[How To] Unlock Bootloader & Root Galaxy Nexus

[Grady]

Whenever I plug in my phone while it's off, my Windows 7 tries to install an OMAP4440 driver but it fails. I've installed all other drivers in the instructions. Why does this happen?

EDIT: Also, tried rebooting, pulling battery, and booting into bootloader THEN plugging in USB. Still getting <waiting for device>.

 

[tgyberg]

Whenever I plug in my phone while it's off, my Windows 7 tries to install an OMAP4440 driver but it fails. I've installed all other drivers in the instructions. Why does this happen?

EDIT: Also, tried rebooting, pulling battery, and booting into bootloader THEN plugging in USB. Still getting <waiting for device>.

I ran in to that along with a couple of other anomalies! I just kept starting over and eventually it all went through and worked!

 

[BL4Z3D247]

Must have been corrupted as you suggested. Downloaded the files again into c:/root, ran the batch file in fastboot and BAM! Now I'm waiting the dreaded five minutes. We'll see. You guys are the best! Thanks for being so responsive. I'll report.

Awesome! Glad that worked for you.

 

[BL4Z3D247]

Whenever I plug in my phone while it's off, my Windows 7 tries to install an OMAP4440 driver but it fails. I've installed all other drivers in the instructions. Why does this happen?

EDIT: Also, tried rebooting, pulling battery, and booting into bootloader THEN plugging in USB. Still getting <waiting for device>.

Are you plugged into the back USB port on your PC?

 

[zinethar]

OK all you who did this with no problems - was it normal for the phone to go into a reboot cycle constantly right after? I get a screen that says android updating 6-6 then it says starting applications then bam - reboot

 

[squire23]

Successfully rooted without need for battery pull. Thanks so much for this method! I did get a little confused with the pda net install. Once I went into the pda net app on the actual phone and installed, everything went fine from there.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using DroidForums

 

[Chizzele]

This was a breeze, highly recommend thank you sb for putting this together.

 

[Chizzele]

OK all you who did this with no problems - was it normal for the phone to go into a reboot cycle constantly right after? I get a screen that says android updating 6-6 then it says starting applications then bam - reboot

No that doe's not sounds normal.

 

[BL4Z3D247]

OK all you who did this with no problems - was it normal for the phone to go into a reboot cycle constantly right after? I get a screen that says android updating 6-6 then it says starting applications then bam - reboot

It does this in the bootloader?

 

[tgyberg]

Successfully rooted without need for battery pull. Thanks so much for this method! I did get a little confused with the pda net install. Once I went into the pda net app on the actual phone and installed, everything went fine from there.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using DroidForums

Yes, this was key! Something I had to figure out! Forgot that.

 

[zinethar]

It does this in the bootloader?

No it does this when I rebooted. Phone is stuck in a reboot loop that can only be stopped with a battery pull.

 

[RadHal]

Unlocked but cannot Root - "waiting for device" issue

getting a little frustrating and would appreciate some help

I believe I have successfully unlocked the bootloader - I see an unlocked padlock icon with the black google bootup splash screen, though there is no mention of any "lock status" in the boot-up screen (vol-power startup)

I have created the C:root directory with the downloaded superboot files
I have the samsung drivers downloaded to C:samsung
I installed PDAnet on my laptop (Win 7 64) and on Nexus and can USB tether if needed
when I'm in the normal Nexus screen (not bootloader) in the computer's Device Manager I see "Android Phone" with the following driver "SAMSUNG Android ADB Interface"
I first installed the samsung drivers into the C root directory as above then installed PDAnet 64 and "reinstalled" drivers selecting "Samsung", I got two Windows warning asking whether I wanted to install these drivers as windows could not vouch for the safety, I said go ahead and install. PDAnet appears to work and is instaled successfully on phone
I do not see Android 1.0 driver in my Device Manager, why?

When I reboot into the bootloader with the USB plugged in (tried plugging in before and after getting to this screen), my computer does not register the presence of the phone and when I go to the CMD prompt it is <waiting for device> and nothing happens.
If I startup by pushing power button from the bootloader then the phone is once again recognized when it boots up normally, see above

WHY will the computer not recognize the phone after powering off and rebooting into the bootloader? I thought I did everything correctly but I cannot get the final root installation files (install-superboot-windows) to work until the phone is recognized.
Thanks for your help

 

[BL4Z3D247]

getting a little frustrating and would appreciate some help

I believe I have successfully unlocked the bootloader - I see an unlocked padlock icon with the black google bootup splash screen, though there is no mention of any "lock status" in the boot-up screen (vol-power startup)

I have created the C:root directory with the downloaded superboot files
I have the samsung drivers downloaded to C:samsung
I installed PDAnet on my laptop (Win 7 64) and on Nexus and can USB tether if needed
when I'm in the normal Nexus screen (not bootloader) in the computer's Device Manager I see "Android Phone" with the following driver "SAMSUNG Android ADB Interface"
I first installed the samsung drivers into the C root directory as above then installed PDAnet 64 and "reinstalled" drivers selecting "Samsung", I got two Windows warning asking whether I wanted to install these drivers as windows could not vouch for the safety, I said go ahead and install. PDAnet appears to work and is instaled successfully on phone
I do not see Android 1.0 driver in my Device Manager, why?

When I reboot into the bootloader with the USB plugged in (tried plugging in before and after getting to this screen), my computer does not register the presence of the phone and when I go to the CMD prompt it is <waiting for device> and nothing happens.
If I startup by pushing power button from the bootloader then the phone is once again recognized when it boots up normally, see above

WHY will the computer not recognize the phone after powering off and rebooting into the bootloader? I thought I did everything correctly but I cannot get the final root installation files (install-superboot-windows) to work until the phone is recognized.
Thanks for your help

Try unplugging phone from USB, powering down phone, go into the bootloader, plug USB back into phone and see if it's recognized.

 

[ugandanbear]

I'm a mac user, so I'm unfortunately uncomfortable rooting on PCs. Do the methods of unlocking and rooting listed in the OP work on Windows XP? That's all I got.

 

[combatmedic870]

unlocked and rooted and ready to go!! i had to reinstall the PDA thing on the phone twice to get it to work. to do that seach pda and you will see reinstall pdanet on device....after that everything went smooth