Develop Bugs

[GUIDE] Permanent root on Desire Z 'the clean way', using rage

This thread is copied and modified from the G2 thread by trigeek for the Desire Z:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=834228
Apart from the changed hboot and wpthis-Z kernel module for the Desire Z instead of the G2, I have also updated the su-binary and SuperUser.apk to the latest version by ChainsDD
In no way I can be held responsible for any bricks to your phone. You are using this guide at your own risk!! I did test this guide on my own, and also on a friend's Desire Z.
As there was no manual rooting guide for the Desire Z, I posted it myself in order to help others that do not like visionary and like to do it 'the clean way'.
[GUIDE] Temp to permanent root on Desire Z, using rage instead of visionary
=================================================
There's already a guide here for obtaining permanent root using VISIONary, but some folks in #G2ROOT are having issues with the way that VISIONary modifies parititons. Using rage directly is a bit cleaner, since you know exactly what it's going to touch at each step of the way. I did NOT come up with any of this on my own, I'm building completely off of work that others have done. Speaking of which-
None of this would be possible without the tireless work that scotty2 put in. He stayed with the project for well over a month, through lots of smashed hopes and dead ends, until the solution was finally found. Were it not for his work, as well as the help of a few other key folks- we wouldn't be here. He deserves our thanks and some donations! We're talking hundreds of hours of work here, a couple bucks is not too much for that. His paypal is:
[email protected]
Send him some love! I'm not asking for anything myself, because I spent a half hour putting this together, and that doesn't deserve any donations!
DESIRE Z ROOT INSTRUCTIONS
=================================================
These are modified instructions based on the ones posted at http://bit.ly/g2root that use Visionary. A number of people have run into issues with the way that Visionary juggles around temporary partitions, and using the original root exploit is a much easier, and cleaner method for achieving permanent root. This tutorial will walk you through the rooting process by first achieving temporary root, and moving on to permanent root.
REQUIREMENTS
=================================================
•Visionary disabled at boot or uninstalled completely
•Android Terminal Emulator app
•ADB
•desirez-combined-root.zip (Attached to this post)
In the commands to run below, $ or # represent the prompt and should NOT be entered as part of the commands.
VERY IMPORTANT!
Visionary has caused filesystem corruption for some users during the rooting process. Before attempting the instructions below, make sure that you have "auto run on boot" turned OFF, and reboot your system. Since you will not need visionary anyway after this, you might as well just uninstall visionary and reboot NOW before doing anything.
TEMP ROOT
=================================================
ON YOUR PC:
Unzip the z-temp-root files to a folder. From a cmd window or terminal, navigate to that folder and execute these commands:
Code:
$ adb push su /sdcard/su
$ adb push Superuser.apk /sdcard/Superuser.apk
$ adb push rage /data/local/tmp/rage
$ adb push busybox /data/local/tmp/busybox
$ adb push root /data/local/tmp/root
$ adb shell chmod 0755 /data/local/tmp/*
ON YOUR PHONE:
1.Launch Terminal Emulator
2.
Code:
/data/local/tmp/rage
3.Wait for the message: "Forked #### childs."
4.Menu > Reset Term - Terminal Emulator will exit.
5.Launch Terminal Emulator, it Force Closes. Launch a second time, and you'll have a root shell
6.**NOTE**: in the original directions from the XDA thread, you are instructed to run the /data/local/tmp/root script here. DON'T do this just yet. Leave the terminal window open.
PERM ROOT
=================================================
ON YOUR PC:
unzip z-perm-root and navigate to that folder. There will be four files. You will need to push two of these to your phone: hboot_7230_0.84.2000_100908.nb0 and wpthis-Z.ko. The other two files are optional for checksum verification.
Code:
$ adb push hboot_7230_0.84.2000_100908.nb0 /data/local
$ adb push wpthis-Z.ko /data/local
Optional but might came in handy:
Code:
$ adb push md5checksum /sdcard/md5checksum
ON YOUR PHONE:
You should still have terminal emulator up, at a root prompt. Now run:
Optional but recommended:
Code:
# /data/local/tmp/busybox md5sum /data/local/*
You should see:
hboot_7230_0.84.2000_100908.nb0 2ce1bdd5e4c1119ccfcecb938710d742
wpthis-Z.ko c73c5e77c91d306c418983c002b60b93
In case your hboot or wpthis-Z.ko file do not have the same md5hash as shown above, DO NOT CONTINUE. This means your file is corrupt or you are using a different file, for example the one for the G2 instead of Desire Z.
Now, let's turn off security for permanent flashing:
Code:
# insmod /data/local/wpthis-Z.ko
init_module 'wpthis-Z.ko' failed (Function not implemented)
That means it worked. This next step is CRUCIAL. You must make sure that you are writing to the proper partition here or you could brick your phone. To be absolutely clear- the partition is mmcblk(zero)p(one)(eight)
# dd if=/data/local/hboot_7230_0.84.2000_100908.nb0 of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p18
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should see some messages indicating that it was written.
Code:
# /data/local/tmp/root
This will lock in root, and give you 'su' access in the future. Next, run:
Code:
# sync
Now wait at least a minute, just to be safe. After waiting, reboot your phone using the power button. After it finishes starting up, launch the terminal emulator, and type 'su'. You should get the prompt asking you to grant permissions. If you got the prompt, congratulations! You have permanent root!

Nice guide, thanks

Thank you Mr Q. works like a charm!

first of all.. thanks for this great guide. Everything went perfect until I came to the step to lock in root. After the command "/data/local/tmp/root" I get this error:
mkdir failed for /system/xbin, File exists
when I just ignore it and type sync after that I have no root acces after a reboot.
Does anybody have a solution for it? I have already done a hardreset with the same results.
thanks in advance...

So this only roots your phone? Or does it s-off as well? From what I understand this s-offs as well because you're pushing the hboot as well.
EDIT: Nevermind. I read the thread again and it does indeed s-off as well.

MarDor said:
first of all.. thanks for this great guide. Everything went perfect until I came to the step to lock in root. After the command "/data/local/tmp/root" I get this error:
mkdir failed for /system/xbin, File exists
when I just ignore it and type sync after that I have no root acces after a reboot.
Does anybody have a solution for it? I have already done a hardreset with the same results.
thanks in advance...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Everything was fine up until this point. So i restarted the phone and phone is stuck on the "quietly brilliant" screen

ssyed said:
Everything was fine up until this point. So i restarted the phone and phone is stuck on the "quietly brilliant" screen
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
having the same issue here

So I'm looking into these S-OFF and rooting threads and here is two bricks too. Does anyone have an answer for these two or should I skip this? Did the hboot do this or was it due to some problem in inserted kernel module? (I.E. the reboot of the emmc controller resulted in a ****ed up file system?)

yelti said:
having the same issue here
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AnyDone said:
So I'm looking into these S-OFF and rooting threads and here is two bricks too. Does anyone have an answer for these two or should I skip this? Did the hboot do this or was it due to some problem in inserted kernel module? (I.E. the reboot of the emmc controller resulted in a ****ed up file system?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, so I have figured out how to get out of this "quietly brilliant" loop.
First of all, this isn't a brick and all that is needed to fix this is a quick factory reset from the bootloader.

ssyed said:
First of all, this isn't a brick and all that is needed to fix this is a quick factory reset from the bootloader.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, so does any one have an explanation why this happened?
1. It wasn't wrong or screwed hboot, otherwise we would be facing a real brick?
Was it the root method? Was it the wpthis-Z.ko?
It might have been the kernel module, but I can't be sure about that with so little knowledge I have. (sure not the module itself but the kick to the emmc?) Just that it seems to be more likely option than a rooting attempt on a cached r-o file system?
I'm not complaining about the guide, it is specific and easy to follow but I would really love to have these semi bricks etc inspected more closely. It is not really helping to encourage ppl to root and try safe-off when we have unexplained bricks and semi-bricks around

MarDor said:
first of all.. thanks for this great guide. Everything went perfect until I came to the step to lock in root. After the command "/data/local/tmp/root" I get this error:
mkdir failed for /system/xbin, File exists
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ssyed said:
Everything was fine up until this point. So i restarted the phone and phone is stuck on the "quietly brilliant" screen
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yelti said:
having the same issue here
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you guys run Visionary before trying this "rage" method of rooting ?

steviewevie said:
Did you guys run Visionary before trying this "rage" method of rooting ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know about others, but I didn't on mine. I was rooting it for the first time. Also, I don't know if this has anything to do with it, but I have the Bell version from Canada.

The root script threw an error for me too, so just to be safe I opened the script and typed in the commands manually. If you have problems with the script, just run these commands from the root terminal on your phone:
Code:
/data/local/tmp/busybox killall rage
mount -o rw,remount -t ext3 /dev/block/mmcblk0p25 /system
mkdir /system/xbin
/data/local/tmp/busybox cp /data/local/tmp/busybox /system/xbin/busybox
chmod 4755 /system/xbin/busybox
/system/xbin/busybox --install -s /system/bin
cp /sdcard/Superuser.apk /system/app/Superuser.apk
cp /sdcard/su /system/bin/su
chmod 4755 /system/bin/su
mount -o ro,remount -t ext3 /dev/block/mmcblk0p25 /system
sync
"mkdir /system/xbin" just creates a directory, if it already exists you can ignore this command and proceed.
Hope this helps someone.. Thanks to the OP for the scripts.

Have a quick look, /system/xbin already seems to exist on my phone too.
So is there an error in the script ? e.g. needs to ignore if the directory already exists ? Or am I (we ?) missing something ?

goldenarmZ said:
"mkdir /system/xbin" just creates a directory, if it already exists you can ignore this command and proceed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good info, thanks. Perhaps just comment out that line of the script, to save running it all by hand (and therefore be prone to more error ?) ?

steviewevie said:
Good info, thanks. Perhaps just comment out that line of the script, to save running it all by hand (and therefore be prone to more error ?) ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did that first.. it threw more errors with the mount commands because I'd already run the script once, so some of the commands were repated. If it's your first run through, commenting it out would be fine.
I only did it line by line so I could see any more errors for myself and decide if they were important. As it turns out the script is very simple and only involves moving files around and changing their permissions.. anything that goes wrong should be immediately apparent even if you have no experience with shell commands.

goldenarmZ said:
I only did it line by line so I could see any more errors for myself and decide if they were important. As it turns out the script is very simple and only involves moving files around and changing their permissions.. anything that goes wrong should be immediately apparent even if you have no experience with shell commands.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I was starting to worry about the bad experiences outlined above, given that this method appeared to be a more reliable one than VISIONary, and a route I was going to go down. But I'm pretty comfortable with shell scripts, so your input makes me feel a whole lot better !

goldenarmZ said:
The root script threw an error for me too, so just to be safe I opened the script and typed in the commands manually. If you have problems with the script, just run these commands from the root terminal on your phone:
-code-
"mkdir /system/xbin" just creates a directory, if it already exists you can ignore this command and proceed.
Hope this helps someone.. Thanks to the OP for the scripts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for this... I will give it a try

Yay, I just perma-rooted my phone using this method, many thanks to those who came up with the method in the first place, plus this handy guide too.
I got the message about /system/xbin already existing, but you can just ignore that message, it runs the rest of the script anyway.

ssyed said:
Ok, so I have figured out how to get out of this "quietly brilliant" loop.
First of all, this isn't a brick and all that is needed to fix this is a quick factory reset from the bootloader.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So after doing the guide you simply reeboot your phone into bootloader and select factory reset?
And then will the device be perm root and s-off???

[Help] problems with current ROM + trouble going back to stock Froyo or similar

Hello guys.
Once again I need your help.
Following my last thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=847320
(AKA "Help! no SD recognition, USB link doesn't work and no signal!")
After taking martijn_bakker's and ianmufc's advice regarding how to issue the correct command from fastboot:
- My phone regained sd functionality.
- My phone had proper signal again.
- BUT I still have USB issues, AND more:
I am currently running Cyanogenmod 6.1.1 for HTC Desire, and I have the following issues:
- When I try to go back to the stock Froyo, or anything that resembles it really (LeeDroid for example), my signal goes bananas: When I try to call anyone, it rings the person, then "ends" the call, only to bring it back again after a few seconds and then disconnect again.
I've also tried different radios (including the one LeeDroid recommended) to no avail.
So basically I cannot make calls with the original ROM.
- USB: When I connect my phone to my PC it charges it, BUT my PC doesn't recognize it, and I cannot transfer files between the SD card and the PC, or sync etc.
- I've got no Bluetooth! (Not sure if this is a Cyanogenmod issue or not though)
- Phone turns off when released from electricity charging (Doesn't happen with PC USB charging though).
The thing is I really didn't mind the original Froyo 2.2 ROM, infact I like it very much. I really like the HTC Sense features and the weather+clock widget with the animations.
The only reason I ever rooted my phone was to get apps2sd on it, so I don't keep running out of space when installing new apps. But I never even got that to work...
My question to you guys is how can I fix my current problems and have a properly working HTC Desire with a stock/custom Froyo ROM (that can make phone calls ) with apps2sd on it?
Thanks in advance!
Liran

First how have you been getting stock on your phone? Have you tried the ruu? If you are zip flashing have you wiped everything? Go to recovery wipe data/factory reset, wipe cache, advanced then wipe dalvik cache, back button, mounts then wipe everything except sd-card. Make sure you wipe sdext. Then try to flash.
Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk

Well as you still don't have usb-connectivity, it sounds like you need to continue on the usb-brick fix. You have issued the command, which let you use the sd-card again. Now you just need to write a new misc partition as described here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=691639
Doing this should make your phone work like it used to, as this is the only thing that is not fixable by flashing another rom if you need some help on it, i might be able to help, but in short terms, you need to flash a misc image, which have the right values, as the one on your phone have been changed in some way. The image is provided in the thread.
edit: and for god's sake do not try to run a ruu, as flashing the misc image might require root, and you may not be able to regain root without usb-connectivity. Also an ruu does not overwrite the misc partition, so it won't help your problem.
edit2: also you should try flashing a new radio that is known to work like 5.09.05.30_2 just to make sure this isn't also causing problems. It should be possible from a zip file using recovery.

_Dennis_ said:
First how have you been getting stock on your phone? Have you tried the ruu? If you are zip flashing have you wiped everything? Go to recovery wipe data/factory reset, wipe cache, advanced then wipe dalvik cache, back button, mounts then wipe everything except sd-card. Make sure you wipe sdext. Then try to flash.
Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
TBH I don't exactly know what RUU is. I've heard it before but I'm not sure exactly what it means.
When I said I flashed the stock Froyo I meant this: Official_FroYo_2.10.405.2
and I also tried LeeDrOiD_v2.2f_A2SD.
Regarding the wipes I've done everything you wrote above to no avail.

mortenmhp said:
Well as you still don't have usb-connectivity, it sounds like you need to continue on the usb-brick fix. You have issued the command, which let you use the sd-card again. Now you just need to write a new misc partition as described here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=691639
Doing this should make your phone work like it used to, as this is the only thing that is not fixable by flashing another rom if you need some help on it, i might be able to help, but in short terms, you need to flash a misc image, which have the right values, as the one on your phone have been changed in some way. The image is provided in the thread.
edit: and for god's sake do not try to run a ruu, as flashing the misc image might require root, and you may not be able to regain root without usb-connectivity. Also an ruu does not overwrite the misc partition, so it won't help your problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks mate I will try that.
One thing I forgot to mention though - My phone is S-ON.
I'm not sure if it used to be S-OFF or not though.
Does that make any difference or does it not matter?

Hum. I appologize I never had a USB brick (knock in wood) so I assumed his problem would be in the rom possibly something he did while fixing the USB brick.
Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk

It does make a difference yes, but you doesn't need s-off for this. It would just make it a whole lot easier. But just get your CID like described in the thread and change the misc image to this. Then flash it like described
edit:
dennis: np something else is wrong as well, but fixing the usb is very urgent, and the other problem should be fixable by running a ruu or simply flashing a new radio+rom afterwards.

mortenmhp said:
It does make a difference yes, but you doesn't need s-off for this. It would just make it a whole lot easier. But just get your CID like described in the thread and change the misc image to this. Then flash it like described
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Will do!
I'll update when I'm done

liranh said:
Will do!
I'll update when I'm done
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A bit stuck... Here is what I've done:
1. Got the CID.
2. Got a hex editor. wrote the new CID instead of the one in the img file. Saved it.
3. I put the new img file and flash_image.zip in the /data on my sd card.
I Put the card in my phone, started my phone, opened Terminal Emulator and typed in "/data/flash_image misc /data/mtd0.img" (without the quotes of course). the phone said: "/data/flash_image: not found".
What am I doing wrong?

Well you should not have a /data folder on your sd card it is a partition on the phone. In order to put it there, save the 2 files in the root of the sd-card and issue those commands in a terminal emulator:
cat /sdcard/flash_image > /data/flash_image
cat /sdcard/mtd0.img > /data/mtd0.img
As written in the thread, you might have to do 'chmod u+x /data/flash_image' before you run the commands (or chmod 755 /data/flash_image) but try to do it without those
Then you should be able to run the command you specified in the previous post
Edit: and the reason you got the error before was of course, that your files was in /sdcard/data and not in /data

liranh said:
A bit stuck... Here is what I've done:
1. Got the CID.
2. Got a hex editor. wrote the new CID instead of the one in the img file. Saved it.
3. I put the new img file and flash_image.zip in the /data on my sd card.
I Put the card in my phone, started my phone, opened Terminal Emulator and typed in "/data/flash_image misc /data/mtd0.img" (without the quotes of course). the phone said: "/data/flash_image: not found".
What am I doing wrong?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, should it not be like this:
su
cat /sdcard/flash_image > /data/flash_image
cat /sdcard/mtd0.img > /data/mtd0.img
chmod 755 /data/flash_image
/data/flash_image misc /data/mtd0.img
Reboot.

Masdroid: Yes exactly apart from that he apparently didn't have the files on the sdcard root

MasDroid said:
Actually, should it not be like this:
su
cat /sdcard/flash_image > /data/flash_image
cat /sdcard/mtd0.img > /data/mtd0.img
chmod 755 /data/flash_image
/data/flash_image misc /data/mtd0.img
Reboot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
mortenmhp said:
Well you should not have a /data folder on your sd card it is a partition on the phone. In order to put it there, save the 2 files in the root of the sd-card and issue those commands in a terminal emulator:
cat /sdcard/flash_image > /data/flash_image
cat /sdcard/mtd0.img > /data/mtd0.img
As written in the thread, you might have to do 'chmod u+x /data/flash_image' before you run the commands (or chmod 755 /data/flash_image) but try to do it without those
Then you should be able to run the command you specified in the previous post
Edit: and the reason you got the error before was of course, that your files was in /sdcard/data and not in /data
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Using a file manager on my phone, I put both files on the root of my SD card.
I then issued the following commands using Terminal Emulator:
su
(granted)
cat /sdcard/flash_image > /data/flash_image
Phone says: /sdcard/flash_image: No such file or directory
I should mention that I took out the card and connected it to my PC again to confirm the files have actually gone onto the root of the SD card (and they have), put the SD card back in my phone, issued the same commands in Terminal Emulator and got the same message...
Any ideas?

Sounds strange, just to make sure. You have unzipped the flash_image, so that it is not the flash_image.zip you have on you sd-card.
Also run "ls /sdcard" in terminal emulator to see a list of the files in the root and check, that it's there, and do not have a file extension. If it's there and the name is "flash_image" then it should work.

mortenmhp said:
Sounds strange, just to make sure. You have unzipped the flash_image, so that it is not the flash_image.zip you have on you sd-card.
Also run "ls /sdcard" in terminal emulator to see a list of the files in the root and check, that it's there, and do not have a file extension. If it's there and the name is "flash_image" then it should work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mate you are spot on with your first sentence. Give me a minute

Haha nice one thought i could've made the same mistake

mortenmhp said:
Haha nice one thought i could've made the same mistake
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah cause you know how when you put files on your phone to flash them you usually keep them in their zip format - that's what tricked me...

Haha yea let us know if you get it sorted

mortenmhp said:
Haha nice one thought i could've made the same mistake
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well spotted

mortenmhp and MasDroid thank you both so much!
Everything is working perfectly now!
I thought I would never get my phone to work properly again!
If any of you is ever in London - drinks are on me!

[Q] Gfree Rooting!

Hey guys,
I took the advice of tons of people here to try the gfree method instead of the hboot or something, or the visionary permaroot.
the thing is, i did it my way and was too lazy to install ADB cuz it always failed and I don;t know how to use it.
I got a desire z- asian version
with a 1.2 version (NOT 1.7 that can't use gfree)
anyway
here's what i did
1) Installed Visionary to Temproot
2) got superuser for terminal emulator (ON PHONE)
3) chmod 777 the GFREE File on SDCARD
4) Tried to run it with the ./gfree -f command
5) IT SHOWS PERMISSION DENIED....WHYYY!???
WTF?
Anyway, if theres no o
ther way than ADBing this, I'll just go ahead and use the .ko file from the other rooting method..
THANKS GUYS

kwhkkwhk said:
Hey guys,
I took the advice of tons of people here to try the gfree method instead of the hboot or something, or the visionary permaroot.
the thing is, i did it my way and was too lazy to install ADB cuz it always failed and I don;t know how to use it.
I got a desire z- asian version
with a 1.2 version (NOT 1.7 that can't use gfree)
anyway
here's what i did
1) Installed Visionary to Temproot
2) got superuser for terminal emulator (ON PHONE)
3) chmod 777 the GFREE File on SDCARD
4) Tried to run it with the ./gfree -f command
5) IT SHOWS PERMISSION DENIED....WHYYY!???
WTF?
Anyway, if theres no o
ther way than ADBing this, I'll just go ahead and use the .ko file from the other rooting method..
THANKS GUYS
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ive seen this before, which files did you put on the sdcard, If you put the entire gfree02.zip file on your sdcard this is worng. You need to unzip the gfree02.zip file and place only the gfree file from the unzipped gfree02.zip file on the root of your sd card.
then re-run using this Code:
Code:
$ su
# cd /sdcard
# chmod 777 gfree
# ./gfree
# sync

i did everything as said, moved only the gfree file onto the sdcard.
everything works until ./gfree
it says: "./gfree: permission denid"
i don't really know whats wrong. the kernels right - its a stock 2.2 asian desire z on 1.2 version or something.
thanks SO MUCH For the reply though. I REALLY APPRECIATE IT

The guide says not to use Visionary for temp root before using gfree, in fact it says to either turn it off (if set to auto-soft-root on boot) or uninstall it altogether.
the gfree method has you use the rage method to obtain temp root.

raitchison said:
The guide says not to use Visionary for temp root before using gfree, in fact it says to either turn it off (if set to auto-soft-root on boot) or uninstall it altogether.
the gfree method has you use the rage method to obtain temp root.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats if your gonna temp root with Rage, requires ADB to push the files, which he is trying to avoid using ADB, gfree has been done the way he is trying before.

I don't believe you can run the gfree program from the sdcard mount point. You should try moving it to the phone itself (try putting it in /data/local directory as instructed in the wiki). That should take care of your permission denied issue.
Also, you may want to copy over all of the other files as listed in the wiki (except for rage since that's not needed for you). The wiki says you need to run the root command after running gfree (it'll set up things like busybox and su for you). You could also do all it manually yourself if you really wanted to...

But how do I move it off the sdcard? I tried using es file explorer but it says gfree can't be moved. And I cant mount the internal memory. Thanks for the advice though

If you are temp rooted you should be able to remount your file system as read/write, you will need to do this to copy files to the /system path and set permissions.

raitchison said:
If you are temp rooted you should be able to remount your file system as read/write, you will need to do this to copy files to the /system path and set permissions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How would I do that?
remounting the file system? i can't find that option in settings...
and by copying the files, is that done through a file manager on the phone?
or on a computer?
thanks so much guys for the help

It shouldn't make a difference if gfree is on /sdcard or not.
To the OP - do you have a # (root) prompt when you are trying to run gfree ? You need that or it won't work. Have you followed exactly the commands that joemm posted, and you didn't get error messages from any of them ?

Yes I do have that sign. Everythin works (chmod, su) until the last code which is to run it.

kwhkkwhk said:
Yes I do have that sign. Everythin works (chmod, su) until the last code which is to run it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do "ls -l gfree" and copy and paste up here the output please. Something is still wrong.

It shows
Rwxr-x system sdcard_rw 134401 2010-12-11 08:57 gfree

steviewevie said:
It shouldn't make a difference if gfree is on /sdcard or not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
By default on my phone (running CM6), the sdcard mount point is mounted with the noexec option (so no direct execution of any binaries). I assumed it was this way on all roms for security reasons, but I'm not familiar with Visionary. Are you saying that Visionary remounts the sdcard as exec for you? Or that it's already that way by default for the stock rom? If so, then yes, you can leave gfree on your sdcard. You can check by running mount in the terminal. You should see an entry for /sdcard with all of its options after it. If you see noexec in there, you will either need to move the files to the phone or remount your sdcard with the exec option instead.
If you want to copy files over to your phone while rooted, you could use Root Explorer (probably easiest way). I believe there are other free programs that allow r/w access, but I haven't tried anyway. Otherwise, you should be able to copy over the files in Terminal. I think the data partition is mounted as r/w but you can verify with the mount command mentioned above (on the line containing /data, look for either rw or ro). If there is a rw, then just use the copy command to copy the files where you need to:
Code:
su
cp /sdcard/gfree /data/local
If the data partition is mounted as ro, you'll need to remount as rw first:
Code:
su
mount -o remount,rw -t ext3 /dev/block/mmcblk0p26 /data
Pretty sure that won't be needed though.

ianmcquinn said:
By default on my phone (running CM6), the sdcard mount point is mounted with the noexec option (so no direct execution of any binaries).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ooh, ok, thanks, I never knew that. My apologies, that looks like why it's not running then.
If you want to copy files over to your phone while rooted, you could use Root Explorer (probably easiest way). I believe there are other free programs that allow r/w access, but I haven't tried anyway. Otherwise, you should be able to copy over the files in Terminal. I think the data partition is mounted as r/w but you can verify with the mount command mentioned above
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, /data is mounted as rw by default, so should be fine to copy as you said.

Alright. This WORKS for running gfree
but for the step that makes the root "stick" according to the guide here...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/index.php?title=HTC_Vision#Rooting_the_G2
where i says :
"You now have read-write access to your /system, hboot, and recovery partitions. But you still need to "lock in" root, and give you 'su' access in the future. So just do:
# /data/local/tmp/root
# sync
"
I can't find /data/local/tmp/root
so it fails to run..
any suggestions on this?
gfree runs fine. it says done when I did ./gfree -f
thanks guys for all the help!

kwhkkwhk said:
# /data/local/tmp/root
# sync
"
I can't find /data/local/tmp/root
so it fails to run..
any suggestions on this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
root is the binary that actually does the rooting, it's included in the gfree_temp-root zip. Did you copy that to /data/local/tmp or did you copy it somewhere else?

the only thing i did, if you were able to see my previous problem,
was just copying the gfree file over to the /data/local and running it
by ./gfree -f
other than that, i copied nothing else, since the guide using adb and the commands used moved nothing other than the gfree file i moved to /data/local
I didn't use the gfree_temp-root.zip folder, i used the gfree_02.zip (permaroot) folder.
and i temp rooted using visionary to get the needed gfree file onboard.
then do i need other filed then?
thank you so much for the quick reply.

kwhkkwhk said:
then do i need other filed then?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, root is actually just a script that installs things like busybox and su for you (see my earlier post).
You should copy those files to the proper locations listed in the wiki (pretty much every file but rage). It'll make life easier (otherwise, you'll have to do all of that stuff manually).
Congrats, you almost have a fully rooted phone.

THank you so much!
and thank you to all of you guys who helped me!
I managed to root my phone finally! Without adb!
YAY

[Q] Why can't I seem to root?

Hey! So I got my G2 from a member on here last night (woohoo!) but I can't seem to root it. I tried every method on here including visionary and gfree. I had some success with gfree since I was able to sim unlock it. When in bootloader I get 's-off' on the first line. But when I go into Rom Manager it tells me I'm not rooted and when I type 'su' into terminal I get 'suermission denied'. Any help here? I really need to flash a new ROM due to ORD.
And just some info from System Info in the boot loader even though I think it's not needed here.
OS ver.-1.22.531.8
eMMC- unknown 2151MB 4407295sectors
Also under IMAGE CRC
hboot: 0x6570c0db
boot: 0x1b87420d
recovery: 0xd4af6ad9
system 0x9f52fea6

Any Update???

OK so you were able to get S-OFF via gfree but not permanent root, when you followed the gfree method, the last step (before the verify) of the gfree rooting guide on the wiki (not sure if that's the one you used) has you run a command to "lock in" root:
You now have read-write access to your /system, hboot, and recovery partitions. But you still need to "lock in" root, and give you 'su' access in the future. So just do:
Code:
# /data/local/tmp/root
# sync
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I suspect this is where it went wrong.
You should be able to use the same method again to get perm root, just skip the gfree parts. Summary:
1. Get all the files on your phone (they are probably already there)
2. Get temp root using rage
3. Run the command (script) that I listed above
Link to the full instructions: http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/index.php?title=HTC_Vision#How_To_Get_R.2FW_Access_.28Permanent_Root_.2F_.22Permaroot.22.29

I tried the wiki method three times, making sure I typed everything correctly. After I type the line you put up I get a series on lines that show that some files can't be shown (I dont remember the exact ones off the top of my head, I'll redo it soon so I can tell you which ones). I also tried it with two different SD cards.
SO I found the errors in another thread started today:
Code:
/data/local/tmp/root
mkdir failed for /system/xbin, File exists
cp: can't stat '/system/xbin/busybox': Not a directory
Unable to chmod /system/xbin/busybox: Not a directory
/data/local/tmp/root: /system/xbin/busybox: not found
cp: not found
cp: not found
Unable to chmod /system/bin/su: No such file or directory

Strange, /data/local/tmp/root is just a script that does all of the stuff to get you permanent root, not sure why it shouldn't be working for you.
I think once you are temp rooted you should be able to install CWM recovery and use that to install a new (pre-rooted) ROM. If you are not ready to or don't want to jump into a custom ROM you can load the stock pre-rooted ROM and should not even have to wipe (would advise a nandroid backup of course)
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=836042

raitchison said:
Strange, /data/local/tmp/root is just a script that does all of the stuff to get you permanent root, not sure why it shouldn't be working for you.
I think once you are temp rooted you should be able to install CWM recovery and use that to install a new (pre-rooted) ROM. If you are not ready to or don't want to jump into a custom ROM you can load the stock pre-rooted ROM and should not even have to wipe (would advise a nandroid backup of course)
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=836042
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I should try temprooting again and flashing CWM. And The only reason I want to root is to flash custom roms. lol.
EDIT: Well that didn't help. I followed the guide for temproot. I did get the root prompt (#) in terminal, but when testing with 'su' gives me 'su:not found'. And CWM still tells me I'm not rooted and wont let me flash the recovery.

Try using visionary to temp root, that may yield more success.
You may want to use ADB to pull out the remnants from your previous attempts.
If you have # in the terminal you should not need to su.
If you can't flash CWM using ROM manager try this method instead http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=902493

With visionary I push temp root, it makes me wait for like 10 minutes, and does nothing. I was just doing su to see what it does. I'll try removing everything with adb and redownloading all the files. Anyway, what's the command to remove with adb? lol

Open an ADB shell and use the rm command to remove individual files, I would remove everything you ADB pushed originally.
Code:
rm /sdcard/su
rm /sdcard/Superuser.apk
rm /data/local/tmp/rage
rm /data/local/tmp/busybox
rm /data/local/tmp/root
Will only run if you have root access (a # prompt) and you may get errors with some since clearly something isn't as it should be on your system.
Did you try using the flash_image utility to flash CWM?
Also if you can flash the engineering hboot you should be able to load CWM from fastboot.

So I removed the files, redownloaded, and redid the wiki root method.
Still no luck. Same error as posted before. This is getting on my nerves. lol

Did you try to install recovery using this method?
If that didn't work did you try to install the engineering HBOOT?

raitchison said:
Did you try to install recovery using this method?
If that didn't work did you try to install the engineering HBOOT?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will attempt these methods soon and report back.

[Q] Have I managed Perm Root with this much ease? Visionary+ Question

About 3 hours ago, I won a Desire Z (wheeey!) at the HTC London meetup. Naturally, I came straight here after the help I got in January rooting my Desire.
I used the Visionary method and obtained temp root status, and then attempted perm root, which seemed to work. All of the guides I have read include a bunch of steps after this, one of which included deleting Visionary, which I then did. I just turned the phone off, took the battery out for a bit and then turned it back on. I still have the Superuser icon and the Terminal Emulator indicates that I have root access... is that it then? It's that simple?
Please tell me if I've done anything wrong, as I don't want to flash Cyanogen and Clockwork Recovery if it's all going to go to hell on me. Any advice or confirmation on whether or not I've obtained perm root would be lovely.
Oh, my firmware version is 1.34.405... etc. Is this simply the last version which allows for such easy root?

Arconaught said:
About 3 hours ago, I won a Desire Z (wheeey!) at the HTC London meetup. Naturally, I came straight here after the help I got in January rooting my Desire.
I used the Visionary method and obtained temp root status, and then attempted perm root, which seemed to work. All of the guides I have read include a bunch of steps after this, one of which included deleting Visionary, which I then did. I just turned the phone off, took the battery out for a bit and then turned it back on. I still have the Superuser icon and the Terminal Emulator indicates that I have root access... is that it then? It's that simple?
Please tell me if I've done anything wrong, as I don't want to flash Cyanogen and Clockwork Recovery if it's all going to go to hell on me. Any advice or confirmation on whether or not I've obtained perm root would be lovely.
Oh, my firmware version is 1.34.405... etc. Is this simply the last version which allows for such easy root?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Having the SuperUser icon just means the app is installed, open up terminal and type 'su' to see if it throws up any errors
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App

I should have mentioned that I did that and got the # symbol, am I good to go?

Arconaught said:
I should have mentioned that I did that and got the # symbol, am I good to go?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In theory, yes; in practice, no. Visionary (with the G2/Desire Z, at least) is known to be a bit buggy. You shouldn't have any issues installing custom ROMs but, I would recommend using the wiki method to root.
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App

OriginalGabriel said:
In theory, yes; in practice, no. Visionary (with the G2/Desire Z, at least) is known to be a bit buggy. You shouldn't have any issues installing custom ROMs but, I would recommend using the wiki method to root.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My understanding, if he already used Visionary to root, and it worked than he should be good to go. Either it works, or it doesn't. The risk with Visionary is that it sometimes corrupts some partitions, which causes the phone to not boot. I haven't read any conclusive reports on Visionary causing long term issues (correct me if I'm wrong).

redpoint73 said:
My understanding, if he already used Visionary to root, and it worked than he should be good to go. Either it works, or it doesn't. The risk with Visionary is that it sometimes corrupts some partitions, which causes the phone to not boot. I haven't read any conclusive reports on Visionary causing long term issues (correct me if I'm wrong).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is my understanding as well, though I'd probably still use GFREE to get S-OFF if I were OP.

That's my next question, I'm using this guide ( http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/index.php?title=HTC_Vision#Rooting_the_G2 ) to try and get S-Off to flash Cyanogen and I'm wondering what step to start on, assuming from your replies that I'm rooted already.
I know it's a bit of a dumb question, but I just don't wanna fudge my new phone.

Arconaught said:
That's my next question, I'm using this guide ( http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/index.php?title=HTC_Vision#Rooting_the_G2 ) to try and get S-Off to flash Cyanogen and I'm wondering what step to start on, assuming from your replies that I'm rooted already.
I know it's a bit of a dumb question, but I just don't wanna fudge my new phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used the wiki method myself, those that used other methods (like Visionary) and were told to root via the wiki seem to have all just started at the beginning, from what I've read.
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App

Arconaught said:
That's my next question, I'm using this guide ( http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/index.php?title=HTC_Vision#Rooting_the_G2 ) to try and get S-Off to flash Cyanogen and I'm wondering what step to start on, assuming from your replies that I'm rooted already.
I know it's a bit of a dumb question, but I just don't wanna fudge my new phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Whoa the Wiki method is completely different, looks like it was rewritten on 04/01.
You can completely ignore the temp rooting steps and concentrate on the gfree steps
From the "Necessary Files" section you need gfree, flash_image and ClockWorkMod Recovery
I would use the latest ClockWorkMod recovery rather than the one listed on the Wiki:
http://mirrorbrain.cyanogenmod.com/cm/recoveries/recovery-clockwork-3.0.2.4-vision.img (of course it's only the latest as of the time of this writing)
From step 2 you need to use:
Code:
$ adb push gfree /data/local/tmp/
$ adb push flash_image /data/local/tmp/
From step 2.a you need to use:
Code:
$ adb push recovery-clockwork-3.0.2.4-vision.img /data/local/tmp/recovery.img
Again note that the file name for CWM will depend on the version of CWM you are using.
Skip to step 4.b you need to use:
Code:
# cd /data/local/tmp
# ./gfree -f
# ./flash_image recovery recovery.img
# sync
Continue on as normal from here.
I skipped the temp root and perm root sections as you are already perm root.
I also skipped the ENG HBOOT parts, since that's not strictly necessary and the most risky part of the whole process (one mistake can result in a brick). If you want to flash the ENG HBOOT you would need to follow steps 4.a instead of 4.b, (you would also need the necessary HBOOT of course) the only command you need to omit from 4.a or 4.b is "# ./root_psn" which is the script which establishes permanent root.

Thanks a lot so far man, but I'm still stuck. I have adb, when I open it in the SDK, it flows for a bit, then closes. This is right, right? I'm meant to do all of these prompts via the cmd window?

OK, I've now sorted adb, but I can't get anything to work past that. Nothing will transfer to my phone and I'm going to kill... somebody.

Arconaught said:
OK, I've now sorted adb, but I can't get anything to work past that. Nothing will transfer to my phone and I'm going to kill... somebody.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You say you've sorted adb, but can you be more specific please ? What works and what doesn't work exactly ?

Ah, yeah, sorry. I got to the point where when I type in "adb devices" in the command window, it shows me my phone, with the serial number and whatnot. However, whenever i try the command:
$ adb push gfree /data/local/tmp/
It just won't work. I have all the files together in my desktop at the moment, having moved them from the downloads folder on my laptop. Is there a specific place I should have the stuff I need to send to my phone?

There is a great write up here about getting adb working. It sounds like either you didn't set up a "path" to use those commands anywhere or if you don't want to do that make sure your files are in the same folder as your adb.
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App

Arconaught said:
Ah, yeah, sorry. I got to the point where when I type in "adb devices" in the command window, it shows me my phone, with the serial number and whatnot. However, whenever i try the command:
$ adb push gfree /data/local/tmp/
It just won't work. I have all the files together in my desktop at the moment, having moved them from the downloads folder on my laptop. Is there a specific place I should have the stuff I need to send to my phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You need to have the files (extracted from the ZIP files you downloaded) in the same folder you run the ADB commands, if your ADB is in your path you should be able to run ADB commands from any folder.
To summarize you need to extract all the zips you downloaded under necessary files, all to the same folder. The open a command prompt and CD to that folder before you start using your adb push commands.

shortlived said:
There is a great write up here about getting adb working.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, steviewevie wrote it:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=865685
But it looks like he is willing to give the OP some personalized help.

Right, thanks guys, I think I'm making some progress.
ADB is all set up, and as far as I'm aware, having:
program files > android sdk > platform tools
on my path should mean I can open adb from anywhere right? I have all of the extracted files in platform tools, where adb is, in my program files... is this right, or have I completely missed the point here?
I keep getting "cannot stat 'gfree':: No such file or directory"
Sorry, I seem really stupid concerning this whole thing, but I'm sure it's something equally obvious that I'm just not seeing.

New problem. I worked out what I'd done wrong there, and got everything onto my phone. However, when trying to change the directory to /data/local/tmp, I keep getting "The system cannot find the path specified"
Now what am I doing wrong?

Arconaught said:
New problem. I worked out what I'd done wrong there, and got everything onto my phone. However, when trying to change the directory to /data/local/tmp, I keep getting "The system cannot find the path specified"
Now what am I doing wrong?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Remember you are running those commands (everything in that section) from an ADB shell, not from the Windows command prompt.

Excuse my ignorance, but what exactly do you mean by that? What should I do?