Database Users

[Q] Complete Android Noobie...

Hey Guys!
I just got my first android device (switched over from iPhone 3g) and I LOVE IT!
With that said, now to business! I read a lot about rooting the Evo, and other android devices, and I must say, I am quite lost in the lingo. I looked through a bunch of threads, and there are a bunch of tutorials about rooting the device in many different ways. And, after reading a lot of them, I found out about unrevoked, but I am not quite sure what it does. I gather it is a one step rooting program, but if that is the case, what is PC36IMG.zip needed for if unrevoked already roots the device in one click?
Any clarification would be greatly appreciated.

Arm0 said:
Hey Guys!
I just got my first android device (switched over from iPhone 3g) and I LOVE IT!
With that said, now to business! I read a lot about rooting the Evo, and other android devices, and I must say, I am quite lost in the lingo. I looked through a bunch of threads, and there are a bunch of tutorials about rooting the device in many different ways. And, after reading a lot of them, I found out about unrevoked, but I am not quite sure what it does. I gather it is a one step rooting program, but if that is the case, what is PC36IMG.zip needed for if unrevoked already roots the device in one click?
Any clarification would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok so rooting removes the protected recovery on the phone. a recovery lets you restore/factory reset and install updates manually. with the non protected recovery, you can make the phone think it is being manually updated, but really you are modifying it to your hearts content. read up on roms. i reccomend flashing the ava froyo v7. very good. have fun with your newly rooted device!!!! just tell me if you need more info.
btw, this should be in questions and answers

Sorry if I posted this in the wrong place, and thanks for the respond. Figured, can't go wrong with General!
So, if i just root it without running a custom recovery, can I still run tethering apps and the screen shot app?

Basically the root gets you access deeper in the phones files than you previously had. You also gain a new set of permissions (superuser permissions) with the process so that your phone allows you to do more, similar to the iphone jailbreak.
You will need a custom recovery. The updates that sprint/htc usually send out over the air (OTA) can't be used anymore because you will lose your root, so you have to apply them manually through recovery instead. This is just one reason, but the custom recovery is a necessity. It can look complicated, especially the way it reads on the forums, but it is very simple once you have it in your hands.
After rereading your post, you may be referring to a custom rom, not recovery. You do not have to use a custom rom, you can just use stock with root access and superuser permissions and be good to go for wifi tether & screen shots

So, from what I gather, we use unrevoked to unlock the phone and get more privileges, and the custom recovery is used to not lose root privileges after Sprint or HTC puts out new updates to the devices?

essentially, you got it. The recovery is used for lots of different things, like adding themes, changing kernels, custom roms, backups, ect.
There are also methods besides unrevoked to gain root. It all depends on the type of person you are, if you want root and don't want to think about it, use one of the one click methods. If you want to learn a little check out regaw_leinad's root thread and the videos that are in the OP and you will get root and you will know how it happened when your done.
My recommendation is to choose your method of root and do it and stick with the stock rooted rom for a bit. Read the forums, mostly the OPs on the different custom roms and the kernel threads and you will start to get an idea of what you want from your rooted phone. After a week or two of hanging out on the forums, you will know what you want and you will have enough grasp to go for it. Read OPs thoroughly and follow directions to the T and you will not have any problems.

uber n00b needs advice.

hello, i'm new here, new to androids as well, actually new to phone hacks in general. Ive jailbroken and unlocked iphones before (my wife has a 3gs 4.2.1 unlocked using with tmobile). but i have no XP with android,.... i'm thinking, rooting is like jailbreaking? i dunno really.. halp! please just give me the basics. like once I ummm, jailbreak my MT4G (hehe got the abbreviation from these forums) how can I modify it with like free apps and such, and the cool themes i see everybody showing off. please halp, please

rooting doesnt give free apps (or at least it didnt when i had a g1) your able to flash a new rom to your phone when you gain root, you can take off some bloatware that comes with certain phones, tweak settings and make stuff more customizable
it is like jailbreaking but i dont think android is against rooting like apple is against jailbreaking

thanks for the reply, so once I root it, can I apply some of the themes and apps mentioned on these forums? I saw a thread regarding apps for rooted devices. Is there a different "app store" once I root my device?

im just getting back to android after having the hd2 for 4 months and a lot may have changed
but when i rooted the g1 there was apps that were labeled as only use if you have root access, so yes there are (were) certain apps that could only be used if you have root but it was the same app store, i remember the cyanogenmod app and it would update the theme with the click of a button
and yeah after root you could do the roms that are in those threads

VDubLife said:
thanks for the reply, so once I root it, can I apply some of the themes and apps mentioned on these forums? I saw a thread regarding apps for rooted devices. Is there a different "app store" once I root my device?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Only 1 market for apps. Some apps are for rooted devices, some (most) are not. The main difference between a rooted device is that you will be able too have full access of you're phone and flash roms. But if you have no clue what you're doing you can cause some serious damage to your phone (brick).
Sent from my HTC Glacier

yup just be very careful when flashing new roms and themes. dont flash anything until you make a nandroid backup too. i have a very simple saying when doin anything to your own phone: "if it feels wrong, it is wrong" and if you have any questions when doing something always ask for help. because most likely someone on here has already made a mistake that you might be doin and save you alot of headaches lol once you gain root access, everything is cake

Please post questions in Q&A section.

mftek said:
The main difference between a rooted device is that you will be able too have full access of you're phone and flash roms. But if you have no clue what you're doing you can cause some serious damage to your phone (brick).
Sent from my HTC Glacier
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just to clarify, rooting your phone alone does not give you the capability to make Nandroid backups and/or flash ROMs. Rooting gives you root access to otherwise locked down system folders. Making backups and flashing ROMs require the presence of a custom recovery image (like Clockwork recovery).
To the OP; READ, READ, READ! Read as much as you can (and search) before attempting to root your phone. There's a lot of info in these forums that will get you through but you HAVE TO READ and have good confidence in what you're doing. Once you're ready, root, then flash Clockwork recovery, then install Titanium Backup. Use Titanium to make backups of your apps (including system apps). Use Clockwork to make a (Nandroid) backup of the phone's internal drive chip. Once that's done you can move on to flashing ROMs with the ability to get things back to normal if something doesn't work right. Good luck!

Great advice folks, thanks so much. I am permarooted with s=off! w00t, already made a nandroid backup using clockwork... so time to have some fun! Please help with the following questions:
1.) Are there any directories of all ROMs available for our phone?
2.) Will all droid ROMs work? or are they phone specific?
3.) Do I need to keep USB Debugging on?
4.) Do I need to keep the files on my SD card after I've already installed them? (ie: root folder [the one from the rooting guided], and application .apk files)
Thanks! great forum

[Q] Root or Soft Root for HTC Legend

Hello all.
I want to root my HTC Legend (Yes, I know there are 1000 post about this on the forum, but please, keep reading because I couldn't find a solution for what I exactly want...)
I have a HTC Legend with the original ROM that Vodafone installs in it. I'm running Froyo 2.2 and my kernel version is 2.6.32.17-g732a780. The Boot-loader version I'm using is HBOOT-1.00.0000.
As I stated before, I want to either root or soft root my phone. For some reason that I still can't understand, it looks like The Legend is more difficult to root than other HTC models... The point of rooting my phone is to be able to make a full backup using Titanium Backup Tool BEFORE making any changes to my existing room (Yes, I want to change the ROM). I've been reading a lot of post where in order to change the ROM I have to first downgrade the phone to Android 1.3 to be able to root it but, What about if I want to make a full backup BEFORE the downgrade? Is there a way to create a full backup with no root permissions? Titanium Backup only works if the phone is rooted...
If I can create a full backup of my phone the way it is right now, I don't mind to downgrade in order to root it and flash it... but I don't want to experiment not having a full backup stored in a safe place...
So far, I've tried Universal Androot 1.6.2 beta 5 with no luck on both: root and soft root. I get the error message: "Failed! No Fu Goo"
I'd really appreciate any help on this matter either by solving the problem or by offering a different approach for what I want.
Thanks in advance to all of you for your time and attention.

What you need is a tool called rvisionary from modaco. With this tool you can achive temp root aka soft root. And then back up with titanium backup. Everything you need to know and the tools requiered can be found here. You have to follow instructions for Already OTA updated with HBOOT 1.01, if you want to root it.

Thanks a lot for your input qzem!
I'll try what you are telling me there and let you know how it went.

No problem . I hope you'll succeed!

Thank for useful answer

Rooting Desire Z 2.3.3

/Update: Rooting went fine. Updated this thread - maybe it helps if somebody wants to root his/her 2.3.3 DZ and is being overwhelmed by guides etc.
Hi there!
I finally decided to root my Stock 2.3.3 Desire Z - I've read a lot, but I'm still confused when it comes to certain steps of rooting. I just wanted to get "green light" by someone who certainly has more experience in rooting etc.
First I read this ADB guide to get familiar with it. I certainly didn't understand everything about it, but the basic stuff should be clear.
Next step is downgrading my phone. I want to use this guide as mentioned in the HTC Vision wiki.
Which raises the first question: What's with that post, which Desire Z users should read. I don't really see the connection to the guide I want to use - it's stated that one should replace psneuter with fre3vo in step 4. But which step 4? Little confused.
So which step is different to execute for me?
No step is different, the guide is up to date and can be used with every device stated in its headline.
Next steps should be clear.
So after downgrading I planned on sticking with the Vision wiki - seems that every step is described clearly, even for an ADB dummy.
If everything went well, I planned to flash the Virtuous Sense v2.0.0 which requires a "full wipe".
So it's nonsense to save application settings via titanium backup in the first place, because I want to set Virous 2.0.0 as backup-rom anyway? Are there files I should backup - besides contact info etc.?
Application settings can be restored if you stick to the downgrade guide, only system settings/stuff should not be restored.
And am I missing anything important? Are there other (better) ways of rooting my device?
No
Tiny, rather unimportant last question - is there a way to save my savegames to just load them later if needed? Since the "full wipe" wipes everything (?), I don't see how I could save them.
See above.
Looking forward to be enlightened!
Greetings!

Kueber said:
Hi there!
I finally decided to root my Stock 2.3.3 Desire Z - I've read a lot, but I'm still confused when it comes to certain steps of rooting. I just wanted to get "green light" by someone who certainly has more experience in rooting etc.
First I read this ADB guide to get familiar with it. I certainly didn't understand everything about it, but the basic stuff should be clear.
Next step is downgrading my phone. I want to use this guide as mentioned in the HTC Vision wiki.
Which raises the first question: What's with that post, which Desire Z users should read. I don't really see the connection to the guide I wan't to use - it's stated that one should replace psneuter with fre3vo in step 4. But which step 4? Little confused.
So which step is different to execute for me?
Next steps should be clear.
So after downgrading I planned on sticking with the Vision wiki - seems that every step is described clearly, even for an ADB dummy.
If everything went well, I planned to flash the Virtuous Sense v2.0.0 which requires a "full wipe".
So it's nonsense to save application settings via titanium backup in the first place, because I want to set Virous 2.0.0 as backup-rom anyway? Are there files I should backup - besides contact info etc.?
And am I missing anything important? Are there other (better) ways of rooting my device?
Tiny, rather unimportant last question - is there a way to save my savegames to just load them later if needed? Since the "full wipe" wipes everything (?), I don't see how I could save them.
Looking forward to be enlightened!
Greetings!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I followed the downgrading guide you linked to in order to downgrade from 2.3.3 and it worked perfectly for me (and many others, it seems). The guide uses fre3vo so I think you are safe to just follow the steps described in it.
I used SMS Backup & Restore and Angry Birds Backup free, both worked a treat. Other than that I restored everything from scratch.
It's probably a good idea to do a nandroid backup after rooting the stock froyo ROM but before flashing something else. Just in case.
Good luck
Yeah, and you probably should have posted this in Q&A

Eventually it would have been better, yup, but then I considered this thread more like a list of steps you want to go through to root your Desire Z 2.3.3 successfully - maybe it helps someone.
Anyway, thanks for your answer. I'll try that SMS Backup app.
Now I have to gather some informations about that "nandroid" backup - I've read it several times, but still I don't know what exactly it does / its benefits are.
If anyone would like to give a brief explanation, feel free!
Greetings
/edit: Well, a nandroid backup can be done with clockwork recovery, which installation is kinda part of the rooting process. There's one thing I don't understand yet - how to load that backup if it's needed?

Kueber said:
Now I have to gather some informations about that "nandroid" backup - I've read it several times, but still I don't know what exactly it does / its benefits are.
If anyone would like to give a brief explanation, feel free!
Greetings
/edit: Well, a nandroid backup can be done with clockwork recovery, which installation is kinda part of the rooting process. There's one thing I don't understand yet - how to load that backup if it's needed?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Part of the rooting process gives you a better recovery partition that you can boot into, where you can flash roms, backup/restore ROMs and has some other tools,this is independent of the ROM you flash and is a safety net when messing with your phone.

bombadier said:
Part of the rooting process gives you a better recovery partition that you can boot into, where you can flash roms, backup/restore ROMs and has some other tools,this is independent of the ROM you flash and is a safety net when messing with your phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, essentially, as you already mentioned, that means I got safety tools that work independent. For example - if everything goes wrong and I have a copy of that nandroid backup somewhere, I could easily adb push that onto my sd card and flash it? Or has this backup to be on my sd card all the time, because in certain cases the sd-card is not mountable?
Just want to make sure that I understand what I'm doing..

Kueber said:
So, essentially, as you already mentioned, that means I got safety tools that work independent. For example - if everything goes wrong and I have a copy of that nandroid backup somewhere, I could easily adb push that onto my sd card and flash it? Or has this backup to be on my sd card all the time, because in certain cases the sd-card is not mountable?
Just want to make sure that I understand what I'm doing..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You don't have to have the nandroid backup on your SD card at all times. You can do a backup, copy it to your computer and keep it there if you need the space on your SD card for daily use. There is also the possibility to keep multiple backups of different ROMs if you wish to change UI more often.
Whatever your needs, you should at least keep one backup from a stable setup. If anything goes wrong you can copy it back to your SD card (if it is not already there), boot into recovery (volume down + power) and choose backup/restore and restore your backup. Everything will be exactly as it was when backing up - very convenient

Everything went fine, updated thread - maybe it helps someone.
Thanks again!

Good to hear it went well

Got full root access and all the way to step 5 on the Wiki and go to verify that it worked and I get the...
secu_flag = 1
CID = T-MOB010
SIMLOCK = 01
Please disregard.

For my DZ:
secu_flag = 0
CID = 11111111
SIMLOCK = 00
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App

which method do i follow to just root my Desire z.
I dont want to update h-boot, or install clockwork recovery.
My device has S-off with stock htc sense rom...i just want root

sandipbarik said:
which method do i follow to just root my Desire z.
I dont want to update h-boot, or install clockwork recovery.
My device has S-off with stock htc sense rom...i just want root
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just follow the xda Vision wiki.. read it attentively.
You'll see that you can just skip these steps.

Im using that method & rooted my DZ.
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App

look, I don't want to downgrade my system.
I want to root 2.3.3. is this possible ?

artur-x said:
look, I don't want to downgrade my system.
I want to root 2.3.3. is this possible ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can't root 2.3.3 directly. In order to root you need to first downgrade to 2.2 and then root. Afterwards you can choose to install a rooted 2.3.3 stock ROM, a custom ROM with 2.3.5 or 2.3.7 depending on what you choose. Or you can try out one of the ICS alphas.
Sendt fra min HTC Vision med Tapatalk

I have factory 2.3.3 in my desire z , is it possible to root it (downgrade and change to something new ) and not to lose my data and installed applications?

Zocca: You have to downgrade, but the downgrade guide contains a section to get Titanium Backup running, so you can backup your apps and data.
-Nipqer

Beginner needs rooting advice

Hi guys,
Just installed the 4.2.2 update on my Nexus 7, but I decided I wanted to go further. I have had plenty of android devices in the past, but I was always cautious about rooting them in fear of messing up. Well, after reading up about the benefits of rooting I think it's worth a try. I have read up on the basics of what rooting is and how to do it, but there are so many roms and kernels out there I have no idea where to begin!
So I saw an article on a website I frequent that has a guide on how to root the Nexus 7 with the newest update.
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/4...7-official-android422-jdq39-jellybean-ota.htm
What do you think about using this guide?
Also some side questions:
1.) Is there a way to backup my Nexus 7's unrooted state before I begin, so if I decide to go back to unrooted I can easily do so?
2.) Should I root my Nexus 7 on the 4.2.2 ota, or downloading it here on the forums? ( I assume they are slightly different)
3.) I don't want to ask what is your favorite rom, but what would you say is the most popular one around here? My biggest needs are stability, as well as better battery and performance.
Please excuse me if my questions seem strange or obvious. I've tried reading up more on this subject but quite frankly I don't understand it. I probably will get the hang of it. I was once a beginner to PC building but eventually I made myself a monster rig and overclocked the hell out of it. But since I'm thinking of rooting tonight, I would really appreciate it if someone would be kind enough to help me out! Thanks

Apav said:
What do you think about using this guide?
Also some side questions:
1.) Is there a way to backup my Nexus 7's unrooted state before I begin, so if I decide to go back to unrooted I can easily do so?
2.) Should I root my Nexus 7 on the 4.2.2 ota, or downloading it here on the forums? ( I assume they are slightly different)
3.) I don't want to ask what is your favorite rom, but what would you say is the most popular one around here? My biggest needs are stability, as well as better battery and performance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The guide looks fine from what I skimmed, I would follow the toolkit found here though. It does everything for you basically.
1) Unlock your bootloader, install CWM, then nandroid backup from there. Transfer your backup to your PC.
2) No point in rooting your current rom if you are switching out.
3) I don't know which roms are the most popular but I switch between these two:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1800268
-best customizing options and on the fly phone/phablet/tablet UI changing
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2098139
-stable, smooth and fast. Performance rom here.
Now you should hold off flashing these until the devs have integrated 4.2.2 into them, shouldn't take long...they are both working on them!

coolloser said:
The guide looks fine from what I skimmed, I would follow the toolkit found here though. It does everything for you basically.
1) Unlock your bootloader, install CWM, then nandroid backup from there. Transfer your backup to your PC.
2) No point in rooting your current rom if you are switching out.
3) I don't know which roms are the most popular but I switch between these two:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1800268
-best customizing options and on the fly phone/phablet/tablet UI changing
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2098139
-stable, smooth and fast. Performance rom here.
Now you should hold off flashing these until the devs have integrated 4.2.2 into them, shouldn't take long...they are both working on them!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! So the tutorial I linked is just to unlock the bootloader but not to install a ROM correct? Then why is SuperSU included in this guide?

Apav said:
Thanks! So the tutorial I linked is just to unlock the bootloader but not to install a ROM correct? Then why is SuperSU included in this guide?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
because some people just want Root on stock?
rooting =/= rom

Thanks guys! Last question. Should I have restored my Nexus 7 to factory settings before I updated to 4.2.2, or before I root? I know with the 4.2 update a lot of people recommended doing it since it increased performance. That was a bigger update though, so probably not, but I just want to be sure before I root that it would or wouldn't make a difference.

From what I've seen the easiest way to root the Nexus is 'Nexus Root Toolkit' which does the whole job with a couple of clicks of the mouse (you run it from Windows).
(Note: at the time of writing NRT v.1.6.2 doesn't support 4.2.2 so wait a couple of days before trying it and it will be updated.)
1) Do a full backup (MyBackup Pro is excellent for unrooted devices) as the process wipes your Nexus back to factory settings.
2) Connect your Nexus to the PC and copy the backup (the 'rerware' folder) to your PC (I'd copy everything, just to be safe).
3) Install and run Nexus Root Toolkit on the PC, enter the details for 'Your model type' and run the 'Full Driver Installation'.
4) Click 'Unlock', let it do its thing, then click 'Root' and after a while you'll have a fully rooted device.
5) Install MyBackup Pro on the Nexus, copy the 'rerware' folder back to the Nexus and restore it.
It really couldn't be easier and it works a treat.
Once you're rooted you'll find Titanium Backup is a better app as it can backup more stuff but it only works on rooted devices.

Or you could spend the 15 minutes to learn the right way and you would understand the process that takes place with the click of that 'magical button'.....then you wouldnt have to wait for a toolkit to update...
KNOWLEDGE REALLY DOESNT HURT.