AFP (Netatalk) Root access – The Complete How-to

Oct 11, 2008 Update: How to enjoy the updated version 2.0.3-5 by reversing changes made in this post:

1. Launch your favorite sFTP client and navigate to /etc/netatalk/.
2. Download this zip, and upload & overwrite the “AppleVolumes.default” file in /etc/netatalk/.
3. Delete the “afpd.conf” file from /etc/netatalk/.
4. Reboot your device.
5. Important: DO NOT use your sFTP client to delete the symbolic file “root”. I repeat, DO NOT use your sFTP client to delete the symbolic file “root”. If you do that, the content of your entire device will be deleted! You’ll have to “Option+Restore” your device after that. Leave the file alone!
6. To connect as “root”, toggle the “Disconnect” button (as seen in the below pic) and type “root” and “alpine” when prompted.

This following instructions for Netatalk 2.0.3-4 is obsolete; do not follow.
(Scroll down for AFP BossPrefs Toggle.)

This is a follow-up on my previous entry about enabling AFP Root Access by hanXa and how I modify hanXa’s instructions so my AFPd (Netatalk 2.0.3-4) behaves like it did in AFPd 1.x. It details, step-by-step, all the how-tos in one post.

1. Needless to say, you must install Netatalk via Cydia. You can find it under the “Networking” section.
2. Download this zip, and use your favorite sFTP client to upload its contents (“AppleVolumes.default” & “afpd.conf”) into /etc/netatalk/. When prompted, you will allow overwriting the existing files.
3. Launch your OS X’s Terminal.app (it’s in your /Applications/Utilities/ folder) and issue the following command:

   ssh -l root 192.168.123.88

   When prompted, type the password “alpine”. (You must replace “192.168.123.88″ with your device’s actual IP address, which you can find out in your device’s Settings->Wi-Fi->Your Network->IP Address.)

4. Copy and paste the following command into your Terminal’s prompt and hit the Return key to execute it:

   cd /etc/netatalk/

5. Ditto for the following command:

   ln -s / root

6. Done.

 

The following AFP BossPrefs Plugin is good for any version of Netatalk

We need a way to toggle the AFP on and off, not only to save on battery consumption but also as a safe guard to unauthorised access. For that, we will install a plugin written by Rob Garth for use in BossPrefs.

BossPrefs Plugin for AFP:

1. If you don’t already have BossPrefs in your device, then go to install it via Cydia first. You can find it under the “Utilities” section.
3. Download this zip file and unzip it.
4. Upload the “AFP (Netatalk)” file into:

   /Applications/BossPrefs.app/services

5. Upload both “afp_start.sh” and “afp_stop.sh” files into:

   /Applications/BossPrefs.app/scripts

6. Launch your OS X’s Terminal.app (it’s in your /Applications/Utilities/ folder) and issue the following command:

   ssh -l root 192.168.123.88

   When prompted, type the password “alpine”. (You must replace “192.168.123.88″ with your device’s actual IP address, which you can find out in your device’s Settings->Wi-Fi->Your Network->IP Address.)

7. Copy and paste the following command into your Terminal’s prompt and hit the Return key to execute it.

   cd /Applications/BossPrefs.app/scripts

8. Ditto for the following command:

   chmod +x afp_start.sh afp_stop.sh

9. Done. Please reboot your device for all the changes to take effect. After that, you can toggle AFP via BossPrefs.

 

For Leopard users: Thanks to amazing Bonjour techonology, your device will show up automatically in Finder’s Sidebar (If not, go to Finder’s Preferences -> Sidebar -> tick: Bonjour Computers.) Simply select it and you will be prompted for the login Name & Password, which are as “mobile” and “alpine” respectively.

For Tiger users: Select “Connect to Server …” from Finder’s “Go” Menu and type in your device’s IP address. When prompted, enter the Name & Password as “mobile” and “alpine” respectively. Click on either partition to mount it.

Your device should show up as you have named it although it has been reported that sometimes it shows up as “localhost”.

If your device shows up as “localhost”, then use BossPrefs to toggle AFP off and on it again.

Once again, a big thank you to hanXa and Rob Garth for making AFP for iPhone OS 2 so much more enjoyable.