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Root Date-- When?

P

precisedge

Lurker
I bought a Galaxy 4s on line it was listed as mint condition as new, after running into several functions that did not work I learned it had been rooted. It is down to my word against theirs, I have run several apps that confirm this, how do you tell the date it was modified? Any help is appreciated, Thanks,
 
You cannot tell when it was first modified. Though if you can identify something that definitely required root you might be able to tell when that was done. For example if it has a root gatekeeper app like SuperSU installed then if you can see when that was installed that would provide a clue (though you'll probably only be able to see when it was last updated).

Using a root-capable file explorer like Solid Explorer or Root Explorer you could look in /system and find the dates of any root-related modifications if you knew what to look for. This assumes it's running rooted stock software rather than a custom ROM: in the latter case (which you can probably tell by looking in the software information in the system settings) then the entire /system partition was replaced when the ROM was installed, in which case the dates will either be the date the ROM was installed or the date it was built (my current phone isn't rooted so I can't just check).
 
precisedge said:
I bought a Galaxy 4s on line it was listed as mint condition as new, after running into several functions that did not work I learned it had been rooted. It is down to my word against theirs, I have run several apps that confirm this, how do you tell the date it was modified? Any help is appreciated, Thanks,
Click to expand...
Hello and welcome to Android Forums precisedge! :D

I know of no way to pinpoint the actual date a phone was rooted or, indeed, why it was rooted. Since the Galaxy S4 is now over 5 years old, it is no longer supported by Samsung. Therefore a previous owner may have rooted it to run a custom ROM. Alternatively, it could be a model of phone that was not intended for use in the area it was in... i.e. a U.S.A. carrier model working on, say, a Middle eastern network.

Bear in mind that there are 29 different models of Samsung Galaxy S4, as shown, here...

29 Galaxy S4 models - know yours?

You can un-root the phone by using the Phone Info Sam app mentioned in that link to determine the phone's original model number and CSC, (Customer Software Customisation), code and downloading the correct, official, stock Samsung firmware and flashing it to your device as described in my link.

Grab a coffee and start reading and researching. ;)
 
Sorry this is tab 4s not a phone. It is my guess that it was rooted then it was restored back to the original load. The seller claims it was not rooted, but they were to quick to provide all the links of how to reinstall the original software from Samsung. Would there be a way to see the update or reload of software trying to remove the root? Sorry I am clueless about this rooting thing, Just wanted a tablet that worked.

Hardon, Thanks for the help, would the file explorer like Solid Explorer or Root Explorer show the reinstall date if they tried to "unRoot" the tablet? This is my guess as to what happened, it was rooted, then it went bad then the thought was restore it to the original and sell it. I am looking for some type of date before when I bought it.
 
precisedge said:
Sorry this is tab 4s not a phone. It is my guess that it was rooted then it was restored back to the original load. The seller claims it was not rooted, but they were to quick to provide all the links of how to reinstall the original software from Samsung. Would there be a way to see the update or reload of software trying to remove the root? Sorry I am clueless about this rooting thing, Just wanted a tablet that worked.

Hardon, Thanks for the help, would the file explorer like Solid Explorer or Root Explorer show the reinstall date if they tried to "unRoot" the tablet? This is my guess as to what happened, it was rooted, then it went bad then the thought was restore it to the original and sell it. I am looking for some type of date before when I bought it.
Click to expand...
`no there is no way to find the date of root unfortunately. you can only verify that your device has root access by using an app called SuperSu
 
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