How to Remove AROMA Installer from ROM zip file for Safestrap!

For those of you with a Galaxy Android device like AT&T Galaxy S5 that has a locked bootloader, you are stuck to using Safestrap recovery instead of the normal CWM or TWRP recovery.

For Safestrap users, did you know you can install most T-Mobile/international ROMs on your AT&T phone?

This will work on many Galaxy Android devices including AT&T Galaxy S3, S4, S5, Note 2, and Note 3.  (For installing international Note 3 SM-N9005 ROMs on AT&T Note 3, you need to install WiFi fix also.)

Here’s some scenarios:

  • Install T-Mobile S3 ROMs w/ AROMA on AT&T S3 with SafeStrap
  • Install T-Mobile/Canadian/GT-i9505 S4 ROMs w/ AROMA on AT&T S4 with SafeStrap
  • Install T-Mobile/Canadian/GT-N7105 Note 2 ROMs w/ AROMA on AT&T Note 2 with SafeStrap
  • Install T-Mobile/Canadian/SM-N9005 Note 3 ROMs w/ AROMA on AT&T Note 3 with SafeStrap

This method will also work on Verizon Galaxy phones but most GSM/T-Mobile/International ROMs DO NOT WORK with Verizon’s CDMA network so…

Now, you can do this already on custom ROMs without AROMA installer but many of these custom ROMs (from T-Mobile/Canadian/international) come with AROMA installer, which will not work with SafeStrap at ll.

To get around it, you can remove AROMA installer from the ROM zip file and install it using SafeStrap.

Here’s how to do it.

Before beginning, MAKE SURE the ROM you are installing is COMPATIBLE with your target device.  (e.g. T-Mobile S3 has the same Qualcomm CPU as AT&T S3, so it is compatible.  e.g. Note 3 SM-N900 has Exynos processor vs. AT&T Note 3, by installing SM-N900 ROM on your AT&T Note 3, it can cause HARD BRICK!)

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!  DO NOT CRY AND WHINE TO ME IF YOU DID NOT CHECK COMPATIBILITY OF YOUR PHONE TO THE ROM YOU ARE INSTALLING!  It’s very simple to do, just verify the source and target devices have SAME CPUs!!!

You will need a computer/laptop to do this.  (You should be able to do it also on Chromebook no problem.)

Step 1. Download the ROM you want to remove AROMA installer.  In this example, I am using T-Mobile Galaxy S5 SkyFall ROM.

 

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Step 2. Unzip/extract the files from the ROM zip file using unzipping software (most computers have this out of the box).

You will find a bunch of folder and possibly bunch of files.

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Step 3. Browse and find the updater script file which is under META-INF/com/google/android directory.

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Step 4. Rename the file “updater-script” to “updater-script.txt” so you can edit it with a text editor.  (You may have to turn hidden extensions if using Windows, type “hidden extensions” in Windows search bar and enable.)

 

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Step 5. Open the file “updater-script.txt” with text editor like Notepad++.

DO NOT USE Windows default Notepad app as it will show the lines in one line.  Instead use an advanced text editing app like Notepad++.

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Step 6. Once opened, you will need to erase if endif clauses.  Each of these if endif clauses represent an AROMA installer option.  Some of you may need and some you may not.

Some of the more important ones include the line,:

mount(“——————“,”/data”)

and also

mount(“——————“,”/system”)

You will want to delete all of the lines in-between “if” and “then” and also delete “if”, “then”, and “endif”.

Leave all of the other lines in-tact.

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In this next example, we can see that this if-then clause is actually for APN settings.  You can usually just erase all of the APN options just sake of simplicity and manually insert your APN later after installing the ROM.

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Step 7. Go through each if-endif clause and decide whether you want to keep that AROMA option or not.

To keep the AROMA option, you simply need to erase, “if” line to “then” and also “endif” line at the end.  Leave the rest if you want the AROMA option.  Otherwise delete everything from “if” to “endif”.

Now, you may want to also find out from the ROM developer, what type of AROMA options the ROM has as sometimes this can become a bit complicated if the ROM developer did not use exact wording for the AROMA feature.  But you should be able to figure it out.

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Step 8. When done removing all if-endif clauses, save the file and rename the file back to “updater-script”.

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Step 9. Erase any other files/directories except file “updater-script” in that directory.

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Step 10. Download and unzip update-binary.zip and copy the file “update-binary” into where your file “updater-script” resides.

This is the regular update-binary file that replaces the AROMA version of update-binary on the ROM zip file.

Download:

Download update-binary.zip

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Step 11. Go back to the main directory where you unzipped all of the files and re-zip using your favorite zipping software.

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Step 12. You should now have a new ROM zip file with AROMA installer removed!

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Step 13. Copy this new ROM zip file to your Android device and install using Safestrap recovery.  (You can also use regular CWM/TWRP recovery btw.)

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Step 14. Reboot when it’s done installing ROM.

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Step 15. If your ROM boots, you probably did everything correctly!  Congratulations!

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Q&A

Q: My ROM is in bootloop!
A: Double-check your file “updater-script” and make sure you have not removed important lines like kernels or data/system mounts.   You may have removed a line that may be required for the ROM to boot.

Q: How can I thank you for your tutorial?
A: I don’t take donations but if you could PLEASE subscribe to my Zedomax YouTube channel, that would help me greatly and thank you!

Have a question?

Please post all your questions at the new Android Rehab Center at HighOnAndroid Forum, thank you for understanding!

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Max Lee

Max Lee is the founder of HighOnAndroid.com. Max makes Android tutorials and review videos for people who want to get high on Android over at his YouTube channel and Korean YouTube channel.