I'm thinking of creating a small archive of files, that when extracted to the SD card root, and applied, will root the phone and apply a firmware in only three steps.
It will only contain four files - the RC29 DREAIMG.nbh file necessary for downgrading, an update.zip that contains the latest SPL and Radio, the latest Cyanogen Recovery image, and a simple script that applies root, SPL/Radio, and your favorite firmware.
I'm not sure if it will work, but constructive criticism and ideas are welcome.
_______________________________________
First method: Root from SD card
This method puts all the necessary files on an SD card, and does not require a computer after that.
Basically, in a zip file, you have the RC29 DREAIMG.nbh, update.zip, and root script.
You extract this to the root of a FAT32-formatted SD card.
You reboot with camera+power, apply the DREAIMG.nbh, reboot.
Once the phone is booted, type in "sh /sdcard/root.sh".
From the exposed root terminal, it will begin the following:
Write the Cyanogen recovery image to flash, move image to system/recovery.img, remove image file
Place commands in /cache for recovery to apply the radio/spl combo package and if it exists, a custom firmware, in the correct order
reboot recovery, performing the above tasks automatically.
Benefits include:
- No telnet app required, not opening up a telnetd, more secure
- Only one command to enter
- No(?) risk on flashing the Hero-compatible radio/SPL out of order and bricking that way, as both are flashed at the same time
- Automates several of the processes in rooting, allowing for a quicker root
- Can be placed on a special "rootkit" sdcard, and used to quickly root your friend's phone in a matter of minutes, anywhere
_______________________________________
Second method: Root from PC
Another method I thought of uses no manual copying to the sdcard, but requires a PC with fastboot(?) and adb.
First, it pushes the RC29 DREAIMG.nbh to the sdcard, and issues a reboot to bootloader.
You press a few keys to write the image, and reboot.
--OR--
First, it pushes an update.zip containing the update just before T-Mobile patched the root kernel exploit, then it puts the commands to flash it and reboots into recovery. After that flashes, it reboots again.
From this point on, it's all automatic.
The script waits for the device to be ready, and adb install's the auto-root exploit apk, and launches the intent through adb shell am start [...]
At this point, the WiFi settings are probably not capable of downloading the Cyan recovery in the case of those of us without data plans, so it will need to be pushed.
Once the autoroot apk flashes the recovery, we must write parameters to flash the radio/spl combo package, and the custom firmware (if applicable), to /cache, and reboot.
At this point, the radio, SPL, and firmware should be pushed and written, so the script exits.
_______________________________________
If this sounds stupid, doesn't make sense, will auto-brick your phones, start global thermonuclear war, make all random numbers generated by your phone divisible by three, cause your meticulously placed lineup of G1 dominoes to collapse prematurely, or boot up the LHC and wind up creating a black hole, I am terribly sorry, but it's an idea I had at 2 in the morning, and it took me this time to research some things and write this post. It's about 5:30 AM now.
This is only an experimental concept. Some things might not be completely thought out. I'm tired, and hungry. I may create a proof-of-concept implementation of this, if I knew a bit more about the syntax of describing intents to launch in 'am', or the command syntax of the package:/META-INF/com/google/android/update-script file.
dont forget that for root from SDcard, EU users need a goldcard, so its still not that easy..
even for insta root from PC, you still need to downgrade, and for that we'll need a goldcard.
why not just use 1click root?
First you have one click root which does give you access to recovery with security off so possible to somehow go from there instead of downgrading and all that hassle. I personally to do not care to see the advancement of this app for the simple fact that there are already a wave of people that can not read and expect hand holding every second of the way and you want to make it even easier to confundle their minds.............are you nuts....
I already have a rooting sdcard for rooting other people's phone that contains one click recovery flasher, cyan 4.04 and the hard spl and it takes me 10 mins to do it just cause off the first boot up takes so long
also you cant have your pc reading the sdcard at the same time that the phone is
The concept is good but...theres many complications to have it done automatically.
I sure would like to see something like this. I have a G1 that I rooted the long way and a MT3G rooted with the one click method. I have enough knowledge to follow instructions and read, I partitioned my own card, so the G1 was doable. I dont have the time or the knowledge to go the long route with the MyTouch gold card ADB route and would love to be able to flash Hero ROMS when I get the bug. I have Cyan's latest on the MT now and its awesome like all his stuff but I would have played with Drizzy's ROMs. For someone like me with a little ability but far less than most people on here, something like this would be the bomb!
not sure if its possible or anything, but there should be some way for the script to check if the phone has a pvt board or not, and if not, it prevents the new spl from being flashed, should reduce noob bricks.
Leave root the way it is I think the harder it is to root your phone the less peaple are going to do it. I spent alot of time reading before I rooted, not so much to learn how to do it, but to decide if I wanted to make the jump. During this reading process I learned the ways of XDA, use search, where to place the right questions and where NOT to and finally read first then ask. With an autonatic root I would have loaded it then freaked out if something went wrong and started posting root questions all over the place. Leave well enough alone... Learning to root give you the right to pursue other adventures.
maybeoneday said:
Leave root the way it is I think the harder it is to root your phone the less peaple are going to do it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Frankly, I didn't root my phone to feel special, so I don't see any benefit whatsoever in less people doing it.
I don't think this will work though. There's too many variables. As described it will only root US phones. UK phones would need RC7, so you'd have to include both and check if the current OS is CRC1 or CRC37 (or respective older/newer versions). But European phones outside the UK (like my German G1) will be on CRC37 too, and those won't take RC7 without a goldcard, so you'd have to automate goldcard creation as well. I'm sure the complications don't end here.
Also, shoving Haykuro's SPL onto inexperienced/unsuspecting/ignorant users' devices is just begging for trouble. Just use HardSPL - the rooting kit won't be able to run Hero-ROMs right away, but at least that won't brick the phone if flashing some rom downgrades the radio. (E.g., I know some official updates do that.)
1 click root is so simple and idiot proof (and im a total panzy noob lol)
i don t think there is any simpler way to do this lol
Frenchtom, nothing is idiot proof, have you been over to the q and a section, if there is a way to do something and good instructions, it will get screwed up cause of people not taking the time to read the complete directions and then read them twice to make sure they comprehend them
Okay, thanks for your input, everybody.
I did know about 1-click root, however I thought that depended on a kernel vulnerability that was already patched in the OTAs. I was looking at a more universal(ish) method, and I did not know about the "goldcard" issue. I did know that UK phones would need RC9, but I failed to include that as I really just wanted to get to bed.
Also, I don't think that root is anything "special", i.e. some sort of elitist egotist symbol that says "I haz root fone and I better than u". Seriously, more people should be allowed to use the more advanced features of their device at their own choosing, knowing that there are risks involved.
People who walk up to someone, say "I got a root phone", shows off some massive demo of awesomeness (i.e. Hero), and doesn't teach others to root the G1 themselves (or worse, charges for instructions that could be found free here) are really the antithesis of an open-minded community of developers adding more features as they feel, for what little donation money they get and the credit of doing something cool for other G1 users.
I do however agree that pushing features that can potentially insta-kill the device on the average person and their grandma, people that wouldn't know what the benefits of root are, and people who would never even have known that their G1 ran Linux (or what Linux is, for that matter), is just asking for trouble. A fair balance between educating people about the phone's internals and making easy-to-install root packages and stuff should be kept.
I learned a lot about Windows Mobile and embedded software when I first flashed a custom ROM to my HTC Wizard years ago. And I actually had a fear that if any small detail were left out, or if I breathed on the phone the wrong way, the flash would fail, white-screen, and brick out.
The G1 is no different, even though the flashing process has come a long way, we still have an IPL, SPL, bootloader mode, many different variations, board revisions, regional changes and operator customizations/lockdowns (I had a Cingular 8125 G3 btw), and many versions of Consumer, Engineering, and HardSPL that have to be treated very, very carefully, just like on the Wiz.
Anyway, anyone's free to try and build a better mousetra--- err, rootkit using my ideas. And thanks plenty to the dedicated developers here, the more enlightened users for helping me find out why this wouldn't work, all the users, without whom, we wouldn't have a reason to develop, and the 17%-or-so of you that dislike my idea.
When I learn a bit more, I might get into making something useful for Android.
repack dreamimg.nbh with everything, so one just has to flash the one image
Oh I am not saying that I think I am special just cause I have a rooted phone, I am also a person that is on here always trying to help walk someone through any issues that may arise,just saying making easier for people to break something because they did not read the instructions is quite common and think that it should take a little bit of work so that you learn in the process
Related
Well today i had everything setup like i wanted. I had JFv1.41 rc33 version install on my g1 and a custom Theme. I wanted to switch my them for a new more looking one. So i download a new custom and install it. to my surprise i install an old them which i install. Boot the phone and got the T Mobile G1 logo and that it i get stoke there. So here why i made this tread to tell JesusFreke in the next or when ever he could add a USb toggle in recovery mode. I am stoke with this till 2 days. This will help allot of first g1 noob. Thanks for your time.
ok
A: next time make sure you download a theme that works with your version of JF
B: why didnt you put this under JF's thread?
C: if you have an update.zip(or something that can be renamed and used as such) you can go to the recovery console, type "mount sdcard", then use the basic linux commands to put it on the top directory of the sdcard and restart and load it up, thus fixing your phone. If not, you should keep on somewhere on your phone just in case such a need arises
[email protected] said:
ok
A: next time make sure you download a theme that works with your version of JF
B: why didnt you put this under JF's thread?
C: if you have an update.zip(or something that can be renamed and used as such) you can go to the recovery console, type "mount sdcard", then use the basic linux commands to put it on the top directory of the sdcard and restart and load it up, thus fixing your phone. If not, you should keep on somewhere on your phone just in case such a need arises
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So you want to be a smart ha here i go.
A) People can make mistake
B)I did that because i wanted to make Jf read this thread and it will help people like me who don't really have the knowledge on using Linux easy.
C)I don't really know that much of using linux like u.
I'm sure many people send JF many PM's wanting the same thing as you do. Do you think he has the time or want to answer a question that someone else might be able to answer?
Making mistakes is something you need to be more careful about. Having root means the phone will let you do whatever you want. This means safety features that are made to protect you from yourself are not active. Read about what you are doing before doing it. That is the message n00bs need to be given.
Put the sd card in your computer, place the .nbh file on it, reboot into bootloader and downgrade your phone. Then work your way back up to JF 1.4x and read more carefully before you install themes. I know my way around the G1 very well (if I dont say so myself) but I still do not install themes. They are nice, but they are not at the point where installation is as easy or system friendly as they could be.
Blue*lable said:
C)I don't really know that much of using linux like u.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've never really used Linux myself, as it seems more complicated than it's worth most of the time, but I've had no problems so far using a rooted G1, or installing custom firmwares, etc. I haven't tried themes, but from what little I've read into it, not only does it seem fairly straight forward, but I've also noticed quite a few of them warn the user that they need to be running the Lite version of JF 1.4x before they install a theme because otherwise there simply isn't room. That said, it's not up to JF to babysit everyone that decides to delve into the unknown.
I dont understand what your problem is,
if u dont know about linux buy an microsd to SD adapter, extract microsd from your phone and use a computer to copy JF's latest update.zip to your card and then upgrade usual way
what is the problem?
JesusFreke if your reading this I just wanted to say "Hi" and "Thanks" and ... and.... Ummm ...
Everyone in here relax.
Try not to direct threads to a specific person. This is a developement thread. You want a specific someone to read something, send them a PM. If you are lucky he will read it, if he doesnt have them turned off.
I had a friend root my phone and I know if I want to flash a new build I rename the file update and drag it to my android folder then restart the phone a certain way and press alt s to load the build.
I love my g1 and the 1.5 build Im using but I cant get any further because Ive scoured the internet and these threads and I just cant figure out what all of this computer jargon means and I dont understand how anybody does know without taking classes in it.
I think I should make a nandroid backup and partition my sd card to run apps but good lord what does this mean (regarding nandroid)???---
"anyone who has root on their G1 and has the engineering/dev spl bootloader [1] (or has a dev phone) + a recovery image with busybox and adbd running as root [2"
and this (regarding sd partition)???---
pre-requisite "You created the FAT32 / EXT2 combo partitions" I mean this is a PRE-REQUISITE! I found a thread regarding the fat/ext deal and didnt understand it either.
I know nobody is here to babysit but is there some website somebody can direct me to to begin understanding what Im reading, I mean I read through the sd partition for dummies thread and I literally understood MAYBE 10% of the words, if thats for "dummies" im clearly the "dumbest"
I have the will I just dont have the way, ive typed the language i dont understand into every search engine I know of and Ive learned nothing. You guys are born geniuses
and what the hell's a "script"
No offense intended, but I don't think you should root your phone or carry out any of the procedures outlined in the developer forum. Following instructions to the letter is important when you are performing unauthorized and unsupported hacks, and most of those instructions assume an intermediate-to-advanced level of computing understanding.
As far as "where you learn it", I assume it varies from person to person. Although in nearly all cases, you learn it slowly by absorption when you are immersed in computing culture. Eventually if you lurk enough and see a word enough times in a particular context, you gain an understanding of what it means without being explicitly told.
You learn as you read through forums and threads and asking questions. If you're lucky, someone will explain it to you.
A script is like a programming language that controls a software application.
Nandroid is a tool or script you can use to backup your phone. It takes a bit of knowledge to restore from the backup though and requires a separate thread
You can read all about SPL's here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=455860
Can't help you with busybox/adb/recovery image right now.
FAT32 and EXT2 are just file type partitions. Think of a hard drive as a box. You put a divider cutting the box down the middle to split it into 2 compartments so each compartment can store something different. That's essentially what you do to a SD card when you create a FAT32 and EXT2 partition.
I learned all this by totally screwing things up, then reading, and reading some more. Then using the search function of the forum and of course more reading.
Now I understand a good deal about ADB, terminal, and the many, many other things that come with a rooted phone,,
I don't agree with the post that said if you don't get it don't try it.....
But that is cause I learn by doing...
As mentioned, doing this is a little complicated. The wrong step can temporarily brick your phone and then you'd have to know how to fix it, which in a way also requires a certain level of knowledge. It's best to learn and absorb the information first and to NOT be in a hurry to implement what you learn.
DMaverick50 said:
I had a friend root my phone and I know if I want to flash a new build I rename the file update and drag it to my android folder then restart the phone a certain way and press alt s to load the build.
DMaverick50 said:
This will be invaluable to fixing a botched up hack. Although, many times you'll also have to wipe (alt-w) to clear out your personal settings and personal data.
DMaverick50 said:
I love my g1 and the 1.5 build Im using but I cant get any further because Ive scoured the internet and these threads and I just cant figure out what all of this computer jargon means and I dont understand how anybody does know without taking classes in it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As mentioned, we all just love the stuff, and pick it up as we go. Most of us read extensively and have well set backgrounds on computers. If you want to get your degree in brain surgery, it helps to have basic knowledge of human anatomy, first.
DMaverick50 said:
I think I should make a nandroid backup and partition my sd card to run apps but good lord what does this mean (regarding nandroid)???---
"anyone who has root on their G1 and has the engineering/dev spl bootloader [1] (or has a dev phone) + a recovery image with busybox and adbd running as root [2"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nandroid is a backup program build into the... "recovery mode" for lack of a better description. It's where you do the alt-s at. Alt-b creates a backup of your system. To restore it, you must read the thread sticky that walks you through it.
DMaverick50 said:
and this (regarding sd partition)???---
pre-requisite "You created the FAT32 / EXT2 combo partitions" I mean this is a PRE-REQUISITE! I found a thread regarding the fat/ext deal and didnt understand it either.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As mentioned, FAT32 and EXT2 are types of filesystems. Think of it as being told to store a box in a wearhouse. The filesystem, in a sense, would be like the isles, shelves, etc. that help you not just have a giant pile of stuff.
This is asking you to have an SD card that has been partitioned off into two partitions (a giant wall in the middle of the wearhouse) where on one side you have one way of storing things that is easily understandable by the average joe (windows, linux, apple) and one side that is much more complicated but much more efficient to store things that only the wearhouse manager understand (linux.)
DMaverick50 said:
I know nobody is here to babysit but is there some website somebody can direct me to to begin understanding what Im reading, I mean I read through the sd partition for dummies thread and I literally understood MAYBE 10% of the words, if thats for "dummies" im clearly the "dumbest"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No. We all started somewhere. Nobody here came here and understood everything over night. Most of us have YEARS of experience in the computer field, if not decades. As far as knowledge here, it takes months of READING to really start to understand things. Once you do, THEN things will make sense and then you're less likely to break your phone.
DMaverick50 said:
I have the will I just dont have the way, ive typed the language i dont understand into every search engine I know of and Ive learned nothing. You guys are born geniuses
and what the hell's a "script"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Read, read, read. That's my way.
And like mentioned, a script is just what it is in real life. Something you follow. If I gave you a movie script, you follow what it tells you to do while in the movie. In the computer world, it's the same. You write a script that tells the computer what to do.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see you joined few days ago. I suggest you start from the begining. i.e. read all stickies. Every questions that you've asked here was asked before by someone else and answered multiple times.
To offer a glimpse of hope here: it's a lot easier for n00bs now as more and more people get comfortable with Android and Android tools and it's not just 2-3 guys who can answer a question. Also, at this point we have apps that will run a script for you, move your apps and caches to SD, overclock you CPU, etc etc etc.
Welcome to XDA and good luck
For the APPS2SD do this....
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=500387
OH, first backup EVERYTHING on your SD card to your desktop.
Open the terminal program... I always do this **** in adb cause you wont catch me dead trying to type and read a small screen when adb is copy and paste.
type
su
cd /data
wget http://64.105.21.209/bin/lib/droid/sdsplit
chmod 555 sdsplit
/data/sdsplit -nd -fs 7500M (thats for an 8 gig card. so adjust it depending on what side card you have 4 gig = 3500M etc...)
Now you need to make sure you have an APPS2SD rom... That makes /system/sd available. Now you have to copy and make "aliases" from the old spot to the new... Million threads on that one. Just wanted to give props to "MartinFick"s script (bunch of commands in a file I guess you can say. You can run any partitioning sw on windows 7 or I would of gone that route...
i appreciate the replies. Ive been on this forum for about month checking throughout the day (instead of paying attention to my professors) but only signed up recently to post.
I do understand the concept of nandroid and the sd partition, I just get lost in the processes very quickly. In my life Ive only learned by screwing things up so im ready for almost anything. I dont want to get stuck without a phone though so Ill definitely try to get a better understanding before trying anything dramatic. I guess Ill keep looking for some website that has a search where I can just type in all of the language I dont understand, surely this type of site exists I just havent found it yet...
southsko said:
For the APPS2SD do this....
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=500387
OH, first backup EVERYTHING on your SD card to your desktop.
Open the terminal program... I always do this **** in adb cause you wont catch me dead trying to type and read a small screen when adb is copy and paste.
type
su
cd /data
wget http://64.105.21.209/bin/lib/droid/sdsplit
chmod 555 sdsplit
/data/sdsplit -nd -fs 7500M (thats for an 8 gig card. so adjust it depending on what side card you have 4 gig = 3500M etc...)
Now you need to make sure you have an APPS2SD rom... That makes /system/sd available. Now you have to copy and make "aliases" from the old spot to the new... Million threads on that one. Just wanted to give props to "MartinFick"s script (bunch of commands in a file I guess you can say. You can run any partitioning sw on windows 7 or I would of gone that route...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The steps seem doable but it says to use jesusfreak's build, i am on dude's will this be a problem? thanks
Simple...we are the borg! The apparent knowledge is actually just one giant shared conscience, connecting our minds together from the time we log onto XDA...and we think you should join us. *Evil Laugh*
knight4linux said:
Simple...we are the borg! The apparent knowledge is actually just one giant shared conscience, connecting our minds together from the time we log onto XDA...and we think you should join us. *Evil Laugh*
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ROFL.
DMaverick50 said:
I guess Ill keep looking for some website that has a search where I can just type in all of the language I dont understand, surely this type of site exists I just havent found it yet...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure if that exists. You see, almost all of those terms were invented by people in THIS forum.
DMaverick50 said:
The steps seem doable but it says to use jesusfreak's build, i am on dude's will this be a problem? thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did it on the dudes. Any (i think) build that enables the ext partition to be mounted to /system/sd will work...
So can I partition while on this regular build and then flash the apps2sd build or do I need to first download an apps2sd build and then do the actual partition?
some help
When it says to use the jf build that's just the one he used and is familiar with the steps the root hack the phone are the same no matter what. Now the thing you want to do is learn one proccess and stick with it weather it be abd, fastboot, or the sdcard method for beginners or noobs I do not suggest adb or fastboot cause it require knowing how to use a comand line and if you don't know what that is then don't try it. But like everyone says read about it first before you take the plunge also since you have a friend who can do it have him show you how he does it sometime seeing it done on the fly or being told while doing it with someone there to take over if things go wrong is always good. Have fun flashing and once you figure it out do it a few time to get used to it
DMaverick50 said:
I had a friend root my phone and I know if I want to flash a new build I rename the file update and drag it to my android folder then restart the phone a certain way and press alt s to load the build.
I love my g1 and the 1.5 build Im using but I cant get any further because Ive scoured the internet and these threads and I just cant figure out what all of this computer jargon means and I dont understand how anybody does know without taking classes in it.
I think I should make a nandroid backup and partition my sd card to run apps but good lord what does this mean (regarding nandroid)???---
"anyone who has root on their G1 and has the engineering/dev spl bootloader [1] (or has a dev phone) + a recovery image with busybox and adbd running as root [2"
and this (regarding sd partition)???---
pre-requisite "You created the FAT32 / EXT2 combo partitions" I mean this is a PRE-REQUISITE! I found a thread regarding the fat/ext deal and didnt understand it either.
I know nobody is here to babysit but is there some website somebody can direct me to to begin understanding what Im reading, I mean I read through the sd partition for dummies thread and I literally understood MAYBE 10% of the words, if thats for "dummies" im clearly the "dumbest"
I have the will I just dont have the way, ive typed the language i dont understand into every search engine I know of and Ive learned nothing. You guys are born geniuses
and what the hell's a "script"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
heheh .. didn't we mention we're all a bunch of geeks - LOL - genius cannot be found here (pointing at self) .. i have been known to have a couple bright ideas now and again tho
"script" is just a funny way of saying "we did the work for you" .. all those lines of text that nobody wants to type over and over and over are all neatly packed into one little file .. type the name of the file and VOILA!! all those lines of text are spit into the little pocket sized computer and you have no blisters on your thumbs to show for it
now .. if we could only find a script that got us thru rush hour traffic
DMaverick50 said:
So can I partition while on this regular build and then flash the apps2sd build or do I need to first download an apps2sd build and then do the actual partition?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did what I posted then flashed the APPS2SD rom and then transferred everything over, but when I flashed it it still had all my apps so I would say you can do it before also.
Remember to nandroid backup before you try and move all your files.
OT
Once you get adb running sending all these commands are so easy as you copy and paste and you can restore your phone back the way it was in 2 minutes...
southsko said:
I did what I posted then flashed the APPS2SD rom and then transferred everything over, but when I flashed it it still had all my apps so I would say you can do it before also.
Remember to nandroid backup before you try and move all your files.
OT
Once you get adb running sending all these commands are so easy as you copy and paste and you can restore your phone back the way it was in 2 minutes...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i see. im so much more confident attempting the partition after these posts im tempted to ask for the same help with nandroid since ive looked through the threads. But I guess i should head to one of them and start asking questions i know they run a pretty tight ship around here with duplicate threads and off-topic ones and what not...
nandroid was so much harder to read in the thread than it actually is
I'm hoping this thread may help other people.... and will try and help till I run out of beer.. anyway
restoring a backup when you are can connect with fastboot is so simple. Once you get adb working then dl and put fastboot in the tool dir. Then you go to your sd card /nadroid/randomcrap/whatever date/ and copy the 3 files below into the same tools directory.
from the command line on your computer type
fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot flash system system.img
fastboot flash data data.img
I flashed to one of the first cupcake roms and was like **** this! flashed right back to my old backup. ahhhhh!!!
southsko said:
nandroid was so much harder to read in the thread than it actually is
I'm hoping this thread may help other people.... and will try and help till I run out of beer.. anyway
restoring a backup when you are can connect with fastboot is so simple. Once you get adb working then dl and put fastboot in the tool dir. Then you go to your sd card /nadroid/randomcrap/whatever date/ and copy the 3 files below into the same tools directory.
from the command line on your computer type
fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot flash system system.img
fastboot flash data data.img
I flashed to one of the first cupcake roms and was like **** this! flashed right back to my old backup. ahhhhh!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Get ready to laugh..............adb? Fastboot? Everything else looks straight forward ( I assume I'm copying the 3 things to sd thru cpu)...
lmao...
Update (October 7, 2010)
Use ngholson's guide to root: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=581869&page=53#post8358998
Posts in the first 40 or so pages of this thread are old old old. Try browsing through the last 10 or so pages if you have any problems.
I may put a guide for using an App to root in this first post, but I don't have time right now.
OLD OLD OLD Manual Root:
This will still work, but ngholson's guide is a lot easier and you should definitely try it first.
NOTICE / WARNING / READ THESE:
1. I give no guarantees for anything that may or may not result from following these instructions (or any mistakes made).
2. Doing this will probably void your warranty, BUT as long as you don't run some other carrier's RUU (not talking about ROMs here, talking about the official upgrade files. what's important is that your hboot version doesn't change) you can always just flash your carrier's RUU to go back to unrooted completely stock.
Known issues:
NONE! This is a clean procedure that leaves your current rom as is. Any issues you have will be related to whatever ROMs you choose to flash or additional packages you choose to flash to your current rom
Steps:
1. Upgrade to 2.1
We know this works with the initial 2.1 updates, but later updates may patch it. If you have installed additional updates from your carrier, you may have to flash the original RUU to be able to root.
2. Download and extract the Android SDK
http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html
You really only need this for the adb binary. If anyone can suggest a better way to get it than downloading the entire SDK, let me know.
3. Download and install HTC Sync
Some carriers have specific versions of HTC Sync (I know Cellular South does).
You could also just install the adb drivers.
4. Download the hack and extract it to your SDK tools directory. (or wherever you have adb)
It's attached to this post.
5. Turn on USB Debugging on your phone
Settings -> Applications -> Development -> USB Debugging
6. Plug your phone in USB
7. Run the script
For Windows this is runindos.bat. You should be able to just double click it.
That's it. This will flash the Darch version of AmonRA's recovery.
8. BACKUP
At this point you should probably backup your current stock rom (see Recovery guide below) and backup your PRL. (navalynt has good instructions on this in his root guide).
Now you can flash a custom rom or just flash the provided su.zip (see Recovery guide below) for Superuser Permissions (root) within your current rom.
Recovery
Recovery is where you can backup, restore, and flash ROMs or additional app zips.
To enter Recovery mode on your phone, power the phone off. Then hold home and press the power button. Keep holding home until you get the recovery screen.
You'll see several options, but the first thing you'll want to use is Backup.I've always used the nandroid option, not sure of the differences between it and bart. Backing up does exactly what you'd expect: copies your current ROM to your sd card. It doesn't change anything on the phone. It does take a few minutes so be patient.
Most roms will suggest you wipe first, and there is a menu option for that in recovery also. Just choose wipe, then factory reset. This does nothing to your sd card and only wipes application data (app installed from the market, settings for any app, etc).
After you've backed up, Recovery is also where you flash new ROMs or additions to your current ROM. It's easiest to pick a rom you want on your pc, and transfer it to your phone over usb. you can either do this the normal way, or if you're already in recovery, there is a USB-MS option you can use. Some Recoveries require flashable zips to be in the root of your sd card (not in any directory). After the ZIP is on your sd card, choose "install zip from sdcard" and pick the zip of the ROM you want. That's it. After it's done flashing, reboot your phone. If you wiped and flashed a full ROM, the first will take several minutes.
If you flash a ROM and either get stuck in a boot loop or just don't like it, go back into recovery under the Backup option and choose nandroid restore. Pick the option you get (it's a directory named with your phone's serial number) and you'll see a list of backups named with the date/time they were created. Choose which one you want to restore, wait a few minutes, then reboot and you'll be back to exactly where you were.
I've learned that the exploit used on the Sprint Hero doesn't work on the CS Hero because it uses mmap_min_addr. This means that exploits which rely on a null pointer dereference (like the Sprint exploit) won't work.
So here's what I think I need:
1) I'll be watching bugtraq, etc... for non null pointer dereference local kernel vulnerabilities. (I don't think I know 100% what that means yet.)
2) I also need to learn how to know if a vulnerability is applicable. Like this one http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/36834 . I don't even know really where to begin to see if I can use that.
3) Once I've found a vulnerability, how do I exploit it? I realize there will probably be proof of concept for the exploit, but how will I turn that into something that executes a specified command like asroot2 does. Is the source available for asroot2?
4) I wonder if I need to bother figuring out if the source used to build the kernel for CS is different from Sprint. Is a change in config.gz enough to legally require HTC to provide me with source specific to the CS version?
Keep up the good work
I know there aren't many of us, but I'm really hoping to root my hero sometime soon. I wish I could help but I picked my engineering field because it didn't require learning any computer languages haha
cdiamond333 said:
I know there aren't many of us, but I'm really hoping to root my hero sometime soon. I wish I could help but I picked my engineering field because it didn't require learning any computer languages haha
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad to see at least one person interested enough to join XDA!
Though I'm afraid we're going to end up waiting until someone roots the Droid and/or Droid Eris and hope that works for us as well.
Can anyone give us an idea about where to find the RUU specific to Cellular South? Do those come from HTC, the carrier, or do they just "magically" make their way to the net from whoever happens to have access to them?
Really Like To See a Root
I would also like to see some success to this post as well... I have been with cellular south for years and this is the best phone they have produced! It only needs root access! Im a computer engineer a Miss. State, and I would love to see what I could do with this phone.
Maybe I could find an exploit... but it might take me longer to find it seeing that I am still in the beginning stages of my discipline.
But all I wanted to say is: LETS GET THIS ROOT!!
Root cellular south hero
I agree I have the htc hero from cellular south and would like to share the internet with my computer but cant tether unless phone is rooted
Hey guys!
I, too, am a CellSouth Hero haver... and I'm searching high and low for the procedure as well! I'll be checking back here and also searching round and posting anything I find.
If anyone gets an update, please email me at [email protected]
Help
I too own a CS hero and i am looking all over the net for a way to root this phone. if a way can be found will any roms work on it or will new CS specific roms have to be developed. If that is the case then i am afraid we CS users won't gain access to this for awhile as the customer base is quite small compared to sprint
OBSt4l0n said:
I too own a CS hero and i am looking all over the net for a way to root this phone. if a way can be found will any roms work on it or will new CS specific roms have to be developed. If that is the case then i am afraid we CS users won't gain access to this for awhile as the customer base is quite small compared to sprint
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I've been surprised by the response to this thread, so hopefully there is more interest specific to CS than we may realize.
Ideally, ROMs made with Sprint Hero in mind will work on the CS Hero. I haven't put much effort into it without having root access yet, but when I get a chance I'm going to take the time to compare things like the radio image, etc and see just how much they differ from one to the other. If nothing else, hopefully we can replace the different pieces in the custom ROMs and be able to use them.
I will update this thread with what I find, and hopefully others will contribute as well.
??
Any news??
MrDanger said:
Any news??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know, right? Seriously, is anyone out there?
i have posted treads at various sites, and they all get buried fairly quickly.
Would love to solve this issue... surely someone out there would find this to be a challenge worth taking up...
i hope.
Oh, and happy thanksgiving...
markachee message
Check Ur profile for a message that I left u.
It's just going to be a waiting game.
First someone has to find an exploit, most likely in the Linux kernel. This doesn't have to be something specific to our phone. It's more likely that it will be a generic thing that will work for us, Droid, and Droid Eris (as well as Linux in general).
It's not likely I'd be able to discover one of these exploits, so I'm watching for exploits coming out (bugtraq, etc) that might work for us. There really hasn't been anything at all since the pipe.c vulnerability that worked for the Sprint Hero.
Really one thing we need that we should be able to get now is an RUU specific to Cellular South's Hero. From what I understand, an RUU lets you reset your phone to a factory/updated image in the event something goes wrong. It wouldn't directly help us get root, but it would be a "safety net" for those of us screwing with our phones trying to get root.
Anything you guys could help dig up on where/how to find it would be awesome.
This looks promising. At least have some people in this thread that know enough to be able to compile for the phone:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=5034122
Also, realized I never mentioned I was looking at the "enlightenment" exploit set from http://www.grsecurity.com/~spender/
Just chiming in, had my Cell South hero for about a month and have been following this thread with the hope of seeing our phones rooted. I am a technician/admin with some coding and linux experience, but I am unfamiliar with rooting cellphones. anything I can do to help let me know.
tether
you can usb tether useing pda net from the market without root
I have seen pda net, i'm not interested in just tethering but thank you.
mine comes in tuesday
markachee said:
This looks promising. At least have some people in this thread that know enough to be able to compile for the phone:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=5034122
Also, realized I never mentioned I was looking at the "enlightenment" exploit set from http://www.grsecurity.com/~spender/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here's the compiled programs within that exploit
I came from WinMo phone which I used to flash all the time with different ROMS. Now I have this Android and am not sure what to do with it, I love the phone, have had it for about 3 months now, but I know it can do bigger and better things. So is rooting the same thing as unlocking? When I used to flash my WinMo phone I would drop the ROM into the little software flash package I kept on my hard drive and change it out. Is there such a thing for Android. I really like this phone and don't want to screw it up assuming I know what I'm doing because I did it on my other phone, I want to edumacate myself like I did before I started flashing my other. Does anyone have reliable good information links they can point me to within this forum that will help me feel good about flashing this phone too? I know I've read that just rooting the phone makes it run faster without flashing a ROM....true? Thanks for your help, suggestions, etc. All is appreciated.
sopranoiam said:
I came from WinMo phone which I used to flash all the time with different ROMS. Now I have this Android and am not sure what to do with it, I love the phone, have had it for about 3 months now, but I know it can do bigger and better things. So is rooting the same thing as unlocking? When I used to flash my WinMo phone I would drop the ROM into the little software flash package I kept on my hard drive and change it out. Is there such a thing for Android. I really like this phone and don't want to screw it up assuming I know what I'm doing because I did it on my other phone, I want to edumacate myself like I did before I started flashing my other. Does anyone have reliable good information links they can point me to within this forum that will help me feel good about flashing this phone too? I know I've read that just rooting the phone makes it run faster without flashing a ROM....true? Thanks for your help, suggestions, etc. All is appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow... Amazing that you could put in the effort required to post all of this, but couldn't read through the Wiki posts and general information stickies at the top of this Forum.
Please do some more reading.
One hint... Your MyTouch 3G is a 32B device.
I was really confused when I started customizing my girls mytouch...Ive been flashing WM phones for years even update my kitchen with newest releases etc. In fact I personally use a touch pro.
I have yet to really sit down and figure out how to make some android roms myself. Ive been loading up premade roms posted on here.
It was a bit confusing when finding out how to get a hero rom on her phone. With all the fat 32/ext2/3/4/linux swap etc.
What I did was followed the one click rooting thing that loads cyanogens recovery and rom. Then I took the amon_ra recovery which allows you to partition the sd card on the device since I didnt have an sd card reader on my laptop or linux. When you are loading the cyanogen recovery/rom you'll download an app from market called recovery flasher or something like that. In the first step you'll be asked to backup the cyanogen recovery which makes a file on the sd card. Take the amon_ra recovery file and rename it the same as the backup file on the sd card. Overwrite the file on the sd card. Rerun the recovery flasher app and click restore from backup..Follow the instructions and you'll have the Amon_ra recovery.
Boot into the recovery screen (hold home and power until it boots up) partition the sd card. I have my girls 1gb set at 256mb ext4 partition, 64mb linux swap, and the rest as Fat32.
Then load up a rom make sure its intended for 32b.
I by no means am an expert in this so take what I said with a grain of salt. I wrote that from memory. Just trying to help someone out the was just like me a month ago. Really confused.
Hope that helps.
PS. Took me a while to find out but despite this being the forum that seems would be for the mytouch I actually find more roms for 32b in the G1 forum.
You can check out the wiki page on cyanogen's website:
http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/index.php/Main_Page
that was enough information for me to get started. Note that I haven't partitioned my sd card.
maybe u can try this tutorial .. it's one of the simplest direct methods to flash ur phone
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=579328
p.s. : expect things to be more complex here it's just linux way of doing things
I used the guide at the cyanogen wiki and it works marvelously. I do reccomend using Amon_RA's recovery image instead of the Cyanogen one used in the guide(not to be confused with Cyanogen's ROM. Absolutely use the ROM, but when you get to the Recovery Image part, install Amon_RA's and follow the same steps, making sure to adjust command lines to reflect this different recovery image).
It just offers more functionality that I'm sure you'll find useful for later, such as backing up, partitioning, converting ext partitions and so forth. You'll learn about that stuff later.
Happy rooting, and best of luck to you my friend. As a fellow myTouch3G user, feel free to PM me with any questions. =)
Hi there,
I am new to xda and new to Android hacking.
What I wanna ask is, (I guess it's of most newbies concern as well), can we have a 100% backup of our system (stock ROM)? Obviously, it is important because:
If we perform an official (OTA) update to a new Android version. And we don't like it. It is possible to get back to the old original one which we are used to. (not everybody likes new things, and/or not every new thing is good)
If our phones are having some problems. And we have to give it back to the company for a fix. In most cases they will flash a new ROM for us. If we wanna keep using the old one (explained in #1), we have to keep a copy of it by ourselves.
If we want to try new custom ROMs, we may want to switch it back after trying.
Whenever we do any modifications, it's always better to keep a backup/roll-back point. In case anything goes wrong, we have a safeguard.
For the official warranty issue.
Yup I do see there are some official stock ROMs downloads for some particular phones. But those are not really a backup of our original ROMs. And it's always hard to verify if those downloads are the original official releases. And, if those downloads are 100% stock ROMs, this means some guys out there could make it, so what is the way to do so?
Or, how those mobile phone companies do it in their labs?
I have been doing researches on this topic for a few days. Some posts claim that their methods are "backup stock ROM" or "backup before rooting". But after digging into it, they requires rooting and/or flashing CWM. Here comes a few questions:
Questions
Rooting will in fact changes some files/data of the system. So backup after root is NOT getting the original stock ROM. Is it?
Is there a method to "un-root", so ALL the changes are TOTALLY reverted?
Installing/flashing things like CWM in phone requires rooting, which would make the ROM not original. Is there a way to extract the system backup from a computer externally?
In addition, I have found some related pieces. which could be useful to anyone viewing this post, and might be useful for you to solve this (my) question. :fingers-crossed:
* as I'm a new user, I can't post links directly. Please delete the blank spaces in between.
ht tp://www .modaco .com/topic/351269-backup-original-rom/
In reply #5, user C3C0 raised a method of backing up the original stock ROM without root. But it seems he is flashing CWM and that method is only for ZTE Skate.
adb backup tool of Android SDK
At the first sight i came across this approach, I thought it is the official method to do whole system (ROM) backup (WOW - how nice!). But after studying for a few more posts, I think adb backup can only backup app+app_data, and possibly some system settings only. Am I correct? And also, adb backup is only for ICS (Android 4.0), isn't it?
adb backup usage: ht tp://forum.xda-developers .com/showthread.php?t=1420351
(But mentioned in the bottom of #1 the poster is having some issues on using adb backup. Perhaps there are some bugs and not reliable(?)
One more question on adb backup: Can it backup just one app+app_data, and restore just one app+app_data, without affecting other things? If yes, we don't need to root and don't need Titanium Backup (which requires root) for backup app+app_data. Isn't it?
** In case I have said anything or any terms wrongly in this thread, please DO correct me, for helping me and helping others.
P.S. i am using LG Optimus 3D.
Thanks a lot, wholeheartedly,
midnite_
Backup phone before root
Hello all this is my first post here...woohoo!:fingers-crossed: This forum is amazing as to the amount of information available. I just wish that in looking for what I need to do I did not need to look in so many places. I feel that if I want to root my T-Mobile GS3 that all the information should be in one subsection of the forum, but it is not that simple I guess....lol Anyway any help would be greatly appreciated.
I have a Samsung GS3 with T-Mobile that I want to root. Everyone says to back up the phone before you do it but I am not really seeing how to make a backup before I start. It appears that most of the guides to root just say to backup without telling you how to fo it. Another thing (correct me if I am wrong) I see the nandroid backup that I think is a backup of the phone however it seems to be done after you make changes to the phone and I thought the backup was supposed to be done before you do anything. Is it that there is not a way to make a complete backup with an unrooted phone?
My question is basically the same as the OP here. I have been reading and reading and reading posts here in the forum. There is much information here and much of it is duplicated with slight variances in some of the duplicates. I am not certain as to which rooting method I should use. There seem to be so many choices. As a new person to this forum I will say that you can find just about everything about any phone which is awesome. The hard thing is sifting through the many options to pick one to use for your issue.
I do see that Mr. Robinson has a thread with backups of the original roms. The only thing is that they are default roms that are like an out of the box phone and not my phone with my apps and my settings. That is what I want to backup...My phone with my settings and my apps.
:good: Thank you in advance for any one that can shed some light on this for me and the OP'er
ASharpEdge said:
Hello all this is my first post here...woohoo!:fingers-crossed: This forum is amazing as to the amount of information available. I just wish that in looking for what I need to do I did not need to look in so many places. I feel that if I want to root my T-Mobile GS3 that all the information should be in one subsection of the forum, but it is not that simple I guess....lol Anyway any help would be greatly appreciated.
I have a Samsung GS3 with T-Mobile that I want to root. Everyone says to back up the phone before you do it but I am not really seeing how to make a backup before I start. It appears that most of the guides to root just say to backup without telling you how to fo it. Another thing (correct me if I am wrong) I see the nandroid backup that I think is a backup of the phone however it seems to be done after you make changes to the phone and I thought the backup was supposed to be done before you do anything. Is it that there is not a way to make a complete backup with an unrooted phone?
My question is basically the same as the OP here. I have been reading and reading and reading posts here in the forum. There is much information here and much of it is duplicated with slight variances in some of the duplicates. I am not certain as to which rooting method I should use. There seem to be so many choices. As a new person to this forum I will say that you can find just about everything about any phone which is awesome. The hard thing is sifting through the many options to pick one to use for your issue.
I do see that Mr. Robinson has a thread with backups of the original roms. The only thing is that they are default roms that are like an out of the box phone and not my phone with my apps and my settings. That is what I want to backup...My phone with my settings and my apps.
:good: Thank you in advance for any one that can shed some light on this for me and the OP'er
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi ya,
It's so nice that you are having the same concern as I do.
As far as i know, the approaches of rooting differ from phones to phones. So we may have to find our own specific rooting method in the phone model sub-forums. It won't be hard for your popular S3
I would like to have a look at that Mr. Robinson's thread. If he can backup the stock ROM, those app+app_data wont a big issue (i guess).
cheers,
midnite_
midnite_ said:
Questions
Rooting will in fact changes some files/data of the system. So backup after root is NOT getting the original stock ROM. Is it?
Is there a method to "un-root", so ALL the changes are TOTALLY reverted?
Installing/flashing things like CWM in phone requires rooting, which would make the ROM not original. Is there a way to extract the system backup from a computer externally?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi midnight, welcome to a new and exciting world of Android and trying new things. First, let me assure you, what you want is NOT something new. People have been doing this type of thing for years. That is flashing and testing roms. As you will learn, it actually becomes quite addictive. We call those folks that get addicted to flashing: Flashaholics or crackflashers, lol
First let me talk about "root". This process consists of unlocking a lower level of the Android system known as the bootloader. Unlocking the bootloader of your device allows you to flash a custom recovery, flashing a custom recovery allows you to flash the Superuser binary and Superuser.apk, This is what allows you to use apps that require "root". The bootloader is not an OS file. So when you are unlocking your bootloader you are not modifying your stock rom. Only when you have flashed the Superuser package have you modified your stock rom. And even that isn't really modifying anything. When you flash the Superuser package, it adds two files to your rom at certain locations of the file system. It adds the Superuser.apk file to system/app and it adds the SU binary to system/bin. Basically you CAN have a totally S-OFF (unlocked) bootloader and still have an entirely stock rom if you want. But the real benifit is flashing a custom recovery like ClockworkMod Recovery and then flash the superuser package.
As far as extracting the stock system, you should try giving adb a go. Do it right now if you like. Ensure you have the android sdk installed and properly set up on your computer and your computer can recognize your phone. Ensure your phone is in debugging mode, connect your phone to your computer, open up a command window, and run this command:
Code:
adb pull \
This command will pull everything off your phone except for data which is where your market or Google Play apps are stored.
Beyond XDA there are aso more resources to learn from. For example, http://www.android.com is a good place to start, and to learn more about adb check out http://developer.android.com/tools/help/adb.html
If you need to learn how to setup the sdk here is the place to learn how: http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html
I'm sure others will add to this as well which is the good thing about this community.
Welcome to XDA, I hope you have fun learning, and maybe share back someday things you learn along the way.
wildstang83 said:
Hi midnight, welcome to a new and exciting world of Android and trying new things. First, let me assure you, what you want is NOT something new. People have been doing this type of thing for years. That is flashing and testing roms. As you will learn, it actually becomes quite addictive. We call those folks that get addicted to flashing: Flashaholics or crackflashers, lol
First let me talk about "root". This process consists of unlocking a lower level of the Android system known as the bootloader. Unlocking the bootloader of your device allows you to flash a custom recovery, flashing a custom recovery allows you to flash the Superuser binary and Superuser.apk, This is what allows you to use apps that require "root". The bootloader is not an OS file. So when you are unlocking your bootloader you are not modifying your stock rom. Only when you have flashed the Superuser package have you modified your stock rom. And even that isn't really modifying anything. When you flash the Superuser package, it adds two files to your rom at certain locations of the file system. It adds the Superuser.apk file to system/app and it adds the SU binary to system/bin. Basically you CAN have a totally S-OFF (unlocked) bootloader and still have an entirely stock rom if you want. But the real benifit is flashing a custom recovery like ClockworkMod Recovery and then flash the superuser package.
As far as extracting the stock system, you should try giving adb a go. Do it right now if you like. Ensure you have the android sdk installed and properly set up on your computer and your computer can recognize your phone. Ensure your phone is in debugging mode, connect your phone to your computer, open up a command window, and run this command:
Code:
adb pull \
This command will pull everything off your phone except for data which is where your market or Google Play apps are stored.
Beyond XDA there are aso more resources to learn from. For example, ht tp://www .android .com is a good place to start, and to learn more about adb check out ht tp://developer .android .com/tools/help/adb.html
If you need to learn how to setup the sdk here is the place to learn how: ht tp://developer .android .com/sdk/index.html
I'm sure others will add to this as well which is the good thing about this community.
Welcome to XDA, I hope you have fun learning, and maybe share back someday things you learn along the way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi Wildstang,
Thanks very much for your warm welcome and very informative reply. So are you a Flashaholics or Crackflashers yet?
As I am a newbie, please forgive me if I am asking dumb questions.
As far as I understand,
The steps of root is
1. Unlock the bootloader
2. Flash Superuser binary & Superuser.apk
** does "flash a custom recovery" means "flash Superuser binary & Superuser.apk"?
"Flash Superuser binary & Superuser.apk" is just "add SU binary to system/bin" and "add Superuser.apk to system/app". Then why not just copy them into place?
I just found on the web that "flashing" means replacing the OS of the phone with a new ROM. Would that still keeping the stock ROM?
To have a backup of the original stock ROM, can I
1. Unlock the bootloader
2. Flash Superuser binary & Superuser.apk
3. Perform the backup
And later, after I have flashed a new ROM, or whatever I do, as long as I didn't brick it, when I want to rollback my phone to its original, I can
1. Restore the backup
2. Delete "SU binary in system/bin" and "Superuser.apk in system/app"
3. re-lock the bootloader
Is this correct?
I don't mean to challenge you. But does adb pull \ really backup the system, or just all the files?
Thanks very much again!
midnite_
Hey midnite_,
I am a newbie too and have a lot of blank spots in my understanding of what we can do with android. I also came here with same question. I found how to root, this isn't a secret. Like you, I want to know how do I fix it if I break it.
So, with regards to your questions.
1. Unlock the bootloader
Not clear on this one, as not every tutorial even mentions this part. My feeling is that this might be specific to some phones, like HTC.
2. Flash Custom Recovery (such as AmonRa, CWR, TWRP...)
Recovery is an intermediate stage of phone booting process after bootloader but before OS.
It is there to allow OTA (Over the air) updates. During those, the OS is halted and replaced with a newer one.
What this means for us is that the recovery is capable of replacing OS (ROM - are these terms interchangeable?).
Recovery is the same as hidden partition on windows, that is sometimes present on a PC. It has a limited interface.
It can replace one OS image with another. It probably checks the checksum and creates the new one after the update. It is probably the gatekeeper.
Stock recovery will not replace OS with an image from SD card or from PC through USB. Only OTA.
This is the reason for flashing the custom (hacked) recovery on.
Custom recovery is made to allow additional options, such as allowing image sources such as PC or SD card, and also a ROM backup (write OS image to PC).
3. Flash update file using "upgrade from SD card" function of custom recovery now in place.
In this step, the Superuser.apk and bin files are placed. Stock recovery will not let us do that.
Also, I think the reason we can't just use ADB to "copy" superuser package to phone is because the system is either running or exists as an image (compressed?), and is probably protective of its modification. (So, likely the superuser package also replaces the checksum that the OS uses to check if it has been compromised?) Yes, this modifies your rom.
I assume that unrooting could be done after this by updating again with a file that removes superuser package and that would make your rom stock again.
4 OR flash custom ROM, which usually includes superuser package. Of course using custom rom means you no longer have stock rom.
To have a backup of original ROM, you would :
1 Unlock bootloader,
2 Flash (install) custom recovery
3 superuser doesn't matter here
4 Use custom recovery function to back up your stock ROM.
I want to know the answers to the rest of your questions as well as some clarifications to mine.
Personally, I am looking for a way to backup the stock recovery as well.
I know there are some people asking about this. The procedure appears to be as follows:
(pieced together so don't take it as a tutorial)
1 Unlock bootloader (again, unclear on this. Also some mention S-OFF and others don't)
2 With USB debugging allowed (meaning connect as device requiring a driver), Connect to a PC with ABD, and a driver installed.
3 From ADB, issue a command "adb boot recoveryimage.name" instead of the usual "adb flash recoveryimage.name".
This will make the phone boot into a custom recovery image that is residing on PC, without first writing it to the phone.
4 Unclear how, but make that custom recovery now being live to back up stock rom to pc.
5 Unclear how, but make that custom recovery now being live to flash either root or custom rom to the phone.
6 Disconnect, reboot the phone. Once in OS, use root privileges to mount recovery partition ? (this makes it visible as drive)
7 Don't know how, but use root privileges to back up now visible stock recovery partition to PC as image.
( This should give you two out of three original parts.)
Keep in mind that even if my peace-by-peace "know-how" ever works, there is at least one clearly faulty step:
The back up of the original state of the boot loader has been never made. I do not know if it is easily can be toggled back and forth from lock to unlock and back without leaving any trace. Also, like yourself, I probably don't quite understand what am I talking about, but I have tried to make as much sense of what I have read here and there.
This is my first smart phone, and my experience with linux is limited to building a minecraft server on MineOS, which was pre-made so that not much was required to make it run. I have "mounted" a partition for the first time last week, trying to break Win7recovery, booting it with Knoppix. This is why I think this is probably will come in play here too, as the recovery partition on W7 was hidden. Until then I didn't understand what mounting means, as windows always does it for you. So, take everything I say with a bunch of salt.
Please, let me know too, if you find out more. I want to flash the hell out of my Prism, but I want to be smart about it.
bump... midnite_ r u still around?
Hi Descent2,
Yes i am still around but i am busy with other stuffs at this moment. Thanks very much for your reply. You have studied a lot and you really did good summarisations. Very informative and I learnt a lot from it. Hope some of the masters or experienced ones would come by and bring us out of the mist
cheers,
midnite_
Descent2 said:
Hey midnite_,
I am a newbie too and have a lot of blank spots in my understanding of what we can do with android. I also came here with same question. I found how to root, this isn't a secret. Like you, I want to know how do I fix it if I break it.
So, with regards to your questions.
1. Unlock the bootloader
Not clear on this one, as not every tutorial even mentions this part. My feeling is that this might be specific to some phones, like HTC.
2. Flash Custom Recovery (such as AmonRa, CWR, TWRP...)
Recovery is an intermediate stage of phone booting process after bootloader but before OS.
It is there to allow OTA (Over the air) updates. During those, the OS is halted and replaced with a newer one.
What this means for us is that the recovery is capable of replacing OS (ROM - are these terms interchangeable?).
Recovery is the same as hidden partition on windows, that is sometimes present on a PC. It has a limited interface.
It can replace one OS image with another. It probably checks the checksum and creates the new one after the update. It is probably the gatekeeper.
Stock recovery will not replace OS with an image from SD card or from PC through USB. Only OTA.
This is the reason for flashing the custom (hacked) recovery on.
Custom recovery is made to allow additional options, such as allowing image sources such as PC or SD card, and also a ROM backup (write OS image to PC).
3. Flash update file using "upgrade from SD card" function of custom recovery now in place.
In this step, the Superuser.apk and bin files are placed. Stock recovery will not let us do that.
Also, I think the reason we can't just use ADB to "copy" superuser package to phone is because the system is either running or exists as an image (compressed?), and is probably protective of its modification. (So, likely the superuser package also replaces the checksum that the OS uses to check if it has been compromised?) Yes, this modifies your rom.
I assume that unrooting could be done after this by updating again with a file that removes superuser package and that would make your rom stock again.
4 OR flash custom ROM, which usually includes superuser package. Of course using custom rom means you no longer have stock rom.
To have a backup of original ROM, you would :
1 Unlock bootloader,
2 Flash (install) custom recovery
3 superuser doesn't matter here
4 Use custom recovery function to back up your stock ROM.
I want to know the answers to the rest of your questions as well as some clarifications to mine.
Personally, I am looking for a way to backup the stock recovery as well.
I know there are some people asking about this. The procedure appears to be as follows:
(pieced together so don't take it as a tutorial)
1 Unlock bootloader (again, unclear on this. Also some mention S-OFF and others don't)
2 With USB debugging allowed (meaning connect as device requiring a driver), Connect to a PC with ABD, and a driver installed.
3 From ADB, issue a command "adb boot recoveryimage.name" instead of the usual "adb flash recoveryimage.name".
This will make the phone boot into a custom recovery image that is residing on PC, without first writing it to the phone.
4 Unclear how, but make that custom recovery now being live to back up stock rom to pc.
5 Unclear how, but make that custom recovery now being live to flash either root or custom rom to the phone.
6 Disconnect, reboot the phone. Once in OS, use root privileges to mount recovery partition ? (this makes it visible as drive)
7 Don't know how, but use root privileges to back up now visible stock recovery partition to PC as image.
( This should give you two out of three original parts.)
Keep in mind that even if my peace-by-peace "know-how" ever works, there is at least one clearly faulty step:
The back up of the original state of the boot loader has been never made. I do not know if it is easily can be toggled back and forth from lock to unlock and back without leaving any trace. Also, like yourself, I probably don't quite understand what am I talking about, but I have tried to make as much sense of what I have read here and there.
This is my first smart phone, and my experience with linux is limited to building a minecraft server on MineOS, which was pre-made so that not much was required to make it run. I have "mounted" a partition for the first time last week, trying to break Win7recovery, booting it with Knoppix. This is why I think this is probably will come in play here too, as the recovery partition on W7 was hidden. Until then I didn't understand what mounting means, as windows always does it for you. So, take everything I say with a bunch of salt.
Please, let me know too, if you find out more. I want to flash the hell out of my Prism, but I want to be smart about it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
check here
All your answers can be found here: [REF] [GUIDE] Welcome to your device, the Galaxy S III. For more XDA related issues check here: [GUIDE] - XDA New User Guide - Getting started on XDA
Good Luck!
mf2112
XDA Moderator
ASharpEdge said:
Hello all this is my first post here...woohoo!:fingers-crossed: This forum is amazing as to the amount of information available. I just wish that in looking for what I need to do I did not need to look in so many places. I feel that if I want to root my T-Mobile GS3 that all the information should be in one subsection of the forum, but it is not that simple I guess....lol Anyway any help would be greatly appreciated.
I have a Samsung GS3 with T-Mobile that I want to root. Everyone says to back up the phone before you do it but I am not really seeing how to make a backup before I start. It appears that most of the guides to root just say to backup without telling you how to fo it. Another thing (correct me if I am wrong) I see the nandroid backup that I think is a backup of the phone however it seems to be done after you make changes to the phone and I thought the backup was supposed to be done before you do anything. Is it that there is not a way to make a complete backup with an unrooted phone?
My question is basically the same as the OP here. I have been reading and reading and reading posts here in the forum. There is much information here and much of it is duplicated with slight variances in some of the duplicates. I am not certain as to which rooting method I should use. There seem to be so many choices. As a new person to this forum I will say that you can find just about everything about any phone which is awesome. The hard thing is sifting through the many options to pick one to use for your issue.
I do see that Mr. Robinson has a thread with backups of the original roms. The only thing is that they are default roms that are like an out of the box phone and not my phone with my apps and my settings. That is what I want to backup...My phone with my settings and my apps.
:good: Thank you in advance for any one that can shed some light on this for me and the OP'er
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks mf2112. But those resources are seem only for GS3. And it seems it is not teaching us to backup our stock ROMs, it provides stock ROMs for us to download instead. Is there a general way to backup our stock ROMs?
Thanks,
midnite_
mf2112 said:
All your answers can be found here: [REF] [GUIDE] Welcome to your device, the Galaxy S III. For more XDA related issues check here: [GUIDE] - XDA New User Guide - Getting started on XDA
Good Luck!
mf2112
XDA Moderator
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You must unlock your bootloader then flash a custom recovery. You will then use that custom recovery to make a backup of your rom. That backup will be stored on your sd card.
Now, I have tried to help you and so have a couple other folks. You expect us to just give you answers step by step. I am sorry but this is simply not how XDA works. XDA is set up in a way which makes it for any users to find quickly what they want to know. Use the search feature on the site and you will find many answers. I tell you to go do your own research now and be proud of what you learn on your own. And if you cannot, please do not try to modify your phone further, you may just brick it if you aren't careful.
midnite_ said:
Thanks mf2112. But those resources are seem only for GS3. And it seems it is not teaching us to backup our stock ROMs, it provides stock ROMs for us to download instead. Is there a general way to backup our stock ROMs?
Thanks,
midnite_
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I put in the GS3 links since the OP was using that phone. Every phone will be different so I don't think a general way or guide would be practical.
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using xda premium