How to - Root the Samsung Galaxy Note

Rooting a mobile phone is not always easy, but it differs from one phone to another. While some Android handsets can be rooted in a single-click, for others one needs to undergo a tedious procedure. Why root an Android mobile? The answer is pretty simple—rooting an Android is a method that allows you to gain administrative rights to the main operating system, which in turn allow you to tweak the device and even install custom firmware. This helps in increasing productivity, performance and also taps into hidden areas of the phone to reveal additional features that the manufacturer does not disclose.

The one good thing about Samsung Android devices is that they never have locked bootloaders, which is the key to gaining root access. Installing custom ROMs can actually be a good option, as you can have a very light operating system — useless applications and eye-candy removed, tweaked kernels for faster processing, additional applications for better tweaking and productivity and a list of other possibilities. In this section, we shall show you how you can go about rooting your Samsung Galaxy Note in a few steps. This method does not increase the flash counter in the phone’s firmware and you can switch back to the stock ROM, if you need to claim for warranty.

Disclaimer: Rooting the phone involves hacking into the firmware and operating system of the phone. As these procedures are risky and can permanently brick or damage your phone, we shall not be responsible for any damage caused to your phone. A bricked phone can cause warranty issues. Root your phone at your own risk.

Here is a list of what you will need to keep ready to get root access to the Note:

• A fully charged Samsung Galaxy Note: Not necessary that it should be charged to 100 %, but around 60 percent and above should do fine. 
• The device set to USB debugging enabled: you can do this by going to the following section on your phone’s settings: Settings -> Applications -> Development. 
• The micro USB cable of the phone: This cable should be bundled with your device. If you don’t have one, any other Micro USB cable will do.
• A PC with Windows installed 
• Drivers for your Samsung Galaxy Note: You can download the latest version of Samsung Kies and install it. Another method is to simply connect the phone to the USB port after USB debugging is enabled and Windows should automatically install the drivers. But, Kies is a safer alternative.
• The flashing utility: you will need the latest version of the Chain Fire Root Flasher (CFRootflasher.zip), which can be downloaded from http://tinyurl.com/7k9p8ro. This utility will do the necessary flashing of the phone. Download the file and extract the contents to a folder on your desktop. 

The kernels available for download

• The Kernel: In order to root the SGN, the correct Chain Fire Root Kernel is needed. Download it from http://tinyurl.com/d5hhg39. Now this is where you need to carefully download the exact kernel for your phone. Go to Settings -> About Phone on the Note and check the kernel version. It should be something like ‘2.6.34.7-N7000XXKJ4-CL641703’. The important area here is after the two ‘X’ characters (in this case “KJ4”). Note this down, go to the URL mentioned above and download the file that corresponds to your firmware, which has the characters you are looking for (for example “CF-Root-SGN_XX_XEN_KJ4-v5.0-CWM5.zip”). Download the file and extract the contents to a folder on your desktop. 

Now that you have kept ready what you require, let’s get started. Make sure your phone is not connected to the PC at this time. We shall inform you when it is needed.

Step 1:  Open the folder, which contains the kernel. You should see a .tar file there. Unzip that too and you should find a Zimage file. Right-click on the file and select ‘Copy’

Uncompressing the files

Step 2: Now open the folder, which contains the Chain Fire Root Flasher utility and browse to the folder ‘Zimage’. Right-click in this folder and click ‘Paste’. This should create a copy of the kernel file in this folder.

Pasting the image file in place

Step 3: Now hit the backspace key and you should go back to the parent folder. Here you should find the file ‘Not-rooted-yet.bat’. Double-click this file to execute it and the flashing process will begin.

Starting the flashing process

Step 4: Now make sure your phone is charged, switched on, has USB debugging enabled and then connect USB cable to the phone and to the PC. Warning: Don’t do anything else, yet.