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To Root or not to Root?

I'm getting my Mom a Skyrocket for Xmas. I'm going to set it up for her. I would like to remove some of the ATT junk. That would require root. But when ICS comes, I would like her to be able to get the update OTA without any problems. She lives 600 miles away and I can't just fix things for her easily.
If I root and then unroot, will she be able to gt OTA updates?

yes if you unroot you can recieve the update. even if your rooted but have stock recovery you should be able to recieve the update.. you must have stock recovery

silver03wrx said:
yes if you unroot you can recieve the update. even if your rooted but have stock recovery you should be able to recieve the update.. you must have stock recovery
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So if I just root for su access. Then install a few apps that require superuser to install but not run,then uninstall root I should be OK. But I could also leave root maybe?

So we can root, delete bloat ware then unroot?

you may not be able to take and ota update if u deleted bloat... you can root and freeze your bloat then if theres an ota update unfreeze and take teh update. as long as you have stock recovery..

draztikrhymez said:
So we can root, delete bloat ware then unroot?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You missed a step
1) Root
2) Uninstall Bloatware
3) Install my own Bloatware
4) Unroot
I'm hoping that will work.
Or maybe leave root in place?

Silver03wrx is one of the best sources of help skyrockets have right now.
You only need stock recovery and bloatware means, you only need stock recovery and bloatware.
So freeze it, don't uninstall it. Anything that needs to be flashed by cwm, don't. Do it manually as cwm replaces stock recovery.
Aside from those, do whatever you want. Just make sure if any over the air updates come out, all the apps are unfrozen first or it can cause issues and/or no allow the update to install.
Play around with droidvnc. It allows remote connection to an Android. Let's you do remote assistance. Can be slow, but sometimes, most the time, faster than our parents.
Sent from my páhhōniē

silver03wrx said:
you may not be able to take and ota update if u deleted bloat... you can root and freeze your bloat then if theres an ota update unfreeze and take teh update. as long as you have stock recovery..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm new here, what does freezing do? I've seen it in Titanium. Won't the app still show in the appz menus?

les_garten said:
I'm new here, what does freezing do? I've seen it in Titanium. Won't the app still show in the appz menus?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no. thats the point of freezing. it wont show up in app drawer or run in background if its a service....from looking at your phone, it wont appear that its installed, however, the files are still there in case you need to defrost them later on for some service that Samsung requires for an OTA (over the air)
if you uninstall, you are REMOVING the files from /system/apps/ and we dont know how that will react to an OTA at this point.

Hi, sorry to re-open an old thread but I too am a new android user and was wondering about the future ICS update for our skyrockets.
The words that keep repeating in this post are "freeze bloatware" and "stock recovery" in order to get the official ICS update.
I rooted my phone and used bloat freezer free found in the app market to freeze a bunch of bloat and installed wifi tether for root users. Does this mean I still have "stock recovery"?
Sorry- I've been an iphone user for the past 4 years (since nearly the first day it came out) and i'm not familiar with all the android terms yet. thanks!

You would know if u had stock recovery. Because you would have had to flash cwm recovery tar with odin or installed it with rom manager. If u did not do eiher of those yes you have stock recovery

Is there a way to get root access without installing CWM? I thought that was the only way to install the superuser file?

[Q] Partial Root? TF700T 4.2.1

I have the asus TF700T, It isn't unlocked. I rooted when I was in ics, then used root keeper when I went to 4.1.1. I updated to the new 4.2.1. before doing the ota update to 4.2.1, I temp unrooted using voodoo ota root keeper.
I lost blue tooth, which thanks to the members here I fixed the permissions, and now have blue tooth again. I think i only have partial root ? I have the superuser app in app drawer ( proper terminology?) Titanuim back up is working and my previous apps are still frozen. titanium says I have root. I also am able to use previous apps that require root, that were installed before updating to 4.2.1 Root explorer, and quick boot.
In Voodoo rootkeeper all the boxes are ticked, Superuser app installed, device rooted, root permissions granted, /system supports root protection, protected su copy available. However when I use root checker, or got root, it says I don't have root? A app I tried "have root, says found su binary, this binary program is used to gain root access, although it is not always usable by 3rd party applications, your device does not appear to have root. I noticed That I didn't see busy box, although titanium backup says it there? I believe that titanuim back up has it on version of busy box? I tried installing busy box with Jrummy busybox installer, it says I have root, however didn't install busy Box. I also tried to install busy box from the market, it said i was not properly rooted? Is this a permissions situation?
If anyone can help, I would greatly appreciate it. I need fairly layman terms. I can understand what I read but am not advanced as some others.
I was much more comfortable with my OG droid, those were the easy days. I also have a rooted droid 4 running JB 4.1.1 which means i suppose I'm not a complete noob, but not too much better. Thanks again in advance

mercermtn said:
I have the asus TF700T, It isn't unlocked. I rooted when I was in ics, then used root keeper when I went to 4.1.1. I updated to the new 4.2.1. before doing the ota update to 4.2.1, I temp unrooted using voodoo ota root keeper.
I lost blue tooth, which thanks to the members here I fixed the permissions, and now have blue tooth again. I think i only have partial root ? I have the superuser app in app drawer ( proper terminology?) Titanuim back up is working and my previous apps are still frozen. titanium says I have root. I also am able to use previous apps that require root, that were installed before updating to 4.2.1 Root explorer, and quick boot.
In Voodoo rootkeeper all the boxes are ticked, Superuser app installed, device rooted, root permissions granted, /system supports root protection, protected su copy available. However when I use root checker, or got root, it says I don't have root? A app I tried "have root, says found su binary, this binary program is used to gain root access, although it is not always usable by 3rd party applications, your device does not appear to have root. I noticed That I didn't see busy box, although titanium backup says it there? I believe that titanuim back up has it on version of busy box? I tried installing busy box with Jrummy busybox installer, it says I have root, however didn't install busy Box. I also tried to install busy box from the market, it said i was not properly rooted? Is this a permissions situation?
If anyone can help, I would greatly appreciate it. I need fairly layman terms. I can understand what I read but am not advanced as some others.
I was much more comfortable with my OG droid, those were the easy days. I also have a rooted droid 4 running JB 4.1.1 which means i suppose I'm not a complete noob, but not too much better. Thanks again in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe it's time to try this new JB root method? http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2228613

motorchopper didn't help
buhohitr said:
Maybe it's time to try this new JB root method? http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2228613
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks For trying to help me. i really appreciate! it did try it and it said it was successful. however I still am not properly rooted. see screenshots after using motochopper

mercermtn said:
Thanks For trying to help me. i really appreciate! it did try it and it said it was successful. however I still am not properly rooted. see screenshots after using motochopper
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you go into the app draw and launch the superuser app?

buhohitr said:
Did you go into the app draw and launch the superuser app?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did, i noticed that it doesn't show me the recent app access, i have accessed root explorer today as well as titanium back up and quick boot, they all show earlier dates, but not the recent activity. See the screen shot. again I really appreciate the effort Thank You!!

got root
mercermtn said:
I did, i noticed that it doesn't show me the recent app access, i have accessed root explorer today as well as titanium back up and quick boot, they all show earlier dates, but not the recent activity. See the screen shot. again I really appreciate the effort Thank You!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay I got a brain fart and tried this: I unrooted with Voodoo root keeper, I then retried the motochopper exploit again, and Voila it rooted. all the apps are asking for superuser permission again, I hit the thanks button, Thank you!! every once in awhile the even a rookie gets it right! like they say "even the blind squirrel gets a nut or two"

mercermtn said:
Okay I got a brain fart and tried this: I unrooted with Voodoo root keeper, I then retried the motochopper exploit again, and Voila it rooted. all the apps are asking for superuser permission again, I hit the thanks button, Thank you!! every once in awhile the even a rookie gets it right! like they say "even the blind squirrel gets a nut or two"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey glad it's working. I'm about to write up a manual su push. Have fun.

I have very close to the same problem. Bluetooth was dead, and I managed to fix that with ADB shell and twiddling the permissions. Then I noticed that nothing that uses root worked. I have had my TF700 rooted since day one, though I never unlocked the bootloader.
After the update, when I tried to su to root in Better Terminal Emulator Pro, I got a huge list of java functions showing a permission error occurring. I tried cold booting twice in a row, then I did a factory reset, then I tried the motochopper method... Nothing has worked. I even used Voodoo OTA Rootkeeper to "Temp Unroot" and ran the motochopper batch file again.
One thing I have noticed is that the su binary (/system/bin/su) is owned by "root root", while everything else is owned by "root shell". Another thing is that after the OTA update, my tablet had two users, and I deleted the one that "wasn't me". Was that user important to keep? I'm wondering if that user had permission to become root, while my old user lost that permission somehow...

[Q] Lost root after 4.2.1 update

Hi,
So I did the usual thing I do before an OTA update, I opened Voodoo OTA Rootkeeper, protected the root, and then un-rooted. After applying the update I went back to voodoo and restored the root and got all the checks so it appears to be fine. Now I no longer get superuser prompts, but the app is there. Root Checker says im rooted but typing su in the terminal emulator shows me the # prompt but it looks different (with some permission denied) . Can someone help me forward the root to 4.2.1 or explain what I'm dealing with? I looked all over for a similar thread but couldn't find anything. The method I described is what i used for the last 4-5 updates and it kept the root just fine.
Also, I'm rooted but not unlocked. I would prefer fixes that doesnt involve unlocking,
Thanks.

00shakey00 said:
Hi,
So I did the usual thing I do before an OTA update, I opened Voodoo OTA Rootkeeper, protected the root, and then un-rooted. After applying the update I went back to voodoo and restored the root and got all the checks so it appears to be fine. Now I no longer get superuser prompts, but the app is there. Root Checker says im rooted but typing su in the terminal emulator shows me the # prompt but it looks different (with some permission denied) . Can someone help me forward the root to 4.2.1 or explain what I'm dealing with? I looked all over for a similar thread but couldn't find anything. The method I described is what i used for the last 4-5 updates and it kept the root just fine.
Also, I'm rooted but not unlocked. I would prefer fixes that doesnt involve unlocking,
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try using motochopper to gain root.

maxal said:
Try using motochopper to gain root.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried it and now I have both superuser and supersu. I still do not get prompts to allow/deny superuser acess and the apps that require root still do not work (like Volume+, Root Explorer, Browser2Ram...). Whem applying motochopper it seemed to apply successfully too.
This doesnt seem to be a common problem. Did I go about restoring the root wrong?
Thanks again.

00shakey00 said:
I tried it and now I have both superuser and supersu. I still do not get prompts to allow/deny superuser acess and the apps that require root still do not work (like Volume+, Root Explorer, Browser2Ram...). Whem applying motochopper it seemed to apply successfully too.
This doesnt seem to be a common problem. Did I go about restoring the root wrong?
Thanks again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The most effective way to use motochopper is to uninstall all root before you use it.

buhohitr said:
The most effective way to use motochopper is to uninstall all root before you use it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I cant access the system file since root explorer tells me I'm not currently rooted. I know that I need to remove su from system/xbin or similar. Is there another way to access/delete that file? I'm not willing to run a factory reset so thats not an option.
Thanks again for the help. You all are awesome.

00shakey00 said:
I cant access the system file since root explorer tells me I'm not currently rooted. I know that I need to remove su from system/xbin or similar. Is there another way to access/delete that file? I'm not willing to run a factory reset so thats not an option.
Thanks again for the help. You all are awesome.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The smartest thing to do once you rooted is MAKE A TITANIUM BACKUP of all your apps and settings. Don't corner yourself! since you're not unlocked, there is very limited action which you can do when things go wrong.... like right now. Also why people rooted? so they can installed rooted apps AND BACKUP their setup. So I don't know how much root you still have with your device (sometime some apps may cached and you still able to use root with them), you may try to un install root using superuser app option or you can download a backup app from the market, make a backup of all your apps, then you may need to factory reset or even re flash the full Asus firmware. If you reflash, it's very simple to gain root back.

buhohitr said:
The smartest thing to do once you rooted is MAKE A TITANIUM BACKUP of all your apps and settings. Don't corner yourself! since you're not unlocked, there is very limited action which you can do when things go wrong.... like right now. Also why people rooted? so they can installed rooted apps AND BACKUP their setup. So I don't know how much root you still have with your device (sometime some apps may cached and you still able to use root with them), you may try to un install root using superuser app option or you can download a backup app from the market, make a backup of all your apps, then you may need to factory reset or even re flash the full Asus firmware. If you reflash, it's very simple to gain root back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for all your help buhohitr! I performed a wipe, updated to 4.2.1 then used motochopper and it was flawless. I followed with a titanium back up of everything once I was done.

[Q] Verizon s3 4.4 questions

Hello XDA this is my first post,
I currently own a rooted verizon s3 on 4.3 (SCH-I535) and my device is trying to force me to update (it asks me if I want to update, I say no and it just updates and I have to force close the app but then it just opens again and starts updating). Does taking the 4.4 update remove my root access? If it does, do any of you know any s3 4.4 roots and bootloader unlocks (this was a recent update so it probably isn't likely?
Thanks!

ng4 said:
Hello XDA this is my first post,
I currently own a rooted verizon s3 on 4.3 (SCH-I535) and my device is trying to force me to update (it asks me if I want to update, I say no and it just updates and I have to force close the app but then it just opens again and starts updating). Does taking the 4.4 update remove my root access? If it does, do any of you know any s3 4.4 roots and bootloader unlocks (this was a recent update so it probably isn't likely?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not 4.4, it's another version of 4.3 (VRUCNC1.) There are currently no root methods that work on it. If you want to stay rooted, the easiest way is to not continue to not take the update. You can use titanium backup to navigate to system/apps and freeze the apps SDM1.0 and FWUpgrade to stop the update notifications. Or if you have the premium version of SuperSU installed, you can use the root saver or root keeper (whatever it is called) option in it to take the update and keep root.

landshark68 said:
It's not 4.4, it's another version of 4.3 (VRUCNC1.) There are currently no root methods that work on it. If you want to stay rooted, the easiest way is to not continue to not take the update. You can use titanium backup to navigate to system/apps and freeze the apps SDM1.0 and FWUpgrade to stop the update notifications. Or if you have the premium version of SuperSU installed, you can use the root saver or root keeper (whatever it is called) option in it to take the update and keep root.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks will do.

[Q] Question about rooting OTA KitKat

Hi everyone,
So I had rooted my phone using the Casual method, and mistakenly took the 4.3 OTA update (which locked my bootloader). Now, I'm on the KitKat OTA update (as of yesterday). In the sticky thread about the 4.3 update, I'm seeing a couple of things that make me hopeful. To be clear, all I want to do is root the phone--not install custom ROM's.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=52904692&postcount=11 says that you can use "Survival Mode" in Super SU, and http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=53484457&postcount=19 talks about Towelroot working.
My question is, since I got the KNOX bootloader, are these still options for me? And if the Survival mode is, how do I enable it?
Some more information. When I try to open SuperSU, it says that it's missing and can't be installed. And I'm on the May 20 build of the kernel, so I'm assuming that I can use Towelroot to root my phone--but I'd like confirmation.
Have a great day, and thanks.
Patrick.

I used towelroot. I then installed busy box and supersu. I then checked root. I happen to stumble on your question so pm and let me know how well it worked. I posted a comment in the towelroot thread.

Towelroot works fine. Once super su is installed, close and re-open it. It will ask if you want to disable Knox. Say yes. This isn't the boot loader, it stops it from checking for root. You will start getting notifications to update security on the phone. Do not accept. It states on the disclaimer that comes up that it will remove programs and files IT deems are harmful to your device... Which means it will unroot you and delete anything that may be part of rooting...
Sent from my SCH-I535 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

5ft24 said:
Towelroot works fine. Once super su is installed, close and re-open it. It will ask if you want to disable Knox. Say yes. This isn't the boot loader, it stops it from checking for root. You will start getting notifications to update security on the phone. Do not accept. It states on the disclaimer that comes up that it will remove programs and files IT deems are harmful to your device... Which means it will unroot you and delete anything that may be part of rooting...
Sent from my SCH-I535 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That might be a problem then too. I got the thing about automatic updates from Samsung (SE for Android) and accepted it. I can always disable it, if necessary. I'll see if it will still root, and will disable the automatic updates if not. UPDATE: I was able to run Towelroot, and root the phone. Then I was able to reinstall SuperSU. When it updated and found KNOX, I clicked OK to disable that. After a bit, SuperSU stopped. According to SuperSU, I have SuperUser enabled.
Have a great day.
Patrick,