Database Users

How to Root without flashing custom recovery

HOW TO ROOT YOUR DEVICE WITHOUT FLASHING RECOVERY
This can be done with two methods.
ADB or FASTBOOT.
I have tested both methods and they worked for me.
I tested this on JSS15J. I am not sure about any other versions but I guess it should work.
SOME BASIC INFORMATION
Usually when you want to root your device, you must have UNLOCKED BOOTLOADER.
A CUSTOM RECOVERY is usually used to flash SuperSU to gain root access.
CUSTOM RECOVERIES ARE USUALLY FLASHED (they permanently replace your stock recovery)
In this guide, You BOOT into custom recovery by going into BOOTLOADER and then using fastboot/adb tools to flash SuperSU .
Booting is temporary and thus once you restart from recovery, the custom recovery will be gone
Make sure, you have USB debugging mode enabled. To go into bootloader you can either use adb commands ( Type [adb reboot bootloader] in cmd in platform tools directory with your device connected) or do it manually by turning it off and then holding power and volume down.
You must also have platform tools of SDK (Fastboot and ADB) for this to work. MAKE SURE YOU OPEN CMD into the folder where platform tools are present.
Try it on OWN risk. I will not be responsible for bricked devices or any damage.
ADB METHOD
Connect to your PC and make sure USB debugging is on.
COMMANDS IN BRACKETS. DON'T WRITE THEM. COMMAND WOULD BE LIKE : fastboot boot recovery.img
MAKE SURE YOUR DEVICE HAS UNLOCKED BOOTLOADER
(fastboot boot [recovery.img])--------------------- Name of recovery to be here
Mount /system and push the necessary files once the recovery has started:
(adb push su /system/xbin)
(adb push Superuser.apk /system/app)
Set correct permissions:
(adb shell)------------------------------ You have got into your device's shell
(chmod 06755 /system/xbin/su)
(chmod 0644 /system/app/SuperSU.apk)
(exit)
Reboot:
(adb reboot)
FASTBOOT METHOD
This is relatively easier as you will boot into custom recovery temporarily and then flash ZIP of SuperSU. Afterwards I recommend to clear davik cache and restart.
UNLOCKED BOOTLOADER REQUIRED
Boot into bootloader.
Type these commands to boot into custom recovery. This will not flash recovery and you will have stock recovery once you restart.
fastboot boot recovery recovery.img where recovery.img will be the file name of recovery
(After 4.4, use this command "fastboot boot recovery.img" instead of above mentioned)
After booting into reccovery, flash SuperSU and you are done.
I recommend clearing dalvik cache before leaving and restart.
And you are done.
YOU CAN ALSO USE A PREROOTED KERNEL WHICH YOU CAN FLASH VIA FASTBOOT. I AM NOT SURE IF THERE IS ANY
For information on how to retain root after OTA, please refer to this :
Update Super SU is also taken from this guide.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2415497
For Recovery/SuperSU/TWRP
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2382051
CWM
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2381544
PLATFORM TOOLS:
http://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=9390355257214632011
If you are stuck in a bootloop, make sure you have cleared dalvik cache in custom recovery.
I got bootloop when i tried with fastboot method as I was new to twrp, I explored it a bit and tried to remove system and tried overwriting data to see how it is different from CWM and check its strength. I got an error clearing cache so I rebooted into custom recovery to clear dalvik and my nexus booted fine (DON'T TRY THIS, JUST CLEAR CACHE AND WIPE DATA and restart)
REMEMBER, UNLOCKING BOOTLOADER WILL DELETE ALL YOUR DATA AND DOING WIPES WILL ALSO DELETE ALL YOUR DATA.
DALVIK WON'T DELETE YOUR DATA BUT
MAKE SURE YOU HAVE MADE A BACKUP using BACKUP PRO (non rooted) or Helium (non rooted) and Titanium Backup Pro (Daah, you are not rooted so this won't work)
GOOD LUCK

Booting into custom recovery to install root works fine.
As you mentioned unlocking bootloader is still a prerequisite.
You may want to just use the SuperSU install zip though. Though I haven't tried Superuser on this tablet, it is my understanding it hasn't been modified to work with 4.3 security. That may have changed since I last looked so if you find differently please post. SuperSU added a daemon mode to deal with 4.3 security changes.

sfhub said:
Booting into custom recovery to install root works fine.
As you mentioned unlocking bootloader is still a prerequisite.
You may want to just use the SuperSU install zip though. Though I haven't tried Superuser on this tablet, it is my understanding it hasn't been modified to work with 4.3 security. That may have changed since I last looked so if you find differently please post. SuperSU added a daemon mode to deal with 4.3 security changes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got bootloop but then realised it might due to trying to wipe system in twrp. Clearing dalvik worked fine .SuperSU used

So you don't replace stock recovery if you boot into a custom recovery using fastboot?
Sent from my Nexus 7 (2013)

Muikkuman said:
So you don't replace stock recovery if you boot into a custom recovery using fastboot?
Sent from my Nexus 7 (2013)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The trick here is to BOOT into custom recovery BUT not FLASH recovery permanently. Once you restart, the CUSTOM recovery will be gone.
You can use simple commands if using Fastboot
fastboot boot recovery [recovery name.img]
This way you will install SuperSU using recovery which is relatively easier than ADB commands.
You will only go into recovery temporarily.
I also read a forum where you can preserver root even after OTA/ Updates.
[UPDATE]
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2415497
Do check that out as well.
I tried this with Twrp and superSU.
I got bootloop as I have been always CWM person so I accidently tried to delete system too with dalvik cache and hard reset and I got an error
However, I boot again into recovery and cleared wipes and the bootloop was gone

Hnk1 said:
The trick here is to BOOT into custom recovery BUT not FLASH recovery permanently. Once you restart, the CUSTOM recovery will be gone.
You can use simple commands if using Fastboot
fastboot boot recovery [recovery name.img]
This way you will install SuperSU using recovery which is relatively easier than ADB commands.
This way you will only go into recovery temporarily.
I also read a forum where you can preserver root even after OTA/ Updates.
Do check that out as well.
I tried this with Twrp and superSU.
I got bootloop as I have been always CWM person so I accidently tried to delete system too with dalvik cache and hard reset and I got an error
However, I boot again into recovery and cleared wipes and the bootloop was gone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your reply I'll make sure to check everything out.
Sent from my Nexus 7 (2013)

Muikkuman said:
Thanks for your reply I'll make sure to check everything out.
Sent from my Nexus 7 (2013)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Anytime mate

How do we clear dalvik without a custom recovery?

Master619 said:
How do we clear dalvik without a custom recovery?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You restart your device. Boot into bootloader and use fastboot to Boot into custom recovery(command given in post above).Once Into recovery, you can easily clear dalvik cache.
And remember, it might not require clearing cache because I was exploring twrp n overwriting data n tried To delete system to see how powerful the recovery is. I will update guide now

muikkuman said:
so you don't replace stock recovery if you boot into a custom recovery using fastboot?
Sent from my nexus 7 (2013)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
master619 said:
how do we clear dalvik without a custom recovery?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
guide updated. Check it.
Platform tools are being attached

The "fastboot boot recovery recovery.img" command is not working anymore. The command prompt returns with a "cannot load recovery" error. At least that's what it does on my Nexus 7 running Android 4.4.2.
This seems to affect Android 4.3 and upwards according to this Nexus 4 thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-4/help/solved-fastboot-boot-recovery-img-t2380675
There's a workaround with a different fastboot command line as mentioned in the thread. I wonder if there's also a fix for the Nexus 7. Any replies would be greatly appreciated.

gunner49 said:
The "fastboot boot recovery recovery.img" command is not working anymore. The command prompt returns with a "cannot load recovery" error. At least that's what it does on my Nexus 7 running Android 4.4.2.
This seems to affect Android 4.3 and upwards according to this Nexus 4 thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-4/help/solved-fastboot-boot-recovery-img-t2380675
There's a workaround with a different fastboot command line as mentioned in the thread. I wonder if there's also a fix for the Nexus 7. Any replies would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you try: fastboot boot recovery.img ?

mdamaged said:
Did you try: fastboot boot recovery.img ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That worked a treat! Thanks a lot mate!

Those who finding difficulty in rooting Nexus 7 (2013) can use Wugfresh Nexus Root Toolkit. It is so powerful that you would find every function you would like to do on your Nexus 7, from the comfort of your PC. Also watch qbking77 's video on using the Toolkit for further information.

I think I am bricked

So at one point, I accidentally deleted the OS off of my phone, but I still had TWRP installed. The only solution was to flash a rom through ADB, but TWRP didn't have ADB for whatever reason for me, so I flashed CWM which did have ADB. I was able to flash CWM after I pushed a rom through ADB and install Android 4.3 w/ root from nexus4root.com. It worked correctly, but I noticed that I only had 5.66gb of storage on my phone. I have the 16gb variant which would have about 12gb usable. So I followed a guide here in xda to get back my 16gb. I was told to wipe my phone step by step and flash a factory image. But ere are my errors not
- When I try to flash the factory image, it says 'missing boot.sig, system.sig, and something else.sig'
- I have no recovery on my phone
- When I try using fastboot commands, it says FAILED (command write failed (unknown error))
I am pretty stuck here. And I did redownload the root files.
EDIT: I was able to fix fastboot and flashed TWRP, but my devices is encrypted and requires a password

You should be able to clean your encrypted user storage by using "fastboot erase userdata", and you can do it for /data /system and /cache partition as well.
Or go into TWRP, if it ask for password, just press cancel. Then go to Wipe -> Advance -> Select "Format Data" and it will do a full wipe and cleaning out the encrypted partition.
As for using fastboot to restore to stock, shouldn't be any problem as long as you have the correct drivers and latest ADT package from Google.

I did something similar and had encryption on. My fix was "fastboot flash" the stock system, boot and recovery (4.3 for me). After getting back in my phone and verifying everything was there I re-flash CWM and re-rooted.

[Q] Nexus 4 Bootloop, locked, stock rom, no dev, backup data?

Hi,
today a friend of mine woke up with his phone (Nexus 4, 8GB, Android 4.4.4 stock) being off. When powered on, it gets stuck in the boot animation (4 coloured dots moving).
Bootloader is LOCKED on this device. Developer-Options are OFF.
Is there ANY way to recover this device without losing the data on its virtual sdcard OR backup this data?
What I've tried:
- Boot into stock recovery (PWR+DOWN - Recovery - PWR+UP) and wipe cache. Cache wiped, no effect.
- Boot maintenance mode (whatever it is called) by holding down DOWN a moment before the boot animation and a moment after boot animation... tried all, device never exits the boot animation
- use NRT to boot temporary custom recovery... A message shows up on the device in fastboot mode for <1s... I can't read it, but I guess it says it wont boot that with device locked... nothing boots
- use NRT to boot modified boot img... same as above
- Boot into stock recovery (PWR+DOWN - Recovery - PWR+UP) and select "apply update from adb". Device says I should apply updates with adb sideload. "adb devices" does not list any device. "adb sideload update.zip" says "device not found" (I generated an update.zip from stock image without userdata.img)
- "fastboot update update.zip" says "FAILED (remote: not supported in locked device)"
I've read that stock recovery with "apply update from adb" can be used to backup data, but it is not working... is this because developer options are not enabled on this device?
What options do I have now? If I use the stock image and flash it as is (including userdata.img) with "flash-all.bat", the data will be lost, right? If I use "fastboot update stock-update.zip" (didn't try it so far), which is almost the same but without "-w" option on fastboot, will the data survive even with userdata.img in the zip?
Thx so far

UPDATE: driver for adb in sideload mode was not installed correctly. Now "adb devices" lists the device, but "adb pull" or "adb backup" show "error: closed"

RFZ said:
UPDATE: driver for adb in sideload mode was not installed correctly. Now "adb devices" lists the device, but "adb pull" or "adb backup" show "error: closed"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're not going to be able to pull data off with a locked bootloader and the stock recovery. Sorry
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Free mobile app

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=38160111&postcount=4
states that "wipe and factory reset" from stock recovery does NOT wipe users media data. Can someone confirm that?

okay, after lots of research I found more sources that told me that factory reset would not delete data from the internal media storage...
So, we tried it. And ... it deleted all data. After doing the reset in stock recovery, all data is lost.
That's really a good example why I hate devices without sdcard...

RFZ said:
okay, after lots of research I found more sources that told me that factory reset would not delete data from the internal media storage...
So, we tried it. And ... it deleted all data. After doing the reset in stock recovery, all data is lost.
That's really a good example why I hate devices without sdcard...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you look closely at the post you linked, he was also surprised that the wipe data didn't remove his data, which is what he was expecting. As far as I know, factory reset within the stock recovery and inside Android both always wipe user data including the internal storage (yes, I learned this the hard way, too.)
I agree with you though, devices with non-removable storage are a pain.

Hey!
It's a softbrick but don't panic do this--->
1. Go to Google developers download the nexus 4 factory image under 'occam'
2. Download wugfresh toolkit
3. Open the toolkit.. Unlock your bootloader
4. After unlock... Go to 'flash stock+unroot'
5. Navigate to downloaded image and tick "device is softbrick/bootloop"
6 voila! It will start to revive your device
PS: don't forget to unlock the bootloader
Don't interrupt the flashing process
Thank me if it helps
-nexus⁴
---------- Post added at 06:38 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:35 AM ----------
This will erase all data!
-nexus⁴

ASUS Zenfone 5 Help Needed

I own a Zenfone 5. I rooted my ZF5 and installed CM 12.1 with double tap and TWRP by TEKCAFE TEAM (Ver 2.6.3.0)
Earlier this morning I tried installing XPOSED Framework SDK22 X86 and things went bad. I'm not stuck at the boot screen.
When I try to go into recovery and wipe cache, Dalvik cache and data the following message appears:
E :unable to mount '/spare'
E :Unknown action 'screenshot'
What should I do now? The battery's draining fast (as shown in top at TWRP)
Should I wipe system? If i do that, how can i reinstall CM 12.1?
I'm a newbie and have no idea absolutely!
Since I can't boot into system, I'm not able to enable usb debugging and am not able to enter fastboot in adb as when i type adb device, it shows 'list of devices' only.
Please help!

abu_musa said:
I own a Zenfone 5. I rooted my ZF5 and installed CM 12.1 with double tap and TWRP by TEKCAFE TEAM (Ver 2.6.3.0)
Earlier this morning I tried installing XPOSED Framework SDK22 X86 and things went bad. I'm not stuck at the boot screen.
When I try to go into recovery and wipe cache, Dalvik cache and data the following message appears:
E :unable to mount '/spare'
E :Unknown action 'screenshot'
What should I do now? The battery's draining fast (as shown in top at TWRP)
Should I wipe system? If i do that, how can i reinstall CM 12.1?
I'm a newbie and have no idea absolutely!
Since I can't boot into system, I'm not able to enable usb debugging and am not able to enter fastboot in adb as when i type adb device, it shows 'list of devices' only.
Please help!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
first of all in fastboot mode,use the following command:
fastboot device
adb doesnt work in fastboot
secondly try this: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=66360229
if above doesnt work try this: http://forum.xda-developers.com/zenfone-5/help/zenfone-5-a500cg-zenfone-6-a600cg-t3354645

Hard Bricked!

Hi,
My devices is stuck on Mi logo, it was not Bootloop, it cant reboot to EDL, sometimes my devices can go to Fasboot mode but sometimes cant, while in fastboot mode I check in the Device drivers section theres no Qualcomm blablabla but the only available is Android Bootloader Interface and when I try to flash my phone via Mi Flash Tool I cant because my devices is not detected, What should I do? :crying:
1. My device is already unlocked
2. Before this I was flashing RR, and it was just fine, then I try to boot to my TWRp but it seems I cant, then I install TWRP and it just works fine, then I want to flash new rom, then I qipe dalvik cache, cache, system, and data then it shows error "partitions blablabla" then I try to factory reset in TWRP, its done its job, then I try to flash the new rom but when I pick "sdcard" (internal storage) it was blank! then I check "sdcard1" (external memory) it was blank too! then I just reboot (it says no OS installed, I just swipe then it stuck on MI Logo).
3. I have tried some tricks to recover it but It cant! (I still didn't tries deep flash cable or either test point method because I don't know how to do that)
4. My devices Is Detected when I typed "fastboot devices" in cmd but not detected in MiFlash Tool.
Please how do I fix this problem?? please help me as soon as possible!!
Thanks.

Help me!
Please someone answers me! :crying:

Since your device is showing in fastboot, flash TWRP again from fastboot. Copy ROM and GApps to external SD card and boot into TWRP. Wipe dalvik, cache, data, system, and internal storage. Flash new ROM, GApps reboot.
If you get any errors while wiping partitions then format the partitions to f2fs or anything then again back to ext4.
Hope this helps!!!
Cheers ?

Chris828 said:
Hi,
My devices is stuck on Mi logo, it was not Bootloop, it cant reboot to EDL, sometimes my devices can go to Fasboot mode but sometimes cant, while in fastboot mode I check in the Device drivers section theres no Qualcomm blablabla but the only available is Android Bootloader Interface and when I try to flash my phone via Mi Flash Tool I cant because my devices is not detected, What should I do? :crying:
1. My device is already unlocked
2. Before this I was flashing RR, and it was just fine, then I try to boot to my TWRp but it seems I cant, then I install TWRP and it just works fine, then I want to flash new rom, then I qipe dalvik cache, cache, system, and data then it shows error "partitions blablabla" then I try to factory reset in TWRP, its done its job, then I try to flash the new rom but when I pick "sdcard" (internal storage) it was blank! then I check "sdcard1" (external memory) it was blank too! then I just reboot (it says no OS installed, I just swipe then it stuck on MI Logo).
3. I have tried some tricks to recover it but It cant! (I still didn't tries deep flash cable or either test point method because I don't know how to do that)
4. My devices Is Detected when I typed "fastboot devices" in cmd but not detected in MiFlash Tool.
Please how do I fix this problem?? please help me as soon as possible!!
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah. This is not a hard brick. You can also reflash miui from fastboot. Extract that tgz file of miui and click on one of the batch files.