adbd cannot run as root in production builds

Solution 1:

You have to unlock your bootloader. Please follow these steps:

Step 2 - Device unlock

1. With the device powered off, power on the device by holding the Power button + volume up + volume down.
2. The device will boot into the bootloader.
3. Plug the device into the computer via the USB cable.
4. On your computer, press Ctrl+Alt+T to start a terminal. Type sudo fastboot oem unlock, followed by Enter
5. On the device screen, accept the terms of unlocking.
6. Boot the device by pressing the power button (pointed by an arrow with Start on the screen).

Source

Please let us know if this worked.

Solution 2:

You could try this:

adb shell setprop ro.secure 0
adb shell setprop ro.debuggable 1
adb shell setprop persist.service.adb.enable 1
adb root

That may work on some devices. Try it yourself and good luck.

Solution 3:

That error occurs on phone's that have a production build. You need to get an other android distribution. I would recommend cyanogenmod.

But the people on XDA can help your better. Here's a link:

Samsung Galaxy Nexus - on XDA

Solution 4:

If you are following the instructions at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Touch/Install, the probable reason for the error is that you're trying to run 'phablet-flash' command without having done the bootstrap 'phablet-flash -b' first.