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Root [Guide] How to root the Desire S

Dear FoX777,
I have read so much now that it is getting really scary, but I still hate the Orange guff on my phone. If I lay out what I have, and what I am trying to achieve, could you please answer my questions here? Here goes...

I have an HTC Desire S. It is unlocked (I am using a Virgin sim), but it has a lot of Orange rubbish on it.
On the HBoot screen it says:
*****LOCKED*****
SAGA PVT SHIP S-ON RL
HBOOT - 2.00.0002
Radio - 3822.10.08.04_M
eMMC - boot
Aug 22 2011, 15:22:13

The software number is 2.13.61.3

What I am wanting to do is simply clear off the apps that Orange have put on. I am not worried about doing anything else at this stage.

Can you tell me if this is right?
I need to
1. backup my pictures, music, contacts, documents.
2. make a gold card, using GoldCard tool : http://android.modaco.com/content/software/308798/pc-application-goldcardtool/
3. find and save the stock Hboot that came with the phone, in case of needing to unroot/s-on later (not sure where to get the stock HBoot)
4. downgrade 2.00.0002 to 0.98.0002
5. follow the steps in section 1 of your guide to get s-off (say YES to clockworkmod)
6. follow the steps in section 3 of your guide.
7. remove the Orange apps by deleting them on the phone.

Is that it? Do I have to mess around with RUU or anything else? I am only trying to get rid of the Orange stuff. Will the phone still update correctly?
 
@lulu5000

The best way for you to de-brand your phone is to downgrade, in downgrading you are 1) getting temp root to change your misc version and 2) installing a unbranded europe RUU. Once that is down you follow step 1 and 3.

Rather use GoldCard Helper on the market to get your reversed CID then follow from step 7 here How To Create a Goldcard | TheUnlockr

I'll answer your Q to try explain.

1. backup my pictures, music, contacts, documents.
Yes, you will loose EVERYthing
2. make a gold card, using GoldCard tool :
I explained above.
3. find and save the stock Hboot that came with the phone, in case of needing to unroot/s-on later (not sure where to get the stock HBoot)
No point, can get hboot from any RUU
4. downgrade 2.00.0002 to 0.98.0002
Yes. in downgrading you will install the europe RUU
5. follow the steps in section 1 of your guide to get s-off (say YES to clockworkmod)
Yes
6. follow the steps in section 3 of your guide.
Yes
7. remove the Orange apps by deleting them on the phone.
You will have installed a europe RUU so wont have those apps, but yes any app you want you can remove.

I HIGHLY suggest you get your phone to stock if you have an update it the future!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The only reason I am not saying go with HTCdev is casue you are telling them you are rooting your phone.
 
When I go to download Clockworkmod, there is a link for "Download Recovery" and "Download Touch Recovery" - what is the difference?
 
brucem76 said:
When I go to download Clockworkmod, there is a link for "Download Recovery" and "Download Touch Recovery" - what is the difference?
Click to expand...

With normal recovery you use the volume and power button to select options (physical keys). The touch recovery is like a normal touch screen app.

It's pretty new to cwm though, but both have the same functionality.
 
Hey all,
and thank you Fox777 for the helpful guide. I used this guide to root my Desire S and it worked fantastically.

However, now I need to sell my phone and I was using the same guide to unroot. I managed to flash the ENG HBoot using Android Flasher, but then when updating RUU_2.10.401.8 I received the error 131, and could not continue flashing.

When I went into fastboot, my HBOOT is now 2.0 instead of the stock 0.98, and S-ON and ***LOCKED***. So, I'm back to where I started from when I received the phone. BUT, for some reason my phone is still rooted, I have Superuser and Titanium and the rest still work. Now I am back in my stock ROM 1.47.111.3 (unlocked T-mobile I believe), and when trying the OTA update, it stops in bootloader and says SECURITY WARNING.

Anyhow, been reading forums and xda and still don't know what to do. :confused: Any help would be much appreciated.

Thank you.
 
@Stalhagen

Make a gold card using mmc2 (will make sense when you look into making it). This is if you do something wrong you can fix it later.

Try installing this RUU, its a T-mobile one.

If that one fails can you please run these two fastboot commands and post the outputs.
fastboot getvar cid
fastboot getvar version-main
Click to expand...

However, if you wish to install the 2.10.401.8 RUU you WILL need to use the goldcard.
 
Hi, I'm new here & have been looking for a post to root my Desire S running 2.3.5 version. I was just wondering will this post still work on my device? cheers
 
rmkelvin said:
Hi, I'm new here & have been looking for a post to root my Desire S running 2.3.5 version. I was just wondering will this post still work on my device? cheers
Click to expand...

Hi,

If you read through the post and the thread you would have your answer. If your hboot is 2.00.0002 you can either downgrade to an older hboot to use this post as is (step 1 to 3) or you can unlock via HTCdev and follow from Step 2 and 3.

Also by using htcdev you are telling htc that you have modded your phone and may affect warranty down the line.
 
Thank you Fox777,

the mmc2 goldcard totally worked. I used Goldcard Helper, it was a quick and simple process, and the phone is like new stock now :)

Appreciate it.
 
Thanks Fox777. What if I have a Stock ROM backup? Will this work?

1. Restore the Stock ROM Backup using 4Ext
2. Then in Fastboot, flash the Engineering HBoot you mentioned
3. Then flash the 0.98.002 HBoot

That should do it right? I will be back to HBoot 0.98.002 and S-On?
 
@1st_Paladin

I'm pretty sure (not 100% though), but if I were going to return it for warranty I would rather use a RUU to be 100% sure.
 
Thanks Fox777.

Just having this at the back of my head when ICS comes in. Will need to be in stock. Current ICS ROMs do not have Sense :-(
 
Hi Guys!

We got all HTC Desire S devices by the firm here. I read through the rooting tutorial, and three of the devices are rooted, and running with MIUI now. Today I tried our 4th phone to root, but I think I made something wrong now. There is the latest clockworkmod on it, the device is "UNLOCKED", but it remained in S-ON :( Boot process stops by HTC display, boot menu, recovery works fine. For the revolutionary method should I have the phone in normal mode, but it does not workin... It has HBOOT 2.00.0002, htcdev was working properly (when I am right, that's why the display shows now UNLOCKED). So question is, how to S-off, or how to get back stock rom, and make the whole rooting once more?
Thank you for helping me :D

KeeKee

EDIT: problem solved, with fastboot I flashed boot.img from the zipped miui image, and the device is running properly WITH S-ON too !!!
 
Hey guys. My Desire S is on HBoot 2.00.0002. I'm trying to use the HTCDev but I'm getting a fail when I try to flash the Unlock_code.bin file;

Code: 
c:\Android>fastboot flash unlocktoken Unlock_code.bin
sending 'unlocktoken' (0 KB)...
FAILED (command write failed (Unknown error))
finished. total time: 0.639s
Any ideas?

Thanks :(
 
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