Assistance Upgrading Phone

[davidva]

Hello all,

I have a moto x /gsm(tmobile)/locked bootloader/rooted by wpnomo.

Question
I have 4.4 how do i upgrade safely to the newer 4.4.2 and keep root and if i wanted to flash a custom recovery how do i do this i am little confused.

I know i can do the unlock bootlader from motorola but that voids my warranty but i did get the phone about 6 months ago so have until dec for 1st year warranty.

dee

 

[Mark_Venture]

There are two parts two parts to root on a Moto X. 1. Root and 2. Write Protection Disable.

If you've rooted using something like SlapMyMoto or RockMyMoto, and disabled write protection by using MotoWpNoMo, then you do not want to upgrade to 4.4.2 as 4.4.2 has patched the exploits used by Slap/RockMyMoto and MotoWpNoMo. While you might be able to retain root, you'll lose write protection disable, and any changes to /system or the like made after the update would be lost at power off/on.

You can't flash a custom recovery with a locked bootloader.

Yes, unlocking the non-Dev edition X voids its warranty, but it is the only way upgrade to 4.4.2 and root, disable write protection and flash a custom recovery on the X without too much messing around.

That being said, you could look into using SafeStrap. You already have the Stock/Rooted/WPDisabled 4.4 on your phone, you can install Safestrap, and then make use of a safestrap compatible 4.4.2 rom in a slot to have rooted/wpdisabled 4.4.2. Its more complex, and works a little differently, but it generally works well once you get through the setup.

 

[davidva]

Thank you Mark.

Can you please provide a dummies guide of how to install this safestrap. I am not too keen of what it is, the last phone i rooted was a Motorola Droid 1 and had clockwork mod recovery is that what this is?

Thank you for the quick response

 

[Mark_Venture]

I don't use safestrap, so I can't give a guide for it. If there isn't info here on AndroidCentral, take a look at Rootzwiki.com and XDA.

BUT I don't think there is a "dummies guide" because it is a little complex. If you need a dummies guide, probably don't want to try it.

The original Moto Droid (for Verizon, which came out back in 2009) was a cake walk. Bootloader was unlocked, you didn't need to do much to root it, etc. That is pretty much what you'd have if you unlocked the bootloader on your X. (I get it, you don't want to void your warranty. its cool, a lot of people feel that way). If you did unlock, you could use the ClockWorkMod for the X or TWRP as a custom recovery, and then root.