These are the exact steps that I used to get root access on my phone.
OS used: Windows XP (windows 7 should be close to the same)
1) Download the software zip that heffe2001 created
MEGAUPLOAD - The leading online storage and file delivery service
2) unzip that software to your C:\ drive (you should have a "C:\android" folder when done)
3) Download and install PDANet (
Download PdaNet)
-during the install you will have to plug in the phone to your system
-Skip through all the "LG USB Modem" installs
-Make sure the "Android ADB" driver gets install succesfully
4) Enable USB Debugging on the Ally (Settings -> Application Settings -> Development -> check the box next to "USB Debugging" and click "OK" on the next screen)
5) Open a command prompt (Start --> Run --> type in "cmd" and press enter)
6) type in "cd c:\android\sdk\tools" and press enter
-do this step only if you haven't installed the Android SDK toolkit yet -
6a) if you don't have the SDK installed at this point run the SDKSetup program (type in "C:\android\sdk\SDK Setup.exe" then press enter - please use the quotes for this command only.) and proceed to install it. Once it's installed, forget about the update error it will throw at you and just cancel/close out of the program.
7) you should be in the C:\android\sdk\tools directory so type in "adb devices" and press enter. this is to confirm that adb can see the phone that is hooked into your computer. You should see a couple lines, one of which should read "* daemon started successfully *" then the line "List of devices attached". Under that should be a line with some odd long string of letters and numbers. if you don't see that line or any line what-so-ever under the "List of devices", adb can not communicate with your phone. Go back through the instructions and make sure you have done everything to a "T".
8) Once you can confirm adb can see your phone, type in these next few commands:
8a) adb push c:\android\sdk\tools\su\asroot2 /data/local/
8b) adb push c:\android\sdk\tools\su\su /sdcard/su
8c) adb push c:\android\sdk\tools\su\Superuser.apk /sdcard/Superuser.apk
8d) adb shell chmod 0755 /data/local/asroot2
8e) adb shell
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If you are getting "permission denied" errors while trying to do "adb push <file> <file>" please see my post
here and try that out.
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*you will get a "$" prompt in your command window - you are now connected into your phone*
9) At this point, I had to unmount the SD card in my phone and remove it completely (Settings -> SD Card & Phone Storage Settings -> click "Unmount SD card"). I don't know why, but this was the only way the next command would give me the root prompt.
10) once the SD card is unmounted and removed from your phone, type in "/data/local/asroot2 /system/bin/sh". Whether or not it's successful, you'll see a line similar to "SUCCESS! Enjoy ...". After that line (or whatever it says), you should see a "#" prompt instead of a "$" prompt. This is the root prompt. If you don't see this prompt don't try to continue. go back and figure out what might have gone wrong. More than likely the asroot2 program didn't work correctly for you.
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as per travel_rob, if you get stuck here, type in "chmod 0777 /data/local/asroot2" then do step 10 over again
if you're still having issues cdsmith has a good post and a couple tips
here
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11) Once you have the root prompt, type in the following command:
mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock4 /system
This is important. If you don't do this, you won't be able to add any file to the "/system" directory on the phone
12) At this point, push the SD card back into the phone and wait for the phone to re mount it. should take only about 5-10 seconds.
13) finish up with the following commands:
13a) cat /sdcard/Superuser.apk > /system/app/Superuser.apk
13b) cat /sdcard/su > /system/bin/su
13c) chmod 06755 /system/bin/su
13d) reboot
Your phone should reboot and when it comes back up, check your programs. You should see the "Superuser Permissions" icon. Congrats, you're "rooted" (which really just means you have administrator access to your phone)...