StopDeviceWipe

How to stop your webOS 1.x device being wiped when you log in to your profile on another webOS phone

The following procedure will remove a HP webOS Account (Palm Profile) from a webOS 1.x device without completely wiping the device (although all your app catalog apps will be deleted).

Once the HP webOS Account (Palm Profile) is removed, the device is no longer connected to the HP servers, and cannot be wiped.

Without a HP webOS Account (Palm Profile), you will not be able to access the app catalog, nor perform backups, nor receive OTA updates.

Here is the procedure.

1. rm -f /var/luna/data/dbdata/PalmAccountDatabase.db3
2. reboot

Note that any applications from the App Catalog will be deleted (you will be able to download them for free when you log into another device).

How to stop your webOS 2.x device being wiped when you log in to your profile on another webOS phone

The following procedure will remove a HP webOS Account (Palm Profile) from a webOS 2.x or 3.x device without wiping the device.

Once the HP webOS Account (Palm Profile) is removed, the device is no longer connected to the HP servers, and cannot be wiped.

Without a HP webOS Account (Palm Profile), you will not be able to access the app catalog, nor perform backups, nor receive OTA updates.

Here is the procedure. Follow it very carefully, especially step 9.

1. Install Impostah
2. Make sure you read step 9 carefully.
3. Select Palm Profile
4. Make sure you read step 9 carefully.
5. Tap Reset Palm Profile
6. Make sure you read step 9 carefully.
7. Tap Delete
8. Read the next step *VERY* *CAREFULLY*. If you get the next step wrong, you will wipe your device.
9. Tap Cancel. Do not tap Ok. Cancel is the button with "Cancel" written on it, not the button with the letters "O" and "k" written on it. If you hit "Ok" when it says "Your device will now restart", your whole device will be wiped, thereby negating the whole point of this page, so don't do that.
10. Hopefully you read the previous step carefully and did not wipe your device.
11. Reboot your device.

Case study in using the StopDeviceWipe procedure

This is a case study of using the StopDeviceWipe procedure during a migration from a Pre2 to a Pre3. I used this procedure to log out of my profile on the Pre2 and then activate my Pre3 with the same profile. Unfortunately I made some mistake when activating the Pre3, probably by not wiping it and do a regular first use login. Instead I used Impostah to login to the profile. This resulted in my profile backup being overwritten with the empty information on the Pre3, instead of the Pre3 restoring the data from the backup. The solution was to login again to my Pre2, run a backup and log out again, to recreate the backup.

The process was as follows:

1. run backup on the Pre2
2. run save/restore on the Pre2
3. follow the StopDeviceWipe procedure above to disconnect the profile from the Pre2
4. use Impostah to log into the profile on the Pre3 (to avoid wiping it)

This was the mistake, wipe the device before logging into the profile if you want to restore the data from the profile!

1. disable backup on the Pre3 (erasing it from the servers)
2. wipe the Pre3 (in preparation for restoring the profile in the end)
3. use Impostah to log into the Pre2 with the profile
4. perform a manual backup on the Pre2
5. log out of the profile (following the StopDeviceWipe instructions above)
6. go through the first use and get back all the data!

See also this forum post