S-OFF explained - by a Developer
- Thread starter regaw_leinad
- Start date
Either 1. something subtle is missing from your very clear explanation, or 2. I am too stupid to have understood it fully, or 3. there is a mistake in a post elsewhere in xda-dev about what S-off does. I know which of those three possiblities is most likely hahaha, but I'd be very grateful if you could check my understanding, in case it turns out to be #2.
Problem: i have a rooted phone, on which I have a terminal emulator installed; I can start it up, enter the command "su -" and I get a root prompt. But
1. when I enter the command "mount -o remount,rw /system" I get "mount: Permission denied". (Upon inspection, "mount" is a link to toolbox).
2. When I enter the command "busybox mount -o remount,rw /system", the command returns without error -- but /system is STILL read only!!!
3. I hunt around xda-dev and the only post I find that claims to solve this problem asserts that they solved the problem by using (mumble,mumble)'s recovery to set S-OFF "and then I could remount /system read-write with no trouble."
Now I understood from your original post here that having S-ON means changes to NAND don't survive reboot (plus the limitation on flashing unsigned images). But my problem ISN"T that making /system read-write doesn't survive a reboot; my problem is that i can't make it read-write AT ALL. Even weirder (for me), busybox mount thinks it succeeds, but it doesn't.
Could I ask you to confirm or correct the following statement: the state of S-ON or S_OFF is unrelated to my problem, if my problem is that as root, i get Permission denied to "toolbox mount -o remount,rw /system", and "busybox mount -o remount,rw /system" does not work as expected. The state of S-ON/S-OFF might affect whether commands to flash certain partitions will succeed or fail, but it will NOT affect the success or failure of any other command or code. Except for flashing, S-ON/S-OFF **ONLY** affects what happens when the phone reboots.
Apologies if I'm droning on -- I just want to get straight once and for all what S-ON/S-OFF can and can't do for me. HOpefully, someone else might benefit from the clarity also.
[Please note that I'm NOT asking you to solve my problem, that's out of scope here. I'm asking you to check my understanding of S-off. Of course, all suggestions gratefully accepted
)]
Problem: i have a rooted phone, on which I have a terminal emulator installed; I can start it up, enter the command "su -" and I get a root prompt. But
1. when I enter the command "mount -o remount,rw /system" I get "mount: Permission denied". (Upon inspection, "mount" is a link to toolbox).
2. When I enter the command "busybox mount -o remount,rw /system", the command returns without error -- but /system is STILL read only!!!
3. I hunt around xda-dev and the only post I find that claims to solve this problem asserts that they solved the problem by using (mumble,mumble)'s recovery to set S-OFF "and then I could remount /system read-write with no trouble."
Now I understood from your original post here that having S-ON means changes to NAND don't survive reboot (plus the limitation on flashing unsigned images). But my problem ISN"T that making /system read-write doesn't survive a reboot; my problem is that i can't make it read-write AT ALL. Even weirder (for me), busybox mount thinks it succeeds, but it doesn't.
Could I ask you to confirm or correct the following statement: the state of S-ON or S_OFF is unrelated to my problem, if my problem is that as root, i get Permission denied to "toolbox mount -o remount,rw /system", and "busybox mount -o remount,rw /system" does not work as expected. The state of S-ON/S-OFF might affect whether commands to flash certain partitions will succeed or fail, but it will NOT affect the success or failure of any other command or code. Except for flashing, S-ON/S-OFF **ONLY** affects what happens when the phone reboots.
Apologies if I'm droning on -- I just want to get straight once and for all what S-ON/S-OFF can and can't do for me. HOpefully, someone else might benefit from the clarity also.
[Please note that I'm NOT asking you to solve my problem, that's out of scope here. I'm asking you to check my understanding of S-off. Of course, all suggestions gratefully accepted
)]
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GREAT explanation, thank you, I am new to HTC coming from many many years of Samsung. I finally gave up on them when my Note 4 died for the 3rd time and moved to HTC last night. This was a very much needed post so thank you!
Great post. It gave me much needed clarity. I do have a question. I'm fairly new to this and I want to purchase an htc 10. Is there an added concern I should have if the phone is S-off? Should that matter when purchasing from a private seller?
I dunno man. This is the kind of comments that scare off the new kids. Let em softbrick their things, they'll learn faster. That's how I learned...
they don't need to know about s-off to flash cm on the old-ass galaxy they found in the junk drawer and get hooked.
Is it true that S-Off is required to flash a ROM that is older than your current ROM ?
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