How to Root the Droid Bionic

[Cory Streater]

Rooting the Droid Bionic with 32-bit versions of Windows Desktop or Windows 2003 server

1. If your Bionic is plugged into your PC unplug it now.
2. Press the menu capacitive button then select settings > applications > development > check USB debugging > then click Ok.
3. Download & extract the contents of the attached 32bitBionicRoot.zip to your desktop.
4. Double click Motorola_End_User_Driver_Installation_5.2.0_32bit.msi to install the Motorola phone drivers.
5. Once installed plug your Bionic into your computer.
6. Select the option to Charge Only.
7. Double click MotorolaOneClickRoot.exe to launch the root app.
8. Follow the steps in the command window to root.

Rooting the Droid Bionic with 64-bit versions of Windows Desktop or Windows 2003 server

1. If your Bionic is plugged into your PC unplug it now.
2. Press the menu capacitive button then select settings > applications > development > check USB debugging > then click Ok.
3. Download & extract the contents of the attached 64bitBionicRoot.zip to your desktop.
4. Double click Motorola_End_User_Driver_Installation_5.2.0_64bit.msi to install the Motorola phone drivers.
5. Once installed plug your Bionic into your computer.
6. Select the option to Charge Only.
7. Double click MotorolaOneClickRoot.exe to launch the root app.
8. Follow the steps in the command window to root.

MotorolaOneClickRoot.exe can also be used to unroot the Bionic.

Credits:

• Pete aka psouza4 at XDA for writing the One Click program used in this procedure. The attached zip includes version 1.06 fo this program.
• Dan Rosenburg aka djrbliss at XDA for his discovery of the vulnerability and for sharing the exploit process used in the One Click Root the Pete developed. You can learn more about his work here.

 

[Cory Streater]

Droid Bionic Root FAQ's

A few FAQ's about Rooting in general:

Q: What is Root?
A: Root, is super user access of your phones operating system. Think of your phone as a desktop computer. Right now you are logged on as a guest account. you can browse things and use applications but if you really want to change anything in your system you can't. What gaining root does is it gives you superuser permission to alter files that you could not before; again thinking of it as a computer you now have an Administrator account.

Q:Does rooting void my warranty?
A:Yes and no. If you walk into your carriers store with a phone that has Root access and they actually check it they have the right to say this phone was tampered with. But for those of you in the know, there are methods to unroot your phone first.

Q: Does rooting slow down my phone or drain battery.
A: NO, root is not an application or a running process, gaining root does not do anything but give you permissions that you normally would not have. Basically all you did during the rooting process was move files around. Its what you do with this new found permission that changes things. But as far as just rooting it does not make a difference.

Q: Will i lose any apps or data during the rooting process?
A: No, for the same reason as above. Rooting is basically just moving some files around. Of course there is always a risk of something happening in any process. I would say chances are of causing serious problems is slim to non. Its what you do with this new found permission that changes things. But as far as just rooting it does not make a difference.

Q: I lost root during an update, am i doomed?
A: No, what happend was the file containing your super user access was over written. Just re-attempt gaining root and you will be fine.

 

[Cory Streater]

Reserved for Mac procedure.

 

[DaleGriggs]

Before I rooted my phone, I lost 3G/4G. I only had WIFI. I rooted it, backed up all my apps with TB and did a factory reset and used TB to restore all my apps. Everything was great for awhile until I noticed I had lost 3G/4G again. I decided to unroot the phone and executed MotorolaOneClick again. I thought I was supposed to get an option to unroot it but it only rooted the phone again. I want to take it back to Verizon but I don't want it rooted because they will hang their hat on that and say it is my fault. How do I get it to unroot, there is no option in MotorolaOneClick to unroot it.

I had the same problem once with my OG Droid but it was caused by an app and it was fine once I did a factory reset.

 

[Cory Streater]

1) I don't think store reps look for this or even know if you've rooted a phone. Take it in with all programs removed.

2) I'll see if I can get a hold of the author (Pete) and find out why the option to unroot is missing. I don't see it in his screenshot either. He does say it's at the bottom of the CMD window. Are you sure it isn't there?

3) Looks like he updated his tool from 1.05 to 1.06. Updated the attachments to reflect that update.

 

[McBane]

It looks like you need to package adb.exe with this or let people know where they need to download it from. The root app needs it to run

 

[kyleetrotter]

It looks like you need to package adb.exe with this or let people know where they need to download it from. The root app needs it to run

I'm getting the same thing. I need adb.exe...help!

 

[wseyller]

It is also missing other files that the script installs such as superuser and busybox

Everything you need minus the drivers...


http://dl.dropbox.com/u/6643359/Software/Android/PetesMotorolaRootTools_v1.06.zip


Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk

 

[Cory Streater]

Sorry for the missing files. Attachments updated.

 

[comiskeybum]

Got mine rooted. No problems so far. Im only freezing the bloat, not deleting it. Im using bloat freezer from the android market. It works good and now my phone has 500MB of Ram free almost always.

just be careful of what you freeze cuz i froze a couple things that made my phone weird and had to defrost them in order to make it right again.

I dont plan to do much with my rooted phone, I mainly wanted to freeze bloat. First time rooting a phone.

 

[comiskeybum]

Question. Does rooting your phone and freezing bloat in any way cause your phone not to receive OTA Android updates?

For example. Lets say Ice Cream Sandwhich is released and motorola decides to put it on Bionic. Will I be able to receive said update?

Thanks.

 

[titot4u]

Question. Does rooting your phone and freezing bloat in any way cause your phone not to receive OTA Android updates?

For example. Lets say Ice Cream Sandwhich is released and motorola decides to put it on Bionic. Will I be able to receive said update?

Thanks.

You will need to re-install all bloat before receiving any updates, otherwise you will get an error message.

 

[droidianslip]

does this root method allow for backup of the device via nandroid or clock work or something like that?

or do I need to install rom manager after I root?

or is there not a way to do a full backup yet?

 

[titot4u]

does this root method allow for backup of the device via nandroid or clock work or something like that?

or do I need to install rom manager after I root?

or is there not a way to do a full backup yet?

No to all your questions. The only way to backup anything at the present time is with the use of "Titanium Backup".

 

[comiskeybum]

You will need to re-install all bloat before receiving any updates, otherwise you will get an error message.

Ok so just so I understand right. When its announced that Motorola has an OTA update that IS NOT a root patch, I simply "defrost" everything and I should get the OTA update like normal right?

I dont have to "unroot" just "defrost" ?

 

[titot4u]

Ok so just so I understand right. When its announced that Motorola has an OTA update that IS NOT a root patch, I simply "defrost" everything and I should get the OTA update like normal right?

I dont have to "unroot" just "defrost" ?

Yes...just defrosting should do the trick, but lately new updates are causing rooted phones to unroot and causing problems, so I personally wouldn't accept any OTA updates until you hear otherwise from a known source.

Just my 2 cents

 

[pace87]

Got mine rooted. No problems so far. Im only freezing the bloat, not deleting it. Im using bloat freezer from the android market. It works good and now my phone has 500MB of Ram free almost always.

just be careful of what you freeze cuz i froze a couple things that made my phone weird and had to defrost them in order to make it right again.

I dont plan to do much with my rooted phone, I mainly wanted to freeze bloat. First time rooting a phone.

What did you end up freezing?

 

[Tegamal]

Anyone else having an issue with Pete's just sitting there after clicking root my phone? It just says "Searching for the Phone", but nothing happens. Installed all drivers from OP & followed the instructions step by step, Set phone to Charge Only.

Going to try again, but can't get past this part so far.

EDIT: Switched to my laptop with the same results. Does it normally take a while? I thought I was doing something wrong, so I looked up some YouTube videos & theirs all fired right up.

EDIT #2: Ok, I figured it out. If you are having this issue, uncheck Debugging, then re-check it & try again. Worked for me.

 

[wseyller]

Anyone else having an issue with Pete's just sitting there after clicking root my phone? It just says "Searching for the Phone", but nothing happens. Installed all drivers from OP & followed the instructions step by step, Set phone to Charge Only.

Going to try again, but can't get past this part so far.

EDIT: Switched to my laptop with the same results. Does it normally take a while? I thought I was doing something wrong, so I looked up some YouTube videos & theirs all fired right up.

Turn on USB debugging?

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk

 

[comiskeybum]

What did you end up freezing?

-anything that has vcast in the title
- vz naviator
- amazon kindle
- backup assistant (why do we need this when gmail backs up our contacts?)
- blockbuster
- chooser(something the blur picture gallery uses)
- citrix (i dont ever know what this is but i know its dumb)
-city id (uses battery)
- gallery ( i use quickpic for my pictures)
- go to meeting
- guided tours (always running in background unless u freeze)
- IM
- lets golf
- music ( i use poweramp)
- myspace and twitter authenticators
- news (uses RAM and battery)
- NFL mobile ( i love football but dont need this running in background)
- online album (runs in background)
- photobucket
- slacker
- social location (uses a lot of battery)
- social messaging
- social networking
- social EVERYTHING ( this crap uses battery and RAM and is just stupid)
-visual voicemail
- weather ( i use weather channel widget)
- zumocast ( ill defrost if i ever use it)

since i rooted my battery has improved a lot. All of those social apps that blur uses kill the RAM and battery especially social location.

If you are actually USING blur you might have an issue freezing some of whats on my list. I use goLauncher so i dont need this blur crap.

I cant tell you enough how good my phone runs since rooting. Hell it was running good before but now even better.