How To Root The Samsung Galaxy Tab

 The Samsung Galaxy Tab is a 7" tablet running Android 2.2 (Froyo). There are different models produced by wireless carriers, including Sprint and Verizon. You can purchase these devices without a contract but you will pay a premium. That's enough of the small talk, lets get to rooting.

Previously, there was an app called z4root that would allow you to root the Galaxy Tab. Although z4root was removed from the Android Market, you can still find it hidden away on the Internet. In my testing, I could no longer make it work with the Sprint Galaxy Tab. So what do you do? Follow the directions below and you will have root in just a few minutes.

Here's what you will need:

• Samsung Galaxy Tab
• USB cable
• Samsung Galaxy Tab drivers
• SuperOneClick
• Windows computer with USB ports
• Android Terminal Emulator (free from the Android Market)

I am using the Sprint version of the Galaxy Tab for this demonstration. These directions should work with other models but proceed with caution.

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Standard disclaimer time! Rooting your device may be dangerous to the health of your Galaxy Tab. You are taking advantage of a vulnerability to gain elevated privileges on your device. If you are uncertain of what this means, do not proceed. I have tested this on the Sprint Galaxy Tab and been successful. That does not mean it will work for you! If you do proceed and you break your device, do not email me. You have been warned!

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So, I guess you have decided to proceed. On the back of your Galaxy Tab, find the model. Mine is an SPH-P100. To get the drivers, go to http://www.samsung.com/us/support/. Download and install the appropriate driver package on your Windows computer.

While you have your browser warm, head over to the xda-developers forum site and download SuperOneClick. Here's a direct link to the forum topic, http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=803682. Download the file named SuperOneClickv1.7-ShortFuse.zip and extract it to your desktop.

Before you connect the USB cable, power on your Galaxy Tab. Go to Settings->Applications->Development and enable USB debugging. If you have connected the USB cable you will not be able to enable or disable USB debugging until you unplug the cable. After you have enabled USB debugging, go ahead and plug in the USB cable to the tablet and the computer.

Now, we are ready to do the magic. Go to the SuperOneClick folder on your desktop and start SuperOneClick.exe. See the little shield icon? That means you have to run it with admin priveleges. Double click it and enter your admin credentials.

Look for the Root button, it should be easy to find! Click the Root button and wait.

Some messages will scroll across the screen. Hopefully, you will be prompted that the rooting was successful. Click yes to test and install the Superuser application. You will probably have to reboot the device before you will be able to get root. Disconnect the USB cable and reboot now.

That's it! Your device is rooted. You can test this by starting Android Terminal Emulator (install it from the Market if you don't have it). From the $ prompt, type su and hit enter. Superuser should prompt you to Allow this action. Choose to Allow and you will get a root (#) prompt! You are now root, so be careful what you type!

Install Android Market On Nook Honeycomb Tablet

In the last post, I walked through getting Deeper Blue's Honeycomb preview image running on the Barnes and Noble Nook Color. I've been using the Nook as a Honeycomb tablet for a couple of weeks and overall it works very well. There are a couple of bugs but that is to be expected from a preview image. There was one particular thing that bothered me though, there is no Android Market. If you look through the FAQ on this forum.xda-developers.com thread, you will understand why Deeper Blue did not include the Market in the image.

Q: Why is there no Market app installed?
A: There's no legal way to distribute the google apps with a ROM.

While they are not included in the image, there is a way to get the Android Market, GMail, and Maps apps on your Nook Honeycomb tablet.  Here's what you will need:

• Nook Honeycomb Tablet from my previous post
• Nook Color USB cable
• Android Central Sideload Wonder Machine
• HoneyGApps.v2.zip from jleecong at xda-developers
• Windows XP/Vista/7 computer

While you don't actually need the Android Central Sideload Wonder Machine (AC_SWM), it is probably the simplest way to get the adb.exe file you will need. Adb.exe is used to push the Android Market app to your Nook. Plus, AC_SWM is a handy application if you own any Android devices. If you already have adb.exe from the Android SDK or another application, you can use that adb.exe instead of AC_SWM.

Start off by going to http://nookdevs.com/NookColor_USB_ADB#Windows_XP.2C_Vista_and_7 and following the directions to get the Nook Color driver working in Windows. The good folks at nookdevs.com have done a great job of explaining the driver installation so I'm not going to repeat the information here. You will not need the full Android SDK so just do steps 2 (II) and 3 (III); "II. Patch the USB Driver files" and "III. Connect the device and install the drivers." Come back here after you have the driver installed.

After the driver is installed, extract AC_SWM to the root of your C: drive. It needs to be in a folder named C:\AC_SWM like the image below.



Next, extract the contents of HoneyGApps.v2.zip in to the C:\AC_SWM folder. You need to end up with adb.exe and all of the .apk files from HoneyGApps.v2.zip in the same folder (C:\AC_SWM), see below.


Turn on your Nook Honeycomb tablet. Choose Apps->Settings->Applications->Development and make sure that USB debugging is enabled. Now, connect the USB cable to the Nook and your computer.

Navigate back to C:\AC_SWM and double click on HoneyGAppInstall.cmd.

Hopefully, you see output like the image above and it runs without errors. If everything goes smoothly, your Nook will reboot. After Honeycomb starts back up, choose Apps and look for the new Market, Gmail, and Maps icons. Enjoy!

If you found this information was helpful for you or if you ran into trouble, please leave a comment below. Thanks for visiting!

All of the credit for the Nook Honeycomb image, Nook driver, and Google Apps work should go to the development communities at xda-developers and nookdevs.com.