Root for Sony Google TV with Unsigned Kernels via GTV Hacker

[DF Smod]

If your a die hard Android fan you might have a Google TV or two in your house - well if you do and it's a Sony, your in luck


The day has finally arrived that we can access root on our Sony Google TV's, thanks to GTV Hacker the Eagle = Blu-ray Player & Asura = Sony GoogleTV Panel are both exploitable and with a computer and 4 512mb USB sticks it's easily accomplished

We give to you our latest release, a root for all current Sony Google TV devices that we call “The GTVHacker Sony Recovery Downgrader & Rebooter”. This method will allow you root and run custom unsigned kernels on your Sony Google TV device.

The process in the guide above will walk you through downgrading the system to an exploitable version. Then using another exploit, we hijack the devices boot process and reload a new kernel. This completely bypasses the signatures normally used by the system, including those used in the bootloader, kernel, and init binary. The kernel reload process happens automatically each time the box is powered on, and the USB drives required for the install are not needed again. After loading our attached unsigned kernel you will notice a new splash screen (featuring the Sony and GTVHacker logo) as well as the following perks:

Between the speediness of the 3.2 upgrade and the unsigned kernels we finally have the box that we’ve always wanted from the Google TV. We recommend this update to everyone as it only requires 4 USB sticks and is a 100% softmod

With root you get

• Modified flash plugin with random per box flash string for Content Provider Bypass.
• Crippled update feature to prevent box from receiving automatic updates.
• Completely RW system, cache, and rootfs partitions
• Full ADB Root
• Removed signature checks on kernel / init scripts / init binary
• A few other surprises.
• BETA: Enable NTFS Support for Sony Google TV devices (see wiki for instructions on how to add: GTVHacker.com: Sony NTFS)

Personally I'll be knee deep with this today - hopefully we will see a Revue exploit in the near future

Visit the blog for instructions and be sure to follow @GtvHacker on twitter


Blog

Root Instructions

 

[BenLand150]

I had no idea you can root your GTV.. :blink: Or a TV for that matter. That's awesome! Looks like I'm going to have to invest my money in TV's now(definitely not as much as I buy new phones, though).

 

[dgstorm]

This is great stuff! Thanks for the awesome find tp76!

 

[Zane_Grey]

Nice! Looks like I'll be busy today...trying to find two more flash drives.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

 

[SwiftLegend]

Nice! Looks like I'll be busy today...trying to find two more flash drives.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

Same, but from the instructions, it seems like you could get away with only using 2 flash drives. Only USB 1 is used multiple times.

 

[Chizzele]

Nice, i'm still hoping i can root my trash can to empty itself out :blink:

 

[Zane_Grey]

I'll give it a few days, and a few more guinea pigs before I hop on this..

I thinking I'm going to do the same I have my flash drives ready‚ but I think I'm going to wait. It blocks updates which would protect root but if this doesn't keep support it would be nice to be able to get back to stock to accept updates.

Edit: Boredom set in and having the flash drives ready was too much. Took the plunge and everything works great. Only thing was wifi scan wouldn't detect my network. I powered my unit off then on and it found the network. Now to play around!


Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

 

[DF Smod]

I knocked it out out yesterday afternoon and had the same wifi issue, a reboot solved it - running smooth as can be

 

[JSM9872]

Rooting a TV, now that is awesome. May have to be my next purchase :smile-b:

 

[sst45jeff]

TRying to get his done But I have not done much DOS & I am having trouble understanding how to do the following.
Do I use the dos command prompt or do I use the dd.exe prompt that comes up when I click on it in the tools directory.
Either way I get nothing.

Navigate into the Tools/ directory.
Plug USB drive #1 in and then enter the following command into the command line:

dd.exe --list

Find the matching volume information for the inserted USB drive. This can be done easiest by matching the drive letter for the USB drive in "My Computer" to the corresponding "\\.\e:" (assuming the drive letter is e. The format of the list should have the same syntax as the following:

\\.\Volume{046ee4df-3db8-11e1-836e-000c29b70b00}\
link to \\?\Device\Harddisk1\DP(1)0-0+11
removeable media
Mounted on \\.\e:

 

[sst45jeff]

Help - I am not getting how to find the volume info of the usb drive as shown in the wiki.

 

[DF Smod]

Help - I am not getting how to find the volume info of the usb drive as shown in the wiki.

You must know what drive your usb is in, if it's E drive then after running the dd.exe --list command find the corresponding volume information that matches your drive which for example purposes is E

To select from a command prompt right click and I believe you select copy, highlight this part \\.\Volume{046ee4df-3db8-11e1-836e-000c29b70b00}

...and select enter to copy, move on to the next step, the dd.exe command had to be ran for every drive but after you get one down the rest are a breeze

 

[sst45jeff]

Rooting google TV with Win32DiskImager.exe

Originally Posted bylschroeder @ googletvforum & gtvhacker

My other question I had if the Win32DiskImager.exe window's app would work for transferring the images. The answer is yes it works great and is easier than dd commands. I got the idea from its use with the nook color running off of sd cards.

Here are the instructions for using Win32DiskImager.exe for our use.

Download Win32DiskImager and then extract the ZIP file.
Run Win32DiskImage.exe by clicking on it in the folder where it was extracted to.

From the Win32DiskImage screen click the folder icon to select the USB1.img file that you downloaded.
Next click the Device drop-down and select the drive letter where the Flash Drive is mounted.
Click the Write button. The software will erase the Flash Drive and replace its contents with the USB1.img. Once it has completed, you can click Exit.

Remove the Flash Drive from your computer. The Flash Drive is now a format that windows cannot read.
Repeat process for USB2.img, USB3.img, and USB4.img.

I used version win32diskimager-RELEASE-0.2-r23-win32 on a windows 7 64 bit machine. I had this program from last year because of nook color use. Newer win 32 version should be ok. I renamed first image as USB1.img but assume that you could load the proper .img for USB1 without it being renamed.

I did it this way and it was very intuitive as opposed to doing the DOS dd write command of the images. Way faster & worked great for me.
Used version .1
Just do a search for it. This is a free program.
Note: the flash drive will not show up in drives to choose under the drop down in Win32DiskImager.exe until it is plugged in.

After writing your images to the drives just follow the guide for the downgrade & rebooter process.
The whole thing takes about 10 min.

Those rooting there Google TVs. (Sony 46" TV) the TV reacts a little different than the guide says but just follow the process per the guide. It is basically the same & it will complete.

IE: step 8 in the guide I did not get the error when done, it went back to the boot/recovery menu. I got the error after unplugging & trying to boot into the recovery screen. Unplugged again & than got the GTVHacker Splash screen.

WiFi would not hook up & it kept searching for network a long time (10 min.).
I turned of the TV & back on than went through the setup of the TV again & WiFi hooked up in a normal amount of time.

Remember to change your user agent to access Hulu CBS etc.

The original & whole processes can be found here:

Blog

Root Instructions

For the life of me I do not understand why these companies think they need to block the Google TVs, yet using any another device is okay to access there website for their free content.

Its like a bunch of kids on the playground who have decided they don't like the kid with desserts because he has figured out a way to offer all of their free desserts to everybody who wants a taste, and they are not the only one offering their desserts anymore.