How to tell if my phone is rooted - bought off craigslist

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Some questions for those who know rooting:

- I just got an HTC desire off of someone from craigslist. It is unlocked cause I'm running it on AT&T in the US.

- Its a Telstra a8183 version with AT&T's US 3G bands but all the Telstra branding is removed and it looks to be running stock android (latest 2.1 official version).

- Does this mean that whoever removed the branding must have had to root the device to
do so? i.e. is my phone already rooted? How can one tell?

- And if it is rooted, is it rooted for life? Can something I do accidentally un-root it?

And now that it is rooted (if it is rooted) what's the benefit? I will search for this but just thought i'd throw it in there

Thanks to whoever answers.

Go to settings and about phone if it rooted or not. And see for your self!

use adb and see if you have superuser

Originally Posted by rackspace

Go to settings and about phone if it rooted or not. And see for your self!

So I go into Settings, About Phone and then... I guess into Software information right?

Here is what it says: I just don't know what part here tells me whether its rooted or not:

Firmware version: 2.1 - update1
Baseband version: 32.36.00.28U_4.06.00.02_2
Kernel Version: 2.6.29-82821fb5
htc-kernel@and18-2 #1
Build Number: 1.21.405.1 CL172503 test-keys
Software Number: 1.21.405.1
Browser version: Webkit 3.1

So how do I know if I'm rooted? or if I'm running a stock rom or a custom rom?

Should I consider my phone (originally a Telstra branded) a branded phone or a non branded phone now? I know its unlocked cause i'm using it on AT&T in the US.

Help will be appreciated.
Thanks.

Install Titanium backup and see whether or not it starts nagging about root . If you can make backups: you've got root!
If not, the app will tell you it needs root access!

A bit cumbersome perhaps, but it gets the job done!

edit: Oh yeah, it's possible to un-root the phone again. E.g. by flashing an official HTC ROM on it again, then you will have to root again as far as I know!

Just look for the "Superuser permission" icon in the App drawer (All Programs menu)... if it's not there, then you are obviously not rooted.

Originally Posted by MasDroid

Just look for the "Superuser permission" icon in the App drawer (All Programs menu)... if it's not there, then you are obviously not rooted.

Ok I looked and I don't have "Superuser Permission" in my app drawer. So does this confirm that I am not rooted?

But then howcome all the telstra branding is removed from this phone if it isn't even rooted? Oh I get it, maybe someone rooted it, and then installed a stock HTC desire ROM. Could that be it?

Does the "about phone" information that I have pasted above, tell you anything useful?

by the way, thanks a lot everyone for the answers. they really help.

Originally Posted by humayunl

Ok I looked and I don't have "Superuser Permission" in my app drawer. So does this confirm that I am not rooted?

But then howcome all the telstra branding is removed from this phone if it isn't even rooted? Oh I get it, maybe someone rooted it, and then installed a stock HTC desire ROM. Could that be it?

Does the "about phone" information that I have pasted above, tell you anything useful?

by the way, thanks a lot everyone for the answers. they really help.

That's probably it, either someone would have rooted the phone and installed a generic (unbranded) ROM onto it as your firmware version is x.xx.405.x - the '405' means you have an unbranded phone.

Originally Posted by RaptorRVL

edit: Oh yeah, it's possible to un-root the phone again. E.g. by flashing an official HTC ROM on it again, then you will have to root again as far as I know!

Correct... you can un-root your phone by installing your original stock RUU as this will remove root.

Great. Thanks everyone for the help.