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[Q] rooted or de-branded

hi.im new so please go easy
anyway my question is what the difference between debranded and rooted.i had stock o2 desire and put new rom on it and made the goldcard thing but aint sure if im rooted or what??i cant seem to get the ota update and aint sure what rom to upgrade for the new ota update(if there is one)also my camera goes split screen sometimes(kinda purple and pink)with 2 images sometimes.any help would be greatly appreciated.thanks H

First how did you put a new rom on it? If you made the goldcard and ran a .exe file on your computer you are debranded Explanation to follow:
Debranding: as the word says, this is about removing a certain branding(could be orange or in you case o2 software stuff) In order to do this we flash a stock(non rooted) rom directly from HTC without all the branding. This is normally only possible on unbranded phones, as branded ones should only be able to run a rom from whatever carrier branded it. Here we use the goldcard in order to make the phone accept original software from HTC and not only from the carrier. So the only difference made is, that we get rid of all the carrier stuff and only have original HTC firmware.
Rooting: this is very different, and as the name suggests, this is something we do to gain root access(full system access without limits from the software) to the system. This is done by placing a su-binary in /system/bin and the superuser.apk in /system/app, because then we can grant su-access to apps using the binary.
The actual root process is the hard part, because on stock phones, we cant place those files, so we must use some sort of security hole. On desire we use a hole, which lets us replace the recovery, and then we can use a custom recovery to place the su-files and get root.

thanks morten
would you have info on an easy to do root option for a dummy
i cant get the new update as my phone crashes everytime i try to install it,
plus i would like to get the full benefits of my handset and get some cool themes and stuff.if i root it does it affect the downloading of apps and stuff??many thanks H

Use this link http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=788044. I did it last night and it works perfectly.
However, I now have a question. My phone is successfully rooted and I would like to set it up so that all apps run off the SD. I know this can be done, I have seen reference to apps2SD but I can´t work out what I need to do. Also, I presume I will lose everything on the SD at the moment?

[Q] Can I root without factory reset?

Yes, I know...the answers are all in the forum. But those threads are pages and pages and pages and I just need someone to tell me if I'm on the right track.
Soon I'm going to have to have my Evo replaced because the USB port is loose and I assume it is eventually going to break completely. I would like to...
1 - root
2 - titanium backup
3 - factory reset
4 - get new phone
5 - root
6 - restore
My goal is to switch phones and not have to reinstall everything and redo all my settings. Am I on the right track?
I planned to use the 3-click root app that I found here on the forums, btw.

You can root without a reset and losing your data. I was able to use unrevoked 3.32. In my case I wanted to root but not flash a new ROM so I did not need or want to clear my data in the process.

I'm confused...Unrevoked's web site says it doesn't work on stock Froyo. Does that mean my Sprint Evo? Or do they mean if you have literally a stock Froyo, i.e. no HTC Sense?

Use z4root.
Download the app from the xda thread, it is not in the market. click temporary root. you will have a limited root access until next reboot. Use titanium backup. reboot phone, uninstall z4root. make sure to remove all files from SD card before bringing the phone to the sprint store.

I used the info here:
http://unrevoked.com/rootwiki/doku.php/public/unrevoked3
If you have a stock Sprint Evo this should work for you. I have not tried it on an Evo running the latest OTA update but it should work. My Evo was a HW 0003 with Build 3.30.651.3 and HBOOT 2.02 and it worked fine. I was able to root and then install Titanium Backup to backup all of my data. I also made a Nandroid backup of the entire ROM before I did any experimenting. I still have not flashed a new ROM although I have experimented with some kernels. I still have my data on my phone at it exited before I rooted.
I would think you should be able to root, backup your data, and restore that data to another phone.

I also agree that z4root would work for you if you just want to do a backup of your data. This would save you from the trouble of unrooting before your exchange your phone.

What makes the z4root temporary?

z4root achieves root access in a way that allows you do things that require root access without making any permanent changes to your phone. Once you will have root access until you reboot. This would allow you to install Titanium Backup (and busybox) and get a backup. You could then uninstall busybox, Titanium, and z4root and cleanup before the exchange.

m20120 said:
z4root achieves root access in a way that allows you do things that require root access without making any permanent changes to your phone. Once you will have root access until you reboot. This would allow you to install Titanium Backup (and busybox) and get a backup. You could then uninstall busybox, Titanium, and z4root and cleanup before the exchange.
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awesome. thanks to everyone for the quick answers.
ok so one last question. can I remove Sprint bloatware while it's temporarily rooted with z4root?

I'm pretty sure that you can not. And also sprint would know you were f-ing with the phone if all the bloat was missing.

Yes. You should be able to remove preinstalled applications while you have temporary root. You can also use Titanium for that. This is the only mod that I have done to my stock Evo after rooting. Obvously you would only want to do that the the new phone.
I used Root Explorer and simply moved the unwanted apps to my sdcard so I could restore them later if I wanted them back or if I caused a problem by removing an app.
I did not used z4root but I understand that you can do anything with temporary root access that you would normally do with permnanant root except flash custom roms, recoveries and kernels. If you want to remain stock or just remove bloat this is a good way to go. You should even be able to run apps like Wireless Tether, etc tis way... you just have to get root again each time you reboot.

Fazulka said:
I'm pretty sure that you can not. And also sprint would know you were f-ing with the phone if all the bloat was missing.
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well that was for when I get the new phone. but thanks.

Hmmm... I just tried z4root my the wife's Evo (a bit newer than mine with the latest OTA) and it did not work. It told me that I had temp root but no program was able to get root access. Might have to do some more research.

m20120 said:
Hmmm... I just tried z4root my the wife's Evo (a bit newer than mine with the latest OTA) and it did not work. It told me that I had temp root but no program was able to get root access. Might have to do some more research.
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Yes I just had the same problem. Installed z4root, ran it, it went through the steps in about 30 seconds, said I was temporarily rooted...but Titanium Backup says it can't get root priveleges.
Rebooted, tried z4root again...same result.

I uninstalled z4root, installed busybox, rebooted, installed z4root...still doesn't work. it says it works, but Titanium Backup and busybox both say it's not rooted.

actually busybox is not installed. it won't install without root privileges. seems like a catch 22 if you have to root to install something that is required in order to root in the first place.

random noob questions...

OK,
1st Hi all and thanks for not bashing my lack of knowledge. I have done many searches and am now more confused than before.
I am comming from a droid X, I did the z4 root on it to get wifi tether working, it was on 2.2.1 I believe. Well it went very good, but I never got a push for an update. Got the new GN on verizon and tried to restore it back to stock, didn't work, so instead of selling it I gave it to my mom. Also, did this on a friends and he did get the update push and lost the root and superuser access.
This story is just so you know I am a complete noob. Other than following someones set by set on using Z4 I have really not done anything and have some questions on my new phone.
1. why would I want to unlock the bootloader?
2. after reading about the wifi hotspot by svtp do I need to root?
3. If i root and/or unlock the bootloader will this stop the updates from google (main reason I bought the phone)?
4. I am not into overclocking or modding but I want to be able to have wifi if I ever need it. That is the only thing I want.
Basically I am looking to unlock the wifi and still get all the google updates, is this possible? As of right now I think buying the svtp app is my best bet, I just don't want an unexpected bill showing up.

ok, still not rooted or unlocked. cannot get svtp to work wifi

Follow this guide --> http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1382163

re #1: you need to unlock the bootloader to do pretty much anything non standard with your phone.
Since unlocking the bootloader wipes all data on the phone it's a good idea to do it early. You can leave it otherwise stock while you think about it, you can even relock it if you need to return the phone for some reason.
Neither unlocking nor rooting the phone will stop you getting the OTAs, it's custom roms that will do that. However most OTAs will stop your root access because they reset the permissions on your su files.
hth

Clancy_s said:
Neither unlocking nor rooting the phone will stop you getting the OTAs, it's custom roms that will do that. However most OTAs will stop your root access because they reset the permissions on your su files.
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Just to add further to this... not only will custom ROMs stop you from getting OTA updates, having custom recovery (ClockworkMod) will prevent them from applying, even with the stock ROM. If using a stock ROM with custom recovery, you'll need to do the update manually. If you wait until you get the update notification, your phone should have downloaded the update to /cache. You can then use the custom recovery to apply the update. Alternatively, you can look on these forums for someone to post the URL to the OTA update zip file, download it, and flash it manually (this way you don't need to wait until your phone gets the update, you can download it and have it sooner).
In either case, you'll usually need to re-root, as stated. This is easier with a custom recovery, because you should just have to flash superuser immediately after flashing the update, before rebooting.
Until CM9 is stable, I'm running the stock ROM with ClockworkMod recovery. I can download the OTA updates manually and flash them with ClockworkMod then flash superuser and I'm good to go. Custom recovery makes it nice and easy to retain root, as well as the ability to do nandroid backups, etc.

[Q] root and OTA

So I'm planning on rooting my LG G3 soon, (using PurpleDrake I suppose because TowelRoot doesn't work), and I will be installing Xposed after that. I will be keeping my stock recovery as well.
I want to keep my ability to update OTA however, and I know that there are issues with updating while rooted.
As such, will I be able to a) uninstall Xposed and then b) use SuperUser to hide root / or unroot somehow, and then c) accept the OTA
To make sure that no system files are touched, I plan on freezing any unwanted apps through TB (and unfreezing them before the OTA)
Will this work? Is it possible to unroot without having to wipe data?

It should yes long as system apps isn't overly modded. I plan on doing same as well as backing up system apps i mod and placing them back for ota

I don't have a G3 yet to verify..but we use 'boot unlocker' app to toggle root and tamper flag on N5.

Thanks for the responses guys! I wish that there was at least a small OTA update so that the people that are already rooted could actually test this.

To root or not to root?

So I got my phone today and rooted it directly. When I was browsing through the apps, I saw it has an update but it didn't let me install it because the phone was rooted. So, I had to go back to stock rom with a kdz file wiping everything, which seems to be the latest rom right now. I'm thinking about if i should root or not right now. Will I have to wipe everything again when the phone gets another update? Are you all in this situation or do i not know something correctly?

Some how I was able to install latest ota with root and also nothing was wiped.
Im not 100% sure but I think you can unroot with SuperSU then ota should go through but I may be wrong.

If you want to use apps like g3 tweaksbox, titanium backup etc, you will need root! I think you can do so much more when your Phone is rooted, so i would root it immediately!

homer285 said:
Some how I was able to install latest ota with root and also nothing was wiped.
Im not 100% sure but I think you can unroot with SuperSU then ota should go through but I may be wrong.
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I also took an OTA for my F460S while rooted and it worked. My phone also is fine (it didn't die, crash or kill itself). When I get my next OTA I'll upload a video to show that it does work for some odd reason (only for a few people that I have seen). The benefits of rooting outweigh the drawbacks. If you root your phone, than you should be comfortable flashing a KDZ to restore it.

OTA updates often modify existing pre-installed apps, otherwise known as bloatware, so they check to be sure those targets are present and unmodified. If you have rooted but not deleted or removed or frozen any such apps, your system will pass that OTA test.
Some OTA's also look for su being installed, and hiding su can fool that, depending...
Sometimes the OTA is just mean altogether, for your protection.
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