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[Verizon] Here is my step by step - why isn't my root sticking?

V

viper689

Android Expert
I've already downloaded all the drivers and appropriate files, but for some reason my root isn't sticking and it's getting pretty frustrating. So please take a look at my step by step and please tell me if I'm missing anything.


  • Phone turned off
  • Phone booted into fastboot
  • In command prompt: "fastboot oem unlock"
  • Agree to unlock phone
  • Move su.zip file and update.zip (to be used later) to phone
  • In command prompt: "adb reboot bootloader"
  • In command prompt: "fastboot flash recovery recovery-clockwork-5.5.0.4-toro.img"
  • Put phone into Recovery mode
  • Choose and install "su.zip" file
  • Back out of recovery and reboot phone
  • Install ROM Manager and ES File Explorer
  • In ROM Manager, Flash ClockworkMod Recovery and select CDMA
  • SuperUser permission granted/ reboot into Recovery mode
  • Choose and install "update.zip" file for 4.0.4 update
  • Back out of recovery and reboot phone

Here's where it gets weird. Any commands I try in ROM Manager or ES File Explorer after the reboot (such as renaming the /system/recovery-from-boot.p file) no longer work because of insufficient privileges. Please tell me what I'm missing because I know it's possible, but I'm obviously overlooking something. My ultimate goal is to have the franco kernel running on my stock 4.0.4. Thanks for the input and thanks to the people who have already tried helping me through this.
 
I think you need root explorer on the android market to change r/w. is that what your looking to do change file privileges and premissions?
 
It sounds like ZeroOne is correct. Do you have an unlocked padlock image at the bottom of the Google screen at bootup?
 
viper689,

It looks to me like the 4.0.4 OTA broke your root install (its strips the SUID-bit permissions off of the su binary).

Reboot back in to ClockworkMod and re-flash su.zip and you should be good-to-go.

Cheers!
 
scary alien said:
viper689,

It looks to me like the 4.0.4 OTA broke your root install (its strips the sticky-bit permissions off of the su binary).

Reboot back in to ClockworkMod and re-flash su.zip and you should be good-to-go.

Cheers!
Click to expand...


This, mostly.

I dealt with the same thing yesterday when I finally unlocked and rooted. The 4.0.4 OTA would kill my CWM Recovery and Root. In my experience, the current root methods/packages don't seem to work on the leaked 4.0.4 OTA (i.e. I could't just reflash the su.zip after flashing the leaked OTA).

You need to Google "rooted 4.0.4 OTA" or "deodexed 4.0.4 OTA" and download the 4.0.4 OTA version that is rooted. Flashing that will keep your root, and then you'll just reflash CWM Recovery through Rom Manager. I'd highly recommend the touch version, though, the regular version was really flakey for me.

Also, if you've already flashed the leaked OTA and have it set up with apps and setttings (as I had), you can flash the rooted version over it without wiping and it will keep everything.

Good luck.
 
AJ McKay said:
This, mostly.

I dealt with the same thing yesterday when I finally unlocked and rooted. The 4.0.4 OTA would kill my CWM Recovery and Root. In my experience, the current root methods/packages don't seem to work on the leaked 4.0.4 OTA (i.e. I could't just reflash the su.zip after flashing the leaked OTA).

You need to Google "rooted 4.0.4 OTA" or "deodexed 4.0.4 OTA" and download the 4.0.4 OTA version that is rooted. Flashing that will keep your root, and then you'll just reflash CWM Recovery through Rom Manager. I'd highly recommend the touch version, though, the regular version was really flakey for me.

Also, if you've already flashed the leaked OTA and have it set up with apps and setttings (as I had), you can flash the rooted version over it without wiping and it will keep everything.

Good luck.
Click to expand...

Well, the OTA won't touch your custom recovery--in fact, you cannot install an OTA with a custom recovery installed: you must have a stock recovery installed in order for an OTA to be installed.

The OTA breaks root because it strips the permissions from the su binary and the Superuser.apk file.

Installing root on a 4.0.4 system is identical to what was/is done for 4.01 or 4.0.2:

1. unlock your bootloader if you haven't already

2. either:

...a) flash or soft-boot a custom recovery such as ClockworkMod install the su.zip file to install the root binaries

...b) flash a pre-rooted ROM or OTA

...c) other options and methods (like a Superboot, manual method, etc.)

3. after rooting, re-flash your custom recovery if you haven't yet removed the recovery-from-boot.p file
 
if you went from 4.0.2 to 4.0.4 by the ota method (its not really an OTA lol) then it will remove custom recovery, and restore stock recovery


it acts like its own personal sbf file that you have to enter in manually

if you take the deodexed rooted version it does nothing to main system and maintains root, as the file itself is already rooted.

i done it twice on the OTA method to verify that it does remove recovery, and it does.
and twice as well on deodexed version.

i keep coming to 4.0.4 cause when i go to 4.0.3 i get the silent mic bug every now and then, as well as the robot voice.

and i have yet to hear about either one of them since i been on 4.0.4 so i think 4.0.4 should go ahead and be released to the public, and the source as well so that i can get aokp on 4.0.4 :)
 
Scary, what you say about recoveries is logical, but what I experienced was what Voided said.

After unlocking, rooting, CWR'ing, and flashing the stock leaked 4.0.4 OTA, I was left with no root, and going to Recovery would give me the sick android (Android with the red triangle).

So from there I wasn't technically able to flash the su.zip. And the one-click, root without unlock script wouldn't work either.

Your mileage may vary, as always.
 
AJ McKay said:
Scary, what you say about recoveries is logical, but what I experienced was what Voided said.

After unlocking, rooting, CWR'ing, and flashing the stock leaked 4.0.4 OTA, I was left with no root, and going to Recovery would give me the sick android (Android with the red triangle).

So from there I wasn't technically able to flash the su.zip. And the one-click, root without unlock script wouldn't work either.

Your mileage may vary, as always.
Click to expand...

Ah, AJ, I think we are all saying the same things, LOL, just pointing-out different aspects and timing :) (and methods of installing an OTA such as 4.0.4).

1. you must have a stock recovery to install an OTA (whether is installed manually or actually taken over-the-air)

2. when you install an OTA, you will lose root

3. the OTA in and of itself does not (directly) cause a stock recovery to be installed, but it does re-install the recovery-from-boot.p file. The presence of this file is what makes Android re-flash the stock recovery when you next shut down; at the point you've installed the OTA, you've already had to have had a stock recovery installed, so even if you remove the recovery-from-boot.p file, you're still going to have a stock recovery--unless, you removed the recovery-from-boot.p file, then flash CWM from something like ROM Manager--which you can't do yet, because you are not yet rooted ;) :)

So, if you have an unlocked bootloader, you can just re-flash or soft-boot CWM after you've installed the OTA, install the su.zip file to re-gain root, remove the recovery-from-boot.p file (and possibly re-flash CWM depending on the timing of when you deleted recovery-from-boot.p).

Its a little convoluted, I know, but I do think we're all basically saying the same things :).

Let me know if I'm all wet--I have been before and will be again :p.

Thanks!

edit: Hah! ninja'd the ninja! :) :) :)
 
the methods will always be different.

basically if you are only getting the stock recovery, you must reflash clockwork, and then navigate to:
/system/recovery-from-boot.p

and either rename the file with .bak at the end(never worked for me)
or delete the file altogether and you will no longer boot to stock recovery, and boot to cwr each and every time, until you reflash stock recovery
 
Thanks for the responses everyone! Here's what I've got.

ZeroOne said:
I think you need root explorer on the android market to change r/w. is that what your looking to do change file privileges and premissions?
Click to expand...

Is Root Explorer completely necessary? The step by step guide said ES Explorer would work just as well. And it's not what I'm looking for but I was having an issue with root sticking and one of the solutions to that was to rename a file, which I can't do because my root doesn't stick.

ridobe said:
It sounds like ZeroOne is correct. Do you have an unlocked padlock image at the bottom of the Google screen at bootup?
Click to expand...

I do.

scary alien said:
viper689,

It looks to me like the 4.0.4 OTA broke your root install (its strips the sticky-bit permissions off of the su binary).

Reboot back in to ClockworkMod and re-flash su.zip and you should be good-to-go.

Cheers!
Click to expand...

Am I missing something about this step, because I feel like I'm doing this. This is going to sound really n00bish, but is there a difference between flashing su.zip and installing it? How would I go about about flashing it?

AJ McKay said:
This, mostly.

I dealt with the same thing yesterday when I finally unlocked and rooted. The 4.0.4 OTA would kill my CWM Recovery and Root. In my experience, the current root methods/packages don't seem to work on the leaked 4.0.4 OTA (i.e. I could't just reflash the su.zip after flashing the leaked OTA).

You need to Google "rooted 4.0.4 OTA" or "deodexed 4.0.4 OTA" and download the 4.0.4 OTA version that is rooted. Flashing that will keep your root, and then you'll just reflash CWM Recovery through Rom Manager. I'd highly recommend the touch version, though, the regular version was really flakey for me.

Also, if you've already flashed the leaked OTA and have it set up with apps and setttings (as I had), you can flash the rooted version over it without wiping and it will keep everything.

Good luck.
Click to expand...

Yeah I've made sure I was using the rooted 4.0.4 OTA version. As for the touch version, I'll give it a shot.

Thanks for the input everyone! I really appreciate it and it means a lot to me. I'm sure we can get this figured out because obviously I'm skipping or misunderstanding something lol
 
once you push su.zip to your sdcard, you then need to flash the clockwork image as well, and it will take priority over your stock recovery while in the bootloader screen, once you have flashed it, then scroll to reboot recovery within the bootloader menu, then you will be in clockwork recovery
from there you need to install the zip by installing zip from sdcard.
once you see su.zip, install it, then reboot
now your permanetly rooted, now to get your cwm to stick as well
using root explorer(the best for your money IMHO), or es explorer whichever it is, you need to browse to
/system/recovery-from-boot.p
you can choose to rename it to
recovery-from-boot.p.bak
but it never worked for me
instead i deleted mine, as i didnt have any use for it.

*NOTE* once you delete it, you cannot accept an OTA
you have to flash back to 4.0.2 first! and that will reinstall the stock recovery image.




*EDIT*
i cannot put it more simplier than that, i hope it works for you, cause that is the method you need to take for it to work
 
VoidedSaint said:
now your permanetly rooted, now to get your cwm to stick as well
using root explorer(the best for your money IMHO), or es explorer whichever it is, you need to browse to
/system/recovery-from-boot.p
you can choose to rename it to
recovery-from-boot.p.bak
but it never worked for me
instead i deleted mine, as i didnt have any use for it.
Click to expand...

Here's the catch with mines though. After I reboot and get back into it, I download ROM Manager and my explorer and both are granted Superuser privileges, however, the /system/recovery-from-boot.p file is non-existent at this point. It doesn't show up until after I reboot again, but at this point, I've lost privileges.

Everything else you've said is exactly what I've done. I don't know why mines is behaving like this but I appreciate all the input.
 
this is why you need to use root explorer :p

with root explorer you will find it, i dont know what exaclty you see in your folder, you should be seeing things like this:
acct
cache
charger
config
d
data
default.prop
dev
etc
factory
init
init.goldfish.rc
init.omap4pandaboard.rc
init.rc
init.tuna.rc
init.tuna.usb.rc
mnt
proc
res
root
sbin
sdcard
sys
SYSTEM
ueventd.goldfish.rc
uventd.rc
ueventd.tuna.rc
vendor
 
Yeah the system folder is visible, as are the rest of the files and folders you listed, in ES Explorer, but the file isn't until I reboot once. Shouldn't it show up now?
 
VoidedSaint said:
once you root, you keep root, there is no way you lose root, where it says r/o make it mount r/w and try again.
Click to expand...

I've tried 3 different file explorers and here's what I see in each of the system folders. They are all mount r/w

File Manager

Screenshot_2012-02-27-12-03-50.png


ES File Explorer

Screenshot_2012-02-27-12-03-32.png



Astro Explorer

Screenshot_2012-02-27-12-03-13.png
 
Here's how to remount /system in read-write mode using ES File Explorer (free in the Market):

- download / install / launch ES File Explorer

- press the menu icon (bottom right)

- select Settings

- select Home Directory

- change your Home Directory to "/" (without the quotes, of course)

- return to the Settings screen

- scroll down to the bottom of the screen

- check the "Root Explorer" box in the Root Settings area (you'll get the Superuser whitelist app's pop-up asking for permission for this app)

- when you want to mount / and /system as writeable, check the "Mount File System" box under the "Root Explorer" checkbox

- hit the back button to return to the file navigation

- press the "Up" directory icon in the toolbar at the top of the screen--that should take you to the / (root) filesystem

There's other ways to do this, but this is what I use :).

Hope that helps :).

Cheers!
 
Yeah that's what I've been doing I was reading the All Things Root Guide word for word. But the file just doesn't show up... =(

I tried the adb shell method as well but same problem, the file just doesn't exist.
 
i am really lost now, there is just no way that it is still booting to stock recovery if you have flashed cwm, and the recovery-from-boot.p is missing, its no way, something else has happened i believe, you may need to revert back to stock 4.0.2 and then install a rom or, just jump straight to deodexed 4.0.4
 
Sooooo I finally got it to work. Unfortunately I had to find another toolkit that would do it for me, since obviously I was doing something wrong lol. Anyways, I'm up and running now running Franco 13.1 on my 4.0.4, so now I've got curiosity killing me to try out different kernels and roms when they're up and running with 4.0.4.

I have joined the dark side =) Thanks for the help everyone!
 
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