[GUIDE] Rooting the G Watch

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Smith7018

Senior Member
Nov 16, 2010
196
89
San Francisco
EDIT: Rooting the device is now possible! Download the image here! (Thanks to Justin Case!!)

Alright, you've unlocked your bootloader and you're ready to tear it up with custom roms and other assorted mods. But wait, this is probably a good time to stop. No, I'm not messing with you. Justin Case and I only just acquired root on the G Watch on July 4th, and there's very little that can be done with it at this point. Additionally, there are no superuser managers (eg. Chainfire's SuperSU or Koush's Superuser) available to prevent an app from abusing root for malicious purposes. This situation will surely change over a matter of days, or even hours, but that's where we're at for the moment. I'm not suggesting that people avoid rooting, only that they wait until it can be done a little more safely.

If you're one of the people that wants to get started on building some root apps, or you just need to be on the bleeding edge, you're in the right place. So far, we only have the process worked out for the LG G Watch, but the Samsung Gear Live should be ready fairly soon.

Now, reboot into the bootloader:
adb reboot bootloader

And boot the G Watch using the modified boot image. Warning: Do not flash the boot image, just boot from it!
fastboot boot LGGW-rootboot.img

The watch will play the boot animation for about 2 seconds, then automatically reboot. This time it will boot normally. There will be no outwardly obvious signs it has been rooted, but you can check it by opening a shell over adb and running su.

adb shell
su

If your prompt turns from shell@dory to root@dory, then you've got root on your G Watch. Congratulations!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

From http://www.androidpolice.com/2014/0...nlock-the-bootloader-and-root-the-lg-g-watch/
 

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Stericson

Stericson

Retired Senior Mod / Retired Senior RD
Nov 10, 2008
1,203
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Smith7018 said:
So I've started looking into rooting the G Watch and it's not going to be simple. Here are some of my findings:

1. There's a firewall running that blocks any outside communications that aren't sent out by Google-sanctioned apps.
2. The build time is Jun 23, 2014. That means towel root won't work... :(
3. The device codename is Dory.
4. Many apps will sidled but a lot of them will crash. Once we get root, this could be as simple as moving over libs.
5. Installing the Android keyboard apk allows the user to have a keyboard when necessary! I know this never worked on Glass.

So yeah, we have our work cut out for us. Anyone else looking at this?

(I've attached the build.prop)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Hi Smith,

I've ordered a watch but hasn't come yet.

What about accessing a shell via adb? Is this possible?

I certainly assume it is, so I'd bet root would come this way.
 
Last edited:
Stericson

Stericson

Retired Senior Mod / Retired Senior RD
Nov 10, 2008
1,203
417
Doing some more research...

In theory...

We can unlock the bootloader (fastboot oem unlock)

Flash a recovery (TWRP?)

Flash either a kernel to root the device

OR

Flash a zip which just places an appropriate su binary in place.

Right now we will have to wait for a super user application to be ported to Android Wear....I imagine ChainFire or another will have that before too long.
 
S

Smith7018

Senior Member
Nov 16, 2010
196
89
San Francisco
Stericson said:
Doing some more research...

In theory...

We can unlock the bootloader (fastboot oem unlock)

Flash a recovery (TWRP?)

Flash either a kernel to root the device

OR

Flash a zip which just places an appropriate su binary in place.

Right now we will have to wait for a super user application to be ported to Android Wear....I imagine ChainFire or another will have that before too long.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

I can confirm that fastboot oem unlock successfully unlocks the boot loader! Also, I can confirm that side loading the Gear Live's stop watch runs on the G Watch. The clock faces install (and are visible in the selection menu) but crash when selected. Interestingly enough, logcat says the app is unable to bind to the Wear home screen... I wonder what could be stopping the legit Android app from running... OEM checks?
 
T

TheManii

Wiki Admin / Inactive RC
Dec 8, 2010
3,585
1,651
If you can in fact unlock the bootloader, rooting is just a matter of waiting for a custom recovery to be ported over to it.
(and being updated to both support such small displays and no buttons at all)
 
trh1341

trh1341

Senior Member
Jun 13, 2011
2,214
656
MESA
TheManii said:
If you can in fact unlock the bootloader, rooting is just a matter of waiting for a custom recovery to be ported over to it.
(and being updated to both support such small displays and no buttons at all)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How would we get into recovery... Seems like a recovery would be best done from a computer.
 
T

TheManii

Wiki Admin / Inactive RC
Dec 8, 2010
3,585
1,651
It hasn't been mentioned on how to do it while it was booting,
but currentl you can enter it by doing
Code: 
adb reboot bootloader

The issue is that doing it that way requires an already working rom that also has debugging turned on.
 
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    Smith7018
    EDIT: Rooting the device is now possible! Download the image here! (Thanks to Justin Case!!)

    Alright, you've unlocked your bootloader and you're ready to tear it up with custom roms and other assorted mods. But wait, this is probably a good time to stop. No, I'm not messing with you. Justin Case and I only just acquired root on the G Watch on July 4th, and there's very little that can be done with it at this point. Additionally, there are no superuser managers (eg. Chainfire's SuperSU or Koush's Superuser) available to prevent an app from abusing root for malicious purposes. This situation will surely change over a matter of days, or even hours, but that's where we're at for the moment. I'm not suggesting that people avoid rooting, only that they wait until it can be done a little more safely.

    If you're one of the people that wants to get started on building some root apps, or you just need to be on the bleeding edge, you're in the right place. So far, we only have the process worked out for the LG G Watch, but the Samsung Gear Live should be ready fairly soon.

    Now, reboot into the bootloader:
    adb reboot bootloader

    And boot the G Watch using the modified boot image. Warning: Do not flash the boot image, just boot from it!
    fastboot boot LGGW-rootboot.img

    The watch will play the boot animation for about 2 seconds, then automatically reboot. This time it will boot normally. There will be no outwardly obvious signs it has been rooted, but you can check it by opening a shell over adb and running su.

    adb shell
    su

    If your prompt turns from shell@dory to root@dory, then you've got root on your G Watch. Congratulations!
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse

    From http://www.androidpolice.com/2014/0...nlock-the-bootloader-and-root-the-lg-g-watch/
    View
    1
    S
    Smith7018
    Updated the first post with instructions on how to root the G Watch! :)
    View

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