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Root your Moto G - option 1: Superboot


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Guest PaulOBrien
Posted

What is this?

Superboot is a boot.img that when booted, will root your device the first time you boot (installing su and the superuser APK). No need to flash any partitions, no messing with the contents of your data partition, no overwriting the shipped ROM on your device, just boot the boot image using the instructions below and you're done!

What are the pre-requisites?

YOU NEED YOUR BOOTLOADER UNLOCKED TO CARRY OUT THIS PROCESS. It's easy using fastboot, which is included in the download below. The instructions on the Motorola site are very straightforward - visit this page to get started. Unlocking the bootloader will wipe your device.

Any caveats?

Aside from the bootloader unlock wiping your device and invalidating your warranty, you should note that while rooting may affect your ability to receive future OTAs, reverting back to stock is easy enough. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. ;)

Download

APPLY THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK!

  • Superboot r2 - DOWNLOAD (ROMraid) - MD5: a4ca11f526f57f643a0a552ec234ad6f
How to use Superboot - Windows, Linux and OSX
  • Download the Superboot zip file above and extract to a directory
  • Put your device in bootloader mode - Turn off the phone then turn on with the 'volume down' button pressed to enter the bootloader.
  • WINDOWS - run 'superboot-windows.bat' as Administrator
  • MAC - Open a terminal window to the directory containing the files, and type 'chmod +x superboot-mac.sh' followed by 'sudo ./superboot-mac.sh'
  • LINUX - Open a terminal window to the directory containing the files, and type 'chmod +x superboot-linux.sh' followed by 'sudo ./superboot-linux.sh'
Enjoy! :)

P

PS If you find this useful, please consider supporting MoDaCo by signing up for a MoDaCo subscription! Visit the store for further details!

grooted.jpg

Guest spike68
Posted

Paul. I have said this before on xda but.... What a guy! Many thanks your eminence. *Gets back in box.

Guest Joshua74
Posted (edited)

Hi there,

 

I'm having trouble :

 

fastboot-windows.exe boot boot.superboot.img
downloading 'boot.img'...
OKAY [  0.281s]
booting...
OKAY [  0.250s]
finished. total time: 0.531s

 

 

something's going wrong, seems like "boot.img" isn't sent... but shouldn't be "boot.superboot.img" instead of "boot.img" ?

 

boot.img is 7 734ko on my folder.

 

Thanks for any help !

Edited by Joshua74
Guest PaulOBrien
Posted

Hi there,

 

I'm having trouble :

 

 

something's going wrong, seems like boot.img isn't sent... My bootloader is unlocked.

 

boot.img is 7 734ko on my folder.

 

Thanks for any help !

That looks like it's worked OK to me...?

The device should then boot. It'll appear to boot normally, but it'll be rooted when it comes up.

P

Guest TescoHudl
Posted

Paul, you are an absolute superstar! Thank you so much!!! :D

Guest Joshua74
Posted

It boots normally, but no su apk, when i try root checker it says it's not root, and if y a try to install superSU it says binaries are missing.

 

downloading 'boot.img'...
OKAY [  0.281s]
 
It's not too short for an almost 7 Mo file ? why 'boot.img' and not 'boot.superboot.img' ?
 
Thanks
Guest TescoHudl
Posted

Bit of a dumb question but, how do i copy the code from command prompt, into the Motorola website. Copy and paste doesn't work in command prompt, so i don't get how this is possible?

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

IJBwsAX.png

Guest TescoHudl
Posted

Right click the top of the bar and then choose mark

        

 

 

Thank you, i didn't realise you could do that! :)

 

------------------------------------------------

 

What the heck is this? I typed my code into the box, without spaces or 'Bootloader' text like it says, and it comes up that my phone does not qualify for bootloader unlocking!! Why not?!

 

9wo2.png

Posted

 

It boots normally, but no su apk, when i try root checker it says it's not root, and if y a try to install superSU it says binaries are missing.

 

downloading 'boot.img'...
OKAY [  0.281s]
 
It's not too short for an almost 7 Mo file ? why 'boot.img' and not 'boot.superboot.img' ?
 
Thanks

 

 

Hey,

I have got the same problem. I am unlocked (status code 3), but your bootimg fails to boot. I also tried it with my version of fastboot (latest from SDK) but it has no effect. I even flashed your image as my primary boot partition, but it refuses to boot, so I had to reflash stock boot.img.

Any idea?

Guest TescoHudl
Posted

That sounds a bit troubling, where is it from?

 

Tesco's, on the Tesco pay as you go network! I bought it this morning as soon as the phone shop opened in my local store.

 

If you take a look at this thread on the Motorola forums, it seems to be a recent issue affecting the Motorala Moto X also: https://forums.motorola.com/posts/2cf3fea770

Guest PaulOBrien
Posted

a1pha, where is your device from? Which model is it? Euro or US?

Please upload your stock boot image.

P

Guest PaulOBrien
Posted
It is the RETAIL_DE from Germany. Stock boot.img as requested. Thanks.
I guess the boot image is slightly different on your device? I'll have a look when I get a spare 10 minutes. Watch this space! P
Posted

I guess the boot image is slightly different on your device? I'll have a look when I get a spare 10 minutes. Watch this space! P

 

I ran a diff against the contents of the ramdisks on your initrd and the stock one from my boot.img. The only differences are the changes to default.prop and init.rc you made (and the superboot folder).

The kernels differ. Updated your bootimg with the zImage from my boot.img (using abootimg) - still refuses to boot.

Guest packers77fr
Posted

Dear, 

 

I got same issue like a1Pha. My moto come with retail_FR, can I test your new boot.img too ?

Guest TeamKilo
Posted (edited)

Hey guys,

Can someone post a step by step "for dummies" guide to flashing the stock unbranded firmware to over right the UK Tesco firmware?
I've already downloaded the unbranded UK RETAIL firmware and unlocked my phone to use in other networks, that's as far as I've got.
Not looking to root or anything else, just to apply the stock unbranded firmware so that I can get future updates from Motorola and not Tesco.
Thanks.

 

edit. will create new topic, sorry!

Edited by TeamKilo
Guest PaulOBrien
Posted

TeamKilo, this topic is about root. Please start a new topic.

a1Pha, strange, i'll have a think on it...

P

Guest seapoint
Posted

@PaulOBrien

If it's any help, I am on Win 8.1 x64 and running your .bat at first didn't work.

 

I just ran an elevated command and manually ran fastboot boot boot.superboot.img  Job done, thanks.

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