Database Users

[Q] Is root persistent through OTA update?

I'm looking to root my phone but I don't want to flash any new bootloader or custom roms. I'm under the impression that I'll still be able to get OTA updates if I do this. My question is if I download and install an OTA update will I still have root on the phone or will it remove root? Thanks!

psyphris said:
I'm looking to root my phone but I don't want to flash any new bootloader or custom roms. I'm under the impression that I'll still be able to get OTA updates if I do this. My question is if I download and install an OTA update will I still have root on the phone or will it remove root? Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was still able to receive and apply the OTA after rooting, but the OTA did cause me to lose root. But re-rooting was pretty painless.

Its sure than rooting phone you receive OTA and can install it?? If yes, I want to root my phone, only root, i dont want to change anything more for receiving OTAs.
How can I do? just only root, any link to the safest way?
Is the same way when I receive an OTA and i have to root again?
many thanks.

1. You can use an app called OTA Rootkeeper. Use it to hide root before you accept an OTA, then use it to restore root after.
2. Yes, you can use adb commands (possibly the Nexus 4 toolkit as well) to temporarily flash clockwork recovery and obtain root. You will need to unlock the bootloader though, and that will factory reset your device.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1993331

Nospin said:
1. You can use an app called OTA Rootkeeper. Use it to hide root before you accept an OTA, then use it to restore root after.
2. Yes, you can use adb commands (possibly the Nexus 4 toolkit as well) to temporarily flash clockwork recovery and obtain root. You will need to unlock the bootloader though, and that will factory reset your device.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1993331
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good advice for OTA Rootkeeper! If I head down this path I'll make sure to use that. I'm still looking around for the best way to root without unlocking the bootloader or factory reseting.

Superuser contains a built in 'try and preserve root' function which worked well when I updated to 4.2.1

[Q] Seem to have lost root, help!

For some reason I seem to have lost root. I think this may have occured when I updated to 4.2.2, it automatically asked to update OTA. That or this occured from updating SuperSU.
When I try to go into recovery mode I see a android laying down with an exclamation point on his belly. I can't get into TWRP recovery.
SuperSU gives the error "There is no SU binary installed and SuperSU cannot install it"
I tried opening up titanium backup, and it says I have no root.
The fastboot states me phone is unlocked.
I have no issues rerooting, but I'm wondering:
a) Why and how this happened? Was it from the OTA update?
b) How I can prevent this in the future
c) Can I still back things up before rooting?
d) Will I lose everything when trying to root again?

AAhrens said:
For some reason I seem to have lost root. I think this may have occured when I updated to 4.2.2, it automatically asked to update OTA. That or this occured from updating SuperSU.
When I try to go into recovery mode I see a android laying down with an exclamation point on his belly. I can't get into TWRP recovery.
SuperSU gives the error "There is no SU binary installed and SuperSU cannot install it"
I tried opening up titanium backup, and it says I have no root.
The fastboot states me phone is unlocked.
I have no issues rerooting, but I'm wondering:
a) Why and how this happened? Was it from the OTA update?
b) How I can prevent this in the future
c) Can I still back things up before rooting?
d) Will I lose everything when trying to root again?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just reflash the superSU.zip from here http://download.chainfire.eu/315/SuperSU/UPDATE-SuperSU-v1.25.zip in CWM and you should be rooted again. You will not loose any data so no need to backup. Download OTA Rootkeeper from Play to regain root after installing future OTA`s.

I'm not using CWM, I'm using TWRP and I can't seem to boot into it.

AAhrens said:
I'm not using CWM, I'm using TWRP and I can't seem to boot into it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try cmd and type: adb reboot recovery. If you see the androidian (stock recovery) you have to reflash the TWRP img file in fastboot mode.

Will this reset my phone? Or does only rooting do that?

You will not loose any data.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium

AAhrens said:
For some reason I seem to have lost root. I think this may have occured when I updated to 4.2.2, it automatically asked to update OTA. That or this occured from updating SuperSU.
When I try to go into recovery mode I see a android laying down with an exclamation point on his belly. I can't get into TWRP recovery.
SuperSU gives the error "There is no SU binary installed and SuperSU cannot install it"
I tried opening up titanium backup, and it says I have no root.
The fastboot states me phone is unlocked.
I have no issues rerooting, but I'm wondering:
a) Why and how this happened? Was it from the OTA update?
b) How I can prevent this in the future
c) Can I still back things up before rooting?
d) Will I lose everything when trying to root again?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Let me guess, you used a toolkit to root?
a) You did the full OTA, so you lost your custom recovery.
b) flash images through fastboot and skip the recovery.
c) Only after you flash a custom recovery. If your recovery is sitting in the same folder as fastboot and named "recovery.img, simply cd into the fastboot folder in a command prompt and type
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
d) Not unless you lock or relock your bootloader.
OP, you need to do some more research and uninstall the toolkit from your computer. You know just enough to cause yourself problems, but not enough to know why they happen or how to fix them.

Yes the OTA update got rid of the files or partition that is created in order for you to have root access. Your custom recovery was also replaced with the stock recovery (android lieing on its back with red triangle).
To prevent you being unrooted in updates you can try using OTA RootKeeper available on Google play but this is not guaranteed to work.
You can use carbon to back up your data as this does not require root access to work.
And no you will not lose your data if you re root again, this is only done when you unlock the bootloader.

Rizy7 said:
Yes the OTA update got rid of the files or partition that is created in order for you to have root access. Your custom recovery was also replaced with the stock recovery (android lieing on its back with red triangle).
To prevent you being unrooted in updates you can try using OTA RootKeeper available on Google play but this is not guaranteed to work.
You can use carbon to back up your data as this does not require root access to work.
And no you will not lose your data if you re root again, this is only done when you unlock the bootloader.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks all, was able to get it fixed by re-rooting!

systemless root question

So with systemless root, as far as getting back to a state where I could receive an OTA, I would just have to have stock recovery, /system partion back to stock, and stock kernel?
I root my android phones mainly for the option to use viper4android and sometimes modify the mixer_paths.xml file to get more headphone volume.
In this process, busybox is installd and thats on the /system location right?
so if an OTA came through, I would have to have made a stock backup of the mixer_paths and replace the edited one, flash stock kernel, and uninstall busybox?
I just want to be able to tinker with my phone without having to reflash everything in between OTA's.
thanks

Or can I just flash new /system image when ota's come out? Leave data intact?

Can I boot lock my 6p if I have TWRP installed?

I installed twrp and SU. Really the only reason I did it is because I use titanium backup to back up and restore apps and such. Otherwise I really don't need root.
I have two questions.
First Question: Can I re-lock the boot loader if I have TWRP and SuperSU installed? If not how can I use Android pay? Is there a work around? It's not allowing me to because it can't verify
Second Question: The OTA 6.0.1 won't stick. I'm pretty sure I've done one other over the air update (at least I thought I did, I may be remembering incorrectly) and it worked just fine. But for some reason 6.0.1 isn't taking. Any ideas?

If you don't need root what you can do is download the 6.0.1 imag direclty from google, put it in your adb/fastboo folder and use the flash-all command and it will erase root, twrp and it will be like you just got it from the factory. The only thing that would be still there is the unlocked bootloader. Once you've performed the flash-all command, you can simple lock the bootloader again. That's if you want to get rid of Root and Twrp.. If not, you can try a Rom like Chroma that has android pay working on it.. Here's the instructions. Hope this helps: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=64269166&postcount=2338
Edit: Make sure you follow the systemless root instructions from that link to get android pay to work...

So I cannot lock the boot loader if I have root and twrp installed?
I really don't want to use a Rom. I'm happy with stock, just want to be able to use titanium backup.
And are ota updates not working if you have twrp installed?

OTA updates won't flash properly if you have TWRP installed, though I heard there is a way to extract the components of the update you want to apply so you can preserve root and custom recoveries while still updating. Sorry I don't know where the instructions are though.

No you can't lock the bootloader with TWRP installed, it can result in a brick.

I would not lock the bootloader unless you are 100% stock. You open yourself up to unrecoverable bricks. As for the update if you download the image from google you can just flash the individual partitions in fastboot. This way you can preserve your data. Heisenburg has a great guide here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-6p/general/guides-how-to-guides-beginners-t3206928 You will loose root but getting it back just involves reflashing the SuperSU-v2.62-3-20151211162651.zip from this thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/apps/supersu/wip-android-6-0-marshmellow-t3219344/post64161125#post64161125

Question about Rooting?

Is there any way to root your 6P and keep the stock recovery? I would like to have a dark system theme. But unless your on root you can't really make everything dark. I would also like to hide the soft keys which unless your rooted you can not. I don't want to lose the OTA updates and was hoping that just rooting the phone without a custom recovery would do the trick?

falcon26 said:
I don't want to lose the OTA updates and was hoping that just rooting the phone without a custom recovery would do the trick?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can, just boot TWRP to your device from there bootloader with fastboot. With the current TWRP image the command would be "fastboot boot twrp-3.0.2-0-angler.img". Unfortunately, just having root on your device is enough to cause an OTA update to fail. You would have to fully unroot, apply the OTA, then root again.

falcon26 said:
Is there any way to root your 6P and keep the stock recovery? I would like to have a dark system theme. But unless your on root you can't really make everything dark. I would also like to hide the soft keys which unless your rooted you can not. I don't want to lose the OTA updates and was hoping that just rooting the phone without a custom recovery would do the trick?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can use flashfire to do just what you want.
Use CF-auto root to root, then when OTA comes along, flashfire to update.