Rooting the Shield and using Remote Play Tutorial

by th3suffering

I decided to write up a step by step tutorial for rooting the Shield TV (2017) for the purpose of getting PS4 Remote Play working. There are bits and pieces of this scattered, but before doing this I couldnt find one tutorial that guided me from start to finish all in one place. The purpose of this is to provide it all in one place.

That said, I have taken bits and pieces of this from other tutorials, so all credit to the original authors. If they want any part of this removed I will do so upon request, but hopefully since this is all for the knowledge of the community it will be allowed to stay.

This follows the steps I took to make this work, if anything doesnt work or is different, refer to the links to the original tutorials at the end for more in depth information.

I used Windows 10, I do not know if the process is different for earlier versions.

Disclaimer

I am not responsible for anything that may happen to your device by following the instructions below. You do so at your own risk. If you do not feel comfortable making changes that have the potential of breaking your device, DO NOT PROCEED. If you root, your warranty will likely be completely void. This is your responsibility.

Hardware Required:

Files to Download:

Getting Started

    1. Install Minimal ADB and Fastboot
    1. Extract the Shield Family Drivers to your computer.
    1. Place twrp-3.1.1-1-foster.img in C:\Program Files (x86)\Minimal ADB and Fastboot\
    1. Place Magisk-v14.0.zip (note: file name may be different if Magisk is updated since the date of this tutorial) in C:\Program Files (x86)\Minimal ADB and Fastboot\ (do not extract)
    1. Plug USB Male to Male cable in Shield USB port futhest away from HDMI port.
    1. Plug Shield Game Controller USB into the USB port closest to the HDMI port.
    1. On the Shield TV, go to Settings>About>Build. Click Select/OK button on Shield standard remote (or A on game controller) on Build 7 times. This will enable Developer Mode.
    1. On the Shield TV, go to Settings>Developer>USB Debugging. Turn this to On.
    1. On the Shield TV, go to Settings>Storage & Reset>Using USB. Turn this to On.
    1. Check Device Manager in Windows. You should see Shield TV as a Media Device in there. Also, the Shield TV should show up in Explorer as a drive.
    1. Backup everything on your device that you don't want to lose such as any apps (And there respective data), pictures, videos, music, etc. as unlocking your devices bootloader will erase all data on the device. You can fully backup your devices contents without root using ADB's backup command or by using the Holo Backup Tool.

Root:

    1. Open Minimal ADB and Fastboot. This will open a Command Prompt window.
    1. Type adb devices. At this point youll likely get a Windows prompt asking you to authorize the PC. Do this.
    1. Type adb devices again. It should list something under there. This is your Shield TV. If nothing is listed it is not communicating properly. If the Shield TV shows up in Device Manager it should show up under ADB Devices (in Windows 10).
    1. If you see the Shield TV in step 3, type adb reboot bootloader and hit enter. The Shield TV with reboot to the bootloader. (4k screens may not display, make sure to use a 1080p display)
    1. In Device Manager you should see a Yellow ! that mentions Fasboot. Right click on this and select Update Driver. Select Browse my computer for driver software. Select Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer. There should be an option to list all devices (or similar), select this and you should get a button that says Have Disk... select this. Select browse and go to the location where you extraced the Shield Family Drivers. Select android_winusb.inf. This will install the Fastboot/ADB drivers.
    1. Type fastboot devices. You should see your Shield TV listed like in the adb devices step.
    1. If you see the Shield TV in step 6, type fastboot oem unlock and hit enter. This will delete anything on your Shield (other than portable storage) You will get a prompt asking you to confirm. Press the A button on the Shield Game Controller that you have plugged in via USB.
    1. When done, unplug the Shield TV from power and plug back in, this will reboot the Shield TV. From now on you will receive a warning screen on boot that the bootloader is unlocked. Ignore this. It will boot into the Android TV interface.
    1. Repeat "Getting Started" steps 7-9.
    1. Unplug the Shield Game Controller and plug in your USB mouse.
    1. In Minimal ADB and Fastboot, type adb reboot bootloader and hit enter.
    1. Type fastboot devices and ensure the Shield TV is visible.
    1. If you see the Shield TV, type fastboot boot twrp-3.1.1-1-foster.img
    1. You will now be in TWRP. You should see a warning about the system being read only and an option to Swipe to Proceed in the bottom right. Use your mouse to Swipe and accept.
    1. Choose the Advanced button from the TWRP interface
    1. Seelct ADB Sideload, follow the instructions and use your mouse to Swipe to Start Sideload.
    1. In Minimal ADB and Fastboot, type adb sideload Magisk-v14.0.zip (or whatever the Magisk file name is if its updated since the date of this tutorial)
    1. When step 17 is dont, select Reboot System (Answer NO if asked anything about fixing or restoring ROOT)
    1. Now you will be back to the Android TV interface on the Shield TV. In the Play Store, install Sideload Launcher)
    1. Open Sideload Launcher, you should see a TWRP app (if you allowed it earlier) and a Magisk app.
    1. Congrats, you should now be rooted.

Remote Play:

    1. Open the Magisk app.
    1. Click the Menu button on the top right (the three lines) and choose Downloads
    1. Use the magnifing glass on the right side. Search for Sony Framework v1 (by Seyaru). Download this and it will ask to install and enable the module (which needs a reboot) After its done, choose reboot.
    1. Open Magisk again, go to Downloads, search for Sony Apps Enabler 3.0.1 (by Zenith), install and enable, after its done, choose Reboot.
    1. Install Remote Play 2.0 APK manually (i used X-Plore to send the file to the Shield and install it). https://apkpure.com/ps4-remote-play/com.playstation.remoteplay
    1. Once you have installed Remote Play, go to Magisk again, and under “Settings” enable “Magisk Hide”. After that, a new menu becomes available in the side panel. Go to that menu and then search for your Remote Play app, then “hide it”. This way, you won’t get a root access prompt when launching Remote Play (I also hid the Amazon Video and Netflix apps out of an caution to ensure they still work).
    1. Install a browser of some kind (I used a Chrome apk) but any browser should work.
    1. Go to Sideload Launcher and open the Remote Play app.
    1. Remote Play will ask you to sign into your PSN account. This will open a window with the browser and let you sign in.
    1. You should now be to a screen saying you can use this device to enjoy the PS4 and a Next Button and another Option to register your PS4 controller.
    1. Choose Next and it should look for and connect to your PS4. If it doesnt you may need to manually register it (it will give you instructions).
    1. Congrats, you should now see your PS4 interface. Youll probablywant to go into the Remote Play settings (upper right hand corner above the Next button on the screen with the dialog about using the device to enjoy the PS4) and change the quality/resolution. I have everything hardwired on a GigE network so I chose 1080p and its working just fine for me.

Note about using a controller:

I could not for the life of me get the controller to work with the Remote Play app with the controller paired directly to the Shield. I tried the Shield Game Controller, it didnt work, I tried the Sixaxis Controller app (i could control the android interface with the PS3/PS4 controller but not Remote Play), it didnt work. I used a workaround which leaves the PS4 controller paired to the PS4. I am using this clear on the other side of the house and it reached, so unless your going a huge distance it should work. This is the workaround:

    1. Make a second PSN account — it doesn’t need to have a subscription, it just needs to be on your PS4
    1. Make sure Remote Play is configured on your PS4 and on that account (it shouldn’t need extra fidgeting)
    1. Connect to this new dummy account through Remote Play, while your main PS4 Account is in the foreground

This will make it so that your DualShock 4 will remain connected to the PlayStation 4 and be able to operate it while your screen is casting to your device. The only limitation is, of course, that you’ll be constrained to bluetooth range.

Credit: http://nvidiashieldzone.com/shield-android-tv/android-7-nougat/tutorial-root-shield-android-tv-2017-16gb-nougat/

https://www.xda-developers.com/how-to-enable-ps4-remote-play-on-any-android-and-play-dualshock-4-tips-opinion/

mbm

Or just https://developer.nvidia.com/shield-developer-os-images

Jeff146

I'm having issues with magisk where it says it can't mount vendor, anyone know what the issue might be?