30 Nov 2013

How to root an android phone

Everybody loves their device, and has formed an important asset in our lives. Every phone company has laid down some quality standards and protocols to ensure security and safety requirements.
Rooting the phone will give you all the privileges that your phone can do out of the box—overclocking, customizing , remove system apps etc. Lets get ahead and understand, what rooting is, understand the technical terms and how to root it.

Note: This tutorial is prepared for educational purposes and not to promote rooting nor instigate anyone. Should you consider to proceed, you take all responsibility of whatever happens to your phone. I'm not responsible for whatever risk you take in rooting or getting it bricked in the event.


What is rooting?

In simple layman terms, rooting means giving oneself administrative permissions (called as root for Linux devices, hence the term) on ones phone.  It's similar to running programs as administrator in Windows, or running a command with su (superuser) privilege in Linux.

When someone roots a phone, he gives himself the supreme authority and preview to run apps that may require access to certain system settings. Majority of the root users do it so that they could flash custom ROMs on their your phone, which add all sorts of extra features. If you're on between thoughts about rooting, you should so a reality check, if few of the reasons below for rooting are to your satisfaction.
1) Unlock hidden capabilities or install incompatible product versions
2) Boost phones speed and battery life
3) Block Ads on phone
4) Take backup of your phone and applications (including system apps)
5) To remove bloatware or pre-installed crap apps
6) Tweak your phone
7) Flash a custom kernel or ROM
8) Customize your phone without any restrictions

If your answer is still "Yes", despite understanding that you are willing to take risk and explore at your own responsibility and void warranty, you can take it ahead. However with different Android phones out there in the market today, some rooting methods might work for multiple phones and sometimes might not.
There is no fits-all tool or method for rooting every phone out there. And before you start jumping onto it, there are a lot of things you should know about rooting.

You need to understand a bunch of terms that will be referred here in the tutorial frequently, and can be confusing. Lets talk about some of the important ones.

Android: Android is a Linux kernel based operating system for mobile or tablet devices.
Root: Rooting means enabling root access to your device. e.g. su command in Linux, Administrator privilege in Windows etc
ROM: ROM is a modified version of Android. It may feature extra settings, have a different look or have enhanced speed or even an unreleased version of Android.
Kernel: A kernel is a fundamental part of Android. It manages communications between your software and hardware.
Flash: Flashing means installing something on your device, be it a ROM, a kernel, or a recovery
Brick: To brick your phone means to break it during flashing or other acts.
Bootloader: A boot loader is a computer program that loads the main operating system or runtime environment for the computer after completion of the self-tests.
Recovery: Recovery is the software on your phone that lets you make backups, flash ROMs, and perform other system-level tasks.
Nandroid: Phone backups (system image) are called nandroid backups.
ADB: Android Debug Bridge, is a command line tool for your PC that can communicate with an Android device you've connected to it

Frequently asked questions.

Is rooting illegal? 
It is not illegal, however rooting makes the phone void of the warranty.

Can rooting brick my phone or make it unusable? 
Possibly yes, but if proper instructions are taken there is unlikely chance.

I am still confused?
Please read from the top again.

I am confused between rooting, unlocking, and flashing a ROM? 
All the three terms are used interchangeably and sometimes confusing. There are basic steps of rooting a phone. Unlocking is the first step, by allowing your boot-loader to flash a custom recovery. In second step, you can give root access or flash a ROM.  Root access isn't always required to flash a ROM, as almost all custom ROMs will come with root access built-in.

Is it possible to unroot my phone? 
Yes. If you don't like being rooted, you can always unroot it. You will find many forums to do it.

If you wish me to answer any other questions, please let me know..

Some of the simplest ways of rooting are given below

A) With a Computer

Steps to root you android phone without a computer .
1) Go to site OneClickRoot
2) Select the Phone vendor and model number
3) Download One Click Root
4) Connect your phone to the computer using your USB cord
5) Enable USB Debugging mode for your device
6) Run One Click Root software than click ‘Root Now’


Note: Only tested, working and guaranteed devices are listed on the website.

B) Without a Computer

Steps to root you android phone without a computer .

Step 1: Download the Framaroot app to your phone or computer.
Step 2: If copied on Computer, copy the tool (Framaroot) from your computer to your phone memory
Step 3: Install Framaroot from the apk file
Step 4: Choose “install Superuser”  option inside Framaraoot
Step 5: Select any of the exploits that appears in the app and wait for some time .
Step 6: If you see a “Success  … Superuser and su binary installed. You have to reboot your device” message then you have successfully rooted your phone .
Step 7: If you see “Failed … Try another exploit if available”  message then try selecting another exploit .

Note: Framaroot also has an Unroot option , if you want to unroot your device later.


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