Tesco HUDL2 Android Tablet: Procedure for Bypassing a Blocked Wifi setup after a

Factory Reset : Revised Method May 2023

Contents

Background ....................................................................................................................................... 1
A Look Back at Some Recent History .................................................................................................. 2
A New Procedure .............................................................................................................................. 4
Detailed Steps ................................................................................................................................... 5
A) Getting Access to the Settings App ............................................................................................ 5
B) Creating a New User .................................................................................................................. 5
C) Installing New Apps via Solid Explorer........................................................................................ 7
D) Running your apps .................................................................................................................... 8
E) Using Play Store/Google Play Services........................................................................................ 8
F) Some caveats ............................................................................................................................. 8
Final Thoughts ................................................................................................................................... 9
Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................... 9
Appendix 1: Figures ......................................................................................................................... 10
Appendix 2: Using Chrome to install .apk files.................................................................................. 16
Appendix 3: Installing a file manager app using ADB ........................................................................ 16
Appendix 4: Flow sheet of Procedure .............................................................................................. 19

Background

Since mid-2020, many HUDL users have experienced difficulties setting their tablets up
again after performing a factory reset (FR).

The usual symptom is the appearance of a system message after getting past the green
„HELLO‟ start screen to the effect that „setup requires an internet connection‟ and inviting the
user to check their connection is viable. This happens even after successfully logging into
wifi via their router and confirming everything is working. This effectively blocks any further
progress setting up the tablet. The problem has already led to much soul-searching about
connections / router viability, etc...

There‟s actually nothing wrong with the tablet, the pc or the internet connection - the reason
why it‟s currently impossible to set up most HUDLs as they stand, is that Tesco have
removed support for HUDL access to an online server…which just happens to be an
obligatory part of the setup process.
If you‟re keen to get straight to the „nuts and bolts‟ of the process, you can jump to the next
heading (A New Procedure). If not, read on for some useful insight into how things have
developed – and how not to run a product development project.

A Look Back at Some Recent History

To understand why the HUDL setup has been so problematical in recent years, we need to
look back at the history of the HUDL „Project‟.

When Tesco configured their „flagship‟ HUDL tablet‟s operating system and associated
firmware back in the early part of last decade, they designed it such that before the tablet
could be used, it had to pay a visit to their own servers as part of the setup process. This
was intended to „capture‟ new users by forcing installation of a suite of dedicated Tesco
apps. The assumption was that these users would start shopping with them online and be
more likely to stay with Tesco thereafter. Another more long-term objective of this restrictive
practice was to provide a lucrative captive audience for targeted advertising offers and new
products through additional built-in Tesco-directed apps.

This seemed like a clever marketing ploy at the time….and to a limited extent it probably
was….

However, markets and shopping habits can and do change rapidly (as have the public‟s
expectations of how large companies should behave !), and the online retailing space has
altered beyond recognition since then. The last three years have shown us all just how
radically things can alter in a short time. Tablet „captivation‟ has turned out to be a curse
rather than a blessing for Tesco, the consequences of which they have been trying to
escape for several years now.

Whatever the marketing advantages might have been for Tesco when the HUDLs were first
introduced, maintaining dedicated „legacy‟ servers over the longer term carries a cost, and
Tesco management decided in late 2018 that that they could no longer sanction
maintenance of these servers. Like many large organisations, they failed to take into account
the potential public relations disaster involved in cutting off obligatory server support to a
popular tablet with an estimated 100,000+ remaining users and a thriving second hand
market.

Rendering their „flagship‟ product effectively useless in this way, without offering some form
of mitigation, with hindsight carried the risk of losing them much goodwill with old and new
customers alike.
The servers initially became inaccessible without warning in early 2019 - presumably this
was allowed to happen in the hope that no one would notice, given the product was at least
4 years old and no longer on sale. How wrong they were….

Access was hastily reinstated after the predictable outcry from the many remaining users of
this popular tablet - this culminated in adverse publicity in „consumer champion‟ sections of
the national press. (link to Guardian article 2019:
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2019/mar/25/tesco-hudl-tablet-support-kill-fix.)

Despite this „shot across the bows‟ from consumers, Tesco failed to learn from their mistake
and again withdrew support from the server involved in June 2020 without any warning.

Although there was again a plethora of complaints from users, Tesco clearly decided to
„tough it out‟ this time round, using their perceived „too big to fail‟ image and also hiding
behind the assertion that Google were no longer providing support for the Android 4.2 and
4.4 build versions used by the HUDL1 and HUDL2 tablets, in order to justify withdrawing
server support.

This argument was essentially flawed; to deal with Google‟s restrictions, all that would have
been required was a single downloadable update to the firmware to remove the local server
requirement during setup, and not a complete update of the operating system. Some manual
updating of key Google apps such as Google Play Services would eventually have been
necessary, but at the time Google were still providing developer support for Android 4.x. and
GAPPS were auto-updating normally.

The real reason was probably that their new CEO had decided the HUDL must be laid to
rest, along with the remaining server maintenance costs it involved. The setup server‟s
certificate was therefore allowed to expire on 26th June 2020 and has not been renewed.

The upshot of this „omni-shambles‟, to use an oft-quoted description, is that ALL HUDL1s
and HUDL2s (except the few HUDL2s which actually got the upgrade to Android 5.1 when it
was offered), were prevented from completing setup after a factory reset.

HUDL enthusiasts are a resourceful bunch, however, and after it became obvious that Tesco
weren‟t going to budge, various work-rounds were devised during 2020-21. These were
primarily for the HUDL1, with the one involving a change of date to „fool‟ the server into
accepting communication being the most expedient for inexperienced users.

A custom ROM was also developed for the HUDL1 which bypassed the blockage
completely, although this had to be flashed via the recovery menu using a downloaded
image file via SDHC, so wasn‟t ideal for novice users of Android. Due to bootloader
restrictions on the HUDL2 device, there were, and still are, no custom ROMs available and
only one solution was identified as viable for the HUDL2s – that involving the date change
procedure.

A very recent development, occurring in Spring 2023, which has „upset the apple cart‟ yet
again, was a change in Microsoft‟s communication protocols, such that engagement with the
old Tesco server was no longer possible, even after a date change.

This development means that as things stand, only the HUDL1 can now be put back into
operation after a factory reset, and that only via a reflash using the TMF custom ROM. The
current state of play for the HUDL2s is that all of them (except those fortunate enough to
have been upgraded to Android 5.1) are now effectively useless, since they just hang
indefinitely during setup.

However, all is not lost….yet.

A New Procedure

Since the HUDL2s all have multi-user access, it is possible to bring them back into use by
creating a second user. Read on for more details.

First, some important qualifiers about the status of the new method:

1) The procedure described was developed on a Windows 7 pc using a HUDL 2 running

stock Android 4.4. and has not been exhaustively tested on other HUDL2s. Different
firmware builds for this tablet may behave in a different way and there is no
guarantee that the procedures described here will work for every tablet/build
combination. Also, due to the restrictions imposed by the system on updating apps
following Google‟s abandonment in 2022 of Android versions older than 5.0, app
downloads will no longer be offered by the Play Store app. Although key Google
apps (GAPPS) do auto-update after FR, you may also need to update Google Play
Services and any other essential GAPPS manually to make the tablet work properly.
You will also need to enable external sources via the Settings „Security‟ option to
install apps manually.
2) The method assumes the HUDL2 has been factory reset and has not been rooted.
3) You will need a Windows pc running Windows 7 or above with a free USB port and a
charge+data lead* to connect it to your HUDL2.
4) The procedure may also work for a „stuck‟ HUDL1, but I recommend re-flashing with
the TMF custom ROM as a more permanent fix for this model.
5) The procedure described does not render the tablet immune to the „Tesco curse‟ in
future – this means that if you perform FR again, you‟ll have to start from scratch.
To make life easier, I‟ve tried to illustrate some of the key steps using selected screenshots,
which are hyperlinked to the relevant text references – just hold „CTRL‟ and Left Click your
mouse key to access the figure via the link.

These instructions assume no expertise whatsoever in Android programming and are aimed
at basic users – apologies to our experts for any unnecessary detail.

*As distinct from a „Charge Only‟ lead – these are cheaper and only have 2 internal wires,
and will not work for data transfer. If you can‟t „see‟ your HUDL as a device when connected
to your pc, this may be the reason.

Detailed Steps

A) Getting Access to the Settings App

Power up your tablet normally by pressing the power button for 3-4 secs. When the green
„HELLO‟ screen appears, touch „Start‟.

Now touch the „+ Other network‟ link. A page will appear headed „Add Network‟, and the
Google keyboard should appear. You will see a comma symbol in the bottom left hand
corner of the keyboard Figure 2.

Press and hold the comma key. You should now see a Settings icon appear immediately
above the key – slide your finger upwards over this to select. You should then see a box
headed „Input Options‟ – touch the „Google Keyboard settings‟ option. The Keyboard settings
page should then appear – scroll down to the last option „About Google Keyboard‟ and
select this.

The tablet should now display the „About Google Keyboard‟ page, which contains three
hyperlinks – select the „Open Source Licences‟ link. A page headed „Notices for Files‟ should
appear. Figure 3

Press and Hold any word on this page and you should see a row of options appear at the top
of the page Figure 4. Note that text selection may take a few seconds. Select the „Web
Search‟ option. You should now be in the Google Search page – delete the word you
selected from the search box and type „Settings‟ (Figure 5) You should now see the main
page of the settings app.

B) Creating a New User

Next, you need to create a new user to bypass the Setup blockage. This will allow you to
access the main screen of your tablet again and set up your system for normal use as a
second user.
Whilst still in the Settings app, click the option labelled „Users‟ and follow the prompts to
create a new user. Ensure you sign in using your Google ID and password at this stage –
doing this should allow the system to start updating key apps including Play Services, Play
Store and Chrome (these system always revert to the original factory version after a factory
reset, and these versions are now too old to function properly). Allow the system some time
(it can take up to 15 minutes) for the tablet to do this while remaining connected to wifi.

While you are waiting, if you haven‟t already done so, you can source your file manager app
as follows.

Sourcing your File Manager app

First, download a file manager app via your pc as an .apk file from any reputable supplier (I
recommend APK Pure as a reliable site with an excellent selection of apps – link
https://apkpure.com. )

I recommend „Solid Explorer Classic‟; this is a good general purpose file manager app and is
compatible with Android 4.4. It also has a „Share‟ option. This app is no longer widely
available, but can be downloaded via my website using this link.

If you do install an alternative file manager, please make sure it is capable of installing apps
– not all of them are.

Installing your file manager app

If updating has been successful, you should now be able to install your chosen file manager
direct via the Chrome browser – follow the procedure outlined in Appendix 2: Using Chrome
to install .apk files. Before doing so, you need to lift the restriction on installing external apps
at this stage to allow it to install – do this by selecting the „Security‟ option within „Settings‟
and check the box labelled „Allow External apps‟ (if this option is still greyed-out it means
that auto-updating hasn‟t yet occurred).

If the „Play Services‟ and „Chrome‟ apps do not update, you will need to install a file manager
via Android Debug Bridge (ADB) – return to the Settings app and follow the procedure in
Appendix 3: Installing a file manager app using ADB.

To sign in as a second user and find out whether Chrome has updated:

Press the power button to switch off the display and press it again to access the login
screen. You should see two circles at the bottom of the display – touch the green New User
circle to select it. Now swipe the padlock icon right. You should now see the main splash
screen. Congratulations – you‟re in….as a new user.
You now have access to any of the pre-installed system apps on your tablet. To view them,
locate the Apps Tray Icon (normally at the bottom centre of the screen) and touch to display
your installed app selection. Swipe left and if your installation has worked you should see the
„Solid Explorer Classic‟ icon towards the end of the list. For convenience, move this app to
your main screen by touching and holding its Icon while moving in any direction, then
position on the main screen as required when it appears.

C) Installing New Apps via Solid Explorer

Since you have already allowed access to external apps via Settings, you can use Solid
Explorer or another file manager to install any of the new apps you transfer from your pc via
the data cable as .apk files. I would recommend you place the .apk files in a single directory
on your HUDL within the „Download‟ directory for convenience. To install an app, simply click
the .apk file within the directory listing and follow the prompts to install it. Once the app has
installed, it will appear in the app drawer as usual and you can then move it to the main
launcher screen as required.

Hint: This method of installing apps can also prove particularly useful for any other tablet or
phone, and is essential for devices running older versions of Android now considered
obsolete by Google (and app developers !). There are some distinct advantages over Play
Store - by keeping the APKs in a separate directory away from the system files, you are able
to uninstall and reinstall them yourself at any time. An additional ‟plus‟ is that you will have a
repository of apps that you know are still compatible with Android 4.4 and can re-install them
at will. They are also immediately accessible and not hidden away in the system partition as
they are with Play Store. I have documented this strategy more fully in a separate article
„Managing Your Android Apps‟ – you can download the .pdf version from my website
downloads page.

Please note however that you need to be careful that any apps you do install from external
sources are bona-fide and malware-free, since installing .apks directly does give you more
limited protection. Take care also to check whether an app is compatible with A4.4 before
you go to the trouble of downloading it – if it isn‟t, although it‟s unlikely to damage your
system, it wastes time and effort.

As an additional enhancement, I would also recommend transferring the built-in Power

Widget to your main screen. This will enable you to switch Wifi, Bluetooth and location
finding on, and off easily when not needed without entering „Settings‟, which will help save
on battery power, particularly if you are „out and about‟ and don‟t have a charger connected.
D) Running your apps

Aps should all run normally after installation when signed in as a second user. You can run
apps without an internet connection if they don‟t require you to be online to access web data.
Your apps should run as they normally would for a fully set-up machine

E) Using Play Store/Google Play Services

Since September 2022 Google have no longer offered full support for Android 4.x versions.
You cannot therefore use Google‟s Play Store to source new apps for the HUDL2. Some
apps may also require you to have updated the „Google Play Services‟ app before they will
function properly. This should still happen automatically for Android 4.4. Watch out for any
update messages when you are connected to wifi and allow the system to update any
Google apps as requested. Update notifications can take some time to appear after wifi is
switched on and you create a second user.

Once you have followed the above steps and installed your chosen apps, you can go ahead
and either continue to use the tablet or power it down in the normal way.

Please note that each time you reboot the HUDL2, the first thing you see will be the login
screen with a User Selection dialog at the bottom of the screen. This appears because the
HUDL recognises you have more than one user set up. It enables you to bypass the Main
User setup involving wifi and gives you the choice of user to select.

Provided you make sure you choose the new user account (usually the right hand
Green button) before swiping right to log in. The HUDL will then start up and display the
home screen as normal, since the wifi setup requirement is only invoked for the main
user. If you choose the „Owner‟ account by mistake, and end up in the „Let‟s get you
Started‟ screen, just short-press the POWER key to lock the screen, press again to re-open
the dialog and choose again. You should not need to go through the escape procedure.

Please note that there are some restrictions as to what you can do as a second user (e.g.
access developer mode directly or change Security or Date/Time settings). If you need to
change these, you‟ll need to follow the steps in Heading A) again to access the „Settings‟
app as an administrator.

F) Some caveats

There are a few „querks‟ to look out for when using a HUDL tablet as a „guest‟ user in this
way:

1) When you connect via USB to a pc using Windows Explorer, the folders and files you
see on the pc may be different to those visible via the File manager app on the tablet.
 This is because the „guest‟ user uses a separate section within the operating system
for storage. The main implication of this is that only some directories may be visible /
available to the guest user, and you should ensure that any files you transfer from the
pc go to one of these shared directories. There are also restrictions on what you can
do via the Settings app.
2) Screen Shots (taken via holding the Power and Volume Down keys simultaneously
for 2-3 secs) are sent to a system directory which may not be visible in Guest mode
via USB or using a File Explorer. Hint: If the screenshot you have just taken is not
visible and you want to transfer it to pc, use the Share Icon which appears below the
notification message for each screen shot. (I recommend transferring to your GDrive
as the best option).

Final Thoughts

I hope these procedures will be useful to any HUDL users wanting to defy Tesco‟s and
Google‟s joint „decree of obsolescence‟ and continue using their much-loved tablets despite
Microsoft, Google and Tesco‟s best efforts.

Any suggestions you might have which might improve this procedure or the documentation
(Or indeed render it obsolete by developing a suitable custom ROM !) would be welcome.

Acknowledgements

1) Thanks to Sheila Beddard for the kind donation of the „stuck‟ HUDL2 used in the
development of this method.
2) Rob May for valuable and timely advice concerning Microsoft‟s recent upgrade.
Appendix 1: Figures

Figure 1 Build Details for Tesco HUDL2 Development tablet

Figure 2 How to access the Settings symbol on the Google Keyboard

Figure 3 Prompt for Keyboard settings access

Figure 4: Link to Open Source Licences

Figure 5: Highlighting text to access Google Search
Figure 7: Settings option Showing Developer Options Link

Figure 7a: Selecting USB Debugging permission for ADB in Settings

Figure 8: Selecting Unknown Sources Permission from Security Options in Settings

Figure 9: PC ADB window showing Android tablet connected

Figure 9a: Platform tools directory with Solid Explorer APK in place
Appendix 2: Using Chrome to install .apk files

This method assumes that you have:

a) Successfully updated the factory version of Chrome via wifi

b) You have enabled „External sources‟ via the Settings app‟s Security option.
c) You are logged in as a second user
d) You have stored the .apk files you wish to install in Directory:
/Download/APKs , as suggested in the text

First, switch off your wifi connection (via Settings app, dropdown menu or Power
widget).

Enter the Chrome app and type the following in the Search box at the top of the
screen (Not the Google Search box):

File:///SDCard/

This should present a directory listing for the data partition of your tablet. Click the
directory marked „Download‟ and then click the .apk file of your choice

This will invoke a download dialog – confirm the download as requested. You will
now see a downloading notification appear – click this (pull down the notification
area if it isn‟t displayed) and you should be transferred to the app installation screen
where you can complete the app‟s installation process. Once you have installed a file
manager, you can close Chrome and use the manager app to install any other apps
you wish to use.

Appendix 3: Installing a file manager app using ADB

If your Chrome app hasn‟t updated correctly, you will need to use ADB to install your file
manager.

Enabling Developer mode and installing / Using ADB

To use ADB, you now need to enable Developer mode on your tablet to access USB
debugging – this will be necessary to allow you to install a file manager app manually (the
HUDL tablets don‟t have a built-in file manager app). Once this is done you will be able to
install any other apps you wish to use under your new Username via the file manager.

If you have a Windows pc running Win 7 or above, your HUDL should connect directly using
a standard micro USB data cable, and should appear as a new drive in Windows Explorer.
Also, please ensure your data cable really is a data cable and not just a simple 2-wire
charge lead – these do not work for data transfer.

Accessing developer mode:

Within the settings app, scroll down to the last Heading on the page („About Tablet‟). Select
this, and look for the „Build Number‟ option (usually the last entry – see

Figure 1). Touch this 7 times in succession to switch on Developer mode. You should then
see a new heading on the main page entitled „Developer Options‟. Figure 7 . Select this and
touch the „USB Debugging‟ option, then confirm OK Figure 7a.

A new heading on the main menu should appear „Developer Options‟. Select this and move
down the screen until you see a box marked „Enable USB debugging‟. Check the box.

One final thing before you‟re ready to use ADB to install your apps – you need to allow
installation of .apk files via your HUDL‟s Settings app. Google blocks external .apks as
default so you are obliged to use their Play Store, but you can override this on any tablet or
phone. Simply move to the main Settings page and Select „Security‟. Now look for an
„Unknown Sources‟ option. Press this and you should be ready to go… Figure 8.

If you don‟t have any experience of ADB, this may sound daunting but it is actually relatively
simple, and in any case need only be used for the preliminary installation process.

Installing ADB

If you don‟t already have ADB installed on your pc, you can download the ADB software
using the following link:

https://www.xda-developers.com/install-adb-windows-macos-linux/

This link provides step by step instructions and should get you up and running on ADB with
the minimum of effort.

Installing the file manager app via ADB

Once you have ADB installed, transfer the file manager .apk file you downloaded in heading
D) to the „Platform Tools‟ directory.
Figure 9a.

To start ADB, move to the Platform Tools directory and open a Command Window. (You can
do this on Win7 by highlighting the directory in Win Explorer and pressing SHIFT and mouse
right click - you‟ll see an „Open Command Window here‟ option near the top of the list. Click
it to select and a Window should appear.)

To check whether your pc ADB installation is running, type „ADB Devices‟. You should see a
sequence of numbers corresponding to your HUDL if it is correctly connected. Figure 9.

At this point you may see a message indicating the tablet is unauthorised – if you do, return
to the Settings app‟s developer menu and look for a heading ‟Revoke Previous
Authorisations‟. Click this heading. Now retype „ADB devices‟ in the ADB command window.
You should find the „unauthorised‟ part of the message disappears. You can now install your
file manager app.

Type „ADB install “SolidExplorer.apk” ‟ and press the return key. (substitute the name of your
alternative manager if necessary!).

Hints: If the app‟s filename is particularly long, rename the .apk file to something more
manageable before you start to avoid errors in typing. Note also that the ADB Install
command requires that there be no spaces within the string within the inverted commas
before it will accept the full name, so please remove any embedded spaces. Please also
make sure you type the name correctly on the command line. Typical valid shortened names
would be e.g. „SolidExplorer‟.

You should see details of the installation ending in „Success‟ if OK. Once the file manager is
installed, you shouldn‟t need to use ADB again for installation. You may however find it
useful for future tasks with your tablets or phones. Once you have installed this essential
.apk file, you can exit the ADB command window on your pc.

You can now access your tablet as a new user and start installing your apps.
Appendix 4: Flow sheet of Procedure

Power on 

Start Screen 

Log into your Router via wifi 

Access Settings app using Google Keyboard 

Set up 2nd User 

Allow System to update key Google Apps 

Source File Manager App 

Install File Manager via Chrome or ADB 

Install other apps using file manager 

Continue using tablet as 2nd user or power down normally

VJCW 29.5.2023