[RevolutionRed]

This guide will show you how to get a permanent root on your Optimus V, WITHOUT flashing a custom recovery.

Much of this post comes from KSmithInNY's Guide to rooting the Optimus S which can be found HERE. Thanks to KSmithInNY for letting me use his guide as a base.

WARNING - This is a cat and mouse game we play with manufacturers. I guarantee you an update will come from LG that patches this exploit and will prevent people from rooting. It will also close your root access if you've already rooted using this method. Long story short, NEVER ACCEPT OTA UPDATES FROM THE CARRIER OR MANUFACTURER.

What You'll Need:
- Sun JDK, FOUND HERE
- The Android SDK, FOUND HERE. Install this on the root of your computer so the path is C:/android. After you've installed the SDK, make sure it's up to date by launching the SDK Manager. This will be something like c:\android\SDK Manager.exe. It will ask you to update several things, but the only one that needs to be up to date is the SDK Platform for Android 2.2
- Drivers for the LG phone installed on your computer. Instructions can be FOUND HERE courtesy of our favorite android hacker, modder, developer, blogger (jack of all trades) gbhil
- SuperOneClick v1.6.3, which is available from xda-developers HERE.
- And the file I have attached to this post. Download it, unzip it, and put the 2 files inside in your android\platform-tools folder created from installing the SDK.

Before you go any further, make sure you have downloaded/installed/updated everything in the list above, or will you not be able to complete the root.

Ready?
Step 1: Plug your phone into your PC with the USB cable.

Step 2: Make sure the phone is charge only (don't mount as USB drive) and USB debugging is enabled. Menu > Settings > Applications > Development > check mark USB debugging

Step 3: Run SuperOneClick.exe. Select the psneuter exploit on the right, and then click the Shell Root button. SuperOneClick will attempt to gain a temporary root for your phone. This may take several tries. Keep trying until you get a message that says "You phone has a Temp ADB Root". Leave this window open, do not reboot your phone, and continue to step 4.

Step 4: Open a CMD window and type the following:

cd c:\wherever-your-sdk-tools-folder-is (mine for example is C:\android\platform-tools).
(After entering the next line, adb shell, you should have a "#" prompt, if instead you see "$", SuperOneClick has not been able to gain access to your phone. Go Back to step 3 and try again).
adb shell
mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /system /system
exit
adb push su /system/bin
adb push busybox /system/bin
adb shell
cd /system/bin
chmod 4755 su
chmod 555 busybox
exit
adb reboot

(Your phone will now reboot)

Step 5: Go to the android market on your phone and download "Superuser"(free). The developer will be listed as ChainsDD. You can then download TitaniumBackup and attempt to backup your phone. It will also check to make sure your phone has been rooted correctly. It you don't get any errors, your phone has been rooted correctly!

Donations:
What I ask is, if this helps you root, tweak, or modify your phone, please watch this thread and help someone who may be experiencing issue. Yes, I am asking you to donate your time. The same donation I made while writing this so you could root your phone

Simple Explanation of commands and programs:
busybox - busybox is collection of Linux utilities to manipulate files and many other things. Many programs that require root use busybox to copy files and move them around, among other things.
su - su allows programs to run with higher (e.g. root) permissions.
adb shell - Logs you into your phone and allows you to enter commands directly
exit - Logs you out of your phone
adb push - Sends a file to your phone
mount - Allows you set up file systems as read/write instead of read only, among many other things
cd - Changes to whatever directory is specified
chmod - Changes the permissions for the file specified. the number 4755 simply tells the linux system that anyone can run the file.

[gfurr24]

Thanks for editing the instructions specifically for the Optimus V! It will help out so much!

[user10]

I didn't have any errors with any command but on the step to install superuser and titanium backup i couldn't install anything. Hard resetting and redoing it worked.

I'm not sure ota updates work but should we disable them somehow?

[BMW_530_PL]

Can't I just permanently root from superoneclick method?

Sent from my VM670 using Tapatalk

[ran001]

Just wanted to say thanks, it worked perfectly on my new Optimus V

[RevolutionRed]

I didn't have any errors with any command but on the step to install superuser and titanium backup i couldn't install anything. Hard resetting and redoing it worked.

I'm not sure ota updates work but should we disable them somehow?

As long as you don't modify anything else (e.g. recovery, rom, etc), the OTA updates SHOULD (probably, but untested so far) still work. However, they will most likely disable the root, and there is no guarantee that we'll find another way to re-root. For that reason, I recommend that you do not accept the OTA updates. You should get a notification on your phone, and can simply ignore it.

[RevolutionRed]

Can't I just permanently root from superoneclick method?

Sent from my VM670 using Tapatalk

Currently, superoneclick only gives a temp root on this phone. Several people tried to do a permanent one, but it didn't work. With the temp root, you have two options:

1. Flash a custom recovery that will put whatever rom you want on the phone
2. Do the perm root manually, as I've shown above.

[gfurr24]

@RevolutionRed what Rom and Kernel combination are you using currently? I am still sticking with rooted stock for now because i have heard of a couple issues with the Optimus S roms and kernels.

[RevolutionRed]

@RevolutionRed what Rom and Kernel combination are you using currently? I am still sticking with rooted stock for now because i have heard of a couple issues with the Optimus S roms and kernels.

I'm running a custom rom with beezy's kernel. It's mostly stock VM, with the garbage removed and a few other little tweaks. So far all of the Optimus S roms I've tried have worked. The only problems have been:

1. Reversed Home and Menu keys on all roms (and custom S kernels).
2. No accelerometer on Xionia kernel (as of version 005) UPDAT:E It DOES work with the stock VM rom if you wipe EVERYTHING (data,cahce,etc).
3. Sprint branding and programs on Thunderom

1 is easily fixed with buttonremapper. 3 is simply because that rom is meant for a sprint phone.

I think the stock VM rom with beezy's kernel is the way to go at the moment as the only thing you'll need to do is remap the buttons and you'll get a speed boost. Various versions of both beezy's kernel and xionia are available HERE (4th post down). It'd be nice to get some rom projects going for the V, but there's nothing in the works that I know of.

UPDATE: Xionia works as well if you wipe everything (data,cache,etc) and use the stock VM Rom.

[takehull]

I'm running a custom rom with beezy's kernel. It's mostly stock VM, with the garbage removed and a few other little tweaks. So far all of the Optimus S roms I've tried have worked. The only problems have been:

1. Reversed Home and Menu keys on all roms (and custom S kernels).
2. No accelerometer on Xionia kernel (as of version 005)
3. Sprint branding and programs on Thunderom

1 is easily fixed with buttonremapper. 2 is something I'm currently looking into. 3 is simply because that rom is meant for a sprint phone.

I think the stock VM rom with beezy's kernel is the way to go at the moment as the only thing you'll need to do is remap the buttons and you'll get a speed boost. Various versions of both beezy's kernel and xionia are available HERE (4th post down). It'd be nice to get some rom projects going for the V, but there's nothing in the works that I know of.

I don't think we'll have anything going for at least a week or so. The phone was just officially released yesterday. It took a little bit for the Intercept's deving to get going, but it is going fairly well now.

[cnega]

this is the first time i've done something like this and it actually worked. I kept having trouble with some of the commands but when I figured out that I shouldn't hit spacebar between some of the characters I was ok.

Thanks again!

[RevolutionRed]

UPDATE:
For anyone that's seen me post about the accelerometer not working with Xionia,

Xionia works correctly if you do a clean wipe (EVERYTHING data, cache, etc.) and use the stock VM rom. So, the accelerometer issue not kernel related. Both beezy's kernel and xionia work correctly.

[cnega]

If I choose to install any kernel, do I always have to go in through ADB and put in specific commands?

edit: If I put the kernel on the root of the SD card, can I just rename it to "update" so I can use the second option on LG's recovery to "apply sdcard:update.zip" ?

[RevolutionRed]

If I choose to install any kernel, do I always have to go in through ADB and put in specific commands?

Depends. Once most people have rooted a phone, they install what is called a custom recovery, which makes flashing new kernels a breeze (just pushing a few buttons on your phone). If you don't install a custom recovery, you'll need to go through adb and enter specific commands to get it done.

My personal opinion is that if you're going to install a new kernel, you might as well go the whole way and install a customs recovery as well (which makes it much easier to change things if something goes wrong). The guide found HERE works perfectly for the V. You'll get one error on the "install-recovery.sh" command, but it doesn't matter and you can safely ignore it.

After you've installed the custom recovery, installing a new kernel is as easy as putting it on the SD card, and selecting Flash Zip from the recovery menu.

One word of warning though, as of right now, no one has posted a complete guide and all the files needed to return the V to stock form once you install the custom recovery, so until someone does, it's a one-way street.

UPDATE: There's a new thread that shows how to return to the phone to stock, so there's no downside now!

[gfurr24]

I already posted this in another thread about the stock dump but here it is again. My girlfriend just got hers yesterday and It hasnt been rooted or anything. Could I somehow adb temproot her phone and pull the stock recovery image off of it? I have been searching all over for a command to adb pull recovery image but nothing works because technically its not in the system itself. I know with my Nexus One I had Fastboot mode but this phone doesnt from what Ive seen. Let me know if anyone thinks this is possible.

[RevolutionRed]

I already posted this in another thread about the stock dump but here it is again. My girlfriend just got hers yesterday and It hasnt been rooted or anything. Could I somehow adb temproot her phone and pull the stock recovery image off of it? I have been searching all over for a command to adb pull recovery image but nothing works because technically its not in the system itself. I know with my Nexus One I had Fastboot mode but this phone doesnt from what Ive seen. Let me know if anyone thinks this is possible.

I have another V sitting at home that is stock, but I haven't been able to get around to dumping it yet, so if you grab everything for us that'd be great. To temp root your phone, follow the steps I posted in the guide up to through Step 3. Instead of step 4, you'll need to execute the following commands to grab the stock recovery.img and boot.img.

Open up a command window and cd to your android/platform-tools directory.

type the following
adb shell (logs you into the phone, you should see the # prompt)
cat /dev/mtd/mtd0 > /sdcard/stock-boot.img
cat /dev/mtd/mtd2 > /sdcard/stock-recovery.img
exit

You should now have two files on your sd card called stock-boot.img and stock-recovery.img. Post them on the forum and I'll take a look an see if I can't get a post up on how to undo rooting and restore the phone to stock.

BTW, this shouldn't do anything to the phone at all, if you reboot the root will be gone.

[gfurr24]

Cool, thanks! Ill have to do this when my girlfriend falls asleep. She always gets nervous when I plug her phone in and open a Command Prompt. Lol.

[gfurr24]

STOCK RECOVERY AND BOOT.zip - 4shared.com - online file sharing and storage - download

[Lenoh]

Well being in the middle of a snow storm helped me decide to try this.It took 3 hours from start to finish. It was a pita but I got it. Thanks Revolution for the great help.

[RevolutionRed]

Well being in the middle of a snow storm helped me decide to try this.It took 3 hours from start to finish. It was a pita but I got it. Thanks Revolution for the great help.

Glad it worked for you. Was there any particular thing that was difficult, that could have been more clear in the directions? I'll be glad to edit them to make it more clear where necessary.

[RevolutionRed]

STOCK RECOVERY AND BOOT.zip - 4shared.com - online file sharing and storage - download

Thanks for posting this. takehull beat me to making a thread on how to restore to stock though.

[gfurr24]

Thanks for posting this. takehull beat me to making a thread on how to restore to stock though.

Yeah i saw that he did put that up there. I like your way of breaking things down better though. IMO

[Lenoh]

It was all due to the adb shell. I didnt see it there the whole time. I went through and downloaded everything okay. I was not able to connect with the lg mobile support tool ,so i spent some time trying to uninstall and reinstall lg drivers.

I ran across a post on xda for "noobs" titled "READ FIRST] [REF] Dictionary for n00b." It was created by " The_ERROR " it gave me a little background on what I was doing. There was a video I ran across on where i used the adb
devices command. I thought okay the app was seeing my phone,I went back to the post and saw the "ADB SHELL" worked like a charm after that.I would move the "(At this point, you should have a "#" prompt, if instead you see "$", SuperOneClick has not been able to gain access to your phone. Go Back to step 3 and try again)" above the adb shell so all the commands are together.



I used the set cpu app but it said the rom would not let me overclock, oh well I will need to read more before I move on.

[RevolutionRed]

.I would move the "(At this point, you should have a "#" prompt, if instead you see "$", SuperOneClick has not been able to gain access to your phone. Go Back to step 3 and try again)" above the adb shell so all the commands are together.

I used the set cpu app but it said the rom would not let me overclock, oh well I will need to read more before I move on.

Good suggestion. I made the move.

As far as overclocking your phone goes, you'll need to flash a new kernel. Rooting your phone simply gives you permission to do whatever you want to your phone. It doesn't actually do anything in and of itself.

There's some information in the Optimus S section that will get you started on how to do that.

[seyahmit]

Picked up the V today and it is rooted. Thanks for the guide RevolutionRed, made the first time rooting any phone a breeze!