Database Users

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 !

[Q] remove app from rooted g2 (not disable)

Hi,
Now that i've rooted my tmobile G2, i'd like to remove completely some of the apps that i disabled previously (like amazon or photobucket)
I've done some research and found this out
su
mount -o rw,remount /data (or /system)
rm -f /system/app/<apkname>.apk //Replace the blue text, <apkname>, with the name of the APK you want to remove.
pm uninstall <package name> //Replace the blue text, <package name>, with the name of the APK you want to remove.
however, when i run the mount command, i get
Usage: mount [-r] [-w] [-o options] [-t type] device directory
if i try to remove the app directly without running the command
package:/system/app/PbAndroid.apk=com.photobucket.android
i get
rm -f PbAndroid.apk
rm failed for -f, Read-only file system
how do i do this now?
thanks

try
mount -o remount,rw /dev/block/mmcblk0p25 /system

Best app is root explorer from the market... it deleted anything from the phone.
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App

OR HERE'S THE FREE *AND* EASY WAY: download the free version of titanium backup, go to the middle tab, find your app, tap on it, then tap the uninstall button. App uninstalled!
Obviously this requires perma root.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 running Cyanogenmod.

umm is it supposed to reboot my phone into recovery everytime i remove a stock app?

dietotherhythm said:
umm is it supposed to reboot my phone into recovery everytime i remove a stock app?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're using the force uninstall in titanium backup. This was only necessary for nand locked devices, you can use the normal uninstall function now. Just tap, don't long press -- it'll give you a list of options.

so finally i have a chance to test this.
Thanks all for responding.
I tried the easier way with titanium backup.
I did the mistake of doing the long press and it rebooted.
But after that i just tried the "uninstalled" and it worked like a charm.
Thanks a lot.

Used titanium backup to delete all that crap. =)
Posted on my T-mobile G(spot)2 xD
Please check out my amazing blog- http://elgamerlife.blogspot.com/

i ended buying root explorer ( lcd density mod) my question is...
should i do a backup with titanium and then delete bloatware with root explorer?
I want to use R.E as it did cost me $

-FuRBz- said:
i ended buying root explorer ( lcd density mod) my question is...
should i do a backup with titanium and then delete bloatware with root explorer?
I want to use R.E as it did cost me $
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you have any doubt in your mind about whether you want to remove proprietary system app or not then yes, back them up with TB.

Can't delete with root explorer

I'm trying to delete a default application from my droid (WriteandGo) by deleting both the .apk and .odex file from /system/app using root explorer.
The phone is rooted, in Root Explorer and the partition appears mounted as r/w. When I delete both files it works fine and they disappear, but when I go back and then return to the app folder the files are there again. The application never gets uninstalled.
Any ideas?
Thanks!

Use titanium backup to uninstall sytem apps..

Thanks, it does work, but I'm curious as to why root explorer is failing to delete the files..

Neojag said:
I'm trying to delete a default application from my droid (WriteandGo) by deleting both the .apk and .odex file from /system/app using root explorer.
The phone is rooted, in Root Explorer and the partition appears mounted as r/w. When I delete both files it works fine and they disappear, but when I go back and then return to the app folder the files are there again. The application never gets uninstalled.
Any ideas?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is because the /system partition is mounted read only.
To mount read-write, install ADB.
Set phone to USB debug.
Then:
> adb shell
$ su
# mount -o remount,rw /dev/block/stl6 /system
Then go the the appropriate directory and remove the files with "rm".

So the info Root Explorer is supplying (that the partition is mounted as r/w) is wrong? That's odd, because I've managed to copy a file to /system/etc/.

[Q] Problem changing gps.conf file

I have rooted and installed CWR. I have Supperuser installed also. When I try to change the gps.conf file to point to us.pool.ntp.org, I get an error saying the that /system is read only. Any ideas on how to fix this?

You need to mount /system as read/write before you can write to it.
In Root Explorer, you can click the R/W (or R/O) button at the top to enable writing.

I tried that and it say the file has been saved. However when I open the file again the changes are not there.

From my post the other day at forums.lenovo.com--
Best: ES File Explorer (with root permission and /system writeable checked in settings)
Navigate to file, click, choose text, choose ES Note Editor, edit the file as needed, choose save when prompted.
You can change permissions with ES as well.
I like that it automatically makes a *.bak file of whatever you edit and save.

I have tried changing the permission using root explorer, which resulted with this error "Permissions change was not successful. Please not that some file systems(eg SD card) do not allow permission changes. " I also tried using ES File Explorer but it still will not allow me to edit or delete the file.

@dwilli40 - Did you set root permission and /system writeable in ES settings?

Yes, I did enable root permission and /system writeable in ES settings.

I had a similar Problem on my device, seems that the normal mount doesn't work always. In my case i got write permission with:
busybox mount -o rw,rewrite /system
Sent from my ThinkPad Tablet using XDA App

if you don't know how to do it manually, use a app !
fasterfix for example....
if it doesn't work, it means that you don't have root

Thanks quyTam . That one did it for me.

Any way to do this without recovery?

It's absolutely no need for recovery !
But root is needed.

I was thinking it did because I couldn't get /system to stay mounted as rw under adb shell or with total commander
What should I be doing?

GPS Monitor Premium is able to do this, too, and more. It's a little heavier, but I don't feel like I need GPS Test anymore. It's a slick little app, and the dev is very kind.

MrKwatz said:
I was thinking it did because I couldn't get /system to stay mounted as rw under adb shell or with total commander
What should I be doing?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
are you root ?

Did the GPS change you made work? Is you tablet actually grabbing satellites over North America?
Sent from my ThinkPad Tablet using xda premium

quyTam said:
are you root ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes.
If I mount from adb shell su and then exit (after checking mount) for adb push it does not retain rw.
Doing the mount command from Total Commander fails. Checking the box to mount /system from ES File Explorer does nothing.

Yes, the change to gps made a huge difference. I went from taking 5 minutes or more to find my location to almost instantly.

dwilli40 said:
Yes, the change to gps made a huge difference. I went from taking 5 minutes or more to find my location to almost instantly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you change the gpsconfig.xml file in /system/etc/gps folder? And if you did, which line(s) did you edit? I'm looking at the file in Notepad++ just trying to comb through it all and I don't see us.pool.ntp.org or asia.pool.ntp.ord anywhere..
Thanks
---
Never mind, just found the gps.conf file in the root of /etc. FasterFix did indeed change the Asian setting to a north-american.pool.ntp.org. I'll give this a try today, and if it can't find me in under 3 minutes, i'll try changing it to us.pool.ntp.org and see if that makes a difference.

[Q] How do I install 3rd-party APK on rooted NST? (Nook Color Tools doesn't help)...

Hi,
First of all let me say thanks to whoever first rooted the NST. It simply rocks. Also, XDA's introductory video made me laugh and scared at the same time.
I'm trying to install an apk which is not available through Google Play/Android Market. I go to the .apk in ES File Explorer, but it won't install. It says
'Install blocked
'For security, your phone is set to block installation of applications not sourced in Android Market'
In Nook Color Tools, 'Allow non-market apps' is checked. I note that below, it says
'For this to work, the apps apk files must be copied to system/app'.
However, I cannot persuade ES File Explorer to copy the .apk file to /system/app, which I assume is protected or something.
So, I'm stuck. How do I get this little terror to install?!
Many thanks.

http://nookdevs.com/NookColor_Enable_App_install_from_on-device_installers
On the device is an app called NookColor Tools. Run it, and ensure that the checkbox for on-device install is checked. If it's already checked, uncheck and re-check it to make sure that it's actually set. Exit the app and reboot your nook. You should now be able to sideload apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To copy files to the system partition you need to mount it read/write mode. In your ES file explorer there should be an option that allows you to do that "mount root" or something similar. You can also use Rhytm file manager (i use it therefore i know you can do this in RFM).
If you have adb access you can also connect to NST (adb shell) and run
mount -o rw,remount /dev/block/mmcblk0p5 /system
http://nookdevs.com/Nook_Simple_Touch_write_enable_the_system_directory
5 seconds in web search engine
query : "install non market applications nook"
dude...

You only have to put things in /system/app if you don't want to "install" them.
Most apps go in /data/app which is easier anyway and no hassle when you want to upgrade.
I always install apps over ADB using "adb install myapp.apk"
(especially when I am developing and doing 20 installs an hour.)

osowiecki said:
If you have adb access you can also connect to NST (adb shell) and run
mount -o rw,remount /dev/block/mmcblk0p5 /system
5 seconds in web search engine
query : "install non market applications nook"
dude...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks .
I did try a lot of search strings, but not that specific one. I guess I didn't want forum people to get cross with me! Oh well...

forgottenit said:
However, I cannot persuade ES File Explorer to copy the .apk file to /system/app, which I assume is protected or something.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had the same problem for an hour or two. However, ES File Explorer allows you to mount the system partition in read/write mode. Run ES File Explorer, click on the icon near the top LHS corner, choose Root Explorer from the menu, and choose Mount R/W from the pop-up menu. I needed to add and delete system files.