Problems arising with "simulate secondary displays" on android.

Introduction

Being open source and infinitely customizable has always been the biggest strength of android. But it also creates some problems with devices which have geeky owners who go out of their way to root their device or install custom roms just to achieve all that their os provider wouldn't let them to.

One such issue is with the developer option setting that says "simulate secondary displays". What it basically does is mirrors your screen and displays as a floating window. If you're using the OS that came with your device, it isn't too dangerous an option, as only those options will be shown that your device can actually run. Problems arise when people use this option on a custom rom (like Lineage). In such a case, even those options will be displayed that your device can't potentially handle and if you tap one of them... BAM your device crashes and doesn't boot up.

But can you fix it? YES (obviously)

Do you need to factory reset your device? NO

How to fix it? to find out, read on.

Procedure:

Step 1: Boot your device into safe mode:

Remember, when your windows pc wouldn't run and almost everyone told you to try booting into safe mode? They recommended this because this "safe mode" disables all third party applications and most settings are ignored. You can do the same on android wherein your phone will act like it was factory resetted (even though it wasn't)

To boot into safe mode, first turn off your device (because of your actions, the phone will crash as soon as it finishes booting)

Case 1: if the battery is removable

Remove the battery and pop it back in

Press the power button 

As soon as the display turns on, press and hold both the volume keys till the device boots with a ""safe mode" watermark somewhere on the screen

Case 2: If the battery is non removable

Hold the power button for 10 seconds or till the screen turns off

                                             OR

Hold the power button and volume down button till the device restarts

                                             OR

Hold the power button and both volume buttons till the device restarts

When the company logo appears on the screen, press and hold both the volume keys till the device boots with a "safe mode" watermark.

[No screenshot here because the watermark will be different for different devices]

Step 2: Disable "simulate secondary displays"

The next step would obviously be to stop stimulating secondary displays on your android. To do that:

Open settings>Developer options>Simulate secondary displays>None

In this case it was already set to none but it won't be in yours so do it.

       

Step 3: Reboot

The final step would be to exit safe mode. To do that simply restart your device by holding down the power button and selecting restart or reboot. Or, if you want you can also completely power down your device and turn it on again.

Issues

None found yet, if you do, feel free to use comments.