Settings stop working

Thanks for your support!
Can you give me an step by step instruction?

the selinux stuff looks fine - Iā€™d expect the ā€œcom.android.settings/database/ā€ paths to show up in the dmesg with a read or write denied if selinux really is a culprit in this

So, sorry for the misleading about selinux :frowning:

However, while playing with a 1.6S test device trying to find a solution, I found that removing this dir changes ā€¦ absolutely nothing!
At least, I couldnā€™t find any change on my testing device. All my personal setting (cosmetic, security, accounts, etc) are still here.

What Iā€™ve done:

  • rebooted to TWRP
  • after decrypting data, launched the File Manager (Advanced button in start screen)
  • navigated to the /data/user_de/0/com.android.settings dir
  • used the blue button at bottom right, move, /sdcard
  • exited File Manager, rebooted to System

The dir was re-created at reboot.

Maybe it worth a try on your device? If it donā€™t work you can go back by removing the new created dir and move back the one from /sdcard.

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I have done as described. After the reboot the settings closed pop-up appreas.

Folder ā€œcom android.settingsā€ is created new, but without content. There are only empty 2 folders ā€œcacheā€ and ā€œcode_cacheā€. The behaviour of the phone is still the sam !
So it seams, that the phone doesnĀ“t care about the content in ā€œcom android.settingsā€ !?

Thatā€™s unfortunate, Iā€™d really bet on this, sorry :frowning:
Indeed, it seems that these data are useless but have the Settings app running fine!

So, back to the ROM image re-apply option, hope it will give us somethingā€¦

  • First, you must have the exact same ROM image you applied on hand, if you updated OTA it may be in /data/lineageos_updates/ if not deleted automatically. As a precaution you can download it using your phoneā€™s browser, it will be in a sub-dir of /sdcard (probably Downloads).
  • Next, boot to TWRP, mount System partition, then launch File Manager, find and delete the Settings app apk (on my 1.6S test device itā€™s in /system/system/system_ect/priv_app/Settings). Delete the whole directory, not only the apk file. Unmount System when done.
  • Optionally, delete your /data/user_de/0/com.android.settings dir
  • Last, re-apply the ROM image using TWRPā€™s Install function, donā€™t forget to wipe cache & Dalvik.

This way the Settings app will be reinstalled, and hopefully some stuff will be resetā€¦

I have the exact same ROM as zip-File on my Desktop.
Some questions to your suggestion (I want to understand and learn :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:):

  • the settings.akp from the currently running ROM will be removed?
  • on the currently running system the settings.apk is in the folder /system/product/priv-app/settings. But in this folger is only the settings.apk nothing else. Is that OK?
  • when I flash the same ROM in this way, will my data (installed apps inkl. data) be preserved, or deleted (Durty flash or factory reset)?

Possible alternativ:
I have unpacked the payload.bin with the ā€œPayloadDumperā€. So I could flash / install every single apk of the ROM. Can this help?

general: currently i have the e-1.6-q ROM installed. Is it possible to flash / install the same ROM or a newer one (once it appears) without performing a fachtory rest (durty flash)?

Flashing the same ROM over will preserve your data.
Generally speaking this is called ā€œdirtyā€ flash and as long as the content of your Data partition is compatible with the ROM image you apply there will be no lost.
Often, flashing a ROM image from the same provider with the same Android version is OK.
For example, dirty-flashing 0.16Q /e/ over 0.15Q /e/ is okay.
Sometimes, you can also upgrade Android without data loss, for example flashing 0.16R /e/ over 0.15Q /e/, but sometimes it may fail because Data content incompatibilities.

Iā€™m not aware of OnePlus devices, but for all this devices I know you can open the zip ROM file and check the flashing script inside :wink:
Often, it will just overwrite the System and Vendor partitions.

That being said, I must apologize (again!) : deleting the Settings apk may not force a re-install. Iā€™ll have to check further.
However you can still apply the procedure from my previous post, I tested it this morning and it worked fine (although it may not achieve what was expected :wink: ).

It is OK, but the path may appear differently from TWRP.

You problem here is not having root access. If you had, we could uninstall the Settings app and re-install it from the apk ā€¦

Yesterday I tried your suggestions without success. To shorten the matter, I made a complete Titanium backup (I did not want TWRP, because otherwise the error would also be included in the backup) and made a factory reset.
After the ā€œSettings-Errorā€ occurred the first time after the TWRP backup, I tried to recreate this. And the cause is TWRP! Every time I booted into TWRP the phenomenon occurred and could only be removed by a factory reset (in between the data partition was locked etc.). With the second last version of TWRP it runns since one day without problems. The latest version of TWRPP is already suitable for Android 12 and apparently has a problem with Android 10.
Thanks for your support and Merry Christmas.

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Happy to read you found the culprit!
Sorry if it was using the hard wayā€¦
Merry Christmas :christmas_tree: