a beginners guide to the general android rooting process

[qt3dot14]

hello everyone.

im a confused newbie. is there any other kind?

it seems that a lot of the traffic on this forum is from people trying to piece some information together from a thousand random threads.

some of the information we are looking for is phone-specific for sure. but i believe a lot of the confusion also comes from newbies like me not being able to review the basic rooting procedures and/or processes as a complete system. this could include rooting "definitions", but im more referring to how the different processes/steps follow each other or relate to each other.

one of my goals here (GOAL #1) is to compile some important info that will allow us newbies to get started by understanding the non-phone-specific general rooting/custom recovery/new rom procedure without going to a thousand different threads. once we understand the underlying procedure, then we can go to a thousand threads to get our phone-specific ROMULATION (explained below) completed.

GOAL #2. learn the process well enough for me to make some money! (explained below)

Goal #3. to make you experts some money! you do want some cash for your education and efforts dont you?

MY PERSONAL POSTING METHOD FOR THIS SPECIFIC THREAD:

i will post a series of "general information" pieces INDIVIDUALLY, BUT ALL IN THIS ONE THREAD, to be verified/clarified/vilified on this thread by posting each "info area" as a different comment. this way if you have something to add to a particular piece of information, you wont have to "quote" all the information. im trying to keep the thread from becoming too long because of quoting a long entry when you may be only replying to one specific piece of information in the entry. (ie: this intro paragraph doesnt need to be quoted if you are responding to a specific subject later in this thread.)

HOW I LEARN: everyone learns differently. so i will be researching this info on this thread by compiling the information/questions in a way that i learn. im sure there are people who learn differently from me. if thats the case you can just try other threads until you find someone who explains things in a way you understand.

but assuredly there are individuals who are as confused by the process as i am, and who also learn the same way i do. it is the hope that for myself and the people who naturally learn like me, that this thread will be a godsend to us.

if you tell me "something", i might get it. if you tell me "something technical" i may or may not "get it" at first, or maybe not at all!

but i learn better if i can "compare" things and/or under "what if" scenarios. keep in mind that some of the "what ifs" below are not necessarily something i want to do, but rather information that may help me (us newbies) understand the RELATIONSHIP between various processes.

 

[qt3dot14]

IN REFERENCE TO GOAL #1 ABOVE:

the first problem with making money in any endeavor is MARKETING!

IS THERE A LESS SEXY TERM THAN "ROOTING"?

NEW DEFINITION: ROMULATION - a term to describe the combined processes of rooting/flashing a custom recovery/flashing a new rom (although i understand that technically you could root/flash custom recovery just for a complete system backup (ie titanium bu), with out actually flashing a custom rom).


how i envision possibly making some money from ROMULATION: i would like to ROMULATE android phones for clients in my local physical area.

why? because its fun really. because the "demand" should be there. none of us want to lose any of our information or customization of our androids, and we all want more choices. the same human nature forces that make people NEED their "phones" are the same forces that should make people want to romulate their phones.

but to do this profitably i, (we) need to be extremely efficient in quickly and perfectly being able to romulate the different phones/custom recoveries and roms. thus my hanging out in these forums to educate myself.

WE NEED SEXIER MARKETING TERMS FOR THESE PROCESSES.

so lets jump to the APPLE side for just a minute. i believe their term for rooting would be JAILBREAK. thats kind of a cool name, but it doesnt roll of your tongue really that great. for example: "have you jailbroken your phone?", or "do you want to jailbreak your phone?". its just not smooth from a marketing standpoint.

but the ANDROID side is horrible. "have you rooted your phone yet?" just terrible for marketing. clients eyes immediately glaze over.

so.... does anyone have a suggestion for a more elegant marketing term than "rooting"?

and even though i came up with the term "ROMULATION" to describe the combined rooting/flashing custom recovery/flash new rom process, i feel that there is probably a better marketing term than this.

also: we need a better term for the "phone" itself. its not just a phone anymore. in fact the microphone is broken on my phone. i cant call out, (i can hear you but you cant here me). because of the broken mic i cant take advantage of all the voice-activated options that the android allows. virgin was going to replace my phone but i would have lost all my info/configurations/etc (because my phone was not yet rooted and properly backed-up)(and thats why im hear trying to learn this process and save my info/configurations and move to another functioning phone). my point: i cant even make a call or use and voice activated features, BUT BECAUSE OF EVERYTHING ELSE ON THE "PHONE", I SIMPLY REFUSE TO GIVE UP THE DEVICE. so if i dont/cant use it to make "phone calls", but it still offers a thousand other functions i refuse to live without, can the device accurately be referred to as a "phone"?

"phone", "pda", "android", "android phone", "android device", none of these are great marketing terms. we need a better marketing term for the device, and since i want to stay on the android side vs the apple side, it would be nice if the new, as of now not yet created marketing term for the device, would somehow include "android" in the term.

marketing is all about catching someones attention to the point that they are open to being educated about the subject.

so any suggestions about sexier marketing terms for any of these would be greatly appreciated.

 

[qt3dot14]

MARKET RESEARCH: so is anyone out there making any money by locally romulating android phone systems for clients?

again any suggestions or experiences would be helpful.

like: how do you get clients? how much do you charge? problems? shortcuts?

if you are making money on a local level, please share your techniques so i (we) can make some money too!

 

[qt3dot14]

IN REFERENCE TO GOAL #3 ABOVE:

im personally not here to make money on the forums via "donations". im not quite sure about the "give credit" scenarios on these forums.

i will "give credit" to the point that i am functionally able. but i am not soliciting "donations" here so please dont think im trying to "take credit" for you experts to make money here. im here for the education only.

THAT BEING SAID: to any of you who take advantage of this thread to educate yourself via the advice provided by the experts who contribute to this thread, PLEASE DONATE GENEROUSLY TO THESE GUYS/GALS.

special "donation consideration" should be given to those who help you with phone-specific info, general information that you consider extremely helpful, or to developers of helpful software like superoneclick.

these people have spent their money on formal education and have spent countless hours on trying to figure this stuff out, make it available to us for free initially and then to respond to your personal romulation issues.

if these experts help you turn your $200 phone into a phone that performs at a $800 phone level, DONATE GENEROUSLY.

for many of this expert contributors, posting to these forums is basically an unpaid part-time job. who wants to be unpaid? who wants to be an unpaid expert with a formal techie education? not you and not me! unpaid or underpaid people lose motivation quickly. if their "part-time job" here pays well via donations these experts will be much more motivated to answer your questions more quickly, help you more with your personal romulation nuances, and to write better code.

again, i personally get no monetary gain from these forums. im not the formally educated expert. lets keep these guys on payroll and motivated to help us. it amazes me that people will pay $400 for a phone but balk at donating $20 to an expert who helps them improve their phone or to purchase an android app for $5.

weve become a nation of "cheapskates" wanting everything for free. this is a huge side-effect of the internet and being able to do "comparative price-only" shopping comparisons.

but not everything is created equal. QUALITY is never free! free is not always better, in fact many times "free" is another word for "sub-standard". no one wants to over-pay, but "quality" and "motivation" usually are not related to "free".

DONATE GENEROUSLY and lets keep these experts "on payroll" and motivated to continue to help us!

 

[qt3dot14]

ADDITIONAL NEW DEFINITION/REFERENCES: these are designed to shorten some of the terms i will be using in this thread, as well as maybe being a more accurate description of what the term really means. i envision this to be helpful to the newbies in ultimately understanding the romulation process.

if i am inaccurate in my understanding of any of the following information please feel free to add/clarify/verify/dispute/or to look at from a different viewpoint, please feel free to do so. im not stating any of the following as fact. im stating it as "this is how i believe it is" and im looking for expert clarifications or verifications. there is no ego in this thread. it is for inquisitive educational purposes only!

LETS GET STARTED:

first i just want to outline the "basics" of romulation.

1. root phone, flash custom recovery, potentially flash new rom.

root definition: with an unrooted phone you have "guest privileges" (think window o/s structure). with a "rooted" phone you have "admin" privileges.

so when you "root" your phone you have positioned yourself to take advantage of special privileges and permissions originally forbidden by the manufacturer. at this point you have actually done nothing except "attaining special privilege", nothing has yet to really change as far as the phone or the functions of the phone.


FLASH CUSTOM RECOVERY: i believe this is where a LOT of confusion begins with us newbies. so lets try to clarify this. if one of you experts will clarify/verify this line of thinking.

we have 2 "types" of recovery. there is a "stock(or standard) recovery" and a "custom recovery" but these are misleading terms. there is no "recovery" involved in either of these.

the stock/standard recovery is, as i understand it, (and for lack of a better way to describe it), a "BIOS" tells the phone o/s what it can do with the phones hardware. (much like the bios in your computer configures the hardware on boot.) this stock/standard recovery bios severely limits your use of the phones hardware potential by establishing very restricted permissions. (again compare to "guest privileges" in the windows o/s environment.)

custom recovery would be (again for lack of a better comparison) an ENHANCED BIOS for the phone. (think windows o/s admin privileges) this EXTENDED BIOS potentially allows you to take advantage of advanced hardware and software options.

MORE NEW DEFINITIONS/REFERENCES FOR THIS THREAD.

so i dont have to keep typing "stock recovery" and "custom recovery" a thousand times, im going to create a new set of references.

FROM HERE ON DOWN, IN THIS SPECIFIC THREAD, stock/standard recovery will be referenced and S/B (STANDARD BIOS), and custom recovery will be referenced as E/B (ENHANCED or EXTENDED BIOS).


short recap: you "root" to establish special admin privileges on the phone/device, then you flash an E/B to be able to "talk" to the phone(hardware) in an ENHANCED or EXTENDED format, so that you could/may take advantage of the special admin privileges permitted after "rooting" the phone.

so far we have actually done nothing that changes the operation of the phone at all. we have however at this point ENHANCED the phones CAPABILITIES.

will some android expert confirm or correct my thinking here?

 

[qt3dot14]

we root to establish special admin privileges and we flash an E/B to establish a way to communicate with the hardware to take advantage of the availability of the special admin privileges.

but what are some possible goals for doing all this work?

these are the basics i have come up with:

1. to allow much more comprehensive "back-up" options for securing your phones, and your personal data, system settings, apps, etc.
2. to change ROMS. (more about this later)
3. to do "developmental" tasks

are there any other reasons to flash an E/B to your phone?

NOTE: before replying with other potential REASONS to flash an E/B to your phone by quoting this section, please read the ROM section below as the reasons i know to flash a new ROM will be discussed in that section.

the option to flash a CUSTOM ROM (new reference "CROM") is listed here, however THE POTENTIAL REASONS FOR FLASHING A CROM WILL BE LISTED IN THE CROM SECTION BELOW.

 

[qt3dot14]

why flash a CROM to your phone?

as i understand it, i come up with two main reasons to flash a CROM to my phone.

1. to add increased functionality to the phone "operation" itself. ie: over-clocking, removing bloatware (which improves system processing by lessening the load on the processor, removes items from sight(delete from phone) that you will never use, and open up internal memory to be used in a way that suits you better.

2. to change the "look" of the phone. i personally dont care about a color scheme or theme on my phone. i use it as a tool to accomplish tasks.
with this in mind i do totally understand that many people truly dont care about "functionality" like i do. they just want a different "look", "theme" "wallpaper", etc. for these people its all about the visual.

3. to practice the CROM flashing process to become comfortable/efficient at the process itself. i see this as something you might do for fun, to check out another CROMs functionality or theme, to be comfortable reinstalling a CROM in case of system/phone crash, to impress/help your friends improve their phones, and to offer a paid romulation service.

are there any other PRACTICAL reasons for flashing a CROM that dont fall into one of these 3 categories? or are there additional reasons that do fall into one of these three categories that i left out?

 

[qt3dot14]

E/B analysis: what, why and what happens?

in this section i will be asking a few detailed questions about "recoveries". i dont necessarily want to do these options, but i do want to understand the RELATIONSHIP between the E/B and installing a CROM.

example:

i root my phone. i install an E/B.

thought process: once i install an E/B, why would i want to remove the E/B and reinstall the S/B?

1. "just because" i want my phone back to its original state (even though the installation of just the E/B changed nothing functional about the phone)
2. i need to return the phone to its original state for possible warranty purposes.
3. to practice becoming efficient in flashing back and forth from S/B TO E/B.

are there any other PRACTICAL reasons to remove an E/B from a phone? NOTE: in this section we are only dealing with the reasons to remove an E/B only.
reasons to remove CROMs will be dealt with below.

 

[qt3dot14]

functional relationship between E/B and CROM

i dont see any reason to do the following, but if i did, what would/might happen?

i root/flash E/B/flash CROM.

what would happen to the CROM if i then uninstalled the E/B and reinstalled the S/B without "touching" the CROM?

1. would the CROM crash?
2. would the CROM continue to function properly? (meaning that once a CROM is installed does it become non-dependant on the E/B or S/B at this point?)
3. unknown, nobodys ever tested?

 

[qt3dot14]

anaogy relationship between E/B and CROM:

CROMs have different features. one CROM may allow you to overclock your processor. another CROM may have a different visual theme. another CROM may allow you to free up more internal memory.

not all CROMs work on all phones or all o/s or all o/s versions, but i assume that most CROMs will work on at least several phones and at least several o/s versions.

EXAMPLE FOR COMPARISONS ONLY. NOT AN ACCURATE PHONE-SPECIFIC EXAMPLE - JUST A GENERAL ANALOGY: CROM1 will work on an optimus v with a ver 2.2.1 or an optimus v 2.2.2 but maybe not on an optimus v with ver 2.2.3. maybe on a galaxy with ver 2.2.1 but maybe not on a galaxy with ver 2.2.2 even though it works on the optimus v ver 2.2.2.

the above example i believe is just general knowledge stated out loud.

so certain CROMs work for specific phone/specific o/s's and they have different phone operation/theme/function features once installed.

all this is just a given.

next, like CROMs, each E/B will work with certain phones and certain versions.

but my question is this:

do E/Bs have any other function other than to allow the phone to act on extended permissions? stated another way: do individual E/Bs have different "functions" that allow your phone to use added functionality, or are E/Bs just translators?

or stated another way: theres an operational/functional difference between CROMs, so it matters which CROM you choose to install on your phone. is this a consideration when installing an E/B on your phone, or does it only matter that you just have some compatible E/B installed on your phone so that you can move to the next step?

 

[qt3dot14]

backups and protecting your information/data/configurations.

another area of extreme confusion seems to be the nandroid backup and complete CROM backup.

i believe this is a simple clarification.

process: root/flash E/B/run nandroid backup >>>> then install a CROM (if that is one of your goals).

from what i understand you only need on nandroid backup. it is to backup the original stock rom installed on your phone.(but nandroid can not be run on an unrooted phone). the best i can see is that a nandroid backup is used to restore for phone to its original state for some unknown reason or to reestablish warranty position as a rooted phone voids most (all?) mfg warranties.

a "system bu" (titanium bu, backup master pro or myroot bu) is to obviously to protect your information, but also for backing up multiple CROMs that you want to continually change on your phone.

a nandroid backup needs to be ran immediately after flashing an E/B, BUT BEFORE FLASHING A CROM OR MAKING ANY SYSTEM CHANGES, EITHER MINOR OR MAJOR. failure to do so may result in you not being able to reestablish your phones stock settings and/or reestablish warranty levels.

THIS BEING SAID I PERSONALLY FEEL THAT ONCE YOU ROOT YOUR PHONE YOUR WARRANTY SHOULD BE VOID. YOURE TAKING THE RISK SO YOU NEED TO ASSUME THE FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY. IF YOU BRICK YOUR PHONE IN THIS PROCESS ITS NOT THE PHONE MFGs FAULT. DONT YOU BREAK YOUR PHONE AND THEN SEND IT BACK TO THEM TO FIX/REPLACE. MAN-UP, TAKE RESPONSIBILITY AND PAY YOUR OWN BILLS. DONT PASS THIS COST BACK TO ME WITH HIGHER FUTURE PHONE COSTS BECAUSE YOU DONT TAKE FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR ACTIONS.

also, by upfront making yourself accountable for this financially, i guarantee you will do better research and be more patient with the romulation process. hopefully by paying more attention to all of this you will substantially increase your chances of a successful romulation process and not brick your phone. and after all, success is the ultimate goal here.

 

[qt3dot14]

this starters guide is designed to smooth out initial information communications relating to the basic romulation processes. if you have any phone-specific questions you will need to go to that section of the forums.

if there is anything relating to the above information, please feel free to "quote" and comment accordingly.

if there is something you would like to add but doesnt fit in any of the above areas, simply "quote" this final section and add your relevant comments.

DONATE GENEROUSLY! lets keep these guys on "payroll"!

 

[qt3dot14]

HOW ABOUT MAKING SOME MONEY DOING SOMETHING YOU LOVE THAT IS FUN?

wouldnt it be cool if we, as a group, could develop a system right here on this forum where we could make a couple hundred dollars a week or more, part-time by romulating phones for clients in our local area?

accessing the experts here is a necessity in this business plan.

but other than your phone, your time, and some quality donations, we could all (individually but together) be running a FUN part-time business with really no other major expenses to get started.

when you fix someones phone or computer, most of the time they are amazed. they look up to you like youre some kind of guru, even though most of the time you just pushed a button or two, (after some research of course!) its a great feeling to be wanted, appreciated, considered indispensable and WELL PAID!

the information in this forum is worth a fortune if we, as a group, can harness it, consolidate it and add to it in an accessible logical manner.

every business comes down to SALES, and sales is hard. its about prospecting, marketing, capital, administrative, logistics, product, payroll, overhead, blah blah blah. theres a tremendous amount of competition in almost any field. but people buy phones every day! people want apps every day. people want functionality and options every day. people want security every day. businesses need integration and digital protection every day.

people and business want and need what we have (the ability to significantly enhance there phones capabilities). theyre excited about it. they love to watch videos, and share files and pic over the phone. THEY LOVE TO SHOW OFF THEIR PHONES OPTIONS TO THEIR FRIENDS, FAMILY AND BUSINESS ASSOCIATES! they willingly (even in this economy) spend money on it every day!

individuals and businesses can purchase phones anywhere. they can conveniently download apps straight to their phone. but the LOCAL hands-on expertise to properly and efficiently romulate smart phones is virtually non-existent. high demand, virtually zero current supply. hmmm............

whats your "sales pitch"? "hey man, check out what my phone can do!" what a great opening line followed by a live demonstration!

this approach sure beats "setting an appointment", selling something you dont want to sell, or selling to someone who isnt excited about purchasing!

i see income potential. anyone agree? suggestions and comments are welcome.

"love ya, mean it" MURRY

 

[jmikep]

Great post.

Thanks for the info.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk