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Root The HTC One M8 Root Thread

scotty85

scotty85

Extreme Android User
this thread is intended to be a "one stop shop" for rooting any variation of the HTC 2014 One,aka the m8.

currently,the known method of rooting is to unlock the bootloader via htcdev,then use a custom recovery to install superuser root files. htcdev's directions can be a lil confusing,so hopefully this will clear it up if youve never rooted a phone,worked with the command window,or are just confused about how to set things up with your PC/mac/linux machine.

PLEASE NOTE that the unlock process will erase your personal data. this was done purposely,for your protection.

the general steps are simple:
1)unlock the bootloader (for non-developer editions)
2)either temporarily or permantly install a custom recovery
3)use that custom recovery to install "superuser" root files.

for your convenience,a general index of this thread:
-brief explanation of what you're going to do and what your options are post 1
-tips and tricks to backup data pre-root post 6
-unlock and install recovery with windows 7 or older post 2
-some tips and tricks for windows 8+ users post 3
-unlock and install recovery with linux post 4
-unlock and install recovery with a mac post 5
-tips and tricks to backup data post root post 7

before you start download a couple of files
-miniadb
-supersu from this thread (the download link you want is about halfway down the page,and labled CWM / TWRP / MobileODIN installable ZIP)
-go to HTCdev - Unlock Bootloader and register an account
 
set up adb and prepair to root

-install drivers: if you have htc sync installed,you should allready have drivers. if not,you can install htc sync,or install HTCDriver_4.0.1.002
-unzip your miniadb_v1031.zip file. this is native funtionality in windows 7. you otherwise may need a utility such as "7-zip" to extract,or unzip it. place the unzipped folder onto the root of your C drive on your PC. root means the top level,not inside any folders. so just copy and paste,or drag and drop the folder onto C with everything else that is there. you may want to rename it to "miniadb_m8" since youll be putting some device specific files in here.
-open a command window. on windows 7,click the start bubble in the lower left and type "command" in the search box. xp i believe is similar or the same. doing this should open a small black command window.
-change to your miniadb_m8 directory. type the following at the prompt in your cmd window:

cd c:\miniadb_m8

your command promt should change to "c:miniadb_m8>" provided you: 1)unzipped the miniadb_v1031 zip file,and 2)put the folder on your c drive,and 3)entered the name of the folder correctly ("miniadb_m8" in this case)

-now make sure usb debugging is checked in developer options(you will need to turn it on first),and plug your phone into your PC with a usb cable
-make sure your phone is being recognized- type:

adb devices

if your drivers are installed correctly,this should return your phones serial number. you should hear the "found device" noises when you plug your phone in. if it starts installing drivers,wait for it to finish before typing the adb devices command.

if you get your serial number back,then enter this command:
adb reboot bootloader

this should take your phone to the "fastboot" screen,wich is white with colored letters. this is one mode of your bootloaders interactive modes. at the top youll see fastboot devices as confirmation youre in fastboot.

now enter:
fastboot devices
again,this should return your phones serial number. you should hear the "found device" noises when you plug your phone in. if it starts installing drivers,wait for it to finish before typing the adb devices command.

if you get your serial number back,you can enter the following to boot back to the phones OS:
fastboot reboot

and now,youve installed adb/fastboot and tested youre phones drivers. if at either spot,you have trouble and dont get your serial number back,there is some sort of connection issue. use these steps to troubleshoot:
troubleshooting connectivity issues:
-try a reboot of the PC
-try different usb cables and ports
-dont use a usb hub
-dont use usb 3.0
-make sure nothing capable of comunicating with the phone is enabled and running. htc sync,pdanet,easy tether,and even itunes have all been known to cause issues.
-windows 8 has been known to have issues. try a windows 7 or older machine

failing the above,
-i use these drivers for fastboot and adb(donwload and run as admin): http://downloads.unrevoked.com/HTCDriver3.0.0.007.exe (mirror)

failing that,try manually updating the drivers in the following manner:
-put the phone in fastboot mode(select fastboot from the hboot menu)
-open device manager on the PC
-plug in phone,watch for it to pop up in device manager.
-update drivers with device manager,pointing the wizard to the extracted
driver download folder from above

note that you can check the connectivity of the phone,and make sure drivers are working by in the following manner:
-open cmd window. change to directory containing adb/fastboot utilities

-adb with the phone in the booted OS,usb debug enabled,enter:
adb devices in a cmd window

-fastboot with phone in fastboot,enter:
fastboot devices in cmd window

in either case,a properly connected phone with working drivers installed should report back the phones serial number.
Click to expand...

this process,in your cmd window,should look something like this:
Code: 
Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.

C:\Users\Scott>[COLOR="red"]cd c:\miniadb_m7[/COLOR]

c:\miniadb_m7>adb devices
* daemon not running. starting it now on port 5037 *
* daemon started successfully *
List of devices attached
FAxxxxxxxxxx    device


c:\miniadb_m7>[COLOR="red"]adb reboot bootloader[/COLOR]

c:\miniadb_m7>[COLOR="red"]fastboot devices[/COLOR]
FAxxxxxxxxxx    fastboot

c:\miniadb_m7>[COLOR="red"]fastboot reboot[/COLOR]
rebooting...

finished. total time: 0.037s

c:\miniadb_m7>

you are now ready to unlock your bootloader!

1)unlock using htcdev
*note if you were fortunate enuff to grab a developer edition htc One,it came with an ***unlocked*** bootloader allready,so skip to step 2 to install a recovery :)

PLEASE NOTE that the unlock process will erase your personal data. this was done purposely,for your protection.

-open a cmd window,change to miniadb_m8 directory,and plug in your phone as described above.
-go to HTCdev - Unlock Bootloader and sign in to your account.chose "All Other Supported Models" from the
-----select your device-----
Click to expand...
box,and click the green "begin unlock bootloader" button underneath.
-click yes to procede,then read the warnings before checking the boxes and clicking yes to continue,as they are basically explaining that your warranty is now void,and any repairs that your phone needs that may have been a result of unlocking your bootloader and messing with your phones operating system may no longer be covered under mfgr warranty
- have the htcdev site open,as you follow this guide,youll need to interact with it to submit your token.

-steps 1-4 are describing how to get your phone into bootloader mode and connect it to your PC. ignore these steps and simply type in your cmd window:

adb reboot bootloader
your phone will boot to fastboot.

fastboot devices
to make sure its connected

-click the green procede to step 5 bubble.
-steps 5-7 are telling you how to find the files and utilities inside your mini-adb folder. you have them,so ignore steps 5-7.
-click the green procede to step 8 bubble.
-heres where steps are important,steps 8-10 are telling you how to get your unlock token,and send it to htc. its phone specific(so they prolly know your serial number,meid,etc) so no,you cant use your buddys unlock token and not have htc know that youve unlocked your bootloader. ;) copy this line either from below,or from step 8,and paste it into the prompt in your cmd window. you have to right click to paste in cmd,you cannot control/v :

fastboot oem get_identifier_token

-after you hit enter,you will get a bunch of letters that are your identifier token. not much i can say,other than follow the directions in steps 9 and 10 to copy and submit your identifier token to HTC. make sure you get the characters as shown in the pic,with no extra lines or letters. note that you can also hit the "enter" key on your PC to copy,as well as right clicking.
-click the green submit button. wait patiently for an email containing your unlock code. (dont worry,it should come pretty fast :p )
-save the unlock_code.bin that htc sends you directly to your miniadb_m8 folder(if your PC automatically downloads somewhere else,no biggie. just move the unlock code to miniadb_m8 folder)
-click the link in your email to get the rest of the unlock instructions
-step 12 is where them magic happens :D copy from below,or from htc dev:

fastboot flash unlocktoken Unlock_code.bin

-youll see the purdy screen pictured in step 13. use the vol rocker to chose "yes unlock bootloader" and select it with the power button. your phone will reboot,performaing a factory data reset in the process. your data is gone,sorry :( this boot may take a bit longer than they normally do,dont freak out this is normal

heres what it will look like in your command window:
Code: 
Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.

C:UsersScott>[COLOR="Red"]cd c:\miniadb_m7[/COLOR]


c:miniadb_m7>[COLOR="red"]adb devices[/COLOR]
List of devices attached
HTxxxxxxxxxx    device


c:miniadb_m7>[COLOR="red"]adb reboot bootloader[/COLOR]

c:miniadb_m7>[COLOR="red"]fastboot devices[/COLOR]
HTxxxxxxxxxx    fastboot

c:miniadb_m7>[COLOR="red"]fastboot oem get_identifier_token[/COLOR]
                              ... INFO
INFO< Please cut following message >
INFO<<<< Identifier Token Start >>>>
INFO2ADC7C0C0F1BAF92074BAE9B0035CB6A
INFO021839BFA7465CD0788664688DCCFDEA
INFO33A2FD2C96C7308DD3C57A517DBA8E14
INFO8048F98A9FEA06B8F2AD05D4D3497CFE
INFO6FCCC1DC4E31E0C6F54CEA18D9A80C82
INFO27C33E209D472E6C11753E9D7BCBCE6D
INFO90D9F226E827B6C26165A029B6F7DFF2
INFO63E382B4C82F9F6D866C01B9823ED1BC
INFO0EEFA859327E6B5AC4C24533C9DFA7AF
INFODBD70D55E4666B4B41828B76FFBD010C
INFO1B916E350EFF199EA5B096FF3337FE19
INFO40E6CA9E7F1DD5B33D8D4780DD775289
INFO953404686AEC4C3CB6F1BBB9DC69BA13
INFO8738C00DAFF280ECF02D0C7A66E13855
INFO1D756616732FF47915EAD551A6933E08
INFO10C541C7RD02C14991E83CC49FCA4B92
INFO<<<<< Identifier Token End >>>>>
OKAY [  0.069s]
finished. total time: 0.070s

c:miniadb_m7>[COLOR="red"]fastboot flash unlocktoken Unlock_code.bin[/COLOR]
  sending 'unlocktoken' (0 KB)... OKAY [  0.143s]
         writing 'unlocktoken'... INFOunlock token check successfully
OKAY [  0.011s]
finished. total time: 0.156s

c:miniadb_m7>

2)flash a recovery
question: what is the difference between temporary and permanent recovery?

the temporary recovery is just that. it is NOT permantly installed on your phone,it is just booted directly into the phones memory so you can use it. the stock recovery is still in place,in your phones recovery partition. as soon as you reboot from the temporary recovery,its gone. you wont see it again until you launch it again.

a permanent recovery is just that. it is permantly installed on your phone,in place of the stock recovery. it is always there,and you can boot to it at any time,wether connected to a PC or not

question: wich option should i pick?
if all you need is root access to run a couple of root-requiring apps,consider leaving the stock recovery in place. in some cases,this will allow OTAs to occur naturally. YES,the OTA will break root. its no big deal. one good thing about htcdev is that you will always be able to reroot after,simply by following steps 2 and 3 again to launch recovery,flash superser.

if you want to flash roms,or mod your stock rom heavily,the most common option is to go ahead and permantly install your recovery. that way you wont always have to hook it to a PC to boot to it,and do some things.

first thing youll need to do is download a recovery image for your particular variation:

-sprint: Techerrata Downloads - Browsing m8_whl
md5: openrecovery-twrp-2.7.0.2-m8_whl.img cb6cdf37fbd8baf37b42ffd44cbb0fab

-international,AT&T,T-Mobile,developer edition Techerrata Downloads - Browsing m8
md5: openrecovery-twrp-2.7.0.2-m8.img eee8a96b5d226266e1046b738e785c59

*important note: DO NOT use sprint recovery on other models,or vice versa

once youve either skipped past all the setup,or have re-set up and are ready to root,chose either of the following options to either permantly or termporarily install a recovery:

1)temporary recovery:
-move the recovery image file from the zip file you downloaded above and place it into the miniadb_m7 folder. rename the image to simply "recovery" if its is something else.
-put the superuser zip file onto your phones sd card
-enable usb debugging once again,as above. open a cmd window,if its not still open from unlocking.
-if you had to re-open a cmd window,dont forget to change back to your miniadb_m8 directory:

cd c:\miniadb_m8

-make sure youre connected by typing:

adb devices

-should return serial number
-check the md5 of your recovery image:

md5sums recovery.img

**make sure the resulting md5 matches the one listed for your device**

-boot to bootloader:

adb reboot bootloader

-check for connectivity:

fastboot devices

-should return serial number
-temporarily launch your recovery to phone memory:

fastboot boot recovery.img

-youll see a (really fast) green status bar on the top right as your PC sends the recovery to your phone. youll then see the HTC splash screen,then your recovery.

in your command window you will see(red are my inputs):
Code: 
Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.

C:UsersScott>[COLOR="Red"]cd c:\miniadb_m7[/COLOR]

c:miniadb_m7>[COLOR="Red"]adb devices[/COLOR]
List of devices attached
HTxxxxxxxxxx    device


c:miniadb_m7>[COLOR="red"]md5sums recovery.img[/COLOR]

MD5sums 1.2 freeware for Win9x/ME/NT/2000/XP+
Copyright (C) 2001-2005 Jem Berkes - http://www.pc-tools.net/
Type md5sums -h for help

[Path] / filename                              MD5 sum
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[c:miniadb_m7]
recovery.img                 915d5e3cb662076f36f3d6e54759e951

c:miniadb_m7>[COLOR="red"]adb reboot bootloader[/COLOR]

c:miniadb_m7>[COLOR="red"]fastboot devices[/COLOR]
HTxxxxxxxxxx    fastboot

c:miniadb_m7>[COLOR="red"]fastboot boot recovery.img[/COLOR]
        downloading 'boot.img'... OKAY [  1.518s]
                       booting... OKAY [  0.005s]
finished. total time: 1.523s
2)permanently install your recovery
-move the recovery image file from the zip file you downloaded above and place it into the miniadb_m7 folder. rename the image to simply "recovery" if its is something else.
-put the superuser zip file onto your phones sd card
-enable usb debugging once again,as above. open a cmd window,if its not still open from unlocking.
-if you had to re-open a cmd window,dont forget to change back to your miniadb_m7 directory:

cd c:\miniadb_m8

-make sure youre connected by typing:

adb devices

-should return serial number
-check the md5 of your recovery image:

md5sums recovery.img

**make sure the resulting md5 matches the one listed for your device**

-boot to bootloader:

adb reboot bootloader

-check for connectivity:

fastboot devices

-should return serial number
-permanently flash your recovery to phones recovery partition:

fastboot flash recovery recovery.img

-youll see a (really fast) green status bar on the top right as your PC sends the recovery to your phone,then a (really,really fast) red bar as it flashes it. your recovery is now permanently on your phone when you need it.
-reboot your phone with:
fastboot reboot

be aware that you can no longer accept OTAs

-after the phone reboots,you can access recovery from the booted phone with this command:
adb reboot recovery

-youll then see the HTC splash screen,then your recovery.

*note that you can still launch recovery by using the command from scenario 1 above.

and the code:
Code: 
Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.

C:UsersScott>[COLOR="red"]cd c:\miniadb_m7[/COLOR]

c:miniadb_m7>[COLOR="red"]adb devices[/COLOR]
List of devices attached
HTxxxxxxxxxx    device


c:miniadb_m7>[COLOR="red"]md5sums recovery.img[/COLOR]

MD5sums 1.2 freeware for Win9x/ME/NT/2000/XP+
Copyright (C) 2001-2005 Jem Berkes - http://www.pc-tools.net/
Type md5sums -h for help

[Path] / filename                              MD5 sum
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[c:miniadb_m7]
recovery.img                 915d5e3cb662076f36f3d6e54759e951

c:miniadb_m7>[COLOR="red"]adb reboot bootloader[/COLOR]

c:miniadb_m7>[COLOR="red"]fastboot devices[/COLOR]
HTxxxxxxxxxx    fastboot

c:miniadb_m7>[COLOR="red"]fastboot flash recovery recovery.img[/COLOR]
  sending 'recovery' (7074 KB)... OKAY [  1.659s]
            writing 'recovery'... OKAY [  5.179s]
finished. total time: 6.840s

3)flash superuser root files*
there is not much to explain with this one. if booted to recovery from above,use the recovery menu on your phone to:
*make a backup of your stock,unrooted rom. this is NOT an option! please... do it.
-wipe cache
-wipe dalvik cache
-install zip from sd card(chose your superuser file)
-reboot

*congratulations,youre rooted :D

*special notes on superuser i know that the link for supersu says the best way to install superSU is to download from the market. it is refering to rooted devices ALLREADY RUNNING SUPER SU.

an extremely common error is to not follow the above directions to flash the zip file in recovery,but to attempt to download and and install from the market.

THIS WILL NOT WORK

you will need to download the newest superSU from the thread as i describeb in the download section,and use the recovery menus to flash it.
 
set up adb and prepair to root

-install drivers: if you have htc sync installed,you should allready have drivers. if not,you can install htc sync,or install these modified htc drivers from revolutionary (driver mirror)
-unzip your miniadb_v1031.zip file. this is native funtionality in windows 7. you otherwise may need a utility such as "7-zip" to extract,or unzip it. place the unzipped folder onto the root of your C drive on your PC. root means the top level,not inside any folders. so just copy and paste,or drag and drop the folder onto C with everything else that is there. you may want to rename it to "miniadb_m8" since youll be putting some device specific files in here.
-open a command window. on windows 7,click the start bubble in the lower left and type "command" in the search box. xp i believe is similar or the same. doing this should open a small black command window.
-change to your miniadb_m8 directory. type the following at the prompt in your cmd window:

cd c:\miniadb_m8

your command promt should change to "c:miniadb_m8>" provided you: 1)unzipped the miniadb_v1031 zip file,and 2)put the folder on your c drive,and 3)entered the name of the folder correctly ("miniadb_m8" in this case)

-now make sure usb debugging is checked in developer options(you will need to turn it on first),and plug your phone into your PC with a usb cable
-make sure your phone is being recognized- type:

sudo ./adb devices

if your drivers are installed correctly,this should return your phones serial number. you should hear the "found device" noises when you plug your phone in. if it starts installing drivers,wait for it to finish before typing the adb devices command.

if you get your serial number back,then enter this command:
sudo ./adb reboot bootloader

this should take your phone to the "fastboot" screen,wich is white with colored letters. this is one mode of your bootloaders interactive modes. at the top youll see sudo ./fastboot devices as confirmation youre in fastboot.

now enter:
sudo ./fastboot devices
again,this should return your phones serial number. you should hear the "found device" noises when you plug your phone in. if it starts installing drivers,wait for it to finish before typing the adb devices command.

if you get your serial number back,you can enter the following to boot back to the phones OS:
sudo ./fastboot reboot

and now,youve installed adb/fastboot and tested youre phones drivers. if at either spot,you have trouble and dont get your serial number back,there is some sort of connection issue. use these steps to troubleshoot:
troubleshooting connectivity issues:
-try a reboot of the PC
-try different usb cables and ports
-dont use a usb hub
-dont use usb 3.0
-make sure nothing capable of comunicating with the phone is enabled and running. htc sync,pdanet,easy tether,and even itunes have all been known to cause issues.
-windows 8 has been known to have issues. try a windows 7 or older machine

failing the above,
-i use these drivers for fastboot and adb(donwload and run as admin): http://downloads.unrevoked.com/HTCDriver3.0.0.007.exe (mirror)

failing that,try manually updating the drivers in the following manner:
-put the phone in fastboot mode(select fastboot from the hboot menu)
-open device manager on the PC
-plug in phone,watch for it to pop up in device manager.
-update drivers with device manager,pointing the wizard to the extracted
driver download folder from above

note that you can check the connectivity of the phone,and make sure drivers are working by in the following manner:
-open cmd window. change to directory containing adb/fastboot utilities

-adb with the phone in the booted OS,usb debug enabled,enter:
sudo ./adb devices in a cmd window

-fastboot with phone in fastboot,enter:
sudo ./fastboot devices in cmd window

in either case,a properly connected phone with working drivers installed should report back the phones serial number.
Click to expand...

this process,in your cmd window,should look something like this:
Code: 
Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.

C:\Users\Scott>[COLOR=red]cd c:\miniadb_m7[/COLOR]

c:\miniadb_m7>sudo ./adb devices
* daemon not running. starting it now on port 5037 *
* daemon started successfully *
List of devices attached
FAxxxxxxxxxx    device


c:\miniadb_m7>[COLOR=red]sudo ./adb reboot bootloader[/COLOR]

c:\miniadb_m7>[COLOR=red]sudo ./fastboot devices[/COLOR]
FAxxxxxxxxxx    fastboot

c:\miniadb_m7>[COLOR=red]sudo ./fastboot reboot[/COLOR]
rebooting...

finished. total time: 0.037s

c:\miniadb_m7>

you are now ready to unlock your bootloader!

1)unlock using htcdev
*note if you were fortunate enuff to grab a developer edition htc One,it came with an ***unlocked*** bootloader allready,so skip to step 2 to install a recovery :)

PLEASE NOTE that the unlock process will erase your personal data. this was done purposely,for your protection.

-open a cmd window,change to miniadb_m8 directory,and plug in your phone as described above.
-go to HTCdev - Unlock Bootloader and sign in to your account.chose "All Other Supported Models" from the
-----select your device-----
Click to expand...
box,and click the green "begin unlock bootloader" button underneath.
-click yes to procede,then read the warnings before checking the boxes and clicking yes to continue,as they are basically explaining that your warranty is now void,and any repairs that your phone needs that may have been a result of unlocking your bootloader and messing with your phones operating system may no longer be covered under mfgr warranty
- have the htcdev site open,as you follow this guide,youll need to interact with it to submit your token.

-steps 1-4 are describing how to get your phone into bootloader mode and connect it to your PC. ignore these steps and simply type in your cmd window:

sudo ./adb reboot bootloader
your phone will boot to fastboot.

sudo ./fastboot devices
to make sure its connected

-click the green procede to step 5 bubble.
-steps 5-7 are telling you how to find the files and utilities inside your mini-adb folder. you have them,so ignore steps 5-7.
-click the green procede to step 8 bubble.
-heres where steps are important,steps 8-10 are telling you how to get your unlock token,and send it to htc. its phone specific(so they prolly know your serial number,meid,etc) so no,you cant use your buddys unlock token and not have htc know that youve unlocked your bootloader. ;) copy this line either from below,or from step 8,and paste it into the prompt in your cmd window. you have to right click to paste in cmd,you cannot control/v :

sudo ./fastboot oem get_identifier_token

-after you hit enter,you will get a bunch of letters that are your identifier token. not much i can say,other than follow the directions in steps 9 and 10 to copy and submit your identifier token to HTC. make sure you get the characters as shown in the pic,with no extra lines or letters. note that you can also hit the "enter" key on your PC to copy,as well as right clicking.
-click the green submit button. wait patiently for an email containing your unlock code. (dont worry,it should come pretty fast :p )
-save the unlock_code.bin that htc sends you directly to your miniadb_m8 folder(if your PC automatically downloads somewhere else,no biggie. just move the unlock code to miniadb_m8 folder)
-click the link in your email to get the rest of the unlock instructions
-step 12 is where them magic happens :D copy from below,or from htc dev:

sudo ./fastboot flash unlocktoken Unlock_code.bin

-youll see the purdy screen pictured in step 13. use the vol rocker to chose "yes unlock bootloader" and select it with the power button. your phone will reboot,performaing a factory data reset in the process. your data is gone,sorry :( this boot may take a bit longer than they normally do,dont freak out this is normal

heres what it will look like in your command window:
Code: 
Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.

C:UsersScott>[COLOR=Red]cd c:\miniadb_m7[/COLOR]


c:miniadb_m7>[COLOR=red]sudo ./adb devices[/COLOR]
List of devices attached
HTxxxxxxxxxx    device


c:miniadb_m7>[COLOR=red]sudo ./adb reboot bootloader[/COLOR]

c:miniadb_m7>[COLOR=red]sudo ./fastboot devices[/COLOR]
HTxxxxxxxxxx    fastboot

c:miniadb_m7>[COLOR=red]sudo ./fastboot oem get_identifier_token[/COLOR]
                              ... INFO
INFO< Please cut following message >
INFO<<<< Identifier Token Start >>>>
INFO2ADC7C0C0F1BAF92074BAE9B0035CB6A
INFO021839BFA7465CD0788664688DCCFDEA
INFO33A2FD2C96C7308DD3C57A517DBA8E14
INFO8048F98A9FEA06B8F2AD05D4D3497CFE
INFO6FCCC1DC4E31E0C6F54CEA18D9A80C82
INFO27C33E209D472E6C11753E9D7BCBCE6D
INFO90D9F226E827B6C26165A029B6F7DFF2
INFO63E382B4C82F9F6D866C01B9823ED1BC
INFO0EEFA859327E6B5AC4C24533C9DFA7AF
INFODBD70D55E4666B4B41828B76FFBD010C
INFO1B916E350EFF199EA5B096FF3337FE19
INFO40E6CA9E7F1DD5B33D8D4780DD775289
INFO953404686AEC4C3CB6F1BBB9DC69BA13
INFO8738C00DAFF280ECF02D0C7A66E13855
INFO1D756616732FF47915EAD551A6933E08
INFO10C541C7RD02C14991E83CC49FCA4B92
INFO<<<<< Identifier Token End >>>>>
OKAY [  0.069s]
finished. total time: 0.070s

c:miniadb_m7>[COLOR=red]sudo ./fastboot flash unlocktoken Unlock_code.bin[/COLOR]
  sending 'unlocktoken' (0 KB)... OKAY [  0.143s]
         writing 'unlocktoken'... INFOunlock token check successfully
OKAY [  0.011s]
finished. total time: 0.156s

c:miniadb_m7>

2)flash a recovery
question: what is the difference between temporary and permanent recovery?

the temporary recovery is just that. it is NOT permantly installed on your phone,it is just booted directly into the phones memory so you can use it. the stock recovery is still in place,in your phones recovery partition. as soon as you reboot from the temporary recovery,its gone. you wont see it again until you launch it again.

a permanent recovery is just that. it is permantly installed on your phone,in place of the stock recovery. it is always there,and you can boot to it at any time,wether connected to a PC or not

question: wich option should i pick?
if all you need is root access to run a couple of root-requiring apps,consider leaving the stock recovery in place. in some cases,this will allow OTAs to occur naturally. YES,the OTA will break root. its no big deal. one good thing about htcdev is that you will always be able to reroot after,simply by following steps 2 and 3 again to launch recovery,flash superser.

if you want to flash roms,or mod your stock rom heavily,the most common option is to go ahead and permantly install your recovery. that way you wont always have to hook it to a PC to boot to it,and do some things.

first thing youll need to do is download a recovery image for your particular variation:

-sprint: Techerrata Downloads - Browsing m8_whl
md5: openrecovery-twrp-2.7.0.2-m8_whl.img cb6cdf37fbd8baf37b42ffd44cbb0fab

-international,AT&T,T-Mobile,developer edition Techerrata Downloads - Browsing m8
md5: openrecovery-twrp-2.7.0.2-m8.img eee8a96b5d226266e1046b738e785c59

*important note: DO NOT use sprint recovery on other models,or vice versa

once youve either skipped past all the setup,or have re-set up and are ready to root,chose either of the following options to either permantly or termporarily install a recovery:

1)temporary recovery:
-move the recovery image file from the zip file you downloaded above and place it into the miniadb_m7 folder. rename the image to simply "recovery" if its is something else.
-put the superuser zip file onto your phones sd card
-enable usb debugging once again,as above. open a cmd window,if its not still open from unlocking.
-if you had to re-open a cmd window,dont forget to change back to your miniadb_m8 directory:

cd c:\miniadb_m8

-make sure youre connected by typing:

sudo ./adb devices

-should return serial number
-check the md5 of your recovery image:

md5sums recovery.img

**make sure the resulting md5 matches the one listed for your device**

-boot to bootloader:

adb reboot bootloader

-check for connectivity:

sudo ./fastboot devices

-should return serial number
-temporarily launch your recovery to phone memory:

sudo ./fastboot boot recovery.img

-youll see a (really fast) green status bar on the top right as your PC sends the recovery to your phone. youll then see the HTC splash screen,then your recovery.

in your command window you will see(red are my inputs):
Code: 
Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.

C:UsersScott>[COLOR=Red]cd c:\miniadb_m7[/COLOR]

c:miniadb_m7>[COLOR=Red]sudo ./adb devices[/COLOR]
List of devices attached
HTxxxxxxxxxx    device


c:miniadb_m7>[COLOR=red]md5sums recovery.img[/COLOR]

MD5sums 1.2 freeware for Win9x/ME/NT/2000/XP+
Copyright (C) 2001-2005 Jem Berkes - http://www.pc-tools.net/
Type md5sums -h for help

[Path] / filename                              MD5 sum
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[c:miniadb_m7]
recovery.img                 915d5e3cb662076f36f3d6e54759e951

c:miniadb_m7>[COLOR=red]sudo ./adb reboot bootloader[/COLOR]

c:miniadb_m7>[COLOR=red]sudo ./fastboot devices[/COLOR]
HTxxxxxxxxxx    fastboot

c:miniadb_m7>[COLOR=red]sudo ./fastboot boot recovery.img[/COLOR]
        downloading 'boot.img'... OKAY [  1.518s]
                       booting... OKAY [  0.005s]
finished. total time: 1.523s
2)permanently install your recovery
-move the recovery image file from the zip file you downloaded above and place it into the miniadb_m7 folder. rename the image to simply "recovery" if its is something else.
-put the superuser zip file onto your phones sd card
-enable usb debugging once again,as above. open a cmd window,if its not still open from unlocking.
-if you had to re-open a cmd window,dont forget to change back to your miniadb_m7 directory:

cd c:\miniadb_m8

-make sure youre connected by typing:

sudo ./adb devices

-should return serial number
-check the md5 of your recovery image:

md5sums recovery.img

**make sure the resulting md5 matches the one listed for your device**

-boot to bootloader:

adb reboot bootloader

-check for connectivity:

sudo ./fastboot devices

-should return serial number
-permanently flash your recovery to phones recovery partition:

sudo ./fastboot flash recovery recovery.img

-youll see a (really fast) green status bar on the top right as your PC sends the recovery to your phone,then a (really,really fast) red bar as it flashes it. your recovery is now permanently on your phone when you need it.
-reboot your phone with:
sudo ./fastboot reboot

be aware that you can no longer accept OTAs

-after the phone reboots,you can access recovery from the booted phone with this command:
sudo ./adb reboot recovery

-youll then see the HTC splash screen,then your recovery.

*note that you can still launch recovery by using the command from scenario 1 above.

and the code:
Code: 
Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.

C:UsersScott>[COLOR=red]cd c:\miniadb_m7[/COLOR]

c:miniadb_m7>[COLOR=red]sudo ./adb devices[/COLOR]
List of devices attached
HTxxxxxxxxxx    device


c:miniadb_m7>[COLOR=red]md5sums recovery.img[/COLOR]

MD5sums 1.2 freeware for Win9x/ME/NT/2000/XP+
Copyright (C) 2001-2005 Jem Berkes - http://www.pc-tools.net/
Type md5sums -h for help

[Path] / filename                              MD5 sum
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[c:miniadb_m7]
recovery.img                 915d5e3cb662076f36f3d6e54759e951

c:miniadb_m7>[COLOR=red]sudo ./adb reboot bootloader[/COLOR]

c:miniadb_m7>[COLOR=red]sudo ./fastboot devices[/COLOR]
HTxxxxxxxxxx    fastboot

c:miniadb_m7>[COLOR=red]sudo ./fastboot flash recovery recovery.img[/COLOR]
  sending 'recovery' (7074 KB)... OKAY [  1.659s]
            writing 'recovery'... OKAY [  5.179s]
finished. total time: 6.840s

3)flash superuser root files*
there is not much to explain with this one. if booted to recovery from above,use the recovery menu on your phone to:
*make a backup of your stock,unrooted rom. this is NOT an option! please... do it.
-wipe cache
-wipe dalvik cache
-install zip from sd card(chose your superuser file)
-reboot

*congratulations,youre rooted :D

*special notes on superuser i know that the link for supersu says the best way to install superSU is to download from the market. it is refering to rooted devices ALLREADY RUNNING SUPER SU.

an extremely common error is to not follow the above directions to flash the zip file in recovery,but to attempt to download and and install from the market.

THIS WILL NOT WORK

you will need to download the newest superSU from the thread as i describeb in the download section,and use the recovery menus to flash it.
 
set up adb and prepair to root

-install drivers: if you have htc sync installed,you should allready have drivers. if not,you can install htc sync,or install these modified htc drivers from revolutionary (driver mirror)
-unzip your miniadb_v1031.zip file. this is native funtionality in windows 7. you otherwise may need a utility such as "7-zip" to extract,or unzip it. place the unzipped folder onto the root of your C drive on your PC. root means the top level,not inside any folders. so just copy and paste,or drag and drop the folder onto C with everything else that is there. you may want to rename it to "miniadb_m8" since youll be putting some device specific files in here.
-open a command window. on windows 7,click the start bubble in the lower left and type "command" in the search box. xp i believe is similar or the same. doing this should open a small black command window.
-change to your miniadb_m8 directory. type the following at the prompt in your cmd window:

cd c:\miniadb_m8

your command promt should change to "c:miniadb_m8>" provided you: 1)unzipped the miniadb_v1031 zip file,and 2)put the folder on your c drive,and 3)entered the name of the folder correctly ("miniadb_m8" in this case)

-now make sure usb debugging is checked in developer options(you will need to turn it on first),and plug your phone into your PC with a usb cable
-make sure your phone is being recognized- type:

./adb devices

if your drivers are installed correctly,this should return your phones serial number. you should hear the "found device" noises when you plug your phone in. if it starts installing drivers,wait for it to finish before typing the adb devices command.

if you get your serial number back,then enter this command:
./adb reboot bootloader

this should take your phone to the "fastboot" screen,wich is white with colored letters. this is one mode of your bootloaders interactive modes. at the top youll see ./fastboot devices as confirmation youre in fastboot.

now enter:
./fastboot devices
again,this should return your phones serial number. you should hear the "found device" noises when you plug your phone in. if it starts installing drivers,wait for it to finish before typing the adb devices command.

if you get your serial number back,you can enter the following to boot back to the phones OS:
./fastboot reboot

and now,youve installed adb/fastboot and tested youre phones drivers. if at either spot,you have trouble and dont get your serial number back,there is some sort of connection issue. use these steps to troubleshoot:
troubleshooting connectivity issues:
-try a reboot of the PC
-try different usb cables and ports
-dont use a usb hub
-dont use usb 3.0
-make sure nothing capable of comunicating with the phone is enabled and running. htc sync,pdanet,easy tether,and even itunes have all been known to cause issues.
-windows 8 has been known to have issues. try a windows 7 or older machine

failing the above,
-i use these drivers for fastboot and adb(donwload and run as admin): http://downloads.unrevoked.com/HTCDriver3.0.0.007.exe (mirror)

failing that,try manually updating the drivers in the following manner:
-put the phone in fastboot mode(select fastboot from the hboot menu)
-open device manager on the PC
-plug in phone,watch for it to pop up in device manager.
-update drivers with device manager,pointing the wizard to the extracted
driver download folder from above

note that you can check the connectivity of the phone,and make sure drivers are working by in the following manner:
-open cmd window. change to directory containing adb/fastboot utilities

-adb with the phone in the booted OS,usb debug enabled,enter:
./adb devices in a cmd window

-fastboot with phone in fastboot,enter:
./fastboot devices in cmd window

in either case,a properly connected phone with working drivers installed should report back the phones serial number.
Click to expand...

this process,in your cmd window,should look something like this:
Code: 
Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.

C:\Users\Scott>[COLOR=red]cd c:\miniadb_m7[/COLOR]

c:\miniadb_m7>./adb devices
* daemon not running. starting it now on port 5037 *
* daemon started successfully *
List of devices attached
FAxxxxxxxxxx    device


c:\miniadb_m7>[COLOR=red]./adb reboot bootloader[/COLOR]

c:\miniadb_m7>[COLOR=red]./fastboot devices[/COLOR]
FAxxxxxxxxxx    fastboot

c:\miniadb_m7>[COLOR=red]./fastboot reboot[/COLOR]
rebooting...

finished. total time: 0.037s

c:\miniadb_m7>

you are now ready to unlock your bootloader!

1)unlock using htcdev
*note if you were fortunate enuff to grab a developer edition htc One,it came with an ***unlocked*** bootloader allready,so skip to step 2 to install a recovery :)

PLEASE NOTE that the unlock process will erase your personal data. this was done purposely,for your protection.

-open a cmd window,change to miniadb_m8 directory,and plug in your phone as described above.
-go to HTCdev - Unlock Bootloader and sign in to your account.chose "All Other Supported Models" from the
-----select your device-----
Click to expand...
box,and click the green "begin unlock bootloader" button underneath.
-click yes to procede,then read the warnings before checking the boxes and clicking yes to continue,as they are basically explaining that your warranty is now void,and any repairs that your phone needs that may have been a result of unlocking your bootloader and messing with your phones operating system may no longer be covered under mfgr warranty
- have the htcdev site open,as you follow this guide,youll need to interact with it to submit your token.

-steps 1-4 are describing how to get your phone into bootloader mode and connect it to your PC. ignore these steps and simply type in your cmd window:

./adb reboot bootloader
your phone will boot to fastboot.

./fastboot devices
to make sure its connected

-click the green procede to step 5 bubble.
-steps 5-7 are telling you how to find the files and utilities inside your mini-adb folder. you have them,so ignore steps 5-7.
-click the green procede to step 8 bubble.
-heres where steps are important,steps 8-10 are telling you how to get your unlock token,and send it to htc. its phone specific(so they prolly know your serial number,meid,etc) so no,you cant use your buddys unlock token and not have htc know that youve unlocked your bootloader. ;) copy this line either from below,or from step 8,and paste it into the prompt in your cmd window. you have to right click to paste in cmd,you cannot control/v :

./fastboot oem get_identifier_token

-after you hit enter,you will get a bunch of letters that are your identifier token. not much i can say,other than follow the directions in steps 9 and 10 to copy and submit your identifier token to HTC. make sure you get the characters as shown in the pic,with no extra lines or letters. note that you can also hit the "enter" key on your PC to copy,as well as right clicking.
-click the green submit button. wait patiently for an email containing your unlock code. (dont worry,it should come pretty fast :p )
-save the unlock_code.bin that htc sends you directly to your miniadb_m8 folder(if your PC automatically downloads somewhere else,no biggie. just move the unlock code to miniadb_m8 folder)
-click the link in your email to get the rest of the unlock instructions
-step 12 is where them magic happens :D copy from below,or from htc dev:

./fastboot flash unlocktoken Unlock_code.bin

-youll see the purdy screen pictured in step 13. use the vol rocker to chose "yes unlock bootloader" and select it with the power button. your phone will reboot,performaing a factory data reset in the process. your data is gone,sorry :( this boot may take a bit longer than they normally do,dont freak out this is normal

heres what it will look like in your command window:
Code: 
Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.

C:UsersScott>[COLOR=Red]cd c:\miniadb_m7[/COLOR]


c:miniadb_m7>[COLOR=red]./adb devices[/COLOR]
List of devices attached
HTxxxxxxxxxx    device


c:miniadb_m7>[COLOR=red]./adb reboot bootloader[/COLOR]

c:miniadb_m7>[COLOR=red]./fastboot devices[/COLOR]
HTxxxxxxxxxx    fastboot

c:miniadb_m7>[COLOR=red]./fastboot oem get_identifier_token[/COLOR]
                              ... INFO
INFO< Please cut following message >
INFO<<<< Identifier Token Start >>>>
INFO2ADC7C0C0F1BAF92074BAE9B0035CB6A
INFO021839BFA7465CD0788664688DCCFDEA
INFO33A2FD2C96C7308DD3C57A517DBA8E14
INFO8048F98A9FEA06B8F2AD05D4D3497CFE
INFO6FCCC1DC4E31E0C6F54CEA18D9A80C82
INFO27C33E209D472E6C11753E9D7BCBCE6D
INFO90D9F226E827B6C26165A029B6F7DFF2
INFO63E382B4C82F9F6D866C01B9823ED1BC
INFO0EEFA859327E6B5AC4C24533C9DFA7AF
INFODBD70D55E4666B4B41828B76FFBD010C
INFO1B916E350EFF199EA5B096FF3337FE19
INFO40E6CA9E7F1DD5B33D8D4780DD775289
INFO953404686AEC4C3CB6F1BBB9DC69BA13
INFO8738C00DAFF280ECF02D0C7A66E13855
INFO1D756616732FF47915EAD551A6933E08
INFO10C541C7RD02C14991E83CC49FCA4B92
INFO<<<<< Identifier Token End >>>>>
OKAY [  0.069s]
finished. total time: 0.070s

c:miniadb_m7>[COLOR=red]./fastboot flash unlocktoken Unlock_code.bin[/COLOR]
  sending 'unlocktoken' (0 KB)... OKAY [  0.143s]
         writing 'unlocktoken'... INFOunlock token check successfully
OKAY [  0.011s]
finished. total time: 0.156s

c:miniadb_m7>

2)flash a recovery
question: what is the difference between temporary and permanent recovery?

the temporary recovery is just that. it is NOT permantly installed on your phone,it is just booted directly into the phones memory so you can use it. the stock recovery is still in place,in your phones recovery partition. as soon as you reboot from the temporary recovery,its gone. you wont see it again until you launch it again.

a permanent recovery is just that. it is permantly installed on your phone,in place of the stock recovery. it is always there,and you can boot to it at any time,wether connected to a PC or not

question: wich option should i pick?
if all you need is root access to run a couple of root-requiring apps,consider leaving the stock recovery in place. in some cases,this will allow OTAs to occur naturally. YES,the OTA will break root. its no big deal. one good thing about htcdev is that you will always be able to reroot after,simply by following steps 2 and 3 again to launch recovery,flash superser.

if you want to flash roms,or mod your stock rom heavily,the most common option is to go ahead and permantly install your recovery. that way you wont always have to hook it to a PC to boot to it,and do some things.

first thing youll need to do is download a recovery image for your particular variation:

-sprint: Techerrata Downloads - Browsing m8_whl
md5: openrecovery-twrp-2.7.0.2-m8_whl.img cb6cdf37fbd8baf37b42ffd44cbb0fab

-international,AT&T,T-Mobile,developer edition Techerrata Downloads - Browsing m8
md5: openrecovery-twrp-2.7.0.2-m8.img eee8a96b5d226266e1046b738e785c59

*important note: DO NOT use sprint recovery on other models,or vice versa

once youve either skipped past all the setup,or have re-set up and are ready to root,chose either of the following options to either permantly or termporarily install a recovery:

1)temporary recovery:
-move the recovery image file from the zip file you downloaded above and place it into the miniadb_m7 folder. rename the image to simply "recovery" if its is something else.
-put the superuser zip file onto your phones sd card
-enable usb debugging once again,as above. open a cmd window,if its not still open from unlocking.
-if you had to re-open a cmd window,dont forget to change back to your miniadb_m8 directory:

cd c:\miniadb_m8

-make sure youre connected by typing:

./adb devices

-should return serial number
-check the md5 of your recovery image:

md5sums recovery.img

**make sure the resulting md5 matches the one listed for your device**

-boot to bootloader:

adb reboot bootloader

-check for connectivity:

./fastboot devices

-should return serial number
-temporarily launch your recovery to phone memory:

./fastboot boot recovery.img

-youll see a (really fast) green status bar on the top right as your PC sends the recovery to your phone. youll then see the HTC splash screen,then your recovery.

in your command window you will see(red are my inputs):
Code: 
Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.

C:UsersScott>[COLOR=Red]cd c:\miniadb_m7[/COLOR]

c:miniadb_m7>[COLOR=Red]./adb devices[/COLOR]
List of devices attached
HTxxxxxxxxxx    device


c:miniadb_m7>[COLOR=red]md5sums recovery.img[/COLOR]

MD5sums 1.2 freeware for Win9x/ME/NT/2000/XP+
Copyright (C) 2001-2005 Jem Berkes - http://www.pc-tools.net/
Type md5sums -h for help

[Path] / filename                              MD5 sum
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[c:miniadb_m7]
recovery.img                 915d5e3cb662076f36f3d6e54759e951

c:miniadb_m7>[COLOR=red]./adb reboot bootloader[/COLOR]

c:miniadb_m7>[COLOR=red]./fastboot devices[/COLOR]
HTxxxxxxxxxx    fastboot

c:miniadb_m7>[COLOR=red]./fastboot boot recovery.img[/COLOR]
        downloading 'boot.img'... OKAY [  1.518s]
                       booting... OKAY [  0.005s]
finished. total time: 1.523s
2)permanently install your recovery
-move the recovery image file from the zip file you downloaded above and place it into the miniadb_m7 folder. rename the image to simply "recovery" if its is something else.
-put the superuser zip file onto your phones sd card
-enable usb debugging once again,as above. open a cmd window,if its not still open from unlocking.
-if you had to re-open a cmd window,dont forget to change back to your miniadb_m7 directory:

cd c:\miniadb_m8

-make sure youre connected by typing:

./adb devices

-should return serial number
-check the md5 of your recovery image:

md5sums recovery.img

**make sure the resulting md5 matches the one listed for your device**

-boot to bootloader:

adb reboot bootloader

-check for connectivity:

./fastboot devices

-should return serial number
-permanently flash your recovery to phones recovery partition:

./fastboot flash recovery recovery.img

-youll see a (really fast) green status bar on the top right as your PC sends the recovery to your phone,then a (really,really fast) red bar as it flashes it. your recovery is now permanently on your phone when you need it.
-reboot your phone with:
./fastboot reboot

be aware that you can no longer accept OTAs

-after the phone reboots,you can access recovery from the booted phone with this command:
./adb reboot recovery

-youll then see the HTC splash screen,then your recovery.

*note that you can still launch recovery by using the command from scenario 1 above.

and the code:
Code: 
Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.

C:UsersScott>[COLOR=red]cd c:\miniadb_m7[/COLOR]

c:miniadb_m7>[COLOR=red]./adb devices[/COLOR]
List of devices attached
HTxxxxxxxxxx    device


c:miniadb_m7>[COLOR=red]md5sums recovery.img[/COLOR]

MD5sums 1.2 freeware for Win9x/ME/NT/2000/XP+
Copyright (C) 2001-2005 Jem Berkes - http://www.pc-tools.net/
Type md5sums -h for help

[Path] / filename                              MD5 sum
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[c:miniadb_m7]
recovery.img                 915d5e3cb662076f36f3d6e54759e951

c:miniadb_m7>[COLOR=red]./adb reboot bootloader[/COLOR]

c:miniadb_m7>[COLOR=red]./fastboot devices[/COLOR]
HTxxxxxxxxxx    fastboot

c:miniadb_m7>[COLOR=red]./fastboot flash recovery recovery.img[/COLOR]
  sending 'recovery' (7074 KB)... OKAY [  1.659s]
            writing 'recovery'... OKAY [  5.179s]
finished. total time: 6.840s

3)flash superuser root files*
there is not much to explain with this one. if booted to recovery from above,use the recovery menu on your phone to:
*make a backup of your stock,unrooted rom. this is NOT an option! please... do it.
-wipe cache
-wipe dalvik cache
-install zip from sd card(chose your superuser file)
-reboot

*congratulations,youre rooted :D

*special notes on superuser i know that the link for supersu says the best way to install superSU is to download from the market. it is refering to rooted devices ALLREADY RUNNING SUPER SU.

an extremely common error is to not follow the above directions to flash the zip file in recovery,but to attempt to download and and install from the market.

THIS WILL NOT WORK

you will need to download the newest superSU from the thread as i describeb in the download section,and use the recovery menus to flash it.
 
A Backup Routine for us all:
argedion said:
I have been on the forums for a year and a half and I can't even count the number of times that I have seen someone come in all panicky wanting to get stuff off their SDCARD when there is a problem with the device. We ofcourse offer the best assistance as we can to help however sometimes that is simply not enough. The very best way to retrieve stuff on the SDCARD is when there are no problems with device.

We here at Phandroid understand your pain and wish to help you develop a healthy backup plan so you can maintain all those precious photos and documents you have collected over the year(s) with your current device. There are several methods we are going to discuss here for both the rooted and non-rooted users. While we could assume that rooted users already have a healthy backup plan we rather not assume and just offer assistance in this desired area of device ownership.

There are several ways to maintain a healthy backup plan however for some it may not be as easy as it is for others. Lets say you have a phone with internal memory of 8gig however you have no external way to put a card in. Lets take it even further and say that you don't even own a computer to plug the device into and make a backup of your precious data then what? Well for you there are some alternatives out there and one of the best ones happens to be Cloud Storage. There are many sites out there that offer free storage. Choose whom you wish to choose and start learning how to upload files on to their servers. Most offer a convenient app to do this for you.

Learning to what to backup can be just as intimidating as finding the right storage cloud for your purposes. Rule of thumb is that if you created it you want it. (Photos taken with camera, Documents you saved etc.) There are a few places that allow you to stream media over to your device by keeping your music and video's on their servers. Amazon and Google Play Music are a couple. They give you reasonable amounts of space so you can keep a bunch of music on their servers. It's your responsibility to know what you need to keep and where the best place to store it is. Now is the time to practice uploading stuff once a day to the cloud of your choice before a disaster happens.

Next are those who are fortunate enough to have a computer that you can back up stuff to and you really don't trust
Click to expand...
 
Nandroid Backup or NAND Backup:
argedion said:
RECOVERY – This is the NAND section of the phone. This is one of the main reasons for ROOTING for most. The ability to do a NAND BACKUP / RESTORE. A NAND BACKUP can be viewed as an image of the phones partitions. Partitions are like rooms in a bigger room. Think of a Warehouse they are generally just one big room add offices and you just partitioned your warehouse. Each Room is now separate but still part of the bigger room. So now you have a manager office, a receiving office, and a shipping office. These offices are different partitions and each has a separate function but still works with the others to make up the whole. The phone is broken into several &#8220;offices&#8221; as well the ones we need to worry about though are the &#8220;/data and /system&#8221; this is where all user interactions occur. Storing a copy of these two partitions is important if we screw up something down the road we can always come back to the backups we made of these. We should make new backups everytime we decide to change something. IMPORTANT thing to remember about NANDROIDs are that they record a moment in time. So it will restore it to that &#8220;Time&#8221; So if you update a bunch of apps after a NANDROID then you will need to updated them again if you go back in time on your phone.
Click to expand...

I won't re-invent the wheel here, but ALWAYS make a nandroid backup before making any changes to system files.

The process is mostly the same in each custom recovery:
1.) Boot into your custom recovery
2.) Select the "Backup" menu with the volume keys/power key or by simply touching it if your recovery supports a touch interface
3.) Select the partitions you'd like to backup -- Usually "System", "Data" and "Boot" will suffice. If you have the option to backup the EFS partition, make a backup of that right away upon installing your custom recovery and store in a safe place (separate from your device).

Rooting Best Practices:
scary alien said:
.
If you are new to rooting, you might want to be aware of some general guidelines for various root-related activities that might help you avoid some trouble along the way.

- Have a fall-back / recovery plan before taking any "scary" (risky) action. In other words, know what steps you'll need to follow if you encounter a problem.

- Make a backup before you alter or remove any system-related apps or settings. If you can't make a full, restorable (i.e., a Nandroid) backup, then don't make any changes--doing so without a backup is asking for bootloops or soft-brickings.

- Save your backups off your device. Its prudent to copy your backups off of your device for safe-keeping in the event that your on-device storage becomes compromised. Save a copy off to a PC, thumb/flash drive, or the cloud (Dropbox, Google Drive, etc.).

For example, it might be a good idea to create folder on your PC called "Android-backups" and sub-folders "sdcard", "nandroid", etc. to hold their respective backups (in folders named with date/time, etc.). For example:


  • c:\my documents\android-backups\sdcard\2012-06-12-1402
  • c:\my documents\android-backups\nandroid\2012-06-12-1533
Also, saving your backups off to two different targets (i.e., PC and external SD card, or PC and cloud, or cloud and SD card, etc.) is a good idea for added redundancy and safefy (you can never be too safe, eh? :)).

- Verify your Nandroid backups. If you are so inclined, you can verify the Nandroid backup's integrity by performing an "md5sum -c" type of operation against it. This is exactly what the Nandroid restore operation does when you would attempt to restore a backup, so its a great peace-of-mind to double-check this after you've done your backup.
Here's how to do it via an adb shell session (and presumes that you have a busybox installed that supports the md5sum command):
Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\Scary Alien>adb shell
* daemon not running. starting it now on port 5037 *
* daemon started successfully *
uid=0 gid=0@android:/ # cd /sdcard
uid=0 gid=0@android:/sdcard # cd clockworkmod
uid=0 gid=0@android:/sdcard/clockworkmod # ls -a -l
ls -a -l
total 20
drwxrwxr-x 4 0 1015 4096 Mar 11 17:26 .
drwxrwxr-x 30 0 1015 4096 Jun 13 03:22 ..
-rw-rw-r-- 1 0 1015 410 Mar 31 21:31 .settings
drwxrwxr-x 11 0 1015 4096 May 11 15:47 backup
drwxrwxr-x 2 0 1015 4096 Mar 31 21:31 download
uid=0 gid=0@android:/sdcard/clockworkmod # cd backup
cd backup
uid=0 gid=0@android:/sdcard/clockworkmod/backup # ls -a -l
ls -a -l
total 44
drwxrwxr-x 11 0 1015 4096 May 11 15:47 .
drwxrwxr-x 4 0 1015 4096 Mar 11 17:26 ..
drwxrwxr-x 2 0 1015 4096 Mar 28 01:51 2012-03-28.01.43.03
drwxrwxr-x 2 0 1015 4096 Mar 31 19:14 2012-03-31.19.05.12
drwxrwxr-x 2 0 1015 4096 Jan 1 2000 2012-04-08-00.00.01
drwxrwxr-x 2 0 1015 4096 Jan 1 2000 2012-04-08.00.00.02
drwxrwxr-x 2 0 1015 4096 Apr 8 05:06 2012-04-08.04.58.48
drwxrwxr-x 2 0 1015 4096 Apr 9 01:10 2012-04-09.01.02.53
drwxrwxr-x 2 0 1015 4096 May 11 15:57 2012-05-11.15.47.25
drwxrwxr-x 2 0 1015 4096 Mar 3 06:47 stock-rooted-402
drwxrwxr-x 2 0 1015 4096 Mar 3 06:48 stock-unrooted-404
uid=0 gid=0@android:/sdcard/clockworkmod/backup # cd 2012-05-11.15.47.25
uid=0 gid=0@android:/sdcard/clockworkmod/backup/2012-05-11.15.47.25 # ls -a -l
total 702688
-rw-rw-r-- 1 0 1015 8388608 May 11 15:47 boot.img
-rw-rw-r-- 1 0 1015 12800 May 11 15:56 cache.ext4.tar
-rw-rw-r-- 1 0 1015 463217152 May 11 15:55 data.ext4.tar
-rw-rw-r-- 1 0 1015 237 May 11 15:57 nandroid.md5
-rw-rw-r-- 1 0 1015 12517376 May 11 15:47 recovery.img
-rw-rw-r-- 1 0 1015 235394560 May 11 15:48 system.ext4.tar
uid=0 gid=0@android:/sdcard/clockworkmod/backup/2012-05-11.15.47.25 # md5sum -c nandroid.md5
boot.img: OK
cache.ext4.tar: OK
data.ext4.tar: OK
recovery.img: OK
system.ext4.tar: OK
uid=0 gid=0@android:/sdcard/clockworkmod/backup/2012-05-11.15.47.25 #
Additionally, you can do this directly on your phone via an app like AFV (Android File Verifier) [free in the Market]. It has a "Verify Nandroid Backup" function that operates identically to the "md5sum -c" command (although it does not use the busybox's md5sum utility--it calculates the MD5 digests itself).

Install the app, navigate to your Nandroid's backup directory and long-press the backup directory name (i.e., the one that's date/time stamped and contains the nandroid.md5 file) [note: you can also navigate into the directory and long-press the nandroid.md5 file]. You'll be presented with a list of functions--select "Verify Nandroid Backup".

Its not a bad idea to additionally verify the backups on the system to which you've copied them to. I know, it sounds like overkill, but this is exactly when
data transfer errors/issues occur--especially for very large file for which you have no means to manually verify their contents.

The process is verify similar for a PC (Windows/Linux/Mac) to what I outlined above for the "adb shell". You need an MD5 checksum utility (see this thread
http://androidforums.com/faqs/443074-md5-verification.html) and follow these basic steps:



- If your Android device does not support a custom recovery or the ability to make a full device backup (i.e., a Nandroid backup), then you should avoid making any system-related changes that could affect the ability of your device to boot (i.e., modifying or removing system apps, etc.).
Click to expand...

App/Data Backup:
Probably the most convenient way to backup your apps and their data is by using a 3rd party app such as:

Titanium Backup

My Backup

Helium

There are others to choose from; and non-app methods as well.


We have a great guide HERE at the forums explaining how to use Titanium Backup in more detail!

Using an app like Titanium Backup makes it easy to restore your user apps and their data after flashing a new rom or even after getting a new device.
 
hi scotty,
whats the best way to check if i have permanent root? i think i have as it is always there after boot - but one of the app devs say i dont have it :/

while following your excellent instructions above ... TWRP sort of took over ...spotted i didnt have SU - flashed it and then updated it for me! :D
...all other apps seem ok with this titanium,xposed etc - just the fix sd app

many thanks
dan
 
dan55 said:
hi scotty,
whats the best way to check if i have permanent root? i think i have as it is always there after boot - but one of the app devs say i dont have it :/

while following your excellent instructions above ... TWRP sort of took over ...spotted i didnt have SU - flashed it and then updated it for me! :D
...all other apps seem ok with this titanium,xposed etc - just the fix sd app

many thanks
dan
Click to expand...

If your other root requiring apps are working,you have permanent root. Try opening supersu and see if the fix sd app is listed. May just need to change the permissions there. :)
 
cool thanks scotty...that's what I thought...sorted it using the Xposed manage external sd mod
cheers
Dan
 
Clutch300exc said:
has anyone used this method in this link to success?

One-click Root Method Released for HTC One (M8) on Verizon | Droid Life
Click to expand...

Lots of folks have. It's main function is to provide root access for the firewater tool to provide s off on Verizon devices. If all you need is root acces for a couple of apps,it will work fine. However,it does not allow permanent access to /system,nor will it let you install kernels or a recovery. It does not work on other m8 variants.

If you have something other than vzw,unlocking the bootloader is a better option. If you have vzw,follow weak sauce with firewater if you want permanent root and the ability install a recovery and flash roms.
 
dan55 said:
hi scotty,
does firewater work for gsm international m8 too?
thanks
dan
Click to expand...

There are apparently some hardware differences that cause it to not work on some phones,in all variants. Aside from that,yes firewater works on everything. :)

If you're intending to get s off,do it now, before the exploits are patched and the tool is still working :)
 
Quick question guys, I have the Harmon Kardon Sprint variant, do I need to do anything different when I root mine? I should be able to back up my Stock image and restore without any hitches correct? I just want some clarification before I dive in.

Thanks
 
shandroid said:
Quick question guys, I have the Harmon Kardon Sprint variant, do I need to do anything different when I root mine? I should be able to back up my Stock image and restore without any hitches correct? I just want some clarification before I dive in.

Thanks
Click to expand...

As far as unlocking, getting SU and a custom recovery, no. There shouldn't be any issues what so ever. Root away my friend! :)

I'm not 100% on the H/K variant working with Firewater. :o
 
scotty85 said:
Lots of folks have. It's main function is to provide root access for the firewater tool to provide s off on Verizon devices. If all you need is root acces for a couple of apps,it will work fine. However,it does not allow permanent access to /system,nor will it let you install kernels or a recovery. It does not work on other m8 variants.

If you have something other than vzw,unlocking the bootloader is a better option. If you have vzw,follow weak sauce with firewater if you want permanent root and the ability install a recovery and flash roms.
Click to expand...

Scotty85

I do have verizon wireless. So the process that you have written will not work for me correct? Or did I miss understand you? I do not want to change roms or anything, just want the bloat ware off my phone and would like to use es file explorer and a few other similar programs.

If i understand you correctly i need to download weaksauce with firewater for my situation, correct? I do want permanent root

thanks
 
shandroid said:
Quick question guys, I have the Harmon Kardon Sprint variant, do I need to do anything different when I root mine? I should be able to back up my Stock image and restore without any hitches correct? I just want some clarification before I dive in.

Thanks
Click to expand...

Granite1 said:
As far as unlocking, getting SU and a custom recovery, no. There shouldn't be any issues what so ever. Root away my friend! :)

I'm not 100% on the H/K variant working with Firewater. :o
Click to expand...

Thanks! this is the EXACT same question I was going to ask.

Anybody out there know of any other unlocking options besides HTC Dev? I avoided having to HTCDev for the Evo 4G LTE and appreciated it very much at the time. I don't suppose there are any alternate methods in this day and age are there?
 
Clutch300exc said:
Scotty85

I do have verizon wireless. So the process that you have written will not work for me correct? Or did I miss understand you? I do not want to change roms or anything, just want the bloat ware off my phone and would like to use es file explorer and a few other similar programs.

If i understand you correctly i need to download weaksauce with firewater for my situation, correct? I do want permanent root

thanks
Click to expand...

correct. you need to install and run the weaksauce app in order to gain "root". then run firewater.

after youre s off,the changes you make will be permanent. after firewater,you will be unlocked,so you can download a verizon spercific recovery and use the step 2 directions for temporary recovery to 1)make a nandroid backup(wich you should aslo store on your pc for safe keeping) and then 2)you can install supersu so you do not need to use the weaksauce app any more.

just holler if you have questions :)

firewater s-off

PyroSporker said:
Thanks! this is the EXACT same question I was going to ask.

Anybody out there know of any other unlocking options besides HTC Dev? I avoided having to HTCDev for the Evo 4G LTE and appreciated it very much at the time. I don't suppose there are any alternate methods in this day and age are there?
Click to expand...
i do not know of any working temp roots for other variants. weaksauce only works on vzw,so at this time htcdev unlock is the only way to gain root access for firewater to work on other variants.
 
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