How to root your Samsung Galaxy Gear!

BitNotFound · Oct 12, 2013

How to Root the Samsung Galaxy Gear:

Firstly:
I AM IN NO WAY, SHAPE OR FORM, RESPONSIBLE FOR THE OUTCOME OF YOU FOLLOWING THESE INSTRUCTIONS! IT WORKED FOR ME, BUT THAT DOES NOT MEAN IT WILL ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY, WITHOUT A DOUBT, WORK FOR YOU!

Root Guide:

Preparation:

1. Install Samsung's official ADB Drivers from here.

2. Get Cydia Impactor from here.

3. Go to your Gear's settings and enable ADB

To Root:

1. Plug in the device and let it install all the drivers it needs.

2.Unzip the Cydia Impactor folder you just downloaded

3. Open Impactor from the folder you just unzipped

4. The default "# drop SuperSU su to /system/xbin/su" is what you need

5. Click start

6. Once the process completes, the device will still look normal, but is fully rooted!

I will have to leave it to you guys to install a utility like SuperSU or Superuser until there is a functioning recovery for the Gear.
Though this isn't necessary, however, and in some most cases doesn't work! SuperSU or Superuser just manage what apps access the SU command, so if you trust the app, it should be ok!

Enjoy your newly rooted device!

How to restore back to stock:

Preparation:

1. Get Odin 3.07 from here.

2. Find the proper .md5 file from here.
(If you are in the US, just select the Great Britain file.)

3. Install Samsung ADB drivers from here.

To Restore:

1. Plug in the Gear

2.From being powered on, (Bootable or not) press and hold the button of the right until the Gear shows "Samsung Galaxy Gear Rebooting" and rapidly press the button until you get to the "Select REBOOT MODE" screen.

3. Highlight "Download" in the list by pressing the button to scroll.

4. Press and hold the button for 3 seconds (and let go! The screen won't change immediately) and let it boot into download mode.

5. Unzip the .zip file you just downloaded that contains the ROM itself.

6. Select the PDA button and open the .MD5 file in the folder you just unzipped.

7. DO NOT ALTER ANYTHING ELSE!!!

8. Click the start button, and you'll be back to stock within a couple of minutes! (Most likely with any data on /data kept and all sideloaded apps remaining.)

Any questions? Ask below! Want to help me make a ROM or Recovery? PM me!

BUS DR1V3R · Oct 12, 2013

I tried this on OSX and now have a device that won't connect via USB anymore, even after factory reset! Proceed with caution.

EDIT : The device would still connect to adb in 64-bit Ubuntu, and and after re-running the application I have a rooted device. Busybox has been installed and all seems to be working well now.

BitNotFound · Oct 12, 2013

Oops!

BUS DR1V3R said:
I tried this on OSX and now have a device that won't connect via USB anymore, even after factory reset! Proceed with caution.

EDIT : The device would still connect to adb in 64-bit Ubuntu, and and after re-running the application I have a rooted device. Busybox has been installed and all seems to be working well now.

I had issues with impactor crashing on my Mac, so i ran it on Windows instead as well!

BUS DR1V3R · Oct 12, 2013

photonicgeek said:
I had issues with impactor crashing on my Mac, so i ran it on Windows instead as well!

I'm actually not sure what's going on with this thing now. Busybox said the device was rooted, and it installed, but I can't seem to run any commands that require root.

Are you running Superuser or SuperSU, and what version?

jadaress1 · Oct 12, 2013

Does this mean i will be able to use this with my HTC one? Im a newbie when it comes to this but id love to buy this watch to use with my stock 4.2 HTC One. Thanks.

Sent from ...............

big_pongo · Oct 13, 2013

Great news! :victory:

About 'UNROOT'? ... any idea? Or we just flash official rom back to GEAR?

trevor7428 · Oct 13, 2013

big_pongo said:
Great news! :victory:

About 'UNROOT'? ... any idea? Or we just flash official rom back to GEAR?

Haven't rooted mine yet. But seems like the unroot feature in supersu should work

---------- Post added at 06:22 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:18 PM ----------

This is great news! Thank you sir for creating an account. Just to share ur find. Who knows this might even make it to XDA wall on home page! But I do have to ask, how did you know Cydia Impactor would do the trick?

BitNotFound · Oct 13, 2013

To answer some questions...

Ok, Firstly, mounting the gear should never have been possible... I know I have tried!

The entire process of rooting a device is simply getting the file "su" into /system/bin/ but the trick is getting it in there without root privileges! The truth is SuperSU or Superuser aren't ACTUALLY needed, they actually just regulate how apps access the "su" command.

To use the gear with any watch would require a new ROM which I know NOTHING about, but I am looking into modding the first one. (I recommend setting the screen DPI to 100)

And to answer @trevor7428 , I am an iPhone and Android user, and I do a lot of research into how exploits work. Saurik who does a lot of iPhone security research, mentioned the "Master Key" ("Hack 99% of Android devices") exploit, how to exploit it (Where impactor came from!), and also how to fix it. Thus, I thought that the worst that would happen is that it would fail!

BUS DR1V3R · Oct 13, 2013

photonicgeek said:
Ok, Firstly, mounting the gear should never have been possible... I know I have tried!

The entire process of rooting a device is simply getting the file "su" into /system/bin/ but the trick is getting it in there without root privileges! The truth is SuperSU or Superuser aren't ACTUALLY needed, they actually just regulate how apps access the "su" command.

To use the gear with any watch would require a new ROM which I know NOTHING about, but I am looking into modding the first one. (I recommend setting the screen DPI to 100)

And to answer @trevor7428 , I am an iPhone and Android user, and I do a lot of research into how exploits work. Saurik who does a lot of iPhone security research, mentioned the "Master Key" ("Hack 99% of Android devices") exploit, how to exploit it (Where impactor came from!), and also how to fix it. Thus, I thought that the worst that would happen is that it would fail!

After typing that about mounting the gear I immediately questioned whether that ever worked. :silly:

That being said, I have the su file in system/bin and system/xbin/, but anytime I try to run something that requires root it says "must be suid to work properly". After trying to find a fix for that for a few hours without luck I've run out of ideas.

Better yet, why not make a backup of the rooted rom that can be flashed via Odin now that download mode is more accessible?

billymaloney3 · Oct 13, 2013

Someone please sticky this so its easy to find

Sent from my SM-N900V using xda app-developers app

BitNotFound · Oct 13, 2013

Minecraft on the Galaxy Gear!

BUS DR1V3R said:
After typing that about mounting the gear I immediately questioned whether that ever worked. :silly:

That being said, I have the su file in system/bin and system/xbin/, but anytime I try to run something that requires root it says "must be suid to work properly". After trying to find a fix for that for a few hours without luck I've run out of ideas.

Better yet, why not make a backup of the rooted rom that can be flashed via Odin now that download mode is more accessible?

I just added restore instructions to the OP!

Oh, and I found that Minecraft actually runs rather well, if not extremely cramped!

Look for my video on Youtube! Username: Photonic Boom

codeman05 · Oct 14, 2013

photonicgeek said:
I just added restore instructions to the OP!

Oh, and I found that Minecraft actually runs rather well, if not extremely cramped!

Look for my video on Youtube! Username: Photonic Boom

This looks to have worked fine.
However now I have a couple of "Payload" apps in my drawer...do you know what files these are so I can remove them?

BitNotFound · Oct 14, 2013

codeman05 said:
This looks to have worked fine.
However now I have a couple of "Payload" apps in my drawer...do you know what files these are so I can remove them?

Hmmm... payload... could you possibly upload a picture? or...
1.is it a custom launcher?
2.do they have custom icons, or are they the stock "these apps have no icon" icons?
3.if it is a custom launcher, are the apps uninstallable?

codeman05 · Oct 14, 2013

photonicgeek said:
Hmmm... payload... could you possibly upload a picture? or...
1.is it a custom launcher?
2.do they have custom icons, or are they the stock "these apps have no icon" icons?
3.if it is a custom launcher, are the apps uninstallable?

No, no custom launcher yet.
It's in the "stock" app drawer and they do not have an icon, just the generic green android guy.

I'll see if I can get a screenshot

BitNotFound · Oct 14, 2013

codeman05 said:
No, no custom launcher yet.
It's in the "stock" app drawer and they do not have an icon, just the generic green android guy.

I'll see if I can get a screenshot

I figure you can try restoring again!

codeman05 · Oct 14, 2013

codeman05 said:
No, no custom launcher yet.
It's in the "stock" app drawer and they do not have an icon, just the generic green android guy.

I'll see if I can get a screenshot

Well I loaded Nova and was able to uninstall them with that so all it well!

On a side note...I found out something you guys may have already figured out, but figured it was worth sharing just in case.
To get into download mode:
1. Hold down power until the screen says "rebooting"
2. Start tapping the power button until you get into the "Boot" menu
3. tap power to cycle to "Download"
4. long press (~3 seconds) to select Download mode

You can then odin the image referenced in the OP.
Handy if you screw up the build prop changing the DPI like I did initially

BitNotFound · Oct 14, 2013

codeman05 said:
Well I loaded Nova and was able to uninstall them with that so all it well!

On a side note...I found out something you guys may have already figured out, but figured it was worth sharing just in case.
To get into download mode:
1. Hold down power until the screen says "rebooting"
2. Start tapping the power button until you get into the "Boot" menu
3. tap power to cycle to "Download"
4. long press (~3 seconds) to select Download mode

You can then odin the image referenced in the OP.
Handy if you screw up the build prop changing the DPI like I did initially

Actually, I'm glad you found that!! I've been using ADB all this time!

BitNotFound · Oct 15, 2013

Mods,

PLEASE pin this thread!

DONNY TRUMP · Oct 15, 2013

Hey does anyone know if
a) you can get notifications from 3rd party sms apps like handcent and
b) if you can respond to sms by typing yet? its pretty annoying when you get a text on your gear and you're somewhere loud, then you gotta take out your phone and respond. please if anyone knows these answers

cant wait for this to take off....pretty excited.

turilo · Oct 15, 2013

this looks interesting! will have to try it on my gear :laugh:

How to root your Samsung Galaxy Gear!

Senior Member

Senior Member

Senior Member

Senior Member

Senior Member

Senior Member

Senior Member

Senior Member

Senior Member

Senior Member

Senior Member

Senior Member

Senior Member

Senior Member

Senior Member

Senior Member

Senior Member

Senior Member

Senior Member

Senior Member

Similar threads

Top Liked Posts