[Miscellaneous Android Development] stevent3115:
Thanks and a few pointers for those struggling

Thanks for the guide. I've never rooted an Android device before so at first I didn't understand what I was doing and soft-bricked my system (yikes!) but I was able to pick it up as I went along and eventually got it working. I don't have any desire to root this tablet for any reason other than to speed the thing up..!

For those still struggling, the following steps got me a working, rooted device with TWRP and without encryption. These steps use the code and ROM provided by vampirefo. You will need to download these files and install the Android SDK on your PC.

I can't link to the code or ROM since this is my first post on the forum, but just google "vampirefo Ares8_stock_rom" to find the ROM and use the root kit download vampirefo gives in the initial post here.

If you already have TWRP installed, skip ahead. Place SuperSU246.zip on an external SD card then put the card into the tablet. Boot into Android then run this command in a terminal/command line on your PC with the folder given by vampirefo as your current directory: "adb reboot bootloader" and then after rebooting "sudo ./trigger 4" . Then boot back into Android and run "adb reboot bootloader" and then after rebooting "sudo ./fastboot flash recovery ./twrp_recovery.img" .

Put the stock rom .zip file on an external SD card with at least 2GB. If you don't have an SD card, you may be able to transfer the file to internal storage using ADB, assuming you can still boot into Android and enable USB debugging. I accidentally got myself in a bootloop without USB debugging enabled, so I had to use an SD card.

Go to Wipe->Advanced Wipe and select "Dalvik Cache", "Cache", "Data", and "System", then swipe to wipe.

Turn off the tablet and boot back into recovery.

Press "install" and navigate to the rom, select it and turn off "signature verify" and do not check for md5. swipe to install

Boot into your new rooted Android without encryption!

---------- Post added at 11:49 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:36 AM ----------

Do you have TWRP installed? If not, place SuperSU246.zip on an external SD card then put the card into the tablet. Boot into fastboot mode by holding the volume-down and power buttons, then run this command in a terminal/command line on your PC with the folder given by vampirefo as your current directory: "sudo ./trigger 4". This should only work on a Unix machine like Mac or Linux, if you're using Windows I'd recommend finding a Windows specific way to install TWRP or create a bootable Linux flashdrive, it's easy. Then power off the tablet, boot back into fastboot mode and run "sudo ./fastboot flash recovery ./twrp_recovery.img" .

Once you have TWRP installed, put the stock rom .zip file (google "vampirefo Ares8_stock_rom") on an external micro SD card with at least 2GB. If you don't have an SD card, you may be able to transfer the file to internal storage using ADB, but I used an SD card.

Boot into TWRP by holding the volume-up and power buttons. Go to Wipe->Advanced Wipe and select "Dalvik Cache", "Cache", "Data", and "System", then swipe to wipe.

Turn off the tablet and boot back into TWRP.

Press "install" and navigate to the rom, select it and turn off "signature verify" and do not check for md5. swipe to install

You should now be able to boot into a rooted, non-encrypted Android.