UPDATE: V1.1 can now be rooted!! See below.

If you want to use the stock NookColor ROM as a tablet that can be mentioned in the same breath as the iPad and the Samsung Galaxy Tab, you're going to need to root it first.

"Rooting" is a common term in the world of Android, meaning that you're performing modifications that grant you root access to your device. When wireless carriers and manufacturers sell you a smartphone or a tablet, they limit your access to it, denying you the ability to modify the device's core file system.

This limited access is done for two main reasons:

1. To protect the average user from turning his device into a really expensive doorstop (or, maybe more accurately, to protect the carriers/manufacturers from being responsible for repairing or replacing that really expensive doorstop)

2. To nudge the customer towards paying for software and services that benefit their company (i.e., an HTC Evo comes packed with Sprint "bloatware" like Sprint TV, Sprint Football, Sprint Navigation, Sprint Tethering, hell, even Sprint NASCAR [yee-haw!!]--all of which could potentially be had for free on a rooted device).

Rooting takes the device that you paid for, and puts it completely into your hands.

Do you need to be a technical genius to root?

Happily, no.

Do you need to be willing and able to follow someone else's instructions very carefully?

Most definitely.

Is there more opportunity to really screw things up than with an out-of-the-box device?

Absolutely.

Does rooting give you the freedom to do pretty much anything you want to do with your device?

YES.

A question that's commonly asked is if rooting voids your warranty. Technically, yes. If you walked into a Barnes & Noble store, saying that you want to return your device, and then they turn it on and see Angry Birds and the Kindle for Android app on the homescreen, then, no, your warranty will be no good.

But the nice thing is, you can pretty much always restore your device to factory conditions, so most of the time, even if something went wrong, you could take your device back to square one and nobody at Barnes & Noble or Best Buy will ever know you were rooted.

In the case of the NookColor, which was designed mostly for reading books purchased from Barnes & Noble, rooting is one way to unlock the ability to:

- install the Android market (the store for free and paid Android apps of all shapes and sizes)

- download most Android apps

- install multiple web browsers (with pinch-to-zoom)

- watch YouTube videos

- create and edit Word documents and Excel spreadsheets

- send and receive text messages with your Google Voice number

- choose from a variety of keyboards (including trace keyboards similar to Swype)

- much much more.

Rooting is one way to transform the NC from a fancy e-reader to a full-fledged Android tablet computer.

Nookie Froyo is the other way to turn the NOOKcolor into a full tablet--and it doesn't involve rooting. We encourage you to research both options before making a decision.

Decided that you do want to root? Let's get started:

How to Root

Developers devoted to hacking the Nook family of e-readers have compiled a streamlined process that makes rooting relatively easy.

First, find out what firmware version your device is running. You can find this by hitting the arrow at the bottom of your homescreen (we'll call this the main Nook menu), then settings, then Device Info, then About Your Nookcolor, then reading what it says under Software Version.

One of the most important things you'll need is a microSD card (available most places cell phones are sold) that's at least 128 MB capacity. I'd recommend getting one with more storage, because, after you've rooted, you can use this as a sort-of expanded hard drive for your tablet.

You'll also need a desktop computer, running Windows, Mac, or Linux with an internet connection to download some files for rooting.

Also, make sure you have some way for the computer to read and write files on that SD card. You can check out these SD Card readers at Android Central.

If you have an Android phone already, you can use it as a card reader too. Just put the SD into the phone, connect it to your computer's USB port, select the option to use the phone as a USB drive, and transfer the files that way.

Now that you know your software version, have an SDcard, a computer, and a way for the card to be mounted on that computer, follow all of the instructions below (instructions credit to nookdevs.com, who--in conjunction with the community of developers at xda-developers.com--we can thank for originating and simplifying this process):

* Disclaimer: we aren't responsible if you brick, destroy, or void your warranty on your NOOKcolor. We don't anticipate this happening, and if you follow directions, you should be fine. Even if you make your device completely unresponsive, there's almost certainly a way to restore it to factory defaults. But any risk involved is solely your responsibility. *

Pre-rooting steps:

The first recommended step to take is to install the 1.1 official Nook software update (if your Nook is still on version 1.0 or 1.0.1 - see above for determining version). The following steps will get the update on your device before rooting:

DON'T PUT THE SD CARD IN YOUR NOOKCOLOR YET.


-Get the update
- On a computer, download the sideload_update.zip from the BN web site.

-Restore the /system directory to factory default
-To wipe the system partition on the NC you need to force your reboot counter to hit 8:
-The easiest way to reset your Nook to factory defaults is to power off the nook, and then interrupt the boot process by holding down the power button*EIGHT TIMES*(interrupt the device from booting up 8x)

Note: IMPORTANT: Make sure the battery is charged enough to make it through the procedure, or do this with the device plugged in. If power is lost while it's flashing the ROM, the device could be permanently disabled.

** Note that the above 8x interrupt procedure will also be your
method of restoring to factory defaults AT ANY TIME, should anything ever goes wrong **

Install the update

Register the newly-restored NC (connect to wifi, register with B&N)

Reboot

Plug in the USB cord

With the NC mounted as a USB drive on your desktop, copy the sideload_update.zip to the root of the nooks internal storage drive. (Since you don't have an uSD card in the NC at this point, you can't accidentally copy it there. :-)

Turn off the NC (power off)

Turn it on

Press the power button for a moment to cause the NC to go to sleep.
Wait. The system will install the new update. It will look JUST like the image above*again.

** IF THIS STILL DOES NOT WORK (after having copied sideload_update.zip to the root of the nook's internal storage drive):
Install Adobe Digital Editions on your PC and activate your account;
Connect your NC to the computer while ADE is open;
ADE detects the nook and asks to activate it. Do so;
Disconnect your NC and wait about 1 minute. It will automagically reboot and patch itself. **

READY TO ROOT

How To Do It

You need a B&N nookColor (which we will call NC)

Before rooting, you need to complete BN's registration process

You need a 128 MB or higher microSD card that you are willing to completely erase. (nookdevs recommends you use a Class 6 microSD card as a lower grade card may have issues. . . . With that said, we rooted with a generic Class 2 with no problems whatsoever.)

You need access to a computer.
the computer must be able to read and write a microSD card.
the computer must have a working USB port to talk to the nook.

You need a working wifi connection for the NC.

You must have a Gmail/Youtube linked Account. If you used a Gmail account for B&N Registration you should use that one for this process. If you don't have a Gmail account, go make one. You need it for this process even if you never use it again in your life.

You must have a program to write disk images, either dd (Linux or Mac) or Win32DiskImager (Windows) software (details below).

This process can be done from a Linux, Windows or Mac machine.
Unlike Linux and Mac, Windows does not include 'dd' so you will want to install win32DiskImager for writing the image to the microSD. win32DiskImager is a program written for the Ubuntu project to write disk images. Simply download the zip to a folder and run the Win32DiskImager.exe. No installation is required.

1. Auto-nooter for Software Version 1.1 Download auto nooter.
Unzip it using your favorite unzipper (WinRAR, 7Zip, Windows compression are all examples)
(The resulting img file will be larger than 63 MB.)
Write the microSD card image (find instructions below corresponding to your computer's operating system):


FOR WINDOWS USERS:

Run Win32DiskImage.exe
Click the folder button and navigate to select the auto-nooter img file you just unzipped.
Click on the disk drive letter label on the right, and choose the letter that corresponds to your SD card.
Press Write. When it finishes, press Exit.
WARNING: This will completely erase your microSD card. Be sure to back it up!

For Mac Users:

Open a terminal window.
Find which drive the sd card is mapped to: type in the terminal this:
diskutil list
Be very careful to identify the SD card and not your hard disk. Be VERY careful.
Now unmount that drive typing this:
diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk#
(My computer is was disk2 replace # with your number. Do NOT use the disk#s)
The computer should say: Unmount of all volumes on disk was successful
dd if=auto-nooter-2-12-15.img of=/dev/rdisk# bs=1m
-- FOR 1.0.0 FIRMWARE
dd if=auto-nooter-2.12.25.img of=/dev/rdisk# bs=1m
-- FOR 1.0.1 FIRMWARE
Everything needed should copy right over to the card.
WARNING: This will completely erase your microSD card. Be sure to back up!

For Linux Users:

Bring up a terminal
Navigate to the directory you unzipped the microSD card image to
If you are running in Linux, Ensure your microSD card is unmounted (run as root)
# umount /dev/
where is your sdcard (for example /dev/sdc or /dev/mmcblk0, not the mount point of the sdcard or an existing partition like sdc1 or mmcblk0p1) Don't just copy the term you need to know the name of the sdcard's device. Please be sure you're writing to your sd card and not to your hard disk.*This is dangerous.
write the image to your microSD card. (run as root)
WARNING: This will completely erase your microSD card. Be sure to back it up!
# dd if=auto-nooter-2.12.18.img of=/dev/ bs=1M
Note that you need to use the name of the img file you downloaded... 2.12.25 or 2.12.15

After you have burned the SD card

1. Remove the microSD card from your computer.

2. Boot the NOOKcolor with the microSD card (step-by-step instructions to do this below):

Shut the device down completely. Make sure the USB cable is unplugged hold the power button down until prompted and choose power off.
Insert the microSD card into the NOOKcolor.

Plug the USB cable from your NOOKcolor into your computer.

The NOOKcolor will boot the microSD although the screen will remain off.

If you're using the Nook cable, the charge LED may blink. That would be ok, it is not important.

Within a minute, your computer will see a new USB device.

In Windows Your computer may complain about missing drivers. Simply cancel through them at this time.

In Linux It will show up as a RNDIS ethernet device. You may ignore this. (Or see next section for advanced uses)

If you are using the Auto-nooter on 1.0.1, when the process is done, it will auto-boot into the regular boot process. When you see the new boot animation, you're all done.

Remove the microSD card. (Otherwise it would boot the microSD again)

Congratulations - your Nookcolor is now rooted.

Follow-up

To actually enable the Market using Auto-nook, you have to finish the process on the NookColor itself.
Note: Be sure that before you began the root process above, you signed in & registered the device with B&N.

If you would like to use a Google Apps account, you can follow the variation of this procedure in NookColor Using a Google Apps Account.

Unlock the NC.

At the Android Welcome Screen tap the robot.

Skip "Learn how to use your LogicPD Zoom2"

Skip "Set up your Google Account"

Select both boxes for "Use Google Location" and click Next (Send anonymous data to Google check box may be optional)

Tap the white Nav Arrow > settings > Wireless & verify that you are connected to WiFi

(The Nav arrow is the white up arrow in the middle of the notifications bar at the bottom of your screen.)

Tap the Nav Arrow > extras > Youtube & accept the Terms & Conditions

Tap the menu (to the right of the Nav Arrow, if the button doesn't work,*reboot your Nook Color. This is a known bug in 1.0.1) & select "My Channel", then Add account & add your linked Google Account

When you log in, put in your entire gmail address, it must be of the form xxx@gmail.com. Nothing else works. We really mean this.

Tap the Nav Arrow & extras & launch Gmail

In Gmail, tap menu > accounts > chose your account (may be optional)
Then menu > Refresh. Wait for sync. It takes a minute. You should see your Inbox. (If it fails to sync that is fine.)

Launch google Talk and be sure it connects (this step may be optional).
Open up Market and Accept Terms and Service. You should be able to see market apps & download & install directly from the Market.

2.If you want to enable non-market install of applications (recommended), you can follow the instructions below.

Another important step:

In order to also allow the installation of apps that don't come from the Market (highly recommended), you can do the following:

Hit the Main NC Menu button (the up arrow in the middle at the bottom), and then Extras. Find the app called NookcolorTools (if it isn't there, reboot your NC, and it should be there now).

In NookColorTools, check the "Allow non-market apps" box.

Reboot your NookColor.

One last step:

You're now finished with your SD Card for rooting purposes, so you can now enable it for storage for your tablet (highly recommended):

- With the Nookcolor already powered on, re-insert the SD card (don't do this before booting, or it'll try to root again).

- Now hit the Nook Main Menu (up arrow at the middle/bottom), then Settings, then Device Info,then SD Card

- Now hit UnMount SD Card

- Finally, hit Format SD Card.

This will erase the auto-nooter files on your SD, enable it to its full storage capacity, and be ready for your use.

Now you're ready for the fun to begin: start installing some apps . . .

Only wish there was an "UberSticky" we could put on this one. Thanks Will!

Nice step by step. It took longer to make sure I had everything set and needed then it did to actually root it. Thanks!

hmmm getting closer to buying one just to root it. i miss one click root solutions lol.

Thank You Sir. Time to pick up a NC.

Excellent easy to follow guide. Worked like a charm first time thru. Thanks again.

Ok, im into it. gona get one ASAP!.
thanks adroid central podcast for all the usefull info and tips!.

yep stupid question. how do you run Win32DiskImage.exe

Keep it in the same folder as the other files (there same as it was extracted) and just open it.

ran Win32diskimage onto brand new microSD card and went to look at the files via file explorer (XP machine). When I clicked on the drive with the SD card it said I needed to Format it. So I did figuring I could just run Win32diskimage again. when i tried this, it said the card was full. I looked at it again through explorer and it shows that it is empty. Any help would be appreciated.

Ok i did this but it is promting to choose whcih prograsm to open it with. It is unzipped. Are you say take the unzipped file and copy it to the SD card.

No, you just double-click on the .exe file to open it. You don't put it on your SD card, this is simply a program to help you burn the image onto your SD card. Windows should know what to do with an .exe file, I have no idea what's happening there. Maybe just remove/re-download/run it again(?).

Not sure what to tell you there. I've never checked the file system after burning it, always just pop it in my nook and it's fine.

ok i have trued the pc and mac steps still no luck. i am getting ther following error


XXXXXX-macbook:~ XXXXXXX$ dd if=auto-nooter-2-12-15.img of=/dev/rdisk2 bs=1m
dd: auto-nooter-2-12-15.img: No such file or directory
XXXXXX-macbook:~ XXXXXXX$ -- FOR 1.0.0 FIRMWARE
-bash: --: command not found
XXXXXX-macbook:~ XXXXXXX$ dd if=auto-nooter-2.12.25.img of=/dev/rdisk2 bs=1m
dd: auto-nooter-2.12.25.img: No such file or directory
XXXXXX-macbook:~ XXXXXXX$ -- FOR 1.0.1 FIRMWARE

You mean on two different computers? I've never done this on a Mac, so specifics of dd aren't my specialty, but I know many others have had success with these same instructions.

Is the PC seeing your SD card reader? If so, I don't know why win32diskimager would have any problem burning the image. If you let us know more specifics of what's going on, we'll do or best to help out.

ok i am trying this on my work cumputer (PC). It does not have the program Win32DiskImage.exe. Is this somehting that has to be downlaod ? Can i jusr right clink on unzipped file and send to the sd card? sorry to be so much trouble.

There's a link in the op to download win32diskimager.

I feel like such an ***** now. must have read the instruction 30 times and never relizred there was a link. Downlaod and burned to sd and nook is now rooted. thank you for all your help

So I was able to root, but for some reason I can't add shortcuts or widgets with launcher pro and Dolphin browser HD won't do pinch to zoom. Am I missing something here? Everything else seems to work ok though.

The current version of dolphin doesn't work with pinch-zoom on stock ROM. I put a link to the next most recent version in a recent thread. Thread is called "multitouch dolphin hd not working."

Not sure about LP.. I've been using adw ex, but don't think I remember hearing about problems with widgets. I know LP won't let you add custom dock icons on stock ROM...

OK, I have some Best Buy gift cards... and can't think of anything else I want to spend them on. Looks like I'm going to give this a shot.

Thanks and I will try the ADW EX as I am sure it is worth the money. Another question though. On the Nook notification bar at the bottom of the screen there is a little Book icon that doesn't seem to do anything now that I am rooted. Is this just a result of being rooted?

I think if you're using the B&N launcher, it'll still work, but not 100% sure (Barnes & Noble apps are the last thing I use on here hehe).

If you're looking for an affordable android tablet, and don't need stuff like 3G, GPS, and cameras, you just might be very, very happy with what those cards went towards.

As soon as i read you sticky i went out and bought an bc. Irooted it following your instrunctions. Everything seemed to go well. I was able to do it in about 30 minutes and have been using the heck out of it for three days. My question is, i am not sure if it worked entirely like it is supposed to. When the nc boots it still has the nc software however in extras i have android market and superuser icons. I have been able to install my own browser. It seems i can do things now i couldn't before but it still feels handy capped by the original barnes and noble e reader software. Certain items i have installed don't show up in extras but i know they're installed because i can access them with advanced task killer.

Sorry for the long message. Thanks for the post! I love my new NC.

You can install a 3rd party launcher to have easy access to apps + widgets and whatnot. (more detail in tips - apps for nook stickied thread).

If you want to stay with the B&N launcher, a reboot should make newly installed apps show up in Extras.