preserving market "my downloads" list between wipes/rom installs - G1 General

I've wiped and installed a lot of roms lately, and generally when I go to 'my downloads' in the market, only my paid apps are there. So, I have to go though the process of searching the installing each app again. It's just easier when they are all in a list.
I figured it would be a good idea to backup all my apps and then reinstall them afterward with adb in linux as such:
for a in `ls *.apk`; do adb install $a; done
this works, but of course they don't show up under 'my downloads' and I don't get update notifications.
Is there a way around this?

gsgleason said:
I've wiped and installed a lot of roms lately, and generally when I go to 'my downloads' in the market, only my paid apps are there. So, I have to go though the process of searching the installing each app again. It's just easier when they are all in a list.
I figured it would be a good idea to backup all my apps and then reinstall them afterward with adb in linux as such:
for a in `ls *.apk`; do adb install $a; done
this works, but of course they don't show up under 'my downloads' and I don't get update notifications.
Is there a way around this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You need to backup and restore the database file located in the market folder....it should be here...
Code:
/data/data/com.android.vending/databases
I'm assuming since you can backup and restore your apps thru adb then you can figure out how to pull and push this to your phone

I assume you would want to do this to get update notifications. If so you can grab "aTrackDog" from the market. It will list all you apps and when you refresh it will tell you when updates are available and give you a link to get the update from the market.

AdrianK said:
I assume you would want to do this to get update notifications. If so you can grab "aTrackDog" from the market. It will list all you apps and when you refresh it will tell you when updates are available and give you a link to get the update from the market.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
will it only work for software installed through the market or will manually installed software show up as well?

DirectMatrix said:
You need to backup and restore the database file located in the market folder....it should be here...
Code:
/data/data/com.android.vending/databases
I'm assuming since you can backup and restore your apps thru adb then you can figure out how to pull and push this to your phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome. I'll do this next time I wipe and reflash with the latest coolest rom. =)

gsgleason said:
will it only work for software installed through the market or will manually installed software show up as well?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
nope, works for the apps on my ext3 even after switching builds several times, works great.

DirectMatrix said:
You need to backup and restore the database file located in the market folder....it should be here...
Code:
/data/data/com.android.vending/databases
I'm assuming since you can backup and restore your apps thru adb then you can figure out how to pull and push this to your phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For those of us who are not that familiar with adb, can you give a short tutorial on how to pull and then push that database folder?

well i just wiped and installed the latest cyanogen mod and when i went to the "my downloads" section of the store all the apps i had downloaded before were all there (paid and free)
I also thought it didnt do that, apperently it does

Gilliland12 said:
For those of us who are not that familiar with adb, can you give a short tutorial on how to pull and then push that database folder?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You don't need ADB, you can use the terminal emulator from the market or the recovery console.
To pull the database, open terminal or recovery and type:
Code:
su
cd /data/data/com.android.vending/
cp databases /sdcard
that will copy that database file to the root of your sdcard.
When pushing it back it is probably best to do it while the phone isn't running, so only use the recovery console:
Code:
cd sdcard
cp databases /data/data/com.android.vending/
reboot
I haven't tested this, but it will have the same results as the ADB method.

AdrianK said:
You don't need ADB, you can use the terminal emulator from the market or the recovery console.
To pull the database, open terminal or recovery and type:
Code:
su
cd /data/data/com.android.vending/
cp databases /sdcard
that will copy that database file to the root of your sdcard.
When pushing it back it is probably best to do it while the phone isn't running, so only use the recovery console:
Code:
cd sdcard
cp databases /data/data/com.android.vending/
reboot
I haven't tested this, but it will have the same results as the ADB method.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Many thanks.

Backup for Root works perfectly for me

if you got a paid app through adb and got a refund, can you still get updates for that app if you have it installed?

opasha said:
if you got a paid app through adb and got a refund, can you still get updates for that app if you have it installed?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, you will not get updates without re-purchasing the app. And talking about ripping off app developers on this forum is frowned up so please stop discussing it.

opasha said:
if you got a paid app through adb and got a refund, can you still get updates for that app if you have it installed?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you got a refund, then you shouldn't have the app. That's stealing and it's not nice. Most apps are cheap (a couple of bucks at most), stop being a cheapskate.

Originally Posted by AdrianK View Post
You don't need ADB, you can use the terminal emulator from the market or the recovery console.
To pull the database, open terminal or recovery and type:
Code:
su
cd /data/data/com.android.vending/
cp databases /sdcard
that will copy that database file to the root of your sdcard.
When pushing it back it is probably best to do it while the phone isn't running, so only use the recovery console:
Code:
cd sdcard
cp databases /data/data/com.android.vending/
reboot
I haven't tested this, but it will have the same results as the ADB method.
i tried this but it dodnt work.
when I did the first command it said ommiting databases. so I thought it worked.
flashed to the new cyanogen 4.0 rom (which is amazing btw!) did the second command and it said cannot stat file "databases" no such file or folder.
what gives??

Id say the databases were open and couldnt be backed up.
You should try to copy them from the recovery.
Also, after copying why didnt you check if the database files were in your sdcard (or the path you specified for the copy) before wiping? If the file is not there its obvious that it cant be restored after the wipe..

thought it might have been hidden or on my ext2 partition! never mind i got atrackdog!

addiosamigo said:
thought it might have been hidden or on my ext2 partition! never mind i got atrackdog!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seems you can only copy each of the four db files individually... but copying the entire folder doesn't work.

All that is needed is assets.db
Open the terminal and enter
$ su
# cp /data/data/com.android.vending/databases/assets.db /sdcard
Wipe, flash, reboot.
YOU MUST OPEN THE MARKET AND AGREE TO THE TOS BEFORE RESTORING!!!!
Open the market, agree to the TOS, and close the market. Open the terminal and enter
$ su
# cp /sdcard/assets.db /data/data/com.android.vending/databases/assets.db
# reboot

Related

How to UNINSTALL unwanted stock/preinstalled apps from G1

How to remove unwanted stock/preinstalled apps
This is not a question. This is howto
I DID search through the forum and found nothing but
Q: how to remove/uninstall preinstalled apps ?
A: no way !!!
WHAT ??? WRONG ANSWER !!!
Here is how:
First of all I’ll describe my rooted, of course, phone configuration, so if you are on the same boat you can do same trick 99% if not you’ll know where to go
- CyanogenMod 4.1.2.1 (this is latest experimental as of sept-05-09) –works very stable for me
- 4GB SD card partitioned: FAT32, ext3 (512mb), linux_swap (32mb)
(great guide how to part your sd here: http://androidcommunity.com/forums/f56/compcache-userinit-22465/index4.html#post232988 (page 4)
- CompCache with Backing Swap (here: http://androidcommunity.com/forums/f56/compcache-userinit-22465/index4.html#post232988 (page 1)
Requirements:
1) G1 rooted phone
2) Explorer with ability to explore /system folders – I use Astro (market)
3) PC/MAC
4) SDK installed on it (http://developer.android.com/sdk/download.html?v=android-sdk-windows-1.5_r3.zip)
Steps:
1) first and very important: full backup of your system.
- DO NANDROID (it’s preinstalled in Cyano, search forum for “nandroid” if you don’t have it)
- DO ext3.tar (if you use ext3)
- Make full SD copy to your PC
As described here: (yes, same tread, thanks to bdb4269) http://androidcommunity.com/forums/f56/compcache-userinit-22465/index4.html (page 4)
Now we are safe..well, almost
2) find full name for the application you want to uninstall, say for Amazon MP3 it will be com.amazon.mp3.apk
I did it like this
- open Astro explorer
- go to the very top (/)
- search “amazon”
- when search done, write down full app name
- long press trackball – chose – open containing folder – remember the path (ie /system/app)
3) Assume SDK and USB drivers are installed ( http://developer.android.com/guide/developing/device.html )
And phone is connected to pc/mac
= below guide is from http://oneclickandroid.blogspot.com/ with my comments =
- Start emulator (don’t think it is necessary, but lets follow – emulator located in SDK folder\tools\emulator.exe in my case C:\SDK_15\tools\
CMD window pops up for a second and disappeared
- open CMD prompt (in Windows: Start > run > print: cmd , hit OK/enter)
- execute "adb shell" in on terminal from SDK_ROOT/tool folder
(if you did not register SDK folder in windows variables you need to cd to this folder first:
print: cd c:\sdk_15\tools hit enter
print: adb shell hit enter, you’ll see new prompt appeared: #
- print: mount -o remount,rw /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system
This will mount your system folder with read/write permission
- go to system/apps folder of your phone
(print: cd /system/apps hit enter)
*** guide says “/system/apps” but in my case it is “/system/app” ??? (remember I asked you to write down full path and name from Astro ? check your path first ***
- print: rm yourunwantedapplication.apk
i.e. rm com.amazon.mp3.apk hit enter
now, check installed apps in your phone (no reload req.) – is amazon disappeared ?
I wish to try this with app for that has a replacement from the market, like
Dialer – aTakePhone or Music – Meridian etc
Hope someone brave will do it before I do
Deleting may be unsafe if other preinstalled apps or process have links to uninstalled app
What happens in this case? wish someone knows the answer.
I dont think this trick will speedup your phone if you've moved your apps to ext2/3/4 already I just dont want to see useless apps in my phone/pc
Please reply here if you have experience of deleting preinstalled apps
sorry, english is my second languague
Good luck !
Hahahaha... all that trouble just to install a few unnecessary apps off of a ROOTED phone?! If you had searched, you'd have seen the numerous posts where we've posted instructions on uninstalling apps through Terminal. Literally 4 lines of code at most! Note that you can do this with any app you don't want. I have xROM, and one of the first things I do whenever I clean install to the latest version is replace ringtones and remove apps, including HTC Mail, Email, Amazon mp3, and Android Music. It takes me about 2 minutes to remove these apps.
Example for removing Amazon MP3:
su
mount -o rw,remount /system
rm -r /system/app/com.amazon-mp3.apk
mount -o rw,remount /data
rm -r /data/data/com.amazon.mp3
exit
exit
uansari1 said:
mount -o rw,remount /data
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
/data is never mounted read-only.
zelipukin said:
...
- Start emulator (don’t think it is necessary, but lets follow – emulator located in SDK folder\tools\emulator.exe in my case C:\SDK_15\tools\
CMD window pops up for a second and disappeared
...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's not how you start the emulator, in the window that disappears is a message telling you to start with the proper parameters, which you'd see if starting from a command line. If the emulator actually was running, then all your adb commands would then fail because it wouldn't know what device you wanted to address, you'd have to use "adb -d" to tell it to use the real device rather than the emulator.
jashsu said:
/data is never mounted read-only.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the info.. guess I've been doing an extra step, but this means I can do I through terminal even faster.
Easy way to remove unwanted preinstalled apps
Use Root Explorer to browse to /data/app_s and find the applications you don't want. Delete the APK and ODEX files and you are done.
Always remember to make a backup of your phone, before you start deleting.
ewaldtx said:
Use Root Explorer to browse to /data/app_s and find the applications you don't want. Delete the APK and ODEX files and you are done.
Always remember to make a backup of your phone, before you start deleting.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The app_s folder is only used for Hero ROMs because there isn't enough space in /system, so it's placed in /system/sd (the mount point of the ext partition) if you have an ext partition for A2SD.
For regular google source builds just go to /system/app.
there is an app called rootexplorer it has a button to remove syatem apps. real easy to use. http://www.cyrket.com/package/com.sp...e.rootexplorer
saprano614 said:
there is an app called rootexplorer it has a button to remove syatem apps. real easy to use. http://www.cyrket.com/package/com.sp...e.rootexplorer
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
and it works great
Sorry to kind of hijack this but cyrket.com always shows as a blank page.
anyone know why or how to fix that?
i think simply deleting the apk files and data folder will keep an entry in some kind of registry in android. if i just delete the apk files and data folder and run fix_permissions, it shows the same number of processes.
SUFBS
is a rooted file browser and it is, by far, the easiest way of uninstalling any stock apps.
Click one button to make the system folder re-writable (same thing with data folder, just a button), navigate to the apps directory and just delete. or you can search for the app and just delete it from the search window. Voila!
Ssantos6981 said:
is a rooted file browser and it is, by far, the easiest way of uninstalling any stock apps.
Click one button to make the system folder re-writable (same thing with data folder, just a button), navigate to the apps directory and just delete. or you can search for the app and just delete it from the search window. Voila!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
are you talking about rootexplorer or what? elaborate a little..
i just bought and downloaded/installed rootexplorer simply to delete stock apps. upon opening it ask me to allow it. i say yes and it says my phone isn't rooted.
weird.. i just upgraded from cyanogen v4.1.999( or something around that) to the newest 4.2whatever. so how if my phone not rooted?!
blackinches said:
are you talking about rootexplorer or what? elaborate a little..
i just bought and downloaded/installed rootexplorer simply to delete stock apps. upon opening it ask me to allow it. i say yes and it says my phone isn't rooted.
weird.. i just upgraded from cyanogen v4.1.999( or something around that) to the newest 4.2whatever. so how if my phone not rooted?!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
try it again lol. it should work
make sure your not on the stock adp recovery
Root explorer!!!
Hi,
i'm trying ro remove stock apps for quite a few days, and i'm getting desperate!
I have everything... titatium, terminal, root explorer, etc etc
with terminal I also receive "directory not empty", but with root explorer I can delete the apk's from /system/app ... I confirm after that they are not there, bus as soon as I reboot the phone they come back.
what can I do ?
I have HTC desire with stock android, rooted .. and also a couple of programs I instaled I don't really knwo what they do.. like rom manager, clockword recovery, etc
plz help!
Sleeepy2 said:
Sorry to kind of hijack this but cyrket.com always shows as a blank page.
anyone know why or how to fix that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is because the full url path is not correct. Hover cursor over link and look at lower left corner to view the url path...it has those .... in it and will not work. We need the full exact url path.
just use titanum backup,rt click on application it will show (remove),be sure u didn't updated any stock app e.g gmail update
Regarding using Root Explorer on stock G Tab updated to 1.2-4349...
Trying to remove some of the apps preloaded and using Root Explorer get a statement - my phone not rooted.
I want to get the apps off. What to do now? Thanks http://media.xda-developers.com/images/smilies/smile.gif
Thanks for this clear procedure !

Get Apk file from Market

When i download and install an App from the Android Market where the Apk installation file is temporary placed? Which path?
tnx in advance
the apk's are stored at /data/app and /data/app-private after you installed the app and will be removed if you uninstall it.
Tnx for the answer mopodo, but if i hard reset the device, can i will use theese files to reinstall them?
i'm sorry for my bad english...
sidvizioso said:
Tnx for the answer mopodo, but if i hard reset the device, can i will use theese files to reinstall them?
i'm sorry for my bad english...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, you can make a backup to your SD card with apps like MyBackup or Backup For Root Users.
So which is the temp path of the downloaded apk from market?
i want to grab them...
Pinesal said:
No, you can make a backup to your SD card with apps like MyBackup or Backup For Root Users.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
of course you can.
you just have to copy them to your sdcard or pc an install them again, with «adb install something.apk» or «Astro File Manager» (or a similar file managerapp)
a hard reset will delete everything on «/data»
If you have root copy the contents of both folders to your SD card.
mkdir /sdcard/apps
cp /data/app/* /sdcard/apps
cp /data/app-private/* /sdcard/apps
Then after you wipe (I've never heard anyone call it a 'hard reset' before) you can use an app like Astore or ApkInstaller to reinstall them.
If you don't have root then not only will you not be able to read app-private, but your ROM wont have busybox so you wont be able to bash in those commands. In that case use an app like Astro or AppManager to copy non-private apks to the sdcard, but for private apps you'll have to redownload them (without being charged of course.)
Pinesal said:
No, you can make a backup to your SD card with apps like MyBackup or Backup For Root Users.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Only if they're non-private (reside in /app, private being /app-private).
He's probably coming from WinMo. We called a factory reset/wipe a hard reset.
mopodo said:
the apk's are stored at /data/app and /data/app-private after you installed the app and will be removed if you uninstall it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Slightly off topic lol But i see you said Private does that mean you could manually back up Private apps you buy off market by just copying them /w root access?
When I run the following from an adb shell, with or without SU root:
cp /data/app/* <my location on sd>
I always get:
cp: permission denied
In fact, no matter how or where I cp from or to, and no matter what I am trying to copy, even if I leave all arguments blank, I still get "cp: permission denied" -- I have busybox installed in /system/xbin from /data/local and as far as I can tell it installed ok. Phone is a rooted Sprint hero 1.56.651.2 running stock ROM.
I have also tried to 'adb pull /data/app' and it always find 0 files. None of this is a big deal for me, however, as I am just trying to backup a bunch of apks for free apps in case versions change too much. Mostly just curious...
Any ideas?
EDIT: Both Astro and AppManager handled the (non-private) apk backups fine -- so I have no real need for the cp method to work, but I am still wondering why it will not -- is it the adb shell? must I use a terminal emulator from on the phone instead? something else? Anyways, if I really want to pursue it, perhaps I should take it to a busybox thread at this point...
EDIT2: It appears as if the 'cp' command as I was running it wasn't getting passed through busybox (not sure why). From what I can piece together reading other threads, it seems that if you have installed busybox on top of a ROM that doesn't already have it (like stock, after rooting and recovery setup) than you must prefix commands with 'busybox' when entered, as in 'busybox cp /data/app/* <my location>' and it does work for me that way. Still cannot seem to copy /data/app-private which I thought having root access would allow -- I guess I just don't understand nearly enough about busybox implementation, linux permissions, and, well, linux in general.
You could try an app manager and back 'em up from there.
Just try the following command.
busybox cp /data/app/* /sdcard/<your backup loc>
askwhy said:
When I run the following from an adb shell, with or without SU root:
cp /data/app/* <my location on sd>
I always get:
cp: permission denied
In fact, no matter how or where I cp from or to, and no matter what I am trying to copy, even if I leave all arguments blank, I still get "cp: permission denied" -- I have busybox installed in /system/xbin from /data/local and as far as I can tell it installed ok. Phone is a rooted Sprint hero 1.56.651.2 running stock ROM.
I have also tried to 'adb pull /data/app' and it always find 0 files. None of this is a big deal for me, however, as I am just trying to backup a bunch of apks for free apps in case versions change too much. Mostly just curious...
Any ideas?
EDIT: Both Astro and AppManager handled the (non-private) apk backups fine -- so I have no real need for the cp method to work, but I am still wondering why it will not -- is it the adb shell? must I use a terminal emulator from on the phone instead? something else? Anyways, if I really want to pursue it, perhaps I should take it to a busybox thread at this point...
EDIT2: It appears as if the 'cp' command as I was running it wasn't getting passed through busybox (not sure why). From what I can piece together reading other threads, it seems that if you have installed busybox on top of a ROM that doesn't already have it (like stock, after rooting and recovery setup) than you must prefix commands with 'busybox' when entered, as in 'busybox cp /data/app/* <my location>' and it does work for me that way. Still cannot seem to copy /data/app-private which I thought having root access would allow -- I guess I just don't understand nearly enough about busybox implementation, linux permissions, and, well, linux in general.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well in windows
'adb pull' is used if that helps

Apks safe to uninstall on Liberated FR series ROM?

I need to uninstall as many apks as I can from my phones memory and download them off of market and install on my sd card to free up memory. My phone memory is pretty full and seems to be causing it to lag.... What are the safe ones and unsafe ones to remove?
Tenacious--M said:
I need to uninstall as many apks as I can from my phones memory and download them off of market and install on my sd card to free up memory. My phone memory is pretty full and seems to be causing it to lag.... What are the safe ones and unsafe ones to remove?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you can find the app in the market then its safe to remove. If its in the market that makes it optional. However removing google apps can have adverse affects on other google apps, but your phone will still continue to function just fine, and most if not all the google apps can be found in the market (with the exception of the market itself, dont remove that!). Apps such as the music app and clock apps can be replaced entirely by market apps. Preinstalled wallpapers can also be removed from the rom. Another thing i remove is any ringtones I dont think I"ll need. I dont know about liberated, but cm6 has WAY more ringtones than I need/want, so I just delete em. I also now remove the boot animation from the ROM before installing it to save a few MB. You just get a black screen where the bootanimation would normally show up until the phone boots.
Whats the easiest way to remove files? Ive tried to use Root Explorer and Titanium Backup but they show back up when I restart... Im hoping there is an easier way to remove than adb.....????
Tenacious--M said:
Whats the easiest way to remove files? Ive tried to use Root Explorer and Titanium Backup but they show back up when I restart... Im hoping there is an easier way to remove than adb.....????
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
adb is pretty easy actually. Search the forums for making a cmd shortcut for adb, or if someone remembers how they could post it (this will make life infinitely easier). Then you just boot into recovery and plug in the phone, type the following without the apostrophes:
'adb shell' hit enter.
'cd /system/app' enter.
'ls' enter. (this will pop up a list of the apps you have)
'rm name of app.apk' and its gone forever.
Just keep repeating that last step for every app you want removed.
Can i do this via Terminal Emulator?
yes but the command is different...id give it if i knew it...
CallMeAria said:
adb is pretty easy actually. Search the forums for making a cmd shortcut for adb, or if someone remembers how they could post it (this will make life infinitely easier). Then you just boot into recovery and plug in the phone, type the following without the apostrophes:
'adb shell' hit enter.
'cd /system/app' enter.
'ls' enter. (this will pop up a list of the apps you have)
'rm name of app.apk' and its gone forever.
Just keep repeating that last step for every app you want removed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Im having a hell of a time removing apps from my Liberated Aria. I have installed ADB and the necessary software. I am able to get into CMD and get a listing of files (apk's), but they do not remove... what commands do I need to use?
Ive tried
rm /youtube.apk
rm /system/youtube.apk
rm /system/app/youtube.apk
They are still there... maybe Im not mounting the drive? Or its not in Read/Write mode?
Tenacious--M said:
Im having a hell of a time removing apps from my Liberated Aria. I have installed ADB and the necessary software. I am able to get into CMD and get a listing of files (apk's), but they do not remove... what commands do I need to use?
Ive tried
rm /youtube.apk
rm /system/youtube.apk
rm /system/app/youtube.apk
They are still there... maybe Im not mounting the drive? Or its not in Read/Write mode?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
make sure your bored into clockwork recovery. Then go to partitions and mount system. then just follow those same directions I posted above. To remove the app you would type:
rm youtube.apk
Exactly like that, with a space after rm and no /.
hm...
Some times I use SystemApp Remover.
Its pretty easy to work.

[Q] Google Books on GT 10.1 from Google I/O

I can't speak for all GT 10.1s, but the one I received at Google I/O certainly does not have Google Books installed and it's not available in the Market. It comes with Kindle pre-installed, so I'm guessing Samsung has inked a deal with Amazon, but uhh... what about choice? I have several books from both Amazon and Google and use both applications on my Xoom, but now I'm curious why I can't use Google Books on my new tablet. Do I need to try to get the Google Books APK off my Xoom or what? Anyone else found a solution, besides reading their purchases online?
EDIT: The attached file is what finally worked for me. Thanks to smaskell for the link.
Books works fine on the 10.1. Just grab it off another device. My guess is that the market may not know the 10.1 yet as it is not really released now aside from IO.
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA Premium App
I wasn't able to install the tablet version but I did manage to push it to /system/app/ and it works.
1. get root access
2. download busybox
3. adb push busybox /sdcard
4. adb push BooksTablet.apk /sdcard
5. adb shell
6. cd /sdcard
7. su
8. mount -o remount,rw /system
9. ./busybox cp busybox /system/bin - yes, I'm using busybox to copy itself
10. busybox cp /sdcard/BooksTablet/apk /system/app
and you're good to go!
I'm still struggling with this and I've tried installing (via adb, adb shell, and via Astro / app manager) both a BooksTablet.apk (with and without BooksTablet.odex) from a stock Xoom dump and with a copy from my Honeycomb 3.1 Xoom. Am I missing something? Installing always fails and simply putting the files in place does nothing as well (with a reboot). Anyone have any more ideas? I'm out at this point and it seems as if it should be so simple from what you guys are saying! Thanks for the help!
have you tried a deodexed version of the apk?
I have not and cannot seem to find these files anywhere and am not sure how to deodex the files I have. I tried the 1.2.7-dev version of baksmali with no luck. Any other thoughts or perhaps a link to the files you used that seemed to work? Thanks!
I used the one from this thread
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1071047
works like a charm
Case closed
Perfect! Thanks for the link, one of the two files in that thread worked like a charm! In case anyone else is looking for it, I've attached the file that worked for me.
Each time I try installing the BooksTablet.apk file provided above, it fails on the device. When I try installing it via "adb install BooksTablet.apk" it constantly fails with the error "INSTALL_PARSE_FAILED_NO_CERTIFICATES"
I took a look at the logcat output and it seems to be having an issue finding the "fallback_covers.png" file in the assets folder.
I tried renaming the apk to .zip and poking around and I was not able to find this file.
Anyone else having this issue when installing the Google Books app?
I searched around regarding the error message on installation and the solution is to uninstall the app and reinstall it. But because I don't have the app installed to begin with then this isn't an option.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
yeah, I had the same problem. The only way I got it to work was by pushing it to /system/app. see my earlier post for details.
Ok so I tried following the same steps however, I was having some odd problems. I installed Titanium backup since it automatically installs busybox or so I've been told. When I actually try copying however, the adb shell throws an error saying busybox isn't installed which is odd.
Because of this the cp command also isn't available. Instead I copied over the BooksTablet.apk file from the sdcard to the system/app folder by using the following command:
dd if=/sdcard/Download/BooksTablet.apk of=/system/app/BooksTablet.apk
This command executes successfully however, the google books app still isn't available to launch from the app drawer. I verified that the BooksTablet.apk is actually in the system/app folder however, I still cannot launch it. Any other suggestions? Or did I just completely miss something. Thanks again for the help.
All the best,
Nader
nadewad said:
Ok so I tried following the same steps however, I was having some odd problems. I installed Titanium backup since it automatically installs busybox or so I've been told. When I actually try copying however, the adb shell throws an error saying busybox isn't installed which is odd.
Because of this the cp command also isn't available. Instead I copied over the BooksTablet.apk file from the sdcard to the system/app folder by using the following command:
dd if=/sdcard/Download/BooksTablet.apk of=/system/app/BooksTablet.apk
This command executes successfully however, the google books app still isn't available to launch from the app drawer. I verified that the BooksTablet.apk is actually in the system/app folder however, I still cannot launch it. Any other suggestions? Or did I just completely miss something. Thanks again for the help.
All the best,
Nader
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you try navigating to the apk and launching it?
nadewad said:
Ok so I tried following the same steps however, I was having some odd problems. I installed Titanium backup since it automatically installs busybox or so I've been told. When I actually try copying however, the adb shell throws an error saying busybox isn't installed which is odd.
Because of this the cp command also isn't available. Instead I copied over the BooksTablet.apk file from the sdcard to the system/app folder by using the following command:
dd if=/sdcard/Download/BooksTablet.apk of=/system/app/BooksTablet.apk
This command executes successfully however, the google books app still isn't available to launch from the app drawer. I verified that the BooksTablet.apk is actually in the system/app folder however, I still cannot launch it. Any other suggestions? Or did I just completely miss something. Thanks again for the help.
All the best,
Nader
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While I did have BusyBox installed, I can only vouch for the last thing I did that wound up working since I'd tried so many different things before getting the right APK. So once I had the file in the first post (and of course a rooted GT 10.1), I opened a shell, mounted the /system directory for read/write, chmod'd the app directory to 777, pushed the APK into the /system/app folder and then chmod'd the directory back to 644 (IIRC?). So the steps would have been:
1. adb shell
2. su
(if you get a permission denied error, make sure you leave your screen on and accept the prompt by Superuser Permissions, I forgot this on the freshly rooted tablet the first time)
3. mount -o rw,remount /system
4. chmod 777 /system/app
(now either exit the shell or open a new command prompt)
5. adb push BooksTablet.apk /system/app/BooksTablet.apk
(now back in your su'd adb shell)
6. chmod 644 /system/app
(you'll probably want to note what permissions were there previously as I'm going from memory)
There was no need to launch the APK or issue an install command (it fails anyway), the Books app appeared right away in my app drawer but got a FC after only a moment of it being opened the first time. After a reboot, everything has been working just like on the Xoom!

[Q] Backup /cache/ without root ?

I'm trying to recover some lost pictures from cache. I can't root because my bootloader is still locked, and unlocking it will wipe the very data I'm trying to recover... Is there any way for me to get read-only access to my cache, without first wiping the phone?
What exactly will adb backup/restore keep? Will it save my cache? I've heard people say it stores literally *everything* and others say it won't back up the cache and some other system files?
The djrbliss motochopper toolkit http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2233852 would be absolutely perfect, except that I'm running 4.3, and I don't know of any way to downgrade without wiping the phone... One Click Root also would be perfect, except they don't support the Nexus 4...
Is there any way I can root access, or at least read/pull these files, without wiping the device?
I've been searching frantically for days now, I'd pay good money to have those pictures back If I can get these pictures off, you can bet I'm rooting immediately!
Nexus 4, running 4.3 build JWR66Y all stock
If all you want to do is be able to access files on your cache partition, you could try using "adb pull /cache/".
I dont think that needs root, but i could be wrong. Nonetheless, its worth a shot. Setup adb , open command prompt, and run:
Code:
cd Desktop
mkdir cache
cd cache
adb pull /cache/
Chromium_ said:
If all you want to do is be able to access files on your cache partition, you could try using "adb pull /cache/".
I dont think that needs root, but i could be wrong. Nonetheless, its worth a shot. Setup adb, open command prompt, and run:
Code:
cd Desktop
mkdir cache
cd cache
adb pull /cache/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It does appear to need root - it just leaves the destination file empty? Likewise I can't access /cache/ it through FTPDroid or Total Commander, says I don't have permission
bken said:
It does appear to need root - it just leaves the destination file empty? Likewise I can't access /cache/ it through FTPDroid or Total Commander, says I don't have permission
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess you need root as I just tried adb pull too and it's not working, opening the folder in adb shell is not working either so I guess you have no luck
What you could try is copying the partition using dd but I'm not sure what's the name of the partition (which block) etc ... But that *could* work. EDIT: Not working either, you still get permission denied, sorry
Sent from my Nexus 4 running Android 4.3
mihahn said:
I guess you need root as I just tried adb pull too and it's not working, opening the folder in adb shell is not working either so I guess you have no luck
What you could try is copying the partition using dd but I'm not sure what's the name of the partition (which block) etc ... But that *could* work. EDIT: Not working either, you still get permission denied, sorry
Sent from my Nexus 4 running Android 4.3
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for trying. adb backup gave me access to all my app files, but didn't grab cache.
Here's a thought: through the backup I have an extracted .ab file with all the data for the app that wrote this data into cache. Is there a way I could replace the .apk with something that could copy this program's cache data to /sdcard, and then "restore" with this modified .apk? Would the new .apk retain the permissions of the old, and let me copy this data? Or, alternately, could I modify the .apk to allow debug mode so I can open the cache as that app in console, and adb pull then?
My next best option I can think of, is to go ahead and unlock the bootloader, let the phone reset, and then immediately root and perform data recovery, and hope I don't overwrite everything in the meantime. I'm not sure yet which USB Mass Storage methods (if any) will let me use a standard file recovery program to scan the drive. This is also my last resort, as if it screws up I'm toast.
Forensics lab got back to me, said they could "probably" do it but it'd cost me $1200 I would happily pay 120 but 1200 is absurd. Wonder what their method is to extract data...
OK I think I'm almost there!! I retrieved the .apk through my Holo Backup full system backup and decompressed it using Droid Explorer. Decompiled with apktools, changed my manifest file, and then recompiled into apk. Now I'm trying to get my new AndroidManifest.xml and resources.arsc into my .apk without mucking up the certificate... It sounds like people have had success taking the changed files out of the newly compiled apk and stuffing them into the old apk real quick without it changing the certificates, but I don't seem to be having the same luck? I'm getting this error which isn't a "no certificates error" but isn't success either. Only thing I changed was debug = "false" to "true"
Code:
c:\>adb install -r -d d:\com.xxxxx.xxxxx.apk
2490 KB/s (15989341 bytes in 6.269s)
pkg: /data/local/tmp/com.xxxxx.xxxxx.apk
Failure [INSTALL_PARSE_FAILED_UNEXPECTED_EXCEPTION]
The apk I'm starting from installed fine, and I know because it reverted me to a previous version because the marketplace had just updated me over the weekend. This zip trick has also apparently worked for a few people, any suggestions other than keep trying other computers and programs?
http://www.galaxynexusforum.com/for...562-how-decompile-compile-using-apktools.html
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1658121
I'm not trying to reverse engineer this app for any evil, I only want my lost data that I only don't have because I failed to root when I should have and as soon as I have that, I'm reverting the app back to the official version. :angel:

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