DirecTV Now - No love for root users! [update: there's love now]

jkchr1s · Dec 3, 2016

Update: Thanks to spotmark's discovery, DirecTV Now is working with root.

spotmark said:
Hide My Root Apk works. :good:

spotmark said:
Just installed and hid SU. I'm rooted on 5.0.5. Did you clear cache and data on Now after you installed Hide My Root?

There's a write-up and link to the apk for this on aftvnews: http://www.aftvnews.com/how-to-use-directv-now-on-a-rooted-amazon-fire-tv-or-fire-tv-stick/

If your rooted FireTV can't see the DirecTV Now app, use this link: https://www.amazon.com/AT-T-Services-Inc-DIRECTV/dp/B01J62Q632 and sign in to your Amazon account. On the right side, select your rooted device and click "Deliver".

----
Original post:

I signed up today for DirecTV Now only to be greeted on my FireTV with the following error:

Code:

This video failed to load. Restart the app and launch your content again. Or search for Error 40 in the Help Center. (QP1005)

Hrmm.. that's weird. So I looked up Error 40, and it says there's a network problem. I tried it on my non-rooted Nexus 6P and it worked flawlessly. So I jumped in to logcat and found some interesting messages:

Code:

I/drm_oal ( 4862): IsDeviceRooted: 0x0000000000000002

and

Code:

D/NewRelicGateway(14071): ERROR event was recorded. Error description = Failed preparing the player because device security check failed due to: (FileSystem)(com.quickplay.vstb.core:1005)

So I installed xposed and RootCloak 2 hoping it would help. I added it to the list of apps and it still had the same problem.

Next thing I did was pull the apk from my Fire TV. After some digging, I found that lib/armeabi/libdrmagent_downloadable_jni.so had some interesting strings in it, including a check for Cyanogen:

Code:

ro.build.product
ro.build.tags,release-keys,OnePlus3#%?OnePlus2#%?OnePlus#%?Z26CL#%?STUDIO_C,ro.build.type,user,#%?
ro.build.display.id,cm_,#%?,ro.build.display.id,cyanogen,#%?,ro.build.type,debug,#%?,ro.build.type,userdebug,#%?,ro.build.host,cyanogenmod,A0001#%?

and a list of strings for paths it might check:

Code:

/system/bin/su,#%?,/system/xbin/su,#%?,/sbin/su,#%?,/system/su,#%?,/system/bin/.ext/.su,#%?,/system/usr/we-need-root/su-backup,#%?,/system/xbin/mu,#%?
su,#%?,busybox,#%?
type %s
test -u `whence -p %s`
/data,#%?,/system,#%?,/system/bin,#%?,/system/sbin,#%?,/system/xbin,#%?,/vendor/bin,#%?,/sys,#%?,/sbin,#%?,/etc,#%?,/proc,#%?,/dev,#%?
/isdrmXXXXXX

Why do they even care if you're rooted?? So lame...

Since they appear to be checking for root in a C/C++ .so file, is Xposed useless here?

d3adpool · Dec 1, 2016 at 1:15 AM

jkchr1s said:
I signed up today for DirecTV Now only to be greeted on my FireTV with the following error:

Code:

This video failed to load. Restart the app and launch your content again. Or search for Error 40 in the Help Center. (QP1005)

Hrmm.. that's weird. So I looked up Error 40, and it says there's a network problem. I tried it on my non-rooted Nexus 6P and it worked flawlessly. So I jumped in to logcat and found some interesting messages:

Code:

I/drm_oal ( 4862): IsDeviceRooted: 0x0000000000000002

and

Code:

D/NewRelicGateway(14071): ERROR event was recorded. Error description = Failed preparing the player because device security check failed due to: (FileSystem)(com.quickplay.vstb.core:1005)

So I installed xposed and RootCloak 2 hoping it would help. I added it to the list of apps and it still had the same problem.

Next thing I did was pull the apk from my Fire TV. After some digging, I found that lib/armeabi/libdrmagent_downloadable_jni.so had some interesting strings in it, including a check for Cyanogen:

Code:

ro.build.product ro.build.tags,release-keys,OnePlus3#%?OnePlus2#%?OnePlus#%?Z26CL#%?STUDIO_C,ro.build.type,user,#%? ro.build.display.id,cm_,#%?,ro.build.display.id,cyanogen,#%?,ro.build.type,debug,#%?,ro.build.type,userdebug,#%?,ro.build.host,cyanogenmod,A0001#%?

and a list of strings for paths it might check:

Code:

/system/bin/su,#%?,/system/xbin/su,#%?,/sbin/su,#%?,/system/su,#%?,/system/bin/.ext/.su,#%?,/system/usr/we-need-root/su-backup,#%?,/system/xbin/mu,#%? su,#%?,busybox,#%? type %s test -u `whence -p %s` /data,#%?,/system,#%?,/system/bin,#%?,/system/sbin,#%?,/system/xbin,#%?,/vendor/bin,#%?,/sys,#%?,/sbin,#%?,/etc,#%?,/proc,#%?,/dev,#%? /isdrmXXXXXX

Why do they even care if you're rooted?? So lame...

Since they appear to be checking for root in a C/C++ .so file, is Xposed useless here?

I've read other posts from fellow rooted ftv users reporting the same thing. It would seem as if directv is following suit with PSVue in blocking rooted firetvs. It could be possible that it just won't run on any fireos older than 5.2.2.0
.

ryknow27 · Dec 1, 2016 at 2:52 AM

Same issue here. I hope someone figures out a workaround soon. I may just have to wait for my Apple TV to arrive.

d3adpool said:
I've read other posts from fellow rooted ftv users reporting the same thing. It would seem as if directv is following suit with PSVue in blocking rooted firetvs. It could be possible that it just won't run on any fireos older than 5.2.2.0
.

I was able to get the PSVue up and running using RootCloak but ended up cancelling it due to them ditching Viacom.

spotmark · Dec 1, 2016 at 3:03 AM

Hide My Root Apk works. :good:

ryknow27 · Dec 1, 2016 at 3:31 AM

spotmark said:
Hide My Root Apk works. :good:

Ahh nice! I will try it out tonight when I get home. Thanks!:highfive:

ryknow27 · Dec 1, 2016 at 9:20 AM

spotmark said:
Hide My Root Apk works. :good:

What did you do to get it to work? I installed Hide My Root 4.0 and hid the su binary but it still doesn't work.

spotmark · Dec 1, 2016

ryknow27 said:
What did you do to get it to work? I installed Hide My Root 4.0 and hid the su binary but it still doesn't work.

Just installed and hid SU. I'm rooted on 5.0.5. Did you clear cache and data on Now after you installed Hide My Root?

ryknow27 · Dec 1, 2016 at 4:16 PM

spotmark said:
Just installed and hid SU. I'm rooted on 5.0.5. Did you clear cache and data on Now after you installed Hide My Root?

That did it. Thanks!

eureca · Nov 27, 2012 22 3 0

I tried Hide My Root 4.0 on a nexus 6 with android 7.0 and the app i guess doesn't work on on 7.0. Which makes sense since it hasn't been updated since 2013. It can't find my root at all.

I ended up just unrooting to try directtv now since I am currently not using the root for anything specific, but obviously I am going to want to root my phone again. Hopefully there is something found to bypass this on android 7.0.

Not even sure why they want to stop root users. I paid just like everyone else. Why crap on us? I am definitely less likely to recommend the service in the future.

spotmark · Dec 1, 2016 at 8:42 PM

eureca said:
I tried Hide My Root 4.0 on a nexus 6 with android 7.0 and the app i guess doesn't work on on 7.0. Which makes sense since it hasn't been updated since 2013. It can't find my root at all.

I ended up just unrooting to try directtv now since I am currently not using the root for anything specific, but obviously I am going to want to root my phone again. Hopefully there is something found to bypass this on android 7.0.

Not even sure why they want to stop root users. I paid just like everyone else. Why crap on us? I am definitely less likely to recommend the service in the future.

I believe I saw someone post that Sony does it as well with Vue.

volcalstone · Dec 1, 2016 at 10:39 PM

spotmark said:
Just installed and hid SU. I'm rooted on 5.0.5. Did you clear cache and data on Now after you installed Hide My Root?

This didn't work for me for some reason. I have a 6P that's still on 6.0 due to Xposed. I was able to get around ps vue with root cloak though.

anips · Jul 30, 2011 27 4 0

I unrooted my phone just so I could test it out, but it still doesn't work for me because I'm on CM13.1 and I think there is a check on Cyanogen too? That really sucks, I hope someone figures a way around it.

loloudoudara · Dec 2, 2016

I've tried using RootCloak with the keyword 'cyanogen' added to the blacklist as well as the string 'com.att.tv' added to the list of apps to block, alas without any success.

I also tried suhide with a fresh install of Marshmallow and systemless root, but it didn't work.

I am currently running 6.0.1, rooted 2.76, with Xposed installed.

venelar · Dec 2, 2016 at 1:54 PM

loloudoudara said:
I've tried using RootCloak with the keyword 'cyanogen' added to the blacklist as well as the string 'com.att.tv' added to the list of apps to block, alas without any success.

In the nexus 6p section someone found out that changing build prop got it to work.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=69885082&postcount=2

loloudoudara · Dec 2, 2016 at 4:26 PM

venelar said:
In the nexus 6p section someone found out that changing build prop got it to work.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=69885082&postcount=2

This didn't work for me.

five40 · Dec 2, 2016 at 6:09 PM

The build prop edit didn't work for me either

xstahsie · Dec 4, 2016 at 3:39 AM

venelar said:
In the nexus 6p section someone found out that changing build prop got it to work.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=69885082&postcount=2

I have a Nexus 6P and use Magisk Hide to get the app to stream. After flashing Magisk v9 and enabling Magisk Hide, I rebooted the phone and added the Directv NOW app. Works perfectly.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

montajd · Dec 4, 2016 at 3:06 PM

xstahsie said:
I have a Nexus 6P and use Magisk Hide to get the app to stream. After flashing Magisk v9 and enabling Magisk Hide, I rebooted the phone and added the Directv NOW app. Works perfectly.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

I tried this on my Nexus Player and still didn't work

xstahsie · Dec 4, 2016 at 3:58 PM

montajd said:
I tried this on my Nexus Player and still didn't work

Could you outline the steps that you took?

montajd · Dec 4, 2016 at 4:01 PM

xstahsie said:
Could you outline the steps that you took?

Installed Magisk v9 manager, and flashed Magisk zip in TWRP. Still get the error 40 qp1005 error. Oh yeah, and enabled Magisk Hide and selected Directv Now. Now I will mention that I also have superSU and Xposed installed if that makes a difference

DirecTV Now - No love for root users! [update: there's love now]

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