Develop Bugs

[Q] Does this method of rooting work with the nexus galaxy?

http://www.unlockroot.com/index.htm
It mentions galaxy nexus. I didn't unlock my phone right away and now I regret it. I don't want to lose my app data and since I don't have root I can't use TB to back up my apps.
So will this be a good alternative, or should I avoid it?
Is there a down side to using this method instead of doing it the old fashioned way?
if this is useless, any recommendations on how I can safely back up my app data before unlocking the bootloader?
Thank you for the help.

never seen or used this. you can, but i prefer doing it manually. not really that hard.,
and theres a thread somewhere in general that tells you how to back up your stuff without root or unlocked bootloader.
something involving ADB commands. might be just better off starting again from fresh

zephiK said:
never seen or used this. you can, but i prefer doing it manually. not really that hard.,
and theres a thread somewhere in general that tells you how to back up your stuff without root or unlocked bootloader.
something involving ADB commands. might be just better off starting again from fresh
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unlocked / rooted mine right after I got it. Wipes it (the unlocking part), but it was easy, but I'm pretty good with adb and fastboot. Give it a try, there seems to be a bunch of one click tools out now.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

this method seems to implement security vulnerability in android to escalate user privileges and install super user.
So this method is not an automatic version of the regular (boot unlock using fastboot), meaning it skips the whole wipe after unlock requirement.
anyway, I am gonna try it when I get home and report results.

Rooted or Not Rooted

Rooter or not rooter
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

Rooted is better if you know how to use a rooted phone. If he has no idea than he may just mess his phone up.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App

if he doesnt want to root.. then let him be, he'll just be missing out.

I rooted to get the latest firmware [in canada it goes through samsung womp-womp ] and to get some extra customization out of my phone. It can give a phone the extra features you might feel are missing.

I always root my androids except my nexus's I rarely root them and as of now haven't my gnex

zephiK said:
if he doesnt want to root.. then let him be, he'll just be missing out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This! If he sees the pros + cons then decides he doesn't want it, then he shouldn't. You're a bad friend if you force him to do something he's not comfortable with to his phone.
AndreaCristiano said:
I always root my androids except my nexus's I rarely root them and as of now haven't my gnex
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same. Loving my GNex bone stock.

lazcoreaedu said:
Hey guys I'm trying to convince my buddy that root is the way to go, I myself have my phone rooted and wouldn't go back to stock for any reasons, I've told him why he should go with root but he just wants some more opinions, so please can you give us your 2 cent on what's better rooted or not rooted?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Regardless of whether he ultimately wants to root or not - make sure that even if it's remotely on the radar that he unlocks the BOOTLOADER as soon as he gets the phone.
Unlocking the bootloader wipes the ENTIRE phone (SD card partition and all) so it's something to do before anything else.
With the ability to subsequently make backups, rooting can easily come later.

It's rather simple:
If you don't know why you want root, you don't need root.

Valynor said:
It's rather simple:
If you don't know why you want root, you don't need root.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was going to say the same.
If he doesn't want/know then he SHOULDN'T cause he could end up with a bricked phone.

There's absolutely no reason to try to convince your friend, you're doing a disservice.
Murphy's law says he'll end up bricking it.
Unless you enjoy modding and willing to take the risk, let them use it stock - it's far more stable anyway.

Valynor said:
It's rather simple:
If you don't know why you want root, you don't need root.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My thoughts exactly!

If your friend doesn't want it, he didn't need it. Eot.
And since you seem confused and mixing terms.... You can still be on stock while rooted.
You can even run a custom firmware without being rooted/having root.
Rooted merely means having local admin rights on the OS you are currently running. Custom firmware or not us entirely unrelated.
On most Samsung phones you don't even need to root to load custom ROMs, because they have open bootloaders. They're is no real relation between these terms which you are mixing.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

You can root the factory image so he'll still be stock with root. It'd best to root in case he wants future access for whatever, for example titanium backup would let him backup all his data, needs root. There are a milkion reasons to need root for very basic things.

Steal his phone, root it, install aokp/franco/theme and be like I dunno.. It just said update and I clicked yes, sorry bro.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

RogerPodacter said:
You can root the factory image so he'll still be stock with root. It'd best to root in case he wants future access for whatever, for example titanium backup would let him backup all his data, needs root. There are a milkion reasons to need root for very basic things.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But if the guy doesn't want to use any of those things, there's no need to root it in the first place. If he doesn't see the value in it right now theres no need to force him into it. Rooting because you think he'll want it later in the future makes no sense.
ChongoDroid said:
Steal his phone, root it, install aokp/franco/theme and be like I dunno.. It just said update and I clicked yes, sorry bro.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What a stupid suggestion.

ChongoDroid said:
Steal his phone, root it, install aokp/franco/theme and be like I dunno.. It just said update and I clicked yes, sorry bro.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this was my thought too!

At least let him figure out how to do it himself. If he figures it out. It might be for him. Let him do it via fast boot commands. Not one click.
I remember fist time rooting. I only had to press "root" in an app, and I ended up messing my sgs i9000 up completely. I had to learn everything the hard way. The right way. You should never do anything to your phone, unless you know how to get back to where you were.

[Q]Regarding rooting

Hey guys, I recently got my Gnex(internation version from expansys) last week, but I'm a little bit on the fence when it comes to rooting as this is my first Android device. What are the benefits? I mean, I know that you guys get a ton of options with the variety of roms available to download/install, but I'm liking the stock ics that came with the device. If somebody cold convince on on doing it, then I'd be grateful. My baseband is XXLA2, is that the recommended one if I'm living in the US?

The ability to control your phone like you should. However being a really new person to android I wouldn't recommend you do it right away. Maybe browse the forum and learn somethings. Knowledge is power.
Sent From My Sprint Galaxy Nexus

Root gives you admin access to your phone. Definitely you should root, even if you want to stay on stock factory rom.

RogerPodacter said:
Root gives you admin access to your phone. Definitely you should root, even if you want to stay on stock factory rom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Only if he sees the benefits for himself. There's absolutely no reason for him to root if he doesn't understand what it does or how it will help/hurt him.

As mentioned previously, root access is admin access to the phone. Some benefits of it include being able to use the Adfree app to block advertisements in apps or Titanium Backup to backup apps the data associated with them. I'd take the time to get to know the phone and operating system first and then decide if you have a need for apps that require root access.

Off the top of my head:
-Fastest updates
-Ad removal
-Firewall
-True call blocking
-Lightflow
-Theming
-Backups (titanium, nandroid)
-Custom ROMs and all the millions of features they have (you could write pages and pages about this alone)
-Custom kernels (better battery+performance, touch wake, etc)
Since you have the Galaxy Nexus(a dev phone) as opposed to another locked-down phone, rooting is very, very easy. Unless you do something totally retarded you'll be safe. Just don't use toolkits -- do it manually.

fredryk said:
-Fastest updates
-Lightflow
-Backups (titanium, nandroid)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
-You don't need to root to get fast updates. You can flash update files the day they come out via fastboot w/ an unlocked bootloader.
-Lightflow also works w/o root.
-You can do backups with ADB also.

martonikaj said:
-You don't need to root to get fast updates. You can flash update files the day they come out via fastboot w/ an unlocked bootloader.
-Lightflow also works w/o root.
-You can do backups with ADB also.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess I was thinking of "root" being synonymous with unlocked bootloader. My old phone required root...still need root for TB.

fredryk said:
I guess I was thinking of "root" being synonymous with unlocked bootloader. My old phone required root...still need root for TB.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes this is usually the case with other phones. With the Nexus, its extremely easy to unlock the bootloader and not root. I'd recommend unlocking the bootloader on this phone, but I'm not so quick to recommend rooting. People on XDA or too quick to recommend rooting to people who have absolutely no idea what it is and end up bricking their device.

martonikaj said:
Yes this is usually the case with other phones. With the Nexus, its extremely easy to unlock the bootloader and not root. I'd recommend unlocking the bootloader on this phone, but I'm not so quick to recommend rooting. People on XDA or too quick to recommend rooting to people who have absolutely no idea what it is and end up bricking their device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1. Exactly.
You do not need root to flash custom ROMs, get updates, etc. if you have an unlocked bootloader. I totally agree with martonikaj: you SHOULD unlock your bootloader, but you shouldn't mess around with root until you know what root is and need it.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

I would unlock the bootloader immediately if you think you'll ever want to root the phone. Reason why is that you can unlock the bootloader easily with a single command, but it will wipe your phone, and there's no good way to do a real backup without rooting it. Better to do it now, before you have everything set up the way you want it and all of your apps installed.
For rooting, I agree that you shouldn't do it until you have a better idea what it is and why you want to do it.

I've been back and forth between root and non-root (always unlocked bootloader) and other than a few things already mentioned (Ad-free, Titanium Backup) I'm the type that can live with Stock ICS. I do flash custom ROM's once in a while to see if I enjoy them but I've always come back to Stock (for now) because of random reboot issues.

I'm reading this thread while on my way to root my phone (virgin like the guy who started this thread) I've been reading about rooting for a year, what's the difference between root and unlocked bootloader
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda app-developers app

kennwoodkenn said:
I'm reading this thread while on my way to root my phone (virgin like the guy who started this thread) I've been reading about rooting for a year, what's the difference between root and unlocked bootloader
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From someone who knows just enough to get by....
Unlocking your bootloader allows you to flash custom recovery/ROM/Stock version/etc. You don't need root for this.
Root allows you full access to the phone with superuser permissions and install some apps that require full access to system files.

kennwoodkenn said:
I'm reading this thread while on my way to root my phone (virgin like the guy who started this thread) I've been reading about rooting for a year, what's the difference between root and unlocked bootloader
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You couldn't have been doing a lot of good reading if you've been reading for a year and don't know the difference. But don't feel bad -- there are lots of senior members that use the terms interchangeably which is completely and utterly wrong.
Root means having root user access to the file system. Kinda like being the administrator user on Windows machines. You can access all the files and modify and delete anything. The process consists of placing two files on the /system partition of your device. The problems with this process, is finding a way to make /system write-able to place those two files there (as it is read-only by default when you are booted in Android). Chicken or the egg -- You need root to get root.
Think of the bootloader as the BIOS of a computer. It loads up before the operating system, and allows you to perform certain basic tasks. In our case, the bootloader allows you to flash images to your device, and to boot images on your devices (without actually writing them to the NAND). Unlocking the bootloader removes the security on the bootloader, which means that the bootloader no longer verifies the signature of images you are trying to flash or boot and, thus, allows you to flash or boot non-Google signed images.
Now, are rooting and unlocking your bootloader related? Well, to a certain extent yes. If you unlock your bootloader, you can easily obtain root access. This is true because you can flash or boot a custom recovery, which will allow you to write files to /system without being booted into Android. So, with an unlocked bootloader, "rooting" becomes trivial. However, there are other ways to root -- by using exploits. GNex Android builds up to ICL53F can be rooted by mempodroid (see link 4 in my signature), but to-date, an exploit has not been found for IMM76D and higher.

For the epic touch it looks pretty easy to root in Odin mode it seems to be a way to go I know I want root for all the reasons above
My process
Root with ODIN
Install CWM
And like what I see in the AOKP ROM
I HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN TO BACKUP
Am I on the right track
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda app-developers app

kennwoodkenn said:
For the epic touch it looks pretty easy to root in Odin mode it seems to be a way to go I know I want root for all the reasons above
My process
Root with ODIN
Install CWM
And like what I see in the AOKP ROM
I HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN TO BACKUP
Am I on the right track
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why don't you ask in the Epic Touch forum??

Rooting your gnex doesn't need to be seen as taking a dive off a cliff while blindfolded. This is a myth perpetuated by people who have either never rooted their devices or did something retarded and bricked it. It's easy, painless, and uncomplicated if you follow the instructions. If you can take advantage of the ad removal, backups, call blocking, etc with ease....why not do it?
Use this: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1529058

Thanks for all your help!
I'll proceed to unlock the bootloader, but will remain on stock for a while until I get the hang of it and want to expand my options.

return to stock rom

hi, I did a trade with some here on the XDA for a galaxy nexus. The phone comes with BAMF ROM but I am thinking of returning to the completely stock rom. Since I do not know much information on this phone, I thought I will ask before doing anything stupid.
I am not sure exactly if this is a international or playstore phone (I think it is international) but I do know it is a GSM phone.
Also, it appears to me that the phone is already unlocked (and I think rooted but cannot be sure).
So my question is how exactly should I go through to get the completely stock as I kind of want to try stock JB first. Do I need to relock it and download the image from google (which image as I see there are two version of phone.
I may try different rom in the future so can I just download teh image and flash the rom without relock it? Or I should still lock the phone, flash, unnlock, unroot?
A little bit of background. I am using the phone on T Mobile's network here in the US, so I want to be able to continue using hte phone on the same T MO.
Thanks a lot for all of the helps guys.

Link to the step-by-step, amazing, descriptive guide here

thanks a lot. I follow that thread and I think I have returned the phone to the stock rom.
Quick question, I think my bootloader is still unlocked as when I checked the bootloader, it looks it still says unlocked. Now after I have flashed the stock rom, should I still root it and also install the recovery if I ever plan to play around with the different roms? As of now, when I into recovery, I see the little andrid icon but no selection.
thansk a lot guys.

PUTALE said:
thanks a lot. I follow that thread and I think I have returned the phone to the stock rom.
Quick question, I think my bootloader is still unlocked as when I checked the bootloader, it looks it still says unlocked. Now after I have flashed the stock rom, should I still root it and also install the recovery if I ever plan to play around with the different roms? As of now, when I into recovery, I see the little andrid icon but no selection.
thansk a lot guys.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If/when you want to root and mess with ROMs, you'll be using a custom recovery like CWM. You don't need to flash it until you choose to do those things.

thanks. Would I need to root again? The phone is already unlocked (as I did not lock it again). So, I would just have to root and then flash the custom recovery then?
BTW, I notice there's a very nice tool on the sticky that does everything. I am curious if I use that tool and let say choose to unlock it again or root again and such, would that be any issue? Ie, if it's already unlocked and you run unlock again, would that relock, etc?

PUTALE said:
thanks. Would I need to root again? The phone is already unlocked (as I did not lock it again). So, I would just have to root and then flash the custom recovery then?
BTW, I notice there's a very nice tool on the sticky that does everything. I am curious if I use that tool and let say choose to unlock it again or root again and such, would that be any issue? Ie, if it's already unlocked and you run unlock again, would that relock, etc?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can easily root too if you want to in the future
I think you're talking about the toolkit... Me and others here don't recommend using that... Unlocking/locking the bootloader is easy anyways...
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF300T using xda app-developers app

PUTALE said:
thanks. Would I need to root again? The phone is already unlocked (as I did not lock it again). So, I would just have to root and then flash the custom recovery then?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Flashing a custom recovery is part of the rooting process.
BTW, I notice there's a very nice tool on the sticky that does everything. I am curious if I use that tool and let say choose to unlock it again or root again and such, would that be any issue? Ie, if it's already unlocked and you run unlock again, would that relock, etc?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't use 1-click toolkits. You know how to do it manually, do it manually.

got it, thanks a lot guys. Will have to read up more on the root and flashing rom. Android is still relativly new to me.

Help me with 4.4 kit Kat root

My bootloader is still locked and I've never had root on this phone got it too late to unlock. I'd like to root and if I can get a custom recovery and flash a rom. Can anyone help?
Sent from my XT907 using Xparent Cyan Tapatalk 2

Gblake13 said:
My bootloader is still locked and I've never had root on this phone got it too late to unlock. I'd like to root and if I can get a custom recovery and flash a rom. Can anyone help?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right now, there is no way to root or unlock the bootloader in your situation. It sucks, but it's where we are.
Don't hold your breath for an exploit, either. Motorola/Verizon closed all known holes for BL-unlocking in the penultimate Jellybean OTA, and the only root method that worked in the last JB no longer works here.

Enough with the KK unlock and root threads.
I'm going to start reporting people that make these threads without doing some homework first.
If you have a locked bootloader, you're pretty much up the creek without a paddle. End of discussion
If there is an exploit available, trust me, you'll know about it.

gtmaster303 said:
Enough with the KK unlock and root threads.
I'm going to start reporting people that make these threads without doing some homework first.
If you have a locked bootloader, you're pretty much up the creek without a paddle. End of discussion
If there is an exploit available, trust me, you'll know about it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We can say this in every thread where they ask about root. We put warnings out prior to the OTA. Heck, we could probably put a sticky thread in this section about there being no root on KK, yet people will still ask. Why? Because they refuse to take 5 minutes to read through the other 37 KK related threads.

RikRong said:
We can say this in every thread where they ask about root. We put warnings out prior to the OTA. Heck, we could probably put a sticky thread in this section about there being no root on KK, yet people will still ask. Why? Because they refuse to take 5 minutes to read through the other 37 KK related threads.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I of course can't speak for anyone else, but I knew the risks well before taking the update, and updated anyway.
I knew it was the very un-XDA thing to do, but frustration with the short battery life and UI lag on my phone was nearing a breaking point.
I tried to make the most of it; hence the "list of changes" thread, which hopefully has scared away locked users who are still n JB.

Any luck with a rootkeeper/root survival of any kind?

pnwsr6 said:
Any luck with a rootkeeper/root survival of any kind?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haven't seen it yet.

Strife89 said:
I of course can't speak for anyone else, but I knew the risks well before taking the update, and updated anyway.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My story is somewhat different. I tried to find a way to get rooted KK on my phone (trying to play junior hacker again), ended up soft-bricking my phone to where the only way to fix it was to flash stock KK using RSDLite (did try RSD'ing JB first, but my bootloader was having none of that).
So now I'm hopelessly stuck with a completely stock phone without root.
I feel like the only way to get past this is to attack it politically, like if every single Verizon XDA user banded together and flooded Verizon corporate inboxes with legitimate reasons why we need unlocked bootloaders.
Or maybe if someone is good friends with a politician who is more left of center and concerned about consumer rights over corporations. Maybe convince them that it's better for the environment because potentially millions of phones could be saved from going into landfills if we mandate companies must allow bootloader to be unlocked when certain conditions are fulfilled, like if a phone reaches 1-year of age.

Strife89 said:
I of course can't speak for anyone else, but I knew the risks well before taking the update, and updated anyway.
I knew it was the very un-XDA thing to do, but frustration with the short battery life and UI lag on my phone was nearing a breaking point.
I tried to make the most of it; hence the "list of changes" thread, which hopefully has scared away locked users who are still n JB.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I new I was losing root with it as well. I liked the features that KK brought with the update and still did it. The update finally got me using Smart Actions and I'm getting pretty decent battery life, nothing mind blowing, but pretty good. Buying a portable battery pack has pretty much solved the problem I had with nonroot. Now I can go about 2 days as long as I carry it around, lol. Luckily it's small.

if I have an unlocked BL, and the latest stock version on KK, how would I get root? Is it possible?
thanks.

Ahoalton said:
if I have an unlocked BL, and the latest stock version on KK, how would I get root? Is it possible?
thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Flash a custom recovery via fastboot, and then flash SuperSU zip in recovery.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/moto-x/orig-development/root-4-4-x-pie-motorola-devices-t2771623 <-- this thread (not saying it works) is getting popular with Motorola devices. I attempted it myself and got errors just like some other people. Only difference is they still had root and I don't. I suggest following the thread and seeing if it does someday work for us or somebody could attempt it themselves. I'm currently on windows 8.1 so that could be a problem.

megaghostgamer said:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/moto-x/orig-development/root-4-4-x-pie-motorola-devices-t2771623 <-- this thread (not saying it works) is getting popular with Motorola devices. I attempted it myself and got errors just like some other people. Only difference is they still had root and I don't. I suggest following the thread and seeing if it does someday work for us or somebody could attempt it themselves. I'm currently on windows 8.1 so that could be a problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
^^^He doesn't need an exploit since he has an unlocked BL. Also, this has been checked on the M and HD family of devices, it WILL NOT work because the the current KK updates have already patched the hole that this exploit is meant to take advantage of.

Ahoalton said:
if I have an unlocked BL, and the latest stock version on KK, how would I get root? Is it possible?
thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes!.. Just use URL="http://androidhosting.org/Devs/Dhacker29/msm8960/CWM6049-RAZR-HD_M-KITKAT.img"]custom recovery[/URL] and flash Superuser zip

And what about aka test points? Many Motorola models had such special test points using which you could get unlock of BL. How about our XT907? Any ideas about test points or shortcircuit of contacts?

No need now! Towelroot will root stock KK, and what magic it does allows Motopocalypse to unlock BL again.

http://www.droid-life.com/2014/06/16/motorola-bootloader-unlock-razr-hd-towelroot/
Confirmed working!
Root and bootloader unlock!
Sent from my Droid RAZR M

GnatGoSplat said:
No need now! Towelroot will root stock KK, and what magic it does allows Motopocalypse to unlock BL again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Towel Root only allows the root access that Motopocalypse needs. The old trust zone was accidentally (or purposely) put back into this OTA, that's what Motopocalyse exploits.
Sent from my HTC6525LVW using Tapatalk

RikRong said:
Towel Root only allows the root access that Motopocalypse needs. The old trust zone was accidentally (or purposely) put back into this OTA, that's what Motopocalyse exploits.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, I see. Good to know. :good: