[INTRO] So you bought a NOOKcolor, now what? (aka - A Complete Idiots Guide)

[faceman]

Preface:
I am by no means an Android Expert or programmer of any sort. And with the exception of where I express my personal experiences and opinions, pretty much everything in this article and it's subsequent posts is the fruit of other peoples hard labor and efforts. I will attempt to thank each and every one of them, but if I miss someone please accept my pre-apologies and let me know so I can update.

OK, so you bought a NOOKcolor (NC) and now you are considering the possibilities beyond the stock Barnes & Noble (B&N) software. Well, there are a lot of options and a ton of benefit to going there. There are also risks involved, and you will certainly void your warranty. However, the wonderful engineers and designers of the NC made certain that unless you have a physical failure your NC can be fixed no matter how badly you mistakenly mess it up. But just because you can fix something doesn't mean that process is always easy and simple. In fact, breaking the device is almost always easier than fixing it. But that was what prompted me to create this article and compile all the information that I have included. There is no reason that with a little preperation you can't be prepared for any disaster and be ready to bounce back quickly. So here is my version of how you should approach the world of Rooting a NOOKcolor:


Assumptions:
Throughout this article I will assume as little as possible, and as such will outline as much as I can. To begin with, in order to do any of the things below you have to have purchased a NC. It's hard to root a device you don't have. I am also going to assume that you have at least two (2) micro SD cards. I am going to assume that you have a working computer (PC in my case) that will allow you internet access and some form of card reader for the mSD. I am going to assume that you have never rooted anything before, if you have then some things will seem trivial, but pay attention anyway because the NC is a different device than your phone.


Definitions/Glossary:
This is something that I think should probably deserve its own thread but I am going to leave that to someone else for now. I am going to try to include every term, accronym, etc that I use in this article. Please help if I missed one.

• NOOKcolor: your device, it's awesome (IMHO) and is also known as 'encore' by some developers. Also referred to as NC, nook, tablet-of-the-financially-impaired-gods
• ROM: Common term that encompasses the entire operating system. Can be either an entirely new version of the system (ie. Windows 98 v. OS-10) or a new edition of a system (ie. Windows 98 v. Windows XP) or even a themed and customized version of a system (ie. i got nothing here, anyone got a good example?)
• Root(ing): This is simply giving the user (you) administrative rights to the operating system of the device. A basic root of the NC will appear the same as it did before you started, but you have the ability to change system level things now. Thankfully, there's a lot of people that enoy creating whole packages of changes to throw on top of the rooting process so you don't have to get dirty with the coding level.
• Clockwork: The recovery software of choice for our beloved device. Also referred to as ClockworkMod Recovery, CWR, CMR, and 'thank-the digital-heavens-you-exist'
• Flash(ing): This is the act of installing something new to the device via a recovery software (ie. Clockwork).
• Burn(ing): This is the act of taking an image file (.img) and placing the image onto a micro SD memory card. A program is required to do this, and I recommend Win32DiskImager.
• bootable SD: A micro SD card that has a bootable image burned to it, can be either a full ROM or just a bootable recovery system.
• NAND/nand: Common term that refers to a Nandroid Backup. The original (iirc) utility to backup the Android system installed on a phone.
• mSD: My shorthand for micro Secure Digital memory card
• b_SD: My shorthand for a bootable mSD
• OOBE: Acronym for 'Out Of Box Experience' - the initial set-up walk-through the NC does when turned on for the first time. This will register the device to your B&N account and connect to wifi.

Willing & Unsuspecting contributors from here:
Rico2001, Darmeen, Stelv, LocalStain, avi, AnimaTechnica, lifeisfun, gadgetrants, others I am sure I forgot

Willing & Unsuspecting contributors from XDA:
dalingrin, nemith, thecubed, brian21, samuelhalff, phiredrop, deeper-blue, Decad3nce, shad0xf0x, xawen

 

[faceman]

see FAQ version here: http://www.androidtablets.net/forum...color-now-what-aka-complete-idiots-guide.html

read there, discuss here

 

[faceman]

see FAQ version here: http://www.androidtablets.net/forum...color-now-what-aka-complete-idiots-guide.html

read there, discuss here

 

[faceman]

held for future additions

 

[faceman]

Still working on:

• Complete Idiot's Guide to the 1000 Ways to Recover a Dead/Nuked/Bricked/Slagged/Borked/Screwed/PeedOn/Sticky NOOKcolor
• A hundred and one ways to miss work/school because your NOOKcolor made you do it
• The Just Barely Smarter than an Idiot's Guide to Installing CyanogenMod 7/8/9 (and other freakish custom ROMs)

Thanks for your support.

 

[darmeen]

This is bloody brilliant...I was contemplating doing the very same thing...I am going to place these instructions into our new FAQ subforum. Faceman, if you find you need to make any changes to these instructions once it is locked down there(I couldn't find anything in my read through), let one of us mods know.

 

[darmeen]

Locking the thread over there will make sure you always have room to add without members having to go through pages and pages.

 

[rico2001]

Wow nice job faceman! Where have you been hiding this write up? Thread will be very helpful. Love the glossary and your closing statement on post #5.

Thanks very much

 

[dpakrr]

complete "idiots" guide is offensive. should be "beginners". my 2c

otherwise great job faceman, thanks for your effort and time!

 

[avi]

Nice job faceman !

 

[GrEn]

Great guide. The SoftKeys section really helped me deal with the annoyances I was having with it.

 

[Vichon]

complete "idiots" guide is offensive. should be "beginners". my 2c

otherwise great job faceman, thanks for your effort and time!

IMHO - if you are here for this level of help, "idiot" is hardly offensive - he could have used "for dummies", but that's taken.

Faceman - great job! Consider adding "ASOP" to the glossary. It still makes me hiccup when I see it.

 

[RaVenJ]

BEFORE YOU ROOT YOUR DEVICE
It is a good idea to have a clean slate to start things from, and since the act of rooting your NC will immediately void your warranty, a backup of your existing ROM will make any warranty situation very easy. If you ever need to take the device back to the store for warranty, you will need to revert it back to an un-rooted state. The quickest way to do that is to just flash a backup of the original ROM. Since we have not yet rooted the NC, we will have to use a bootable mSD card. This mSD does not have to be big or fast, since it's whole purpose is disaster recovery. All it will do is perform backups and restore backups. Backup sizes will vary, the more data and apps you have installed, the bigger the backup will be. It's also a good idea to archive the backups to your computer so you can collect as many backups as you want without filling the card, and just move over the ones that you need when you need them. A 2gb card should be plenty storage and a cheap Class 2 will be perfect. These can be found for less than $10 now, so it's a very worthwhile investment. Now that you have a backup, you can always use the b_SD to restore that backup and start over again. Remember, that if you are restoring a backup to sell your device (eBay, Craigslist, etc) make sure you De-Register the device before selling it, I have already bought a few used NCs and two still had the original owners information in the device, not smart.

How to create a bootable CWR/Recovery mSD card

1. If using a PC, download/install an image burning program such as Win32DiskImage (https://launchpad.net/win32-image-writer/+download) If using a Mac/Linux - find detailed instructions here (NookColor Rooting - nookDevs)
2. Download a bootable CWR image file (Index of /nookdev/clockwork/0.7)
3. This file needs to be unpacked (winzip, winrar, 7zip, etc) until you have an appropriately sized *.img file.
4. Make sure you know where this file is stored, you will have to point the image burning program to it.
5. Using the image burning program, burn the *.img file to the mSD you have for backup use.
6. Once the image is burned, look at your card from My Computer
7. The drive will appear to have the capacity of the *.img file you downloaded
8. You should have a drive labeled "boot" with 4 files (mlo, u-boot, uImage, uRamdisk)
9. open the drive and add a folder "clockworkmod"
10. open clockworkmod folder and add a folder "backup"
11. Safely remove the mSD from you PC

Creating a nand backup that is stored on the card

1. With the NC powered off, insert the bootable CWR you created
2. Power on the NC - you should see a skull and crossbones mini-boot animation
3. Once you are booted into ClockworkMod Recovery (borrowed from http://www.androidtablets.net/forum...m-manager-nandroid-backup-custom-kernels.html)
   • CWR Controls:
   • Vol + -- Scroll Up
   • Vol - -- scroll down
   • N -- Select/Enter
   • Power -- Back
4. Scroll down to "backup and restore" - press "n"
5. Highlight "backup" - press "n" to start the nandroid backup process
6. Wait, the backup process takes about 5 minutes and will return to the main menu when completed
7. Scroll down to "mounts and storage" - press "n"
8. Scroll down to "unmount sdcard" - press "n"
9. Remove the CWR bootable from the NC
10. Press power button to return to main menu
11. Highlight "Reboot now" - press "n" (This will reboot NC)

Archiving your nand backups to pc for storage

1. a. Insert the CWR bootable card back into your PC
2. b. Open to view files
3. c. Copy the clockworkmod folder to a safe place on your PC for archival purposes
4. d. Safely remove the mSD from you PC - store someplace safe

Restoring a nand backup from the card
(This is placed here for lack of a better place in my write-up)

1. With the NC powered off, insert the bootable CWR you created (make sure it has the backup folder you want to restore)
2. Power on the NC - you should see a skull and crossbones mini-boot animation
3. Once you are booted into ClockworkMod Recovery (borrowed from http://www.androidtablets.net/forum...m-manager-nandroid-backup-custom-kernels.html)
   • -CWR Controls:
   • ~Vol + -- Scroll Up
   • ~Vol - -- scroll down
   • ~N -- Select/Enter
   • ~Power -- Back
4. -It's a good idea to wipe some areas to ensure a clean restore
5. -Scroll down to "wipe cache partition"
6. -Press "n" button to enter or go to next sub-menu
7. -Scroll down to "yes - wipe cache"
8. -Press "n" button to execute
9. -Once complete, you will be back to main menu
10. -Scroll down to "advanced"
11. -Press "n" button to enter
12. -Scroll down to "Wipe Dalvik cache"
13. -Press "n" to go to next sub-menu
14. -Scroll down to "yes - wipe dalvik cache"
15. -Press "n" to execute
16. -Once complete, press power button to go back to main menu
    • (If CWR locks up after wiping Dalvik it's ok. Just press and hold the power button until the NC reboots, it will boot back into CWR thanks to the bootable CWR SD.
17. -Once both caches are wiped, proceed to performing a full system restore
18. -Scroll down to "backup and restore"
19. -Press "n" to go to next sub-menu
20. -Scroll down to "restore"
21. -Press "n" to go to next sub-menu
22. -Scroll to the backup image (by date) you wish to flash (install/restore)
23. -Press "n" to execute (pick image)
24. -Scroll down to "yes - Restore"
25. -Press "n" to execute
    • (Once the restore is complete you will see a "Restore Complete!" message.)
    • (note: A full restore will take anywhere from 10-15 minutes to complete.)
26. -Scroll down to "mounts and storage" - press "n"
27. -Scroll down to "unmount sdcard" - press "n"
28. -Remove the CWR bootable from the NC
29. -Press power button to return to main menu
30. -Highlight "Reboot now" - press "n" (This will reboot NC)

OK, assume someone didn't see this step before they rooted their NC.. Is there any way to download a factory stock image? I'd like to take mine back to bone stock and do it all again to clear out all the mistakes I made before I knew better..

 

[RaVenJ]

IMHO - if you are here for this level of help, "idiot" is hardly offensive - he could have used "for dummies", but that's taken.

Faceman - great job! Consider adding "ASOP" to the glossary. It still makes me hiccup when I see it.

I think the thread is titled just fine. I have several "Complete Idiot's.........." books, as well as a few "Dummies" books and they start with the bare bones essentials, just like this thread. There is nothing offensive about his thread title.

 

[darmeen]

OK, assume someone didn't see this step before they rooted their NC.. Is there any way to download a factory stock image? I'd like to take mine back to bone stock and do it all again to clear out all the mistakes I made before I knew better..

Check the thread in my sig...everything you need to revert to stock