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How to Root Your Acer Iconia Tab A500

By
August 31, 2011

The Acer Iconia Tab A500 is one of the most highly regarded among currently existing Honeycomb tablets. Since its debut, many eyes have been fixed on it. For the enthusiasts who could not resist buying it, the Iconia Tab A500 packs stock features whose limits the enthusiasts would like to stretch further.  The first way to do that is to root the Acer Iconia Tab A500, and our friends from the XDA Developers site have managed to figure out just how.

This article guides you through the steps in rooting the Acer Iconia Tab A500.

Disclaimer: ROOTING THE ACER ICONIA A500 WILL VOID YOUR WARRANTY. Android Authority disclaims all liability for any harm that may befall your device, including, but not limited to, bricked phones, voided manufacturer warranties, exploding batteries, etc.

What You Need

What To Do

  1. Connect the Acer Iconia Tab A500 to the computer via USB.
  2. Enable “Unknown Sources” in Settings » Applications.
  3. Enable “USB Debugging” on your Acer Iconia Tab A500 in Settings » Applications » Development.
  4. Download the modified version of the GingerBreak app from the link provided above and save it in a designated folder on your computer.
  5. On the computer, open a terminal (also known as command prompt on Windows-based systems) and run the following commands:
    adb push c:/*[path]*/Gingerbreak-v1.20.apk /data/local
    (where *[path]* refers to the directory location of the GingerBreak files. For example: c:/Users/user/Desktop/New Folder/Gingerbreak-v1.20.apk /data/local
  6. Switch the tablet to portrait mode by rotating the tablet’s display and lock the screen to this mode.
  7. Download the OI File Manager and BusyBox from the links provided above.  Save them to your computer and copy them to the root of your SD card.
  8. Launch the OI File Manager on the A500 and look for /data/local/Gingerbreak-v1.20.apk. Install the APK file.
  9. Once installed, launch the Gingerbreak app on your device and choose ‘Root’. It is important that your device is locked to portrait mode or else the app will automatically close.
  10. Be patient. Your device will reboot once it is finished rooting.
  11. After the tablet reboots, launch BusyBox and it will automatically install itself on your device.

Presto! You now have gained root access on your Acer Iconia Tab A500. Now, your next destination is flashing a good custom ROM to give your user experience a lift.