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Posts Tagged ‘Rooting’

The Nexus line of phones is considered a developer phone. This means new Android OS updates will be tested. The Nexus S/Nexus S 4G from Google is considered one of these phones. What this means for us, is we have many more ROMs developed for us. This allows us to really tweak our phones to handle the way we want them to. Rooting your phone allows you to install these ROMs.

Another benefit to Rooting is allowing you to test new updates to Google’s Android OS. In most cases, the source for a new update or Android OS version is released to the general public a month or more before the official update. This allows independent developers to create their own ROMs. With as many developers there are, many different choice ROMS become available.

Just as a caution. These steps could possibly end up bricking your phone. Read through ALL of the directions before proceeding. Also, (Disclaimer follows) I cannot and will not be held responsible for any damage to your phone. I am providing these steps for informational purposes only. I recommend you get all the information possible before proceeding with the rooting process. This will maximize your chances of a successful root.

Here are the steps to rooting a Nexus S/Nexus S 4:

1) USB Driver, Android SDK files, and Modified Recovery Files

The USB driver is very important. This will not work without it and having an incorrect driver can cause the rooting process to fail. If it fails, then the phone could end up being bricked. I recommend getting the PDANet drivers. Just Google it and install the program. This will install the drivers, so you can run all of the commands while in the Bootloader (Explanation of the Bootloader is below).

The Android SDK files are necessary to be able to flash the appropriate images (Such as Recovery and any new Radios you wish to flash). Make sure you download the appropriate version of the SDK, so that the process becomes more reliable. If you Google Android SDK, then you should be able to get the files and see how to properly install them. The USB driver should be installed also. This will allow you to reboot into the Bootloader while the phone is on.

The modified recovery files will allow you to flash the new, rooted, Android OS. Search for Clockworkmod recovery 5.0.2.0 (Current version as of the publication of this article). This will be a .img file, most likely in zip format. You can use WinRAR or 7Zip to unzip the file. Two last files needed are the Superuser.zip file and the GWK74.zip file. These will give you the root access you need.

2) Fastboot, Bootloader, and OEM Unlock

This is where we unlock the Bootloader. Make sure your phone is plugged in with your USB cord and your phone is set to “Debugging Mode” (You can do this by going into Settings, selecting Application, then Development, check the box next to “Enable USB Debugging Mode”). Now, navigate to where the Android SDK is installed. Shift + Right-click the folder that has the “adb” file in it and choose “Open Command Window Here”. In the Command Prompt, type in “adb devices” and hit Enter. You should see a serial number displayed. Verify the serial number matches the phone serial number (You can find the serial number by going to the About Phone section in the Settings menu). If the serial numbers match, type “adb reboot Bootloader” (You can also boot into Bootloader by shutting the phone off and holding the power and volume up buttons until the Bootloader screen appears).

After the phone boots up again, you will be on a screen with the Android mascot and the serial number of the phone. This is where you will type “fastboot oem unlock” (Note, this will wipe ALL data on the phone. This includes storage memory. I recommend you backup any necessary files before attempting root anyway). A warning will pop up that says it will erase all data. Use the phone’s volume up button to select Yes. After a minute or so, you should see some of the text near the top turn red and say “Unlock State – Unlocked”. This will allow you to flash the new recovery image.

3) Flashing Recovery, Rooted ROM, and SuperUser

Now that the phone is unlocked, type “fastboot flash recovery [Name of Recovery Image].img” (For example, the name of the recovery image I downloaded was, “recovery-clockwork-5020-crespo4g.img”). After this is done, use the volume down button to select recovery. This will boot you into recovery mode.

Use the volume buttons to navigate to “mounts and storage”, then “mount USB storage”. This will turn your phone’s storage into a USB mass storage device. You should see a removable storage device pop up on your drive list. Open that up and copy the superuser.zip and GWK74.zip files to the drive. Now, select “Unmount”, then “++++Go Back++++”; Select “Install zip from sdcard” and “choose zip from sdcard”; Select the GWK74.zip. When it is done, repeat the previous steps and choose superuser.zip.

After all of this (This is actually the easiest of the phones to root), your phone should now be rooted. There are many things you can do with root. You can hack games, install other ROMs, and even mess with system apks for more customizations. You will be able to install other ROMs using the same process for installing the GWK74.zip. Have fun with the root permissions, and one last thing, remember that many force closes of apps installed on other ROMs can be fixed by selecting “fix permissions” under “advanced” in recovery mode and going back to stock after rooting requires a slightly different process.

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A smartphone can do almost anything a computer can do. Their potential is unlimited and, as technology keeps advancing, your phone will now be your goto device for almost anything. Your phone will eventually need to be customized much further than the device manufacturer will allow. Having your stock ticker, email, account info, etc. will cause too much clutter, slow down the phone, and can cause your phone to become almost unusable.

This is where Rooting comes into play. Rooting is the act of giving the phone user admin privileges, so he/she can better customize it to their liking. The original (Stock) Android Operating System (OS) is stable, but performance is downgraded and very limited in its functionality. Rooting your phone will allow you to install a better performing OS that has many more options for customization. There is also a downside to Rooting. You can “Brick” your phone, reduce the battery life considerably, and you can burn out your phone by upping the performance too much. Lets have a look at the benifits and risks of Rooting:

Benifits

- Better Performance

When it comes to using your phone as a smart device, performance is usually the limiting factor. Better perfmance will allow you to use your Android phone with more efficiency. Switching home screens will be much faster, apps will take less time to load, and the general operation of the phone will be much smoother.

- More Customization

Different Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) have different ways of expanding upon the base OS provided by Google (The Android OS). HTC has their Sense UI, Motorola has the Touch Wiz, etc.. These are called overlays. Manufacturer overlays are usually very bad for performance and some parts of the overlays are good for what you need other parts are not. Being able to pick and choose what you need is the best part of Rooting. For example, I only need 3 home screens on my phone; one for my work email, one for my bank account, and one for organizing my apps.

Risks

– “Bricking”

Bricking your phone is exactly what it sounds like. You turn your phone into dead weight. It becomes completely unusable. This can happen in the process of Rooting your phone and when you load another OS or kernel onto your phone. Normally, if you are successful in initially Rooting the phone, then you should be good. What can happen after Rooting is soft bricking your phone. This is when the phone becomes unsuable, but can be fixed by wiping the phone and restarting.

- Stability Issues

The stock OS is usually the most stable. It is the most tested OS and doesn’t allow you to accidentally change a setting, which can cause errors, reboots, and freezes. Other developers do not have the resources available to exstensively test their modified version of the OS. So, what you get can be full of errors. My suggestion for this is, do your research. Look and the name and version of the custom OS and see what other people are saying about it.

- Voids Your Warranty

Every phone comes with a one year manufacturer warranty. Rooting the phone voids the warranty and any issues that come from daily use will not be covered.

Rooting your phone turn it into a great resource for your daily tasks or even your business management. Eventually, your phone can become your mainstay device to accomplish your tasks. I highly recommend it.

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