Root HOWTO: Root your stock Thunderbolt (and others) with HTCdev

[marcantonio]

These are the steps I used to root my stock ICS Thunderbolt using HTCdev's bootloader unlocker, SuperSU, ROM Manager, and Titanium Backup. This will leave you with a fully rooted, stock device. This method won't fit everyone's needs, but it fits mine and I thought I'd share.

Here are a few things to note BEFORE starting:

1. This will leave your device's bootloader unlocked but S-ON.
   
   
2. You can accept OTA's but you may have to do a bit of this work over again. Mainly uninstalling bloatware, and possibly resinstalling SuperSU. Not a huge deal, IMHO.
   
   
3. Please consider purchasing the Pro/Donate version of the apps listed above. They make this kind of stuff easier/possible and it's NOT a simple task to develop and maintain these sort of apps.
   
   
4. This process should work on more than just the Thunderbolt, provided that the apps used support the device.
   
   
5. This should also work with a Gingerbread ROM too. I couldn't wait for a stock ICS ROM anymore so I unrooted (see scotty85's excellent guide here: http://androidforums.com/thunderbolt-all-things-root/418539-thunderbolt-root-unroot-thread.html), took the ICS OTA, and went this route.
   
   
6. I HIGHLY recommend that you read through this entire doc before starting to make sure youre comfortable with all of the steps.
   
   
7. You will lose all of your data by unlocking the bootloader with HTCdev's tool.
   

Disclaimer: This process has the potential to ruin your device. While unlikely, it is always possible, especially if you're not careful. I am not responsible for any problems you run into. Also, this will void your warranty and HTC will, presumably, have it on record as you have to register on their site to use the tool.

Prerequisites

• ADB and fastboot from the Android SDK. I'm not detailing setup here as there are many places that you can find this info.
  
  
• A ClockworkMod recovery image for your device, available from ClockworkMod ROM Manager - Recoveries. You can use the touch image or the original one. The latest (at the time of this writing) touch image for the Thunderbolt is available here: http://download2.clockworkmod.com/recoveries/recovery-clockwork-touch-5.8.0.2-mecha.img.
  
  
• A flashable SuperSU ZIP. I used 1.0, availble here: SuperSU Download.
  

Entering "bootloader mode"

You'll need to do this a few times throughout this HOWTO. Either:

• Power your device off. Then power it on again while holding the volume down button,
  
  -or-
  
  
• Reboot your device while holding the volume down button.
  

Procedure

Unlock your bootloader at HTCdev:

I'm not going detail these steps here as HTC has a very detailed process available. Start here: HTCdev - Unlock Bootloader and choose your device. Remember, you will have to register with them first.

Once that's complete you will have an unlocked bootloader with S-ON. You can verify this by entering the bootloader. You should see *** UNLOCKED *** at the top of the screen. Reboot the device.

Installing a custom recovery image:

Your device is now unlocked but you still don't have a custom recovery image or root access. We're going to use the image mentioned above from ClockworkMod. Make sure you are plugged in via USB to your computer.

1. Start by entering the bootloader. Wait a few seconds for it to try and load some stuff.
   
   
2. Select FASTBOOT with the power button.
   
   
3. Open a shell (command prompt) on your computer and run (assuming the recovery you downloaded is named recovery-clockwork-touch-5.8.0.2-mecha.img):
   
   

   fastboot flash recovery recovery-clockwork-touch-5.8.0.2-mecha.img

   
   
4. When it says finished, reboot your phone by typing:
   
   

   fastboot reboot

Installing SuperSU:

Now for the actual "rooting" step.

1. Mount your phone as a USB drive and copy the SuperSU ZIP onto your SD card.
   
   
2. Reboot your phone again and enter the bootloader (I know it's a pain. You could probably combine some of these steps but I didn't specifically try that.)
   
   
3. This time select RECOVERY from the bootloader: volume down and hit power. You will enter ClockworkMod Recovery.
   
   
4. From here select 'install zip from sd card' then 'choose zip from sd card'. Select the SuperSU ZIP from step 1.
   
   
5. Reboot.
   

Final steps:

You're pretty much done at this point. You'll notice that SuperSU is now in your app draw. You should update SuperSU, from the Play Store, to it latest version. Then launch the app and let it install the latest su binary. I would also install ClockworkMod's ROM Manager and Titanium Backup from the Play Store as well.

ROM Manager does makes it easier to boot into recovery. Titanium Backup does TONS of cool stuff. Most importantly (for this HOWTO anyway) it lets you uninstall and/or freeze the bloatware that comes with the stock ROM (I'm looking at you, Let's Golf 2...). It's a good idea to freeze stuff for a while before you actually uninstall it. Some of the stock apps you may want to get rid of are actually needed and may cause you problems when gone. If this is the case you can always thaw the app to get it back again with minimal fuss.

In conclusion...

Comments, critisms, corrections are all welcome. I'll update this HOWTO when more OTAs are released and with any corrections that people find.

Have fun.

 

[zinkscott]

Thanks man. Took me around 10 minutes, no issues.

 

[scotty85]

Just keep in mind that htcdev... Well,sucks for the hardcore rooter/romer

Htcdev has several flaws,not the least of wich are:
-the inability for recovery to install kernels
-the inability to.change paritions other than boot,system,recovery(no more custom splash or radio swapping)
-the inability to go backwards in build numbers
-the inability to flash unsigned ruus.

The last 2 could lead to a permantly soft bricked device if you happen Into a build for wich there is not a signed ruu.

Thanks for sharing,it may fit some folks needs. For most,however,i stil feel the best course of action is to remain s off,and flash the new Rom in recovery,and new radios in hboot

Also,I need to point out that you cannot accept otas if you permantly install the recovery,and do not use Rom manager to try and flash roms. Due to the limitations of htcdev,it will not work.

 

[brytauruss]

Just a couple of questions for you rooting gurus. I'm not a huge tech-head, so I'm looking for a fairly simple solution. I'm looking to root primarily so I can use a Wifi tether program, such as Foxfi, and to get rid of some bloatware and extend battery life. I do have a couple of questions though.

Excuse the ignorance, but once a device is rooted and the apps I'm looking for are installed, can it then be re-rooted and still retain the use of those apps, and not have the bloatware re-appear? The reason I ask is that I had to install a program called MobileIron in order to obtain company emails on my phone through the "Touchdown" app, and apparently it attempts to detect rooting. This morning I installed Titanium Backup, and once I ran it I started getting notifications to my company email address that my phone had been rooted (though it hadn't, but TB has a root checker apparently) and I lost functionality of the Touchdown email app on my phone. Once I uninstalled TB, functionality was restored.

I find that my battery isn't making it through the day, and the bloatware annoys the crap out of me. I also don't want to pay $30 a month to be able to access my already unlimited data on my laptop via wifi. Any suggestions here would be appreciated.

 

[petesamprs]

This is the same issue i'm having, except my corporate email program is Good for Enterprise (which also checks for root).

I'm trying to figure out if it is possible to have your cake and eat it to....ie, root, install custom ROM to remove bloat, unroot, and the be able to use corporate email. Don't know if that is possible.

Further, even if you are running a custom ROM, will you lose wifi-tether capability once you unroot? If so, it seems like you have to pick between wifi tether and corporate email.

 

[scotty85]

You can easily eliminate root access on your stock rooted Rom,or any custom rom,by simply deleting the superuser app from system/app and the binary from system/xbin

Your bloat will stay gone,but any apps requiring root access will not work.

Starting at cm9,cyanogenmod roms are not rooted by default. You enable root access by toggling a setting in settings/developer options. If you can find a cm9+ Rom supporting this feature,you may be able to toggle root on and off to have your cake and eat it too

Otherwise,my only suggestions are unrooted work phone,rooted play phone