Database Info

Rooting question

Hello eveybody,
I just switched over from my HTC WinMo phone to this amazing Android EVO phone. I've continuously have been hearing the term "root" or "rooting" alot in this community. My question is sort of noobish; what does it mean to root your phone? Also, how can I do this to my phone?

It means you gain unrestricted access to the kernel of your phone. It allows you to install custom roms, themes, custom apps etc.
the easiest way i know of is to use unrevoked.com. they have an all-in-one method to give you full root in one fell swoop. good luck!

The way I picture rooting the phone is like jail breaking an iPod. So once my phone is rooted, I can download new apps, music, ringtones, wallpapers, themes, ect.??

On android you can download all that from the market, rooting takes customization to a whole other level. Just do a search and read up on it.
sent from the phone that is EVO

To me, rooting is admin like mode.
On your pc you have guest, limited and admin accounts. All accounts gave different levels of clearance.
I don't know much about linux but logging in as root gives you absolute highest permissions to do things. Imo, They sell these phones in non root able fashion so we don't break the os and ask for a replace ment due to malfunction. And to maybe lock us out of goodies that they want to up sell to us like adhoc wlan teathering.
Through the hard work of some folks, we can gain root access and have more fun. On the flip side, we can also do more damage as root.
I am rooted, but seldom use the root access. Imo Most people root so they can flash roms and teather for free.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

[Q] About Root

First of all this isn't a "what is root!??!!??" nor a "OMG I BRICKED MY PHONE SOMEONE HALP!" type of question.
This is more of a "I want to understand what's going on under the hood" type of question.
I'm asking this because I haven't seen the answer anywhere and it'd probably take me several days putting together a bunch of tidbits of information about this to understand it.
What does getting root on an Android device involve? I've used 1-click tools, flashed kernels that include root (CF-Root, for example), used adb and nvflash. What goes on at the OS level?
Thanks in advance to any helpful soul that replies!

pretty much its granting sysadmin rights to your phone.

It gives you admin level access to the operating system. You can customize apps, looks, performance and a good host of other things including backups, flashing ROMs etc..

Thanks guys, but like I said, I know what rooting is and what it's for. I have both of my android devices rooted (Galaxy S and Asus Tablet).
What I want to know is, when you root a device, what's modified, what does rooting actually involve, under the hood.

Root is a Linux term. In Linux based operating systems there is a predefined user account called root. When a device I shipped to you, the manufacturer has prevented you from being able to be root user for safety, and to prevent you to add, remove or modify things at a system level. When you perform the procedure of rooting your device, you change the su binary in the system directory, usually through a security exploit, to remove these restrictions that the manufacturer has bestowed upon your device, and now you have full access to anything on your phone
Hope this is helpful, and I case you do not read my awesome signature, please hit the thanks button to show your appreciation if this helped

Root is a Linux term. In Linux based operating systems there is a predefined user account called root. When a device I shipped to you, the manufacturer has prevented you from being able to be root user for safety, and to prevent you to add, remove or modify things at a system level. When you perform the procedure of rooting your device, you add su binary in the system/bin directory, usually through a security exploit, to remove these restrictions that the manufacturer has bestowed upon your device, and now you have full access to anything on your phone
Hope this is helpful, and in case you do not read my awesome signature, please hit the thanks button to show your appreciation if this helped

Thanks again but, again that's not what I'm asking. OK here goes again:
- I know what rooting is
- I know what root is for
- Both my phone and my eePad are rooted
- I know what su is. I've used Linux and UNIX
What I want to know is, what is actually modified on the android OS when rooting the phone!
Is the kernel modified?
are permissions modified?
Is it an API thing?
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk

Rooting usually consists of 2 parts, the vector and payload:
All those rooting apps use various exploits to insert the payload. On devices that can install custom recoveries without rooting (ie unlocked bootloaders) they can merely use the recovery to directly install the payload.
There's dozens of vectors including making a 'superboot' kernal which include the payload and installs it on the first boot (i think?)
The payload is minimally the SU binary and the superuser app. Both are made by the same guy.
On the Dell Streak (which has an unlocked bootloader) rooting is just flashing an update.zip containing the SU binary and superuser app. A simple copy to /system. Newer rooting apps also include patches to plug up the exploit that they used themselves. Gingerbreak includes a dummy /system/bin/profile that plugs up the exploit used to install itself(?)
If the kernel is modified it's prob at runtime and not a hard patch, if it modifies it at all (i dont know), my assumption is that the linux kernal in android retains hooks that SU uses to link up with the system and normally it's simply not enabled by not including a SU binary. The superuser app of course just more or less a front end to SU (settings and logging)
Unlocked bootloader devices are likely the most reliable to root since they dont depend on exploit vectors, as updates plug them up they have to find a new vector or modify them, which means that there are open vectors that actual malware can use. Using a custom recovery to flash is the intended purpose of having an unlocked bootloader.

I'm very new to this so please forgive this old man. I'm 60 years old and bought a brand new Viewsonic G Tablet. Then after getting it I searched the internet on how to make it better. Seems everything depends upon "rooting" the device. I spent the day and now it's 11pm searching the net, watching youtube videos and reading about but no one actually gives you a step by step answer. I'm hoping one of you fine people help me out, please.
I guess I was wrong. Not one person has stepped forward to help me. Thank you so very much. I know what rooting is but what I don't know is how to root my Viewsonic G Tablet 2.2. You'd think I was asking for the code to a Swiss Bank Account. LOL With PC's I'm a wiz, or was until I reached 55 or so and then things were just going so fast and over my head. But when it comes to this, I'm like a brand new student trying to learn Japanese. All I need is for someone to please give me a step by step instruction on how to do it. If you'd like, I'll Paypal you some money for helping me.
Thank you
Philip Bock CSM US Army (Retired)

Thanks Manil! That's what I was looking for! It seems that most devices have a locked bootloader, and now I understand why it takes a bit longer (more than a few hours) to root each new device,
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk

pabock said:
I'm very new to this so please forgive this old man. I'm 60 years old and bought a brand new Viewsonic G Tablet. Then after getting it I searched the internet on how to make it better. Seems everything depends upon "rooting" the device. I spent the day and now it's 11pm searching the net, watching youtube videos and reading about but no one actually gives you a step by step answer. I'm hoping one of you fine people help me out, please.
I guess I was wrong. Not one person has stepped forward to help me. Thank you so very much. I know what rooting is but what I don't know is how to root my Viewsonic G Tablet 2.2. You'd think I was asking for the code to a Swiss Bank Account. LOL With PC's I'm a wiz, or was until I reached 55 or so and then things were just going so fast and over my head. But when it comes to this, I'm like a brand new student trying to learn Japanese. All I need is for someone to please give me a step by step instruction on how to do it. If you'd like, I'll Paypal you some money for helping me.
Thank you
Philip Bock CSM US Army (Retired)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I searched for "Viewsonic G Tablet 2.2 root" and found this http://droidpirate.com/2010/11/27/how-to-root-your-viewsonic-g-tablet/
Looks promising, no garantees though.

"To Root or not to Root?" that's the question...

I don't want to know how to root, I can find my answer for that on Google, however what I don't get is what it does...
I know it unlocks the device somehow, but can't I simply access everything in the system if I compile android from source and install it on the device?
I have downloaded the android source and I believe I can access every possible thing, so why is rooting needed?
If I install an app as a system app, won't it automatically have the permissions to do what I need it to do?

AFAIK rooting is for the people you'd call the end user/consumer or whatever.
If you have a new phone and want to install one of the many custom ROMs around, you simply need a rooted phone.
A custom ROM is in easy terms a custom made User Interface for the phone.
There is lot more complicated stuff going on under the hood, but in general you change the look and feel of you phone's UI.
The phone has to be rooted, because the manufacturers and net providers around pack a lot of useless crap called "bloatware" (like Samsung Shop and Samsung Play and Samsung Sing and Dance and Music and whatnot) on your phone, which often makes it slower than it can be without it.
But naturally the big corps don't want you to be able to get rid of that **** too easily, which is why you don't have access to the system folders as a normal user.
I guess in your case it's possible that you (if you compiled android from source and installed it on your device) so to say have an already rooted phone, since Android itself is rooted by default. Like I said, the manufacturers are the ones to unroot Android in order to dictate which apps their customers might or might not use.
But I'm a noob and am not sure how you would install Android on your phone if it's new (and unrooted by default?) if you haven't rooted it before?
meh, hope that helped a bit at least...

root- you would love to do it after reading this..
Root? what is it?
it is what i call full access to our phone, flash new roms, have dual boot (example- you can have to os like ics and JB), can access the evasive /data folder which holdes the apk/setups of apps installed from playstore and many other things..
If you are concerned about warranty you can unroot your phone and give in your phone for warranty. i have given my phone for warranty like this.
The most important thing i like about root is that i can fix my phone myself (if it is a software problem). any other question please ask, and i will answer it.
Thanks if helped!

I don't have the time for development anymore. I used to play with stuff like that years ago, but life has taken me away from it. I'd still like to be able to access everything on my phone and play with custom roms, and root lets me do that. The end consumer comment is a good one.
As for to root or not root, I tell most people who ask me to root for them what they use their phone for and explain what they would get out of rooting, and explain the risks involved. Seems that people who understand what rooting does are able to do it themselves, and the ones that ask you to do it for them usually decide against it after hearing "there is a tiny chance that your phone could get bricked" lol

If you just want to play emulators etc, how would you benefit from rooting?

IMO rooting is very useful if you want to keep touching system things in a stock rom, optimizing and debloating it, installing other people ROMs, etc... I believe that if you compile your own flavour of android and find no restriction doing whatever you want, you don't need to.

Android phone without root is nothing

McFex said:
AFAIK rooting is for the people you'd call the end user/consumer or whatever.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
:good:
McFex said:
But I'm a noob and am not sure how you would install Android on your phone if it's new (and unrooted by default?) if you haven't rooted it before?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Some phones can just be flashed (for example via usb) which gives you full control, others can be cracked.

UG007B RK3188 MINI PC extSD ROOT METHOD?

Hello to all, I am relatively new to the world of rooting, have succesfully rooted/unlocked galaxy tabs (various models), HTC AMAZE 4G. so i have a tad bit of experience to say the least. However, my UG007B will not connect to the pc, have scoured the web and xda developers forum for drivers, but even that and holding the reset button down don't work (which maybe broken). Anyways, is there a pre-rooted firmware I could update via ClockworkMod 'ROM MANAGER' App, by downloading the .zip file from the sd card. OR via the TERMINAL (please provide link to scripts, Posted Instructions, thx)
Is there a way I can root it without pc connection, or should I just return it? If this can be done, any links to some good custom rooted firmwares or ROMS. (CAN you even flash Custom ROMS without Root. As far as I know, you can't. but then again im still a NOOB.)
Last Questionpurchase decision advice, $50 at stake) I shelled out Fifty Bucks for this tab and would like to GET ALL THE FEATURES I CAN FROM IT. Am I really missing anything by NOT Rooting the device? I mean I mainly just use it for High Res. 720p/1080p playback, along with games, and web browsing.
Any help would be more than appreciated, as information relayed to me, will in turn allow me to contribute to the Site Forums :good:

[Style 2] Anyone know any info about Poot-debug(W100).apk?

I have come across a few tutorials claiming this app can get root, but I've never heard of it and so I will not try it fit fear of breaking my phone. Just wondering if this is known malware or at least semi legit? I stress that no one actually try it unless you're ready to not be able to use that phone again, but if any brave soul is willing to take the risk I'd be interested in any info.

It's not in any way legit as far as I can tell. I ran across it while looking for an easy way to root my phone and the APK turned out to be PUP adware that tried to gain device admin privs. At first I wondered if I just got a bad package, but I was never able to find a legit version. I did test the APK I had (out of pure curiosity), and it didn't actually install a launchable application at all. Just a hidden app that runs as a device admin and randomly launches the web browser and redirects to various ads. (Malwarebytes can detect and remove what seems to be all traces of it.)