How to Root the Nexus 10 (Android 4.4)

Rooting is the process of gaining administrative rights on your Android device.  Once we root our Android device, we can then make changes to it to customize it well beyond what it normally can do.

Once you have root access on your Nexus 10, you’ll be able to:

• Remove apps that were preinstalled by your carrier/manufacturer from your device.
• Free up storage space (because of the above benefit).
• Increase battery life (apps that might have been running constantly can be removed).
• Increase performance (after removing apps that are always running, the device will be less bogged down and run smoother).
• Update to a new version of Android (by flashing a custom recovery/ROM, see the end of this procedure for more info on that).
• Tons of other customizations when you use your new found administrative rights to flash a custom ROM (again, see the end of this procedure for more info on that).

Interested? Here’s how to root your Nexus 10:

I. Before You Begin

1. This will void the warranty of your device. However, you can reinstate the warranty by unrooting your device if there’s any unrooting procedure available.

2. This should unlock your bootloader as well.

II. Downloading Required Files

1. Download Fastboot and save it to your Desktop.

Fastboot

2. Download either Touch or Non-touch CWM Recovery and save it to your Desktop.

Touch CWM (Download link’s available in the first post)

OR

Non-touch CWM (Download link’s available in the first post)

3. Download SuperSU and save it to your Desktop.

SuperSU (Download link’s available in the third post)

III. Unlocking the Bootloader of the Nexus 10 running Android 4.4 KitKat

1. Extract files from Fastboot archive by right-clicking on it and selecting Extract here.

2. Turn OFF your device.

3. Turn it back on by holding down Volume UP+Volume DOWN+Power buttons together.

4. Your device should now be in Fastboot mode.

5. Plug in your device to your PC via USB cable.

6. Launch a Command Prompt Window on your Desktop. To do that, simply hold down Shift and right-click on any blank area on your screen and select Open command window here.

7. Type in following command into the window:

fastboot oem unlock

8. A prompt should appear on your device, hit Yes and you’re good to go.

9. You’re done!

Awesome! Your bootloader’s been successfully unlocked and you can now proceed to flash a custom recovery.

IV. Flashing a Custom Recovery on the Nexus 10 running Android 4.4 KitKat

1. Turn OFF your tablet.

2. Turn it back on by holding down Volume UP+Volume DOWN+Power buttons together.

3. You should now be in Fastboot mode.

4. Plug in your device to your PC via USB cable.

5. Open a Command Prompt Window on your Desktop by holding down Shift and right-clicking on any blank area and selecting Open command window here.

6. Type in following command into the Command Prompt Window. Make sure to replace recovery.img with the actual name of the Recovery Image you downloaded earlier:

fastboot flash recovery recovery.img

7. It should flash the recovery on your device.

8. Once the recovery’s been flashed, reboot your device.

9. You’re done!

The CWM Recovery is installed on your device, let’s see how to root it:

V. Rooting the Nexus 10 running Android 4.4 KitKat

1. Connect your device to your PC via USB cable.

2. Copy the SuperSU zip from your Desktop over to the root of your SD card.

3. Once it’s been copied, disconnect your device from your PC.

4. Turn OFF your device.

5. Turn it back on by holding down Volume UP+Volume DOWN+Power buttons together.

6. Select Recovery mode from the options available on your screen.

7. You should now be in CWM Recovery mode.

8. Select install zip from sdcard followed by choose zip from sdcard.

9. Choose the SuperSU zip you copied earlier to be flashed on your device.

10. It should start flashing the zip on your device.

11. Once it’s done, reboot your device.

12. You’re now rooted!

All set! Now, you can head to our How to Flash a Custom ROM procedure for the Nexus 10 to open up a whole new world of customizations for your Android device!

By the way, don’t be scared, you can always put your device back to stock by heading to our Rooting How To’s section, finding your device, and doing the How to Unroot listed for it there.