[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jharris1993:
Solution:

I guess it's "umpteenth time's the charm!" :highfive:

Having done considerable research, (with everything pointing to an issue with the busybox file being in the wrong place), I decided to revisit this, did a little more digging and ultimately found a solution.

Since nothing irritates me more than someone posting "I fixed it!" without telling everyone else HOW they fixed it, here are the steps I used to solve this problem.

Please be careful. You will be mucking around with your tablet's/phone's root file system in ways that can be fatal if you're not paying attention. It's not that difficult but you DO have to PAY ATTENTION to what you're doing.

TO-DO

:

Instead of copying the busybox file, it should really be a symlink to /sbin/busybox.

If anyone figures out a way to create a symlink in Android that actually works, I'd like to know.

Here it is:

Pre-requisites

:

The device MUST be rooted for this to work. I cannot help you with advice on how to root individual devices. This Eken tablet comes rooted by default.

Download off-line from Android Archives, (using a different system), an early version of X-plore, which is an excellent file manager.

Load X-plore onto a thumb-drive or a micro-SD card, (I used a micro-SD), and then install the SD card / thumb drive into the tablet you're trying to fix.

Steps to solve the problem

:

First, go to Settings => Security and enable "unknown sources"

Open your device's file manager

Find the copy of X-plore you downloaded, and tap it to begin the off-line installation process.

Once it installs, open it and go to the "configuration" menu. This is within the three-dot menu drop-down in the upper right-hand corner.

Select:

* (near the top) Show hidden files => select the check-box. (optional)

* Root Access => Superuser + mount writable (this allows you to change permissions to permit writing the root filesystem)

* (scroll down) Dark mode => select the check-box. (this is a personal preference; IMHO it makes it easier to read.)

* Exit configuration by using the "back" button or back arrow in the upper left corner.

* You should now see two columns representing two views of the device's file-system.

On the left side, open the "Root" filesystem, also labeled with a "/"

Scroll down and find the "/sbin" folder and open it by tapping on it.

* You may, or may not, see several folders and files. You are looking for the file "busybox"

* If you don't see it there, you may have to "find" it using the magnifying glass icon in the center row of icons.

* Open the "find" dialog and replace the "*.*" with "busybox" and then select "OK".

* (assuming you found it), tap at the right-hand edge of the row with the file-name to "select" it - a big check-mark will appear there.

Go to the right-hand side list now. Find and open:

* Root (/) like you did before.

* system

* bin

* At the top of that column, you should see a folder icon, followed by "/system/bin"

Look to see if there is a file named "busybox" there. (In my case, it was missing - which is the problem)

(assuming it's missing)

Collapse the "bin" folder by tapping on it - it might take a couple of taps.

Touch-and-hold the "bin" folder until a long list appears. Scroll down to the bottom of that list and select "permissions"

Within the permissions dialog, there are three columns: Read, Write, and Execute.

* There should be three selected boxes under "Read".

* There should be ONE selected box, the top one, under "Write"

* There should be three selected boxes under "Execute"

* Directly below the last box under "Read", the box labeled "Recursive" should NOT be selected.

* To the far right of "Recursive" should be a note that reads "Mode: 755"

Under the heading "Write", select the other two boxes so that all three are selected. The word "Mode" should now be followed by "777" Close the permissions dialog by selecting "OK".

Verify the following:

* The arrow at the top of the center column is pointing to the

right

. If it is not pointing to the right, tap it until it points toward the right-hand column.

* The file "busybox" on the left-hand pane has a check-mark next to it and no other files are selected.

* The "bin" folder on the right-hand side has been collapsed and is selected by being a darker black with NO check-mark.

* The top of that column shows the folder icon and "/system/bin" as the selected path.

Copy the "busybox" file into the /system/bin folder by doing the following:

* Tap the "copy" icon in the center column - it will look like two pieces of paper stacked together.

* Verify that the dialog that opens:

* Just below the top right it says "busybox" (the file you're copying)

* Under that, "Copy to"

* Under that, a folder icon and then "/system/bin".

* Under that, the selection "Move mode (delete source files) is

NOT

selected!

* Tap "OK" to copy the file to /system/bin. Once the copy is done, the dialog will close.

Tap "bin" on the right hand side to open it if it does not open by itself.

Verify that "busybox" appears in both the left and right hand panes.

Press and hold the "busybox" file until the list dialog re-appears.

* Select "permissions".

* Verify that all three "Read" permissions are set, only the top "Write" permission is set, and all three "Execute" permissions are set. (You may have to clear the bottom two "Write" check-boxes.)

* Verify the "Mode" is set to "755"

* Close the permissions dialog by tapping "OK"

Collapse the "bin" folder by tapping on it.

Long-press the "bin" folder, select "permissions", and set the permissions of the bin folder to "755" the way you did for the busybox file above.

Return to the "Configuration" menu by following the steps at the beginning and select "Superuser" or "Normal User" instead of "Superuser + mount writable" to prevent accidental changes in the future.

At this point, you should be able to close and re-open X-plore and verify that "busybox" actually exists within /system/bin. If it does, you can reboot and your should be good to go.

If it's not there, re-trace the steps I listed above, paying particular attention to the "Superuser" setting in "configuration" and the various file permissions.

If you're still having trouble, post a reply below and I will try to provide what help I can.

Thanks for your patience and I hope this helps others who were puzzling with this as long as I was.