[Q] Noob here. Some questions about rooting. - Droid X General

I've had my DX since launch day and love it. It's amazing how much more I can do and how much better of a phone this is than my old iPhone 3GS. I have been on the fence about rooting and have been wanting to do it even more now that this Z4Root app has been released. I'm just a little scared that I might screw something up. I have a few questions that hopefully can be answered and will hopefully help me jump into the root world. Thanks in advance.
1. If I hit the *Unroot* button in Z4Root, will it get rid of everything it had installed and return my phone back to normal?
2. If my phone is rooted, will I still get notified about and be able to install future OTA software updates for when 2.2.1 and Gingerbread are released?
3. The main reason I want root: how do I change my status bar from the stock one to the black one everyone has?

iittaalliiaann77 said:
I've had my DX since launch day and love it. It's amazing how much more I can do and how much better of a phone this is than my old iPhone 3GS. I have been on the fence about rooting and have been wanting to do it even more now that this Z4Root app has been released. I'm just a little scared that I might screw something up. I have a few questions that hopefully can be answered and will hopefully help me jump into the root world. Thanks in advance.
1. If I hit the *Unroot* button in Z4Root, will it get rid of everything it had installed and return my phone back to normal?
2. If my phone is rooted, will I still get notified about and be able to install future OTA software updates for when 2.2.1 and Gingerbread are released?
3. The main reason I want root: how do I change my status bar from the stock one to the black one everyone has?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. It says it will. But maybe someone that has unrooted can chime in. I did use the app to root- but I have had no need to unroot. And I should mention this- it is the droidx bootstrap recovery app that appears to be very difficult to "uninstall". Bootstrap Recovery is a separate app that you will need to create back ups of your phone.
2. If your phone is rooted you should get the updates. I was rooted on 2.1 and got 2.2. But only if you don't delete any files from your system that should not be deleted. If you delete stock system files than I don't think you can get the update without either restoring the files or doing the sbf.
3. To get the black bar there are a couple of ways of going about it. You have to be rooted. the easiest way when you are first getting started is to find a black bar mod that comes in the form of a .zip file that you apply using the DroidX Bootstrapper App I was talking about. Most of the threads that have black bars also have instructions for the method to apply them. Make sure the mod is for the rom you have. If you apply the rubix1.6 black bar mod to your rooted 2.2 ota rom- you will be in a heap of trouble. Generally you run the Bootsrap recovery app and boot into recovery. Make a back up first (it will get stored on your sdcard in a file called clockworkmod/backup (i think that is the name). I always reboot after creating a back up.
Then reboot into recovery again. Apply .zip from sdcard. choose the .zip. apply it.
the whole thing was very confusing for me until I did it a few times. And everyone talked in very vague terminology. For instance - no one explained- the volume rocker buttons move the curser up/down. the camera button is the enter or select button. and the back button is still the back button.
Once you get going on it- if you need clarification- I will try and keep an eye on this thread.
good luck.

Thank you very much for your reply. I will try to look into the bootstrap app you are talking about to see if it is simple to unroot and go from there. I appreciate your time and hopefully I will root soon and I will post my outcome.

I just returned by D2G and went got the DX, (the keyboard was too small for me). But you are right the Boot strap Recovery app is a pita to remove. Every time I turned my D2G on or rebooted it came up in Boot Strap Recovery which I was aware it would do. Not a big issue, but removing it is a PITA.

If you do the 2.3 update you can forget rooting with that program

Now that I have 2.3, how can I root my phone to remove Madden NFL 11?

Briss23 said:
Now that I have 2.3, how can I root my phone to remove Madden NFL 11?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you have the latest OTA, .340 (Android 2.2.1), z4root will work in a matter of seconds.

once you go root you'll never come back to plain and boring.
Root, Rom, Theme.
Read all the threads lots of good info here and other sites....

Related

Does Rooting and/or reflashing prevent the next OTA update?

There is allegedly a new OTA update on the way, enabling 720p video, among other things.
Will rooting or rooting+recovery reflash prevent the phone from updating? If it doesn't, would I have to re-root the phone after the update?
pieter3d said:
There is allegedly a new OTA update on the way, enabling 720p video, among other things.
Will rooting or rooting+recovery reflash prevent the phone from updating? If it doesn't, would I have to re-root the phone after the update?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I was you, I would simply wait for the OTA to come out and let our AMAZING DEVS get a crack at it and download the rooted version.
I would love to have the 720p and new boot animation and mobile hotspot. But i would rather have root than any of those. Already have wireless tether. But love the new boot animation....hmm. what to do.... can't wait i have a feeling once the DInc gets stocked back up and they can advertise it we will get alot of devs behind it bc the droid x supposedly has a encrypted bootloader. Not looking so good for those who were ready to drop the DInc.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App
This update is supposed to include wireless N, 720p video, wireless tethering, and the droid eye boot animation. Since I already have the wireless tether app for my rooted Inc, I'm wondering what would happen if I accepted to receive this OTA update? Anyway, I agree that having root supersedes all of these features, so I will wait for the download. My question is, about how long does it usually take from the time the OTA update is released until the dev's have it ripped and ready for us to download? Thanks!
Droid Eye Boot Animation
Here is a link to directions on applying the boot animation to a rooted phone.
forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=6943967&postcount=1
It has something to do with a file called otacerts.zip in etc/security
I think the Certinstaller.odex in system/app has something to do with it do...
I'm not sure what needs to be done with them, but when modified it will block OTA
dont rename the otacerts.zip. it will kill your battery life constantly checking itself over and over.
OK I've been told to just wait for the official ota froyo update before I root. And that if I root before that I wont get the update sent to me. But I've also been told that if I wait for the official ota update I wont be able to use unrevoked forever.
please help me!!! I'm so confused. and I've looked everywhere else and I keep getting different answers.
BigNate said:
OK I've been told to just wait for the official ota froyo update before I root. And that if I root before that I wont get the update sent to me. But I've also been told that if I wait for the official ota update I wont be able to use unrevoked forever.
please help me!!! I'm so confused. and I've looked everywhere else and I keep getting different answers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not that you won't be able to use unrevoked-forever, it's that you won't have a way to flash a custom recovery system to the phone to actually FLASH the forever file.
I recommend the following since it seems you want an official update as opposed to the RUU.
1. Perform the unrEVOked root
2. Flash unrEVOked forever
3. Flash the Stock Recovery back to the phone.
4. Hurry up and wait for the OTA.
5. Upon receiving the OTA, install. You will lose your root privileges. No worries!
6. After installing the OTA, flash ClockworkMod back to your phone
7. Use ClockworkMod to flash a root payload file (contains su and Superuser.apk)
8. Bask in Rooted/Official 2.2 Froyo goodness.
From my research, the OTA MUST have the stock recovery to install. What you will have done here is provided an "Official" platform for the OTA to download, check signatures, and install all while having S-OFF. As long as S-OFF is invoked, you can continue to replace the recovery from ClockworkMod to Stock Recovery (Android 2e) whenever you need to.
S-OFF is what makes this all possible, God Bless the bastards at unrEVOked, would like to take 'em to Peter Luger's one day!
Ok thanks man haha. I've only had this phone for two day and I rooted as soon as I got it. But then unrooted because I was that I wouldn't get froyo.
And yes thank you UNREVOKED FOREVER and, also thank rdmerck for telling me I was completely lost.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App

Rooting summary for noobs (question)

Ok, so I'm new to the droid scene, and the smart phone scene over all. I'd just like to get some summary and clarification here. I've been trying to learn on my own but the volume of information is kind of daunting, especially since so much is still uncertain with the DX.
As I understand it...
- SBF: some sort of recovery image that you can load from recovery mode in case you brick your phone
- OTA: official update for the OS from moto or other phone OEM
- If you root, you will have to unroot before going to froyo
- If you remove stock apps, you will be not be able to update when verizon FINALLY gives us froyo unless you restore them or restore from the SBF back to factory state.
- If you remove stock apps you will not simply be able to run 'factory reset'
- Because of the boot loader encryption, you currently cannot install a "stock" version of Android 2.1, or 2.2
Am I wrong on any of these? Is there a wiki or something that contains all this information in one place so I don't have to break my head looking all over?
Oh, yeah, and finally, the mount commands I see, where you are mounting a block device to your /system folder.... That's basically re-mounting the system partition in read-write mode right?
edit: what's the difference between mmcblk1p21 and mtdblk4? I've seen both referred to in such a context that I interpret them as being the system block for DX?
Thanks guys, and sorry for bugging you with dumb questions!
NegativeOne said:
Ok, so I'm new to the droid scene, and the smart phone scene over all. I'd just like to get some summary and clarification here. I've been trying to learn on my own but the volume of information is kind of daunting, especially since so much is still uncertain with the DX.
As I understand it...
- SBF: some sort of recovery image that you can load from recovery mode in case you brick your phone
- OTA: official update for the OS from moto or other phone OEM
- If you root, you will have to unroot before going to froyo
- If you remove stock apps, you will be not be able to update when verizon FINALLY gives us froyo unless you restore them or restore from the SBF back to factory state.
- If you remove stock apps you will not simply be able to run 'factory reset'
- Because of the boot loader encryption, you currently cannot install a "stock" version of Android 2.1, or 2.2
Am I wrong on any of these? Is there a wiki or something that contains all this information in one place so I don't have to break my head looking all over?
Oh, yeah, and finally, the mount commands I see, where you are mounting a block device to your /system folder.... That's basically re-mounting the system partition in read-write mode right?
edit: what's the difference between mmcblk1p21 and mtdblk4? I've seen both referred to in such a context that I interpret them as being the system block for DX?
Thanks guys, and sorry for bugging you with dumb questions!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll try and answer these as best i can.
1. SBF - Not sure about that one. If I read correctly though, you're right.
2. OTA = Over The Air update. Which yes is the update pushed to us from Verizon who get it from Moto
3. No one is quite sure about this yet. I guess we'll see.
4. Yes this is true. You have to re-install all the bloat you took out. Some people couldn't update to the small patch they released if you were missing apps. Personally I use launcherpro and just hide them.
5. Not sure about this one either. Sorry
6. Yes. Because of the bootloader encryption we can't flash any custom ROMs or even just a stock Android. If you try and mess with it, you'll be stuck with a lovely motorola logo.
There are no dumb questions, only dumb answers.
Hehe, thanks. It's just people hate repeating themselves online. I am really debating whether I want to bother rooting and messing around with stuff right now if froyo's coming out soon and it might invalidate stuff I do or make it harder in the future. I think I can live without themes and with bloat for a while .
I use ADW Launcher myself. Heard Launcher Pro has lag issues - never experience anything like that?
On our phone? No. On the Droid Eris, yes a bit. You just have to play around with the settings and it'll run great. Honestly, only root if you really want to. I did it so I could use my root apps (titanium backup, Adfree, etc) but past that I just removed a bit of bloat or hid it with launcherpro. If you don't have any root apps, can deal with the bloat, and don't want to have to unroot and possibly install the apps you deleted when froyo comes out I wouldn't bother with root.

[Q] Disable system update notifications

I have a rooted N1 running 2.2 with no mods installed. I dont want to upgrade to the latest 2.2.1. How do I get rid of or disable the system update available notification? Cant find any settings anywhere to turn it off.
Why the opposition to FRG83 out of interest?
Rusty! said:
Why the opposition to FRG83 out of interest?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. I used the 1 click root
2. I have not found any info on why I need 2.2.1
3. I tried 3 times to install the update with not success
You can't turn off the update notification. You need to modify the build.prop for that.
You can't install update if your system isn't stock.
For me the update notification stopped after I ignored it for 1 week.
Be warned though - my N1 became super unstable at that point (2-3 crashes per day).
I finally gave in and upgraded - did not see any improvements. Battery seems slightly worse. Rooting was easy. And has crashed once. (Compared to NOT a single crash in 4+ months before)
nexusdue said:
did not see any improvements
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This seems to be the consensus...at least among those I know with Nexus Ones. I'm on CM6 and never received the OTA notification..and I have no intention of updating to 2.2.1....ever... unless it's a CM nightly, but I'm happy with CM6 stable so I'm sitting pat.
So......It looks like I either update my phone, install a rom or get use to pushing "install later" every time I go to use it?
bhds said:
So......It looks like I either update my phone, install a rom or get use to pushing "install later" every time I go to use it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
One more thing you can try: Download quickboot from the market. When you get prompted to install the update again, dismiss it and then reboot your device using quickboot. Seems to make it go away, for few days anyway. Check out post 117 on this page and you can read backwards from there and see what I'm talking about.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=791124&highlight=quickboot&page=12
Old MuckenMire said:
One more thing you can try: Download quickboot from the market. When you get prompted to install the update again, dismiss it and then reboot your device using quickboot. Seems to make it go away, for few days anyway. Check out post 117 on this page and you can read backwards from there and see what I'm talking about.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=791124&highlight=quickboot&page=12
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm currently using this method to "hide" the update prompt. I haven't been keeping close track, but it's seems to have hidden the message for almost a week. I'm trying to decide if I want to root using the new SuperOneClick method (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=803682), but I want to make sure it's as painless as it sounds. Hopefully, it's just 1) let the phone update to 2.2.1, 2) reboot, 3) run this OneClick method, and I'll have superuser back without having to reinstall my root apps or set them up again.
Anyone know if this is all that's needed to root after letting the phone upgrade to 2.2.1?
bhds said:
So......It looks like I either update my phone, install a rom or get use to pushing "install later" every time I go to use it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just installed 2.2.1 and used the SuperOneClick method to root the phone again. I had to turn the phone off, run the program, and then boot the phone for it to work. I suggest you try this method. It couldn't be much simpler.

Please Help! how to remove superuser?

I'm planning on exchanging my phone today for the evo (today is the last day), I want to see how much an issue the gps and no froyo is for me vs the benefits w/ epic. anyway i rooted my phone but haven't installed any roms/kernals. I'm afraid when i go to do the exchange they will see that it is rooted from the superuser icon. what is the easiest/quickest way to get rid of the icon and/or unroot. thank you!!
you sound a little frenzied, which is probably why you didnt search a whole lot before posting. anyway, if you rooted with 1 click, there is an uninstaller, see the bottom of the OP post:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=770388
otherwise, easiest thing to do is odin back to full stock: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=794138
then just boot in to sign in to google. no evidence of root or anything else.
truth be told i am a little bit frenizied since today is my 30th day w/ the phone lol. thanks for the reply. i followed the method w/ "permanent root" from this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=798067
i tried that uninstall twice but the icon is still there, so looks like i will have to flash back to stock following directions from the 2nd link you posted...
yeah do that, what icon are you talking about? do you have the superuser app?
in either case, read the directions carefully, like it says, you'll be fine unless you're really dumb, i did it earlier this week, its easy and fast. full stock, good luck
edit: you might actually be unrooted and just need to uninstall superuser but i suggest doing the odin method anyway just to truly remove all traces.

[Q] Best first steps with a new tablet

Ultra Noob here
So I had my first android-TF700 for about 10 days. Played around with it, read around this site and realized it was a tablet for someone with experience.
So I now have an N10. Charged, not even turned on yet. What should be my next steps? I see a couple toolkits,an auto root, and ASOP-
What would you suggest a noob start with?
I know, I know, turn it on
Thanks!
Depends on what you want to accomplish with the device. If you want to try or at least gain some understanding as to the different features you might be interested in, read the first post of the different ROMs available and see if anything sounds enticing.
I personally use me for taking media with me on the go, be it news or videos, so I don't have to carry a laptop around. I'm on CM10.1 right now but cycle through every rom to see how everything works. Good luck!
Sent from my Nexus 10 using XDA Premium HD app
First step is unlocking the bootloader and installing root and a custom recovery. Even if you don't need it at the moment there will come the time you want to try it. When you unlock the bootloader you will lose all your data so it's the best if you do it at first when you get your tablet.
rauschkugl said:
First step is unlocking the bootloader and installing root and a custom recovery. Even if you don't need it at the moment there will come the time you want to try it. When you unlock the bootloader you will lose all your data so it's the best if you do it at first when you get your tablet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And how do you unlock the bootloader and install root?
What do you mean a custom recovery?
Are there other ways to root the device with out wiping it? Seems like most android smartphone you can load up an exe or something to shift the su app around or something.
Thanks.. (still waiting for my N10 to arrive.. meanwhile.. still playing with my ICS Bionic)
There are tons of threads here about unlocking the bootloader, rooting and installing a recovery like teamwin or clockworkmod.
rauschkugl said:
There are tons of threads here about unlocking the bootloader, rooting and installing a recovery like teamwin or clockworkmod.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Found the threads. Look easy enough to follow. Something I'm not understanding . What does it mean to install a recovery? whats the purpose of that. I've search and (at least not yet) found a good description of what/why that it. I'm sensing that devices are different (duh!) and I didnt need to install a "recovery" on my Droid Bionic when I rooted it, but this N10 must be different.
With the custom recovery you're able to install zip files, make a backup of your Rom,... You can't do that with the recovery that comes with the nexus 10.
Recovery is like a separate system that you can boot to, if you want to mess with the main Android OS. Like rauschkugl said, you can boot to a custom recovery to flash different ROMs that are distributed in flashable ZIP files. You can also make (or if anything goes wrong, revert to) a complete backup of the device's internal memory.
Ok I am rooted and unlocked with mskip's awesome toolkit and DroidModderX video which really helped.
I picked all in one click option and choose TWRP. I fell asleep when I got to TWRP, so I guess I will have to reboot to the recovery page to pull it up.
After that I have no idea what to do I really haven't played with the N10 much. I was planning to leave it stock for awhile (as suggested by rauschkugl).
Do I need to do any backup or anything with TWRP if it's a new tablet? if so what and how ? Please point me to a tutorial for noob types.
Other question is I have a system update and 6 new updates waiting for me to install, can I go ahead and do that rooted and unlocked with stock ROM and no TWRP backup yet?
Thanks!
EraVulgaris said:
Ok I am rooted and unlocked with mskip's awesome toolkit and DroidModderX video which really helped.
I picked all in one click option and choose TWRP. I fell asleep when I got to TWRP, so I guess I will have to reboot to the recovery page to pull it up.
After that I have no idea what to do I really haven't played with the N10 much. I was planning to leave it stock for awhile (as suggested by rauschkugl).
Do I need to do any backup or anything with TWRP if it's a new tablet? if so what and how ? Please point me to a tutorial for noob types.
Other question is I have a system update and 6 new updates waiting for me to install, can I go ahead and do that rooted and unlocked with stock ROM and no TWRP backup yet?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great questions. You are one step ahead of me on my new N10. I've not turned it on yet, really wanting to, but I dont want to do much to it, until after I unlock/root/ and learn how to make backups. Though since i've got a TBpro license, I'll probably use that. I dont want to tweak the OS. so I think I need root just to be able to run TBpro. I just want to be sure I'll still get OFA updates, and I want to learn more about if and how backup work for a multi-user N10.
EraVulgaris said:
Ok I am rooted and unlocked with mskip's awesome toolkit and DroidModderX video which really helped.
I picked all in one click option and choose TWRP. I fell asleep when I got to TWRP, so I guess I will have to reboot to the recovery page to pull it up.
After that I have no idea what to do I really haven't played with the N10 much. I was planning to leave it stock for awhile (as suggested by rauschkugl).
Do I need to do any backup or anything with TWRP if it's a new tablet? if so what and how ? Please point me to a tutorial for noob types.
Other question is I have a system update and 6 new updates waiting for me to install, can I go ahead and do that rooted and unlocked with stock ROM and no TWRP backup yet?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would suggest straight away that you perform a backup with TWRP, so that if you decide to delve deeper into ROMs and playing with your system files, you'll have a completely stock backup to rely on. Simply boot into recovery and select 'Backup', then you can rename the backup file if you want, then swipe the slider across and wait, then you're done!
When it comes to system updates, you'll most likely have to use your root toolkit to unroot the device, else the update will fail. You can however continue to update all your apps as you normally would. Hope this helped
OK
So I kinda started from the beginning of Droid ModderX's video, picked yes to update the toolkit i had donated- (got an update) accessed TWRP (pain to get to- could I download goomanager now after I have TWRP?) and backed up my stock set up just as you said Huggogguh :good:.
Then I went ahead and touched "install system update" that was hanging around in the upper left corner of my tablet (I'm being really specific for other noobs) and it updated my system to 4.2.1 and my apps. Build number changed to JOP4OD
Looked at root checker app. I am now not rooted, so I will go back through toolkit and choose 4 once I am in fastboot mode to reroot I hope:fingers-crossed:.
Thanks!
EraVulgaris said:
OK
So I kinda started from the beginning of Droid ModderX's video, picked yes to update the toolkit i had donated- (got an update) accessed TWRP (pain to get to- could I download goomanager now after I have TWRP?) and backed up my stock set up just as you said Huggogguh :good:.
Then I went ahead and touched "install system update" that was hanging around in the upper left corner of my tablet (I'm being really specific for other noobs) and it updated my system to 4.2.1 and my apps. Build number changed to JOP4OD
Looked at root checker app. I am now not rooted, so I will go back through toolkit and choose 4 once I am in fastboot mode to reroot I hope:fingers-crossed:.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like a great success then so are you saying that you performed the system update while you were rooted and you retained the root access?
Nope. Got the OTA system update and it knocked me off root. But I got it back easily with the toolkit.

Categories

Resources