[TOOL][LOCKED/UNLOCKED] SALT - The LG(up) revolution (begins)

[steadfasterX]

Dear steadfasterX,

I have no encrypted device, so I tried to switch to develop version of SALT, following your FAQ at point 10).

I’ve launched SALT and done the update (that seemed ok) and at the request to restart SALT I’ve obtained
a windows pop up saying “SALT 3.22.11 : TESTING – ERROR”
“ERROR: FATAL ERROR!! Missing requirement python cryptography module (Python3) Read the SALT thread for how to install and try again !”

After then It was impossible to start again SALT, so I have been constrained to flash again FWUL (FWUL_v3.1_x86_64_8GB.zip)
over the USB pen-drive and I've tried again the same procedure , but obviously the result was the same.

What did i get wrong?
Thanks for you support

you can solve that by flashing mAid (fka as FWUL) --> nightly. it has everything on board already.
If you wanna do the same with FWUL 3.1 pls do the following command in a terminal:
sudo pacman -Sy python-zstandard

only if the above does not solve the issue:
sudo pip3 install cryptography

if none of them solves the issue, install the latest mAid nightly instead (see FWUL OP).


.-

 

[verbage]

Blah, bitten yet again by the LG G4 boot loop bug... This is the third time, yup... Though the first two times taught me to backup regularly, I was a bit more than two weeks out from my last backup on this newly failed G4 H811. And so I have now lost a series of important recordings, SMS text messages, and other data bits that have accumulated over the last two weeks. Or have I? I am thinking of a scheme to potentially recover it before any physical intervention like hot air reflowing, directed pressure, or whatever. Here is my thought.

With the bootlooping G4 H811, I was able to get into Download mode, and backup all 56 partitions totaling about 29 GB total. And I have available two more identical G4 H811s that are still available and functioning (yeah, what can I say--I am glutton for punishment...). So my thought was to write the 24 GB userdata partition that I salvaged from the now failed G4, and use TWRP to write it to the userdata partition of one of a functional G4.

If I were to do this, on booting the still functional G4, would I essentially be able to grab the two weeks of important data I mentioned above?

I guess I would also clone over the system partition because the G4s are running slightly different versions of steadfasterX's LOS16.

Any other salvaged partition images that I should clone over to the still functional G4 to make this all work?

Many thanks in advance for any guidance you might have!

 

[verbage]

With the bootlooping G4 H811, I was able to get into Download mode, and backup all 56 partitions totaling about 29 GB total. And I have available two more identical G4 H811s that are still available and functioning (yeah, what can I say--I am glutton for punishment...). So my thought was to write the 24 GB userdata partition that I salvaged from the now failed G4, and use TWRP to write it to the userdata partition of one of a functional G4.

So I've run into some hiccups in my potential strategy above, but I am hoping they are not insurmountable.

First issue was that my full userdata partition image made by SALT is about 24 GB in size as mentioned above. So it is too big for a FAT32 filesystem on MicroSD or as common on most USB drives (which could be accessed as OTG in TWRP). No problem, I simply prepared a spare MicroSD with an exFAT filesystem to deal with this. And so I went on my merry way to the still functional recipient G4 with this new MicroSD filled with boot, system, and userdata images expecting to be able to flash them via TWRP. But alas, it seems TWRP only allows flashing of boot and recovery partitions, not userdata. So even though I can access the 24 GB image under TWRP, there is no way to flash it. I looked around TWRP for advanced options that might let me override this, but no luck.

But then it occurred to me I could just put the G4 into download/fastboot mode, and use fastboot to flash over the 24 GB userdata partition. Seems logical--of course, I have used fastboot to flash smaller partition images like recovery on other systems, but I have never attempted to flash a huge, 24 GB like this. Any comments about this strategy before I give it a go?

BTW, I have been able to mount the 24 GB userdata partition under FWUL, and I can see the whole contents no problem. So I could directly grab system-level data like SMS and my fitness tracker data (another important thing I forgot about!). I am not talking about normally accessible user stuff under the emulated IntSD user space storage like Downloads, DCIM, etc. Maybe this is a solution, but how would I restore this under a functional G4???

 

[steadfasterX]

So I've run into some hiccups in my potential strategy above, but I am hoping they are not insurmountable.

First issue was that my full userdata partition image made by SALT is about 24 GB in size as mentioned above. So it is too big for a FAT32 filesystem on MicroSD or as common on most USB drives (which could be accessed as OTG in TWRP). No problem, I simply prepared a spare MicroSD with an exFAT filesystem to deal with this. And so I went on my merry way to the still functional recipient G4 with this new MicroSD filled with boot, system, and userdata images expecting to be able to flash them via TWRP. But alas, it seems TWRP only allows flashing of boot and recovery partitions, not userdata. So even though I can access the 24 GB image under TWRP, there is no way to flash it. I looked around TWRP for advanced options that might let me override this, but no luck.

But then it occurred to me I could just put the G4 into download/fastboot mode, and use fastboot to flash over the 24 GB userdata partition. Seems logical--of course, I have used fastboot to flash smaller partition images like recovery on other systems, but I have never attempted to flash a huge, 24 GB like this. Any comments about this strategy before I give it a go?

BTW, I have been able to mount the 24 GB userdata partition under FWUL, and I can see the whole contents no problem. So I could directly grab system-level data like SMS and my fitness tracker data (another important thing I forgot about!). I am not talking about normally accessible user stuff under the emulated IntSD user space storage like Downloads, DCIM, etc. Maybe this is a solution, but how would I restore this under a functional G4???

1. Correct you just need system, boot and userdata to "clone" your old device . Any other partition has the potential to brick your working phone

2. You CAN use TWRP to do this but you need a shell and use the dd command

3. fastboot is the easiest way and there is no size limit in pushing files there. So give that a go for all the mentioned partitions of 1. It should work pretty fine.



Sent from my OnePlus 6T using XDA Labs

 

[verbage]

Thank you, steadfasterX, for the response!

I went into fastboot/bootloader mode on the recipient G4, and using FWUL, attempted to flash these three partitions, but ran into an error with each one at the end of each operation (see below). The phone was definitely in the correct bootloader mode as it was recognized with the "fastboot devices" command as per below. I tried it with Windows version of fastboot after FWUL, but the same error. So close to potential victory, but not quite yet.

To make the three partition images with SALT, I used the Backup option which was pretty straightforward. And as mentioned previously, I was able to mount the userdata partition image to browse it, and is contains seeming good data. So I don't think the images are the problem.

I must be missing something...

[[email protected] ttt]$ fastboot devices
61b3114b	fastboot
[[email protected] ttt]$ fastboot flash boot boot.img
target reported max download size of 536870912 bytes
Sending 'boot' (40960 KB)...
OKAY [  1.334s]
Writing 'boot'...
FAILED (remote: unknown command)
Finished. Total time: 1.440s
[[email protected] ttt]$ fastboot flash system system.img
target reported max download size of 536870912 bytes
Invalid sparse file format at header magic
Erasing 'system'...
FAILED (remote: unknown command)
Finished. Total time: 4.809s
[[email protected] ttt]$ fastboot flash userdata userdata.img
target reported max download size of 536870912 bytes
Invalid sparse file format at header magic
Erasing 'userdata'...
FAILED (remote: unknown command)
Finished. Total time: 26.277s
[[email protected] ttt]$

 

[steadfasterX]

Thank you, steadfasterX, for the response!

I went into fastboot/bootloader mode on the recipient G4, and using FWUL, attempted to flash these three partitions, but ran into an error with each one at the end of each operation (see below). The phone was definitely in the correct bootloader mode as it was recognized with the "fastboot devices" command as per below. I tried it with Windows version of fastboot after FWUL, but the same error. So close to potential victory, but not quite yet.

To make the three partition images with SALT, I used the Backup option which was pretty straightforward. And as mentioned previously, I was able to mount the userdata partition image to browse it, and is contains seeming good data. So I don't think the images are the problem.

I must be missing something...

Ok your fastboot mode is pretty limited , say thx to tmo. Anyways just switch to TWRP then and assuming you have all 3 partitions directly on your external sdcard these are the cmds to flash them:

adb shell
dd if=/external_sd/boot.img of=/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/boot
sync
dd if=/external_sd/system.img of=/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/system bs=512
sync
dd if=/external_sd/userdata.img of=/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/userdata bs=1024
sync

After that reboot and it should be fine.



Sent from my OnePlus 6T using XDA Labs

 

[verbage]

Ok your fastboot mode is pretty limited , say thx to tmo. Anyways just switch to TWRP then and assuming you have all 3 partitions directly on your external sdcard these are the cmds to flash them:

Thanks so much for your help with this, steadfasterX! In the long run, I might not have to use it because I started some intensive freezer therapy with the wonky G4 last night, and was able to backup the two critical things I wanted, and then restore them to the new surrogate G4. Whatever the case, I am pleased to see how flashing full partition images can be done directly with dd in TWRP since TMo seems to have crippled fastboot mode on the H811 Indeed, given my luck with the G4, I can certainly see it coming in handy in the future.

By the way, thank you for the FWUL+SALT combo--it works great!

 

[LuKePicci]

Trying to make my first backup. Running FWUL in virtualbox. I can confirm phone is in Download Mode. SALT is not detecting the phone, even if lsusb shows it. I also updated SALT (it was on latest master already).
Here is the debug log from SALT: https://pastebin.com/PkvAFBSQ

I can't find the info about running FWUL into virtualbox, the link about "doing critical things in virtualbox" is broken. FWUL can see the device in adb shell, USB filter for the VM matches everything from LG. (id 1004)

 

[steadfasterX]

Trying to make my first backup. Running FWUL in virtualbox. I can confirm phone is in Download Mode. SALT is not detecting the phone, even if lsusb shows it. I also updated SALT (it was on latest master already).
Here is the debug log from SALT: https://pastebin.com/PkvAFBSQ

I can't find the info about running FWUL into virtualbox, the link about "doing critical things in virtualbox" is broken. FWUL can see the device in adb shell, USB filter for the VM matches everything from LG. (id 1004)

Do you have USB 2 or 3 configured in VirtualBox ? Try switching to the other. When doing this you might need to set the USB filter again . This is (just) one reason why I recommend usb stick boot..
You can also try to put your phone into Download Mode first and then boot FWUL. for this you need you have Auto USB filtering enabled of course.



Sent from my OnePlus 6T using XDA Labs

 

[LuKePicci]

Will try, at least I know it should work. It would be a little of a problem to boot FWUL natively on my device as it has secure boot and bit locker enabled on the tpm, so I usually keep all live iso I would need to boot into a secure-boot enabled USB drive with Grub, booting other live ISO in turn. Also my device has no integrated keyboard, if something goes wrong in arch with the mobile keyboard or the touchscreen or the docking station interface it would be quite annoying. AFAIK we have touch-capable bootloaders/recoveries for both windows and Android but not for Linux.

 

[steadfasterX]

Will try, at least I know it should work. It would be a little of a problem to boot FWUL natively on my device as it has secure boot and bit locker enabled on the tpm, so I usually keep all live iso I would need to boot into a secure-boot enabled USB drive with Grub, booting other live ISO in turn. Also my device has no integrated keyboard, if something goes wrong in arch with the mobile keyboard or the touchscreen or the docking station interface it would be quite annoying. AFAIK we have touch-capable bootloaders/recoveries for both windows and Android but not for Linux.

at least for secure boot there are good news if you are using the nightlies: they support that
https://code.binbash.rocks:8443/mAid/build/wiki/Secure-Boot

.-

 

[LuKePicci]

Rebooting the VM while device connected and in download mode did the trick. Now backing up. ?

 

[_bobby_tables_]

US991 to H811 to gain VoLTE capabilities?

This is probably a stupid question, but...

I have an LG G4 US991 that is facing obsolescence due to lack of VoLTE support. The H811 model does have VoLTE support. Can I flash my US991 with an H811 ROM to gain VoLTE? Are there physical differences between the LG G4 models that would prevent such a ROM switch? Thanks.

 

[steadfasterX]

This is probably a stupid question, but...

I have an LG G4 US991 that is facing obsolescence due to lack of VoLTE support. The H811 model does have VoLTE support. Can I flash my US991 with an H811 ROM to gain VoLTE? Are there physical differences between the LG G4 models that would prevent such a ROM switch? Thanks.

Is VoLTE worth it? Imho no but maybe that's a personal thing.
Anyways converting a device is EXTREMELY risky. Not because of hardware diffs (all g4 models are identical, ok besides the h818 which has a diff panel) but because of the PBL (primary bootloader) which sits in a protected area and verifies the area which can be flashed (i.e. what you flash by kdz). It's all about signatures (we can leave out ARB for the moment) . The thing is without the PBL (which you can't pull) nobody else then the us991 OEM can say if you can convert without a hard brick.

You can though (depends on your ARB): unlock with UsU, flash boot , modem and system of a stock h811 (must match your current ARB!!!) and you might can get VoLTE ( your provider must support that as well, often needs then a manual activation too). No guarantees here as well but the chance for a hard brick are at 1% if you follow the guide . And as you have a fusing model you could even revert UsU so if that didn't worked and you wanna still risk a hard brick you could try a convert then (chance for a hard brick are here 80:20).

You can recover from hard bricks by using qfil but you need proper qfil files for your model and ARB (which could be a real issue for your model )!!! Or by using a box but those work usually only up to ARB 2.



Sent from my OnePlus 6T using XDA Labs

 

[steadfasterX]

New Release

Checkout FAQ #9 for howto update to this brand new release

Legend for the summary topics:
Fix/New (SALT): Fixes & Enhancements of the SALT main application - what you see and work with
Fix/New (lglaf): Fixes & Enhancements of the USB communication backend which SALT uses under the hood
Fix/New (kdztools): Fixes & Enhancements of the KDZ extraction backend which SALT uses under the hood

v3.22
Released: 2020-03-09
Full changelog (SALT): at github (this version compared with the previous release)
Full changelog (lglaf): at github
Full changelog (kdztools): at github
Summary changelog:

• 
  ATTENTION FOR FWUL (v2.x, v3.x) users:
  Upgrading to this Version WILL BREAK SALT without doing a FULL system upgrade (which can take hours, downloading multiple GB, may even break on low RAM systems)
  Instead it is highly recommended to use the new mAid nightlies which are in RC phase already and so reasonable stable.
  
  
• Fix (kdztools): some fixes for KDZ extractions
• Fix (SALT): UsU and ARB detection in rare cases
• Fix (SALT): no output for several lglaf based operations
• Fix (SALT): backup (custom) progress bars
• Fix (SALT): when a folder or filename contained a space SALT failed to parse and extract
• Fix (SALT): several things around ARB and ARB detection
• Fix (SALT): screwed part listing
• Fix (SALT): log upload
• New (SALT): added a pre-check after the user selected a directory: when the path exists and containing image files the user get prompted to either retry or continue.

HINT:
Newer devices using UFS storage (e.g. G5, G6, ..) still need to switch to the DEVELOP/TESTING branch (see FAQ)

 

[hbtariq123]

LG g5 H820n11 att

i upgraded my lg g5 att H820n11 with lgup to oreo 8.0 with a tot file and after completion my phone turned off and then it is dead. and in device manager there is com 18 lge androidnet usb serial port. what i do now...plzz help me.. thanks

 

[xda-yup]

Having SALT issues while trying to do initial backup before trying UsU on my H815. 3 issues:

1. I tried the 15GB FWUL version of FWUL 3.1 and this worked fine to boot via usb, but SALT got "fatal error- missing phyton cryptography module" error on trying to update SALT.

2. Because of error 1, wiped USB drive and installed latest mAid nightly mAid_v2020-04-07. Booting and the mAid OS are fine, SALT recognises device fine, but SALT gives error on trying to do full backup, same error as comment 819, i'm backing up to a 4TB NTFS drive with about 3.9TB free on it.
---so followed steps from comment 819, backup of everything else works fine except for userdata.img, which always 'succeeds' but then fails md5 check. this happened on both SALT - 3.22-12:STABLE. (all 3 branches stable per faq) and
SALT - 3.23-0:TESTING (all 3 branches develop per faq). Tried again after factory reset H815 phone (it's still unmodified) and with same results. Any ideas why userdata.img is always failing md5 check? Is userdata even important to backup, or is it just photos and stuff which i've already deleted anyway from factory reset? If not important i'll just skip userdata backup as i have everything else backed up via SALT now.

3. When i go to SALT > Advanced > debug log, i am unable to export the log to provide here, get "Error in module 'haste' while uploading logfile..." among others.

My device is H815 20e TWN, on MM fully stock (no modding at all yet) if it helps. I've really tried to follow all threads and FAQs so sorry if i've missed something.

 

[steadfasterX]

Having SALT issues while trying to do initial backup before trying UsU on my H815. 3 issues:

1. I tried the 15GB FWUL version of FWUL 3.1 and this worked fine to boot via usb, but SALT got "fatal error- missing phyton cryptography module" error on trying to update SALT.

2. Because of error 1, wiped USB drive and installed latest mAid nightly mAid_v2020-04-07. Booting and the mAid OS are fine, SALT recognises device fine, but SALT gives error on trying to do full backup, same error as comment 819, i'm backing up to a 4TB NTFS drive with about 3.9TB free on it.
---so followed steps from comment 819, backup of everything else works fine except for userdata.img, which always 'succeeds' but then fails md5 check. this happened on both SALT - 3.22-12:STABLE. (all 3 branches stable per faq) and
SALT - 3.23-0:TESTING (all 3 branches develop per faq). Tried again after factory reset H815 phone (it's still unmodified) and with same results. Any ideas why userdata.img is always failing md5 check? Is userdata even important to backup, or is it just photos and stuff which i've already deleted anyway from factory reset? If not important i'll just skip userdata backup as i have everything else backed up via SALT now.

3. When i go to SALT > Advanced > debug log, i am unable to export the log to provide here, get "Error in module 'haste' while uploading logfile..." among others.

My device is H815 20e TWN, on MM fully stock (no modding at all yet) if it helps. I've really tried to follow all threads and FAQs so sorry if i've missed something.

userdata "just" contains your photos, apps etc. it is not a critical part when it comes to e.g. unbricking a device so if you can live with loosing your data (which you already have due to the factory reset) you can skip that. no without the log I cannot say why the md5 is failing here. will check why uploading failing.

.-

 

[wantpizza]

Reading between the lines.

Ok your fastboot mode is pretty limited , say thx to tmo. Anyways just switch to TWRP then and assuming you have all 3 partitions directly on your external sdcard these are the cmds to flash them:

adb shell
dd if=/external_sd/boot.img of=/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/boot
sync
dd if=/external_sd/system.img of=/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/system bs=512
sync
dd if=/external_sd/userdata.img of=/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/userdata bs=1024
sync

After that reboot and it should be fine.

Sent from my OnePlus 6T using XDA Labs

Let me just say 1000 apologies for interrupting this thread. But I am in a tough spot.

TL/DR - Can I use TWRP to dd my old user data from a LGUP backup (from Nougat) into a fresh install of Lineage 17.1? Just temporarily to recover some improperly backed up userdata? I am willing to downgrade or almost anything to get there - just looking for simple, safe and no risk to my newly unlocked bootloader .

Long version: Okay - again - 1000 apologies. I hate when others bust into a thread... but this stuff looks the closest to what I am imagining my solution to be.

I had -
LG V20 - AT&T version H910
Software version - H91010p
Android Security patch level: August 1, 2017
Kernel Version: 3.18.31
TWRP version 3.3.1-0

Before doing anything - I did a full LGUP dump - INCLUDING MY USER DATA
I also installed LG Switch and did a full backup.
Next - I followed this DirtySanta post to Unlock the bootloader etc.

I am now running LOS17.1 - an Android Q ROM
Android Security patch level = April 5, 2020

So - I am looking for a way to get back some accidentally lost user data.
I tried LG switch and it just wants to backup my new install. Not sure how you get it to restore data...
I tried LGUP and no where does it say anything about restoring...
I am willing to try a dd trick in Linux (currently running Pop_OS and have Manjaro too) or Win 10 if need be.
I am willing to fubar my current LOS17 install. I will just reinstall after extracting my data.
I am willing to downgrade to Nougat or.... anything.
As long as I don't lose my root & unlocked boot loader, TWRP.

BTW - I tried just mounting the lgup file in linux and get some sort of bad superblock error.

I have the LGUP dump on the external at /LGUP...

So in TWRP do I just go to Advanced/Terminal and

dd if=/external_sd/LGUP/userdata.img of=/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/userdata bs=1024
sync

Do I need to restore anything else? I don't care if I get ForcedClose of some programs as long as FX File explorer works long enough to fetch my data? Oh and - will this work? My userdata is 52.2 GB...

Risks? Thinking of just trying it.

Is there another way?
Thanks in advance for any tips, tricks, breadcrumbs or best of all ANSWERS!!
Best Regards!!

---------- Post added at 04:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:44 PM ----------

I might have already found a gotcha... /data/media on the phone shows 39 GB free of 51 GB... So even if I delete everything - not sure how to get 52.2 GB into that partition? Hopefully someone smarter than me will explain how...
Thanks.

 

[wantpizza]

Hold everything!!
I was able to recover my missing data.
I reverted back to Nougat and then LGSwitch was able to restore my data.
I grabbed it up onto a SD card and flashed forward to Pie.
Sorry for the interruption. It is still a very interesting thought question.