Tell me more ×
Android Enthusiasts Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for enthusiasts and power users of the Android operating system. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 4 down vote favorite
1

I am wanting to gain root privileges on my Google Nexus 7 tablet, running Android 4.1-4.2.1. How can I do this?

share|improve this question
1  
I took the freedom to add your Q to our Rooting Index -- see also the tag-wiki for the "rooting" tag ;) Besides: Did you know that there was already a "Nexus 7 rootkit" mentioned? – Izzy Jan 16 at 17:21
@LiamW I found this quite useful. I'm not going to do it though, as I don't want to lose my current memory. Do you know if it is at all possible to root a Nexus 7 without losing the memory, or at least a way to backup the memory to restore later? – Fogest Jan 16 at 19:25
@Fogest See edit to use adb backup :) – Liam W Jan 16 at 19:48
1  
@LiamW I was not telling you off -- sorry if you got that expression! It was meant as a thumbs-up and giving a hand. Good guide you wrote! So it needed to be linked in the first place to look for good guides on rooting. – Izzy Jan 16 at 20:57

1 Answer

up vote 6 down vote accepted

The Nexus 7 is probably one of the easiest Android devices to root - and all you need is the Android SDK (and 2 downloads).

Step 1

Install the adb and fastboot commands. On Ubuntu these can be downloaded using apt:

sudo apt-get install android-tools-adb android-tools-fastboot

On Windows you should download the Android SDK, however you can just download this zip which contains the adb, fastboot and dependencies.

Step 2

On your Nexus 7, go to System Settings->Developer Options->Check USB Debugging (You may need to slide the toogle switch in the action bar to on). If you do not see the USB Debugging option, go to System Settings->About Tablet->Tap on 'Build Number' 7 times.

Connect your Nexus to your computer.

Step 3

Make sure the drivers have downloaded and installed if you're on Windows - Windows Update should automatically find them.

Once connected, open up a terminal window (Windows: Win+R, type cmd press Enter. Ubuntu: ctrl+alt+t) and navigate to where you have unzipped the fastboot & adb programs (no need to do this on linux - they are in the path).

Step 3.5

Type adb backup -all -nosystem to backup your userdata to the backup.ab file.

Step 4

Type adb reboot-bootloader and press enter. Your Nexus 7 will reboot into fastboot mode.

Step 5

When the device is in fastboot mode, type fastboot oem unlock and press enter. Read the information on the device, and touch the Yes option. Your bootloader will be unlocked. This will erase all userdata!

Step 6

Download the latest TWRP recovery image from this page. Save it in the same location as the fastboot binary. Issue the fastboot flash recovery twrp.img command to flash this recovery image.

Step 7

Almost done! Using the on-device fastboot controls, reboot into the recovery menu. Select Advanced then ADB Sideload.

Download this zip file and save it to the same location as adb and fastboot. DON'T UNZIP IT

Step 8

Issue the command adb sideload CWM-SuperSU-v0.99.zip, and then reboot the device. You're now rooted!

Step 9

Type adb restore <backup file made in 3.5> to restore backup.

share|improve this answer
2  
There is a step missing before 5, where you backup the userdata. – ott-- Jan 16 at 19:31
1  
@ott Fixed... ;) – Liam W Jan 16 at 19:52
What does the backup save. Does it save things like music, apps/appdata? What specifically is backed up? – Fogest Jan 17 at 0:47
@Fogest Apps and appdata – Liam W Jan 18 at 19:29
@LiamW So, if I were to do this, and recover the backup, would my device appear like nothing has changed, or are there some things lost? I am just really busy lately and would rather not do this now, if I will have to reconfig a lot. – Fogest Jan 18 at 22:42
show 1 more comment

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.