Hello eveybody,
I just switched over from my HTC WinMo phone to this amazing Android EVO phone. I've continuously have been hearing the term "root" or "rooting" alot in this community. My question is sort of noobish; what does it mean to root your phone? Also, how can I do this to my phone?
It means you gain unrestricted access to the kernel of your phone. It allows you to install custom roms, themes, custom apps etc.
the easiest way i know of is to use unrevoked.com. they have an all-in-one method to give you full root in one fell swoop. good luck!
The way I picture rooting the phone is like jail breaking an iPod. So once my phone is rooted, I can download new apps, music, ringtones, wallpapers, themes, ect.??
On android you can download all that from the market, rooting takes customization to a whole other level. Just do a search and read up on it.
sent from the phone that is EVO
To me, rooting is admin like mode.
On your pc you have guest, limited and admin accounts. All accounts gave different levels of clearance.
I don't know much about linux but logging in as root gives you absolute highest permissions to do things. Imo, They sell these phones in non root able fashion so we don't break the os and ask for a replace ment due to malfunction. And to maybe lock us out of goodies that they want to up sell to us like adhoc wlan teathering.
Through the hard work of some folks, we can gain root access and have more fun. On the flip side, we can also do more damage as root.
I am rooted, but seldom use the root access. Imo Most people root so they can flash roms and teather for free.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Related
I have about two weeks experience with Android OS and as a software developer I will be interested to know the technical details behind the Android OS.
I have already noticed this is possible to upgrade applications ported with the handset's ROM i.e. the Market app. This raised the question to me why can't I uninstall applications from the ROM without rooting or risking my handset's warranty to achieve this?
Is my expectation as a user of computers for 20 years unreasonable to think in 2010 with all software development and technological advances the uninstall feature should have been in Android OS from day one?
This is not exactly like Google is the first company in the world developed an OS to just the lack of experience with what users would want. From what I have seen so far in world of Android is that, the first thing users would want to know how to root their handset to remove packages that they have no use for.
My guess is that Google doesn't want users removing Systems apps. I'm assuming that they think that these applications are core and thus don't want you removing them. Remove the market, no more apps... or way to get it back etc.
Applications installed by you can be uninstalled, I'm just thinking it is the same as in windows, you can't uninstall the task manager etc (Bad example but meh =P)
Very simple - to prevent lay users from removing critical components.
Can you imagine the service costs involved in reparing devices that that have been damaged by people trying to remove bloatware?
They still give you the option to restore.
OK DISREGUARD THIS AS I MISSED THE PART ABOUT NEEDING TO ROOT!
They can be removed but its not recommended to do so without know EXACTLY what your removing and weather is vital to your phones operating system.
BUT in order to do so your phone needs root access, and root explorer installed. There are several forums on just about all android support sites that explain how to root, install the manager, and which apps/files NOT to remove.
J_HaX said:
They can be removed but its not recommended to do so without know EXACTLY what your removing and weather is vital to your phones operating system.
BUT in order to do so your phone needs root access, and root explorer installed. There are several forums on just about all android support sites that explain how to root, install the manager, and which apps/files NOT to remove.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ye u can remove almost every stock app but this may affect the stability of your phone, modifying your phone always comes with the option restoring it back to default. If something goes wrong with moding (something really hard and extraordinary rare ) u can restore it. Browsing through Xda might solve many questions, we all didn't wanted stock rom (not because it was bad, because we can have s omething better. This community has VERY VERY good developers.
Androids own!!!
One thing I still don't get is...
How can Google upgrade Market app without the su privilage but the rest of the world has to root their phones to remove bloatware such as 'amazon mp3'?
@ftgg99: How much bloatware in Windows cost Microsoft or PC manufacturers? None in fact they get paid to include them with your hardware. However, I see an issue with mobile devices. You have already paid for the ROM storage, the bigger ROM size is the more expensive your handset would be, then the manufacturer uses your already paid ROM to make even more money by installing bloatware. I would be a fool to think manufacturers would pass on a percentage of the bloatware earnings by reducing the cost of their products to the consumers in this model.
The way I see it, the burden has been put on the communities such as xda. Users wouldn't ask the manufacturers how to root their handsets and this is left to the dedicated individuals to overcome the mess compnies normally leave us with. I'm not going to say the mess is a cost saving measure by companies.
The thing is that there are a lot more people buy and use phones than computers. After someone buys a smart phone with intention to use for calls, text, web and to use some apps, they realize the possibilities of the smart phone, they start digging in to the files, therefore Google blocked the root folder from modifying, otherwise Google would have to repair warrantied phones that didn't have to end up there just because people didn't know or care what they did. But if you got passed ROOTING, you must know what you are doing and from this point you can modify files and apps, but now ROOTING becomes too easy.
Basically just because too many juveniles got their hands on the equipment.
CSharpHeaven said:
One thing I still don't get is...
How can Google upgrade Market app without the su privilage but the rest of the world has to root their phones to remove bloatware such as 'amazon mp3'?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm also very interested to read the answer for this one!
CSharpHeaven said:
One thing I still don't get is...
How can Google upgrade Market app without the su privilage but the rest of the world has to root their phones to remove bloatware such as 'amazon mp3'?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
RAMMANN said:
I'm also very interested to read the answer for this one!
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Click to collapse
The answer, from my point of view, is quite simple: they just upgrade the application on /data/app ON TOP of the /system/app default Market version. So, you can always go back to your "default" version just by "uninstalling updates".
Summary: they do not upgrade the Market form ROM, just install the new version on top.
CSharpHeaven said:
I have about two weeks experience with Android OS and as a software developer I will be interested to know the technical details behind the Android OS.
I have already noticed this is possible to upgrade applications ported with the handset's ROM i.e. the Market app. This raised the question to me why can't I uninstall applications from the ROM without rooting or risking my handset's warranty to achieve this?
Is my expectation as a user of computers for 20 years unreasonable to think in 2010 with all software development and technological advances the uninstall feature should have been in Android OS from day one?
This is not exactly like Google is the first company in the world developed an OS to just the lack of experience with what users would want. From what I have seen so far in world of Android is that, the first thing users would want to know how to root their handset to remove packages that they have no use for.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried to work with iPhone(don't know about iPhone 4)? They build fortress around their system and even the apps you install cannot be uninstalled until you gailbrake it and use 3rd party installer to uninstall. And not talking about the "MONOPLY" they run with AT&T.
"Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime.”
What i am trying to say is if someone can lay down the foundation of Rooting an Android Device. I am not talking about any specific device, or the different Methods of Rooting (i.e. through recovery, through script, etc.) I am speaking about what file systems/files are being modified, replace, etc?
From what i understand Android release their OS's rooted, then third parties, (i.e. Samsung, Moto, Tmobile etc) take those releases and make changes. What changes do they make besides the themed, and service ones? the changes that unroot the phone.
If you wish you can lay down the foundation of sudo/su thats cool. However, i am not asking for the history of it.
Side Note:
Pls no trolling.
Posting comments like- "you shouldn't try this..", "Leave it to the experts..", and "You're going to break your device..." are Un-Welcome.
Thanx.
Rooting my touch 4g benefits or drawbacks
I wanted to find out if there are things that work differently like the market or other things if you root a phone. What are some of the benefits to rooting? I want to use my phone as a wifi hotspot for our computer without paying for it. Is that only possible with a rooted phone? Is a phone able to be unrooted if it needs to be? Thank you for your help.
rooted the HTC BEE WILDFIRE CDMA
i have rooted the HTC BEE WILDFIRE CDMA. it is different than the HTC BUZZ WILDFIRE GSM. using the [APP]SuperOneClick v1.5.5 (Root, Unroot, Enable Non-Market App, Get UNLOCK code)
now i cant find a recovery img that will work can any one point me the right way. there is no thread in for this phone.
There's nothing fundamentally changed when you root your phone. Make yourself familiar with Linux security and you're (almost) done. Your phone executes under the control of this model, be it rooted or not. In an unrooted phone, there are nevertheless a lot of processes running with root privileges so of course there's a "root" in an unrooted phone. But it is not available to the normal user, only to system processes.
The only difference is that on a rooted phone there is a way for a non-root process to acquire root privileges, i.e. run as root. That's just about all. Except for some, umhh, minor thing: You cannot install the program required to do so (e.g., su) as long as you're non-root. Only root can install any piece of code which changes the current user into root. Apps run as their own user (to each app, a separate user "account" is assigned, none of those having root privileges) and so can't install such a thing, at least not normally.
Some trick is needed (running an exploit, changing the ROM) to achieve this and this is what makes rooting such a tricky thing.
The fundamental thing to understand what is changed when you root your phone (and that barely anything changes really) is the Linux user/group security concept. It's all open, there's no hidden secret.
mizch said:
There's nothing fundamentally changed when you root your phone. Make yourself familiar with Linux security and you're (almost) done. Your phone executes under the control of this model, be it rooted or not. In an unrooted phone, there are nevertheless a lot of processes running with root privileges so of course there's a "root" in an unrooted phone. But it is not available to the normal user, only to system processes.
The only difference is that on a rooted phone there is a way for a non-root process to acquire root privileges, i.e. run as root. That's just about all. Except for some, umhh, minor thing: You cannot install the program required to do so (e.g., su) as long as you're non-root. Only root can install any piece of code which changes the current user into root. Apps run as their own user (to each app, a separate user "account" is assigned, none of those having root privileges) and so can't install such a thing, at least not normally.
Some trick is needed (running an exploit, changing the ROM) to achieve this and this is what makes rooting such a tricky thing.
The fundamental thing to understand what is changed when you root your phone (and that barely anything changes really) is the Linux user/group security concept. It's all open, there's no hidden secret.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanx for taking the time to write this but i am hoping for something alittle more descriptive.
I've got an HTC Desire and want to root it in order to install some lag-fix to make smoother.
Question is: will rooting affect the updates I get from HTC?
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
Long story short: I messed up with flashing a custom rom. But gladly, I got my phone fixed. Now, I wanna root again but I'm scared of rom flashing. I just wanna do the basic benefits of rooting like deleting stock aps and other things.
So what other 'rooting benefits' can I obtain without rom flashing? Or without having the risk of bricking my phone? The rooting process is kinda simple for me since I can use the z4root app.
Help? Anyone?
reyesryanmjaube said:
Long story short: I messed up with flashing a custom rom. But gladly, I got my phone fixed. Now, I wanna root again but I'm scared of rom flashing. I just wanna do the basic benefits of rooting like deleting stock aps and other things.
So what other 'rooting benefits' can I obtain without rom flashing? Or without having the risk of bricking my phone? The rooting process is kinda simple for me since I can use the z4root app.
Help? Anyone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can obtain lot of goodies, like install applications not coming from the market, i guess, edit system files, remove non needed system applications, do a lot of things, be sure when you flash a rom to have a fully charged battery, its really hard to brick it.
mmmmm ????
depending what phone you have?? Rooting is safe enough, you can "unroot" just as easy! I definitely recommend z4root If you flash another ROM be sure to do lots of research next time!!! If you experience any problems, dont forget google can be your best friend! You can count on the fact you wont be the only one having the same problem
I have LG p500. Basically, I'm now scared of anything that involves CMD. I can install non market apps like the ones from here. So yeah, after Z4root. what now?
These phones are great for bricking, because a lot of times they're easy to fix. Try out themes, custom roms, custom kernels, it's all available to you now.
Can you guide me a bit? Please
Sent from my LG-P500 using XDA App
Oh! I read this thread in the news section. If i understand it correctly it will allow me to uninstall preset apps without cmd?
Nalthos said:
I recently bought a Droid 2 Global and decided to get my feet wet with android development. To familiarize myself with the platform I wrote a simple utility for managing the bloat that came pre-installed on my phone. I thought there might be other people who would get some use out of this so I am posting it here. You will need to be rooted and have busybox installed to use this application. If you used z4root to root your phone then you should have everything you need.
The application is pretty simple. When you start it you are presented with a list of the Bloat that the application recognizes. Each item in the list has a checkbox that indicates whether it is enabled or not. To disable bloat you just uncheck the boxes next to what you don't want and then press the Apply button that appears at the bottom of the screen. You can save what you have disabled as a profile by pressing the options button and then choosing Save Profile. This is convenient because you are going to need to turn all of this bloat back on if you want to receive updates. If you have saved a profile and a new update becomes available you can launch Bloat Manager, press the options button, choose Enable All and then click Apply to get your phone ready for the update. After the update installs you can launch Bloat Manager, press the options button, choose Load Profile and then click Apply to turn the bloat back off.
The following applications can be toggled on or off using Bloat Manager:
Amazon MP3 /system/app/amazonmp3_1_8_14_signed_zipaligned_Signed_2010-09-09_15-23-51.apk
Blockbuster /system/app/Blockbuster.apk
City ID /system/app/CityID.apk
Friend Feed /system/app/FriendFeed.apk
Kindle /system/app/Kindle-1_0_2-OEM-SingleSign_Signed_2010-09-20_17-31-57.apk
My Net /system/app/Mynet.apk
My Verizon /system/app/MyVerizon.apk
News Widget /system/app/NewsWidget.apk
Performance Manager /system/app/PerformanceManager.apk
Skype /system/app/Skype_mobile.live.apk
Social Messaging /system/app/SocialMessaging.apk
Social Share /system/app/SocialShare.apk
VZNavigator /system/app/vnav_6.1.0.160_Droid2Global_rel_PROD_signed.apk
Visual Voice Mail /system/app/Vvm.apk
Weather Widget /system/app/WeatherWidget.apk
World Clock Widget /system/app/WorldClockWidget.apk
When you disable an application using Bloat Manager it simply renames it to .bak. When you re-enable an application it is renamed back to .apk.
Bloat Manager remounts your /system partition as writable in order to make changes to applications. I came up with this list based on what other people have had success with removing, but I have not personally turned off everything on the list. Changing things in your system partition is always dangerous so please be careful.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from my LG-P500 using XDA App
Sent from my LG-P500 using XDA App
Lol, rooting is so easy a baby could do it. OneClickRoot FTW.
reyesryanmjaube said:
Long story short: I messed up with flashing a custom rom. But gladly, I got my phone fixed. Now, I wanna root again but I'm scared of rom flashing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for sharing, yo.
Sent from my weak Wildfire, can't wait to trade in for HD2, also, not afraid to root.
So yeah aside from this feature, what else can I do without. Using cmd?
Sent from my LG-P500 using XDA App
Iinstead of asking and waiting for responses, search on the forum or read a sticky or something to expand your knowledge if you aren't comfortable with cmd you probably shouldn't be messing with root privileges. And bricked phones are dead phones, you can only recover from a brick by replacing hardware
xxmonsterx said:
Iinstead of asking and waiting for responses, search on the forum or read a sticky or something to expand your knowledge if you aren't comfortable with cmd you probably shouldn't be messing with root privileges. And bricked phones are dead phones, you can only recover from a brick by replacing hardware
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Click to collapse
Wow. Since you put it that way.
But there's just too much. You cant blame me for being like this. I bricked my phone and they replaced the mother board (for free) and I am worried to do this again. I tried learning, I failed. And I don't like to be a wannabe developer of some sort, I just want to maximize my phone to it's potential and do what most people do.
You can say that I haven't exerted too much effort. In that case, maybe you're not the person I should me asking help from. Sorry, I was hurt.
reyesryanmjaube said:
So yeah aside from this feature, what else can I do without. Using cmd?
Sent from my LG-P500 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
CMD (command shell in windows,mac or linux) is only used when you change ROMs or unlock the bootloader (the program that loads the ROM) apps and themes have nothing to do with it, you will read ADB a lot which is basically a way to access the whole device remotely, most of this you do on the handset itself. Root is a term the same as apples jailbreak, which gives you complete access to everything (most is protected bloatware (apps) that network providers don't want you to delete, there is also a percentage of protection stopping you messing up bits that bricking your phone! Bricking doesn't mean screen wont work, force closes or not booting...it means DEAD! If see something cool that you fancy doing, research a little first and if you don't know what it is or means...DONT DO IT! Its that simple root is what you make it, it opens a lot of options but there's no rush to get to the end, the you learn doing little bits, the quicker you'll be confident flashing ROMs and maybe even developing your own customisations
reyesryanmjaube said:
Wow. Since you put it that way.
But there's just too much. You cant blame me for being like this. I bricked my phone and they replaced the mother board (for free) and I am worried to do this again. I tried learning, I failed. And I don't like to be a wannabe developer of some sort, I just want to maximize my phone to it's potential and do what most people do.
You can say that I haven't exerted too much effort. In that case, maybe you're not the person I should me asking help from. Sorry, I was hurt.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you want to maximize your phone's full potential you have to deal with thoses things, e.g.: joy 845 comes with the stock rom, which is slow and contains many things not needed, thus you have to flash another rom, better, faster etc...so yeah you have to be a wannabe in the end if you want to do what you want.
Check out Youtube how-to vids on rooting. Some are invaluable, especially the longer ones. Most of these guys take you step by step in detail.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App
Well I got my galaxy s2 on release day and being a former crackberry addict I have no idea what to do with android. I understand that there are endless possibilities but I have no idea where to begin. Anyone know some stuff I can do to make my android experience simply better?
in same boat
i am not only new to andriod, i am new to smart phones. that said, i have had my andriod for a month. i have done a lot to it just by reading posts here and in andriod central. andriod central seems easier to navigate by phone choise than xda.
my wife is still a blackberry adict. after gettting my phone she wined about how much i could do. she still likes the blackberry and has found ways around the issue or boasted about something she could do that i cant.
this is just from reading about backberry so feel free to correct me if i am wronge. the PC device manager allows you to modify your phone. ie change theme, apps, ect.
the biggest issue most andriod owners have is that they cant get rid of the carriers apps(bloatware). most of these apps take up space, run when not in use, use up your ram. as far as i am aware the only way is to root(gain administrator acess) the phone. then you can get an app that will freeze the unused, unwanted apps(titanium backup,pay for version).you can also delete them, but i read it could be hazardes. recomend reading manual. i wont do it any justice, so info on rooting is everywere, i do suggest andriod central.
if you dont care about the apps then dont root. you cant get multiple home launchers,ie go launcher, launcher pro, adw launcher, theres more. i prefer go launcher, it lets you customize the most, ie change icons, the way the app drawer functions, the way icons function, different functions for the direction you slid your finger on the desktop.
with a rooted phone you can get custom roms to change the look and feel of the phone. what i understand flashing a rom to be is installing a new operating system, its like someone took andriod OS striped it down to just the OS and then added what they feel should be there for apps. generaly they just get rid of the bloatware, optimize the system, and a few usefull tools.
i have rooted my phone. sadly no custom roms yet. freezed most of my bloatware, freed up a lot of space. changed my desktop. got a wifi tether app so i can hotspot my phone with out having to pay for the data plan. any way i hope this helps. if you have anymore questions feel free to ask.
to expand on the topic about rooting (assuming that you take this route), here are some rooting methods (android version-specific):
z4root (2.2/2.2.1)
SuperOneClick (2.2/2.2.1)
Gingerbreak (2.2.2)
everything you can possibly discover about your phone (roms, kernels, themes, etc) can be found in the sgsII's forum:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1055
I don't want to know how to root, I can find my answer for that on Google, however what I don't get is what it does...
I know it unlocks the device somehow, but can't I simply access everything in the system if I compile android from source and install it on the device?
I have downloaded the android source and I believe I can access every possible thing, so why is rooting needed?
If I install an app as a system app, won't it automatically have the permissions to do what I need it to do?
AFAIK rooting is for the people you'd call the end user/consumer or whatever.
If you have a new phone and want to install one of the many custom ROMs around, you simply need a rooted phone.
A custom ROM is in easy terms a custom made User Interface for the phone.
There is lot more complicated stuff going on under the hood, but in general you change the look and feel of you phone's UI.
The phone has to be rooted, because the manufacturers and net providers around pack a lot of useless crap called "bloatware" (like Samsung Shop and Samsung Play and Samsung Sing and Dance and Music and whatnot) on your phone, which often makes it slower than it can be without it.
But naturally the big corps don't want you to be able to get rid of that **** too easily, which is why you don't have access to the system folders as a normal user.
I guess in your case it's possible that you (if you compiled android from source and installed it on your device) so to say have an already rooted phone, since Android itself is rooted by default. Like I said, the manufacturers are the ones to unroot Android in order to dictate which apps their customers might or might not use.
But I'm a noob and am not sure how you would install Android on your phone if it's new (and unrooted by default?) if you haven't rooted it before?
meh, hope that helped a bit at least...
root- you would love to do it after reading this..
Root? what is it?
it is what i call full access to our phone, flash new roms, have dual boot (example- you can have to os like ics and JB), can access the evasive /data folder which holdes the apk/setups of apps installed from playstore and many other things..
If you are concerned about warranty you can unroot your phone and give in your phone for warranty. i have given my phone for warranty like this.
The most important thing i like about root is that i can fix my phone myself (if it is a software problem). any other question please ask, and i will answer it.
Thanks if helped!
I don't have the time for development anymore. I used to play with stuff like that years ago, but life has taken me away from it. I'd still like to be able to access everything on my phone and play with custom roms, and root lets me do that. The end consumer comment is a good one.
As for to root or not root, I tell most people who ask me to root for them what they use their phone for and explain what they would get out of rooting, and explain the risks involved. Seems that people who understand what rooting does are able to do it themselves, and the ones that ask you to do it for them usually decide against it after hearing "there is a tiny chance that your phone could get bricked" lol
If you just want to play emulators etc, how would you benefit from rooting?
IMO rooting is very useful if you want to keep touching system things in a stock rom, optimizing and debloating it, installing other people ROMs, etc... I believe that if you compile your own flavour of android and find no restriction doing whatever you want, you don't need to.
Android phone without root is nothing
McFex said:
AFAIK rooting is for the people you'd call the end user/consumer or whatever.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
:good:
McFex said:
But I'm a noob and am not sure how you would install Android on your phone if it's new (and unrooted by default?) if you haven't rooted it before?
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Click to collapse
Some phones can just be flashed (for example via usb) which gives you full control, others can be cracked.