[Galaxy A3, A5, A7, A8, A9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshoot] chrishohl:
Current status

Screen broken: YES

Screen is black: YES

Touch broken: YES

USB Debugging enabled: NO

OEM Unlock: NO

Phone is locked with PIN: YES

Phone has stock firmware, recovery and bootloader: YES but I don't know which version of Android is installed

External SD Card working: YES

Hardware keys working: YES

Can go to recovery mode: YES

Can go to bootloader mode: YES

Can boot it up normal: YES

Samsung Drivers installed: YES

Computer recognizes the phone: YES but no files are displayed because it is locked with a PIN

KIES recognizes the phone: NO it tries to connect and timeout after a few minutes probably because it is locked with a PIN

ODIN recognizes the phone: YES but cannot flash TWRP because it is not OEM unlocked

Can be unlocked via Google or Samsung account: NO because it doesn't have 3G or WiFi enabled so no internet connection

Did I use various specialized data recovery software? YES but none of them worked​

My idea to recover the data

1. Find a way to enable the USB Debugging setting from "outside".

2. Use a remote control software like Vysor to unlock it with the PIN and do whatever else is needed in order to install TWRP or root the phone.

3. Once we have mounted /system and /data partitions pull out the data via ADB.​

What I have done so far

1. I created an Update.zip file with the following content and structure:​

META-INF​

com​

google​

android​

updater-script​

updater-script contains the following commands:​

#!/sbin/sh
mount /system
mount /data
mount -o rw,remount /system /system
mount -o rw,remount / /
echo "persist.service.adb.enable=1" >> default.prop
echo "persist.service.debuggable=1" >> default.prop
echo "persist.sys.usb.config=mtp,adb" >> default.prop
echo "" >> default.prop
echo "persist.service.adb.enable=1" >> /system/build.prop
echo "persist.service.debuggable=1" >> /system/build.prop
echo "persist.sys.usb.config=mtp,adb" >> /system/build.prop
echo "" >> /system/build.prop
echo "[I]<my computer ADB public key>[/I]" >> /data/misc/adb/adb_keys
umount /system
umount /data
exit 0
[I]<a blank line>[/I]

2. I signed the zip file by following the procedure found here.​

3. I formatted a 2GB SD Card as FAT32 and copied the signed Update.zip file to the root folder of the card.​

4. I put the phone in recovery mode.​

5. According to this video here I pressed the volume down button 3 times and then I pressed the power button in order to get into the "Apply update from SD card" option.​

6. Assuming that the Update.zip file was the only option I pressed the power button in order to apply the update.​

7. I waited about 4 minutes just to be sure that the file was applied. The phone did nothing which is probably normal. Having similar experiences by other phones, once the update is applied the phone returns to the initial recovery screen with the "Reboot system now" option selected. Having that in mind I pressed the power button once more and the phone rebooted into normal mode. I know that because I saw it in the computer. However the USB debugging option was NOT enabled.​

8. I examined the SD Card and I found out that the following directories were created automatically:​

.android_secure

Android

LOST.DIR​

Where am I stuck

I suspect that when I enter the "Apply update from SD card" option the directories appearing first in the list and I need to press the volume down button several times in order to select the Update.zip file to apply. I tried various combinations but I didn't manage to make it to work. Moreover, there is the possibility that the script don't run because of an error or probably there is a confirmation dialog somewhere in the middle. The phone isn't mine, I own an LG, so I have no experience with Samsung phones and their behavior in the stock recovery.​

What kind of help I need

I need someone with the same phone or one Samsung with the same stock recovery as this one to perform the following procedure:​

1. Turn off the USB Debugging option in the developer settings in their phone.​

2. Copy the attached update.zip file to the external SD Card and apply it via the recovery menu.​

3. Provide step by step instructions for blind people on the actions they did in order to apply the update. For example, press volume down 3 times, power button 1 time, etc.​

4. Provide feedback on any errors of the update or if the script run OK and the USB Debugging option was enabled.​

Things to consider

Right now the attached zip file contains my computer's ADB public key. That means that even if the USB debugging option gets enabled when the phone is connected to the computer it will still ask for confirmation in order to accept the computer as a debugging target. The ideal solution here is to replace my key with theirs computer key. It is located in the "C:\Users\<username>\.android\adbkey.pub" file. However, if they change the key in the update.zip file then the file needs to be signed again (I think). In order to do that you need to delete the CERT.RSA, CERT.SF and MANIFEST.MF from the META-INF directory and then re-zip and sign the new zip file as explained here.​

Thank you very much to took the time to read this message. Any help and/or ideas in order to overcome this issue will be highly appreciated.