Towelroot Discussion Thread

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Verttex

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Oct 12, 2012
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Most of us were talking about Towelroot over in Jcase's PIE thread or over in collinjames' thread, but I think it's time it deserves it's own thread.

UPDATE:
@iKrYpToNiTe made the awesome TowelPieRoot which makes this method easier to use. You can still use this thread to root your phone, but I will be using his method from now on. Happy rooting!

Important Links:
Geohot's original post.
Towelroot's Homepage
Mod Strings

What is Towelroot?
Towelroot is a rooting method for most android phones, and it uses an apk to obtain root (dead simple too, push one button, no need for other tools and workarounds). (source)

Why do we use Towelroot in conjunction with PIE?
PIE nor Towelroot disables write protection. Both of them offer a temporary root that has to be applied after a reboot. The advantage to Towelroot is that it is an APK that sits on device, so unlike PIE, Towelroot can be run later, non-tethered to a PC, should you have to power off/on. So you use PIE first while tethered and initially rooting, then Towelroot allows you to continue rooting "on the go" in the future without needing a PC.

How does it work with the Moto X?
It works the same as PIE. It gives root access but the device is still write protected. It is also temporary and must be reapplied after a reboot. However, a soft/hot reboot can keep the root access, due to soft/hot reboots only rebooting the graphical Android shell.

What does it work on?
XT1049 - Republic Wireless, not confirmed, should work.
XT1052 - European
XT1053 -T-Mobile US, not confirmed, should work.
XT1055 - US Cellular, not confirmed, should work.
XT1056 - Sprint, not confirmed, should work.
XT1058 - AT&T, Rogers, Claro, Movistar, Vivo, Oi, TIM
XT1060 - Verizon

How do I use this tool?
Remember to apply PIE first!
1. On your device, go to here.It will start to download the .apk
3. On your device, go to Settings>Security>Unknown Sources and tick the box.
4. Run the downloaded apk, tr3.apk
5. Press "welcome to towelroot" 3 times.
6. Replace the last 0 with a 1, due to modstrings.
7. make it ra1n

Your device should now be rooted and you should be able to use apps such as Greenify and Titanium Backup.

Some applications that should work with root, might not work with this method.
Some people have experimented with using Superuser apps, but I have not seen a consistent method to use one.

How are we keeping root after reboots?
We aren't rebooting! Seriously, we soft/hot reboot which allows us to keep root after a graphical reboot. And even if you do reboot, you can always reapply the root with Towelroot. You just need to make sure you have applied jcase's PIE before hand.

Xposed:
jpond83 posted up some instructions in the PIE thread about how to get Xposed to work:
Make sure you have installed PIE before you try to use Xposed or it will NOT work. View jcase's PIE thread for more details.
jpond83 said:
1) install towelroot. Xposed installer, Busybox installer, power menu
2)run towelroot, click "welcome to towelroot", replace 0 with 1, make it rain.
3) run xposed and click install
4) run busybox installer and click install
5) run power menu and click "hot reboot"
6) enjoy root without using a PC.

Current problems/bugs
Some users have problems with soft/hot rebooting. Reapply PIE.
Random reboots.

Warning about using this exploit
Myself or anyone that has helped develop this are not responsible for anything that occurs to your phone by using this method.


As for this thread, feel free to post your experiences with this tool or any supplements to add.
 
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Deleted member 2831641

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The softboot/hot boot issue comes from not having busybox installed.
 

Verttex

Senior Member
Oct 12, 2012
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D

Deleted member 2831641

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I use busybox installer with the blue icon. Never had a issue with softboot as long as I install everything in the order I stated in the other thread.
 

Verttex

Senior Member
Oct 12, 2012
293
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Last edited:
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Deleted member 2831641

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Have you ran pie root before? It needs to be ran on the device once before for it to work.
 
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Deleted member 2831641

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Replying the PIE exploit has seemed to fix it. Thank you.

Should I add to the original post that you need to install PIE?
Yes, its a must. It should only need to be ran once. After that you should never need it again unless you factory reset.
 
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Wait, so you need to use PIE to make stuff work under towelroot work on the X?

If so, why not just stick with PIE? Why add towelroot?
Did you read??? You only need to use pie once. After that you can reboot your phone as much as you want and just root with towelroot.
 

KidJoe

Inactive Recognized Contributor
Aug 23, 2008
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Did you read??? You only need to use pie once. After that you can reboot your phone as much as you want and just root with towelroot.
I'm sorry that it bothers you so much that I have a question I'm asking. But if you must know, YES I READ. I've read this thread, the PIE thread, and Does Towel Root have any potential in the Motorola field?

And if you can read, you would know that you didn't even answer my question of "why use both?". Instead you just sort of flaming me for asking something and said pie only needs to be run once which is already stated very clearly in what I quoted.

What I'm getting at with my question is something that is implied, but not stated.....

It is understood that since neither PIE nor Towelroot disables write protection on locked bootloaders, if you root with either PIE or Towelroot, you need to re-root after power off/on (or "hard" reboot as some are calling it). It appears the advantage to Towelroot is that it is an APK that sits on device, so unlike PIE, Towelroot can be run later, non-tethered to a PC, should you have to power off/on. So you use PIE first while tethered and initially rooting, then whatever it does allows Towelroot APK to continue working properly when "on the go" in the future without needing a PC.

If that is truly the case, then I think that should be highlighted better, and @dier325 should add it to the OP as many are missing that bit of information. It would also cut out some of the frustration by those encountering issues when running PIE again, after they had to power off/on. (as they could use PIE when first setting up, then towelroot if they lose root while away from their PC).

But it does beg a few more questions (at least by someone who is READING all of this, but not using either PIE or TowelRoot)...

  1. Is PIE needed once before Towelroot only if you want Xposed? Or is it always needed once if you ever plan on using Towelroot? (i.e. Are there any cases where Towelroot alone works? like if you only want to block ads or tether. Or must you have used PIE once already, if you want to make use of Towelroot to root at all?)
  2. Must it be done in a certain order? I.e. if you've used towelroot and realized you forgot PIE, can you just run PIE and be good? or must you reboot, use PIE, then use Towelroot again?
  3. What changes are made by PIE that survive power off/on and enable Towelroot to work when trying to use Xposed?
  4. If this information is accurate, can Geohot and Jcase work together on a single solution, and possibly single on device solution for the X?
 
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Verttex

Senior Member
Oct 12, 2012
293
122
Dallas
It is understood that since neither PIE nor Towelroot disables write protection on locked bootloaders, if you root with either PIE or Towelroot, you need to re-root after power off/on (or "hard" reboot as some are calling it). It appears the advantage to Towelroot is that it is an APK that sits on device, so unlike PIE, Towelroot can be run later, non-tethered to a PC, should you have to power off/on. So you use PIE first while tethered and initially rooting, then whatever it does allows Towelroot APK to continue working properly when "on the go" in the future without needing a PC.

If that is truly the case, then I think that should be highlighted better, and @dier325 should add it to the OP as many are missing that bit of information. It would also cut out some of the frustration by those encountering issues when running PIE again, after they had to power off/on. (as they could use PIE when first setting up, then towelroot if they lose root while away from their PC).

This is a great explanation of why we are using both. I will add a paragraph to the OP that paraphrases what you just said.

  1. Is PIE needed once before Towelroot only if you want Xposed? Or is it always needed once if you ever plan on using Towelroot? (i.e. Are there any cases where Towelroot alone works? like if you only want to block ads or tether. Or must you have used PIE once already, if you want to make use of Towelroot to root at all?)

  1. Towelroot alone works, but we've found that some applications (i.e. Xposed, Busybox) don't work unless you have PIE. Using them together allows us to use them.
    [*]Must it be done in a certain order? I.e. if you've used towelroot and realized you forgot PIE, can you just run PIE and be good? or must you reboot, use PIE, then use Towelroot again?
    The method of each one must be done in order but it does not matter which one you apply first to the device. In fact I just had Towelroot running on my device and then applied PIE allowing for Xposed to work.
    [*]What changes are made by PIE that survive power off/on and enable Towelroot to work when trying to use Xposed?
    PIE allows us to keep Busybox installed on the device which allows us to Soft/hot reboot.
    [*]If this information is accurate, can Geohot and Jcase work together on a single solution, and possibly single on device solution for the X?
I want to remind everyone that there are very few of us who are using both of these methods together currently. It is fine for these questions to be brought up for the uninitiated. As for them working together, I think Jcase stated that he wants to move away from the X, as well as I think he is on holiday due to his current signature. I don't know about Geohot but some people have created a thread over in the Moto G forum raising some money to buy the device for him after he said he would try to work on it if he had one.
 
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cell2011

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Apr 11, 2011
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I have jcases pie root on my x and g and i either always soft boot in xposed framework and keep phone on airplane mode when not in use and charge when necessary
 

Verttex

Senior Member
Oct 12, 2012
293
122
Dallas
If that is truly the case, then I think that should be highlighted better, and @dier325 should add it to the OP as many are missing that bit of information. It would also cut out some of the frustration by those encountering issues when running PIE again, after they had to power off/on. (as they could use PIE when first setting up, then towelroot if they lose root while away from their PC).
I have added another section to the OP explaining the situation.

I have jcases pie root on my x and g and i either always soft boot in xposed framework and keep phone on airplane mode when not in use and charge when necessary
Adding them together allows you to root without having to use a PC if you do reboot your device, say it dies.
 
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doitinthedirt

Senior Member
Mar 31, 2014
297
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Thanks guys for clearing this up. I think Towel root should be renamed to something less middle east reference and it would be welcomed more.
 

tu3218

Senior Member
Apr 14, 2009
3,413
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So basically if we want more functionality with our root, we should do PIE first? I clicked over onto the PIE page but didn't really how it's done. I have towelroot down, but it seems PIE is a good idea to use in combo with towel root. I could be missing something though cause I'm in the XDA app at work.

I do understand though that PIE is a one time thing and we should just use towel root thereafter when we reboot and need to reroot again.

Sent from my XT1060 using XDA Free mobile app
 

Verttex

Senior Member
Oct 12, 2012
293
122
Dallas
Using PIE in conjunction with Towelroot allows you to use apps such as Xposed.

Sent from my XT1060 using XDA-FORUM, powered by appyet.com
 
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  • 7
    Most of us were talking about Towelroot over in Jcase's PIE thread or over in collinjames' thread, but I think it's time it deserves it's own thread.

    UPDATE:
    @iKrYpToNiTe made the awesome TowelPieRoot which makes this method easier to use. You can still use this thread to root your phone, but I will be using his method from now on. Happy rooting!

    Important Links:
    Geohot's original post.
    Towelroot's Homepage
    Mod Strings

    What is Towelroot?
    Towelroot is a rooting method for most android phones, and it uses an apk to obtain root (dead simple too, push one button, no need for other tools and workarounds). (source)

    Why do we use Towelroot in conjunction with PIE?
    PIE nor Towelroot disables write protection. Both of them offer a temporary root that has to be applied after a reboot. The advantage to Towelroot is that it is an APK that sits on device, so unlike PIE, Towelroot can be run later, non-tethered to a PC, should you have to power off/on. So you use PIE first while tethered and initially rooting, then Towelroot allows you to continue rooting "on the go" in the future without needing a PC.

    How does it work with the Moto X?
    It works the same as PIE. It gives root access but the device is still write protected. It is also temporary and must be reapplied after a reboot. However, a soft/hot reboot can keep the root access, due to soft/hot reboots only rebooting the graphical Android shell.

    What does it work on?
    XT1049 - Republic Wireless, not confirmed, should work.
    XT1052 - European
    XT1053 -T-Mobile US, not confirmed, should work.
    XT1055 - US Cellular, not confirmed, should work.
    XT1056 - Sprint, not confirmed, should work.
    XT1058 - AT&T, Rogers, Claro, Movistar, Vivo, Oi, TIM
    XT1060 - Verizon

    How do I use this tool?
    Remember to apply PIE first!
    1. On your device, go to here.It will start to download the .apk
    3. On your device, go to Settings>Security>Unknown Sources and tick the box.
    4. Run the downloaded apk, tr3.apk
    5. Press "welcome to towelroot" 3 times.
    6. Replace the last 0 with a 1, due to modstrings.
    7. make it ra1n

    Your device should now be rooted and you should be able to use apps such as Greenify and Titanium Backup.

    Some applications that should work with root, might not work with this method.
    Some people have experimented with using Superuser apps, but I have not seen a consistent method to use one.

    How are we keeping root after reboots?
    We aren't rebooting! Seriously, we soft/hot reboot which allows us to keep root after a graphical reboot. And even if you do reboot, you can always reapply the root with Towelroot. You just need to make sure you have applied jcase's PIE before hand.

    Xposed:
    jpond83 posted up some instructions in the PIE thread about how to get Xposed to work:
    Make sure you have installed PIE before you try to use Xposed or it will NOT work. View jcase's PIE thread for more details.
    jpond83 said:
    1) install towelroot. Xposed installer, Busybox installer, power menu
    2)run towelroot, click "welcome to towelroot", replace 0 with 1, make it rain.
    3) run xposed and click install
    4) run busybox installer and click install
    5) run power menu and click "hot reboot"
    6) enjoy root without using a PC.

    Current problems/bugs
    Some users have problems with soft/hot rebooting. Reapply PIE.
    Random reboots.

    Warning about using this exploit
    Myself or anyone that has helped develop this are not responsible for anything that occurs to your phone by using this method.


    As for this thread, feel free to post your experiences with this tool or any supplements to add.
    7
    crisp I have a non dev 4.4.2 Verizon moto x and have everything the exact same in my about phone section. I'm also having issues. I have checked again through terminal emulator typing in, "su" after the dollar sign, and I get # signifying I have root. But trying to go into that wifi tether app, it's telling me I don't have root. So I'm at a lost at this point. Wish I could figure this out.

    Here I will solve this whole conundrum for everybody as to why this and that doesn't work. I've been working for the past two days on trying to develop an app that combines Towel & Pie root together. The whole problem is Towel root(TR) is a limited/temp root(on the moto x at least). From what I can tell it basically hangs the escalated privilege system wide for write access to most files if that makes sense. But for some reason it will not run a lot of normal system calls as root, the best example of this is to open up a terminal app type su hit enter then type reboot and hit enter. With TR it will hang and freeze the terminal app, if you root with Pie and repeat the same process it will reboot the phone instantly like it's supposed to if your rooted. Just because you get # after typing su and hitting enter doesn't mean you actually have full root access!

    This is also the reason why my Entitlement Bypass app will not work properly if TR is used at any point, because with TR you're not actually running full root privileges. So my app's setprop command isn't running as root, all TR allows you to do is basically have write abilities on some files, and be able to run some root apps like Titanium Backup. To use my tethering bypass app you will need to root using Pie and only Pie from the numerous test I did today. If you run TR after running Pie it basically null and voids the root achieved by Pie.

    This whole problem could probably be solved if Geohot could modify TR to execute what is in the the pop and snap file from Pie root which mounts the xbin.img over /system/xbin. Instead of it temp rooting and placing the daemonsu and su in the /sbin, because that is what is causing all the issues. I can't do it because TR's exploit is packaged in a shared object library file(.so), and Pie root has been obfuscated so that dex2jar will not work on it. Of course that was done by design and I don't blame the devs, I just don't have the knowledge or time to try and disassemble either file to a readable state.

    Hopefully I explained that good enough, I was trying to keep it short but explain everything I wanted to.
    4
    @iKrYpToNiTe gave an excellent explanation why Towel Root is causing these problems in Post # 108, but it seems to have been ignored...

    @geohot : could you read Post #108 in this thread and advise?

    I think I actually figured out the main reason today why TR isn't working properly for y'all, on top of what I explained yesterday. Basically for some reason TR is running su under the u:r:untrusted_app:s0 context. I'm pretty sure this is why you can't run the su -c "reboot" command, and it reboot your phone it's one of the lowest context's su can run as. I'm guessing geohot set it as this because phones without write protection could reboot their phone, and the install-recovery.sh would run su under the u:r:init:s0 context which is one of the higher context's for su. JCase's PIE root runs su under the u:r:kernel:s0 context which is also a pretty high context for su, which is the reason you can run su -c "reboot" with PIE and your phone will reboot. I'm going to look into if you can change su's context after it has been launch, when I get a chance this week, and hopefully I can figure it out. If not the best thing to do would be to ask geohot if he could change the context TR runs su as to u:r:init:s0 and see if that helps fix the problem. I might be wrong about it all but I know if you run su -c "id" with TR you get the u:r:untrusted_app:s0 context and with PIE you get u:r:kernel:s0.
    4
    Yes.

    You will probably find out soon enough. I expect a new thread will be made soon covering all the details, and we can put THIS thread to rest.

    Here is the new thread everybody TowelPieRoot, Enjoy :D
    4
    D
    Deleted member 2831641
    Figured it out. The V3 version of towelroot on the towelroot website is crap. He must have replaced it with a non working version since he works for google now. That is 100% the issue. I factory reset my phone to see if it would work since others were having issues. Downloaded tr from the site. Didn't work. Spent all night trying to figure it out. Used a backup of the v3 that use to be on his site and it worked. Md5 checks shows different files. This copy works

    http://adbtoolkit.com/rooting/apk/TowelRoot/tr3.apk

    I'm sure I'm not suppose to post links but his site no longer offers a working version. Use this and follow my directions.