[International / GSM] [HOW TO] Root the GSM/HSPA+ Samsung Galaxy Nexus

[scary alien]

Hey everyone, this is my first post. I have looked on here for the answer to my issue but it seems that I am the only unlucky person with this issue.

Ok, so here's the deal. I have this nice new Galaxy Nexus thats been sitting around for 3 weeks waiting to get rooted. So I started yesterday and have so far been SOL on the matter.

Method used : ClockWorkMod for GSM
Phone used : Samsung Galaxy Nexus ICS 4.0.1

First Issue - everything went great up until it came time to adb push, so I first started with the one that scary alien reported showed up for him, well that wasn't the case here, so I did "./adb push su.zip /sdcard/ and sure enough showed up ...now when i do the install from sd card I see an installation aborted issue.....hmmm ok well wait, I'm on a mac and it does that auto unzip so when I downloaded su.zip I recreated the archive and went at it again, same problem. After this I used ESFileExplorer to check out this su.zip and inside the zip was a MacOSX folder as well so i go and fix that so only the meta-inf, system and the other zip are in the su.zip

Now I see this error on recovery.log

I:Checking for extendedcommand...
I:Skipping execution of extendedcommand, file not found...
I:using /data/media, no /sdcard found.
I:using /data/media, no /sdcard found.

-- Installing: /sdcard/su.zip
Finding update package...
I:Update location: /sdcard/su.zip
I:using /data/media, no /sdcard found.
Opening update package...
Installing update...
Archive:  /sdcard/su.zip
   creating: META-INF/
unzip: zip flags 1 and 8 are not supported
cp: can't stat 'system/*': No such file or directory
chmod: /system/bin/su: No such file or directory
E:Error in /sdcard/su.zip
(Status 1)
Installation aborted

.

At this point in time I am pretty much taking shots in the dark, but figured posting on here would be a better choice. Im wondering if maybe I screwed everything up by doing that first ./adb push su.zip /data/media

Any feedback would be great

Welcome to the AndroidForums, code1719!

I'm pretty sure I know exactly what is wrong with this (LOL, I reviewed this recovery log several times yesterday for other stuff I was doing and saw and know exactly why this is happening).

It is because your Mac unzipped the file and re-zipped it...the "inner" .zip payload that is used by the su.zip file was changed and the busybox's unzip utility cannot handle .zip files that are not "old school" in format.

I think you'll be able to use this again if you download the su.zip directly to your phone (don't unzip it, of course--leave it pristine) and you should be able to flash it okay in ClockworkMod and have root straight-away.

Give that a try and let us know.

Cheers!

edit: by the way, kudos to you for knowing how to and actually looking at the recovery.log (excellent catch and made my analysis sooo much easier ).

 

[code1719]

Yeah that worked, I should have known something fishy was going on with that zip

Thanks for the help scary alien, now I am off to mod the world lol

By the way, am I the only one that ended up having this problem or am I the only one that was using the OSX/Clockworkmod combo?

 

[nexusarge]

ok...I dont know if I am running into a unique issue or not. I have been following the root instructions over at droid life and I was able to unlock and put on the clockwork recovery. I followed the steps and got to the point where I was to select install zip from sdcard. I selected that and there was no su.zip to choose. I selected a couple of other options and I was then not able to do anything with the phone. I pulled the battery and started over. Now, when I select recovery mode and press the power button to go to where I can select install zip from sdcard, it always goes to the droid graphic with a red triangle and exclamation point. I have to pull the battery from there as well.

I don't know if the driver is wrong because I am getting that everytime now. I have done all I know to do (which is limited). Is clockwork somehow hosed or is it just the driver? Any help would be appreciated. I feel like I am one step away from bricking this thing.

TIA
Sarge

 

[Yeahha]

ok...I dont know if I am running into a unique issue or not. I have been following the root instructions over at droid life and I was able to unlock and put on the clockwork recovery. I followed the steps and got to the point where I was to select install zip from sdcard. I selected that and there was no su.zip to choose. I selected a couple of other options and I was then not able to do anything with the phone. I pulled the battery and started over. Now, when I select recovery mode and press the power button to go to where I can select install zip from sdcard, it always goes to the droid graphic with a red triangle and exclamation point. I have to pull the battery from there as well.

I don't know if the driver is wrong because I am getting that everytime now. I have done all I know to do (which is limited). Is clockwork somehow hosed or is it just the driver? Any help would be appreciated. I feel like I am one step away from bricking this thing.

TIA
Sarge

Your recovery was rewritten to the stock recovery, you will need to flash it again to get back to CWM. You can push files to your SD card when in CWM so if you don't have the SU.zip file you can push it then install it without having to reboot.

 

[scary alien]

ok...I dont know if I am running into a unique issue or not. I have been following the root instructions over at droid life and I was able to unlock and put on the clockwork recovery. I followed the steps and got to the point where I was to select install zip from sdcard. I selected that and there was no su.zip to choose. I selected a couple of other options and I was then not able to do anything with the phone. I pulled the battery and started over. Now, when I select recovery mode and press the power button to go to where I can select install zip from sdcard, it always goes to the droid graphic with a red triangle and exclamation point. I have to pull the battery from there as well.

I don't know if the driver is wrong because I am getting that everytime now. I have done all I know to do (which is limited). Is clockwork somehow hosed or is it just the driver? Any help would be appreciated. I feel like I am one step away from bricking this thing.

TIA
Sarge

Welcome to the AndroidForums, Sarge!

I think that you just got a few small things to iron-out and re-do...easy stuff:

The first part about the missing su.zip is probably the same issues I've also seen with ClockworkMod (or at least I'm attributing it to CWM at this point). I'm guessing you did this:

adb push su.zip /sdcard/

I've seen that command work just fine before and successfully found the su.zip in the list of files that CWM reported. Other times, it was inexplicably not there...

So, this lead me to figure-out that you sometimes need to use this command instead:

adb push su.zip /data/media/

Try repeating and/or using the alternate command (the How-To root guide that I put together here at AF includes both commands in the instructions ).

The other half of your question about the "missing" ClockworkMod custom recovery is because you flashed CWM, but since you weren't rooted (because of the missing su.zip file), you couldn't rename a particular file that causes Android to re-flash the stock recovery at the time of each shutdown.

So, you should re-flash ClockworkMod, get root installed by flashing the su.zip (now that you have an alternate command for making sure its there ), and then, after Android is rebooted, you can:

- remount /system in read/write mode (use something like the Root Explorer app or ES File Explorer; both have root modes (check the app's settings) for remounting /system as writable)

- rename the /system/recovery-from-boot.p to /system/recovery-from-boot.p-bak

I've also heard a few folks say that flashing ClockworkMod directly from ROM Manager takes care of this issue (they might have said that it takes flashing it twice for some reason--I haven't yet tested this to see if CWM removes or renames the recovery-from-boot.p file).

Cheers and good luck!

 

[nexusarge]

Yeahha and Alien...thanks for the quick replies. What u said makes sense and i will give it a shot...its been stressin me out will try it asap (unfortunately in the AM).

Much appreciated and thanks for the welcome!
Sarge

 

[gapi]

Hi, I followed instructions to the T but am stuck @ Waiting For Device?

I found some differences in the instructions so let me list them.

Installing SDK

1. The only package we are concerned with at this time is "Android SDK Tools, revision 15", "Android SDK Platform-tools, revision 9" & "Google USB Driver package, revision 4". You can reject all the others if you are not interested in them. All these version numbers are increased by one now but for the Google driver, its still 4, but I continued.
2. Unzip the file & inside you will see android_winusb.inf. Copy this file to C:\android-sdk-windows\extras\google\usb_driver\ replacing the "stock" android_winusb.inf. There is no "android_winusb.inf" to be found. There is no such path as "extras\google\usb_driver\". There is an empty "\add-ons" folder. I put the recommended .inf in there. (the ole college try eh?)

OK, so I get into the command prompts and all goes very well, I get a device listed and no splats in device manager and a "Samsung Android ADB Interface with no splat in the list.

Moving to the Unlocking I have the recommended drivers installed and go to the command prompts again in android-sdk-windows\platform-tools where the adb.exe and fastboot.exe files are and and do the "adb reboot bootloader" & "fastboot oem unlock" commands................

I'm at <waiting for device> "What now guys?

 

[gapi]

Got It!

I hope my notation at least prompts the OP to note the version numbers have changed and the folder path in SDK are different than written now.

While waiting for a reply I searched and found a post elsewhere and seen to check for the splay in device manager while the command prompt window was open with the message <waiting for device> displayed.

Although the splat was not there before it now raised its ugly head. I directed it to the USB drivers and BAM! Unlocked.

 

[bmpstr]

I'm new here as well as new to unlocking/rooting/etc.

I am having the the same problem sarge had. I have been following the "how to" over at DL. I have tried both ways of pushing the su.zip file, but when I get to the clockwork recovery, I cannot find the su.zip file anywhere!

Any ideas?

 

[scary alien]

Hi, I followed instructions to the T but am stuck @ Waiting For Device?

I found some differences in the instructions so let me list them.

Installing SDK

1. The only package we are concerned with at this time is "Android SDK Tools, revision 15", "Android SDK Platform-tools, revision 9" & "Google USB Driver package, revision 4". You can reject all the others if you are not interested in them. All these version numbers are increased by one now but for the Google driver, its still 4, but I continued.
2. Unzip the file & inside you will see android_winusb.inf. Copy this file to C:\android-sdk-windows\extras\google\usb_driver\ replacing the "stock" android_winusb.inf. There is no "android_winusb.inf" to be found. There is no such path as "extras\google\usb_driver\". There is an empty "\add-ons" folder. I put the recommended .inf in there. (the ole college try eh?)

OK, so I get into the command prompts and all goes very well, I get a device listed and no splats in device manager and a "Samsung Android ADB Interface with no splat in the list.

Moving to the Unlocking I have the recommended drivers installed and go to the command prompts again in android-sdk-windows\platform-tools where the adb.exe and fastboot.exe files are and and do the "adb reboot bootloader" & "fastboot oem unlock" commands................

I'm at <waiting for device> "What now guys?

gapi,

I don't think these are my instructions...? Which post / section are you referencing these from?

Got It!

I hope my notation at least prompts the OP to note the version numbers have changed and the folder path in SDK are different than written now.

While waiting for a reply I searched and found a post elsewhere and seen to check for the splay in device manager while the command prompt window was open with the message <waiting for device> displayed.

Although the splat was not there before it now raised its ugly head. I directed it to the USB drivers and BAM! Unlocked.

I'm happy to change / improve my instructions, but I'm not certain what I can do here...

Let me know .

Thanks!

 

[scary alien]

I'm new here as well as new to unlocking/rooting/etc.

I am having the the same problem sarge had. I have been following the "how to" over at DL. I have tried both ways of pushing the su.zip file, but when I get to the clockwork recovery, I cannot find the su.zip file anywhere!

Any ideas?

Welcome to the AndroidForums, bmpstr .

After you push the the su.zip file with either or both of these commands:

adb push su.zip /sdcard/
adb push su.zip /data/media/

can you try these commands, too:

C:\gnex\sdk-tools>[COLOR="Purple"][B]adb shell ls -a -l /sdcard/*.zip[/B][/COLOR]
[COLOR="Blue"]-rw-rw-r-- root     sdcard_rw  1126078 2011-12-17 17:33 su.zip[/COLOR]

C:\gnex\sdk-tools>[COLOR="purple"][B]adb shell ls -a -l /data/media/*.zip[/B][/COLOR]
[COLOR="blue"]-rw-rw-rw- root     root      1126078 2011-12-17 17:33 su.zip[/COLOR]

C:\gnex\sdk-tools>

You can also drag and drop the su.zip file there manually from your desktop before you boot into ClockworkMod and verify its there.

Let us know.

Cheers!

 

[gapi]

I am in the same noob boat.

I have unlocked my boot loader.
Now I want a simple root that will allow OTA updates. Is that possible?
Not interested in custom ROM's or Kernels now.

Does Clockworkmod prevent the OTA thing?

 

[gapi]

Why is there a temp and a permanent recovery version?

 

[scary alien]

I am in the same noob boat.

I have unlocked my boot loader.
Now I want a simple root that will allow OTA updates. Is that possible?
Not interested in custom ROM's or Kernels now.

Does Clockworkmod prevent the OTA thing?

Yes, having a custom recovery like ClockworkMod will prevent an OTA from installing correctly. Simply rooting (installing su / Superuser.apk) will not keep an OTA from installing, but you will lose root after the OTA has been applied.

Why is there a temp and a permanent recovery version?

Not sure what you mean here...

By temporary, do you mean when you soft-boot CWM? If so, that's just booting CWM in memory and it will not overwrite your stock recovery image.

The "permanence" of flashing ClockworkMod over top of your stock recovery image is always reversible, by the way (you can always revert back to stock or re-flash the stock recovery image (i.e., to allow for an OTA to come in successfully)).

Cheers!

 

[bmpstr]

Welcome to the AndroidForums, bmpstr .

After you push the the su.zip file with either or both of these commands:

adb push su.zip /sdcard/
adb push su.zip /data/media/

can you try these commands, too:

C:\gnex\sdk-tools>[COLOR="Purple"][B]adb shell ls -a -l /sdcard/*.zip[/B][/COLOR]
[COLOR="Blue"]-rw-rw-r-- root     sdcard_rw  1126078 2011-12-17 17:33 su.zip[/COLOR]

C:\gnex\sdk-tools>[COLOR="purple"][B]adb shell ls -a -l /data/media/*.zip[/B][/COLOR]
[COLOR="blue"]-rw-rw-rw- root     root      1126078 2011-12-17 17:33 su.zip[/COLOR]

C:\gnex\sdk-tools>

You can also drag and drop the su.zip file there manually from your desktop before you boot into ClockworkMod and verify its there.

Let us know.

Cheers!

Thanks for the help. I tried running these lines of code to no effect. I don't know if it matters, but when I was entering these lines:

adb push su.zip /sdcard/
adb push su.zip /data/media/

I only got positive feedback when i took the space out of "su.zip /sdcard/"....so it read like this: su.zip/sdcard/...with no space between the p and /. When I did this the command prompt ran through many lines very quickly like everything was pushing just fine. But as i said, when i get to the clockwork recovery part, I cannot find the file.

I attached a screenshot of my tools folder and my command prompt. Does my folder look right? Also, you can see at the very bottom of the command prompt where I tried different ways of entering your additional lines of code to no avail. Above it though is a partial of what happens when i use the codes formatted like this:

adb push su.zip/sdcard/ (no space)
adb push su.zip/data/media/ (no space)




Sorry if i sound like too much of a noob with any of this. But thanks for all the help!

 

[scary alien]

Thanks for the help. I tried running these lines of code to no effect. I don't know if it matters, but when I was entering these lines:

adb push su.zip /sdcard/
adb push su.zip /data/media/

I only got positive feedback when i took the space out of "su.zip /sdcard/"....so it read like this: su.zip/sdcard/...with no space between the p and /. When I did this the command prompt ran through many lines very quickly like everything was pushing just fine. But as i said, when i get to the clockwork recovery part, I cannot find the file.

I attached a screenshot of my tools folder and my command prompt. Does my folder look right? Also, you can see at the very bottom of the command prompt where I tried different ways of entering your additional lines of code to no avail. Above it though is a partial of what happens when i use the codes formatted like this:

adb push su.zip/sdcard/ (no space)
adb push su.zip/data/media/ (no space)


View attachment 26128

Sorry if i sound like too much of a noob with any of this. But thanks for all the help!

bmpstr,

Sorry for the delay in replying to you...I do think I see what is going on now...

It doesn't look like the su.zip file is in your c:\android-sdk-windows\platform-tools folder.

It looks like you unpacked / extracted its contents to that folder, but you really need "su.zip" (in pristine condition) in your c:\android-sdk-windows\platform-tools folder.

So, download it again and place it in the your c:\android-sdk-windows\platform-tools folder, then do this:

# navigate to the folder where adb.exe lives:
#
[COLOR="Purple"][B]cd c:\android-sdk-windows\platform-tools[/B][/COLOR]

# verify that you have adb connectivity:
#
[COLOR="purple"][B]adb devices[/B][/COLOR]       (make sure you have adb connectivity (which I think you already do))

# verify that the su.zip is in your local platform-tools directory:
#
[COLOR="purple"][B]dir su.zip [/B][/COLOR]          (this will show that the su.zip file is here in this dir)

# send the su.zip file to your phone's /sdcard:
#
[COLOR="purple"][B]adb push su.zip /sdcard/su.zip[/B][/COLOR]

-- and/or --

[COLOR="purple"][B]adb push su.zip /data/media/su.zip[/B][/COLOR]

# finally, let's verify that its actually on your phone:
#
[COLOR="purple"][B]adb shell ls -a -l /sdcard/su.zip[/B][/COLOR]   (it should show up this time ;))

Redact the output of the "adb devices" command if you paste it back here (that command will show your device's serial number if it works correctly and no one but you needs to see/know that value).

Let me know .

Thanks!

 

[gapi]

gapi,

I don't think these are my instructions...? Which post / section are you referencing these from?

I'm happy to change / improve my instructions, but I'm not certain what I can do here...

Let me know .
Thanks!

My Apologies! I got those instructions at Droidlife. I guess I associated it here because I hit the link to it here. Sorry!

I put the word out over there.

 

[kogvos]

Absolutely perfect guide - many thanks.

 

[scary alien]

Absolutely perfect guide - many thanks.

Thank you very much, kogvos, and welcome to the AndroidForums!

Cheers!

 

[bmpstr]

bmpstr,

Sorry for the delay in replying to you...I do think I see what is going on now...

It doesn't look like the su.zip file is in your c:\android-sdk-windows\platform-tools folder.

It looks like you unpacked / extracted its contents to that folder, but you really need "su.zip" (in pristine condition) in your c:\android-sdk-windows\platform-tools folder.

So, download it again and place it in the your c:\android-sdk-windows\platform-tools folder, then do this:

# navigate to the folder where adb.exe lives:
#
[COLOR="Purple"][B]cd c:\android-sdk-windows\platform-tools[/B][/COLOR]

# verify that you have adb connectivity:
#
[COLOR="purple"][B]adb devices[/B][/COLOR]       (make sure you have adb connectivity (which I think you already do))

# verify that the su.zip is in your local platform-tools directory:
#
[COLOR="purple"][B]dir su.zip [/B][/COLOR]          (this will show that the su.zip file is here in this dir)

# send the su.zip file to your phone's /sdcard:
#
[COLOR="purple"][B]adb push su.zip /sdcard/su.zip[/B][/COLOR]

-- and/or --

[COLOR="purple"][B]adb push su.zip /data/media/su.zip[/B][/COLOR]

# finally, let's verify that its actually on your phone:
#
[COLOR="purple"][B]adb shell ls -a -l /sdcard/su.zip[/B][/COLOR]   (it should show up this time ;))

Redact the output of the "adb devices" command if you paste it back here (that command will show your device's serial number if it works correctly and no one but you needs to see/know that value).

Let me know .

Thanks!

Alien,

You are the man! Thank you so much!

I am rooted and backed up.

Josh

 

[scary alien]

Alien,

You are the man! Thank you so much!

I am rooted and backed up.

Josh

No problem, Josh, happy to help .

Cheers and I hope you have a great (and safe) New Year's holiday weekend!

 

[maheshhari]

The link for "Google Nexus Manual Root.rar" is no longer working. Please update it with new link.

 

[scary alien]

The link for "Google Nexus Manual Root.rar" is no longer working. Please update it with new link.

Yes, I've replied to your PM re. this...

Not sure what is going on there...a week or so ago, it was simply "unavailable at this time".

If the link doesn't return later today, I'll redact that section of the rooting methods--the ClockworkMod method is much simpler anyway .

Cheers!

 

[bobak]

I know that a lot of this seems confusing and probably will until you actually do it. I remember being totally confused when I first rooted my Eris...things just didn't really click for a while. There were so many new terms to learn, files to download, and instructions to read and re-read. But you'll get there.

This thread and the members here will be here to help you. The notes I wrote-up in the first post try to cover as many bases as possible to accommodate those that are both familiar and comfortable and those that are still learning.

If you let us know what you find confusing or give us an idea about which method you'd like to try, we'll try to help fill in the gaps and add that information back to the instructions so that others many benefit from your questions.

Cheers!

Great Information on this thread! I plan to root my Nexus soon and have been reading through to get a good understanding before I actually attempt to root.

My last device was a OG Droid which I did not root but I think I was being overly cautious and should go ahead and do the root so I can take advantage of my Nexus

The last time I hacked a phone it was the Razr and before that something older which involved using QPST and a hex editor so I am excited to try this out.

Thanks Again, I will let you know how it goes when I get around to rooting.

 

[hondaap1]

i downloaded all the proper sdk tools and usb files (the naked one)
and my cmd is still not recognizing my device when i use the fastboot devices command