how to "root" your motorola droid
Tuesday, February 16, 2010i've been avoiding this post for quite some time now as this is a subject best left for developers, hackers and people with far more knowledge of the android operating system than myself. gaining root or superuser access enables you to have complete control of your device which means you can tweak and modify almost anything to your liking. the possibilities are endless, but the consequences can also be extremely serious.
*warning* - please take this as a warning that if you choose to complete this task that you do so at your own risk and that you will not hold us responsible if you end up "bricking" your phone. this process is fairly simple, but if you have any hesitations about this, then this may not be for you. please do not feel pressure to do this.
*note 1* - while we are almost always here for help and support, with this subject you will find the best support in the "droid hacks" section of droidforums.net, in the "droid development" section of alldroid.org, or at rootyourdroid.info.
*note 2* - before gaining root access, i highly recommend that you research every single thing possible such as: what "rooting" means, what a nandroid backup is and if/how you can get back to stock.
*note 3* - why am i posting this now? with 2.1 about to roll out to motorola droid's we have no idea how long it will take before root access is gained to it and your time may be limited to finally gain access with 2.0.1. while it takes only a few days on certain android versions, we really have no idea. the next few days might be your last chance.
*note 4* - if you are wondering why you would finally go this route please visit the above sources i've provided. there are countless reasons that would fill up an entire post.
*note 5* - !noitnetta gniyap llits era uoy fi gniees tsuj - yeah that's backwards.
how to "root" your motorola droid:
the instructions...
1. connect your droid to a pc via usb cable and "mount" your sd card.
2. download this file to your pc: update.zip (alt link)
3. once you are finished downloading, drag the file into the root folder of your sd card. (root folder is the main folder that opens up when your phone is mounted.)
4. unmount your droid.
5. power off your droid.
6. hold the "X" key down and press the power button. (do not let go of the "X" key.)
7. when an exclamation mark appears, you can let go of the "X" key.
8. hold "volume up" and press the camera button.
9. using the d-pad move to "apply sdcard:update.zip" and press the gold button in the middle of the d-pad.
10. the update will begin and should take less than a minute.
11. once finished, navigate to "reboot system now" and your phone will restart.
12. you have now rooted your phone.
you sure you have "root" access? to make sure you have completed this process successfully, open your app drawer and look for an icon that resembles a ninja and is called "superuser permissions." if this exists, you have successfully rooted your device. congrats.
*root note 1* - if you open the superuser permissions app, it will be a blank black screen. this is normal and just shows that you have no root-specific apps installed or no other permissions created.
*root note 2* - if you want step-by-step instructions which include pictures and far more detail, check out big lou's version at rootyourdroid.info.
*root note 3* - if you do not enable an ota blocker, you will still receive the 2.1 ota update. once you receive this update your device should become "unrooted" automatically.
like i said previously, i hate to abandon support on this, but i am by no means an expert at rooting and feel you will find much better support at the sites i have listed above.
so you know, i rooted last night, created a nandroid backup, and returned back to stock in about an hours time. the process has been spelled out all over the internet and can be done, but make sure you know why you are doing it.
if you decide to go this route, good luck and let me know how it turns out!
21 comments
Thanks kellex, good info. I know there are a lot of people out there who have no idea what rooting is or how to get started with it. This should be a good introductory post for them. You might also want to mention sholes mod, it makes it very simple.
ReplyDeleteIt's a pretty addicting thing once you have rooted your device. It gives you this sense of power and control and you start wanting to tweak everything.
ReplyDeleteI was pretty close to installing Bugless Beast last night and said, "Nah, I better not go that route just yet." But I can definitely see why people do it and love having the control.
so kellex what is the best phone to have out right now im saying Motorola Droid sorry for asking this lame question but to me it seems if the Droid craze is over after the 2.1 update i love the fact this site allows me to do cool things with the Droid hell to me it isnt just a phone im feeling like those old Helio commercials im bout ready to pull a fork out on someone for calling my Droid anything other than Droid so long story short the Droid must be better to have than Iphone right? Due to customiaztion
ReplyDeletei dont have a root folder on my sd card all i have is music folders do i need to make a folder and name it root or do i need to just put this on my sd card and open it
ReplyDeleteoh im an idiot
ReplyDeleteAnon, you would put the file on the SD card, no folder. Also, you may want to consider using some form of punctuation, it makes your wall of text much easier to read ;)
ReplyDeleteKellex, you keep making it harder and harder to resist rooting. I think I may have to break down and try it tonight. One question though: how difficult is it to unroot? Did you have any difficulty with it? Also, if you make any changes while rooted, if you accept the 2.1 update and become unrooted, are you stuck with the changes you made?
syntakk: there are numerous posts at droidforums.net which will walk you through step-by-step to get back to stock. it was tedious, but i did it on the first try. after unrooting i also did a factory reset just to see it.
ReplyDeleteas far as i understand it, if you accept the 2.1 update it will overwrite any of the changes you made while you were rooted.
Anon: That was quite the comment without any periods or commas. Wow. But to answer you, the Droid is arguably the best phone out right now. The Nexus One has a better OS and is more powerful, but the Droid has so many developers and there are so many in circulation that it is pretty tough to compete with.
ReplyDeleteYou can always use SholesMod Updater found in the market to root. It does all the work for you. I highly recommend it.
ReplyDelete+1 for the SholesMod. Did it this afternoon, and now I'm hooked.
ReplyDeleteI went the Sholes root and after all the warnings I went forth and relished in the amazing product those boys put together.
ReplyDeleteWith that said, it also let's you unroot and go back to stock which i did today, awaiting the 2.1 update.
You can disable the Automatic update but it looked like a PIA, so I just unrooted and went back to stock altogether and after having my Droid overclocked to 800 MHz it's noticeable slower.
For those that go the Sholes route and decided to go back to stock I was missing the Google Voice search ability. If you run into this problem, here's how to fix it...
http://www.droidforums.net/forum/droid-hacks/21161-voice-search-missing-after-return-stock.html
good info, Chris, thanks!
ReplyDeleteI will tell everyone this if you are thinking about rooting your Motor Droid or unrooting your Droid the Sholes SMupdater from the market is the best way to do either. I'm by no means a smart user on smart phones or computers after rooting and unrooting several times with the SMupdater and looking at the options in the program I figured out what I wanted and didn't want to download here s just one example. I didn't want to use the 2.1 home launcher but I wanted the Smoked Glass theme so I unchecked he option for 2.1 and now I have the Smoked Glass running on GDE with the cube effect. You can do it your self by downloading and doing things through Droid Root Helper like busy box making a Nandroid back up and so on but the SMupdater will do all of it for you. I do want say that there are a lot. off o
ReplyDeleteScarry warnings in the beginning but after sucking it up and being a man about it I pushed the buttons to continue and holding my breath smoking a few cigarettes while the yellow bar and sometimes when it looked like nothing was happening before I knew I was rooted. Unrooting was even easier just go to the Rom settings and choose the no rooting 2.0.1 stock and let it do its thing one button push to unroot. There is step by step instructions at I believe its at Droid Forum. As everyone else is saying I'm not responsible for any phones bricking. I know I'm anonymous I just wanted to say that.
ReplyDeleteI also downloaded the setcpu and now my Droid is running unbelievably quick and when I was not rooted I noticed the speed was very slow. Setcpu is also in the market. I'm running on Sholesmod Rom 2.0.3
ReplyDeleteAhh nice to see all of you taking the plunge.
ReplyDeleteSholes is definitely the way to go if you don't want to go step by step through the entire process. I did it just to learn how it all works, but Sholes does everything for you.
Have fun all. :)
Thanks for the step by step. Could you also do a step by step for Nandroid back up and going back to default?
ReplyDeleteI can attempt that. Those steps are a little more finicky. Give me a day or so and I'll try to put it together.
ReplyDeleteQuick question, Kellex, or anyone who knows for that matter.
ReplyDeleteOnce we get our official 2.1 on can I root just for the overclocking? As in can I root and get the Set CPU app without messing with anything else? I'm hearing great things about people flying at 800-1.2Ghz.
Once the update comes, we'll have to wait for someone to root it again. You won't be able to just gain root access again like we did on 2.0.1.
ReplyDeleteBut once that happens, you should be able to just do overclocking.
Thanks, thats exactly what I wanted to know. Keep uup the great work!
ReplyDelete