Help It's brand new- help me get it right the first time

[Trukntigger]

In short- sister gives me a little android pad to do what I wanted. I did, so much as to get a real one. Found and bought Nexus 7 2013 at area Walmart new in box on closeout for 129.00 16gb wifi last night. Now is the tricky part. I let it update to 4.4.4 and update base apps. Earlier lurking has me hesitate on 5.0+ updates. Primary use for me is in my semi truck as a gps for getting to customers, audio and text books, streaming movies and music from my Sandisk wifi stick and some games like hearthstone. Secondary is the helping my wife, kids, sister and retired parents with internet searches to fix whatever and getting that information to them along with just seeing what more I can do with this thing on the road.

I know I want and need to unlock/root this and setup a backup of the thing before I do anything fancy and regret it. In my semi when on road I have a iphone 6 with hotspot enable (20gb data month) and been using a ipad mini 2. Along with this several dc usb power jacks, bluetooth headset, audio cord to patch to radio, laptop and dc/ac 120/1000 watt power inverter. (all the luxury of over the road travel)

Now, do not think I'm tech dumb. Actually a bit dangerous, I know enough to get in trouble and have done so more than I care to admit. Former programmer back in 80's and electronic tech till my eyes said quit and move on thus driving semi truck. But my skills are somewhat behind the times and while I can do old dos commands without a second thought and work cmd terminal and some linux without much trouble this new device says ask first then do.

Sorry, trying to be detailed thus ending up long winded. With the little pad my sister gave me I had issues with my laptop (hp probook 450G1 windows 7 64 pro) communicating properly with adb and fastboot. Many a headache later I did manage to root and update that device but resulted in the touch pad failing. (suspect secondary rom for digitizer corrupted or damaged but made a usb otg cable for mouse to get buy on and no, reflashing the base rom would not fix it, error not in kernel, nor it seems was I the only one with that issue on that device per these forums)

So I bought this Nexus 7 2013 16gb wifi. From this point, what is next? Do I update to 5.0+ first then root and such. Better to stay 4.4.4? Is a good guide to walk thru this with tips to account for issues like I had with the little pad my sister gave me on it? (referring to pc not communicating properly) Guessing I will have to sorta start from scratch and wipe my pc android based drivers and go from there, new apk and all. They say advice is free and the worst question is not asking in the first place. Will I be able to tweak this thing to make better use of the sandisk wifi stick for storage seeing no sd card slot? Maybe optimize text to speech so as to listen to full ebooks? My ipad was rather limited so this is the goal with my new android device.

 

[Madbat]

Well good news! Nexus 7 (2013) is almost brick proof. You can install any version of android on it from 4.3 to 5.0.2 with Google's factory images with adb and fastboot. Also rooting is a breeze. Fastboot flash a custom recovery .IMG .(twrp is the best recovery). Then flash SuperSU in recovery. Done. After unlocking the bootloader of course. Command is OEM unlock. Easy huh?
Well if you're a little rusty on commands, good news still!
Wugfresh nexus root toolkit will make it a breeze. http://www.wugfresh.com/nrt/
In wugs, pick which nexus you have and which build, then install drivers. Then you can unlock, root, or install any factory image you like. It even downloads all files and dependencies for you. Super easy. You should at least unlock the bootloader before you do too much on it, because unlocking also does a data wipe (factory reset). Also the amount of custom Roms and kernels for this thing are endless.

 

[Trukntigger]

OK, sounds easy enough but already hitting snags. I followed the links for unlock and files needs but the links are out of date and when ran some give errors. The SDK from the faq on this downloads and installs but says the batch file can not run. The mini sdk link does nothing. Not even sure which drivers will need but as is when I did plug it into pc I get android adb device on device manager but the N7 is not even in debugging mode yet. Will the wugfresh do the bootloader unlock? No, have not read it yet, multitasking atm- creating my own otg cord.

 

[Madbat]

OK, sounds easy enough but already hitting snags. I followed the links for unlock and files needs but the links are out of date and when ran some give errors. The SDK from the faq on this downloads and installs but says the batch file can not run. The mini sdk link does nothing. Not even sure which drivers will need but as is when I did plug it into pc I get android adb device on device manager but the N7 is not even in debugging mode yet. Will the wugfresh do the bootloader unlock? No, have not read it yet, multitasking atm- creating my own otg cord.

Yes wugs will do all of that with just a couple clicks.

 

[Trukntigger]

Been trying to use the Wug's but keep getting mismatch checksum errors after following all the procedures. Followed all 4 download links for the updates- NRT master list, Super SU, KTU and Flo. Beats me if safe to continue. thoughts?

 

[Madbat]

Been trying to use the Wug's but keep getting mismatch checksum errors after following all the procedures. Followed all 4 download links for the updates- NRT master list, Super SU, KTU and Flo. Beats me if safe to continue. thoughts?

I've never had that problem, but I remember someone having it. You can try scrolling through his XDA thread here .
There is a link to frequently asked questions in the first post. Maybe delete the files in question and let it try again.
You can find some useful links and info here for this tab as well. Manually flashing on this tab with adb and fastboot is pretty easy, but wugs is easier. Nice to have choices!

 

[Trukntigger]

Pretty sure unlocked now. Not so sure on rooted. Thinking I was late to the party and much of the data is newer but the links are not. Used your plan "b" link and with a few snags I think it done right. Well, it's not a brick at least. Several gaps in the walk thru like your are already in recovery for the twrp image part and next step to run the batch file also done from recovery but do you just continue or reboot N7 and back into recovery. Was not sure and ended up on the twrp screen so restarted back out and went from first recovery screen. It's these details that can lead to a bad outcomes I think. So how can I tell it's done right?

 

[Madbat]

Pretty sure unlocked now. Not so sure on rooted. Thinking I was late to the party and much of the data is newer but the links are not. Used your plan "b" link and with a few snags I think it done right. Well, it's not a brick at least. Several gaps in the walk thru like your are already in recovery for the twrp image part and next step to run the batch file also done from recovery but do you just continue or reboot N7 and back into recovery. Was not sure and ended up on the twrp screen so restarted back out and went from first recovery screen. It's these details that can lead to a bad outcomes I think. So how can I tell it's done right?

So you installed custom recovery? Is rooting your goal or simply update? Did you do it manually or did you use wugs? If you used wugs you should not have to find any links. The toolkit will download all of the files it needs. To update to lollipop 5.0.2, where you picked your device and build simply select 5.0.2 as your build. Then click on flash stock + unroot button and it will update you.
The links in the thread I linked are a little old but most should be fine.
Are you going the manual route with adb and fastboot?
To check if you installed recovery try booting to recovery (twrp). With tab off, hold power and volume up. If it boots to twrp, then yes. But remember you do not need root to update or downgrade to different android builds. This is a nexus so its a developer device. Flashing is a breeze.
And you do not run batch files from recovery, nor do you install IMG files from recovery, you need to be in boot loader mode. From power off, hold power and volume down. Then you issue commands from adb and fasboot.
Twrp is a custom recovery. The screen before that where it has all your device info is boot loader, not recovery.
When in bootloader, use volume up and down to change selection, tap power to select.

 

[Trukntigger]

Wugs keeps giving me a mismatch error on all the packages required to run. I double checked the nrt masterlist, the flo image and the KTU84p image. Seems the update SuperSU-v2.46 is the only one that took. It says to update the master if that occurs per forum but still same result. Almost as if the NRT masterlist is in error so I even went and set up a second profile based on 5.02 and still same result- mismatch error. Plan B was manual mode.

OEM unlock good. (easiest part I thought). Fastbooted in twrp, seemed correct. Used CF-auto-root-flo.... root-windows.bat ran so fast and attempting to observe both pc and N7 I honestly do not know if it worked correctly. Boots to twrp with no issues, v2.8.5.0 but I have not used any of its features yet other than to reboot out due to above mentioned gap in walk thru. Figure best not to take chances which seemed wise. This leads me to question if the batch file ran correctly which in turn means rooted.

Root access goal is not for updating or such. Seeing I drive semi and cloud storage is rather costly when using my cellular hotspot (20gig a month shared) so with no sd card to keep the N7 with plenty of freed up storage plan is to off load some of the data to my sandisk wifi stick. Can not obviously move files that are normally protected but root access will give me that ability to be able to copy/cut/paste and the stick uses micro sd cards so I have huge backup capacity without the cloud data cost. My reading says this will also allow me to customize it more to my liking and remove the clutter from things I would never use unlike my dumb ipad mini 2 that all I can do it stick stuff in folders on a back page I never go to and not even be able to delete them due to being embedded to the os.

This will allow me to take my movies, audio books and music from play store and save to the sandisk device instead of re-downloading from cloud if I am correct...hopefully...and then push back up into it when I want them again.

 

[Madbat]

OK. For the wugs error, do you have antivirus or firewall stopping it from downloading?

On to root. Cf autoroot does work quickly. Do you have the app SuperSU? If not, get that from the play store to complete root. Open the app (SuperSU) and if it asks to update binaries do so. Choose normal method. Then you should be rooted. As for removing unwanted apps, this is a nexus so it has no bloatware. Only google apps.

On to using data stick. Once rooted, you will need the app "stickmount" from the play store.
I wouldn't go about deleting your google apps but you can if you want. You're not going to free up much space deleting those. And most are needed at some point. Nexus only comes with the necessities.
You need a good file explorer app, I use ESfile explorer. Turn on root browser in that apps settings.
Also titanium backup is a good app to have. It will allow you to freeze apps before deleting them to make sure there are no ill effects before permanently deleting them.

Also, did you say you were in twrp recovery mode when you ran cfauto root? Because you need to be in boot loader mode.

 

[Trukntigger]

Sometimes a skype chat would be easier, hate to spam a board. I use ESfile too. App for stick is from sandisk, have not even looked into optional apps to use with it. It is a Sandisk connect wireless flash drive, 32gb from Walmart (Wife works there as Pharma tech so we get employee discount, save where you can just like the N7 I got there). Still have side issues with the otg not even seeing the mouse, not sure if it's the otg I made or device so glad the storage is wireless. (going to try to make another and verify) No issues on firewall, even manually downloaded linked files for wugs gives the same mismatch error. SuperSu is already installed but I did not grab from play store so must have come from installer. No apps or logs on SU and have not touched any of the settings. Advise on built in apps- things like hangouts? Never heard of or used. People app, again I have no use for it on this device. Anyway to just remove the icons from desktop on things like that if nothing else, I hate clutter (just me, love a clean work space) As for your question on twrp recovery mode it was as I said, I somehow ended in it after the fastboot of twrp and thought this seems like a bad place to be so I exited via restart and back into fastboot (pwr/vol) before continuing with the root-windows.bat (batch) file. Want to assume (tho we all hate using that word) that it is rooted, can I verify that with esfile?

Edit: Add I have ran OTG troubleshooter app, see's cable but no device (usb micro xmit for mouse) and I know mouse works. Can only guess issue with my solder work from micro connector to main female usb connector. (? broke loose ? ) Power checks good so has to be on one of the 2 data lines. Getting old, eyes are not what they once were even using my magnifier helping hand setup. Will make another while I'm still home from the road.

 

[Madbat]

Hangout is the stock messaging app. Its how you do video chats android to android as well. People is the contacts app. You can just remove them from home screen. Long press on them and drag to trash. SuperSU won't have logs until you install a rooted app. Stickmount will help you mount USB devices if its a software issue.

 

[Trukntigger]

It is done. Playing with it now. Made the ever important backup. Thanks for the assist. Some of it now is just transition from Apple to Android like darn home/back and whatever pops up when I apparently touch wrong and some big Google thingy pops in middle of screen when playing a game or doing a store search. Going to miss the home button off screen, less chance of trigger error.

 

[Madbat]

Sorry I've been pretty busy. You can verify root in es. Open es, tap menu (three little bars in upper left corner). Then tap tools and scroll down to root explorer and turn it on. Then after a second SuperSU will ask you for permission to give es superuser access. That means you are successfully rooted.
That google search pops up if you swipe up from the bottom. Or if you have the google now launcher it will show up if you swipe all the way right past the last screen. Google now is incredibly useful. It is the android voice assistant, and information center. I feel your pain on the "eyes failing, getting older". Lol. Glad you got it. Sorry that wugs didn't work, the developer is very active on updating and thousands of us use it. But glad you got it. here you will find all of the factory images for all nexus. You can go to any android version from 4.3 jellybean to 5.0.2 lollipop any time. Use the ones for nexus 7 (2013) WiFi razor. Razor is this tablets google codename. It also goes by flo (the 4g version is called deb) just a little info to aid in searches.

 

[Trukntigger]

It's all good. Busy is the norm for most of us. Thank you for the assist in pointing me the right way. Did great and done right the first time which was the goal. Going to see what this can really do now without fear seeing backup done and recovery a snap thus pretty much brick proof. Once I get comfy with it might tackle a friends HTC one he gave me and tweak that too. (Already figured out the unlock and completed that bit). I owe him a fishing trip on my boat for it, worthy trade. TTFN- tata 4 now, Tig