[XAP][ZIP] Access OEM Marketplaces easily, no dev unlock! (Update 16 Aug 2013)

GoodDayToDie · Dec 15, 2011

Hi hackers!

Found something pretty cool while I was digging around looking for new interop-unlock hacks. The bad news is that it looks like it's not usable for interop unlock, the good news is that it's still pretty cool.

This previously required a dev-unlock, but no longer does. It does not require interop-unlock. It works on all phones (as far as I know).

UPDATE 3: ZIP file usable on non-unlocked phones EDIT: I think this will not work on most phones. Sorry! The XAPs still work, if you can sideload them
I've added a ZIP file that can be used to switch the OEM Marketplace without needing to sideload a XAP at all. Instructions are inside, but basically you tap the XML file for the OEM you want, then reboot the phone.

UPDATE 2: Dell Apps.xap, Nokia Apps.xap (v2)
The Dell apps collection is hidden, like the Nokia one was (see Update 1 below). The only app I was able to find was "Newsroom" (another app kind of like HTC Hub). If there are others, please let me know and I'll try to find them.

Nokia has collected their apps into a single marketplace section, like HTC/Samsung/LG. The new Nokia Apps.xap reflects this, so disregard the Update 1 note below for Nokia, and download the new XAP!

UPDATE 1: Nokia Apps.xap (See the Update 2 note - Nokia Apps.xap has been changed)
Be aware that this app works a little differently. Rather than actually adding a "Nokia" store to your Marketplace list, it just enables your phone to access Nokia's apps though the normal marketplace. Not sure why some OEMs did their own store and others didn't, but that's why it wasn't working before (it isn't a stand-alone store section).

An easy way to find the Nokia apps is to do a seach for a well-known app, like Nokia Maps. Then, open it and tap the "More from Nokia Corporation" link. This will take you to a list of all of Nokia's apps.

WHAT IS IT?
Install a XAP or tap an XML file in the ZIP, and restart your phone. Then, open the marketplace, and you'll discover that, instead of "HTC Apps" or "Samsung Zone" or whatever your default is, you can install OEM apps from a different OEM.

WHAT CAN I DO?
If you want to install Nokia, HTC, Samsung, LG, or Dell apps, open the ZIP file on your phone, look for the OEM name you want, and tap the XML file immediately under that OEM name. You'll need to restart your phone before the Marketplace changes.
If you want to help out, give me as much info as you can about the other OEM marketplaces (Toshiba/Fujitsu, perhaps?)

IS IT DANGEROUS?
Well, it's a hack. There's always *some* danger. However, you don't need to worry very much. The phone will automatically revert the Marketplace after a day or so. You can also get your proper marketplace back by installing the corresponding app/tapping the desired ZIP.

However, you *really* should keep an up-to-date restore point any time you're messing with stuff like that, especially with new hacks. If something screws up and doesn't straighten out, restore a backup or hard-reset and it will fix itself.

EDIT: The ZIP does not appear to work on most phones. The XAP files should still work on 7.8, though.

WHO CAN I THANK?
Well, aside from myself

thanks go to:
Heathcliff74, for the XAP deployer hack and the Samsung marketplace configuration file.
Schaps, for TouchXplorer (let me find the relevant file).
Voluptuary, for info about both OEM and MO marketplaces (working on those).
wpxbox, for the info about "Nokia collection".

CAN I ASK A QUESTION?
You just did, or at least, I did for you. Please see the next post after this one for FAQ. Otherwise, feel free to post a reply with your question. Please, if it's at all relevant, include the make, model, and version of your phone and OS/firmware.

GoodDayToDie · Dec 15, 2011

OK, I know you all will have some questions. I'll try to collect them, and their answers, here so people don't have to read every post.

If you ask a question that is already answered here, I may facepalm and/or use sarcasm.

DO I NEED TO RUN THIS APP?
No, you don't. It doesn't do anything at all after installing. In fact, I re-used another app that I had handy, so the message you see isn't even accurate!

WHY DOES THE MESSAGE IN THE APP TALK ABOUT INTEROP UNLOCK? CAN I USE THIS APP FOR INTEROP UNLOCK?
It talks about it because I reused in interop-unlock app (which works exactly the same way, but with a different file). This app will not interop-unlock your phone, or even allow you to do so. However, it doesn't need interop-unlock, either. Furthermore, why are you running the app? You don't need to; none of the instructions say to run it.

CAN I DELETE THE APP?
Yes. Once it's installed, you can delete it immediately if you want to.

HOW DO I GET MY OWN OEM'S MARKETPLACE BACK?
You can either install the corresponding XAP and reboot, or you can wait a day or so for the phone to recover on its own.

HOW CAN I GET BACK TO AN OEM MARKETPLACE THAT I ACCESSED BEFORE?
Remove the app (and any variant of it), if it's currently installed. Then, install it again. Then, reboot as before, and you should see the marketplace corresponding to whatever XAP you used.

WHY DON'T ALL APPS WORK?
Many apps will use native drivers to do their work. These drivers are specific to each OEM's firmware, and are baked into the ROM. Apps that don't need special permissions, like the Samsung Now app or LG's Look n Type, should work. Apps that have high permissions or do device-specific things, like a Network Profile app or HTC Sound Enhancer (if it ever appears again) won't work on other phones.

SOME OF THESE APPS HAVE ID_CAP_INTEROPSERVICES, CAN WE USE THEM FOR INTEROP UNLOCK?
No. The apps may appear to work (even on interop-locked phones) because they were installed from the Marketplace and have valid signatures. However, they won't actually be able to do anything useful, because the wrong drivers will be installed (see the previous question).

CAN YOU ADD A XAP FOR ANOTHER MARKETPLACE?
Sure, once the required configuration data is available. This can be tricky - for example, the values for HTC and Samsung are "HTC" and "Samsung", respectively, but the one for LG is actually "LGE" (LG Electronics). I don't know what they are for Toshiba/Fujitsu, and I'm not sure I have everything from Dell, and I don't have any others. Any help here would be appreciated!

CAN I ACCESS MORE THAN ONE OEM MARKETPLACE AT ONCE?
No, sorry. I tried to build support for multiple OEM markets, but it didn't work. The last one overwrites the previous.

WILL APPS KEEP WORKING AFTER THE MARKETPLACE REVERTS?
So far, yes. I don't know whether they'll get updates, although I suspect they will.

CAN SOMETHING BE DONE ABOUT APPS COMPLAINING THEY DON'T WORK ON MY PHONE?
Sadly, no (nothing safe). Most of the LG and Samsung apps that I've tried work just fine (interop aside) on my HTC phone. It helps that in Mango, a lot of formerly interop capabilities (like compass for LG ScanSearch) are now in the official APIs. Some apps will still check though, and there's nothing I can do about that.

CAN WE ACCESS MARKETPLACES FOR OTHER OPERATORS?
It's probably possible, but I haven't bothered to try yet. If there are interesting apps for carriers that work outside of that carrier's network, I'll give it a shot. It's a different file but the structure is very similar.

IS THERE A LIST OF APPS KNOWN TO WORK?
Courtesy of user JusThinK, as of 1 Feb 2012:

JusThinK said:
Converter
FunShot
HTC Hub
Look n Type
MiniDiary
Notes
Now
Photo Enhancer
Photo Studio
Photo Stylist
Photogram
ScanSearch
SmartShare(previously know as Play To - Working fine on with my Samsung HDTV)
ToolBox

svtfmook · Dec 15, 2011

can you just deploy all three and have access to all 3 sources in marketplace?

once you install apps from the other oem sources, and the market reverts back, do you lose the apps you have installed?

GoodDayToDie · Dec 15, 2011

No. I tried to build it so you could access multiple OEM marketplaces at once, but it didn't work - only ever used the last one in the config file.

Apps stay installed and runnable even after the marketplace reverts. However, I can't promise they'll receive updates. I think they will, but I haven't been testing this long enough to find out.

fb401 · Dec 15, 2011

Dell's marketplace string is "Dell"
Nokia's marketplace string is "Nokia"

I still haven't figured out Fujistu's.

weide43 · Dec 15, 2011

thanx dude,

The 3 xap files are working on the HTC Trophy.

But the LG apps that you can download, if you run the downloaded app from LG place. He said Only for LG devices.

voluptuary · Dec 15, 2011

So are you editing the files in the 'keepers' folder? I had found those some time ago and posted them HERE back in October. I thought they would lead to this since when they were deleted the OEM marketplaces would simply go away, same can be done to remove the carrier marketplaces, but I had trouble getting them off my device to really look at them.

Be warned though in my similar pre-mango hack with the registry we found that changing the OEM marketplace values made the DRM wig out and would prevent any apps from starting. The only way to fix it was a full reset or restore to a point before the modifications were done.

I would guess that if you edit LKG_MOStoreConfig.xml you could do the same thing with carriers.

OEM's:
Samsung
HTC
LGE
Dell
Nokia

MO's:
Att
Tmous
Tmode

I am pretty sure these are case sensitive too so keep that in mind.

cyclonemon · Dec 15, 2011

Thanks GoodDayToDie

this solution it gives me solved my phone not show OEM App in market

voluptuary · Dec 15, 2011

Just wondering and perhaps some people might want to test with me if we set LKG_MOStoreConfig.xml and LKG_OEMStoreConfig.xml to read only will it stay set instead of only lasting a few days?

The reason I want this is becuase I want at&t's stupid marketplace entry to remain GONE so I edited LKG_MOStoreConfig.xml to this:

Code:

<ConfigurationFile version="1">
    <MOStore>
        <setting id="MOName"></setting>
        <setting id="MOStoreName"></setting>
        <setting id="MOStoreID"></setting>
        <setting id="MOStoreEnabled">False</setting>
    </MOStore>
</ConfigurationFile>

Now I'm just guessing that this is how it should look since like I said before I never could get the original files off my phone to look at them.

GoodDayToDie · Dec 16, 2011

@voluptuary: That would probably work (in fact, the "false" alone is probably enough). Marking the file read-only may or may not be sufficient.

@cyclonemon: You're welcome! I didn't even realize people were having that issue but yes, it should help there too.

derausgewanderte · Dec 16, 2011

I am confused, can't I do this already with Milkman's WP7 3MktPlace? I can search/list 3MktPlace apps . I can add new info such as Nokia to the application. It finds and saves the XAP to the PC and from which I can deploy it to the phone.

ok, after reading more carefully, the program process above would require interop unlock, your route doesn't

GoodDayToDie · Dec 16, 2011

@voluptuary (again): Thanks for the OEM names. I'm pretty sure I tried "Nokia" and it didn't work, but I'm trying it again (I did the edit on the phone during testing, and that's pretty typo-prone). For what it's worth, they are not case sensitive (a good thing, since the official casing for Samsung is actually SAMSUNG).
EDIT: Confirmation, "Nokia" does not work.

You're exactly right about which file I'm replacing (you can see that if you crack the XAP). I was looking to use the embedded provxml in MOConfig to do interop-unlock, but it looks like the process which reads that file doesn't have the required permissions. I could do something for the MO marketplaces too, but I'm really not sure there's value to it; do the MOs have apps that are useful if you're not a subscriber?

So far, no DRM wig-outs. I'm hoping it works when I don't mess with the registry. We shall see.

GoodDayToDie · Dec 16, 2011

@derausgewanderte: This method doesn't use up unsigned app limit (aside from briefly, when the configuration app is installed). It also allows updates from the phone itself.

derausgewanderte · Dec 16, 2011

GoodDayToDie said:
@derausgewanderte: This method doesn't use up unsigned app limit (aside from briefly, when the configuration app is installed). It also allows updates from the phone itself.

I see, thanks for the clarification.
just for your info. Milkman's program works with "Nokia" if that helps.

GoodDayToDie · Dec 16, 2011

Thanks, but... neither "Nokia" nor "Dell" are working. It's rather annoying. Samsung I had the actual file to work from, but LG[E] I figured out on my own, and it works. Not so with Nokia or Dell though.

Marvin_S · Dec 16, 2011

Nokia on the marketplace has the string nokia.

As this seems a nice hack, be very carefull with changing the OEM name of your phone. Doing this a couple of times will invalid something with the DRM and will force you to do a hard reset. You will not be able to run any app installed trough the MP otherwise and you will not be able to install anything.

I dont know for sure if the same thing would happen trough this method, but I'm not going to try it out. I tried it with editing the registry and if you do that about 5 times, your phone cant do anything without a hard reset.

I'm posting this to avoid problems, not to kill this hack. Because its defenetly good work, but before any complications arise, be warned.

VoodooKing · Dec 16, 2011

Marvin_S said:
Nokia on the marketplace has the string nokia.

As this seems a nice hack, be very carefull with changing the OEM name of your phone. Doing this a couple of times will invalid something with the DRM and will force you to do a hard reset. You will not be able to run any app installed trough the MP otherwise and you will not be able to install anything.

I dont know for sure if the same thing would happen trough this method, but I'm not going to try it out. I tried it with editing the registry and if you do that about 5 times, your phone cant do anything without a hard reset.

I'm posting this to avoid problems, not to kill this hack. Because its defenetly good work, but before any complications arise, be warned.

Yes yes please heed this warning. It happened to me.

GoodDayToDie · Dec 16, 2011

I'm aware of the problem with the registry editing method. I can't guarantee it won't happen here (make sure you have a recent backup!) but I'm hopeful. I've made far more than 5 changes, and while I haven't had it in this state for weeks yet, I have for days, and so far no problems at all.

EDIT: @VoodooKing: Just to confirm, your problem was with the registry tweak method, right? If you hit that problem with these XAPs, please let me know.

voluptuary · Dec 16, 2011

GoodDayToDie said:
@voluptuary (again): Thanks for the OEM names. I'm pretty sure I tried "Nokia" and it didn't work, but I'm trying it again (I did the edit on the phone during testing, and that's pretty typo-prone). For what it's worth, they are not case sensitive (a good thing, since the official casing for Samsung is actually SAMSUNG).
EDIT: Confirmation, "Nokia" does not work.

You're exactly right about which file I'm replacing (you can see that if you crack the XAP). I was looking to use the embedded provxml in MOConfig to do interop-unlock, but it looks like the process which reads that file doesn't have the required permissions. I could do something for the MO marketplaces too, but I'm really not sure there's value to it; do the MOs have apps that are useful if you're not a subscriber?

So far, no DRM wig-outs. I'm hoping it works when I don't mess with the registry. We shall see.

Yeah, I can't get Nokia to work either, however my Lumia 800 never had a "Nokia Marketplace" to begin with on the phone so that may have something to do with it. I think the other programs that have been mentioned are pulling apps in a slightly different way than what acctually happens on the phone. I would guess pehaps there is some handset ID matching or something on the phone marketplace whereas with the PC/Web based methods there isn't. (just guessing)

On a side note I tried setting the MOConfig to read only (like I said before) and while att's marketplace still sadly came back, it came back different. It used to be "AT&T AppCenter(tm)" now it reads "AT&T Featured" so that is odd. As for carrier app usefullness IMHO the at&t ones are garbage but I can't speak to any other carriers.

VoodooKing · Dec 17, 2011

You have to search for Nokia apps in the marketplace for them to show up. There is no Nokia store.

Yes changing registry a few times caused my phone to not launch apps and install from marketplace. I think I changed the name more than 5 times.

[XAP][ZIP] Access OEM Marketplaces easily, no dev unlock! (Update 16 Aug 2013)

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