[Noob Guide] Rooting a Verizon (XT1096) or ATT (XT1097) Moto X 2014 Running Lollipop

[JulesJam]

MoFo will NOT work on 5.1 so do NOT upgrade to the 5.1 bootloader or partition table if you want to use MoFo.

This method involves purchasing a piece of software named mofo.exe that allows you to flash a modified, unsigned system image to your device despite its locked bootloader. The cost is $20. Links to the modified images for the XT1096 and XT1097 are found in the OP of the MoFo support thread:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/general/paid-software/mofo-root-turbo-t3064404


This Method Does Not Disable Write Protection. Please read the following post if you don't know what that means:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=60412113&postcount=292


This Method Trips the Root Checker and Your qe Will Convert to qe 1/1 Permanently! What this means is that if you boot your phone into recovery, you will see qe 1/1, which means you are currently running modified software. The qe will stay at 1/1 even if you flash back to stock.



1. Check Your Software Version and Enable USB Debugging

Go to Settings -> About Phone and read your Android Version – it should say 5.0 on the XT1096 and 5.0.2 on the XT1097. If not, and it says 4.4.4, you are still on 4.4.4 and as long as you have not modified your system by flashing using mofo.exe, you should still be stock and can take the 5.0 or 5.0.2 OTA.

If you haven’t already, go into Settings -> About Phone and click on Build Number repeatedly until you get the message you are developer now (or something like that). Then hit the back button and you will see that the Developer Options now appear. Click on Developer Options and check USB Debugging.


2. Install Motorola Device Manager (MDM) and Drivers to Your Computer

You can download MDM and the drivers here:

https://motorola-global-portal.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/88481

Install MDM on your computer after you download it. MDM should install the drivers.


3. Download Copies of Adb and Fastboot

You can get these from the Adroid SDK but you don’t need the whole Android SDK. Root Junky has the files you need on his site here:

http://rootjunkysdl.com/?device=Adb Fastboot Files


I made a folder on my computer named c:\mx2014 and put the zip file in there. Then I unzipped it with 7-zip.

http://www.7-zip.org/


4. Download a Copy of the Official Firmware

Root Junky has a copy of the XT1096 5.0 official firmware here:

http://rootjunkysdl.com/?device=Moto X 2014&folder=Official Firmware

and the XT1097 5.0.2 fxz is here:

http://www.filefactory.com/file/1cekivswpakf/VICTARA_ATT_XT1097_5.0.2_LXE22.46-34_cid1_CFC.xml.zip

You should download it into a separate folder (I put mine in a folder named c:\mx2014\lollipop) and unzip it so if you have any problems you can flash back to stock. Place a copy of fastboot.exe, adb.exe, AdbWinApi.dll and AdbWinUsbApi.dll in the folder with the lollipop official firmware.

Also if you are planning on taking the 5.1 OTA when it is released, you would need to flash your system back to stock so it is a good to have it ready. And if you are planning to update to 5.1 via MDM I would still flash back to stock because if you don't, IME MDM will detect that you are running a modified software and will wipe your device when it upgrades you to 5.1. If you flash back to stock first, MDM will not wipe your data and sdcard when it upgrades you to 5.1.


5. Test the Drivers and Adb

Once you have completed Steps 1-3, you can test the drivers and adb. Power on your phone and after it boots, connect it to your computer via the data cable. Open a command prompt, and then navigate to the directory where you have adb and fastboot by typing:

cd c:\mx2014 (or wherever you have adb and fastboot stored)

and hitting enter. Then type:

adb devices

You should then see a prompt on your phone asking you to authorize your computer. Check always allow and click OK. Adb should show you the serial number (not the IMEI) of your device.


Now type:

adb reboot bootloader

to get into bootloader (BL) mode (aka fastboot mode).


6. Test the Drivers and Fastboot

Once you are in BL mode, double check that on your phone’s screen right above the first green line you see this:

Transfer Mode: USB Connected.

If it does not say that, go to Root Junky’s site and download the Motorola drivers and manually install them.

http://rootjunkysdl.com/?device=Android Drivers&folder=Motorola


Then type:

fastboot devices

and hit enter. Fastboot should return your device’s serial number.


7. Test Getting into Recovery and Wiping Cache

While in BL mode, scroll down to Recovery by pressing the vol dwn button to highlight Recovery. Then select Recovery by pressing vol up. You should see the dead android with a red triangle having an exclamation point in it coming out of its stomach. Then press the pwr button for a couple of seconds and then press and release the vol up button and then release the pwr button to get into the recovery menu. Use the vol dwn button to scroll to wipe cache partition and then press the pwr button to select it. You should see that the cache is being formatted.

When cache is done being wiped, the recovery menu should reappear and you should hit the pwr button to reboot into system.


8. Test That You Know How to Get Into Bootloader Mode Using Buttons

Disconnect your phone from your PC, power down your phone and then hold down volume down and then press and hold the power button. Hold both buttons simultaneously for about 4 seconds and then release the power button and then the volume down button. This should put you in Bootloader mode (aka fastboot flash mode). Alternatively, you can try pressing volume down + volume up + power and holding for about 4 seconds then releasing.

Once in BL mode, you can either hit the power button to boot back into Android or if you want to test that you know how to flash back to a stock system, complete the instructions in Step 9.

NOTE – flashing the system partition does NOT affect your apps/settings/text messages/call history, which are stored on the data partition, not the system partition. Updates to system apps since 5.0/5.0.2 was rolled out will be lost as well as any system app settings that are relevant to the updates or stored on the system partition.

NOTE – flashing the system partition does NOT affect your stored media (e.g, pictures, music, videos), which are stored on the sdcard partition, not the system partition.


9. Test That You Know How to Flash Stock System (Optional)

While in BL mode you can test that you know how to flash back to a stock system. This is optional but if you have never done it before, it is a good idea to do it IMO. When you flash a system.img, you do not lose your apps/data/texts or your media unless the app is a system app, then you will lose the updates since 5.0 was rolled out (but those can be re-downloaded from the Playstore). However, it is always a good idea to backup before you flash in case you do something wrong. I use SMS Backup and Restore to backup my texts and my photos are backed up to my Google account.

Put your device in BL mode and then connect it to your computer. Open a command prompt and navigate to where you have the stock 5.0/5.0.2 image stored on your computer. Type the following:

fastboot flash system system.img_sparsechunk1

and then hit enter to flash the first sparsechunk. Repeat for the other sparsechunks until you have flashed all 9 of them. Then boot into recovery, wipe cache and boot into system.


10. Purchase MoFo.exe

First you should go to:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/general/paid-software/mofo-root-turbo-t3064404

and read all of the information. And be sure to watch Root Junky’s video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXAYjbf76II&feature=youtu.be


The high level summary of what you will be doing is this:

1. Verifying that your device qualifies for purchasing mofo.exe by using MoVerify;

2. Using the link generated by MoVerify to navigate to where you can purchase mofo.exe; and

3. Purchasing and downloading mofo.exe.


11. Download, UnZip and Flash a Pre-rooted Ext4 Image

The OP of the MoFo thread has links to the pre-rooted images that are available for the XT1096 and XT1097. Once you download one of them, unzip it and move the image file to wherever you have mofo.exe stored on your computer. Put your device into BL mode and connect it to your PC. Then navigate to where mofo.exe is stored on your computer, click on mofo_gui.bat and a command window will open. Type the following at the command prompt:

mofo.exe flash [Insert name of image file here]

then hit enter. Of course you do not put brackets around the name of the image file. Once the pre-rooted image has been flashed (about 25 minutes), boot into recovery and wipe the cache then boot into system.

It may take a few seconds for the boot animation to start so don’t panic. Once the system has booted, to check that you are rooted, download root checker basic from the Playstore and confirm that you are rooted. Your device will also bypass the subscription check when you turn on WiFi hotspot.


The copy of mofo.exe that you buy is specific to your device. It cannot be used on any other device, including any warranty replacement devices that you may get in the future. But you can use it on your device as much as you want once you purchase it - unless you upgrade to a higher version of Android. If you upgrade to a higher version of Android, once that higher version of Android is supported by MoFo for your device, you can re-download mofo.exe for the higher Android version.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=60471334&postcount=432

Mofo will NEVER be updated to support 5.1 as the exploit was closed with the 5.1 bootloader.

 

[HTC-OH_SNAP]

Thank you for the guide and for the testing - its a great service to Moto X owners.

Tried going through it this morning but it appears the Mofo site is down... Anyone else having trouble?

 

[JulesJam]

Tried going through it this morning but it appears the Mofo site is down... Anyone else having trouble?

It is best to ask on the MoFo support thread where you are more likely to get maiko1's attention.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/general/paid-software/mofo-root-turbo-t3064404

 

[JulesJam]

Adding this to the OP

This is from the MoFo support forum - there appears to be some confusion about mofo.exe being device specific. The copy of mofo.exe you buy is specific to your device. It cannot be used on any other device, including any warranty replacement devices that you may get in the future. But you can use it on your device as much as you want once you purchase it.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=60471334&postcount=432

 

[[email protected]]

1. Verifying that your device qualifies for purchasing mofo.exe by using MoVerify;

might want to expand the MoVerify process with little baby steps.... the Mofo site and the Mofo forum here are again very sparse on details.

1) download and unzip the MoVerify program
2) connect you phone to computer
3) open cmd window
4) navigate to c:\mx2014 (or wherever you have adb and fastboot stored)
5) type adb devices
6) type adb reboot bootloader
7) navigate to the MoVerify folder
8) go to the folder that represents your computer's OS; let's assume Windows here
9) in the Windows folder, double click on "mofoverify_gui.bat"
10) MoVerify will open a cmd window and return back that your devices was found and give a link that looks like
https://mofo.disekt.org/verify/ [big long alphanumeric string]
11) right click anywhere in the text that is in the MoVerify cmd window and select "Select All" and then hit enter
12) open Notepad or other text editor and past the text
13) cut and paste the https address into your browser
14) follow steps to purchase Mofo

i have purchased but have not gotten farther yet... may have some more suggestions later...

 

[trimax84]

Nice job putting this together. And thanks for all of your testing during the process!

 

[[email protected]]

is there any difference in getting into BL mode by pressing phone buttons versus connecting phone to computer and using adb?

i ask b/c there are several places in the directions above where you say "put you phone into BL mode, then connect it to your computer"

could those equally say, "connect your phone to your computer, open a cmd window, navigate to c:/mx2014, and type adb reboot bootloader to get into BL mode"

i find it is easier to go the adb route to get into BL mode, as pressing the buttons is more of a skill. if these two merhids are equivalent for this mofo process, maybe both options should be stated in the step by step.

is there any time when the button method MUST be used?

---------- Post added at 06:40 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:33 AM ----------

one more question more out of curiousity than need to know... why does flashing back to the stock system take sequential flashing 9 "sparse chunks" (as in your step 9), whereas the mofo flash of the modified sys img is a single step?

 

[JulesJam]

is there any difference in getting into BL mode by pressing phone buttons versus connecting phone to computer and using adb?

No.

i ask b/c there are several places in the directions above where you say "put you phone into BL mode, then connect it to your computer"

I tend to use the buttons so that is why I wrote it up that way.

could those equally say, "connect your phone to your computer, open a cmd window, navigate to c:/mx2014, and type adb reboot bootloader to get into BL mode"

Yes, that would work.

i find it is easier to go the adb route to get into BL mode, as pressing the buttons is more of a skill.

True but if you soft brick your phone, the buttons are the only way to get into bootloader mode so best to be familiar with this way.

Did you try holding vol dwn/up and pwr simultaneously for 4 seconds and then releasing? After the lollipop update I swear that works the best for me. Let me know if that works more reliably for you - it does for me.

is there any time when the button method MUST be used?

If you get into a bootloop or your screen goes black and the phone is unresponsive.

one more question more out of curiousity than need to know... why does flashing back to the stock system take sequential flashing 9 "sparse chunks" (as in your step 9), whereas the mofo flash of the modified sys img is a single step?

Standard fastboot has a size limitation on how large of a file it can flash. So system images above that size limitation have to be broken down into smaller chunks. The version of the 5.0 Official firmware that is available to us is the one on Root Junky's site and that one is broken down into chunks.

Motorola made a modified version of fastboot, often referred to as mfastboot, that can flash larger files. However, I cannot find a version of mfastboot that can flash the 5.0 system.img (fxz) that we have available to us. If anyone has a version of mfastboot that can flash the 5.0 fxz system.img, then you could flash it. RSD Lite may be able to flash it, idk I didn't try it.

As for mofo.exe - mofo.exe has a way to avoid the size limitations of standard fastboot. Idk why standard fastboot has a size limitation in the first place. But it does and so large files have to be broken down into chunks when you use standard fastboot to flash. Mofo.exe doesn't have that same size limitation.

 

[[email protected]]

Once you download one of them, unzip it and move the image to wherever you have mofo.exe stored on your computer. Put your device into BL mode and connect it to your PC. Then navigate to where mofo.exe is stored on your computer, click on mofo_gui.bat and a command window will open. Type the following at the command prompt:

mofoe.exe flash XT1096_5.0_22.21.11_rooted.img

then hit enter.

ok. so i attempted this today

1) powered off phone
2) booted in BL mode using power and volume buttons (yes it does work very well, esp after taking the phone OUT of the case so buttons are more fully accessible) - phone screen says "AP Fastboot Flash Mode (S)" at very top
3) plugged phone into computer
4) double clicked the mofo_gui.bat to open cmd window
5) copy and pasted your text exactly
6) after hitting enter, i got the following error

======================================
'mofoe.exe' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
======================================

methinks you have a typo in your mofo command... extra "e" that should not be there??

taking out the "e" worked and it flashed

it then said

=====================
Flashing 'XT1096_5.0_22.21.11_rooted.img' to device. Do not interrupt.
Progress: 100%
Complete. Press power to start.
=====================

i pushed the power button. it passed though a screen showing the battery level at 97%, but it has not fully booted up... black screen for like ?5 minutes!

if i hit the power button again, it still showed the battery level screen

so i pressed and held BOTH the power and volume buttons, and it booted!

when i power down, it goes to the batter level screen. and i can't seem to get into BL mode using the power and volume buttons

however, i can get to BL, then Recovery using adb, and was able to wipe cache partition

i installed and ran Root Checker Basic ... make sure you click "Grant" when it asks for permission while checking root access, or it will return a "no root access" message.

i now have wifi tethering! yahoo!

unfortuantely, the wifi hotspot toggle widgets i have tried from the Play Store seem to be able to turn hotspot on from the homescreen... i tried like the first two or three that came up when i searched for "wifi hotspot toggle"... anyone have one that works??

i am running Nova Launcher... could that be the issue with the widget not working?

otherwise, i have to go into Settings to turn it on/off... which is better than NOT having hotspot at all!

 

[JulesJam]

methinks you have a typo in your mofo command... extra "e" that should not be there??

Oops! Thanks for catching that - I will edit!

 

[JulesJam]

i pushed the power button. it passed though a screen showing the battery level at 97%, but it has not fully booted up... black screen for like ?5 minutes!

Disconnect it from your PC and then press the power button to turn it on.

 

[JulesJam]

when i power down, it goes to the batter level screen.

That is b/c it is connected to your computer. The same thing will happen if you have it plugged into the wall.

 

[JulesJam]

i now have wifi tethering! yahoo!

Yay!!!! I am at over 50GB this month from all of the downloading of images I did to test them, lol! I have never used that much before.

 

[JulesJam]

unfortuantely, the wifi hotspot toggle widgets i have tried from the Play Store seem to be able to turn hotspot on from the homescreen... i tried like the first two or three that came up when i searched for "wifi hotspot toggle"... anyone have one that works??

Go to your app drawer - there is a Mobile Hotspot icon there. Just press and hold it and drag it to your homescreen.

 

[[email protected]]

Go to your app drawer - there is a Mobile Hotspot icon there. Just press and hold it and drag it to your homescreen.

tried that... that does take you into Settings so you can turn on the hotspot.

i was hoping to get an app or widget that would turn the hotspot on/off from the home screen with one click, w/o having to do multiple clicks.

 

[JulesJam]

i was hoping to get an app or widget that would turn the hotspot on/off from the home screen with one click, w/o having to do multiple clicks.

you want a hotspot toggle then, but idk of any off hand.

 

[[email protected]]

Disconnect it from your PC and then press the power button to turn it on.

might want to just add the words "disconnect the phone fromthe usb cable" somehwere in the OP directions, you know, just for all those noobs out there that might get panicked

 

[mikeoswego]

Disconnect it from your PC and then press the power button to turn it on.

After mofo runs and says complete, it says to hit the power button to restart. What you really want to do is hit the volume up button to activate the highlighted "normal bootup" option in the bootloader menu. This avoids all the weirdness if you're connected to power and using the power button.

---------- Post added at 10:24 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:21 AM ----------

​

Go to your app drawer - there is a Mobile Hotspot icon there. Just press and hold it and drag it to your homescreen.

The image with busybox in it also enables the hotspot QS tile which works great to enable/disable the hotspot. If WiFi is on, it turns off the WiFI, then turns on the hotspot. If the WiFi was on, it remembers to re-enable it when turning the hotspot off.

 

[JulesJam]

After mofo runs and says complete, it says to hit the power button to restart. What you really want to do is hit the volume up button to activate the highlighted "normal bootup" option in the bootloader menu. This avoids all the weirdness if you're connected to power and using the power button.

thanks! I suggest booting into recovery and wiping cache before you boot back into Android.

The image with busybox in it also enables the hotspot QS tile which works great to enable/disable the hotspot. If WiFi is on, it turns off the WiFI, then turns on the hotspot. If the WiFi was on, it remembers to re-enable it when turning the hotspot off.

yeah I noticed that last night, it is great!

 

[JulesJam]

tried that... that does take you into Settings so you can turn on the hotspot.

i was hoping to get an app or widget that would turn the hotspot on/off from the home screen with one click, w/o having to do multiple clicks.

There is a Hotspot toggle in quick settings. From your lock screen, just swipe down from the top of the screen to see it. From your home screen, swipe down with 2 fingers.