[Q] Unable to Edit System Files Using any File Explorer - Nexus 7 (2013) Q&A

So this is a problem I've had basically since day one with my Nexus 7. No matter what file explorer I use, I can not edit anything in the root directories. Unable to save build.prop edits for example. I am assuming it is a permission thing but I have no idea exactly what I am doing wrong or how to fix it. Any help is appreciated.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

Are you rooted? If you are - check to see if you are in read only mode in your file manager(s)

Besides requiring root, apps like ES File Explorer need to have root access turned on. Root Explorer needs a directory mounted as R/W.
Best practice, anyway, is to copy a file (especially build.prop) to a regular directory under /sdcard, edit it there, rename the original, then copy back the modified file.

I managed to figure it out. Was using cm file explorer and root browser. Got root browser working by changing permissions on the system folder.
I always copy files into the internal storage before editing. Thanks for the replies.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

Related

[Q] How do I install a bootanimation?

Ahoy! Simply put, I'd like to install a new boot animation on my rooted HTC Desire HD running Android Revolution HD 3.0.
I've searched how to do this but I don't exactly understand.
I understand that I can 'push' the new bootanimation.zip to data/local via ADB, but some guides/installation tutorials have simply said 'copy bootanimation.zip to data/local.'
I'd much prefer to be able to simply copy the .zip to data/local and not have to deal with ADB as I have not yet used it, but how do I do this? Am I misunderstanding?
I thought 'copy to data/local' would be as simple as using for example, Astro File Manager and copying the new bootanimation.zip from my SDcard to data/local, however there is no 'local' folder inside of the 'data' folder and the option to create a new folder is greyed-out.
Long story short:
What's the simplest method of installing a bootanimation?
Can I simply 'copy bootanimation.zip to data/local?' If so, how?
If I have to use ADB to install the bootanimation, what is the exact process of doing this?
I'm sure this has been asked before, but my searches confused me more than cleared anything up. Thank you for any help in advance!
You need a program like root explorer(es file explorer with root access should work too) for the copy/paste method because the bootanimation.zip isn't stored at your sd card but at the phones internal memory.
At the root of your phone you should see folders like sdcard, dev, root and many more. One of them is called data. In this folder there is one called local. There should be a file called bootanimation.zip. just replace this file with your bootanimation.zip.
Normally it can't damage your phone when your bootanimation has a wrong format or whatever. If the new file is broken, you'll get a black screen instead of an animation but the phone will boot anyway
Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk
I see the folder you're talking about in both Astro and ES File Viewer, but this 'data' folder is empty by default. There's no bootanimation.zip and there's no 'local' folder.
I'm confused.
take a look at /system/media
Denavar said:
I see the folder you're talking about in both Astro and ES File Viewer, but this 'data' folder is empty by default. There's no bootanimation.zip and there's no 'local' folder.
I'm confused.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Use ES File Explorer, and make sure that you enable root mode in settings. Use hiapk mode. Also remount /system and /data, that option is also in the settings.
jkoljo said:
Use ES File Explorer, and make sure that you enable root mode in settings. Use hiapk mode. Also remount /system and /data, that option is also in the settings.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you. This worked perfectly. I wasn't aware I needed to do this. Thanks again.
Edit: I've encountered another problem. Whenever I now attempt to access my SD card via ES File Explorer, I get the error "SD Card Unmounted or not present." How do I rectify this? It works fine in Astro.
Edit 2: I attempted to unmount /system and /data simply by unticking the option in ES (i'm really only just starting to delve into this sort of thing now and don't know what I'm doing.) and it says 'failed to mount'. How do I fix this also? ;P
Edit 3: Re-installing ES File Explorer fixed the above two issues, but I assume it will do the exact same thing again. For the time being and a short fix, is re-installing the app each time OK? I don't exactly know what 'failed to mount' or 'SD Card unmounted or not present' errors mean. I get the idea, but I'm not sure if they're really doing any damage.
I found my original boot animation in '/system/customize/resource/' and replaced with a custom one. Worked!

[Q] Can't copy files to system dir using file managers

I am at a loss. I have found a thousand people on the interwebs that seem to have this problem but I have been unable to find a single solution.
I have searched these forums and every other android forum I can find. Hopefully I'm not posting this in the completely wrong forum but at this point I'm so fed up I'm seeing spots.
I want to use File Expert. I like it, it's pretty, it SEEMS like it might be useful to a person who wants to copy/move files.
But, it just says "operation failed" when I try and copy files into a system directory. (I have some ringtones, alarms, etc that I want to be available even if I'm in usb storage mode so I like to move them into the system directory).
I can move the files from a terminal emulator (pain in the you know) but Root Explorer (ugly) is the only file manager I can find that actually works to move them.
Am I stuck with Root Explorer or is there something I can do to get other file managers to actually work?
Yes I have enabled the root exploring function in File Expert and every option that i believe is applicable. I also like Anttek (quite visually appealing to me) but it doesn't work either.
Try es file explorer you have to have root permissions to move system dir apps and so forth in the settings of es file go down and check root explorer and mount the system as writeable and all your issues will be solved
Sent from my SPH-D700 using xda premium
Thanks for the quick reply and I will be happy to try ES File Explorer, but why would that work if File Expert (which also claims to be able to mount r/w) doesn't?
Is there really only just ES and Root Explorer that properly get root privileges?
Not sure? I guess so :/
Sent from my SPH-D700 using xda premium
Oh well ES works and it looks pretty good so i suppose I'll use that. Thanks.
Maybe the other file managers did not obtain superuser permission properly, or don't like the new version of busybox, or just don't like Epics...but Biggie steered you the right way.
^^^^^^^^^ edit: you beat me^^^^^^^^
I know in es file explorer you have to go into the apps settings to give the app root permissions so it can get to /system and all that jazz. Maybe file expert has the same deal in the apps settings.

Root Explorer Error

I just unlocked, rooted and restored all files in my nexus. I went into root Explorer to delete unwanted files and am getting a delete failed error every time I try to delete a file. Also my screen shots are no longer saving it says storage is in use. Anybody experience anything like this after rooting?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus
Marcg23 said:
I just unlocked, rooted and restored all files in my nexus. I went into root Explorer to delete unwanted files and am getting a delete failed error every time I try to delete a file. Also my screen shots are no longer saving it says storage is in use. Anybody experience anything like this after rooting?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you trying to delete system files? Do you have SU installed? Are you clicking the R/W option. More details please.....
Several people have reported the issue with screen shot, to fix it they've had to rename the pictures folder(Seems like the folder is read only).
Swiftkey'ed on my CM9 Galaxy Nexus
No system files just old pictures, music files and other misc. It is set as r/w, also I am getting a few apps saying I need storage available that is writable. Something has to be up with the internal storage not allowing me to access or write to it.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus
Well I am able to take screen shots by renaming he folder. However, I am still unable to write anything to my sdcard or modify files through root Explorer or any other file manager app.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus
Root explorer - How to text edit
Hi All,
I have a problem with my root explorer. I am not able to open a file to edit. If i long press on a file , i dont get any option to open/edit the file.
i was supposed to edit gps.conf file under /system/etc but unable to do so from root explorer.
PS: i mount r/w from the root explorer every time i try..
Please help.
If you have any directories/files that you can't modify or delete, then boot into CWM recovery, plug in the USB cable, go into adb shell. Also make sure that /data is mounted in the CWM mounts menu. Then:
cd /data/media
chown -R media_rw.media_rw *
root explorer delete failed
danger-rat said:
If you have any directories/files that you can't modify or delete, then boot into CWM recovery, plug in the USB cable, go into adb shell. Also make sure that /data is mounted in the CWM mounts menu. Then:
cd /data/media
chown -R media_rw.media_rw *
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i'm having this crazy "delete failed" error every time i try to delete any file in sdcart, external, and root directory (copy-paste, root, permissions works fine )
i tried to delete any remains of root explorer with es file explorer ((which works fine btw so its not a problem of partitions i think), re installed the program again but its the same . Flashed the rom from the beginning with a full wipe but its the same
this error happened first when i updated from blackmart alpha to some rootexplorer v.99. I uninstalled that but it left this error
Any idea what is causing that
I'm very curious and would appreciate it
thanks
I found a way to delete the files you suggest using Root Explorer. Go into /data/media/<navigate to the directory that you want to delete files>.. make sure the folder is mounted as r/w and delete the files you want to delete. This is how I bypassed the delete failed issue in Root Explorer...
rester555 said:
I found a way to delete the files you suggest using Root Explorer. Go into /data/media/<navigate to the directory that you want to delete files>.. make sure the folder is mounted as r/w and delete the files you want to delete. This is how I bypassed the delete failed issue in Root Explorer...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
^^^^ this
Thank you rester, this worked for me too. Was pulling my hair out.

Rooted, yet unable to....

I'm now rooted using CF method, no custom recovery though. I want to remain stock. But, one of the primary reasons I went ahead and rooted is so that I can get rid of the 2 horrible power on & off sound files. Is it just me or do you also find those completely obnoxious and loud??
Anyhow, here's the problem:
I've located the 2 files (poweron.ogg and poweroff.ogg). I don't want to delete them, I just want to rename them so they are in essence "hidden" and can't be called, therefore keeping my sanity everytime I shutdown or startup. But when I try to rename (I've now tried ES file explorer and Astro - both to no avail) the files, I get a permission denied or some other message saying the file is write-protected and I'm unable to rename or delete.
Any ideas?
Thanks!
You need to make the folder r/w (read/write) instead of r/o (read only). You should have that option in all root explorer software.
Install es file explorer, press the menu button and then root explorer. Then from there go to mount read/write and change the system checkbox to r/w. Now you should be able to mod the files.
Sent from my SGH-M919 using xda app-developers app
marcoxx626 said:
Install es file explorer, press the menu button and then root explorer. Then from there go to mount read/write and change the system checkbox to r/w. Now you should be able to mod the files.
Sent from my SGH-M919 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Beautiful! It worked! Thanks for the detailed steps.
GO KNIGHTS!

Can't move some files, can't create some folders

I don't know how else to describe this issue I'm having:
Essentially sometimes I cannot create new folders, either in an explorer app (ES File Manager, Explorer (free, not Root Explorer), or other file manager) or when connected to my computers via USB. Sometimes I can do both. Similarly, sometimes I cannot move files from one directory to another, both using file manager or when connected to computer over USB. It seems random, I think?
An example of this is I downloaded a PDF file from SharePoint using Chrome. The file is downloaded to the /Downloads directory by default. I wanted to move this to a different directory (/Documents), but the cut+paste operation failed. ES File Manager says the operation can't be completed, Explorer just sits there and doesn't say anything. When trying to do the same thing over USB connection, Windows just sits there saying the device is busy, and it'll sit there indefinitely. But an OGG file I downloaded from Dropbox was free to be moved to and from several directories when I was testing file operations.
Basically it's like my device doesn't want to play nice with files and folders. I tried doing a factory reset, but that didn't seem to help. Do you think completely reformatting the phone (as in fastboot format userdata, and a fresh ROM + kernel install) would help? It seems drastic, but at the same time being unable to move files and folders is very strange and likely hard to pinpoint the culprit.
I'm rooted (using traditional SuperSU root) running Pure Nexus 12/01/2015 ROM and ElementalX 0.07 kernel (Enforcing disabled). I doubt any of those 3 factors are the cause of it, but every detail might help, right?
Update: It looks like a permissions issue. Please see post below.
OK an update to this, I discovered that some folders that I thought I had deleted using ES File Manager are still showing up in USB storage when I'm hooked up to a computer. That is to say that what I see using a file manager versus what I see while connected to a computer are different.
Further to this, I am now getting "Permission denied" by the file managers when I try to copy and paste anything from anywhere to any other place. I have booted into TWRP to run Fix Permissions already. It looks like everything now has rwxrwx---, which means to me 770? It should be 775, no?
Any ideas what might be causing this permissions issue?
daver68 said:
OK an update to this, I discovered that some folders that I thought I had deleted using ES File Manager are still showing up in USB storage when I'm hooked up to a computer. That is to say that what I see using a file manager versus what I see while connected to a computer are different.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For this, I read somewhere that the latest ES File app has a recycling bin for when you delete apps. So, that needs to be emptied too.
Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk
SlimSnoopOS said:
For this, I read somewhere that the latest ES File app has a recycling bin for when you delete apps. So, that needs to be emptied too.
Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did indeed clean out the Recycle Bin (and subsequently disabled it), but the problem persists. But thanks for pointing that out!
OK, an interesting discovery:
If I am on my device and using ES File Explorer and if I am in the path /storage/emulated/0/* then I am unable to copy/move files and directories, as I've described above.
If I am on my device and using ES File Explorer and if I am in the path /sdcard/* then I am unable to copy/move files and directories, as I've described above.
If I am on my device and using ES File Explorer and if I am in the path /data/media/0/* then I am able to do anything I damn well please.
Now this makes a bit of sense to me, given the permissions for each directory. For example, when viewing the permissions of a file or folder when in /sdcard or /storage/emulated/0, I can only see the permissions as "Readable: Yes, Writeable: Yes", but I cannot change said permissions. However, when I view the permissions for something when under /data/media/0 then not only can I see the explicit permissions "rw-rw-r--" I can also change it if I wanted to.
I suspect this might be more than just the ROM. Perhaps I did not flash the system.img correctly when I first went through the process? Is this possible?

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