Root "but xda sez..."

[codezer0]

Suffice to say, this is... frustrating.

Wife bought a moto g20, specifically because, of the phones within our shared means, it was the only one that had a painfully simple guide for setting up root and installing it accordingly, on XDA.

Well, install minimal ADB & fastboot, launch the command prompt, and...

nothing happens. The phone is plugged into the computer, but literally nothing happens. Even made a point of moving the boot_root img file to the same directory where the adb and fastboot stuff installed to, but literally just sits there, doing nothing. And the phone is just sitting there with this bright white screen and won't respond to any of the buttons to reboot it, either.

 

[svim]

You refer to '...phone is plugged into the computer...' but just to confirm did you install the Moto driver so your phone is mountable to your PC? Simply because the phone is plugged in doesn't necessarily mean the phone is actually accessible. The adb utility is just an application that runs within Windows. It's the operating system that directly interfaces with external devices -- if Windows isn't seeing your phone via its GUI than adb isn't either via a CLI.

 

[codezer0]

You refer to '...phone is plugged into the computer...' but just to confirm did you install the Moto driver so your phone is mountable to your PC? Simply because the phone is plugged in doesn't necessarily mean the phone is actually accessible. The adb utility is just an application that runs within Windows. It's the operating system that directly interfaces with external devices -- if Windows isn't seeing your phone via its GUI than adb isn't either via a CLI.

the xda thread made zero mention of any kind of motorola driver.

Though admittedly now I feel a little bit foolish about one detail. the guide wanted RTA31.68-25

But as this is a brand new phone, I presumed allowing it to run system updates would just get the latest available. It, for some reason, is walking me through builds one by one. Only now is it offering the requisite build, so that hopefully I can try again.

 

[codezer0]

Nope, I still have the same situation. Phone is in fastboot, but the cmd window still just keeps going "waiting for any device"

And the phone once again, won't respond to the physical buttons.

This is pretty much exactly what I was trying to avoid with these sealed battery phones. Ugh...

 

[ocnbrze]

try this maybe:
https://beebom.com/fastboot-not-det...astboot drivers.-,5.,click on “Android Phone“.

 

[codezer0]

try this maybe:
https://beebom.com/fastboot-not-detecting-device-windows-10/#:~:text=the Fastboot drivers.-,5.,click on “Android Phone“.

Download what? all I get is a link to a google drive folder, with nothing to download.

And once it's in fastboot it won't actually let me power off. And of course it whites out the screen to speedrun burning up the battery.

 

[ocnbrze]

right click on the folder in Google drive and select download, your computer should zip the folder. once downloaded you can then extract the content onto your desktop.

 

[codezer0]

right click on the folder in Google drive and select download, your computer should zip the folder. once downloaded you can then extract the content onto your desktop.

I've tried doing that about six times already. Google drive just makes it look like it's zipping up the directory, but doesn't actually prompt me to download anything. It won't even download, let alone install.

**Update**

Okay, restarted the whole pc... and for some reason, unplugging and re-plugging the usb hub where II have most of my other stuff also seemed to do the trick, and now windows is recognizing the phone.

It recognizes the phone is there, but now I get something completely different, and I'm not seeing anything in the xda thread for how to get around it (see attached).

 

[ocnbrze]

failed (remote flashing lock flag is locked. please unlock it first )

that's a new one i have not seen. do you have oem unlock enabled?

 

[codezer0]

failed (remote flashing lock flag is locked. please unlock it first )

that's a new one i have not seen. do you have oem unlock enabled?

Okay, that's weird. At least on the phone, the option to unlock it is greyed out. Won't let me toggle it at all.

 

[ocnbrze]

Okay, that's weird. At least on the phone, the option to unlock it is greyed out. Won't let me toggle it at all.

found this:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/oem-unlock-greyed-out.4334267/page-2

 

[James L]

Your boot loader is locked, hence the error code

 

[codezer0]

Your boot loader is locked, hence the error code

I don't understand. There's no lien or contract on the phone, why the hell would it be locked?

 

[ocnbrze]

I don't understand. There's no lien or contract on the phone, why the hell would it be locked?

no it is not a carrier lock. some manufacturers make their phones with locked bootloaders. i think moto has a way to unlock their bootloaders. but you will have to jump thru hoops to do it. one issue is the oem unlock being greyed out on your phone.

if you can get that fixed than here is the guide to unlock your bootloader:
https://www.hardreset.info/devices/.../bootloader-moto-unlock-lenovo-motorola-root/

 

[codezer0]

Well, bad news... While she was tinkering with it (it is her phone, in the end), she updated past the required build for the root guide.

I suppose on the upside, it also means I'm off the hook on trying to get it rooted in the meantime, since it isn't my fault.