just some questions about zenfone 4
1. is it easy to root z4?
2. like no problem in rooting my phone?
3. once i root my z4, is there a recommended bloatware list i can freeze?
4. is there other way to make the battery last longer?
5. and when will kitkat upgrade available to zenfone 4?
6. any unrooting guide here?
i just want to upgrade first my z4 before i root it.
THANKS anyone who will give me the answer
@yodaryll94
hi.
Here's "How to Root ASUS Zenfone 4" (I don't know in case device can be unrooted after rooted from method from the link).
1. is it easy to root z4?
-- Yes, In case you read(know what you are doing) and follow carefully. In short, not impossible.
2. like no problem in rooting my phone?
-- I don't think any dev take responsibility for any type of device damage after following his/her instructions. But mostly damages not happen. so always make sure by reading comments, possible that someone have replied success message.
3. once i root my z4, is there a recommended bloatware list i can freeze?
-- "Recommended", yep maybe in case someone have made list. but in simple, things you don't use and are not part of official firmware and by removing them it does not effect device OS. then it's fine to stop them or lock them from being loading in startup/boot or completely uninstalling them. there are apps to make this work easy. (i'm not recommending anything, just sharing for idea.)
4. is there other way to make the battery last longer?
-- Yes. there are threads on this platform.
5. and when will kitkat upgrade available to zenfone 4?
-- I don't know in case there will be Official upgrades or not. But maybe there are Custom ROMs on internet.
6. any unrooting guide here?
-- already answered. Other than last answer regarding this question, there are ways to unroot device with different tools type. but not sure about method of which i posted link above.
i just want to upgrade first my z4 before i root it.
-- I think there is option for upgrade/update in Phone setting "About phone" and in case upgrade/update is available then it will be Official.
Advice: Do not try anything on your device Until you know what you are doing. always make full Backup of your device before doing stuff like "Root/CWM(Custom Recovery/Custom ROM). don't take my answers as perfect, make more search, wait for more replies.... until you get enough information and are sure that you understood well, what you learned etc....
hope, answers helped you a little.
ajnabicancer said:
@yodaryll94
hi.
Here's "How to Root ASUS Zenfone 4" (I don't know in case device can be unrooted after rooted from method from the link).
1. is it easy to root z4?
-- Yes, In case you read(know what you are doing) and follow carefully. In short, not impossible.
2. like no problem in rooting my phone?
-- I don't think any dev take responsibility for any type of device damage after following his/her instructions. But mostly damages not happen. so always make sure by reading comments, possible that someone have replied success message.
3. once i root my z4, is there a recommended bloatware list i can freeze?
-- "Recommended", yep maybe in case someone have made list. but in simple, things you don't use and are not part of official firmware and by removing them it does not effect device OS. then it's fine to stop them or lock them from being loading in startup/boot or completely uninstalling them. there are apps to make this work easy. (i'm not recommending anything, just sharing for idea.)
4. is there other way to make the battery last longer?
-- Yes. there are threads on this platform.
5. and when will kitkat upgrade available to zenfone 4?
-- I don't know in case there will be Official upgrades or not. But maybe there are Custom ROMs on internet.
6. any unrooting guide here?
-- already answered. Other than last answer regarding this question, there are ways to unroot device with different tools type. but not sure about method of which i posted link above.
i just want to upgrade first my z4 before i root it.
-- I think there is option for upgrade/update in Phone setting "About phone" and in case upgrade/update is available then it will be Official.
Advice: Do not try anything on your device Until you know what you are doing. always make full Backup of your device before doing stuff like "Root/CWM(Custom Recovery/Custom ROM). don't take my answers as perfect, make more search, wait for more replies.... until you get enough information and are sure that you understood well, what you learned etc....
hope, answers helped you a little.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hi thanks for your reply, really appreciate it
uhm another question. can you give a list of things i cant/should not freeze? (like system ui) so if ever i try to freeze i can avoid them. thanks
yodaryll94 said:
hi thanks for your reply, really appreciate it
uhm another question. can you give a list of things i cant/should not freeze? (like system ui) so if ever i try to freeze i can avoid them. thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not an expert, but try searching forum/internet for it. there is a lot of information.
Here few links from this Forum.
LINK:- Disable Apps (Bloatware) to speed-up and stabilize!
LINK:- How to Remove Bloatware without Rooting
LINK:- [GUIDE] Disabling system/bloatware apps using temp root
ajnabicancer said:
I'm not an expert, but try searching forum/internet for it. there is a lot of information.
Here few links from this Forum.
LINK:- Disable Apps (Bloatware) to speed-up and stabilize!
LINK:- How to Remove Bloatware without Rooting
LINK:- [GUIDE] Disabling system/bloatware apps using temp root
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
alright! thanks a lot
i just follow the guide in rooting my zenfone but after the reboot, in my phone says system failed returned to original (....)
my phone is in latest version v4.4.2 kitkat help me please
i just follow the guide in rooting my zenfone but after the reboot, in my phone says system failed returned to original (....)
my phone is in latest version v4.4.2 kitkat help me please
I've seen this in a few places now - is rooting - or having a rooted - Huawei phone more dangerous than any other kind? Are they easier to brick? If so, why?
Nope. Just as dangerous as any other device. The problem cones from using 3rdvparty software to do such things rather than just doing it yourself. The only difference is that you need to generate a device specific code from Huawei. Nothing big. Risks are imposed when doing anything outside of stock stuff but those issues are usually consequence of user error
I think it's said primarily for two reasons. First there's no TWRP, so recovering back to stock is more complicated and involves, at minimum, being able to get back to Fastboot. Second, people tend to freeze or uninstall system apps that they don't understand. Huawei, reputationally, can brick if you freeze the wrong system app. Personally, I haven't experienced that, and have frozen (as opposed to uninstalled) a bunch, but I admit that I'm proceeding more cautiously.
Also, some of the earlier warnings were before @mankindtw's rooting method -- before then the only available root cost you your AI and your themes (although the latter could be reloaded with some complexity). That's no longer the case -- the Magisk root doesn't delete/affect either. Nor, if you install the zip in his OP, does it blow up SafetyNet (although xPosed always will).
Hi, do you mind posting which zip file you flashed? Do you have the mate 10 pro version? Will bank apps after rooting still work?
mefistofelis said:
Hi, do you mind posting which zip file you flashed? Do you have the mate 10 pro version? Will bank apps after rooting still work?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If they need to pass safety net you need to use Magisk, use the one in here:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/mate-10/how-to/guide-mate-10-flash-oreo-update-package-t3716814
Hello everyone,
I have to say I am completely lost regarding the whole rooting process for the XZ1C. I usually manage to get where I want just by carefully reading the forums, but with this device, I feel overwhelmed by information. And I sometimes feel like what I am reading contradicts what I though I understood from previous reads...
I will try to sum up what I know so far.
First of all, I have a just-out-of-the-box Sony model G8441 with firmware 47.1.A.12.179 / Oreo 8.0.0 (never been connected to the outside world yet), and I want to properly root the device and install TWRP with no loss of feature.
What I think I understand:
To root, I first need to unlock the bootloader, which seems to be a trivial operation. However, this will break some functionalities due to DRM keys being erased. Once it is done, there is no way, ever, to get them back. There are however ways to "trick" DRM-related functionalities into believing DRM keys are still there.
Alternatively, there seems to be a way to backup the DRM keys prior to unlocking the BL, and this backup can somehow be reused and injected back into the unlocked device. If true, then this would certainly be a preferable method than the previous one, which would then be obsolete. However, it obviously doesn't look obsolete when I read the related topics, so I must be missing something...
Another thing I noted (but do not quite understand): There are ROMs for this device that "include" a DRM fix.
Last important thing I read: there is a paid "do-it-all" tool which takes my locked device and, with one click, makes it unlocked - rooted - DRM-fixed - TWRP-enabled. Now that sounds really good! Maybe too good?
As far as i know (but I learn new stuff every day on this topic) this DRM stuff is the main difficulty here. I understand that the rest of the process (root + TWRP) will be much simpler (although I'm old-school and completly missed all this magisk trend...!)
What I don't understand:
I read that some people downgrade to Oreo to be able to root properly, and at the same time, I read that Pie removed the restrictions on unlocked bootloader. So I still have no idea if I should connect and receive Sony updates, or avoid them.
Another thing I don't get, is how many ways do we have to root this thing? In the past, I was used to see, for a specific device, always one major and widly used rooting method. Here I fail to identify it...
What I think I will do:
1. Backup TA partition with j4nn's tool. This will probably imply flashing an older firmware right? Is there any link that could help me with this flashing process? (I only know Odin - did I mention old-school?) I saw this page for generic sony Z devices, but the thread is from 2013 and now closed. Is it still up-to-date or is there a newer thread?
2. Unlock bootloader and restore TA partition.
3. Wait for Sony updates? Or should I first hide unlock status?
3bis. Alternaltively to waiting for updates, maybe I can just flash the latest build? (47.2.A.8.24 if I am not mistaken)
4. Flash modpunk's TWRP.
5. Flash janjan's Boot.img to get root functionalities?
Alternaltively to all the above (except maybe step 1 that I will probably do in any case), buy the paid all-in-one tool (Xperifix), plug, click and wait... But will I really end up the same as with the manual way?
I saw a few other methods in the forums but it seems my brain is currently refusing to bring them back...
That's all I have right now. I would really appreciate if you guys could share some insight and tell me what you think about this, whether there are missing steps, useless steps, incorrectly ordered steps, silly steps, or if I'm just completely wrong about the whole thing.
Feel free also to correct me on the assumptions I made at the beginning.
Thank you very much for reading this repulsive piece of text.
SunJu22 said:
I would really appreciate if you guys could share some insight and tell me what you think about this
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Click to collapse
By the looks of it you have done a great deal of research on the project.
Yes, go down the route of backing up your TA partition first, but that is not a small step in itself, it's pretty complicated and if you get that working then the rest of the project will be a breeze.
You don't say what version of firmware you want to end up on. If you want to end up on Pie then forget the DRMfix . But if you're staying on Oreo and can't be bothered with lots of files & flashing, then this is the easy way out, I bought the paid version and can verify it works.
More recently I ended up janjan's kernel (Oreo build). Hidden root (Google Pay works), lots of performance tweaks, DRM completely working.
It's unlikely that anyone will bother making a DRM fix for Pie as the camera works and there are only a couple of other features that get disabled.
It sounds like you're not the sort of person who's only going to read the first couple of pages of a thread (or the last) flash the xxxxxx and then complain when it's broken.
The people on the forum here are very helpful and if you go into any of the threads you mentioned in your post with a question, you'll get a reply.
Good luck.
I agree, there is a lot of information out there and different methods of achieving what you want - very confusing if you have not been following the threads since the beginning.
In my opinion, the preferred method is j4nn's method outlined here: https://forum.xda-developers.com/xp...devonly-exploits-temp-root-to-backup-t3795510
Use that post as your main guide (the final step in that guide, #13, is how you will achieve root). You will use Newflasher to flash the various firmwares along the way (this is linked from j4nn's procedure in step #2). User munted made a very detailed pdf file that fills in some of the details on j4nn's procedure - see the following post and download the pdf attached: https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=78255334&postcount=382
Most of the other methods out there came before j4nn's work - they didn't include DRM backup/restore.
If you follow j4nn's procedure, you won't need to use the janjan kernel as you assumed - janjan method is different and does not overlap with j4nn.
SunJu22 said:
Feel free also to correct me on the assumptions I made at the beginning.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, I didn't point out that I was one of the early 'jumpers' who unlocked their bootloader without any backups, so I have been forced into always using fixes and all the information I have is based on having to fix your phone for it to work, but that's all changed now. I'm so out of date :-/
@camaro322hp is right, if you follow j4nn's method correctly you'll be rooted with no DRM loss. All of the other stuff is not required.
Thank you Digesteve and camaro322hp for your help.
From what I understand the XZ1C didn't get as much love as other devices, thus there was a long period of tinkering before a "do-it-all guide" could be considered "the" solution. That could explain all these different approaches that are proposed. Like you said camaro322hp it's rather difficult to jump on this train, and I can only guess how interesting this ride has been.
Anyway, I didn't see that the TA backup thread from j4nn also encompassed all the information I needed; I am glad to finally know that there is indeed a centralized "do-it-all guide" . To make it easier for XZ1C newcomers, I think j4nn should update his opening post to make this clearer.
Since I managed to grab the attention of 2 XZ1C power users, I would like to ask you: Did you keep stock? Did you try alternative ROMs? Do you like some of them? Do you prefer Oreo or Pie?
For information, the most up-to-date experience I have on a Android phone is my LG90 with CyanogenMod 11 (KitKat 4.4.4! Yes sir!). I heard that it's becoming less and less useful to flash a custom ROM due to major OS improvements, but I would still enjoy the simplest and lightest Android possible.
SunJu22 said:
Did you keep stock? Did you try alternative ROMs?
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Click to collapse
I've always been on stock, the camera is an important part of what I want from my phone and although there's lots of alternative camera apps, there's no competition to the stock camera app. Then I theme it black with swift installer and just uninstall or freeze any apps I don't want with Titanium Backup. I have stuck with Oreo, everything works perfect and I remember seeing so many people jumping to 9 then wanting to go back to 8 because they didn't like it. Something about changing the way the drop down menu works, among other things, but having never installed it, I'm not the person to comment on if it's any good or not.
I have been watching the XZ1c thread and Lineage is gaining ground, it even has a stock camera now. I would have thought something like that with miniGapps is going to be pretty lightweight and very similar to your carbon rom of before. At the moment this is based on 8, but is working well. Depends how keen you are to move to Pie.
Thank you Digesteve.
One thing I still don't understand. Part of the process is to hide unlock status. If I do this, FOTA will be applied and I will automatically end up on Pie, right? Should I skip this step if I want Oreo?
EDIT: when you say "a stock camera", you mean the Sony camera?
@SunJu22 I've stuck with the Sony ROM. A rooted stock ROM meets all my needs, so I've never felt the need to experiment with custom ROMs. There are some custom options out there that people seem fairly happy with, so if that's your thing, I'd encourage it.
Without going into too much detail, I'm still on Oreo for the moment, for a variety of reasons, but I don't know of anything that would keep me from recommending Pie.
One thing you should note is that once you unlock, there is no going back. AFAIK there is no known or working method to relock the bootloader.
SunJu22 said:
FOTA will be applied and I will automatically end up on Pie, right? Should I skip this step if I want Oreo?
EDIT: when you say "a stock camera", you mean the Sony camera?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I'm not entirely sure why having your rooted phone try and update itself is an advantage, but something I'd recomend avoiding.
Stock camera is the Sony camera, yes.
Thank you everyone, I believe I now have enough information to jump into this with confidence. The adventure begins, and will be reported in this thread for future reference, in the hope that it will help others like me!
Well, I am a bit sad... I wanted to report my "adventure" here in detail, but I'm afraid I have nothing to say.
Indeed, following the procedure from j4nn with a printed copy of munted's awesome guide, I managed to do all I wanted on the first attempt.
I don't have anything to add to this guide, everyone wanting to root their XZ1C can do it just by reading the opening post from j4nn and the mentioned guide. It takes a bit of time but nothing complicated thanks to the clear and detailed explanations.
I now have a fully functional rooted XZ1C (including camera) on Pie with Magisk root and TWRP.
Thank you all again from pointing me to the right direction.
I however have a slight disappointment. I wanted to start with Oreo and make an Nandroid backup before moving to Pie, but I didn't find Oreo builds on Xperifirm. So I jumped straight to Pie.
In case I want to test Oreo, I read that a downgrade is more complicated than an upgrade, but apart from the fact that a factory reset is needed for downgrade, I couldn't find an explanation for this. Any idea?
Last but not least: I looked for the latest Oreo build version number but couldn't find it. Do you guys know what it is and where I can download it?
I guess this will be all for this thread after this. Although it is very convenient to have my own thread to ask questions rather than finding the relevant page for each one, I don't want to annoy you too much...
EDIT: Please ignore the last question. I found out last Oreo build is 47.1.A.16.20, and I found the files via the download link in the opening post of the Lineage thread.
SunJu22 said:
In case I want to test Oreo, I read that a downgrade is more complicated than an upgrade, but apart from the fact that a factory reset is needed for downgrade, I couldn't find an explanation for this. Any idea? Lineage thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is an easy solution to downgrade:
Newflasher
Hi, I've been thinking about rooting my XZ1c for a long time now. So, do I understand correctly that the ONLY disadvantage compared to non-rooted device is not possible to receive the OTA updates from Sony anymore?
mEREHAIGE said:
Hi, I've been thinking about rooting my XZ1c for a long time now. So, do I understand correctly that the ONLY disadvantage compared to non-rooted device is not possible to receive the OTA updates from Sony anymore?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, you can flash a kernel to hide the bootloader unlock flag, this will mean that you will receive OTA updates, although depending on how you're rooted an update will most likely break your phone, so not that useful.
*made a thread*
Thanks--rooted withOUT adventure too
Very happily rooted now. Just wanted to say a quick thanks and add a few notes:
1. j4nn's renoroot to enable TA key backup and restore is fantastic. My advice: use and donate
2. munted's guide is excellent. clear and thorough...a rare combination.
3. do expect that renoroot may need to be restarted a couple of times. it took me 3 or 4 attempts to get temp root to pull the TA keys, although it took only 1 effort to get root back to restore.
4. topjohnwu's magisk is, of course, a key component to all this. Thx and $s there too.
I did a few things slightly differently/additionally than SunJu22.
5. I am on T-Mobile US, so I opted to create a hybrid Pie FW to get wifi calling and VoLTE. There are a number of discussions on this. I did it by combining the vendor**.sin and system**.sin files from custom-CH FW with the other files from custom-US FW. Of course (a) use IDENTICAL release numbers only, e.g. 47.A.2.10.28 w/ 47.A.2.10.28 and (b) you still need to delete .TA and persist files from the hybrid before you flash it.
Note: I don't really care about these features, but I have *heard* that T-mobile won't allow BYOD on their band-12 sites if they don't have VoLTE. Don't know if it is true (or where it is true) but figured why not?
6. I decided (for now, at least) to leave boot and recovery stock. So, I am using fastboot to run TWRP or a rooted kernel. Thanks again to j4nn for the method.
Note: I don't plan on allowing FOTA upgrades---I just like passing all the security checks and being able to *see* if updates are available.
That's all. Fine work in development and guides has made life simple and happy for me
kirkzp said:
Very happily rooted now. Just wanted to say a quick thanks and add a few notes:
1. j4nn's renoroot to enable TA key backup and restore is fantastic. My advice: use and donate
2. munted's guide is excellent. clear and thorough...a rare combination.
3. do expect that renoroot may need to be restarted a couple of times. it took me 3 or 4 attempts to get temp root to pull the TA keys, although it took only 1 effort to get root back to restore.
4. topjohnwu's magisk is, of course, a key component to all this. Thx and $s there too.
I did a few things slightly differently/additionally than SunJu22.
5. I am on T-Mobile US, so I opted to create a hybrid Pie FW to get wifi calling and VoLTE. There are a number of discussions on this. I did it by combining the vendor**.sin and system**.sin files from custom-CH FW with the other files from custom-US FW. Of course (a) use IDENTICAL release numbers only, e.g. 47.A.2.10.28 w/ 47.A.2.10.28 and (b) you still need to delete .TA and persist files from the hybrid before you flash it.
Note: I don't really care about these features, but I have *heard* that T-mobile won't allow BYOD on their band-12 sites if they don't have VoLTE. Don't know if it is true (or where it is true) but figured why not?
6. I decided (for now, at least) to leave boot and recovery stock. So, I am using fastboot to run TWRP or a rooted kernel. Thanks again to j4nn for the method.
Note: I don't plan on allowing FOTA upgrades---I just like passing all the security checks and being able to *see* if updates are available.
That's all. Fine work in development and guides has made life simple and happy for me
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now riddle me this cause I'm on Tmo USA as well and I did the hybrid work fine as well but heres the question, does googlepay and banking apps still work with a unlocked bootloader or did you flash a modified kernel to hide the unlocked status.
Sitting on the fence about unlocking mine so I can do a full nandroid before trying out some gsi pie roms infact this is the first phone I haven't unlocked or least put twrp on since my samsung sidekick 4g o.o
kernel with hide-unlock
T_Tank said:
Now riddle me this cause I'm on Tmo USA as well and I did the hybrid work fine as well but heres the question, does googlepay and banking apps still work with a unlocked bootloader or did you flash a modified kernel to hide the unlocked status.
Sitting on the fence about unlocking mine so I can do a full nandroid before trying out some gsi pie roms infact this is the first phone I haven't unlocked or least put twrp on since my samsung sidekick 4g o.o
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Full disclosure: I don't use Google pay or too many banking apps, so YMMV. But, I am using j4nn's kernel with unlock hidden. (See link in my note 6.) You can flash this, or you can leave in your stock kernel and merely fastboot to this. From what I have seen, it hides most - if not all -- indicators that the phone is rooted and the BL in unlocked.
Does somebody has :
G8441_1310-7123_47.1.A.16.20-R7B_Customized_CE1.ftf ?
Only backup i did not make, and its gone from XperiFirm.
Still have the feeling battery life was better in Oreo, and would be nice for experimenting.
Would be nice.
Thanks in advance.
is it possible to root my galaxy s21u? if possible how should it be done and is it safe to do so?
seancannery88 said:
is it possible to root my galaxy s21u? if possible how should it be done and is it safe to do so?
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Click to collapse
I'm not sure if Exynos can be root as of now...If you are on the SD version, there are some posts here that show how to unlock the BL, install magisk and SU...but honestly, it's best to wait until some foolproof method is out...whatever be the case, you will lose Knox and other Knox related stuff
Exynos can be rooted I believe, but ask yourself why you want or need to root your phone.
I've had various Android phones since around 2009, and this is the first Android device I've owned that I haven't immediately rooted, and don't immediately see the need to. Previously, I mainly rooted because I wanted XprivacyLUA, Viper4Android and AFWall (amongst other things like Titanium Backup and Root Explorer but they're the main three). However, in the 3 weeks I've had this phone I've not really missed them. I use Netguard for a firewall, and the DAC appears to be good enough to not really need Viper. XPrivacy is a miss, but not one I can l can't deal with.
I'm not ruling out rooting it at some point in the future. I've just decided it's not required right now. Especially as I've started using Samsung Pay and that would immediately and permanently be lost once Knox is tripped.