I think this belongs here because it's a question - if not, mods please move it to one of the dev sections.
For now, I'm happy with the stock ROM, especially with the promise of 4.2.2 from Sony sometime-maybe-never
What I'd like to do is root for now and remove most of the Sony bloatware. I'm happy doing that but want to check something. In the (several) [ROOT] threads in the Android Development section, there are features that are broken with root access. NFC and no unlockable bootloader are the two that springs to mind but I'm sure I've read about others.
The 'fix' for these is to flash stock firmware again - which kind of defeats the point. I mean, it would go something like this:
Root
Lose NFC
Remove bloatware
Unroot
NFC fixed
Bloatware returns.
Or have I missed something? And likewise for a recovery, they need root access to be flashed. By reinstalling a stock .ftf, root and recovery would be lost.
Related
So I just finished up rooting my Sprint Hero, and cleaned out all the apps I didn't want. Was my main goal, so i feel accomplished. Now my question is, when the eclair update rolls out from sprint, will i be able to just update through the update service? or will that ruin the root and reinstall all the apps i was finally able to remove? Thanks for the info.
if you update from sprint you will loose root if the exploit is still present you can root but i dont think thats the case. But you can always use the RUU to flash to stock 1.5 and gain root again. When the update comes out I assure you we will have a cooked 2.1 rom with SU built in.
Thanks, just what I needed to know.
Hey all, so Ive been lurking for a few weeks now about about to order a N3 thru ATT. Im actually coming from a Nexus 5 where things are very easy so bear with me. Just wanted to get clarity before I made a purchase
1. Not so much related to root but Im planning to get the phone, root it, and apply the Xposed modules, to see if I can live with Touchwiz. Im assuming (will need to confirm) that ATT would take back within 14 days if it doesnt go so well, assuming I dont trip warranty flags, etc. Anyone know their policy?
2. From my reading, to root this, I actually need to run a lower firmware. Is this still 4.3 or is it like 4.2.2?
3. The general process is to open device, keep off wifi, oneclick it, odin it, apply root. They to disable OTAs via Titanium Backup. Is this correct?
4. Does doing the above method trip any flags? I believe there are two, a KNOX one and a general Custom one
5. Similarly, if the answer is yes, are there methods to get it back.
6. Limitations of the root method above is that still no access to custom recoverys, so no ROMs, but the xposed framework should work just fine. Also TB cannot do restores? Anything else Im missing?
7. Last one, regarding the older firmware, any idea what is different between the rooted firmware and the 'now current' one? I mean besides probably added security to prevent root. Any actual bug fixes or features?
Sorry if most of these are obvious but appreciate the confirmation!
Thanks
1. You don't need to live with touchwiz - you can hack it up (there are modded versions with minor changes) or just replace it with Nova Launcher. Nova doesn't even need root....
2. No, this is not true. You can root via RDLV on MI9 firmware, or use Kingo root on later versions (however, there has been debate over whether kingo has malware). If you have MJ5 firmware, you cannot root via RDLV, at least not at the moment (and cannot downgrade). You can keep root with RDLV after upgrading by using supersu survival mode, according to others (I haven't tried this myself, since the update checks builtin apks and won't install if you've modified SecLauncher4.apk to customize touchwiz, so i'd have to revert that...)
3. No. See the RDLV thread, it's a bit more complicated. For kingo, I don't know anything about the process.
4. Makes it custom, but does not trigger Knox flag.
5. Custom can be undone by returning to stock. Knox is an e-fuse and can never be reset.
6. XPosed and TB work fine.
7. Was wondering the same thing myself.
Thanks. Regarding Touchwiz, as soon as the device is rooted I plan to put Nova Beta on there as well as Wanom for Xposed to more simulate the stock experience. Plus drop most of the stock Samsung apps in favor of Googles.
It sounds like a need to read up more on the firmware and root method. I suppose the RDLV was for an older firmware which, if Im buying the phone now, may no longer be possible
Is MI9 the default stock firmware the phone had been shipping with, or is it now shipping with MJ5? (or is MJ5 an OTA update only)?
Thanks!
Hi guys (and girls?)
Just picked up my Z3C yesterday. I am coming from a LG G2 and I had that thing rooted and running Slimkat within a few hours just because of the LG UI and stock kernel, not in such a rush with this phone as I quite like the UI and stock performance.
I've spent the day so far reading and reading and reading, I'm a bit rusty on my Sony rooting and flashing procedures (last Sony phone was the Xperia Arc)
For now all I am after is root access ( without unlocking the bootloader yet) so I can do a little debloating, install xposed etc while still enjoying the DRM related features (until I can assess if any of them matter to me enough to bother keeping )
Am I better off just rooting, backing up my DRM key (TA partition right?) and flashing a modified stock firmware from the start or can I achieve my goal just by rooting my current stock firmware?
I am currently reading through all the related threads and will probably work it out eventually but it would be pretty cool if someone could help me skip to the good stuff.
Anyway, enough story time, if you know of any good guides, tutorials etc that will help me achieve what I'm after just paste a link or whatever
And don't worry, I know how to use the thanks button
I am new user of Z3C as well, not expert by any means, to add my perspective to the same question asked by OP:
I just want to root Phone to add custom fonts and bold fonts, basically want to make it closer to iPhone 5s, which has bolder fonts. For me these fonts are too thin, if i make them large too large, thats the only thing i dont like about it.
So i want to root phone, just to change fonts and then unroot again, stock is sufficient for me and i feel i can have better battery with stock and stuff.
So can somone kindly guide me how to safely root, change fonts, unroot. I have no need of xpose and stuff at all.
Thanks in advance.
Hey get your own question thread lol nah I'm kidding, more the merrier!
I'm still reading everything and have found a few good tutorials. I'll post here anything I find that answers any of mine or your questions. But would still like to invite the users who really know this phone to share Thier opinions.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=3013343
This is what you need.
Probably you can't "root directly" because your phone is updated with the last firmware version.
So, you need to downgrade to a version which has the exploit, root, backup DRM keys (for safety only) and update again with a pre-rooted rom.
fmlogin said:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=3013343
This is what you need.
Probably you can't "root directly" because your phone is updated with the last firmware version.
So, you need to downgrade to a version which has the exploit, root, backup DRM keys (for safety only) and update again with a pre-rooted rom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm actually working my through that as we speak! (but totally appreciate you taking to time to point me there )
Just finished backing up my DRM keys (uploaded to mega and google drive, cus im careful like that haha)
just about to go through the PRFC part now.
Beginning to realise how spoilt I was with the LG G2 and being about to use towelroot.apk haha
usmanxhmed said:
I am new user of Z3C as well, not expert by any means, to add my perspective to the same question asked by OP:
I just want to root Phone to add custom fonts and bold fonts, basically want to make it closer to iPhone 5s, which has bolder fonts. For me these fonts are too thin, if i make them large too large, thats the only thing i dont like about it.
So i want to root phone, just to change fonts and then unroot again, stock is sufficient for me and i feel i can have better battery with stock and stuff.
So can somone kindly guide me how to safely root, change fonts, unroot. I have no need of xpose and stuff at all.
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey mate, hopefully you have been doing your own research on the topic, but here is what I have learnt.
there is no simple root/unroot that doesn't require flashing firmwares etc.
but, if you do follow the instructions in the thread our helpful friend linked to you can create your own .ftf file with root included. The instructions also include a recovery in the ftf file but you opt to leave it out. (I actually made two custom ftf files, both with root but one without custom recovery).
I flashed the one without the custom recovery because for the time being I'm happy to keep the phone as stock as possible and simply don't need a custom recovery (I've got 2 phones and 2 tablets for tinkering with so I'm trying to avoid it with this phone which I use for work)
anyway, I have kind of answered my own question ultimately and will mark the thread as such.
but feel free to PM me if you need a hand with anything
Hey all,
As the title aludes to, I'm totally lost with rooting my note 3 running 4.4.4. I've been pokling around this site for a few hours but I'm not really seeing what I need. Basically all I want to do is be able to tether my note 3 (it's SIM unlocked on an african Carrier,. the phone is from at&t originally though). As I understand it, i need to root my phone in order to use this feature (f*ck AT&T). Anyway, I did use the search but I can't find any info on rooting a phone that is already on 4.4.4. Do i need to downgrade or is there an a way to root 4.4.4. In any case could someone give me a full step by step or point me in the right direction? I hate to be that guy posting duplicate threads but I'm kinda stuck. Sorry/thanks in advance.
Andre... said:
Hey all,
As the title aludes to, I'm totally lost with rooting my note 3 running 4.4.4. I've been pokling around this site for a few hours but I'm not really seeing what I need. Basically all I want to do is be able to tether my note 3 (it's SIM unlocked on an african Carrier,. the phone is from at&t originally though). As I understand it, i need to root my phone in order to use this feature (f*ck AT&T). Anyway, I did use the search but I can't find any info on rooting a phone that is already on 4.4.4. Do i need to downgrade or is there an a way to root 4.4.4. In any case could someone give me a full step by step or point me in the right direction? I hate to be that guy posting duplicate threads but I'm kinda stuck. Sorry/thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Welcome to the forum.
No, there's no way to root 4.4.4 that I know of yet, you have to install 4.4.2, root it, flash a 4.4.4 that won't kill your data, then it should be rooted.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/note-3-att/general/n900aucucnc2-odin-files-t2838117 are the 4.4.2 (NC2) files. I don't have a link to the 4.4.4 files handy, but I'm sure they're in the development subforum. (You want the 4 separate files, not the all-in-one, so your data doesn't get overwritten - in both cases.) Get into 4.4.2, root with https://towelroot.com/ then go back to 4.4.4 (if you want - I'm still running 4.4.2, so I don't have to reflash kernels to get into SafeStrap; Mobile Odin doesn't work on the Note 3 yet, and I don't want to carry a laptop around in my pocket).
I think.
I went round and round with different ROMs all last week, reflashing 4.4.2 after each one, rooting, installing SafeStrap, restoring my data, etc., etc., until I can't remember exactly what the exact steps are, but I think I got it right.
And there are a few threads her on how to root 4.4.4 - with downgrading to 4.4.2, or just flashing the 4.4.2 kernel, or something.
But no, you can't directly root 4.4.4 yet.
As for tethering, see if there's a tethering app that will work without rooting, or just go to Settings/Connections and enable Tethering and see if that works. If it does, there's no reason to go through all the trouble of rooting (which is terrifying the first time you do it - and boring by the 10th).
Rukbat said:
Welcome to the forum.
No, there's no way to root 4.4.4 that I know of yet, you have to install 4.4.2, root it, flash a 4.4.4 that won't kill your data, then it should be rooted.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/note-3-att/general/n900aucucnc2-odin-files-t2838117 are the 4.4.2 (NC2) files. I don't have a link to the 4.4.4 files handy, but I'm sure they're in the development subforum. (You want the 4 separate files, not the all-in-one, so your data doesn't get overwritten - in both cases.) Get into 4.4.2, root with https://towelroot.com/ then go back to 4.4.4 (if you want - I'm still running 4.4.2, so I don't have to reflash kernels to get into SafeStrap; Mobile Odin doesn't work on the Note 3 yet, and I don't want to carry a laptop around in my pocket).
I think.
I went round and round with different ROMs all last week, reflashing 4.4.2 after each one, rooting, installing SafeStrap, restoring my data, etc., etc., until I can't remember exactly what the exact steps are, but I think I got it right.
And there are a few threads her on how to root 4.4.4 - with downgrading to 4.4.2, or just flashing the 4.4.2 kernel, or something.
But no, you can't directly root 4.4.4 yet.
As for tethering, see if there's a tethering app that will work without rooting, or just go to Settings/Connections and enable Tethering and see if that works. If it does, there's no reason to go through all the trouble of rooting (which is terrifying the first time you do it - and boring by the 10th).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the info! I'll give it a try once I get home. Unfortunatly there's no way to tether on an unrooted unless at&t allows it (that I know of). And at&t cant allow it since I don't have them as a carrier right now. I've trid a couple apps from the appstore already and they either try to carrier verify or it's just a widget of the phones tethering function. I don't particularly care about flashing custom roms so if there's a way to tether in my situation then I'd love to try.
I was just given an old i537 5.0.1, to replace a broken S3. I can't stand Samsung's android, so can someone tell me if I can do anything?
I have looked around, and see that the i537's bootloader is locked. Does that mean I can't do any recovery/roms? Am I able to root and purge some of the crap? I have seen something about a program called safestrap, but the main thread of info I can find is "depreciated". Almost everything in this forum is either the I9295 or no exact info.
theredbaron1834 said:
I was just given an old i537 5.0.1, to replace a broken S3. I can't stand Samsung's android, so can someone tell me if I can do anything?
I have looked around, and see that the i537's bootloader is locked. Does that mean I can't do any recovery/roms? Am I able to root and purge some of the crap? I have seen something about a program called safestrap, but the main thread of info I can find is "depreciated". Almost everything in this forum is either the I9295 or no exact info.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hate Samsung's version of android (it's called touchwiz) also so it pains me to give you the answer I'm about to give. The locked bootloader means there is no way this phone can have a custom kernel or a custom recovery. Roms like cyanogenmod require a custom kernel to run, there's no way around that. Safestrap was our alternative for a custom recovery to flash stuff, but it only worked on KitKat. Now we have flashfire to flash things, but the fact remains that the only custom ROMs this phone can run are ROMs based off touchwiz, which you and I (and so many others) despise. It is still possible to root this phone and remove the bloatware, see my post here on how to root: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=63639949&postcount=2
Once you're rooted you can use titanium backup to uninstall any system app you want
So, I would use Odin to go to down to 4.4 and root. Then upgrade to 5.0.1 again, and install flashfire.
So that is the best we can hope for on the i537? Damn it man, that sucks quite a lot. Stuipd arse Touchwiz. I am so use to Cyanogenmod, and having to use Touchwiz is really killing me. Ugh.