Get root access without going through replacing things?

Question

I'm totally new to rooting and I would like to simply have root access to my phone. I don't want to do any customization whatsoever to the insides of it. Is this doable? I mean like, in terms of a PC, I want to simply give my limited user account an administrative privilege.

Sorry if this seems weird and all but I'm unfamiliar with these grounds.

If it makes answering a little bit easier, my phone is an Xperia Active and here's the information I can find inside Settings > About.

For example, I only want to change the default media sounds stored inside the internal memory. Things like that.

Answer 1

Follow the guide in this thread to root your device. Xperia Rooting Tool - xda-developers

Rooting would install a Superuser app for you which will monitor apps which require root access. You can then install a app like Root Explporer to access your device's internal memory, just press Allow when it asks for root access.

I believe you can find system media files inside the path /system/media/audio/, although it may change with devices or firmware versions. And don't forget to click on R/W on top in Root Explorer when you are deleting or replacing files to enable Read/Write Mode.

Answer 2

You can't do this.

You give administrative privilege to limited user accounts in Windows when you have access to atleast one Administrator account. Think about the situation when you are on others PC with guest account. Can you do anything which requires administrative privilege on that PC? The same type of situation blocks us in Android.

So, to get administrative (root) access in Android (Linux), we need to alter and replace many things.