[Q] First time root/custom ROM for this phone - How? Walkthrough guide please?

alex_ncfc · Aug 17, 2014

Can anybody here please help?

A friend of mine has this phone (Wildfire S) and I has become frustrated at the very limited storage for apps.

I have rooted phones previously myself (Xperia X10 and Xperia S) and used custom ROMs on them, but I don't have a clue how to do this on the HTC Wildfire S, OR which custom ROMs are decent. Are the KitKat 4.4 ROMs good/speedy enough for daily use?

If anyone could provide a simple way of rooting and using a custom ROM on this phone which allows more app storage space (such as on the SD card) that would be fantastic!

Many thanks

alex_ncfc · Aug 18, 2014

Sorry for responding to my own post, but I've now successfully unlocked the bootloader and rooted the phone, but I was left confused by some issues that I can't find the answers to:

With my own previous phones, Sony Xperia X10 and Xperia S, I have rooted those and run custom ROMs and kernels. However, when looking for a custom ROM for the Wildfire S, there don't seem to be any kernels. Does this mean I can use any custom ROM, be it Gingerbread 2.3 to KitKat 4.4 with the same CWM Recovery that I have on the phone right now when I rooted it? Are the kernels built in to the ROMs that are downloaded?

Also another question is how do I go about increasing the storage space on the phone now that I have rooted (be it on either the stock ROM or a Custom ROM)? My friend has a 2GB MicroSD card in the phone. If I was to install a KitKat ROM for example, how could I make sure the apps could be installed and run from the SD Card? What's an easy way to allocate a portion of the 2GB for apps??

Finally, which ROM would you recommend trying on the phone rather than the stock ROM, which is not sluggish but also very functional?

So basically to sum up:

Do I need to flash kernels to use custom ROMs?
How do I increase the storage size so that many more apps can be installed?
What is a nice, fast custom ROM that you would recommend?

I'd appreciate any information to help me on this one. Like I said, with my own personal phones, which have always been Sonys, I've got used to the rooting methods on those, but I had a lot of questions with this phone so would be grateful if somebody could help get this phone to a more functional standard.

Thanks

aWFSuser · Aug 18, 2014

alex_ncfc said:
Do I need to flash kernels to use custom ROMs?

How do I increase the storage size so that many more apps can be installed?

What is a nice, fast custom ROM that you would recommend?

Thanks

No you don't need to flash any kernels if you don't want to.
Use int2ext or Link2SD. Search about them.
The answer to the last question depends on your needs and you will have to try a bit yourself. You can start with CM10.

alex_ncfc · Aug 18, 2014

Thanks very much for the response aWFSuser.

1) Thanks, that's one thing I don't need to worry about then! (although, just thought, it might be nice to OverClock the CPU to 800Mhz - can I do this as standard or will I need another Kernel?)
2) I will have a read up about these, although from your experience, of the two tools you have listed, which would you say is easiest to configure? I've read before about setting up partitions on the SD card for extra app storage, but have never had to do it on my own phones
3) I will have a look around! Tempted to try some of the KitKat ROMs that I can see for download on the Development thread. If I don't have to mess around with flashing kernels, it's quite good to know that I can have many custom ROM zips on the SD card and install them without having to worry about hooking it up to the USB to flash a kernel.

Thanks again, hoping I can get some joy with this. My friend's absolute main needs with this phone is extra storage for apps - he is constantly getting "Not enough storage" errors, but I looked in his Google Play "installed list" and there was only 4 or 5 apps installed, and they were small ones!!

aWFSuser · Aug 18, 2014

alex_ncfc said:
Thanks very much for the response aWFSuser.

1) Thanks, that's one thing I don't need to worry about then! (although, just thought, it might be nice to OverClock the CPU to 800Mhz - can I do this as standard or will I need another Kernel?)
2) I will have a read up about these, although from your experience, of the two tools you have listed, which would you say is easiest to configure? I've read before about setting up partitions on the SD card for extra app storage, but have never had to do it on my own phones
3) I will have a look around! Tempted to try some of the KitKat ROMs that I can see for download on the Development thread. If I don't have to mess around with flashing kernels, it's quite good to know that I can have many custom ROM zips on the SD card and install them without having to worry about hooking it up to the USB to flash a kernel.

Thanks again, hoping I can get some joy with this. My friend's absolute main needs with this phone is extra storage for apps - he is constantly getting "Not enough storage" errors, but I looked in his Google Play "installed list" and there was only 4 or 5 apps installed, and they were small ones!!

Every ROM comes with its own kernel and most of them are overclockable. But overclocking to 800 MHz will not be a good idea if you don't want random reboots. Overclocking upto 768MHz is probably fine.
Int2ext is a script and you can flash it and forget. But Link2SD is an app which has an interface. Though it requires more configuring, it gives control on what to move and not to move and also it works in every rom I tried. I personally use Link2SD.

alex_ncfc · Aug 18, 2014

aWFSuser said:
Every ROM comes with its own kernel and most of them are overclockable. But overclocking to 800 MHz will not be a good idea if you don't want random reboots. Overclocking upto 768MHz is probably fine.
Int2ext is a script and you can flash it and forget. But Link2SD is an app which has an interface. Though it requires more configuring, it gives control on what to move and not to move and also it works in every rom I tried. I personally use Link2SD.

Perfect.

Thanks for that information. Good to know that I shouldn't overclock to the "max" 800mhz!

Also, after reading around guides on flashing the ROMs, it seems I will still have to use the USB cable in order to flash each ROMs "boot.img" file, but that's not a major problem.

I will have a look at Link2SD. Is it something you do after you have installed and configured a ROM?

Thanks very much for your advice and informative replies :good:

aWFSuser · Aug 18, 2014

alex_ncfc said:
Perfect.

Thanks for that information. Good to know that I shouldn't overclock to the "max" 800mhz!

Also, after reading around guides on flashing the ROMs, it seems I will still have to use the USB cable in order to flash each ROMs "boot.img" file, but that's not a major problem.

I will have a look at Link2SD. Is it something you do after you have installed and configured a ROM?

Thanks very much for your advice and informative replies :good:

No, you don't have to flash the boot.img files. They are inside the ROM zips that you will download. You will just need to flash the rom via recovery (ofcourse after wiping).
Link2SD is just an application, you can install it any time but you still have to partition your memory card.

alex_ncfc · Aug 18, 2014

aWFSuser said:
No, you don't have to flash the boot.img files. They are inside the ROM zips that you will download. You will just need to flash the rom via recovery (ofcourse after wiping).
Link2SD is just an application, you can install it any time but you still have to partition your memory card.

Thanks for the heads-up, I have since figured out I do not need to flash boot.img.

Am I able to use the 2GB card with INT2EXT? I can't quite figure out how to set up a partition.

Thank you

aWFSuser · Aug 18, 2014

alex_ncfc said:
Thanks for the heads-up, I have since figured out I do not need to flash boot.img.

Am I able to use the 2GB card with INT2EXT? I can't quite figure out how to set up a partition.

Thank you

Format the 2GB card into two partitions. The first one should be FAT32 and the 2nd one ext2. Then flash the int2ext script right after flashing the rom.

alex_ncfc · Aug 18, 2014

aWFSuser said:
Format the 2GB card into two partitions. The first one should be FAT32 and the 2nd one ext2. Then flash the int2ext script right after flashing the rom.

Thanks - I have just formatted the SD card in CWM Recovery, as I don't have a MicroSD reader in order to format on my PC. Will this format it correctly so that FAT32 is the first partition and the second EXT2?

Many thanks

alex_ncfc · Aug 18, 2014

aWFSuser said:
Format the 2GB card into two partitions. The first one should be FAT32 and the 2nd one ext2. Then flash the int2ext script right after flashing the rom.

I must be doing something wrong, but not sure what!!

I have partitioned the SD card using multiple different CWM recoveries and formatted the SD-EXT partition. However, whenever I flash any INT2EXT through CWM Recovery, the ROM I am using is always messed up. One ROM I try for example, after a long bootup, just has endless FCs, starting with .com.android.phone.

If I don't flash INT2EXT, it works but obviously I have very little storage.

Don't know where I am going wrong on this one. Any ideas?

aWFSuser · Aug 19, 2014

alex_ncfc said:
I must be doing something wrong, but not sure what!!

I have partitioned the SD card using multiple different CWM recoveries and formatted the SD-EXT partition. However, whenever I flash any INT2EXT through CWM Recovery, the ROM I am using is always messed up. One ROM I try for example, after a long bootup, just has endless FCs, starting with .com.android.phone.

If I don't flash INT2EXT, it works but obviously I have very little storage.

Don't know where I am going wrong on this one. Any ideas?

Are you sure you have really two partitions on the sd-card? I have never partitioned through cwm so don't know the exact procedure. You can mount the sdcard to computer via the usb cable. BTW you have to flash the script right after flashing rom. And have you tried link2sd?

alex_ncfc · Aug 19, 2014

aWFSuser said:
Are you sure you have really two partitions on the sd-card? I have never partitioned through cwm so don't know the exact procedure. You can mount the sdcard to computer via the usb cable. BTW you have to flash the script right after flashing rom. And have you tried link2sd?

I am as sure as I can be that I have two partitions, because when I mount the USB storage so I can access it in Windows, the partition size is much smaller (i.e - if I create a 512MB EXT partition through CWM, Windows shows the 2GB capacity as 1.4-ish GB) However, CWM doesn't give me any indication on which type of EXT partition I am creating. I would like to create an EXT4 one, but it doesn't seem to give me the option. I can't seem to be able to see the partitions in Windows when I mount the USB storage either. I just see the FAT32 partition in Windows Disk Management.

As another update, I tried Link2SD instead of INT2EXT this morning. It picked up the fact I have another partition, but it asks me which type it is (EXT2, EXT3, etc) and as I do not know, I may be picking the wrong options. Anyway I think I managed to get apps installed into the EXT partition, but in Android's storage settings, it still shows 150MB internal storage - is this correct? When I see screenshots of others using tools like INT2EXT or Link2SD, their Storage settings seems to show the new storage size. So maybe it isn't working? Also, when I tried to install the Facebook app, although the app installed (and Link2SD said it was on the SD card) when I tried to start the app and it reads "Setting up Facebook", the system runs out of storage.

Thanks for all your help so far

aWFSuser · Aug 19, 2014

alex_ncfc said:
I am as sure as I can be that I have two partitions, because when I mount the USB storage so I can access it in Windows, the partition size is much smaller (i.e - if I create a 512MB EXT partition through CWM, Windows shows the 2GB capacity as 1.4-ish GB) However, CWM doesn't give me any indication on which type of EXT partition I am creating. I would like to create an EXT4 one, but it doesn't seem to give me the option. I can't seem to be able to see the partitions in Windows when I mount the USB storage either. I just see the FAT32 partition in Windows Disk Management.

As another update, I tried Link2SD instead of INT2EXT this morning. It picked up the fact I have another partition, but it asks me which type it is (EXT2, EXT3, etc) and as I do not know, I may be picking the wrong options. Anyway I think I managed to get apps installed into the EXT partition, but in Android's storage settings, it still shows 150MB internal storage - is this correct? When I see screenshots of others using tools like INT2EXT or Link2SD, their Storage settings seems to show the new storage size. So maybe it isn't working? Also, when I tried to install the Facebook app, although the app installed (and Link2SD said it was on the SD card) when I tried to start the app and it reads "Setting up Facebook", the system runs out of storage.

Thanks for all your help so far

Link2SD would not show the internal memory as increased, you can see that from the app itself (menu->storage info). You can enable auto-linking in settings. By the way if the app is on sdcard, then its not on the 2nd partition. To move it to the 2nd partition you have to link it. Make sure to link apk,dex and lib. If you have paid version then you can also link data. As for facebook, I have not used it in a while but it may have large amount of dex files that have to be linked. Also the data may be large. And remember to reboot if storage space runs out.
Also which rom are you on?

alex_ncfc · Aug 19, 2014

aWFSuser said:
Link2SD would not show the internal memory as increased, you can see that from the app itself (menu->storage info). You can enable auto-linking in settings. By the way if the app is on sdcard, then its not on the 2nd partition. To move it to the 2nd partition you have to link it. Make sure to link apk,dex and lib. If you have paid version then you can also link data. As for facebook, I have not used it in a while but it may have large amount of dex files that have to be linked. Also the data may be large. And remember to reboot if storage space runs out.
Also which rom are you on?

Thanks to your post two posts earlier, I think I have cracked the storage thing

When it wasn't working previously, like I said, I had been doing the partitioning in CWM.

However, I managed to get the system mounted under Windows so that I could do the partitioning in Mini Partition Wizard as many recommend. Now when I install a ROM and then install Int2Ext4 straight after, the extra storage shows up in settings once the ROM is booted

ROM-wise, I have just been messing around with any I can get my hands on from the development thread, to see if I could get the storage problem sorted first and foremost, as this is the most important part for me (well, for my friend!) However, is there a favourite ROM of yours you'd recommend? I've tried so many over the last 2 days that I'm forgetting which does what! I tried a KK ROM which I thought was very slow, but also I tried an OWL 2013 ROM which was performing very well - but there is no keyboard! And I can't seem to be able to install one. If there's one you could recommend which is quite speedy, that'd be great

Thanks

aWFSuser · Aug 20, 2014

alex_ncfc said:
Thanks to your post two posts earlier, I think I have cracked the storage thing

When it wasn't working previously, like I said, I had been doing the partitioning in CWM.

However, I managed to get the system mounted under Windows so that I could do the partitioning in Mini Partition Wizard as many recommend. Now when I install a ROM and then install Int2Ext4 straight after, the extra storage shows up in settings once the ROM is booted

ROM-wise, I have just been messing around with any I can get my hands on from the development thread, to see if I could get the storage problem sorted first and foremost, as this is the most important part for me (well, for my friend!) However, is there a favourite ROM of yours you'd recommend? I've tried so many over the last 2 days that I'm forgetting which does what! I tried a KK ROM which I thought was very slow, but also I tried an OWL 2013 ROM which was performing very well - but there is no keyboard! And I can't seem to be able to install one. If there's one you could recommend which is quite speedy, that'd be great

Thanks

CM10.1 (probably owl that you mention) is good. Keyboard is probably with Gapps and you need to install it. Anyway I usually use Touchpal Keyboard which works great. KK is slow but CM10 and CM10.1 are good. For best speed use gingerbread based roms.

archstanton2013 · Aug 21, 2014

aWFSuser said:
CM10.1 (probably owl that you mention) is good. Keyboard is probably with Gapps and you need to install it. Anyway I usually use Touchpal Keyboard which works great. KK is slow but CM10 and CM10.1 are good. For best speed use gingerbread based roms.

Yes I agree, the OWL has been my stable ROM for almost 2 years.. Now I am moving towards the latest CM, the Olivier's one.. Give it a look!

alex_ncfc · Aug 21, 2014

Thanks for the responses guys.

Which Android version/CM is Olivier's latest based on? Have you got a link to the thread?

I agree that GB ROMs will be best for speed, but I've tried a few based on JellyBean 4.2.2 and they seem very quick, I am actually shocked (for a phone with such a low processor speed etc, it runs these modern ROMs so much better than my old Sony Xperia X10)

However, one thing I notice is, despite installing GAPPS on any of the JB/KK ROMs, there are certain Google Apps missing, and I can't install them from the market either. For example, Google Search - when I look for it in the market, it says that the app is not compatible with the Android version I am running. However, I know for sure that Google Search runs on any Android version. It let me download the new Google Now Launcher, but I can't run it because it needs Google Search installed, but I can't install it from the market.

aWFSuser · Aug 22, 2014

alex_ncfc said:
Thanks for the responses guys.

Which Android version/CM is Olivier's latest based on? Have you got a link to the thread?

I agree that GB ROMs will be best for speed, but I've tried a few based on JellyBean 4.2.2 and they seem very quick, I am actually shocked (for a phone with such a low processor speed etc, it runs these modern ROMs so much better than my old Sony Xperia X10)

However, one thing I notice is, despite installing GAPPS on any of the JB/KK ROMs, there are certain Google Apps missing, and I can't install them from the market either. For example, Google Search - when I look for it in the market, it says that the app is not compatible with the Android version I am running. However, I know for sure that Google Search runs on any Android version. It let me download the new Google Now Launcher, but I can't run it because it needs Google Search installed, but I can't install it from the market.

Current Google Search has official support for only armv7 devices, but our phone's processor is armv6. You can still download the apk and install but voice recognition will not work.
By olivier's latest he probably meant CM11 that you used earlier but it is slower tham 4.2.2 roms.

[Q] First time root/custom ROM for this phone - How? Walkthrough guide please?

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