How to use KingRoot to Root the Fire TV, Install Custom Recovery, and Install a Pre-Rooted ROM (Next Best Method).

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Step 9.

Let's go back to that pre-rooted ROM you downloaded in Step 7.

In my case I placed this ROM on my external hard drive which is connected to a hub that's connected to my Fire TV. You could also place this on a flash drive or a Micro SD card, or the Fire TV's internal storage. If you want to place it on the internal storage just use adbFire to Push like we did earlier with the firetv2_recovery_v5.zip file.

Step 10.

Make sure your USB keyboard is plugged in because you'll need it to make selections in the TWRP custom recovery program and the Fire TV remote won't work for this.

On the Fire TV go to the Home screen. Scroll down to Settings, click System and click Restart.

Step 11.

My apologies because we've reached the point in the tutorial where the bad cell phone pictures are going to make their appearance. I've tried a couple methods using screenshot programs in recovery mode but can't make any of them work on Mac or Windows.

Here's the first screen you'll see when the Fire TV restarts.

The next screen is the boot menu selector. Click the button on the right to Launch Recovery. You'll only have a couple seconds to do this. If you don't choose in time you'll will boot into the Fire TV OS instead. If you miss this just unplug the Fire TV and try it again.

Once you are at this menu screen click the Install button.

Click the Select Storage button.

Select the storage location of your pre-rooted ROM. Once you've selectd either Internal Storage, Micro SDCard or USB, the file name will appear above. Click OK.

If you copied your files to your storage directly by connecting it to your Mac you'll see that the Mac OS just loves adding extra hidden files in directores. You may see your ROM appearing twice. Select the ROM that doesn't start with ._ in front of the file name.

Click the button with the three arrows on it right next to where it says Swipe to confirm Flash. The process will start immediately.

Wait for the pre-rooted ROM to install. This will only take a couple minutes.

Once the install has completed click the home button at the very bottom of the screen and in the middle. This will take you back to the home screen in TWRP.

Step 12.

Next we'll get rid of any bloatware that KingRoot added by performing a factory reset. For your information:

A factory reset will perform the following:

Delete all user installed applications.
Delete all user data and settings.
Disable ADB debugging.
Enable over-the-air updates, if they were already blocked.
Force you to go through the initial setup process. This includes pairing the remote control, connecting to Wi-Fi, re-entering your Amazon account information, etc.

A factory reset will not:

Remove root.
Remove TWRP.
Remove pre-rooted ROMs.
Restore the Fire TV OS to the most current one, or fix it in any other way.

Back at the home screen click Wipe.

Click the Advanced Wipe button.

Check the boxes next to Dalvik/ART Cache, Cache, Data, and Internal Storage. Then click the Swipe to Wipe button.

Stop right now before you click anything else if you are at all concerned about a newer update being available that may block root access (since we haven't gotten to the point in the instructions yet where you can disable updates).

As soon as you click the Reboot System button at the next screenshot the Fire TV will go through its normal process of checking for updates. At the time of this tutorial being posted 5.0.5 was the most current firmware so I wasn't worried about an update. However, Elias at AFTV News.com wrote a great article (and made a really good video) on how to prevent the Fire TV from checking for updates. Basically it boils down to disconnecting your modem or router's power after you initially set up the Fire TV by providing your log in information for your Wi-Fi. This way it establishes a wireless connection, but it isn't able to connect to actually check for the update, so it forwards you on to the registration screen instead. Sneaky.

Check out the article and video here.

Ok I'm done with my warning.

A few seconds later click Reboot System.

It will take a good minute or two for the Fire TV to restart. You'll also have to go through the initial setup process again.

Step 13.

Finally it's time to block over the air (OTA) software updates from Amazon.

I was not able to do this on my first run through using these instructions. I could never connect when entering su. What I did was reinstall KingRoot and start all over again. At that point I was able to get through this step. So don't give up hope!

On the Fire TV go to Settings, System, Developer Options, and then turn on ADB Debugging. The factory reset turned this off.

Connect to your Fire TV with adbFire and click the ADB Shell button.

Enter su and press Enter.

Click GRANT when your Fire TV prompts you for superuser access.

You must see root@sloane;/ # If you don't you are not at root.

Enter pm disable com.amazon.device.software.ota and press Enter. You should see the response that this has been disabled. Enter exit to quit root. Then enter exit to quit ADB shell. You can close the Terminal window and disconnect and close adbFire.

You can confirm on the Fire TV that updates are blocked. Head on over to Settings, System, About, then scroll down to Check for System Update. It will check.

Then it will give you an error message.

Step 14.

You may see these messages next. It will take several minutes to complete.

If you should happen to go to Settings, Applications, Manage Installed Applications, be aware that a program called SuperSU is installed as part of this process. Don't try deleting this program.

Additional Information

If you should happen to go to Settings, Applications, Manage Installed Applications, be aware that a program called SuperSU is installed as part of this process. Don't worry it's supposed to be there.

Factory resetting and software updates.

If you decide to factory reset your device you will have to block software updates again.

How to restore your Fire TV back to stock.

Follow Zeroepoch's Wiki page here.

What I did for some testing (and keep in mind 5.0.5 is the current software out) was to reenable software updates, use TWRP to flash 5.0.4 pre-rooted software, then use the Fire TV to check for and update and install 5.0.5. This left me with an unrooted, stock unit. Using TWRP again to root it would verify I was stock by seeing the device as read only.

How to upgrade a rooted Fire TV.

From Zeroepoch's Wiki: It's possible to upgrade a rooted device directly to a new version while keeping root. It carries more risk because the technique used could cause unrecoverable damage if done incorrectly (uses dd). One benefit though is that the upgrade process is very quick compared to the initial rooting. The safest way to upgrade is to revert back to stock, take the OTA, then root again.

There are currently no procedures for this on the Wiki, but when there are Zeroepoch will post them here.

How to unbrick a Fire TV 2nd generation model.

Here's some helpful files from rbox.

Enabling root on your Mac.

When I was playing around in adb shell I tried to access root on my Mac (which I do quite a bit). I just switched from OS X 10.9 Mavericks to OS X 10.11 El Capitan and I was surprised when it wouldn't accept my password. I didn't realize this is another new feature Apple has made to make it harder to run root. Here's how to set this up.

• Launch System Preferences.
• Click on Users & Groups.
• Click the lock and enter your administrator password to make changes in this panel.
• Click Login Options.
• Where it says Network Account Server click the Join button.
• Click the Open Director Utility buton.
• Click the lock and enter your administrator password to make changes in this panel.
• In the menu bar click Edit then select Enable Root User.
• Enter the root password you wish to use in both the Password and Verify fields, then click OK.