FireTV Stick (FTVS) Root & Firmware Updates

[to_b]

What I would like to find out with your help, before I root the next device or somebody, would be to find out what is the newest hardware-rootable stock firmware from amazon, where I should update, before making a hardware-root.
Because at the moment there is no pre-Rooted rom's like, like builded from rbox or realbbb for the Fire-TV-Box-1. Also there is no unlocked-bootloader or custom recovery.

I like the hardware from the stick for that prices! And the software is getting better and better.
Sadly I had some problems with rbox x-posed modules, see here. (Got muted kodi, when enabled)

So theese are my informations about rooing an fire tv stick.

Thanks for sharing your experience!
I'm still not sure if I should take the risk of bricking my stick just to get root.
Firestarter and Kodi are working well without root and I don't really see a benefit.
I assume that you can do the hardware-root with every firmware-version.
Amazon may be able to protect future firmwares but take look around: only a handful of people are taking the risk. It's not really a threat for Amazon.
Well, if it would be possible to flash custom roms via FlashFire and if someone would create and maintain such a custom rom...
But I guess that would be a lot of work and only some people would use it and even less would contribute.

 

[Dude360]

Im in two minds whether or not to find someone willing to root my stick. I picked it up at £19 thinking it could be a low price way of replacing my upstairs HTPC.

I dont have any special setup, just Kodi running over MySQL on a 'medium' size database.

My RAM usage is practically 100%, it causes lags and slowdowns all the time even when running a light skin.

Id love to be able to use root to kill everything Amazon and just have Kodi running. Such a waste of RAM having Amazon's bloat running all the time.

But Ive been slowly getting tired of all the faffing about with 'branded' stuff as of late, especially as the UK AFTV1 has no sign of root and also after a 6 1/2hr rooting session on the AFTV2.

Not that I dont appreciate the time and patience that goes into the work that these devs do to get to root, it just sometimes feels like its too much work especially when fighting against a company that has no desire to work with people like 'us' and makes an active effort to stop every possible attempt.

Imagine how many more AFTV1 units they would have sold worldwide if they hadnt have patched root. Id have picked up at least three at £80 a pop, my mate another two, me dad a couple more. Im never going Prime so why not let me pay them for the hardware.

Might just save up and splash out on a decent stock Android TV box which has root and recovery already and be done with it.

 

[Andycapp2]

Hi my fire TVs sticks has pin code and can't be unlocked. I have no idea who Amazon account this is as was given this and my aunti said she has not regestered it pls help to factory rest to clear it all

 

[rp201]

Hi my fire TVs sticks has pin code and can't be unlocked. I have no idea who Amazon account this is as was given this and my aunti said she has not regestered it pls help to factory rest to clear it all

buy another stick online or at store and return pin locked one. enough people doing so may encourage factory reset capabilities.

 

[ldeveraux]

buy another stick online or at store and return pin locked one. enough people doing so may encourage factory reset capabilities.

Not a chance, but have at it...

 

[ljmndrc]

after rooting my Fire Stick witch apps i have to freeze to save memory?

 

[gmoe65]

Im in two minds whether or not to find someone willing to root my stick. I picked it up at £19 thinking it could be a low price way of replacing my upstairs HTPC.

I dont have any special setup, just Kodi running over MySQL on a 'medium' size database.

My RAM usage is practically 100%, it causes lags and slowdowns all the time even when running a light skin.

Id love to be able to use root to kill everything Amazon and just have Kodi running. Such a waste of RAM having Amazon's bloat running all the time.

But Ive been slowly getting tired of all the faffing about with 'branded' stuff as of late, especially as the UK AFTV1 has no sign of root and also after a 6 1/2hr rooting session on the AFTV2.

Not that I dont appreciate the time and patience that goes into the work that these devs do to get to root, it just sometimes feels like its too much work especially when fighting against a company that has no desire to work with people like 'us' and makes an active effort to stop every possible attempt.

Imagine how many more AFTV1 units they would have sold worldwide if they hadnt have patched root. Id have picked up at least three at £80 a pop, my mate another two, me dad a couple more. Im never going Prime so why not let me pay them for the hardware.

Might just save up and splash out on a decent stock Android TV box which has root and recovery already and be done with it.

Why not just get a nividia shield
That will take care of the problem for you

 

[Dude360]

Why not just get a nividia shield
That will take care of the problem for you

Well, this was six months ago before a root solution was available.

Since rooting the stick, blocking updates, debloating/freezing most of the Amazon cack it became a little more useful but Id moved to a Pi2 by then (and now a 3). But its setup as a backup should my Pi(s) die.

As for the Shield, its £19 compared to £150. Or even £40 for a cheap MK box compared to £150. 90% of the Shields capabilities wouldn't get used.

AFTV1 on the other hand is brilliant with root, debloat & Firestarter etc. Gave mine to me Dad after all the UK TV on-demand apps were released and everything just works for him. Set Kodi up with shortcuts to the TV stuff so he doesn't have to see Firestarter etc. Hes been using Kodi since XBMC on the OGXbox so its little change for him.

AFTV2 is in the kitchen, rooted and synced to MySQL like the rest. Good boxes after rooting.

My position still stands on Amazon/branded though, too much 'faff' and I still believe they would sell more units if they didn't go out their way to block root.

You can't force people to go Prime. If they don't want to they wont simple as so way not take their £60 anyway. When a new box comes out, you'd still see some of these people upgrade along with it for another £60.

 

[Bandusix]

Kingo Root can do the root job for Fire TV Stick according to the AFTVNews

I use CetusPlay to install Kingo Root to root the Stick, you guys can find Cetusplay in Google Play

 

[tgellen]

The Kingoroot method works fine for 5.2.1.0.
I've even replaced the Amazon TV Launcher with SPMC (Launcher version) which frees up a load of memory.
On a cold boot SPMC shows about 253Mb free of 491Mb available.
I've put a quick guide here on how to switch launchers.
Unfortunately it only works on rooted Fire TV Sticks as you need to su before the launcher can be disabled.

 

[Hulowala2]

yep.. it is hard to imagine... if you can provide more details, that will be better

 

[Y314K]

yep.. it is hard to imagine... if you can provide more details, that will be better

FTVS2 - Other then blocking updates. Nothing can be done right now.

FTVS1 -

Rooting Guide: http://www.aftvnews.com/start/
TWRP & PreRooted FW/ROM Guide: http://www.aftvnews.com/how-to-inst...d-an-initial-rom-on-a-rooted-fire-tv-stick-1/
Switching Launcher Guide: https://xdaforums.com/fire-tv/general/howto-replace-fire-tv-launcher-fire-tv-t3471260://​

 

[catk]

I have a FireTV stick with original Firmware from back in 2015. It is guess it is 54.1.0.? AFTV states there is no way to root.
Is there an exploit, which might work, and has not been tried yet? Or do I miss the obvious, where I could manually upgrade to a rootable version?
Which way should I try?

 

[Y314K]

I have a FireTV stick with original Firmware from back in 2015. It is guess it is 54.1.0.? AFTV states there is no way to root.
Is there an exploit, which might work, and has not been tried yet? Or do I miss the obvious, where I could manually upgrade to a rootable version?
Which way should I try?

FTVS1's where only Rootable between FireOS 5 v5.0.3.2 - v5.2.1.0 . So you would need to let it update one time to FireOS 5 & then block updates again. And hope that the single update landed you in one of the Rootable FW's. In the past Amazon has not updated devices from FireOS 3 directly to the latest FireOS 5. So you still have a chance of updating & stopping at a favorable FW version. But make sure you are ready on a plan how to stop any other updates after the first one. Be ready to block Wifi access to the FTVS1 from your router or modem just in case. You have too keep close attention to the process. You can not walk away once you have started. After it takes the first update & boots up. You need to keep your FTVS1 active by moving around the menus. And you will need to use Method 2 of hiding the update service as soon as it boots. Be ready to turn on ADB Debugging & to ADB into the FTVS1. Don't wait to know how to learn how to do this after you have done the update. Usually if an FTV(S) device goes to sleep. It tries to update.

http://www.aftvnews.com/how-to-bloc...-amazon-fire-tv-or-fire-tv-stick/#withoutroot

I don't think it should take more then a single update to get you to a Rootable FireOS 5 FW. But it might take 2 updates. It's not hard but you are taking a chance. Just be ready for eventualities.

Once you have frozen your FW on a good FireOS 5 version. Then go back to http://www.aftvnews.com/start/ & go step by step to getting full control of your FTVS1.

To me this is just academic so it's up to you to try it or not. My devices are FTV1's & the FTVS's I've gifted where never Rooted. If you have any ?'s or confusion ask now.

 

[saiyen2012]

i have a fs 1st gen in hand which was rooted on 5.2.1.0 . i'm trying to unroot it. so it can receive updates. can anyone help? i unrooted it but i'm unable to receive updates.

 

[Y314K]

i have a fs 1st gen in hand which was rooted on 5.2.1.0 . i'm trying to unroot it. so it can receive updates. can anyone help? i unrooted it but i'm unable to receive updates.

You should of just installed the latest PreRooted ROM. Same results. Less headaches.

Anyway, you have to undo any update methods you did. Also TWRP has a built in update blocking Method. So recovery probably will need to be changed to stock. Not sure there is a guide for that. I've only seen one that only applies to a FTV2. So it might not even be safely possible.

http://www.aftvnews.com/how-to-block-software-updates-on-the-amazon-fire-tv-or-fire-tv-stick/#root

To re-enable updates, simply follow this guide again but replace disable with enable in step 5. Alternatively, performing a factory reset will also re-enable updates. Updates will not be re-enabled when installing custom ROMs.

Good luck.

 

[saiyen2012]

You should of just installed the latest PreRooted ROM. Same results. Less headaches.

i got it the fs pre rooted from someone. i'm just trying to unroot it.

Anyway, you have to undo any update methods you did. Also TWRP has a built in update blocking Method. So recovery probably will need to be changed to stock. Not sure there is a guide for that. I've only seen one that only applies to a FTV2. So it might not even be safely possible.

http://www.aftvnews.com/how-to-block-software-updates-on-the-amazon-fire-tv-or-fire-tv-stick/#root

Good luck.

i've already done a factory reset. i'm still unable to update. i also used root checker it says that the root is gone but i may have su files left.

 

[Y314K]

i've already done a factory reset. i'm still unable to update. i also used root checker it says that the root is gone but i may have su files left.

Is TWRP still install ? And I don't know how to safety change it on the FTV1's. TWRP will block updates.

 

[saiyen2012]

Is TWRP still install ? And I don't know how to safety change it on the FTV1's. TWRP will block updates.

no twrp was never installed .

 

[Y314K]

no twrp was never installed .

If you are getting an update when trying to manually update from About then run in ADB Shell the following commands:

The first two commands are root commands. So if they don't work is normal. We are just testing to see if your device still responses to root commands.

su

pm enable com.amazon.device.software.ota

You might get an error on the first or second command since you say you are not rooted anymore.

The following commands work without root.

pm unhide com.amazon.device.software.ota

cat /system/build.prop | grep number

What number does it report after the third command ??