Inquiries - Root/Unroot/Nandroid/Stock APK Removal/Few Others

[bcurtis208]

Hi Everyone,

So I've rooted my Sprint Hero the other day for the first time and had it flashed to a ROM I found over @ the xda-developers forum. Hopefully someone would be kind to help a guy out and answer some of my questions in regards to removing Stock APKs and a few other things as I'm not too familiar with the Android Mobile OS. I've been a long time WM user.

Questions:

• How do I know if my phone is rooted or not?

• Is there a way to remove Stock APK (Applications) from my HTC Hero without having to have it connected to my computer?
  • I've recently discovered an App called Android Mate which shows Market Apps as being located in /data/app folder and Stock Apps in /system/app folder which prompts me the option to replace/remove the installed APK.

• When having my device connected to my computer to use the standard Command Prompt to root/unroot/push/pull/etc should I use HTC Sync and have it connected via Active Sync or have it connected as if it were just to be used as a Removal Drive?

• Is there an easy way to have Protected Apps available in the Market using a ROM which isn't setup for this? I'm trying once again to avoid having to use the Command Prompt (Win 7) and have my phone synchronized to my computer?

• Nandroid
  • Before switching back to Stock ROM or to any other custom ROM should I go to a Backup ROM first, and if so what's it called? I've heard this referenced before.
  • If I go back to my Nandroid backup which was created after I rooted my phone and created a backup thing or loaded it does that make it so my phone is unrooted? The backup thing I'm referencing was part of the instructions I was following for flashing to a custom ROM; after doing so it still looked like I was on Stock ROM w/ all the downloads and customizations I had previously.

I've read the threads stickied for help and have also viewed the threads for ROMs and have followed the instructions (which worked) however there's a lack of detail being provided - maybe it's just me but when I was learning to flash WM Roms I didn't have this much trouble catching on.. But then again WM has been around so long that there's been time for people to created detailed tutorials. Reference to detailed tutorials would also be appreciated as well but going through pages and pages of data just makes my brain spin.

THANKS! probably wrote too much for anyone to want to reply but we will see :P

[Harveystyles]

Knowing your rooted - Try downloading any of the 'root required' programs on the market, if your not rooted, you won't be able to download them.

Removal of stock apps - My knowledge of this topic is slim, at the least, but from what I gather, you HAVE to do this through adb, and you can't access that, without the help of a pc. have a look at the guide, located here.

HTC Sync - If I understand correctly, the only thing we really needed from HTC sync, were the usb drivers, whether or not thats correct, I do know that having it connected to Sync, isn't required, cause i don't even have Sync installed on my netbook, and I run things from it, all the time.

Protected apps - There are a number of good ROM's, Made by several awesome chefs, available on here, and XDA, that have the Protected Market apps visible in said ROM's. I'd suggest trying out a couple, until you find something you like. Just remember, Nandroid is your best friend!

Backup ROM - I've never had to go to a backup ROM before, though I do see people suggesting you wipe your phone, delv(sp) cache, and ext partition alot, especially when flashing between ROm's of a different chef.

Nandroid backups, and Rooting - From my understanding of Nandroid, it returns your phone, to the exact state it was in, when you made the backup. So, if your phone was rooted when you made said backup, it should be rooted when you revert to it. As long as your making a backup of your ext partition (someone correct me, if I'm wrong here), then no matter what you do, it should revert it to it's previous state. And if your not running Apps2sd, then backing up your ext partition shouldn't matter.

Here is a detailed tutorial, with pictures and videos, on how to root, unroot, flash, etc. etc, for the beloved phone that we all own.

Though i must warn you, flashing ROM's, will be like eating Pringles for you, once you pop, you can't stop.

I take no credit for, any information contained in this thread, or, for anything that happens to your gadgets.


Hope this helps!

[bradart]

Originally Posted by Harveystyles

Knowing your rooted - Try downloading any of the 'root required' programs on the market, if your not rooted, you won't be able to download them.

Removal of stock apps - My knowledge of this topic is slim, at the least, but from what I gather, you HAVE to do this through adb, and you can't access that, without the help of a pc. have a look at the guide, located here.

You can download one of several root file managers from the market and delete them on the actual device without the need for a pc.

HTC Sync - If I understand correctly, the only thing we really needed from HTC sync, were the usb drivers, whether or not thats correct, I do know that having it connected to Sync, isn't required, cause i don't even have Sync installed on my netbook, and I run things from it, all the time.

HTC sync can be handy, but it is not at all necessary for any functions i perform on the phone.

Protected apps - There are a number of good ROM's, Made by several awesome chefs, available on here, and XDA, that have the Protected Market apps visible in said ROM's. I'd suggest trying out a couple, until you find something you like. Just remember, Nandroid is your best friend!

Protected apps not showing in the market is not an issue that can be solved by doing a nandroid restore. That is a google server-side issue that further steps must be taken to fix.

Backup ROM - I've never had to go to a backup ROM before, though I do see people suggesting you wipe your phone, delv(sp) cache, and ext partition alot, especially when flashing between ROm's of a different chef.

Most roms automatically wipe the dalvik cache on first boot and, if you're not entirely sure what you're doing, doing it manually can cause some annoyances.

Nandroid backups, and Rooting - From my understanding of Nandroid, it returns your phone, to the exact state it was in, when you made the backup. So, if your phone was rooted when you made said backup, it should be rooted when you revert to it. As long as your making a backup of your ext partition (someone correct me, if I'm wrong here), then no matter what you do, it should revert it to it's previous state. And if your not running Apps2sd, then backing up your ext partition shouldn't matter.

Nandroid quite literally takes a snapshot of everything stored on the phone's memory. This includes all apps, app cache files, system files, and settings. It does not affect anything on the sdcard (barring actually putting the nandroid backup on there)

If you are not using apps2sd, you don't even have an EXT partition, so no worries there

Here is a detailed tutorial, with pictures and videos, on how to root, unroot, flash, etc. etc, for the beloved phone that we all own.

Though i must warn you, flashing ROM's, will be like eating Pringles for you, once you pop, you can't stop.

I take no credit for, any information contained in this thread, or, for anything that happens to your gadgets.


Hope this helps!

[bcurtis208]

Originally Posted by Harveystyles

Knowing your rooted - Try downloading any of the 'root required' programs on the market, if your not rooted, you won't be able to download them.

Removal of stock apps - My knowledge of this topic is slim, at the least, but from what I gather, you HAVE to do this through adb, and you can't access that, without the help of a pc. have a look at the guide, located here.

HTC Sync - If I understand correctly, the only thing we really needed from HTC sync, were the usb drivers, whether or not thats correct, I do know that having it connected to Sync, isn't required, cause i don't even have Sync installed on my netbook, and I run things from it, all the time.

Protected apps - There are a number of good ROM's, Made by several awesome chefs, available on here, and XDA, that have the Protected Market apps visible in said ROM's. I'd suggest trying out a couple, until you find something you like. Just remember, Nandroid is your best friend!

Backup ROM - I've never had to go to a backup ROM before, though I do see people suggesting you wipe your phone, delv(sp) cache, and ext partition alot, especially when flashing between ROm's of a different chef.

Nandroid backups, and Rooting - From my understanding of Nandroid, it returns your phone, to the exact state it was in, when you made the backup. So, if your phone was rooted when you made said backup, it should be rooted when you revert to it. As long as your making a backup of your ext partition (someone correct me, if I'm wrong here), then no matter what you do, it should revert it to it's previous state. And if your not running Apps2sd, then backing up your ext partition shouldn't matter.

Here is a detailed tutorial, with pictures and videos, on how to root, unroot, flash, etc. etc, for the beloved phone that we all own.

Though i must warn you, flashing ROM's, will be like eating Pringles for you, once you pop, you can't stop.

I take no credit for, any information contained in this thread, or, for anything that happens to your gadgets.


Hope this helps!

Hey thanks man - I really liked the tutorial you provided from the other forum as it seems very descriptive and is more specific to the Sprint Hero CDMA!

[bcurtis208]

Originally Posted by bradart

You can download one of several root file managers from the market and delete them on the actual device without the need for a pc.

HTC sync can be handy, but it is not at all necessary for any functions i perform on the phone.

Protected apps not showing in the market is not an issue that can be solved by doing a nandroid restore. That is a google server-side issue that further steps must be taken to fix.

Most roms automatically wipe the dalvik cache on first boot and, if you're not entirely sure what you're doing, doing it manually can cause some annoyances.

Nandroid quite literally takes a snapshot of everything stored on the phone's memory. This includes all apps, app cache files, system files, and settings. It does not affect anything on the sdcard (barring actually putting the nandroid backup on there)

If you are not using apps2sd, you don't even have an EXT partition, so no worries there

Thanks for the response. I'm going to proceed with trying to remove a Stock APK using the root explorer I have once I get home and post back with results; I'm pretty confident things will be good but I'm also going to ensure I reference similar threads to check on what sometimes causes Force Closes due to having certain things removed.

For the Protected Apps Issue, it seems there are only a few that really are protected (Shop Savvy, etc) so I'll probably just not really worry about it too much and with reviewing your guys's feedback as well as the tutorial previously provided I'm sure I'll be flashing to several ROMs soon which will allow these to be viewed ^_^

Next stop: Modifying top taskbar in hopes to not brick my phone! LOL Thanks for all your help - if you know a tutorial for modifying taskbars (like the white one that doesn't come with Hero!) that would be great.

[bradart]

Originally Posted by bcurtis208

Thanks for the response. I'm going to proceed with trying to remove a Stock APK using the root explorer I have once I get home and post back with results; I'm pretty confident things will be good but I'm also going to ensure I reference similar threads to check on what sometimes causes Force Closes due to having certain things removed.

For the Protected Apps Issue, it seems there are only a few that really are protected (Shop Savvy, etc) so I'll probably just not really worry about it too much and with reviewing your guys's feedback as well as the tutorial previously provided I'm sure I'll be flashing to several ROMs soon which will allow these to be viewed ^_^

Next stop: Modifying top taskbar in hopes to not brick my phone! LOL Thanks for all your help - if you know a tutorial for modifying taskbars (like the white one that doesn't come with Hero!) that would be great.

Well, any app by google is protected. A lot of really awesome apps are copy protected, too, so its something i would try and get working.