Last Updated on May 13, 2023 by Mathew Diekhake

Google’s Nexus devices are the first to get the latest version of the Android OS and this time, is no different. The newly launched Android N is now available for the Nexus devices but as a developer preview build. It means this version is intended for the developers who would like to try out the latest builds of the OS regardless of any bugs that come along.

If you happen to have installed the Android N Developer Preview on your Nexus device, you may wish to root it. As you may already know, rooting helps you get the most out of your phone by allowing you to install root-requiring apps, flash a custom recovery, remove the stock apps, and do many more things that cannot be done on a non-rooted phone.

Although Android N is only available as the developer preview, it has been rooted by the well-known Android developer Chainfire. The root comes in the form of a package where you launch a file that is appropriate for your computer’s OS. The script in the package than does its tasks and your phone gets rooted.

The procedure may sound a little technical but that is how it works, and you do not need to know what happens when your phone gets rooted. As an end-user, all you need to do to root your Nexus device running Android N Developer Preview is double-click on a file, and it should take care of the rest.

Once you have rooted your phone, you should be able to run all of the root-requiring apps on your phone just like how you were running them on your previously rooted Android versions, if any.

Without further ado, here’s how you can go about rooting your Nexus device running the Android N Developer Preview using Chainfire’s root method:

Details You Should Know

  • This tutorial only applies to the developer builds of Android N, and you should not try this on any other builds of Android.
  • This tutorial should only work for the following Nexus devices that run Android N Developer Preview: Nexus 6, Nexus 9, Nexus 5X, and Nexus 6P. If you are not one of these, you should not do this tutorial.
  • You should have ADB USB drivers installed on your Windows computer. Install the drivers if they are not already installed.
  • This tutorial should work on Linux and Mac, too, but we will be focusing on the Windows version of the root package.

Files You Need

  1. Download Root Package for your phone and save it to your computer:
    CF-Root for Nexus 6P
    CF-Root for Nexus 5X
    CF-Root for Nexus 6
    CF-Root for Nexus 9
    CF-Root for Nexus 9 LTE

Rooting the Android N Developer Preview on Nexus Devices

  1. Unzip files from the CF-Root package you have downloaded for your phone over to your computer by right-clicking on the package and selecting Extract here. It will make the files available for your use.
  2. Turn off your Google Nexus phone entirely using the Power button.
  3. When your Google Nexus phone has turned off, hold down both Volume DOWN and Power buttons together for a few seconds.
  4. Your Google Nexus phone should reboot into the bootloader mode from where you can flash various things on your phone.
  5. Plug in your phone to your computer using a suitable USB cable.
  6. Here comes the main part where you root your phone. Open the folder where you have extracted the root package files and find and double-click on the file named root-windows.bat.
  7. The file should launch, and it should begin rooting your phone. Wait for it to do that.
  8. If you happen to be on Linux or Mac, you will need to run the file root-linux.sh or root-mac.sh using Terminal. It should do the same job as the Windows version of the package.
  9. If you happen to see any prompts on your screen, allow them so that your phone can be rooted.
  10. When the package’s done rooting your phone, your phone should automatically reboot.
  11. You are done.

Your Nexus device running the Android N Developer Preview is now rooted using the Chainfire root package, and you are all set to run your favorite root-requiring apps on your phone.

Let us know how this worked for you in the comments section given below!

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