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I started looking at Android Development and got the whole Dev kit and the Eclipse enrionment setup and working fine.
The question I have is that I would try different apps I develop on the different ROMs available.
How do I get any of the new ROMs, like the HERO ROM ZIP files I can download to run in the emulator or is it even possible?
Im assuming that the system.img file in the SDK id the file I need to replace or re-create, but how is this done?
I am a noob to the develop stuff so step by step instructions would be much appreciated.
I also think this would be great for other developers and ROM makers to be able to test in this way.
Thanks
Simon
Hopefully THIS one dont get closed, it IS asking a development question...anyway,
I would like to know this as well. I would like to test things myself (getting better at manipulating them), and would like to know what he is asking as well.
Thanks.
I don't think this would work, as the ROMs are hardware depending, me thinks. Or at the least the kernel and drivers are.
maybe this will help, maybe not, just an emulator primer, so maybe people can jump on board with this
under <sdk path>/tools
to list out your AVD(android virtual device)
android list targets
will return:
Available Android targets:
id:1
Name: Android 1.1
Type: platform
API level: 2
Skins: HVGA (default), HVGA-L, HVGA-P, QVGA-L, QVGA-P
id:2
Name: Android 1.5
Type: platform
API level: 3
Skins: HVGA (default), HVGA-L, HVGA-P, QVGA-L, QVGA-P
id:3
Name: Google APIs
Type: add-on
Vendor: Google Inc.
Description: Android + Google APIs
Based on Android 1.5 (API level 3)
Libraries:
* com.google.android.maps (maps.jar)
API for Google Maps
Skins: HVGA (default), HVGA-L, QVGA-P, HVGA-P, QVGA-L
from here we choose our integer target, lets say 2
creating an AVD:
android create avd -n your_chosen_name_here -t 2
When you create an AVD, the android tool creates a dedicated directory for it on your development computer. The directory contains the AVD configuration file, the user data image and SD card image (if available), and any other files associated with the device. Note that the directory does not contain a system image — instead, the AVD configuration file contains a mapping to the system image, which it loads when the AVD is launched.
By default, the android tool creates the AVD directory inside ~/.android/avd/ (on Linux/Mac), C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\.android\ on Windows XP, and C:\Users\<user>\.android\ on Windows Vista
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
to run your newly created AVD:
emulator -avd your_chosen_name_here
maybe this will help, but I'm guessing everyone here already knows all of this.
references:
http://developer.android.com/guide/developing/tools/emulator.html#starting
Yeah, I understand that you can specify the AVD.
The only thing now is to edit the AVD to point to a different image. This is easy!
The system image file is a *.img file.
So how do we get our ROM images compiled into the IMG file format?
There must be a tool, but I cant find anything.
And what hardware does the emulator, emulate? Maybe it ignores the hardware specific calls throu an API so the ROM image target hardware shouldn't matter.
I just started messing around with rom's and after I build one I put system.img userdata.img and ramdisk.img from my /mydroid/out folder into the sdk's image folder and start the and it uses the new rom when I start the emulator
thats the easy part
do a nandroid backup
copy the sdk/platforms/android-1.5
to something like sdk/platforms/MINE
go to your AVD directory AVD/whateveryoucalledit
open up the config.ini
edit:
skin.name=HVGA
skin.path=platforms\MINE\skins\HVGA
image.sysdir.1=platforms\MINE\images\
go to your nandroid backup on your sdcard
copy system.img
go to sdk/platforms/MINE/images/
and paste the nandroid system.img
now run your AVD and it will boot that system.img
im running CyanogenMod rom right now in the emulator
hint* number pad 7 with numlock off in the emulator is how to open up the hardware keyboard
Awesome. I'll be giving this a try later.
One question: The apps are in the system.img file on the SDK images as far as I can tell. What do you do with all the apps in the new ROMs?
whatever you want to do with them, they're all there, even android market works perfectly
And where are you guys getting the system.img file from?
The ROM zip files dont have them.
Sorry....Im noob to this. LOL
ggolemg said:
whatever you want to do with them, they're all there, even android market works perfectly
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, Im confused. Can you just unzip the ROM files and place in the folder that you point using the same folder structure?
OR
Do you have to have a system.img ?
Another thought:
I dont want to have to install all the ROMs just to create a Nandroid backup to get the images. There must be a way to create the images from the raw files in the ZIP files.
Any ideas?
UPDATE: The same technology used by Nandroid itself!
The google android emulator included in the google android sdk is limited. Although you can use 'adb push' to upload more tools, but one has to do it again next time. Follow the steps to create a enhanced system.img:
1. system.img is yaffs2 flash file system, so firstly you need the mkfs.yaffs2 tool, download it in the following link: Release Android Yaffs2 Tool (Both X86 And ARM). One has to be a registered user to download the tools.
2. use the 'adb push' to upload tools to android emulator, executables in /system/bin/, libraries in /system/lib, one can also create folder. One need change the file mode necessary.
3. upload the ARM mkfs.yaffs2 tool, use the following command to create system.img: # mkfs.yaffs2 /system /system.img
4. download the system.img to local with command 'adb pull', replace the system.img in your emulator folder/tools/lib/images/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
so it seems like it would be just as much fun doing a nandroid backup
*edit*
so now the real question is, how do we go about ripping out the nandroid functionality to be able to do this locally?
*edit 2*
it is the mkfs.yaffs2 tool
Usage:
mkfs.yaffs2 yourdir yourimage
Ohsaka said:
NANDROID - CYGWIN DIRECTIONS (not not not, I repeat, not fully tested and verified yet)
Changes so far if you are using cygwin:
1) Make sure you have the 'netcat' and 'gcc' packages, else just run cygwin.exe again and get them.
You can test if you have them by running 'which nc' and 'which gcc', both commands should return /usr/bin/<command>
2) Compile the mkyaffs2image executable.
Inside the extracted nandroid archive directory, goto the tartools\yaffs2\utils\ directory (inside a cygwin prompt) and type 'make'.
This should generate a file named "mkyaffs2image.exe" which you need to place somewhere on your path.
(Hint: If you haven't downloaded the Android SDK, abort now. Wait for more explicit directions... Else, place the .exe where adb is, since it should be on your path already)
3) Edit the nandroid.sh script. (else you get a permission denied error when the script tries to run the dump_image-arm file)
Find the line:
adb push ./$tool /cache/$tool
Add the following line after it:
adb shell chmod 777 /cache/$tool
4) Make a managed mount named /tmp (else windows will puke on the long unix filenames with colons, etc)
mkdir /tmp
mount -o managed c:/cygwin/tmp /tmp (Note: change c:/cygwin to be the directory cygwin was installed to, you can find it by typing 'cd /' and then 'explorer .')
5) Follow the standard "tar + mkyaffs2image" directions to generate the last three .img files. They refer to the /tmp directory which you created in the previous step.
Viola! Looks like I have a complete backup image now...
$ ls -l
total 117504
-rw-r--r-- 1 Osaka None 2621440 Jun 12 21:31 boot.img
-rw------- 1 Osaka None 737088 Jun 12 22:07 cache.img
-rw------- 1 Osaka None 53570880 Jun 12 22:06 data.img
-rw-r--r-- 1 Osaka None 262144 Jun 12 21:31 misc.img
-rw-r--r-- 1 Osaka None 5242880 Jun 12 21:31 recovery.img
-rw------- 1 Osaka None 57885696 Jun 12 22:06 system.img
Now I just need to drink up the courage to test it on my phone!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ggolemg said:
so it seems like it would be just as much fun doing a nandroid backup
*edit*
so now the real question is, how do we go about ripping out the nandroid functionality to be able to do this locally?
*edit 2*
it is the mkfs.yaffs2 tool
Usage:
mkfs.yaffs2 yourdir yourimage
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is this for Linux (which I don't have) and if so, is there a Windows version?
short answer: yes its only for linux
long answer is a plea for help i posted in the nandroid thread about it:
I was wondering if there was a method to use the yaffs3 command to make a system.img from an unzipped rom placed on the sdcard through ADB, from what I've seen nandroid is almost exactly what I'm after.
The issue of why I can not just do this through linux, i can. I just want to be able to do it through windows some way without loading the entire rom on the phone and nandroiding the system.img out.
Either the aforementioned method, or the ability to mount a portion of my computers hard drive as a recognizable mountable partition within android running on the usb connected phone, loading the rom on that partition, unzipping it there, running ADB and making the system.img. But this way seems to bring up more problems than it's worth.
Or.. running the make yaffs3 command through ADB running the emulator with the rom unzipped on the virtual sdcard. This would actually be the best option as it would not require an actual phone.
I hope someone can help. Thank you very much.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hopefully someone knows the answer, I'm still trying though.
so on windows we would adb push the update.zip to the sdcard on the emulator
unzip it on the sdcard, there are apps for that
adb shell mkfs.yaffs2 sdcard/<extractedzipfilename>/system/ sdcard/system.img
adb pull the newly created system.img and proceed to load it in the emulator
i know im missing a ton here, please someone correct me
I'd love to be able to run these images in the emulator on windows!
ggolemg said:
thats the easy part
do a nandroid backup
copy the sdk/platforms/android-1.5
to something like sdk/platforms/MINE
go to your AVD directory AVD/whateveryoucalledit
open up the config.ini
edit:
skin.name=HVGA
skin.path=platforms\MINE\skins\HVGA
image.sysdir.1=platforms\MINE\images\
go to your nandroid backup on your sdcard
copy system.img
go to sdk/platforms/MINE/images/
and paste the nandroid system.img
now run your AVD and it will boot that system.img
im running CyanogenMod rom right now in the emulator
hint* number pad 7 with numlock off in the emulator is how to open up the hardware keyboard
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hm, the emulator just hangs on the ANDROID.. message, similar to when the standard system.img was in.
anyone figure out how to do this on a mac?
thanks if anyone can.
johnnylicious said:
anyone figure out how to do this on a mac?
thanks if anyone can.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I found this somewhere else and take no credit for it. I did shorten the steps.
Of course this is once you have the sdk installed on your mac
1. Run Terminal, and change to the 'tools' directory of the SDK (or add the tools directory to the path settings in ~/.profile).
2. Type './android list target'
3. Note the 'id' number of the '1.5' target (in my case it's '2')
4. Type './android create avd -n enhanced -t 2' (substitute 2 with the target number determined above if required)
5. You will be prompted to create a hardware profile. {You can leave as default no}
6. Use nandroid to create a backup then copy system.img
7. Copy file to ~/.android/avd/enhanced.avd/system.img
8. You're ready! Type './emulator -avd enhanced' to run! Note: inital boot may take a few minutes!
Can anyone post up the
Android Yaffs2 Tool (Both X86 And ARM)
for download? The above link doesn't work. I did a google search and all the D/L links are referring to the same location.
thanks!
Hello.
I cooked a rom with some changes and my question is... How can I try it? I know there's a metod to emulate roms, but I want to check if the update.zip is signed correctly, so what I want is to emulate recovery or fastboot, but I can't.
Somebody knows how to do it?
Thanks.
realjumy said:
Hello.
I cooked a rom with some changes and my question is... How can I try it? I know there's a metod to emulate roms, but I want to check if the update.zip is signed correctly, so what I want is to emulate recovery or fastboot, but I can't.
Somebody knows how to do it?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
should be moved to Q&A
but i have the same questions i went through everything emulator related on the android site and through the command line help functions and i got as for as creating a sysdir image and i got stuck where you do the kernel image .....
I only found this:
http://android.modaco.com/content/g...p-and-running-a-full-rom-with-the-market-etc/
But I can't enter in bootloader or fastboot with [Home Key], [Back Key], o [Menu Key] While it's loading.
what SDK are you using (HUGE DEAL)
if your using the latest SDK have you precompiled your AVD profile (android virtual device) see http://developer.android.com/guide/developing/tools/avd.html#creating
if you have compiled your AVD and pointed your emulator at the correct AVD profile
http://developer.android.com/guide/developing/tools/emulator.html
if your booting an actual update.zip youll have to flash do a NAND dump of the phone and copy your NAND files to your pc and boot those through your emulator to ensure it runs correctly
(i only say this because i dont know if its possible to enter recovery mode straight from the emulator)
you place your system.img and your AVD stuff in the same folder
9. Copy the above file (referring to system.img{which would be the dump of your /system folder in a img format} to the location of the enhanced.avd directory ('C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\.android\enhanced.avd' on Windows XP, and 'C:\Users\<user>\.android\enhanced.avd' on Windows Vista).
10. You're ready! Type 'emulator -avd enhanced' to run! Note: inital boot may take a few minutes!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
::::EDIT:::::
if you did have success making an AVD or know where i can find some premade profiles for the HTC Magic/Dream lmk
:::EDIT2::::
i just gotta finish downloading my JDK and i can get it to boot
does anyone know how to compile a system.img from just my /system folder or in essence can the /system folder just be booted without having to compile it into system.img format?
Zarboz said:
does anyone know how to compile a system.img from just my /system folder or in essence can the /system folder just be booted without having to compile it into system.img format?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I may be dead wrong, but you can extract a .img file to the system folder contents by unyaffs-ing it, so I assume you could do the reverse...maybe.
bcrook said:
I may be dead wrong, but you can extract a .img file to the system folder contents by unyaffs-ing it, so I assume you could do the reverse...maybe.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
im not super linux familiar... im learning as i go and reading everything i can about it
thanks for the info :thumbsup:
so you mean
su
mkyaffs /system
or
su
mkyaffs /block/devblock/mmc0blk (i think thats system idk for sure right now tho)
just checked the unyaffs google code page... says it only supports unyaffs right now not making system.img's.....
but theres links for a mkyaffs so maybe thatll do it
---checking google site sdk site for info on compiling system.imgs maybe theres a tool included---
NOPE NOTHING!
umm
i have an idea for you man
boot into your environment and then adb shell in and just try it because the whole image that you booted to should be read write
once you boot into your emulator load a sd card file with the mksdcard commands
http://developer.android.com/guide/developing/tools/othertools.html#mksdcard
then your gunna get your adb and
adb push cyanogen1.4recovery.img /sdcard
adb shell
$ su
# flash_image recovery /sdcard/cyanogen1.4recovery.img
#reboot recovery
and see if itll do it that way if it boots into recovery with the custom recovery.img sweet action your good to go grab your ADB window and
adb push (your custom rom).zip /sdcard
adb shell
#reboot recovery
then select choose update.zip to flash and choose your custom rom and in theory it should flash it to your Readwrite system.img........
someone anyone correct me if im wrong cuz im gunna have to try this when i get home
THIS IS ALL IN THEORY I HAVE NOT TESTED NOR DO I KNOW IF THIS WILL WORK JUST AN IDEA FOR YA
Zarboz said:
im not super linux familiar... im learning as i go and reading everything i can about it
thanks for the info :thumbsup:
so you mean
su
mkyaffs /system
or
su
mkyaffs /block/devblock/mmc0blk (i think thats system idk for sure right now tho)
just checked the unyaffs google code page... says it only supports unyaffs right now not making system.img's.....
but theres links for a mkyaffs so maybe thatll do it
---checking google site sdk site for info on compiling system.imgs maybe theres a tool included---
NOPE NOTHING!
umm
i have an idea for you man
boot into your environment and then adb shell in and just try it because the whole image that you booted to should be read write
once you boot into your emulator load a sd card file with the mksdcard commands
http://developer.android.com/guide/developing/tools/othertools.html#mksdcard
then your gunna get your adb and
adb push cyanogen1.4recovery.img /sdcard
adb shell
$ su
# flash_image recovery /sdcard/cyanogen1.4recovery.img
#reboot recovery
and see if itll do it that way if it boots into recovery with the custom recovery.img sweet action your good to go grab your ADB window and
adb push (your custom rom).zip /sdcard
adb shell
#reboot recovery
then select choose update.zip to flash and choose your custom rom and in theory it should flash it to your Readwrite system.img........
someone anyone correct me if im wrong cuz im gunna have to try this when i get home
THIS IS ALL IN THEORY I HAVE NOT TESTED NOR DO I KNOW IF THIS WILL WORK JUST AN IDEA FOR YA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried before, but emulator freezes when I try to reboot it. I think can install Cyanogenmod and the CMUpdater and use my own update.zip to do the update, but I think it will not work.
realjumy said:
I tried before, but emulator freezes when I try to reboot it. I think can install Cyanogenmod and the CMUpdater and use my own update.zip to do the update, but I think it will not work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it doesnt work you have to nandroid the update.zip
i was up till like 4 am last night trying to compile a tattoo build and i kept getting stuck on flash at my update script where it CHMOD CHOWN system:xbin
toooo tired to care to mess with it anymore...
tried everything to get the emulator to boot my custom rom but no go
tried doing it like
emulator -sysdir c:\c\herosysimage\ -avd hero
and like
emulator -system C:\c\herosysimage\system.img -avd hero
no boot
also tried putting system.img in the avd folder
Hello. I am sick from school today and decided to make a thread to help out some people.
DOWNLOADS ARE BELOW(AT THE BOTTOM!!!)
All of these steps are posted on TheUnlockr.com in a Video but The video is for the GSM version. The difference is just the recovery image. (http://theunlockr.com/2009/08/27/how-to-root-your-htc-hero-in-one-click/)
Ok lets get started.
This method works on all Sprint phones with updates. I am not sure how long this will last unpatched.
First YOU HAVE TO HAVE ADB WORKING!!!
Download my zip file if you do not want to download the entire SDK.
1)After it is downloaded, extract the files to C:\Windows\System32\
(you can copy and past the file-path)
2) Now pickup your phone and go into Settings-Applications and Enable Unknown Sources then from there go into Development and make sure that USB Debugging is enabled.
3) Now connect your phone to your computer and open up command prompt (Start-Run(or search) cmd.exe.
4)When it is open type: ADB Devices.
You should see your'r phone's serial.
Now download flashrec-1.1.3-20091107-2.apk (the download is below)
1) Copy the file to your sdcard.
2) Download any File Manager from the android market.
3) Go to your Sdcard in the file manager app on your phone.
4) Press flashrec-1.1.3-20091107-2.apk
Let it install.
5) When it is complete, go to your apps drawer and open the Recovery Flasher app.
My method requires you to have a recovery image before root.
6) In the recovery flasher app, Press Backup Recovery Image
7) Let it work. You may have to try twice for Success.
8) Now Mount your phone back on the computer and replace the recovery-backup.img with the recovery-backup.img on this thread(MAJOR thanx to Amon_RA)
9) Now unmount your phone and go back into the Recovery Flasher app on your phone.
10) Now press restore and let it flash recovery-RA-heroc-v1.2.3.img(Amon_RA's Sprint custom recovery image)
YOU NOW HAVE A CUSTOM RECOVERY IMAGE!!! WOOT WOOT
the work is still not done.
Download the Superuser.zip(http://forum.xda-developers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=211569&d=1249225060 or in the downloads below) and extract it to your Sdcard
Now go into your new recovery image (power off the phone and then power it on by holding the Power and Home buttons)
Connect your phone to a computer and run command prompt.
IN COMMAND PROMPT TYPE:
Code:
adb shell
mount /sdcard
mount /system
cp /sdcard/su /system/bin/
chmod 4755 /system/bin/su
cp /sdcard/Superuser.apk /system/app/
reboot
(you can copy and past the code into command prompt from the thread)
Download the Better Terminal Emulator app from the market and type:
Code:
$ su
if you get a
Code:
#
then...YOU NOW HAVE ROOT!!
now you can install custom ROMs and root-required apps
FlashREC(Recovery Flasher): http://zenthought.org/system/files/asset/2/flashrec-1.1.3-20091107-2.apk
Amon RA's Sprint Recovery: http://www.mediafire.com/file/uozzgzmmnym/recovery-backup.img
Superuser.zip: http://www.mediafire.com/file/3mddanwztzd/superuser.zip
ADB and Fastboot(for those who need it): http://www.mediafire.com/file/tyib2wmomym/ADB_Fastboot.zip
[GUIDE] Make your android device True Root! - by Napalm
I did this on my Nexus 7 but it should all still apply to most devices. You might need to follow different driver advice for other devices.
Pre-requirements:
Installation of the SDK platform-tools.
Have platform-tools directory of the SDK in your PATH environment variable (Google this if your unsure).
This was all done a Windows installation, but access to Linux will be required later on. Mac users might be able to get away with doing the Linux portions directly on there computer. Please let me know if your a Mac user and have had success with this and I will update the guide with details.
Step 1: Driver Installation (READ THIS, do not skip)
First I needed to update to the usb_driver from SDK and then modify the installation inf with the IDs for Nexus 7.
Browse to your SDK directory and futher into <SDK>\extras\google\usb_driver
Open android_winusb.inf in your favorite text editor.
Find the appropriate section Google.NTx86 if your on 32bit or Google.NTamd64 if your on 64bit (doesnt matter that your using intel chip). Now find the ";Google Nexus 7" line inside that section and you'll see a series of settings below. Add the following lines at the end of that block.
Code:
%CompositeAdbInterface% = USB_Install, USB\VID_18D1&PID_4E44&MI_01
%CompositeAdbInterface% = USB_Install, USB\VID_18D1&PID_D001
These are the identifiers for the Nexus 7 recovery and bootloader usb connections.
Step 2: Standard Root
Next you'll need access to the bootloader and recovery mode so follow this guide to unlock and "root" your device. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1741395
Here I've laid out the steps I did instead of the above. Remember this wipes your device and its internal memory completely, so backup your data.
All local work is done from the desktop, so when you first open a command prompt or if you close it and reopen it enter the following.
Code:
cd Desktop
Download CWM recovery image to Desktop. http://goo.im/devs/birdman/CWM-grouper-recovery.img
Download SuperSU CWM update zip to Desktop. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1538053
Go to Start or Start>Run and type in: cmd
Code:
cd Desktop
fastboot oem unlock
fastboot flash recovery CWM-grouper-recovery.img
adb reboot recovery
Now the device will reboot into recovery mode. If windows asks for drivers for the "new" usb connection direct the wizard to your <SDK>\extras\google\usb_driver. And the earlier modifications made in Step 1 should mean it installs the device and adb link.
Once drivers are installed and every is good go back to the command prompt, and type
Code:
adb devices
It should list your device with the word "recovery" next to it. If it doesn't then your device is not in recovery mode. Now enter in the following commands into the command prompt and it will make your devices CWM installation permanent.
Code:
adb shell
mount /system
cd /system
mv recovery-from-boot.p recovery-from-boot.bak
umount /system
exit
Now to install SuperSU. Tap "reboot system now" on the screen (if you dont see CWM, press the power button to show/hide it). Wait for the reboot. And then enter the following into the command prompt.
Code:
adb push CWM-SuperSU-v0.94.zip /sdcard
adb reboot recovery
Wait for reboot. You should see an image in the center of the screen. You might have to press the power button to toggle the visibility of the CWM menu. If you miss-tap on the screen, the power button acts like a back button and will return you to the previous menu screen.
Tap "install zip from sdcard" and then "choose zip from sdcard". Then select the CWM-SuperSU-v0.94.zip file (You may have to use the vol-up/down keys to highlight this if the file is listed off the bottom of the screen)
Let that install and then go back on the menus and choose "reboot system now".
Now if all is well after the reboot, if you run the following commands in command prompt.
Code:
adb shell
su
SuperSU might now prompt you on your devices screen to accept the root access, and then hopefully your command prompt should end in a # (this means you are root user 0). Now type exit twice to get back to the windows command prompt.
Now if you were to type "adb root" you will notice it tells you adbd is not able to go "full root". This will be solved in the next step. This is going to get complicated. You have been warned.
Step 3: True Rooting!
Now your device is "rooted". This is true, you now have a "su" binary installed and a visible app in the OS to manage super user privileges, but as a developer I want to be able to use things like "hierarchy viewer" on my live device. And have the room to do what I need to debug complex situations. So this is where True Root comes in. This essentially turns the device into a debug device that you would get direct from the manufacturer.
You may be able to get away with doing the following in a different way and you may not need to compile anything since fastboot has a boot flash option, but since I've never used this I've done it this way. If you prefer you can explore things in that direction, but be warned I've not tried it and so I have no idea if it would work.
Now for this step you will need access to a Linux installation. If you've never used Linux before don't be too afraid. But I am going to have to gloss over a few things. If you need further help on this step you will need to post in the topic and allow the community to advise on best pratices.
If you dont have access to a Linux installation or your newb to Linux then go here and follow the steps. It will add Linux to your PCs boot options and then you can go in and out of Linux when you need it. http://www.ubuntu.com/download/help/install-ubuntu-with-windows
Remember if your working on this step from a fresh Linux install like the above then you will probably want to install the android sdk for linux, at least enough to use adb from linux. This topic might help with this: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=537508
Ok now from Linux follow along. You'll need git installed for this "apt-get install git".
We now need to compile the apps needed to modify our boot image. Details can be found here https://gist.github.com/1087757 but you might just want to follow my specific instructions.
Open a console window and type.
Code:
git clone https://android.googlesource.com/platform/system/core
cd core/libmincrypt
gcc -c *.c -I../include
ar rcs libmincrypt.a *.o
cd ../mkbootimg
gcc mkbootimg.c -o mkbootimg -I../include ../libmincrypt/libmincrypt.a
cd ../cpio
gcc mkbootfs.c -o mkbootfs -I../include
cd ../..
git clone https://github.com/beide/Bootimg-scripts.git
cd Bootimg-scripts
cp ../core/mkbootimg/mkbootimg ./
cp ../core/cpio/mkbootfs ./
Ok that has prapared the a Bootimg-scripts directory with the perl scripts we need and compiled binaries they use. Now make sure you have perl installed "apt-get install perl".
This is where things are going to split and it becomes your best guess as to how to proceed. I will show you the method I used from Windows. But if you have a installation of the SDK in Linux then you should be able to just open a new console and continue from here and ignore the bits I used to transfer files between Linux and Windows.
Back to the command console on Windows. We use adb to identify our boot partition and extract it.
Code:
adb shell cat /proc/partitions
You will now be presented with a list of paritions on your Nexus 7. Each block here for my device is 1K. So I'm looking down the list and I see one thats 8192 blocks, called "mmcblk0p2". Thats 8MB and I'm taking a educated guess that this is the boot partition, and for my Nexus 7 it is. (Note: if anyone has a better way of determining the boot parition please let me know).
Now we need to take a image of the partition. From here on out replace my partition device name in the commands below with yours if it differs.
Code:
adb shell
cat /dev/block/mmcblk0p2 > /sdcard/boot.img
exit
adb pull /sdcard/boot.img
Now if you want to confirm that this is the boot partition you will need to open the image file in your favorite hex editor and confirm the first bytes of the file are "ANDROID!" in ascii.
Now I FTP'd this image file over to my Linux box and into the Bootimg-scripts directory we created previously. If your following these steps from Linux then you should be able to open up the file manager and move the file into the folder.
Now back to Linux. We'll need to modify repack-bootimg.pl with a text editor of your choice. I leave this up to the reader. We need to modify line 19 the system call so that it starts with "./mkbootimg" rather than "mkbootimg". This is so perl fines mkbootimg in the local directory rather than anywhere else.
Now type in the linux console we had open in the Bootimg-scripts directory the following command.
Code:
perl ./unpack-bootimg.pl boot.img
ls -l
You should see boot.img-kernel.gz and boot.img-ramdisk.cpio.gz and a directory boot.img-ramdisk.
Open boot.img-ramdisk/default.prop in your favorite text editor and make the following adjustments.
ro.secure=1 should be edited to ro.secure=0 and ro.debuggable=0 should be ro.debuggable=1 and if you want ro.allow.mock.location can also be changed to 1 if you like.
Now we've made the required changes to our initrd (initial ramdisk) files we need to repack them to put back on the device.
Code:
perl ./repack-bootimg.pl boot.img-kernel.gz boot.img-ramdisk boot-debug.img
You will now have a new file called boot-debug.img. This contains our modified initial ramdisk. It will probably be smaller than the original. This is no concern as the original we copied was an image of the entire disk including the unused areas, where as the new image is only the data we need.
I now FTP'd this file back to my Windows machine, but as before if your doing this from Linux then you can just carry on.
We now need to flash this image file back onto the Nexus 7 replacing our current boot image. To do this we need to put the device into bootloader mode.
Back to your console/command window, and enter in.
Code:
adb reboot bootloader
Windows might want to install drivers and as before direct the wizard to <SDK>\extras\google\usb_driver.
Once your device is in bootloader mode. Go back to the console/command and enter in.
Code:
fastboot flash boot boot-debug.img
fastboot reboot
Now cross your fingers and hopefully you will get the boot loading animation and your device will get back to the Android launcher.
Now finally from your console/command window type in:
Code:
adb root
Hopefully if all is well it should reply with "adbd is already running as root". Now if you type in:
Code:
adb shell getprop ro.debuggable
It should tell you that its set to 1, meaning it is switched on.
Congratulations!! You have now True Rooted your device!.
You can now debug even system level apps, see log messages from all processes and logcat will now resolve all app names. Use Hierarchy Viewer on a live device instead of the horrible emulator. Do absolutely everything with your device that you want.
Happy hacking,
Napalm :good:
better late than never.....a thorough quide
Thanks for this guide.
Sent from my Nexus 7
Thanks.
Napalm2 said:
[GUIDE] Make your android device True Root! - by Napalm
I did this on my Nexus 7 but it should all still apply to most devices. You might need to follow different driver advice for other devices.
Pre-requirements:
Installation of the SDK platform-tools.
Have platform-tools directory of the SDK in your PATH environment variable (Google this if your unsure).
This was all done a Windows installation, but access to Linux will be required later on. Mac users might be able to get away with doing the Linux portions directly on there computer. Please let me know if your a Mac user and have had success with this and I will update the guide with details.
Step 1: Driver Installation (READ THIS, do not skip)
First I needed to update to the usb_driver from SDK and then modify the installation inf with the IDs for Nexus 7.
Browse to your SDK directory and futher into <SDK>\extras\google\usb_driver
Open android_winusb.inf in your favorite text editor.
Find the appropriate section Google.NTx86 if your on 32bit or Google.NTamd64 if your on 64bit (doesnt matter that your using intel chip). Now find the ";Google Nexus 7" line inside that section and you'll see a series of settings below. Add the following lines at the end of that block.
Code:
%CompositeAdbInterface% = USB_Install, USB\VID_18D1&PID_4E44&MI_01
%CompositeAdbInterface% = USB_Install, USB\VID_18D1&PID_D001
These are the identifiers for the Nexus 7 recovery and bootloader usb connections.
Step 2: Standard Root
Next you'll need access to the bootloader and recovery mode so follow this guide to unlock and "root" your device. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1741395
Here I've laid out the steps I did instead of the above. Remember this wipes your device and its internal memory completely, so backup your data.
All local work is done from the desktop, so when you first open a command prompt or if you close it and reopen it enter the following.
Code:
cd Desktop
Download CWM recovery image to Desktop. http://goo.im/devs/birdman/CWM-grouper-recovery.img
Download SuperSU CWM update zip to Desktop. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1538053
Go to Start or Start>Run and type in: cmd
Code:
cd Desktop
fastboot oem unlock
fastboot flash recovery CWM-grouper-recovery.img
adb reboot recovery
Now the device will reboot into recovery mode. If windows asks for drivers for the "new" usb connection direct the wizard to your <SDK>\extras\google\usb_driver. And the earlier modifications made in Step 1 should mean it installs the device and adb link.
Once drivers are installed and every is good go back to the command prompt, and type
Code:
adb devices
It should list your device with the word "recovery" next to it. If it doesn't then your device is not in recovery mode. Now enter in the following commands into the command prompt and it will make your devices CWM installation permanent.
Code:
adb shell
mount /system
cd /system
mv recovery-from-boot.p recovery-from-boot.bak
umount /system
exit
Now to install SuperSU. Tap "reboot system now" on the screen (if you dont see CWM, press the power button to show/hide it). Wait for the reboot. And then enter the following into the command prompt.
Code:
adb push CWM-SuperSU-v0.94.zip /sdcard
adb reboot recovery
Wait for reboot. You should see an image in the center of the screen. You might have to press the power button to toggle the visibility of the CWM menu. If you miss-tap on the screen, the power button acts like a back button and will return you to the previous menu screen.
Tap "install zip from sdcard" and then "choose zip from sdcard". Then select the CWM-SuperSU-v0.94.zip file (You may have to use the vol-up/down keys to highlight this if the file is listed off the bottom of the screen)
Let that install and then go back on the menus and choose "reboot system now".
Now if all is well after the reboot, if you run the following commands in command prompt.
Code:
adb shell
su
SuperSU might now prompt you on your devices screen to accept the root access, and then hopefully your command prompt should end in a # (this means you are root user 0). Now type exit twice to get back to the windows command prompt.
Now if you were to type "adb root" you will notice it tells you adbd is not able to go "full root". This will be solved in the next step. This is going to get complicated. You have been warned.
Step 3: True Rooting!
Now your device is "rooted". This is true, you now have a "su" binary installed and a visible app in the OS to manage super user privileges, but as a developer I want to be able to use things like "hierarchy viewer" on my live device. And have the room to do what I need to debug complex situations. So this is where True Root comes in. This essentially turns the device into a debug device that you would get direct from the manufacturer.
You may be able to get away with doing the following in a different way and you may not need to compile anything since fastboot has a boot flash option, but since I've never used this I've done it this way. If you prefer you can explore things in that direction, but be warned I've not tried it and so I have no idea if it would work.
Now for this step you will need access to a Linux installation. If you've never used Linux before don't be too afraid. But I am going to have to gloss over a few things. If you need further help on this step you will need to post in the topic and allow the community to advise on best pratices.
If you dont have access to a Linux installation or your newb to Linux then go here and follow the steps. It will add Linux to your PCs boot options and then you can go in and out of Linux when you need it. http://www.ubuntu.com/download/help/install-ubuntu-with-windows
Remember if your working on this step from a fresh Linux install like the above then you will probably want to install the android sdk for linux, at least enough to use adb from linux. This topic might help with this: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=537508
Ok now from Linux follow along. You'll need git installed for this "apt-get install git".
We now need to compile the apps needed to modify our boot image. Details can be found here https://gist.github.com/1087757 but you might just want to follow my specific instructions.
Open a console window and type.
Code:
git clone https://android.googlesource.com/platform/system/core
cd core/libmincrypt
gcc -c *.c -I../include
ar rcs libmincrypt.a *.o
cd ../mkbootimg
gcc mkbootimg.c -o mkbootimg -I../include ../libmincrypt/libmincrypt.a
cd ../cpio
gcc mkbootfs.c -o mkbootfs -I../include
cd ../..
git clone https://github.com/beide/Bootimg-scripts.git
cd Bootimg-scripts
cp ../core/mkbootimg/mkbootimg ./
cp ../core/cpio/mkbootfs ./
Ok that has prapared the a Bootimg-scripts directory with the perl scripts we need and compiled binaries they use. Now make sure you have perl installed "apt-get install perl".
This is where things are going to split and it becomes your best guess as to how to proceed. I will show you the method I used from Windows. But if you have a installation of the SDK in Linux then you should be able to just open a new console and continue from here and ignore the bits I used to transfer files between Linux and Windows.
Back to the command console on Windows. We use adb to identify our boot partition and extract it.
Code:
adb shell cat /proc/partitions
You will now be presented with a list of paritions on your Nexus 7. Each block here for my device is 1K. So I'm looking down the list and I see one thats 8192 blocks, called "mmcblk0p2". Thats 8MB and I'm taking a educated guess that this is the boot partition, and for my Nexus 7 it is. (Note: if anyone has a better way of determining the boot parition please let me know).
Now we need to take a image of the partition. From here on out replace my partition device name in the commands below with yours if it differs.
Code:
adb shell
cat /dev/block/mmcblk0p2 > /sdcard/boot.img
exit
adb pull /sdcard/boot.img
Now if you want to confirm that this is the boot partition you will need to open the image file in your favorite hex editor and confirm the first bytes of the file are "ANDROID!" in ascii.
Now I FTP'd this image file over to my Linux box and into the Bootimg-scripts directory we created previously. If your following these steps from Linux then you should be able to open up the file manager and move the file into the folder.
Now back to Linux. We'll need to modify repack-bootimg.pl with a text editor of your choice. I leave this up to the reader. We need to modify line 19 the system call so that it starts with "./mkbootimg" rather than "mkbootimg". This is so perl fines mkbootimg in the local directory rather than anywhere else.
Now type in the linux console we had open in the Bootimg-scripts directory the following command.
Code:
perl ./unpack-bootimg.pl boot.img
ls -l
You should see boot.img-kernel.gz and boot.img-ramdisk.cpio.gz and a directory boot.img-ramdisk.
Open boot.img-ramdisk/default.prop in your favorite text editor and make the following adjustments.
ro.secure=1 should be edited to ro.secure=0 and ro.debuggable=0 should be ro.debuggable=1 and if you want ro.allow.mock.location can also be changed to 1 if you like.
Now we've made the required changes to our initrd (initial ramdisk) files we need to repack them to put back on the device.
Code:
perl ./repack-bootimg.pl boot.img-kernel.gz boot.img-ramdisk boot-debug.img
You will now have a new file called boot-debug.img. This contains our modified initial ramdisk. It will probably be smaller than the original. This is no concern as the original we copied was an image of the entire disk including the unused areas, where as the new image is only the data we need.
I now FTP'd this file back to my Windows machine, but as before if your doing this from Linux then you can just carry on.
We now need to flash this image file back onto the Nexus 7 replacing our current boot image. To do this we need to put the device into bootloader mode.
Back to your console/command window, and enter in.
Code:
adb reboot bootloader
Windows might want to install drivers and as before direct the wizard to <SDK>\extras\google\usb_driver.
Once your device is in bootloader mode. Go back to the console/command and enter in.
Code:
fastboot flash boot boot-debug.img
fastboot reboot
Now cross your fingers and hopefully you will get the boot loading animation and your device will get back to the Android launcher.
Now finally from your console/command window type in:
Code:
adb root
Hopefully if all is well it should reply with "adbd is already running as root". Now if you type in:
Code:
adb shell getprop ro.debuggable
It should tell you that its set to 1, meaning it is switched on.
Congratulations!! You have now True Rooted your device!.
You can now debug even system level apps, see log messages from all processes and logcat will now resolve all app names. Use Hierarchy Viewer on a live device instead of the horrible emulator. Do absolutely everything with your device that you want.
Happy hacking,
Napalm :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
can't find recovery-from-boot.p. Y?
5implelove said:
can't find recovery-from-boot.p. Y?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try not to quote a post that big mate, makes navigation a pain
5implelove said:
can't find recovery-from-boot.p. Y?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That part is only for the Nexus 7, and if you are using a Nexus 7 with custom ROM then this file may not exist. If you are using stock on a Nexus 7 then the only other question is whether you have renamed/moved/deleted it before. Once you
Code:
cd /system
type
Code:
ls -l recovery*
and see if anything is listed.
Napalm
Where did you find the info for step one?
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2
I worked it out. You can find your VID and PID from your unknown device in Device Manager. You have to right click the device > Properties > Details > Choose Hardware Ids from the list. Since the driver from Google supports the same interfaces for other devices we can assume it works with the Nexus 7. I made the modifications and it works. Below is a full list of IDs if anyone wants them.
Napalm
Code:
Nexus 7
USB\VID_18D1&PID_4E40 : fastboot
USB\VID_18D1&PID_D001 : adb-recovery
USB\VID_18D1&PID_4E42 : composite-adb-interface (with mtp)
USB\VID_18D1&PID_4E42&MI_00: mtp-composite
USB\VID_18D1&PID_4E42&MI_01: adb-composite
USB\VID_18D1&PID_4E44 : composite-adb-interface (with ptp)
USB\VID_18D1&PID_4E44&MI_00: mtp-composite
USB\VID_18D1&PID_4E44&MI_01: adb-composite
USB\VID_18D1&PID_4E41 : mtp-only
USB\VID_18D1&PID_4E43 : ptp-only
Galaxy Nexus
USB\VID_18D1&PID_4E30 : fastboot
USB\VID_18D1&PID_D001 : adb-recovery
USB\VID_04E8&PID_6860 : composite-adb-interface (with mtp)
USB\VID_04E8&PID_6860&MI_00: mtp-composite
USB\VID_04E8&PID_6860&MI_01: adb-composite
USB\VID_04E8&PID_6866 : composite-adb-interface (with ptp)
USB\VID_04E8&PID_6866&MI_00: ptp-composite
USB\VID_04E8&PID_6866&MI_01: adb-composite
USB\VID_04E8&PID_685C : mtp-only
USB\VID_04E8&PID_6865 : ptp-only
Great guide, but why not just post up the new initrd for people that don't want to do this? It looks as if its the same for all devices.
As requested. Attached are the compiled tools and modified scripts used and the original and modified boot partition image files for the Nexus 7 running Android 4.1.2.
Napalm
Update for Android 4.2
Attached is the original and modified boot partition image files for the Nexus 7 running Android 4.2.
You can update yours with the following:
Code:
adb reboot-bootloader
fastboot flash boot nakasi-jop40c-android42-boot-new.img
Napalm
Attached is the original and modified boot partition image files for the Nexus 7 GSM/HSPA+ running Android 4.2.1
You can update yours with the following:
Code:
adb reboot-bootloader
fastboot flash boot nakasig-jop40d-android421-boot-new.img
Napalm
Amazing !
Is it possible to post the same file for N7 4.2.1 Wifi version?
Thanks
JulienDev said:
Amazing !
Is it possible to post the same file for N7 4.2.1 Wifi version?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I'm not mistaken, they are the same for wifi and 3g versions?
Same as before.. just an update for Android 4.2.2... as per the previous posts.. no idea if the non-GSM variant has the same boot partition. If anyone can test please post.
Attached is the original and modified boot partition image files for the Nexus 7 GSM/HSPA+ running Android 4.2.2
You can update yours with the following:
Code:
adb reboot-bootloader
fastboot flash boot nakasig-jdq39-android422-boot-mod.img
Getting a No_Command error
Hi, I am trying to true root Android M on my Nexus 7 2012 Wifi edition. I followed the steps here and was able to create the boot.img with the ro.debuggable=1 and ro.secure=0. however if i flash this boot.img the device boots and gets stuck in a android bot with a Red ! (bang) triangle. and says No command.
Any idea how to get ro.debuggable on for Android M?
How to unpack and repack boot.img
For Windows user
1. Download CarlivImageKitchen from here http://forum.xda-developers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=3798926&d=1467275078
all credit goes to bluefirebird http://forum.xda-developers.com/member.php?u=5186178
2. extract it using 7zip or similar program
3.. Put your boot.img in boot-resources folder
4. Double click carlive batch file
now select B and Enter
Now choose your boot.img and enter
5. To unpack it type 1 and Enter
that's it. now you can find extract boot.img in boot folder. type enter for continue and keep this window open if you want to repack it again after
making change in boot folder
edit your files in boot folder and for repacking it again keep reading
Repacking
type 2 for repacking
now you can find you new boot.img in output folder
For Linux user
i am using ubuntu as my linux machine
1. Download Boot.img Tool from here https://github.com/jsharma44/bootimg-tools
2. cd bootimgtools
Type following in terminal
./unpackbootimg -i "boot.img path"
For example
./unpackbootimg -i /home/user/Desktop/boot.img
find your files in bootimgtools
I hope you like it. Please visit my website http://azodik.com/ for more interesting guide
Thank You
Extracting boot.img from your device
Extracting boot.img from your device
What we need
1. A rooted phone
2. Enable Usb Debugging in Developer Mode
3. ADB command knowldge
connect your phone via usb cable ensure that usb debugging is enabled
open terminal and type adb devices
if it is showing your device’s serial no than we are ready to go
C. type
adb shell
su
ls -l /dev/block/platform/mtk-msdc.0/11230000.msdc0/by-name
please note this command may vary by device to device. What we are doing here we want to know partition scheme of your device.
note down block name of /boot partition
example it will be like boot -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p7
d. type this
dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p7 of=/sdcard/boot.img
now boot.img succesfully transfered to your SD card Copy it to your Desktop
How To Extract System Folder From Android device
1. Connect your phone to computer with USB debugging enabled
2. Type following command to check
adb devices
if it is showing your device's serial no then go to step 3. If not then make sure drivers are installed for your device.
3. To pull system folder use following command
adb pull system
it will pull system folder to your current adb directory. If you want to pull it to some specific directory use following command
adb pull system "output directory"
Example
1. adb pull /system C:/Users/user_name/Desktop/ (For Windows)
2.adb pull /system /home/user/Desktop (for linux)
Your link to Windows zip is no longer there. Getting a 410 error
ianmb said:
Your link to Windows zip is no longer there. Getting a 410 error
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
link updated..Please check now. Thanks for pointing out it
jai44 said:
How to unpack and repack boot.img
For Windows user
1. Download CarlivImageKitchen from here http://forum.xda-developers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=3798926&d=1467275078
all credit goes to bluefirebird http://forum.xda-developers.com/member.php?u=5186178
2. extract it using 7zip or similar program
3.. Put your boot.img in boot-resources folder
4. Double click carlive batch file
now select B and Enter
Now choose your boot.img and enter
5. To unpack it type 1 and Enter
that's it. now you can find extract boot.img in boot folder. type enter for continue and keep this window open if you want to repack it again after
making change in boot folder
edit your files in boot folder and for repacking it again keep reading
Repacking
type 2 for repacking
now you can find you new boot.img in output folder
For Linux user
i am using ubuntu as my linux machine
1. Download Boot.img Tool from here https://github.com/jsharma44/bootimg-tools
2. cd bootimgtools
Type following in terminal
./unpackbootimg -i "boot.img path"
For example
./unpackbootimg -i /home/user/Desktop/boot.img
find your files in bootimgtools
I hope you like it. Please visit my website http://azodik.com/ for more interesting guide
Thank You
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your link no longer exists. I want to download the software to Windows. I would love for you to update the link. Thank you!