First off, YES I have read a ton of posts about some of this, and YES I am a complete noob when it comes to rooting, and YES I am prepared to suffer the flames I may get for asking such inane things...that being said:
I have an EVO that I want to fully root. I use a mac (even read the mac root tutorial on another site...), and am now hearing about Unrevoked 3, and how wonderful/horrible it is. Here are my questions:
If I fully root with unrevoked 3, is there a way to go BACK to the original system that came with my phone? The reason I ask is so many threads hint at a "no turning back" kind of vibe.
Two: if I were to root in the classic sense (you know, the one that appears to a noob such as myself to performing brain surgery), would that allow me to go back to the original HTC system?
I have hacked my mac for years, I used to think I was fearless, but after reading so many posts on subjects like this, I have been terrified to even begin. So any of you Gurus out there that can offer any advice, I would be eternally grateful for it.
Thanks...!
1.- Yes, you can reenable S-ON, you'll need to flash a RUU (official EVO FW) afterwards, after this your phone will be back to stock.
2.- ??? You can root the current HTC FW Sense OR switch to another one if you wish. If you need to go back refer to #1
The RUU is the generally accepted method, however, there is an infamous error of the bootloader not responding to it.
The next method, and the one I used, is over in the Android Development section, probably buried under a couple pages. The thread title is "[GUIDE] How to Unroot the EVO in 2 STEPS" and the author is djR3Z.
I guess this account is too new, and the spam control settings are still in place, so I can't, or at least don't know how, to link to it.
Edit: Also can't edit a post unless I wait 5 minutes. Fun.
Thank you both very much. I will be rooting my phone asap, now.
You should be fine, it takes a lot of effort to really brick a phone. As long as you don't flash only stuff meant for the Evo and you don't interrupt it while anything is flashing you should be good. Unless you lose your account information, which most of the time doesn't get touched, it's pretty simple to return it to stock.
Also, if you have a new phone that says it is hardware version 004 Unrevoked 3 wont work for you. You'll need to follow the instruction found here.
Hello to all.
I have had my G2 for a month now.
This is my first android.
I was wondering if maybe someone could please clarify some questions I have about Rooting?
I apologize in advance for any questions I may ask that makes you say"Are you effing kidding me?!?!"
1. Is rooting pretty much clearing off your phone and installing a whole new software??
2. If i ever want to come back to stock tmobile...am I able to? (will I even want to??) lol
3. I know gingerbread is coming...how do those updates work on a rooted phone?
4. What precautions should I take when rooting my g2?
5. What is cyanogenmod?...
Sorry for asking these "obvious" questions, but I am trying to understand everything before I try to root my device.
Thank you to all!
MrTeddyChills said:
Hello to all.
I have had my G2 for a month now.
This is my first android.
I was wondering if maybe someone could please clarify some questions I have about Rooting?
I apologize in advance for any questions I may ask that makes you say"Are you effing kidding me?!?!"
1. Is rooting pretty much clearing off your phone and installing a whole new software??
2. If i ever want to come back to stock tmobile...am I able to? (will I even want to??) lol
3. I know gingerbread is coming...how do those updates work on a rooted phone?
4. What precautions should I take when rooting my g2?
5. What is cyanogenmod?...
Sorry for asking these "obvious" questions, but I am trying to understand everything before I try to root my device.
Thank you to all!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. rooting makes it possible to flash new roms (which do require you to wipe your system, but once rooted use titanium backup, free app, to back up ur apps on the sdcard)
2. yes there are a few threads on here that walk you through on how to turn security on and install a stock rom
3.as far as i can tell you still get the t-mobile updates sent, and developers here take the new software and make it available to run on our devices.
4. Make sure your device is charged and follow EACH STEP in ORDER and copy the commands CORRECTLY.
5. "CyanogenMod is a free, community built distribution of Android 2.2 (Froyo) which greatly extends the capabilities of your phone." so in short they develop software.
I'd like to add that you will get updates a LOT faster with a rooted phone vs stock OTAs
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App
shadyx513 said:
1. rooting makes it possible to flash new roms (which do require you to wipe your system, but once rooted use titanium backup, free app, to back up ur apps on the sdcard)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, that's not right. To the OP - Rooting gives you access to the "root" user on the phone, which allows more powerful customisations and allows certain apps to run (those which require root).
S-OFF (security off) is the thing that allows you to flash custom ROMs. You could root and not touch S-OFF, or you could both root and S-OFF.
Neither of these require you to wipe the phone. But you need to be very careful in understanding what you're doing when you do either of these steps.
I've been getting a lot of requests from people, simply asking how I went about Rooting and Flashing new ROMs to my lovely G2 Vision. Well, I'm gonna make a guide with step by step instructions on how to do so. This Guide will teach you how to Root, Unroot, S-OFF (security off, to enable development), and how to Flash a new ROM to your G2.
NOTE!: I am NOT a developer, and i will only accept thanks for putting this information together, I did not create these instructions. Thank the individual developers/posters for their information!
WARNING!!: These procedures are not only dangerous if you don't follow them to the point, but also void the warranty on your phone!! Following these steps incorrectly can brick or otherwise damage your phone!! XDA-DEVELOPERS as well as MYSELF accept NO RESPONSIBILITY to what happens to your phone!!
Just in case you didn't get the message.. WE AREN'T RESPONSIBLE. HACK AT YOUR OWN RISK!!
I will do my best to help anyone along their way, but you've been warned. We aren't here to take the blame for a mistake, we're here to help you do what you're seeking to do.
Got it? Let's proceed, shall we?
First off? The Rooting!
ROOTING: Allowing the phone and it's softwares to have access to the "Root", or complete control, of the phone itself.
This procedure includes two major steps. Temporary Root and Permanent Root. The rooting process for the Temp Root will revoke itself after a reboot. The Perm Root method will not. The rooting process is not complete until the Perm Root process has been finished and the Root is still active after a reboot!
Temp Root the G2:
1. On your phone, go to Settings > Applications > Development > and make sure USB Debugging is ON (it MUST be ON) and make sure Fastboot is checked OFF (it MUST be OFF).
2. Visionary was removed from the Market, please download it from Here instead. Save it to your phone's memory card, then simply open it on your phone with any file manager app. (like Linda File Manager for free from the Market, for example) Find the visionary .apk file in the file manager and click it and follow the prompts to install it.
3. Install Visionary from Modaco.
4. Once installed, open Visionary and check ON Temp Root After Reboot, and check ON System R/W After Root. Then click TempRoot Now, and wait for it to finish. DO NOT CLICK ATTEMPT PERMROOT NOW! We'll get to that momentarily.
5. Once it is done, you have temp root and can use rooted apps without rebooting, OR continue to the next procedure to gain persistent root access.
Perm Root & S-OFF the G2:
An explanation of what S-OFF is and why you might want it - S Off means security off for your HBoot mode (aka Bootloader). The bootloader is what allows you to flash updates and write to the file system of your phone. By turning the Security OFF, we can flash any updates/ROMs we want without the phone checking to see if it is an official update or not.
Let's continue.
1. Download the rooting files: Right here.
2. Extract the files somewhere to your computer.
3. Plug your phone in via USB cable and mount the SD card so we can transfer files to it.
4. Copy the .ko and .img files from inside the extracted folder from step 2 to the root of your sd card on your phone (NOT in any folders, just on the SD card itself).
5. Unplug the phone.
6. Go to the Market on your phone and download/install Android Terminal Emulator (free).
7. Open the Terminal Emulator app and type the following with hitting enter at the end of each line (to get the touch screen keyboard to come up hit the menu button then toggle soft keyboard):
Code:
su
cd /sdcard
insmod /sdcard/wpthis.ko
*After typing the last line, you should see an error saying failed:
(function not implemented). If you DO see that, you have done it correctly
and can continue.
8. Now, type the following line in the terminal emulator hitting enter at the end of the line.
Code:
dd if=/sdcard/hboot-eng.img of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p18
[the last part is mmcblk(zero)p(one)(eight)]
9. After you have typed the dd line for your specific phone, it should say something was written etc. Now, type the following into the command prompt with hitting enter at the end of each line:
Code:
sync
10. After that is done, reboot the phone. When it boots back up, turn it off and back on holding down Volume Down and Power until the HBoot screen comes up. Confirm it says S-OFF at the top. If so, you have S-OFF.
11. Now, to get permanent root, turn the phone back on to get to the normal home screen.
12. Open Visionary and Uncheck TempRoot on Boot and click Temproot Now.
13. Then select Attempt Perm Root Now and the phone should reboot.
14. Once the phone reboots, open Terminal Emulator on the phone and type su and hit enter. If you get the # symbol, you have permanent root access and S-OFF!
Next? The ROM Flashing!
Alright, guys. If you've made it this far, You're golden. Grade A directions taker, In my opinion. Let's get to the last step, yeah?
Getting Recovery:
1. Once you have done the above to procedures, open the Market on your phone and search for ROM Manager (Free).
2. Install it.
3. Open the ROM Manager app and click Menu, then Settings and turn ON Delete Recovery.
4. Click Back and then select Flash Recovery.
5. Choose your phone model and then let it flash the recovery.
6. Click Reboot Recovery and you should be put into the custom recovery image screen. If so, you are all set.
Now, to Flash a Custom ROM:
1. Head over to theunlockr.com's ROM page here and choose your preferred ROM. Download it and save it to your computer.
2. Once it is saved, plug in your phone via USB cable and mount the SD card so we can save files to the sd card.
3. Copy the ROM's .zip file over to the root of the sd card (NOT in any folders on the sd card, just on the root of the card) (do NOT extract it, leave it as a .zip).
4. In the custom recovery screen, Backup/Restore and backup your current ROM.
5. Then select Wipe Data.
6. Then select Apply .zip from sd card and choose the ROM you downloaded earlier.
7. Once it is done flashing, click reboot system. Once it reboots, you are all set!
Congrats! You've flashed a new ROM to your G2! Hopefully..
There are some known issues out there, that prevent mostly the Rooting process. I'll touch on one of them real quickly.
The main issue I experienced was that I accepted and flashed the update that T-Mobile released to prevent Rooting. I've found an article on how to downgrade your firmware to pre-OTA, so that you can Root. Try this if you have severe issues trying to complete the Rooting process. Thanks to Apache14 for this info!
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=831398
There's now also a process to UNROOT your phone! Here's the link. Thanks to David Cogen from theunlockr for all this information!!
http://theunlockr.com/2010/12/01/how-to-unroot-the-t-mobile-g2-htc-vision/
Thanks for reading, XDA friendlies, and Happy Rooting!!
Thnx for the link to the unroot man
Sent from my HTC Vision
No problem!
Sent from my HTC G2 using XDA App
Thanks for the effort. But I'm not sure what this is achieving other than duplicating the existing rooting guides in the dev forum.
Also this isn't a very up-to-date guide, it only seems to use one version of "wpthis.ko" and it isn't clear if this is for pre-OTA or post-OTA G2s. And it doesn't cover the DZ either, so it's not a "Vision" guide, just a G2 one.
The existing wpthis.ko was found by scotty not really to work properly anyway, and the newer gfree method of rooting (fully documented in the Wiki) is more reliable (though still does not work with all kernels). And you know Visionary hasn't been updated for months now, right ?
Sorry if this seems like I'm just trashing your guide, but I don't see how posting old information is going to help people ?
steviewevie said:
Thanks for the effort. But I'm not sure what this is achieving other than duplicating the existing rooting guides in the dev forum.
Also this isn't a very up-to-date guide, it only seems to use one version of "wpthis.ko" and it isn't clear if this is for pre-OTA or post-OTA G2s. And it doesn't cover the DZ either, so it's not a "Vision" guide, just a G2 one.
The existing wpthis.ko was found by scotty not really to work properly anyway, and the newer gfree method of rooting (fully documented in the Wiki) is more reliable (though still does not work with all kernels). And you know Visionary hasn't been updated for months now, right ?
Sorry if this seems like I'm just trashing your guide, but I don't see how posting old information is going to help people ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It may be old, but I had yet to see a collective guide on xda developers' website about rooting, s-off, and flashing the 'G2' vision. In which I clearly stated this was for the G2. Not the Desire Z. This is the only method I knew about, and this guide was for a few select friends, and whomever else felt the need to use it. Its okay if you don't agree this post was helpful. But come on. This was the surefire way I used to root my G2, so I'm spreading the knowledge. Let not hate.
So visionary still works right?
Just checking before I go threw with this.
ijoshv2 said:
It may be old, but I had yet to see a collective guide on xda developers' website about rooting, s-off, and flashing the 'G2' vision. In which I clearly stated this was for the G2. Not the Desire Z. This is the only method I knew about, and this guide was for a few select friends, and whomever else felt the need to use it. Its okay if you don't agree this post was helpful. But come on. This was the surefire way I used to root my G2, so I'm spreading the knowledge. Let not hate.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly, it's old. If you're writing a new guide, why use very old, out-of-date info, when you could easily provide the latest info (e.g. from the Wiki).
Yes, it's a collective guide, but one with old info in, so I don't see how that's helpful.
Your guide uses wpthis.ko, but makes no reference to G2s that might be running the original shipped ROM, or the OTA update. So this will only work on some of those phones.
Your article talks about something that T-Mobile did "to prevent rooting". I don't know where you got that information from, but it's not correct. T-Mobile did nothing to prevent rooting, because the OTA came out before root was fully achieved. It's just that the way of disabling NAND write protection needed to be done differently on the OTA (more as an accident than anything that T-Mobile did).
You refer to Visionary as a "sure-fire" way of rooting. Are you sure ? Have you seen how many phones have ended up stuck in a boot loop after using Visionary ?
Also, I find it kind of weird/interesting how your guide points people to another website to choose their list of custom ROMs. Why not point them to the dev forum on this site ?
Sorry but your guide is full of mistakes and out of date. You haven't even posted it in the right forum, this is the Q&A forum.
It worked for me. Bottom line, That's because i did it step by step and actually followed directions.
Old or not, IT WORKS.
If you want to make something better, then do so. Otherwise, silence your lout. Thank you.
Thank you for this write up. I was having problems getting my root to stick even though it was showing s-off but I followed your steps
10. After that is done, reboot the phone. When it boots back up, turn it off and back on holding down Volume Down and Power until the HBoot screen comes up. Confirm it says S-OFF at the top. If so, you have S-OFF.
11. Now, to get permanent root, turn the phone back on to get to the normal home screen.
12. Open Visionary and Uncheck TempRoot on Boot and click Temproot Now.
13. Then select Attempt Perm Root Now and the phone should reboot.
14. Once the phone reboots, open Terminal Emulator on the phone and type su and hit enter. If you get the # symbol, you have permanent root access and S-OFF
AND IT WORKS!!!!
You're welcome, fellow G2 owner.
Why don't you join my group, for those who love their G2? just check my groups in my profile, hopefully we can get a good set of owners together. You never kno what a mass of similar thinking people could accomplish!
Plus, i'm going to start posting some cool guide on how to further customize / enhance your device! Good stuff to kno.
Can i use this tutorial for HTC Desire Z?
Dimitri1992 said:
Can i use this tutorial for HTC Desire Z?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This tutorial was create for THE G2. I would NOT recommend you trying this method. Go around and search google for a tutorial MADE FOR YOUR PHONE. Although the phones are almost exactly alike, they don't necessarily mean they are exactly the same.
Find a different method.
Need help
This is not working for me. I temprooted my phone using visionary but when i try to use terminal to permroot, whenever i type "su" it say permission denied. Please help. I've been trying to do this all night and have been unsuccessful.
steviewevie said:
Exactly, it's old. If you're writing a new guide, why use very old, out-of-date info, when you could easily provide the latest info (e.g. from the Wiki).
Yes, it's a collective guide, but one with old info in, so I don't see how that's helpful.
Your guide uses wpthis.ko, but makes no reference to G2s that might be running the original shipped ROM, or the OTA update. So this will only work on some of those phones.
Your article talks about something that T-Mobile did "to prevent rooting". I don't know where you got that information from, but it's not correct. T-Mobile did nothing to prevent rooting, because the OTA came out before root was fully achieved. It's just that the way of disabling NAND write protection needed to be done differently on the OTA (more as an accident than anything that T-Mobile did).
You refer to Visionary as a "sure-fire" way of rooting. Are you sure ? Have you seen how many phones have ended up stuck in a boot loop after using Visionary ?
Also, I find it kind of weird/interesting how your guide points people to another website to choose their list of custom ROMs. Why not point them to the dev forum on this site ?
Sorry but your guide is full of mistakes and out of date. You haven't even posted it in the right forum, this is the Q&A forum.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm...It is true that it is out of date but for me it works fine. I didn't use the wiki way cause it was to confusing for me and Unfrogivens method was working fine on me. Not saying this method is better or anything and I know this method is unsafe "if" you do not fallow what it says. Like always people try Gfree method 1st before trying this one...(Only for G2)
Sent from my HTC Desire Z/G2 Using XDA Premium App
lainvalenajr said:
Hmm...It is true that it is out of date but for me it works fine. I didn't use the wiki way cause it was to confusing for me and Unfrogivens method was working fine on me. Not saying this method is better or anything and I know this method is unsafe "if" you do not fallow what it says. Like always people try Gfree method 1st before trying this one...(Only for G2)
Sent from my HTC Desire Z/G2 Using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When I rooted my DZ, I combined all referrences and guides
It was very hard at the beginning to understand the instruction, but after read and tried, it become easier to understand.. and I finally could root my DZ...
Cheers
Hello
Hello all totally new to android and was trying to root my g2. I followed instructions thourghly ( so i thought at least) and the s is still on after i exit the emulator and reboot. The last part about typing sync threw me off, how many times am i supposed to type sync while hitting enter after each line? Which lines, im sure overanaylzing something but didnt seem to work and tried multiple times. Thanks for your time..
I know there must be a developer at work trying to make it happen but i need to go back to normal stock from the latest epic touch update w/o losing data thanx...
Rooting/unrooting with adb
The safe way is to know exactly what was modified in your system to root the device, and carefully undo the changes in the proper order. IMO, an app that roots a device *should* have unrooting capability as well because the developer of the app knows how the rooting process works, and how to undo the changes. Of course, the rooting process should be done in a way that allows it to be undone.
If you try to guess the process, and you don't know exactly what you are doing, you could brick your device, so be careful. I am not saying that as a disclaimer, but as an actual warning. Please take it seriously.
I had to root my tablet (also running ICS) manually through adb from my desktop Linux system. The method I followed was to install a custom su command in both /system/xbin and /bin, and then a Superuser app. It is not very complicated. I honestly don't know much about this yet, and just followed instructions that were posted at this site. The tablet was new, and I was ready to just re-install Android if things went wrong.
Does anyone know more about this? I tried to find more technical information on rooting, but was flooded with search results on what app to use, and other "user-level" information. I would like a full technical explanation if anyone has bothered posting such a thing. Do the apps all do the same operations? Is the procedure always the same for a given version of Android? And is there a corresponding method of unrooting, that works on all devices? If not, then why not?
jayts said:
The safe way is to know exactly what was modified in your system to root the device, and carefully undo the changes in the proper order. IMO, an app that roots a device *should* have unrooting capability as well because the developer of the app knows how the rooting process works, and how to undo the changes. Of course, the rooting process should be done in a way that allows it to be undone.
If you try to guess the process, and you don't know exactly what you are doing, you could brick your device, so be careful. I am not saying that as a disclaimer, but as an actual warning. Please take it seriously.
I had to root my tablet (also running ICS) manually through adb from my desktop Linux system. The method I followed was to install a custom su command in both /system/xbin and /bin, and then a Superuser app. It is not very complicated. I honestly don't know much about this yet, and just followed instructions that were posted at this site. The tablet was new, and I was ready to just re-install Android if things went wrong.
Does anyone know more about this? I tried to find more technical information on rooting, but was flooded with search results on what app to use, and other "user-level" information. I would like a full technical explanation if anyone has bothered posting such a thing. Do the apps all do the same operations? Is the procedure always the same for a given version of Android? And is there a corresponding method of unrooting, that works on all devices? If not, then why not?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I fully agree a 100%, but thanx to SFHUB the problem was solved...
Hey Guys,
Im new to the Android community coming across from an iPhone. I have landed myself an HTC One M8 but have no idea what to do next! (Ask me how to "Jailbreak" iPhones and I'm your guy) but the whole root process and custom ROMs are confusing me.
Basically I'm in Australia on the Telstra network (that seems to matter with rooting) and have the M8 on Android 6.0
Where is my next step? Im keen to learn but there are 100s of threads on this question and I simply don't know where to start, so for that I apologise.
Thanks in advance,
The "ConfusedOl1ve"
UnrealOl1ve
Since you're new to the forum, I'll give some (hopefully) friendly advice on posting: There is a thread sticky at the top of this section, and it says clearly "Please Read before posting" and describes what belong in this section, and questions/help requests is not one of them.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/htc-dream-g1/general/guide-to-htc-device-forums-please-read-t3234095
No need to try to change or move this thread (you can't). So I'll request to the mods to have it moved.
Now on to the real stuff. The exact process depends on what you want to do precisely, root or flash a custom ROM. Since on this device, you do not actually need to root before flashing a ROM. But some folks may want to stay on the stock ROM, but with root.
And the process for one versus the other will have some differences.
UnrealOl1ve said:
Hey Guys,
Im new to the Android community coming across from an iPhone. I have landed myself an HTC One M8 but have no idea what to do next! (Ask me how to "Jailbreak" iPhones and I'm your guy) but the whole root process and custom ROMs are confusing me.
Basically I'm in Australia on the Telstra network (that seems to matter with rooting) and have the M8 on Android 6.0
Where is my next step? Im keen to learn but there are 100s of threads on this question and I simply don't know where to start, so for that I apologise.
Thanks in advance,
The "ConfusedOl1ve"
UnrealOl1ve
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Read these thread carefully andFollow steps to unlock your bootloader and install twrp http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2699065
sayad1 said:
Read these thread carefully andFollow steps to unlock your bootloader and install twrp http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2699065
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Toolkit hasn't been updated in over a year and a half. It contains an extremely obsolete version of TWRP, which will cause issues with the OP's Marshmallow device.
Further, IMO the toolkit seeks to provide a solution for a problem which doesn't exist. The steps to unlock the bootloader, and flash custom recovery are easy to do "manually" without the toolkit. And learning to do so (for those that don't already know these skills) should be mandatory for anyone wishing to mods this phone.
Most of what the OP would need to know, is contained in Vomer's excellent guide here. Although the guide hasn't been kept up to date, so I'll provide the following caveats:
1) Follow Sections 0 and 1, to unlock the bootloader.
2) Use current version TWRP 3.0.2 from here, instead of the old version listed(and linked) in the guide. Somewhat obviously, the fastboot command used to flash TWRP will need to be changed to contain the proper file name (newer version number). Alternately, just rename the file something like twrp.img, and use that in the fastboot command.
3) Do not follow Sections 2 (S-off, SuperCID) or 3. They aren't needed for root or flashing ROMs, and the info is no longer accurate.
After that, the way to proceed depends on the 2 different paths I stated in my last post: stock ROM with root; or flash custom ROM.
Stock ROM with root: Make a TWRP backup of the stock (unrooted) ROM, then flash SuperSU. Vomer's guide automatically links to the latest stable version. But it should be noted, that the latest is SuperSU 2.78. Many folks make the mistake of using old versions SuperSU (<2.52 or thereabouts) which won't work on Marshmallow, and will result in being stuck in a bootloop.
Flash custom ROM: No need to root before flashing a custom ROM. What you do in this case:
a) Make a TWRP backup of your stock ROM
b) Backup anything you want to keep, by your method of choice (copy to computer, Titanium Backup, cloud, etc.)
c) Put the ROM on the phone
d) Boot into TWRP, select Wipe, and do the default wipe (Dalvik, Cache, and Data)
e) Select Install in TWRP, and choose the ROM to flash it.
f) Reboot and drink beer, you're done