How to root Nook HD Mac Instructions

How to create a bootable SD card using Mac only to root and Install Android on a Nook HD. You may have an old Barnes & Noble Nook HD and may be wondering how to give it a second life. The original Nook OS is very old and has many restrictions, but the old lion's heart is beating with a dual core chip and 1 GB of RAM. So it is worth to give it a try to convert it in a complete tablet running a full version of Android.
I have installed the CyanogenMod 10.1.3 Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean version and even though I know there are people there installing Nougat on the Nook HD I prefers to keep it light and give Jelly Bean a try.
Here is what you need:

NookHD-bootable-CWM-6027-for-emmc-stock-4GB-rev3-(02.03.13).zip  This is the Nook Bootloader file which will allow you to start your Nook HD from an SD card, there will be an image file there so the tablet will recognise as system image to boot from

cm-10.1.3-hummingbird.zip Android Operating System and Google Apps. As for Android the version I am using is CyanogenMod 10.1.3 Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean

gapps-jb-20130812-signed.zip These are a set of basic Google apps to start using your tablet like the Play Market from which you may install your desired applications

Download both files from here

A 4Gb micro SD card with an USB adapter. I am using an 8 Gb micro SD that I once had in a smartphone.

You may download all needed files unto a temporary folder to easy the process. I have created a folder named: nook_hd_files

Let's start to root and flash the Nook HD

1. Create a bootable SD card with Mac

Put the SD card into the USB adapter.

Format the SD with Disc Utility > MS-DOS > Delete

Unzip the Nook Bootloader file: NookHD-bootable-CWM-6027-for-emmc-stock-4GB-rev3-(02.03.13).zip
Now you will see the NookHD-bootable-CWM-6027-for-emmc-stock-4GB-rev3-(02.03.13).img file this is the bootloader that will start your Nook from the SD card.

Rename the img file to NookHD-bootable.img or any other name without the parenthesis.

Right click on the img file and check file information, copy the path to the img file somewhere

/Users/maria/nook_hd_files/NookHD-bootable.img

2. Flash the Nook Bootloader into the SD card

Eject the SD card, open a terminal (under Utilities) and type:

diskutil list

Insert your SD card with the USB adapter and you will see a new media appearing in the list, something like:

/dev/disk1
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:     FDisk_partition_scheme                        *7.8 GB     disk1
   1:                 DOS_FAT_32 NO NAME                 7.8 GB     disk1s1


/dev/disk1 is your wanted partition device, make sure that this is your wanted flash media as the use of the dd tool can overwrite any partition of your machine. If you specify the wrong device you could delete your primary Mac OS partition.

To unmount the SD card type:

diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk1

Flash the image file with dd tool:

sudo dd if=/Users/maria/nook_hd_files/NookHD-bootable.img of=/dev/disk1 bs=1m

This may take a little while, it took 50 minutes for me.

3. Copy Android System and Google Apps into the SD card

Copy cm-10.1.3-hummingbird.zip and gapps-jb-20130812-signed.zip to the SD card. I have just copied them with Finder.

Eject the SD card:

 diskutil eject /dev/disk1

Your SD card content files should look like this:

4. Root and Flash Android on Nook ND

Turn the Nook ND off and insert the SD card you will boot into the bootloader menu.

To navigate through the bootloader menu:
  •     Volume up: move up one item in the menu
  •     Volume down: move down one item
  •     Nook button: select
  •     Power button: go back to previous menu

To have a clean new install with better performance do first a wipe cache partition and then a wipe data/factory reset. All of your data will be deleted. And to flash:

1. Scroll down to the "install zip" option and select it with Nook button.
2. Scroll down to "choose zip from /external_sd" and select it with Nook button.

For the rest of the procedure you can watch my video here:

Comments

  1. AdrianneAugust 31, 2019 at 1:19 PM

    Hey, I know this post is old.

    But I just happen to have an old B&N Nook HD laying around.

    It has not been rooted, and I can't even use the stock because it won't load the Nook Store anymore, I can't download anything. All I can do is read books that I had already downloaded before...I don't know what happened.

    I hadn't used it for a long time, and recently decided to use it because I need to access an app that needs a tablet so I can take in customer information.

    I do plan to purchase an iPad, but I want to save a few bucks in the meantime.

    My question is, how can I update the android software to the latest version following your instructions?

    ReplyDelete
  2. MariaDecember 28, 2019 at 11:32 AM

    I think you may upgrade it to Android 7 but the reader should be rooted.

    ReplyDelete

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