How to Root

[hanano17]

Yeah just go ahead and hit control alt delete and kill adb and start cmd up again and do adb shell. If it connects and has $ wait a little longer if it comes up with # continue on. However if it doesn't connect at all restart your phone and run the rage.bin again, sometimes it will freeze your phone and the exploit wont finish and you have to restart it.

Thanks, that did the trick. Not even sure i'm rooted, aside from having superuser app...it loads with no apps in the list. I'm a complete noob at this, is there supposed to be a list there I can remove/delete apps? lol

Edit: Test out the tether app, works for me...though it shows low download/upload speeds, but i'm sure that's normal.

 

[Cory Streater]

Here's a screenshot of where the Android SDK is installed on my Mac. I downloaded all the files dirrk posted inside the tools folder. That is where you run adb at from the terminal window, which is shown in the second screenshot.

 

[Zkippy]

I wish I knew how to give a 'Thank's to Dirrk on the forums for this post, but having just converted yesterday from an old LG flip phone to the Fascinate, I have exhausted all my faculties learning how to use a smartphone, and I am too tired and buzzed for that matter to research how to 'Thank' someone..lol.

Being a newb to the smartphone scene, this guide is extremely well detailed. Thanks for all the efforts to educate the newcomers and anyone else on how to get more out of this phone.

I've still got a dung-ton to learn, but looking forward to any other offerings you might have. And the lagfix is wicked nasty. Thanks

 

[jessie02]

Thanks Dirrk, Phone is finally rooted!!

Thanks Dirrk, your updated manual worked perfect, phone was rooted in no time.... thanks again. Now if only I knew what to do with a rooted phone I should be able to get rid of all the bloatware right? VZ navigator, City ID, all the Vcast stuff etc... I tried to delete it through my applications menu, but there isn't an option to uninstall.

 

[coolfx35]

Hello there. I am truly a newbie to rooting and wondered if someone could help me with this? I need detailed, step by step instructions. LOL Sorry I am just not terribly computer literate. I would also like to know about the lag fix that makes the phone faster on the benchmark tests. Thank you.
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The instruction given were really good, step by step, you can't get easily than that unless someone make a video on it.

As long as PDAnet is only one time charge, I am fine with it.

 

[Cory Streater]

I wish I knew how to give a 'Thank's to Dirrk on the forums for this post, but having just converted yesterday from an old LG flip phone to the Fascinate, I have exhausted all my faculties learning how to use a smartphone, and I am too tired and buzzed for that matter to research how to 'Thank' someone..lol.

Lol...Once you've made your first post, the Thanks button shows up at the bottom right corner of everyone else's post.

 

[Cory Streater]

Now if only I knew what to do with a rooted phone I should be able to get rid of all the bloatware right? VZ navigator, City ID, all the Vcast stuff etc... I tried to delete it through my applications menu, but there isn't an option to uninstall.

You could use ADB to rid the bloatware, but IMHO now that you have root, the easiest method for accessing and modifying system files is with Root Explorer (available in the Market). Astro and the built-in file manager "My Files" do not provide this functionality. Only Root Explorer has the ability to "Mount" folders as Read/Write so that you can modify the files inside of them. The bloatware you speak of, is all located in /system/apps. Here is the part where you need to be really careful!

1) Before you start making changes, I would strongly recommend backing up your device with a program like Titanium Backup (also in the market).
2) Instead of deleting files, I would recommend renaming them from <filename.apk> to <filename.apk.old> For example, there's a file called Blockbuster_Stub_v0_2_build_12-unsigned-signed.apk in the system/app folder. If you long press on this file, in root explorer, you have the option of renaming it. Select this and add .old to the end. Once you do this, it will no longer show up in your app drawer and there will be no trace of it starting up with the OS.
3) Alternatively, you could move these files to your SD card if you don't want them eating up space in your system folder. But do not delete these files. Over in the X forum, we learned that an OTA update would fail, because files we considered bloatware didn't exist. The system folder had to be exactly the way it was when the phone shipped.
4) Be really careful with what you move or rename. Another lesson we learned is that several files in the system/app folder, that we thought fell in the bloatware category, were indeed essential for the phone to run. For example, renaming the Verizon Backup APK bricked the phone.
5) All that said, here are is a list of things I've successfully renamed without problems (I'm not necessarily going to type the full filename as I did above for Blockbuster - they are too long):

* The Blockbuster APK
* I use Dolphin HD as my primary browser so I renamed Browser.apk
* CityID
* I500_BingSearch APK
* I500_MyVerizon APK
* I500_VCAST
* MyFiles (I use root explorer)
* NFSSInstaller
* redding-7648 (Kindle)
* Skype
* Tetris
* VCast

There will be others, I'm sure, but I won't be the first to try. Definitely nothing that has TW or Touchwiz in it. vNav is one I might change, since I don't use that either, but there are other programs that use it, so I don't want to screw anything up.

 

[Dirrk]

You could use ADB to rid the bloatware, but IMHO now that you have root, the easiest method for accessing and modifying system files is with Root Explorer (available in the Market). Astro and the built-in file manager "My Files" do not provide this functionality. Only Root Explorer has the ability to "Mount" folders as Read/Write so that you can modify the files inside of them. The bloatware you speak of, is all located in /system/apps. Here is the part where you need to be really careful!

1) Before you start making changes, I would strongly recommend backing up your device with a program like Titanium Backup (also in the market).
2) Instead of deleting files, I would recommend renaming them from <filename.apk> to <filename.apk.old> For example, there's a file called Blockbuster_Stub_v0_2_build_12-unsigned-signed.apk in the system/app folder. If you long press on this file, in root explorer, you have the option of renaming it. Select this and add .old to the end. Once you do this, it will no longer show up in your app drawer and there will be no trace of it starting up with the OS.
3) Alternatively, you could move these files to your SD card if you don't want them eating up space in your system folder. But do not delete these files. Over in the X forum, we learned that an OTA update would fail, because files we considered bloatware didn't exist. The system folder had to be exactly the way it was when the phone shipped.
4) Be really careful with what you move or rename. Another lesson we learned is that several files in the system/app folder, that we thought fell in the bloatware category, were indeed essential for the phone to run. For example, renaming the Verizon Backup APK bricked the phone.
5) All that said, here are is a list of things I've successfully renamed without problems (I'm not necessarily going to type the full filename as I did above for Blockbuster - they are too long):

* The Blockbuster APK
* I use Dolphin HD as my primary browser so I renamed Browser.apk
* CityID
* I500_BingSearch APK
* I500_MyVerizon APK
* I500_VCAST
* MyFiles (I use root explorer)
* NFSSInstaller
* redding-7648 (Kindle)
* Skype
* Tetris
* VCast

There will be others, I'm sure, but I won't be the first to try. Definitely nothing that has TW or Touchwiz in it. vNav is one I might change, since I don't use that either, but there are other programs that use it, so I don't want to screw anything up.

Good info^^ You might want to go ahead and put a sticky up with the apps we have successfully removed and which ones not to touch.

I can safely say if it is made by Samsung and has ANYTHING to do with touchwiz it will forceclose repeatedly.

 

[Lodingi]

Will renaming the apps remove the icons from the app screen?

 

[Dirrk]

Will renaming the apps remove the icons from the app screen?

Yes

 

[French]

This thread is AWESOME. I had quite a lot of trouble initially but I finally got rooted and now posting this message using wireless tether!!

Thank you!!

 

[dmartin1972]

I am at the point where you are supposed to get the # instead of $. I am still getting the $? What do I do now?

 

[dmartin1972]

root and wireless tether

I GOT IT! Thanks a million guys. Figured out what I was doing wrong. LOL used a ; instead of : !

I installed wireless tether. On my computer when I connect to it, it says no internet access? Is it working or do I need to do something else.

Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

 

[French]

You need the updated version of Wireless Tether...it's in this thread...first post I think.

 

[dmartin1972]

I did that. Is there a setting I need to change on my computer? I have windows 7 ultimate? I am just not sure

 

[Cory Streater]

For all you Mac guys, I'm creating a video now. Will post in a bit.

Edit: Here it is.

 

[jessie02]

Root Explorer

You could use ADB to rid the bloatware, but IMHO now that you have root, the easiest method for accessing and modifying system files is with Root Explorer (available in the Market). Astro and the built-in file manager "My Files" do not provide this functionality. Only Root Explorer has the ability to "Mount" folders as Read/Write so that you can modify the files inside of them. The bloatware you speak of, is all located in /system/apps. Here is the part where you need to be really careful!

I installed Root Explorer and it worked like a champ. I only renamed the programs you mentioned and sure enough it removed them from my app. screens. I also noticed I have the option to "delete" along with "rename." If I were to drum up to courage and hit the delete button, is it the same as actually un-installing the program?

 

[Cory Streater]

I installed Root Explorer and it worked like a champ. I only renamed the programs you mentioned and sure enough it removed them from my app. screens. I also noticed I have the option to "delete" along with "rename." If I were to drum up to courage and hit the delete button, is it the same as actually un-installing the program?

Please do not delete them. If you really don't want them there, move them to your SD card instead. Like I mentioned earlier, you might need them back in order of an OTA update to work.

 

[jessie02]

Please do not delete them. If you really don't want them there, move them to your SD card instead. Like I mentioned earlier, you might need them back in order of an OTA update to work.

Your right, that sounds like the better idea. They probably don't take up that much space anyways

 

[Lodingi]

Yes

Excellent. Thanks again Dirrk. Now how does one fill in the voids & consolidate the app screens?