Database Users

Root and recovery without adb?

I tried updating to the new 4.2 ota, I installed stock ROM then booted then back to recovery to install 4.2 update. I lost root as expected, however my ota root keeper says the is not root backup file even though I ran it before doing all that. Not sure what happened.
On top of that I can't reboot into recovery without going through boot loader. It seems as though the update removed my custom recovery too.
I could easily fix all this if I were home, but I am at work today...no adb access. Is there a way to fix root and recovery without a computer?
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

GatorsUF said:
I tried updating to the new 4.2 ota, I installed stock ROM then booted then back to recovery to install 4.2 update. I lost root as expected, however my ota root keeper says the is not root backup file even though I ran it before doing all that. Not sure what happened.
On top of that I can't reboot into recovery without going through boot loader. It seems as though the update removed my custom recovery too.
I could easily fix all this if I were home, but I am at work today...no adb access. Is there a way to fix root and recovery without a computer?
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To enable ADB to go:
Settings-> About Tablet-> Click Build Number for Easter Egg Multiple times! BOOM!
I am not sure if there's a way of rooting without PC and custom recovery.

OTA with TWRP?

this may have been asked, but i'm new to the nexus 7. i rooted it right away, and put TWRP on. probably shouldn't have but i like doing nandroids. i was excited for the OTA and want to just install it since my tab got it, but it won't obviously since i've got a custom recovery (duh i should've thought of that..) and i don't want to go flashing roms yet (i like keeping everything stock right away, it's so smooth)
so my question is, is there a way to go back and flash the stock recovery somehow so i can OTA, then put TWRP back on? i can't find the stock file to fastboot flash or anything

You can either download the OTA update manually and flash via TWRP. or do a full 4.2 stock ROM
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1989158
Warning: there have been mixed results from the early adopters on the OTA patch. I was running 4.1.2, TWRP, and SuperSU. I lost both SuperSU and TWRP when I upgraded and a handfull of apps are not working right with the new multi user file structure.
The way I did it was
1) Download the OTA zip from the thread I posted above
2) Moved that to SD Card (I moved via Google Drive, you can use USB if you want) I did the whole thing while waiting for a flight without a computer handy
3) Reboot to TWRP Recovery
4) Flash OTA Zip
To get Root and TWRP back I did the following (note, I have SuperSU pro and the survival mode was checked)
1) disabled SuperSU and reenabled which prompted to update Binaries
2) flashed TWRP via ROM Toolbox

kangy said:
You can either download the OTA update manually and flash via TWRP. or do a full 4.2 stock ROM
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1989158
Warning: there have been mixed results from the early adopters on the OTA patch. I was running 4.1.2, TWRP, and SuperSU. I lost both SuperSU and TWRP when I upgraded and a handfull of apps are not working right with the new multi user file structure.
The way I did it was
1) Download the OTA zip from the thread I posted above
2) Moved that to SD Card (I moved via Google Drive, you can use USB if you want) I did the whole thing while waiting for a flight without a computer handy
3) Reboot to TWRP Recovery
4) Flash OTA Zip
To get Root and TWRP back I did the following (note, I have SuperSU pro and the survival mode was checked)
1) disabled SuperSU and reenabled which prompted to update Binaries
2) flashed TWRP via ROM Toolbox
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks kangy! i also lost both when i flashed.
the reason it didn't work was that i frogot i played with my build.prop and had apps frozen on titanium.
so i disabled and reenabled SuperSU, but no prompt to update.
i'm using rom toolbox now to install but it keeps telling me install failed...basically because it doesn't have root i presume. any ideas?

Alright try this.
Go to SuperSU settings and and click on Reinstall under Cleanup, it will give you a prompt and tell you it will self close and to re-install from the market. (Mine never fully uninstalled which I assume is due to it being flashed to ROM, I checked under the App manager and it only had a downgrade option so) Anywho. If it did uninstall go ahead and redownload it from the market, if it didn't check the market anyway, the Dev published and update for it to help with 4.2 multi users.
Once you get it reinstalled and/or updated from the market go back to the settings and Toggle off Enable Superuser, close the app, re-open and then re-enable superuser. You probably will want to give it a reboot at this point. (Ive restarted my device a hundred times since going to 4.2 from trying to work through the bugs. Once you restart test a root app. I used Adaway for the test. Important, if the app fails or gives an error about not having root, try again. After I went through all of those motions SuperSU was pretty slow for a while with giving root access, usually the second request from the app wakes it up. Since then though it is back to being snappy with zero lag.
Yes, the reason you can't flash TWRP through ROM Toolbox is that requires root. Once you get your SuperSU working try flashing the latest TWRP again, it should only take a few seconds to flash. Let me know how it goes, I'm subscribed to the thread. I may not be the smartest guy on XDA but you are in the same exact boat I was last night!

jayochs said:
thanks kangy! i also lost both when i flashed.
the reason it didn't work was that i frogot i played with my build.prop and had apps frozen on titanium.
so i disabled and reenabled SuperSU, but no prompt to update.
i'm using rom toolbox now to install but it keeps telling me install failed...basically because it doesn't have root i presume. any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First, determine if you have root or not. Open TiBackup, if it opens correctly and you can see all your apps listed, you have root. Otherwise it will say "Failed to obtain root," and quit.
If you have root, then great. If not, you can flash the SuperSU zip in TWRP/CWM: http://download.chainfire.eu/282/SuperSU/CWM-SuperSU-v0.98.zip
I haven't tried flashing superSU, I've always flashed Superuser zip [google "superuser zip"], and then installed superSU from Play store.
Once you have root..
Go to Settings > Security and check allow installation from non-market apps, and uncheck the security feature that checks all apps for being malicious.
Then try it. If you still cannot restore apps, you might have to install them with adb.
I just updated someone's N7 to 4.2, and as usual I backed up everything in TiBackup.
Then I backed up the TitaniumBackup directory [because I had to do a full factory reset].
I then extracted all the .apk.gz files with gunzip. [in linux OR adb: $ gunzip *.apk.gz -- for windows, I suppose you would have to use 7-Zip].
Then I tried to install with pm:
Code:
for i in *.apk; do pm install $i; done
But every one was giving me an error, INSTALL_FAILED_INVALID_URI, I couldn't figure it out. Found a thread said to chmod 755 /data/local, but that did not fix it.
So what I had to do, was on my linux PC:
Code:
for i in *.apk;
do adb install "$i"
done
So I finally was able to batch install my apk files.
after that I restored all apps data.

Nandroid back ups not possible after 4.2 update
After updating my rooted N7 to 4.2 OTA I re-rooted using Wug's Nexus Root Toolkit 1.5.5 and realized that Nandroid back ups are failing.
I had no problem creating such back ups while on 4.1.2 and using his Toolkit 1.5.3. I guess the reason may be that the 1.5.5 Toolkit does not have the latest build incorporated.

Yordan5 said:
After updating my rooted N7 to 4.2 OTA I re-rooted using Wug's Nexus Root Toolkit 1.5.5 and realized that Nandroid back ups are failing.
I had no problem creating such back ups while on 4.1.2 and using his Toolkit 1.5.3. I guess the reason may be that the 1.5.5 Toolkit does not have the latest build incorporated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
why are you even using a toolkit? it's a nexus!...
Root by flashing Superuser zip or superSU zip in CWM/TWRP.
Make nandroid backups in CWM/TWRP, and you should have no problem.

mvmacd said:
why are you even using a toolkit? it's a nexus!...
Root by flashing Superuser zip or superSU zip in CWM/TWRP.
Make nandroid backups in CWM/TWRP, and you should have no problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
NRTK 1.5.5 would not flash the 4.2 custom rom I fed it either. Just kept stalling out with errors that it could not find the zip file.
So I booted into TWRP and flashed it with no problem at all.
I also did backup in TWRP and checked everything but saw no mention that is was a Nandroid backup. How can I be sure?

i'm trying to nandroid back to a 4.1.2 nandroid i have, problem is, twrp has different directories for nandroids in 4.2 than 4.1.2...so it can't find the old nandroids and i can't find the 4.2 dir where twrp stores them now. ugh. such a damn headache for an update that it turns out i didn't want lol

Read my post below, I was having the same problem but got back on 4.1.2. You have to use the twrp explorer and relocate the twrp files since 4.2 moved them.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1992552
Nandroid Downgrade from 4.2 to 4.1.2
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

[Q] SuperSU hidden/half enabled

I am running Nexus 7 with 4.2.1 build JOP40D.
After I got the 4.2.1 OTA update I noticed root was no longer working.
I went into Settings and Apps and disabled it and tried using SuperUser but discovered that it didn't work with 4.2.1
I used the Google Nexus_7_ToolKit_v4.0.0 and ran the root command choosing SuperSU which was the correct one for 4.2.1.
It did a cleanup of any other root stuff and successfully pushed root to the device.
It did not show up in the App Drawer, but does show up in Settings, Apps, All.
I tried again by sideloading via CWM recovery but there was no difference.
I then ran the toolkit to remove root, busybox, etc, then attempted to reinstall them both again.
I am still stuck with the same problem.
When running a root app such as Titanium Backup, it gets stuck at "asking for root rights" and not the 'you need to root your device' message.
Any help?
[edit]
When installing busybox it checks and says you should see the reply
system/xbin/busybox
but the reply I get is
system/bin/busybox
Is this a problem?

DazFromTaz said:
I am running Nexus 7 with 4.2.1 build JOP40D
After I got the 4.2.1 OTA update I noticed root was no longer working.
I went into Settings and Apps and disabled it and tried using SuperUser but discovered that it didn't work with 4.2.1
I used the Google Nexus_7_ToolKit_v4.0.0 and ran the root command choosing SuperSU which was the correct one for 4.2.1.
It did a cleanup of any other root stuff and successfully pushed root to the device.
It did not show up in the App Drawer, but does show up in Settings, Apps, All.
I tried again by sideloading via CWM recovery but there was no difference.
I then ran the toolkit to remove root, busybox, etc, then attempted to reinstall them both again.
I am still stuck with the same problem.
When running a root app such as Titanium Backup, it gets stuck at "asking for root rights" and not the 'you need to root your device' message.
Any help?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. you need to flash the su binaries in your recovery, latest su binaries http://download.chainfire.eu/298/SuperSU/CWM-SuperSU-v0.99.zip
2. or you need to install busybox if you already flashed the binaries. you can find free busybox installer apps in the play store. best one is by stericson.

That's what confuses me. I have flashed the su binaries via recovery and also installed busybox.
Downloaded the busybox from Play Store now though. It can't install with root though.
Remember, SuperSU is showing up in Settings, Apps, All, it just doesn't seem to be usable or showing up in app drawer.

DazFromTaz said:
That's what confuses me. I have flashed the su binaries via recovery and also installed busybox.
Downloaded the busybox from Play Store now though. It can't install with root though.
Remember, SuperSU is showing up in Settings, Apps, All, it just doesn't seem to be usable or showing up in app drawer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
delete supersu from either /data/app/ or /system app/, wherever you have it installed. then reboot into recovery and wipe cache and dalvik. after, reboot and reinstall supersu app.
are you sure that you flashed the latest su binaries? if not sure, flash the one that i linked while youre in your recovery.

simms22 said:
delete supersu from either /data/app/ or /system app/, wherever you have it installed. then reboot into recovery and wipe cache and dalvik. after, reboot and reinstall supersu app.
are you sure that you flashed the latest su binaries? if not sure, flash the one that i linked while youre in your recovery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thankyou again for your response.
I deleted superuser.apk using adb, then cleared the caches. I then rebooted recovery, sideloaded the latest superuser (from the link provided) and then booted into Android.
Same as before. Superuser is not in the app drawer, but can be seen in settings.

Remember when I said I disabled it in Settings, Apps?
Well it turns out that Google remembers this, even when the app is removed and reinstalled. It will not show that it is disabled when you check it in Settings though.
To fix, I disabled again, then enabled it. Boom fixed.
Feel rather sheepish now.
Although you pushed me to learn quite a bit more about adb so thanks for that!

DazFromTaz said:
Remember when I said I disabled it in Settings, Apps?
Well it turns out that Google remembers this, even when the app is removed and reinstalled. It will not show that it is disabled when you check it in Settings though.
To fix, I disabled again, then enabled it. Boom fixed.
Feel rather sheepish now.
Although you pushed me to learn quite a bit more about adb so thanks for that!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no matter how it was "fixed", its still a :victory: congrats

WooooooW!!!!!! Banging my head with this one until I found this thread. Crazy but it worked, after I did all that the OP said he did.. Thanks..

[Q] After rooted for a month suddenly unrooted

I rooted my Nexus 10 using the Google_Nexus_10_ToolKit_v1.3.0. When I did this I used SuperSU as my super user app.
After being successfully rooted for over a month my device is no longer rooted.
When I try to open SuperSU I get this message:
"There is no SU binary installed, and SuperSU cannot install it.
This is a problem!"
I no longer can run applications that require root access.
I tried installing Superuser and did the fix associated with that but it failed as well.
I haven't done anything to my device except for root it. Why would it all of a sudden become unrooted?
I still have the unlock icon on my boot screen.
Can anyone help?

Did you apply the 4.2.2 OTA update that came out recently? Updates will often unroot the device by removing suid from the su binary.
Easy enough to fix with an unlocked bootloader,new enough versions of Clockwork Mod recovery will check and fix it for you, or you can use adb with any of them to chmod u+s the su binary.
Edit: or use TWRP, was thinking of the Galaxy Nexus.

derobert said:
Did you apply the 4.2.2 OTA update that came out recently? Updates will often unroot the device by removing suid from the su binary.
Easy enough to fix with an unlocked bootloader,new enough versions of Clockwork Mod recovery will check and fix it for you, or you can use adb with any of them to chmod u+s the su binary.
Edit: or use TWRP, was thinking of the Galaxy Nexus.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. I think this problem happened right after the 4.2.2 OTA update.
I am not able to get into my recovery. When I try I just get a picture of a dead alien with a red triangle.
Do you happen to know the exact adb commands to perform this? I've tried search but I could not find anything.
Thank you for your help.

Skullpuck said:
I am not able to get into my recovery. When I try I just get a picture of a dead alien with a red triangle.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's stock recovery. You need to use fastboot to re-flash just your recovery.
The adb command is something like "chmod u+s /system/bin/su", from the recovery (where you'll have a root shell in adb).
Or you could just install the superuser zip file from your recovery, once you've got the recovery running again.

derobert said:
That's stock recovery. You need to use fastboot to re-flash just your recovery.
The adb command is something like "chmod u+s /system/bin/su", from the recovery (where you'll have a root shell in adb).
Or you could just install the superuser zip file from your recovery, once you've got the recovery running again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried accessing fastboot but the Nexus Root Toolkit says I do not have a fastboot enabled device.
I tried running your command but nothing happened.
Do you have any other suggestions?

You could try installing the recovery through the Goomanager app. Once installed select menu and install recovery script.
Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk HD

this happened to me also.. but my nexus 10 is more than a month rooted.. from out of nowhere it suddenly becomes unrooted, caused by an unkown reason.. it didn't made any notification/alets or any dialog box when it suddenly becomes unrooted.. i noticed it when i used sb game hacker.. it says that the device is not rooted.. anyway i'll find a way to root it again this weekend..

Trouble rooting on 4.4.2

I've had trouble rooting since I updated to stock 4.4.2. Device has been unlocked & rooted before the update. It still is unlocked, of course.
I've tried using WugFresh's toolkit but that doesn't work. I've tried manually flashing TWRP (v2.6.3.1) and SuperSU (v1.8.5). They install without any errors but when I boot to system and open SuperSU I get the "There is no SU binary installed, and SuperSU cannot install it." error.
Help? Suggestions?

Quit using tool kits.(better yet never start using them!) you don't need tool kits for nexus devices and learning command line replace and repair commands will save you much heartache and heartburn.
Check and validate you see the unlocked lock on the screen at boot time.
Go to the Google play store and install the Chainfire SuperSU binary from there it will prompt you to select either stock or custom recovery reboot.
If after that you are still un-rooted re-download the root patch and re-apply.

planet_x69 said:
Quit using tool kits.(better yet never start using them!) you don't need tool kits for nexus devices and learning command line replace and repair commands will save you much heartache and heartburn.
Check and validate you see the unlocked lock on the screen at boot time.
Go to the Google play store and install the Chainfire SuperSU binary from there it will prompt you to select either stock or custom recovery reboot.
If after that you are still un-rooted re-download the root patch and re-apply.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I stopped using the toolkit after it wouldn't work. I already have the latest SuperSU installed and am using TWRP as my custom recovery. When I open SuperSU it says, "There is no su binary installed" and then closes. That's it. I can't even remove SuperSU because it's installed as a system app and while not rooted I cannot uninstall system apps.