Hi
Try at own risk, but I suspect it should be safe enough.
#########
CREDITS
#########
vampirefo for his helpful explanation of true root and test as supplied in replies now embedded in the Windows section and updated Linux script.
WHAT IS TRUE ROOT ANYHOW?
A lot of buyers of Chinese, Indian, Korean phones from various resellers are told their phone is rooted. But that can mean just the su executable is installed and the maker of the ROM has not tested all functions.
So true root means amongst other things
1) That you have the su executable installed
2) that your Android system is in read write mode
3) That this condition persists over a reboot
Otherwise, you need a script to re-enable rw status
or,
an app that can defeat your secure mode kernel
_____________________
Please Note I may change, tinker or otherwise edit this post to keep it the most recent version. Pls check the edit date/time and you may need to re-read?
##############
ANDROID ONLY
##############
Pls install the following 2 apps which are: an Android Terminal and busybox
I have changed my recommendation as first busybox offers normal or recovery mode install
I used to use this one but YMMV
For me to bypass my secure mode ROM I needed to install and enable this app.......YMMV
adbd insecure
2) Open the terminal and issue the commands
if command not found then you have no super user apk installed and need to root your phone. This TUT assumes you have su installed so skip the rest if you don't have it pls.
Next within Android look at your prompt......the stuff before the # symbol
I believe it must be root@something as per image. I have a bad image in a reply below as well.
Notice the id result must be as per image
If your image differs, I suggest you install a new su app from playstore called SuperSU by CHAINFIRE
once enabled you can delete your old app. Then do a full reboot please and recheck true root from the beginning.
But be aware that playstore will not show any updates in the notification area for any "rooted" app. So you need to click on it within playstore to see if an update is available.......and to update it.....later on.....you need CWM or TWRP or similar tool installed.
You might also consider flashing via adb but I have not tested that.
The THIRD command is a check that busybox is working and shows an output that includes a status of your /system as either ro or rw
read only is occurs often on devices that have a secure mode as discussed by vampirefo below
read write means you are more likely to pass all other true root tests
3) You can try within Android to make your system go from ro to rw if you like?
As thats a lot of typing if you ever reboot or shutdown your phone, I will test a downloadable script later
########
Linux
########
I have an udev system and use adb as a local user (non-root)
this requires a relaxed permission in the udev rule as showing for most
devices here....grab the raw file from here
Use a text editor to change to perm 666 instead of 660
If you intend to redistribute his udev rule pls incorporate the License as per
but that does not yet know about my iOcean so my rule is here
and to reload the udev rules you follow this instruction for a systemd system
or if that fails use
Script is here
Now version d
##########
Windows
##########
USB window driver associated with Android
adb installed and running as Adminstrator
commands and explanation to follow
I have no Windows to test this on
change Directory into where you have the adb tools unpacked
Next we start the server off with a full restart
Thanks to vampirefo we have another test for true root
You must see something like this
You must be able to see the serial number of your device to continue. If there is a question mark in the serial number, you are not running as Admin,
Next we test to see if you already have system in read write mode.
(above line has been editted as busybox is easier to type that /system/xbin
3 things will happen here
1) You get permission denied because you are not truly rooted. For most that means installing the abdb insecure app which worked for me
2) status shows as ro
3) status shows as rw
If (1) meant you downloaded and enabled the app, you repeat above command
If (3) skip the next bit
For (2) users only we attempt to mount as rw------and recheck for rw status
If you got OK to here, we now discuss the owner and group rw permissions.
In this context * means r or w or x or -
For true root we need rw* rw* ***
But how to test?
In your folder/Directory place a text file you create with the following contents
cats
name the file aus9.txt
The file size you can see in properties.......I am guessing its about the same as Linux which is 5 bytes
We then copy into Android system and recheck its owner group permissions and size.
My faulty device transferred it with only owner perms......so its a good test to do pls
Here is my suggested command
You are now checking that the size you can see in Windows was the full amount of the transfer into Android PLUS
that owner and group are root root PLUS
perms are minimum of rw* rw* ***
When finished with this test we can clean up the Android with
Optional, delete that file from your Windows folder
good luck
TODO
Can some kind Windows soul confirm you need usb driver correctly installed before you can use adb?
Hint, if you can't get it working you may prefer to use Linux?
Try at own risk, but I suspect it should be safe enough.
#########
CREDITS
#########
vampirefo for his helpful explanation of true root and test as supplied in replies now embedded in the Windows section and updated Linux script.
WHAT IS TRUE ROOT ANYHOW?
A lot of buyers of Chinese, Indian, Korean phones from various resellers are told their phone is rooted. But that can mean just the su executable is installed and the maker of the ROM has not tested all functions.
So true root means amongst other things
1) That you have the su executable installed
2) that your Android system is in read write mode
3) That this condition persists over a reboot
Otherwise, you need a script to re-enable rw status
or,
an app that can defeat your secure mode kernel
_____________________
Please Note I may change, tinker or otherwise edit this post to keep it the most recent version. Pls check the edit date/time and you may need to re-read?
##############
ANDROID ONLY
##############
Pls install the following 2 apps which are: an Android Terminal and busybox
I have changed my recommendation as first busybox offers normal or recovery mode install
I used to use this one but YMMV
For me to bypass my secure mode ROM I needed to install and enable this app.......YMMV
adbd insecure
2) Open the terminal and issue the commands
Code:
su
id
mount | busybox grep /system
if command not found then you have no super user apk installed and need to root your phone. This TUT assumes you have su installed so skip the rest if you don't have it pls.
Next within Android look at your prompt......the stuff before the # symbol
I believe it must be root@something as per image. I have a bad image in a reply below as well.
Notice the id result must be as per image
If your image differs, I suggest you install a new su app from playstore called SuperSU by CHAINFIRE
once enabled you can delete your old app. Then do a full reboot please and recheck true root from the beginning.
But be aware that playstore will not show any updates in the notification area for any "rooted" app. So you need to click on it within playstore to see if an update is available.......and to update it.....later on.....you need CWM or TWRP or similar tool installed.
You might also consider flashing via adb but I have not tested that.
The THIRD command is a check that busybox is working and shows an output that includes a status of your /system as either ro or rw
read only is occurs often on devices that have a secure mode as discussed by vampirefo below
read write means you are more likely to pass all other true root tests
3) You can try within Android to make your system go from ro to rw if you like?
Code:
su
mount -o remount,rw /system
mount | busybox grep /system
As thats a lot of typing if you ever reboot or shutdown your phone, I will test a downloadable script later
########
Linux
########
I have an udev system and use adb as a local user (non-root)
this requires a relaxed permission in the udev rule as showing for most
devices here....grab the raw file from here
Use a text editor to change to perm 666 instead of 660
If you intend to redistribute his udev rule pls incorporate the License as per
but that does not yet know about my iOcean so my rule is here
Quote:SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTRS{idVendor}=="0bb4", MODE="666", GROUP="plugdev"
and to reload the udev rules you follow this instruction for a systemd system
or if that fails use
Code:
sudo udevadm control --reload-rules
Script is here
Now version d
##########
Windows
##########
USB window driver associated with Android
adb installed and running as Adminstrator
commands and explanation to follow
I have no Windows to test this on
change Directory into where you have the adb tools unpacked
Next we start the server off with a full restart
Code:
adb kill-server
adb start-server
adb devices -l
Thanks to vampirefo we have another test for true root
Code:
adb shell id
You must see something like this
Code:
uid=0(root) gid=0(root)
You must be able to see the serial number of your device to continue. If there is a question mark in the serial number, you are not running as Admin,
Next we test to see if you already have system in read write mode.
Code:
adb shell su -c "mount | busybox grep /system"
(above line has been editted as busybox is easier to type that /system/xbin
3 things will happen here
1) You get permission denied because you are not truly rooted. For most that means installing the abdb insecure app which worked for me
2) status shows as ro
3) status shows as rw
If (1) meant you downloaded and enabled the app, you repeat above command
If (3) skip the next bit
For (2) users only we attempt to mount as rw------and recheck for rw status
Code:
adb shell su -c "mount -o remount,rw /system"
adb shell su -c "mount | busybox grep /system"
If you got OK to here, we now discuss the owner and group rw permissions.
In this context * means r or w or x or -
For true root we need rw* rw* ***
But how to test?
In your folder/Directory place a text file you create with the following contents
cats
name the file aus9.txt
The file size you can see in properties.......I am guessing its about the same as Linux which is 5 bytes
We then copy into Android system and recheck its owner group permissions and size.
My faulty device transferred it with only owner perms......so its a good test to do pls
Here is my suggested command
Code:
adb push aus9.txt /system/aus9.txt
adb shell su -c "ls -al /system/aus9.txt "
You are now checking that the size you can see in Windows was the full amount of the transfer into Android PLUS
that owner and group are root root PLUS
perms are minimum of rw* rw* ***
When finished with this test we can clean up the Android with
Code:
adb shell su -c "rm /system/aus9.txt"
adb kill-server
Optional, delete that file from your Windows folder
good luck
TODO
Can some kind Windows soul confirm you need usb driver correctly installed before you can use adb?
Hint, if you can't get it working you may prefer to use Linux?