yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Miscellaneous Android Development] jodeka:
Thanks a lot! Now my Xcover 3 is booting again :good:

But it still can't root/install Magisk, because that TWRP won't mount the encrypted storage. Does it have support for decryption built in?
[Miscellaneous Android Development] irfanmkw:
Hi All, I need efs file for SM-G388F. Could anyone please help me. I want to repair IMEI of my phone which is 000000000000/01. When i tried with z3x box to repair imei it stuck on "Analyzing SEC File....error"
[Miscellaneous Android Development] JustAGuyWithAndroidPhone:
Thank you very much! You made my life much easier with this root! THANK YOU!

By the way: what should I do with this file: systemless-compatability-fix-lollipop.tar ?

I have SM-G388f.
[Miscellaneous Android Development] AlinTecsan:
fix your twrp link and try again
[Miscellaneous Android Development] budgies:
Maybe someone will if being asked kindly ;)
[Miscellaneous Android Development] budgies:
@ this
[Miscellaneous Android Development] AlinTecsan:
asking kindly but they sometimes didnt respond at all until i research
[Miscellaneous Android Development] notnoelchannel:
hmmm.... still here? I'm trying to port TWRP 3.1.1 for your device as studying Marvell's SoC. could you be a tester?
[Miscellaneous Android Development] AlinTecsan:
of course i have an xcover test let test the twrp before release :) still here collecting old twrp and devices
[Miscellaneous Android Development] notnoelchannel:
sure i'll send a twrp in a min!
[Miscellaneous Android Development] notnoelchannel:
here u go:
[Miscellaneous Android Development] AlinTecsan:
odin 3.09 says failed to write let check the connections or results

<ID:0/016> Added!!

<ID:0/016> Odin v.3 engine (ID:16)..

<ID:0/016> File analysis..

<ID:0/016> SetupConnection..

<ID:0/016> Initialzation..

<ID:0/016> Get PIT for mapping..

<ID:0/016> Firmware update start..

<ID:0/016> twrp-3.1.1.img

<ID:0/016> NAND Write Start!!

<ID:0/016>

<ID:0/016> Complete(Write) operation failed.

<ID:0/016> Added!!

<OSM> All threads completed. (succeed 0 / failed 1)
[Miscellaneous Android Development] AlinTecsan:
it says failed with this tar
[Miscellaneous Android Development] notnoelchannel:
here
[Miscellaneous Android Development] AlinTecsan:
flash is PASS but boothing says recovery is not seandroid enforcing
[Miscellaneous Android Development] budgies:
Not really, but here you go: https://xdaforums.com/t/samsung-xco...root-twrp-mods-and-roms.3465132/post-80402513 ;)
[Miscellaneous Android Development] budgies:
I also still have the working device, but can't do any testing before march 12th.
[Miscellaneous Android Development] WojtekCC:
Anyone know how to get magisk working with MyKernel? (g389F)

Everytime I try to flash it, magisk says boot image was patched by other programm and refuses to install.
[Miscellaneous Android Development] aur20:
I could not quite follow the discussion. TWRP is not working on SM-G388f with Android 5.1.1

Have you tried to download TWRP from the official website, then flash it via Odin. Then install Magisk the 'oldschool' way (see Custom Recovery)?
[Miscellaneous Android Development] notnoelchannel:
Use official TWRP then, sadly I gave up on xcover 3

By the way, welcome to XDA! Have a great time here!
[Miscellaneous Android Development] WojtekCC:
I have TWRP and stock rom.

In the end of description of kernel is written "- RAMDisk is prepatched for Root."

Installed kernel, boots.

When tried to install magisk (downloaded .zip, hadn't converted it from .apk >> .zip) it was saying "image is prepatched by other program).

So, i tried to reverse install order.

1. Installed magisk

2. Installed kernel.

And magisk was "broken". I mean it worked but root permission and safetynet was boned.

Edit: Twrp IS working on g388F, old one but is working.
[Miscellaneous Android Development] tobby88:
Just got hands on a XCover 3 of my wife. Is the above still current state? So absolutely no custom ROM for SM-G389F? Just the crappy standard Samsung ROM?
[Miscellaneous Android Development] AlinTecsan:
for me samsung rom is not crappy , i found only a custom kernel and the boot time is for 6 seconds in bootanimation
[Miscellaneous Android Development] notnoelchannel:
oh wow thats so cool
[Miscellaneous Android Development] SpockSpock:
I know this is quite old, but I have an xcover 3, which I somehow bricked in the process of trying to update a custom rom or something. It boots, if you want to call it that, do a very bare bones screen with 'seandroid not enforcing' or something like that. I can get it into download mode, but windows and Linux are both unable to detect it on USB no matter what I do. In Linux, I have updated the most comprehensive 51-android.rules I can find, restarted udev, etc. I tried all three USB ports, and bunch of other more obvious things, like different cables, restarting the laptop and the phone etc. Perhaps I need to let this sucker go, but I wanted to see if any experts have any foolproof fixes, or 'too obvious' stuff I might have missed. Thanks
[Miscellaneous Android Development] tobby88:
My experience with some/most older Android phones is: Only Windows 7 (!) PCs/Laptops are fully working in Fastboot or bootloader mode because of driver issues. I tried several times with newer Windows versions and Linux but failed or it has been extraordinary effort. Mostly it failed.

So maybe try Windows 7?
[Miscellaneous Android Development] kniederberger:
The OEM unlock does look like it will do the trick. The FRP lock is off after this is enabled in the Developer options screen and I didn't have to delete the Google account. I had to wait quite a while to be able to enter download mode after enabling OEM unlock, more than the hour I waited before. I haven't tried installing TWRP and SuperSU yet though. It is a bit concerning that if you turn off Developer Options after modding the phone and then reboot you'll effectively be locked out though.

Hope your exams are going well Matt. :).
[Miscellaneous Android Development] Matt07211:
That is great, thanks for verifying it. I am currently about to reach my half way mark for my exams (once I'm done them I am then a free man), today it's my software design and development class (logic gates suck).

Thanks for your concern :)

OP will be updated.

====

Update:

in relation to one of my above posts, I stated that I would try moving the required files to their correct places, to see if I can attain root. I tried and failed. It was a quick test, took more effort to remove the files then to place then there. All the problems keep coming back to the same thing, the kernel.

With Samsung's anti-root feature enabled in stock (I haven't got a compiled kernel booting yet, but I am almost finished my exams so I will try again soon), and with me unable to get past that without a recompile, I have realised that I am gonna need to get it booting with a custom kernel.

Why, won't root work with stock kernel? Samsung's anti root feature stops SuperSu daemonsu from running at boot, which is needed to run and mount the su.img at boot.

When typing "getprop" you can see (that me in this case) that the daemonsu service is disabled.

If anyone wants to help, grab the kernel source code from my github linked in OP, compile with aarch 4.8 (recommended, but I have troubles with ubuntu finding the compiler) or 4.9 is the only one that compiles this far, use AkuHaks boot.img tools linked in second OP (he has got instructions on their use) and flash it to uour device, if it boots PM the kernel please. If no one wants to try this then that's fine, I'll get root working on lollipop eventually, just not as fast. ; )

(Lol, this threads post are mostly done by me)
[Miscellaneous Android Development] proguru:
Hi Matthew,

Thank you very much for your effort in rooting the xCover 3 device. I'm also very much interested in seeing if it is possible to install Marshmallow on an older SM-G388F device, since I have some issues with my xCover that may be software related and maybe the newer version could perform better (I have the latest 5.1.1. installed). The issues are mostly random freezing, difficulties in running background processes on Samsung's Android 5.1.1 Lollipop and some GPS location problems.

Also, the small internal storage is a huge limitation for me. Google's own apps takes lots of space nowadays and are installed only on internal storage (including huge cache space in e.g. Photos), so I can install only few extra apps. This is where Android Marshmallow would help with its Adoptable Storage option that should format an external SD-card as an internal storage.
[Miscellaneous Android Development] Matt07211:
Becuse of my exams, i haven't been able to put much effort into getting root, but my last exam is on this Wednesday, after that I have the free time to have another go at trying my hand at it. I might put that to the side and try and compile twrp instead (I havent tried yet as I really don't have the internet to spare as an on mobile data). So either way i will hopefully be able to produce something for the lollipop version of the device.

As for the random lag, or random screen scrolling fritzs, I have to say I have also experienced that as well, and have not looked into it as of yet, but I am happy with this device, definitely a step up from an old small Lg Optimus L3.

As for marshmallow on the device, it may be a bit harder then thought, as the value edition is for different hardware to what the normal one is. I am in no position to download ASOP source code and compile (To big (I mean big) a download for my mobile data, as well as storage and actual hardware constraints etc.), and I don't have the marshmallow firmware on hand to examine it either.

Once a compiled kernel can boot, then root should work, and then you can (in the place of Adoptable storage) use Link2Sd, I had the pro version for my old phone that only had 160mb of app installation storage, and it allowed me as much gigs as my sd partition was.

As for GPS, I am not sure as I bearly have it turned on.

As for storage I have about 800mb spare after Facebook (250mb), messenger, and another 20 or so apps, almost all of them update and using the native move 2 sd card function built into android.

Sorry for the rambilling ;)
[Miscellaneous Android Development] proguru:
Thanks for the information, Link2Sd program looks good. The built in "move to sd" function is really limited, it only moves some part of an app to sd card, and most unfortunately, all the cache is still in the internal memory. For example, Google Photos app uses an incredible large amount of cache.

App updates seems to require lots of free internal space. Sometimes I have several hundreds of megabytes free and still it complains that unable to update.
[Miscellaneous Android Development] Matt07211:
I've never had an app get the large (my largest is Facebook at just over 230mb). I've attached a screenshot of my Photos app (updated today, so newest update). My cache is 24kb, it can't be seen in the image as it's just slightly below.

The move2sd is better then nothing when you don't have root. I've observed that I need around 450mbs free to update/install apps.

What version of android are you on and what is those things in the notifcation bar (left side)
[Miscellaneous Android Development] proguru:
I have lots of photos uploaded to Google Photos, so that might be why the "data" is so big. Yes, it is not labelled "cache", but it must be some cache-type memory for online photos. I can wipe the data, but is will soon grow back to the same as it is now.

My xCover 3 is running the stock Android 5.1.1. (latest).

There are two app running in the background:

Network monitor shows the current download and upload activity in the notification bar ("D" and "U")

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=info.kfsoft.android.TrafficIndicator&hl=en

Because the device lacks an ambient light sensor there is an issue that if the backlight has been manually dimmed (for indoor use) then on the outside the screen appears completely black rendering it impossible to restore full brightness since one can't even see the manual brightness control in the sunlight.

Luckily I found that there is a Brightness Motion app that can restore a preset (here: full) brightness every time the device is unlocked, receiving a call, etc.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=tv.marinelli.android.BrightnessMotionPro&hl=en
[Miscellaneous Android Development] Matt07211:
Have you scrolled down the page and cleared the Cache? Also do you have pending uploads at the moment? Or cleared the Google photos app trash folder? (In just spit balling here).

As for the apps, It seemed like you where using the exposed traffic indicator app (I was wondering how you had root then ;) )

As for the screen backlighting, it's horrible outside with, but I leave it about half bright (on the slider) bright enough to be able to see the outdoor button for the screen light, and dark enough for in door use, in conjunction with chainfires "C.F.lumen" app for night time use (so much better for my eyes at night time) I don't have to touch the brightness slider at All and only need to hit "outdoor" button outside.
[Miscellaneous Android Development] proguru:
I clear the cache occasionally, but because the data will eventually come back I don't know if that is so good idea to clear it, since re-downloading the huge cache will consume more battery. It would be brilliant if Google programmed the Photos app to have the cache-data on external SD-card from the first place (without root). I actually wrote them about this suggestion, but I can guarantee it will never happen. Google never listens to its customers.

No pending uploads (xCover has a crappy camera :p), Photos trash is empty.
[Miscellaneous Android Development] Matt07211:
It uses the cache when browsing the images to store the thumbnails of the images allowing for faster browsing, it also use that when uploading photos aswell.

Other then rooting your phone, you can automate the task of clear your phone cache at a predetermined time (easily done by tasker) or just use the app for backup, and the normal gallery for when browsing local photos.

Sorry I really can't help with this, it isn't a problem I can fix, all I can do is suggest ideas/workarounds.
[Miscellaneous Android Development] proguru:
This was a good suggestion, it seems that you are right, the cache is only for thumbnails. It only rebuilds the cache when browsing the thumbnails and thus maybe frequently clearing the cache is not that bad thing afterall. I just did it and Google Photos App works just as before, except loading thumbnails takes time.

However, I remember that last time after I cleared the data (not only cache) it took a really long time (hours) before Photos app did anything, so the "data" is storing something other and more vital than only temporary cache-data. Unfortunately the data is huge 646MB in my device and I really don't want to clear it frequently.
[Miscellaneous Android Development] Matt07211:
Okay I see where your coming from, if you find a solution, I would like to hear it.

Yea the only other thing I can think of is Link2sd, but that requires root.

Quick question you comfortable/fimiliar with any linux distribution (excluding android)?? If so I could use a hand in trying to compile a working kernel ;)
[Miscellaneous Android Development] proguru:
The only thing I know about programming is DOS/QBasic, but I have Linux Mint installed on VirtualBox. If compiling a kernel is nothing really difficult but only few bash commands I am willing to try :)

I also have only a 3G mobile internet (10/1), so transferring really big files is slow. Luckily data is unlimited.
[Miscellaneous Android Development] Matt07211:
Lucky, wish I had unlimited internet, that would be perfect. But all I got is my mobile data and no WiFi :(

It's a few simple commands, easy to do in my opinion (compiling the kernel)

About max 1.5Gbs need to be download (kernel source code, dependices, toolchain etc.)

Note: you need a 64bit computer.

If you want to try booting it your self it will require abit more effort.

But if you don't then just post the Compiled kernel (Image.gz) and I'll try booting it. The reason I would like you to try is becuse I want to try 2 different toolchain to see if they work, but with my limited internet, it will take a while before I am able to get the files.

If your up to it just tell me and I'll PM the instructions :)

I'm fine if you can't help, but will appreciate if you can.

Note: I am now able to put more effort back into try root on lollipop now that I have finished my exams.
[Miscellaneous Android Development] proguru:
I will do it.

So, 64bit Mint Cinnamon running on Virtualbox is OK?

Maybe I don't want to try it on my phone yet, it is my only phone thus not suitable for testing.
[Miscellaneous Android Development] Matt07211:
Cool, it's fine that you don't want to try it in your phone as it's your only one (same for me), even though samsung got better security then General Android, They also make it almost impossible to brick your phone. Download will always be accessible even if the rest of your phone isn't it on a read-only chip, meaning your unable to overwrite it.

I've already tripped Knox on my first flash, phone wouldn't boot, the dreaded "Kernel is not SEANDROIDENFORCING" was displayed, it bootlooped. I rebooted into recovery and flashed my original boot image (it went back to ofdical status, other then the triped knox) and booted fine, no loss of data.

I have 2 old computers one is 64bit (with ubuntu virtual box) and another with 32bit (dual boot ubuntu). So using virtual box is fine as long as it can access the internet.

I have some stuff to do at home, after that I'll write up some detail instructions and PM them to you.

Just a quick question, does Linux Mint use "apt" for its package manager or is it a different command. (I'll Google it if you don't know).

I want you to try the aarch64 4.8 toolchain (Note: I can compile it with the 4.9 version, but the make file specifies using 4.8), (im having trouble getting it to work on my computer as I'm using the standalone version, so I want you to try the one that comes with the Android NDK)that comes witht a older NDK, Or an uber toolchain if that doesn't work. I will make sure to include link and relevant info in the instructions I'll send you later.

Thanks for trying this, appreciate the help.
[Miscellaneous Android Development] proguru:
I guess Mint uses "apt".

PM me some instructions what to do :)
[Miscellaneous Android Development] Matt07211:
Cool, I've PM'ed you the instructions, appreciate the effort. Please post back the results.
[Miscellaneous Android Development] Huxely:
I managed to root my value edition with Marshmallow installed after reading the first post and using a bit of google and brain. Maybe the first posts guide for MM could be expanded, or at least here are my observations.

Using Odin I got the ID:COM text with blue box, not green as in Kitkat guide, tried this with both odin 3.07 and 3.10. I also had to untick the "Auto reboot" box from the options, because if I let the Odin reboot my phone, the stock recovery would be reflashed by the phone over the TWRP at boot. Only way I could get the TWRP to boot, was to untick the "Auto reboot" and wait the Odin to flash the recovery and turn the first box green and announce the success. Then at the phone there still was the screen "Downloading, do not turn of target" and almost complete progress bar. I waited, and nothing happened, so the only way I managed to turn of the phone was hold down again the vol-, home and power. Immediately after the screen went dark I held down the vol+, home and power and GOT the TWRP to boot and then it was easy to install the SuperSU. What confused me first that I did not know that the phone restores automatically the stock recovery, when you boot normally, so I thought I was in TWRP, but I was actually in the stock recovery and when I tried to use the install from sd, it could not mount the SD. The stock recover is way more simple than the TWRP, but because I had not seen either of them before, I could have not know the difference.

Hope this help somebody. Note, that I cannot guarantee that this works for anybody else, and I might remember some part wrong.
[Miscellaneous Android Development] Matt07211:
Okay, cool I'll redesign the OP so its clarified, I'll do it in a little while. As for the "almost" finished bar your talking about, it was actually finiabed but since you had auto-reboot ticked, it "looked" like it was frozen. But if you'll look at Odin it would have said success, so all that needed to be done was to reboot straight into recovery.

Glad your phone is rooted, and thanks for telling me the OP Need a clarification, This makes it more useful for other users as well.
[Miscellaneous Android Development] Elypta:
I followed the OP and the extra info Huxeley provided and I was succesful in installing SuperSU. Thanks for the effort!

Edit: I installed for the VE edition.
[Miscellaneous Android Development] Matt07211:
Congrats :), Glad it was useful, quick question, I have changed the OP (about an hour ago) a little bit to reflect what Huxeley had said, was it enough, or could it do with a bit more work? Would appreciate the feedback on it.
[Miscellaneous Android Development] Elypta:
It captures it pretty nicely! Now I ll just wait for some custom roms to try out :o
[Miscellaneous Android Development] Matt07211:
Okay, thanks for that feedback.

As you may know, this device is considered a low activity device, so ROM creators may be spares to come by.

As for my self, I am still currently trying to attain root on the lollipop device, its just one roadblock after another, but once that is done, I am planning to create a custom kernel for the devices, so that is something to look toward to (albeit sometime in the future), but I will be unable to make a Rom as I just don't have the internet/storage and resources to compile a ROM, A reskin may be possible though (I'll be putting up a guide tomorrow showing the what is needed to be able to modify a system.img, so either i/you/someone else can reskin a premade rom).

So if you want something like a more pure Android rom or the like, you'll have to find someone willing to build it (sorry).

So the only development for this phone is coming from me at the moment (until proven other wise) so their will be at least a custom kernel, anything else will have to come from someone else :(

This is just the current state of the device, and I wish it would change in the future.
[Miscellaneous Android Development] endbored:
Matt, you are GREAT, thank you very much!:good:

i would also like to see some custom roms

best regards
[Miscellaneous Android Development] Matt07211:
If you got any rom creator friends *knudge knudge*, everyone here would appreciate that ;)

All jokes aside, it just isn't viable for me to create ROMS, so someone else will have to do that, sorry.
[Miscellaneous Android Development] Elypta:
Maybe this is something that everybody already knows but I ll post anyway for newbies like me :angel:

Again for the SM-G389F edition: When you are done with installing SuperSU etc.. never turn off the EOM Unlock setting. I did this (stupid) and did a routine switch off-swith on for installing some apps and the phone locked my out due to FRP. Had some troubles reinstalling the stock ROM but luckily got it to work again.

Anyway save yourself the trouble and dont turn off that setting. Cheers
[Miscellaneous Android Development] Matt07211:
Made sure to add this note into the Value Edition Root section, sorry about the lose of your data. :p
[Miscellaneous Android Development] Devhost97:
If anyone would like to turn on the Xcover 3 VE Adoptable Storage without root - here are the tips:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDLOAzWwd-M