How To: Root the Nook Color (AutoNooter Method)
February 5, 2011 in Android How To's, Featured, How To's, Nook Color How To's, Video
I. Before You Begin – IMPORTANT!
1. You MUST have an external SD card reader, do NOT use the NOOKColor instead.
2. You must have a Gmail account and a YouTube account that is linked to that Gmail account (furthermore, if you used the gmail email to create your Barnes & Noble account, it must be the same Gmail that is linked to the YouTube account as well).
3. You MUST be on firmware version 1.0.1 or 1.1.0 (1.0.0 will not work). Check your firmware version by clicking on the Arrow button then Settings then Device Info then About Your NOOKColor and you’ll see software version. If it says 1.0.1 or 1.1.0 you can continue, just use the appropriate file for your firmware version
Thanks to GabrialDestruir for all his awesome work on creating the AutoNooter program. Please donate to him or just let him know if you appreciate his work!
Here is his original post on the Autonooter app!
Thanks to GMPower for AutoNooter 3.0.0. Please donate to him or just let him know if you appreciate his work!
Here is his original post on the Autonooter app!
II. Root the Nook Using AutoNooter
1. Download the AutoNooter file for your software version -
1.0.1 – AutoNooter 2.12.25
1.1.1 – AutoNooter 3.0.0
2. Unzip/Extract it somewhere on your computer.
3. Download WinImage (the program we will use to write the img file to the sd card) from here.
4. Take your MicroSD card and put it into an external sd card reader then plug that into your computer.
5. Open WinImage and select Disk > Restore Virtual Hard Disk Image on Physical Drive and select the SD Card/SD Card Reader and then select the AutoNooter .img file that we unzipped earlier and wait for it to finish.
6. Turn off the Nook Color.
7. Once it is off, take out the MicroSD card and put it into the NOOKColor, don’t turn on the NOOKColor.
8. Plug the NOOKColor into the computer via the USB cable (this will cause it to boot up).
9. Wait and your NOOKColor will reboot when it is finished.
III. Setup the NOOKColor
1. Once it boots up, follow the prompts BUT select Skip for Sign In.
2. After you do that, select Enable Location Services and then continue.
3. Once at the home screen, connect to WiFi and then launch YouTube from the Extras tab.
4. Click Menu (the button to the right of the Up Arrow) then select My Channel and login with your GMail account (see the Before You Begin for more details).
5. Exit YouTube and go to GMail in the Extras tab.
6. Sign in to GMail and sync your Google account (again using the same GMail that you used for YouTube) then exit (it’s ok if it failed to sync).
7. Now open the Market and accept the terms and conditions. If that works, download an app and see if it works.
IV. Reformat the SD Card Back to Normal
1. On the NOOKColor, go to Settings then Device Info then SD Card then click Unmount and then Format. Once it is done, it will remount the SD card and you will be good to go!
V. (Optional) Load a Custom Recovery Image and/or Custom ROM
1. After you have finished this procedure, head over to our How To: Load a Custom ROM on the Nook Color procedure to flash a custom recovery image and then learn how to flash ROMs.
Rhodybone1 said on June 3, 2011
rooted the Nook to 3.0, works fine but cant download any apps? Just says downloading but nothing happens. I erased the SD card, any other thoughts?
By the way, for everyone asking if the autonooder works with 1.2 software…it doesnt! You have to downgrade back to 1.1
Cmrobertson said on June 3, 2011
I forgot and when setting it up put the B&N id info in, now it seems I cannot complete the Android setup or bring it back to start. I keep getting the Android character filling in I cannot seem to go beyond this. Any suggestions?
Tianawright said on June 6, 2011
I messed up and wiped it clean and now It will not scroll through the options and it is not responding to anything I do. Is there anything I can do to fix it?
Kait said on June 20, 2011
How long does it take the Nook Color to reboot after rooting it? I’m going on 30 minutes and it’s just showing the black screen with the grey “n” and in white at the bottom it says “Contains reader mobile technology by adobe systems incorporated.”
Rulon_1402 said on June 26, 2011
i rooted my nook and when i want to download an app it does not do it? what do i do
Johnjmusso said on July 4, 2011
When I the restore virtual image step I keep getting an error message that read; Error in writing disk Disk 1, Error 5, Access is denied. Does anybody know what I am doing wrong or work around this error message? Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks
Sylvia Lesage DiGeorgio said on July 10, 2011
My Nook is stuck on “Contains Reader Mobile tech…”
I had copied the Autonooter on the SD card, plugged it to the computer, waited over an hour with nothing happening, removed the SD card, it’s still stuck on “Contains Reader Mobile tech…”
I see a few of you had the same problem. How did you solve it?
Thanks.
Guest said on July 17, 2011
WinImage can’t find AutoNooter .img file in Step 5 of Section II. Has anyone else seen this issue?
Maddnuz said on August 22, 2011
Everyone that cant download stuff from market need to shut the Nook color off then back on ( remember to leave sd cad in and then cancel anything you stated to download and try downloading it again
Gold420 said on August 30, 2011
It seems that the newer nook color doesn’t like this auto nooter method. I just wound up with the unit rebooting and stuck at the grey n screen totally unresponsive. Wound up having to do a image restore to like it was out of the box. I guess the newer software versions don’t like being nootered!!
JRPepe1 said on September 6, 2011
How long should I wait to worry that my Nook has not rebooted after plugging it into the computer?
Ortizasantiago said on September 9, 2011
Can u root a nook color with a 1.3.0 firmware
Sylvia Lesage DiGeorgio said on September 9, 2011
Do NOT use the technique described above if your Nook has a different firmware version, it won’t work and you’ll have to reset your Nook to factory defaults.
Crondina said on September 9, 2011
Does anyone have a way to root the Nook Color when softwware version 1.3 is installed ?
Deidrestuber said on September 29, 2011
Will this work if my nook has the new update of 1.3.0?
Sylvia Lesage DiGeorgio said on September 29, 2011
This technique is only for Nook’s firmware 1.0.1 or 1.1.0. If you use it on other versions, it’ll crash and you’ll have to reset the Nook to factory defaults.
Garybot32 said on October 21, 2011
what about firmware 1.3? anything easier than manuel nooter?
Robert Maron said on November 11, 2011
if you also root it through an sd card, will the sd card root still work?
Robert Maron said on November 11, 2011
How long does the black screen take?
Nachi Robbins said on November 12, 2011
Does this work with andriod 1.0.3?
AzAnna said on December 30, 2011
I was so excited about doing this, but my Nook Color has software version 1.4.0 on it…
drake said on January 16, 2012
i have 1.4.1