How to not have a root check at startup?

Planet Indigo · Post by *Planet Indigo » 2016-09-19, 23:16 UTC

Hi, I am running the latest version of total commander, my tablet is rooted but I mostly use Total commander with non root functions. When the program starts though, it always requests root privilege and starts up my root supervisor and I would like to avoid that (I dont want the root supervisor to start in the background since I play games that don't like root).
Can I tweak a setting or something so that total commander always starts in unrooted mode and never makes a request for it unless I initiate root function in the options?

Post by *ghisler(Author) » 2016-09-21, 18:30 UTC

TC shouldn't need to ask for root unless you start it in a directory like / or /data, or have the option "always use root functions" checked, or have the remount button displayed in the toolbar.

Planet Indigo · Post by *Planet Indigo » 2016-09-21, 21:43 UTC

Alright, the "always use root", I had that disabled from the start. I now have deleted the remount button, however the home icon always requests root whenever I push it, even if I delete the shortcuts inside it that link to the "/" folder (I even went as far as delete every shortcut in there but no luck). I made shortcuts to access my most used folders, and as long as I dont need to use the home menu, I am fine.
Thanks for the help.
If I can make a small suggestion, it'd be nice to have an equivalent "always run in unrooted mode" toggle button in the options menu near the "always use root", that could be useful for users like me who would like to use all the unrooted functions the program has to offer without any root requests being made.

tag · Post by *tag » 2016-09-22, 04:08 UTC

It should be possible to tell the Superuser managing app to always decline root requests from TC. Shouldn't that achieve the wanted behavior without changes in TC?

If you need to use root power within TC, you could change that rule.

Planet Indigo · Post by *Planet Indigo » 2016-09-22, 19:43 UTC

Unfortunately, that doesn't solve the issue. I had tried all combinations of "always deny", "always grant", or "ask". The issue stems from the fact that the root supervisor is invoked and loaded into memory whenever a root request is made, even if just to grant or deny it automatically.

tag · Post by *tag » 2016-09-23, 12:20 UTC

If you need to hide su for Pokemon Go or Android Pay or others Magisk could be your friend. Or you wait for suhide which just was started, probably inspired by Magisk. Help for your problem is on the way I guess

But I can confirm that pressing home button in TC always requests root access which seems unnecessary. Edit: No, after removing remount button it doesn't request anymore for me.

Planet Indigo · Post by *Planet Indigo » 2016-09-23, 19:29 UTC

It's not for pokemon go but some of my games don't like to see the root supervisor running in the background.
You say removing the mount button worked for you? There's only one mount button anywhere, right? I long pressed and clicked delete on the one at the bottom of the screen in the toolbar but it still requests root whenever I click on the home button. Is that the only one you removed and did you do it the same way? Did you restart the program or tablet/phone and try again? Could it be that it was only asking you once per program start or device start because of your supervisor settings?

tag · Post by *tag » 2016-09-23, 19:34 UTC

Delete, yes. Same way. It was:

Start TC. Enter internal SD card emulated 0. Press home.
-> was asked for SU, auto granted by SuperSU
Long press remove on that R button for remount. Quit Tc.
Start TC. Enter internal SD card emulated 0. Press home.
-> was not asked for SU

Now hours later, same procedure, still does not ask for SU. No reboot. But can do for testing, will edit if it changes something.

Planet Indigo · Post by *Planet Indigo » 2016-09-25, 20:23 UTC

If SuperSU auto grants TC, maybe that's why it only asked the first time? Maybe afterwards it just grants it in the background without informing you? I'm not sure, my supervisor isn't SuperSU, I'm just trying to understand because for sure on my tablet with the mount icon deleted, I still get a root request every time I access the home menu (probably because the home menu lists the "/" directory, but it still does it if I delete that shortcut).

tag · Post by *tag » 2016-09-25, 21:01 UTC

SuperSU shows a message when granting. Did additionally more a short test and configured SuperSU to ask for TC. Pressed home from some subdirectory in TC 2.80b4, nothing happened.

Planet Indigo · Post by *Planet Indigo » 2016-09-26, 00:21 UTC

I'm not sure then. My version is 2.72 though, I don't have a beta version, just the latest from the play store. Could it be different in that beta version? Although I think the author would have mentionned something about it in his first post.

Does it return to "normal" asking for root on home menu if you reenable that mount button? Sorry, you have been very nice with your tests already but I'm really curious about this since I'd like to have the same behavior as yours (no root request on home button).

tag · Post by *tag » 2016-09-26, 04:12 UTC

You can download and install current beta at the bottom of this page. I don't know if the behavior is different.

Yes, when re-adding the button the behavior changes.

Planet Indigo · Post by *Planet Indigo » 2016-09-27, 00:59 UTC

Nope..

I installed 2.8b4, same thing even without the mount button. If I use the home button, it invaiably requests root. I cleared the cache, cleared the app data, uninstalled, reinstalled straight to 2.8b4, same thing. Except this time I noticed that this mount button doesnt even appear on a fresh install. It only seems to appear if you enable "root at all time" in the options. But even if i enable this, get the mount button, delete it manually, disable "root at all time", and restart, I still get root requests when hitting the home menu.

I've uninstalled 2.8, reinstalled 2.72, same thing, as expected. Not sure why you experience a different behavior, nothing I do seems to prevent a root request when I hit the home menu...

tag · Post by *tag » 2016-09-30, 07:33 UTC

When starting TC, both panels are on home screen at beginning?
(so this is the test usually I did: in TC both panels on HOME, exit TC, move TC from list of active programs, start TC, enter sdcard0, press HOME button)

Planet Indigo · Post by *Planet Indigo » 2016-10-01, 20:33 UTC

If one (or both) panels are on the home screen as TC starts, it makes a root request right then and there.

If when it starts I had it setup in the previous session so that both panels are not on the home screen (like one in sd card0 and one in sd card1 for example) then it won't initiate a root request at startup, but it will make one whenever I press the home button from anywhere. Basically I have to avoid the home menu like the plague if I don't want any root request to be made.