XDA Developers' Android Hacker's Toolkit

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 ...