How to - Root the Samsung Galaxy Note

Step 5: Next, take a look the PC screen where the application window is running. You shall find a list of steps displayed there that you need to do confirm you have ready. Make sure you have done all of it as stated and do not ignore or skip any step there. Double check again and once done, you can proceed further. Finally, only if you are satisfied with the necessary requirements you should press any key to continue.

Basic checklist before proceeding with the process

Step 6: Now, on the PC screen, you will find the utility doing a load of jobs scrolling across the window. Let the utility do the needful, while you wait and watch.

The process in progress

Step 7: This is an optional step, which you need to manually do in case it is needed. If you look at the process carefully, you will come to a stage where the utility will highlight a text which states “if the process gets stuck here for a long time . . .”. if the process continues further, nothing is needed to be done. But if the screen is stuck there for a long time, you need to go to the Settings -> Applications -> Development section of the phone (do not disconnect the phone) and disable and re-enable USB debugging. The utility will find the device and proceed further. If you did not need to do this, ignore this step.

Step 8: If the above was successful, you should see a message stating that temporary root has been obtained and the new kernel will be flashed. You can now press any key to continue. Next you shall see the new kernel being pushed to the phone. 

Step 9: If all goes well in the above step, you should get the message stating that the procedure is complete and the phone will be rebooted. 

Once the reboot happens, you can disconnect the phone from the PC and check if you have a new icon (application) installed on the phone in the application drawer called ‘Superuser’. If this exists, then you should have a successfully rooted phone. If not, you can try the entire process again. 

To check if you have root access, you can download any application from the Android Market that requires root privileges and test it. Titanium Backup, Root Manager, ROM Manager are a few example apps that require root access.

Superuser being enabled

Since this utility also pushes or installs Clockwork Mod recovery on your phone, you can start installing your favorite custom ROMs immediately. To check if CWM has installed on your SGN, power off the phone and press the combination keys ‘Volume up + Home + Power’ to enter the recovery mode. 

Advice: Since CWM is already installed now, it is recommended that you initially take a back-up of the phone and store a copy of the back-up on your PC for safety. This can be restored back to your phone in case there are any mishaps, while installing custom ROMs or if you want to simply revert back to your previous ROM.

Alternative: There is another procedure for rooting the SGN using a simple one-click utility for Windows. Check out the site here. Since this procedure and utility is not completely tested by a lot of users, you can try it if you want, but at your own risk.