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I've been attempting to root my phone (Samsung Intercept M910, but that probably doesn't matter).

How can I tell that I have actually, successfully gained root? I've run a few apps which require root, and some work and some don't, so I'm unclear if I've gained root or not.

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8 Answers 8

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31

Use terminal emulator (a popular free/open-source terminal emulator is Android Terminal Emulator, available from F-droid or Play Market), open the emulator and type

su

you will know with the message that appears after if phone is rooted or not.

Edit:

There is an app just for this now : Root Checker

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4
29

Connect your phone in developer mode via USB and start an ADB shell

adb shell

If you see a # at the beginning of the line your phone is rooted, if it's a $ try to execute the su command, and if you get a # now, your phone is rooted, but if you get an error that su can't be found it's probably not, or the su binary is simply missing.

There are also apps on the market that test if your phone is rooted.

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    That's not enough. If you see a "$"-Prompt you still can elevate to root via the su binary (typing the "su" command), if you have successfully rooted your phone.
    – Flow
    Commented Sep 11, 2011 at 10:44
  • Yeah, forgot that some ROMs doesn't have root as default. Hm, anything else you want me to change now?
    – remmy
    Commented Sep 11, 2011 at 11:01
8

There is an application available in the market called Root Checker, that can verify if your phone is rooted, and if you have BusyBox installed.

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8
  • Does not that just check for the su binary?
    – Leo
    Commented Oct 29, 2015 at 0:26
  • That is exactly what it means to be "rooted", is to have su binary installed properly with suid bit set. The su binary commonly comes with an accompaniment program to manage permissions, Superuser app, but this is just for conveniences and ease of use.
    – Lie Ryan
    Commented Oct 29, 2015 at 0:54
  • Thanks @Lie Ryan, but from some other comments it looks like the phone can still be rooted even if there is no su binary. Is that not correct?
    – Leo
    Commented Oct 29, 2015 at 0:57
  • Please see this thread for the reason I am asking: android.stackexchange.com/questions/127347/…
    – Leo
    Commented Oct 29, 2015 at 1:00
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    @Leo: to be precise, there isn't exactly a different state between rooted and unrooted devices in the underlying Linux system. All Linuxes, including unrooted Android, have setuid system call, which is the primary mechanisms used by Linux programs to acquire elevated privilege. Setting up a suid binary itself requires elevated privilege. Many Android system applications on a unrooted device runs with elevated privilege (e.g. adbd, system updater), but they only escalate for very specific purposes. su is a privileged program that allows you to invoke other programs with elevated privileged.
    – Lie Ryan
    Commented Oct 29, 2015 at 1:23
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You should see the "Superuser" application in the app tray.

Most rooting methods add this app to manage the superuser rights: it appeared for me when I rooted my Desire.

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    You can install Superuser on a non-rooted device just fine, though. It just won't do anything without the su binary (and will complain that it needs to "update" it every time you run it). The presence of Superuser doesn't really mean you're rooted; running it kind of does, but the update failure message doesn't say "failed to update because you're not root" or anything of that nature (and you can hit "Cancel" and it goes away).
    – eldarerathis
    Commented Sep 11, 2011 at 20:48
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Beside what everyone mentioned, One super easy way would also be installing an app from Google Play that requires root access. I suggest DroidWall, which is a must-have firewall for android. Install it, and hit apply rules. If not rooted, it will tell you, and will fail to apply rule.

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0

For developers and to provide an imho more comprising test via adb do the following: 

[you@yourbox]$ adb shell
[root&adbshell]$ mount -o rw,remount /system
[root&adbshell]$ echo $?
 0
[root&adbshell]$
[root&adbshell]$ mount | grep system
 /dev/block/by-name/system /system ext4 rw,seclabel,relatime,data=ordered 0 0
[root&adbshell]$ ls /dev/block/by-name/system -la  
 lrwxrwxrwx root     root              2016-02-23 19:33 system -> /dev/block/nandd
[root&adbshell]$ ls /dev/block/nandd -la 
 brw------- root     root      93,  24 2016-02-23 19:33 nandd

points are that :

  1. Chances are that the adb shell prompt will tell you root@[something] which is clear
  2. but just to check we try remounting /system read-write rw (something that needs root)
  3. checking that the result worked out i.e no error echo $? yields 0
  4. then still checking / following that /system eventually was at a block device /dev/block/nandd in the example that is reported to be accessible only by root

I am aware that this is a "for advanced users only" option, and ad best similar to the other answer suggested by @kyrias, but I think this one is slighly more compatible as mount in contrast to su is more likely to be there.

Also I would like to suggest that a comprehensive test of rootness would involve now to use the root powers and backup the content of the /system and flash it with an alternative system for trial. Else there is a change the adbd is only faking you information, always better to make sure you can test root powers by actually doing something that is visible on multiple channels :)

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0

You can download an application called "Root Checker" that gains root access to your device and tests if it's rooted or not. You can easily understand with that way if it's rooted or not. I can understand with that way and it's extremely easy.

There are a lot of applications called Root Checker but that doesn't matter just install one and you're good to go.

After doing that you can understand is it rooted or not.

If it's rooted you can use every application that requires root with the device you're using.

If you're device is not rooted open the recovery project you've installed (on Samsung devices press the volume down+power+home button at the same time) and from there wipe the data. Then reboot your phone from the main menu of the recovery project and press volume up+power+home button to open the download menu.

WARNING: THE METHOD EXPLAINED HERE ONLY WORKS WITH EVERY SAMSUNG PHONE. AND IT WILL NOT WORK WITH OTHERS. IT CAN WORK BUT NOT SURE ABOUT IT. YOU CAN FIND MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THIS CASE ON OTHER WEBSITES.

Connect your device to your Windows Computer and using Odin you can flash the necessary files including SuperSU to the device. And after doing those just reboot and bang, your device is rooted successfully.

Max Lee can help you on his website (highonandroid.com) that prepares cool articles about rooting.

You can also prefer The Unlockr that you can find on youtube and theunlockr.com.

Both prefer nice videos that can be helpful to you.

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Its easy. Just download some famous root requiring apps(apps which require root) eg:- titanium backup, supersu etc. and see that they work or not. If they work correctly, then you have gained root. If they don't work, it means root is not working.

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    If they don't work, that might also have other reasons – such as incompatibilities with your device, bugs in the app. Of course if all of them fail, that might be a strong indicator – but a long way to go. Using a root checker, or a terminal app (as suggested in the linked answers) are much faster and more reliable methods.
    – Izzy
    Commented Jan 2, 2015 at 11:41
  • Checking root is also a good method but according to question details, some apps had worked and some had not so probably root checker can also fail
    – Aditya Sinha
    Commented Jan 2, 2015 at 11:51
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    It's more likely those failed for a different reason: A root-checker, or especially running the su command, has much less complexity, and thus is much less likely to fail.
    – Izzy
    Commented Jan 2, 2015 at 11:54
  • Yes, you should download root checker basic or pro.
    – Aditya Sinha
    Commented Jan 2, 2015 at 11:56

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