somewhere between rooted and not rooted

[lesonyrra]

Hi --

I have a Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 tablet. At some point I rooted it and went on my merry way ... but once I discovered this made it impossible to update the OS I started thinking I should at least temporarily UN root it, upgrade and then re-root.

The tablet is currently is (apparently) in a weird state between rooted and not. The OS will not update because the tablet has been 'altered,' but the RootChecker app does not see the device as rooted.

Because I am lousy about documenting things, I only have my memory to go on re: what I used to do the rooting/attempted unrooting. I believe I rooted with TowelRoot, then attempted an un-root with Super SU Pro.

If this is the case then I either did the latter operation incorrectly or the app did not do its job. I've been trying to get to the point where I am either one thing or the other, but so far have been frustrated: I can't seem to download TowelRoot, Super SU Pro will not do anything because my device isn't rooted, and so on ...

I've been contemplating a factory reset but there's probably a better way.

Thanks (and sorry if this is a nimrod question),

Glenn

 

[smvim]

So it does sound like the Android operating system on your Note is kind of messed up at this point. You might want to think about just re-flashing it with its stock ROM, get it up and running again, then apply whatever OTA upgrade is available. Then if you want to root it later (give some serious thought as to why you need or want to root), I'd avoid TowelRoot. With Samsung devices it's generally safer to use a utility like Odin or Heimdall. Here's a nice, concise guide on unrooting/flashing a stock ROM:
https://theunlockr.com/2013/12/17/unroot-samsung-galaxy-note-10-1-2014-edition/

... and if necessary how to root:
https://theunlockr.com/2013/12/17/root-samsung-galaxy-note-10-1-2014-edition/

Oh, and a Factory Reset won't help in this situation. A Reset only wipes the /data partition (where your personal data is stored), it does NOT affect any of the system partitions. If your Note is rooted or not, it will remain that way after a Factory Reset.

 

[lesonyrra]

Ah, okay, thanks for the reply. I'll look into re-flashing.

The chief reason I rooted in the first place was to gain access to my microSD card.

Glenn

 

[smvim]

...The chief reason I rooted in the first place was to gain access to my microSD card.

Ahh, if you're moving apps from internal storage to your microSD card that's one thing, if you're just transferring files around could you get by with just using Samsung's default file manager app, 'My Files' ? (buried in your Apps menu)

 

[lesonyrra]

So here's what I'm doing. My Android knowledge is probably waaay outdated.

I use Dropbox a lot & in particular for PDFs, scientific papers and the like, which I like to have available to read in multiple places.

I had thought, anyway, that Android OS 'locked' MicroSD cards so that the OS couldn't write to them ... therefore I was under the impression I needed to root the device in order to simply download Dropbox files onto the MicroSD card.

Maybe I misunderstood? It's not just possible, it's likely!

Glenn

 

[smvim]

Google did crack down on microSD card permissions starting with KitKat (4.4.x) but have since thankfully backed away from a lot of that silliness. Back then, you could use something like Samsung's 'My Files' app to move things more freely than if you installed a third-party file manager because My Files was a Samsung system app. You did need to be rooted to have a third-party file manager have the same access that My Files had (and actually more because My Files by design had limited ability to manipulate things in system partitions). So at that time with KitKat only system-level apps had access to the microSD card, with all third-party apps being limited to have free access their own specific folder buried in an Android/data folder. But things have progressed and it's not quite so restrictive now.

 

[B. Diddy]

Moved from the Galaxy Note forum (for the original Note phone) to the Note 10.1 Rooting forum (for the tablet).