Rooting FAQ's (please post all related questions and concerns about rooting in here)

[Brett]

I'm new to droid rooting as well, and i have a few questions to ask before i proceed in rooting my phone.

1. when i root my droid will i loose any media, pics, or apps that i have saved or downloaded to my phone or sd card?

2. has anyone used easy root to root their phone, and will it work if i have already updated to 2.2 froyo?

3. are ROMs what i will be using to customize my droid after rooting, and if so what ROMs should i have or try?

4. what apps should i have or need after rooting my droid?

1) everything downloaded on your phone will be gone, everything on your sd card will be intact like media, pics, apps and downloads

2) i have never used easy root since i have been rooted for a while but i think i read somthing on their site or maybe it was the app description saying that it is able to root 2.2. don't take my word for it though, check out their site or you could read the app reviews in the market and see if anybody says that it can root 2.2

3) roms are in most cases the way you will customize your droid. metamorph is another way but it seems to not be used as much. the difference between the 2 is that a rom will change the system and theme as well as a few other things. metamorph only changes the look of the UI. roms are usually a better bet because their are a lot more options that come with them, like over-clocking, optimized files which will help give your device more memory which in turn can make it faster. just a lot of good stuff.

as for recomendations for roms for you to try out, that is a tough one to answer. there are a lot of good ones and each phone (at least in the droid's case) can react differently with certain roms than others. i know a lot of people love Pete's BB .4 rom and say that it is fast. for me it is fast but not as fast as others that i have used. Lithium is another good option. Currently im running Chevy's Simply Stunning rom and im loving it. it's f ast, its got a great theme and he has added a lot of great options. to each their own.

good luck all

 

[s1nist3r]

Thanks Brett for the feed back. I'll read up some more on the easy root and research those roms.

 

[Flootz]

Lost root after update

I was rooted until i foolishly allowed the Froyo update, now i lost root access. I can't even boot into recovery or anything. Easyroot doesn't work for FRG01B.

 

[s1nist3r]

So, if i have already updated to froyo before rooting, can i still root or do i need to undo the 2.2 update? I ask this because all the threads that i have read and videos i've seen are rooting from an older firmware, and i wasn't sure if that mattered.

 

[Brett]

If you are using a moto Droid(original ) then yes. Easy root is capable of doing it. They have a video showing it being done

 

[chimpsnest]

Anything that doesn't work after a root?

I'm () this close to rooting my Eris (on OTA 2.1 right now). What I would like to know, and can't seem to find out, is if after rooting and installing a custom ROM are there apps that don't work anymore, like Handcent or, say, a game you downloaded, etc. Does everything work the same, just better? (hopefully) lol

I suppose the answer to that Q would be that it's specific to a certain ROM if something doesn't work, right?

I like HTC Sense, so I'm looking at things that are similar, yet zippier. I hear good things about Evil Eris and Sensable. I'm curious about the 2.2 Froyo ones that are out there as well - is it really Froyo or are they emulating it (if that's the right word).

I've been reading and reading and reading, looked at the guide for Dummies and the one click way to root - so I think I'm going in one of those directions vs using the PC to do it.

This is all that is holding me back (I think).
Thanks!!!

 

[StealthX]

I understand getting root access via bugs, and why one would want root access.

What I'd like to know is this: after "rooting" a Droid what are the actual file differences between the original unrooted phone, and the phone after it has been rooted? Are the user apps then running as root? I get the impression that all initial user installed files are wiped during the rooting process, the effective user ID changes to root (0), and any newly installed user files are own by root. This sounds a bit extreme though.

Thanks!

StealthX
--
Droid X

 

[Brett]

Think of it like this. If you are using a computer in a school or workplace it usually has restrictions on what you have access to and can change (think of this as stock android). If you have your own computer there really isn't anything you can't do with it because there aren't any restrictions aside from the OS (rooted android)

 

[StealthX]

Think of it like this. If you are using a computer in a school or workplace it usually has restrictions on what you have access to and can change (think of this as stock android). If you have your own computer there really isn't anything you can't do with it because there aren't any restrictions aside from the OS (rooted android)

Hi Brett,

Thanks for the reply. I understand from a high level what is involved. (And I've "rooted" a Unix computer years ago.) What I'm looking for is pointers on where to look for information on the Android file system changes done to a rooted phone, after vs. before. I want to understand that before taking the plunge, I can't help it, I'm an engineer.

While there are a few root only apps I'm interested in trying, I'm mostly interested in exploring the file system to see how things are setup. I also don't want to interfere with the 2.2 update.

Thanks,

StealthX
--
Droid X

 

[fyaajster]

How do I know if I successfully root the blur cliq

Is there a way to tell if you did a successfully rooting on your cell.
I did my and it say completed updating from the sdcard file it reboot the OS, so I dl an app call titanium just to find out if it root but it fail.

 

[Brett]

do you have the super user icon in the app drawer. if you do then your rooted. if not, then you do not have root access

 

[Modular50]

Need help!!! Missed a few steps and delete PC36IMG from the SD Card. Phone is now in recovery mode only. ADB is not working but fastboot can detect my device. How can I push PC36IMG if adb can't see the device?

 

[garybarcus]

I had a wonderfully rooted droid, running 2.2 FRB01B. Then I installed the updated version of 2.2 (FRG22D). I want to go back to the FRB01B so my phone can have root access again. Is there any way of going back?

 

[dwaynewilliams#WN]

If I root my phone, can I turn Sense off?

 

[bi0hazard0us]

help

OK i want to apologize before hand because I am super new at this. I have an HTC incredible, and all I want is this super cool theme I found, which my phone has to be rooted to have, and use a program called metamorph to install the zip files from the theme. If thats all I am going to do, is it still dangerous to root? Is it even worth rooting just for that or should i just make ammends with my standard looking phone? I am afraid of messing up my phone and since I don't really know much about this stuff I am having second thoughts.

 

[sicario666]

There is a new way to do it, its called "EASY ROOT"


Its available in the market for $.99 and can root/unroot with one touch.


I know when you posted this Brett that it wasn't available, but it is now, so I thought I'd mention it!

I DLd easy root and when I open the app it states that easy root isn't compatible with 2.2,problem being. I don't have 2.2 on my X yet. Any advice?

 

[DaEXfactoR]

I'm ready to root...well, I've been ready to root. Just didn't have the guts. I have the Epic with my Evo for back up just in case. Where do I go for rooting instructions for the Epic? I f I root, can I do things like put a Sense style theme(widgets in particular) on the Epic?

 

[chrstdvd]

Well, I rooted my Droid 2 today. What a pain in the@ @@. Instructions are good, but they never are complete or exactly clear.

I then used titanium to uninstall the bloat like maps and skype and all that junk that keeps loading into memory and taking up space.

I came from a bb storm 1 and I am extreemly paranoid about not being able to close apps on the droid. I feel that the more junk I get rid of the faster my browser will work.

I just uninstalled apps I do not use/want. I left the calander, timer, and some others that I want to uninstall because I am not sure if the core of 2.2 needs them. Gota study about it first.

 

[Leatherface]

I have the epic. I want to root my phone to get tethering for free instead of paying $30 dollars aa month for it and I also wanna learn more about the rom files but I don't wanna miss the update for froyo I can't decide I need help

 

[UltimateBB9700User]

Cliq rooting help!!

hey guys, i recently rooted my mom's cliq (which she doesnt use anymore) so i wanted to play around with it and i flashed it wit a french rom (Orange FE version 1.3.200) and i wanna put it back to the way it was before with motoblur 1.4.8, can anyone help me ?