Home Screen Rotation Fix root-required

**zedorda** · 07-28-2012, 10:07 AM

[HL]Back up before editing your build.prop![/HL]

Edit you build.prop file and add this line to the bottom:

launcher.force_enable_rotation=true

Almost any file manager/explorer will work as long as they can use root access. A reboot is required to put into effect.

Do not attempted unless you FULLY understand your build.prop file. You can make your Nexus 7 unable to boot if you do not.

**jsz3us** · 07-28-2012, 10:49 AM

Does this work for all devices or only the nexus 7?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Android Central Forums

**dparrothead1** · 07-28-2012, 11:04 AM

**zedorda** · 07-28-2012, 11:12 AM

Originally Posted by jsz3us

Does this work for all devices or only the nexus 7?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Android Central Forums

Can't say for sure only had to do it with the Nexus7.

**zedorda** · 07-28-2012, 11:14 AM

Originally Posted by dparrothead1

Why add duct tape if you can fix it? That is for those who(nonrooted) can't fix it.

**ragnarokx** · 07-28-2012, 11:31 AM

Originally Posted by jsz3us

Does this work for all devices or only the nexus 7?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Android Central Forums

Works on my Galaxy Nexus. Awesome trick. Now I can uninstall that rotation app I downloaded.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus

**dparrothead1** · 07-28-2012, 11:34 AM

Originally Posted by zedorda

Why add duct tape if you can fix it? That is for those who(nonrooted) can't fix it.

Maybe to give someone a choice???? I certainly didn't criticize your suggestion.

**TauntingBull** · 07-28-2012, 11:46 AM

Thanks for the trick

**zedorda** · 07-28-2012, 11:59 AM

Originally Posted by dparrothead1

Maybe to give someone a choice???? I certainly didn't criticize your suggestion.

Mine was a solution not a suggestion just to be clear. If you had not noticed this is the rooted section and most people that root dislike bloatware and that app is basically bloatware when you know how to fix the issue.

**2defmouze** · 07-28-2012, 12:28 PM

Cool tip, thx. All (or most) 3rd party launchers such as Apex or Nova allow for homescreen rotation as well, just for another option

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

**ragnarokx** · 07-28-2012, 12:50 PM

Originally Posted by 2defmouze

Cool tip, thx. All (or most) 3rd party launchers such as Apex or Nova allow for homescreen rotation as well, just for another option

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

Last time I tried those launchers they still lacked JB features, like fling off screen to delete or widgets/icons that auto-move to accommodate new items. When they get update I'll probably check them out again.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus

**jpprice** · 07-28-2012, 07:35 PM

Works great. Thanks for this. I prefer the stock launcher until the launchers have all the JB goodness.

**mazzmoney95** · 07-29-2012, 03:07 PM

Originally Posted by jpricesd

Works great. Thanks for this. I prefer the stock launcher until the launchers have all the JB goodness.

This
'Apex and nova dont look as good as the stock launcher

**seriyb** · 07-31-2012, 04:48 PM

Thanks,
Do I need to download some app (what app is the best??) to edit this file or can I just find it root explorer. I did a search and couldn't find it.
Please advice
Thanks

**seriyb** · 07-31-2012, 04:52 PM

Ah, got it myself

**2defmouze** · 08-02-2012, 02:26 PM

For those who were waiting.. Just got notified of an Apex update (beta 1.3..Fwiw their betas shouldn't scare you they have been plenty solid from my experience) containing many of the JB improvements/features some were saying they wanted:

To get.. Download Apex Launcher from the Play Store, in settings there's an option to be notified of updates and you can select to include betas as well. Enjoy

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

**SirKnightDavid** · 08-02-2012, 08:36 PM

Originally Posted by zedorda

Edit you build.prop file and add this line to the bottom:

launcher.force_enable_rotation=true

You might also want to add that a reboot is needed after editing and saving the build.prop file. Changes to it aren't dynamic.

**Tonzilla** · 08-05-2012, 02:00 AM

Great trick, thanks for this!

**myl0tt** · 08-06-2012, 04:38 AM

Worked a treat nice one wonder if some one just forgot to add the line of code

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Android Central Forums

**The Harrington** · 08-06-2012, 06:08 AM

So tried just editing build.prop file and I kept getting error when I tried to save changes. Then copied build.prop file to new folder, made changes and saved it as qbuild.prop. Moved that file into same folder as build.prop file which I renamed xbuild.prop. Then renamed qbuild.prop to build.prop and saved it. All looked good so I powered down Nexus 7 but now I can't get it to start. Get screen with Google and lock on bottom and then nothing. Have I hosed my Nexus 7 and will now have to flash back to stock? Not sure I can even do that as I can't get into download mode. Ugh.

Any help or advice is appreciated.

TH

**zedorda** · 08-06-2012, 08:37 AM

Originally Posted by The Harrington

So tried just editing build.prop file and I kept getting error when I tried to save changes. Then copied build.prop file to new folder, made changes and saved it as qbuild.prop. Moved that file into same folder as build.prop file which I renamed xbuild.prop. Then renamed qbuild.prop to build.prop and saved it. All looked good so I powered down Nexus 7 but now I can't get it to start. Get screen with Google and lock on bottom and then nothing. Have I hosed my Nexus 7 and will now have to flash back to stock? Not sure I can even do that as I can't get into download mode. Ugh.

Any help or advice is appreciated.

TH

Your file manager likely did not have root access or you did not mount the /system folder for R/W. When you copied the build.prop file did you put it on a FAT32 disk? If so you would of needed to reset to permissions when you replaced it.

You will likely have to go back and reflash stock through a one-click tool but maybe someone has another solution.

**The Harrington** · 08-06-2012, 09:00 AM

Originally Posted by zedorda

Your file manager likely did not have root access or you did not mount the /system folder for R/W. When you copied the build.prop file did you put it on a FAT32 disk? If so you would of needed to reset to permissions when you replaced it.

You will likely have to go back and reflash stock through a one-click tool but maybe someone has another solution.

I had mounted the system folder for R/W but I am not sure if I put the build.prop file on a FAT32 disk. I only copied the original file to the SD Card folder and then moved it back. Most likely that is where things went wrong. I just downloaded the necessary files to reflash stock. Oh well.

Thanks for your help.

**oxymoron** · 08-06-2012, 06:53 PM

Originally Posted by The Harrington

So tried just editing build.prop file and I kept getting error when I tried to save changes. Then copied build.prop file to new folder, made changes and saved it as qbuild.prop. Moved that file into same folder as build.prop file which I renamed xbuild.prop. Then renamed qbuild.prop to build.prop and saved it. All looked good so I powered down Nexus 7 but now I can't get it to start. Get screen with Google and lock on bottom and then nothing. Have I hosed my Nexus 7 and will now have to flash back to stock? Not sure I can even do that as I can't get into download mode. Ugh.

Any help or advice is appreciated.

TH

You didn't make a backup before editing the build.prop?

If you did, you're good. If not, you may have to flash back to stock.

Hold the power button for 10 seconds to force a reboot, then hold volume down. You should be able to get into the bootloader. Then plug it into your PC and use the volume button to scroll to recovery, then press the power button.

You can only reboot recovery from the bootloader if you're plugged in. See if that works, and if you have a backup, restore it. If not, check the sticky to restore factory images. It's easy.

**The Harrington** · 08-07-2012, 09:15 AM

Originally Posted by oxymoron

You didn't make a backup before editing the build.prop?

If you did, you're good. If not, you may have to flash back to stock.

Hold the power button for 10 seconds to force a reboot, then hold volume down. You should be able to get into the bootloader. Then plug it into your PC and use the volume button to scroll to recovery, then press the power button.

You can only reboot recovery from the bootloader if you're plugged in. See if that works, and if you have a backup, restore it. If not, check the sticky to restore factory images. It's easy.

Given I barely had installed any apps I had not yet made a backup. I have since restored to stock and, using the Nexus 7 Toolkit on XDA, restored it to stock and am back to where I was. I installed ROM Toolbox Pro to back everything up and see it has a build.prop Editor that I was thinking of using to try the rotation hack again. Let's just say I am a bit leery right now.

***** So I bit the bullet and used the build.prop editor that came with ROM Toolbox Pro and worked like a charm. I now rotate with the best of them. Thanks again to zedorda for letting us know about this hack!

**oxymoron** · 08-07-2012, 01:26 PM

Originally Posted by The Harrington

Given I barely had installed any apps I had not yet made a backup. I have since restored to stock and, using the Nexus 7 Toolkit on XDA, restored it to stock and am back to where I was. I installed ROM Toolbox Pro to back everything up and see it has a build.prop Editor that I was thinking of using to try the rotation hack again. Let's just say I am a bit leery right now.

As long as you make a backup before editing your build.prop, you'll be fine. I have two build.prop files that have different DPI. I just interchange them by renaming, so I can flip flop between tablet mode. One is set to 160, and I just name it build.prop.tab when I'm using the stock DPI, and the other is set to 213 and is named build.prop.stock. Whenever I want to change back and forth, I just rename it and reboot. I know... this is the "hard" way, lol

I just said that to illustrate that you shouldn't have any problems. For safety's sake, you can keep a copy of your original build.prop on your computer. You can always remove the corrupted one, and push the clean one with adb. Then you could reboot right back up like nothing happened.

To do that, you would just type:

adb shell rm /system/build.prop
then...
adb push /system/build.prop