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Nook HD+ Has Been Rooted (Video)

Barnes & Noble’s new Nook gadgets have been out for nearly 2 weeks now and it has only just today been rooted.

XDA member and veteran Android hacker verygreen posted instructions and a proof of concept video this morning.

His method requires a small amount of typing and does not look all that difficult for the average user. This particular trick is probably not going to be of much use. It’s dependent on a mistake made by the software developers working on the Nook HD.

I don’t see that there has been much mention of this in the blogs, but the Nook HD+ (and probably the HD as well) was released to consumers with several developer setting still visible.  Of particular use is the ability to enable ADB.  This setting is the first step towards rooting and hacking an Android device because it lets you plug the device into a USB cable and access the device from the computer at the other end of the cable.

I expect B&N to remove this option with the next update (2.0.3), but until they do so hackers will be gratefully taking advantage of this handy shortcut. I expect it to speed up the development of a hack which installs Google Play and other Google apps.

Update: I have just learned that this hack is not repeatable. According to an update over on XDA Forums,  several users have reported going into a reboot loop and having the HD+ do a factory reset after the 8th loop.

via XDA Forums

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Comments


Mike Cane November 9, 2012 um 11:55 am

>>>Of particular use the ability to enable ADB.

You think this is a mistake. I say it’s deliberate to drive sales. Knowing it can be rooted this easily will make people go buy it. Whether they close that in an update or not is irrelevant. They will have made their money, the haXXorz will have it, and the rooting battle will continue. Everyone wins.

Nate Hoffelder November 9, 2012 um 12:01 pm

I doubt it. Remember when the Nook Tablet let you install apps? Everyone thought that a deliberate decision, but then B&N took the feature away.

And the HD+ won’t let me install apps. I tried.

fjtorres November 9, 2012 um 1:16 pm

There is a logic to offering the adb option *and* locking the device to sideloading by default.
Namely that hackers are few and far between and making it easy for *them* to unlock the device doesn’t necessarily mean all buyers will know how to emulate them.
Or even want to.
Plus the Nook store is pretty thin so they need to reach out to developers…
The smarter move would be to allow sideloading as a user option but let’s face it: the name may now be Nook Media but the mindset is still B&N…


Geert November 9, 2012 um 12:27 pm

Unfortunately there is a big problem.
See the note in the first post:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=33878543#post33878543

Nate Hoffelder November 9, 2012 um 12:33 pm

That was not there when I posted this. Thanks!

Mike Cane November 12, 2012 um 8:30 am

B&N has upped the ante. It looks like that hole was a mistake after all that they closed with a fast update that now prevents rooting. I have faith XDA will break down this new wall too. Have they ever been defeated?

Nate Hoffelder November 12, 2012 um 9:59 am

Except that the ADB loophole is mentioned all through the developer documentation. There’s even instructions on how to use ADB to push apps to the Nook HD.

I seriously doubt that the ADB switch will be going away.


Geert November 9, 2012 um 12:30 pm

By the way, the ADB setting is not a mistake. The setting is mentioned in all the B&N developer documentation about the HD and HD+.


Isles November 9, 2012 um 8:55 pm

I can’t even get my Nook HD+ to download and open books from Project Gutenberg, ManyBooks, or any of the free eBook sites. The downloads always fail.

Nate Hoffelder November 9, 2012 um 9:13 pm

That’s odd. I got it working

The download process is quirky but it can be done.


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