android? The obvious ones are Contacts, Calendars, etc, but can any information be synced?
How do you determine what accounts information is synced to:

Contacts
Calendars
SMS/texts? Are these tied to a specific account or is it just on the phone.

Is syncing limited to Google, or can an App use a properity server?
When deleting an account, all of it's associated information is deleted. So does that include SMS messages, apps?
How do you just transfer all information from one email address to another?

Excuse my ignorance regarding the above, again I couldn't find any information on these topics.
All of these questions have sprung from changing my Gmail account from googlemail.com (which was originally used to activate my phone) to gmail.com and it's caused some side-effects when I've added my new gmail account to the phone, such as calendar no longer syncs, contacts are now duplicated on the phone, etc. I'd like to transfer my googlemail account to gmail on my phone.

Syncing is when you take two different sets of data (normally on two different devices or on one device and one online) and make them "mirror", or be identical to, each other. This way, you always have the most up-to-date version of that data no matter which device(s) you are currently using.
Many things can be and are synced, including a lot of different data from third-party apps, like Springpad (which syncs your notes) or Dropbox (a file storage service). However, for Google applications, I believe that it's just your contacts, gmail, chats (via Talk) Buzz posts, calendar, and documents. You can also upload and download photos from your Picasa account as well. However, I also think that Google has lots of other apps that do not come pre-installed on most phones, such as finance, which (I think) will sync with your online stock portfolio or the like. (I don't use Google Finance, sorry.) SMS is also only on the phone, though they have applications that you can download to backup your SMS to your computer.
No, other apps can use syncing as well, though I don't believe that they can sync to your Gmail account. Often times, these services have you register for separate accounts on their sites using your Gmail to sync with their service and their application on your device. For example, like mentioned previously, I use Springpad as a note-taking application on my Droid. I had to create an account on their site (though I could also log in via services like Yahoo! or Gmail) and it would afterwards sync with the application on my phone, so my notes on my phone are always the same as the ones on my online account with Springpad.
I think that you can add a Gmail account in your Gmail application on your phone. Afterwards, you'd likely be able to delete the old one. Though, you'd probably have to re-purchase or re-install your applications, as those are bought via your Google account. I don't believe it would delete your SMS as those are just on the phone, though it's always a good idea to clean your SMS out because they eventually start to eat up quite a bit of space unless you have them set to automatically delete as you reach a message limit. (For example, 200 messages)
For transferring data, there's a tutorial on transferring mail located here: http://www.consumingexperience.com/2007/09/gmail-transfer-all-emails-to-new-gmail.html (not written by Google, but the next best thing). For contacts, you'd just export them all from your online Gmail account and then re-import the export file into your new one.
Hopefully this answers your question and good luck switching!


text:
Can't register virtual US number with whatsapp business
I used to use a virtual US number for registering and using WhatsApp Business (for people i don't trust and don't want to give my personal number) But now whenever I try to register a new virtual number, it says it's an invalid number for USA. I have tried 2ndLine, text+ and few more apps.. Can anyone explain what's happening and provide a solution if possible..
Thanks in advance

I use a Google voice number for WhatsApp business without any problems and i know others that do the same

Yes most virtual numbers have such restrictions, however you have a higher success rate if you use voice for verification instead of SMS, you cant even setup voicemail recording to retrieve the call playback.
If this fails get other similar virtual number provider like TalkU, you get credits by watching some ads, but the advantage is that you get to keep the number for the duration you're subscribing with credits (which you get from watching ads=free)

Thanks but that didn't work. I got a virtual number form https://receive-sms-online.info and it worked!


text:
How can I automate some processes on my phone
I'm trying to figure out how to automate some processes on my phone:

when it rings I want to say "answer" or "pick up" and then be able to go converse with the caller through speakerphone.
would be the inverse: I want to say "call John Doe" then I want the call to be placed in speakerphone

For when I am driving:

when a text is received I want to say "read text" and my phone to read me the text message.
I want to say: "type text message to jon doe" then I want to dictate a message and my phone to type it and when I say send – it sends on a note

Any ideas?

I'm not a big friend of it, but did you just describe Google Now? There are plenty of automation solutions around. Follow up to our automation tag-wiki, see my Tasker collection (pay attention to AutoVoice & Co), or try any of the personal assistants available.

Try using Utter + Google Now. It can add tons more voice commands to Google Now, which can be activated while your phone is off just by saying "Okay Google".
http://thenextweb.com/lifehacks/2014/05/17/mastering-voice-control-android-going-beyond-google-now/
You can also try a different app called Commandr for Google Now.

Thank you all....these solutions are all excellent..will try them and see which best fits my needs..you guys rock. Thank you.

Android has a lot of automation apps that support speech recognition. But to listen for voice commands from the lock screen, will require the Google Now app, since it's the only app that be configured always listen. Some app examples:

Automate - free, full/advanced automation
Tasker + AutoVoice - paid, full/advanced automation
utter! - free, voice/simple automation
Commander for Google Now - free, voice/simple automation


text:
Android plugged into car gives annoying popup "The connected device is unable to access data on this device."
Every time that I connect via USB my not-rooted Galaxy S6 (SM-G920F with stock Android 7.0) to my car (a Kia Soul 2015), this popup annoys me:
"The connected device is unable to access data on this device. Reconnect the USB cable and try again. Android File Transfer or Samsung Smart Switch..." and I have to touch "OK" to dismiss it.
I dismissed it so many times that at this point I have nightmares at night about this popup that tries to kill me wrapping itself around me and taking my breath away.
What I tried is to set "USB configuration" to "Charge this phone". In this case the popup doesn't appear when I plug the USB cable, but after a while, if I also have enabled "USB debugging" (that I need), the "USB configuration" reverts to "MTP (Media Transfer Protocol)" by itself and the popup reappear at the next cable plug. Double annoyance!
Any way to kill that popup definitely?
(My car in this case: Kia Soul 2015)

Try the approach here if rooted

This behaviour is especially annoying when using your phone for maps. I enter my destination, start driving, and then the popup appears, completely covering the map and forcing me to adjust the window position and hit a tiny "OK" button while driving. In general the warnings on Android (at least my Galaxy S7) are insanely annoying (e.g. "warning, high brightness will drain your battery faster"... as if there is a single person who didn't know that; I don't need a reminder every single time). Would be great if there was an option to disable a warning permanently the first time it appears.

I have been dealing with this all year and finally figured out a solution! Here's the steps:

On your phone, go to settings.
Scroll down to and click on "about phone"
Click on "Software information"
Find "Build number", and click on it until you get a message that says that you're a developer. I think it's 10 times.
Go back
Go back
Scroll to the bottom and you should now see "developer options"
Scroll down and click on "default usb configuration"
Select "charging phone only"
Go back
DONE!

Thanks, I've done this before in other contexts so am pretty sure it'd work! (My own problem went away some other way a few months back.) Welcome to StackExchange btw, thanks for contributing.

If I do this, will I still be able to transfer files to my phone when connected to my computer via USB, or do I need to switch it back before doing that?

I have a bit different configuration/options but yes, it works, you have to switch to "charging only". I have an incomplete cable, it doesn't have the data wires and it is only good for charging, so I am always getting this annoying message. Only this work around helps

I turned off USB Debugging and when I reconnect after that I don't see the popup anymore.

Settings > Developer Options (you have to enable Developer Options)
Developer Options > USB Debugging: Turn it off
Click Back

Then, disconnect and reconnect and you shouldn't see the popup anymore.
Except.. I don't really like leaving USB Debugging off.
Fixing the data access problem instead may require rebooting the computer you connected your phone to, or installing a working driver (OS-specific), or other things like replacing your USB cable with a fully working one.


text:
Why does my mobile data work for some things?
I'm not really sure when this started but I've discovered that I have some type of data. My parents haven't included data in my line yet I'm able to receive notifications from discord, youtube, google feeds etc. I can even do google searches or search for apps on the play store. But I cant actually go on a website or install an app. I cant watch youtube videos or read my discord messages. I cant play online games like brawl stars because it wont connect to the server. I can also use google maps and read reviews. My service provider is tmobile btw. Why does my mobile data work for certain things but not others?

Your data seems to work only for Google apps.

@IrfanLatif the Discord seems to be the odd one out though

Did you try using VPN? If it works then the problem is with your ISP

Also, while internet providers can certainly block requests to certain sites/IP addresses, I think it's quicker to call T-Mobile's customer support to get the answer because we can't be sure, unless the phone is under the supervision of other apps (e.g. parental filter, etc.)

It works with bing search and quora motifs too

This issue is same as yours. t mobile.. no brawl stars.. The problem is with your ISP.
I suggest you to try using a trusted local vpn (check if local one works.. not sure). It won't slow down you internet speed and get the job done too.. I too play brawl stars btw :)


text:
No OK button in recovery mode on MyPhone Agua Rio Fun
I bought a new smartphone, MyPhone Agua Rio Fun (a local brand in Philippines). It's actually a pretty good phone in my book, but the storage in this thing is terrible! I found a way to solve it, but it says I have to root my phone.
I used to have Samsung Galaxy Pocket and I had no trouble rooting it. However, on Rio Fun, the only solid keys are volume up/down and the power buttons. When I try to go to recovery mode, it doesn't let me select anything! It doesn't have a solid home button, only the soft Home, Menu and Back keys (which can't be used when in recovery mode!). The power button just shows the triangle Android (!) sign then the recovery menu again! (any other root methods don't work on it!)
How can I navigate in recovery mode with this phone, and how can I root this phone?

Usually the Volume buttons are used to navigate up and down, and Power is used to select. Are you saying this does not work for your recovery? Do you have the Stock recovery? What version of Android is on the device?

No, the volumeupdown ad power button are the only physical buttons. the rest are soft keys

I also have the same kind of phone (MP Rio Fun) and I am trying to partition my SD. In the Recovery mode, you have to use the volume keys/button to highlight the option that you want then you have to press the Option key (the key on the left side of the Home key) to enter the highlighted option.
Hope this help.

Finally, my prayers Have been answered! Thanks for the help, Mate!

Recovery menus usually don't have any touch elements, you only control them using hardware keys (otherwise you'd be lost with a broken digitizer when trying to backup your data). Use the volume keys (up/down) to navigate, and the power button to select an item.

Yeah,but the problem is the Power Button only shows the recovery menu and when pressed again its shows the !android Screen.i have no other Hard Buttons but the volumes :(

Umm, then I'm at a loss. I know on some HTC devices, you can use the trackball instead – but if your device has no such, that's out again. Only thing I can think of then (apart from calling the manufacturer's service to ask) is installing a custom recovery (if there's one available for the device).

I've tried using these MediaTek devices and usually their select button is Volume Down and their scrolling button is Volume Up (only one direction). Try that to see if it works.

@aureljared;the volume buttons are directional,volume up is up and volume down is down:(

Just guessing now (try-and-err), but we've got no other chance: What if you keep the volume button pressed? Does it continue to scroll, or maybe select the next item? // For a definite answer, I'd strongly suggest to ask their service staff. They should know.


text:
Unable to install CyanogenMod on Galaxy S2 i777
I'm trying to use ROM Manager to install the cm-10.1.3 ROM on my phone, but I'm getting the following error (from recovery.log):
-- Installing: /sdcard/bluetooth/cm-10.1.3-i777.zip
Finding update package...
I:Update location: /sdcard/bluetooth/cm-10.1.3-i777.zip
Opening update package...
Installing update...
Warning:  No file_contexts
script aborted: assert failed: getprop("ro.product.device") == "i777" || getprop("ro.build.product") == "i777" ||
   getprop("ro.product.device") == "SGH-I777" || getprop("ro.build.product") == "SGH-I777" ||
   getprop("ro.product.device") == "SGH-S959G" || getprop("ro.build.product") == "SGH-S959G"
assert failed: getprop("ro.product.device") == "i777" || getprop("ro.build.product") == "i777" || getprop("ro.product.device") == "SGH-I777" || getprop("ro.build.product") == "SGH-I777" || getprop("ro.product.device") == "SGH-S959G" || getprop("ro.build.product") == "SGH-S959G"
E:Error in /sdcard/bluetooth/cm-10.1.3-i777.zip
(Status 7)
Installation aborted.
result was NULL, message is: assert failed: install_zip("/sdcard/bluetooth/cm-10.1.3-i777.zip")

Here's info about my phone:
Model number:     SAMSUNG-SGH-I777
Android version:  4.1.2
Baseband version: I777UCMD8
Kernel version:   3.0.31-1154545-user
                  se.infra@SEP-126 #3
                  SMP PREEMPT Tue Apr 23 22:10:17 KST 2013
Build number:     JZO54K.I777UCMD8
Recovery:         ClockworkMod 6.0.1.0

In addition, I found this set of instructions http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Install_CM_for_i777, but using ROM Manager seems to be a much easier way to install the ROM. These instructions say to use the wipe data/factory reset option in CWM recovery - does this mean I should use the "Wipe Data and Cache" pre-installation option in ROM Manager?

From the CyanogenMod Wiki:

"Status 7" Error
  I have a stock AT&T Galaxy S2 (i777) which had been updated to the latest version of Android from AT&T. I followed the instructions for installing CM 10.1 but received the following error:
assert failed: getprop("ro.product.device") == "i777" ||
getprop("ro.build.product") == "i777" ||
getprop("ro.product.device") == "SGH-I777" ||
getprop("ro.build.product") == "SGH-I777" ||
getprop("ro.product.device") == "SGH-S959G" ||
getprop("ro.build.product") == "SGH-S959G"
E:Error in /sdcard/cm-10.1.3-i777.zip (Status 7) Installation aborted.

I tried updating to the very latest version of ClockworkMod Recovery, but that didn't help. The solution I found was to edit the "updater-script" file located at cm-10.1.3-i777.zip\META-INF\com\google\android. I removed the first line from that file which was performing the assert and getprop statements. I was certain I have an i777, so I was pretty sure that removing this line would be ok. After removing this line of code I pushed the CM zip file to my phone and was then able to install ok.
This page was last modified on 3 December 2013, at 22:42.

So if you are 100% positive that you have an i777, then you can follow these steps:

extract the update package zip file
navigate to */META-INF/com/google/android
open updater-script in a text editor like notepad++
remove the first line that does the "assert" checks.
zip the folder back up, using only "store", no compression.

Removing the first "assert" line was the correct solution, but unzipping and rezipping the folder didn't work. What did work was opening the archive in 7-Zip, right clicking on updater-script and choosing "edit", making the change, and saving the file.

unzipping them can be tricky. you have to keep the exact same folder structure, and compress it correctly. some tools do not handle that well. I am glad you got it to work with "edit" within the archive.

To make it abundantly clear, since I had this exact same problem, you must unzip and zip the package back up using the same method used to create the zip file, which uses no compression(!).
In my case, I was on linux, and used ubuntu's Archive Manager application to view the contents of the archive. I then found the file causing the issue in /META-INF/com/google/android called 'updater-script' and removed the first line. The archive manager application then handled re-assembly of the archive after I saved the file. Then flashing the rom worked.


text:
RTSP player for Android
I'm curios if there is any RTSP Player for android which allows specify port for I guess A/V communication.
My situation:
I want to stream over my RTSP Proxy, but there is a restrictive company FW, but for our purposes there are few port in DMZ, but I couldn't find any android RTSP player which allows specify these ports.
We can do that on Symbian, because there is Real Player, which allows it.
Any hints or workarounds?

Shouldn't the port be specified by the stream, not the client?

@Matthew Read: I need to go over proxy, which is in DMZ, but only on few specific ports, which can be used for A/V communication, otherwise interleaved mode is requested (I can live also with this solution, but i need to set up proxy for RTSP)

Default video player on Android does support RTSP. You can specify the port in the url (<server>:<port>)

For programmers, VideoView does support rtsp urls

Well, but do not support setting up proxy server, respectively specific ports which shall be used.

Real player has a beta version for Android phones, so maybe it will be the one you are looking for.

Nope, unfortunately Real player for Android does not have this feature.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/


text:
Micro USB MHL To HDMI Adapter HDTV - not working on my Galaxy S5
I have bought a Micro USB MHL To HDMI Adapter HDTV Cable For Samsung Galaxy S3 i9300 Note2 N7100 from eBay, and just assumed backward compability (yes I know...)
So know I have this thing, and a Galaxy S5, and it's not working. On my sisters   LG G3 it's also not working.
Anything I can do beside giving it away to the next person who has a S3?

The short answer is you're stuck.  I own the same cable for my S3, and, in researching it, I found that you must buy the exact cable for the specific phone you're using it with.  Samsung changed the pin configuration for the S3 (see here), so, you've got an incompatibility issue.


text:
Missing Fedex cloud print on OnePlus w/ Androind 4.4.4 / T-Mobile
On my moto x 1st gen on T-Mobile I had an option when printing to print to a FedEx office. I'd get emailed a retrieval code to use at the store. On my oneplus I only have a save as PDF option in the print list (Google drive PDF viewer). I installed the FedEx app but that didn't add the printing option for FedEx.

I had a very similar issue.  I don't use Chrome on the desktop (Firefox) but I don't think that is relevant.  I am also using Nexus 5 with Android 5.0.1.  On my PC on Firefox I could see the Fedex printer listed along side the Google Drive printer but on my Nexus I could only see the Google Drive printer.  I fiddled with this for a while but I eventually got it to work.  I'm not totally sure what I did that fixed it but this what I tried:

Visited https://www.google.com/cloudprint/learn/ and clicked Try It Now
Select Print to Fedex Office and clicked the checkbox to agree to the terms (this only showed up once and maybe this was blocking it from showing up on Android?)
I didn't bother trying to print a test page to Fedex but I did go back print a test page using the Save to Google Drive option (again not sure if this was needed)
I verified that it showed up properly in my drive account
Finally I went back to my phone: Settings -> Printing -> Cloud Print.  Still only Google Drive printer listed (damn!).
But then I hit the back button and tapped Cloud Print once again (hey why not?) and all of a sudden the FedEx Office printer was listed!

So I'm not really sure what the deal is with this (definitely still beta I guess).  I think either agreeing to the terms on the PC and/or printing a test page kind of forced a refresh of cloud print settings down to my phone.  I wonder if clearing the data of the cloud print app would have a similar effect?  Anyways, I hope this helps a future person that got here via Google like I did...

Yay!!! Its working now :) Not sure if everything else was needed but in settings > printing > cloud print, i have a little slider to enable/disable the service. Fedex and google drive showed up after I toggled it.

Install Google Cloud Print from google play store. Then if I log in to the Cloud Print on my computer I see that I can print to the Fedex Office. I have not tried to print from my device, but I would assume I could pick this as a printer as well.

Fedex Information on Cloud Printing
Print to our self-service printers using your mobile device.

Send your print job to FedEx Office from your smartphone, tablet, PC, Mac® or other web-connected device using Google Cloud PrintTM, HP® ePrint or Breezy® or Canon® Forms & Print Services.
Receive a unique retrieval code that can be used in any of our convenient locations.
Enter your unique retrieval code. (Access by clicking on the link within your confirmation email or logging into Google Cloud Print and selecting your print job.)

Its already installed, ill try reinstalling...

If you log in to google cloud print from the browser/pc, do you see fedex as an options?

Reinstalling Google cloud print didn't help, its also missing from print options in chrome from my oneplus, ill check chrome desktop later.

Yep sure do have Print to FedEx office as an option when signed into Chrome desktop.


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Why is there :nopm: in some photo file names?
I was looking at some of the pictures taken with my camera (Google Camera) and there are some that have :nopm: in the file name. The format of the file names are the same, just some contain this after the timestamp, before the extension.

When I use MTP on windows to copy them to my PC they copy fine, because it removes the : from the file name.
What is the meaning of the :nopm:?
I have added a more detailed picture that shows :nopm: does not have anything to do with if it was taken in the morning. This wouldn't make sense anyhow, as the timestamp is already in 24 hour format. 231314 = 11:13PM, there is no need for an AM/PM indicator.

From what I can tell it is Hangouts that most normally adds the :nopm: to images. Is there a chance you sent/received those ones over Hangouts. To be totally honest it seems like an issue with Google Camera, but I've seen quite a few people point the finger at Hangouts.

It does look like it originates from Hangouts. From the photos, I remember taking them all while sending them to people over MMS via Hangouts.

@RossC, if you put that as an answer, I will accept it. It does seem that Hangouts is the cause. I am still not sure what it means, but at least I know what is doing it.

Per a comment left as an answer by another user: It looks like the :nopm: prevents the new Photos app from uploading the image. Perhaps that is its purpose as you mentioned below @Ryan.

This is not related to AM/PM as the screenshot shows. This issue appears to happen due to Google Hangouts. I have heard from a few Moto G owners that this happens a lot on that device, and can cause issues moving to SD card, however, it really seems to be down to Google Hangouts.
Here is a mention on Reddit, and on an unrelated thread the same issue crops up.
Upon reading this issue on Github:

google hangouts produce [sic]images of this form image_timestamp.:nopm:.png

There is no easy fix at present, but I will investigate.

Doesn't really tell us why it does this in the first place.

@KenSharp I haven't forgotten this answer, I just can't get an answer from anyone at the moment. There is nothing in the code I've looked at to explain it, and no answer from Google.

After thinking about this for some time, I actually think that :nopm: means NO Photo Manager.  As it appears that the Google+ Photos app will not backup the photos that contain :nopm:. This is just a theory.

@RyanConrad it's actually a good one. It makes sense! Then again, some of these things don't seem to make sense at the best of times! :)


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How to find installed apps which are using SMS feature
I have a Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Neo (Android KitKat). Some of the apps are using my SMS feature and SMS are costing pennies from my pocket without my knowledge.
I want to know what are all the apps which are sending SMS. If I found list of Apps, is this possible to restrict them from not using SMS feature without uninstalling them.

To find all apps with a specific permission, there's a much easier way then checking them each manually: use a Permission Checker. I'd recommend taking a look at aSpotCat, which is around for quite a while (I remember it even back from Eclair in 2011 :)
  []
aSpotCat allows you to browse your installed apps by permissions (and more, see first screenshot). Especially for your question is the second screenshot: see what apps can send SMS messages. To make it easier for you to find a permission, they are grouped (third screenshot).

Now, restricting access is a different thing. Multiple approaches can be thought of, but they are often either specific to an Android version (e.g. AppOps are only available with Android 4.3 and 4.4), require root, or need to manipulate and re-install the apps (thus often preventing updates, as modifications also change the app signature). As you're using Kitkat, the first group should fit your needs, and you can check for some AppOps FrontEnds. If your device is rooted, you might also take a look at some Stand-Alone Permission Manager. For further details on those, please also visit our sister-site for Software-Recommendations, and see: Android permissions manager.
Enjoy!


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What are the advantages of enabling or disabling Samsung KNOX
I've rooted my Samsung Galaxy SIII Neo Android device by following this XDA Developers link. I would like to know what Samsung KNOX is, and what the advantages of enabling it / disabling it are (as this is not discussed on the XDA page I just mentioned).
Also, if I disable Samsung Knox, then how can I reenable it at a later time?
The screenshots below show how I've used Odin on my PC to root my phone and what the Root Checker and SuperSU applications in use look like.

Directly from Wikipedia :

Samsung Knox provides security features that enable business and
  personal content to coexist on the same handset. The user presses an
  icon that switches from Personal to Work use with no delay or reboot
  wait time.1 The manufacturer has claimed this feature will be fully
  compatible with Android and Google and will provide full separation of
  work and personal data on mobile devices and "addresses all major
  security gaps in Android.

(Download Android Terminal Emulator) then
for Disable :
pm disable com.sec.knox.seandroid

and after disable,  maybe you need this again ;
Enable :
pm enable com.sec.knox.seandroid

And i suggest you, in the SuperSu never touch For Disabling the Knox.
it maybe harassment you and need for the second root process.(this is happend for me, but maybe you need to try it).
Also , read these articles :
How to Disable KNOX Security
HOW TO REMOVE KNOX AND PREVENT POSSIBLE ROOT ISSUES CAUSED BY KNOX
How do I Remove or Uninstall KNOX


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I changed my Google account password on my PC. How do I make the change on my phone and tablets?
I changed my Google account password on my PC. That went fine. But how do I make the change on my phone and tablets? I don't want the phone or Google apps on the phone to suddenly ask me for the password when I'm out doing something. I want to change it pro-actively.  But I have not found any way to re-log-in to my Google account on the phone.
Phone is a Samsung Galaxy running Android version 7.0 (I know, I know. New phone in the near future).
Prior Research: A similar (unanswered) question has been asked here 5 years ago Apply google password change to android but the difference is that I am not experiencing the difficulties that poster was.

Google usually does not use passwords for authentication on Android. Only for the initial account set-up you have to enter username and password which is then sent to the Google authentication server but not stored on your phone.
If username and password were correct the authentication server sends back an long term oAuth authentication token (looks like a long string of random characters - usually 50 character or longer) which used for authentication and updated periodically by the server (about every month).
Therefore changing the password has no effect on your Android device. If you want to logout devices from your Google account, Google provides a web page where you cans see all active devices and where you can log out each device if want:
http://google.com/devices


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Android Auto installed but "invisible"
I have Android Auto installed, but I can't run it:

I can navigate to Android Audio app's page in Google Play app and I see "Uninstall", but I don't see "Open".
I cannot see this app's icon in Nova Launcher (or any other launcher).
When I install this app directly from .apk file the "Launch" button in confirmation message box is grayed.

Is this something with my Android (10) or my gear (DooGee S88 Plus)?
This is the first time, I have such situation. So far, in the past 10+ years of using Android, I could only see apps that I can install and run or that I can't install. I have never seen before an app that I can install, but can't run, since this seems pointless.
BTW: When I tap "Uninstall" in Google Play then, after something that looks like uninstallation process, I don't see "Install" button again, but "Update" instead (which would suggest that application hasn't been actually uninstalled). This is also very weird and also I have this situation for the first time in my Android life. What is this, what is causing this or what am I missing in the above picture?

Do you know that Android Auto is discontinued? May be Google now tries to force the users to use their assistant instead? https://www.androidpolice.com/2021/08/18/it-might-be-the-end-of-the-road-for-android-auto-on-phone-screens/

"I don't see "Install" button again, but "Update" instead (which would suggest that application hasn't been actually uninstalled)" this usually means that Android Auto is installed as a system app, thus cannot be uninstalled completely, only restored to factory state.

@AndrewT. I know that. But I wouldn't expect to have a system app that you cannot actually run. It is pointless to have installed / not uninstallable / restorable app that you cannot actually run and use, right?

@Robert Didn't know that, but the screenshot in an article you shared seems to be suggesting that it is discontinued only for regular use on phone. I have a Android Auto enabled car (and screen), namely Toyota Aygo, and I wanted to use Android Auto like that, not on the phone. I understand the above mentioned screenshot the way that I can still use Android Auto with designated cars. Only... I am unable to run it :\

And... still the question was intended to be more generic like. I was wondering if this is "only me" (DooGee / Android 10) or if you know any other examples of an app that you can successfully answer (Google Play store claims that it is available for this particular phone), but you cannot run.

Since Android 10, Android Auto is integrated as a system app but hidden for phone users. Users may have to install Android Auto for Phone Screens app to use it on their phones.
According to Android Auto Help - I can't find the Android Auto app on my phone,

Starting with Android 10, Android Auto is built into the phone as a technology that enables your phone to connect to your car display. [...]
If you don't have an Android Auto compatible car or prefer to access Android Auto on your phone screen, there are 3 options:

If you're upgrading your phone from Android 9 to Android 10, make sure that your phone already has Android Auto installed before you upgrade. If so, the app icon will carry over to your newly upgraded device.
You can use Google Backup to backup and restore from another device that already has Android Auto app installed.
You can also go to the Play Store and download Android Auto for Phone Screens, which is only available on Android 10 or higher devices. Once you install the app, you can continue to use Android Auto on your phone screen.

According to GSM Arena, Doogee S88 Pro comes with Android 10 already. Thus, Android Auto app is hidden by default and users need to install Android Auto for Phone Screens if they want to use it from their phone.
On the other hand, Google Pixel 3a comes with Android 9 and Android Auto pre-installed. Thus, when it's updated to Android 10 (and beyond), the app icon is still shown on the app drawer.

Thank you! I will only add that Android Auto for Phone Screens does not work / isn't available for all Android 10 devices. I have just opened (on my PC) an app page using Google account that I use with my Doogee S88 Plus and even though it has Android 10 preinstalled, I can clearly see This app is not available for any of your devices message.


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Device stuck in boot animation after reverting to LineageOS 17.1
I tried to update my OnePlus One to LineageOS 18.1, following my usual procedure:

do a full backup (boot, system, data excl. storage, cache) with TWRP
then flash the new image, along with the zip files Magisk and microG

As I then noticed that Android 11 breaks some of the apps I use, I decided to roll back the update by simply booting into recovery, restoring the backup and rebooting. However, this failed with the system being stuck in the boot animation for significantly above 10 minutes.
I then tried the following:

boot into TWRP
flash LineageOS 17.1 from the previous image I had installed (plus Magisk and microG)
restore my backup
wipe caches

Still no joy, I am still stuck in the boot animation.
Suspecting the upgrade had converted some app data in /sdcard/Android/data, I moved all app dirs starting with com.android or org.lineageos off the device. (The rest should be user app data. I do not have Google Play services installed.)
That still was not successful, I am still stuck in the startup sequence.
I have never (knowingly) encrypted any data on the device.
What gives? How can I find out where the device gets stuck, so I can hunt the error down? Wiping all user data is not an option.

i think the real reason was one must backup system_image instead of system because of avb/dm-verity

@alecxs There is no such option in TWRP on my device.

Everything that is in the backup is safe to wipe for a test (it can be restored later).
Therefore, rebuild the system step by step:

wipe system, data (excl. storage) and both caches
reinstall LineageOS 17.1
boot
if this works, return to recovery, install Magisk and reboot
if the device still boots successfully, restore data and retry
if the device still boots successfully, copy back app data to /sdcard/Android/data (possibly one by one, or in small batches rather than all at once) and retry
if the device still boots successfully, restore the system partition from backup and retry

If at some point the system no longer boots (i.e. gets stuck in the boot animation or similar), you can examine the step that broke it in more detail.
In my case, it seems the backup of the System partition was faulty and caused the system to hang on boot. Since this partition does not contain any user data, it is easy to rebuild if you still have the system image: Wipe the system partition, reinstall LOS 17.1 and Magisk, wipe cache and Dalvik, then reboot. That fixed it for me.


text:
Web Browser Screen Resolution / ViewPort width
I've recently upgraded from a OnePlus 5T to a Oneplus 9 Pro.
I have noticed that when viewing webpages, the viewport width on the 9 Pro is smaller than on the 5T, even though the 9 Pro has a higher screen resolution.
When I visit http://whatismyscreenresolution.net/ on the 5T, it shows 412x823, and on the 9 PRO it shows 384x858.
Is there anyway to 'fix' this so that the 9 Pro has a higher viewport width?

Fixed this by changing the 'Display Size' setting in phone settings to 'Small'.

Upvoted for posting your solution..  Just FYI, you should be able to accept your own answer, although perhaps not immediately.


text:
Samsung Galaxy S4 will not boot, turns off after 2 seconds
My Samsung S4 does not fully boot. It turns off after two seconds after the Samsung screen and before the Cyanogen boot screen. How do I resolve this issue?
I can't boot into recovery -- it never gets that fair. I also can't reflash as the phone turns itself off shortly after it gets to the flash screen. The phone also randomly restarts. I've tried swapping the battery too.

This is the infamous power button problem. I had this too. There are some guides that speak of cleaning the power button, but for me I found this rather rough solution to be effective.

SOLUTION: Galaxy S3/S4,S5, Note, Tabs ALL Samsungs (not Booting Up? Keeps Rebooting? Not turning on? (just hit the phone HARD on the power button)

UPDATE
Alright guys, so I'm back -- it's 2016/04/25. My S5 just broke so I'm downgrading until it comes in the mail. Googling for the same problem and I found my own answer. This time hitting it hard didn't work. So I sprayed the button liberally with DeoxIT D5 and violla, back in business. Hold the phone button side up and just soak it!

LOL I can't believe that worked

I found the solution. The power button is stuck. Just flick the power button a bunch of times with your finger. If that doesn't work try compressed air, shoot that in there a bit, so  it gets unstuck.
If you spilled soda in there maybe try getting an alcohol wipe and try to wipe it down a bit (make sure battery is off) maybe squeeze a very very small amount of rubbing alcohol in there. I mean very small amount, then wipe with Q tip. The flicking technique works for me every time.

Could be dust in there.
Try banging the corner where the power button is, on a hard rubber surface. Be careful not to crack the screen. Remove back of phone and battery first, of course. It worked for me.

I think this might be the power button that got stuck and need replacement.
Here's the link for troubleshooting and solutions. You might need some simple electrical skills. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2l_6fwzuIwA


text:
What is the difference between chromebox and "android tv"?
What is the difference between Chromebox and "Android TV"?   I was thinking of buying either a Dell Chromebox or a Lenovo Touchscreen Chromebook to go with my Chromcast on my living room TV but I don't know if Chromebox is designed to work like the Chromebook.   Also, would a Chromebox be a good replacement for my Chromecast?

@Huey, do you have source on that? Because Google just released the Nexus Player a little over 2 months ago, which runs the new Android TV. Google TV, which was the predecessor  to Android TV is no longer updated, and most devices have reached their EOL.

Chromeboxes, such as Dell Chromeboxes, are essentially small computers with video output. They are designed to run Chrome OS on a larger monitor - think of these as Chrome OS Desktops, whereas Chromebooks are Chrome OS Laptops.
Android TV devices, on the other hand, are media devices designed to run a version of Android and deliver media (video, music, pictures, and games) to your television. They are more similar to a Roku, Apple TV, and Amazon Fire TV.
Chromebooks & Chromeboxes are very similar, however with different form factors; they should run the same Chrome OS versions and act very similar.
Chromebooks & Chromeboxes work nicely with Chromecast - you are able to cast Tabs, and various apps to the Chromecast.
Using the Chromebox as a replacement for the Chromecast could work - but it would be like connecting a PC to your TV and be very mouse and keyboard driven.
It is a usable solution, but it is not ideal. An Android TV device might be easier, as its interface was designed to be more simple, and easier to read from "couch distance."

A chromebook (or chromebox) runs Chrome OS. This is basically a very lightweight version of Linux that runs a Chrome Browser. You do not have the ability to install "native apps", with the exception of recently, it was announced, you can now install some Android apps.
The difference between Chromebook and Chromebox is a Chromebook is a laptop, which has a screen, keyboard, mouse/trackpad. While a Chromebox is the desktop version. It does not include a monitor, nor a mouse or keyboard.
Android TV runs Android. It is designed to be connected to a large display, like a TV. Its UX is designed for the 10 foot experience. It runs Android applications, but may not run all the same apps that you can run on a tablet or phone, because of the different user experience. Apps need to be tailored to use a remote or a gamepad.
Android TV would be a better "replacement" for a chromecast. As they usually offer the functionality that a chromecast does, and more.
A chromebox is not necessarily designed for that 10 foot experience, and may not offer you the apps for streaming content like Android TV would.  While you could probably log in to the service websites and stream from there. But you would need to have a mouse and keyboard connected.


text:
Keep Awake Not Actually Working
By enabling the Stay Awake toggle under Developer Options, which are enabled, my previous phone kept the display on when it was connected via USB. This no longer works on my current phone, which runs Android 11. Developer Options are enabled and the Stay Away toggle is on (Under it says: Screen will never sleep while charging) and my Screen Saver is also set to Off.
Despite these settings being enabled, the screen goes blank after a few minutes even when plugged in. There is another option, Always On Display which forces the screen to stay on at all times, even when not plugged-in, but that drains the battery very fast, so it is not practical.
Since I use the phone as one would an alarm-clock, I would like it to keep showing its lock-screen which shows the current time whenever it is connected via its USB-C port. Is there a workaround to restoring the expected behavior?

What make/model/OS version of various phones? 2) Is the USB plugged into a PC with adb running or directly to a wall outlet power supply?

Asus Zenfone 8 Flip - Android 11 - USB-C Charger Directly from 120V electric main.

It turns out another option influences this behavior in Android 11and that is the Default USB Configuration. After selecting a specific USB Configuration (any other than No Data Transfer), Stay Awake  behaves as it did in earlier Android releases.
@MorrisonChang provided a good hint in his comment because when plugged to a computer, Stay Awake did work as intended but not with a standalone charger, unless a Default USB Configuration is set.


text:
File system of Android 10 running devices
I have a samsung A30 cellphone that runs Android 10 and I basically need to recover my deleted files. In order to do that, I need to know the filesystem because forensic tools require such information. I made a small research, but I couldn't find any information on Android 10 OS's file system. So what I am asking is what file system does Android 10 have and do file systems depend on Android versions? Any help will be appreciated.

I think this would help you https://android.stackexchange.com/q/208106/131553

if your device is rooted it's ext4 otherwise it's encrypted (and recovery pointless)

Thank you both @beeshyams and alecxs. I will try to root my device now and lets see how it goes.

let me clarify: you can not recover files because your device is encrypted. once the encryption keys are wiped, data is unrecoverable. this is true for FDE full-disk-encryption on factory reset, and for FBE file-based-encryption on deleted files. be aware rooting involves factory reset (see step 4). no hope, sorry

@alecxs so you say it is impossible to recover an unrooted android mobile phone, right? Recovering a wiped (factory-reset) cell phone is possible only on rooted devices.

it doesn't matter if device is locked/unlocked rooted/unrooted. if it is encrypted it is not possible to recover files. it depends on the encryption key - if the key is wiped it is impossible to decrypt. furthermore even unencrypted device still faces problem with TRIM and discard (the link explains this)

furthermore samsung encryption is little bit different and TWRP doesn't support samsung encryption. the only way would be to flash magisk_patched.tar on locked bootloader (AVBv1 only) but it's exynos chipset with no EDL mode and no way to flash except modded odin. but you must find the setting not to factory reset on flashing (which is most likely not available, at least i don't know). but samsung has additional protections against rooting and you will most likely end up bricked and lose all data

according to this TWRP the Samsung Galaxy A30 SM-A305F is shipped with Android 9.0 (Pie) FDE full-disk-encryption
BoardConfig.mk
# Filesystem
TARGET_USERIMAGES_USE_EXT4 := true
TARGET_USERIMAGES_USE_F2FS := true

The file system type depends on ROM and can be F2FS or EXT4


text:
Android OEM Unlock wipe taking too long
Im using Oneplus 3T and when I did fastboot oem unlock
now my device is stuck on screen since last 30mins plus
"Wiping, please wait"
How long one should wait ? any way I can exit this and start again ?

On encrypted devices this takes just a second as only the cryptographic key is deleted and overwritten. But your device was shipped with Android 6 and most likely without encryption. Therefore oem unlock should cause a complete overwrite.

please tell us how long

Fixed!!
My device was already OEM Unlocked enabled.
I powered off my phone. and Simply Booted with TWRP.
fastboot boot recovery.img

Also I had to wipe the Device using Ext2 file system under
Wipe > Advance Wipe > Data > Repair / Change File system
After this I enabled ADB shell and flashed Havoc OS android 11 on my oneplus 3t.
Everything is working great so far. Also a quick note, for rooting I used Magisk and try to get an older version of Magisk this allows you to use MagiskHide which is useful for banking apps like Gpay, Jio app.. etc.


text:
Disabling randomized macs on Android 11
Trying to set up a new Moto-G Stylus with Android 11 on an internal wifi network with mac authentication and a hidden ssid. To provide the expected mac, I selected "Use device MAC" (which is correctly displayed in the connection setup), but the phone continues to send random values.
No problem connecting when mac authentication was temporarily disabled on the AP. Repeated forget/re-entering the AP info and resets of the Android networking haven't changed the random behavior. Seems like a bug where the "Use device MAC" is simply being ignored.
The phone will be useless without a fix and I can't think of anything else to try. Any suggestions or workarounds would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
-Tom

Android has three MAC modes:
Persistent MAC randomization
This should be the default mode. For each Wifi a new random MAC address is generated. But if you reconnect to an already known Wifi the same random MAC address is used.
Non-persistent MAC randomization
In this mode for each Wifi a new random MAC address is generated and this MAC address only persists unless you disconnect from the Wifi. If you reconnect to a known Wifi again a new MAC address is generated.
No randomization (device MAC)
Disables all randomization for the specified Wifi, only the device MAC is used.
From your description I would assume that on your device non-persistent MAC randomization is active. As you have seen persitent randomization and device MAC can be activated in Wifi menu, but the non-persistent randomization is missing there.
You can find the non-persistent randomization option in the Developer menu. Most likely this option is active on your device and thus overrides all the other settings you do in Wifi menu.

Thanks for the very helpful details. I wasn't aware that there were two different randomization modes, but your explanation of persistent versus non-persistent solved the problem. Specifically, I set the phone wifi for the default randomization, disabled mac auth on the router and connected. Then turned mac auth back on and keyed in the random mac the phone used to connect. Power cycled the phone as a test and it connected using the same mac with no issues! Without your explanation, I would have never tried the random setting. Again, many thanks for your reply.


text:
Android 9: Configure DNS while connected via cable
I've got an Android TV Box (orbsmart S86) running on Android 9. It is connected to the LAN and internet via a cable. Wifi is not used.
Now I've configured PIHole on another device and want to tell the android box to use the Pihole as DNS.
When using WiFi, I can go to the WiFi-settings and configure the settings there. How do I do this on this device?
So far I've tried ndc resolver setifdns eth0 mydns but without luck.
Note, that I've got root access.
Thanks in advance.

su
setprop net.dns1 <dns here>

eg, setprop net.dns2 123.123.123.123

As of Android 8, "The system properties net.dns1, net.dns2, net.dns3, and net.dns4 are no longer available" (source), but may work. More explanation here: How to configure DNS properly while two LANs are running?


text:
VPN broke my network connection, how can I restore it?
I have a problem on my Lenovo K33a48 with Android 7.0. The problem manifests in almost all my google apps showing that there is no internet connection (Chrome, Play Store, Gmail), not syncing to my account (Google Calender) or simply crashing (Drive, Photos), see screen shots below:

If I try to do a system update (Settings->About->System Update) I also get displayed that there is no internet connection:

Nevertheless, I actually have an internet connection, both over wifi or cellular data, and can successfully send messages with Whatsapp. I think the problem cascades to other apps that can't open or keep crashing, e.g. Viber, and I think these apps are connected to my Google account.
I think the problem is the result of me installing, using and deleting a VPN app or/and me uninstalling and installing again songs on Spotify. Anyways, can you help me restore my network connection? Can I undo any possible changes the VPN app has done? Can I reset my network settings? I actually did in the Settings "Network Settings reset", I deleted the cache of all apps and restarted the phone, but it had no effect on the problem. Thanks for suggestions!

Have you checked your network settings if there is still a VPN-profile left? Also check network proxy and DNS settings.

Thanks for the reply, @Robert ! I managed to fix my problem by deleting the Google Play Store data and reversing updates

I fixed this problem with the instructions written by Darren here:
Clearing Google Play Store

Settings -> Apps & notifications
Google Play services -> Storage
Clear Cache & Clear Storage

Uninstalling Google Play Updates

Settings -> Apps & notifications
Google Play services
3 Dots (Top-right corner) Uninstall Updates

Afterwards restart the phone and check if the problem is solved!


text:
How do I change my "Vendor Class ID"?
My device's "Vendor Class ID" is dhcpcd-5.2.10:Linux-3.0.8-gb55e9ac:armv7l:herring.  I don't know what Vendor Class ID is, but how do I change it to something else?
My question is not related to programming.

VCID is normally a device value used by PC-side drivers and AFAIK not changeable.  Can you elaborate on your problem -- what you're trying to accomplish by this?  We may still be able to help.

The Vendor ID that @MatthewRead mention is used for the PC drivers. What you are talking about is a DHCP Vendor Class Identifier.
From Microsoft Technet (not android specific, but has the same meaning)

Can be used by DHCP clients to identify their vendor type and configuration. When using this option, vendors can define their own specific identifier values, such as to convey a particular hardware or operating system configuration or other identifying information.

To answer the question if you can change this, I do not know of any configuration settings anywhere within android that let you change this. Based on the one you put in your question, it looks like android creates the VCI from the following:
<dhcpcd and version>:<kernel and version>:<processor type>:<device board type>
for the board type, you have herring, so if you opened up a shell and typed getprop ro.product.board I am willing to bet that the value that is output is "herring". Can I guess that you also have a Nexus S. I believe the Galaxy Nexus has a board named "tuna".


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Samsung S2 not deleting sent emails on gmail
I have a samsung s2 all other parts of the Gmail is syncing.  But in the sent items on my phone there are about 10 sent emails that are not on my online account (have deleted there) and when I try and delete from my phone they just keep reappearing and will not delete.
Help anyone want to clear them from my phone and not sure what is happening!

I had this issue in the past with my Samsung Galaxy S Vibrant. What I did, and it solved my problem was:

Go in to Settings -> Accounts & Sync
Select the gmail account with issue
Turn off sync for Gmail
Turn back on sync for Gmail

If this doesn't fully solve the issue, but it did for me, try the following:

Go in to Settings -> Applications -> Manage Applications
Select the All Tab
Find the Gmail Application and select it
Click on Clear Data and Clear Cache
If you have multiple accounts on the device, it may remove them from accounts and sync. At the very least, you will have to go back to accounts and sync to re-enable Gmail sync.

It really isn't that big of a deal to clear the Gmail data because it is all constantly sync'd with the Google servers. It will clear out any Gmail app settings you have set, like your signature on your phone if you set one.

That has worked in respect of the gmail App but they are still showing if look at the emails on the social hub....

Have applied this to the normal email as well and has worked and cleared everything, had to reset some things but not works better than before thanks


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Phone takes a long time to boot after installing Darky 10.2.2 EE
I took the plunge and installed Darky 10.2.2EE on my SGS.  Now it takes a few minutes to boot, when before (stock + voodoo) it took less than a minute.
Is this normal?  If not, what can have caused it?

I would suspect that his ROM has extra boot scripts or something.

The first time you boot a device after installing a new ROM, or wiping the Dalvik Cache , the OS needs to rebuild the Dalvik Cache. This cache is what is used to launch the applications on the device quicker.
Any time you install a new application or update an application, a dalvik cache for the application is created. When you wipe the cache, this needs to be rebuilt. The more apps you have installed, the longer it will take the first time it boots.
As a good practice, you should clear the dalvik cache when ever you update your ROM.
On top of that, there could be extra boot scripts that will "extend" boot time.

Specifically for Darky's ROM, is this common?

I've never used Darky's ROM, but when ever I update my SGS to the latest cyanogenmod it takes like 10 minutes to boot the first time.


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Any app to help finishing call?
My mother has the habit of ending the conversation by pressing the BACK button several times instead of hitting the red button. The perso she talk to can be heard after a few minutes (people are nosy and my mother is old). Is there an option or an application that contains a silent closing of conversation windows and was visible until the end of the conversation?

An alternative approach that might be easier for your mom: In Settings→Accessibility, there is an option to make the phone's power button end the call (here labeled "power button ends call"). That might be easier for her than remembering to tap the on-screen button.
Google's support site has an an article on the feature but it doesn't really say anything more.