HOW TO UNROOT (ALMOST) ALL ANDROID DEVICES (SIMPLIFIED)
Firstly, in order to unroot your android device, you need:
1) An update available for your phone or an old nandroid backup that has a previous version of your phone android version
2) A nandroid backup done before you attempt the following steps below
Once the above conditions are met, you are ready to UNROOT your phone!
Before you read the procedure, read how it works
below and get a better picture:
HOW
Firstly, one known method of unrooting is to install an available system update. However, stock updates are signed with official keys and custom recoveries only accept updates signed with their custom keys.
So, to unroot, you need to have stock recovery installed. One way to get your phone`s stock recovery back is contained in the update zip.
The update zip is the key, literally. Look through it and you will find (usually in the system folder) a file called recovery.img, which will be used as your new stock recovery.
By flashing in the image into recovery, you can now install updates, keep your previous applications, enjoy being unrooted and updated.
There are other unroot options that tailor to specific android phones and versions, but this solution should work on all android phones.
Why unroot? Because sending in a rooted phone for repair will void your warranty. Also, by having a rooted phone, you run the risk of a rogue rooted application that does unwanted stuff to your phone.
PROCEDURE
Step 1) If you still have your original stock recovery that came with your phone, continue. Else search for my previous thread: "[RECOVERY] Reverting to original(STOCK) recovery" and follow the steps there. You can use the update file you used to revert to stock recovery here as well or vice versa
Step 2) Reboot you phone
Step 3) Check for system updates and download them
Step 4) Wait until phone reboots. All your applications and user settings will be retained.
Step 5a) Open up a terminal emulator on your phone and enter "su" (Check if unroot)
Step 5b) If you cant turn your phone on to check if unrooted, boot into recovery mode, open up adb enter:
Code:
adb shell
su
Step 6) If you get "permission denied" or something like that from step 5a/5b,
CONGRATULATIONS! YOUR PHONE HAS BEEN SUCCESSFULLY UNROOTED!
Step 7) If you don`t want to void your warranty, you should unistall applications that require root, especially Superuser
To date, I have rooted and unrooted my phone (Backflip) 3 times without any problems. In case your phone can`t be booted up, only to the bootloader or recovery, DO NOT WORRY! You can use the adb (android debug bridge) to flash in the stock recovery, push/pull the updates and reboot the phone into recovery mode or normal mode!!!
Useful ADB commands
Reboot Phone
Code:
adb shell
reboot
Reboot Phone into recovery mode
Code:
adb shell
reboot recovery
Flash a new recovery image temporarily (resets when rebooting)
Code:
adb shell
flash_image recovery /sdcard/recovery.img
Flash a new recovery image that does not reset when rebooting
Code:
adb shell
flash_image recovery /sdcard/recovery.img
exit
adb shell
cd system
su
mount -o rw,remount /dev/block/mtdblock1 /system
rm recovery.img
mount -o ro,remount /dev/block/mtdblock1 /system
exit
exit
Push file to sdcard
Code:
adb push file.blah /sdcard/file.blah
Push file to sdcard
Code:
adb pull /sdcard/file.blah file.blah
Here`s wishing you good luck and a belated happy new year!
Err.. Pretty cool info there but what if you don't meet above three requirements? I mean there are noobs like me who'd rather jump onto flashing while forgetting about nandroids etc. I guess there should be a one click unroot utility for all android devices like we have for rooting.
im really confused.
if the phone has been rooted (using fastboot oemunlock - yes) then how can we "unroot" this device? till today there has not been a way to do so.
but if what ur suggesting relocks the bootloader (removes the cross at bootup) then woohoo!
The main point
ok, i think you guys dont understand what my point on unrooting is...
What im trying to say is:
Updating your phone software with an original OTA update on the original rom the came with your phone will automatically reset root. However, custom roms and recoveries dont accept OTA updates, so you need to flash back your original recovery first, nevermind if you have a custom rom.
If you don`t meet the requirements, then i`m sorry, you`ll just have to wait for an available system update like me. However if you get one, be sure to come back here if you want to unroot.
Creating a one/two click-unroot application
Actually, you may be right. The unroot procedures can also be carried out by adb alone , not by user interaction. So a desktop application can be created that automates the process
1) Open adb shell
2) Enter su
3) Pull the update zip from the phone
4) Recursive/y search the zip for the file recovery.img
5) Run 'flash_image recovery recovery.img'
6) Run 'adb reboot' to reboot phone
7) Phone will install update on stock update when rebooting complete
8) When update installed, root will be removed and your phone will be updated as well!
We can send keystrokes to the adb for the adb shell.
siidheesh said:
Actually, you may be right. The unroot procedures can also be carried out by adb alone , not by user interaction. So a desktop application can be created that automates the process
1) Open adb shell
2) Enter su
3) Pull the update zip from the phone
4) Recursive/y search the zip for the file recovery.img
5) Run 'flash_image recovery recovery.img'
6) Run 'adb reboot' to reboot phone
7) Phone will install update on stock update when rebooting complete
8) When update installed, root will be removed and your phone will be updated as well!
We can send keystrokes to the adb for the adb shell.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Shouldn't be too hard, probably only a simple script would suffice I'll see what I can come up with (if I can do anything ). Supply the script with your required update zip to make it work in a different way (maybe, I'm not great with details)
Automated Script
Can someone please clarify that this would work (as an unroot script):
1. Opens ADB shell
2. Enters su
3. (User) Supply script with stock update.zip - in case it's not on phone (correct if this is unnecessary)
4. recovery.img extracted from update.zip
5. recovery.img flashed to phone via 'flash_image recovery recovery.img'
6. Reboots phone via 'adb reboot'
That installs stock recovery, but what if there was no OTA update to install for that particular device? That's the only problem I can see with such a script, so I'm hesitant to make it right now (besides, I don't have my Nexus with me at the moment, so I couldn't test it).
Dumb question but would flashing a stock update.zip from the stock recovery remove root? Or does it have to be OTA? Never having done it before I'm not sure.
Edit: If it did have to be OTA, maybe you could find the original update.zip (ie. no updates before it) and flash that, so there would be a higher chance of an OTA update?
Different definitions
Sorry people, when i mean ota update, i dont just over-the-air updates, i am referring to original updates for your original android system that came with your phone.
siidheesh said:
Sorry people, when i mean ota update, i dont just over-the-air updates, i am referring to original updates for your original android system that came with your phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So just to clarify, you could install any stock ROM for your device and it would remove root? Specifically if it was installed through stock recovery.
Thanks, hopefully I might be able to make some progress after this
not as easy as it seems
jonathongrigg said:
Can someone please clarify that this would work (as an unroot script):
1. Opens ADB shell
2. Enters su
3. (User) Supply script with stock update.zip - in case it's not on phone (correct if this is unnecessary)
4. recovery.img extracted from update.zip
5. recovery.img flashed to phone via 'flash_image recovery recovery.img'
6. Reboots phone via 'adb reboot'
That installs stock recovery, but what if there was no OTA update to install for that particular device? That's the only problem I can see with such a script, so I'm hesitant to make it right now (besides, I don't have my Nexus with me at the moment, so I couldn't test it).
Dumb question but would flashing a stock update.zip from the stock recovery remove root? Or does it have to be OTA? Never having done it before I'm not sure.
Edit: If it did have to be OTA, maybe you could find the original update.zip (ie. no updates before it) and flash that, so there would be a higher chance of an OTA update?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You cant make an unroot script that easily. Im halfway working on a .net application that does it on desktop.
Also, almost all great things come with a *catch*. In this case, you need to wait for an ota update to be available. Or if you took a nandroid backup some time back and updated your version, you can revert back to the old verison and update again.
siidheesh said:
You cant make an unroot script that easily. Im halfway working on a .net application that does it on desktop.
Also, almost all great things come with a *catch*. In this case, you need to wait for an ota update to be available. Or if you took a nandroid backup some time back and updated your version, you can revert back to the old verison and update again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh well, I didn't realise I figured you could do it all from the command line, so a script of some kind might do. That said I wasn't entirely sure as I couldn't test the theory (no phone )
siidheesh said:
In this case, you need to wait for an ota update to be available. Or if you took a nandroid backup some time back and updated your version, you can revert back to the old verison and update again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Another win for stock Android phones No waiting months for OTA updates! Well good luck on your .NET application, I only know Java and Python, so I can't really help you there, sorry.
dont know
my phone (Backflip) isnt a very popular phone and there`s only one rom for it. to date, i`be only tried unrooting via stock updating. Stock roms may work too, but im not sure...
adb shell
jonathongrigg said:
Oh well, I didn't realise I figured you could do it all from the command line, so a script of some kind might do. That said I wasn't entirely sure as I couldn't test the theory (no phone )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
actually, i did mention that the unroot procedure can be done entirely from the adb shell, which is also in command line. im just making a program to enter those lines in automatically. normal batch scripts cant write to the adb shell as it is a separate shell in the command prompt...
What about doing a factory reset?
hi, would these unroot methods still work on the new updated highly secured samsung galaxy s2?
because i got the phone simlocked hoping to unlock it for t-mobile so rooted the phone but it was been unsuccessful at taking the sim lock off, so i wanted to make sure that this will still work on this phone.
Also after unroot i assume the yellow triangle will disappear, right?
oh yea thanks for replies and help in advance. Love the site
total noob here, I rooted my tab awhile bk, now needs warranty. I used 'superoneclick', but didnt backup anything first that i know of. U mention nandroid backup, update available for my phone, where do I get that, and how? Embarrassed I know nothing about these terms, trying to learn. Could u help me, please?
where can I find the recovery.img?
thanks
Does this work on all roots?
The OTA Update:
Your phone will download the OTA update as a zip file in the Download folder.
------------------------------------
The Problem:
------- quote by jackdowsan -------
I downloaded the file, placed it in my zip, went to cwm recovery and tried intall zip from sd card, it failed saying something about signature verification....
What are my options? I am on stock with root and custom recovery..
------------------------------------
The Solution:
I was in the same situation and I've resolved it by extracting the original OTA recovery.img from the OTA Update zip and flashed it through fastboot. Then I've updated the system software successfully and flashed back the ClockworkMod recovery.
If somebody needs a step by step guide, please see below:
WARNING! You may loose your root access after this procedure. Do not worry. You can root it again the same way you did before, or much easily by using the application Voodoo OTA RootKeeper (free, no ads, on the market). Just install it before you start and then again after the process to restore your root access.
1. Send the system software update archive located in your phone's download folder to your PC. Open it and inside you'll find another archive - firmware.zip. Open it and extract the original OTA recovery.img. Put it in the same folder with the fastboot.exe file.
2. On your HTC One X, enable USB debugging by going to Menu>>Settings>>Applications>>Development>>USB debugging and check-mark the box.
3. Turn OFF your smartphone using the Power button.
4. Press and hold Volume DOWN button and then immediately press Power button. Select Fastboot mode from the menu that appears on the screen.
5. Connect your phone to your PC using the USB cable that came with it.
6. Open a Command Prompt Window on your Desktop, go to the folder with your fastboot.exe and then type in the following commands. It will flash recovery on your phone.
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
7. When the flashing is done, simply enter the following command into Command Prompt Window to reboot your phone.
fastboot reboot
8. You have successfully installed the original OTA Recovery on your HTC One X. Start the phone update again and it'll successfully update to 1.29.401.11. Your job is done!
9. Once everything is completed you can put ClockworkMod Recovery again by following the steps above but instead of using the OTA recovery.img file use the ClockworkMod recovery.img.
Cheers,
P.S. Sorry if this thread is not in the right place. Please move it if it's necessary. I'm still new here
Thanks a ton, would try this today
Just tried it, something did not go right, firtly, I had a little different update file then yours, I had
OTA_ENDEAVOR_U_ICS_40_HTC_Europe_1.29.401.7-1.28.401.9_release_259295wbmgoi0p47wgsfl6
which is like 34.5mb or something....
I extracted it and got recovery.img from firmware.zip and followed your guide, but after fastboot reboot, when I entered my phone, I still see it on 1.28.401.9
what could be wrong? I saw the fastboot recovery command executed just fine...what else can it be?
Thanks!
This solution should work on any OTA phone with custom recovery and root access.
So you flashed the OTA recovery.img, restarted the phone and in the normal mode you started the System Software update, right? My phone installed the update with no problems and it was showing the new version. The thing I lost was the root access but I explained how to gain it back.
If an experienced developer is reading this thread they may be able to advise us why the solution did not work with your phone.
Hello,
point me in right direction please,
I had TF101 rooted and CWM installed,
First of all, I made backup and installed stock recovery from 8239USrecovery.zip file.
Next, I unfroozed DMClient and temperary unroot with OTARootKeeper
Unfortunately I removed some bloatware and can't update to ICS because of yellow triangle error,
found I have to update to 8.6.5.21 first (which is my current version)
I put WW_epad-user-8.6.5.21.zip file on sdcard, but i can't update to 8.6.5.21
"The update package is not compatible with your current software..."
now is fourth hour I'm googling and can't find 8.6.5.21 firmware to my TF101 (B60)
You can download the latest firmware from here http://support.asus.com/download.as...ansformer+TF101&os=&hashedid=gHh4q7I8dvWJzhdV
I think 9.2.1.27 is the latest ICS version.
What next?
gee one said:
You can download the latest firmware from here
I think 9.2.1.27 is the latest ICS version.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I accidentally bricked my ASUS TY101. Had down-graded it to root it, and upgraded it after. That worked, but when I tried installing another ROM (ASOP#5, I think) something went sideways, and I'm stuck on the boot screen.
ADB works, but I can't start the shell on the TF101, and I can't push a file as I don't know ADB syntax well enough, and everything read-only.
I have downloaded the latest ICS ROM (9.2.1.27) from ASUS, unzipped it once, and placed the extracted ZIPfile on the external micro-SDcard. However, CWM will not let me navigate to the micro-SDcard to select the ZIPfile to flash it.
Is there some way to skip past CWM to get to the ASUS loader - it is exists - so that I can use it to get to the ZIPfile on the micro-SDcard?
If not, is there something I'm missing with CWM?
Some syntax with ADB to get the push to work? What's the destination?
TIA;
Patrick
PMcHargue said:
I accidentally bricked my ASUS TY101. Had down-graded it to root it, and upgraded it after. That worked, but when I tried installing another ROM (ASOP#5, I think) something went sideways, and I'm stuck on the boot screen.
ADB works, but I can't start the shell on the TF101, and I can't push a file as I don't know ADB syntax well enough, and everything read-only.
I have downloaded the latest ICS ROM (9.2.1.27) from ASUS, unzipped it once, and placed the extracted ZIPfile on the external micro-SDcard. However, CWM will not let me navigate to the micro-SDcard to select the ZIPfile to flash it.
Is there some way to skip past CWM to get to the ASUS loader - it is exists - so that I can use it to get to the ZIPfile on the micro-SDcard?
If not, is there something I'm missing with CWM?
Some syntax with ADB to get the push to work? What's the destination?
TIA;
Patrick
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To fix the read-only error, use adb remount.
Then you can adb push.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
PMcHargue said:
I accidentally bricked my ASUS TY101. Had down-graded it to root it, and upgraded it after. That worked, but when I tried installing another ROM (ASOP#5, I think) something went sideways, and I'm stuck on the boot screen.
ADB works, but I can't start the shell on the TF101, and I can't push a file as I don't know ADB syntax well enough, and everything read-only.
I have downloaded the latest ICS ROM (9.2.1.27) from ASUS, unzipped it once, and placed the extracted ZIPfile on the external micro-SDcard. However, CWM will not let me navigate to the micro-SDcard to select the ZIPfile to flash it.
Is there some way to skip past CWM to get to the ASUS loader - it is exists - so that I can use it to get to the ZIPfile on the micro-SDcard?
If not, is there something I'm missing with CWM?
Some syntax with ADB to get the push to work? What's the destination?
TIA;
Patrick
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK. I managed to master the ADB command prompt well enough to "ADB Push c:\update.zip /sdcard/" Hey-zuss, there is a lot out there to read. After that, a few 2 tries with CWM got me to actually flashing '/sdcard/update.zip'
Steps I took:
Install the android SDK
Get the latest version of the ASUS ROM
Unzip the outer container.
Rename the zip carried inside to to "update.zip", and place it on 'C:\'
Start a command prompt in the directory with 'ADB.EXE' in it. (part of platform-tools for the android SDK)
In the command prompt, enter the statement, "ADB Push c:\update.zip /sdcard/update.zip'
Use ClockWorkMod to flash a new ROM, and chose the 'update.zip' from the root directory.
Chew nails.
(mine failed, so as a true windows user, I tried it again)
Chew nails.
Success.
The android SDK is easy to fin/install
The ASUS ROM is available from asus (find downloads/firmware for your system)
Now to time backup the ROM I have with CWM so I never have to do this again!
Hello guys! Hope I can find my salvation here. Hehe
I've been coding my Windows App that functions much like a custom recovery but I came into a problem which is bugging me
since last week. I can't seem to push files to my phone through adb. I have no idea why it wont work because pull is working fine, and shell as well. I tried remounting the file system as rw but still no luck. Hope you can help me out guys
My phone's Specification:
-Spreadtrum SC7731
-Running Android 5.1
My environment:
-Windows 10
-adb installed
-device drivers installed.
PS: If you are wondering why make a recovery that runs in PC while you can just have it in your phone?
-Unfortunately, I got a problem with that. I ported TWRP for my phone, but touch wont work which makes it useless.
Please help me sensei's!
Unlock the bootloader, flash a custom recovery (CMW for exmpl), put the root package at the root dir of the sdcard, now boot the phone into recovery mode and select install zip from sdcard then reboot
On pc, write the following command : "adb remount"
Gratzz you're now rooted and able to push files into system partition ��
Root at your own risk. Unlocking the bootloader makes you lose the warranty and will wipe your data .. So take a backup.
FinnTheHuman. said:
Unlock the bootloader, flash a custom recovery (CMW for exmpl), put the root package at the root dir of the sdcard, now boot the phone into recovery mode and select install zip from sdcard then reboot
On pc, write the following command : "adb remount"
Gratzz you're now rooted and able to push files into system partition ��
Root at your own risk. Unlocking the bootloader makes you lose the warranty and will wipe your data .. So take a backup.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Reread the OP. :fingers-crossed::fingers-crossed: I'm on Spreadtrum phone which means no source(yet.. or forever). I don't really know if you just misinterpreted the post or just trying to acquire post count. :3