Some say that any Android user’s experience is sorely lacking if the user hasn’t yet rooted his/her device and installed custom recovery. Rooting allows users root access to fully customize their devices the way they want them.
To make things even better, installing custom recovery allows users to flash custom ROMs developed by other Android users to get the most out of their devices. This particular method of rooting the HTC myTouch 4G works only on stock software.
If you’ve already upgraded to Gingerbread via OTA update, rooting is not impossible for you. You’ll just need to downgrade first in order to achieve root. If your HTC myTouch 4G is already running 1.17.531.2 or lower, then you may skip the instructions for downgrading and proceed to the instructions for rooting. You may check your myTouch 4G’s software version through Settings > About Phone.
Caution
The procedure described in this guide works only on the HTC myTouch 4G from T-Mobile. We do not encourage trying this technique on other HTC mobile device models as it may lead to bricking.
Rooting also voids the my Touch 4G’s warranty, so root at your own discretion. We shall not be responsible for whatever happens to your phone as a result of following these instructions.
Requirements
- HTC myTouch 4G (T-Mobile)
- 7-Zip, WinRAR, or other similar programs that can extract both ZIP and RAR archives.
- This process may delete data on your device, so make sure to create a backup for your important files and phone data.
- Make sure your HTC myTouch 4G’s battery has been fully charged. This will prevent your HTC myTouch 4G from shutting off in the middle of the update process.
- Make sure that you’ve enabled USB Debugging on your myTouch 4G. You can do so through Settings > Applications > Development > USB Debugging.
- Install the USB drivers for your phone on your computer, otherwise ADB won’t be able to communicate with your phone.
- Download the following files required for rooting:
- If your phone is on Gingerbread firmware, download the following additional files required for downgrading:
Once you have everything, you may now proceed to downgrading, rooting, and installing ClockworkMod Recovery on your HTC myTouch 4G.
Downgrading to 1.17.531.2
Perform these steps only if your HTC myTouch 4G is running on Gingerbread firmware (version 2.xx.xxx.x). Check your firmware version at Settings > About phone. If your phone is already running on firmware version 1.17.531.2 or earlier, skip this procedure and proceed immediately to the instructions for rooting in the next section.
- Extract the contents of adb-fastboot-win.rar (if you’re on Windows) or adb-fastboot-linux.rar (if you’re on Linux) into a folder on your computer. Make sure all the files are inside the root of that folder–not inside any subfolder.
- Unzip fre3vo.zip and misc_version_02.zip into the same folder where you extracted the ADB package to. The extracted files must be within the same folder as adb or adb.exe.
- DO NOT extract, rename, or modify PD15IMG.zip.
- Copy PD15IMG.zip to the same folder as adb or adb.exe.
- Connect your myTouch 4G to your computer via USB cable.
- On your computer, open a terminal window and change directory to where adb and the other files are. If you’re on Windows, open the folder where you extracted the files to and double-click on commandprompt.bat to open a command prompt window in the same directory.
- Enter the following commands at the command prompt or terminal window:
adb push fre3vo /data/local/tmpadb push misc_version /data/local/tmpadb shellchmod 777 /data/local/tmp/fre3vochmod 777 /data/local/tmp/misc_version/data/local/tmp/fre3vo -debug -start FAA90000 -end FFFFFFFFadb shell
- The prompt on your terminal or command prompt window should now show
# instead of $. This means that your phone has temporary root access.
- Continue entering the following commands:
/data/local/tmp/misc_version -s 1.00.000.0exit
- At this point, the misc_version on your phone has already been downgraded. The next steps will downgrade the firmware.
- At the terminal or command prompt window, enter the following commands:
adb push PD15IMG.zip /sdcard/PD15IMG.zipadb reboot bootloader
- Your phone will reboot into bootloader mode. Once you reach the HBOOT (bootloader) screen, use the Volume keys to highlight “BOOTLOADER” and press the Power key to select it. Your phone will detect the presence of PD15IMG.zip and will automatically apply the update and flash firmware 1.17.531.2 to your phone.
Rooting the myTouch 4G
- [ Skip this step if you performed the instructions for downgrading to firmware 1.17.531.2. ] Extract the contents of adb-fastboot-win.rar (if you’re on Windows) or adb-fastboot-linux.rar (if you’re on Linux) into a folder on your computer. Make sure all the files are inside the root of that folder–not inside any subfolder.
- Unzip the contents of the following packages and save all extracted files inside the same folder where you extracted adb or adb.exeto:
- busybox.zip
- ace_glacier.hboot-0.85.2007.zip
- gfree_07.zip
- psneuter.zip
- root_psn.zip
- su-2.3.6.2-efgh.zip
- Move or copy recovery-clockwork-5.0.2.0-glacier.img into the same folder where adb or adb.exe is located.
- Connect your myTouch 4G to the computer via USB cable.
- On your computer, open a terminal window and change directory to where adb and the other files are. If you’re on Windows, open the folder where you extracted the files to and double-click on commandprompt.bat to open a command prompt window in the same directory.
- At the command prompt or terminal window, enter the following commands:
adb push busybox /data/local/tmp/adb push gfree /data/local/tmp/adb push hboot-eng.img /data/local/tmp/adb push psneuter /data/local/tmp/adb push recovery-clockwork-5.0.2.0-glacier.img /data/local/tmp/recovery.imgadb push root_psn /data/local/tmp/adb push su /sdcard/adb push Superuser.apk /sdcard/adb shellchmod 755 /data/local/tmp/*/data/local/tmp/psneuter
- After the last command, you will exit from the ADB shell. You need to enter the ADB shell again. Enter the following commands:
adb shellcd /data/local/tmp./busybox md5sum /dev/block/mmcblk0p18
- The last command above will display an md5 checksum. Copy and paste the md5 checksum into a text editor (e.g., Notepad). For our purposes, let’s refer to this checksum as md5sum1.
- Continue entering the following commands:
./gfree -f -b hboot-eng.img -y recovery.img./root_psnsync./busybox md5sum hboot-eng.img
- The last command above will display another md5 checksum. Copy and paste the md5 checksum into a text editor (e.g., Notepad). For our purposes, let’s refer to this checksum as md5sum2.
- Continue with the following command:
./busybox md5sum /dev/block/mmcblk0p18
- The command above will display another md5 checksum. Copy and paste the md5 checksum into a text editor (e.g., Notepad). For our purposes, let’s refer to this checksum as md5sum3.
- This is where the md5 checksums come into play:
- If md5sum1 and md5sum3 are the same, then something went wrong. Perhaps the firmware was not properly downgraded. Try starting over from the beginning of this section. If the same thing happens, try performing the steps for downgrading the firmware (see the previous section).
- If md5sum2 and md5sum3 are the same, everything is fine.
- If md5sum3 does NOT match md5sum1 or md5sum2, then do not reboot. For help, join the #G2Root chat channel on Freenode.
- If md5sum2 and md5sum3are the same, reboot your phone by entering the following command at the command prompt or terminal window:
Congratulations! Your HTC myTouch 4G has now been rooted, with S-OFF, and with ClockworkMod Recovery installed. Enjoy!
