Nook Color modification for Fun And Profit

We know the story. The Nook Color from B&N is pretty fun and awesome. But its not a real Android device ’till you have the full Android experience.

I know how that feels. I got a Nook to replace a tablet that died. so far, the Nook has proven to be one of my favorite tablets yet. But following the CyanogenMod instructions left me wondering what I was doing wrong — Why wasn’t I getting a nice little “thank you!” message? Well because B&N changed some things. Here’s what I had to do to get a real version of Android running on my device:

Standard Disclaimer Applies: I am not responsible for you bricking your device, the device blowing up in your face or the entire planet deciding you don’t deserve to breathe. The following is presented as-is. Neener^3. 

What you will need

• (1) 1GB+ MicroSD card (that you can loose the data from)
• (1) microSD card reader
• (Windows) Win32DiskImager (I can’t help you find that)
• (Linux/Mac) dd

Extra Data

• CyanogenMod 7 for Nook Color (“Encore”) — Stable is fine
• Google’s Applications for Android 2.3 (CM7) as an update zip
• DizzyDen’s CWM Images (Choose the one for your SD card size)

Procedure

1. Clear/Deauthenticate/Erase all the data on your Nook. THIS STEP IS IMPORTANT. If you don’t, you’ll run into some STRANGE problems having to do with the main environment.
2. un-gzip the CWM image you downloaded (if you haven’t already) as this will be pushed directly to your SD card.
3. “Burn” the image to your SD card. Under Windows, select your SD card in Win32DiskImager and select the CWM image. Under linux, recite the following in a shell: dd if=(image name) of=(sd card device, e.g. /dev/sdb, /dev/sdq, etc.) bs=1M ( keep in mind here that the device may have been mounted before. If you get an I Can’t Let You Do That moment, find what is mounted on the SD card and unmount.
4. Mount the SD card and create a folder called “update”
5. place the CM7 file in that folder and the GApps zip.
6. Unmount/Sync/Safely Remove the SD card. THIS STEP IS IMPORTANT. If you don’t make sure ALL of the two Zips are palced there you will get a message saying “HEY YOU DIDNT DO THAT RIGHT”
7. Power off your Nook, 110% off.
8. Insert the SD card and plug the Nook in. This should bring up a Skull And Crossbones “LOADING” screen.
9. Select “install update from zip on SD card” (or something like that) using the Nook button
10. Navigate to update/cm7-….encore….zip
11. select Yes from the field of No’s
12. Wait.
13. Select “install from SD card”
14. Select the gapps zip
15. Tell it yes
16. Remove the SD card and select “reboot device” (If you don’t, you’ll be sent back into CWM)
17. Enjoy!
18. Optional: Format the SD card (in Android or on Windows) and use it.
19. Probably a good idea: install CWM (ClockWork Mod) Recovery to the device via apps drawer -> ClockworkMod -> Install ClockworkMod -> Nook Color.

If you experience problems with the interface (it happens sometimes) try clearing the data off the device. There are some cases where there is lingering content from B&N that causes it to freak out.

Now you’ve broke it!

If you want to return to the original, stock Nook image, you can go back to 1.2 thanks to our good friends at XDA-Developers. The two versions there will either flatten over CWM or leave it alone.