Root Samsung Galaxy Note GT-N7000 on ICS

Samsung Galaxy Note GT-N7000 is a smart hybrid device with the feature of a phone and function of a tab. Its technical specs are enough to entice a user to buy it. It received the official ICS update a few months ago. If you have upgraded your Galaxy Note to Ice Cream Sandwich and want to make the most out of it by installing a custom ROM and various apps that require root permissions, here is an easy guide. The present tutorial can be used to root any Samsung Galaxy Note GT-N7000 with ICS Android 4.01 onward (Any Version).

Disclaimer:

Though the method given here has been tested successfully on Galaxy Note GT-N7000, we can not guarantee that it is risk-free. Either Droidviews or the developer of this method will not be liable for any damage done to your device. Follow the steps in the tutorial at your own risk carefully. [/box]

Preparations:

So, if you’re ready to go ahead and root your device, you need to take some preparatory steps given below:

• The first thing you should do before any such operation with your device is to backup all data stored on your device. You should sync your contacts, APN settings, messages, settings, etc. Use a good backup app to secure all important data of your Galaxy Note GT-N7000. You can find hundreds of paid/free apps at the Google Play Store.
• Charge your device’s battery to at least 70% level. Sufficient battery will ensure that your device does not turn off in the middle of things.
• Open Settings on your device and turn on USB Debugging: Settings> Developer Options> USB Debugging.
• Download Samsung Galaxy Note GT-N7000 Rooting Package: CWM.zip (do not extract)
  CWM-SuperSU-v0.87.zip (do not extract)
  Galaxy Note GT-N7000 Rooting Package (All files in One Zip) (extract)
• Now connect your device to the computer via USB cable and copy the three files to the root directory of your device’s external SD Card.

Root Samsung Galaxy Note GT-N7000

Having made the above-mentioned preparations, we can now move on the actual rooting procedure.  Make sure that you have not missed anything. Just follow the instructions given below:

1.  First of all, turn off your phone (you can also do it without turning off), and boot it into Recovery Mode. This is how you can do this: press and hold the Volume Up + Home buttons at the same time and then press and hold the  Power button. In a few moments, you will see the Samsung Galaxy Note GT-N7000 logo. Now release the Power button but keep the Volume Up key and Home button pressed. You will see a screen like this: 
2. Note that in Recovery mode touchscreen does not work. Use Volume buttons to navigate and Power/Home button to select options.
3. In the Recovery mode, select “Apply Update from External Storage” option and locate/select the CWM.zip file and confirm the option.
4. The ClockworkMod utility will now be installed to your device and it will boot automatically into CWM Recovery Mode.
5. From this point, the physical keys will stop working and you will see a touch interface on the screen. Directly touch the desired options to operate.
6. In CWM Recovery, select “install zip from sdcard> choose zip from sdcard” and then browse to the CWM-SuperSU-v0.87.zip and select it.
7. When the installation is finished, go back to the main menu of the CWM Recovery and select “reboot system now” option.
8. Now your device will reboot as a rooted Galaxy Note. Done!

Your device is rooted now and you can now you can install any good custom ROM you like. In case, you wish to unroot your Galaxy Note in the future, just download the SU-Uninstaller-signed.zip, copy it to the SD Card memory and follow the Step 6-7. You can boot into CWM Recovery mode in the same way as you did with Recovery Mode in Step 1.

How to Install a Custom ROM on Galaxy Note

Every ROM comes with some specific installation instructions. Here is the most common method/steps. I have tried it on hundreds of ROMs successfully.

Most Custom ROM developers for the Samsung Galaxy Note warns us not to flash their ROMs on the Stock Samsung Kernel. It will be better if you flash an insecure ICS Kernel before flashing any custom ROM. Here is how you can flash the FrancoICS Kernel on your Galaxy Note.

1. Download franco.Kernel-r5.zip and copy the file to your device’s SD Card.
2. Boot the device into recovery (see the method given below in Step 3).
3. Select “install zip from sdcard> choose zip from sdcard” option.
4. Browse the franco.Kernel-r5.zip file and confirm.
5. When the installation finishes, go back and reboot the device.

Here are the steps you need to follow if you want to install a custom ROM on your Galaxy Note GT-N7000:

1. Turn on USB Debugging Mode on.
2. Copy the ROM file in zip and the GApps file (if applicable) to the SD card of your device.
3. Boot your device into CWM Recovery mode by pressing and holding the Volume Up + Home + Power buttons simultaneously. Just when you see the Samsung Galaxy Note GT-N7000 logo, release the Power button but keep the Volume Up key and Home button pressed.
4. Backup your current firmware/ROM.
5. Return back to the main menu.
6. Wipe  factory/data reset.
7. Wipe cache partition.
8. Go to the “advanced” option and wipe Dalvik cache.
9. In the main menu, select “install zip from sdcard> chose zip from sdcard” and select the ROM file. Confirm the choice by selecting “yes”.
10. (Optional) Flash the GApps_signed.zip file if the ROM developer has provided it. If not, just skip this step.
11. Come back to the main menu and select “reboot system now”.

Done!

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