Just bought a NT and need help installing 3rd party apps!

[SadeLyn]

I just bought a nook tablet last night and I really like the build and design of the tablet (not to mention price) better than any of the others. However, I don't like being limited to B&N content only. I'm thinking about returning it. Before I do, I was wondering if there is any workaround to install 3rd party apps and get access to amazon market and maybe android without rooting it and voiding my warranty and ability to return it? I'm assuming it has the update on it that blocks such things, but I'm not sure. It has been connected to my wireless so I'm guessing it updated. I will need to check to be sure. I'm new to tablets (this is my first) and don't know much about modifying it and such. I do have an android phone but I'm no tech person, I haven't changed anything on that. Any simple instructions would be much appreciated!

 

[bfollowell]

I turned my NT into a full-blown Android tablet while keeping all the stock apps. I found the rooting process fairly easy but I've been a techie for about thirty years. I don't think I'd advise just anyone to try this with nothing to go on but the instructions and no tech background at all. You're the only one that really knows your background and can make that decision.

That being said, rooting doesn't necessarily have to void your warranty. You can just as easily unroot and then restore your NT back to factory condition and no one would be any wiser.

As far as being able to install apps without rooting. Well, yes, originally you could do this with some limitations. Then B&N locked out this capability with their 1.4.1 update. It supposedly keeps you from side-loading (installing 3rd party apps) and from rooting. You can revert back to 1.4.0 though and then root but, again, I wouldn't advise this to just anyone, even though I found the process fairly straight-forward.

- Byron

 

[SadeLyn]

Isn't there a chance with rooting that something can go wrong though and break the tablet? I'm not completely dumb as to how to use computer and such. I do use one on a daily basis, I work for an internet company and I've been here for 3 and a half years so i know some basic technical support, however that is not my primary responsibility so I wouldnt consider myself a techy and think I may be confused on instructions to root and the terminology. I am definitely going to see what version is on my NT when I get home, tho I'm still guessing its the newer one. Is yours working without issues? I would love to be able to do that with mine, just not sure I wanna take chances and be out that much money.

 

[bfollowell]

Mine is working great. For the money, I couldn't ask for more. I had some minor issues early on but they were my own doing. I un-rooted, restored to factory defaults (which puts it back to just-out-of-the-box condition), then re-rooted. Since then, I haven't had any issues whatsoever.

You can check out the initial root instructions here:
[Blocks OTA's!] Full root for Nook Tablet. [11/20/11] [Permanent root!] - xda-developers

You can also look for a whole batch of YouTube videos by Albert Wertz covering the whole process of rooting, unrooting, blocking the updates so you don't lose root access after you've done it, etc., etc. The videos are great and really help. I don't care how well the instructions are written, there's just nothing like having someone show you how to do something. I'd never rooted anything before either and, techie that I am, I was still a little nervous. Looking back though, it was no big deal.

As far as damaging your Nook or bricking it, I'm not sure. I'm sure you can really screw up anything if you're really trying but, if you're following the instructions and watching the videos, I think it would be pretty hard.

- Byron

 

[SadeLyn]

Thanks for the information, I will definitely check that out tonight. I did check my nook to see what version it is running and it said 1.4.0 so I'm guessing I'm not locked at the moment. It would be very helpful to watch a video and follow along with someone. My biggest fear is I'll brick it or things won't work smoothly after but I'd like to maybe give it a try depending on what it entails after I research the information you have provided. Is there a way to do it on an SD card that might be safer?

 

[bfollowell]

Thanks for the information, I will definitely check that out tonight. I did check my nook to see what version it is running and it said 1.4.0 so I'm guessing I'm not locked at the moment. It would be very helpful to watch a video and follow along with someone. My biggest fear is I'll brick it or things won't work smoothly after but I'd like to maybe give it a try depending on what it entails after I research the information you have provided. Is there a way to do it on an SD card that might be safer?

If that's the case, you may want to turn your wi-fi off, at least until you decide what you want to do and are finished with your rooting and blocking updates, if you decide to go that route, just to make sure you don't get upgraded.

I would read through all the documentation THEN watch the videos. Then you should have enough to go on.

There may be a method to do it with an sd card but I'm not aware of it. When I started researching rooting the Nook Tablet, almost everything seemed to be pointing to that one thread on the xda-developers website so that's where I went. I really haven't researched anything else.

I know the Nook Color has a dual-boot sd card setup that looks really neat but it won't work on the NT. They are working on a NT solution though but I have no idea if or when they'll come up with one. You can look into that here:

Turn your Nook Color into a full Android Tablet | N2A cards

I hope this has proven somewhat helpful.

- Byron

 

[SadeLyn]

And you said there is a way to undo the root if I decide to in the future? For example, if b&n releases an update that I decide I want? You have been very helpful, I appreciate all the information. I'm a little nervous about doing this but I will read what you have sent me and check it out. I'd really like to keep this tablet if I can do more on it. Does netflix still work on it after its been rooted?

 

[bfollowell]

Yes, you can unroot. When I messed up a little on my first root attempt (before I watched the videos), I unrooted and then performed a factory restore before trying again. If I ever needed to return my NT for any reason or wanted to sell it, I could easily do the same again and no one would be the wiser.

When you root, you have the option to "debloat" which means to remove all the crap that Barnes & Noble puts on there. I wanted all that "crap". I wanted my NT to look pretty much stock, but to have the option of another launcher & home page and to be able to get apps from wherever I choose, so I didn't debloat. It's purely optional. Even if I'd removed all the Barnes & Noble installed stuff, I could've gotten a hulu or netflix app from somewhere else.

I now have full access to the the B&N ebook store, the B&N app store, the Amazon app store and the full Android Marketplace. Honestly though, if you have access to the Android Marketplace, you really don't need anything else. I don't believe B&N or Amazon has any apps that you can't get anywhere else but the Amazon app store is a little more limited that the Android Marketplace and the B&N app store is SEVERELY limited in comparison. Plus, a lot of what you get from B&N is more expensive where it's cheaper and in many cases free on the Android Marketplace. If I couldn't have install the Android Marketplace, I really think I would've returned my NT. As things turned out, I think I've unlocked its true capabilities and I have the best reader/tablet currently available on the market in this price range.

Enjoy.

- Byron

 

[SadeLyn]

That's exactly what I want. I still want access to b&n content, I don't really care about amazon, but definitely want Android market. I just can't bring myself to pay $3 for angry birds when its free on my android phone. I agree that its definitely the best tablet out there for the price. And if I can't do this then I probably will return it which I really hate to do :-\. Is a factory reset pretty simple and straightforward, like pressing a button simple or more to it?
Thank you for all the information you have given me, I hope I have the guts to try it and understand it all, then I too could have the best tablet out there!

 

[SadeLyn]

I was just watching the video on how to root the nook and it shows you have to connect to wifi to go to certain website right at the beginning of rooting. But I want to avoid that so it doesn't update to 1.4.1, how do I go about that?

 

[bfollowell]

That's exactly what I want. I still want access to b&n content, I don't really care about amazon, but definitely want Android market. I just can't bring myself to pay $3 for angry birds when its free on my android phone. I agree that its definitely the best tablet out there for the price. And if I can't do this then I probably will return it which I really hate to do :-\. Is a factory reset pretty simple and straightforward, like pressing a button simple or more to it?
Thank you for all the information you have given me, I hope I have the guts to try it and understand it all, then I too could have the best tablet out there!

Fairly easy. I'll post the procedure later, after I get home and can look it up.

- Byron

 

[bfollowell]

I was just watching the video on how to root the nook and it shows you have to connect to wifi to go to certain website right at the beginning of rooting. But I want to avoid that so it doesn't update to 1.4.1, how do I go about that?

I don't think it would get it quite that quickly. I would think you'd have time to logon and get all the files you'd need. They download in seconds. It'll take you longer to pull up the web pages than it will to get the files. I think you'll be alright. I had my wi-fi on for the first week after I got mine at Christmas and didn't get upgraded. I'd just leave it off until you're ready to get going though, just to be safe.

- Byron

 

[SadeLyn]

Ok thanks. I think I'm going to attempt this tonight. one more question before I get started, on the video he said he had a memory card in it, I bought one and have yet to put it in. Should I put that in first?

 

[bfollowell]

Ok thanks. I think I'm going to attempt this tonight. one more question before I get started, on the video he said he had a memory card in it, I bought one and have yet to put it in. Should I put that in first?

I would. That way you'll already have it in there and won't have to worry about forgetting about it. I don't think there was anything during the root process that needed it though. It seems like it installs or tries to install Titanium Backup and said something about there not being a sd card installed, even though I did have one installed. I went back later and installed it myself so it really wasn't a big deal.

- Byron

 

[SadeLyn]

Thanks again for all your help! I think I'm going to give it a shot now. I will let you know how it goes or if I have anymore questions! Praying this all goes well! Thanks again!

 

[SadeLyn]

Help!!! When I go to run nookandzergy it asks if my nook is on the list and it isn't. I'm guessing there's an issue with my usb device settings when I hook it up. I have tried uninstalling all of them and then nothing shows up there and when I restarted my computer to see if that would make it work, it reinstalled all of the drivers for the usb and wouldn't let me stop them. My nook shows up as usb mass storage which may be because of the memory card in there. What do I do? Do I need to completely start over or can I fix this? Help Please!!!!

 

[SadeLyn]

Ok well I figured out my issue and I thought things were going well and I was quite excited when nookzergy saw my device and I was able to root. My problem came after I rooted. I chose to have a back button and menu button installed on task bar and the "n" button would take me home. I misunderstood and chose home (there was an android guy next to it) instead of honeycomb when asked what launcher, I think it was that I wanted to run. The back button worked after, but what I assume was menu button did not. I couldn't find web app anywhere, couldn't access settings directly. I couldn't really get to anything except for my books and nooks apps. Very frustrating. I did a factory reset. I would like to attempt this again, but do I need to remove all the files from my computer and redownload and start over? And do you have any idea what the issue might have been? Was it that I accidentally hit home instead of honeycomb? I scared myself and was a little afraid I had broken it when all the factory default instructions I could find had you using the web browser on the nook. Luckily, I found one that was just pressing some buttons. So as you can imagine I'm a little hesitant to try this again. Any clarification on redoing it and advice would be much appreciated! Thanks!

 

[bfollowell]

I am not sure about the driver problem but I do know there was a thread dedicated to driver issues and they mostly stemmed from people that had plugged their stock NT into their computer, then had problems when they later tried to use the other drivers for the root procedure. It seems like there were some steps for removing the drivers but the consensus was that it was best to do the root procedure on a computer that had never had a NT or Nook Color connected to it before. Of course, this may be a little hard if you have access to only one computer and decide to root after you've had your Nook for a while.

As far as your Home button issues, I can't say I've had a problem there or know what caused yours. It may be due to you using the Honeycomb launcher. It seems like it gives you the option for about three different launchers. I don't remember what they all are but after reading reviews and opinions, I decided on the GO Launcher EX. The root process also installed HomeCatcher which is a little app that tells the NT what to do when you press the Home button twice. When I press the Home button twice, I get a menu that has two options. It says "Complete action using" and there's a HomeCatcher icon with no text beside it and an Android icon that says Home. If I press the Android icon, I get taken to the original B&N Nook Tablet Home screen. If I press the HomeCatcher icon, I get another little menu that says "Go Launcher EX" and Home. If I press the Go Launcher icon, I get taken to my Go Launcher Home screen. If I press the Home button once, I get the normal Nook Tablet menu that pops up from the bottom of the screen, regardless of which Home screen I'm on.

The only other issue I see with what you said is when you said you had an issue, so you restored. My concern is, did you unroot before you restored? I had a similar issue and restored without unrooting first. Everything looked and worked like a stock, just-out-of-the-box NT until I tried to root it again. The process would start and then tell me that my NT was already rooted. So, even though it looked stock, technically, it wasn't. Also, I couldn't unroot from that point because the restore process had removed SuperUser privileges from my NT. Whew. If you think that sounds familiar, I think I can help you get through that the same way I did, so let me know. It isn't the end of the world but it's a little more involved. I think I can remember what I did and step you through it.

I too found lots of restore procedures. Some for the NC, some for the NT. Some consisting of the rest/restart eight times in a row procedure. None of them seemed to work well for me and I kind of put together my own from several sources that works well. I'll attach it below.

Good luck.

- Byron



Nook Tablet Full Factory Restore

Please follow the steps below to hard reset your NOOK Tablet. Please note that a hard reset de-registers your device as well as erases all local content such as contacts, sideloaded documents, personal information, 4 digit passcodes, etc. It is strongly recommended that you backup any sideloaded material before continuing.

1. Hold the power button down for 10 seconds until the NOOK Tablet is powered off, ignoring the "Power off" prompt.
2. After Your NOOK Tablet is powered off, kindly press the home key and the power button until the "n" logo appears. Once the "n" logo appears, wait approximately 3 to 4 seconds, then release the power button while continuing to hold the home key.
3. If successful, a grey NOOK Logo will appear and the screen will refresh momentarily and flash yellow. A prompt will appear asking if you would like to perform a ?Factory Reset,? Tap the "NOOK Home key" to confirm. Tap the"Home key" again to begin the process.
4. After a few minutes your device will reset and re-install all necessary software. Once completed, you will have to register the device again.

 

[SadeLyn]

I think I figured out the driver issue. When I went to root it last night, that was the first time I had plugged my nook into that computer. My computer kept wanting to auto install the drivers but I got it so I had an exlamation point next to nook under other devices and next to one of the USB.
On the video I watched he pressed the home button twice to go to the menu that lets him choose between the two options and when I pressed it twice it brought up one of my books, when pressed once it went to nook home screen. So I'm not sure what was going on with that. Maybe I shouldn't have chosen to install menu and back button on taskbar and make "n" button my home button.
I couldn't figure out how to unroot. From everything I saw you had to be able to access the web from your nook and I couldn't cuz it didn't exist. I restored my nook basically the same exact way you did. The instructions I found had me holding the volume buttons as well, not sure that really did anything. So I'm guessing my nook isn't technically unrooted? Any advice about trying this again and hopefully successfully next time lol otherwise I will probably restore it to factory and return it.
I don't want a tablet that I can't do anything with and am going to have issues with. Thanks!

 

[bfollowell]

OK, the quick and easy way to check and see if you're still rooted, and I'm fairly sure you are, is to hook up your Nook and run the root scripts like you did the first time. I can't remember at what point it told me that my NT was already rooted but I know it did. I'm thinking it didn't even show me the serial number the way it does when it asks you if you see it listed. If it wasn't at that point, it was the next stage after you say yes. Try that and see if it looks like you're rooted. If not, you're good to go.

If you're still rooted, you need to an unroot script. There's actually an app that someone put together that does everything for you. The problem is, now that you've restored, you no longer have the SuperUser app installed so that you can grant the unroot app SuperUser access. You'll need to go through the first few steps and download the app that allows you to install 3rd party apps (one of those first steps you performed when you started rooting). Then you'll need to search for and download a copy of superuser.apk and install it. I can email you a copy if you send me a personal message with your email address.

After you have superuser reinstalled, download the One Click Unroot app from here:

[App]One Click Unroot[WIP] - xda-developers

Install and run that, then, after successfully running that, perform the full factory restore.

After that, you should have a stock, just-out-of-the-box Nook Tablet again.

- Byron