553 International Journal of Scientific Engineering and Technology (ISSN : 2277-1581)

Volume No.3 Issue No.5, pp : 553-556 1 May 2014

Rooting of Android Devices and Customized Firmware Installation and its

Calibre
1
Rahul Pal, 2Randheer Kr. Das, 3R. Raj Anand

Department of MCA,Veltech Multitech Dr.Rr Dr.Sr Engineering College, Chennai

1
emailrahulpal@gmail.com, 2mcarandheer@gmail.com, 3 rajsra_mca@rediffmail.com

Abstract-- When we use a mobile device which runs Android, Microsoft Windows, and Apple devices which run the iOS. But
we usually look for the basic features such as call, texting, when it comes to iOS (Apple devices), the term used for the
gaming, internet browsing, camera and music. However process of rooting is JAILBREAKING. However, these
Android devices can be made more powerful and its power concepts differ. Jailbreaking does not allow for OS
can be utilized in a larger scale once it has been rooted. replacements, instead it bypasses several Apple prohibitions for
the end user.
Keywords-- Root, Rooting, Android, Recovery, Bootloader,
Overclock. Rooting : A problem for Manufacturers?
Many number of android device manufacturers have tried to
I. Introduction implement severe security/protection features in their devices
This paper gives an analysis of a process called as “Rooting” in order to make them “unrootable”. But unfortunately those
which is not known to a large portion of the general public who devices were still managed to be rooted by the users in some
use android devices and are yet unknown to the possibilities of way. There may not be any features available to root the
numerous experiments which can be done with this open recently launched devices but usually it’s available in a couple
source operating system. When compared to the total number of months once a developer of modified operating systems gets
of people who use android devices on a regular basis, only a his/her hands on the device and performs various experiments
few know about the true potential of “Rooting” and how on it. In the year 2011, Motorola, LG Electronics, and HTC
countless experiments have already been performed by many added security features in the hardware level to prevent users
hard-core programmers and how they have made everything from rooting the stock Android OS which came with the
they worked on available to the general public, for FREE. devices as a retail package. The Motorola Droid X has a
security boot-loader that boots the phone into “recovery mode”
II.Methods and Methodology if the user loads an unsigned, i.e., modified Android OS that
What is Rooting? hasn’t been approved by the manufacturer. But, the developers
Android rooting is the process of allowing the users of devices have managed to come up with a way of upgrading the “boot-
running Android mobile operating system to attain privileged loader” itself into a different version and then moving on with
control (known as “root access”) within Android’s sub-system. the installation of unsigned operating systems without any
problems.
Goals
Rooting is often performed with the goal of overcoming What is Boot-loader?
limitations that carriers and hardware manufacturers put on Boot-loader is a piece of code that runs before any operating
some devices, resulting in the ability to alter or replace system system starts running. Boot-loaders can be used to boot other
applications and settings, run specialized apps that require operating systems. Usually, each operating system has a
administrator-level permissions, or perform other operations specific set of boot-loader codes. Since, it is the first software
that are otherwise inaccessible to a normal Android user. A to run after a system’s power-up or reset, it is highly processor
user who has no technical knowledge about the sub-system of and board specific. Various manufacturers use various kinds of
the operating system might make a few changes unknowingly processors and chipset boards and hence they have specific
which may prove to be fatal to the device. For this very reason boot-loaders for different models of their devices.
perhaps, the manufacturers fix limitations on the access which
a user gets over the device. And many believe that these Android Architecture and Security
limitations are too much and hence rooting was introduced. Android seeks to be the most secured and usable operating
Rooting also facilitates the complete removal and replacement system for mobile phones (smartphones and tablets). Having
of the device’s operating system. the Linux kernel makes it a well secured operating system but
Android is derived from the Linux kernel, and hence, rooting as Android keeps upgrading and becomes more and more
an Android device gives similar access administrative enhanced with added features, it also faces security threats and
permissions as on Linux or any other Unix-like operating these security issues keep growing with time. The stock version
system such as FreeBSD or OS X. of the OS provided by the device manufacturer limits the root
Rooting can not only be performed in Android devices, but access to the users and it is a well thought security threat
also in other devices such as Nokia which used to run Symbian prevention scheme. If the administrator (the user) itself doesn’t
OS in most of its devices until the recent shift towards get the root access, then the applications installed by the users
which if infected by a malicious file cannot harm the core of
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554 International Journal of Scientific Engineering and Technology (ISSN : 2277-1581)
Volume No.3 Issue No.5, pp : 553-556 1 May 2014
the Android in the device. As per the architecture, the Linux applications the user decides to install. Any small
kernel consists of the display driver, the camera driver, flash irresponsibility by the user can brick the device and the use
memory driver, Inter Process Communication driver, Keypad might have to go through a long procedure of re-rooting the
driver, Wi-Fi driver, Audio drivers and Power Management. phone and installing a new bootloader and then the operating
The device can be seriously harmed if any of the above system and lose all data in the process.
mentioned drivers get affected. Android applications do consist The users tend to rely on smartphones with sensitive data such
of anti-virus apps which help a lot. But, if the Android device as Bank Account details, contacts and address books,
is rooted, it gives flawless access of the root-files and the documents and media files such as pictures and audio/video
kernel to the user and this means any application installed by data. Losing all the data is always a risk in rooted devices and
the user will get the access to the root files. Under such the manufacturers will take no responsibility as rooting voids
circumstances, the device becomes seriously vulnerable to any warranty applicable to the device.
security threats and the user must be very careful about the

Fig.1 Android Architecture

Rooting Procedure the stock Android OS remains the same in all the processes.
There are different ways to root a mobile device. Various Once this exploit is discovered, a custom recovery image is
software tools are available in the internet to perform rooting flashed which skips the digital signature check of the stock
and installing “SuperUser” app to provide complete access of firmware updates. Then a modified firmware update can be
the root files to the users, in other words, making the user a installed from the recovery menu which typically includes the
Super User. These tools are free of cost and are also capable of utilities required to run apps as root. These firmware updates
unrooting a mobile device. If a user decides to root a phone can otherwise also be a customized Android OS. They are
which still happens to be under warranty period and runs into usually compressed into a single file with a .zip extension. This
some error during the process, the user will lose the warranty. .zip file is stored into the external SD memory card. When the
However, the users can use these tools to unroot their devices user enters the recovery menu, the user must clear cache
and the manufacturer will never know that the device has gone partition and Dalvik Cache (from inside Advance menu) and
through a rooting procedure. Another way (the complicated then select “install .zip from card” and this will show the .zip
way) to perform rooting is to manually flash the mobile devices file to the user, which when selected starts the installation
using flashing tools and install zip files from the recovery- process. The user must keep the mobile device charged to 80%
mode of the devices and then get root access. The user must battery level (at least). During the installation process, every
remember that in order to perform these operations, the process including the power management featured from the
bootloader of the device must be unlocked. This process of kernel is replaced with the kernel of the customized OS and
rooting varies from one device to another. Even though the hence the mobile device doesn’t charge its battery even though
process varies, the main objective of exploiting security bugs in the device is connected to the computer or a power supply.

install the drivers of the device in the computer before starting

Various Processes for Various Devices the rooting process. If the user doesn’t install the drivers, the
The process of rooting a device may be simple or complex, and computer will not recognize the device and as a result the
it even depends upon the device. Although the process is flashing tool will fail to flash the file with roots the device. In
comparatively similar, it is however complicated when it order to root Samsung devices, the users have to install a tool
comes to some devices (Sony and Samsung for example). But, called Kies which includes the drivers for the devices. After
rooting is like a one time investment. Once a device is rooted this the users have to install a tool called Odin which is the
successfully, various customized operating systems can be flash tool for Samsung Devices. Odin allows the user to flash
installed any number of times and no rooting process has to be the recovery menu along with the SuperUser app which roots
performed unless the device has been unrooted. The user has to the device. After this the users get an extra option named

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555 International Journal of Scientific Engineering and Technology (ISSN : 2277-1581)
Volume No.3 Issue No.5, pp : 553-556 1 May 2014
“Advanced” in the recovery menu where the user can clear the CPU Overclocking
Dalvik Cache partition and install the customized operating Rooting a mobile device not only provides root access to the
system (.zip extension) from the SD card which the user has to user but the rooted recovery menu gives an additional option
copy in the SD card before starting the rooting operation. The called the CPU Settings where the users can modify the
entire process takes 10 to 20 minutes. settings of the CPU and overclock it to process faster than
usual. For example, a Motorola Defy+ android device comes
with a dual core 1GHz processing unit, but the users can
overclock it to 1.1GHz or 1.2GHz and make it run faster than
usual. This however has a minor negative effect of using a little
extra power from the battery.

Fig 2. CWM Recovery Menu of Samsung

Similarly, for Motorola devices, the users have to use a tool

called RSD Lite which is the flash tool for Motorola. The
extension of recovery menu and the firmware vary for different
devices. The firmware extension for Motorola devices is .sbf,
which the users must download for their respective device
models and flash it using RSD Lite. This process takes almost
20 minutes after which the mobile device reboots itself. Once
Fig 4. CPU Overclocked Settings
the device reboots, the user has to switch off the device and
turn it on with a specific key combination (power+volume
down keys for Motorola Defy) which lets the user enter the III. Results
recovery menu. Once the users get inside the recovery menu, The results of rooting an Android devices are astonishing.
the procedure to install the customized operating system is However, since the rooted firmware of various manufacturers
same as Samsung. The user has to clear the partitions and are developed by various programmers who do not necessarily
install the .zip file from the SD card. work in a mobile manufacturing industry, the programmers do
not always develop a stable ROM. Many of the customized
operating systems available online are marked as
UNOFFICIAL and this usually means the ROMs may have
some bugs which haven’t been debugged. But, there are some
OFFICIAL/STABLE ROMs available which happen to work
far better than the stock operating systems as per various user
reviews. The users who have successfully rooted and installed
customized Android systems in their devices have reported it to
be extremely efficient and powerful. The users have noticed a
slight improvement in performance after overclocking their
devices’ CPUs. Some devices such as the Motorola Defy which
was discontinued in the Indian market a while ago had their
support limited only till Android’s GingerBread version.
However, a rooted Motorola Defy is capable of installing
customized operating system based on the firmware of Android
JellyBean and KitKat which happens to be the latest version of
Android. The users have noticed a huge improvement in RAM
usage and power consumption as well. Users haven’t faced any
security threats from the stable customized ROMs so far.

Fig 3 Motorola(Defy+) Rooted Recovery Menu

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556 International Journal of Scientific Engineering and Technology (ISSN : 2277-1581)
Volume No.3 Issue No.5, pp : 553-556 1 May 2014

IV. Conclusion
References
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an Android device and we have given an insight of how (19th November,2013) “Review on Android and Smartphone
resourceful and efficient a customized ROM based on Security”.
Androids kernel and firmware can be. Irrespective of some ii. "CyanogenMod supported by Samsung" January 16, 2012
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vii. Wikipedia (Android Rooting)
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Acknowledgement (techcrunch.com/2011/10/24/)
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Rangarajan Dr. Sakunthala Engineering College (Affiliated to xi. “What you can do after rooting your Android
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rooting-apps-tips.html)
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