Chapter 13: Nook Color: Rooting with a Bootable SD Card

In this chapter:

• Information about the Nook Color

• Rooting the Nook Color

The Nook Color, released by Barnes and Noble, was originally intended to be an eReader based on Android. In the hands of Android hackers, it quickly became one of the best-value tablets that could be purchased. Once rooted and with a custom ROM, it was transformed into a usable and fully functional Android tablet.

Because of the nature of the device startup routine (it does not support the Fastboot protocol), a slightly different method is needed to root and ROM the Nook Color compared to other Android tablets. You use an SD card that has been made bootable by flashing an image file to it. When the SD card is inserted into the Nook Color, it takes precedence over the Nook Color native boot routine and the files on the SD card are booted. This allows you to do fun stuff, such as writing a native custom recovery to the EMMC memory and root the device.

This method can also be used for other minor brand or unbranded varieties of Android tablets (usually they have no Google license or Google Play support). The details change but the core skills are the same. Be sure to read up on your device before starting this or any rooting process.

Resources Required for this Walkthrough

To carry out the procedure, you need the following setup:

• a registered Nook Color, version 1.1

• an SD card that you can completely wipe

• a dedicated SD card writer (most built-in SD card writers will not work—get one that plugs into your USB port)

• a Gmail account that you have linked to YouTube

• the Auto-Nooter image file from http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=942424

• the Win32DiskImage image writer from https://launchpad.net/win32-image-writer/+download.

The Auto-Nooter is a convenient little piece of software that was built by developers at Nookdevs.com. The Auto-Nooter does most of the hard work when the Nook Color boots from it. After you have booted the Nook Color from the Auto-Nooter SD card, the SD card can be reformatted and removed or used as added storage.

Walkthrough

The high-level steps of the process are:

1. Burn (write) the custom bootable image to the SD card using your PC.

2. Boot the Nook Color device using the SD card.

3. Allow the auto-root routine to complete.

This walkthrough is for the Nook Color version 1.1. If you have a different version, read up at the XDA forum to find the differences. The primary differences are in the files used—the steps are virtually the same.

Creating a Bootable SD Card

Remember that this process can also be used for other versions of the Nook Color and minor brand or unbranded Android tablets.

1. Run the Win32DiskImage writer program that you downloaded.

2. Click the folder button to navigate to the Auto-Nooter image file.

3. Double-click the image file.

4. Click on the drop-down with drive letters. Select the drive letter that corresponds to your SD card.

You can double-check the drive letter of your SD card by opening Windows Explorer and looking for the SD card drive letter there.

Make sure that you select the correct drive letter. You don’t want to overwrite a data partition or another external storage device. This process irrevocably deletes all content on the selected drive.

5. Click the “Write” button and let the image be written to the SD card.

6. When the writing process is complete, verify the contents of the SD card by using Windows Explorer to open it. You should see the following items:

MLO

u-boot.bin

uImage

uRamdisk

Booting the Device from the SD Card

These steps guide you through booting the Auto-Nooter on the Nook Color and wrapping up the root and boot process.

1. Turn off your Nook Color completely.

2. Place the SD card to which you have just written the Auto-Nooter into the Nook Color.

3. Plug the USB cable from your computer into the Nook Color. This will cause the Nook Color to turn on and boot from the SD card.

The screen will be off during the Auto-Nooter booting. You will not see anything on the screen. Be patient. If you are using the Nook Color cable, the LED will blink but this is irrelevant to the process.

4. Your computer will indicate that a new device has been plugged in. Cancel any request for drivers from your PC.

When the process is done, you will see a new boot animation. Pull the SD card out of the Nook Color to ensure it does not boot from the SD card again.

Making the Device More Usable

At this point, the hard work has been done—your Nook Color is rooted. However, to make it more usable you need to enable:

• Google account integration, so you have Google Play access

• Softkeys, so you have access to the Android Back, Home, Menu and Search keys.

The process of setting up and enabling Google account integration uses a clever “back door”. It uses the sign-in integration between YouTube and Google.

1. On boot, tap the Android.

2. Tap the “Skip Sign in” button.

3. Enable the location services option.

4. Connect to a known good Wi-Fi connection.

5. Launch the YouTube application from the “Extras” menu button.

6. Tap the Menu button to the right of the up arrow.

7. Tap “My Channel” and log in with your Google account.

8. Exit YouTube and launch Gmail from the same “Extras” menu.

9. Synchronize your Gmail account and exit. This could take a few minutes, so be patient.

10. Open up Google Play and accept the terms of service.

11. Download an application to verify that it works.

If the download stalls without installing the application, reboot the Nook and try again.

You need to set the Softkeys so that you have access to the Home, Back, Menu and Search keys native to Android.

You need to set the Softkeys program as your default launcher, to cause it to load automatically. Select the Softkeys application from your applications drawer and select the check box that sets the softkey actions to be remembered as the defaults. Next, set the Home softkey to call your real launcher program by pressing the Menu button and selecting your launcher applications.