To date, the Android operating system is the most common control program for various portable devices. Most smartphones, tablets, netbooks, televisions, smart bracelets, and many other gadgets work precisely under this OS. The hurricane development of the mobile market, as well as an open architecture and a friendly software development environment, did their job: in 2018, the awkward green robot bypasses the omnipotent Wiindows in mass and popularity ratings.
As you know, Android is developed on the basis of the Linux kernel and at the same time has key features of the latter. But an ordinary user of mobile gadgets may be primarily interested in the so-called root-access to the system with superuser rights, capable of expanding the device’s functionality in the right hands.
What are superuser rights
Superuser rights in Linux are unlimited privileges for a Superuser manager account, which allows performing absolutely any action in the OS environment. System configuration, all operations with files, installation of programs - all of these procedures are available without any restrictions to the owner of the superuser account or root rights.
Of course, the presence of such global privileges by the user is a very ambiguous solution, especially for the corporate environment, where many tasks require differentiation of rights. Therefore, in the current builds of Linux, you can usually obtain superuser rights using the special sudo utility. Being correctly configured, it allows you to determine the access parameters valid for a particular user without leaving his area of responsibility. Root, in order to avoid problems, is disabled at all, and for example, those who need to know how to obtain superuser rights in Ubuntu will have to use sudo.
Android root access
In the Android operating system, root is initially disabled, and the user does not have access to the system sections of the device, as well as to advanced configuration capabilities. It was not without reason: having received such permissions, the owner of the gadget can not only bypass Google policies, but also seriously disrupt the device’s functionality, or even turn it into a useless piece of plastic (the so-called “brick”), accidentally deleting an important system file or directory. It is for these reasons (you need to be honest: especially for the first) that there will be no information on how to obtain superuser rights on Android on any of the official resources. Anyone who for one reason or another will need to get full access to the device, You will have to contact the appropriate specialized resources (w3bsit3-dns.com.ru, for example). However, one should not forget that without certain knowledge it is quite difficult to realize the possibilities of this access itself. That is why each of the methods for obtaining superuser rights is accompanied by detailed instructions, from which it is recommended not to retreat.
Root Access Features
The main advantage that root privileges give the user is full control over the device. The implementation of such control is usually expressed in the following cases:
- Access to the system partition and all its contents (for deleting factory ringtones, for example).
- The ability to freeze or delete system applications (use this feature with extreme caution, since you can delete something that should not be deleted).
- Using ad blockers.
- Reassigning the system keys of a smartphone or tablet.
- Substitution of the device identifier (it helps to make various software available or use a tariff on the device that is not intended for this type of gadget).
- Creating backups of the system partition.
- Full transfer of applications and application cache to the memory card (mounting a virtual partition).
- Creation and adjustment of prohibitions on the actions of an application (including not only access to the Internet, but also interaction with the functions and settings of the device).
- Introducing games and programs into the internal structure with the aim of breaking them.
- Advanced customization of the operating system (due to not only a change in the visual design, but also a change in the factory firmware to the user one).
- Complete removal of Google services from the device and replacing them with an alternative (a rather complicated procedure that requires preparation).
How to get root privileges
There is no universal tool suitable for absolutely any android gadget: the process of obtaining full access is individual for each device. The presence of a similar device architecture, of course, allows you to combine them into groups for which root can be obtained by any particular program or algorithm, but the list of devices compatible with this method will be limited. A significant role is played by the firmware version, as well as the version of the operating system itself.
The easiest procedure for rutting is carried out on the gadgets of brands well-known to users: Samsung, Sony, LG, Lenovo, Asus, HTC, etc. Moreover, different models of the same brand may require different methods of obtaining superuser rights. As a rule, this is installing one or two applications directly on the device, as well as subsequent manipulations with them. Although there are exceptions in which the root-rights of a smartphone are opened only when you connect a computer and start a special utility.
In the case of the technology of lesser-known brands, everything can be either simpler or much more complicated: to get the root, you may need to download the phone's recovery mode, and possibly even change the firmware.
Accordingly, all methods of installing root on a device can be divided into stand-alone (without using a PC) and related (using a PC).
Without using a pc
It is based on the use of apk utilities, the download, installation and launch of which can be done directly from the device. The most popular and often used among them:
Baidu root
A fairly popular program that allows you to get root on different devices with Android versions from 2.2 to 4.4. The procedure is quite simple:
- Download program.
- Run the installation, accept the agreement.
- Unsubscribe from the update.
- Tap "Get Root".
- Wait for the end.
Using this program, obtaining superuser rights, as it turned out, is quite simple: it takes just a few taps. However, no one can guarantee compatibility with any device, and information on the Russian-language download page about this is available:
Framaroot
A utility that maintains an impressive list of devices. It allows you to bypass Android protection using several algorithms, which increases the chances of getting root rights. The hacking procedure is practically no different from that in Baidu, unless in the end you will need to install a special root manager SuperSu application (you can download it from the Play Market) supported versions of Android 2.0-4.2.
360 root
A program that supports Android from version 1.6 to version 5.1.1 and thereby providing significantly greater device coverage. At startup, it checks the firmware version and offers the most suitable way to enable superuser rights on Android. As in the cases with other programs, it may not offer, given the specifics of the process. In this case, you will have to look for another way or another program.
King root
A more "global" utility capable of providing root-access devices with OS versions up to and including Marsahmallow. The interface is even more minimalistic than that of the "competitors", but copes with its tasks:
If the program did not give the result on the first try, it makes sense to try several times.
The utilities presented above are far from the only ones. And since the likelihood that none of them will help to install root on a particular device is quite high, you will have to use other means, information about which can be found on the network with reference to the gadget model.
Using pc
The simplest and, accordingly, the most popular ways to set root privileges using a computer are programs known to users like Root 360 and King Root. Using PC versions of such applications significantly increases the chances of obtaining superuser rights: lists of compatible versions of devices and firmware are much more extensive than mobile versions. However, one hundred percent guarantees, of course, cannot be.
The most difficult thing when working with programs is the Chinese installer, full of hieroglyphs. Having passed it and running the program, there will be only a few simple steps:
- Activate the developer mode on the portable device. To do this, in the settings you need to tap the section "About the device", and then quickly click "Build number" several times. After that, the line "For Developers" (or otherwise) will appear in the main settings.
- Go to the section, activate the item "USB Debugging" in it.
- Run the program on a PC, connect the device to the computer (the drivers must be installed).
- Wait for the device to be detected by the program and click on the "Root" button.
- Confirm the connection on the gadget screen, then again agree to continue the operation.
- Wait for the process to complete and restart the device.
Using a custom recovery environment
A way for advanced users. Owners of gadgets based on Android up to version 6, inclusive, are used as a means of last chance, while owners of devices with Nougat and above simply have no way out, since they cannot get superuser rights in any other way. The bottom line is to install the so-called custom recovery.
The latter allows you to give applications superuser rights and install non-original versions of firmware. Unfortunately, there is no universal instruction for installing such an environment on an “Android” device (many parameters and elements that a user has to interact with during the process can vary significantly), so you will have to look for a guide for a specific smartphone or tablet model.