[Nexus 7 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] bftb0:
Read through the stickied threads and try to understand them. It won't happen right away though; your head will probably spin the first couple of times through.

There is really no "overnight" learning curve to this stuff - even if you are an old hand with Linux/Unix.

BTW, it is important to point something out: There should be no reason for you to feel like you should be in a hurry to root. The N7 is a fantastic device, even when used in a pure stock experience.. You are not going to be missing out by not rooting immediately. Spend some time with your device getting used to the Android way of doing things, and start reading XDA with a relaxed frame of mind. There is plenty of time. It would be different if you have lots of prior Android experience - but you said it - this is your first Android device.

OK, rooting. To try and keep you safe while you are a noob, I'll give this recommendation:

If you see the word "flash" (verb) near the word "bootloader", RUN AWAY!.

The most dangerous thing you can do to an N7 is mess around with the bootloader. You can turn your device into a useless object by getting things wrong, and it is a little bit rare that you need to flash a bootloader anyway. You have been warned.

So, make sure you know the difference between bootloader and "boot partition".

Most Android devices have a single flash memory chip in them which is divided up into a number of partitions. There are 5 principal partitions and about the same number of less frequently used partitions:

THE 5 PRINCIPAL ANDROID PARTITIONS:

(B) boot - a raw blob of binary data containing a "kernel" and a "ramdisk"

(B) recovery - another raw blob of binary data containing a "kernel" and a "ramdisk"

(F) system - The "ROM" part of Android - all the factory (or customized) software, used read-only

(F) data - User data and customizations. A "factory reset" simply erases all the files here

(F) cache - a scratch area used for downloading files and other maintenance operations

B = binary, bootable

F = Filesystem

Now, the two bootable partitions - boot and recovery - are very similar in structure, but extremely different in purpose. (In fact, in stock devices, they both use a private copy of the same kernel) The "boot" partition can produce a UI (User Interface) after it starts up only in conjunction with healthy /system and /data filesystems containing the Android software. But the "recovery" partition can produce a minimal UI even if the /data and /system filesystems are completely empty of files; so it (the recovery boot) is used to do all maintenance operations - including things like installing new /system software or erasing all user data.

So, and Android "rooter" will usually replace the very minimal (and locked-down-security) stock recovery partition with a "custom recovery" that is more friendly, and the vast amount of the "flashing" operations will take place using this custom recovery.

When people talk about "ROMs", they generally mean only TWO of those five partitions mentioned above: the "boot" partition and the "system" partition. When a "ROM" is flashed using the system partition, the usual procedure is:

- The rooter makes a full Nandroid backup.

- The rooter performs a "factory reset" procedure which erases the /data*** and /cache filesystems

- The rooter then "flashes a ROM", which puts in place a new boot partition, erases the /system partition, and then re-populates the /system partition with changed Android system software.

Upon booting an Android phone/tablet after this procedure, the device will behave as if it just came from the factory - but now with a different custom version of Android software. Note that this means that all the things you customized in the previous ROM - wallpapers, settings, home screen app icons, widgets, market apps downloaded, etc - will all be gone. So, folks that make a habit of hopping from ROM to ROM generally have some tricks up their sleeves for making the re-customization of a freshly-installed ROM a little less tedious. (Things like using custom launchers that allow you to save homescreen customizations, apps to restore previously-used market apps & their data, etc, etc, etc)

*** there is some funny business with Android devices that have no removable SDcard storage devices such as the Nexus 7 - the user's "SD card" is emulated, and the files that are stored there are actually stored in the /data filesystem. So, custom recoveries usually have a "factory reset" procedure which deletes all files in /data while scrupulously avoiding erasing things in this /sdcard area ( == /data/media ). This allows you to keep things safe from wiping (pictures, music, ROM files, backups) while still installing a fresh and un-initialized ROM. Note that the stock recovery in the N7 does not do this - when you use the "factory reset" of the stock recovery, EVERYTHING in /data gets erased - everything!

While you are reading about Android, here are some questions/searches to look up that concern rooting activities... have fun!

- What is the difference between grouper/tilapia (or nakasi/nakasig )?

- What does it mean to "install a new launcher" or "install a new home app"?

- What is Android fastboot used for?

- What is the Android ADB (Android Device Bridge) program used for?

- What is the difference between a boot image and a bootloader?

- How do I go about making a Nandroid Backup?

- What are the Carbon and Titanium Backup apps for? What can they do?

- What file browsers on the market are "root aware"?

- What Android settings can be saved by the Google Play Store, and automatically restored into a new ROM?

- Is there a difference between the "Superuser" and "SuperSU" root kits?

- What are the special Hardware Button Combinations used by the Nexus 7?

- What is the Google Android SDK?

- What custom recoveries are available for the Nexus 7?

- How many unique operating modes does the Nexus 7 bootloader display? What are they called?

- What is a MD5 signature? How can it help me stay out of trouble?

- What does soft-booting a bootable image with fastboot do?

- How many (Windows PC) drivers are needed to use ADB (with both the custom recovery and also the regular OS) and fastboot (with the bootloader), 2 or 3?

- Suppose I soft-brick my N7 - how will I transfer files to and from the N7 in this situation?

- What is the difference between adb push/pull and adb sideload?

- What does "sideloading an app" mean?

- Is an Android ".apk" file the same thing as a .zip file, or different?

- In what folder in /data are market apps (.apk files) found? Same question for /system and system apps (.apk files)?

- How do I enable the developer options on my N7 tablet?

- What are the limitations of MTP or PTP file transfer modes?

- Where does the custom recovery tool store backups?

- Are the Android tools "adb" and "fastboot" available for Mac or Linux?

- What are the limitations of the Google Factory Images for the Nexus 7? How are they installed?

- I have a problem using the recovery. Where is the log file stored?

- What is the big stumbling block involved in unlocking the N7 bootloader?

- What operations can you perform using fastboot and the bootloader which you can not do any other way?

OK, that's enough for now.