I only own 2017 Darcy models, so can only confirm that it is needed for them.
It is not needed for foster. Also, please be very careful with DTBs - foster and darcy are not compatible, and flashing the wrong one will almost certainly brick your console.
As the DTB file is clearly marked to be for darcy units the question and the full quote was not really required 
But Mogster pointed out that it is not a good idea to mix...
But Mogster pointed out that it is not a good idea to mix...
Interesting read. It may be a little easier to swallow with a bit more formatting. It seemed similar to the scientific research papers you see people post for college courses. Very informative, but hard to keep your place when performing right from the page.
I have the 4th device (2015 500GB Developer), so not much of it really applies to me. Thanks for putting in the time, though.
I have the 4th device (2015 500GB Developer), so not much of it really applies to me. Thanks for putting in the time, though.
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not sure what the issue is? i rooted 7.2.1 dev image with magisk 18.0 without any dtbo or anything special?
dtb not even required lol.. can root with magisk patched boot.img.. just a few more steps..As the DTB file is clearly marked to be for darcy units the question and the full quote was not really required
But Mogster pointed out that it is not a good idea to mix...
Can you check to see if you only have Partial Root Access, or Full, try and delete a system app, for example Youtube. Unless something has changed in the 7.2.1 dev firmware, at the time when we discovered it was not Full Root Access patching the Stock Firmware, there was no publicly available 7.2.1 Dev firmware available to download. We were able to grab the 7.2.1 Stock zip from the devices themselves, but Nvidia had not yet shared any 7.2.1 firmwares on there website, not stock and definitely no 7.2.1 dev image. Look at the dates.
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they have 7.2.1 dev os images available as of 12/27... root is also full, i deleted play store and a few other system apps from /system/priv-app using root explorer, rebooted and theyre gone.. trying to launch play store for example doesnt do anything now..
I am not sure if it was fastboot commands i ran for vbmeta or verity commands but so far no issues and all i really used was a 7.2.1 magisk v18 patched boot.img..
if u would like to try or anyone else does pm me and ill provide instructions.. if it works as it should then we can post it on xda..
also, you should check nvidia sites again.. check the dates in screenshot attached below...
Attachments
Exactly, I originally posted about the modified dtb to gain Full Root Access on the 26th, there was no dev firmware to download until after this (27th).
If the 7.2.1 dev firmware does have full Root Access, great, but at the time, there was nothing released on Nvidia's download page, 7.2.1 was only available OTA.
If the 7.2.1 dev firmware does have full Root Access, great, but at the time, there was nothing released on Nvidia's download page, 7.2.1 was only available OTA.
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gotcha.. i had to mess with it a bit to get magisk working but wasnt too bad.. essentially patch the boot.img, start fresh, disable dm verity then fastboot boot the patched boot img then once u get magisk manager up install and select direct install then reboot
I am slowly getting back into business after a fresh install of Windows and now trying to get everything back the way it was.
There is good news: The kitchen cooks properly now!
I was able to produce a clean firmware based on the 7.1 dev firmware.
Since Whiteak was already so nice to jump in and providea fix for the 7.1 I will focus on a replacement for the official 7.1 with the apps already updated to spare the long wait for the additinal downloads.
Where possible I will try to include the new apps from the 7.2 but for now I will not tinker with the kernel of the 7.2 to allow full root.
My aim is to create two versions, maybe three.
1. All possible stock apps from the 7.1 and 7.2 included, pre-rooted.
2. Full and stock 7.1 including vendor, pre-rooted.
3. Maybe a clean 7.1 with just the stuff required for streaming but no games, suggestions and so on.
If all this works now as expected on my 2017 model and if there is still a need I will implement this for the firmwares of the other models as well.
For the 7.2 I have some ideas but at this stage I am not certain it will work with the restricted kernel of the stock developer firmware.
From what I could gather so far it seems I need to patch the kernel to work with the 7.1 bootloader first.
Then the forced DM-Verity needs to be either set less restrictive or fully removed, same for the secure boot functions.
Only then a full root with Magisk is possible without messing around with the DTB.
As most of the vital apps and functions in 7.2 are all linked to these new security features I see no other option to include the in the 7.1 firmware.
Which actually leaves one vital question:
Do we actually need all this nonsense for our tasks anyway?
For example I am happy to use my Shield as media streamer and only play some simple games on occasion.
Others migh just use it as a game console or to watch Netflix.
Automation might be good but personally I don't really like the idea of having Alexa and her friends "help" me with everything
So what is there in 7.2 that you guys actually need and use?
Maybe it is possible to get at least some of it working in 7.1...
There is good news: The kitchen cooks properly now!
I was able to produce a clean firmware based on the 7.1 dev firmware.
Since Whiteak was already so nice to jump in and providea fix for the 7.1 I will focus on a replacement for the official 7.1 with the apps already updated to spare the long wait for the additinal downloads.
Where possible I will try to include the new apps from the 7.2 but for now I will not tinker with the kernel of the 7.2 to allow full root.
My aim is to create two versions, maybe three.
1. All possible stock apps from the 7.1 and 7.2 included, pre-rooted.
2. Full and stock 7.1 including vendor, pre-rooted.
3. Maybe a clean 7.1 with just the stuff required for streaming but no games, suggestions and so on.
If all this works now as expected on my 2017 model and if there is still a need I will implement this for the firmwares of the other models as well.
For the 7.2 I have some ideas but at this stage I am not certain it will work with the restricted kernel of the stock developer firmware.
From what I could gather so far it seems I need to patch the kernel to work with the 7.1 bootloader first.
Then the forced DM-Verity needs to be either set less restrictive or fully removed, same for the secure boot functions.
Only then a full root with Magisk is possible without messing around with the DTB.
As most of the vital apps and functions in 7.2 are all linked to these new security features I see no other option to include the in the 7.1 firmware.
Which actually leaves one vital question:
Do we actually need all this nonsense for our tasks anyway?
For example I am happy to use my Shield as media streamer and only play some simple games on occasion.
Others migh just use it as a game console or to watch Netflix.
Automation might be good but personally I don't really like the idea of having Alexa and her friends "help" me with everything
So what is there in 7.2 that you guys actually need and use?
Maybe it is possible to get at least some of it working in 7.1...
Nothing yet. Nvidia says the move to a 4.9 kernel is necessary for SMB3, but there's no telling when that's coming. Personally I want a way to mount an external SSD as /data. I used to do that by editing fstab.foster_e in the kernel ramdisk, but that no longer works. I've been told that the only way to do it now is by editing the DTB because that's where Nvidia moved the mounts. I'm reluctant to try it because a) I don't know how, and b) making a mistake with the DTB can potentially brick the system.
I had similar discussions with the support team.
Pointing out that it is no longer possible to actually get root access, rendering a developer firmware into a release version.
Same for annoying restirctions in terms of write access.
What again is the point of a media streamer if you can't get write access to external storage without first rooting it and adding modules?
And now even this route is impossible on the 7.2.
Funny enough they now state that rooting is actually not officially supported anyway - WTF?
Pointing out that it is no longer possible to actually get root access, rendering a developer firmware into a release version.
Same for annoying restirctions in terms of write access.
What again is the point of a media streamer if you can't get write access to external storage without first rooting it and adding modules?
And now even this route is impossible on the 7.2.
Funny enough they now state that rooting is actually not officially supported anyway - WTF?
Praise the lord! Thank you my friend! I was able to gain root access and have full control over the entire file system, but I can't push and pull to the system or vendor partitions directly through adb. I wish Android TV had a good selection of ROOT file managers or package managers. I was also unable to boot the TWRP recovery on the device. Are we waiting for an updated TWRP? Do you know if there is one avail? Mine just freezes at the nVidia Logo when I try to boot a reg TWRP img.
For the 2017 model there will be problems aheaf with TWRP but the older devices should still work with TWRP.
Sadly no, TWRP does not work on 2015/foster. Steel01 is still waiting on Nvidia to release the source code. (It's only been a month, WTF Nvidia...)
It might be a bit problematic to keep going if I interpret my last support chat right.
Like many other companies they seem to go the route of compliance now.
Compliance with Google that is.
All required firmware sources for the "operating" system shall be released soon.
When I asked if that means the entire hardware tree I was corrected.
Their own code will be available as source for the required parts that a developer might have to modify, the rest only as ready to go modules of sorts.
No clue what that might mean though.
Culprit is "operating" system here.
The nice support guy stated that the Vendor part should not need any developer access.
Only the system is what a developer would work with.
As a result all system modifications have to be applied by flashing.
Either a complete one or a patch only for the system partition.
According to the guy this how it was always done.
A "developer" is required to create his own firmware from the sources.
But from 7.2 on he will not get a rooted firmware as a base anymore.
Google requires strict adhearance to their security policies and appearently the best way is to keep this up during development.
After a lot of back and forth in regards to the bootloader and boot image I think I got the most vital info so far:
The bootloader will accept a boot image created from sources even if set to userdebug.
Not sure if the same is true for the stock firmware but it leaves hope.
And yes, I tried to simply change the current boot image so all is the same as in a userdebug version.
But as you guessed it the bootloader does check the has codes and all and realises it is faked.
Like many other companies they seem to go the route of compliance now.
Compliance with Google that is.
All required firmware sources for the "operating" system shall be released soon.
When I asked if that means the entire hardware tree I was corrected.
Their own code will be available as source for the required parts that a developer might have to modify, the rest only as ready to go modules of sorts.
No clue what that might mean though.
Culprit is "operating" system here.
The nice support guy stated that the Vendor part should not need any developer access.
Only the system is what a developer would work with.
As a result all system modifications have to be applied by flashing.
Either a complete one or a patch only for the system partition.
According to the guy this how it was always done.
A "developer" is required to create his own firmware from the sources.
But from 7.2 on he will not get a rooted firmware as a base anymore.
Google requires strict adhearance to their security policies and appearently the best way is to keep this up during development.
After a lot of back and forth in regards to the bootloader and boot image I think I got the most vital info so far:
The bootloader will accept a boot image created from sources even if set to userdebug.
Not sure if the same is true for the stock firmware but it leaves hope.
And yes, I tried to simply change the current boot image so all is the same as in a userdebug version.
But as you guessed it the bootloader does check the has codes and all and realises it is faked.
adb to set device owner app?
Since you mentioned adb, is it possible to set a device owner app from adb on the Shield?
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