Help Problem with lock screen...

[damewolf13]

My husband has the bionic, and decided to try out the lock screen with his pin activated, and now he hates it and wants to deactivate the lock screen. Problem is, he can't seem to find the option for deactivation. All of those areas are now grayed out. It seems that his phone thinks he is an intruder trying to get into the phone. Can anyone here help him?
Thanks!

 

[Thom]

My husband has the bionic, and decided to try out the lock screen with his pin activated, and now he hates it and wants to deactivate the lock screen. Problem is, he can't seem to find the option for deactivation. All of those areas are now grayed out. It seems that his phone thinks he is an intruder trying to get into the phone. Can anyone here help him?
Thanks!

I tried it on the Droid X I went to ...
I set a PIN ... I then went to ...
Settings | Location & Security
Select Change Screen Lock
Enter PIN
The option screen then comes up
Choose None

On the Bionic I went to ...
Settings | Security & Screen Lock
In Screenlock I set a PIN
I reloaded the system
It prompted me for a PIN
I typed the PIN
I went to ...
Settings | Security & Screen Lock
In Screenlock
It prompted me for a PIN
I typed the PIN
It displayed the menu
I chose None
I reloaded the system
The screen was unlocked.

... Thom

 

[damewolf13]

Thanks Thom!
I will pass that along!

 

[damewolf13]

He tried that, and all of the menu options are still grayed out, so I think we will probably have to call VZW and talk to tech support. Thanks anyway, Thom, it was worth a try.

 

[Thom]

He tried that, and all of the menu options are still grayed out, so I think we will probably have to call VZW and talk to tech support. Thanks anyway, Thom, it was worth a try.

Interesting. It almost sounds like he turned on Data Encryption. I have no experience with it other then than the warning messages that I read over the last year,

In ICS it is found in ...
System Settings | Security & Screen Lock | Encryption | Data Encryption

You must set a PIN code when using it.

As I said I have never experimented with it. I was not aware that you could turn it off after you turned it on.

... Thom

 

[damewolf13]

Yes, and I think that is what he did too. I am not sure there is anything he can do about that, but it may be a lesson learned, at least.

 

[Thom]

I've never been down that road before ... thank God. I think he will have to reformat his disk and start with an out-of-the-box Bionic. But ... as I said I have never been been down that road.

The whole idea was to make it so when someone stole (or found) your phone they could not access any of your data.

Perhaps OutOfPhase can tell if he can flash it to stock using RSD Lite.

... Thom

 

[OutOfPhase]

He can flash it back to stock. I am not sure if it will get rid of his password issue but he can try the modified 6.7.246 fxz and keep his data. If not the full 6.7.246 fxz will work but anything not on his sd-card will be wiped. PM me if you need help or just post in the how to flash 6.7.246 with rsdlite and i will get an email.

I do have a different modified fxz that should work and maintain his data! let me know if you want it and I will pm you a link.

 

[damewolf13]

Thanks guys! If that is what he decides, I will certainly let you know.

 

[Thom]

He can flash it back to stock. I am not sure if it will get rid of his password issue but he can try the modified 6.7.246 fxz and keep his data. If not the full 6.7.246 fxz will work but anything not on his sd-card will be wiped. PM me if you need help or just post in the how to flash 6.7.246 with rsdlite and i will get an email.

I do have a different modified fxz that should work and maintain his data! let me know if you want it and I will pm you a link.

His purpose was to get rid of the PIN. I've never been there (thank God) but I think he needs to be prepared for the loss of data.

There is also the question of the SD-Ext card.

My A-S-S-U-M-P-T-I-O-N is that if he can flash he will have to wipe the SD and SD-Ext cards in order to remove encryption in order to turn off the PIN.

... Thom

 

[OutOfPhase]

His purpose was to get rid of the PIN. I've never been there (thank God) but I think he needs to be prepared for the loss of data.

There is also the question of the SD-Ext card.

My A-S-S-U-M-P-T-I-O-N is that if he can flash he will have to wipe the SD and SD-Ext cards in order to remove encryption in order to turn off the PIN.

... Thom

Good point. When it comes to encryption and the sd card's they are tied to the specific phones system and password. If they are put into another phone or on a pc you will not be able to read them even with the "password". He will have to wipe them both. Might as well use the full fxz and start with a clean slate.

 

[doogald]

Good point. When it comes to encryption and the sd card's they are tied to the specific phones system and password. If they are put into another phone or on a pc you will not be able to read them even with the "password". He will have to wipe them both. Might as well use the full fxz and start with a clean slate.

They are actually tied not to the phone but to a key created at the time of encryption. Factory reset the phone and you will not be able to access the encryption on the SD card or internal storage.

Why the fxz by the way? Why not a simple factory reset with format of the internal storage and SD card? At this point, the internal storage and SD card can be accessed - they can be backed up, formatted and copied back after the factory reset.

[edit] That is, they can be backed up prior to the factory reset, and then copied back later.

 

[Thom]

How does he get a decrypted copy of the data so he can recover it after the reset leaving encryption off?

What tool are you suggesting for the backup and restore? (I don;t know if he is root-ed.)

... Thom

 

[OutOfPhase]

Will an FDR reset the encryption? I didn't think that it would.

 

[doogald]

How does he get a decrypted copy of the data so he can recover it after the reset leaving encryption off?

What tool are you suggesting for the backup and restore? (I don;t know if he is root-ed.)

... Thom

Unless I am reading damewolf wrong, her husband knows the PIN; he just cannot remove it. Unlocking the phone with the PIN supplies the decryption key, I think, so should be able to copy to a PC over the USB cable. (I may have that wrong, though.)

If not, there is always something like Dropbox or Google+ to automatically upload photos, fo those at least, plus any other files that may need to be backed up.

Will an FDR reset the encryption? I didn't think that it would.

FDR will wipe the data partition, so there remains no need to have a key anymore - it resets the encryption.

Encrypt your phone - Android OS Help

 

[Thom]

There is also the problem that the SD-Ext card is encrypted and the Factory Data Reset does not touch it.

If your assumption is correct that when he saves the data to a PC it is decrypted then he will need to copy all his data to a PC.

My G-U-E-S-S is that he will have to wipe the SD-Ext card and then do the Factory Data Reset. If that does not solve his problem then do the RSD Lite.

They R-E-A-L-L-Y want to protect the data.

... Thom

 

[doogald]

There is also the problem that the SD-Ext card is encrypted and the Factory Data Reset does not touch it.

If your assumption is correct that when he saves the data to a PC it is decrypted then he will need to copy all his data to a PC.

My G-U-E-S-S is that he will have to wipe the SD-Ext card and then do the Factory Data Reset. If that does not solve his problem then do the RSD Lite.

They R-E-A-L-L-Y want to protect the data.

You'd want to format the SD card *after* the factory data reset. If you format before, it will be re-encrypted by the setting. Somewhere in the storage settings there is an option to format the SD card.

 

[Thom]

Yes it is Settings | Storage.

So ... to do what he wants ... apparently do a Factory Data Reset followed by a SD-Ext card format. He will in that process remove all apps he installed and all data on both the SD and SD-Ext cards.

The remaining unknown is if copying the data to a PC before the reset/reformat will save it on the PC decrypted so he can copy (some) back after the reset/reformat.

... Thom