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Root [Verizon] My root experience with the Note 3...EASY.

darkcyber

Android Expert
Nov 12, 2009
1,608
151
North Alabama
Even with the scary Knox stuff and all the Note 3 has been the easiest phone to root so far for me. Yes, I did run into some minor glitches...but that has been it. First, Kingo root never would work for me...I tried numerous times and it failed ever time. I finally got VRoot to do it on the very first time.

Here are my steps I did and had no problems:

1. Rooted using VRoot
2. Installed Super User
3. Installed SafeStrap 3.65
4. Created my ROM slots and flashed Hyperdrive and Jellybean.

My main problem has been Titanum Backup crashing in Hyperdrive RSL7. Anyone else having issues with Titanum Backup crashing in Hyperdrive?

I love having several ROM slots to install different ROM's in . What would be wonderful if we could install separate ROM's and the apps use the same location for data...i.e. all your apps data and text messages for instance could be accessed across different ROM's...now that would be cool.
 
If you're running HD or JB, they both block the OTA's. The only exception, is if you still have the stock ROM slot with the original stock software, there is a chance if you rebooted into it, it might prompt you to update. That's part of the reason I flash whatever ROM I'm running into the stock slot. If I ever need to go back to stock, the ROMs are available and you can use Odin to get back to unrooted/stock for warranty reasons etc.
 
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If you're running HD or JB, they both block the OTA's. The only exception, is if you still have the stock ROM slot with the original stock software, there is a chance if you rebooted into it, it might prompt you to update. That's part of the reason I flash whatever ROM I'm running into the stock slot. If I ever need to go back to stock, the ROMs are available and you can use Odin to get back to unrooted/stock for warranty reasons etc.

For now, I have left the stock ROM in the original stock ROM slot and I am running Hyperdrive in the next slot and then JellyBean. Good to know that HD and JB will not do the OTA. Thanks!
 
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That's really weird DC, I've never had Titanium crash on me. I've run both those ROMs. JB for just a few days but HD for months and never had an issue.

MrClean,

Where I am seeing it is when I have Titanium up and running and I am in the scroll menu for selecting apps to restore. As I am scrolling through the apps and checking some it will crash. Can't explain it...doesn't do it every single time, but it seems pretty consistent. 100% of the time, if I go to regular settings and try to adjust the display brightness then I get a settings crash every time. That function will not work. However, I can pull down the notification bar and access the screen brightness from there and it works perfect every time. Go figure.
 
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Had a huge scare yesterday. My beloved Note 3 fell about 12ft and hit the corner of a concrete step, right where the screen meets the case. It didn't survive, couldn't see anything when the phone booted up. I will give props to the insurance company, they had a refurb to me in less than 24 hours, even with a Saturday delivery.
I was scared to death that it would come with Kitkat loaded and I wouldn't be able to root. Luckily, it came with 4.3, swapped over my SIM, turned it on and it immediately started doing the OTA download. I shut off mobile data and tried rooting with Kingo, it was a no go on 3 different computers. Tried VRoot and it worked the first time. Then I was stuck with the weird Superuser app and couldn't find a way to remove it.
So I went back with Safestrap, and loaded JB 4.3. Back up and running now, tethering is working, which is my biggest concern. Time to wrap my phone in bubble wrap from now on..haha.
 
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Had a huge scare yesterday. My beloved Note 3 fell about 12ft and hit the corner of a concrete step, right where the screen meets the case. It didn't survive, couldn't see anything when the phone booted up. I will give props to the insurance company, they had a refurb to me in less than 24 hours, even with a Saturday delivery.
I was scared to death that it would come with Kitkat loaded and I wouldn't be able to root. Luckily, it came with 4.3, swapped over my SIM, turned it on and it immediately started doing the OTA download. I shut off mobile data and tried rooting with Kingo, it was a no go on 3 different computers. Tried VRoot and it worked the first time. Then I was stuck with the weird Superuser app and couldn't find a way to remove it.
So I went back with Safestrap, and loaded JB 4.3. Back up and running now, tethering is working, which is my biggest concern. Time to wrap my phone in bubble wrap from now on..haha.

Wow! Sorry to hear that. I got the ZeroLemon battery, which comes with a very nice case...it is like an Otterbox case. You might want to consider a good tough case.

When I rooted with VRoot I got the Chinese superuser thing. I just went to the Playstore and downloaded and installed chainfire (think that is it) superuser and over wrote the one VRoot put on there and no problems.

I have been trying to tether, but no luck. My 9 year old always wants to install something on his IPad when we are in the car. I use to use FoxFi and it worked perfect. Now, they have taken out the "nolockscreen" thing and you have to either do a lock screen pattern, PIN, or password (which I refuse to do). So, I tried turning on my hotspot like you talked about, the VZW one and it shows it's working and his IPad can see it, but it never makes a connection.
 
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Wow! Sorry to hear that. I got the ZeroLemon battery, which comes with a very nice case...it is like an Otterbox case. You might want to consider a good tough case.

When I rooted with VRoot I got the Chinese superuser thing. I just went to the Playstore and downloaded and installed chainfire (think that is it) superuser and over wrote the one VRoot put on there and no problems.

I have been trying to tether, but no luck. My 9 year old always wants to install something on his IPad when we are in the car. I use to use FoxFi and it worked perfect. Now, they have taken out the "nolockscreen" thing and you have to either do a lock screen pattern, PIN, or password (which I refuse to do). So, I tried turning on my hotspot like you talked about, the VZW one and it shows it's working and his IPad can see it, but it never makes a connection.

Are you running HyperDrive DC? The mobile hotspot is enabled automatically. JellyBeans has it enabled as well. I like carrying my phone in my pocket most of the times. I'm usually very careful and lucky sometimes as far as my phone goes. This breakage was a complete dumb move on my part, let my guard down for just a minute. Hard, and expensive lesson to learn.
 
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Are you running HyperDrive DC? The mobile hotspot is enabled automatically. JellyBeans has it enabled as well. I like carrying my phone in my pocket most of the times. I'm usually very careful and lucky sometimes as far as my phone goes. This breakage was a complete dumb move on my part, let my guard down for just a minute. Hard, and expensive lesson to learn.

Yep, running Hyperdrive RSL7 (4.3). How/where are you turning on your hotspot? I believe I remember you posting somewhere that just go into setting and turn it on there. That is where I am turning it on and the hotspot antenna comes up in the notification bar and my son's Ipad see it, but when we try to connect it just spins that little circle and never connects. Maybe I'm not doing something correctly.
 
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Yep, running Hyperdrive RSL7 (4.3). How/where are you turning on your hotspot? I believe I remember you posting somewhere that just go into setting and turn it on there. That is where I am turning it on and the hotspot antenna comes up in the notification bar and my son's Ipad see it, but when we try to connect it just spins that little circle and never connects. Maybe I'm not doing something correctly.

I use the Verizon 'app' and just put a shortcut on my homepage since I use it so much. But it should work either way. I'm using JellyBeans 4.3 ROM right now. By default there is no password on the hotspot, so it should connect up with no issues. That's strange.
 
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Had a huge scare yesterday. My beloved Note 3 fell about 12ft and hit the corner of a concrete step, right where the screen meets the case. It didn't survive, couldn't see anything when the phone booted up. I will give props to the insurance company, they had a refurb to me in less than 24 hours, even with a Saturday delivery.
I was scared to death that it would come with Kitkat loaded and I wouldn't be able to root. Luckily, it came with 4.3, swapped over my SIM, turned it on and it immediately started doing the OTA download. I shut off mobile data and tried rooting with Kingo, it was a no go on 3 different computers. Tried VRoot and it worked the first time. Then I was stuck with the weird Superuser app and couldn't find a way to remove it.
So I went back with Safestrap, and loaded JB 4.3. Back up and running now, tethering is working, which is my biggest concern. Time to wrap my phone in bubble wrap from now on..haha.

Did you get the Chinese version of SuperSU removed, that's what it basically is :p

All you need to do is install SuperSU on your device, go into the settings, tell it you want to Swap SuperSU apps, it will uninstall itself, boot up into Safestrap, then do an install from the recovery there.

This should install SuperSU and remove the Chinese version :)

P.S. I think the success rate for VRoot is higher than Kingo, I don't know why but VRoot has always worked for me.
 
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Even with the scary Knox stuff and all the Note 3 has been the easiest phone to root so far for me. Yes, I did run into some minor glitches...but that has been it. First, Kingo root never would work for me...I tried numerous times and it failed ever time. I finally got VRoot to do it on the very first time.

Here are my steps I did and had no problems:

1. Rooted using VRoot
2. Installed Super User
3. Installed SafeStrap 3.65
4. Created my ROM slots and flashed Hyperdrive and Jellybean.

My main problem has been Titanum Backup crashing in Hyperdrive RSL7. Anyone else having issues with Titanum Backup crashing in Hyperdrive?

I love having several ROM slots to install different ROM's in . What would be wonderful if we could install separate ROM's and the apps use the same location for data...i.e. all your apps data and text messages for instance could be accessed across different ROM's...now that would be cool.

What OS version was your device on when rooted? I thought if Kitkat we are out of luck.

If Vroot is simple, that is all I need since have no desire to mod. Just kill bloat with TB and enable card writes (if on Kitkat and can root).
 
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Did you get the Chinese version of SuperSU removed, that's what it basically is :p

All you need to do is install SuperSU on your device, go into the settings, tell it you want to Swap SuperSU apps, it will uninstall itself, boot up into Safestrap, then do an install from the recovery there.

This should install SuperSU and remove the Chinese version :)

P.S. I think the success rate for VRoot is higher than Kingo, I don't know why but VRoot has always worked for me.

What was strange, when I installed SuperSU, so I could swap them out, the app was no where to be found. Like the Chinese version was hiding it or something...haha. I went ahead and installed JellyBeans 4.3 ROM. The only 4.4 ROM I used was HyperDrive and I was starting to have small issues with it after a couple of months of use. I'll eventually go back to 4.4, when I feel like flashing the firmware and everything else. I'm just being lazy right how. :D
 
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What was strange, when I installed SuperSU, so I could swap them out, the app was no where to be found. Like the Chinese version was hiding it or something...haha. I went ahead and installed JellyBeans 4.3 ROM. The only 4.4 ROM I used was HyperDrive and I was starting to have small issues with it after a couple of months of use. I'll eventually go back to 4.4, when I feel like flashing the firmware and everything else. I'm just being lazy right how. :D

If the app doesn't show up then you can install it via the Playstore :)

And yeah I am actually going to post a guide at some point soon about upgrading from 4.3 (nonroot/root) to 4.4 (root) just because it does get a little tricky here and there with the firmware and...just plain annoying haha :D

What was strange, when I installed SuperSU, so I could swap them out, the app was no where to be found. Like the Chinese version was hiding it or something...haha. I went ahead and installed JellyBeans 4.3 ROM. The only 4.4 ROM I used was HyperDrive and I was starting to have small issues with it after a couple of months of use. I'll eventually go back to 4.4, when I feel like flashing the firmware and everything else. I'm just being lazy right how. :D

If your device is on Kitkat, you might be screwed, however, I have heard people booting into download mode and using Odin to flash the old 4.3 firmware onto the device, don't do this without reading up on it though, I literally have no idea if this works, I just heard about someone trying to do this :)
 
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If the app doesn't show up then you can install it via the Playstore :)

And yeah I am actually going to post a guide at some point soon about upgrading from 4.3 (nonroot/root) to 4.4 (root) just because it does get a little tricky here and there with the firmware and...just plain annoying haha :D



If your device is on Kitkat, you might be screwed, however, I have heard people booting into download mode and using Odin to flash the old 4.3 firmware onto the device, don't do this without reading up on it though, I literally have no idea if this works, I just heard about someone trying to do this :)


I read the steps on XDA, seems pretty easy to go to the leaked version of KK. That's the only version I'll use, gotta keep my options open...haha. I need tethering enabled so I have to keep root and a custom ROM that has the hotspot enabled.
 
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I read the steps on XDA, seems pretty easy to go to the leaked version of KK. That's the only version I'll use, gotta keep my options open...haha. I need tethering enabled so I have to keep root and a custom ROM that has the hotspot enabled.

Hey I just put out this guide if you want to check it out, it is a lot of steps, but I definitely tried to go in-depth about the whole thing and not miss anything :)

http://androidforums.com/verizon-ga...52829-guide-nonrooted-rooted-4-3-4-4-a.html#3
 
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What OS version was your device on when rooted? I thought if Kitkat we are out of luck.

If Vroot is simple, that is all I need since have no desire to mod. Just kill bloat with TB and enable card writes (if on Kitkat and can root).

If you mean what OS my Note 3 was on...I was running stock 4.3. VRoot rooted it no problem. I tried numerous times with Kingo and it never would do it.

One thing about guides...I read through a bunch before I rooted and I will have to say most were very scary. Rooting is much simpler than most of the guides make it sound. Most of them overstate everything and just about scare you out of rooting or even trying. I haven't looked at yours yet.

My next endeavor, when I get time, is to root my Gear smartwatch :)
 
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If you mean what OS my Note 3 was on...I was running stock 4.3. VRoot rooted it no problem. I tried numerous times with Kingo and it never would do it.

One thing about guides...I read through a bunch before I rooted and I will have to say most were very scary. Rooting is much simpler than most of the guides make it sound. Most of them overstate everything and just about scare you out of rooting or even trying. I haven't looked at yours yet.

My next endeavor, when I get time, is to root my Gear smartwatch :)

Yeah I tried rooting with Kingo and could never get it to work, VRoot works for me every time.

I feel you about the guide talk, but it is necessary to state and overstate and overstate again. We are trying to help people not brick their devices by understating :);)
 
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Yeah I tried rooting with Kingo and could never get it to work, VRoot works for me every time.

I feel you about the guide talk, but it is necessary to state and overstate and overstate again. We are trying to help people not brick their devices by understating :);)


I agree. I wished you had a novice version and a "if you are familiar with rooting" version. I am knowledgeable about rooting, done it on several devices, but this guide had me horrified...lol! Almost didn't even want to attempt it :D
 
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I agree. I wished you had a novice version and a "if you are familiar with rooting" version. I am knowledgeable about rooting, done it on several devices, but this guide had me horrified...lol! Almost didn't even want to attempt it :D

Well the thing is half the steps are completely optional. ;)

If you didn't notice.

It is actually very short if you take out the optional part.
 
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