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How To - Root HTC Desire

Tutorial Name: How To - Root HTC Desire  

Category: Mobile Devices

Submitted By: Nag

Date Added:

Comments: 0

Views: 2,830

Related Forum: Mobile Devices

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Before I get into this tutorial, you may want to backup your phone if you proceed to go any further with this.

Requirements:


  • HTC Desire (fully charged!)
  • Unlike debranding, this method of rooting currently seems to work on all Desire handsets regardless of version number or screen type up to the current newest release, so even those of you on Froyo can root.
  • SD card reader, ff you want Apps2SD you will need a card reader so you can prepare the SD card.
  • USB data cable, for connecting the phone to a computer, naturally.


Prepare your SD card for Apps2SD+ by creating an Ext2 or Ext3 partition


  • Download and install [ Register or Signin to view external links. ]
  • Backup the contents of your SD card somewhere.
  • Connect the SD card to your PC. Make sure it shows up as a drive in My Computer.
  • Load up the Partition Wizard applicatiion.
  • Select your memory card in Partition Wizard (usually at the bottom, look for the drive letter to make sure you don't delete a hard disk). It should have a partition already, probably FAT32 formatted. You need to right click on every partition within your memory card and click Delete.
  • It won't delete right away, these tasks will be added to the panel on the left. Click Apply to make it happen. This will obviously delete everything!
  • You should now have a single chunk of unallocated memory which is the entire storage capacity of the card. Right click on this and choose 'Create'.
  • In the options set 'Create As' to 'Primary' and the file system to FAT32. Leave Cluster Size as default and ignore the drive letter.
  • Now drag the bar below from the right to set the unallocated space after this partitiion. The large FAT32 partition is where your music, videos, pictures and other files will be stored so this needs to be the largest. Make sure you have plenty of room for everything you need. The space after it is where apps will live. Around 512MB should be sufficient though if you're going to be downloading lots of games and other large programs then make it a bit bigger. Click Ok to finish.
  • Now right click and 'Create' on the remaining unallocated space, ignoring the warning message that pops up. Set to Primary again, but this time in File System select 'Ext3' (you can also use Ext2, Google it if you're interested in the differences and want to read lots of debate about which is better). Don't change the size of the partition. Click Ok.
  • Now click Apply and let it do its stuff. Once finished you should have one FAT32 partition and one Ext3. Note that the Ext3 will not be visible through Windows normally so you can't browse the files, but you can delete it and format the entire card back to FAT32 via Partition Wizard.


NOTE: Important: since all your apps will be stored on the SD card instead of the phone, switching the phone on without the card inside will cause problems, you may not even be able to boot properly. And if you change cards you'll need to make sure you copy the contents of the Ext3 partition to the new card.

Rooting:

To root the Desire we're going to use Unrevoked, a one-click fire 'n' forget rooting tool that simplfies the entire process.


  • Go to Add/Remove Programs or Programs and Features (Vista and Win 7) and uninstall HTC Sync if you have it. Also remove any other program which may try to talk to the phone.
  • Head over to the Unrevoked site and download the latest version. Recommend reading this page for more information and troubleshooting tips.
  • Read and follow this driver installation guide. Don't go any further until this works exactly as they say on the site. Lots of errors are caused by incorrectly installed drivers.
  • Run the reflash_package.exe file downloaded the Unrevoked site. It should say 'Waiting for Device'. Make sure you're running the program with Administrator rights (right click and 'Run as administrator' if you aren't certain).
  • On your phone go to Settings > Applications > Development and enable USB debugging. Then go to Settings > Connect to PC and set the default connectio type to Charge Only.
  • Connect the phone to your PC.
  • Follow the on-screen instructions as Unrevoked detects your phone, wait for it to do its thing and you are now rooted.


Installing a custom ROM


  • Download the ROM of your choice.
  • Copy it to the SD card.
  • Switch off your phone and turn it back on while holding power and volume down.
  • In the menu which appears scroll to recovery with the volume rocker and hit the power button to select.
  • You should now have a black screen with green writing. This is your recovery screen and it's from here that you can flash ROMs and do a full backup/restore of your phone.
  • Using the trackpad, scroll down to Backup/Restore and perform a backup.
  • When backup is complete go back to the main menu and select wipe data/factory reset. You should also wipe the dalvik cache.
  • Once it's all wiped go back to the main menu and select 'Flash Zip from SD card'. Choose the zip file for the ROM you downloaded.
  • Wait while it installs, then select 'Reboot' when it has finished. Your phone should boot up into your shiny new ROM. If you want to install extras (like the funky circle battery mod) make sure you do a full reboot beforehand to ensure it's all working.


And there you have it.

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