TF701 Root

[lpdunwell]

Note1: Do at your own risk. As always, it's your device and you're responsible for your actions.
Note2: Following these steps will, in this order: void your warranty, factory reset your TF701, provide root.

These instructions will show you how to gain root on the Asus TF701 by unlocking the bootloader and using fastboot.

Prerequisites: drivers, adb and fastboot (this), firmware >= 10.14.1.47, asus unlock app

Unlock:
- Download the Asus unlock device app from asus.com
- Install and run the app. This will require a valid google account (if you use one time passwords, you'll need to generate one for this purpose) and internet access.
- When booting with [vol-] + [power] pressed, the transformer will show the message "The device is unlocked"

Root:
As the TF701 is very similar to the Nvidia Shield, this method is based on that.
- Download and unpack View attachment root.zip and cd into that directory
- Boot the transformer to the bootloader with [vol-] + [power] pressed
- fastboot boot zImage_dtb ramfs.img.gz
- When seeing the smeared graphics, wait until the transformer reboots 2 minutes and then hard reset (as I did), or press power once (as menollo did)
- The transformer should boot normally and start optimizing applications

- Check root

Foot note: I compared the TF701 and the Shield, and concluded that they should be similar enough to be able to boot the same ramfs. The root method itself was not developed by me.
This is my first instructional root post, what may or may not explain the general structure/mess.
If this was any help, please consider pressing the thanks button. Thanks.

This is based on previous version of https://github.com/linux-shield/shield-root

 

[thor7777]

Have you tested this yourself and get it to work successfully?

 

[lpdunwell]

of course i have

 

[thor7777]

Thanks for the verification and screenshot! I hope there will be more dev support now that we have root.....

 

[lpdunwell]

Sure.
My dev system's ready, I'm going to have a a try at getting a recovery running for the TF701.
However there's still a fair chance, someone will beat me to it.

 

[AngryDinosaur]

Interesting, still a very new device. i think i will wait a bit to mess with it

but thanks for your contribution

fellow users, if this worked for you please leave a feedback for others

 

[Moscow Desire]

The big question, is do you have RW privileges to your /System folder? Try copying or deleting a file in /system, or open build.prop and add

# test

at the bottom and save. Or you can try setting the permissions via ES File explorer.

If you can't, then you really don't have full root access. Only Superuser and SU binary. This can cause problems when a root app tries to remount /system as RW (superuser updating binary for example).

 

[lpdunwell]

The big question, is do you have RW privileges to your /System folder? Try copying or deleting a file in /system, or open build.prop and add

# test

at the bottom and save. Or you can try setting the permissions via ES File explorer.

If you can't, then you really don't have full root access. Only Superuser and SU binary. This can cause problems when a root app tries to remount /system as RW (superuser updating binary for example).

Using FX File explorer i remounted /system as RW, opened build.prop and added #test to the bottom, then saved the file. It works.

 

[Moscow Desire]

Using FX File explorer i remounted /system as RW, opened build.prop and added #test to the bottom, then saved the file. It works.

Good to know

 

[HaPe000]

Have anyone tried this method for tf701 from tf300t? I know, it's for different models, but...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2228613

 

[Alta1r]

Using FX File explorer i remounted /system as RW, opened build.prop and added #test to the bottom, then saved the file. It works.

I confirm we have RW privileges in the /system folder. Titanium Backup wouldn't work at first so i started removing bloatware manually in the /system/app folder. I could do this without any problems. TB is working now, it need a wipe data first...

---------- Post added at 10:02 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:00 AM ----------

Have anyone tried this method for tf701 from tf300t? I know, it's for different models, but...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2228613

I'v tried Motochopper when i got my tablet and is not working on the TF701.

 

[Tiger62651]

FYI the "fastboot oem unlock" does nothing (atleast on US version) just says unknown command. But the other command works, I didn't even have to press power button rebooted on it own. Attached screen shot showing the command not needed.

 

[menollo]

adb oem unlock is indeed not needed, the asus app unlocks the bootloader, so you can skip that command.

And i also read the code that installs the superuser app. It copies some files, and after that, there is a reboot command, so it should reboot automatically.. (i dont know what happend in my case beacause you can't see the output.. i thought my power button press rebooted the device, but maybe i was just pressing it while the script was executing the reboot)

so after unlocking, you only have to reboot into fastboot (volume down), and run

fastboot boot zImage_dtb ramfs.img.gz

(in the folder where you downloaded/extracted the shield root files).

 

[Yezariael]

Is it possible to backup Apps and esp. Appdata (game data) with Asus backup tool and restore them again? I would hate to lose all my work in angry birds... :silly:

 

[menollo]

Is it possible to backup Apps and esp. Appdata (game data) with Asus backup tool and restore them again? I would hate to lose all my work in angry birds... :silly:

The rooting itself does not wipe anything, but unlocking with the asus tool factory resets your device.. so if you haven't unlcoked yet, your device will be wiped.. and at that moment you do not have root yet to backup your data unfortunately.

 

[Yezariael]

The rooting itself does not wipe anything, but unlocking with the asus tool factory resets your device.. so if you haven't unlcoked yet, your device will be wiped.. and at that moment you do not have root yet to backup your data unfortunately.

As of my understanding the Asus backup tool (on board by default) does backup data as well. Is this not true?

 

[berndblb]

The rooting itself does not wipe anything, but unlocking with the asus tool factory resets your device.. so if you haven't unlcoked yet, your device will be wiped.. and at that moment you do not have root yet to backup your data unfortunately.

You are speaking from experience??
Because on none of the Asus Transformer tablets did unlocking do anything to the data partition.
What you are stating may be true for the Nexus, but I highly doubt it's true for the TF701.

Edit: It seems Asus has changed how the unlock tool works. I have read from two users so far who confirm that using the Unlock Tool will wipe your data - unlike on the TF700 (or the 101 and 300 for that matter) where unlocking did not touch your data. Correct me if I'm wrong - this seems strange.

Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk 4

 

[ChrisDos]

Recovery File Name

The TF700T recovery file name was EP201_768_SDUPDATE.ZIP. Anyone know what the name is for the TF701T?

 

[Alta1r]

You are speaking from experience??
Because on none of the Asus Transformer tablets did unlocking do anything to the data partition.
What you are stating may be true for the Nexus, but I highly doubt it's true for the TF701.

Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk 4

Unlocking will not only wipe your data partition, but also your internal sdcard. So backup all your stuff before unlocking. It happened on my Nexus 7, my wife's ME301T and with the TF701.

Sent from my GT-N7100 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

 

[berndblb]

The TF700T recovery file name was EP201_768_SDUPDATE.ZIP. Anyone know what the name is for the TF701T?

From what I've read so far (caution: hearsay) the recovery on the TF701 recognizes a firmware file no matter if it sits on internal or microSD.
On the TF700 you had to rename the firmware file if you wanted to flash it from the microSD. This seems no longer necessary. Just download the firmware and unzip it once.

Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk 4