Re: Using Windows to find hidden files on the Android file system over Wi-Fi

From	Andy Burnelli <spam@nospam.com>
Newsgroups	comp.mobile.android, alt.comp.os.windows-10, alt.comp.microsoft.windows
Subject	Re: Using Windows to find hidden files on the Android file system over Wi-Fi
Date	2022-05-10 00:09 +0100
Organization	Aioe.org NNTP Server
Message-ID	<t5c6v1$sv0$1@gioia.aioe.org> (permalink)
References	<t5c1ao$u8d$1@gioia.aioe.org>

Cross-posted to 3 groups.

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Andy Burnelli wrote:

> Of course, if I _install_ Zoom, the commands below will tell me where it
> installed into, but I'm trying to find out if it's really still there.

Since I've tentatively concluded, much to my chagrin, that Android did, 
indeed, completely wipe out _hundreds_ of apps (zoom among them), 
perhaps because they were GSF apps which didn't like that I changed 
the supposedly permanent unique GSF ID tracking identification number... 
 <https://i.postimg.cc/X7ZspnsG/gsfid01.jpg> You can change the GSF ID
 <https://i.postimg.cc/YStB48LH/gsfid03.jpg> GSF Apps use the GSF ID

I decided to _install_ Zoom (which was easily enough done) and then run 
the adb commands again to see where it put stuff as an added learning effort.
 <https://i.postimg.cc/wBndvc4d/update22.jpg> Re-installing Zoom is easy
 <https://i.postimg.cc/tCzy56Jh/update23.jpg> Now let's look where it went

This is where Zoom seems to have installed on Android:
 <https://i.postimg.cc/MKr5hWsv/update24.jpg> Zoom in /data/app/~~{stuff}
 <https://i.postimg.cc/MKr5hWsv/update24.jpg> Zoom in /data/app/~~{stuff}
package:/data/app/~~PzJKYsZQ2ZCx6CppblPgRQ==/us.zoom.videomeetings-zGYsIcaI0d-LZ0jXknyD6A==/base.apk=us.zoom.videomeetings

But something is wrong with my Windows dir /s/a/l/on/b since it didn't
find the installed zoom location for some unknown-to-me-as-yet reason. 

All it found were six new lines (all of which is the saved APK only).
 C:\> findstr /i /r /c:"^.*zoom" android_filesystem.txt
 z:\aurora\store\downloads\us.zoom.videomeetings
 z:\aurora\store\downloads\us.zoom.videomeetings\.651004.download-complete
 z:\aurora\store\downloads\us.zoom.videomeetings\651004
 z:\aurora\store\downloads\us.zoom.videomeetings\651004\config.arm64_v8a.apk
 z:\aurora\store\downloads\us.zoom.videomeetings\651004\config.xhdpi.apk
 z:\aurora\store\downloads\us.zoom.videomeetings\651004\us.zoom.videomeetings.apk

Since this experiment of adding just one app is rarely done, here are the file
size differences between Android minus Zoom and Android with Zoom just now.
 C:\> adb shell pm list packages -f -s > sys_package_location.txt (390L -> 390L)
 C:\> adb shell pm list packages -f    > 3rd_package_location.txt (663L -> 664L)
 C:\> adb shell pm list packages > installed.txt (663L -> 664L)
 C:\> adb shell pm list packages -d > disabled_apps.txt (219L -> 299L)
 C:\> adb shell pm list packages -e > enabled_apps.txt (444L -> 445L)
 C:\> adb shell pm list packages -f -U  > UID.txt (Zoom uid:10588)
 dir /s/a/l/on/b > c:\tmp\android_filesystem.txt (3914L -> 3920L)

In summary, it does appear that migrating from Android 11 to Android 12 
actually deleted hundreds of apps, among them zoom, where there's no trace 
of those apps on Android after the upgrade other than the Nova launcher saved 
their location in the well-organized homescreen hierarchy.

Hence re-installing those hundreds of apps is trivial simply because
just tapping on the apps opens up the FOSS google play client to install
the latest version off the Google Play Store repository - or - I can
just as easily slide the APK from Windows over to Android - or - I can
just tap on the saved APK on Android (if I had happened to save it there).

I haven't conclusively proven anything yet as to why the migration of
Android 11 to Android 12 wiped out hundreds of apps, but I suspect it
was simply that the GSF apps misbehaved when they found out that I had
changed the supposedly permanent GSF ID.
-- 
Usenet is a world-wide team sport where purposefully helpful kind-hearted 
adults help each other and learn by pooling our individual capabilities.

Thread

Using Windows to find hidden files on the Android file system over Wi-Fi Andy Burnelli <spam@nospam.com> - 2022-05-09 22:33 +0100
  Re: Using Windows to find hidden files on the Android file system over Wi-Fi Andy Burnelli <spam@nospam.com> - 2022-05-10 00:09 +0100
    Re: Using Windows to find hidden files on the Android file system over Wi-Fi Andy Burnelli <spam@nospam.com> - 2022-05-10 16:50 +0100
  Re: Using Windows to find hidden files on the Android file system over Wi-Fi Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> - 2022-05-10 07:55 +0100
    Re: Using Windows to find hidden files on the Android file system over Wi-Fi Andy Burnelli <spam@nospam.com> - 2022-05-10 18:32 +0100

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