***Xoom Rooting Guide for N00bs***
Hello Xoom Dev community! Sorry. I know you're thinking, "Man! Not another Xoom root guide?!". Lol. But I wanted to make this, so, here ya go...
***WARNING***
-This will erase everything on your xoom. Its like flashing flashing back to stock because of the unlocking process. So BACK everything up before continuing via USB, or your preferred backup app-
**Also, this Tutorial is for the 3G version ONLY. The Wifi model is different and uses an incompatible boot.img. Once again, ONLY FOR 3G MODEL**
Ok. So, rooting the Xoom isn’t really that “hard” of a task. I’m a n00b as well, so I did have a little difficulty doing it. Only because this method requires you to use adb, the command prompt, etc…
Well, I wanted to make a guide that should be ‘n00b-proof’. LOL. It’s really super simple.
**Bofore you get started, make sure the USB Debugging option is enabled in the Settings. Go to Settings --> Applications --> Development --> USB Debugging**
Alright, you’re going to need some tools to get it done. First of all, download the Xoom USB drivers. Either get them from motodevs.com --> http://developer.motorola.com, which requires a free membership; or get them from the Motorola/Support site --> http://www.motorola.com/Support/US-EN/Consumer-Support/TABLETS/MOTOROLA_XOOM, and download the ‘motohelper’ program. I prefer the drivers from the dev site because they’re just stand-alone drivers. Motohelper is an actual app that “keeps your drivers up-to-date”. Both will have the same version of drivers, i.e. 4.9.0.
Now that we have the drivers installed plug in your Xoom to make sure all drivers/services were detected/installed properly. If you’re good, next we will need the Android SDK, if not already installed. To properly install it though, you must download the Java JDK from --> http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/index.html, and click the “Download JDK” button. Choose your OS, and install.
**NOTE** If you’re running Vista/7 x64, Android SDK will not detect the REQUIRED Java kit installation. Yes, JDK has been properly installed, but the Registry doesn’t read the installation right. So, to get around this issue, either go here --> http://codearetoy.wordpress.com/2010/12/23/jdk-not-found-on-installing-android-sdk/, for a tutorial that gets it detected by modifying the Registry. Or, do what I did, and just download the .zip installer of Android SDK. I’m writing this guide based on the ‘zip type’ of installation, but I’m sure the directories are identical besides having SDK installed in your Program Files folder.
Whew! Now, either extract the SDK to a directory of choice, or point your mouse to the Program Files\Android SDK\ directory. There will be some folders like platforms, platform-tools, tools, etc…
Anyways, to root the Xoom you will be running a command prompt from one of these folders. NOTE, in the newest release of Android SDK, they have moved the adb files to the ‘platform-tools’ folder, rather than all in the ‘tools’ folder. What I did, was copied everything from inside the ‘platform-tools’ folder, to the ‘tools’ folder. But do not replace any files! Just copy. It will put the required files, like adb.exe, inside one location. Sorry if I’m confusing anybody. LOL! Just copy the files from ‘platform-tools’ --> ‘tools’. Without replacing anything.
**NOTE** When I first installed SDK, I ran the emulator.exe from within the ‘tools’ directory. This updated everything, but I’m not sure if it matters for this tutorial?
Ok. The “hard” part is over. We should be all setup, and ready to type some commands! What you’ll need to do now is, open up a command prompt i.e. cmd. And do a cd --> to whatever path the ‘tools’ folder is in. For example, mine is in a Xoom folder from my documents. So the command would be “cd C:\Users\%name%\Documents\Xoom\android-sdk_r10-windows\android-sdk-windows\tools”. Without quotes of course.
You should now be pointed at the ‘tools’ folder from cmd, and next we can start the commands!
CHECKPOINT
- Xoom drivers installed, xoom is plugged in, & detected properly. To make sure, open Device Manager to see if the “ADB Interface” is there. **Sorry, I’m not sure ADB is in Device Manager before, or after rooting** Can’t remember! As long as you don’t have any ‘device is not properly installed’ pop-ups, you should be good!
- Android SDK is configured right, and cmd is pointed at the correct location.
-USB Debugging option is checked. Check above for instructions
***This is obviously, from Koush’s site, so give him some kudos please ***
***I will bold all commands, and try to put in ‘n00b’ terms***
Type the following commands in CMD… after you have moved the “XOOM root” files.
1. Download the XOOM root zip.
2. Unzip the package, and
3. put the 3 files inside the same ‘tools’ folder we’re running cmd from!
4. adb reboot bootloader (skip the next 3 steps if you have already unlocked your Xoom via fastboot, which is another guide on XDA that just lets you unlock the Xoom. It’s not rooting.)
5. fastboot oem unlock
-You have to accept the terms by pressing the vol - down key, and then select 'accept' by pressing the vol + up key.
6. -wait for the Xoom to reboot completely.
**You may have to re-enable USB Debugging mode again for the next command**
7. adb reboot bootloader
8. fastboot flash boot rootboot.img
9. fastboot reboot
10. -wait for the Xoom to reboot completely.
11. adb remount
12. adb push su /system/bin/
13. adb shell --> You will now be mounted within adb shell…
14. ln –s /system/bin/su /system/xbin/su
15. chmod 4755 /system/bin/su
16. exit --> This gets you out of adb shell…
17. adb push Superuser.apk /system/app/
That is all! Now, unplug the Xoom and reboot it.
To verify your root is working properly, download an app such as, Cachemate, or any other that requires Superuser access. Open up Superuser to see if that apps’ rights were saved successfully.
Yay! Root access! But honestly, this tutorial will be outdated and inefficient, once the source code is out and then we’ll have a oneclickroot method. Which is way better! Until then, I hope anybody who is a little confused about the process benefits from this guide.
Happy moddin’!
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