APAD IMX515 - Notes on Modifying System Partition on Desktop

xaueious

Administrator
Staff member
Jul 9, 2010
3,483
436
As on Ubuntu. Base firmware 01016 Laotao. Single speak Utopia APAD iMX515 8" iPad clone.

System Dump

To internal FAT partition
dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p2 of=/mnt/disk/system.img
To SD
dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p2 of=/sdcard/system.img

Mount EXT4 Partition to /mnt/
Code:
sudo su
mkdir /mnt
cp ./system.img ./system.img.BACKUP
sudo mount -t ext4 -o loop system.img /mnt
mkdir system
nautilus /mnt/

After you are done

umount /mnt/

Making system.img Flashable
Create a text document, named 'system.md5'. Inside it, paste the md5 of the modified system.img without spaces. Save to root of internal FAT partition of device.
 

tekowalsky

Member
Jan 1, 2011
24
1
An MS Windows version of this process for those who are GUI minded.

System Dump (Or... To get an .img file of the system partition!)

Follow Xaueious' instructions for the System Dump, or download a firmware if you don't want to use a dump from your tablet.

Firmware comes in two forms so far:
1. "system.img" files which are a tablet system partition dd dump
2. a .img file which is a single dd dump of all partitions on the tablet

If you download a .img file containing all partitions on the tablet you can still extract the system partition and create a system.img easily. One method on Windows is to use 7.zip to open the .img file containing all the partitions. When you open the .img file as an archive in 7.zip you will see all of the partitions listed as separate .img files. The system partition is the second .img file. (You can also extract the recovery partition for modification.)

Mount EXT4 Partition...

We have to install two pieces of software first but from then on we can use GUI tools whenever we want.
Tools you will need to install:
1. ext2fsd - a free Windows driver to let you read the EXT4 partitions in tablet .img files
2. OSFMount - a free Windows software to mount the .img files as read/write Windows drives. Like 7.zip OSFMount can also extract partitions from a full tablet dump.

ext2fsd is available here: Ext2Fsd Project » Downloads (read the install instructions carefully)
OSFMount is available here: Tools for OSForensics - OSFMount - Mount dd images in Windows (very easy to install)

After you have both tools installed you should be able to mount your .img file like so:
1. Open OSFMount
2. Click "Mount new..."
3. Set the drive letter you want to use (be sure the drive letter isn't already used!)
4. Select the .img file
5. Uncheck "Read only drive"
6. Click "OK"
7. Double click on your new "drive"

You should now be looking at a read/write window showing the root of the system partition in your system.img file.
NOTE: Any changes you make are written to your system.img file immediately. There is no 'undo' button.

When you are finished making changes:
1. Go back to OSFMount
2. Select the drive you are finished with
3. Click the "Unmount" button

All done.
=)
 

xaueious

Administrator
Staff member
Jul 9, 2010
3,483
436
Didn't know about that. As an append, might want to make sure the permissions are set correctly though for some of those files...
 

tomlogan1

Member
Mar 14, 2011
1
0
An MS Windows version of this process for those who are GUI minded.

System Dump (Or... To get an .img file of the system partition!)

Follow Xaueious' instructions for the System Dump, or download a firmware if you don't want to use a dump from your tablet.

Firmware comes in two forms so far:
1. "system.img" files which are a tablet system partition dd dump
2. a .img file which is a single dd dump of all partitions on the tablet

If you download a .img file containing all partitions on the tablet you can still extract the system partition and create a system.img easily. One method on Windows is to use 7.zip to open the .img file containing all the partitions. When you open the .img file as an archive in 7.zip you will see all of the partitions listed as separate .img files. The system partition is the second .img file. (You can also extract the recovery partition for modification.)

Mount EXT4 Partition...

We have to install two pieces of software first but from then on we can use GUI tools whenever we want.
Tools you will need to install:
1. ext2fsd - a free Windows driver to let you read the EXT4 partitions in tablet .img files
2. OSFMount - a free Windows software to mount the .img files as read/write Windows drives. Like 7.zip OSFMount can also extract partitions from a full tablet dump.

ext2fsd is available here: Ext2Fsd Project » Downloads (read the install instructions carefully)
OSFMount is available here: Tools for OSForensics - OSFMount - Mount dd images in Windows (very easy to install)

After you have both tools installed you should be able to mount your .img file like so:
1. Open OSFMount
2. Click "Mount new..."
3. Set the drive letter you want to use (be sure the drive letter isn't already used!)
4. Select the .img file
5. Uncheck "Read only drive"
6. Click "OK"
7. Double click on your new "drive"

You should now be looking at a read/write window showing the root of the system partition in your system.img file.
NOTE: Any changes you make are written to your system.img file immediately. There is no 'undo' button.

When you are finished making changes:
1. Go back to OSFMount
2. Select the drive you are finished with
3. Click the "Unmount" button

All done.
=)

Thank you for posting this. It may be what I need. I have a Herotab M802 with a 4GB internal SD card. I would like to transfer my system to a 32 GB card and replace the 4GB card. This concept of images and so forth is foreign to me, although I have successfully updated the firmware on the current internal card by transferring Xaueious' software and find it very stable and does all I need to do. Could you tell me if this process is what I need to make such a transfer?

Thank you.
 
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