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Root How to root [Without ADB]

soapinmouth

Android Enthusiast
Apr 7, 2010
321
56
So it seems alot of people are having problems getting ADB I myself included, so I used this method instead from the Droid forums.

one tip though is I used skyfire instead of the default browser because the download didn't seem to work right, and because fo that all the lines of code should have an s at the end of the word download ("download" -> "downloads")

Droid X Hacks - Droid Forum - Verizon Droid & the Motorola Droid Forum

Now that root is available for the Droid X, there is going to be a swarm of people installing the Android SDK to have access to ADB. But you don't need to do this. You can install a terminal emulator from the Android Market and root your Droid X without using a PC. We'll be using a modified version of the guide on Alldroid.org to do this. Thanks to birdman and everyone else involved! Here's how:

Get a terminal emulator and Astro
There are a few available on the Market. Any of them should work fine. I recommend Better Terminal Emulator ($1.99 I believe) but there are free options available.

Then download Astro managerThere's a free and pay version, either will work.

Download the files you need
You'll need to register on Alldroid.org to download the files. Then download the attachment (using your Droid X) in the first post of this thread:

DROID X IS ROOTED! (ADB and Shell as SU with System mounted as R/W, NO Flashing or bootloader yet) - Motorola Droid X Rooting - AllDroid Public Board - DROID X IS ROOTED! (ADB and Shell as SU with System mounted as R/W, NO Flashing or bootloader yet)

The Android browser likes to make the filename goofy, so we'll need to change it. Open Astro.
Press Menu -> More -> Preferences -> Look and Feel and make sure "Hide File Extensions" is disabled. Press back till you're at the file list again.

Open the download folder and then long press on the file "resource.ashx" and rename it to "update.zip", then long press again to extract it, and "Extact To This Directory".

Gaining temporary root access
First make sure you have a Power Control widget on your homescreen and [! important] wifi is turned on. You're going to need to access this widget very quickly after you type the following commands.

Now open your terminal app and type the following commands:
Code:
cd /sqlite_stmt_journals
cp /sdcard/download/exploid ./exploid
chmod 755 exploid
./exploid

After typing the last command, quickly press your Home button and turn wifi off and then back on with the power control widget. You'll know if you did it fast enough after you type the next command:

Code:
rootshell

If you are prompted for a password, you were fast enough. If not, type ./exploid and do the wifi thing over again. When you are prompted for a password, enter secretlol

Copy superuser files
You now have temporary root access and need to copy all of your files in to place to make it permanent. Type the following commands:

Code:
cp /sdcard/download/Superuser.apk /system/app/Superuser.apk
cp /sdcard/download/su /system/bin/su
cp /sdcard/download/busybox /system/bin/busybox
chmod 4755 /system/bin/su
chmod 4755 /system/bin/busybox
rm /system/bin/rootshell
exit

You now have root. I needed to close my terminal emulator (in Better Terminal, you need to actually click the menu button and exit) and reopen it. After this, type su

If anything other than your prompt changing from $ to #, something went wrong. Otherwise, you can start using apps that require root!
 
ok i have DroidXRoot_v2.zip on my droidx. i cant find. "Open the download folder and then long press on the file "resource.ashx" i find the folder, but not the ashx file.

You don't have to rename the zip file if you download it to your Droid X.
Its not hard and doesn't complicate a thing if you download directly to the phone. :rolleyes:;)
Simply open Astro File Manager, navigate to sdcard/download folder.
Tap and hold on the zip file and select extract.
Extract the files to the download folder, its fine...
I had my wifi & bluetooth turned on prior to starting the Android terminal emulator process.

Hope this helps. :D
 
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You don't have to rename the zip file if you download it to your Droid X.
Its not hard and doesn't complicate a thing if you download directly to the phone. :rolleyes:;)
Simply open Astro File Manager, navigate to sdcard/download folder.
Tap and hold on the zip file and select extract.
Extract the files to the download folder, its fine...
I had my wifi & bluetooth turned on prior to starting the Android terminal emulator process.

Hope this helps. :D

yes sir! thats what had me hung up for a while. finally i thought what the hell, and went through the emulator process and it worked...if you dont see the. "resource.ashx" file that your supposed to rename, dont worry about it. i never saw it, just extract zip and do the emulator process.
 
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You could also just download the zip to your PC, mount your phone to yoru computer, create a folder called roothack or something like that, extract the zip there and do everything the same way. Probably easier than downloading on the phone, renaming etc.

Great idea though.

You wouldn't believe how many folks have issues being able to transfer files to/from their PC to their phone or using adb. USB / connectivity between the phone and PC is THE biggest issue most folks seem to have (or at least the ones trying to root their Eris, anyway).

Having an alternative like this will allow (for good or bad :eek:) some folks to root that otherwise would never be able to. There's a similar "phone-only" method for rooting the Eris that's been a lifeline to a lot of folks.

The OP did a great service to the folks on this forum for posting this.

Also, be careful if you do root: not all folks should root just for the sake of rooting. You need to understand what is going on and what the implications / consequences are. You can really get yourself in trouble (for example, if you delete the wrong app/file) and end-up bricking your phone. There is currently no good recovery method (i.e., being able to install a custom recovery or make a Nandroid backup)--so, proceed cautiously. I do think adding more cautions / disclaimers would be prudent at the top of all such instructions. Thanks.
 
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You wouldn't believe how many folks have issues being able to transfer files to/from their PC to their phone or using adb. USB / connectivity between the phone and PC is THE biggest issue most folks seem to have (or at least the ones trying to root their Eris, anyway).

Having an alternative like this will allow (for good or bad :eek:) some folks to root that otherwise would never be able to. There's a similar "phone-only" method for rooting the Eris that's been a lifeline to a lot of folks.

The OP did a great service to the folks on this forum for posting this.

Also, be careful if you do root: not all folks should root just for the sake of rooting. You need to understand what is going on and what the implications / consequences are. You can really get yourself in trouble (for example, if you delete the wrong app/file) and end-up bricking your phone. There is currently no good recovery method (i.e., being able to install a custom recovery or make a Nandroid backup)--so, proceed cautiously. I do think adding more cautions / disclaimers would be prudent at the top of all such instructions. Thanks.

I'm not talking about sending stuff with ADB. I'm talking about putting the phone in mass storage mode and plugging it into the computer. Copying it just like you would MP3s to the computer. To me it's a more difficult step to download it on the phone, find it, rename it etc than to just download it to the PC and copy it to the phone - it's just not that hard.

It's great that the OP created steps to run ON the phone for everything else, I just think the downloading process could be made a little more simple.

I'm sorry, but if someone can't figure out how to mount the phone to a drive letter in windows (or whatever OS) then do they really need to be rooting their phone?
 
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I'm not talking about sending stuff with ADB. I'm talking about putting the phone in mass storage mode and plugging it into the computer. Copying it just like you would MP3s to the computer. To me it's a more difficult step to download it on the phone, find it, rename it etc than to just download it to the PC and copy it to the phone - it's just not that hard.

It's great that the OP created steps to run ON the phone for everything else, I just think the downloading process could be made a little more simple.

I'm sorry, but if someone can't figure out how to mount the phone to a drive letter in windows (or whatever OS) then do they really need to be rooting their phone?

+1, I actually do agree with you (wasn't trying to be contrary to you in my reply, just wanted to point-out the issues re. connectivity).

Rooting is a decision that should not be made lightly and I think folks should be more informed about the potential downsides.
 
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ok so i was having issues where i would get all the way to the end and type su and i would get access denied

tried over and over and over and over with noting

maybe it is supposed to be obvious but it apparently was not for me but i went in to astro and installed superuser.apk (make sure your non market apps box is checked) and installed it

went back in to the Emulator and typed su and then BAM!! got #
 
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I was so excited for this, since I can't get ADB to work either.
But I am totally stuck at this step. No matter what terminal app I use, it says these commands/files don't exist.

Now open your terminal app and type the following commands:
Code:
cd /sqlite_stmt_journals
cp /sdcard/download/exploid ./exploid
chmod 755 exploid
./exploid
 
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here, try this method:
Much simpler guide for rooting (no pc required) - Droid Forum - Verizon Droid & the Motorola Droid Forum

i used this to root my 2.2 ota via android terminal emulator. also shows how to unroot (never tried that yet). root worked fine for me.


I was so excited for this, since I can't get ADB to work either.
But I am totally stuck at this step. No matter what terminal app I use, it says these commands/files don't exist.

Now open your terminal app and type the following commands:
Code:
cd /sqlite_stmt_journals
cp /sdcard/download/exploid ./exploid
chmod 755 exploid
./exploid
 
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So Im at the first command line which is:
cd /sqlite_stmt_journals

when I put that in....I get the next line which says:
cd: can't cd to /sqlite_stmt_journals

Anyone know why I get this command line message?

I would like to know too. Crunk, were you rooted in 2.1? I was just wondering because I was, and after 2.2 ota, I lost root, but I still had the superuser ninja in my app drawer. I knew I lost root because wifi tether wouldn't work. I tried this method, but got the can't cd to /sqlite_stmt_journals

I ended up using the 1 click .bat file to root. That was a test of patience for me. Couldn't get adb to detect my device in pc mode with the latest moto drivers until I reinstalled the drivers in pc mode w/o debugging, and then once the drivers were detected, switched on debugging. Another weird thing was that I had to run the .bat file twice. The first time it removed my old superuser ninja, then it installed it again.
 
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