yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] withbloodskies:
This is why I used adb, too many people using toolkits had so many issues. Most people don't research before rooting and encounter horrendous problems and get frustrated with something that's entirely their fault. :/ people need to research before they do anything, ask questions and see what's right for you.

I spent countless hours researching root on the nexus because this was newer territory although very familiar coming from the droid incredible. Either way I took my time and never got frustrated, I had drivers issues that didn't make me happy but it got resolved fairly quickly from PDAnet. I got rooted and from there downloaded a jb I'm still running.

People just need to research before rooting especially if they are not familiar with it.

Great post OP.

bOx Stash - https://www.box.com/shared/d8a46b7252c38069deb1
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] JediNinjafication:
I haven't used a toolkit to root. I like knowing what's going on. Some things just shouldn't be automated.

---------- Post added at 08:11 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:07 PM ----------

speaking of controlling and securing, i just got the quarterly mobile Trojan report. Android is not as safe as we think. http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1839512

---------- Post added at 08:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:11 PM ----------

Qbking77 on YouTube. Look him up. He taught me pretty much everything I needed to start the root process.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] JediNinjafication:
i posted this in a thread for someone asking for root help. Hope is ok
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] neworgoo:
Just wanted to say I successfully unlocked/rooted my phone without a toolkit and, yes, I feel more confident in myself for doing it. Obviously I couldn't have done it without the guides here on xda, but all the info is there if you look for it..
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] JediNinjafication:
I think I used the one click on my first root. After that I went to adb. I won't use one. I recently did a restore that ended up taking my recovery and superuser( didn't know restoring from jb to ICS would do that) and fast boot wouldn't see my phone. Its been a long week but I refused to use one. Just finally got root back a few hours ago. Because I know how to use adb and was able to see it was actually the SDK inf file that caused the fast boot problem. Screw toolkits.

And if you mess up your phone you will know how to fix it because you have some adb knowledge.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] indagroove:
I've unlocked bootloaders and rooted many ways both manually and via one-clicks, on multiple Android phones and all the way back to Windows Mobile. I've also built 100's of roms for both Android and WM, just to let you know I'm not a n00b.

When I got my gnex, I started the manual unlocking, and somewhere between unlocking bootloader and installing recovery something went wrong, and I got stuck in a bootloader loop. I got back to stock via oden, so that was ok. At that point I just decided to go one-click, because time is short for me and I don't really have anything to proove. Fact is the one-click was way quicker, simpler, and more effective than the manual methods.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] efrant:
The thing is, with a Nexus device, using a toolkit to unlock the bootloader is slower, not faster than doing it yourself. Why would you download a toolkit, install/run it, when all you have to do it type one command into a terminal?

Additionally, for someone who is "not a n00b", you know how to troubleshoot and figure out what is wrong. The n00bs, on the other hand, will use the toolkit, bootloop their device, and start a new thread called "HALP!!?!? I haz briked my fone!!! HELP!!!!" to add to the hundreds of others with the same title. You are speaking as someone who has knowledge... many n00bs do not, and this is the main issue with toolkits.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] JediNinjafication:
I'll agree with the convenience of the kits but I always seem to prefer the long drawn out getting mad not can't find results end up throwing phone(again thank you otter box!) Methods. I'm by far knowledgeable in all aspects knowing the ins and outs of the android system, show me the file system and I'm completely at a loss..but.. I would like to be. That's why I avoid the quick fixes. Personal preference. Im confidant with what I do know. Two years ago I didn't even know what fastboot was and now I can unbrick and some of my friends even ask for help. Never would have been able to do that if stuck with a kit.

---------- Post added at 04:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:49 PM ----------

Completely agree! I had my zio all jacked up! Package manager fc on install and uninstall of apps with a no memory error..that sucked.

---------- Post added at 04:53 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:51 PM ----------

Maybe they should put not for noobs in the title
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] indagroove:
I was referring to rooting and installing custom recovery. Who unlocks only? Are you dumb?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] El Daddy:
Hey, watch the insults... efrant most certainly is not "dumb." Take a look around this forum. He has made more contributions to the Gnex forum than anyone else here.

Side note. I unlocked only and I'm running stock. Am I dumb?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] efrant:
Ok, if you include installing a custom recovery and rooting, you go up to three steps:

1) fastboot oem unlock

2) fastboot flash recovery cwm.img

3) boot into recovery and flash the superuser zip.

Just as fast as using a toolkit.

May people do.

I don't think so.

EDIT: Ninja'd by El Daddy! :D
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] El Daddy:
Somebody has a purple name I see. Congrats!
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] efrant:
:o Thanks!
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] segv11:
Congratulations indeed! You definitely earned it with all the tireless work with the noobs on the "how to flash stock" and "how to take OTAs" threads.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] indagroove:
Maybe, but I don't really know you well enough to answer that question. Search yourself and I'm sure you'll find an answer. Maybe I'm missing something here but I just don't quite get the point of unlocking bootloader but not rooting or installing custom recovery.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] thephantom:
Some people are contented with stock already but still unlocks the bootloader for ease in troubleshooting in case there's a need for it. I don't see that as dumb. Having a smartphone does give freedom to play around with it but not everyone's idea of fun is equal to rooting.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] donsh00tmesanta:
They haven't let me down

On eptouch I rooted by Odin

Gnex I rooted with nexus toolkit

-----------

Vaj tswv is the creation of people with nowhere left to turn

---------- Post added at 03:24 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:23 AM ----------

BTW I have rooted many phones via fast boot, adB etc

Toolkits are much simpler

-----------

Vaj tswv is the creation of people with nowhere left to turn
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] efrant:
Thanks segv11!

The thing you are missing is that if, for some reason in the future, you ever needed to unlock your bootloader (and you currently have it locked), it would wipe all of your data. If you have it unlocked, then that wouldn't happen. Some people don't like to mess around with their phones, but like having the ability to do so if/when the need arise, without wiping.

I'm glad they've worked for you. However, I think I've posted many links in here regards to the GNex toolkit, and a quick search in the Q&A section will pull up the wonders Odin can do to your device. On the other hand, I don't think I've ever seen anyone post a thread titled "Help! I used fastboot and/or ADB and I bricked my device!"
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] donsh00tmesanta:
Lol that's true people should read up beforehand but those that don't come to me lol

I prefer Odin as well

-----------

Vaj tswv is the creation of people with nowhere left to turn
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] thephantom:
On a side note, a big Congratulations to efrant! A very well deserved change of color
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] JediNinjafication:
I keep seeing reference to that...what exactly is change in color? Pardon for being clueless

*Shaolin Shadowboxing*
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] El Daddy:
Efrant's name is now the color purple, which reflects the title of forum moderator. Each elevated title has a different color for their name.

For example, I'm an RC and mine is green and RT's are blue, etc.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] JediNinjafication:
I use the app so don't see any of that stuff.

And rc...? I just flash stuff and don't pay attention to the rest lol

*Shaolin Shadowboxing*
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Mach3.2:
They know how to unf**k the problem, no need to create threads to rope in the help of others, of course unless they exhausted all means to fix it.

Beamed from my Maguro
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] JediNinjafication:
So basically I'm chilling in a thread with what's akin to the police in the real world?

*Shaolin Shadowboxing*
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Mach3.2:
Recognized contributor.

Beamed from my Maguro
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Lesicnik1:
Pretty much :)

Back on topic:

The only thing I used the toolkit for was to flash TWRP the moment I fastboot oem unlocked my phone, since I didn't want to waste time booting it up, installing Goomanager and installing it from there :)
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] JediNinjafication:
Can i ask why you didn't flash it in while in fastboot?

*Shaolin Shadowboxing*
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Lesicnik1:
At the time I though that the toolkit downloaded the files as you selected the option. Now I know that they're extracted at install.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] JediNinjafication:
I followed along to a video first time i did it. First android i got was already rooted wow...did i mess that thing up good. Then did the one click. Too easy. I like to make my life difficultis only reason i don't use them

*Shaolin Shadowboxing*
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] shabbypenguin:
ironically enough the only group who didnt get a color change was the first rec devs :P

anyways i have worked on rooting many phones and porting CWM to many devices, i am part of a team that specializes in unloved devices. i worked with a lot of metroPCS customers and have met way too many to count of people that fall in the "you really shouldnt be rooting" group. i continue to try and make things easier for rooting because in teh hopes that some idiot roots his phone and starts to tinker and finally gets up enough knowledge to start working on roms etc then IMO it was worth it. there are far more phones coming out every month than there is devs. we need to fill the ranks in or else there will be a lot of unloved devices :(

i do however find the nexus toolkits rather humorous. ages ago on the nexus s 4g someone made a bounty to have a nexus one click made and offered 100 bucks. he was ridiculed so much and talked down to on how easy it was to root etc that he should just do it. when i said i would work on it and started to i had a few people chuckle at me, but in teh end i made the very first nexus one click. slowly i expanded its features and added in new devices, when the galaxy nexus came out i saw an opportunity to add even more support. i had posted and no one bothered to test it for me, i wrote it off saying alright w/e. when the sprint galaxy nexus came out and i helped them get started i did find it funny that suddenly everyone used and made their own toolkit tho :P

edit in case any toolkit devs wish to take a look i keep it all on github so everyone can see what is being done to their phones, submit ideas and possibly improve the one click
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Bigjim1488:
Toolkit has just made people really lazy these days. I have been through countless phones and yes u remember the days when I had to sign in front of a command prompt window typing in lines of code that I was reading off of a thread page just to unlock a phone.

I don't think I have ever broken a sweat over a soft bricked phone. Always make a backup before you try something knew and worse case you have to start all over again. Too many people just want things handed to them and expect all these Roms and kernels to work first time right off the bat.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] monkeypaws:
I don't think the majority of those people are lazy. For me, yes I am tech savvy but as many times as I tried I could never get adb functions to work. I hard bricked 3 my touches when they first came out. I was finally happy when they came out with one root click methods because they always worked flawlessly. At least least for me. Another reason is that most people that write the adb instructions assume the user knows various basic things like setting up SDK and so forth. I am a very visual person and some instructions are vague. So no I'm not lazy, I'd just rather not spend hours or days fighting out functions or commands when a trusted program will do it for me.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] ogdobber:
that is a perfect example of how problems can arise.

lets say there is a problem while running the toolkit and you "soft brick" the phone, now because you have no adb/fastboot experience...over to the q/a section and open a thread "halp my phone is bricked"
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] JediNinjafication:
My usual response is two words : YouTube. Qbking77

*Shaolin Shadowboxing*
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] efrant:
You keep mentioning that, so I decided to take a look. He has a few videos related to the GNex. I watched the one of them and part of some others.

The "How to Manually Install ADB and Fastboot PC Drivers for the Galaxy Nexus" video only shows you how to install the ADB driver, and not the fastboot driver, despite what it says in its title.

That is one reason people are getting screwed up. They watch that video and say, "Cool. I have my fastboot driver installed, so I can unlock my bootloader and flash images with fastboot." Well, unfortunately it doesn't work, and then you get the barrage of posts saying "Fastboot doesn't work", and the response usually is "Do you have your drivers installed", and the counter-response is "Of course I do, I followed the instructions in the video". (If I'm not mistaken, were you not having the issue of fastboot not recognizing your device a while back? Just out of curiosity, did you follow the instructions in the video?)

The other videos mention that you must have the SDK installed. Why would you want to do that? The SDK is just that: a development kit. unless you are developing, there is no need to install the SDK (which requires the JDK) only to use fastboot and ADB.

The bottom line here is no toolkit/shortcut/video/guide/etc. can take the place of reading and researching. Even the guides that I write, I do not expect people to follow them blindly. I try to explain things along the way in hopes that people will understand. And if anything is not clear, I would expect them to look it up or cross reference it elsewhere or ask a question. There will be no learning otherwise.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] samagon:
Meh, more people know how and what xda is than did back in the day. You had to actually look to find reference to xda, these days, as soon as there's a solution there's a link on 20 "news" sites with links to xda. It's not any easier to do it right than it was back when xda was only dealing with winmo devices. It's just more accessible to anyone.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] zelendel:
In the end alot of people will take the easy way out by watching a video or other means. They normally don't have a desire to learn anything. They just want their phone to be cool. We can argue back and forth about it but in the end it will not change. You will have those that learn and those that leech.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] jugg1es:
I admit, for the time being.I leach, trying to learn though. And the the idea of a one click method appealed when I decided to take the leap, didn't work as I've HTC so had to do it long way round, think I now prefer the way I did it, learning curve went way up that evening:D

sent from the thing I stab with my finger when I get two minutes
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] JediNinjafication:
Believe me..i know all this. I spent a week without root and recovery after a restore. Did so much googling i was dreaming about it. Started grasping at straws in what the problem could be. Kept getting the "go to such and such toolkit" or "are your drivers installed" speeches. Towards the end there i starting to get kinda short tempered, even thanked someone for help but told them i couldn't talk to them anymore. Was about ready to just sell phone and get a new one. Everything worked but fastboot wouldn't see it. Decided to check devices and Google the hardware id that was giving the explanation point. All my drivers were installed just weren't wrote in the inf file. And then i was fine. I'll sell my phone before use toolkit. I have had the name of my Rom for so long and a toolkit isn't going to show me how to make it.

And he has many videos pertaining to android development in his korner album. I think that's why he has then install sdk in case they want to go beyond just root.

*Shaolin Shadowboxing*
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] shabbypenguin:
no qbking just makes videos about everything.

"how to install x launcher"

"how to play angry birds"

"how to apply a screen protector"

"how to call someone"

i personally think he is great for just that reason. have you seen how many stupid comments his videos get? if i had to deal with that many idiots every day (mind you he gets an email on every comment) i would go buy a windows phone, wp7 to be exact.. just so i dont have to deal with the stupid people on the new ones either :P.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] JediNinjafication:
I just use his videos to root. I have to have some sort of visual or hands on before i try something. I can't go in blind on anything. And i mean anything! Learned a long time ago research first avoid disaster later and that doesn't just pertain to rooting.

And honestly, I think he's very helpful to new people. Didn't see me in here asking the basics did ya?

*Shaolin Shadowboxing*
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] monkeypaws:
I have used a dB methods before but you really have to look to find out how to set it up. Most people flock to these easy methods because they are easy. Yes some people dont read and screw themes elves over because they don't install drivers properly but that's their fault. I personally have never soft bricked using any one click method. I have only had galaxy phones before this phone and let me tell you I used Odin 100% of the time to solve my soft bricks from roms installs than using adb methods .
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Mach3.2:
Soft bricks and boot loops at easy to solve using fastboot.

Beamed from my Maguro
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Citizen_Snips:
Real talk! Glad I learned fastboot/adb. To be completely honest when I first got a nexus I just found a link to the toolkit and unlocked/rooted/flashed recovery+ROM in the first five minutes. Wasn't until I had to get it replaced due to HW problems & put it back to stock that I decided I needed to learn. Tried a toolkit to do it and BAM. Soft brick. I always read about "the dangers of toolkits" but never learned because I thought it was too complicated. I'm only somewhat tech savvy, lol. So I made myself some coffee, & read a bunch of stickies. Got all the drivers and everything I needed. Sure enough I got adb and fastboot working correctly and had myself out of the bootloop & able to flash the stock image back in minutes. Longest part was waiting for the radios to flash.

Then my replacement came in and it too sadly had defective hardware out of the box. So I decided to use my newfound knowledge to unlock and root and all that. I was good to go - running custom jb ROM again in minutes. & I know when my next one gets here I will have this back on stock in no time at all without having to worry about running into any issues.

Just goes to show how easy it is to do. If I can do it just about anyone can lol. Seriously, go learn fastboot & adb. It's totally worth the little bit of time & effort required it takes to understand. I know I for one won't be using toolkits anymore and I got all of you to thank, so thanks. :p

Sorry for the long post, just sharing my personal experience. I guess I was one of those people who was about to post one of those "Halp my phones bricked" topics in q&a until i decided I didn't want to be "that guy."

Adb+fastboot ftw!
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] PlanBSTi:
Good point!

I'm so glad i have a computer background..

I accidently bricked my sisters HTC one S on the same day she got it. She was pissed. I was reading and reading trying to unbrick it. Then I read somone that posted "Well only way is to load up a custom rom" Then it hit me. I can go into recovery. After maybe 10 minutes of the light bulb going off. Her phone was back and working again.

Thanks to the trust CMD on windows.

I truly agree with you. If you don't know the phone inside out. Don't play with it. Make some money, Unbrick local phones for $20 phone a pop. Easy money.:good:
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Mach3.2:
I got to admit I used the toolkit at first, but luckily nothing bad happened.:p

Beamed from my Maguro

---------- Post added at 01:24 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:21 PM ----------

I too, have a computer background.

Just remember this: don't help your relatives/friends fix their computers/root their phone, if SHTF, you're in for it, even if it's not your fault.

Beamed from my Maguro
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] PlanBSTi:
Lol yeah, I usually have them agree to it. On both terms which keeps the liable off me if something does go wrong afterwards. If it works fine after it goes back in your hands. You're on your own :good:
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Mach3.2:
I'm not willing to risk it:p

Beamed from my Maguro
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] efrant:
Bump. Another example: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1925998
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] svtfmook:
he selected gsm model, lol

i have been flashing/modding/tweaking/breaking android since the beginning. not once, have i ever seen a dev release a mod, tool, rom, etc, without the standard disclaimer.

if captain noobler from the interstellar noob patrol wants to dive into flashing without taking the suggested precautionaries (nandroid and actually reading the instructions, learning adb and fastboot), he has no one to blame but himself.

i can' tell you how many times i've bricked phones, even back in the winmo days. i've never specifically reached out to anyone for help. i read, i learned and i figured it out eventually.

the insurance fraud thing, yeah, that's BS. that's also the reason why phone insurance is so expensive for the rest of us.

i'm willing to help noobs out with various things, but, in the end, i wind up just linking them to the resources for them to learn.

but the main issue is that, back in the day, this place was all devs. the people who didn't just want to flash because they saw someone's modded phone and thought it was cool. and now they want to know the quickes and easiest way to get that. we flashed, hacked and developed so we could learn more about the device, more about the OS, it was a hobby, it was something we spent our free time on. we collaborated, we shared ideas, we all contributed. you still have a lot of that at the core, but, there is also a large influx of people who just want the end result, and don't care to learn how that end result comes about. unfortunately, getting to that end result could destroy their device if they are not careful. but they haven't even read enough to know that.

until we could develop a magic wand that magically flashes any device with no chances of bricks or errors, there will be people with posts like, "i flashed a motorola razr rom onto my galaxy nexus, why won't it boot?"
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Mach3.2:
Fortunately I never have to make threads like HALPZ I IZ BRECKZ MY PHONE!! Kuddos to you for figuring out your mistake.

Beamed from my Grouper.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] El Daddy:
Sad to see the user didn't even know there were alternatives to a Toolkit...