Thunderbolt: Apps that are safe to remove once rooted (and how to put them back!)

[melch8805]

First please understand complete noob here:

from command line: (in usb charge only)
adb shell
$
$ su
permission denied

Changed to disk drive mode
$ su
(phone asked to give permission, accepted)
# chmod 755 /sdcard/tboltappmover.sh
Unable to chmod /sdcard/tboltappmover.sh:No such file or directory
#adb push tboltappmover.sh /sdcard/
adb: Not found
(copied file there manually at this point)
# chmod 755 /sdcard/tboltappmover.sh
Unable to chmod /sdcard/tboltappmove.sh:No such file or directory

Okay that is what the cmd window has:

What is it exactly am i missing here?
Suppose to be in charging mode? Disk drive mode?
Usb debugging is on. Even tried toggle off/ back on.

Root Cheek says root is good.
Super user shows several programs in list that have super user access to include Titanium Back..

first off, odd that you can't su in usb charge only (thats all i do)
second: you can't use adb once you are in adb
third: confirm busybox is installed (through root checker)
fourth: in regular cmd prompt (after you cd to the dir that has adb) you type:
adb push tboltappmover.sh /sdcard/
fifth: do this:
adb shell
su
busybox chmod 755 /sdcard/tboltappmover.sh

( you forgot your r)

To avoid spelling mistakes:
busybox chmod 755 /sdcard/tboltapp*

did that help?
Win?

 

[Guntherm]

first off, odd that you can't su in usb charge only (thats all i do)
second: you can't use adb once you are in adb
third: confirm busybox is installed (through root checker)
fourth: in regular cmd prompt (after you cd to the dir that has adb) you type:
adb push tboltappmover.sh /sdcard/
fifth: do this:
adb shell
su
busybox chmod 755 /sdcard/tboltappmover.sh

( you forgot your r)

To avoid spelling mistakes:
busybox chmod 755 /sdcard/tboltapp*

did that help?
Win?

Walking this trhough one step at a time. :
from cmd line (in usb charge)
adb shell
$ su
#

So that's good right?

Root checker says busybox not installed. However titanium says it is, and even downloaded and re-installed busybox to get titanium working?

So it appears that is one problem.. downloaded and install Busybox v1.19. So now there is two copies running?

Still in usb charge mode

Cmd line:
adb push tboltappmover.sh /sdcard/
adb: permission denied

So no win for me.

Very confused to say the least...

Change to disk drive mode to manually copy file
copied tboltappmover.sh to root of sdcard

switched back to usb charge mode
su
# busybox chmod 755 /sdcard/tboltappmover.sh
busybox chmod 755 /sdcard/tboltappmover.sh

So that apears that part worked?

Now what? what is the next thing to do?

what does: busybox chmod 755 /sdcard/tboltappmover.sh exactly do?

I realize Cory just posted a way to do this via Root explorer method, however I want to learn this. So I appriciate you help with the command line way.

 

[jpcalhoun]

Cory...great info. Do you have a list like this for the Droid Pro? It sure would be beneficial to a lot of Pro users. Thanks.

 

[C-3PO]

Cory your the Man!

I just wanted to say that your Tutorial on Rooting the Thunderbolt was incredibly easy and informable! I am a super noob with this Android stuff! Thunderbolt is my first android device coming from being a Blackberry user for years! Just switched from the Storm 2 so I installed the Swype keyboard and it's a perfect transition from surepress bcuz of the tactile feedback. Anyway, I used your instructions using my Macbook and I have to say it they were perfect, simple and flawless. I am definitely going straight to the Market and getting the File Root Explorer app asap! Thanks Bro, I see why your Loyd's father.. LOL!

 

[Steve.Tate]

I just downloaded/installed QtADB on my Win7 laptop and now I have a GUI interface to the system and to the SD card in which to move the files back and forth between the two. This might help noobs like me trying to learn command line while learning about Android too!

 

[Guntherm]

Glad it works for you..

 

[Guntherm]

Please read carefully and proceed with caution​

Corey unless I am blind, you forgot to meantion HtcFootprints.apk

 

[ltredbeard]

So we have been through quite the journey...

Lets try this:
adb shell
su
which busybox (this will tell us busy is there and good)
mount -o remount,rw -t ext3 /dev/block/mmcblk0p25 /system
busybox ls -lrt /system/app/VZW_* (did this to check permissions)
busybox chmod 777 /system/app/VZW_*
busybox ls -lrt /system/app/VZW_*
busybox chmod 777 /sdcard/disabled.apps
busybox mv -i /system/app/VZW_Bit* /sdcard/disabled.apps/
busybox ls -lrt /sdcard/disabled.apps/
busybox ls -lrt /system/app/VZW_*
mount -o remount,ro -t ext3 /dev/block/mmcblk0p25 /system
exit
exit

WIN???

Ok so i've take a bit of time to reply and quite a bit has happened. Including me having a mental slip and moving "Htc*" to the sdcard! As you can imagine this gave me quite a few "forced errors". I freaked out and moved the Bloatware folder back to /system/app/ and restored to a prior date. Since I moved the folder back before restoring I lost the Bloatware folder. Amazing lol. Luckily, I had a restore point that was before I moved any of the bloatware.

So why am I willing to post such a silly error, because I think its important for everyone to see that mistakes happen. These mistakes aren't terrible as long as you took the proper precautions.

Now back to the moving. Even trying the way you posted above I'm still getting the same error, but interestingly enough most of the apps will move even though it says "operation not permitted". Also, when i use which busybox it says "not found", but when I do an ls i can see it in the folder. See below:

# which busybox
which busybox
which: not found
# mount -o remount,rw -t ext3 /dev/block/mmcblk0p25 /system
mount -o remount,rw -t ext3 /dev/block/mmcblk0p25 /system
# busybox ls -lrt /system/app/Htc*
busybox ls -lrt /system/app/Htc*
-rw-r--r-- 1 0 0 37537 Feb 26 14:55 ←[0;0m/system/app/HtcRingtoneWidget.apk←[0m
# busybox chmod 777 /system/app/Htc*
busybox chmod 777 /system/app/Htc*
# busybox ls -lrt /system/app/Htc*
busybox ls -lrt /system/app/Htc*
-rwxrwxrwx 1 0 0 37537 Feb 26 14:55 ←[1;32m/system/app/HtcRingtoneWidget.apk←[0
m
# busybox chmod 777 /sdcard/Bloatware/
busybox chmod 777 /sdcard/Bloatware/
# busybox mv -i /system/app/Htc* /sdcard/Bloatware/ (oops!)
busybox mv -i /system/app/Htc* /sdcard/Bloatware/
mv: can't preserve ownership of '/sdcard/Bloatware/HtcAddProgramWidget.apk': Operation not permitted

Ok, so aside from the oops line everything else lines up with what you posted. It says operation not permitted, but it moved it anyways. (To my demise in this case)

Once all the Htc* apps were moved I discovered the slide unlock that you see on the Motorola Droids. Not all that important, but interesting.

 

[melch8805]

Any input on these (force closes or breaking other apps):

TuneWiki
SlackerRadio
VCast Media
Flickr
HTCFootprints
HTCMIM
NewBayVault_4.2.96.VZMarket

Also I noticed the following starting up at boot even after Blockbuster was moved:

PVMtpServiceStart
PVMmdrmService

I have moved them (apk and odex) and haven't had any issues.

are you saying you are having force close issues with those apps?

 

[melch8805]

Walking this trhough one step at a time. :
from cmd line (in usb charge)
adb shell
$ su
#

So that's good right?

Root checker says busybox not installed. However titanium says it is, and even downloaded and re-installed busybox to get titanium working?

So it appears that is one problem.. downloaded and install Busybox v1.19. So now there is two copies running?

Still in usb charge mode

Cmd line:
adb push tboltappmover.sh /sdcard/
adb: permission denied

So no win for me.

Very confused to say the least...

Change to disk drive mode to manually copy file
copied tboltappmover.sh to root of sdcard

switched back to usb charge mode
su
# busybox chmod 755 /sdcard/tboltappmover.sh
busybox chmod 755 /sdcard/tboltappmover.sh

So that apears that part worked?

Now what? what is the next thing to do?

what does: busybox chmod 755 /sdcard/tboltappmover.sh exactly do?

I realize Cory just posted a way to do this via Root explorer method, however I want to learn this. So I appriciate you help with the command line way.

So 755 is "changing mode" to executable. If you need/want more info on chmod, I suggest looking it up, cuz there is a huge amount of info on it.

anywho,

adb shell
su
next you are going to cd to /sdcard
then run:
./tboltappmover.sh

it might spit a bunch of blah at you, but after it is done running, do an ls of /system/app and see if the files were moved.

 

[melch8805]

Ok so i've take a bit of time to reply and quite a bit has happened. Including me having a mental slip and moving "Htc*" to the sdcard! As you can imagine this gave me quite a few "forced errors". I freaked out and moved the Bloatware folder back to /system/app/ and restored to a prior date. Since I moved the folder back before restoring I lost the Bloatware folder. Amazing lol. Luckily, I had a restore point that was before I moved any of the bloatware.

So why am I willing to post such a silly error, because I think its important for everyone to see that mistakes happen. These mistakes aren't terrible as long as you took the proper precautions.

Now back to the moving. Even trying the way you posted above I'm still getting the same error, but interestingly enough most of the apps will move even though it says "operation not permitted". Also, when i use which busybox it says "not found", but when I do an ls i can see it in the folder. See below:

# which busybox
which busybox
which: not found
# mount -o remount,rw -t ext3 /dev/block/mmcblk0p25 /system
mount -o remount,rw -t ext3 /dev/block/mmcblk0p25 /system
# busybox ls -lrt /system/app/Htc*
busybox ls -lrt /system/app/Htc*
-rw-r--r-- 1 0 0 37537 Feb 26 14:55 ←[0;0m/system/app/HtcRingtoneWidget.apk←[0m
# busybox chmod 777 /system/app/Htc*
busybox chmod 777 /system/app/Htc*
# busybox ls -lrt /system/app/Htc*
busybox ls -lrt /system/app/Htc*
-rwxrwxrwx 1 0 0 37537 Feb 26 14:55 ←[1;32m/system/app/HtcRingtoneWidget.apk←[0
m
# busybox chmod 777 /sdcard/Bloatware/
busybox chmod 777 /sdcard/Bloatware/
# busybox mv -i /system/app/Htc* /sdcard/Bloatware/ (oops!)
busybox mv -i /system/app/Htc* /sdcard/Bloatware/
mv: can't preserve ownership of '/sdcard/Bloatware/HtcAddProgramWidget.apk': Operation not permitted

Ok, so aside from the oops line everything else lines up with what you posted. It says operation not permitted, but it moved it anyways. (To my demise in this case)

Once all the Htc* apps were moved I discovered the slide unlock that you see on the Motorola Droids. Not all that important, but interesting.

i'm not sure what is up with your busybox.... which cannot find it, but you can call it directly? *scratches head*

so, are all the apps you wanted to move actually moved successfully? I haven't been able to figure out why sometimes I will get the can't preserve ownership and other times i won't... but regardless, the files still move.

 

[TBolt2011]

I would like to add to the "safe list"

- Peep
(htctwitter.apk)
- TuneWiki
(TuneWiki.apk)
- MobileIM
(HtcMim.apk)
- MobileIM Widget
(HtcMimWidget.apk)
- Visual Voicemail
(VVM.apk)

 

[Cory Streater]

Corey unless I am blind, you forgot to meantion HtcFootprints.apk

You're not blind. Moving that file will cause problems. You probably want a more detailed explanation than that. I can't remember the full details, so I will have to back and look at the EVO post I mentioned.

Ok so i've take a bit of time to reply and quite a bit has happened. Including me having a mental slip and moving "Htc*" to the sdcard! As you can imagine this gave me quite a few "forced errors". I freaked out and moved the Bloatware folder back to /system/app/ and restored to a prior date. Since I moved the folder back before restoring I lost the Bloatware folder. Amazing lol. Luckily, I had a restore point that was before I moved any of the bloatware.

So why am I willing to post such a silly error, because I think its important for everyone to see that mistakes happen. These mistakes aren't terrible as long as you took the proper precautions.

Now back to the moving. Even trying the way you posted above I'm still getting the same error, but interestingly enough most of the apps will move even though it says "operation not permitted". Also, when i use which busybox it says "not found", but when I do an ls i can see it in the folder. See below:

# which busybox
which busybox
which: not found
# mount -o remount,rw -t ext3 /dev/block/mmcblk0p25 /system
mount -o remount,rw -t ext3 /dev/block/mmcblk0p25 /system
# busybox ls -lrt /system/app/Htc*
busybox ls -lrt /system/app/Htc*
-rw-r--r-- 1 0 0 37537 Feb 26 14:55 ←[0;0m/system/app/HtcRingtoneWidget.apk←[0m
# busybox chmod 777 /system/app/Htc*
busybox chmod 777 /system/app/Htc*
# busybox ls -lrt /system/app/Htc*
busybox ls -lrt /system/app/Htc*
-rwxrwxrwx 1 0 0 37537 Feb 26 14:55 ←[1;32m/system/app/HtcRingtoneWidget.apk←[0
m
# busybox chmod 777 /sdcard/Bloatware/
busybox chmod 777 /sdcard/Bloatware/
# busybox mv -i /system/app/Htc* /sdcard/Bloatware/ (oops!)
busybox mv -i /system/app/Htc* /sdcard/Bloatware/
mv: can't preserve ownership of '/sdcard/Bloatware/HtcAddProgramWidget.apk': Operation not permitted

Ok, so aside from the oops line everything else lines up with what you posted. It says operation not permitted, but it moved it anyways. (To my demise in this case)

Once all the Htc* apps were moved I discovered the slide unlock that you see on the Motorola Droids. Not all that important, but interesting.

Is there a reason why so many of you are using ADB shell to move these apps? I'm totally nerdy like that too, but there is a lot more room for errors, and one of the methods in the first two posts of this thread is a lot easier.

i've successfully completed the on click root method for my thunderbolt. however, i am having trouble taking advantage of this. i am new to android and do not know how if i am going to continue rooting or not so i do not want to pay for root explorer. i have downloaded other free managers and went into system/app and tried your method of renaming from .apk to .old in order to be able to restore those apps in case of an upgrade. however, those apps remain in my app drawer and i cannot get rid of them. i was hoping you could give me a quick rundown of how to rid my phone of the bloatware using one of the free file explorers. thanks in advance.

My guess is that you aren't really rooted. Try the ADB root method I posted. If you want to verify if you are rooted or not, you can download a free terminal program -- from the market -- and type: su

If you are rooted the prompt will change from a $ to a #. If you aren't it will throw back a permission denied error.

I'm actually using super manager, i have r/w enabled and i am able to rename the .apk but they still appear in the application drawer, even after reboot. any suggestions on what i might be doing wrong?

All of them? Do the same as I advised above.

Any input on these (force closes or breaking other apps):

TuneWiki
SlackerRadio
VCast Media
Flickr
HTCFootprints
HTCMIM
NewBayVault_4.2.96.VZMarket

Also I noticed the following starting up at boot even after Blockbuster was moved:

PVMtpServiceStart
PVMmdrmService

I have moved them (apk and odex) and haven't had any issues.

You moved things that aren't in my list.

 

[Cory Streater]

You're not blind. Moving that file will cause problems. You probably want a more detailed explanation than that. I can't remember the full details, so I will have to back and look at the EVO post I mentioned.

Scratch that. I was confusing footprints with friendstream. You're cool removing that app.

 

[failsafe]

are you saying you are having force close issues with those apps?

No I was wondering if anyone had any issues moving: TuneWiki, SlackerRadio, VCast Media, Flickr, HTCFootprints, HTCMIM, NewBayVault_4.2.96.VZMarket

I've since moved TunWiki, SlackerRadio, HTCMIM and NewBayVault_4.2.96.VZMarket and haven't had any force closes or issues. I haven't yet tried Flickr or HTCFootprints.

I have also moved PVMtpServiceStart and PVMmdrmService (both the apk and odex) and have not had any force closes or issues.

 

[ltredbeard]

i'm not sure what is up with your busybox.... which cannot find it, but you can call it directly? *scratches head*

so, are all the apps you wanted to move actually moved successfully? I haven't been able to figure out why sometimes I will get the can't preserve ownership and other times i won't... but regardless, the files still move.

What we have here is....WIN!!!

I'm not sure why the error appears either, but they do still move. I was able to move more than just the files listed without any problems, but I tested them by freezing them first.

I still have to figure out the names of a few files (News and News Widget come to mind), but at long last the code is working. I learned so much about the code from the last week that it's almost unbelievable.

Thanks a ton for you help.

 

[melch8805]

What we have here is....WIN!!!

I'm not sure why the error appears either, but they do still move. I was able to move more than just the files listed without any problems, but I tested them by freezing them first.

I still have to figure out the names of a few files (News and News Widget come to mind), but at long last the code is working. I learned so much about the code from the last week that it's almost unbelievable.

Thanks a ton for you help.

Congrats! No offense meant to Cory Streater, but I personally would rather have everyone learn this little bit of adb than jump straight into a gui-based option. Now, on the other hand Cory Streater did put together an awesome tutorial! Mad Props!!! (yeah i'm bringing back early 90's phrases )

But I am happy that you made it through and learned something! In the long run, you will be happy you spent these couple of days (weeks??) learning some of the basics!

Busybox is a very powerful tool the dev's over at busybox.net gave us! Take the time to learn some more commands (or use linux!)

PM me if you need any help!

 

[P7M8]

I apparently removed something I wasn't supposed to. On the Add Widget screen when I select Browse all HTC widgets I get an error saying "Sorry! The application Rosie Utility (process com.htc.RosieUtility) has stopped unexpectedly. Please try again. And there's a Force Close button.

right under the Browse HTC widgets is a green bar icon with an x in it. Label reads: 80.0dip HTC. Selecting that gives me the same error message.

I am able to select every other widget without a problem.

The Rosie.apk and rosie.odex are still in the system/app directory. I did move a few HTC widgets that I'll never use to the bloat folder on the SD card.

Thoughts??


Edit I moved the HTC widget files back into the APP directory but the problem still persists.

 

[Guntherm]

I apparently removed something I wasn't supposed to. On the Add Widget screen when I select Browse all HTC widgets I get an error saying "Sorry! The application Rosie Utility (process com.htc.RosieUtility) has stopped unexpectedly. Please try again. And there's a Force Close button.

right under the Browse HTC widgets is a green bar icon with an x in it. Label reads: 80.0dip HTC. Selecting that gives me the same error message.

I am able to select every other widget without a problem.

The Rosie.apk and rosie.odex are still in the system/app directory. I did move a few HTC widgets that I'll never use to the bloat folder on the SD card.

Thoughts??


Edit I moved the HTC widget files back into the APP directory but the problem still persists.

Did you re-boot after replacing the apk's?

 

[PJnc284]

Sounds like you removed something that wasn't in the OP and made Rosie mad. You won't like her when she's angry.