Increase your reputation - please help with the rooting FAQ

[Cory Streater]

You may have noticed a new FAQ specifically related to Droid rooting. I would appreciate it if everyone would help out with both proofreading and adding content. If you have any information to contribute, please post it here, and I will incorporate it into the FAQ. For formatting reasons, I have left the actual FAQ closed and will add to it as I receive feedback from you guys.

As a thank you, I will increase your reputation by pressing the "add to reputation button" each time I receive accurate, helpful, and useful feedback.

This FAQ should also help lower the frustration of some of our more experienced guys who see the same questions being asked over and over again.

Also, if you would like to PM me any content, please feel free to do so.

Thanks,

Cory

 

[thebizz]

Quick question. its been a while since I rooted, does the update.zip include busybox or the new recovery.img if not then the easiest way for that is Droid root helper or Droid rootpro.

 

[Cory Streater]

Quick question. its been a while since I rooted, does the update.zip include busybox or the new recovery.img if not then the easiest way for that is Droid root helper or Droid rootpro.

My procedure does not, no. Please point me to the correct place and I will update the FAQ with it. Thanks.

 

[thebizz]

THIS IS TO INSTALL BUSYBOX
Code:
adb push busybox /data/local/busybox
adb shell
su
cd /data/local
chmod 755 busybox
./busybox
mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock4 /system
mkdir /system/xbin
/data/local/busybox cp /data/local/busybox /system/xbin
/data/local/busybox cp /data/local/busybox /system/bin
cd /system/xbin
busybox --install .
mount -o ro,remount -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock4 /system
sync
reboot

THIS IS TO FLASH A RECOVERY IMAGE
su
mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock4 /system
cat /sdcard/flash_image > /system/bin/flash_image
chmod 755 /system/bin/flash_image
sync
mount -o remount,r -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock4 /system
/system/bin/flash_image recovery /sdcard/
mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock4 /system
mv /system/recovery-from-boot.p /system/recovery-from-boot.old
sync
mount -o remount,r -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock4 /system

sholes is down at the moment it would be best to past a recovery image here as a zip atleast 99.2b.
or you can try droid root pro from the market of a buck or two, trying to find a copy of busybox or a download link

 

[Cory Streater]

THIS IS TO INSTALL BUSYBOX
Code:
adb push busybox /data/local/busybox
adb shell
su
cd /data/local
chmod 755 busybox
./busybox
mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock4 /system
mkdir /system/xbin
/data/local/busybox cp /data/local/busybox /system/xbin
/data/local/busybox cp /data/local/busybox /system/bin
cd /system/xbin
busybox --install .
mount -o ro,remount -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock4 /system
sync
reboot

THIS IS TO FLASH A RECOVERY IMAGE
su
mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock4 /system
cat /sdcard/flash_image > /system/bin/flash_image
chmod 755 /system/bin/flash_image
sync
mount -o remount,r -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock4 /system
/system/bin/flash_image recovery /sdcard/
mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock4 /system
mv /system/recovery-from-boot.p /system/recovery-from-boot.old
sync
mount -o remount,r -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock4 /system

sholes is down at the moment it would be best to past a recovery image here as a zip atleast 99.2b.
or you can try droid root pro from the market of a buck or two, trying to find a copy of busybox or a download link

Thanks. I will incorporate this into the FAQ.

 

[prometheus]

perhaps we should hold off on giving step-by-step help related to sholes until that mess is straightened out.

 

[Flyguide83]

The easiest way to root your droid is via sholes updater. It is available on the market place as "donate" its free on the developers website. Just download and follow instructions. Its important that you don't freek out about the disclaimers at each step.. just follow the directions.. very easy and takes about 30 min including the download..fyi that took about 20 min alone

 

[prometheus]

The easiest way to root your droid is via sholes updater. It is available on the market place as "donate" its free on the developers website. Just download and follow instructions. Its important that you don't freek out about the disclaimers at each step.. just follow the directions.. very easy and takes about 30 min including the download..fyi that took about 20 min alone

I agree, sholes is a very easy way to go. But, let's hold off on directing people there until they're back up (sholes was removed from market yesterday and website is down)

 

[Flyguide83]

Lol.. probably my fault.. I found a flaw that will reboot your phone everytime you try to do it..lol emailed the dev and he couldn't finger it out.. oh well I still like it!

 

[thebizz]

How do I back up my device before rooting?

There are a few apps that can assist you in this. Ckeck out a few that are available for free in market:

Astro
Titanium

These apps store a back up of your settings on your phone's SD card. Once that file is created you can copy and paste it to your computer - in case somewhere in the root process you corrupt your SD card.

Good idea but astro only backs up your apps haven't tried titanium

 

[thebizz]

And I would say once you root load the custom recovery image and make a nandrioid backup. do if something does go wrong you have a your pristine backup. with only root access

 

[prometheus]

Good idea but astro only backs up your apps haven't tried titanium

Yes, you're right... Astro only backs up apps, n ot settings -- I'll go back and edit my post -- good catch.

 

[Cory Streater]

Great job everyone, but prometheus in particular... you are knocking it out of the park! THANKS!!!

 

[thebizz]

Except if you don't have the icon but the Rom says it has superuser permissions. it probably will not work with most apps requiring Su permissions

 

[Flyguide83]

still wish sholes was available... it does everything for you.. ie backup and it allows you to download custom roms... gets rod of bloat ware as you set it up... its great for those who arte afraid to do the multiple steps involved with rooting or maybe most importantly, you can do it ask via your phone.. do not have to mount to pc or download to pc.. the only time I even turned my laptop on was for the sugar sync...

 

[Flyguide83]

besides all of that.. in the sholes updater, there is a button for"back to stock"..

 

[thebizz]

How to set up adb. Windows only
1 go and download the Android sdk for windows try and place it some were like this (c: /users/usename/android/sdk
2 once downloaded go into the folder and click the setup icon and let it do what it has to
Almost forgot make sure you download the frivers for the phone
3 while that's downloading go to my computer, select properties, next select advanced settings, enviromental variables, click new then enter your path to the tools folder in the android sdk
For example c:/users/username/androidsdk/tools
4 now back out of the window you were in
5 now make sure your phone has debugging on settings, applications, develoment, and select debugging
6 connect your phone to your computer
7 open command promt from your computer, and type cd then the path to the tools folder in your sdk
8 if everything was done correct you should see the directory, now type adb shell, and it should open the bridge

Sorry if I missed a step here and their don't have my comp infront of me so wrote this off of memory feel free to edit or correct this

 

[Cory Streater]

FYI - I am moving posts out of this thread and into the FAQ thread, so if you're thinking about posting a new one (or thought yours get deleted), you might want to check there first. Thanks again everyone!

 

[Cory Streater]

I would suggest that you get the following programs once rooted.
Droid root pro
Root explorer
Set cpu
Sugar sync
Dro cap2
Titanium backup

I love Sugar Sync, but I'm curious why you added it as a preferred app once you're rooted?

 

[prometheus]

hey, could someone write up a step-by-step for moving apps to SD card once rooted?

I know you can once you root. I haven't tried to yet, as I have plenty of memory. But, it would be pretty cool to actually store them there and free up all of RAM for day-to-day operations.