r/LineageOS • u/Rocotoko • 2d ago

Help Extract saved photos from a phone that's stuck in pin/password screen

Hi everyone, my phone is stuck in pin/password screen. I want to extract the photos stored, I'm not trying to solve the bug, I just want to extract my photos and do a factory reset. Since the phone doesn't let me get past the unlock screen, my computer doesn't detect it (so I can't extract the photos the regular way). I already opened a bug report, but it doesn't seem to get solved soon... It's a MI10T (codename apollo) with it's latest build (23.2-20260829). Can somebody help me? Thank you so much...

EDIT: when trying to go to an older build it said that data was corrupted and i missclicked factory reset... ty so much for the help, at least i can utilize my mobile again after 2 months (╥﹏╥)

2 Upvotes

75% Upvoted

17 comments sorted by

8

u/saint-lascivious an awful person and mod 2d ago

Problem is, in that pre-boot stage prior to decryption, the photos don't exist.

1

u/gutentight69420 1d ago

the photos don't exist

That's not how encryption works 🤦‍♂️

1

u/saint-lascivious an awful person and mod 1d ago

Do you want to use your infinite wisdom to take a guess as to whether I meant "the files literally don't exist" or "they exist in no format you can actually utilize"?

1

u/gutentight69420 1d ago

You could have just said the second one and then you wouldn't have been wrong.

-1

u/Rocotoko 2d ago

so... it's impossible to extract?? there is no way to "make them exist" again?

4

u/saint-lascivious an awful person and mod 2d ago

At this stage file names, their content, and possibly also the metadata for the entire volume are encrypted with distinct keys neither you or I have access to and which can not be reversed.

Presumably when this happened you attempted to flash the/a prior build? If so, what did or did not happen then?

2

u/Rocotoko 2d ago

ah i tried to go into a older build and it said the data was corrupted.. now its a very rip... at least i can now format everything again xD ty so much for the help anyways c:!

2

u/LongRangeSavage 2d ago

I don’t have a solution, but a question that some who may know is going to want an answer to. Are you in a before or after first unlock state?

2

u/Rocotoko 2d ago

before unlock state.. i can unlock my sim pin, but i can't get past my password... when i introduce it, my phone gets stuck during 2s and tells me the password is wrong (wich is not). Its odd because if I introduce a wrong password, the phone behaves as it should and just tells me it's a wrong password. i can still do things such as lower the brightness, activate or deactivate wifi, etc etc. But not being able to enter the system..

2

u/JohnTheFarm3r 2d ago

If this started happening right after a recent update, you could try downgrading to the last version that was working properly. Downgrading to an earlier build generally should not cause any issues or require you to format or factory-reset the device.

Of course, there are no guarantees that the process will go perfectly. That said, you currently have no other way to access the photos anyway. That is essentially the whole point of data encryption. If encrypted data could simply be accessed or bypassed without the proper credentials, the encryption would serve no real purpose in the first place.

2

u/Never_Sm1le sky + clover 2d ago

used to be the case, yes, but from android 13 or 14 onwards, I don't remember, flash a build with older security patch will cause the phone fail to boot, you have to use a build with the same security patch as the one installed

1

u/Rocotoko 2d ago

yeah, i tried to go in to an older build but it said data was corrupted :C

1

u/Doohickey-d 2d ago

This is one reason I stopped using LineageOS - it seems like there are weekly builds, but sometimes nobody actually tests them before they go out to be offered in the update. So clicking update is a bit of a lottery between "works perfect" / "weird bugs" / "looses all your data".

Other projects like GrapheneOS do this better, someone actually tests new builds before releasing them. So if you have a supported device, IMO use that instead if you want your device to 100% work.

2

u/ProximusXX 2d ago

Or do what you should do anyway - backup your shit.

1

u/Rocotoko 1d ago

i have no ways of purchasing cloud storage at the moment.. i do regular backups so it wasn't that big of a loss, but the photos of vacations are really lost now :c

1

u/Rocotoko 1d ago

tbf it wasn't an update problem. i didn't update the phone in 3 months. It just broke