Being a true-blooded Android, the Galaxy Nexus will have all the traits and characteristics of Google’s OS. And, because of that, this device can also get some rooting treatment just like any other Android gadget out there.
Rooting the Galaxy Nexus might be a little tricky at first, since Ice Cream Sandwich is new, but our very able Android community made it happen. If you own a Galaxy Nexus running on Android 4.0.2 Ice Cream Sandwich, you can easily root it using Chainfire’s CF-Root kernel.
In this guide, you will learn how to root your Galaxy Nexus using CF-Root version 5.1. The modified kernel in CF-Root 5.1 is intended for “rooting beginners,” which means it is very close to the stock one. The only special features added to the modded kernel were Superuser 3, Busybox 1.19, Insecure, and custom boot/init scripts.
There are two ways to flash the CF-Root kernel to your phone. The first method uses Odin3, and the second one uses Fastboot.
Important Reminders
- Make sure you have a fully charged battery.
- You will need a Windows PC for the process.
- If you want to use the Fastboot method, the Android SDK needs to be installed in your PC.
- Write down the build number of your device. You can find it under Settings -> About Phone -> Build Number.
- This process will delete data on devices that are not yet OEM unlocked.
Method 1: Flashing the Kernel Using Odin
- Download the CF-Root kernel based on the build number you wrote down earlier. For the YAKJU build number, download it here. For the MYSID build number, get it here. Save the ZIP file to your computer.
- Extract the ZIP file. The extracted file will be a .tar file.
- Download Odin3 version 1.85 from here. This is the software that you are going to use to load the modded kernel into the device.
- Extract the contents of the Odin3 ZIP file into a folder on your computer.
- Open the folder where you extracted the Odin3 files to.
- Run the Odin3 executable file.
- In the Odin3 window, make sure that the Re-Partition option is not checked.
- Click on the PDA button. Browse for the .tar file that you extracted earlier and select it. It will be loaded into Odin3.
- Reboot the Galaxy Nexus into download mode by first turning off the phone, then press and hold down the Volume Down key, then press the Power button.
- Connect the device to your computer using a USB cable.
- Press the Start button in Odin3 to flash the kernel to the device.
- The device will reboot after flashing is complete.
Method 2: Flashing the Kernel Using Fastboot
- Download the CF-Root kernel based on the build number you wrote down earlier. For the YAKJU build number, download it here. For the MYSID build number, get it here. Save the ZIP file to your computer.
- Extract the ZIP file. The extracted file will be a .tar file.
- Extract the contents of the .tar file further. You can ue WinRAR for this. The extracted file will be called boot.img.
- Copy boot.img into the Android SDK directory where fastboot.exe is found. Fastboot is typically found in the /tools or /platform-tools folder.
- Open a command prompt window and switch to the directory where fastboot.exe is located.
- Reboot your phone into fastboot mode. First, turn off the device. Then, press and hold down the Volume Up and Volume Down keys, then press the Power button.
- Connect the device to your computer using a USB cable.
- If your phone is not yet OEM-unlocked, unlock your phone by issuing the following command on the command prompt: “fastboot oem unlock” (without the quotes). This command will wipe all your phone data.
- Flash boot.img to your phone by issuing this command on the command prompt (without the quotes): “fastboot flash boot boot.img”
- Press the Power button to reboot the device and complete the process.
Congratulations! You have successfully rooted your Galaxy Nexus using CF-Root 5.1. Which of the two methods did you use? And, how did it go?
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