Tip: How To Enable Writing To Read-Only Partitions (Remount R/W) In Total Commander For Android

Jul

Tip: How To Enable Writing To Read-Only Partitions (Remount R/W) In Total Commander For Android

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, Tips

Step 1.
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Step 4.
Comments (13)

If you've visited Android Police over the past weekend, you've probably already seen my enthusiastic review of Total Commander for Android, which for me is replacing both ASTRO and Root Explorer going forward as the top Android file manager. Ad-free, $0, root support, dual panes, plugin support, and other advanced functions, which you can read about in the review, make Total Commander an easy choice for both novice and advanced users.

However, one task that is not immediately achievable (or so I thought) with Total Commander is something that sits right at the core of Root Explorer - writing to read-only partitions, such as /system. Root Explorer has a handy "Mount RW" button, which re-mounts such read-only partitions for writes, but Total Commander doesn't seem to offer this functionality. Bummed, I emailed the developer with a feature request, only to be enlightened by a helpful reader Sleeepy2 minutes later.

Apparently, I could re-mount partitions as read-write in Total Commander all along, and now I'm passing this knowledge to you.

Remember the button bar which can be customized with your own shortcuts and commands? Turns out Re-mount is one such command.

Step 1.

Pop open Total Commander and open up the button bar by pressing

Step 2.

Press the "Add button" button

Step 3.

Change the function type to "Internal command" and pick "119 Remount." Now press "OK/Apply".

Step 4.

Observe the new RW button, readily available for some re-mounting action.

Now you can press this button whenever you find yourself in a partition that is read-only. Here's me doing it in /system:

Enjoy!

P.S. If you still haven't gotten Total Commander for Android, you can pick it up here.

Tags:/system Android directory mount re-mount read read-only read-write remount root root explorer total commander write

Artem Russakovskii

Artem is a die-hard Android fan, passionate tech blogger, obsessive-compulsive editor, bug hunting programmer, and the founder of Android Police.
Most of the time, you will find Artem either hacking away at code or thinking of the next 15 blog posts.

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Kijar
Hello nice post, thank you. I use both Astro and Root Explorer. My question is can I replace both apps with just this one? How about replace Astro and keep Root Explorer? Thank you much, please email me if possible. Best of luck to you!

http://www.AndroidPolice.com Artem Russakovskii
You can replace either of the apps with it, or keep all 3 - it's entirely up to you, but I think TC does everything both Astro and RE do, for free and even better. The best way would be to try it out and see for yourself.

Ralfie
Just installed.. awesome piece of programming art!
Added ftp and LAN plugins.. works perrrfect!
Kijar
Thank you very much, will try it and possibly get rid of Astro. I have the paid version of RE and maybe that's why I wanna keep using it. :)
Wesley
It does not work for me. I followed the directions but each time I try to edit build.prop it will not save. It says there was an error saving the file. Any ideas?

http://www.AndroidPolice.com Artem Russakovskii
That's because the program you're editing with probably doesn't have/use root permissions. Copy it somewhere first, edit, then copy back using TC.

The Steven
Perhaps it should go without saying, that the phone should be Rooted FIRST.
patrick
followed your instruction but 'remount error'
my device: thinkpad slate tablet