[GUIDE] Turkeys' Ultimate Guide to Root Wildfire v42.1.2 (Easy & Safe!)

Turkeys' ULTIMATE Guide to Rooting v42.1.2

Note: It does not work on 2.2.1 Wildfire's (i.e. - Any bought after Feb - March 2011)

Like this guide? Hit the thanks button at the bottom left of this post

Before You Start

This is a new type of guide, an experiment if you like. The whole point is to get you with a fully functioning, rooted phone. But also to teach you something. Each step first tells you what you're going to do before you do it. By the end not only should you have a rooted phone but you will hopefully have priceless knowlege of how Android works.
Enjoy.

Need Help?

If at any point during this guide you need help, something's gone wrong or you need some extra clarification. Hit the help button.

The help button will link you to the #rootmydroid IRC help chat channel, where you can ask questions or get walked through the whole thing if you really need to. We have experts on hand to help you out.
PLEASE NOTE: At peak times our experts may be busy so please be patient.

So, Mr. Turkeys, what have you got for us today?

Root Guide

• Post 1 - Intro
• Post 2 - UnrEVOked (Rooting)
• Post 3 - Flashing a ROM
• Post 4 - Flashing a new Radio

Other Guides

• Unroot
• A2SD
• More Coming Soon... Stay tuned!

So, click a link to the guide you want and get cracking, enjoy!

Donate

Should you feel the crazy need to donate to me, you can do so below.

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So, you wanna root?

Rooting is not easy like some people make it out to be. All these 1 click Noob-Proof tools can actually go wrong. And they do.
But lets get this clear, IT'S ALMOST impossible to brick. I'd put the odds on about a 99.9% chance you will not brick beyond repair. However, things probably will go wrong, which is why you will need to follow the instructions very carefully.

Pre-Root Info

I want to make sure the rooting process goes well for as many as you as possible, so get ready to read lots of information that will turn you from a Noob into a lean, mean rooting machine.
And for those of you who like to slack off and think "I cba to read all that crap", I've made it so you have to answer a question to get the download links. Aren't I nice. Seriously though, it really will be a lot easier for you if you read all of this, you will thank me for it one day.
Pro users who know what HBOOT is, how to flash a ROM and can use ADB can safely skip this step

Android Glossary

This page is probably the most valuble bit of information you will ever need during your rooted life. Behold, the VillainROM Android Glossary. (Cheers Pulser )

http://bit.ly/9HtICk

Read it. Read it ALL. No questions asking for these terms will be tolerated in this thread and you will be teased so much you will want to die. So please, read it carefully.

Downloads

Now, for the bit you've been dreading. 2 downloads. 2 questions. One answer will link you to the download. The other two will link you to a humorous fail picture. (And for all you sneaky cheaters out there, I've bit.ly'd the links. Take that.)

Question 1 - UnrEVOked download

What do you use to flash a ROM?
A) UnrEVOked
B) ADB
C) Recovery

Question 2 - Other Stuff Download (We may ask you to use this on the help channel)

What is a RUU?
A) A tool to root your phone
B) A tool to return your phone to 'stock' (unroot)
C) A tool to flash a ROM

You can also get countless lulz from adding a + to the end of those links and comparing the wrong answers to the correct ones. Yes people really don't read the information.
OK, I've talked enough now, let's get down to business...

So, hopefully you now know all the terms, which makes my life a lot easier as I don't have to explain everything. Let's begin.

Root Guide - Pt. 2 - UnrEVOked

1) Ensure you have downloaded and extracted the first download in the above post to somewhere you can remember and access easily. For the purpose of this guide, I will refer to that folder as the 'Root Pack'.

Next, we are going to prepare the UnrEVOked program to run. If you are a Windows user, this means installing the drivers, if you use Linux or Mac you just have to run the app as mentioned later. We have to install HTC Sync to get adb drivers and we have to uninstall it again as it interferes with UnrEVOked. The drivers however remain which is why you need to install it.

2) (Windows Only) If you have not already, download HTC Sync and install it. Then uninstall HTC Sync as well as any other software that may interfere such as doubletwist. Next, follow this guide to set up the hacked HBOOT drivers. Make sure you reboot your PC after doing this.

Next, we need to prepare your phone. We will make sure USB Debugging is on as UnrEVOked needs this to send adb commands to the phone. We also need to enable Unknown Sources so that UnrEVOked can push busybox and SuperUser Permissions apps to the phone.

3) With your phone go to Settings > Connect to PC > Default connection type > Charge Only and untick Ask Me. Then go to Settings > Applications > Development > Make sure USB Debugging is ticked. Then go back to Applications and make sure Unknown Sources is ticked.

Next, we're going to run UnrEVOked. What it does is reboot into HBOOT mode, and use an exploit to gain a temporary NAND unlock. Then it uses fastboot to flash a recovery image, and then pushes the su files required for root.



4) WINDOWS USERS: Right click on the 'unrevoked.exe' file (Or something similar) in the Root Pack and click 'Run as Admin' (Not required for XP)
LINUX USERS: Right click the 'ClickHereToRoot.sh' file and UnrEVOked will start. (Make sure you chmod 755'd it first)
MAC USERS:

mattbeef said:

Unrevoked, if your a mac user like myself then drag the app inside the dmg to the desktop and run it from there. Most mac users are lazy and will try to run it from the dmg.

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

GETTING A MISC RELATED ERROR? See post eight.

Your phone should now reboot and then congratulations! Your phone is rooted. However, the root that UnrEVOked gives you is basic. No ROMs or good stuff. So you must read on to the next post to flash a custom ROM...

Now you've rooted, let's flash a ROM. We will backup all your apps then flash a ROM then restore your apps. Ready?

Pt. 3 - Flashing Your First ROM

**NOTE: You can repeat Pt. 3 every time you want to flash a new ROM or update


Next we're going to download and use Titanium Backup to backup all your apps as we will have to wipe your phone to install the ROM. You can use the same method if you ever want to backup/restore in the future too.

1) Download & Install Titanium Backup from the market. Open it and hit the 'Problems' button to download busybox, a suite of commands for rooted phones.
Then hit menu then batch, and tap the button next to Backup All User Apps + System Data. Let it complete before moving on to the next step.

Next we're going to reboot into recovery mode to flash the ROM. You can use this if you ever need to get into recovery in the future.

2) Turn your phone off and turn it on again holding POWER + VOL DOWN to enter HBOOT mode. Wait a few seconds while it checks for images before using the VOLUME KEYS to scroll and POWER to select Recovery. Your phone will now vibrate and reboot into recovery mode!

Next we're going to do a full backup of your phone using Nandroid. This will backup the entire state of your phone in case you ever
want to go back. You should really do this every time you flash a new ROM.

3) Use the TRACKBALL to scroll down to where it says Backup or Nandroid or Backup / Restore. Then select Backup and wait for it to finish.

Now we need to wipe your phone. Whenever you flash a different ROM you should Always do this, when you are updating the ROM you should check on the release thread for information.

4) If you are not on the Main Menu in recovery, hit back a couple of times to get there. Then, use the TRACKBALL to navigate down to 'Wipe Data / Factory Reset' and accept the scary warning to wipe your phone.

Now we can flash the ROM! Ensure you have downloaded a ROM and it is on the root (Not in any folders) of your SD card. The flashing process may take a few minutes.

5) From the Main Menu, scroll down to and select Install zip from SD Card and then select Choose zip from SD Card then select where you put your ROM and wait for it to complete. Then, select Reboot System Now to reboot into your shiny new ROM!

Your phone will now reboot, it may take a while to reboot as it's rebuilding the Dalvik Cache. If it still doesn't boot up after 10mins, pull the battery and consult the ROM thread for troubleshooting.

Now we're going to restore that Titanium Backup you made before starting Pt. 3. It will restore all your apps back but not system data. (ie Settings) You can use Titanium Backup any time you want to backup/restore your phone.

6) Download & Install Titanium Backup again and tap Menu Button > Batch > Restore Missing apps + data. It should prompt you to reinstall every app again.

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Congratulations, you have qualified with a rooted phone from the Turkeh Root School!
(Unless you're reading this without having actually done any of this guide)

So, go off and ask questions, answer questions, and contribute to the community! We'd also really appreciate it if you could hang out in the help channel to help other people trying to root too.

Thanks for rooting! You can also follow some of the other guides to install all apps on the SD card, Unroot & S-OFF

A2SD

Note: It has come to my attention that doing this with ROM Manager doesn't work most of the time. If you have problems please partition your card another way. (I recommend GParted - There is a Live CD if you don't have Linux)

First, we need to partition your SD card with ROM Manager. This will wipe all the data on your SD card so please backup before continuing.

1) Open ROM Manager (Download it from the Market if you don't have it - Although you will need the Market Mod to show all apps) and press Menu > Manually Override Recovery **Not sure exactly what it says, pls could someone help me out here** Then scroll down to Partition SD Card. Choose the ext size you want for your apps to be installed on, then tap 0 for swap size, then tap OK to reboot into recovery and start partitioning!

Note: While it's partitioning it will show a picture of an Android. You can press (Power?) to see what it's actually doing and if there's any errors.

Now, you need to check the ROM thread for info. Most ROMs activate it automatically when it detects an ext partition on your phone. On some others you need to flash a special update.zip. If you are unsure hit the help button on post 1 and we'll help you out.

Congratulations, you now have Apps2SD! Exactly what you will have (dalvik2sd etc) will vary between ROMs.