Unlocking and Rooting Your Nexus Under Windows

Unlocking and Rooting Your Nexus Under Windows

CREDITS: This whole post was lifted from nethunter.com (a.k.a. Kali NetHunter)

1. On a Windows machine, download and install the Nexus Root Toolkit, which can be found at http://www.wugfresh.com/nrt/.
2. Ensure the model type is set correctly for your device. You can find your build number by going to Settings, “About Phone/Tablet” and then scroll to the bottom.

1. In the NRT app, click on the “Full driver installation guide” button, and read steps 1-3. Click on the Step 3 tab, then download and install Windows drivers for your Nexus device. The “Google drivers” worked for us. Click on Step 4 and confirm the drivers were installed successfully. This process will reboot your Nexus as part of the check.
2. Once the check completes successfully, proceed to click the “Unlock” button on the Nexus Root Toolkit interface, to unlock your boot loader. Again, be aware this will completely wipe your device. Ensure you have backups of your data as needed. Follow the Nexus Toolkit prompts carefully. On the next boot, you should see an open padlock together with the Google logo.

Rooting Your Nexus Device

Once unlocked, you can now proceed to root your device and install a custom recovery using the Nexus Root Toolkit. To begin the rooting process, follow these steps:

1. As the device has been wiped, you must re-do the process of Enabling Developer mode and Disabling Storage MTP instructions from previous. You will need to accept the computer RSA fingerprint once again.
2. Still in the Nexus Root Toolkit, click the Root button, ensuring the Custom Recovery checkbox is checked.

Once the device has rebooted, and the rooting process complete, we need to install some core Android Applications for the NetHunter image to work properly.

Install BusyBox Free Stephen (Stericson)

The first application to install once rooted is Busybox Free (Stephen Sericson). The NetHunter image will fail to function without a proper installation of this app. Once downloaded from the App store, open up BusyBox and grant it root privileges. Wait until the “gathering information” stage completes, and press “install”. Exit the Busybox app.

Install the TWRP Boot Manager Application

To ease the process of booting your Nexus into fastboot and recovery mode (normally done by powering down the Nexus, then booting it by pressing both the power button and volume down), we can install the TWRP boot manager application through the Google play store. This will allow us to boot into recovery mode with a single press of the touchscreen.

Now your Nexus device is successfully unlocked and rooted.