Root [Guide] How to root the Wildfire S with S-ON

[CafeKampuchia]

NOTE: This tutorial is for rooting the HTC Wildfire S by unlocking the phone’s bootloader even with S-ON. It is no longer necessary to gain S-OFF in order to root the Wildfire S!

This method of rooting the phone became possible with HTC dev’s release of the unlocked bootloader for the Wildfire S. I don’t take credit for coming up with this method, just for consolidating it here for those interested. Credit goes out to the guys at xda developers for each step.

Please note that this method does involve the possible voiding of your warranty, so be certain that you are willing to risk that to root your phone. Moreover, you proceed at your own risk. I accept no responsibility for what you do with your phone. All I can say is that I got it to work on mine, and so have many others.

You will need much patience and time, and you’ll need to know how to use SDK tools for Android (see below). If you are a total noob, I do not recommend this for your first project! If you try anyway and get confused with terminology, try looking here for answers: Terminology - CyanogenMod Wiki.

Before you begin, make sure that your computer can properly recognize the phone:​

You will need SDK tools for Android, Java runtime, and HTC Sync installed on your Windows computer. If you run Mac, I can’t help you. I avoid all that narcissistic iStuff like the plague.

1. You only need to install HTC Sync for the drivers that come with it. But the program sometimes causes conflicts, so during this procedure, make sure it is not running. Open Task Manager in Windows and kill it. If you don’t use HTC Sync, you may also open Control Panel and uninstall it without uninstalling the drivers.

2. With the phone on, connect the USB cable. Make sure the phone is connected in Charge only mode.

3. Enable USB debugging by going to Settings > Applications > Development > USB debugging.

1. Perform a full backup your phone’s data as you will be doing a factory reset.


2. [OPTIONAL] Update software version to 2.3.5
If you have a Marvel/A510e, I recommend updating to 2.3.5 before proceeding (if possible), though you can root a 2.3.3 device. If you decide to root 2.3.3 now and install 2.3.5 later, you’ll lose your root and have to run steps 4 and 5 over again.

If a 2.3.5 update is unavailable for your phone through HTC OTA updates or your carrier and you’re willing to do some work, check out this guide to install the European 2.3.5 ROM which is known to work with most Marvel/A510e phones even from other regions.
[GUIDE]How to update HTC Wildfire S/Marvel/A510e/GSM to Software Version 2.3.5

Certain other phones like MetroPCS are stuck at 2.3.4, so move on to step 3 below.


3. Unlock your bootloader at htcdev.com
The next step is to head over to htcdev.com and follow the procedure there to unlock your bootloader. This is the step that can void your warranty!

READ THIS CAREFULLY BEFORE CONTINUING!!!!
​

Phones with updated ROMs already have an unlockable bootloader, so step 3B below (the hardest step in the rooting process) is unnecessary. Before beginning, check to see if you have an updated bootloader already as follows:

1. Boot the phone into HBOOT (turn it off, pull and reinsert the battery, hold volume down and press power button).

2. If you see ***LOCKED*** at the top of the screen, your bootloader is already the unlockable type and updating is unnecessary. (Lucky you!) Proceed to step 3A, skip 3B and finish with 3C.

3. If you see ***UNLOCKED *** at the top of the screen, your bootloader is already updated and unlocked. (Really lucky you!) You can skip step 3 altogether and proceed to root the phone at step 4.

4. If you see neither of the above at the top of the screen, then you must perform all of steps 3A - 3C before rooting the phone.

3A. Getting started Create an account at htcdev.com and login. Click the "Unlock Bootloader" icon and "Get Started" button.

On the right side of the next page you will see Supported Devices and a dropdown list that says ------- Select Your Device ------- below it. If your bootloader already says ***_LOCKED_*** then choose All Other Supported Models since you do not need to update your bootloader. Otherwise choose HTC Wildfire S *. The asterisk (*) means that your phone requires a bootloader update (step 3B below).

Finally, click the "Begin Unlock Bootloader" button. Fill out all the nasty forms telling HTC that it’s perfectly fine with you to potentially void your warranty by doing this process.

If your phone's bootloader already shows ***UNLOCKED *** and you selected All Other Supported Models then proceed to step 3C below. Otherwise continue at step 3B.

3B. Updating your Bootloader Read the "Bootloader instructions" page carefully. Then choose the correct RUU for your phone’s carrier and model number (ie, PG76xxx00). The model number for your phone is found under the battery minus the final two 0s. If you’ve successfully upgraded to the European 2.3.5 RUU in step 1 above, the corresponding bootloader update (HTC EU) should work for your phone. It’s the one I used for my Asia A510e/PG76100. Re-read the instructions and then follow them.

When you run the RUU, make sure that HTC Sync isn’t running in the background or you’ll get error 170 USB connection and the update will fail.

Once the bootloader is successfully updated, when you boot your phone into HBOOT (turn it off, pull and reinsert the battery, hold volume down and press power button) you’ll see ***_LOCKED_(OOW)_*** ("Out Of Warranty"?) at the top of the screen and and H-BOOT-1.08.0099 or H-BOOT-1.10.0000 below. Move on to 3C below. But, if you run into problems...

If you can’t find an RUU for your phone/carrier, try a generic RUU for a phone of the same model. These will start with "HTC" instead of a carrier name. Again,make sure that it’s for the same model (ie, PG76xxxx) as your phone. If you ignore what I just said and brick your phone, then you probably aren’t reading this sentence either but it’s still your own fault

How to manually flash the update if you get errors trying to update with the RUU...exe:
First, verify that HTC Sync isn’t running in the background. If not and you’re still getting errors (ie, 131-wrong CID, 170/171-USB error, 191-ROM Not Supported) chances are you can overcome them by flashing the ROM from your MicroSDHC card using this procedure.

1) Run the RUU...exe again. (For A510e users, download the HTC Asia RUU and run it instead of the HTC EU RUU. Thanks for the tip, fyerwyer!) Once the wizard is running, look for the temp folder it created. It will look something like C:/Users/[YourLoginNameHere]/AppData/Local/Temp/{82B23FCD-D5D0-45CA-A3A2-5350D3926551}. To get there quickly, open Explorer and type %temp% in the navigation bar, then open the folder with the long file name.
2) Find rom_02.zip in a subfolder of that folder and rename it PG76IMG.zip
3) Copy PG76IMG.zip onto the root directory of your MicroSDHC card
4) Shutdown the phone, pull and reinsert the battery and reinstall the MicroSDHC card
5) Boot into HBOOT (hold volume down and press power)
6) Wait for it to load PG76IMG.zip and press volume up ("yes") to install
7) Shut the phone down and delete PG76IMG.zip from the MicroSDHC card
8) Boot into HBOOT again and you should see ***_LOCKED_(OOW)_*** with a bootloader version of H-BOOT-1.08.0099 or H-BOOT-1.10.0000 below. Move onto 3C below

If you’re completely stuck on this step you can get more help here or post a reply to this thread and I’ll try to help. But be sure to thank the guys that help you by clicking the thanks button!

3C. Unlock the bootloader
Now you’ll follow the steps starting on pg. 2 of the unlock bootloader procedure at htcdev.com. (Find the green button waaaay down at the bottom of the ROM selection page that says "Proceed to Step 1".)

This step requires you to use adb commands (SDK tools) to retrieve your phone’s oem identifier token. You will then upload that to the HTC dev bootloader unlock page. Make sure that you enter it without any spaces. After receiving it, HTC dev will respond with an email containing an image file ("Unlock_code.bin") which you will then flash to the phone to unlock your bootloader. When done successfully, the HBOOT screen will show ***_UNLOCKED_***. Success!

​

4. Now on to root the phone!
Note: this will only work if your phone’s bootloader is successfully unlocked (you see ***_UNLOCKED_*** on your HBOOT screen) or you happen to have an S-ON phone.

There are easier methods of rooting the Wildfire S using "one-click" tools such as the HTC SuperTool v3 by frigid at xda-developers, but these tools are getting less-and-less reliable with new bootloaders and updated stock HTC ROMs. The method below is a little more involved, but has a near 100% success rate. It's also the first way the Wildfire S was rooted--the way of the ancients

. Credits to the guys at XDA.cn for developing the rooting script and user Heritz at xda-developers.com for posting the method.

4A. Install ClockworkMod Recovery

1. Download the official 5.0.2.8 image at ClockworkMod’s download page. Make sure you choose the right one for your device whether Marvel or MarvelC (listed as "Wildfire S" and "Wildfire S CDMA" respectively) and save it somewhere you can find it later. If you downloaded the zip version, extract the img file from the zip you just downloaded.

2. Boot the phone into HBOOT. (You are a pro at this by now, right? ) After it scans for PG7610.zip, select FASTBOOT and press the power button then connect the USB cable. The word FASTBOOT will change into FASTBOOT USB. If not, then either your USB drivers for the Wildfire S or Android SDK Tools is not installed properly.

3. Open a command prompt in Windows and navigate to the folder where you extracted the recovery image in step 1.

4. Type the following command: fastboot flash recovery [image name.img]. For example:
c:\android\>fastboot flash recovery recovery-clockwork-5.0.2.8-marvel.img

If you have downloaded the MarvelC image, the image name will be recovery-clockwork-5.0.2.8-marvelc.img.

If CWM Recovery will not load on your phone and you get a black screen when loading recovery from HBOOT (this is very common with the newer ROM builds) then try TWRP Recovery which, as you would expect, comes in GSM and CDMA flavors. You can download and install it with GOOManager or download it directly from TeamWin: GSM or CDMA

4B. Download root.zip and put it on your SD card.

4C. Flash root.zip
Boot into HBOOT and go into Recovery. Then select install zip from sd card and choose zip from sd card. Then find the root.zip file downloaded above and install it.

4D. Go back to the main menu and reboot the phone.

4E. Verify that the SuperUser app is installed and go to Google Play market to update it. If the SuperUser app is not installed, download SuperSU from Google Play store. Either way, reboot the phone.

4F. Verify that the phone is rooted by installing any app that requires root and opening it. Some good apps that require root are Link2SD, Titanium Backup, ES File Explorer (enable rooted exploring under settings) and Root Explorer. When you open the app, you should see something like the following:

​

If you don't see this screen and the phone says it can't access root, reboot and try again.

5. I’m finally rooted!

Now what?
5A. Backup your stock HTC ROM in CWM5 (or TWRP) Recovery!! Before you make changes to your stock ROM or decide to install a custom ROM, this is a must! Reverting back to a stock HTC ROM after installing a custom ROM can cause massive headaches. Restoring from a backup is MUCH easier. It will also help if you've ruined your ROM causing a softbrick. You just boot into CWM5 Recovery, do a factory reset and clear cache (including Dalvik) and do a restore from your previously backed-up ROM.

So, reboot the phone into bootloader, use volume down to select Recovery and press power to select. When Recovery comes up, select Backup/Restore > Backup. Then find the backup you just made on the SD card (under sdcard/clockworkmod/backup) and copy that to your computer for safekeeping in case you loose or format your SD card.

5B. Install custom ROMs. Some are happy with HTC’s stock Sense 2.1 ROMs. But most of us aren’t, and that’s why we rooted the phone in the first place, right?

First, make sure that the ROM you download is for your phone:

• For MetroPCS, I only know of one custom ROM: [ROM]Stock 2.3.4, Sense 2.1[Rooted][Apps2sd][MetroPCS]- Only for marvelc

• Other MarvelC devices are also limited. Check here for your options: Tutorials, Roms, Team MarvelUSc -- EVERYTHING YOU NEED.

• Marvel/A510e users have lots of good options. A great first alternative ROM to try is Alquez’s CyanogenMod 7.2 port for Marvel. Also check out the custom ROMs developed by Disciplexone in the All Things Root section.

For a list of other custom ROMs available, check out this thread [INDEX] roms/recovery/guides/kernel/root/... and make sure that the ROM you download is for your phone, whether Marvel/MarvelC/MetroPCS.

The procedure for flashing a custom ROM is as follows:
1) Boot into Recovery and backup your stock ROM. If you don’t and something goes wrong, you’ll have a major headache on your hands. *DO NOT* skip this step.
2) Download the ROM and copy it to the root directory of your SD card.
3) Do a factory reset, wipe the cache partition and wipe dalvik cache (under Advanced).
4) Install the update from the SD card.

Now enjoy hacking your Droid!
​

__________________
Don’t just say thanks, click thanks.

 

[user1829]

sounds good! but will this work for a A510B as well?

 

[CafeKampuchia]

sounds good! but will this work for a A510B as well?

Since the A510b is a GSM phone similar to the A510e it will work. However, the radios are different (frequency issue) so avoid flashing the radio with an A510e ROM.

The important thing is the part number (behind the battery). My A510e is part# PG76100 and I used the corresponding generic EU HBOOT update for that part. I read somewhere that the A510b is part number PG76120. (You'll need to verify that for yourself.) If so, there is an HBOOT update for you at HTC dev, but it may have a different country/brand than your phone.

Also, check out this post: ERROR [191] ROM IS NOT SUPPORTED , my wait seems endless - xda-developers. His method will get you past the first half of step 2 above, which is the hardest part. It's a little complicated, but I had to go through the same process because HTC has not released the Asia-flavored PG76100 HBOOT update. Thus I forced the EU HBOOT and everything went fine.

 

[cyclonus00210]

I don't see a T-mobile US file there... Damn, I really want to root this thing...

 

[CafeKampuchia]

I don't see a T-mobile US file there... Damn, I really want to root this thing...

What's the model number of your phone? It will be under the battery and look like PG76X00.

Are you running 2.3.5 yet?

 

[siddharthmani]

can u please tell me if in this processs there is a possibility of bricking the phone??and also a list of custom roms available for the wildfire s after rooting would be very helpful!!

 

[CafeKampuchia]

can u please tell me if in this processs there is a possibility of bricking the phone??and also a list of custom roms available for the wildfire s after rooting would be very helpful!!

From what I understand (I could be wrong) it would be hard to brick the phone with S-ON. I've not yet heard of someone bricking a phone with this method.

As for a list of custom ROMs, you have basically the following (use google to see previews):

• HTC Sense stock ROM
• HTC Sense modified ROMs (modifications vary by developer, with or without HTC Sense)
• Cyanogen 7.2 stable unsupported
• Cyanogen 7.2 nightly (not yet perfected)

I'm using Cyanogen 7.2 and I really like it. I won't be going back to HTC stock/Sense ROM any time soon. More info here:
[INDEX] roms/recovery/guides/kernel/root/...

 

[fyerwyer]

Confirmed working with Australian Telstra Wildfire-S (S-On).

My phone is now European 2.3.5 RUU, unlocked hboot, rooted.

I did hit a couple of stumbling blocks along the way, but the links in the OP to XDA forums have got some solutions.

 

[CafeKampuchia]

Confirmed working with Australian Telstra Wildfire-S (S-On).

My phone is now European 2.3.5 RUU, unlocked hboot, rooted.

I did hit a couple of stumbling blocks along the way, but the links in the OP to XDA forums have got some solutions.

Congrats! Now run out and get yourself Clockworkmod Recovery v5.0.2.6 and the Android Superuser app. Then check out this thread for all the cool things you can do with a rooted WFS.

 

[gusta]

hello! I am new to android and wildfire s is my first phone.. so I read this tutorial,and i think it says I need to update hboot to root or i don,t need to update hboot if I allready have S-ON version.

this will only work if your phone's bootloader is successfully unlocked (you see ***_UNLOCKED_*** on your HBOOT screen) or you happen to have an S-ON phone.

Question is do I need to update hboot if I all ready have S-ON phone?
Can I skip hboot unlocking?

 

[CafeKampuchia]

hello! I am new to android and wildfire s is my first phone.. so I read this tutorial,and i think it says I need to update hboot to root or i don,t need to update hboot if I allready have S-ON version.

Question is do I need to update hboot if I all ready have S-ON phone?
Can I skip hboot unlocking?

I think you are misunderstanding. To root the phone, you either need S-OFF or an unlocked bootloader. Since your phone is S-ON, you must unlock your bootloader which requires updating your HBOOT per step 2 of the guide.

 

[CafeKampuchia]

The guide has been expanded and vastly improved, especially for those having trouble updating their bootloader. I've also tacked on a section for what to do once root is achieved to cover the basics.

 

[thecreeper77]

Hi guys, I'm having a little problem.

I have unlocked the bootloader on the phone and have (I think) rooted the phone. My problem now is that when I try to drop into cwm recovery it shows a screen with the phone and a big red triangle?

I'm really stuck on what I have done wrong, can anyone help?

 

[Near]

Hi guys, I'm having a little problem.

I have unlocked the bootloader on the phone and have (I think) rooted the phone. My problem now is that when I try to drop into cwm recovery it shows a screen with the phone and a big red triangle?

I'm really stuck on what I have done wrong, can anyone help?

Hi, thecreeper77.

I don't understand if you have rooted or not your mobile phone. Why aren't you sure for this activity?

Could you also send us a picture of what your screen shows?

 

[CafeKampuchia]

Hi guys, I'm having a little problem.

I have unlocked the bootloader on the phone and have (I think) rooted the phone. My problem now is that when I try to drop into cwm recovery it shows a screen with the phone and a big red triangle?

I'm really stuck on what I have done wrong, can anyone help?

What error message do you get with the red triangle? What have you done since unlocking the bootloader? Did you install CWM recovery? If so, how? What ROM are you using? And please confirm root. If you don't know how, use Google. There are lots of ways.

 

[thecreeper77]

Hi guys, really sorry I have not replied sooner. I am Pretty sure it has been rooted as superuser is running, the main problem I am having is when it comes to flashing cwm recovery, as it doesn't give an option for the wildfire s, only the wildfire.

I will post pics a little later when I get home, just to show you what the screen looks like.

Thanks for your help and patience, really appreciate it!

 

[CafeKampuchia]

the main problem I am having is when it comes to flashing cwm recovery, as it doesn't give an option for the wildfire s, only the wildfire.

How did you try to install cwm recovery? Did you use eoghan2t7's installer over at XDA or did you try to install it yourself some other way?

 

[CafeKampuchia]

Near, BTW congrats on getting your bootloader unlocked and phone rooted!! Be sure to let us know what you've done with it since.

 

[siddharthmani]

From what I understand (I could be wrong) it would be hard to brick the phone with S-ON. I've not yet heard of someone bricking a phone with this method.

As for a list of custom ROMs, you have basically the following (use google to see previews):

• HTC Sense stock ROM
• HTC Sense modified ROMs (modifications vary by developer, with or without HTC Sense)
• Cyanogen 7.2 stable unsupported
• Cyanogen 7.2 nightly (not yet perfected)

I'm using Cyanogen 7.2 and I really like it. I won't be going back to HTC stock/Sense ROM any time soon. More info here:
[INDEX] roms/recovery/guides/kernel/root/...

Sorry for again asking this...I want to know if rooting by this method my sd card contents will be deleted.? And whether I have to install all the apps again on my phone? That is if data on my phone will be deleted?

 

[CafeKampuchia]

Sorry for again asking this...I want to know if rooting by this method my sd card contents will be deleted.? And whether I have to install all the apps again on my phone? That is if data on my phone will be deleted?

As stated in the guide, yes you will do a factory reset (potentially twice) during the procedure. You must back up your data if its valuable to you. There are apps on Android Market for backing up and restoring apps. The procedure should not alter the contents of your SD card, but I'd back it up just to be safe.

 

[fyerwyer]

If you can't find an RUU for your phone/carrier, try a generic RUU for a phone of the same model. These will start with "HTC" instead of a carrier name. Again, make sure that it's for the same model (ie, PG76xxxx) as your phone.

If you get errors trying to update with the RUU executable (ie, 171-USB error, 191-ROM Not Supported) chances are you can overcome them by flashing the ROM from your MicroSDHC card using this procedure:

1) Run the RUU again and look for the temp folder it created, usually something like
C:\Users\[YourLoginNameHere]\AppData\Local\Temp\{82B23FCD-D5D0-45CA-A3A2-5350D3926551}
2) Find rom_02.zip in a subfolder of that folder and rename it PG76IMG.zip
3) Copy PG76IMG.zip onto the root directory of your MicroSDHC card
4) Shutdown the phone, pull and reinsert the battery and reinstall the MicroSDHC card
5) Boot into bootloader (hold volume down and press power)
6) Wait for it to load PG76IMG.zip and press volume up ("yes") to install
7) Shut the phone down and delete PG76IMG.zip from the MicroSDHC card
8) Boot into bootloader again and you should see ***_LOCKED_(OOW)_*** with a bootloader version of H-BOOT-1.08.0099 below. Move onto 3C below

For me this was the hardest step, and I can confirm to others reading this that the flashing ROM from your MicroSDHC does work.

I just want to confirm something with OP (CafeKampuchia). CafeKampuchia, when I did this step I found it was necessary to use the Asia RUU, because the Europe RUU only had 1 zip inside.

Also, within the Aisa RUU there were 2 zips (rom_1.zip and rom_2.zip), and I was instructed to exectute rom_1.zip on the SDcard first (this one just updates the radio), and then rom_2.zip (which updates radio and hboot). Not sure if this info is valid for everyone, but it did 100% work for me. Let me know if things have changed recently (maybe the Europe RUU was updated) and I can edit out this post (to avoid confusion).

Thanks again for the kick-ass guide.

 

[CafeKampuchia]

1) Run the RUU again and look for the temp folder it created, usually something like
C:\Users\[YourLoginNameHere]\AppData\Local\Temp\{82B23FCD-D5D0-45CA-A3A2-5350D3926551}
2) Find rom_02.zip in a subfolder of that folder and rename it PG76IMG.zip
3) Copy PG76IMG.zip onto the root directory of your MicroSDHC card

I just want to confirm something with OP (CafeKampuchia). CafeKampuchia, when I did this step I found it was necessary to use the Asia RUU, because the Europe RUU only had 1 zip inside.

Also, within the Aisa RUU there were 2 zips (rom_1.zip and rom_2.zip), and I was instructed to exectute rom_1.zip on the SDcard first (this one just updates the radio), and then rom_2.zip (which updates radio and hboot). Not sure if this info is valid for everyone, but it did 100% work for me. Let me know if things have changed recently (maybe the Europe RUU was updated) and I can edit out this post (to avoid confusion).

Thanks for the heads up. Did you use the "HTC Asia India" RUU? I don't see a pure "HTC Asia" on the list. When I did it the HTC European RUU (PG7610000_Marvel_hboot_1.08.0099_20111216.exe) had both, the one that updates the HBOOT being rom_2.zip as it seems to have been the case with your Asian RUU. I'm curious to know which European RUU you tried that only had one.

Thanks again for the positive feedback on the guide!

 

[fyerwyer]

I'm curious to know which European RUU you tried that only had one.

On the HTC site now, its showing as "HTC EU 2.12.401.2", but maybe its been update since I first followed you guide.... (?)

The one which worked fine was "HTC Asia India 2.13.720.1".

It seems all this is a moot point now anyways since you have tested EU to be working. Good news for all. HTC did a darn good thing by facilitating us to enjoy our S-ON phones.

Oh and PS. Strange thing happened when experimenting. My hboot screen started reporting as "S-OFF". Is this even possible that it was accurate, or just a display glitch? After executing rom_1.zip + rom_2.zip its now back to displaying "S-ON". Not important at all, just a curiosoty (I saw another user report same anomaly). Cheers again.

 

[thecreeper77]

No I didn't use that method, but i just have and it is now working!!

Thank you very much for your help, really appreciate it.

 

[CafeKampuchia]

On the HTC site now, its showing as "HTC EU 2.12.401.2", but maybe its been update since I first followed you guide.... (?)

And possibly different since I rooted my phone, which is why I didn't mention RUU version numbers in the guide.

The one which worked fine was "HTC Asia India 2.13.720.1".

BTW, what HBOOT version do you have now, same as the European, H-BOOT-1.08.0099? If it's different I'd like to mention it in the guide.

HTC did a darn good thing by facilitating us to enjoy our S-ON phones.

Agreed! Thanks, HTC!

Oh and PS. Strange thing happened when experimenting. My hboot screen started reporting as "S-OFF". Is this even possible that it was accurate, or just a display glitch? After executing rom_1.zip + rom_2.zip its now back to displaying "S-ON". Not important at all, just a curiosoty (I saw another user report same anomaly). Cheers again.

Strange... I'm guessing glitch. Too bad it didn't stay S-OFF!