Hero root method (tested on Orange UK)

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adq

Member
Jul 27, 2009
25
3
Hi, I've only tried this on a single HTC Hero from Orange UK. I'm about to order one myself, so I'll report back whether it works on there too.

This file (3mb ish) contains the unmodified boot.img dumped from the phone, as well as boot.img.insecure, which is modified to turn off security (exact details here)

I've been testing this with the following method. Obviously if you try this it is at your own risk. You'll need a copy of "fastboot".

1) Decompress zip
2) Attach phone to USB.
3) Turn phone off.
4) Press and hold the back button, then press "power".
5) You should be in the bootloader, and it should say "FASTBOOT USB".
6) On your PC, run "fastboot boot boot.img.insecure".

The phone should boot normally. However, if you do a normal "adb shell", that shell will be running as root.

Note that this doesn't actually flash the phone; it simply uploads a kernel and tells it to boot it. On reboot, it will return to the original secured rom stored on the phone. Of course if you make changes to the filing systems as root, those will be stored to flash.
 
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JWallstreet

Member
Sep 28, 2006
48
0
Southern California
I just flashed your boot.img onto my HTC branded hero and it work just fine. Thank you sir.

Edit: Hmm just lost wifi capability. Reverting back to stock boot.img
 
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fakeer

Member
Jul 30, 2009
20
0
Will it Work 4 me

I have ordered a sim free phone from the UK (I'm from Israel)
and i need root access to be able to install more font's .

Will this work for me ?

Thanks
 

daldroid

Senior Member
May 28, 2009
114
0
I just flashed your boot.img onto my HTC branded hero and it work just fine. Thank you sir.

Edit: Hmm just lost wifi capability. Reverting back to stock boot.img

Jwallstreet, try verifying you use the /system/lib/modules/wlan.ko which matches the kernel version you are booting.
It has to be the same build otherwise linux kernel doesn't load the wifi kernel module and your wifi won't work.
 

daldroid

Senior Member
May 28, 2009
114
0
I have ordered a sim free phone from the UK (I'm from Israel)
and i need root access to be able to install more font's .

Will this work for me ?

Thanks

It depends on the firmware you'll get on your hero.
Until now it seems all HERO owners reported an SPL able to fastboot rom images.
 

fakeer

Member
Jul 30, 2009
20
0
My Hero Version

Until now it seems all HERO owners reported an SPL able to fastboot rom images. ?

That is SPL ?
how can i know if i got the "good" version ?
 

adq

Member
Jul 27, 2009
25
3
Without actually trying to boot an image, the best method I can think of would be to turn it on holding down the BACK button to enter the bootloader, and see what HBOOT version it says it has. Mine says "HBOOT-1.76.0004 (HERO10000)"
 

adq

Member
Jul 27, 2009
25
3
Jwallstreet, try verifying you use the /system/lib/modules/wlan.ko which matches the kernel version you are booting.
It has to be the same build otherwise linux kernel doesn't load the wifi kernel module and your wifi won't work.

Running "lsmod" under an adb shell will tell you whether the wifi module is loaded or not. That works even on an un-rooted phone. Mine says:

Code:
wlan 591348 1 - Live 0xbf000000
 

elcom

Senior Member
Jun 21, 2008
233
68
OnePlus 7 Pro
Google Pixel 5
I Have the same version as you "HBOOT-1.76.0004 (HERO10000)"
Can i use you'r method and use in this guide ?
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=480964

if someone can help me it will be excellent (and after i do it i will write a guide).
I really need it.

Thanks for your help

Hey Fakeer,
A guide would be awesome! I also just bought a UK unlocked Hero and also am from Israel, and my biggest worry is that I wont be able to install hebrew fonts.
I am also very new to android. I have been with winmo for many years and just now decided to try Android.
Please report your success/failure with this issue. It would be greatly appreciated.
 

fakeer

Member
Jul 30, 2009
20
0
hebrew fonts

I will let you know as soon as I will make it work .
Let's hope someone here can help me get root access on the device
 

enlightener

Senior Member
Aug 21, 2008
142
4
Rome
I managed to "port" cyanogen's cm-recovery-1.4. The kernel is from my wwe version of hero ( 2.6.27-a5504199 #521 PREEMPT Fri Jul 3 07:56:53 CST 2009 ) . I've also recompiled the recovery binary, setting the right keycode for the trackball "press" event (the keycode is 191 ), and removing the console option from the menu.

i've tried only nandroid backup and it works fine. there's no reason for the other "utilities" not to work. There's also root through adb so you can make changes to the filesystem.

i've not "flashed" this image, no reason for now :D . I've only used it with "fastboot boot cm-hero-recovery.img", and everything seems to work fine.

link(10 downloads): http://rapidshare.com/files/262328508/cm-hero-recovery.img.zip.html

thanks to cyanogen for his awesome work ;)
 

liorry

Senior Member
Aug 1, 2009
687
314
Hey Fakeer,
A guide would be awesome! I also just bought a UK unlocked Hero and also am from Israel, and my biggest worry is that I wont be able to install hebrew fonts.
I am also very new to android. I have been with winmo for many years and just now decided to try Android.
Please report your success/failure with this issue. It would be greatly appreciated.

elcom, :)
I'll wait for your guide... nice to know there are more Israelis like me with the Hero.
Please let me know!
 

Dream_Team

Member
Apr 15, 2008
48
14
Works great !
Booted that recovery img on my hero, used "adb shell" then I typed in :
mount /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system
cat /system/bin/sh > /system/bin/su
chmod 4755 /system/bin/su
/system/bin/reboot

Now my hero is rooted. Nice !
Thanks
 

footboydog

Senior Member
Jan 25, 2009
221
24
Cool! I got it working on my unlocked white Hero. I can use su in adb shell. However, when I try to install Superuser.apk with adb it says INSTALL_FAILED_UPDATE_INCOMPATIBLE and when I try with App Manager it says "Super user permissions could not be installed on this phone". I guess its trying to overwrite /system/bin/su? I tried remounting /system as writeable and chmodding su to be writeable by all but I still get the same problem.

Anybody know how to fix this please?
 

enlightener

Senior Member
Aug 21, 2008
142
4
Rome
Cool! I got it working on my unlocked white Hero. I can use su in adb shell. However, when I try to install Superuser.apk with adb it says INSTALL_FAILED_UPDATE_INCOMPATIBLE and when I try with App Manager it says "Super user permissions could not be installed on this phone". I guess its trying to overwrite /system/bin/su? I tried remounting /system as writeable and chmodding su to be writeable by all but I still get the same problem.

Anybody know how to fix this please?

Use Superuser.apk and su in the attachment.
- mount system rw
- adb push su /system/bin/
- adb shell chmod 4755 /system/bin/su
- adb push Superuser.apk /system/app/
 

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