Introduction

[Jon_LTD]

Dear all!

I have been a lurker of this site for at least 12 months, and I figured it's about time I signed up as I'm forever browsing the threads!
I'm currently running a 12 month old HTC Desire on 2.3 and is unrooted. I keep intending to root, however a lack of understanding really prevents me ! I am good with tech in general, and work my way around both hardware and software at a lot of levels, however rooting, I cannot seem to get my head around.
My contract is up in 12 months (or I get to choose my new phone at least) and I am determined to root my phone and have it truly mine. So, expect to find me on the rooting sections and asking loads of infuriating questions like a noob!



Jon

 

[scary alien]

Welcome (officially ) to the AndroidForums, Jon!

You are certainly not the first, nor will you be the last person to ask about root. Here's a small snippet of threads that you can peruse with other's folk's take on what root means:

http://androidforums.com/android-lounge/12585-what-rooting.html

http://androidforums.com/droid-x-all-things-root/130448-what-root-what-does-do.html

http://androidforums.com/moment-all-things-root/27046-what-does-rooted-mean.html

http://androidforums.com/htc-droid-incredible/62343-what-root.html

http://androidforums.com/evo-4g-all-things-root/349775-what-rooting.html

To me, rooting is gaining special access to things on your phone that the carriers and manufacturers didn't intend for you to have (and they often have very good reasons for this, by the way).

To actually gain root access usually (but not always) requires uncovering some exploit that allows you to insert the su program in the /system/bin or /system/xbin directory. Additionally, you also need the Superuser.apk (whitelist app) to be installed in the /system/app directory. The Superuser app helps you manage which apps are allowed to have root access (i.e., so that not just any app can gain special control of your device).

Additionally, rooting sometimes leads to the ability to overwrite or replace the special partitions (filesystems) on your phone such as the recovery partition so you can install a new, custom recovery that will allow you to install (flash) custom ROMs (i.e., new versions of Android).

I could go on and on, LOL...anyway, be sure to also visit your phone's root sub-forum (if you haven't already ):

Desire - All Things Root - Android Forums

Cheers and again, welcome to AF!

 

[Jon_LTD]

Hi Alien,

Thanks for the warm welcome. Already been given plenty of helpful tips on how to go about rooting. The guides linked and provided by this forum are superb. After spending the majority of last night reading through the various guides and watching videos from theunlockr.com (Superb guides too!) I feel confident enough to do it and aim to tomorrow [if I don't get called out for work]. As previously stated, I'm pretty handy around tech in general but this was, and still is, new territory for me, but when broken down in systematic steps, it seems rather straight forward.

Watch this space! Tomorrow I may be all over here like a rash screaming for help.