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Changing the Media Net and Cellular Video Buttons on the BlackJack II

December 31, 2008 8:30 am By 33 Comments

Temporale-MediaNetHackA little while back I spent some time looking around for a way to change the destination for the AT&T Media Net dedicated button on my BlackJack II. There was a couple different solutions but they all seemed to be way to complicated or involved unnecessary executables that would reside in memory on the device. So after a short browse around the device, I’ve figured out how to modify the Media Net button along with the Cellular Video buttons on the BlackJack II. There’s no registry editing required, and no need to download a third party application that will intercept your key press’s and then launch the application or link of your choice.

The following steps outline how to change the Media Net button.

1. ActiveSync your device with your computer

2. Open File Explorer on your computer and browse to the \Windows folder on your Mobile Device

3. Look for a file by the name “MediaNet”. The file type should indicate “Shortcut”

4. Copy this file to the desktop of your computer

5. Right click on the file and select properties and turn off Read-Only

6. Open Notepad and then open this file from within Notepad (ie: File \ Open \ {Browse to desktop} \ select the MediaNet file.

7. Once the file is open you will see the following line of text:

64#”\Windows\iexplore.exe” http://device.home?:Active_Icon\MediaNet

I’ll take a second and explain what this line of text is all about. The number followed by the hash symbol tells Windows Mobile how many characters to read after the hash. So if it has 1# Windows Mobile would only read the first quote – “

8. To change this button to direct to another website, just change the URL to be the site of your choice and then carefully count out all the characters after the has sign and then change the 64 to match that number. For example, to make it direct to MobileJaw, you would use the following:

48#”\Windows\iexplore.exe” http://www.MobileJaw.com

9. Save the file and then copy it back to your device.

10. Now press the AT&T Media Net button and it should open IE Mobile and start loading MobileJaw (or whatever URL you placed in the file).

The cool thing is that you’re not limited to launching IE Mobile with these keys. You could just as easily map Calculator, SlingBox Mobile, eWallet, or any other application. Just make sure you put the program along with the path, in quotes and count the number of characters after the hash sign carefully!

I did mention that this hack would work for both buttons. To change the functionality of the Media Net button, edit the MediaNet file in the \Windows folder. To change the functionality for the Cingular Video button, you need to edit the CellularVideo file, also found in the Windows folder. It’s the exact same process as described above.

Happy tweaking!

NOTE: If you’re having problems accessing these files then your device may be application locked. Please read my other article for all the information on application lock and detailed steps on how to remove it. :)

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About Mike Temporale

Mike Temporale has written 498 posts on Mobile Jaw..

Mike Temporale grew up fascinated by computers since an early age. His first hands on with a computer came when he was 7 years old and a travelling lab of Commodore PET computers made a stop at his school. Hooked on the new world these devices offered, he took any chance possible to get in front of a computer. When Compaq launched the iPaq 3600, he was hooked again. This time on a whole new world of mobile computing. Today, Mike spends his day helping clients deploy and manage their mobile device around the world. From installing custom software, to locking and securing data, and everything in between. He is also the Editor in Chief at Mobile Jaw - a site focused on today's mobile world.

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  • http://twitter.com/MobileJaw/status/ MobileJaw

    Changing the Media Net and Cellular Video Buttons on the BlackJack II: A little while back I spent some time loo.. http://tinyurl.com/7o3s8q

  • jfaul4820

    This hack is great but I didn’t even change the number before the hash when hacking the buttons and it works fine so I am not even sure what the numbers do.

  • http://www.MobileJaw.com Mike Temporale

    @jfaul4820 – That might work if you’ve entered a shorter value that what was there before. Because the system would read more spaces than there are. If you entered something longer, it would stop reading before the end.

  • zammykoo

    Hi, I tried this hack but i’m not sure if I did it correctly. Lets say I installed an app on my micro sd… how would i set the path to that? The default name of my card is “MICRO SD” so that is what I put for my root directory. Should I change the name to something that is one word? or can you tell me the correct format to address the card? thanks

  • http://www.MobileJaw.com Mike Temporale

    @zammykoo – The Micro SD card should be called something like “Storage Card” when you browse to it using File Explorer. Use the name displayed in File Manager for the path. For example; “\Storage Card\MyApp\Launch.exe”

    Let me know how that works out for you.

  • sandboxes@hotmail.com

    Mike,

    I ran across this tip when I first got my new BJII in January. It worked perfectly! However, today, the stupid phone just stopped booting up. So, I had to hard reset it. As I’m going back through and re-customizing everything I looked your site up again and followed the steps just like I had before. However, this time I’m not allowed to copy the edited file back to the phone. I get an error that says I don’t have permission to copy the file. I’ve checked and I can’t delete, rename or even turn off the read-only attribute. The phone should be the same as when I set it up a few months ago. Any ideas on what gives??

    Thanks in advance!
    Ryan

  • http://www.MobileJaw.com Mike Temporale

    Hi Ryan, It sounds like your BJII is still application locked. Take a look at step #1 in this post – http://www.mobilejaw.com/articles/2008/06/new-network-settings-lock-on-windows-mobile-61-devices/ – Once you’ve application unlocked your device, you should be fine to edit these files.

    Let me know how it goes. :)

  • ashleesg

    I updated my Blackjack II to Windows Mobile 6.1 about a month ago. Today I tried this hack and it didn’t work. I also tried to application unlock my BJ2 and I’m not sure if it worked completely. The first step with the MoDaCo application worked. I am not sure about the SDA application. Is there any way I can check that? Also, I tried this hack again after I application unlocked my phone but it still says that I don’t have permission to copy the files back onto the BJ2.

    HELP!!!!

  • dave

    this looks like a great hack, but when I open the file, i get a bunch of gobbledegook characters and nothing resembling the line you showed:

    a sample: !kÿ$mÿ*qÿ*qÿ:kܲtJ·l6Ê‚NÎ…PчRÎ…PÊ‚N¸l5§_

    what am i doing wrong?

  • http://www.MobileJaw.com Mike Temporale

    @dave – what program are you using to open the file? which file are you opening?

  • dave

    I was using Notepad, as described in the instructions, and was editing MediaNET. I’m downloading JZSmartMort right now, seems like a good setup with some additional utility.

  • Tisha

    Hi Mike,

    I love your site, thank you! I ran your app security unlock successfully. I then attempted this hack and cannot copy the medianet shortcut file back to the phone’s windows directory. I removed read only, I tried copying from my pc to the windows directory. I tried to delete the original before copying…all unsuccessful. Then I copied it to my sd card and then tried using the phone’s explorer to copy it to windows dir (the ‘copy’ option is greyed out. Did I miss something? I have a samsung jack i637. Thanks…

  • http://www.MobileJaw.com Mike Temporale

    @Tisha – It sounds like the file on the device is marked as Read-Only and preventing you from copying it back. Connecting the device on ActiveSync, then browse to the \Windows folder, right click on the MediaNet file and select Properties. Click off Read-Only and say OK. Then right click and select Propterties again to see if the setting was successfully changed.

    If not, I would try downloading a copy of Pocket Controller Pro (Trial version works if you don’t already own this app). Connect your device over ActiveSync and then connect it to Pocket Controller Pro. Now, in Pro, open the Explore tool and click View / Show System Files in the top title bar of the application. Then browse to the \Windows folder and find the MediaNet file. Right click and select properties from here and turn off Read-Only. Then click OK and double check that it’s actually been turned off. This method should work. All that’s left is to copy and paste the MediaNet file from your desktop into the folder and your done!

    If you haven’t application unlocked your phone, you might want to start over here first – http://www.mobilejaw.com/articles/2009/09/removing-application-lock-on-windows-mobile-standard-devices

    Please let me know how this works out for you.

  • Tisha

    Hi Mike,

    Thanks for responding. I actually figured this out (sort of). It must have something to do with Vista’s security settings. Maybe I have to run activesync from the administrator account or something. In the meantime I was able to sync with my old XP desktop, and had no problem copying over the updated shortcut file. I’ve also noticed that using Vista, I cannot do “paste as shortcut” on my device. I’ve tried with both windows explorer, and the Pocket Controller explorer with no luck. I can however do this from my XP machine. Since I don’t have to do this that often, I’m not going to investigate further right now (i’ll just run upstairs and sync with my XP machine). If I figure it out at some point I will post the solution here.

    Thanks again,
    Tisha

  • http://www.MobileJaw.com Mike Temporale

    @Tisha – Glad you found a way to get this done. I was unaware of the Vista versus XP issue. I’ll have to keep that in mind. thanks!

  • Tisha

    Hi Mike,

    So after bricking my phone, I did a master clear (per your advice, thanks!) and finally got everything pretty much back the way I want it. FYI to all, once again I had a problem overwriting these shortcut files from my Vista machine, but was able to do it from XP. I’ve seen other posts in various forums detailing the same issue). Another weird thing (sort of off topic)… When poking around the registry, opening certain areas (pocket controller pro) got me completely thrown out of the editor. I was able to change the ‘forcecellconnection’ from the Internet Sharing section without incident. Entering the Samsung Key Run (I think that’s the name, defines function keys fn+B =bluetooth etc.) got me dumped repeatedly. I guess some sections of the registry are protected/stored differently. Curious…

  • http://www.MobileJaw.com Mike Temporale

    @Tisha – Did Pocket Controller Pro just crash and close on you? Sounds like a problem I had on an older build of Pocket Controller Pro and WinMo 6.1. Haven’t seen that since I started using the lastest version.

  • Tisha

    Pocket Controller keeps running, but the registry editor window crashes/closes. I can then click registry and I get it back, as long as I don’t attempt to enter those “restricted areas”. I’m going to install it on my XP machine to see if it happens there too. I have the latest version.

  • Tisha

    I am so totally happy with this work around, I can’t tell you. I have my MediaNet button running iexplore.exe (no page specified, so it goes right to whatever the home page setting is), and my GPS button running Garmin XT now. Too cool!

  • Richard

    Just found your site and did this handy trick. First time I tried the button, it didn’t work…but it was a server issue, not my phone. Next time and everytime since it has worked like a charm. Thanks!!

    I feel like a kid in a candy store! Haven’t application unlocked my BJII yet, but will get to that next.

  • John

    I was wondering if you could explain how to change or disable the hard keys in the Samsung Jack i637? I would really like to change them to something such as task manager or contacts or even alarms or calendar. Thank you!

  • http://www.MobileJaw.com Mike Temporale

    @John – the above procedure works for the Samsung Jack as well. :)

  • John

    Oh lol wow I feel dumb. But instead of:

    64#”\Windows\iexplore.exe” http://device.home?:Active_Icon\MediaNet

    it says:

    32#”:DEFBROWSER http://device.home”

    So instead of “DEFBROWSER” I would put “taskmgr.exe” or something else?

  • http://www.MobileJaw.com Mike Temporale

    @John – Kind of. So, yours is set to launch the “default browser” and then load device.home page.

    To change this, you can’t just change the DEFBROWSER part. You need to change the whole line. If you wanted to launch the task manager, it would look like:

    23#”\Windows\taskmgr.exe”

    And that’s all there is to it. :)

  • John

    Thank you so much for all of your help!! I was able to change the internet icon to task manager, but I wasn’t able to change the GPS (which is fine since I usually accidentally hit the internet not the GPS).

    Thanks again!

    By the way, in order to be able to do this on the Samsung Jack, I used this:
    {LINK REMOVED}
    But only up to the Clear Security nothing more.

    And in order to copy the shortcuts out of the Windows folder on the phone (which for some reason it didn’t let me do it), I right clicked on MediaNet and pressed \Create Shortcut\. I then cut the \MediaNet (2)\ and pasted it on my computer and renamed it.

    Hope that helps someone out there :)

  • http://www.MobileJaw.com Mike Temporale

    @John – Sorry, I removed the link in your post because it contains a lot of wrong information and steps. The Clear Security CAB file is something that I created. You can read all about removing application lock on the Jack or any other Windows Mobile Standard device here – http://www.mobilejaw.com/articles/2009/09/removing-application-lock-on-windows-mobile-standard-devices/

    There is no need to run any other application or preform any other step. What that site has posted is going to load a bunch of other crap on your device and kill your battery life.

  • Charlie

    Hello Mike,

    I’m attempting to reassign the CV key on my BlackjackII to initiate the voicecommand.lnk sequence. I followed the original directions of running MoDaCO.SmartphoneGPSActivator.COM4.cab, SDA_Appliationunlock.exe, and performed the registry edits via the Breaksoft MobileRegistry Editor. I then ran MobileJaw-ClearSecurity-MobiControl.cab.

    Still, I cannot change the readonly attribute on the phone file “CellularVideo.lnk” to allow me to copy over the edited version of it. Thoughts on next steps? What did I miss? Thanks.

  • http://www.MobileJaw.com Mike Temporale

    @Charlie – I’m not familiar with Breaksoft Mobile Registry Editor. I would recommend using PHM Registry Editor (http://www.bing.com/search?q=phm+registry+editor+smartphone&form=QBRE&qs=n&sc=1-30) for on device registry editing.

    Also, You need to run the MobileJaw-ClearSecurity CAB first. Then once you see the message that application lock has been disabled, uninstall it from the device and then reboot. You shouldn’t need to make any registry changes – If you are still having read-only issues, then read Tisha’s comments above. She was not able to access the files on Vista, but had no problems on XP.

  • Charlie

    Thanks for the super quick response. Yep, I’m running Vista, Enterprise addition, so who knows what security issues are getting in the way. I think not running the clear security first is causing my problems…will give it a shot later in the week. Thanks again!

  • http://www.MobileJaw.com Mike Temporale

    No problem – let me know how it goes.

  • mda5

    hi, Thanx for great site, its really interesting.
    i tried everything to change this buttons but nothing happend now when i press those. Even if i copy back: 64#”\Windows\iexplore.exe” http://device.home?:Active_Icon\MediaNet – nothing happen. What am i doing wrong.

    Thank You

  • http://www.MobileJaw.com Mike Temporale

    @mda5 – If you’re pressing the button and nothing happens, then 1 of 2 things are going wrong. A) the syntax is wrong. Double and triple check the line of text in that file. Make sure there are no extra spaces or blank lines below it. Make sure the number is greater than the amount of characters. or B) the file is not in the correct location and it can’t be found by the system. make sure you place the file back in the same location as where you found it.

    Oh, and you could always try a quick reboot just to reset and make sure that nothing is being cached. ;)

  • mda5

    Thanx for Answer,
    the syntax should be ok, by the way which coding should i take? there are ANSI, Unicode etc.
    what do U mean with correct location? i copy the file from device to desktop, open it and it shows me like i change it..
    Reset did i also. how can i check that nothing is being cashed?