USB Debugging is a common procedure used in Rooting and hacking the Droid. Simply said, it allows the Android Debugging Bridge to work its magic by allowing a seamless handshake between Droid and PC. We use this mode for copying data between the Droid and PC, installing apps, reviewing phone data, and for development purposes. It is very easy to setup, requiring only a system setting to be enabled.
Begin by connecting your Droid to a PC via USB. Go into the Droid settings and select Applications.


Select Development.


Ensure “USB debugging” is checked. You will be asked if you want to enable debugging, select yes.


And that is all there is to it. You now have a direct connection with ADB and your PC. We will do this to our phones most every time we need to transfer files via ADB.
Sometimes, people will have incompatible preloaded drivers on their computers. This may result in a “Device Not Found” error when following some guides. To remedy this, please refer to the USB Debugging Drivers guide.

Since your MicroSD card is buried underneath your battery, it is silly to remove it and use a card reader every time you want to copy files over to it. Fortunately, the Droid allows you to easily mount the MicroSD card as a mass storage device, similar to a USB Thumbdrive. Though we may also use ADB to copy files from our PC to our MicroSD card, this requires no Command Prompt or code use.

Mounting the MicroSD Card:
Connect your Droid to a PC via USB. You will be notified that there is a USB connection. Drag down the notification shade and select “USB connected.”


You will now see an option to mount your phone; do so at this time by selecting “Mount.”


This will turn your Droid into a mass storage device. Your computer should automatically recognize it and an autorun popup should appear on your desktop.


Browse the files so that you see the contents of your SD card. You are now ready to upload files onto the MicroSD card.
Turning Off MicroSD Mounting:
Slide down the notification shade and select “Turn off USB storage.”


An option will popup allowing you to “Turn Off”–select this now.


If you haven’t closed the SD Card folder on your computer, the window should close automatically once you turn off USB storage.

The Droid is a highly hackable device, and much of this is due to the rich developer support directly from Google. As many of you know, the Droid runs the Android operating system which has been developed and pushed by Google. Not only do they provide the end-user OS you use on the phone, but they have created a full-featured SDK for private developers.
An SDK, or Software Developer’s Kit, is a collection of scripts, code, programs, and knowledge bases that assist people in creating Android apps and working inside the OS. It is a completely free package and is absolutely essential for higher level mods. You can read more about the SDK and download it from here:
Android SDK | Android Developers
There is also an in-depth installation guide. It does not matter where on your computer the SDK folder is located and installed to. Follow the install guide before proceeding.
Inside of the SDK is the cornerstone of most Android mods: Android Debug Bridge. It is located within the tools folder (android-sdk-windows/tools) and can be accessed through Windows Command Prompt. This small application is a bridge between your computer and the Android OS on your phone. It allows you to push, pull, copy, and delete files as well as advanced scripts that perform specific tasks directly on your phone. You can think of it as an interface which extends your computer’s keyboard and files to your Droid.
In most of the upcoming Root Your Droid guides, you will see me reference the use of ADB, command prompt, Superuser permissions, and Linux code. This will all center around the SDK and Android Debug Bridge. But before you can use it, it’s important to learn what it is you’re doing.
How to access ADB through your Windows computer:
The first thing to know is how you access ADB to be able to use it. If you notice, double clicking on adb.exe in the tools folder does not open or run anything. In order to run ADB, we must do it through the Command Prompt.
To do this, go to your Start Menu and select “Run…”.


A Run dialogue will pop up; type “cmd” and hit OK.


This will open a new window called Windows Command Prompt.


This program is similar to DOS in that it allows you to input text-based commands in order to perform tasks. From here, we need to navigate to the tools folder inside of the Android SDK folder (where adb.exe is located). To do this, we need to know the exact file path of the tools folder. Open up the tools folder and at the top of the Windows Explorer window is the address, or file path, of the folder.


For instance, my tools folder is on the Desktop of my XP machine. Thus, the full file path of the folder is:
Cocuments and SettingsuserDesktopandroid-sdk-windowstools
Where “user” is the username of your computer. Copy your file path for use in the Command Prompt.
Back to the Command Prompt, we now need to point to the file path we copied. To do this, we need to type: “cd” for change directory, then add a space. This will preceed the file path of the folder. Right click inside Command Prompt and select Paste. You cannot use a keyboard shortcut to paste into Command Prompt, this will simply type out the keystrokes you used. Once we have typed in “cd ” and then pasted the file path, your Command Prompt should look like this:


Press enter and you will notice that where “c:” use to be is now replaced with the full file path of the tools folder.


If Command Prompt alerts you that “The system cannot find the path specified”, you probably have not pasted the correct or full path of the folder.

Tip: Windows Vista and 7 users may go into their tools folder, highlight the full address and simply replace it with “cmd”. Press enter and Command Prompt will open and will be pointed at the folder.

Once you have pointed Command Prompt to your tools folder, you may test to see if you have everything in order by typing “adb” and hitting enter.
If all went well, Command Prompt should display a long list off available commands and descriptions. Here is an explanation for the most commonly used ADB commands:

• adb push – Copies a file from the computer onto the Droid.
• adb pull – Copies a file from the Droid to the computer.
• adb shell – Emulates Unix terminal so that you may issue Unix Commands from the Command Prompt. (Learn more about Unix Commands for Droid modding)
• adb reboot – Reboots the Droid.

There are many more commands as you can see from the list Command Prompt gave you. These are simply the most common commands used in these guides. The guides will go more in depth as you go along. To use these commands, you must ensure your directory in Command Prompt is pointed to your tools folder.
You must be made aware that when accessing your Rooted phone through ADB, that you may be prompted to accept a Superuser Permission. To avoid seeing this in the future, simply select “Always” when this pops up. If you do not accept the permission, it will fail ADB.

While working with a Rooted Droid and ADB, you will notice that there is an extensive use of code. Much of this code may be unfamiliar to you, but it shouldn’t be scary.
When you see lines such as:

su
mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock4 /system
cat /sdcard/flash_image > /system/bin/flash_image
chmod 755 /system/bin/flash_image
sync

You may feel like you are in over your head. But it’s a lot simpler than it looks!What you see above is called Unix commands. These commands are recognized by the base Linux kernel which controls the Android OS. Linux is an open source computer operating system; Google uses it to create Android. So these Unix commands are similar to the Windows Command Prompt commands we learned about in the Android Debug Bridge guide except they are used for different systems.
When using Unix commands in future guides, it is important to read through them carefully and copy them exactly. Though a mistake will most likely return an error message and cause no harm, it is possible to miss a character and do some damage. Caution and deliberation is key! Here are a few common Unix commands used for Droid modding purposes. These certainly aren’t all of them, and all commands will be described within individual guides.

• su – (Substitute User) Used to change to “root user” to perform Superuser Permission commands.
• mount – Readies a file system for use; allows the user to perform commands to a directory.
• cd – (Change Directory) Changes to the proceeding directory.
• chmod – (Change Mode) Changes the mode of files and directories; commonly used to change permissions.
• mkdir – (Make Directory) Makes a new directory for files.
• mv – (Move) Moves a file or directory from one place to another.
• sync – Synchronizes all data which has been scheduled for writing.

As I’ve stated, there are many more commands which may be used while sending commands to your phone. Don’t fret; they will be described fully as you go along.
One important consideration to make is that after EACH line of Unix commands, you must hit enter to run the command before going on to the next line. You may not copy and paste multiple lines into Command Prompt at once.
I bet you’d never guessed you would be learning a new programming language while working on your Droid! Though you are far from mastering the Unix system, I hope this has familiarized you with some of the necessary commands needed for advanced root-related functions.

Some people are having problems with getting their Droids to connect to ADB after enabling USB Debugging. The reason for this problem may be incompatible USB drivers. To manually install the correct Droid USB Debugging drivers, please go to this link:
Motorola USB Drivers
Simply download the Windows drivers that pertain to your system (32 or 64 bit), extract the installer, and install the drivers. Then, reconnect the Droid via USB and enable USB Debugging.
This will solve some of the “Device Not Found” problems people are having.

Sometimes we want to install an app that has not been downloaded from the market. When we download an app from a developer or website directly, this is called an “Unsigned App”. Sometimes while hacking, we need to use an app that isn’t in the market. For this reason, we need to enable the installation from unknown sources.
Begin by connecting your Droid to a PC via USB. Go into the Droid settings and select Applications.

Ensure “Unknown Sources” is checked. You will be asked if you want to enable debugging, select yes.

You have now allowed your Droid to install apps not downloaded from the market.

1.) Navigate to the install folder which is usually C:\Program Files\Motorola\RSD Lite
2.) Right click on SDL.exe
3.) Click run as administrator

1.) Boot into recovery by holding X while powering on the phone
2.) Click backup/restore
3.) Press Simple Nandroid backup
4.) Once the nandroid is complete press power to get back to the main menu
5.) Reboot

That’s it

1.) Boot into recovery by holding X while powering on the phone
2.) Click nandroid
3.) Press Backup
4.) Once the nandroid is complete press power to get back to the main menu
5.) Reboot


That’s it

1.) Download the rom
2.) Place the file in the root of your sdcard.(Not in any folder just on the sd card.)
3.) Rename the rom to update.zip. Be sure that you are only naming it update.zip. Windows often does not show file extensions and you will end up with files named update.zip.zip. Renaming files with Astro File Manager once they are on your sd card is a good solution to this.
4.) Power off your droid
5.) Boot into recovery by holding X while powering on the phone
6.) Perform a nandroid backup (always sound practice although this is not required)
7.) Wipe data/factory reset (Again not required all the time but unless you are sure it will work without wiping its smart to do so.)
8.) Wipe Cache Partition (Again not required all the time but unless you are sure it will work without wiping its smart to do so.)
9.) Click on install (Note you can use the volume rocker to navigate and the camera button to select.)
10.) Press allow update.zip Installation
11.) Press Install /sdcard/update.zip (deprecated)
12.) When the install is complete use the power button to go back to the main menu
13.) Reboot

1.) Download the rom
2.) Put the file anywhere on your sdcard.
3.) Power off your droid
4.) Boot into recovery by holding X while powering on the phone
5.) Perform a nandroid backup (always sound practice although this is not required)
6.) Wipe data/factory reset (Again not required all the time but unless you are sure it will work without wiping its smart to do so.)(This also wipes your cache partition so no reason to do that as well.)
7.) Press install zip from sdcard
8.) Press Choose zip from sd card
9.) Navigate to the file and click on it.
10.) When the install is complete press the power button to get back to the main menu
11.) Reboot

1.) Download the kernel
2.) Place the file in the root of your sdcard.(Not in any folder just on the sd card.)
3.) Rename the kernel to update.zip. Be sure that you are only naming it update.zip. Windows often does not show file extensions and you will end up with files named update.zip.zip. Renaming files with Astro File Manager once they are on your sd card is a good solution to this.
4.) Power off your droid
5.) Boot into recovery by holding X while powering on the phone
6.) Perform a nandroid backup (always sound practice although this is not required. Its actually not necessary at all if you have a kernel that you know works well somewhere on your sdcard.)
7.) Click on install (Note you can use the volume rocker to navigate and the camera button to select.)
8.) Press allow update.zip Installation
9.) Press Install /sdcard/update.zip (deprecated)
10.) When the install is complete use the power button to go back to the main menu
11.) Reboot

1.) Download the kernel
2.) Put the file anywhere on your sdcard.
3.) Power off your droid
4.) Boot into recovery by holding X while powering on the phone
5.) Perform a nandroid backup (always sound practice although this is not required. Its actually not necessary at all if you have a kernel that you know works well somewhere on your sdcard.)
6.) Press install zip from sdcard
7.) Press Choose zip from sd card
10.) Navigate to the file and click on it.
11.) When the install is complete press the power button to get back to the main menu
12.) Reboot

1.) Go into Rom Manager
2.) To Flash the current Clockworkmod Recovery press flash Clockworkmod Recovery
3.) You will be asked to confirm phone model which should be Motorola Droid (CDMA) if it is not then do no proceed.
4.) To Flash SPRecovery scroll to the bottom and press Flash Alternate Recovery
5.) To Flash a Clockworkmod other than the current one scroll to the bottom and press All Clockworkmod Recoveries
6.) Select the Clockworkmod Recovery that you wish to flash and press ok.

The current clockworkmod recovery can be downloaded Here
SPRecovery .99.3b can be found Here
Which ever recovery you are using should be in the root of your sd card.
You will also need Terminal Emulator from the market. I use the one by the dev Jack Palevich
To make this clearing I am going to put what you should actually type red.
I will be using SPRecovery as the example here but the process is the same for Clockworkmod just change the filename from recovery-0.99.3b.img to recovery-clockwork-2.5.0.1-sholes.img or whatever the name of the current clockworkmod recovery file is.
1.) Start Terminal Emulator
2.) type su then press enter
3.) type cd sdcard then press enter
4.) type flash_image recovery recovery-0.99.3b.img then press enter
5.) you are done but I would suggest typing reboot recovery then press enter so you can be sure it worked.

The current clockworkmod recovery can be downloaded Here
SPRecovery .99.3b can be found Here
Which ever recovery you are using should be in the root of your sd card.
You will need the Android SDK so you have Android Debug Bridge
SDK can be found Here
To make this clearing I am going to put what you should actually type red.
I will be using SPRecovery as the example here but the process is the same for Clockworkmod just change the filename from recovery-0.99.3b.img to recovery-clockwork-2.5.0.1-sholes.img or whatever the name of the current clockworkmod recovery file is.
1.) Start command prompt if you are in windows or terminal emulator if you are in Linux
2.) cd to the adb tools director
3.) type adb shell then press enter
4.) type su then press enter
5.) type cd sdcard then press enter
6.) type flash_image recovery recovery-0.99.3b.img then press enter
7.) you are done but I would suggest typing reboot recovery then press enter so you can be sure it worked.