Hi Everyone,
Ever want to change your sleep time past 5 mins? Or access settings you normally can’t? Well, I can show you how to change them! But do so at your own discretion. Keep your original backup files! And play carefully! You can change your sleep length and other factors beyond the OS limits.
How?
I used to do some strange things to my BlackBerry 8900. Primarily, I would back it up and use a HexEditor to change settings (maximum password retries for example) to use settings not available to other people (setting it to 255 tries).
This weekend I decided to see what could be done with the PlayBook. If you want to really access settings you normally cannot access this tutorial may be for you. With the exploration, came some information new to me.
Accessing your Advanced Data
First, Backup your Playbook (unencrypted) using Desktop Manager 6.
Install WinRAR or another advanced .ZIP utility.
You should have a <filename>.BBB file as your backup. Rename it to .ZIP (lots of companies seem to do this).
Unzip the file.
You should now see the following files:
Archive/settings.tar
Manifest.xml
PkgInfo
unzip the settings.tar too!
Now you have tons of files. All of these files are in plain text XML format. Don’t use Windows Notepad to edit them, use something like EditPad Lite.
When you are done, packup your settings.tar again from the settings subfolder.
Tip: You need to actually be in the settings folder and zipping from in there
Now, repackage the entire package and rename it to a different .BBB than you used originally. The original is now your ‘safety’ backup, this one is your ‘hacked’ one.
Using the Changes
Reload the backup onto your PlayBook.
Risks:
BlackBerry occasionally catches on to these things and resets your values or hard-limits them. So if you set your sleep mode to 99 years, its probably going to default back to 300 seconds.
Cool Files to Edit
Archive/settings/var/etc/netsecure
This folder contains all your wifi, vpn and tethering information including certificates.
Archive/settings/pps/services/power
This contains your sleep mode settings.
What do we know of the file structure now?
/var/etc/*
(Looks like some options and settings)
/var/certmgr/*
/var/keymgr/*
/accounts/1000/sys/*
(Looks like application data)
/pps/sevices/*
(Looks like some options and settings)
/pps/settings/*
Here you will find your book marks etc.
Folders per the XML files
In short, think of them as a Unix style file system with the username effectively being 1000.
Security Risks
I can see why encrypting these backups is important. I can pull a users username, email address, VPN information, wifi connection information, VPN certificates, etc all from using the methods above
I hope this helps you find fund things to do to your PlayBook! I suspect this may hep with loading information into your PlayBook into areas you might normally not be able to access.
~Lloyd
