ZTE Write Protection for ZMAX and other ZTE phones

[Engels Peralta]

Well is not working for me I have tries several times and nothing yet.

Zmax z970 broken os 4.8.

 

[hroark13]

Well is not working for me I have tries several times and nothing yet.

Zmax z970 broken os 4.8.

what exactly are you doing and how are you testing it

 

[Engels Peralta]

what exactly are you doing and how are you testing it

After I type the command the phone reboots I try to create a folder in /system and nothing happens.

 

[MyNinjaPenguin]

are you sure, have you tested it

the reason I asked is I am trying to do it on a Zmax 2 (ATT Go) and it does not seem to be working

Can you please verify. and if you do indeed have /system r/w

then please tell the steps you taken to do it

Well, I know that apps that require system R/W (such as SDFix) are now working fine, I can now install SuperSU and use it instead of Kingo Superuser, and I appear to have permanent root.

Here's what I did:

1. Used Kingo PC to temp-root
2. Uninstalled Kingo Superuser
3. Opened terminal emulator on phone and set "persist.k" to various values until it apparently allowed Kingo to quickly temp-root my phone successfully every time, instead of taking forever and failing nine times out of ten
   
4. Tried SDFix and similar apps, but they gave errors
   
5. Eventually read this thread, typed "reboot disemmcwp" into terminal emulator. When it rebooted, low and behold, the apps worked!
   
   This was about a day and a half ago. I've been using my phone a lot since then, and so far all the features of all the root-required apps I've tried since then are working fine.
   
   Is there anything in particular you want me to verify or test?

 

[hroark13]

After I type the command the phone reboots I try to create a folder in /system and nothing happens.

more details

how are you trying to create the folder

this removes write protection

but you still have to remount the partition as rw

adb shell
su
mount -o rw,remount,rw /system
cd /system
mkdir tst123
ls

 

[Engels Peralta]

more details

how are you trying to create the folder

this removes write protection

but you still have to remount the partition as rw

adb shell
su
mount -o rw,remount,rw /system
cd /system
mkdir tst123
ls

Oh i didn't know that I have to remount. I'll try again and let you know. Thanks for your time and help. Oh forgot to tell you that a was using amaze file manager to create the folder.

 

[hroark13]

Well, I know that apps that require system R/W (such as SDFix) are now working fine, I can now install SuperSU and use it instead of Kingo Superuser, and I appear to have permanent root.

Here's what I did:

1. Used Kingo PC to temp-root
2. Uninstalled Kingo Superuser
3. Opened terminal emulator on phone and set "persist.k" to various values until it apparently allowed Kingo to quickly temp-root my phone successfully every time, instead of taking forever and failing nine times out of ten
   
4. Tried SDFix and similar apps, but they gave errors
   
5. Eventually read this thread, typed "reboot disemmcwp" into terminal emulator. When it rebooted, low and behold, the apps worked!
   
   This was about a day and a half ago. I've been using my phone a lot since then, and so far all the features of all the root-required apps I've tried since then are working fine.
   
   Is there anything in particular you want me to verify or test?

try this

adb shell
su
mount -o rw,remount,rw /system
cd /system
mkdir tst123
ls


reboot phone

adb shell

cd /system
ls

see if you tst123 folder

 

[hroark13]

Works great on the ZTE ZMAX 2 (Z955A)!

You sir, are a gentleman and a scholar.
Also, YOU REALLY ARE A FARKING GENIUS

what version of the ZMAX 2 do you have Boost Mobile, ATT GO, etc etc

 

[MyNinjaPenguin]

There it is!

I have the unlocked ZMAX 2, came out October/November last year; I use it on T-Mobile. Device name: LEO; Model name: Z955a.

 

[Masterchief87]

Made an account just to ask this (And hopefully get into the community)

But does this remove the need for me to use a switcher? And does this mean that if I'm using this, with out any switcher installed, that I could both:
1. Flash Zips from TWRP without needing to do anything special.
2. Factory Reset using the Settings menu in my Rom instead of re-installing/wiping it from TWRP.

If you could answer these for me it'd be greatly appreciated.

Switchers are no longer needed. I said last year I hoped they would become obsolete some day and it is finally here thanks to @hroark13!

Doing a factory reset from the settings menu in the ROM is still a bad idea. Many people have reported bricking their zmax phones by doing this.

 

[Masterchief87]

I just entered the command using terminal emulator on my MetroPCS zmax running broken os 6.0.1 and it is persisting across reboots! Looks like it doesn't matter if its entered via adb or terminal emulator and the result is the same either way.

 

[yurkinator]

Works on n9835 ZTE Grand S Pro

 

[hroark13]

View attachment 106011
There it is!

I have the unlocked ZMAX 2, came out October/November last year; I use it on T-Mobile. Device name: LEO; Model name: Z955a.

can you do me a favor a provide a partition dump of your phone for me, so that I may try to get this to work on ZTE ZMAX 2 ATT GO

this is not a dump of the big partition like data cache and system, and it does not dump your imie (modemst1 and modemst2)

I just want to see if your bootloaders works


adb shell
su
mkdir /sdcard/pdmp
dd if=/dev/block/platform/7824900.sdhci/by-name/DDR of=/sdcard/pdmp/DDR.img
dd if=/dev/block/platform/7824900.sdhci/by-name/aboot of=/sdcard/pdmp/aboot.img
dd if=/dev/block/platform/7824900.sdhci/by-name/config of=/sdcard/pdmp/config.img
dd if=/dev/block/platform/7824900.sdhci/by-name/echarge of=/sdcard/pdmp/echarge.img
dd if=/dev/block/platform/7824900.sdhci/by-name/fsc of=/sdcard/pdmp/fsc.img
dd if=/dev/block/platform/7824900.sdhci/by-name/fsg of=/sdcard/pdmp/fsg.img
dd if=/dev/block/platform/7824900.sdhci/by-name/hyp of=/sdcard/pdmp/hyp.img
dd if=/dev/block/platform/7824900.sdhci/by-name/keystore of=/sdcard/pdmp/keystore.img
dd if=/dev/block/platform/7824900.sdhci/by-name/misc of=/sdcard/pdmp/misc.img
dd if=/dev/block/platform/7824900.sdhci/by-name/modem of=/sdcard/pdmp/modem.img
dd if=/dev/block/platform/7824900.sdhci/by-name/oem of=/sdcard/pdmp/oem.img
dd if=/dev/block/platform/7824900.sdhci/by-name/pad of=/sdcard/pdmp/pad.img
dd if=/dev/block/platform/7824900.sdhci/by-name/persist of=/sdcard/pdmp/persist.img
dd if=/dev/block/platform/7824900.sdhci/by-name/rpm of=/sdcard/pdmp/rpm.img
dd if=/dev/block/platform/7824900.sdhci/by-name/sbl1 of=/sdcard/pdmp/sbl1.img
dd if=/dev/block/platform/7824900.sdhci/by-name/sec of=/sdcard/pdmp/sec.img
dd if=/dev/block/platform/7824900.sdhci/by-name/splash of=/sdcard/pdmp/splash.img
dd if=/dev/block/platform/7824900.sdhci/by-name/ssd of=/sdcard/pdmp/ssd.img
dd if=/dev/block/platform/7824900.sdhci/by-name/tz of=/sdcard/pdmp/tz.img
dd if=/dev/block/platform/7824900.sdhci/by-name/ztecfg of=/sdcard/pdmp/ztecfg.img
dd if=/dev/block/platform/7824900.sdhci/by-name/ztelk of=/sdcard/pdmp/ztelk.img
chmod 777 -R /sdcard/pdmp
cd /sdcard
busybox tar -zcvf pdmp.tar.gz pdmp/
chmod 777 /sdcard/pdmp.tar.gz

 

[Heckerpead]

This does not work on the warp elite, sadly. I've tried 20 times already. I think I'll keep trying though!

 

[hroark13]

This does not work on the warp elite, sadly. I've tried 20 times already. I think I'll keep trying though!

it does not work on the ZTE ZMAX 2 (Att Go version)

but it does work on the ZTE ZMAX 2 (unlocked version)

I have a ZTE ZMAX 2 Att Go in hand, and if I am able to figure out why it does not work with it, and can fix it, than that same fix should apply to the Elite

 

[Engels Peralta]

more details

how are you trying to create the folder

this removes write protection

but you still have to remount the partition as rw

adb shell
su
mount -o rw,remount,rw /system
cd /system
mkdir tst123
ls

Did what you post and I could create the folder but when I rebooted /system is read only again.

 

[hroark13]

Did what you post and I could create the folder but when I rebooted /system is read only again.

system will always need to be re-mounted as r/w after reboot

you can use a file manager that supports root access like EFS file explorer
make sure you set it to root access

 

[Heckerpead]

Awesome, great work by the way!

 

[Engels Peralta]

system will always need to be re-mounted as r/w after reboot

you can use a file manager that supports root access like EFS file explorer
make sure you set it to root access[/

Is there a way to put this when the phone boots up?

 

[kdraw44]

Did not work on Boost Mobile ZTE Max+ n9521

 

[hroark13]

Is there a way to put this when the phone boots up?

yes but please ask your questions in the Zmax forum, I want to keep this thread on the topic of write protection

 

[hroark13]

View attachment 106011
There it is!

I have the unlocked ZMAX 2, came out October/November last year; I use it on T-Mobile. Device name: LEO; Model name: Z955a.

please let me know of you can get me that partition dump

 

[MyNinjaPenguin]

please let me know of you can get me that partition dump

Yeah, I can do that in a few hours; busy at the moment.

 

[hroark13]

Yeah, I can do that in a few hours; busy at the moment.

ok thanks

 

[MyNinjaPenguin]

ok thanks

Here you go, man. I hope I did that right, and I hope it helps.

http://www.mediafire.com/download/46yw7tk5f7ekn52/pdmp.tar.gz