Hey everyone,
I apologize in advance if this is breaking any forum rules or if it's a super noob question, but here goes.
I've got a stock AT&T V410 running Lollipop (had I known it would be such a hassle to root, I would've stayed on KitKat).
It's no longer under warranty so I'm thinking about rooting. Unfortunately, the only option that might work is KingRoot. Taking into consideration the possible "shadiness" of KingRoot, here is my idea:
1) Remove microSD and factory reset my V410. This is to have as little info on my V410 as possible before running KingRoot. If I can, I'll even skip adding my Google account.
2) Run KingRoot and see if the root is successful.
3) If successful, install Flashify and flash TWRP (which version should I flash?)
4) If not successful, do another factory reset and continue using my V410 like before.
5) After successfully flashing TWRP, I'll probably do another factory reset, if necessary, to have a clean OS without KingRoot.
6) With TWRP installed, I should be able to make a backup of my current V410 OS, right? I'd like to have this in case I try out CM and want to go back.
I think that's it. Assuming KingRoot can root my V410, does everything here seem viable? I know when I unlocked the bootloader on my OPO it basically did a factory reset anyway, but I want to be safe with KingRoot.
TL;DR
Will a factory reset remove KingRoot? Can I install TWRP and keep the original LG OS?
Won't work. The lollipop bootloader can't be unlocked, and I'm not aware of any exploits. TWRP won't boot. Stay on the lollipop bootloader and you're stuck with kingroot, stock rom, and stock recovery to the best of my knowledge.
I have heard of some methods to try to swap kingroot for supersu once you gain root, but I've also heard of that making a colossal mess with this tablet. Never dug into it, but I suspect supersu attempts to patch the boot image, messes up the signature, then the tab won't boot due to the locked bootloader.
The kitkat bootloader was locked too, but it was susceptible to the bump exploit that let us sign our own boot images.
If you're interested in TWRP and custom roms there is a route to downgrade back to the kitkat bootloader, but it sounds like a giant hassle.
Another random thought, there is a way to enable fastboot on this tablet (you would need root to do it). This method is for the LG G2, but it works fine on my V410. Maybe you could extract the partition images from the kdz in that thread linked above and flash them manually with fastboot instead of LG Flashtool, and get back to kitkat without making such a mess of the internal storage. Disclaimer: I haven't tried this and it could end poorly!!! :silly:
jason2678 said:
Won't work. The lollipop bootloader can't be unlocked, and I'm not aware of any exploits. TWRP won't boot. Stay on the lollipop bootloader and you're stuck with kingroot, stock rom, and stock recovery to the best of my knowledge.
I have heard of some methods to try to swap kingroot for supersu once you gain root, but I've also heard of that making a colossal mess with this tablet. Never dug into it, but I suspect supersu attempts to patch the boot image, messes up the signature, then the tab won't boot due to the locked bootloader.
The kitkat bootloader was locked too, but it was susceptible to the bump exploit that let us sign our own boot images.
If you're interested in TWRP and custom roms there is a route to downgrade back to the kitkat bootloader, but it sounds like a giant hassle.
Another random thought, there is a way to enable fastboot on this tablet (you would need root to do it). This method is for the LG G2, but it works fine on my V410. Maybe you could extract the partition images from the kdz in that thread linked above and flash them manually with fastboot instead of LG Flashtool, and get back to kitkat without making such a mess of the internal storage. Disclaimer: I haven't tried this and it could end poorly!!! :silly:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply jason2678
Good to know that even if I could root my V410, I wouldn't be able to unlock the bootloader, which is my whole reason for rooting. And yeah, current methods to downgrade to KitKat seems like a real pain; for the time being it seems like I shouldn't mess with what works
Related
I just got this phone. Android 4.2.2. I was wondering if rooting is still possible. I know that there are issues with unlocking the bootloader like, we can't. So can I still root and have the rooting goodies? If so, can you direct me to the correct method of rooting? All the methods I can find include unlocking the bootloader first and I don't know if I can just skip that step or not.
Thank you for your time.
Time To Shine said:
I just got this phone. Android 4.2.2. I was wondering if rooting is still possible. I know that there are issues with unlocking the bootloader like, we can't. So can I still root and have the rooting goodies? If so, can you direct me to the correct method of rooting? All the methods I can find include unlocking the bootloader first and I don't know if I can just skip that step or not.
Thank you for your time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To answer your question you need to unlock/s-off your phone to root it, I would recommend running the rumrunner tool, installing a customer recovery and then install a custom rom. The reason I say install a custom rom even if you want to remain stock is because you can get a stock rom without any bloat. Most of the bloat apps on the HTC One and pretty much any phone, run in the background as soon as your phone starts, this eats battery life and performance. For a stock rom check out Santod040, he has a good stock rom released, personally I like NuSense and ViperOne they are both very solid roms.
Read this thread - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2473644 it is the Rumrunner tool. I believe as long as you DO NOT UPGRADE to 4.3 you can still root/unlock/s-off, after you unlock/s-off you can install whichever rom you like without worrying about losing the ability to have root access.
You will want to get into the bootloader to check which OS version you have and then download the corresponding version of Rumrunner.
Edit:
Be sure to backup your whole phone as soon as you install a customer recovery. After the backup is complete, save a copy on your computer. There will be times when you are tinkering with your phone that you will need to get your phone back to a factory state, you can use a RUU but in my opinion that is more complicated process and you have a higher risk of something going wrong compared to simply restoring a backup.
Okay. Thank you. I will look into this.
I had 5.1.1 installed. Couldn't get KingRoot to give temp root (lots of people say you can only do it on 4.4.4, lots of other people say they got it to work on 5.1.1 if you read around).
So I tried downgrading to 4.4.4. Odin failed every time.
So I tried downgrading to 5.0.1. That worked. But kingroot still was unable to get root.
I then found King O Root. Tried that once, no luck. Tried it a 2nd time, and success. I then ran the samsund_fix file. And it changed my CID.
But then you have to restart the phone and run the fix file again.
I have run king o root (and tried kingroot) each at least 30 times now. And I can't get either to give me root access again. I've even tried the desktop version of king o root. Nothing.
I'm SOOO close I feel. But I can't get that last step. Its killing me.
Can anyone help with where to go next?
I figure either 1) I have to find a way to get temporary root one more time. OR 2) find a way to get down to kitkat 4.4.4 to get temporary root.
One other quick question, is the reason I can't get to 4.4.4 because I upgraded all the way to 5.1.1? EVERYTHING I read says 'yeah you can downgrade' but mine won't downgrade. Odin fails with an error So how do I get to 4.4.4? Am I just screwed?
NAND Write Start!
boot.img
FAIL! (Auth)
Are you sure you have to push the file again?
Sometimes it doesn't take and you need to push it again. The last couple of times I unlocked it went on the first try. Go into download mode and see if it says "developer mode."
I was able to unlock on 5.1.1. Kingroot and Kingoroot are extremely unstable besides being Chinese software with all of the risks that entails. There is supposedly a PC version of one of them (shudder) that is allegedly a bit more stable.
Where are you getting the firmware you're trying to use to downgrade?
douger1957 said:
Are you sure you have to push the file again?
Sometimes it doesn't take and you need to push it again. The last couple of times I unlocked it went on the first try. Go into download mode and see if it says "developer mode."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I'm not 100% sure I have to push the file again. I know when I ran the fix file in adb shell the first time, it said I have to run the fix script again. And then when I boot into download mode, I see nothing that says "developer mode".
But, on the other hand. When I check with the eMMC Brickbug checker thing. That says the CID did change according to what the samsung_fix script said it changed it to.
So I *think* the CID changed? But I don't have developer mode. So I think I need to run the fix script again to finish the job.
douger1957 said:
I was able to unlock on 5.1.1. Kingroot and Kingoroot are extremely unstable besides being Chinese software with all of the risks that entails. There is supposedly a PC version of one of them (shudder) that is allegedly a bit more stable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I actually tried a PC version of kingoroot. It also failed numerous times.
douger1957 said:
Where are you getting the firmware you're trying to use to downgrade?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm getting it from androidfilehost.
https://www.androidfilehost.com/?w=search&s=n910v
That's where I got the 5.0.1 version that worked when I went from 5.1.1 to 5.0.1. But I guess I could try finding a 4.4.4 version from somewhere else. I don't know where though.
It passes md5 check in odin. Though I'm not sure that means much.
nertskull said:
So I'm not 100% sure I have to push the file again. I know when I ran the fix file in adb shell the first time, it said I have to run the fix script again. And then when I boot into download mode, I see nothing that says "developer mode".
But, on the other hand. When I check with the eMMC Brickbug checker thing. That says the CID did change according to what the samsung_fix script said it changed it to.
So I *think* the CID changed? But I don't have developer mode. So I think I need to run the fix script again to finish the job.
I actually tried a PC version of kingoroot. It also failed numerous times.
I'm getting it from androidfilehost.
https://www.androidfilehost.com/?w=search&s=n910v
That's where I got the 5.0.1 version that worked when I went from 5.1.1 to 5.0.1. But I guess I could try finding a 4.4.4 version from somewhere else. I don't know where though.
It passes md5 check in odin. Though I'm not sure that means much.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This may be your problem. I don't think you can flash a rooted ROM with a locked bootloader with success. Try this one. (Thanks, @hsbadr!) It's the OEM firmware. This will mean that you'll need to start from scratch. I should note that another poster has had trouble flashing this firmware although other posters including myself have used it successfully.
@hsbadr has a repository of firmwares. What you're looking for is the full firmware. Sammobile is another source of firmware, but they're terribly slow to download from.
douger1957 said:
This may be your problem. I don't think you can flash a rooted ROM with a locked bootloader with success. Try this one. (Thanks, @hsbadr!) It's the OEM firmware. This will mean that you'll need to start from scratch. I should note that another poster has had trouble flashing this firmware although other posters including myself have used it successfully.
@hsbadr has a repository of firmwares. What you're looking for is the full firmware. Sammobile is another source of firmware, but they're terribly slow to download from.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried that firmware you linked to. That took me back to 5.1.1. I tried kingroot and kingoroot, and still no luck. After 8 or 9 tries each, I still can't get temproot.
I thought it would be better to go back to 4.4.4, and looked through hsbadr's list of roms you linked me to. I tried both of the 4.4.4 full firmwares (NJ5 and NI1) and both fail on odin.
It would seem to me I'm never getting back to 4.4.4/kitkat am I?
Should I just keep running kingroot/kingoroot until I can get temp root? I ran kingoroot at least 30 times last night on 5.0.1 and never got root again. I really don't understand why I could get it once but never again.
Should I try running it a million times on 5.1.1 where I now am again? Or should I go back to 5.0.1? Is there any other way to get temporary root?
nertskull said:
I tried that firmware you linked to. That took me back to 5.1.1. I tried kingroot and kingoroot, and still no luck. After 8 or 9 tries each, I still can't get temproot.
I thought it would be better to go back to 4.4.4, and looked through hsbadr's list of roms you linked me to. I tried both of the 4.4.4 full firmwares (NJ5 and NI1) and both fail on odin.
It would seem to me I'm never getting back to 4.4.4/kitkat am I?
Should I just keep running kingroot/kingoroot until I can get temp root? I ran kingoroot at least 30 times last night on 5.0.1 and never got root again. I really don't understand why I could get it once but never again.
Should I try running it a million times on 5.1.1 where I now am again? Or should I go back to 5.0.1? Is there any other way to get temporary root?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was able to unlock my bootloader twice on 5.1.1. I used Kingroot to unlock Lollipop and Kingoroot to unlock Marshmallow. See if you can find an older version of either root methods. I think I remember reading somewhere that the newer version is flakier than the older stuff. I'm fairly convinced that the rooted ROM you flashed is part of the problem.
As I said, Kingroot and Kingoroot are highly unstable. You may need to spend quite a bit of time in multiple attempts. It comes down to how badly do you want root?
douger1957 said:
I was able to unlock my bootloader twice on 5.1.1. I used Kingroot to unlock Lollipop and Kingoroot to unlock Marshmallow. See if you can find an older version of either root methods. I think I remember reading somewhere that the newer version is flakier than the older stuff. I'm fairly convinced that the rooted ROM you flashed is part of the problem.
As I said, Kingroot and Kingoroot are highly unstable. You may need to spend quite a bit of time in multiple attempts. It comes down to how badly do you want root?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Holy success. I have no idea why. But after rebooting the phone for the umpteenth time and running kingoroot another 20 times. It finally gave me another successful temp root, this time while on 5.1.1.
I ran the script again, and now when I got into download mode, I have Mode: Developer showing. Hooray.
BUT....then bootloops. I couldn't get it started.
I then accidentally wiped everything, completely wiped. No operating system according to twrp.
So I looked around, and it appears JasmineRom and CM13 by hsbadr are mentioned as good custom ROMs. So I grabbed CM13, used twrp to install it. And success. I have a working phone. At least, for the past couple minutes.
So a tremendous thank you for giving me some guidance.
I have two more questions for the moment though.
1) How easy/hard would it be to lose developer mode? Do I need to be careful about what roms I flash? Could I lose that? Or now that it is in developer mode, should I be pretty safe in that sticking around?
2) Can I try any Rom on it right now. There don't appear to be a lot of verizon note 4 specific roms around for this phone, because it hasn't had root for long. Will any of the other note 4 roms work? Or should I make sure to stick to only 'proven verizon' roms.
Thanks again for the help.
....
Oh, and how bad do I want root? Badly. Super badly. If I had the money I would have ditched this phone forever ago. I will never buy another phone again on the hope/promise that it will get root soon.
nertskull said:
Holy success. I have no idea why. But after rebooting the phone for the umpteenth time and running kingoroot another 20 times. It finally gave me another successful temp root, this time while on 5.1.1.
I ran the script again, and now when I got into download mode, I have Mode: Developer showing. Hooray.
BUT....then bootloops. I couldn't get it started.
I then accidentally wiped everything, completely wiped. No operating system according to twrp.
So I looked around, and it appears JasmineRom and CM13 by hsbadr are mentioned as good custom ROMs. So I grabbed CM13, used twrp to install it. And success. I have a working phone. At least, for the past couple minutes.
So a tremendous thank you for giving me some guidance.
I have two more questions for the moment though.
1) How easy/hard would it be to lose developer mode? Do I need to be careful about what roms I flash? Could I lose that? Or now that it is in developer mode, should I be pretty safe in that sticking around?
2) Can I try any Rom on it right now. There don't appear to be a lot of verizon note 4 specific roms around for this phone, because it hasn't had root for long. Will any of the other note 4 roms work? Or should I make sure to stick to only 'proven verizon' roms.
Thanks again for the help.
....
Oh, and how bad do I want root? Badly. Super badly. If I had the money I would have ditched this phone forever ago. I will never buy another phone again on the hope/promise that it will get root soon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only way I know to lock your bootloader is to flash an OEM firmware, take an OTA or mess with flashing bootloader without knowing what you're doing..
What you can flash depends upon which bootloader you have unlocked. Lollipop? You can flash a ROM based on a Lollipop bootloader. Jasmine 4.3 and CM 13 before 6/20 are Marshmallow ROMs based on Lollipop bootloaders. You can also run ROMs made for the N910F/G (also based on Lollipop bootloaders) if you use the proper data fix.
If you want to run a pure Marshmallow ROM, you need to do the unlock dance again. If you're interested in wifi calling, you'll need to stick with a fairly stock OEM ROM like Jasmine 6.0 or 7.0 (both versions are buried pretty deep in the thread) or PaulPizz which I haven't tried but hear good things about.
douger1957 said:
The only way I know to lock your bootloader is to flash an OEM firmware, take an OTA or mess with flashing bootloader without knowing what you're doing..
What you can flash depends upon which bootloader you have unlocked. Lollipop? You can flash a ROM based on a Lollipop bootloader. Jasmine 4.3 and CM 13 before 6/20 are Marshmallow ROMs based on Lollipop bootloaders. You can also run ROMs made for the N910F/G (also based on Lollipop bootloaders) if you use the proper data fix.
If you want to run a pure Marshmallow ROM, you need to do the unlock dance again. If you're interested in wifi calling, you'll need to stick with a fairly stock OEM ROM like Jasmine 6.0 or 7.0 (both versions are buried pretty deep in the thread) or PaulPizz which I haven't tried but hear good things about.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome. I downloaded CM13 from before the 20th and it seems to work great. I had to flash the CM13 rom and open GApps at the same time, otherwise the GApps kept crashing. But flashing them at the same time before turning on CM13 for the first time seemed to work.
Thanks for the help. Don't follow things closely enough to have known that I needed a pre 20th build.
Perhaps one more question.
Would you recommend taking the time to unlock the marshmallow bootloader? I don't need wifi calling. And I seem to be getting most of the benefits of 6.0.1 now even though using a lollipop bootloader.
I'm hesitant to try to unlock the marshmallow bootloader, because according to the instructions, it looks like I have to deal with kingroot/kingoroot again to do it. And I had such a hard time getting those to work this first time (easily 80+ tries running kingoroot) before I got temproot, that I'm not sure I want to take the risk of doing it again.
In your opinion, is it worth the risk to unlock the marshmallow bootloader? Or is running marshmallow on the lollipop bootloader reasonable enough?
Thanks
nertskull said:
Awesome. I downloaded CM13 from before the 20th and it seems to work great. I had to flash the CM13 rom and open GApps at the same time, otherwise the GApps kept crashing. But flashing them at the same time before turning on CM13 for the first time seemed to work.
Thanks for the help. Don't follow things closely enough to have known that I needed a pre 20th build.
Perhaps one more question.
Would you recommend taking the time to unlock the marshmallow bootloader? I don't need wifi calling. And I seem to be getting most of the benefits of 6.0.1 now even though using a lollipop bootloader.
I'm hesitant to try to unlock the marshmallow bootloader, because according to the instructions, it looks like I have to deal with kingroot/kingoroot again to do it. And I had such a hard time getting those to work this first time (easily 80+ tries running kingoroot) before I got temproot, that I'm not sure I want to take the risk of doing it again.
In your opinion, is it worth the risk to unlock the marshmallow bootloader? Or is running marshmallow on the lollipop bootloader reasonable enough?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's a difficult question to answer and for me would boil down to whether I wanted features available in Marshmallow based ROMs or not.
Wifi calling is a nice to have feature for me but it's not really a dealbreaker. There's a bit more security baked into Marshmallow which is always nice to have.
The development atmosphere is more active over at the generic Note 4 forum. You can now get one of the super ROMs (Note/S7 combo ports) in either flavor. You'll want to stick with ROMs developed for the N910F or G models. They're international phones with fewer integration headaches for our N910V phones. To use those ROMs on our phone, you'll need a data fix most kindly provided by @louforgiveno.
My suggestion in picking a ROM is to zero in on one that seems to have the features you'd like to have and read the entire thread. Look for threads in either the General or Q&A subforums that are dedicated to answering questions about the ROM and read those, too. Some of those threads are upwards to 1,000 posts or more, you say? You'll discover what problems people have had with the ROM and the solutions or workarounds needed to overcome them. You'll also discover just how lazy many posters are either not reading thoroughly or failing to use the search function.
Final suggestions? Do a full nandroid backup before you flash anything. In TWRP, check off all of the boxes. In many of today's ROMs, you'll have a 8 to 10 gig backup file. If you can't keep that on the phone, move it to your PC. There will be far fewer tears if something goes wrong. When you flash a ROM, do a full wipe. I check off Dalvik/ART cache, system, data, and cache. For your first ROM, I would move anything that you have on internal storage off the phone and wipe internal storage too. If you have any Kingroot/Kingoroot cooties, that should clear them off the phone. When you're done flashing a ROM there's an option to wipe the cache. Do it. If you've installed a bunch or apps or deleted them, wipe the Dalvik and cache. It'll help bring the Android stars into alignment as that forces the system to optimize.
Good luck and happy flashing.
You need to go to 5.1.1 use kingOroot and then do it again. Cid will remain that's what I did. Its different for everyone these root methods are pulled from the internet and it will usually take a few time and it will try dufrrent methods of rooting
nertskull said:
I had 5.1.1 installed. Couldn't get KingRoot to give temp root (lots of people say you can only do it on 4.4.4, lots of other people say they got it to work on 5.1.1 if you read around).
So I tried downgrading to 4.4.4. Odin failed every time.
So I tried downgrading to 5.0.1. That worked. But kingroot still was unable to get root.
I then found King O Root. Tried that once, no luck. Tried it a 2nd time, and success. I then ran the samsund_fix file. And it changed my CID.
But then you have to restart the phone and run the fix file again.
I have run king o root (and tried kingroot) each at least 30 times now. And I can't get either to give me root access again. I've even tried the desktop version of king o root. Nothing.
I'm SOOO close I feel. But I can't get that last step. Its killing me.
Can anyone help with where to go next?
I figure either 1) I have to find a way to get temporary root one more time. OR 2) find a way to get down to kitkat 4.4.4 to get temporary root.
One other quick question, is the reason I can't get to 4.4.4 because I upgraded all the way to 5.1.1? EVERYTHING I read says 'yeah you can downgrade' but mine won't downgrade. Odin fails with an error So how do I get to 4.4.4? Am I just screwed?
NAND Write Start!
boot.img
FAIL! (Auth)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For me, I had to run Kingoroot from my laptop, and Kingroot never worked.
Hello,
I bought a Zenfone 2 in 2015 and have loved it ever since. Back then it was simple to root, unlock the bootloader, and neither required the other.
To root, just enable ADB and run this.
To unlock the bootloader, just download this from azus.
Now, buying a phone fresh, to remove all the bloat is becoming a challenge.
To root, you need an unlock the bootloader. To unlock the bootloader, you need to downgrade to an early 5.0 image.
So I downgrade, unlock the bootloader, and root. To get back on 6, I need to upgrade to a newer version of 5.0, so I do. Root gone, bootloader still unlocked, splash screen is normal. Fine, I root again.
Finally, after upgrading to 6.0 (using adb sideload) both root and the bootloader unlock are gone. So I have to start again, and either live with unbloated 5.0, or unrooted, bloated 6.0.
As far as I can tell the only way around this is downgrade to 5.0, unlock my bootloader, then flash a pre rooted unsigned system.img.
Sadly I cannot find a recent pre rooted unsigned system.img, and have no way of knowing how to create one. If someone could help me make one I would greatly appreciate it.
Am I doing this all wrong? Is there a better way?
Because now I have a phone that I'm either stuck with a buggy 5.0 or a bloated 6.0; and the original, two year old zenfone is stuck in the bootloader because I was experimenting with various tools from around here.
I am well aware that I could just nuke the old phone with xFSTK to get out, but I refuse to. I have no such problems nuking the new one though.
Any and all help would be greatly appreciated, the Zenfone 2 is still a great device and is fantastic value for money, so if I can sort out all this I will happily make a full, comprehensive guide with my new knowledge to replace the errors in the outdated one here, and to add far more comprehensive knowledge about unbricking:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/zenfone2/general/asus-zenfone-2-flashing-recovery-mode-t3096596
Thank you all for your time
assuming you are already on MM version ww4.21.10.233... if no update to this version and download the following tool..
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B72QQTXqZSRwTDNtU1N6OEdMdmM
reboot phone in fastboot mode. now extract the downloaded zip and double click unlock.bat phone will reboot 2 times. then you will get white screen and stuck there. when you see white screen. simply turn off mobile. reboot in fastboot mode with volume plus and power button. and run restore.bat from extracted zip.
now download twrp from official twrp website version 3.1.1.0. and flash it in fastboot mode. hope you know how to ( place twrp image in adb fastboot tool and open command windows in same folder reboot phone in fastboot mode and connect to pc. run the following command
fastboot flash recovery twrp-3.1.1-0-Z00A.img
then use volume button to find recovery mode and click power button to boot into twrp.
now download super su from following link use this version only as i have just tested it few minutes ago.
https://download.chainfire.eu/1114/SuperSU/SR1-SuperSU-v2.82-SR1-20170608224931.zip
place superuser zip on internal memory or sd card and click install in twrp and install super userzip. alternatively you can sideload supersu zip as well. then wipe cache and dalvik cache and reboot system. note phone may bootloop or restart 2,3 times. don't interrupt it. it will boot itself into system.
this is 100 percent safe way.
---------- Post added at 11:12 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:05 PM ----------
x86fanboy said:
Hello,
I bought a Zenfone 2 in 2015 and have loved it ever since. Back then it was simple to root, unlock the bootloader, and neither required the other.
To root, just enable ADB and run this.
To unlock the bootloader, just download this from azus.
Now, buying a phone fresh, to remove all the bloat is becoming a challenge.
To root, you need an unlock the bootloader. To unlock the bootloader, you need to downgrade to an early 5.0 image.
So I downgrade, unlock the bootloader, and root. To get back on 6, I need to upgrade to a newer version of 5.0, so I do. Root gone, bootloader still unlocked, splash screen is normal. Fine, I root again.
Finally, after upgrading to 6.0 (using adb sideload) both root and the bootloader unlock are gone. So I have to start again, and either live with unbloated 5.0, or unrooted, bloated 6.0.
As far as I can tell the only way around this is downgrade to 5.0, unlock my bootloader, then flash a pre rooted unsigned system.img.
Sadly I cannot find a recent pre rooted unsigned system.img, and have no way of knowing how to create one. If someone could help me make one I would greatly appreciate it.
Am I doing this all wrong? Is there a better way?
Because now I have a phone that I'm either stuck with a buggy 5.0 or a bloated 6.0; and the original, two year old zenfone is stuck in the bootloader because I was experimenting with various tools from around here.
I am well aware that I could just nuke the old phone with xFSTK to get out, but I refuse to. I have no such problems nuking the new one though.
Any and all help would be greatly appreciated, the Zenfone 2 is still a great device and is fantastic value for money, so if I can sort out all this I will happily make a full, comprehensive guide with my new knowledge to replace the errors in the outdated one here, and to add far more comprehensive knowledge about unbricking:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/zenfone2/general/asus-zenfone-2-flashing-recovery-mode-t3096596
Thank you all for your time
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
do you state that you have an old device which you are unable to revive with xFSTK. what error do you get? put device on charge for 5,6 hours with original charger and use the following guide. use correct gp flag value use 4 zeros not 5
https://forum.xda-developers.com/zenfone2/help/thead-bricked-phone-updating-to-mm-tips-t3452785
wow, no need to do all this... just use one of the available tool, my prefered one is this one:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/zenfone2/general/bl-unlock-ze551ml-toolkit-t3546293
very easy to use, to unlock, it will temporaly downgrade your boot to 5.0, unlock bootloader, then reflash boot 6.0.
Once there, just flash TWRP recovery and Magisk, from the tools.
I also had a locked ZF2 in MM 6.0 and using this tool it took less than 5 minutes to have an unlocked rooted phone, and I haven't wiped or lost anything.
Hi,
I recently had to return my phone back to stock because of a warranty issue. (battery dying between 25% and 40%)
So chances are high that I will get the phone back with Marshmallow instead of Lollipop.
is there a guide or can anyone give some pointers how to root this device? After a bit of reading I still have a few specific questions, so maybe someone here can help.
A) What TWRP version will I need for the M8s on Marsmallow?
B) Will Magisk systemless root work on this device?
C) If the rooting has succeeded and I remove some bloatware apps from /system/vendor and /privapp and such. Will this trip the Google safety net? Or is safety net not yet applied to our M8s devices?
Thanks!
I don't personally have the M8s version specifically. But as the device forum sections for all the M8 versions in general are becoming pretty quiet; I'll try to help you to the best of my knowledge.
A) The TWRP recovery posted in this (M8s) forum section should work fine on Marshmallow. Looks like it's only updated to 2.8.6
B) Should work, yes. I would suggest the current stable Magisk version, which is 14.0
Backup your stock (unrooted) ROM before trying to root (as you always should - this is best practice and just good common sense). Then if anything goes wrong, you can easily restore to stock.
C) Not sure. But I can tell you on my current device (OnePlus 3T) that removing system (bloat) apps does not trip safety net.
Hi @redpoint73,
Thanks. That takes away some worries and gives me some confidence for giving it a third shot . Nandroid's don't work on the M8s unfortunately, I've tried this once since I botched something up during my first root attempt, put back the Nandroid and my Bluetooth was dead. (and probably more, but I didn't investigate it further back then.)
As in regards of removing bloat, since HTC has the S-on I was only able to remove the pre-installed apps from within TWRP (or else the apps were back after a reboot), so I guess this process remains the same?
Thanks so far and I'll report back my results in this topic. Now I first have to wait to see if they give me my warranty, since the bootloader said relocked and the firm I had to send it to is notorious for blaming factory faults on rooting of the phone. Fingers crossed!
Thijs_Rallye said:
As in regards of removing bloat, since HTC has the S-on I was only able to remove the pre-installed apps from within TWRP (or else the apps were back after a reboot), so I guess this process remains the same?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Should be the same, yes.
The reason for this, is that the system is write-protected, even with root. On the M8, there is a kernel mod which disables the write protection (allows you to modify system while booted to OS), but I don't know if there is such a mod for the M8s. But if you were able to do it in TWRP, the same should apply on Marshmallow.
So I finally got my phone back, or well, to be accurate, I got another phone (albeit another M8s) back under warranty. I guess they f'd it up during repairs or something. And as expected my phone was upgraded to Marshmallow.
Anyhow, the more I read about Magisk and systemless rooting the more lost I seem to get lost. Is there somewhere a step by step guide for obtaining root on this phone?
Let me recap from what I've understood so far (SOURCE 1, SOURCE 2 and SOURCE 3)
1) Backup my boot partition, I am still searching how to accomplish this without rooting the phone first. Booting to TWRP without installing resulted in mangling some data in the boot partition, so unfortunately that is not an option. (blanks the OS version)
2) Boot to TWRP and flash the Magisk zip file. There should be an option somewhere in TWRP to enable systemless rooting.
3) ?
So if anyone knows if I am on the right (or wrong) track please let me know .
Thijs
Edit: I can't seem to get the phone boot TWRP for some reason (from my harddrive htc_fastboot boot twrp.img). This used to be possible on my old M8s which I had send in for repairs. Do I really have to flash it because I have no way of backing up the old original recovery .
Okay, since it is kinda dead in here let me bump this for anyone in the same situation. I've managed to install Magisk successfully. The steps involved
1) unlock bootloader
2) flash twrp (htc_fastboot flash recovery twrp.img) I've used the latest version from Captain Throwback which I've found in the OP of the Void_Zero Lineage OS thread.
3) boot the phone and copy magisk systemless root zip and the apk file to your internal storage Grab the uninstaller as well in the topic.
4) reboot to recovery (adb reboot bootloader)
5) flash the zip from within recovery
6) reboot the phone and install the Magisk app.
7) done
Use this guide on your own risk. It worked flawlessly for me but no guarantees .
Hi, I would like to root my Moto Z2 Play but I don't want to unlock bootloader, because all of my data will be actually formatted and I don't really want to set up things again.
With that, I would like to ask if there is any option to root my phone straight from Android UI.
So I don't have to use any PC to root this phone.
Edit:
Actually with rooting come on place one important question.
This question is about: Is the phone able to receive updates released by manufacturer to moto Z2 play?
I'm asking because when I was rooting my Samsung phones on every single of them when they are rooted they are unable to receive updates by manufacturer so I literally had to plug the phone into my PC and Force updated it via Samsung provided program (Kies).
This was really painful so I am asking just before I will actually root it because I want the stock ROM and all of its official updates.
So I'll be really thankful with any answer on that question.
To root you must unlock the bootloader.
And you will receive OTA's, but if you install those, the phone will most probably brick. So, don't even try to install them.
As long as there is no vulnerability found in Android 8 that could actually be used to root, there is no other way than to open the bootloader which enforces a factory reset.
But if rooted properly with Magisk and as long as you only boot TWRP but never install it, OTAs should work. At least the only reason for bricking I know is when you try to upgrade after a downgrade since the updater seems to not check the bootloader. And with a downgrade to a version with an older bootloader something goes haywire which bricks the device on next update and you'll need a blankflash to fix that