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Removing BossTool
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We have had a lot of questions on how to remove/reverse BossTool. I personally have never done this and must warn you that it is a little tricky and definately done “At Your Own Risk” but, if you would like to give it a shot, below are some instructions I found on ipodtouchfans.com via ali.bigolo.
You will first want to uninstall all your applications just to be safe because, the OS partition is smaller and it is safer to have only necessary stuff there.
1. Back up your Application folder. You can do this by OpenSSHing into your iPhone and dragging the root/private/var/Applications folder from your iPhone to your Desktop…select Copy.
2. Open WinSCP (or whatever you are using to SSH in) and then open terminal…you can do this by hitting ctrl+t on your keyboard…enter the following command:
rm -rf /Applications /private/var/Applications
In giving you that command…it is assumed that your Applications folder use to be in the root/private/var/ folder (which it should have been if you used BossTool). This command will remove the symlink and the copied folder.
3. Drag the backup Applications folder from your Desktop into root/ on your iPhone via SSH. This will move your Applications to where they should be. HOWEVER, make sure the folder is not bigger than the partition or you will have problems.
4. Change the permissions of the files in the Applications folder to 0755. To do this…select all the files, right click, select properties and then type 0755 into the Octal.
That should do it! Let me know if it works! 
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Do we have to remove BossTool before upgrading to 1.1.3?
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Hey Doug or Brooke… Have you heard anything about “iPhoneLike.app”? Word is it cost a dollar or something. Maybe you could do a post on it. You can check out some info on it at: http://blazeco.info/
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@jason: if not, why would anyone want to remove boss tool?
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Didnt work, i have to restore my iphone! if you click any icon after this “method” the icon just goes dark but it dont open the app, please checkout this.
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No, No……you don’t need to restore…just change the permissions of the files to 0755!!
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And how you can change the permissions if you cant access from ssh??? btw when you press any icon it doesnt open and shows a black screen like it does when the file doesn’t have permissions.
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You are exactly right…that is what is happening…the files do not have permissions. So, what you would need to do is SSH in and add the permissions. You can still do that even if your icons aren’t working correctly…SSH is a totally seperate thing. See the post above on how to change permissions.
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why can’t i move applications? (have moved fonts and ringtones) (1.1.3 jailbreak)
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can some one help mei tryed restoring it but it does not work . after that my icons r all gone
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how can i change permissions with WINscp?? i have jailbroken 1.1.4 and want to move the applications to bigger HD. But the problem is that where is the new shortcut and will i be able to perform the same functions after moving the apps (install, uninstall, etc…..)
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I honestly would not advise this to someone who is not 100% sure of what to do.
I’m in the process of trying to get all of my apps back on the springboard now.
I might have to restore, I’m not sure at this point.
So if you’re not in the mood to do a full restore, I would not advise this method.
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off topic: What # should all permissions be set to originally without using bosstools or anything? Or do they each have a different one?
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Andy on April 7th, 2008 8:50 pm:
Edit: Do you recommend using BossTool?