So, you want to watch netflix on your Nook Color. No problemo.
There's a fast, free way to do this. The fast, free way is not the easy way. Specifically, the fast, free way to do this assumes that you know the editor vi, already have ssh, telnet or adb access to your NC, and are very comfortable with commands like "mount -o rw,remount -t ext2 /dev/block/mmcblk0p5 /system"
If that's you, just change two build.prop values to these:
ro.product.model=HTC Vision
ro.product.manufacturer=HTC
The rest of the class, this method costs five bucks but will save you hair pulling. And you ought to be supporting the occasional android developer anyhow.
You will need: to be running 1.2
Start by rooting your 1.2 Nook Color (I recommend: root w/4.5.18 + apk-enabler)
Go to the Android market and install netflix.
While you're there, buy root explorer.
I have not found a simpler, safer way to edit build.prop on-device. I've tried the mount /system app (https://market.android.com/details?id=com.beansoft.mount_system) in conjunction with non-root file managers (ES, Astro); I've tried File Expert and could not get it to link to an editor well.
Launch root explorer. It's a graphical display of all your files.
su will ask you if you want to give Root Explorer superuser permissions. The answer is yes.
Navigate up to /
Navigate into /system
Press the "Mount R/W" button displayed at the top
Long-press on the "build.prop" file
Choose Open in Text Editor
Change two lines in build.prop:
Change:
ro.product.model=NOOKcolor
to:
ro.product.model=HTC Vision
Change:
ro.product.manufacturer=BarnesAndNoble
To:
ro.product.manufacturer=HTC
Save the file. Root explorer backs it up automatically. Check the file; if you did something wrong fix it now by copying build.prop.bak onto build.prop and trying again.
A blown build.prop can prevent your NC from booting normally, which might lead you to need to reinstall all or part of the OS. (You should be able to restore a backup of /system, after formatting /system. But that assumes you made a clockwork recovery backup of /system.)
Restart your NC.
Sign into Netflix.
Watch movies.
Thank you for the write-up.It gave me what I needed to make this change.
ReplyDeleteTo avoid purchasing Root explorer I tried using your reference to using the "Mount /System" app and the ES Filer Explorer app.
I used Mount /System to mount /System as RW. I then opened a terminal emulator and entered "cd /system". If you then do an "ls -lsaF" you will see build.prop is read only for anyone other then root. This will prevent ES explorer from saving modifications to the file like you want.
I typed "su" and then "whoami" from the terminal window to change into superuser mode and to verify I was root. Then I typed "chmod 777 build.prop" to give all users read write privledges. This will allow ES file explorers editor to save the file.
I then opened the build.prop file with ES file explorer by clicking icon in the upper right to switch from the SD card to root. Select the system directory and then long click on the build.prop file. You then choose open as text and then the ES Note Editor.
Modify the ro.product.model and ro.product.manufacturer as was instructed.
ro.product.manufacturer=HTC Vision
ro.product.manufacturer=HTC
I saved the file and then reopened it to ensure the changes were saved.
From the terminal window I typed "chmod 644 build.prop" to reset the file permissions. Finally I rebooted to reload the build.prop file.