Root the Motorola Atrix 4G running Android 2.3.6 firmware 4.5.141

With the release of update 4.5.141 for the Motorola Atrix 4G also came bug fixes. Unfortunately, updating the Motorola Atrix 4G to the said firmware also meant losing root access.

Thankfully, however, getting back root access is no problem. This method is similar to the one used to root version 4.5.91 firmware. If you aren’t familiar with it yet, have no fear. We’ll walk you through the process.

Requirements

You’ll need a few things:

Motorola Atrix 4G running Android 2.3.6 firmware 4.5.141
A Windows PC (32-bit)
Motorola USB drivers for Windows. Download the drivers from here and install them on your PC.
A fully charged battery so that your Motorola Atrix 4G will not shut off in the middle of the update process.
Make a backup of your important personal data.
Make sure you’ve enabled USB Debugging through the path “Settings > Applications > Development” and check USB Debugging.
Rooting files for the Motorola Atrix 4G (atrix-4g-moto-fastboot-win32.zip, 8.6 MB).

Instructions

Once you have everything, you may now proceed to rooting your Motorola Atrix 4G:

Download the rooting files package to your computer. (See link above.)
Extract the ZIP file’s contents to c:atrix-4g-root on your computer. (You will need to create a folder named “atrix-4g-root” in c: of your computer.
Turn off your phone completely.
Connect your Motorola Atrix 4G to your computer using the USB cable.
Reboot the phone to Fastboot mode. You can do this by holding down the Volume Down button while pressing the Power button until you see Fastboot on the screen. Press the Volume Up key and you should see “Starting Fastboot protocol support”.
Open a command prompt on your computer and enter the following commands:
- cd c:atrix-4g-root
- moto-fastboot.exe flash preinstall preinstall.img
- moto-fastboot.exe reboot
- adb shell
- /preinstall/dosu (NOTE: If this command doesn’t work, try /preinstall/su instead.)
- /bin/mount-0 remount,rw /system
- cp /preinstall/su /system/bin/
- chmod 6755 /system/bin/su
- PATH=/system/bin:$PATH pm install /preinstall/Superuser.apk
Reboot your phone.

Alternate Method

If the instructions above didn’t work for you, you can try using SuperOneClick 2.3.3. If using this on Windows XP, you’ll need to install Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 or higher. This method reportedly works for the Canadian (Bell) and Brazilian variants of the Motorola Atrix 4G.

Congratulations! Your Motorola Atrix 4G is now rooted.

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Comments

Rax

Do we have to have 32to bit windows?
- gasp
  
  I followed these instructions and I was using windows 7 home premium 64bit. All worked just fine
Filipe Rylander

Work perfectly on Windows 7 Ultimate x64, without problems :)
Skateschr

Is this even legit? Seeing as how xda still hasnt found a root method yet.
Keithogatabiz

i just clicked on ur link and it did not work.
Keithogatabiz

Sorry i forgot ur rooting link
Jim

Help. I get thru to the adb shell section and I get permission denied. What am I doing wrong. I have tried several other programs and nothing is rooting this phone. Build Ver 4.5.141 Android 2.3.6. Every program is crappy out to root this phone. Phone works great but cannot mobile hotspot w/o rooting. Help?
Jim

Sorry, meant crapping out. Vista 32 bit. All drivers downloaded and installed properly. I can get to the phone files with moto software, but, like I said, won’t root using the above method. The phone was purchased w/ Gingerbread 2.3.6 and Build Version 4.5.141 and was unlocked to support Walmart Family Mobile (tmobile) sim chip and works great. I simply cannot get this phone to root to get the mobile hotspot to come up and be able to use it. Help anyone. New to android. Converted from an I piece of crap phone.
http://profile.yahoo.com/WULKSVKV5BE4KFUBWXOB37N3EA Shaun

This is not right:

/bin/mount-0 remount,rw /system

It should be:

/bin/mount -o remount,rw /system

I got it to work from here:
http://www.android-advice.com/2012/root-the-motorola-atrix-4g-running-4-5-141/
- GetWorked
  
  This fixed the problem for me. After that one little change everything went fine.
Oded_k99

Works like charm, thanks.
Guest

WOW, I’m glad I skipped to the “Alternate Method”. SuperOneClick is awsome!!!
didn’t have to reboot my phone or go to fatboot mode or anything!
Just plug in my phone (with debug mode enabled), click root, and that’s IT!
That should be the first choice, it was so perfect.
Laguritto

Whot about Windoors :) x64bit ???
Iareish

it keeps asking for a su binary update, any suggestions?
ACraigL

The command:
/bin/mount-0 remount,rw /system

is incorrect, and should read:
/bin/mount -o remount,rw /system
Robbeaudin

I cant get this to work. Very frustrated. Im on an att atrix 4g running 2.3.6, 4.5.141. When I get to the second command line it will not let me go any further. I type in moto-fastboot.exe flash preinstall preinstall.img, and all I get is an error that says moto-fastboot.exe is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.
- Dumlerchris
  
  go into c: and then into your atrix-4g-root folder. There is probably another atrix-4g-root folder in there. This is the one you need to have directly on c: Cut this folder and paste it to c:, then try again
  - http://www.facebook.com/callmehasan Mohamed Hasan
    
    still doesnt work for me
- bryan reimer
  
  did you put in c:atrix-4g-root?
http://profile.yahoo.com/UW4347B42TCRDOXHT7EDGH45TI MrG

I can’t get it beyond this step :
/preinstall/dosu
bash: group:command not found
root@localhost:/#

i tried to use
/preinstall/su instead. but Permission Denied.

Could you please advise how to fix this !!
Thanks
- JDurbin
  
  I am having the same issues, i cannot get passed that command promt….some one please help!! D:
  - http://www.facebook.com/greg.mcclendon Greg McClendon
    
    I got stuck here as well, after executing the “moto-fastboot.exe flash preinstall preinstall.img” command you must perform another fastboot. The instructions tell you to execute “moto-fastboot.exe reboot” but when I performed fastboot manually (power off, hold power button & vol down button, wait for fastboot on phone, then press vol up to initiate) I was able to login as root. Continue on w/ next instructions, adb shell, etc. and either dosu or su should work.
    - Steve W
      
      You only need to select the “massive storage option ” in your phone, and the run ok!
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1562880135 Pulkeet Mehra

After Step 3: “moto-fastboot.exe reboot”

the phone restarts
I type in abd shell, etc. etc. (follow the rest of the steps)
but there is no Superuser and no root acess
Richiepub

Worked great. Wait for the phone to fully start up before typing in the ‘adb shell’ step.
JustinT

I got as far as:
cd c:/atrix-4g-root
moto-fastboot.exe flash preinstall preinstall.img

And all I see is:

Am I doing something wrong here? I tried SuperOneClick, but it also got hung up at a certain point.
- Sui
  
  I finally got to the second step, and got stuck like you. Did you find a solution to your problem? If yes, could you please share? Thank you.
  - cat
    
    press up on volume button
    - mike
      
      I’m having the same problem – tried pressing up on the volume button, but it didn’t solve anything. Anyone know a solution to this?
      - mike
        
        solved it – just had to make sure the usb was connected and i was holding down the volume down button as it started up, and then pressed the volume up button as soon as i saw fastboot. now i can’t get past the adb command though – i get a device not found error message
      - mike
        
        solved that. now i can’t get past the next step. preinstall/dosu didn’t work – so i entered preinstall/su, which seemed to do something, but when i entered the next commands it didn’t work. Can anyone help with this??
      - mike
        
        nevermind, figured that one out too – i entered “cd” instead of “cp”. the whole process seems to have finally worked.
      - Shay
        
        How did you solve the device not found error when entering the adb command?
Lajense

can I use a windows pc 64 bit instead
Chuck Murry

I used Windows 7 x64 and used the cmd.exe found in windowssyswow64 folder instead of cmd.exe found in the system32 folder.
- Jose D Gomez84
  
  and it worked?
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000497808076 Artur Gorbenko

Thats what it says on the first step
- Sui
  
  I get the exact same thing. I wonder why. Did you find a solution to your problem?
- Sui
  
  Hey, I think I know where you went wrong.
  The author’s instructions contain mistakes. It should be
  “cd c:/atrix-4g-root” with a slash after “c:”, not without, as seen in the instructions.
- chepe263
  
  for the record, go to the folder where you extracted the zip, open the folder atrix-4g-root, press SHIFT and Right Click and select “Open command prompt here”
Sui

Hi, will this method work on a 64-bit Windows system?
- Steve W
  
  Yes
Cgorton

Worked like a champ, had a couple issues trying to get it to run but after letting it fully reboot before the “adb shell” step and keeping the screen from locking it all went smoothly.
uzi

Make sure that the device is recognized by the OS (icon on system track, new device etc etc…) before executing the ‘adb shell’
otherwise, it will just reply that device is not recognized or error….
VenttAtrix

worked like a charm! I tried the xyz method and it was no good, but this one is excellent except for the few typing errors from the author.
bryan reimer

i got to /preinstall/su and it says permisson denied what do i do then
- bryan reimer
  
  never mind i got it to work :) but how do you know if you did it right?
Raul

the whole process went well on my laptop and atrix. I am using Win 7 64 bit and could get through everything. I could see it is rooted because I have root access I never had before. Otherwise when I put the phone on recovery mode the yellow triangle warning still comes out. I don’t get this part. Could someone advice me what to do next for a 100% root?
MiguelSR

Very easy… Just follow the steps and see the corrections below, and you are done… Very please, Thak You !!!
Devon

For some reason my Atrix turns itself back on when I turn it off. Fuck.
- http://profiles.google.com/inchrist1000 Christian Gemme
  
  It doesn’t matter just hold volume down while shutting it down and while it turns back on. When it turns back on if you are still holding volume down it will say “fastboot” at the top. It will turn itself back on if you are plugged into your computer as instructed to in this guide.
Mark

it keeps saying insuficient storage at the end. how much space do i need on the device?
- Narchigo
  
  HI I found out! At the end you wrote “SUPERUSER.apk” instead of “Superuser.apk”
Kumar

After the reboot, it just sits on Fastboot, Starting Fastboot protocol support… Any ideas?
Myles

Ok so ive tried both superoneclick and the fast boot method but botg get stuck on the shell part…. is the shell something im supposed to install?
Kevin

Is “starting rsd protocol” the same as fastbooting?
Angry Reader

This method hard bricked my phone………
sfxram

hi,able to root atlast,here is wat the problems i faced,and how i fixed and wat i understood how this works..

1.before adb command should wait for the device to boot fully till your usb in mobile sync’s with the system(it useually takes few more secs after u see ur homescreen) wait till that and enter adb shell in ur command window..

2. and by any means you are not able to see adb command work you got to follow from step one again

3. as many said earlier
/bin/mount-0 remount,rw /system -shld be-> /bin/mount -o remount,rw /system4. the spaces in the command which is very imp bcoz of that i got to try several times making mistakes with spaces ..so i made single spaces triple for u to understand..though u use single space while actually using..cd c:atrix-4g-root
moto-fastboot.exe flash preinstall preinstall.img
moto-fastboot.exe reboot
adb shell
/preinstall/dosu (NOTE: If this command doesn’t work, try /preinstall/su instead.)
/bin/mount -o remount,rw /system
cp /preinstall/su/system/bin/
chmod 6755 /system/bin/su
PATH=/system/bin:$PATH pm install /preinstall/Superuser.apk
after this step, at last it says ->success(watch for it)
Best of luck Guys!
- sfxram
  
  omg! after typying this posting window shrinked all the spaces i left bet the commands..after posting..hard luck..
http://www.facebook.com/udithakw Uditha Kumara Wijesinghe

it worked, iam using 64 bit windows 7,

but u need to use correct way

/bin/mount -o remount,rw /system

thanks a great post.
Aaron

its stuck on waiting for device
Jim Gribbin

I don’t have Windows Any way to do this on Linux?
James

I had to disable my fingerprint security first.
Steve W

Hi, everybody , i had some problems with the mount and remount, but i solved it when i selected the “massive storage option” in my phone, sorry for my english,

ahora en español:
solo seleccionen la opcion de almacenamiento masivo para que nos deje escribir en el kernel de sistema operativo y asi poder correr todos los pasos sin errores, saludos.
bturrie

Worked perfectly first time through. Thanks
dantaslevi

/bin/mount-0 remount,rw /system

don’t works =S

Tip Us!

Root the Motorola Atrix 4G running Android 2.3.6 firmware 4.5.141

Requirements

Instructions

Alternate Method

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Tip Us!

Root the Motorola Atrix 4G running Android 2.3.6 firmware 4.5.141

Requirements

Instructions

Alternate Method

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