# Activate USB Ports



## j92devils (Jul 12, 2007)

Can someone please direct me to a place where I can learn to activate the USB ports on my DirecTivo? I don't want one of those programs that does it automatically, and I don't want to use one of those instant cake things. I am very interested in how this works and I am willing to read or learn whatever I have to. I just need to be directed in the correct direction.


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## Gunnyman (Jul 10, 2003)

deal data base dot com
the newbie forum


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## JWThiers (Apr 13, 2005)

Technically speaking the ports are active on all Dtivo's running stock ver 6.2 OS, the just don't do anything. Having said that, If you want to learn how to hack your DTivo manually I would send you over to the other forum (DEAL DATA BASE DOT COM) sorry we can't link to it from here and start in the newbie forum.


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## Da Goon (Oct 22, 2006)

When your tivo first boots up, the kernel runs a file scan, and removes any files that have been altered or are new. Killhdinitrd is a tool you can use to modify the kernel so this scan is not run, then you are free to change what you want. If you can find a 3.1.5 or 7.2.2-oth-K1 kernel you can apply killhdinitrd to it and use it, or download the $5 boot cd from dvrupgrade.com. That cd contains these kernels and have already had killhdinitrd applied to them.

Next of all is the firewall issue. Tivo's built in firewall will block any network connection attempt that you make. For a 6.2x tivo, you'll want to neuter the firewall by renaming a script called netfilter-enable. It's located in the /etc directory. A simple command such as *mv netfilter-enable netfilter-notenabled* will accomplish this.

You'll need a few basic tools to do much after hacking your tivo, so grab rbautch's toolset posted here and untar it on your tivo or grab AlphaWolf's all-in-one set from DDB. I put these tools in /busybox on my tivo.

A telnet program is already on your tivo. It's named tnlited and it's located in /sbin. You'll need to create a script to start telnet (or any other programs you want to use, ftp, etc). Most popular is the rc.sysinit.author. Create it and stick it in /etc/rc.d and it will run at bootup. Here's a very basic rc.sysinit.author

```
#!/bin/bash
export TIVO_ROOT=
export MFS_DEVICE=/dev/hda10
export PATH=/bin:/sbin:/tvbin:/busybox
tnlited 23 /bin/bash -login &
tivoftpd
/bin/bash </dev/ttyS2&> /dev/ttyS2&
```
You'll need to make sure it is executable by the tivo by doing *chmod 755 rc.sysinit.author* after you've created it.

Also, get yourself a serial cable if you want to ever be able to troubleshoot properly. You can make one using this info > http://www.tivohelp.com/archive/tivohelp.swiki.net/35.html
or buy one pre-made from 9thtee.com. Here's how to use one > http://www.geocities.com/mlm19811999/tivo_serial_bash.html


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