yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Samsung Galaxy J7 Questions & Answers] misterkronos69:
I need a efs folder PLEASE!

I accidentally delete my efs folder trying to unlock my S767VL by Tracfone, can someone give me a efs backup or download link to one? i only can access to download and recovery mode, i have the combination file so "i can" use ADB too, but i can't activate USB debugging because i can't access to phone normally, so really i can't use ADB commands.
[Samsung Galaxy J7 Questions & Answers] Droidriven:
The full stock firmware should have what you need, more specifically, the system.img and the modem.bin. Flashing the stock firmware might help.
[Samsung Galaxy J7 Questions & Answers] ZafotheNinja:
Do you have anything that would help?
[Samsung Galaxy J7 Questions & Answers] misterkronos69:
I have flash the stock firmware a lot of times, the 4 files at the same time and one-by-one but the efs stills unable to create or stills corrupted.

The recovery mode says: E: Failed to mount /efs
[Samsung Galaxy J7 Questions & Answers] Droidriven:
But, without root or custom recovery, you have no way to restore the efs to to efs partition. I don't think adb will work for this, even if you use the engineering firmware, I mean, there are some things that the engineering firmware will allow via ADB but it doesn't grant access to write to the system partition or other vital partitions. Deleting from these partitions via adb is viable but not writing to those partitions.
[Samsung Galaxy J7 Questions & Answers] misterkronos69:
Looks like i'm on a very complicated situation...but anyway can you give me a backup of your efs folder? i think flash a efs via Odin is the only i have no tried, i've been weeks triying to save this phone. I think i searched every corner of internet and i can't find that folder to the specific model.
[Samsung Galaxy J7 Questions & Answers] Droidriven:
Not happening without root, none of us here have root, until that happens, you're pretty much screwed because there is nothing we can backup or give you until we gain root access to the root partition, which is where efs is located.
[Samsung Galaxy J7 Questions & Answers] misterkronos69:
What happen if we use EFS Professional? i think that it only needs ADB, so a funcionally phone that can activate USB debugging could use this program to make a backup.
[Samsung Galaxy J7 Questions & Answers] Droidriven:
Did you read that thread about EFS pro to see if it works on non rooted devices? No, you assumed it does. I get the feeling you got into this problem by making assumptions in the first place due to improperly researching or understanding what you were doing and assuming that the things you were reading and trying were going to work and assuming that you could just fix it if you messed up. Be more careful with your assumptions.

Again, you are just not understanding. WE CANNOT ACCESS THE SYSTEM PARTITION TO BACKUP OR RESTORE EFS WITHOUT ROOT. Period, that's it, no other options, zip, zero, zilch, nada, nil, none.

It does not matter what angle you approach or what tool you use, root and/or custom recovery(TWRP/CWM) will be required for any and all methods.

Take it as a lesson learned unless you are willing to spend money to repair your device. In the future, don't go screwing around with stuff that you don't understand and have no way of fixing if you screw it up. Always cover your bases first.
[Samsung Galaxy J7 Questions & Answers] ZafotheNinja:
Out of curiosity, what are the options for paying to repair a device in that state? Motherboard swap? Would accessing flash through a hardware flasher give you access to system, or is it all encrypted now? 1 to 1 copy/cloning possible?
[Samsung Galaxy J7 Questions & Answers] Droidriven:
Yes, one of the above. JTAG, RIFF box, Octobox, etc..

Potentially, no guarantees though. It could very well be a waste of money to even attempt.
[Samsung Galaxy J7 Questions & Answers] ZafotheNinja:
This took way longer than I expected, here is my teardown of a J7 crown. EMI shield removal coming soon.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OONfFk4_iq4t5l347wSxxwhrR0EKnHQq/view?usp=drivesdk

The back is screwed onto the mid frame, screen must be removed to access the screws. Screws are quite tough, so make sure you have a good quality screwdriver and that is fits properly. All screws are Phillips head.

The screen must be removed VERY carefully, especially at the top. I used heat and cracked the screen behind the glass. I advise using acetone to break down the adhesive holding the glass, possibly in addition to heat and sourcing several thin spacers. My fingernails where fine but the trouble started when trying guitar picks.

The screen cable has enough give that moving the screen to unplug it was no problem, however the connection is covered by a plastic cover that requires quite a bit of force to remove. The cover seems to have a slot on the bottom right that I didn't notice at first. The screen connector pops straight up, again requiring more force than I'm comfortable with and has to be removed carefully so as to not damage the pins on the connector below like I did.

The screws are quite stiff, I advise setting the phone on a counter or held in a vise to remove them. Once you get all the screws out, the back is held in place with snaps. Work your way down from the top, as there is a hook at the bottom that the mid frame must tilt out of. Be sure that you have removed the sim tray before removing the back cover.

The battery is glued to the mid frame and connected with spring connectors which I quite like. A bit of acetone and you can get the battery free no problems. I also tried rubbing alcohol with next to zero effect. The main board is connected to the mid frame with 2 screws, these are smaller than the other screws so make sure you change bits to get these out.

The camera modules are just about the only thing that wasn't particularly sturdy, the front camera literally falls out when you unhook the connector. The back camera is better and has at least can hold itsself, is will also slide straight out if you pull on it.

Overall I really like the construction of this phone, the only major ribbon cable was for the screen, everything else is either press connectors with small ribbons or spring contacts. The buttons have their own pcbs so no worries of them falling out. Also no tape holding anything, which was rather refreshing. The main board has separate solid plate emi shields on pretty much every ic, going to take me a bit to get a hot air soldering station set up to remove them. I found antenna plugs at the top and bottom of the board, if you wanted you could easily drill through the back and plug in external antennas. There are two different types of connector so it will probably improve two of; GPS, Cell Signal or wifi, probably not all three. Curiously, J7 is embedded in the plastic and on several pieces, it's quite likely that this is mass manufactured and rebranded for different carriers, or at least several pieces used in other models.
[Samsung Galaxy J7 Questions & Answers] Droidriven:
Ok, what was the point of disassembling the device? What is the goal?
[Samsung Galaxy J7 Questions & Answers] ZafotheNinja:
Take a look at the ic's, there was a question of exactly what chipset was in this phone. Also opens up the possibility of hardware backups and rooting to get a foot in the door for software root down the road.

Edit:

Ooo, I just noticed, extra pins in the microsd slot. Dual sim maybe? Definitely not uhs 2, so I would say yes!

Edit2:

After a bit more research, it looks like the top rf connector is a mhf4, same as a ngff/m.2 card. (Not pcie, pcie has a larger u.fl connector) The bottom connector I'm having trouble identifying, https://imgur.com/a/HH8bUT6

Also haven't had any luck with the 2nd sim slot, probably software locked at best.

Edit3:

Well, ripped apart another phone, was trying to fix a power button, that failed spectacularly lol. Tried acetone this time to get the screen off, and well it worked, but I wound up removing the backlight from the screen, damaging it in the proccess and possibly the motherboard. (Still waiting on it to dry out and try it again.)

Also seems that many of the plastics in and on the phone seem to be eaten by acetone as well. I'm sure there is a way to get it apart nicely, but for now I reccomend heat and careful prying, ideally with something heat resistant, but it doesn't take much heat anyway.

So I ordered a new screen which should arrive in the next week or so. I'm still working on getting a heat soldering setup to get those emi shields off. I managed to find a j7 that is has Sep 2018 as its latest security patch, if anyone knows of a exploit we can use on it that would be awesome, so far I have found several CVE's but not many POC's. Unfortunately that phone had a faulty power button, and so I cant do anything with it till that replacement screen comes in lol

Edit 4:

Ram/CPU combo?: "SEC 849, K4F6E3S, 4HMAGCJ, G3LX299U"

EMMC, 16GB: "SEC 904, B041, KLMAG1JETD, S7XCR16PE"

If anyone wants numbers on other chips under the emi shields like power ics, clock dividers and rf amplifiers, feel free to ask. (I had them all typed out too, but the page refreshed and I lost it all...)

Edit 5 (wow):

So I managed to get another j7 that has Sep 2018 and Android 8, if anyone has some software roots they would like to try, this device is dedicated to that purpose. Also makes me wonder if that is the oldest update you can find on these, with 2 having the same patch level.
[Samsung Galaxy J7 Questions & Answers] stevenpoland2002:
Hey man I would love if u can pull the rom boot loader and recovery for me I cant figure out how but I want to install it with magick manager
[Samsung Galaxy J7 Questions & Answers] Droidriven:
Do you have S767VL? If so, it can't be pulled from the device without root and there is currently no way of rooting S767VL. Also, the S767VL has a locked bootloader and that means Magisk Manager will not work on this device.

You are wasting time even trying.

But, you can download the firmware for the S767VL and extract whatever you need from the firmware file.
[Samsung Galaxy J7 Questions & Answers] ZafotheNinja:
Basicly this, even with a hardmod the best I can do is pull the entire system storage, recovery etc in the form of a nand dump. To use that you would also have to hardmod your phone, there would be no software options for flashing it as far as I'm aware.

Someone more expreienced with hardmods may be able to help, but im still scratching my head on how to solder somthing that small lol!
[Samsung Galaxy J7 Questions & Answers] Droidriven:
Maybe not solder, but instead, maybe some method of booting into EDL with a jumper or conjunction of jumpers certain touching points, then using a JTAG, RIFF box, Octo box, etc... then flashing via some alternate "back door" USB comm port of some kind(probably some form of qhsusb_dload, qhsusb_bulk, 9008 port) on Qcom versions of this device.
[Samsung Galaxy J7 Questions & Answers] TracfoneJ7crown:
Nooooo don't let the thread die, it was epic and I need this.
[Samsung Galaxy J7 Questions & Answers] :
I tried

adb shell sys.oem_unlock_allowed 1 and sys.oem_unlock_allowed_override 1

and no luck :(

Our only hope is if someone finds an exploit to unlock the bootloader

---------- Post added at 03:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:19 PM ----------

Same, I really hope someone finds a way to root this
[Samsung Galaxy J7 Questions & Answers] sketchscarz:
Is there any chance you can provide those ODIN files? I have a FRP locked J7 Crown

I unlocked the FRP during the previous google account setup requirement. I used a Check from left to right. I dont know if that is OEM standardization, but i got passed it. I am in the OS but havent really found a reliable root method. This seems plausible http://androidbiits.com/root-straight-talk-samsung-galaxy-j7-crown-sm-s767vl-j7topeltetfnvzw-easily/. HOwever it does not entail as to where the AP file remains to flash through ODIN

I have 3.14.1 But the phone still isnt showing up on the ODIN interface. USB debugging is on and Dev options ofc is enabled. Cannot find oem unlock in the system so I used a shell code and the prompt returns $. havent verified if the bootloader is unlocked however. waiting for a little advice. I do have the Magisk. Since I have bootloader unlocked I would hope I can flash a recovery and adb sideload The magisk v 7.5.1..apk I acquired from the androidbiits forum (link above).

Thanks guys:good:

---------- Post added at 12:40 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:33 AM ----------

Ok! I have the device in download mode and ODIN 3.12 recognizes the device. Definitely need the AP, BL, CP, and CSC files. I used reboot bootloader in adb after unlocking with a particular oem unlock adb shell code. (adb shell setprop sys.oem_unlock_allowed 1) i beleive the command worked as i am in download mode with adb reboot bootloader, and it got me to this point. Anyone know where to find these files to be able to have a custom recovery? I am pretty sure when the official firmware is located, then I will be able to continue the method described in the androidbiits method (link above). Any chance someone could direct me in the right area to move forward?

https://imgur.com/a/csi981C Image of ODIN 3.12 and device added in download mode
[Samsung Galaxy J7 Questions & Answers] carlismcc:
Anything?

Has no one rooted the Samsung J7 Crown? If they have please don't be shy, share how its done.
[Samsung Galaxy J7 Questions & Answers] Droidriven:
Seriously?

Come on dude, did you even read this thread?

That is what this thread discussion has been all about. Don't you think that if root were found for J7 crown, it would be posted here in this thread. The members that have participated in this thread have been very thorough and have tried everything that can be tried. No one here or anywhere on the internet has found root for J7 Crown, that is why nothing can be found when searching Google, if root had been discovered by anyone for this device, a Google search would find it.
[Samsung Galaxy J7 Questions & Answers] Talysdaddy:
You don't need root to disable some system apps.

You can either do it the hard or easy way, hard way requires a PC and typing adb commands. It might actually work with the "Remote Adb Shell" app, haven't tried, since I'm rooted but if you have no PC, it's worth the shot. Google search "XDA disable bloat Samsung adb shell," you should be able to find a tutorial on it, seen a few.

The easy way costs a few bucks, but it's much easier no manual work, go to the Play Store and DL yoself "Samsung Package Disabler Pro" it's like $3-5 or something like that. A warning though, you gotta know which app you can disable and which one you cant, if you disable the wrong one you get a pop-up every 2 seconds saying something stopped working, its so frequent that you can't even go back to enable it. You're forced to flash stock to get your phone working again. Then you gotta start all over again. I'd stick to disabling only the highlighted apps in red, they're known to be bloatware so disabling is ok. These methods been round forever, I guess if you've never actually performed a Google search on the subject you'd have to hope that someone like me randomly reads your post and uses their time to reply. Personally I'd rather ask my know it all homie, he gots all the answers, always. Dunno why so many peeps don't utilize him, they made so easy that we don't even need to type nuttin anymore or even push a button. Say his name and he's always there, willing to help, as long as you're connected to the net, you got a biatch that you can boss round much as you want and always willing. Yet peeps rather go onto a forum and type their questions, in hopes that a stranger feeling nice and got time to type a response. If your question happens to be the top 5 most asked question then you guarantee no one gonna answer you. For example everyone that's asked in this thread, "rooting instructions?" As if this 20+ page thread don't have them here already or discussion on which they'd need to spend couple mins reading. Of course, most of us know that many treat reading like eating their veggies, they rather not, would do anything else but read, as if it hurts their brain or something, it's so weird. I'll PayPal anyone $10 that can rightfully answer why reading is like the plague to some peeps. When a tutorial is right there under their nose, they ask for someone to spend an hour out of their day to make a video just for them, even though they can accomplish the same by just reading the dang thing!!? It's crazy... $10!! PM me when you got the answer, I'll be waiting
[Samsung Galaxy J7 Questions & Answers] Droidriven:
In my experience in this forum, most don't read too deeply because most don't have any experience with tech worth mentioning when it comes to stuff like this and when they read tutorials it all becomes a blur to them that they can't understand.
[Samsung Galaxy J7 Questions & Answers] ZafotheNinja:
On the software side I've found this: https://blog.flanker017.me/text-to-speech-speaks-pwned/

Gives a shell with system app level access, not kernel access, but maybe enough permissions to be used with another exploit. (This is not ROOT, but may lead to it)

I get crashes with the POC app, but haven't gotten to the shell, more eyes on the exploit maybe?
[Samsung Galaxy J7 Questions & Answers] Droidriven:
I don't think that can do much more than snoop your device for information, in other words, it is only useful to "read" from system but can't "write" to system.

Something like this seems to be similar to what someone would use for phishing, such as embedding the malicious code into a photo/video or a web link then sending that photo/video/web link to you in a text message, an email attachment or some form of social media/messaging app/service. With such, once you opened the photo/video/web link, the code gains access to your device and the attacker on the other end can then access sensitive information on your device: e.g. location, location history, search history, web history, text messages, call logs, synced devices(which also makes those devices vulnerable to this code), emails, IP address, IMEI number, your photos/videos on your device, banking info, etc..
[Samsung Galaxy J7 Questions & Answers] :
Did anyone try flashing the Magisk patched boot.img after enabling OEM unlock on the engineering firmware??
[Samsung Galaxy J7 Questions & Answers] ZafotheNinja:
If I recall correctly, the engineering fw had a slider but it didn't actually do anything. Anyway, yes, I believe that has been tried. You could try again if you like just to be sure?
[Samsung Galaxy J7 Questions & Answers] Droidriven:
Yes, several times, with several additional modifications trying to get it to work, but it is pointless, it still blocks the patched .img and also still blocks TWRP.

I chased this for weeks on end trying different tricks and methods, nothing worked, didn't even get close to working.

On engineering firmware, OEM unlocked, RMM/KG status stated "checking", RMM/KG status not set to pre-normal(which should allow patched .img or TWRP to flash). But still no success, regardless of what is tried. I've tried everything except finding/buying a ENG root firmware(which doesn't exist for this device). I've exhausted every method and tool that I've learned/discovered in all the years I've been dealing with android customization, NOTHING works, period. We just are not going to get past the locked bootloader on this device, it is a pointless endeavor, Verizon/Tracfone has this device locked down air-tight.
[Samsung Galaxy J7 Questions & Answers] :
Ok well it doesn't sound like root is possible for this device :(

Edit: For me KG/RMM status doesn't show up at all in Download mode
[Samsung Galaxy J7 Questions & Answers] woahOppO999:
But can I flash this TracFone into an actual Verizon device???? Girlfriend had an iPhone XS Max & it smashed so trying to get SIM working in anything that will do it ?*♀️ thanks in advance for any help available
[Samsung Galaxy J7 Questions & Answers] :
No because the Bootloader is locked so it will not allow you to flash Verizon firmware.

To flash anything other than stock rom we need to unlock the bootloader which will never happen.
[Samsung Galaxy J7 Questions & Answers] Droidriven:
No, you can only flash Verizon firmware on Verizon devices. This device will block the Verizon firmware due to bootloader differences and might even brick the device.

As far as I know, you will not be able to use the Tracfone device on Verizon network unless the Tracfone device is unlocked.
[Samsung Galaxy J7 Questions & Answers] :
What about safestrap? You guys mentioned it earlier but did anyone actually try to get it installed? It works on some other phones that have locked bootloaders.

Edit: After some more research I found out that you need to be rooted in the first place to install safestrap. (Correct me if I'm wrong)
[Samsung Galaxy J7 Questions & Answers] Droidriven:
Yes, it requires root. Even if we found a way to root, Safestrap wouldn't work unless someone modified/updated it to work on this specific device.
[Samsung Galaxy J7 Questions & Answers] :
What about gaining temp root and then we could use safestrap for a similar phone
[Samsung Galaxy J7 Questions & Answers] Droidriven:
Temp root via what method?

Safestrap is long since abandoned and no longer supported for years, there is no Safestrap for a "similar phone".
[Samsung Galaxy J7 Questions & Answers] Droidriven:
As I stated in a previous reply, our only chance of rooting this thing is if one of the developers of the universal rooting apps or PC programs updates one of these tools with an exploit that just happens to work on this device. That hasn't happened yet and probably won't ever.

You are kicking a dead horse, trust me, everything has been thought of and tried already.

If you are that determined to have a rooted device, get a new device, one that already has a root method available and already has TWRP/ROMs.
[Samsung Galaxy J7 Questions & Answers] :
Did you guys try every single one click root app? If you didn't then maybe one of them could work. I have tried KingRoot and Kingoroot.
[Samsung Galaxy J7 Questions & Answers] Droidriven:
Everything means.....everything

One clicks virtually stopped working around the time Marshmallow/Nougat were released. They haven't had much luck on devices since then, they don't really work on anything anymore.

Tried towelroot, cydiaimpactor, kingroot(app and PC version), King o root, Framaroot, chimera tool, etc, etc...
[Samsung Galaxy J7 Questions & Answers] :
What about a JTAG box? I thought they could flash firmware directly to the board and that the locked bootloader didn't matter.
[Samsung Galaxy J7 Questions & Answers] Droidriven:
JTAG "might" work to unlock bootloader and allow a Magisk patched .img to flash, but still is not guaranteed to work could do more harm than good, plus, on today's Samsung devices, there is more to it than just the locked bootloader, there are other software and hardware components that check/verify software as it boots, a failure to boot in that chain of hardware/software checks means a bricked device. If it did work, we still need a proper TWRP to be built for this model number and ROMs for this model number.
[Samsung Galaxy J7 Questions & Answers] :
Well that's basically what we wanted then. We don't need TWRP (although it's nice to have). We still have an unlocked bootloader and Magisk root. Also we could maybe use TWRP for a similar phone if you really want TWRP or custom ROMs.
[Samsung Galaxy J7 Questions & Answers] Droidriven:
I added to my post.
[Samsung Galaxy J7 Questions & Answers] :
We could still unlock the bootloader and maybe root so I think it's worth a try. Does anyone have one?
[Samsung Galaxy J7 Questions & Answers] Droidriven:
It probably would have been tried already if they had this device, the JTAG and the knowledge to do so. I doubt anyone that has this device has a JTAG. I've been tempted to get a JTAG/RIFF/Octobox for years just to have that hardware available for repairs if needed, still haven't gotten around to getting them because they haven't been priority. I haven't needed them, they would just be nice to have in general.