Question about root and work BYOD policy - Nexus 5X Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Our work BYOD policies do not allow rooted devices. I was thinking I could just unlock bootloader, use TWRP to install ROM and then once that is set up, remove root access. Other than losing ability to have continual root access for apps that require it, this shouldn't be a problem right? It would still allow me to have a custom ROM but meet the requirement of not being rooted. I just thought I would ask for ideas and feedback here since I love the features and better battery life of custom ROMs. I am assuming I can still boot into recovery if I need to flash an update to the ROM and then remove root access after that.
Thoughts?
Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

Technically I supposed that would be fine, but "technically" isn't what you should be concerned about. Your criteria should be more like "if my work knew about this, would they have a problem with it" ? In other words, if you want to be sure, don't ask us, ask them. This is a work policy question, what you really need to know is "would this violate my work's policy" and we can't answer that.

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[Q] Can I root, load a custom ROM, then unroot? (while keeping the custom ROM)

I'm pretty new to Android but I thought to run custom ROMs you had to be rooted but someone mentioned that it might be possible to root, load a custom ROM, then unroot while keeping the custom ROM?
I have corporate email through Mobile Iron and it does not allow rooted devices. I'd like to be able to use a custom ROM but wasn't aware that it might be possible.
Through search I found this but it was somewhat inconclusive and it's for a Galaxy Note: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1766538
You can do that, but highly not recommended. The ROM itself might need root access to control certain options. Also, there isn't anything bad about keeping root.
Swyped on my Galaxy Nexus running AOKP with Franco Kernel
yes, very possible. you dont need root to have a custom recovery. you can always flash a rom of choice and delete the superuser binaries and app.then you wont have root. and youll still be able to flash other roms(youll have to delete the root stuff again). just temwber that without root some option in the rom wont work.
You don't need to "root" to install a custom ROM. You just need to unlock the bootloader and use a custom recovery to flash it.
After you've installed the ROM, feel free to remove the root access, or simply disallow apps from being granted superuser access. Just be aware that many features in ROMs are created with the assumption that the user will keep the phone rooted, so they may not work properly (or at all) when you remove root privilages.
I am in the same exact situation. I just stumbled upon this post. I run Bugless Beast on my GNex and I asked the dev if it could be unrooted by removing SU and superuser and the answer was yes. I won't find out if thats the case until January, but if you get it to work please post here. I am going to be the admin for our MobileIron deployment but I don't have enough pull to make a separate policy for myself that allows root. Don't really wanna lose my job
mgs333 said:
I'm pretty new to Android but I thought to run custom ROMs you had to be rooted but someone mentioned that it might be possible to root, load a custom ROM, then unroot while keeping the custom ROM?
I have corporate email through Mobile Iron and it does not allow rooted devices. I'd like to be able to use a custom ROM but wasn't aware that it might be possible.
Through search I found this but it was somewhat inconclusive and it's for a Galaxy Note: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1766538
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes you can but shouldn't. Due to because the rom itself might need root access to run. Lets say you overclocked or underclocked then root access is required from when you boot into your phone otherwise. Well I don't know after that. But to answer you question yes you can.

Couple of questions

So I received my new N5X yesterday and loving it. Typically I root Nexus' right out of the box but this time I decided to give it a shot in stock form. Now I'm looking to unlock the bootloader and root but I have a few questions.
Android Pay - will unlocking my bootloader and rooting the stock ROM break Android Pay?
Encryption - will unlocking my bootloader and rooting the stock ROM prevent me from staying encrypted?
I love the stock ROM but would like to add an ad-blocker, snapprefs (for snapchat), among a couple others.
All help is appreciated!
I don't use Android pay so I can't help you with that.
You only need to take care if you want to keep the phone in un-encrypted.
Encrypted mode is the default anyway so you won't have any problems keeping it encrypted.
You may have some trouble keeping you're encrypted data partition when installing a custom ROM though.
peltus said:
You only need to take care if you want to keep the phone in un-encrypted.
Encrypted mode is the default anyway so you won't have any problems keeping it encrypted.
You may have some trouble keeping you're encrypted data partition when installing a custom ROM though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah - perfect! No plans for a custom ROM so no worries there.
Anyone have experience with a rooted, stock ROM and Android Pay?
In the following topic they are talking about an exposed app called ' no device check'.
Maybe something to get you started in looking into Android pay:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-5x/general/marshmallow-xposed-t3249145/page2

Any way to secure a rooted phone? Does root break things?

I am considering this phone as a replacement for Note 7, so I have some questions about root.
Does it break Android Pay, and if so, is it permanent? Like does it fry "secure element?" Or can one root, install adblock .hosts, but then reverse the effect?
Also, if the phone is rooted, can it still be secured? So, if I lose my phone, can someone plug it into usb and flash/wipe data? Or can it be secured, so that it could only be tampered by the owner?
Thanks.
nabbed said:
I am considering this phone as a replacement for Note 7, so I have some questions about root.
Does it break Android Pay, and if so, is it permanent? Like does it fry "secure element?" Or can one root, install adblock .hosts, but then reverse the effect?
Also, if the phone is rooted, can it still be secured? So, if I lose my phone, can someone plug it into usb and flash/wipe data? Or can it be secured, so that it could only be tampered by the owner?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Gentle bump.
At the current moment there's currently no root yet (although Chainfire did got seamless root working with boot image mods but is still working on getting everything done) and there's currently no custom recovery.
Also, Google hasn't used SE for the longest time since Verizon and other carriers has been locking out that chip on the SIM card for a long time. Instead they do some sort of emulation of sort which is stored in the data encrypted so if you ever wipe your phone you don't have to worry about the SE being all jacked up without unregistering it first.
In terms of being able to use Android Pay, it does check to see if the bootloader is unlocked but there's already a kernel out that bypasses that check and I'm able to use it just fine so even if you are rooted I'm sure you could just use that kernel and it'll still work (I'm not able to test with root since the root isn't publicly available yet but usually you can go into SuperSU and tell it to hide su and android pay should still work if it does check to see if su is installed on top of the bootloader being unlocked). So there's always ways around it.

Modifying G988u from verizon

Can i modify my g988u from verizon in anyway? And if so how? Im new to this kind of stuff. I know i should probably leave verizon
You might be able to disable some packages with ADB , but beyond that, if your phone has been receiving OTA updates, it's likely hopeless. Substantial customization requires root, and that is precluded by locked bootloaders. There are paid services that can unlock bootloaders in S20s with older software, but my understanding is this isn't an option for devices with newer software
I actually just switched to Verizon, entirely motivated by AT&T's hostiliity towards most unlocked devices (that they don't sell). So, if you leave, who are you going to go to? T-Mobile is the most permissive of the big 3, but tends to lag in infrastructure.
Right didnt even look into that. Probably going to stay with verizon now that ya said that lol. Just curious What do people get out of from rooting their phone? I want to learn how and dont know where to start.
CainD5 said:
Right didnt even look into that. Probably going to stay with verizon now that ya said that lol. Just curious What do people get out of from rooting their phone? I want to learn how and dont know where to start.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A lot. Android phones have come a long way in past decade and change that they have been available, but root access, which is typically associated with at least an unlocked bootloader and possibly also a custom ROM, remains the single most powerful customization tool. A short non-exhaustive list of what you can do:
Use Magisk (See Magisk Module Repo for ideas of capabilties).
Use EdXposed or LSPosed (See Xposed Module Repo for ideas of capabilities).
Install a custom kernel (natively mount CIFS/NFS filesystems, overclock your device, and all sorts of other options).
Permanently debloat your ROM (survives hard reset).
Enjoy the best ad blocking experience.
View/backup/edit private application data.
There are also downsides to root, such as tripping the warranty void bit (and disabling Knox-related functionality like Samsung Pay, likely losing filesystem encryption, and greatly increasing your odds of a malware infestation. That said, the XDA site is largely powered by the modding/root access community, so those risks aren't discussed much.

Trying to follow the guide of rooting my Moto One Action

So I have successfully unlocked my motorola by following the official guide but am stuck on the next step because I don't know what I'm supposed to download next. I installed magisk from the official github onto my phone but that's about it. Thanks in advance for any help.
Which rom are you using?
So all I have done so far is unlocked my bootloader, do I need to download a rom next. I'm very inexperienced on this subject and saw a video of the different cool customizations you can do with a rooted phone.
So, there are two different things.
1. rooting gives you access to system files, so they can be modified/erased etc.
2. a custom ROM doesn't necessarily give you root access, but it can give you cool customizations built-in, or a newer version of Android, for example.
Personally I'm not a big fan of rooting in general. Because that comes with a couple of caveats. One being that your banking apps won't work anymore, unless you fiddle with magisk stuff to make it show like the device is not rooted, and stuff like that. I don't need root, so I don't generally need Magisk either.
But if you want to try a cool ROM for this phone, and you like stock Android, you could try the Pixel Experience ROM. The only thing that doesn't work (and I don't know how to fix right now), is VoLTE and VoWIFI. But it might work for you.
LineageOS works for VoLTE (with IMS APN added by the user), but still doesn't work for VoWIFI. It could be that it requires a few specific files to be flashed from the stock ROM. I don't know. So far I couldn't get it to work.
So, next step would be either staying on stock ROM, and fiddling with Magisk (but keep in mind some DRM apps won't work, some payment stuff won't work and so on so forth), ooor go flash a custom ROM (such as Pixel Experience), and enjoy it the way it is.
The choice is yours.
One advice I have: don't relock the bootloader unless the option in Developer Options > OEM Unlocking is ON. Doesn't matter if it's greyed out or not. But it needs to be ON.
Why? Because, if something happens and you can't boot because you locked your bootloader on a custom ROM for example (which you should never do, by the way), you won't be able to unlock it again, so you can fix your boot, if that option is OFF. So be very careful with that.
When that option is ON, it means bootloader is allowed to be unlocked (it's unlockable). When it's OFF, it's not. If it's not unlockable, you can't unlock it, so you can't flash anything. Which is really bad if you need to fix something and the only way is flashing.
Ok, I took some time to reflect based on what you said. I really do value being able to use banking apps so i guess I will try to fiddle with magisk stuff after I root my device. Speaking of which I was following this guide and I went through the procedure twice but for some reason after I ran the root checker plus app from the play store it says that root was not properly installed. Not sure what part of the process I did wrong but I await any feedback.
Technically, all you need is Magisk installed. That will also give you root access. You don't need anything else.
But maybe flashing was not done right? I don't know. Do you get an error? If so, it would be good to know which error.

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