Galaxy Nexus i9025 rooting

Just bought this galaxy nexus i9025 GSM and rooted on the day one 😀 I can’t work without SSH, so all of my gadgets must have this feature no matter what. I even forgot to check the warranty card before executing fastboot oem unlock … hahaha

The rooting overall steps is pretty much the same as on Nexus S rooting but since I’m not using the same source, and downloading again all the needed package, so better write it down again for my notes, and maybe help others too. Basically, I follow this wiki and this walkthrough as my reference.

Requirement and Preparation :

• Make sure you were running linux, if you were using winblows, close this page!
• Make sure you already had an Android Debugging Bridge (adb) on your system, if not, download the android SDK Tools from here and follow the instruction there for installation on your system.
• Read this thoroughly :
  Your warranty is now void.
  I am not responsible if you brick your phone, get stuck in a bootloop, or if your phone grows arms and tries to kill you. Flash at your own risk!
  Please do some research if you have any concerns about risk of getting rooted before continuing! YOU are choosing to make these modifications, and if you point the finger at me for messing up your device, I will laugh at you!!
  If you have any other objection, don’t bother to comment, just close this page!

Rooting Process :

There are some files we need to download and prepare :

• Download fastboot tool for linux here.
• Download the latest version of the ClockworkMod Recovery:
  • ClockworkMod Recovery 5.5.0.2: Download

    md5: 445887336a863573997ccbaeedddc984

• Download the Superuser tools and binary from androidsu.com or you may use mine.
• Place all of them on a single folder such as ~/project/galaxy-nexus and cd into it.
• From now on we are stand on ~/project/galaxy-nexus and continue the below steps.

Copying Clockworkmod Recovery and Superuser Tools :

This step is needed since when we are on Recovery mode, we cannot mount the sdcard as usb storage due to change on media storage protocol on this Galaxy Nexus that now change to MTP ( I really hate this MTP) rather than usualy usb media storage as on Nexus S.

Plugin the usb cable and copy the Clockworkmod recovery and Superuser tools using adb to the root of the sdcard :

{code}adb push recovery-clockwork-5.5.0.2-maguro.img /sdcard
adb push CWM-SuperSU-v0.87.zip /sdcard{/code}

Unlock the Bootloader :
This step is needed because nexus s has an OEM lock code at the bootloader, we must unlock it first.

• Turn off the phone
• Turn it on by holding Volume Down then Volume Up (also hold) and Power until fastboot mode comes up.
• Plug the phone in via USB cable to your computer while it is in fastboot mode.
• Open konsole, su to root and type this command :
  {code}fastboot oem unlock{/code}
• When you hit Enter, the phone will ask you about unlock the bootloader to confirm, select yes of course.
• You now have an unlocked bootloader.
• When unlocked, during booting, when Google text come out, there will be an unlock padlock at the bottom of the phone screen. This is normal. no worry.

Flashing a Custom Recovery Image :

This step is needed so we can root / install custom ROMs later with this custom recovery image.

• Put the phone on fastboot mode like above steps, turn it off, turn it on again by holding Volume Down + Volume Up and Power button until fastboot mode comes up, and plugged in the USB cable.
• Open konsole, su to root and type this command :
  {code}fastboot flash recovery recovery-clockwork-5.5.0.2-maguro.img{/code}
• Done. You were using the custom recovery image and ready to root.

Root the Phone :

• If you’re still on fastboot mode, continue to next step, and if not put the phone on fastboot mode like above steps, turn it off, turn it on again by holding Volume Up and Power until fastboot mode comes up, and plugged in the USB cable.
• While in fastboot mode screen, select Recovery using the volume buttons to move the hightlight and power button to execute then wait for it to boot into recovery mode.
• In Recovery mode menu, scroll to flash zip from sdcard and then choose zip from sd card
• Select the  CWM-SuperSU-v0.87.zip file and wait for it to finish flashing.
• Once it is done, select Go Back then Reboot System and wait for the phone to reboot.
• Your phone is rooted now, but there is one more step to complete the process.

Stop the Phone from Uninstalling the Custom Recovery Image :

• Once the phone is booted up, plug it in via USB cable and do NOT mount the storage.
• Open konsole, su to root and type this command :
  {code}adb shell
  cd etc
  mount -o rw,remount /dev/block/platform/omap/omap_hsmmc.0/by-name/system /system
  mv install-recovery.sh install-recovery-no.sh{/code}
  Note:
  Just in case the mount points on yours is different than mine, you may check the mount points with mount command.
• That above commands can be explain as we will mount the system as writable and rename the file that overwrites the recovery image on reboot so that our custom recovery will stay.
• Turn off the phone and turn it back on by holding down Volume Up and Power to get into fastboot mode.
• Plug the phone in via USB cable while in fastboot mode, open konsole again, su to root and type this :
  {code}adb reboot bootloader
  fastboot flash recovery recovery-clockwork-5.5.0.2-maguro.img{/code}
• Once it is done, you have just reflashed the recovery image and it will now stick. You are all done! You have an unlocked bootloader, had a Clockworkmod Recovery, and root access!

You may continue to flash a custom ROM now, such as Cyanogenmod or Android Open Kang Project like mine with the Clockworkmod recovery tools. Personally I like AOKP-milestone5 better, thanks to the devs who create this.

have fun …