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DMcCunney · 05-08-2014, 11:23 AM

And as far as I can tell, I have now successfully rooted the device.

This was somewhat more complex than might have been. The first required step was to install the Google Android USB driver to be able to establish communication with the tablet from Windows. On the tablet end, that required turning on USB debugging, which was non-intuitive. To do it, you had to go to Settings/About Tablet, scroll down to Build Number, and tap it multiple times. you would get progress messages, and finally be told you were a Developer, which puts a Developer Options menu choice in Settings where you can turn on USB Debugging mode.

Getting the Google USB driver installed was another matter. Getting the driver requires downloading 520MB of Google Android SDK, installing it, and running the SDK Manager to get the driver. Once you have the driver, you can connect the table to Windows via the supplied USB cable, and have Windows install the driver. The problem is that operation failed from the XP machine I originally tried from. XP complained it couldn't find the software, even though driver, inf file and supporting files were in the location I pointed to.

As I suspected, this was a Windows issue. I downloaded the 64 bit version of the Android SDK and put it on the SO's 64bit Win7 laptop. The driver successfully installed there.

From there I could use a "one-click-root" solution, specifically Kingo Root, to install the needed software on the tablet and root the device. (The instructions for rooting it in the first place provided a more laborious manual method if a one click solution didn't work. Fortunately, one did.)

It appears I can now successfully remove various things that came pre-installed on the device, and that was pretty much the point of the exercise. (No, I don't want the Blio app, ThankYouVeryMuch...)

The unanswered question is whether rooting it will also permit use of an external USB keyboard. The device FAQ says no, but whether this is a limitation of the unrooted version of the OS, or a hardware issue where USB host mode simply isn't present is unclear. If the latter, no USB keyboard, but I'll live. While it would be nice, little of what I do on the tablet really needs it.

We'll see.
______
Dennis

05-08-2014, 11:23 AM	#11
DMcCunney New York Editor Posts: 6,384 Karma: 16540415 Join Date: Aug 2007 Device: PalmTX, Pocket eDGe, Alcatel Fierce 4, RCA Viking Pro 10, Nexus 7	And as far as I can tell, I have now successfully rooted the device. This was somewhat more complex than might have been. The first required step was to install the Google Android USB driver to be able to establish communication with the tablet from Windows. On the tablet end, that required turning on USB debugging, which was non-intuitive. To do it, you had to go to Settings/About Tablet, scroll down to Build Number, and tap it multiple times. you would get progress messages, and finally be told you were a Developer, which puts a Developer Options menu choice in Settings where you can turn on USB Debugging mode. Getting the Google USB driver installed was another matter. Getting the driver requires downloading 520MB of Google Android SDK, installing it, and running the SDK Manager to get the driver. Once you have the driver, you can connect the table to Windows via the supplied USB cable, and have Windows install the driver. The problem is that operation failed from the XP machine I originally tried from. XP complained it couldn't find the software, even though driver, inf file and supporting files were in the location I pointed to. As I suspected, this was a Windows issue. I downloaded the 64 bit version of the Android SDK and put it on the SO's 64bit Win7 laptop. The driver successfully installed there. From there I could use a "one-click-root" solution, specifically Kingo Root, to install the needed software on the tablet and root the device. (The instructions for rooting it in the first place provided a more laborious manual method if a one click solution didn't work. Fortunately, one did.) It appears I can now successfully remove various things that came pre-installed on the device, and that was pretty much the point of the exercise. (No, I don't want the Blio app, ThankYouVeryMuch...) The unanswered question is whether rooting it will also permit use of an external USB keyboard. The device FAQ says no, but whether this is a limitation of the unrooted version of the OS, or a hardware issue where USB host mode simply isn't present is unclear. If the latter, no USB keyboard, but I'll live. While it would be nice, little of what I do on the tablet really needs it. We'll see. ______ Dennis Last edited by DMcCunney; 06-12-2014 at 04:19 PM.