Permanent Airplane Mode for Tablet

[DillontheVillan]

I am a Computer Support Analyst Vetran who is new to Rooting on mobile devices. I cannot find much information on how to permanently disable the bluetooth and wireless on my Samsung Galaxy S2 8" tablets. I have 50 of them.
Is rooting the way to go? Does anybody have any tips? These tablets are to be used in the field in a high security zone and cannot have the radios activated.

 

[dontpanicbobby]

So how do you get the info from the tablets? Does everyone bring them in and you offload stuff to a central computer?

 

[DillontheVillan]

Yes that's right. We load all of the conventional apps and some mapping apps and sideload the updates by means of a memory stick

 

[svim]

Have you looked into Google's G Suite/Mobile Management? It's focus is on managing multiple Android devices.
https://support.google.com/a/answer/7396025?hl=en&ref_topic=7349239

https://www.techrepublic.com/articl...ely-manage-mobile-devices-in-googles-g-suite/

 

[DillontheVillan]

Thanks for the feedback, we are using MobiControl MDM but cannot apply this to tablets because we are disabling radios and MobiControl depends on the device not being in Airplane mode. I may have to root these devices but this is a whole other area of expertise for me. We are not in the habit of tampering with purchased assets but if there is a clear advantage, then that's the way I will go.

 

[DillontheVillan]

Incidentally, Samsung wrote back to me after I suggested the removal of the radio modules from the motherboard. They wrote, 'if you try to remove the WiFi module from the device, it would affect the functionality of the tablet and would lead to permanent damage of the System Board.

 

[svim]

Give some thought into re-thinking your approach to managing all those tablets. Depending on how you distribute those tablets to the staff, handing out a rooted device out can be a dangerous practice, even when you think they have been locked down.
https://insights.samsung.com/2015/1...e-safe-the-security-risks-of-rooting-devices/
It might be less cumbersome to leave the wireless connectivity as is for management purposes, and instead lock down any general user access to WiFi/mobile data/Bluetooth.

 

[DillontheVillan]

thanks for that SVIM I'll be sure to read up on that tomorrow.

 

[svim]

Incidentally, Samsung wrote back to me after I suggested the removal of the radio modules from the motherboard. They wrote, 'if you try to remove the WiFi module from the device, it would affect the functionality of the tablet and would lead to permanent damage of the System Board.

Just as an aside, that does sound like a very, very daunting project to remove any chip from those 50 motherboards. To keep things more compact sockets are pretty rare in any tablet so to remove the radio chips won't involve just 'unplugging' multiple chips (WiFi, cellular, Bluetooth), they're typically soldered to the motherboard. So it involves a lot of disassembly/reassembly of each tablet and some skilled staff to safely un-solder the specific chips involved. This is just an example of extracting the mobos (it's for a Tab S2 9.7" model, iFixit doesn't show a mobo page of the 8"):
https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Samsung+Galaxy+Tab+S2+9.7+SM-T813+Motherboard+Replacement/108101

 

[DillontheVillan]

That was a good read, for us I think the security issues will be minimal since the tablets don't use any comms features.
I don't like the idea of rooting the tablets but I can't fathom why password protecting airplane mode is such an issue.
It just doesn't exist through conventional software!