Root Root and CWM Recovery for ZTE Concord 2

[latinomanz]

Hi, Thanks all, I have managed to remove the bloatware and now I have more space, now my phone is ok, the only think I do not like about this phone is the lack of LTE and a front camera but for $20 bucks, it cant be beaten.

 

[hroark13]

Hi, Thanks all, I have managed to remove the bloatware and now I have more space, now my phone is ok, the only think I do not like about this phone is the lack of LTE and a front camera but for $20 bucks, it cant be beaten.

maybe you can provide a list of apk and odex files that others can safely remove, and some instructions

that may help get development going on this phone

 

[latinomanz]

The list of programs that can be removed is:

PhotoTable.apk
ZteBrowser.apk
PlusOne.apk
Velvet.apk
AntHalService.apk
CABLService.apk
FccTest.apk
Filer.apk
FlashLight.apk
Videos.apk
privacy*
SdLog.apk
SVIService*
TaskManager.apk
Protips.apk
Hanout.apk
Talkback.apk
PhotoEditor.apk
Filer.apk
MediaUploader.apk
TestAssistant.apk
TestAssistant.odex
TaskManager.apk
Sdlog.apk
Anything containing the word "metro" in it (if you are with MetroPCS)
The 3 files that start with IQ

For the files that contains an * at the end, you can remove anything that starts with the words before the * or you can just type those words followed by *

If any of the files above has an odex extention too, you can remove that too, the best way to remove it is for example rm TestAssistant.* that way it will remove both, the apk and odex files.

This removes the metropcs programs and the google bloatware programs.

 

[Airfluff]

Thanks so much! Worked with no problems once I took out the sdcard.

Just curious if anyone else is having a hard time getting cwm to recognize the sdcard? Trying to make a backup but I can only do it on the internal sd which has like..400mb left.

Also, since it has to be off to access the system partition, does that affect apps like titanium backup? I mean, I guess you couldn't backup any system apps unless through adb or something? Or, does that not matter?

Regardless, so excited to have root on this phone now! EPIC.

 

[latinomanz]

Thanks so much! Worked with no problems once I took out the sdcard.

Just curious if anyone else is having a hard time getting cwm to recognize the sdcard? Trying to make a backup but I can only do it on the internal sd which has like..400mb left.

Also, since it has to be off to access the system partition, does that affect apps like titanium backup? I mean, I guess you couldn't backup any system apps unless through adb or something? Or, does that not matter?

Regardless, so excited to have root on this phone now! EPIC.

I did back up but you have to debloated first so that you can have more space.

I did have problems with it recognizing my sd card.

You cannot delete any system apps unless you use adb, so things like root uninstaller wont work.

 

[hroark13]

Thanks so much! Worked with no problems once I took out the sdcard.

Just curious if anyone else is having a hard time getting cwm to recognize the sdcard? Trying to make a backup but I can only do it on the internal sd which has like..400mb left.

Also, since it has to be off to access the system partition, does that affect apps like titanium backup? I mean, I guess you couldn't backup any system apps unless through adb or something? Or, does that not matter?

Regardless, so excited to have root on this phone now! EPIC.

you should be able to backup to external_sd

 

[Airfluff]

you should be able to backup to external_sd

Thanks for the quick response. I get an error when I try to, though. Also get one when I tried mounting it in cwm. My battery's low so imma let it charge a bit before I try backing it up again.

Edit: It says "Can't mount backup path" when I try to backup to my external sdcard.

 

[Airfluff]

I did back up but you have to debloated first so that you can have more space.

I did have problems with it recognizing my sd card.

You cannot delete any system apps unless you use adb, so things like root uninstaller wont work.

How did you get it to recognize your sdcard?

 

[latinomanz]

How did you get it to recognize your sdcard?

It never did, I debloated it with adb and then I backed up to internnal SD with recovery and then moved it to external sd under android.

 

[hroark13]

Thanks for the quick response. I get an error when I try to, though. Also get one when I tried mounting it in cwm. My battery's low so imma let it charge a bit before I try backing it up again.

Edit: It says "Can't mount backup path" when I try to backup to my external sdcard.

do you have another sd card you can try

if not maybe you can try to backup your sd card to your computer, then format the sd card in CWM as VFAT

 

[Airfluff]

do you have another sd card you can try

if not maybe you can try to backup your sd card to your computer, then format the sd card in CWM as VFAT

Tried another sd card and it didn't make any difference. Neither did formating it as vfat. Got the same error message both ways. I appreciate the help.

 

[gnoix]

Tried another sd card and it didn't make any difference. Neither did formating it as vfat. Got the same error message both ways. I appreciate the help.

Did you mount external-sdcard after formatting as vfat? It worked for me, was able to backup to external card.

 

[Airfluff]

Did you mount external-sdcard after formatting as vfat? It worked for me, was able to backup to external card.

yeah, I got the same error. It wouldn't let me mount it.

 

[Airfluff]

if not maybe you can try to backup your sd card to your computer, then format the sd card in CWM as VFAT

<_<; Hahah...actually this did work. I just kinda did a n00b thing by switching out the sdcard while it was still on so, it didn't recognize it till I booted into cwm and tried mounting it again. Thx for the help!

 

[Yuichan]

Thank you so much for putting this out here! Now, one part that stuck out is where you said "THIS IS A FUNCTION OF THE BOOT LOADER AND IS BEYOND MY ABILITY TO RECTIFY"

Does that mean someone else can, and if so, do you know if anyone is currently working on it?

 

[Yuichan]

Another question; If I install an APK (such as Freedom) through ADB into the system folder, will THAT have access to modify /system? I wasn't really sure if that applies only to users and apps trying to access it from outside or EVERYTHING. Thanks!

 

[satify]

Thank you! I've got 5 of these phones that I need to access remotely via mobizen/webkey and now I can do it!

Did you get Mobizen to work?

 

[hroark13]

Thank you so much for putting this out here! Now, one part that stuck out is where you said "THIS IS A FUNCTION OF THE BOOT LOADER AND IS BEYOND MY ABILITY TO RECTIFY"

Does that mean someone else can, and if so, do you know if anyone is currently working on it?

ZTE can release a new boot loader that does not have the write protection.

The guys that have the smarts to come up with cracks for a boot loader, would never be interested in this phone, or any other ZTE phone for that matter.

No one else is working on this that I know of.

 

[hroark13]

Another question; If I install an APK (such as Freedom) through ADB into the system folder, will THAT have access to modify /system? I wasn't really sure if that applies only to users and apps trying to access it from outside or EVERYTHING. Thanks!

even the user root can not modify /system while you are booted off of the "boot partition"


there may be some back door, but I am not sure

 

[cntony]

Thanks a lot, hroark13!
After I root my metropcs concord II, how could I unlock it?

Thanks again.

 

[Shabbypenguin]

by contacting metropcs and having them give you the unlock code.

 

[Yuichan]

ZTE can release a new boot loader that does not have the write protection.

All in favor of ZTE releasing a R/W update say "I"

 

[satify]

Thank you! I've got 5 of these phones that I need to access remotely via mobizen/webkey and now I can do it!

Did you get Mobizen to work?

To answer my own question, YES! Now I have full remote web interface access after rooting.:congrats:
A big thanks to everyone who contributed in making this possible, especially you OP.

 

[o4tuna]

OH YEAH THANKS FOR ROOTING THIS BUGGER!

Ok, so I also have 4 of these phones. Very disappointed that google decided to lock down moving apps to the sd card. So I specifically wanted root to enable that ability. But I think that not having R/W access makes all the methods I've seen not work, as I'm pretty sure they're all just (re)writing config files.

Preferable method:
root external 2 internal
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eu.codlab.int2ext&hl=en
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92aS5Nh7cFw
might be possible to do through adb, if I knew what they were editing?

Alternatives:
sdfix - allows apps to write to ext sd card, so I think this would allow app2sd (appmgrlll) to work again...
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nextapp.sdfix&hl=en
might be possible to do through adb, if I knew what they were editing?

Directory Bind - allows moving apps, but I think this would require R/W access?
[TOOL] DirectoryBind - move data to external

 

[Airfluff]

OH YEAH THANKS FOR ROOTING THIS BUGGER!

Ok, so I also have 4 of these phones. Very disappointed that google decided to lock down moving apps to the sd card. So I specifically wanted root to enable that ability. But I think that not having R/W access makes all the methods I've seen not work, as I'm pretty sure they're all just (re)writing config files.

Maybe I'm missing something, but I have the option to move to sd card on this phone..all I had to do was stick a sd card in the phone and, the apps that would allow it, I moved.