[Verizon] Here you go! One Step Unlock/Root or ReLock/Unroot!

[Yeahha]

lol, the fact that two guys above are having issues!

Rooting itself is pretty easy, the biggest issue I have seen with people trying to root is getting the CPU and the phone to work together, once ADB and fastboot are working the process itself isn't bad. Plus if you have any issues you are already a member here at AF so you know you can get support for any problem you run into.

I did the above, and it DOES recognize my GN (series of #s followed by 'fastboot').........

I'm sitting here in fastboot mode, my Q is---- how do I flash CWM while in fastboot?

ClockworkMod Method (courtesy of Koushik Dutta)

Pros:

-- simplest and fastest from what I've found
-- works for both GSM and LTE versions of the device
-- does not require a special (insecured) boot.img file

Cons: requires both adb and fastboot USB connectivity

Spoiler

A. if you already have the Android SDK installed with both the adb and fastboot utilities, go ahead and skip to step B.

If you don't have both adb and fastboot installed anywhere, it might be easiest to download and extract the sdk-tools.zip file referenced in the "Mini-SDK" section of this thread ADB Guide to a folder on your PC of your choosing (take note of this folder/directory's name).

B. turn off (power down) your device

C. connect the USB cable between the phone and your PC if you haven't already

D. on your PC, start-up a terminal session (Windows Command Prompt for Windows; Terminal for Mac or Linux) and navigate to the directory/folder where the adb and fastboot utilities are located:

+ for Windows, you need to start-up a Windows Command Prompt (DOS window) and type the following (for example, assuming that your adb / fastboot files are in the c:\sdk-tools folder):

Code:
cd c:\sdk-tools
+ for Mac/Linux, start-up a Terminal session and type the following (for example, assuming that your adb / fastboot files are in the sdk-tools folder):

Code:
cd sdk-tools
E. next, boot your phone into fastboot mode (press and hold both the volume-UP and volume-DOWN buttons and then press the power button)

F. if you are using Windows, install the appropriate Samsung USB drivers; note: there are several USB driver options listed at the bottom of this post; this one in particular worked very well for me and others:

[ADB/FB Driver] Naked Samsung Driver 1.7 - xda-developers

Here are some detailed notes that I took when I installed this driver on my system:




- download the Naked Samsung 1.7.zip driver referenced above

- extract that files contents to a folder like Naked Samsung 1.7

- connect your phone to your Windows PC via the USB cable

- fire-up your Device Manager:

• Windows Start button
• Control Panel
• Hardware and Sound
• select Device Manager from under the Devices and Printers section

- identify the Other devices section

- right click the Galaxy entry and select Uninstall

- right click the Galaxy entry and select Update Driver Software...

- select Browse my computer for driver software

- use the Browse... button and navigate to the folder where you extracted the Naked Samsung 1.7.zip file (make sure the Include subfolders checkbox is checked)

- browse to that folder name and click the OK button

- you'll be returned to the Update Driver Software - Galaxy screen; click the Next button

- you might see a red-tinted Windows Security warning saying "Windows can't verify the publisher of this driver software";

- that's okay, click the Install this driver software anyway section

- the driver software will then be installed

- after installation, you should see the window is now titled:
Update Driver Software - SAMSUNG Android ADB Interface and it will say "Windows has successfully updated your driver software", etc.

- press the Close button

- notice the the yellow warning icon is now gone and you now have a new SAMSUNG Android Phone section in the Device Manager window
and a SAMSUNG Android ADB Interface entry underneath it

- you should now be able to communicate with your device with adb or fastboot (when in the appropriate mode for each)



G. let's verify that fastboot can "see" your device

note: for simplicity's sake, I'm using the generic "fastboot" command name here; your fastboot utility might actually be named:

+ for Windows: fastboot.exe or fastboot-windows.exe
+ for Linux: fastboot or fastboot-linux
+ for Mac: fastboot for fastboot-mac

- from your PC, enter the following to verify that the fastboot utility can see your phone:

For MS/Windows:
Code:
fastboot devices (list connected devices)
For Mac/Linux:
Code:
./fastboot devices (list connected devices)
- you should see something similar to this:
Code:
sdk-tools> fastboot devices<device serial #> fastboot
J. next, you'll unlock the bootloader

*** Warning *** the next command (fastboot oem unlock) will completely wipe your device's internal "SD card"), so backup what you need / want to beforehand

Also, please note that after you issue the unlock command, you will be asked, on your phone, to acknowledge that you want the bootloader to be unlocked and that you understand that doing so will void your warranty. Use your volume rocker/keys to select the confirmation and press the power button to actually confirm.

For MS/Windows:
Code:
fastboot oem unlock (unlock the bootloader)
For Mac/Linux:
Code:
./fastboot oem unlock (unlock the bootloader)
J. That's it, your bootloader should now be unlocked and you are ready for your next step. You phone should still be in fastboot mode at this point.

If you simply wanted to unlocked the bootloader and now want to reboot your phone, you can issue a "fastboot reboot" (for Windows) or "./fastboot reboot" (for Mac/Linux) to reboot the device normally (note/warning: since unlocking the bootloader does a factory reset, your next reboot after unlocking will take about five minutes to complete--so be patient and wait for the boot animation to finish-up).

If you are not ready to reboot, but need to do other fastboot-related operations, then your phone is still in fastboot mode and ready for you.

From http://androidforums.com/verizon-ga...49-how-root-vzw-lte-samsung-galaxy-nexus.html

 

[Mr Marcus]

ClockworkMod Method (courtesy of Koushik Dutta)

Thanks... did that and flashed CWM... My NEWEST problem is that when I do the next step to push su.zip to my phone, in my CMD window, I just get the error message says error: device not found


This process is killing me- it 'found' my device for everything else!!??!!! Now what?

 

[scary alien]

Thanks... did that and flashed CWM... My NEWEST problem is that when I do the next step to push su.zip to my phone, in my CMD window, I just get the error message says error: device not found


This process is killing me- it 'found' my device for everything else!!??!!! Now what?

I figured out the reason for this last night (haven't had a chance to update the instructions)...I'll do that here in a minute...

Since CWM doesn't mount the /data partition (and therefore, your /sdcard) until after you've gone to the Apply update from .zip file on SD card menu (by selecting install zip from sdcard on the main menu) and you have selected the choose zip from sdcard entry.

After you've done that, you can select "+++++Go Back+++++", then push your file to /sdcard, then re-enter the choose zip from sdcard menu.

 

[Steven58]

Ok.. this thing works.. and works well.. I messed up but it was because I didn't read the directions. This pushes su.root over to the sd card, but it DOESN'T FLASH IT! I didn't read the directions which said to go to clockwork mod recovery and flash su.zip and you're rooted. DOH.

Yeah, it works fine. That's one issue and the other is to install the most recent samsung driver. Easy Peasy. If anyone has any of these issues, just let me know and I'll try to help.

Long story short. If you need to go back to stock, this is good. If you want to go from stock to root, this is also helpful The dev did a good job. Support him.

 

[Mr Marcus]

Edit: FINALLY got it!!!

37th time's a charm!!! I can go to bed!!!




...... like that's gonna happen right about now...




Didn't even do anything different- just same thing over and over. Somehow, it HAD to be something wonky with drivers.... can't put my finger on it- they were there tho. Thank you to those of you that stuck by me thru this traumatic period in my life, and offered assistance throughout. Your collective input resulted in ultimately a happy camper who is now going to go do all the root-y stuff for which I've been fighting ever-so-vigilantly..... at the expense of a night's sleep.

 

[Yeahha]

Edit: FINALLY got it!!!

37th time's a charm!!!

Lol I've been there before glad it took for you

 

[*idroid*]

Ok this thing works. I just had to keep trying it because of the drivers

 

[dr3s]

thanks wug.

 

[Deleted User]

Did the the one click method this morning. Took about an hour. IMO, a little more involved then previous one click for other devices but much easier than the long route for sure. My advice, take your time and read carefully at each step. Thanks to developer, awesome work!

 

[kapakahi]

Wug, you are awesome!! I had unlocked the manual way, but had trouble rooting. This method was so easy. Thanks

 

[darkcyber]

Very Sweet!

Thanks for sharing Steven!

 

[DizzyMP]

I used this earlier today. Very easy, the longest part was downloading the program onto my computer due to me living in the middle of nowhere. lol

 

[Sharpe Man]

Thanks for putting this together for us!

Dl'd and ran this last night after I finally threw in the towel on setting up adb and fastboot on my own.

It was very easy to install and run. I already had the mini sdk package from the root guide installed on the c:\ so I had this utility extract to that folder.

The only issue that I had was with the drivers. I had already dl'd the naked samsung driver but I couldn't get my device updated because the device only showed up under usb connections and not other devices in device manager. This utility did hang up on the drivers part of this but whatever it did, it had my device now listed under other devices and I was able to update the driver with the naked one and the cmd prompt found it instantly.

Everything else was as easy as can be.

 

[Keyan]

dev did a VERY good job. The program holds your hand through the entire process, even with pictures. No issues, unlocked and rooted first try. Does he have a donate think? I think he needs some beer.

 

[scary alien]

dev did a VERY good job. The program holds your hand through the entire process, even with pictures. No issues, unlocked and rooted first try. Does he have a donate think? I think he needs some beer.

Indeed he does! Check the bottom of the first post in his thread:

Wug's Galaxy Nexus Root Toolkit

WugFresh was a member here too a while back (did some stuff for the Eris, IIRC).

Cheers!

 

[Rockaholic]

This will make my life sooo easy when my upgrade's up. Only a month to go.

 

[dubie7006]

any advice on how to do this on a mac? If i have to, I'll go to the parents' house and use their PC...

Also, now that I've switched over contacts and added apps, what is the best way to back that all up so I have it post-root? TIA.

 

[mrichick]

This worked SUPERBLY unlocking and rooting after drivers finally worked out.


Should I be concerned that AVG antivirus is reporting the toolkit files as a trojan psw/keylogger?????????

 

[iowabowtech]

Should I be concerned that AVG antivirus is reporting the toolkit files as a trojan psw/keylogger?????????

I haven't looked into this hack specifically but I know the rage against the cage root exploit was also flagged as a trojan. I'm guessing this may be a similar situation. Kind of a false positive although in reality, the AV software is doing its job. Its just that we are choosing to knowingly use a backdoor exploit.

 

[mrichick]

Thanks Iowa...I was hoping that was the answer, but found it kinda weird that it hasn't been mentioned anywhere else...at least none that I saw

 

[Jedii]

This worked absolutely perfect!! It all went through on the first time, without a single issue!!

Steven, I wouldn't have looked for this link. Thank you so much for sharing it with us here!

 

[iowabowtech]

Wug's Galaxy Nexus Root Toolkit

Unlocking, rooting, relocking and unrooting simplified!

VERSION 1.2.2 - This program contains all the files you need to unlock and root your device, or flash it back to stock and re-lock it. You can also use this program to backup all your user apps, system apps, and app data, and easily restore them later in one click; and now with the latest release (v1.2.2) you can flash or boot any img files you wan't to any partition on your device; as well as flash any current or future stock android release, making updating your device as easy as can be.

There is now one universal version that works for both Verizon (CDMA) and GSM models.

 

[DucatiDude]

any advice on how to do this on a mac? If i have to, I'll go to the parents' house and use their PC...

Yes, someone please share....

 

[Randino]

Wug's Galaxy Nexus Root Toolkit

Unlocking, rooting, relocking and unrooting simplified!

VERSION 1.2.2 - This program contains all the files you need to unlock and root your device, or flash it back to stock and re-lock it. You can also use this program to backup all your user apps, system apps, and app data, and easily restore them later in one click; and now with the latest release (v1.2.2) you can flash or boot any img files you wan't to any partition on your device; as well as flash any current or future stock android release, making updating your device as easy as can be.

There is now one universal version that works for both Verizon (CDMA) and GSM models.

This is a great tool and a great developer, very friendly in his forums and he responds to most inquiries very quickly. Also updated to Version 1.3 now, which enables automatic driver configuration.

 

[Sailing_Nut]

Has anyone used the backup and restore function? I'm curious to know how well it works because I didn't read up ahead of time to find out that unlocking the bootloader requires a full wipe. I have done a ton of customization and don't want to loose that.

One more thing, I came from an HTC Thunderbolt and it was disaasterous if you accepted an OTA update while rooted (if not on a custom ROM) what is the deal with the GNex? At this point I don't want to use a custom ROM, but I want to be rooted to use TiBu.

TIA!