text:
LG G5 stuck with screen showing a picture as if the battery is not attached
My LG G5 is stuck with a screen showing a picture as if the battery is not attached. I don't know what is the reason.

If I remove the battery for a while and reattach it, it works.
I tried to search about it online, but could not find any information.
What does this mean and how to fix it?

Have you tried Google translate for understanding the Korean symbols?

https://www.google.com/search?q=전원을+켜려면+모델에+맞는+정상+모듈을+장착해+주세요 brushing and cleaning contacts of module might help https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=3425279&page=2


text:
USB tethered device cannot communicate with WLAN hotspotted device on the same Android phone
Here I have one Android phone, the provider, a device, usb, connecting to it through USB tethering, and a device wlan connecting through WLAN hotspot.
So once usb connected, it got assigned an IP in the 192.168.42.0/24 block. provider, acting as router, had an IP in there, of course. When I connected wlan, it got an IP in the 192.168.43.0/24 block, and provider had one IP in there too.
Now, I can't see the other from either device, either by scanning both blocks, or by directly pinging or sshing into the other device. All I can see is the device I'm operating on, and the two gateways, which are essentialy the same provider.
I suspected it's a limitation of the ROM I used at first, but after flashing a custom ROM the problem persists. Is this a native limitation of the Android OS? As far as I remember iOS didnt't have this problem, and a USB tethered device can communicate with a WLAN connected one. Thank you.

It's because hosts on different subnets cannot communicate with each other. 192.168.42.0/24 and 192.168.43.0/24 are two different subnets. iOS might be using same subnet for both USB tethering and hotspot, I'm not aware of. Or you can add a static route to setup Routing Between Multiple Subnets. Your question is more about networking than Android.

@IrfanLatif Thanks for pointing out! You're right about subnet communications. However, after adding a route on one of the devices, with the gateway being either address of provider, it can still not ping the other. I'll go further to figure out. It also seems true that iOS uses the same subnet (172.20.10.0/28) for both USB tethering and hotspot.

Here is a solution, and the question is largely the same.

Adding some routes or setting up proxy ARP is better than using third party tools to divert the traffic in userspace.

Agreed. I'll try and find a way.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
Trouble connecting phone over usb-c
I just got a new samsung phone. It came with usb-c to usb-c cable and no adapters. I tried connecting it to my laptop, which thankfully has an usb-c port. The phone connects at first, starts charging. Then, whether I choose the option to "send files" or "send pictures", the phone disconnects after a few seconds or so.
It's really troubling.
My specs (just some of them, I will list more I missed anything important)
Laptop is a 2017 gaming Asus. It has Windows 10 and usb-c port.
Phone is the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra.
Some facts:

The phone is brand new, from a store, all sealed up.
It charges perfectly fine using the cable and a charger.
Connection over usb-c does NOT work - it keeps disconnecting, usually after a few seconds.
However, I can easily connect a pendrive using an adapter I had before. (I can send data both ways)
Using an old usb-c to usb-b cable to connect to my laptop through a different port ALSO works.
I get no messages or anything when it disconnects.

What could that mean? Is the usb-c port on my laptop possibly busted, or is there some driver / permission / program I need to use it?

I don't think that's the case - I use that new cable for charging and it works perfectly, no drops or even power loss. However, I think I found the solution and I feel stupid now. I will post it as an answer.

If you mean the USB settings on my phone - "controlled by phone" and either "send files / android auto" or "send pictures". I apologize if the names are not perfectly translated, I use my native language on the phone so I don't know the english names (had to translate on the go). And I still don't know what are all the settings for, like "control by phone / computer".

I feel stupid now, but I will leave the topic here in case someone has the same problem.
I decided to disconnect my USB hub which was using one of the usb-b ports. After I did that, the usb-c connection worked fine.
EDIT:
Turns out things are even weirder. Apparently it doesn't matter if the hub is plugged in or not.
What seems to be the real issue is that after the phone connects and by default, it's set to "move files / auto android"... it's not really default. You have to change to any other mode like "move pictures" and then back to "move files / auto android". Seems to be working so far.

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


text:
How to back up & restore a rooted phone?
Before handing in my OnePlus 6T for repair, I want to create a full system backup and reset the phone to factory defaults. Afterwards, I want to restore the original state. My phone is rooted with Magisk.
How do I do a full system backup?
Note that this is different from a backup as part of migration to a new phone or a partial backup as part of fixing software issues.

what do you mean with full system backup? and what do you mean with restore original state? usually just data backup is required. adb backup does not fulfill the needs, look for other tools like Titanium or Migrate or use adb pull to get a disk image. for full system backup use TWRP recovery (be aware Internal Storage is not included in TWRP backup)

What I mean by full system backup is a backup that I can use to restore the device to the exact same state as it was before I did a factory reset. So all applications on all screens should still work as before, all the photos should still be there, etc. Note that I do additional individual backups of data. However, in order not to waste a lot of time for restore, I just want to do a full backup and restore. I tried OnePlus Switch. That restored applications, but not their settings. It was not of much help.

@alecxs Note that I don't need to use adb. I was just showing what I tried. If TWRP is the better tool, then - with a bit of details - that would be a good answer.

There exist a number of similar questions. See backup, titanium-backup and twrp tags. Also how to backup. From TWRP official site: What should I back up in TWRP? and What is EXCLUDED from a TWRP backup?

factory reset does only format userdata partition, therefore no system backup needed. be aware when restoring userdata backup,  issues for which you wanted to reset will be restored back, too. for TWRP Migrate is recommended for selection what apps to restore

@alecxs As I wrote, I want to backup for handing in the phone for repair. Softwarewise it is fine. I clarified that now.

Note: This method will not work with work profiles or parallel apps!
Here's how I performed the backup on a OnePlus 6T in 2020:

Downloaded TWRP for my device.

Rebooted the phone into fastboot mode by pressing volume down
plus the power button and following the menu displayed on the
phone. Note the process of entering fastboot mode varies from
phone to phone.

Connected the phone to the PC, then booted TWRP from the Windows
command line (cmd.exe):
fastboot boot twrp-3.4.0-0-fajita.img

I installed fastboot as part of the Chocolatey package adb.

In TWRP, I entered my password, then selected Backup.

Backed up all partitions to internal storage. See also the TWRP
FAQ: What should I back up in TWRP?
Note that not all partitions need to be backed up, and in fact,
according to the TWRP FAQ, it may be a bad idea to restore certain
partitions. Still, it doesn’t hurt to have the backup of all of
them.
Not included is /data/media (internal storage). This needs to be
backed up separately. See the TWRP FAQ: What is EXCLUDED from a
TWRP backup?

With TWRP running, I connected the phone via USB to my PC. Then I
moved the following folder to my PC, which contains the TWRP
backup of the phone:
This PC\OnePlus A6013\Internal Storage\TWRP

This step is not strictly necessary as in the following step I
did back up the entire internal storage. However, it makes the
next step execute faster as less data needs to be copied. The next
step does not give feedback about progress.

For backing up internal storage I decided on the method found in
Tadej Janež’s article Backing up Android's /data/media (i.e.
internal storage) using adb and TWRP. From the Windows command
line I ran:
adb exec-out "tar --create data/media/0 2>/errors.txt | gzip" >internal_storage.tar.gz

After completion, to check for errors, I ran (no errors):
adb shell cat /errors.txt

To leave TWRP, I rebooted the phone. Note that it is not
necessary to install TWRP.

Restoration still needs to be tested.


text:
Rooting my samsung j7 gone wrong
I was rooting my android phone by following youtube tutorial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXyWgyW5-5M .
At step 2:11
after selecting bootloader only blue screen and downloading is written i.e. the above data is not written on my left top screen at the same time i started the odin and the odin log are
<ID:0/004> Added!!
<ID:0/004> Odin engine v(ID:3.1100)..
<ID:0/004> File analysis..
<ID:0/004> SetupConnection..
<ID:0/004> Initialzation..
<ID:0/004> Get PIT for mapping..
<ID:0/004> Firmware update start..
<ID:0/004> SingleDownload.
<ID:0/004> boot.img

It is not proceeding after boot.img please help me and my phone keep on restarting continuously if i stop the process and turn on device normally.

seems you have done nothing wrong. to unbrick restore original unmodified boot.img (haven't watched video but i can imagine you tried to flash magisk patched boot.img and this probably causes boot loop)


text:
Cannot open PDF files received on WhatsApp directly
When I try opening a PDF file that I receive on WhatsApp directly by clicking on the WhatsApp message, I get the message, "You may not have a proper app for viewing this content".
I already have PDF viewers installed on the phone (Google PDF Viewer, Adobe Acrobat Reader). I can open the file when I open it via a file manager.
How can I open the PDF files by clicking directly on the WhatsApp message?

Possibly related/duplicate to understand how WhatsApp works: Why WhatsApp is suddenly unable to open any APK shared by users?

It turns out the trouble was that .PDF was in caps.

Hello TrueUser. How did you reach this conclusion that all uppercase alphabets in the file name causes the issue you described in your question?


text:
How does Android's FBE store each key used to encrypt each corresponding file?
I am very new to Android's FBE and still learning the basics.
From what I could understand, the way FBE works is that for each file to be stored on the disk, the kernel requests for a key from some secure hardware logic. The kernel then assigns this key to the file to be encrypted and is then stored on the disk. When that file is read from the disk in future, the kernel will use the same key to decrypt it.

Since there are multiple files that use multiple keys, who keeps track of the key used to encrypt each file?
Are these details stored in some secure non-volatile memory? If the device is reboot, and the keys removed from RAM, how is this information mapped again?
If some files are deleted on the disk, do the keys get re-used?

https://android.stackexchange.com/q/216155

The file keys are stored directly in the ext4 file-system "dentry" of each file. See bottom of page 9 https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/e1cf/9ad5614f3a24b24088e4b22e9218f0abc3a0.pdf Note: The key derivation process shown in this paper is outdated, but the key storage is AFAIK still used this way.


text:
Can a mobile processor be Overclocked with Software means?
I was searching weather a mobile processor be Overclocked or not so i came across an answer saying no because processor operates on PLL(phase locked loop) which if set to a particular frequency can't be changed. But i have heard about Android Overclocking with some custom kernels and rooted devices. So i need some expert opinion on this matter.

http://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.grarak.kerneladiutor

I don't know if there are hardware limitations of some processors. But kernel can definitely do overclocking. If kernel doesn't support OC, you can't do from userspace.


text:
How can I get more internal space for apps?
I have read several places on this but the answers all seem to be the same. The problem is that I keep running out of space on my /data partition. The steps I've taken to fix this problem: move all apps that will function on sdcard to sdcard, also clear data on apps but the problem with this is that as soon as you open them again they act like a fresh install and then refill data.
My device stats 1gb /data partition 30gb 'internal' sdcard partition, Android 4.2.2 with root kernel 3.0.36+. Ideas I've had to fix this problem and the problems I faced attempting to use them:

Repartition some of the /sdcard space to /data, problem is I can't really find any specific instructions on how to do this and from what I have read I'm not really sure if I can because my "userdata" (/data) partition is at mtd6 and my "user" (/sdcard) partition is at mtd9 with "kpanic" and "system" at mtd 7 & 8 respectively, the guides mention mmc blocks instead of mtd which one seems to be an emulation of the other. I have seen other devices of the same model come from the factory with 2gb of /data storage.

Move the /data/data contents of an app to sdcard and bind mount that location, problem is these directories always contain a /lib link thats points to wherever the apps installed package location is and this link can't seem to be made, also not sure if I can make permissions right. As I understand it, when android installs an app to the sdcard it creates a small ext4 partition to contain the app package so I'm wondering if its possible to do something similar and then bind an apps /data/data assets to it.

Usually the answer would be to use adopted storage (use sd-card as internal) but your device is so old that this feature is not available. Are you sure the device is worth the effort?

Create a second partition on SD card with ext4 filesystem and mount it at /data/data or /data/media on every boot.

@Irfan Latif That is exactly what I thinking when I wrote the last sentence under 2. But as I explained in 1 I have not been able to figure out how repartition the /sdcard and all the guides I've run accross refer to mmc not mtd. If you could explain to me how to do this I would greatly appreciate it.

On a device with such limited resources, your best bet by far is to eliminate as many apps as possible.
Any useless bloatware that was preinstalled might be able to be disabled.  This will prevent them from growing.
Any apps that connect you to sites that are accessible with a browser- use the browser and ditch the apps.
A great, small, very fast browser for such a mission is Lightning.
Lightning (Lightweight web browser) - https://f-droid.org/app/acr.browser.lightning


text:
Installing android 9 or 10 on iphone 4
Is it possible to install Android 9 or 10 on iPhone 4? If no, what are the missed requirements and what is the last Android version that can be installed on iPhone 4?

That Android version hasn't been released yet

interesting topic. iphone is unlockable?

Simple answer... No, you cannot install Android on an iPhone 4... On a iPhone 7/7 Plus it is possible missing MAJOR features, like the ability to use the cellular radio (ie. no voice, sms, or mobile data). https://bgr.com/2020/03/05/you-can-now-install-android-on-your-iphone/

Is it possible to install Android on an iPhone 4?
Technically speaking, yes. The bootrom of the iPhone 4 has long been exploited. If you want to try, here's a few steps you can take:

Exploit your iPhone 4 using any bootrom exploit
Build a custom Android kernel for your iPhone 4
Write a custom loader with all the necessary configuration and components
Boot it on the iPhone 4

What're the missed requirements?
There could be a lot of them, for example, the storage chip, the CPU, a lot of things can go wrong with this type of exploit.
What's the latest version that can run on the iPhone 4?
None. But if you somehow manage to get Android running on it, I would say you can run up to Nougat. Because your iPhone 4 have a single core and 512mb of ram, this configuration is similar to another device called Samsung Galaxy Star and it has almost the same configuration in terms of ram and CPU cores, and it is able to run up to Nougat.


text:
Unlocked Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra's hotspot is only limited to 1 connection
My wife and I just switched to Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultras (unlocked and purchased from Samsung.com) from Pixel 3 & 4 XL.  We had no problem with having multiple connections on either device.  On the S20s, under the Mobile Hotspot settings, it says

Turn your phone into a Wi-Fi access point.  Up to 1 other device will be able to use your phone's mobile data or Wi-Fi connection to access the internet.

Doing some research and talking to Samsung support, there is supposed to be an option in "Configure Mobile Hotspot" to set the maximum number of connections.  This option is not there for us.
I tried a handful of 3rd party hotspot apps and none of them worked. I also tried a few hidden settings apps and I couldn't find anything about setting the maximum connections.
Is there another way of setting this hidden maximum number of connection settings?

Did you buy carrier-locked phones?  If so, this setting is most likely limited by your carrier.  If you got your Pixel devices through Google Play (or straight from Google) then they would not be subject to this restriction.

Thanks CzarMatt, I forgot to mention that they are unlocked purchased straight from Samsung in the description.  I did a factory reset on the phone while the SIM was removed and the setting wasn't any different. :(

Strange.  My friend's Note 10+ says it can connect up to 8 devices.  You might find some information here: https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/96458/how-many-clients-can-be-connected-to-a-wifi-hotspot  My guess is the carrier or settings of your phone are restricting the number somehow.  Try checking battery saver, data saver, any other throttling setting you can think of and play around with the settings.


text:
TWRP failed to install ZIP for Lineage 16 Samsung Galaxy Note 2 GT-N7100 (t03g)
I tried to flash the ROM for Lineage 16 to my Samsung Note 2 N7100 (t03g) with TWRP custom bootloader, but  there was an error which was:
Installing zip file '/sdcard/lineage-16-20200104-UNOFFICIAL-n7100.zip'
Checking for Digest file...
Unmounting System...
Warning: No file_contexts
Target: samsung/t03gxx/t03g:4.3/JSS15J/N71000XXUEMK4:user/release-keys
detected filesystem ext4 for /dev/block/mmcblk0p13
Patching system image unconditionally...
mkdir "/cache/recovery/8833b259bb088b2e13f62771d46006a40f54bc20/" failed: No such file or directory
E1001: Failed to update system image.
Updater process ended with ERROR: 7
Error installing zip file '/sdcard/lineage-16-20200104-UNOFFICIAL-n7100.zip'
Updating partition details...
...done

What I've tried to solve the problem were:

unzipping and rezipping the file
deleting the assert lines in /META-INF/com/google/android/updater-script
rezipping after deleting asserts

They still failed to fix the error. In between attempts I've wiped the cache, Dalvik, system, data as normal. Since ERROR: 7 is a very general problem, I think the problem is on line mkdir "/cache/recovery/8833b259bb088b2e13f62771d46006a40f54bc20/" failed: No such file or directory but for the life of me can't figure out what it means. I'm certain that mkdir is supposed to create a new directory from scratch, so I find the "No such file or directory" very odd.
I'm using Comico Team's custom ROM and TWRP version 3.4.0. At first I did want to ask over there but the creators seemed to be unresponsive. So, anyone here know how to fix this?

check /cache/recovery is directory

I opened an issue with LineageOS as this looks like an installer bug to me. Hope its okay I referenced your information there: https://gitlab.com/LineageOS/issues/android/-/issues/2657

in TWRP go to advanced > terminal, then create /cache/recovery with
mkdir /cache/recovery

solved the problem for me

You sir deserve a medal, or beer or coffe, whatever you fancy! You just saved my day! Such a simple solution to a problem I first feared to have bricked my device.

Thank you so much!


text:
Toggling mobile data with tasker doesn't work, even with "write secure settings" enabled (Android 10)
I'm on a UleFone Armor X7 (cheap waterproof/rugged thing) running Android 10.  I'm trying to use Tasker to conserve power for multi-day bike rides with no charging*, and one thing I'd like to do is turn off as much communication as possible for several minutes, then on briefly to pick up messages, then off again in a loop.
I know aeroplane mode requires root (edit: or ADB Wifi), and I don't want to lose Google Pay, but I should be able to toggle mobile data without it according to the following screenshot:

This says either root, or ADB WiFi, or Write Secure Settings should be enough.  ADB WiFi isn't an option, because it needs a PC at every boot, which is incompatible with turning the phone off overnight - to save power.  So I've installed ADB, granted the permission, and it still doesn't work. I can test that the permission is set: adb shell dumpsys package net.dinglisch.android.taskerm |grep SECURE_SETTINGS returns android.permission.WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGS: granted=true but when I try to test the task I get
Error: 1
Couldn't toggle mobile data on this device

I suspect a semantic error, meaning that ((ADB Wifi or root) and (Write secure settings)) is needed. Enabling ADB Wifi does indeed allow Tasker to toggle aeroplane mode - but while Tasker can keep ADB Wifi alive (even apparently with Wifi itself off), this doesn't persist over a reboot, such as shutting down overnight to save battery, and a PC is needed again on restart.  Enabling battery save mode overnight may be an option.
I'm thinking of trying something with AutoInput, but I'm not keen, as it (i) requires the screen to be unlocked, and (ii) can on toggle, not set a state. I also don't want to pay even a little (on principle) to test something with these issues.
I've seen a few similar questions for very old Android versions, but nothing recent.

* I will have an external battery, and a dynamo, but just assume they're not enough to keep everything charged, especially as I navigate on my phone.

Yes, thanks @beeshyams. I'm editing the Q now so we'll be able to tidy these comments soon

I don't use Tasker, so can't be very specific. But on Android 10 svc data enable|disable doesn't work even with root (neither with UID 2000 alone). It works only on adb shell. So there have some changes occured at API level (it's not even SELinux, I checked). But I haven't looked into it deeply yet.

@IrfanLatif via ADB Wifi aeroplane mode is working rather nicely.  I took it on a test ride earlier today.  So it looks like the solution might be to avoid rebooting on the road (though I may have a backup phone and there may be ways to run ADB shell on that over OTG - I'm still reading)


text:
Cant flash my firmware on my huawei p8 lite ( Model Num: ALE-UL00___Build num: ALE-UL00C00B230) Also cant find firmware avalable anywhere?
I have been at this for almost 2 days straight now, Here is the scenario: I bought a phone off of E-bay, but it has a wierd firmware on it which didnt allow me to connect to wifi, but instead had a Wlan only option, and no wifi to be found anywhere. It also had all these wierd chinese apps on it with tons of ads bombarding my screen. and no wifi to be found anywhere.
So i decided to load a different version firmware off of an SD card, and not only did the new firmware not work, but it overwrote the old firmware aswell. Now i'm stuck in a bootloop. I have tried about 10 different firmware's by now and i cant get my device to successfully install it. So then i turned to Windows Powershell.
I followed online instructions, my computer detects my phone in Fastboot mode, but i cant for the love of GOD get my commands applied, it keeps saying:"" FAILED (remote: Command not allowed)"" '. Another note, before this whole mess, i enabled USB debugging, but i couldnt find an ""Enable OEM "" slider, I also cant find my exact Firmware anywhere. (So i just played around with simar titled Frimwares. )
**(My Model Number is: ALE-UL00)
(And my Build number is: ALE-UL00C00B230)**
**So now my phone is stuck with no OS/Firmware, and i cant use POWERSHELL because i dont have OEM enabled. SOME PLEASE TELL ME WHAT I CAN DO TO FIX THIS. My current fastboot screen sais : PHONE locked ** does that have something to do with the OEM setting and is that why i cant apply my Powershell Commands? please advise me, IM BEGGING YOU INTERNET!!!

In mid 2018 Huawei has stopped allowing to unlock their devices. If your latest firmware had been created after that date most likely Huawei has removed the OEM unlock option.

i see, but the firmware i need is from november 2016

ive been awake for 34 hours trying to flash this damn phone lol

@Wian i doubt you understand. your bootloader must unlocked. you can't flash from fastboot on locked bootloader. buy unlock code from 3rd party, Huawei doesn't provide unlock codes anymore

There is a way to get your bootloader unlocked, it's called slock unlocking.


text:
Mute Phone Mic when Headphones are Plugged In?
I saw a question similar to mine but it was 7 years old so I'm hoping there may be an update to the answer
I would like for my Note 9 running Android version 10 to mute the mic on the phone when I have my headphones plugged in. It seems like it takes sound from both areas and I have my phone setting right next to my keyboard. When I am typing while talking, the sound of the keyboard clicks are extremely loud to the listener. I cannot move my phone as the conversations are typically video calls and I am using a wired headphone connection. Additionally, when I talk while in a somewhat noisy area, the phone mic seems to be more sensitive to the background noise and quiets my voice via the headphone.

If there is a similar question please edit your question and include a link to this question.

You might try an app called Pilfershush.
It takes control of the microphone so that other apps can't use it.
Just remember to turn it off before you try to use the phone for a call.
PilferShush Jammer (Block unwanted use of onboard microphone) - https://f-droid.org/app/cityfreqs.com.pilfershushjammer


text:
ADB pull stops after first error
I am trying to do a full copy of /sdcard of my unrooted OnePlus 3T to my Windows PC.
So far I've tried:

adb pull /sdcard/ C:\mylocalfolder\
Works OK but as soon as there is an error it stops the process, so the copy process has been truncated. The error is due to a file containing a colon ":" in the name, so it can't be copied to Windows.

adb exec-out tar c sdcard > sdcard_backup.tar
Doesn't work, it stops immediately and creates a corrupted 4kb file.

Copy the files using Windows via Data Transfer mode
Windows halts calculating time to copy files.

Adb pull would be the ideal solution so far if is there a way to skip/ignore errors so it can continue copying the files, or perhaps try to skip the files with certain characters.
I've tried both Adb version 1.0.32 and 1.0.41 (latest version as of July 2020).
Any suggestion?

Keep a small Linux distro installed on PC as secondary OS (even on a USB). Make life easy. // tar is the best way to handle cross platform file name issues. It should work. Try adb shell tar c sdcard > sdcard_backup.tar. Also unlike exec-out this won't merge STDERR with SRDOUT.

try adebar or adb-sync

@alecxs is there any way to tell how much progress this command made? It seems to me like the target tar file size is not updating

@lucidbrot maybe via logcat but i don't know. consider adb is broken, i can't for the sake pull files from samsung usb-c. small files are fine, but after ~ 1 min adb crashes. got the feeling it is related to usb speed

@alecxs I have let the exec-out run overnight and it managed to grab nothing for about two hours, then the tar was suddenly 8.3GB, and now the rest of the night it doesn't seem like anything new was added... it still does not think it's done though. I have aborted it now, but the tar is not even a valid tar file.

@alecxs it could really be related to usb C though. I've had problems with bastboot as well - it only worked over usb 2.0. Got that idea from [here]((https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/help-press-any-key-to-shutdown-in-fastboot.3816021/)

@alecxs I see. In that case I'll do it on linux. Thanks! (I had wakelock on - I was in the recovery at the time)

if you have (git) bash or cygwin you can also use winadb-sync (i have created today) it will continue on errors and get the missing files on second run

I'd still love a way to continue copying via adb pull even though there is an error. In my case, a file that was there at the beginning of the copy disappears because trash is emptied during the pull, Details: adb: error: failed to copy '/sdcard/DCIM/Camera/.trashed-1707529490-PXL_20240111_014436490.jpg' to '/srv/be/mm/adb-pull-sdcard-backup-2024-01-22/DCIM/Camera/.trashed-1707529490-PXL_20240111_014436490.jpg': remote open failed: No such file or directory

Quoting is recommended to make it more clear which commands will executed on client and which pipes/redirections are designated to run on host side. Basically this command should work:
adb exec-out "tar -c /sdcard" > sdcard_backup.tar

Have a look into corrupted 4 kb file. you will see the tar header and file content. there is a leading string before the tar file begin:

removing leading '/' from member names

$ hexdump -C sdcard_backup.tar
00000000  72 65 6d 6f 76 69 6e 67  20 6c 65 61 64 69 6e 67  |removing leading|
00000010  20 27 2f 27 20 66 72 6f  6d 20 6d 65 6d 62 65 72  | '/' from member|
00000020  20 6e 61 6d 65 73 0a 73  64 63 61 72 64 00 00 00  | names.sdcard...|
00000030  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
*
00000080  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 30 30 30 30 37  |...........00007|
00000090  37 37 00 30 30 30 30 30  30 30 00 30 30 30 30 30  |77.0000000.00000|
000000a0  30 30 00 30 30 30 30 30  30 30 30 30 30 30 00 30  |00.00000000000.0|
000000b0  30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30  30 30 00 30 31 34 37 35  |0000000000.01475|
000000c0  37 00 20 32 2f 73 74 6f  72 61 67 65 2f 73 65 6c  |7. 2/storage/sel|
000000d0  66 2f 70 72 69 6d 61 72  79 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |f/primary.......|

problematic exec-out will redirect stdin and stderr. at least avoid error messages, or even better catch stderr completely
adb exec-out "tar -c sdcard" > sdcard_backup.tar
adb exec-out "tar -c sdcard 2> /dev/null" > sdcard_backup.tar

Note the skipped leading / root dir in command line. This time a 4 kb tar file is produced
$ hexdump -C sdcard_backup.tar
00000000  73 64 63 61 72 64 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |sdcard..........|
00000010  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
*
00000060  00 00 00 00 30 30 30 30  37 37 37 00 30 30 30 30  |....0000777.0000|
00000070  30 30 30 00 30 30 30 30  30 30 30 00 30 30 30 30  |000.0000000.0000|
00000080  30 30 30 30 30 30 30 00  30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30  |0000000.00000000|
00000090  30 30 30 00 30 31 34 37  35 37 00 20 32 2f 73 74  |000.014757. 2/st|
000000a0  6f 72 61 67 65 2f 73 65  6c 66 2f 70 72 69 6d 61  |orage/self/prima|
000000b0  72 79 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |ry..............|

looks like a healthy tar archive. let tar do it's work. it reveals the file is a symbolic link
$ tar -vtf sdcard_backup.tar
lrwxrwxrwx root/root         0 1970-01-01 01:00 sdcard -> /storage/self/primary

In boot mode /sdcard is just a symlink to /storage/emulated/0
while in recovery mode /sdcard is a bind-mount of /data/media/0
tar does not traverse symlinks by default, therefore the command works in recovery mode. for boot mode use tar -h flag, or provide directory path instead of it's symlink.
furthermore on windows cmd.exe may add additional \r carriage return for each \n linefeed. therefore avoid streaming plain data, instead use compression algorithm which produces no linefeeds at all. this can be done with gzip
adb exec-out "tar -ch sdcard | gzip" > sdcard_backup.tar.gz
adb exec-out "tar -c storage/emulated/0 | gzip" > sdcard_backup.tar.gz

This tarball archive can be extracted from tar as most tar implementations will auto-detect and invoke gzip automatically.
$ tar -vtf sdcard_backup.tar.gz
drwxrwx--x root/sdcard_rw    0 2018-01-01 01:00 storage/emulated/0/
drwxrwx--x root/sdcard_rw    0 2018-01-01 01:00 storage/emulated/0/Samsung/
drwxrwx--x root/sdcard_rw    0 2018-01-01 01:00 storage/emulated/0/Samsung/Music/

For windows we can use 7-Zip as alternative unpacking program, it will handle most of compression algorithms.

Holy! That was faster than expected... oh right, I grabbed the wrong sd card. But for the internal SD card I can confirm that this method is working :D creating a 3GB backup of the internal sd card only took a few minutes.

At the time of writing, 9 hours later, my external SD card is still not done backing up with that command (from recovery, screen unlocked). I have aborted and got a 7GB file. That seems like it was very slow.. 7zip reports a compression rate of 95% but fails to open the (aborted) file as it is apparently faulty. I think I will go the way of just taking the card out and reading it on a different device to copy it.

adb pull on the external sdcard did stop at 48% though. blkid reports my ext sdcard as type exfat

You (and android) were right! My problems backing up were because my fs on the sdcard is broken as reported by fsck.exfat /dev/block/mmcblk0p1. Sadtimes. Thanks!


text:
Meaning of Samsung bootloader codenames?
I realized that you cannot install firmware with older bootloader version than the one in the device.
To do things more correctly and safely, I want more fully understand the bootloader codename meaning.
Here are diffrent bootloader codenames, that appear in different three Build Numbers.

Build Number: G965FXXU7DTB4
Bootloader Codename: U7D

Build Number: G965U1UES7DTB2
Bootloader Codename: S7D

Build Number: G965USQU6CSI2
Bootloader Codename: U6C

I understand  that the digit between the two letter indicated the bootloader version.
Therefore, the bootloader version is the same for U7D and S7D and the U6C is older.
However, it is not the same codename.
What is the difference between U7D and S7D?
I'd love to know what the diffrent letters means?

What is the difference between U7D and S7D?

First, the difference between U and S:

The x is either a U or a S. U updates tend to have actual updates and/or new features. Or simply bug fixes. S updates tend to be strictly security-related.

Secondly, the meaning of 7:

This is the bootloader number/fuse. What you need to know: You cannot rollback to a version that has a bootloader fuse lower than the version you currently have. As such, if you have a 3 BL fuse, you cannot go back to a 2 BL fuse. But you can go forward to a 4 BL.

Finally, the meaning of D

is the software upgrade version. The first version is always A. When there is a major update, such as a feature update or an Android upgrade, this letter goes up. Note that for official beta versions, the letter is always Z.

All the above quotes are from How to read build versions.


text:
Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra - default file transfer mode issues
I just got a Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra, I tried moving some files using the usb-c cable. Thankfully, I have usb-c type port in my laptop. I attached it, and a lot of issues started.
The default USB settings for the phone are: connection controlled by the phone, file transfer - auto android. (I apologize if those aren't perfect translations, I am using the phone in my native language)
With those settings, I can't get anything done. Trying to look at pictures, disconnection after 2 seconds. Trying to move files, same thing.
After a lot of cursing and trying, I McGyvered this solution. If I connect the phone, then change the settings to "controlled by phone, pictures transfer" for a second and then back to the so called "default" settings, "controlled by phone, files transfer - auto android" - it works fine.
My question:
What can cause this? Why aren't the "default" settings actually default? Is there any way to fix this?

For a PC connection all modes that contain "controlled by phone" are wrong. Those modes are for direct connections via OTG, for example to a USB stick. When connected to a PC just use File transfer.

It's a separate settings. It's not "controlled by phone" or "file transfer". It's one setting with options "controlled by phone" or "other device", in which if I use other device (the computer), the connection automatically fails.


text:
Backup data in Recovery mode on Android 3.2
My Samsung Galaxy Tab 7 plus(GT-P6200) is stuck in boot loop.I have tried to solve the boot loop problem but couldn't succeed.The only solution seems to me is to format my phone and I am unable because of important files.I am able to go to the recovery mode.It shows the following options:-
reboot system now
apply update from sdcard
apply update from cache
wipe data/factory reset
wipe cache partition
backup user data
restore user data
Is there any way I can back up data on an external sdcard or on my PC? My android phone is not rooted.

backup user data looks good! hopefully it is not encrypted. try to unpack with bckp2win

Please how can I do that

insert MicroSD Card and select backup user data from recovery


text:
How to disable link previews in Android Messages app?
Android Messages app can show the preview of the link in an SMS.  For example:

I am trying to figure out a way to detect if the request comes from a preview so I don't get false positive visits.
Is there a way to disable the link previews?

Hi and welcome to Android Enthusiasts. Since you mentioned that the question has been asked before, it might be helpful to provide some links as additional context. Also, I assume Android Messages is the AOSP/Google Messages app, but mentioning the device model might also help in case the messaging app is different. Thanks!

To disable link previews on Android/Google Messages app:

Tap the overflow menu (3 vertical dots) at the top-right corner
Select Settings
Select Automatic previews
Tap either Show all previews and/or Show only web link previews to disable


text:
How is Verizon suddenly tracking my hot-spot usage on Android and how do I disable this tracking?
I am familiar with how iOS devices report hot spot use by treating it differently somehow.  My understand is that Android is not crippled like this, and there is rightly no difference in traffic between hot spot data and data from the phone itself.
So I was a bit shocked when I received a text from Verizon telling me I had used up almost all my paltry hot-spot "allowance" because this should not be possible that it discriminates traffic like that.  How is this possible?  I have used my hotspot a lot before and never received this message.
I have read something about an "APN"s but there is only one, "VZWINTERNET" which can only be "reset to default" with no option to delete or create a new one.

Does this answer your question? Does android switch to a different APN when in hotspot mode?

Your phone uses a different type of connection (DUN) to send tethered data but you can make the provider treat all traffic as if it is non-tethered:
adb shell settings put global tether_dun_required 0

When enabling tethering on Android, the OS will first do a provisioning check with the carrier to determine if your plan allows tethering. You can remove this check:
adb shell su
mount -o rw,remount /system_root
cd /system_root/system/
echo net.tethering.noprovisioning=true >> /system_root/system/build.prop

However it will not be enough because carriers often spot tethering by looking at the TTL of your IP packages.

Time to live (TTL) refers to the amount of time or “hops” that a packet is set to exist inside a network before being discarded by a router. It is decremented for each hop. A hop is any intermediate router the packet passes through.

When tethering, your phone acts as a router and your TTL is decreased by 1 before reaching your ISP, which is what betrays you.
By default, Android and iOS have a TTL of 64 so you only need to set the TTL on your PC to 65.
On GNU/Linux :
net.ipv4.ip_default_ttl=65

# persistent change
echo 'net.ipv4.ip_default_ttl=65' | sudo tee /usr/lib64/sysctl.d/70-ttl.conf

On Windows:
netsh int ipv4 set glob defaultcurhoplimit=65 netsh int ipv6 set glob
defaultcurhoplimit=65

On MacOS:
sudo sysctl -w net.inet.ip.ttl=65

For now it seems to be enough but keep in mind that your carrier has other ways to detect tethering (see here) and will most likely use them in the future.

well i did everything except the part requiring root (which i can't do because my phone is not rootable) and ran a speed test and right in the middle of the test the speed dropped and i got a text from my carrier that i had used up my hot spot data so uh... i guess the root part is required for this to work :(

See http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=734138 for a discussion about how they might. Mechanisms other than APN change might include

Time to live
Request header
Data volume

nice article, but seeing as how it's 10 years old I'm wondering what the state of the art is

Yes. Irfan's article is more recent. It boils down to the same thing however.
I'm as interested as you are in getting to a factual answer.


text:
How to reset "wm size" changes from recovery or unlock android phone with graphic key via keyboard/mouse?
After entering wm size 1920x1080 in terminal I was unable to reset this setting.
Now I have TWRP running and no information about how wm store its parameters in memory. Using adb is not possible (for adb shell wm size reset) as I cannot unlock phone (nor with usb keyboard nor with usb mouse)
So the quiestion is: how to reset changes of wm command or unlock a phone with usb keyboard or mouse (graphical key)?

Adb commands don't need the lock screen to be unlocked to work.

I found a solution. Type in console:

wm size reset


text:
Where are Firefox bookmark and history files stored?
And what are the names? I want to copy each in the event of device failure.
Sync is apparently not an option as the Sync "application" has returned "'Cannot connect to network" for several weeks, and the web page to create an account just has a swirl that never loads anything else.
I'm not sold on sharing data with mozilla anyway, tho if anyone knows how to do that, also, ...
All the tutorials I've found online are about desktop. I tried applying solutions there to android, like searching for 'places.sqlite', but no dice.
I'm running OS 5.1.1, unrooted. I've got two 3rd-party file managers, and of course Firefox lets one browse root directories (file:///...).
Thanks.
Edit: I'm trying to use xBrowserSync, but every version I've found won't install, has this problem:

I scanned each at    VirusTotal first, of course.

Some related questions regarding bookmark and history mention the location, but it needs root access to internal storage. I'm not sure if Firefox could browse to that location though.

Clear cahche of Firefox app and backup whole /data/data/org.mozilla.firefox/ directory (better using tar). It preserves everything including history, bookmarks, tabs and sync account. Set proper UID and SELinux context on restore.

@Irfan Latif Is there a specific way to "back up"? I'm not a programmer, so I'm a little lost on your restoration advice. Would there be a way to convert to text file, maybe?
Anyone know what's up with Stync?
This seems overly complicated, but then they can't spy on you when you can DIY.

@Andrew T. The only place Firefox can't access is the "root" of external storage.
I am, however, having a problem "downloading," getting "File could not be saved." My file managers show file:///data as empty (one shows its own folder only) and copy it so. (In fact, I'd gone there first and it was that emptiness that caused me to come here.)


text:
Android phone does not recognize that there is a backup in Google Drive
I have backed up my phone (LG G7 ThinQ) to google drive and I am trying to restore my app data. The problem is that when I go into the settings app under the backup and restore option, it tells me that there is no backup in the drive. I am running android 8.0 oreo and I was also running it when I made the backup.
I know for sure that I am signed into the account with the backup. I've tried resetting the phone and removing and re-adding the account but it still says that my drive does not have a backup.
What is causing this and how do i fix it?


text:
Easiest way to root Xiaomi redmi 4x with TWRP
I'm trying to root my Xiaomi redmi 4x (Android 7) using TWRP.  I have unlocked the phone,   turned on USB debugging and odm.  It's my first time ever trying and seem to get confused following the instructions I have found on YouTube and Google.  Many seem to have skipped steps or are not very clear.  Can someone please help me with a step by step guide to rooting my phone and the links to download the required apps. I would greatly appreciate it since I have four days trying to figure it out.  My head hurts from it at this point.

If bootloader is unlocked, flash TWRP uisng fastboot flash and then from TWRP flash Magisk zip for rooting. What's the confusion?

twrp-3.4.0-0-santoni.img + no-verity-opt-encrypt-6.1.zip + Magisk-v20.4.zip

Does this answer your question? How do I root my Android device?

https://android.stackexchange.com/q/214902


text:
Hide music from list of alarm, notifications, and ring tone files
How to keep my music and alarm files separate suggested I could nut an empty file named .nomedia in my top Music directory to prevent Music files from being seen by the Alarm app when I create a wake-up alarm. Well, that does not work and when I set an alarm and wish a non standard alarm sound, I must scroll through over a thousand music files to find the Alarm sound file. Same happens with ring tones and notifications. How do I prevent Music files from appearing on my OnePlus 7pro w/ Android 10?

I had the same problem on my OnePlus 7. It's irritating that the Oxygen OS pick menu doesn't have a  search () option.
To over come this I use Ring Tone Maker. You search for a tone, long press and from 3 dots menu on right, choose to set it as a ring/alarm/notification tone. Drawback of this approach is that you can't find default tones in this app. If your device is rooted, you could locate those files and copy in some folder that would show up on this app


text:
How to rate Google Play itself?
I want to know how we can put review or rate google play store (not their apps)

Google Play Store is not a regular app, therefore it can not be found in Google Play Store and hence can not be rated there.

Is there is any place where we can rate it

There are various APK download sites on the net. I assume some of them allow to rate the apps. Most likely you will find Google Play Store APK here (com.android.vending). But rating it there where nobody reads it is in my opinion a bit useless. If you have critics on PlayStore may be you should better write a post on Facebook or Twitter.

Ok... Well thank you

From Play Store support

When you can write a review

You can only review apps you’ve downloaded.

Since you didn't download Google Play, you can't review it. Instead, from the Play Store → Help & Feedback → Send feedback at bottom (via mail) is an option.

Edit: Just found this, it is a better option. Raise it in the Google Play help community


text:
Identify the source process and/or app from an output in the logcat
When I plug my phone into my computer, I can see the logcat output in Android Studio. I recently noticed that whenever I start entering a password in a field designated for passwords (the ones that display '*' for any character), the phone prints a very concerning message to the console:
D/HwAutofillHelper: inputType is password, now record

Since it is an Honor Phone, I suppose Hw is short for Huawei?
Nevertheless, I'd like to know if there is a way to find out what process produced this output and what app it belongs to?

Based on on the Internet search result for HwAutofillHelper I would assume that this class exists only on Huawei devices (all references were related to Huawei devices). As the log entry can be produced by multiple apps, I would assume that it is a system framework that is active in every app. Would be interesting to see the code of this class...

Logcat can show the process ID (PID) that outputs the log message.

For command-line: adb logcat will use threadtime by default, which shows the PID
For Android Studio:

Open the Logcat window
From the toolbar (on the left-side), click the Logcat Header (cogwheel) button

If the toolbar is not shown, click the Show Options Menu (cogwheel) button on the top-right corner, then choose Show Toolbar

On Configure Logcat Header dialog, check Show process and thread IDs, then press OK

By default, logcat will show the log in the following format:
date time PID-TID/package priority/tag: message

With the PID, it is possible to identify the source with ps command with -p flag to pinpoint the source, i.e. adb shell ps -p [PID]. The command will show the package name or the executable name.

Example
The logcat returned the following message
2020-07-08 22:06:16.002 18510-18510/? I/ScreenEventHandler: Received Broadcast ACTION_SCREEN_ON

The PID is 18510.
Calling adb shell ps -p 18510 returned the following
USER      PID   PPID  VSIZE   RSS   WCHAN            PC  NAME
u0_a107   18510 15708 1006092 44320 sys_epoll_ 00000000 S com.asksven.betterbatterystats

Thus, the message was written by com.asksven.betterbatterystats (BetterBatteryStats)

Further idea: getting the APK and browsing/reverse-engineering it to pinpoint the class name and the exact line in the code.


text:
Can you block certain commands from a headset?
Many Bluetooth headsets have few buttons for a multitude of functions. Press once for "louder", twice for "next song", doubletap for dial, hold for stop, hold longer for pairing and what not. Especially the "dial last number" is the source of a lot of embarrassment. Can you limit the functionality of those buttons, i.e. disallow any interaction but volume change?
Thanks.


text:
Strange Saving Behaviour of Samsung's "Write on PDF"
I did some work yesterday using Write on PDF on my Samsung S6 Lite tablet. Come this morning, and it didn't save. Bit of a nightmare. Anyway, I redid the work, but decided this afternoon to test out exactly how the saving works. It behaves very strangely!
I have uploaded a video (screen capture) to YouTube showing exactly the behaviour: https://youtu.be/ksfVwWm6iUY.
Basically, when I open with Write on PDF, it doesn't seem to save successfully. Instead, I need download it, open it up and write on it before saving. Even then, it saves some random stuff. The video hopefully makes this clear.

I want to open a PDF from a webpage (or app) in Write on PDF, do some writing on it, then save.
How do I get this to actually save?

I would try to use a local PDF file, not one that is saved in Dropbox.

Sure. The point is to not have to download the file then open it with Write to PDF when there is the option there immediately. As you can see in the video, it clearly says Saved in Device Storage/Write on PDF (around the 29/30sec mark). I don't know why it saves without the annotations...


text:
Manage connectivity of apps to internet of Sim-card vs. wifi
I have a Redmi note 8 android smart-phone,
If I use Wifi then all the applications connect to the internet, But in Simcard, some of the applications are not able to connect to the internet.
For instance, in sim-card internet, some apps like Telegram or Whatsapp connect to the internet easily, but my Chrome browser or google map does not connect to the internet and says you are offline and there is no connectivity.
I'm wondering if there is a place in android or specifically in redmi note 8 which manages how application connectivity.
Thanks

To identify the cause you ca test a different SIM card in your Redmi phone, or test the SIM card in a different device. Then you will see if the cause is the phone or your mobile network provider.

Turn off any power saving mode or data saving mode. If u have limited the data per month or per day, then turn that off.
Run an Internet Speedtest from the sim card data. If you are having trouble run Speedtest may be there's an issue, so try that sim on another phone and check.
I think MIUI has an option for turning on/off mobile data used by app. You can find it in App Management (from settings) for a particular app.


text:
How to use wired and wireless headphones simultaneously?
I have both wired and wireless headphones. I thought of sharing the both to see a movie.
To do that, can we get the audio output of both at same time.
I can able to switch the output but not access at same time.

Does this answer your question? Using wired and wireless headphones simultaneously?

Upgrade to Android Pie, most of the android devices support it as an inbuilt feature since API28.
There are certain hacks you will find on Google for lower versions, they don't work to be honest. As per my knowledge in Pie it will work, because I'm using it


text:
Certain "core" apps lost access to media files
At some point in time (about a week ago) something happened to my Motorola Moto Z2 Play / Android 8.0 that caused my base apps to not have access to my media files (i.e. audio, photos etc.).
Examples:

all my custom ringtones (i.e. based on my own media files) were reset to default sound:

Contact apps reset custom ringtones for contacts to default one,
Alarms & Clock app reset custom alarm tone to default one,
SMS (Messages) app reset custom message notification tone to default one,
system-wide default notification tone (set by me to custom) was reset as well,
system-wide default ringtone (set by me to custom one) was reset,

I cannot pick a photo for a contact because my contacts app keeps saying: "No pictures are available on the device".

While first situation is resolved. I see my custom ringtone files in the list and I can go through my contacts and assign them again. But second situation is not resolved. I see this error all the time and I cannot change any contact's photo.
This is verified as not a bug (tested three different contacts-like applications and all of them shows exactly the same message, when trying to change contact's photo). But still, it seems that problem is limited to contacts-related apps only. Other apps still has read and write access to my custom files.
For example: :

(read) I can pick any photo or other custom file and attach it to an e-mail, send it as MMS or share it in any other way or
(read) upload it to OneDrive or Google Drive etc. or
(write) my Camera app is still able to make new photos and store them in "DCIM" or
(write) my sound recorder is able to record sound and write audio files.

The only thing that has changed on my phone recently and that I suspect as the cause of above metioned situation was Android 7.1.2 --> Android 8.0.0 update.
Is there anything I can do (since replacing contacts app didn't resolve the situation) or check in this case? Or resetting the phone to factory defaults is the only option that I am left with?
EDIT: I have cleared cache and data of media app, as suggested in comment. It didn't help.

It seems your media store database got corrupted. Did you try clearing cache of Media Storage app and then forcing media scanning? Some details here: https://android.stackexchange.com/a/209119/218526

@IrfanLatif As in an updated question -- I did so and there was no effect. Plus, it seems that more apps were affected by the "reset custom tone to default one" problem.

• I think there are two options to change contact's photo- Take a photo and select a photo. Does the take photo option works. Or try changing the app to choose photos for changing the pic.
• If your contacts are backed upto Google then you can goto
https://contacts.google.com/ sign in with the account and can change the contcat pic.
Upvote if it helps.

Either I am missing something or you are answering a wrong question. Your answer belongs to my other question (here), about changing contacts photo. This question is about no access to media files by base apps.


text:
How exactly does NITZ work?
My understanding is that phones have an internal RTC (real-time clock) which is regularly synchronized, using NITZ (default) and NTP when the phone is connected to internet.
Carriers can broadcast a special signal encoding UTC time information (Year, Month, Day, Hour, Minute, Second, Timezone and DST) with an accuracy in the order of minutes.
I read the 3GPP specification and found when time information can be transferred from the serving PLMN to the Mobile Station (MS) / User equipment (UE) :

Upon registering on the network.
When the MS geographically relocates to a different Local Time Zone.
When the network changes its Local Time Zone, e.g. between summer and winter time.
When the network changes its identity.
At any time during a signalling connection with mobile station.

Automatic date and time needs to be enabled in the phone settings to either use NITZ or NTP. Technically a SIM card is not required right? If so, this should work in airplane mode but I didn't manage to trigger a time update after having manually changed the time.
I think I don't understand how it works in practice.

When does this trigger ? How does the cell tower know 2) 3)?
If it periodically broadcasts time information to every phones in the area then what's the meaning of these 5 points?
What does 1) 4) and 5) mean in concrete terms?

Regarding NTP, it is a lot simpler. Android will synchronize with a NTP server if there hasn't been any NITZ update from the carrier ever since 24H. The default NTP server is time.android.com (Google server) but I guess manufacturers may change this to use their own. (source: config.xml)

Technically a SIM card is not required right? But some radio connectivity should be as otherwise the device is isolated. Related search gave me this: https://github.com/ghbolivar/android-on-freerunner/issues/67


text:
Use laptop's keyboard shortcut in in Android device
I am using Ubuntu 18.04 with Genymotion version 3.1.0 for my laptop. How do I use the laptop's keyboard shortcuts like Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V in the installed android device?

Genymotion added support for copy and paste around their 2.1.0 version release.  The host device and virtual device share a clipboard so copy/paste is possible.
There are a few ways to copy/paste into an Android emulated device:

long press on a text entry field and then choose "paste".
menu+c/menu+v if your keyboard has this button.  It looks like this.

Sometimes this is called the "application" key.  See: https://help.gnome.org/users/gnome-help/stable/keyboard-key-menu.html.en

Change the IME to a keyboard that supports ctrl or alt for copy/paste.

I haven't used Genymotion in quite some time, but I would also try digging around its settings to see if there are key remapping options for things like copy/paste.

Thank you @CzarMatt. I tried the first suggestion and it's working. The second one doesn't work.


text:
Unlocking Google Pixel 2 XL without losing data
I need to unlock my Google Pixel 2 XL without losing my data. I figured out the simple solution of doing a hard reset, but I can't lose all the important things on my phone because I need them for court and all of my clients of 20 years for work.
I can't afford to buy any software, so I downloaded an app called Dr.Fone, but unfortunately it does not support Pixel at this time. I am not the most computer or tech-informed when it comes to these things, so I went to a local phone store and ask if they have software to do this and still no luck. I also tried to follow some YouTube tutorials and did not have luck there, either due to my lack of ability to obtain some of the resources or actions that they needed me to perform from the phone because I cannot get into the system.
Is it possible to unlock Google Pixel 2 XL without losing data?

Are you able to log into the same Google account that is associated with your device, on say, a desktop or laptop computer?    If so, you can visit google.com/android/devicemanager to possibly assist in managing your device.

adb backup would be one method of backup non-rooted device, but it requires access to device. if you locked-out no tool in the world can help you, that is security per design. but every device has at least one bonded google account (otherwise you couldn't use Google Play) use official unlock solution to set a temporary screen lock password from PC with this google account (see @CzarMatt comment)

if your data is that important consider paying for a professional unlock service maybe they can bruteforce pin/pattern

Android devices always delete all user data when unlocking the bootloader.
This is a requirement by Google which has to be implemented by each and every device. In the past there were a few devices that did not perform a full wipe or had other bugs, but as far as I remember Google Nexus/Pixel devices were never affected by such problems.
Therefore I would not trust any software that claims to unlock the bootloader without data loss.
The way to go is to make a backup of all data, unlock the bootloader and then restore the backup. If an app does not allow to make a backup, sometimes the app itself has an integrated backup function to do so.

If you have saved the files of your clients or any other important files on the phone (internal) storage, then copy those files to an SD card or computer. Then, reset your device, in which it will delete every app and file on the phone storage. After setting up your device from the start, move all the important files on phone storage.


text:
How do I clear all recent apps using ADB in one command?
I am looking for a one liner solution that make use of adb to clear all recent apps, similar to clicking the overview button the click 'clear all'. Does anyone happen to know one?
My guess is that it must have something got to do with the com.android.systemui/com.android.systemui.recents.RecentsActivity

Try these steps, it's already answered.
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/33898029/adb-how-to-tap-close-from-recent-apps-to-completelty-through-adb-one-liner-comm

Try these steps, it's already answered. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/33898029/adb-how-to-tap-close-from-recent-apps-to-completelty-through-adb-one-liner-comm

Thanks for the reply munsoft004. Unfortunately the solution given is not what I am looking for. I want a solution that does not simulate keyevent but clear ALL recent apps in one command. Does anyone knows if this can be done?


text:
No Items on Play Store
Whenever I enter Google Play Store on my phone, there are almost no apps available for me to download except for a very few (like 1 or 2) that are featured as the 'most popular.' On most categories, though, the screen is empty and an error message appears with a "Retry" button.
...Of course, the "Retry" button doesn't work and my Play Store remains empty.
I have a working Internet connection so I don't understand what's going on here. Apps installed prior to this issue works just fine, though.
My phone is not rooted, and I'm using Samsung Galaxy U running on Android Froyo 2.2.1.

Thank you for the information. Would the lack of TLS 1.2 support explain why I couldn't connect any accounts with two-factor authentication with my phone (adding from Settings --> Accounts and Sync)?

@Robert I think you should put the answers from your comments as a proper answer as they are relevant, and could be for others.

Your device is very very old. I am not sure if Google Play Store is still supported on Android 2.2 - if it would be still supported it would be the oldest
The current Android development tools can't create apps for Android 2.2 anymore, hence it is impossible to support such old apps. Also there are no emulators or devices available for testing apps on such an old platform. I assume for these reasons most developers have removed their apps with Froyo support from Play Store.
Additionally Froyo totally lacks support for TLS 1.2, hence it is now next to useless for Internet services as most web servers require TLS 1.2 or higher. There is a special Google Crypto Provider included in Google Services, however I am not sure if this provider is really available on Android 2.2 and additionally it is only used by apps which explicitly make use of it.


text:
How to upgrade my Android device to latest Android version
I have very little experience with Android, or any other mobile device operating system.
I'm accustom to using Linux operating systems, where any time there is an update I can typically upgrade to the very latest version of the operating system without any roadblocks.
I have Galaxy Tab A (Model SM-T550) tablet, that I've barely used the entire time I've had it, and I'm wanting to give it to my Godson as a gift. Before giving it so him, I wanted to upgrade it to the latest Android OS, so that he wouldn't be limited by any missing features that this tablet's older Android version might have.
In the settings menu, I found a Software update feature and tried to update. This is what it said:
The latest updates have already been installed:
Current version: T550XXU1CQJ6/T550XAR1CQJ6/

When I go to "About Tablet", I see that this device has Android 7.1.1 installed and I read somewhere that Android version 10 was released in 2019.
Is this the type of support that I can expect from Samsung when buying one of their Android devices? If so, this will be the last dollar they'll get from me.
Is there any way to upgrade this Galaxy Tab A (Model SM-T550) to the latest Android, or at least a later version than 7.1.1?
I'm very technically savvy on laptops and PCs, if you could direct me to a thorough guide, where someone has accomplished this, I could probably pull it off, its just that I've never really tried to do anything like this with tablets or mobile phones.
Please advise me. Also, if this isn't doable, and I wanted to buy him a new tablet, which brand would be the best about always allowing upgrades to the latest Android? If there's a brand that does that, that will be the only brand I'll buy in the future.

If you are lucky for a tablet you can get one major Android version upgrade and security updates up to 2 years after the device has been released to market. For cell phone it the support period depends on how cheap or expensive the device was and how many devices of that type were sold. Usually the more expensive and the more devices were sold the longer you may get updates and upgrades (e.g. ~3 years).
After that time span usually do won't get any official updates or upgrades anymore.
This situation is sad. Samsung is one of the manufacturer who release updates for a long time for it's premium devices.
If you want to get a newer Android version you need to unlock/root the device and install a custom ROM (if there is a working one available for your device).
The only manufacturer on the market who provides updates to smartphone and tablets for a long time is currently Apple.

Wow! Thanks Robert. What about the tablets sold through Google's own store? Surely those will run the latest Android for many years, no?

@LonnieBest Google usually promises two Android major version upgrades and 3 years security updates. In my opinion still half the time I expect as a customer. The short update time is also bad considering the world wide increasing electronic scrap problem.

I'm astonished that the Android customer base tolerates this non-sense. This leads to so much confusion. Every time I look up an article, on how to do something on Android, the steps are never exactly as instructed; menu options are missing or the route to a destination is different than described. The only way to eliminate this atrocious non-uniformity is to develop devices that are always upgrade-able to the latest OS (similar to Firefox and Chrome as web browsers). This is the best case I've heard for choosing Apple over Android.

@LonnieBest Even if all Android devices world wide would use the same Android version most articles won't match your device because all the manufacturer modify the ROM (some nearly undetectable, some manufacturer totally rewrite parts of the system), especially the device settings look different for every manufacturer.


text:
How to use multibyte file names in adb shell?
I have a Galaxy S6 running Android 7.0:
zeroflte:/ $ getprop ro.build.version.release
7.0

There exists a file which uses the Unicode codepoint U+1F308 (RAINBOW) in its name:
zeroflte:/ $ ls -al /sdcard/tmp
total 1024
drwxrwx--x  5 root sdcard_rw 4096 2020-07-09 05:44 .
drwxrwx--x 49 root sdcard_rw 4096 2020-06-25 07:27 ..
-rw-rw----  1 root sdcard_rw   17 2018-04-25 20:47 123.org
drwxrwx--x  2 root sdcard_rw 4096 2020-07-09 05:54 crypt
-rw-rw----  1 root sdcard_rw    9 2020-07-08 13:26 .gpx
zeroflte:/ $

However, I have no idea how to use this file name in an adb shell command. I would like to apply ls -1 -d -l /sdcard/tmp/\.gpx or similar, but I cannot enter the RAINBOW char. Any idea how to do this?

What about ls -1dl /sdcard/tmp/*.gpx? Or rename the file to remove special character.

Did you try Alt +  or Ctrl + Shift + U or whatever key combination applicable to your OS for entering unicode characters?

I don't need it interactively. I'm the author of Emacs' Tramp package, which uses adb shell to access files on Android devices. So I need something which could be used in a script.

Unfortunately, not. zeroflte:/ $ ls -dl1 /sdcard/tmp/$(printf '\U0001f308').gpx ls: /sdcard/tmp/\U0001f308.gpx: No such file or directory

Don't know. How do I get this string?

My bad. Due to different path it was using my GNU printf binary. Let's ask MKSH developer about unicode escape sequence if it's supported. @mirabilos sir your help needed.

Maybe with sed?  I believe it's part of busybox and it supports escaping unicode.  Also,  don't you want \uD83C\uDF08 and not \u0001F308 ?

It doesn't work. echo x | sed -re s/x/\x01\xF3\x08/g results in x01xF3x08

Can you use the inode reference to do the renaming?  Or do you have to work on arbitrary indexes?

All I know are the file names. The multibyte file name could also be the target of the rename, where an inode number wouldn't help at all. As said, I need it for scripted access via adb shell, from inside Emacs.

mksh developer here.
mksh uses UTF-8 internally, but is currently limited to the BMP (basic multilingua plane), which means U+0000 to U+FFFD. If you want to use SMP codepoints (U-00010000 to U-0010FFFD) on the input line, you currently have to disable the UTF-8 mode (sorry):
$ set +U

That switches to a byte-wise mode which does not limit the input. (You can tab-complete files with SMP characters in them, but not directly input them, because input is validated.)
$ set -U   # switches back to UTF-8 mode

Switching mksh to full 21-bit Unicode is already on my TODO, and I’m currently hoping to be able to provide it for the next release.

Thanks, I've added your comment to Tramp. ATM I'm doing some workaround, executing the command in question via adb shell <command>.


text:
Enable Camera Shutter Sound Switch on roooted Samsung Exynos with Android 9+
This question has been asked a lot of times, but since new versions of Android rolling out the given answers are not accurate any more. The old solution as root was to rename the *.ogg sound files in the system/media/audio/ui folder but since Android 9 the sounds are hardcoded into the Camera App. On devices in countries where it is forbidden by law to take sneaky pictures (Europe for example) Samsung had to remove the switch from the options where you can disable the Camera Shutter Sound.
My question is: how to put back the switch into the Camera App options menu?

After days of searching I finally found out how to do it. The solution was to change the "cscfeature.xml" file in the folder corresponding to your country code. This file is encrypted, so I've written down a step by step guide. (no xposed or magisk modules needed, only root access to the filesystem):
add Call Recording en Shutter Sound options to your Exynos phone by adding 2 CSC options to cscfeature.xml

check your csc code (about phone > software information > service provider sw > last 3 letters: [CSC])

in root explorer goto: /system/product/omc/[CSC]/conf/cscfeature.xml

download OmcTextDecoder (https://github.com/fei-ke/OmcTextDecoder)

put the downloaded "omc-decoder.jar" in a folder together with the encrypted "cscfeature.xml" file on a linux pc

open terminal and cd to the folder where you have put the files

run: java -jar omc-decoder.jar -i cscfeature.xml -o cscfeature_decoded.xml

open the "cscfeature_decoded.xml" file in a text editor

add the following lines to the file:
<CscFeature_VoiceCall_ConfigRecording>RecordingAllowed</CscFeature_VoiceCall_ConfigRecord>
<CscFeature_Camera_ShutterSoundMenu>TRUE</CscFeature_Camera_ShutterSoundMenu>

save the file and rename your old "cscfeature.xml" to "cscfeature_encoded.xml"

encode the edited file by running the following command in terminal:
java -jar omc-decoder.jar -e -i cscfeature_decoded.xml -o cscfeature.xml

copy the changed and ecoded file back to your phone: "cscfeature.xml" and backup the old one to "cscfeature.bak"

reboot and you will find the shutter switch in the camera settings!

extra options:
https://www.askvg.com/tip-enable-hidden-secret-features-in-samsung-galaxy-smartphones/


text:
How to dump emmc of Asus Zenfone 3?
I am trying to dump the emmc of my Zenfone ze552kl. The bootloader is locked. I tried to dump the emmc from edl mode but it required a programmer to do so and none of the programmers I found online worked. Some of the programmers just didn't work and some rebooted the device. I can access fastboot and adb when I use "fastboot oem adb_enable". Is there any way for me to dump the emmc of this device without unlocking the bootloader? Or is there a way to unlock the bootloader without wiping on this device?

If the device boots into Android you could try to find a vulnerability that allows you to gain root permissions and potentially allows you to directly dump the whole flash memory. BTW: What do you want with a eMMC dump? Most likely it will be encrypted.

@alecxs I can't dump from adb as I don't have root access.

@Robert I can't boot to android but I can boot to recovery.

unfortunately without proper firehose programmer there is nothing you can do to by-pass bootloader lock. do you have backup user data option in recovery?

Sadly, there is no option like that. Is there anything else that I could do? I heard that when you switch to 9006 mode, the device shows up as a disk. But I don't know how to enter that mode without a programmer.

you mean something like this? i doubt it works for encrypted device https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=3570178

Yes, something like that. But my device doesn't switch to DLOAD mode. I also found out that erasing the aboot partition might force the device to switch to DLOAD mode. But I don't know how I can erase it without unlocking the bootloader.

you should be able to enter proper mode from test points. do not erase aboot (bootloader) you will brick your device and make it unrecoverable (because you don't have programmer, fastboot is your only way to flash)

When I use an EDL cable I can only enter the 9008 mode which requires a programmer. Are there other test points to enter DLOAD mode?

search for collections like
romprovider.com,
firmware27.com,
leakite.com,
github.com,
tuserhp.com,
firmwarego.com

found prog_emmc_firehose_8953_ddr.mbn (chinese post)


text:
I failed to install Magisk and now I can't get out of TWRP
I have a Xiaomi redmi note 8, which runs on MIUI-11,
I've recently unlocked my phone with MiUnlock, the official program of xiaomi to unlock (root) your phone.
I've stumbled across a few hickupps, but eventually I got here, I can't get further though...
I installed TWRP using the ADB terminal, wiped the cache, flashed a zip that disables force encryption treble and after that, I installed Magisk (I did this all with the compatible versions for xiaomi redmi note 8). Normally, I should've been able to just reboot to the system, but TWRP just comes back.
When I reboot, I first see: Redmi by Xiaomi (screen 1)
Then: Redmi Note 8 by Xiaomi powered by android (screen 2), this takes longer than it normally should,
after that I see screen 1 again, and then again screen 2, whereafter I get the splashscreen from TWRP and it boots in recovery again...
I've already tried clearing the cache, enabling "System" in mount, tried to write this code in the advanced --> terminal option:
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/misc bs=256 count=1 conv=notrunc
Nothing helped me, one other weird thing that scares me is that, when I watch my folders with file explorer from windows, everything has gotten a random string as name... You can see it in my attachment.

I would be soo grateful if someone could help me out.
Thanks for being awesome!

Is it an A/B device? Possibly you have flashed TWRP to boot partition.

the force encryption disabler did break fileencryption. do a factory reset to remove encryption completely and stay unencrypted. or restore/repair your fstab to bring encryption back to working state

@IrfanLatif What do you mean with A/B device? I've looked it up and it has something to do with how updates are installed, but I don't really get it.
I've just used the adb commands:
fastboot recovery twrp.img -->
fastboot boot twrp.img```
So I don't know where it normally gets flashed

@alecxs Do you mean within TWRP itself? Or with mi flash or another desktop program?

If I need to use wipe, which partitions should I wipe? System too? or only ART cache, Data, Internal Storage and Cache?

make sure you format (that is different from normal wipe) TWRP -> Wipe -> Format Data -> (type:) "yes" (if that fails, reboot and try again)

@alecxs , thanks, I did a format, but it removed my entire software, including my previous MIUI, got wiped. I've managed to fix this using Xiaomi adb/fastboot tools. Right now, I am back on MIUI, and still trying to get LineageOS.

when your device uses (FBE) file based encryption force encryption disabler will break it again. i recommend to preserve force encryption and disable dm-verity only. for LineageOS do not wipe vendor only system

@alecxs Okay, thanks, I stumbled on another Issue, my adb doesn't recognise my phone anymore, when I type adb devices I get List of devices attached and then an empty space where I had a number before, so I can't boot into twrp anymore :((

Volume Down + Power = fastboot, Volume Up + Power = recovery

Yes, but TWRP is gone from the moment you reboot with your phone, so I need to use adb to flash TWRP again, and atm, that isn't possible because adb doesn't recognise my phone

I managed to break it again, I got into TWRP, managed to install magisk, tried to install LineageOS, and now my phone loops in the "Redmi by xiaomi" screen, it just goes on, 2 seconds later, goes off, and on again, But I can still boot into TWRP. I used  LineageOS 17.1 from this link: link

It's encryption issue. restore original /vendor/etc/fstab.qcom

If you don't need the data download the stock fastboot rom for your device and flash it.
From your comments above it looks like you've already wiped your data.
So I would suggest that you download the stock fastboot rom. Do a clean all flash. Don't do the clean all and lock flash, as it will lock your phone.
Once it's finished, you can flash twrp but don't try to disable file based encryption and then try flashing whatever other rom you were trying


text:
Android menu navigation without touchscreen input
I'm working on a smart glasses project that is using an Intrinsyc Open-q 2500 SOM (connected to a custom breakout board) that utilises a Snapdragon processor, running a custom Android SDK (Oreo 8.1) made for smart watches.
To navigate through the Android UI, as well as applications, we are hoping to use a IQS223 touch sensor chip, which will output high for a short period when a gesture is detected. E.g If a swipe forward is detected it will set pin1 (connected to GPIO1 of SOM) to high for 80ms, or if a TAP is detected it will set pin2 (connected to GPIO2 of SOM) to high for 80ms.
I've read it is possible to connect navigate/control an application via an external keyboard. All interactive widgets are focusable, meaning that the selected widget is highlighted (via a glow or appearance change). Therefore, It seems I should be able to fire a keyboard event on detection of a GPIO input change, and use that event to trigger an action. E.g. on detection of a high input on GPIO1 I'd fire a "Enter" keypress event.
My question is how would I go about doing this for the main Android UI (navigation of settings, selecting an app from main menu etc.)?
i.e I want to set the main Android UI to be focusable (if possible) so I can navigate/control the device by simulating  keypresses, which are fired when an input level changes on a certain GPIO pin.
Is there an alternate method to achieving this?

In the direction of @Puspam answer, have you looked at building your own Accessibility Service to handle the GPIO input translation.

Thanks @MorrisonChang, this looks like the information I was looking for. It looks like I will be able to bind a keypress event (generated by the GPIO input) to a navigation action by creating an Accessibility Service.

If you can/need to do a Custom ROM, then see: https://source.android.com/devices/input/touch-devices for considerations regarding touch driver.

Great! that also looks like it'll be useful. We do a have a custom ROM provided by Intrinsyc, so it's just a matter of setting up the DT/Driver to generate a specific keypress event on GPIO input level change.

The functionality which you are looking for is available under the Accessibility settings. It is called Switch access, Universal switch and many more, just search for the term switch after going to System settings -> Accessibility. Then, follow the on-screen instructions for setting it up.

Okay so Android does have the capability to operate in the desired way. Does that mean I would have to go to kernel level and assign keypress events to GPIOs connected to the touch sensor? Then I could generate the keypress when I set up switch access and it will detect the fired event?

If you want only a single switch, then the headphone (earphone) jack can help. 4-pin earphone jacks can implement a switch which can be seen near the mic. some smartphones can detect that key. But it is not guaranteed to work on all phones.

You can also use the USB OTG functionality as it is present in all recent smartphones. USB devices can be connected to the phone and the OS can detect the keypress. So, you can use a USB interface to connect your sensor to the phone, for eg. Arduino. You can find the necessary settings in the Accessibility menu. In my phone, there is an option called USB switch.

Thanks for your suggestions, they are definitely helping steer us towards the right place. The issue is that the touch sensor chip is actually on a PCB that is used to break out the SOM and provide additional peripherals (camera, display etc.) - meaning that the touch sensor outputs are actually connected directly to 3 of the SOM's GPIO ports. In other words, we need a way to to control the UI via GPIO input changes.


text:
Better Protection for Login Data on Firefox for Android?
Across the Desktop, Android and iOS versions of Google Chrome and Android, Firefox for Android is the only browser that allows viewing the list of saved passwords even when a master password is set. Specifically, the master password is requested when first starting the browser, but once the browser is in use, it will not be requested again.
Is there a way to get a behavior that is more in line with Chrome / Firefox on other platforms?


text:
Recovering data from Mi 4c able to get only to fastboot
my phone has fallen and it cannot boot. The only accessible thing is fastboot, but even there I cannot flash TWRP.
When I try to flash TWRP 3.1.1 or 3.1.0 I get:
>fastboot.exe flash recovery twrp.img
target reported max download size of 536870912 bytes
sending 'recovery' (21100 KB)...
OKAY [  0.483s]
writing 'recovery'...
FAILED (status read failed (Too many links))
finished. total time: 0.544s

The phone is unable to boot at all. So adb is out of question.
Additional info that may help:
>fastboot.exe getvar all
(bootloader) version:
(bootloader) token:OrhCgsF/c0ZJ0PDtn3UZAR4A
(bootloader) sec_boot:TRUE
(bootloader) variant: eMMC
(bootloader) secure:yes
(bootloader) version-baseband:
(bootloader) version-bootloader:
(bootloader) display-panel:
(bootloader) off-mode-charge:0
(bootloader) charger-screen-enabled:0
(bootloader) max-download-size: 0x20000000
(bootloader) partition-type:cache:ext4
(bootloader) partition-size:cache:       0x18000000
(bootloader) partition-type:userdata:ext4
(bootloader) partition-size:userdata:    0x683bfbe00
(bootloader) partition-type:system:ext4
(bootloader) partition-size:system:      0x78000000
(bootloader) soc_id:251
(bootloader) serialno:10adc264
(bootloader) kernel:lk
(bootloader) product:MSM8992
all:
finished. total time: 0.217s

From this message I believe the storage chip is done for but you never know.
The phone claims to be unlocked (it should be as I use custom ROM). Physically there does not appear to be any damage, but when battery is connected it does not start at all.
I wanted to use TWRP ability provide data through MTP. There is TWRP installed, but it was accessible by updater application where was option to reboot to TWRP. So TWRP should be already there. But when pressing volume down button during boot I get only to fastboot.
Is there any way how to get at least to my data or is the phone completely done?
EDIT:
Tried advice from Robert in comments to directly boot TWRP.
>fastboot.exe boot twrp.img
downloading 'boot.img'...
OKAY [  0.500s]
booting...
FAILED (status read failed (Too many links))
finished. total time: 1.150s

Also advice from alexcs in comments does not yield any results. The phone cannot boot to recovery.

You don't have to flash TWRP to run it. Try fastboot.exe boot twrp.img to execute TWRP without installation.

Thanks for tip, but I am afraid result is the same:
>fastboot.exe boot twrp.img downloading 'boot.img'... OKAY [  0.500s] booting... FAILED (status read failed (Too many links)) finished. total time: 1.150s

Thank you for advice, @alecxs! Tried it and the phone unfortunately cannot boot to recovery. It appears... the memory chip is done? The last version of Android was Nougat (7.0) from xiaomi.eu. Looking at AVB it should not be on the phone.

you say custom rom does it mean your data is unencrypted? in that case you could try to dump userdata from EDL mode with right files and tools 1, 2, 3, 4

Thank you for resources. I will have to take proper look at them. It does not seem very straightforward process for newbie.

Thank you very much @alecxs. I have succeeded!

Success! Thank you @alecxs for help and resources.
1 Obtain a programmer
To successfully acquire all of the data from EDL you need programmer.
For Mi 4c it is prog_emmc_firehose_8992_ddr.mbn that can be obtained in (first?) official image of OS. I got it from file Xiaomi_Mi_4C_V8.1.3.0.LXKCNDI_20161213_China_5.1_XFT.zip on some random site. You can find it in the archive under folder Firmware/images/.
The full path in archive would be Firmware/images/prog_emmc_firehose_8992_ddr.mbn.
2 Get working Firehorse
I have got mine from repository: https://github.com/bkerler/edl.
Proceed with all instructions mentioned in the repository. (I personally used Ubuntu 20.04 as all of the stuff is easier to make work.)
3 Connect to EDL
Boot phone to fastboot. In case of Mi 4c that is my case  it is pushing volume down during boot.
When you enter fastboot and you can see your device with fastboot:
fastboot devices
In case of Mi 4c you can directly boot to EDL with command:
fastboot oem edl
4 Acquire data through EDL
When device enters EDL state you can test connection with programmer (in my case prog_emmc_firehose_8992_ddr.mbn). In loader parameter you are entering path to this file.
./edl.py --loader=prog_emmc_firehose_8992_ddr.mbn printgpt
When it outputs all of the partition then you are golden!
On my phone there is one partition named userdata:
userdata:            Offset 0x00000000c4000000, Length 0x0000000683bfbe00, Flags 0x00000000, UUID 07c2b899-1574-564c-2f46-e26a6378bdd8, Type 0x1b81e7e6
To acquire the partition use command:
./edl.py --loader=examples/prog_emmc_firehose_8992_ddr.mbn r userdata userdata.bin
The copy of user data just needs to be read.
5 Reading user data (userdata.bin)
Luckily for the phone Mi 4c you can directly mount the dump in Linux. For some other phones the process might not be so straightforward and you might need simg2img. But I am not 100% sure.
sudo mkdir /media/userdata
sudo mount -t ext4 -o loop userdata.bin /media/userdata/

To read the data you will need to get root rights as the data belong to non-existing or different existing users and you won't get access with your user.
sudo mkdir userdata
sudo cp -r /media/userdata/media/0/* userdata/

The path to the your data might be different so take your time to look around.
Done! All the data are now completely accessible.

romprovider.com, firmware27.com, leakite.com, github.com 1, 2, tuserhp.com, firmwarego.com


text:
Install android on an windows tablet
I got an old TrekStor SurfTab Duo W1 with an Intel Atom x5-Z8300 (x86) processor and want to install andoid on it. But I got a problem in finding the correct android version. Till now it crashes every time I start it.

Have you tried Android-x86?

@Robert Are there specific versions for every processor or just one for x86, armv or so?

Android-x86 is the name of the project: https://www.android-x86.org/

Thanks, I'll try this out. :)

@Robert When trying to boot android x86 I'm stuck at the screen "Detecting Android-x86... found at /dev/..." waiting over 30min. Nothing happened.

Well Android-x86 is an open source project. Nobody claims that it works on every hardware. May be you have to try out an older version or adapt something. For questions on Android-x86 you better go here: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/android-x86

@Robert Thank you. :)


text:
How to use Events in Tasker?
I clicked on Profiles + Event and selected the event that I want (Net > bluetooth connection) and it shows me two input fields with Name and Address and a list of variables above.
Ok I select the variable that I want, but how do I give it a condition/value? If I enter anything else than the variable name it gives me some error about lower case characters...
Basically I want an event that matches if(%bt_name="Some device Name" && %bt_connected=true) and there's nowhere I can enter such code!
I find it baffling that there's no single example on the entire Internet about how to use this Tasker feature!

This answer should help


text:
Wide-angle camera of Samsung Galaxy M21 not detectable by 3rd-party apps
I have bought a Samsung Galaxy M21 smartphone which has got 3 cameras-- 2 rear cameras (48MP primary camera + 8MP wide-angle camera) and a front camera. The stock camera app works well, but for some more features, I have installed a few 3rd-party apps from the Play store. But, the problem is, those 3rd-party cameras are giving access to only the primary rear camera and the front camera, but not giving access to the wide-angle camera.
Those apps are able to detect the presence of 3 cameras, but two of the camera options are referencing to the same front camera.
Here is the example with Open camera:

I have tried all the controls and settings, but it gives access to only the primary rear camera and the front camera.
Is this behaviour normal? If so, what are the workarounds?

Sounds to me linke this OpenCamera bug: https://sourceforge.net/p/opencamera/tickets/724/

Thanks for the link, that was indeed the problem I am facing.


text:
How can I have fewer, larger icons on the home screen?
I am helping an older relative transfer data to a replacement phone.  Both the old and new phones are Samsung Galaxy J3 Eclipses.  Here's a screenshot I took of the original phone home screen.  Note the top row appears to be a width of 4 grid slots, and the next two rows have 3 apps each:

This is desirable for both the large icons and to avoid information overload.  It's obviously possible, but looking through the settings I only see 4x4, 4x5 and 5x5 settings for the grid layout.  How can I replicate the previous layout?

Samsung devices have a screen layout called "Easy Mode". I don't believe it is new, and may be standard across their devices. I have seen it on at least the ones I have used in the past few years. Look for it under the Display settings.

@wbogacz, that's it! I just posted an answer using your suggestion, but if you want to post one of your own I'll delete mine and give you the reputation.

Your self-answer is OK by me.

The answer is Easy Mode, accessible through Settings -> Display. I had assumed that Easy Mode meant "hide advanced settings" but it actually means "Make big icons and use a default home screen layout".


text:
correct fingerprint for Samsung Galaxy S10 with Android 10 to pass ctsProfile check in SafetyNet
I have a Samsung SM-G973FZGGITV (European Exynos version with Italian csc) upgraded to the stock version of Samsung Android Q. My current fingerprint is
samsung/beyond1lteeea/beyond1:10/QP1A.190711.020/G973FXXU7CTF1:user/release-keys

and the fingerprint I extracted from the vendor partition is
samsung/beyond1ltexx/beyond1:10/QP1A.190711.020/G973FXXU7CTF1:user/release-keys

now when I set one of these fingerprints trough the MagiskHide props config module the ctsProfile check still fails, the basicIntegrety check passes so there is hope.
Can someone with the same phone upgraded to stock Android 10 version pass me the fingerprint of his phone software when passing the ctsProfile check?
You would be my hero, I tried both listed fingerprints and have no idea why the ctsProfile does not pass.
I followed this guide to try to pass SafetyNet
MagiskHide props module manual

See this why SafetyNet is failing

@beeshyams very interesting information, thanks. but from what I've read in the answer this "hardware backed" safetynet check is not yet implemented. So my ctsProfile should be able to pass if I put the right fingerprint and release date in the props. Or am I wrong here and is it totally over with MagiskHide?

It's already implemented for latest devices and not for some old devices , see the last screen shot in the answer, which shows that. IMO, game over unless your device is an exception. I may be wrong but that's my inference. Try installing canary Magisk and checking


text:
Find my mobile but on a different or second mobile
I have login or setup with my Google credentials into a different mobile. So now my profile is active in 2 different mobiles.
When I use Find My Device, only the second mobile sounds. Is there any way to select which one to find or how to select the desired mobile to find?

At the top left there are icons for each device, and you can tap on one to select a different device.
This may include older devices if you haven't removed them from your account yet, but they'll fail to work if you're not signed into the device.
For example I have a tablet listed that I no longer own and removed my account from and it eventually fails to connect with the message "Can't reach device".
Best to let the sound play for a moment before pressing the power button as it may not be detected on first press otherwise.
Note that this is a website-layout-dependent answer and the moment they change it this will be invalidated.


text:
How can I see which location has the most reviews/ratings in a given area on Google Maps?
How can I see which location has the most reviews/ratings in a given area on the Google Maps Android application?
Using the "Top Rated" filter doesn't sort by number of reviews/ratings:

There does not seem to be any option directly in the Google Maps app to do this. However, the Google Maps API provides this information for developers.
Searching further, this website seems to provide an approximation of what you are looking for, probably using the API. You can search for top rated places in a given city, filter by place type, and also view all the places on a map.
Screenshot for reference:


text:
Google play services keeps stopping, and it is much worse than normal
My Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016 version) is constantly showing "Google play services keeps stopping" every 2~3 seconds. My device is running on android Oreo. I tried reverting back playstore to factory version, now I can't even enter playstore. It just keeps loading forever. I am unable to uninstall play services as well, neither can I delete the data. Yes I did try to deactivate the "find my device' option, but upon tapping "deactivate", the whole option gets greyed out and nothing happens.
I'm not being able to do anything on my phone, and its driving me crazy. Any sort of help would be highly appreciated :)

Try to activate Airplane mode. Hopefully this should reduce the error frequency. On newer devices there is the option to no longer show the error dialog. Looks like your device is too old for that feature or Samsung did not include it into their firmware.