Root Easy Linux - A Primer to Getting S-OFF on Linux

[remanifest]

Often, I see posts where people are concerned about not meeting the prerequisites for getting S-OFF on their phones. The answer is to use a Linux LiveDVD.

In case you don't know already, here's a few of things about Linux, and LiveDVDs:

1. Linux is free. Always has been, and always will be.
2. You may download it for free, distribute it for free, install it wherever you'd like, give it away to friends, analyze its code, etc. It is free in every sense of the word. You will not be charged.
3. LiveDVDs do not change ANY settings on your computer. You simply run the software from a DVD or a USB drive. Again, nothing on your machine will be changed by doing this process.

Of all the Linux varieties (called "distributions") out there, Linux Mint is, in my opinion, the easiest & most approachable distribution. It is familiar and easy to use. Of the Linux Mint varieties, I prefer Linux Mint Debian Edition, which is based on one of the strongest distributions out there, Debian Linux.

Based purely on my personal preferences, this guide will focus exclusively on Linux Mint Debian Edition. The goal is to get you into a working copy of Linux so that you may perform S-OFF.


The Meat & Potatoes

If you don't have one already, the first step is to download a torrent client. I prefer qBittorrent. It's free of ads, it looks good, and it downloads things quickly.

Once you've got the torrent client installed, the next step is to download the torrent for Linux Mint Debian Edition. Open the torrent with qBittorrent, and wait for it to download. For me, it took about 7 minutes.

Once the file has downloaded (it will say "seeding"), right-click on it from within qBittorrent and select "Open destination folder". From here, you have two options:

• Burn it to a DVD. If you go this route & don't have a good burning program, I prefer CD Burner XP. Again, a free program that's easy to use. Simply right-click on the ISO file and open it with CD Burner XP. Put your DVD in the drive, and burn it.

• Make a bootable USB thumb drive. For this, I prefer Universal USB Installer. Just pick the ISO file you downloaded with qBittorrent and follow the prompts. You will want to back up the entire contents of your USB thumb drive before you do this. Once you're done, you may delete the Linux stuff and put your files back on. If you only have 1 USB port on your computer, do not choose this method.

Now that you've got your DVD or USB drive ready to go, you're almost done. When you reboot your computer, in the first second or two at the bottom of the screen, it will say something to the effect of "to enter setup" or "BIOS" -- something along those lines. You'll need to press the key to enter setup as soon as you see that message. Common keys for this are F2, F8, F12, and ESC; it varies by manufacturer.

Once inside the BIOS, you're looking for something along the lines of Boot Sequence or Boot Priority -- something along those lines. What I recommend you change the settings to is:

1. USB Drive
2. CD/DVD ROM
3. Internal Hard Drive
4. Floppy Disk

What these settings will do is tell your computer, "Look for a boot partition on the USB Drive. If you don't find one, look for one on the CD/DVD ROM. If you don't find one, look for one on the Internal Hard Drive." This process takes less than a second or two in 99.9% of cases, so it's fine to leave this setting alone once it's set. Common keys for reordering things in BIOS are +/-, Page Up/Page Down, and spacebar. Save this setting and exit BIOS. Make sure your DVD or USB drive is in the computer.

When you get inside of Linux Mint Debian Edition, you'll see an icon in the taskbar next to the clock that looks like a disconnected cable with a red "x" on it. Click on that to see your available wireless networks. Click your network & put in your password and you're good to go. The Menu (same place as the Start menu on Windows) holds Firefox; use it to get here and finish this guide.


Inside Linux Mint Debian Edition

You're finally in Linux, and ready to do S-OFF! I've tried to make this as simple as possible. In Firefox, click the "Edit" menu at the top, and select Preferences. Under "Save files to", click "Browse..." and select the home icon from the left-hand column - it will say mint next to it. This is important - don't skip it!

Connect your phone to the computer with the USB cable.

• You have two files to download: shooter-root-soff-fix-lin and easylinux.

• Open up the Menu (bottom left-hand corner of your computer screen, gear icon) and select "Home Folder" (left-hand column, second icon down)

• Right-click on shooter-root-soff-fix-lin.zip and choose "Extract Here". Do the same thing for easylinux.zip.

• Go into the easylinux folder.

• Right-click on the white space of the easylinux folder, and select "Open In Terminal"

• Type the following commands into the terminal, one by one:
  [HIGH]sudo su[/HIGH][HIGH]./root_commands[/HIGH][HIGH]exit[/HIGH][HIGH]./user_commands && source ~/.bashrc[/HIGH]

• You should have seen something similar to this on your screen:
  

  List of devices attached 
  FA29LHX03363    device

Proceed to S-OFF, root, & Fix Everything All-in-One! Just skip the part about downloading the appropriate file for your computer, because you've already got it from this thread.

 

[Brian706]

Excellent and informative! Thank you. Added to the ATR Guide sticky.

 

[CFenix]

the "easylinux" link is not working
where could i get this file?