Hello everyone, Im new here so please dont kill me if this is a common question. I have searched all over but cant find the answer I need. Im excited to learn from all the wonderful information here and cant wait to get started.
Anyway, I had a Nexus S 4g flashed to work on Boost. I would like to root it so that I can change some things. However, I do not know if my phone was previously rooted. Is there anyway to find out? If it was, and I rooted it again, would that cause problems? Also, does rooting the phone cause problems with the flashing, or will it keep all of the necessary network information intact (so that it doesnt screw up my service)?
Rooting doesn't cause problems with the flashing, it just -potentially- opens up the system to damage. This is a user responsibility and not a fault of the rooting process; it's a possibility of having too much power over the system.
Most likely it would have had the bootloader unlocked and have been rooted. Turn off the phone and turn it on again by holding Vol. Up and Power simultaneously for a few seconds. If it was rooted, the best way to know is if it says "bootloader unlocked" in the upper half of the screen. If not, there is a high chance it isn't CURRENTLY rooted. If it is unlocked, the most work you need to give root access to android is going into recovery and installing a .zip file.
Exactly so after finding that out just look over one of the many guides we have here at XDA to flash the superuser package.
Sent from my Nexus S
I didnt see anything saying unlocked. I see 'Lock State - Locked', so Im assuming this means that it is not currently rooted. I guess now I will go through some guides and learn which method would be best for me. Thanks for the quick reply and help.
Most likely you aren't rooted either - you can test by typing "su" in terminal emulator.
Just remember if u unlock bootloader the internal data and sdcard will all be deleted.
Related
I apologize if there is already a thread like this, but the search wasnt working.. I know what i can do with my phone once it is rooted, I am just interested in what happens tot he actual phone. I could be wrong, but once i root it isnt it always possible to tell that i rooted it even if i unroot it so therefor all warantees are voided? sorry if im being unclear, i cant think of another way to explain it haha.
The K-Zoo Kid said:
I apologize if there is already a thread like this, but the search wasnt working.. I know what i can do with my phone once it is rooted, I am just interested in what happens tot he actual phone. I could be wrong, but once i root it isnt it always possible to tell that i rooted it even if i unroot it so therefor all warantees are voided? sorry if im being unclear, i cant think of another way to explain it haha.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The language on the "warranty void" screen says that unlocking the bootloader "may" void your warranty. On the Nexus One, HTC usually honored the warranty if the issue was with anything hardware related and could not have been the result of software tampering. Granted, that's them and this is Samsung.
Further, unless there is something hidden in the system files that counts the number of times you unlock the bootloader, you can always relock it prior to sending it in for repair with fastboot oem lock.
unremarked said:
The language on the "warranty void" screen says that unlocking the bootloader "may" void your warranty. On the Nexus One, HTC usually honored the warranty if the issue was with anything hardware related and could not have been the result of software tampering. Granted, that's them and this is Samsung.
Further, unless there is something hidden in the system files that counts the number of times you unlock the bootloader, you can always relock it prior to sending it in for repair with fastboot oem lock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So there is a way to kind of undo the root without them knowing? THanks a lot btw. I figured it was something like this.
The K-Zoo Kid said:
So there is a way to kind of undo the root without them knowing? THanks a lot btw. I figured it was something like this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
unlocking the bootloader and rooting are two different things
jblade1000 said:
unlocking the bootloader and rooting are two different things
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Click to collapse
Ahh i have no idea what unlocking the bootloader does then.
The K-Zoo Kid said:
Ahh i have no idea what unlocking the bootloader does then.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In a nutshell, unlocking the bootloader means you will be allowed to flash non-Google/custom files to the system partition and more or less enables superuser access(aka root). Once thats done, then you "root" the device, push the Superuser.apk which will enable the rooted apps. Please check out the rooted section of my stickied FAQ for more detail on how to do this if you decide to. There are two great threads I link to.
Once you lock the bootloader, you lose access to the system partition and superuser I believe which effectively unroots it.
unremarked said:
In a nutshell, unlocking the bootloader means you will be allowed to flash non-Google/custom files to the system partition and more or less enables superuser access(aka root). Once thats done, then you "root" the device, push the Superuser.apk which will enable the rooted apps. Please check out the rooted section of my stickied FAQ for more detail on how to do this if you decide to. There are two great threads I link to.
Once you lock the bootloader, you lose access to the system partition and superuser I believe which effectively unroots it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So basically if you want to do any sort of mods, flash roms, etc. you need to unlock the bootload and root. Thanks a lot for explaining that. I think i understand it now, but just to clarify, if i unlock the bootloader and root will i be able to get the phone back to stock without samsung knowing that i rooted/unlock the bootloader?
The K-Zoo Kid said:
So basically if you want to do any sort of mods, flash roms, etc. you need to unlock the bootload and root. Thanks a lot for explaining that. I think i understand it now, but just to clarify, if i unlock the bootloader and root will i be able to get the phone back to stock without samsung knowing that i rooted/unlock the bootloader?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, to mod/flash roms you need to unlock the bootloader. It's possible that sometime down the road someone may develop a method of gaining root access on the phone without touching it, but it's unlikely given the fact that we can both unlock and lock the bootloader very easily.
Right now, the answer is... more or less. If you make a NAND backup in Clockwork Recovery/Rom manager of your stock ROM, you can restore back to that, fastboot flash the closest thing we have currently to the stock recovery(check development section for this), then relock the bootloader. This will give the phone all appearances of being stock. Unless Samsung has something deep in the system files tracking the number of times you've unlocked/locked(which I doubt, since I'm sure such a system would have been found by now), you should be good to go.
Most people who have returned the phone to Best Buy have noted that they don't even power on the device or check to see if the bootloader is unlocked or if there's a custom recovery on there. But your mileage may vary.
Interesting stuff. I was under the impression that once clockworkmod is flashed there is no way to remove it at this time.
Reading this thread I'm guessing and hoping this is not the case?
I had clockworkmod installed but used rom manager to flash the 2.3.1 update and i've now got the stock bootloader back. I guess the ota update does the same? It would seem that getting back to stock is pretty easy.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
xspyda said:
Interesting stuff. I was under the impression that once clockworkmod is flashed there is no way to remove it at this time.
Reading this thread I'm guessing and hoping this is not the case?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My apologies, I posted that before I came to the same understanding regarding the stock recovery.
Like the poster above me mentioned there is a NAND backup of stock 2.3.1 you could restore to which has the stock recovery.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
Thanks for the clarification. I'll do some more reading in the dev section
Thanks a lot, this really helped me out a lot. I will proceed to rooting
So, just want to make sure I have this straight... You unlock the bootloader, load custom recovery, SU, and now phone is rooted. If you lock the bootloader, you lose root?
For me, I'm not big on custom roms since I just don't have time to keep things up to date or participate in the bug process, but I do like to maintain backups with Titanium (my primary reason for rooting). So by locking the bootloader down I will not be able to use Titanium. Furthermore, unlocking the bootloader wipes the device. So is there a reason one would not want to keep the bootloader unlocked? Have I completely misunderstood the system?
I am new to the rooting scene and I am very eager to root my HTC Glacier|MyTouch 4G.
I am however hesitant because I cannot risk bricking my phone.
Advice on how to recover from brick and an easy to follow guide to perm-root.
Thanks
geronimo711 said:
I am new to the rooting scene and I am very eager to root my HTC Glacier|MyTouch 4G.
I am however hesitant because I cannot risk bricking my phone.
Advice on how to recover from brick and an easy to follow guide to perm-root.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What is the end result you are trying to get to?
If you are wanting S=off so you can flash custom ROMs.
http://theunlockr.com/2010/12/10/how-to-temporarily-root-the-t-mobile-mytouch-4g-htc-glacier/; do that and it will lead you to perma root the easy way.
if you are wanting s=off so you can have complete control over your phone, which will enable the possibility of a brick. including SuperCID, ./gfree and some other goodies...... But this will give you the option to severally screw up your phone including up to a 500.00 paper weight.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=858996
If you haven't screwed up the HBoot and the bootloader you can use this to get back to a factory spec.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=863899&highlight=level
But if this is your first android, and your first time rooting i would HIGHLY suggest doing alot of reading before you jump in head first. There are alot of people who have tried to do and get stuck. This phone is confusing once rooted with 2.2 ROMs and 2.3 ROMs and different recovery images you need to read and make sure you understand everything before jumping in feet first.
Temp root with visionary is the easiest and safest way, but gfree is pretty simple as well. The hardest bit is getting the drivers and ADB to work, and thats not overly difficult. (remember to use the command "ADB devices" to know if the drives are working) It just matters what you plan on doing, stock root or custom ROM.
There is really only two points that risk a hard brick, flashing the radio or hboot.
The gfree method does not require either, but you can flash the engineering hboot as optional.
The biggest thing with recoveries and ROMs is know that gingerbread based ROMs (like CM7) use ext4 file system and froyo ROMs use ext3. So it is important to use the right version of Clockwork recovery. Use v2.5.1.2 for froyo ROMs and v3.0 for gingerbread ROMs. Soon clockwork mod will support both on the same version.
Just read the instructions well and have all files downloaded and ready to go.
If you want to use gfree and a custom ROM, there is no need to get perm root on the stock ROM first. After the steps that get s=off, just run visionary as temp root with system r/w access and install ROM manager from the market, then use ROM manager to flash a new recovery. Reboot into recovery backup your stock ROM then flash a new ROM.
If you never touch the hboot or radio firmware, then at worse you can bootloop or soft brick the device. That can be fixed with varying amounts of work, depending on the exact issue.
Read and learn how the different parts work, learn how to use ADB and you will be better prepared.
newbie here
This is my first post. I would really appreciate anybody helping me out here. I can't seem to get any straight answers, or answers I can understand, anyway, so here goes.
I have an HTC Mytouch 4g. I did a temporary root (using the method at theunlockr.com) and uninstalled the monopoly app. I was going to uninstall a bunch of other stuff but I got nervous and did a factory data reset (in the SD & phone storage area). All of my marketplace apps reinstalled, which I thought wasn't supposed to happen, but anyway.... I did the volume down/power on and see now that my phone is GLACIER PVT SHIP S-ON. So my question is how to interpret the state that my phone is now in. Is it factory? Is it rooted? Will the T-Mobile OTA updates work? Why is the monopoly app still gone? Is my warranty voided?
ibnird said:
This is my first post. I would really appreciate anybody helping me out here. I can't seem to get any straight answers, or answers I can understand, anyway, so here goes.
I have an HTC Mytouch 4g. I did a temporary root (using the method at theunlockr.com) and uninstalled the monopoly app. I was going to uninstall a bunch of other stuff but I got nervous and did a factory data reset (in the SD & phone storage area). All of my marketplace apps reinstalled, which I thought wasn't supposed to happen, but anyway.... I did the volume down/power on and see now that my phone is GLACIER PVT SHIP S-ON. So my question is how to interpret the state that my phone is now in. Is it factory? Is it rooted? Will the T-Mobile OTA updates work? Why is the monopoly app still gone? Is my warranty voided?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Temp root is just that, temporary. It creates a copy of the essential files in the system partition that it runs from rather than the actual system partition. If you allow it r/w access, (an option you can choose when using visionary) it can uninstall apps that normally can not be. (and more, but causing big changes would require more work on your part)
Because it is temporary, there is no need to get nervous. Unless you are doing some major changes, ones that need a root explorer app or terminal emulator, then you can't really hurt the phone. Download terminal emulator from market and run it, then type in the super user command "su" (no quotes) then hit enter, if the cursor changes to a # symbol then you have root. (you may get a popup asking for root permission, choose to allow) If it works after a fresh reboot, you either ran perm root in visionary, or you have the option checked to temp root every reboot.
S-ON means that the bootloader security is still in place. You need it off to install custom software. While you can root the stock software with S-ON you can not install any software that has potential to brick your phone, so no need to worry at all. If you are really that worried, keep a copy of the stock software on your SD card. Make sure it is named PD15IMG and at any time you get nervous, you can boot into hboot (the bootloader) and it will run automatically. It will wipe your phone and return it to complete stock. The irony is, that flashing this stock image file does things that can brick a phone if it goes wrong. It flashes more than just the OS, it also flashes hboot and recovery as well, and if the process is messed up in anyway like loosing power at the wrong time, it can brick the phone.
Really as long as you make sure you have the phone charged and you follow instructions you should be fine. The only times you can brick a phone to the point it can not be brought back is when flashing hboot and the radio firmware. Both of which you would rarely flash. Hboot only needs flashed to the engineering version once (OEM testing/DEV version) and only if you choose to, as it is not required. The radio will only need flashed if an update for it comes out, and that isn't often, and it is rarely mandatory.
The chance of truly bricking your phone is not very high, unless you just can't follow the directions. Now you can put it into a bootloop or soft brick it. (bootup stuck on mytouch screen) But if you can boot the phone into hboot (vol down + power on) then you can fix it. Even if you can not boot into recovery (an option in the hboot menu) you can even fix that with a good hboot.
theres a video on youtube by mackster its awesome and it gives you all the links very easy to use.
it wont let me post the link but just search root mytouch 4g on youtube and it should be the first or second one.
Thanks Marine and Tommy.
So with temporary root, as soon as I turned off and then back on the phone, it was back to its unrooted, original state, minus the T-Mobile application? Will I now get T-Mobile's Over the Air (OTA, right?) updates and not have a problem if I need warranty work?
ibnird said:
Thanks Marine and Tommy.
So with temporary root, as soon as I turned off and then back on the phone, it was back to its unrooted, original state, minus the T-Mobile application? Will I now get T-Mobile's Over the Air (OTA, right?) updates and not have a problem if I need warranty work?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Uninstalling an app will not hurt anything. OTA updates will still work fine. You can temp root and then perm root the stock ROM and revert easily. Heck, even perm rooting stock doesn't break OTA I believe.
Voiding the warranty is one of those grey areas. As long as you can revert to stock, then they will never know. Temp root does not void warranty at all, because you do not alter the system files. (unless you want to, and enable the ability to read/write system) Just uninstall terminal emulator and super user apps and there is no evidence.
The only time you might get caught, is if say the screen stops working, and you can not see to revert back. Though even then, just putting the stock OTA image on the sd card then booting up the phone in hboot will restore without needing to actually see anything. It does ask for confirmation to restore, just wait several minutes then hit the power button and it would do it on its own.
The set of circumstances needed to prevent you from restoring to stock, are rare. Basically a borked hboot or radio firmware, and you never need to touch those to get full root and custom ROMs. If you never touch them, the chance of issue is almost zero.
I just got my mt4g and I am looking to root my phone for the following reasons:
apps2sd
remove bloatware (I want the app to be disabled and I don't want the icon in my app drawer)
use adfree
I don't want any custom roms and I'd like to keep sense ui.
Can anyone tell me if this is at all possible? I've read around and I know it's possible but I don't know about rom flashing and I'm confused as to whether or not I need to flash a custom rom? What's the point of a custom rom anyways?
goldfish524 said:
I just got my mt4g and I am looking to root my phone for the following reasons:
apps2sd
remove bloatware (I want the app to be disabled and I don't want the icon in my app drawer)
use adfree
I don't want any custom roms and I'd like to keep sense ui.
Can anyone tell me if this is at all possible? I've read around and I know it's possible but I don't know about rom flashing and I'm confused as to whether or not I need to flash a custom rom? What's the point of a custom rom anyways?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You dont need apps2sd, as the mytouch 4g has Froyo installed, and you can move some apps to the SD card. Just go into settings-Applications-chose the applicaiton you want on your SD card, and look for "move to SD". If it's grayed out, then you cant move it.
Also download appfreezer from the market, and just "freeze" the bloatware. That's what I do, and it gets rid of those annoying looking apps they installed.
Question about clockworkmod
OK i just rooted my phone, flashed the rom, and installed all the goods... it works perfectly and looks great.
Ty for all the guides/ instructions.
My only question is about the clockworkmod. When I turn off my phone and plug it in to charge the recovery screen always appears when off and connected. Is this suppose to happen? Or is there a solution to this?
If there is a solution can some one post a link or provide instructions so it doesn't constantly boot to clockworkmod recovery.
Thanks.
so i don't post on this site ever, and i know next to nothing about rooting a phone aside from what i read
i just hit it up this for info on rooting my atrix i aquired... long story short i found a beta program called rescue root that works
i just rooted my bell atrix 4g, gingerbread 2.3.6, build 4.5.2a-51_oll-17.8
all i did was install motorola device manager program from the moto site, installed rescue root, connected my device and ran the program and rooted in under 10 mins, confirmed by root checker app, titainium backup and other various app requiring superuser permission
also i did not have to unlock the boot loader before i ran the program
robyn402 said:
so i don't post on this site ever, and i know next to nothing about rooting a phone aside from what i read
i just hit it up this for info on rooting my atrix i aquired... long story short i found a beta program called rescue root that works
i just rooted my bell atrix 4g, gingerbread 2.3.6, build 4.5.2a-51_oll-17.8
all i did was install motorola device manager program from the moto site, installed rescue root, connected my device and ran the program and rooted in under 10 mins, confirmed by root checker app, titainium backup and other various app requiring superuser permission
also i did not have to unlock the boot loader before i ran the program
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
u still have to unlock to flash custom roms. so it dosent really matter
rev.
you have to unlock the bootloader to flash roms? i must have misunderstood what i read...
i thought you had to unlock the bootloader first in order to root... not root in order to unlock the boot loader, guess i'll hit up moto's website again as theres a unlock your boot loader option there
but either way, just thought i'd share a new quick root method with the world that caters to those less technically gifted like me
i guess they only just released this beta and turns out the developer is actually just across town from me which is kinda cool
forgive the newbish excitment i only just snagged this phone off ebay since i bricked my old android by deleting things i shouldn't have without backing up first
Hai_Duong said:
u still have to unlock to flash custom roms. so it dosent really matter
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you have it all completely mixed up.
You have to unlock the bootloader to be able to flash custom ROMs. Rooting is completely separate and has nothing to do with anything else - you don't need to unlock anything to root, and rooting won't help you get anything else (unlocking, flashing) done. It is literally completely separate.
It would probably help you to do more reading on the subject. Getting informed and educated can only ever be a good thing.
Okay so I just have a few questions about rooting my phone before I do it, since I saw the root here that works for the most recent OTA update.
1) If someone happens with my phone (either bricking it from rooting or something inconsequential) will they not replace my phone due to it being rooted?
2) If they won't replace it due to being rooted (if it wasn't bricking), is there an easy way to unroot the phone?
3) I can't tell from the instructions, but I'm pretty sure some others have said that it might require you to restore factory settings, does this one require that?
4) The thread says that it is now impossible to unlock the bootloader, does this also mean that you can't use a custom ROM? How exactly do you add a ROM?
Sorry for all the questions, I've never rooted an android device before, and I don't have the time or energy to go running around Google/forums trying to find these answers.
Thanks in advance!
EDIT: yes I know i've already asked 2 of these questions, but I'm a stupid poop who needs validation.
wholocked10 said:
Okay so I just have a few questions about rooting my phone before I do it, since I saw the root here that works for the most recent OTA update.
1) If someone happens with my phone (either bricking it from rooting or something inconsequential) will they not replace my phone due to it being rooted?
2) If they won't replace it due to being rooted (if it wasn't bricking), is there an easy way to unroot the phone?
3) I can't tell from the instructions, but I'm pretty sure some others have said that it might require you to restore factory settings, does this one require that?
4) The thread says that it is now impossible to unlock the bootloader, does this also mean that you can't use a custom ROM? How exactly do you add a ROM?
Sorry for all the questions, I've never rooted an android device before, and I don't have the time or energy to go running around Google/forums trying to find these answers.
Thanks in advance!
EDIT: yes I know i've already asked 2 of these questions, but I'm a stupid poop who needs validation.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
first, rooting your voids the warranty, so technically, they (either VZW or Motorola) are not obligated to replace it. that being said, you can always play dumb and say that you accepted some OTA install, and now the phone won't boot up. usually, VZW will try to restore the phone, and if not, they'll replace it - no worries.
2.) I believe there is an unroot method, but I have not explored this. try doing a search on this forum for "unroot razr m"
3.) restore factory settings could unroot - check the threads
4.) you can still install a custom ROM, but you'll need to install Safestrap first. however, the custom ROMs available for SS are out-dated, and I don't think that any devs will be providing any going forward. however, I would not be too discouraged by this, as the phone is very solid stock. so rooting is the key to remove the bloatware to help increase battery life, increase performance, and reduce excess data usage.
hope this helps.
So I got my g6 from sprint and of course they have to throw their customers under the bus and give them a bazillion apps pre-installed on their phones that they can't get rid of. So I've been trying to root my phone because I'm pretty sure a superuser account could let me get rid of all that stuff. I think I'm somewhat familiar with what I need to do, unlock the bootloader, flash a custom rom, yadda yadda yadda. But to unlock the bootloader I need my devices ID to get an unlock key from LG. Problem is I need to be in fastboot to get that info with the application I'm using. Whenever I try to do 'adb reboot fastboot' it just reboots the phone. When I tried to do the thing where you power it on while holding down one of the volume keys it did nothing. I've tried looking around to see if anyone else has this problem or if the U.S. models are't able to access the bootloader menu but I can't find anything. Every tutorial I've watched and read uses the same process but it never works. What am I doing wrong?
Sprint g6 is locked. No way to unlock. In guide sections you can find a thread about debloat without root.