Everyone seems to appreciate it when we do guides and hacks so I thought it was time to film another. Today we will be hacking the new Nexus One.
This is not a beginners guide. If you are a beginner, you should not be hacking your phone. These instructions assume you have previously hacked at least one Android device.
Before we begin
Make sure you have accomplished the following things
- Installed the USB drivers (grab them from Google or XDA)
- Confirm your device is recognized by ADB (see CyanogenMod Wiki or XDA for help)
- Backed up any important data from your device
Watch the video walk through once to get a preview of the entire process. Your first time might take you 30 minutes, but it can be completed in less than 10.
How to unlock and root a Google Nexus One from clarklab on Vimeo.
Step 1: Unlock your bootloader
In order to flash a new recovery image, you must unlock your bootloader. This process is quite simple, but it will wipe your phone.
- Reboot phone into fastboot: Power off device and hold down trackball while powering back on. (The fastboot screen is the one with the Androids on skateboards)
- Open a command prompt and navigate to your Android SDK tools folder.
- Type ‘fastboot devices‘ to make sure your phone is recognized.
- Type ‘fastboot oem unlock‘ to unlock the bootloader.
- Use volume keys to navigate to yes and press the power button to confirm.
Step 2: Flash a new recovery image
Next we will download a new recovery image that allows us to flash custom zip packages.
- Visit XDA and download Amon_RA’s recovery image for the Nexus One.
- Copy the file to your Android SDK tools folder.
- Open a command prompt and navigate to your Android SDK tools folder.
- Type ‘fastboot flash recovery recovery-RA-nexus-v1.5.3.img‘. (Note filename will change as recovery image is updated)
Step 3: Boot into recovery mode and flash N1 Addon
Now that the new recovery image is installed, it is time to reboot into recovery mode and flash a custom zip package. Since your phone was just wiped, you might have to enable usb debugging again so ADB and fastboot commands will work.
Double check: Go to Settings > Application settings > Development > USB debugging (enable)
For this guide we will be flashing Cyanogen’s N1 Addon.
- Visit XDA and download Cyanogen’s N1 Addon. (or any other custom .zip file you want to flash)
- Copy the .zip file to the root directory of your SD card.
- Open a command prompt and navigate to your Android SDK tools folder.
- Type ‘adb reboot recovery‘ to reboot the phone into recovery mode. (The recovery screen says “Android system recovery” with green text on black background)
- Use the trackball to navigate to “Flash zip from sdcard” and then select the zip file you wish to flash.
- Follow the on screen instructions. Press the trackball to begin the flash when prompted.
- When the flash is complete, navigate to reboot and press the trackball to reboot.
Congratulations, you are finished and it is now time to download some root apps from the Android Market. Search the Market for SetCPU for Root Users, Nexus One Torch, or use the term “Nexus root” and see what you find.
Problems?
If you run into any serious problems please visit our forums and we will do our best to help. The XDA Nexus One forums are also a great resource.
Please share any other Nexus One hacks and root apps in the comments and we will add them to this post.
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Taylor Wimberly
Taylor is the founder of Android and Me. He loves playing with all kinds of gadgets, but most importantly cell phones. His other hobbies include cooking (BBQ hero!), politics, football, and watching every MMA event possible.
56 Comments
Is that a nexus dock and where can I get one?
It’s from ThinkGeek. Honestly it worked better with my Cliq and MyTouch but it still holds onto the Nexus pretty well. The Nexus camera lens is raised just enough to make the back of the phone uneven but if you hang the lens up off the top of the surface it holds tight.
Wow. So much nicer than rooting my G1. There is an obvious lack of hoops to step through.
It would be a good idea to do a nandroid back up after step 2.
WOW! I want a N1 even more now. That seems so much easier to root than a G1.
Thanks for the vid guys.
Just curious – is switchrom supported on the N1?
Thank you very much.
Just two small noob question:
1. I think it’s obvious, after installing the root image I won’t receive any system updates/upgrades, do I?
2. Is there a way to recover it back to the original state?
Thanks for asking the question. I’m particularly interested in whether there’s a way to de-root the device back to default. I’ve jailbroken iPhones many times before the process became easy, so I’m not worried, but as a failsafe it would be great to know if there’s a way to restore to default. Also, thank you for the video, guys!
Is it just me or did after the root and add-on did the phone just get stuttery and laggy…particularly with the browser?
Quite a few people seem to be having problems after rooting – I’d leave it for now unless you have a really good reason for doing it.
What widget is that running at the beginning of the video? It is transparent, with a clock and weather and is 4×2. I really like it and would like to put it on my phone. Thanks!
Can any of the creators of this story help me out? I really want that widget for my phone but just cant seem to find it in the market. My gmail is RayKinStL if you’d like to contact me directly with the info.
What is that widget on your homescreen?
That is Beautiful Widgets from the Android Market.
I received my phone last night and when I first powered it on, it went to this white screen with 3 skateboarding Androids. I was able to select the options and was able to boot up the device. Everything was working fairly decently until I decided to power off my phone. When I powered it back on it went back to the same white screen, but now it is stuck there showing FASTBOOT in red and with 4 other options below. I tried using the power, volume rocker, and trackball buttons to move navigate around but nothing happens. It is just stuck on this screen. I have tried everything, including removing the battery and inserting it back in. Has anyone had this problem? I wasn’t trying to root it.
Taylor,
What is the benefit of rooting. I had a G1 and never did it because I didn’t know exactly what it did. I now have the N1 and will probably have it for a while and wanted to know what rooting does to my phone? Thanks!
To my understanding, the benefit is enabling SU privileges (super user), and therefore running system-level apps such as changing the processor speed and other funky things like that. Also when rooting the droid, you can enable wireless tethering which is helpful if you have a laptop. Just gives you another dimension of phone access really.
Is it absolutely necessary to unlock it to install the custom OS?
Thanks for the great howto — was trying to follow the others out there and got confused. Thanks for clearing it up!
i will not be rooting my sweet nexus 1 because there is no one with videos or just one rom program that unlocks and restores your phone like the iphone devs made. until then ill love reading and looking at everyones reply’s and videos on how to’s.
the nexus needs a team that really loves it to make a rom system thats easy to use as a rooting tool for everyone. and thats when we know google have made a great O.S.. for now its just to many hacks and roms that i get lost in how to root.
Sense UI going to be on here any soon? That’s what I’m waiting on!
You the man!, Thanks for the instruction.
Rooted my N1 on 1/4/10 per instructions on this site and a few others. Installed the add-on and then wireless-tether for root users 1.80
My phone still working perfectly, no lags and I tested the wireless tether with a new Netbook running Win 7 Home Premium which instantly found the wi-fi the Android signal and let me surf the web on my netbook at 3g speed.
Prior to the nexus One I used a MyTouch3G for 5 months that i also rooted and used the same way. Without a doubt, the Nexus One runs circles around every prior phone I’ve owned including 4 iPhones. .
how does one identify a locked vs factory unlocked nexus one .???
i am ordering a factory unlocked version for 530 $ from the US .
if the seller unlocks the tmobile unit and changes the box .how can i identify if its a t mobile unit or factory unlocked ???
pls help
I’m new to rooting Android phones, but have flashed my Tillt about a hounded times. I’m stuck on how to Open a command prompt and navigate to your Android SDK tools folder part. I’m good with phones not PCs.
Somethings wrong. I got to the final instruction to reboot but now the phone doesnt get past the intiial loading screen…argh.
The only way i can reboot is by taking the battery out. And i still have access to recovery mode if that helps.
Rooting wasnt a problem, installing the RA wasnt a problem.
It took awhile to get the phone detected in windows through the USB Debugging mode.
Flashed it using the update-cm-5.0-N1-beta3-signed update.
Now its stuck on the screen thats flash ….
Just keeps doing it over and over. WTF is happening?
Any ideas please.
@ Kyle Orange, same thing happened to me, all you have to do is wipe then install.
Can someone PLEASE help me find a way to UNROOT the nexus one so I can get the updates and the multitouch capabilities??
I also would like to know how to “unroot” my nexus one
I’ve rooted my G1 in which i did it for custom ROMs and Apps2SD.
Now with rooting the N1 what benefits does it give besides custom ROM’s and custom Recovery files?
Also why aren’t you able to get the N1 up date if your phone is rooted with out any custom ROM’s.
i’m going to be getting a N1 later this month and I’m trying to decide if I should root it or not.
rooting gives you an advantage where you can install apps that require root……. like SetCPU etc
I did try this guide but did not succed. When using “adb reboot recovery” the phone reboots and trying to enter the recovery window but it does only goes to a window where i have an ! and a android dude standing on the side of the !.
Any tip on what I have done wrong? For me it feels like it’s recovery image that is bad however it did get flashed and it did stand OKAY after running it.
Except it did not work for me thanks for an awesom guide. Im sure it’s only a small thing this.
Hi Taylor,
I am neither a developer or a programmer but i just want to root my phone to be able to uninstall the google maps app (and then install the modified maps app to give me navigation since I’m outside the US)
Can you help me out here:
“Open a command prompt and navigate to your Android SDK tools folder.”
What exactly do I type? have only 1% of knowledge using terminal, which is usually the iphone scripts for jailbreaking before
Thanks! and cheers for the tutorial!
Are you running windows 7? If so the easiest thing to do is to go to the place you saved the sdk in your local drive, then hold shift and right click on the tools folder and click open in command prompt.
If your not in windows 7 then just cd to it, as in, in the command prompt type in cd, then the directory the tools folder is in. An example would be “cd C:\Users\****\Documents\Android-sdk-windows\tools” Just change everything after cd to the path you physically took to get to the tools folder from the local drive.
I hope this helps.
Ok. $179 for T-mobile’s locked Nexus + $200 termination fee. $379 total fee. This is less than $ 530. Is it right?
Not quite. Google also charges a major fee (initially this was $350, but it is now, or will soon be, $150).
I flashed my recovery with ./fastboot flash recovery recovery …..img
I reboot the phone, successfully reboot with adb reboot recovery. Then it’s the android standing there in front of a triangle with an exclamation mark. I keep redoing the fastboot part, but always the same end result.
I have of course unlocked the phone and the unlock is showing.
Same thing here. If anybody has any ideas. please feel free to share.
Btw I manually installed the latest google patch that enables multi touch, if that makes a difference.
OK, Drew,
This is what you do.
YOu boot into the boot loader (hold the trackball and Power).
When you get there issue the following command
fastboot boot recovery-RA-nexus-v1.5.3.img
That will start the image without flashing it.
You can install Cyan’s mod like that.
So far that’s all I got.
thanks so much! without your comment, i would still be staring at the exclamation mark android :p
and also thanks to AndroidandMe for the wonderful video and instructions!
would it be possible to add ivaylo’s comment in the instruction?
all those who think this is much easier than g1, try it first, I have tried to get fastboot to work in vista 32x, and win7 64x, and nothing works the solutions mentioned on the sites above, dont work in either windows, they just come up as windows is unable to install drivers, I love the nexus one but the unlock/root so far is full-on bullshit and there is no one here or on youtube willing to help
Will this unlocked and rooted Nexus one phone work with Other network providers(carriers)
nexus one comes unlocked.
sorry i meant yes you will be able to use with any carrier,
there are plans where you subscribe under a carrier in the US though, not sure if those can use other carriers while under the contract.
for those of you that used this command (because of the screen with ! in triangle bugdroid)
fastboot boot recovery-RA-nexus-v1.5.3.img
i believe your phone is not flashed with any recovery image yet.
you need to flash it to enable the nandroid backup.
visit the Amon_RA thread again and use the Terminal install method.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=611829
**take note though, you need to rename the .img file to something without numbers (keep the file extension .img), as i find normal terminals cant type numbers.. unless you bought “Better Terminal Emulator”
Dude you forgot to mention you instructions will void phone warranty. Damn.
Actually he stated quite clearly that it voids your warranty.
Will this work for the ATT version?
im a noob and i cant seem to get rid of android with ! on recovery screen someone please help!
if you root, and since the phone gets wiped, will the built-in (assuming selected during setup) OTA backup/restore work?
thnx