Database Develop

Lets get this straight. root only vs. root+bootloader

Hows it going you guys? this is my first post in the Droid X forum. Im sorry if im posting incorrectly or in the wrong section. Im currently a G1 owner but looking to make the switch to verizon. Having a hard time debating weather to get the Incredible or the X. I'm seeing all kinds or information out there talking about what you can and cant do but nothing is very clear yet. Looking to get a few questions answered. Hopefully the information here will help other gromets like myself to get a better understanding what this whole efuse/bootloader thing means to us.
So with root access, i can do everything im am used to with root?
like run apps that require super user permissions,
run metamorph,
wifi tether,
run adb to push files and run scripts
And with out the bootloader capabilities, i can not:
load custom roms
nandroid backup
run setCPU?
Am i correct in these findings? Am i missing anything? Any help would be greatly appreciated. If there is already a post that covers all of these topics, please, mods, move this there.
Thank you so much in advance.

Correct!
Sent from my Eris using XDA App

'SetCPU' may be possible, if you're referring to overclocking in general. =p I don't know if SetCPU works with the way the Milestone is overclocked, but if it does, then SetCPU should work.

Why wouldn't nandroid backup work without bootloader? Worked on milestone as well without bootloader...

The question I have is then: what can a ROM do that root can't? If I can remove crap and change to sense UI with root (right?), then why is a rom needed, except for kernel changes?

Having root means you can customize the current rom on your phone to your hearts content (not that some of it will be easy). it prevents you from loading other roms that people have made, ones that would include the sense ui, 2.2+, etc. some of the heavier customizations and functionality will require more changes or code bases than can be changed in root.

Thats so great you guys. I think im willing to work without the custom roms for now. as long as i can do all the other things mentioned. but i dont see anywhere in the threads on how to gain root/SU access.

cavz903 said:
Thats so great you guys. I think im willing to work without the custom roms for now. as long as i can do all the other things mentioned. but i dont see anywhere in the threads on how to gain root/SU access.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They have not gained root access yet.
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App

ritkit said:
They have not gained root access yet.
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
wait, i beleive thats where us gromets are getting confused.
so how are we able to:
like run apps that require super user permissions,
run metamorph,
wifi tether,
run adb to push files and run scripts?

A loadable kernel module hack like what's done on the Milestone should be possible.
SetCPU will run and change frequencies with just straight root - but no overclocking.

coolbho3000 said:
A loadable kernel module hack like what's done on the Milestone should be possible.
SetCPU will run and change frequencies with just straight root - but no overclocking.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
so with straight root, we can do these things right?
run apps that require SU permissions (like metamorph, clearme, autokiller, etc.)
run ADB to push files and remove system apps
wifi tether (non verizon $20/mo)
But there is still no straight root access available yet.
is this correct?

not metamorph i believe we need nand unlocked

The only way i see you getting to do the things you're wanting to within a year is by going with the incredible, we already have root and are on the verge of having a cracked bootloader, The milestone came out the same time as the moto droid (or roughly the same time i can't remember) but is still not rooted and the DroidX has the same bootloader so i don't see a root anytime soon

Garrett07 said:
The only way i see you getting to do the things you're wanting to within a year is by going with the incredible, we already have root and are on the verge of having a cracked bootloader, The milestone came out the same time as the moto droid (or roughly the same time i can't remember) but is still not rooted and the DroidX has the same bootloader so i don't see a root anytime soon
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Garrett-
thank you so much for your informative answer. but im still shady on some parts.
i thought we had "root only" available, which was the same as the milsestone. And the only thing we were missing was access to the bootloader which blocked us from running custom roms. Is that incorrect? Are none of the tasks i mentioned "at all" possible at this time?
Thank you so much for your insight.

cavz903 said:
Garrett-
thank you so much for your informative answer. but im still shady on some parts.
i thought we had "root only" available, which was the same as the milsestone. And the only thing we were missing was access to the bootloader which blocked us from running custom roms. Is that incorrect? Are none of the tasks i mentioned "at all" possible at this time?
Thank you so much for your insight.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Milestone has been rooted, but its encrypted bootloader has not been cracked, leaving it with no custom roms.
The Droid X has not been rooted yet, nor has its similarly encrypted bootloader been cracked.

I have a Nexus One and a friend has an Incredible. Both still have locked bootloaders and both are running custom ROM's. I cannot say if that will be the case with the X, but I would like to think it would be. Once I had root on my N1 I was able flash an alternate recovery which allows me to load any ROM I choose. See this thread for more info, this is the method that I used.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=710842

stickerbob said:
I have a Nexus One and a friend has an Incredible. Both still have locked bootloaders and both are running custom ROM's. I cannot say if that will be the case with the X, but I would like to think it would be. Once I had root on my N1 I was able flash an alternate recovery which allows me to load any ROM I choose. See this thread for more info, this is the method that I used.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=710842
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm weighing in here but I'm not an expert so please correct if I'm wrong.
The reason that the Incredible is able to load a custom ROM is that they found a way to do a "temporary unlock" of nand which allows us to load a custom recovery. This custom recovery allows for the the temporary unlock which is required to load a new ROM. When the phone is rebooted nand relocks.
So, while we are able to load custom ROMs on the Incredible it's because unrevoked figured out how to temporarily unlock nand. With the encryption on the milestone and Droid X bootloaders they haven't figured out how to do this temporary (or permanent) unlock - thus no custom ROMs.

Ezun said:
So, while we are able to load custom ROMs on the Incredible it's because unrevoked figured out how to temporarily unlock nand. With the encryption on the milestone and Droid X bootloaders they haven't figured out how to do this temporary (or permanent) unlock - thus no custom ROMs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
very informative. Thanks!

Garrett07 said:
The only way i see you getting to do the things you're wanting to within a year is by going with the incredible, we already have root and are on the verge of having a cracked bootloader, The milestone came out the same time as the moto droid (or roughly the same time i can't remember) but is still not rooted and the DroidX has the same bootloader so i don't see a root anytime soon
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's amazing what a day makes, as the Droid X is now rooted. Why did it take so much longer to root the Milestone? Well, no one cares about England. Just kidding, but the customer base for the Milestone, I would assume, is much smaller then that of the Droid, and similarly the Droid X, so you're going to see a lot more people working on the Droid X.

[DEV Request] - ROOT for OLYEM U4 1.4.2

Guys can we please have someone work on Root for this SBF.
This is the best one yet and it improves the phone drastically in comparison to the stock Bell sbf.
EDIT:
ROOOT ACHIEVED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

+1
Sent from my rooted and frozen Bell MB860!

Have you guys tried the process for 1.5.2 root?
which was just to have preserve root when you upgrade?
well.. you probably can't now .. since there hasn't been a Bell SBF..
:T anyone willing to try it and won't mind having the chance to lose root I say try it.

darkamikaze said:
Have you guys tried the process for 1.5.2 root?
which was just to have preserve root when you upgrade?
well.. you probably can't now .. since there hasn't been a Bell SBF..
:T anyone willing to try it and won't mind having the chance to lose root I say try it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i'm pretty sure this was mentioned in another thread and was debunked as an option - either someone tried it or had a pretty ironclad reason for which it definitely WOULDN'T work
... i can't fully remember

I thought someone managed to root this with superoneclick.

raybond25 said:
i'm pretty sure this was mentioned in another thread and was debunked as an option - either someone tried it or had a pretty ironclad reason for which it definitely WOULDN'T work
... i can't fully remember
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I posted it. Again I'm not 100% sure on this, but I don't think this method will work. The retain root on ATT atrix works because we are UPDATING the firmware through the official ATT channel, nothing is being deleted or changed at all except for the update. This allows us to move the SU application, update, then move the SU application back in so it works (that's an elementary understanding).
An SBF is different. It clears all of the system memory, including all apps. So not only can you not move SU and move it back, but SU is deleted altogether when the SBF is flashed. This is why you have to flash to 1.26, run root, run beforeupdate, upgrade to 1.57, run afterupdate in order to get root. We don't have a way to root 1.57, merely a way to retain root while upgrading.
EDIT: And this post has just been proven obsolete by Ririal in another thread. It looks like there is a new root method, that works on 1.57. I'm sure someone could try this out on the new SBF

darkamikaze said:
Have you guys tried the process for 1.5.2 root?
which was just to have preserve root when you upgrade?
well.. you probably can't now .. since there hasn't been a Bell SBF..
:T anyone willing to try it and won't mind having the chance to lose root I say try it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Edit: beat me to it!
Sent from my rooted and frozen Bell MB860!

Close this thread.
I just managed to get ROOT
Will be posting a script soon.
Have a lot of work to do.

seven2099 said:
Close this thread.
I just managed to get ROOT
Will be posting a script soon.
Have a lot of work to do.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I love you
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App

ChongoDroid said:
I love you
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+ 1
Thanks

[Q] Unrooting Droid 3?

Just discovered I should unroot in order to install the new OTA leak.
I deleted superuser.apk, but I cant delete su from system/bin using root explorer....can anyone help? how exactly do i unroot this sucker?

I thought there was an unroot script.
Sent from my DROID3 using XDA App

perhaps so..i heard of one...I just dont know where it is

Seriously, search unroot. The thread with the answer is in the top 5 threads in this forum.
I'll give you a hint: psouza4

driftinaway said:
Just discovered I should unroot in order to install the new OTA leak.
I deleted superuser.apk, but I cant delete su from system/bin using root explorer....can anyone help? how exactly do i unroot this sucker?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
u don't actually have to unroot to get an update.
i have dx2 and rooted when froyo, then ota gingerbread and worked..
the only problem is when u ota with root, after upgrade u loose root,
but you still have superuser app in the app drawer..
as far i know, more of sbf then unroot for the droid 3
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1255198

I had to unroot and restore system apps. I used psouza's tools, very easy...
Sent from my DROID3 using XDA App

I used psouza's tool but when I click unroot it says it cant recognize my droid 3, which is weird because if i use the psouza tool to root it, it roots it perfectly.
the errors it gives me are:
ERROR: couldn't identify this model of phone as a Verizon DROID 3!
ERROR: you can't restore /system/app on this phone using this tool

search search search....download this and when you open it it will have a unroot option takes about 10min after you download it and works like a champ used it about 3 times already
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1240130

TillysWilly said:
search search search....download this and when you open it it will have a unroot option takes about 10min after you download it and works like a champ used it about 3 times already
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1240130
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HI hows do I haz unboot my Droyd?
Seriously, folks, if you do not understand what is needed to "unroot" your phone, then you probably shouldn't be rooting it in the first place. You are offering someone a perfect way to hiijack your device when you use an unroot/root script (NOT implying our guys aren't stand-up dudes, just saying). One of the reasons phones don't come with root access is that allowing root access to your phone essentially opens it up to hiijacking, exploits, and general complete un-privacy. You should at least be able to track and locate the files that are added and modified by rooting. Otherwise, it's like leaving the front door of your house wide open, your wallet on a busy sidewalk, and the keys in your car's ignition at the mall.
Users should know the risks of ignorance!

rynosaur said:
HI hows do I haz unboot my Droyd?
Seriously, folks, if you do not understand what is needed to "unroot" your phone, then you probably shouldn't be rooting it in the first place. You are offering someone a perfect way to hiijack your device when you use an unroot/root script (NOT implying our guys aren't stand-up dudes, just saying). One of the reasons phones don't come with root access is that allowing root access to your phone essentially opens it up to hiijacking, exploits, and general complete un-privacy. You should at least be able to track and locate the files that are added and modified by rooting. Otherwise, it's like leaving the front door of your house wide open, your wallet on a busy sidewalk, and the keys in your car's ignition at the mall.
Users should know the risks of ignorance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well said sir if 99.9% of people would read and understand root b4 they jumped into it there would probably be about 99.9% less threads on people jacking there phone up....im not saying nothing can go wrong iv had to ask a few questions myself but they were things that happened while helping dev. with roms on my D2 so PLEASE read and understand what your getting into b4 jumping into this unless you just got A LOT of money to go bye a new phone and in that case just send me a check and save both of us the trouble

Sorry guys, but there are a majority of users like me that simply root our phones to get rid of bloatware or exploit mobile hotspot, and many of us are learning through trial and error and general experience.
Its called learning. And this is also called a forum, which is specifically designed to be a gathering board of likeminded individuals that help troubleshoot and assist others. Its an awesome theory. In fact there's a great one that's made just for users that root/unroot android devices, its called xda.
Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk

[Q] How does motofail work?

Hey all,
I have been Google'ing trying to figure out how Motofail works. I understand the .bat script, its very similar to how rageagainstthecage worked on the Droid OG:
push the file to /data/local
run the exploit
remount /system as rw
push su, SuperUser.apk, and busybox
remove exploit from /data/local
reboot
What exactly is the motofail exploit doing though? I know with rageagainstthecage it caused a race condition where it filled the process table while the adb server was restarting which caused the setuid in the adb server to fail to switch to user from root.
my question is what is happening when the following commands are run
Code:
adb shell "/data/local/motofail exploit"
adb shell "/data/local/motofail clean"
Thanks in advanced!
Hemmar

Ask Dan rosenburg or what ever his name is I believe it states this on his website
Sent from my XT875 using XDA App

He didn't describe the vulnerability.
It's not very hard to find out the underlaying idea by just running motofail exploit and see what files had been altered.
You need to be _very_ skilled to develop these kind of exploits. But it's funny to see that Guys like Dan will always find a way. Just read his latest blog entry: "OEMs: unlock your bootloaders, you are not going to win this one". Great!

Is this the right site?
Is vulnfactory the right site? I don't see any mention of OEMs and bootloaders on it.

hemmar said:
Is vulnfactory the right site? I don't see any mention of OEMs and bootloaders on it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes Vulnfactory is the correct site. It has all of Dan's work. Bootloader not unlocked for the bionic so I see no reason to mention it.

If we had a unlocked bootloadwr what exactly would change for us other than possibly over clocked kernals
Sent from my XT875 using XDA App

Dan explained the inner workings of motofail at SOURCE Boston in April, 2012. For more details, and other great information, check out the slides on the SOURCE Boston website referenced below.
http://www.sourceconference.com/publications/bos12pubs/android-modding-source.pdf
Hope this helps,
jduck

Bfitz26 said:
If we had a unlocked bootloadwr what exactly would change for us other than possibly over clocked kernals
Sent from my XT875 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You could do anything to the phone - replace the recovery, (not bootstrapped, completely replaced) and thus have custom ROMs with custom kernels, pre-rooted, no security checking, nothing to get in the way.
Think OG Droid.
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Infinity TF700 running Android JB (rooted) via Tapatalk HD

[REQ]Htc First/Myst System Dump

Like the title says im after the system dump for this device, it has already been leaked as a few sites are reporting having it so if anyone has it or knows where to find it please share so i can extract wallpapers sounds apps etc to share

Any advice on how to do a system dump? I should have my First in a few days.

fungflex said:
Any advice on how to do a system dump? I should have my First in a few days.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have mine right now but I don't know how to go about dumping the system.

rooobbbbb said:
I have mine right now but I don't know how to go about dumping the system.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have the Android SDK installed and are familiar with using adb?

dstaley said:
Do you have the Android SDK installed and are familiar with using adb?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Absolutely to both.

rooobbbbb said:
I have mine right now but I don't know how to go about dumping the system.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could you check to see if it's possible to disable LTE? or did AT&T do something to prevent that as it does on every phone but the iPhone?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747

rooobbbbb said:
Absolutely to both.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
IIRC, you should just be able to `adb pull /system` to get the important bits. It's not a full dump, but I think you need root level access for that. And the only way I know how to get root access is to flash a zip through recovery, and TWRP/CWM hasn't yet been released for the First.

I couldn't disable LTE but I don't see why I would, the battery is awesome. Can't dump anything right now I'm out. Am I the only person with this phone already?
Sent from my HTC first using xda premium

rooobbbbb said:
I couldn't disable LTE but I don't see why I would, the battery is awesome. Can't dump anything right now I'm out. Am I the only person with this phone already?
Sent from my HTC first using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, considering that it doesn't come out until tomorrow, I'd be willing to say yes.

I was wondering why no one was posting anything about it. Lol
Sent from my HTC first using xda premium

So in all seriousness, I have the First, I have the bootloader unlocked via htcdev.com, I'm rather familiar with adb and fastboot, and I would love to upload a system dump if someone can tell me what commands to run.
I'm trying `adb pull /system` right now, but it's getting "permission denied" on some files, so I don't know how useful that will be. I've also tried looking around online, but just about everything I find is assuming that you already have a custom recovery or a rooted system; nothing wants to tell me how to get myself to that state from scratch, and I'm very hesitant to just start flashing stuff at random without a proper image dump to fall back to.
Anyone have a good idea where to start?

nuclear_eclipse said:
So in all seriousness, I have the First, I have the bootloader unlocked via htcdev.com, I'm rather familiar with adb and fastboot, and I would love to upload a system dump if someone can tell me what commands to run.
I'm trying `adb pull /system` right now, but it's getting "permission denied" on some files, so I don't know how useful that will be. I've also tried looking around online, but just about everything I find is assuming that you already have a custom recovery or a rooted system; nothing wants to tell me how to get myself to that state from scratch, and I'm very hesitant to just start flashing stuff at random without a proper image dump to fall back to.
Anyone have a good idea where to start?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have a retail AT&T First? Can you confirm that retail AT&T First is unlockable via htcdev?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747

Yes, this is a retail model, and yes, the bootloader was unlocked via htcdev.com.

nuclear_eclipse said:
So in all seriousness, I have the First, I have the bootloader unlocked via htcdev.com, I'm rather familiar with adb and fastboot, and I would love to upload a system dump if someone can tell me what commands to run.
I'm trying `adb pull /system` right now, but it's getting "permission denied" on some files, so I don't know how useful that will be. I've also tried looking around online, but just about everything I find is assuming that you already have a custom recovery or a rooted system; nothing wants to tell me how to get myself to that state from scratch, and I'm very hesitant to just start flashing stuff at random without a proper image dump to fall back to.
Anyone have a good idea where to start?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Humor me for a moment, if you will. Connect your device to your computer and run `adb root`. You should get a permission denied error of some sorts. I'm curious to see if Facebook is shipping with root enabled.

dstaley said:
Humor me for a moment, if you will. Connect your device to your computer and run `adb root`. You should get a permission denied error of some sorts. I'm curious to see if Facebook is shipping with root enabled.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Code:
[email protected] ~/first » adb root
adbd cannot run as root in production builds
^C

nuclear_eclipse said:
Code:
[email protected] ~/first » adb root
adbd cannot run as root in production builds
^C
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's what I figured would happen! It looks like this may be an option to root the 4.1.2 build. It worked on the One S and the Nexus 7, which gives me hope.

dstaley said:
That's what I figured would happen! It looks like this may be an option to root the 4.1.2 build. It worked on the One S and the Nexus 7, which gives me hope.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No good, but thanks for providing the link. The only shot we have left is waiting for the RUU to be leaked so we can pull recovery out of it, and get a CWM/TWRP made from it.

What is RUU and how does that help us? Sorry, just coming from a Nexus-only world, so I'm not familiar with modern HTC/Samsung devices.
Sent from my HTC first using xda premium

RUU stands for ROM Update Utility and is a Windows executable file that can flash and restore a HTC device. There are ways to extract binaries from this file, and if there are no root exploits that will work on this phone, we will need to extract the original recovery.img from that RUU to build a custom recovery, in which at that point allows us to flash SuperUser.apk to get root.

TRF-Inferno said:
RUU stands for ROM Update Utility and is a Windows executable file that can flash and restore a HTC device. There are ways to extract binaries from this file, and if there are no root exploits that will work on this phone, we will need to extract the original recovery.img from that RUU to build a custom recovery, in which at that point allows us to flash SuperUser.apk to get root.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
RUUs for the HTC One were first available on March 26, just about a month after its announcement (and, oddly, a few weeks before it's general release). Since these have to be leaked by HTC, there's no telling when we will see those. Is there any chance another root exploit exists in stock Android 4.1.2 that we could exploit in order to get root?