OK, about sixteen million posts have been flying back and forth about what you can do with root, can't do, what S-OFF is, is not... So I'm going to try to clear it all up for you, OK?
ROOT means you have full control over the OS. From the OS, you can write to the recovery partition. Without root, the only way to write recovery is through hboot, which will only let you flash a custom recovery if you have S-OFF. But even with S-ON, you can write recovery from the OS if you have root. Then, with a custom recovery, you can write the hboot with an engineering bootloader, which has S-OFF. This way, you get S-OFF without a warranty-voiding watermark.
S-OFF means you can flash a custom recovery or ROM from hboot. Things you could already do with root, except that it's hard to get root while S-ON. But if you get it, you're set.
HTC says they'll ship an update which sets S-OFF, and then we're set, except their update will almost assuredly drop a watermark and void the warranty.
ANALOGY: Say the phone is a fortress, and you're trying to get in. S-ON means the gate is shut. If you root it with S-ON, you do it with an exploit, so you find a weak spot in the wall and pack it full of C4 and BOOM, you're in. S-OFF means they opened the gate from the inside, and you just walked in. Either way (S-OFF or root) you're in.
SUMMARY: With S-OFF, you get everything. With root, you get everything. End of story.
Final comment: rooting with S-ON means you used an exploit. Exploits are bad!! But HTC is forcing us to resort to such brutish, nasty means (blowing up walls to the fortress) because they locked the gate before selling us the place. We have a right to get inside, but they aren't opening the gate, so we have to get in some other way. Remember, if you can blow up the wall and walk in, a malicious program can do so too. Exploits are bad, and HTC should patch them. But let's get some legitimate use out of them first, ehhh?
Tell that to the droidx users, they love their custom kernels ;p
Overall good info, thank you for taking the time to type it up
DigitalPioneer said:
OK, about sixteen million posts have been flying back and forth about what you can do with root, can't do, what S-OFF is, is not... So I'm going to try to clear it all up for you, OK?
ROOT means you have full control over the OS. From the OS, you can write to the recovery partition. Without root, the only way to write recovery is through hboot, which will only let you flash a custom recovery if you have S-OFF. But even with S-ON, you can write recovery from the OS if you have root. Then, with a custom recovery, you can write the hboot with an engineering bootloader, which has S-OFF. This way, you get S-OFF without a warranty-voiding watermark.
S-OFF means you can flash a custom recovery or ROM from hboot. Things you could already do with root, except that it's hard to get root while S-ON. But if you get it, you're set.
HTC says they'll ship an update which sets S-OFF, and then we're set, except their update will almost assuredly drop a watermark and void the warranty.
ANALOGY: Say the phone is a fortress, and you're trying to get in. S-ON means the gate is shut. If you root it with S-ON, you do it with an exploit, so you find a weak spot in the wall and pack it full of C4 and BOOM, you're in. S-OFF means they opened the gate from the inside, and you just walked in. Either way (S-OFF or root) you're in.
SUMMARY: With S-OFF, you get everything. With root, you get everything. End of story.
Final comment: rooting with S-ON means you used an exploit. Exploits are bad!! But HTC is forcing us to resort to such brutish, nasty means (blowing up walls to the fortress) because they locked the gate before selling us the place. We have a right to get inside, but they aren't opening the gate, so we have to get in some other way. Remember, if you can blow up the wall and walk in, a malicious program can do so too. Exploits are bad, and HTC should patch them. But let's get some legitimate use out of them first, ehhh?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well stated. I'm looking for a picture to illustrate said procedures and chuck that up here. (Only half-joking)
Can you detail a bit more about watermarks? If you have root, can't you clean up the watermarks? Idk obviously, but I'm really interested in learning about this stuff.
Thanks!!
...adjusting to life without the trackball
guyandhisdog said:
Well stated. I'm looking for a picture to illustrate said procedures and chuck that up here. (Only half-joking)
Can you detail a bit more about watermarks? If you have root, can't you clean up the watermarks? Idk obviously, but I'm really interested in learning about this stuff.
Thanks!!
...adjusting to life without the trackball
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AFAIK (read: I don't know for sure) there is no way to remove a watermark once it's on (without modding hardware). I believe a watermark is put on by physically modifying the hardware (like blowing a fuse) so that it can't be reverted. But that's a vague memory of something I heard once, so I could be completely wrong.
Much better to not get one in the first place.
DigitalPioneer said:
AFAIK (read: I don't know for sure) there is no way to remove a watermark once it's on (without modding hardware). I believe a watermark is put on by physically modifying the hardware (like blowing a fuse) so that it can't be reverted. But that's a vague memory of something I heard once, so I could be completely wrong.
Much better to not get one in the first place.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That clears things up a bit. I 2 was wondering about the watermark. I assumed that is was software related but was just encrypted with hash so it was unable to be edited. It would truly suck if it was hardware related : (
LOL that is a win analogy indeed, I am still ROFL'ing. Thank you.
thank you for the infor it help me
Can't write to the recovery yet until we have s-off. If you can get root while booted in to the recovery on the other hand, the hboot unlocks everything for it so the phone would be wide open. At least, that's how it used to be; they may have changed it.
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA Premium App
Related
Sorry for the noob question. Ive read many forums and not found astraight answer. I know the answer is out there, just want to get this thing rooted though. My evo 3d is running software version 2.08.651.2. Everything is entirely sock right now. I want root for wireless tether and overclock.
This software meqns i am running hboot 1.5 doesnt it? If so which methods work for root? Ive found several methods and watched several videos. If i try and choose the wrong method what are the consequences? If i couod post links id link the stuff ive found. Thanks guys is it true that the htc method does not achieve s-off?
The software version and hboot version isn't entirely connected 100%.
To check which hboot version you have, you'll have to remove the battery, put it back in, and then hold "Volume Down" button and then power on the phone (Most phones don't require having to remove the battery, but the EVO apparently does, as i found out the hard way after 20 times trying to get into recovery..)
It'll say something along the lines of:
*** LOCKED ***
SHOOTER_U PVT SHIP S-ON RL
HBOOT-x.xx.xxxx
Reply with the HBOOT version and i can tell you more. (or someone else can)
If you try and root and S-OFF with the wrong methods, wrong tools, wrong phone etc, you could potentially brick the phone (which, as it sounds, means it'll be just as useful as a brick, since you can't do anything on it.. at all), but that is an absolute worst case scenario, and it will not happen if you do it correctly (which might sound hard, with all the technical mumbo jumbo, but it is actully quite easy).
The officla HTC Method does indeed not achieve S-OFF, so it's not an optimal solution.
Moonbloom said:
The software version and hboot version isn't entirely connected 100%.
To check which hboot version you have, you'll have to remove the battery, put it back in, and then hold "Volume Down" button and then power on the phone (Most phones don't require having to remove the battery, but the EVO apparently does, as i found out the hard way after 20 times trying to get into recovery..)
It'll say something along the lines of:
*** LOCKED ***
SHOOTER_U PVT SHIP S-ON RL
HBOOT-x.xx.xxxx
Reply with the HBOOT version and i can tell you more. (or someone else can)
If you try and root and S-OFF with the wrong methods, wrong tools, wrong phone etc, you could potentially brick the phone (which, as it sounds, means it'll be just as useful as a brick, since you can't do anything on it.. at all), but that is an absolute worst case scenario, and it will not happen if you do it correctly (which might sound hard, with all the technical mumbo jumbo, but it is actully quite easy).
The officla HTC Method does indeed not achieve S-OFF, so it's not an optimal solution.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, do i need s-off? Im kind of a noob, so really advanced functiojs arent really useful yet. Ive read a few threads trying to figure what s-off is exactly, and it sounds like all it does is open a few extra commands over root. Kind of what i understand busybox does in others. I may misunderstand though. If i go ahead with the htc method of root and revolutionary figures out the s-off next week will i still be able to acheive s-off?
This is somewhat unrelated, but if, when i need to repoace an existing file with a new onein say astro, can i simply rename the old one with like a .bbb on the end and not move it? At several poihts in theroot process you are required to replace an existing file with a new one of the same name. Then replace the old one, or delete the added one. Can I just rename the old one, then put the name back and delete the new one to revert?
Indeed my phone is Hboot version 1.5. It reads
Locked
shooter xc ship s-on rL
Hboot-1.50.0000
Emmc-boot
Aug 7 2011, 10:21:40
So with 1.5 my only option is HTC method? With my tab I am able to completely uninstall and unroot as I please. Is the same true here? can someone link me a video of someone dependable doing it the HTC way? if I post my plan for rooting here will someone let me know if I'm off base so I don't brick my phone?
Can someone tell me the deal with cwm? Does it work or not? If its both ways, then what are the conditions under which it fails? Do I need to install cwm and twrp? What should I plan to do if cwm fails to install?
Another noob question. What is pushing a file exactly, and how and why is it done? I really don't want to get half way through this and discover I dont know what in gods name I'm doing.
I think I read on xda somewhere that if you turn of fastboot in the settings you dont have to remove the battery.
That's a lot of questions, a lot of this info can be found in the wikis and guides in the development section, but I can probably answer a few.
S-on is the encrypted bootloader, you need a special signature to he able to flash any ROMs or anything else to the system. Only HTC has the keys. So s-off allows you to install a custom recovery or anything else that can rewrite to the system.
From what I read so far HTC so called unlocked is not s-off like we are used to. People are having trouble flashing recoveries and kernels to their phones. I haven't payed much attention to the HTC method cause I used the unrevoked method.
You don't need s-off to flash ROMs but I guess if you want complete control over your phone (like the ability to flash bootloaders and various recoveries) you need to be s-off.
If you want to replace a file in the system name the old file extention .bak and then drop the new file in. Reboot to complete the changes. To revert, delete the modified file and just rename and take off the .bak extension.
As of now yes your only method of unlocking is using the HTC method with the 1.50 bootloader. CWM works fine and I think its the only compatible recovery with the 1.50 BL, TWRP is more polished and has a few added functions. I don't know when unrevoked will crack 1.5. Eventually they will.
If you don't know what in gods name your doing, don't mess with it until you do or understand the directions. Go though the general and q&a because I know there are already threads discussing setbacks and situations that your asking about.
Hope this helps.
One other thing to note is you need a different than stock kernal to overclock
Drewmungus said:
One other thing to note is you need a different than stock kernal to overclock
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The problem is HTC's unlock method DOES NOT allow you to flash a kernel! I repeat, it DOES NOT allow you to flash a kernel. I would highly suggest waiting for AlphaRevX and Unrevoked to implement the latest HBOOT to be supported in their tool. It is being worked on and when it is done it will give 100% s-off and unlock nand write protection(or eMMC in our case). It will allow you to flash kernels, radios and whatever else your heart desires. I suggest holding off until Revolutionary is updated. They will then tell you if you need to do HTC's method before theirs or not. If you use HTC's method and then Revolutionary is updated and you want full unlock, there is no way to know if you are screwed or not. We really need a sticky thread describing the difference between the 2 unlock methods and the benefits of each one. There are tons of posts in Q&A and General about 'I have HBOOT 1.50, can I overclock my phone?'...The answer is NO, because you have to be able to flash custom kernels to overclock and HTC is not going to allow that to happen. If they did they would have tons of returned devices from people screwing up their phones from overclocking and flashing radios and what not. It really makes sense to me why HTC didn't fully unlock the phone, but if you wait for the Revolutionary tool to be updated, it will. By then we may even have the latest source code for HTC's 2.3.4 kernel and will have custom kernels to play with. Right now there is no overclockable kernels for the latest update from HTC because they haven't released the kernel source yet.
thats confirmed, no kernel. and dont try. screws things up a little. reflashed. no change. you think if i flash the stock kernel it would let me? i think probably not. rom was doing fine till i attempted kernel though. synergy. its nice. lot nicer with s-off im sure.
Some great news.. the evo view 4g is now officially unlockable from HTC via htcdev.com. hope to see some magic happen now
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk
This belongs in general.
Thx for info ThoughtHalo, the skilled dev above me (globatron) actually brought us to the dev game in HC before HTC.. That's the greatness of XDA, were always ahead of the game.
So what does this mean for us with stock GB looking to go to HC but want root?
It means now you should be able to flash a recovery and install a superuser zip
this still sucks compared to s-off. really wish HTC would stop shafting it's loyal customers so hard. It's like they want us to buy galaxy tabs :-(.
at least all of the updaters have a way to root now.
contradude said:
this still sucks compared to s-off. really wish HTC would stop shafting it's loyal customers so hard. It's like they want us to buy galaxy tabs :-(.
at least all of the updaters have a way to root now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It means more than that, they've given us a way to roll back to GB, which in turn means that OTA updaters can get S-OFF after all.
It means now we can also just fastboot flash everything regardless of what firmware we are on which is even better.
Indirect said:
It means now we can also just fastboot flash everything regardless of what firmware we are on which is even better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you rollback to GB and S-OFF then yes, otherwise you are way off the mark, it doesn't even come close to allowing you to do that.
With an unlocked bootloader, you should be able to flash new recoveries and other things...unlocked from HTC is the same as S-off. It allows the flashing of unsigned firmware. Unless this device is unlike every other device I've had from HTC, I'm pretty sure I'm correct.
Although since I never had to use it on any of my devices (Never had something like Evo 3D) then I might be incorrect. However, based off my thoughts as an unlocked bootloader means you can flash new recovery, boot, and OTA updates that are unsigned / have broken signatures.
If you're happy with it fine, but you're misinformed. It's really not the same as S-OFF at all as many including myself have already explained. I can't be bothered with repeating the explanations again.
I apologize for being mistaken but provide information so I can be correct in the future
Sent by breaking the sound barrier
Indirect said:
I apologize for being mistaken but provide information so I can be correct in the future
Sent by breaking the sound barrier
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well one difference I know about between soff and htc unlock is that you have to fastboot flash kernels and recoveries you cant flash them through cwm when the device is only htc unlocked, however you can get fastboot to flash them, at least thats how it is on the evo 3d.
mark920 said:
Well one difference I know about between soff and htc unlock is that you have to fastboot flash kernels and recoveries you cant flash them through cwm when the device is only htc unlocked, however you can get fastboot to flash them, at least thats how it is on the evo 3d.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
10 points for mark
flashing radios;custom(or stock) RUUs when unlocked; downgradability (not blocked on stock view hboot this time);but the s-off hboot protects itself from getting replaced so no nasty OTA surprises;bypassing CID restrictions, there are a few more but they are probably of no interest to most people.
EDIT: Yeah, also forgot HTC unlock erases your DRM keys.
That's good news... I'd assume I need to be back to the stock RUU S-ON to unlock it? As I already have the Rev. S-Off on my View now.
If it's not going to break it then I'll just go have it unlock it now.
globatron said:
10 points for mark
flashing radios;custom(or stock) RUUs when unlocked; downgradability (not blocked on stock view hboot this time);but the s-off hboot protects itself from getting replaced so no nasty OTA surprises;bypassing CID restrictions, there are a few more but they are probably of no interest to most people.
EDIT: Yeah, also forgot HTC unlock erases your DRM keys.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But all root apps work right? And you can still flash radios and custom RUUs through the bootloader, correct? And taking OTA's isn't smart when rooted either way. So what are the consequences of losing the DRM keys?
GadgetMonger said:
But all root apps work right? And you can still flash radios and custom RUUs through the bootloader, correct? And taking OTA's isn't smart when rooted either way. So what are the consequences of losing the DRM keys?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Correct, you can root and all apps will work, Wrong; go read, can't do radios or RUUS, Normally it's perfectly fine with a stock recovery and a protected hboot.
DRM keys are not really a problem unless you bought from watch or some other built-in thing like that.
Honestly, I couldn't care less which people do, but unlock is a pain for developers to deal with and frustrating when flashing roms. But I dislike incorrect statements like saying S-OFF and unlock are the same thing.
While its a "half assed s-off through fast boot, its still technically an s-off. Just not proper. So they aren't the same, just similar. They aren't however what people WANT on their devices.
Sent by breaking the sound barrier
Indirect said:
While its a "half assed s-off through fast boot, its still technically an s-off. Just not proper. So they aren't the same, just similar. They aren't however what people WANT on their devices.
Sent by breaking the sound barrier
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do this. Unlock with the HTC method then boot to bootloader. You will notice that your device is telling you that it is unlocked but still s-on. As far as I know s-on means exactly that and not "half assed" s-off. I dont think you're understanding the difference.
No I understand the difference. S-off means the entire device is no longer secured at all. You can flash anything from the device. With unlock, you can only flash using fast boot and you can't flash certain things like radios etc. Only kernels, recovery, and downgrading RUU's
Therefore, its a "halfassed" s-off
Sent by breaking the sound barrier
***SORRY, I REALISE I HAVE POSTED IN THE WRONG SECTION, IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN Q&A, COULD A MOD PLEASE MOVE IT, SORRY***
I feel like i'm being a right royal pain in the as* asking this, but will someone please give me a few pointers on where to start with the rooting process please. I know most of you will be thinking "read the stickies and the forum posts" which i promise you i have for nearly two weeks now, but its an absolute minefield of information and i honestly don't know where to start. This is my first Android handset and the first time i have used the Android operating system, and this is the information i can give you about the handset i have, and by the way, its a european gsm handset with no branding and open to any carrier if this helps..........
Its an HTC Evo 3D X515m
Running Android 2.3.4
Software 1.20.401.8, and when i looked to check my HBOOT (i think thats what its called from reading other posts) this is what i see........
***Locked***
SHOOTER_U PUT SHIP S-ON RL
HBOOT-1.49.0018
eMMC-boot
oct 3 2011, 15.03.01
From what i can gather from reading the forums i think i need to first get my bootloader to 1.49.007, and to achieve this i firstly installed a file, which was, PG86IMG.zip onto my sd card, let my handset find it, and reboot in bootloader..........but nothing at all happened. I have no idea if i am barking up the wrong tree or whatever. I also read on many posts that you can unlock using a process on htcdev.com, but there are conflicting views on this, and some people say a lot of roms wont load. I really hope someone will take a little time out to help me with this please, and hopefully once i gain the know-how, i to may be able to help someone else in my situation.....poor devil lol...........Thanks
For rooting your evo 3d you dont need to downgrade your hboot.
The first thing you need to do is to unlock your bootloader, the easy way, htcdev.com
Then you can install SU, and a custom rom, etc., but there is a problem, you cant install roms that came with custom kernels because you are s-on, and if you want to do s-off you need to downgrade your hboot to 1.49.0007.
There are a way to install a custom kernel if you are s-on, you need to extract it from the rom (boot.img) and run it to you phone with adb.
The only thing you need to do is read more.
This post helped me a lot to downgrade my hboot. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1495657
This is for me the best rom for the evo until now http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1245424
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1541210
neildunne said:
***SORRY, I REALISE I HAVE POSTED IN THE WRONG SECTION, IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN Q&A, COULD A MOD PLEASE MOVE IT, SORRY***
***Locked***
SHOOTER_U PUT SHIP S-ON RL
HBOOT-1.49.0018
eMMC-boot
oct 3 2011, 15.03.01
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In short, you need to downgrade your HBOOT, get to 1.49.0007,
Use this thread to achieve this http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1471246
Ask there, if it's possible.
Then use the revolutionary tool found here http://revolutionary.io/
To use revolutionary, click windows (if that's what your on) then run through the process, there is a walkthrough on one of the posts in the dev thread
(this one http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1535987)
it's pretty easy, make sure you have adb installed, or at the least the ability to use adb even without the full sdk.
After that you will be S-OFF (security off) you can also install a custom recovery using revolutionarys tool aswell, do so, leave a comment to tell them it worked and say thank you, always say thank you to people who help u.
Download a decent rom, if your GSM then get mikrunny, if your CDMA then use something else, or stick with mikrunny, pop it on your sd card then go to recovery and flash it.
To do this, turn off fastboot from within the device, power off, when powering back on, hold vol down first and then power don't let go, navigate the bootloader using vol up and down, use power to select, click recovery, back up, then wipe data / factory reset, wipe cache and dalvic cache and then install your rom.
That's it.
PS: The hardest thing you will have to do is downgrading hboot, i've never had to do this but it doesn't look impossible and IF YOU LOOK!, the walkthrough here looks pretty good so you should be fine.
There are threads to help you with things like adb if it seems a little daunting, if you think that they do, then you need to research a little more before you jump in, the worst thing you can do with android is give your phone to someone else and let them do everything, just so u can reap the rewards, get your hands dirty a little and get used to doing it yourself, majority of us did and were better for it.
Assume that your on your own because you will only get minimal advice from questions, no one is going to do it for you.
Good luck m8, you'll be fine
I was in EXACTLY the same position as you (same phone versions etc). Just follow this: http://appcounter.blogspot.com/2012/02/installing-custom-rom-for-htc-evo-3d.html
Use my script, everything except that is bull**** and takes too long.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1495657
if your cid is on the list, you are good to go.
Meet the requierments and go ahead.
Flashmaniac said:
Use my script, everything except that is bull**** and takes too long.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1495657
if your cid is on the list, you are good to go.
Meet the requierments and go ahead.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Doesn't your way invalidate the phone warranty? I.e. no way to put phone back to original state if you need to send it back to HTC?
my-planet said:
Doesn't your way invalidate the phone warranty? I.e. no way to put phone back to original state if you need to send it back to HTC?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what do you think, does the link you put here two posts before?
That even does not work as described, when u are not on the correct softwareversion. Yes, my way does void the warranty. As every way of rooting does....but if you s-off and run a ruu the **RELOCKED** will be gone I think
my-planet said:
Doesn't your way invalidate the phone warranty? I.e. no way to put phone back to original state if you need to send it back to HTC?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you tamper with your phone, using the official method or any of the ways stated here, they will all void your warranty.
My apologies, to the OP i wasn't aware that there was an easier way to get to have s-off etc.
All i know is, the way i wrote will work, if the other way is easier then go with that
Yes, of course all this voids your warranty, but the method I linked to (as far as I understand) would not show RELOCKED when putting back to stock. Which means HTC will honour any warranty claim.
From your guide flashmaniac, the first thing you tell to do is unlock via HTC's method. From what I understand that will show unlocked, and when trying to put back to stock, it will show relocked.
Apologies if I have this wrong, as there is 'too' much information out there, and no clear way of knowing what's wrong/right/possible.
Thanks.
my-planet said:
Yes, of course all this voids your warranty, but the method I linked to (as far as I understand) would not show RELOCKED when putting back to stock. Which means HTC will honour any warranty claim.
From your guide flashmaniac, the first thing you tell to do is unlock via HTC's method. From what I understand that will show unlocked, and when trying to put back to stock, it will show relocked.
Apologies if I have this wrong, as there is 'too' much information out there, and no clear way of knowing what's wrong/right/possible.
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
N thats it ...
If you unlock your bootloader the HTCdev way, you will never ever be able to set it to LOCKED without changing the Evos motherboard because this way is a hardware modification ...
But its more secure Anyway Id recommend you to downgrade your HBOOT to .xxx7 by flashing an older firmware, then use Revolutionary to s-off and flashing a rooted ROM will do everything you will ever want!
I also used the HTC Unlock, but I regree doing that ... So please dont do this, because HTC gets your S/N AND your verification, so they´ll always know youve unlocked your bootloader this way...
Apart from that HTC does not charge you if you get a hardware problem because this has nothing to do with unlocking your bootloader ... Do it as you want
River
River99 said:
Anyway Id recommend you to downgrade your HBOOT to .xxx7 by flashing an older firmware, then use Revolutionary to s-off and flashing a rooted ROM will do everything you will ever want!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which is exactly what that link describes for you, in a very simple step by step noob way.
my-planet said:
Which is exactly what that link describes for you, in a very simple step by step noob way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As I said before, that tutorial won't work if you are not on the correct sw version.
You wanna do hardware modifications using software? That's fun lol.
Yummy ics
Flashmaniac said:
As I said before, that tutorial won't work if you are not on the correct sw version.
You wanna do hardware modifications using software? That's fun lol.
Yummy ics
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Classic Lol.
#Root-Hack_Mod*Always\
Can i say a big thanks to everyone that has offered their help and advice with rooting my device. Sorry i haven't replied earlier but i've been on shifts at work :-( I find the whole process very intimidating, but today i took Flashmaniacs advice and unlocked my Evo using HTCDEV.com, which i must say i found very straighforward lol. Now i think my next step is to work out how to do a backup of my Evo before i go any further, and work out how to flash a rom.........Is that the right order?
I would suggest to order soup first, but it's tasty even without it.
Odoslané z môjho HTC EVO 3D X515m cez Tapatalk
Lately I have read many posts with wrong assumptions about S-OFF. I am writing this post in General to clear up to many of you what S-OFF is and isn't.
To start off, S-OFF has nothing to do with your phone being rooted. I've seen people post that S-OFF means a "full" root, or "permanent" root. Those terms aren't even correct, root is just another user on the linux system, and you either have access to it or you don't. Rooting your phone and what that entails is out of the scope of this writeup.
When your device is shipped, your bootloader will show the flag S-ON. This stands for Security-On. What this security does is protect the NAND partitions (ie: the boot partition, the recovery partition, the radio, the system partition...) from being permanently modified at all. Basically, all changes made to these partitions while the phone is running is not permanent, and will be reset upon a reboot. Also, while your phone is S-ON, all firmware zips (ie: PJ75IMG.zip) must be digitally signed by HTC in order to be flashed through the bootloader.
When your device is set to S-OFF, the security is turned off. This allows you to modify any partition on the device, and changes will not be reset upon a reboot. Also, the signature checking of the firmware zips (ie: PJ75IMG.zip) is disabled, allowing users to flash unsigned firmware zips containing the separate images of the partitions. S-OFF gives the user great power over the device, but also comes with much responsibility to be careful.
I have seen many posts stating the term "S-OFF root". As I stated earlier, S-OFF and root are completely different things. When you have S-OFF in the bootloader, you then can flash a package containing Superuser.apk and the su binary, which in turn will give you root in the file system when the device is booted. Again, S-OFF does not mean you have root. You can have S-OFF set (if there was an S-OFF exploit released) on the stock phone running the stock unchanged ROM, and not have root in the file system because you haven't pushed/flashed the Superuser.apk and su binaries on your phone yet.
I have also seen many posts about people not "trusting" the bootloader unlock at HTCdev. Yes, we all know that it does not set the bootloader to S-OFF, but it does unlock the partitions that are needed to flash a custom recovery, and through that flash a custom ROM. This is probably the most trustworthy way to "unlock" the bootloader. Any S-OFF method released here in the future will most likely be a hack to make it work. Imagine if HTC gave out the radio S-OFF unlock. That would mean ANYONE (specifically people who are very flash happy) could find a random radio firmware zip which.. oops.. isn't for the correct device, flash it through the S-OFF bootloader, and brick their device. Releasing the limited unlocking was very smart by HTC, and will definitely save many phones from ending up in the graveyard.
Now I am not saying I do not want S-OFF haha. As a developer, S-OFF is well needed and is extremely useful. It's definitely being worked on. But for the average flasher, (of ROMs, not human parts ) radio S-OFF is not needed.
Hope this clears up confusion about what S-ON and S-OFF is. I will add to this as I feel necessary, and to clear up some of my sentences (Sometimes I start typing before I finish thinking of what I'm going to type).
Thank you.
Thank you soooo much haha so many people were confused about it...
A good example is my moms phone. She has an evo 3d and I made it s-off with eng hboot in case I sell it at a later time. Currently it's not rooted at all, but if I want to considering my bootloader's unlocked I could easily flash a recovery and then flash superuser which in turn gives me root
make the subject a bit more clearer
cuz when i saw it i thought that you had s-off for us lol
please sticky this!
If I may add to this discussion ...
If you do not already know these terms and what they mean you should probably not be attempting to root your phone yet
You should instead invest some time reading and learning first.
Unreasnbl said:
If I may add to this discussion ...
If you do not already know these terms and what they mean you should probably not be attempting to root your phone yet
You should instead invest some time reading and learning first.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Or, rather, you should not be attempting to gain access to the root user / superuser account and privileges on your phone.
Updated the title just for clarity. If there's anything someone disagrees with or would like to add to the OP, let me know here and I'll see what I can do. And I definitely agree with Unreasnbl. It may be a pain in the a$$ to read before jumping into things, but seriously, it will help so much when it comes understanding.
Unreasnbl said:
If I may add to this discussion ...
If you do not already know these terms and what they mean you should probably not be attempting to root your phone yet
You should instead invest some time reading and learning first.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I rooted, with S-off, and flashed my phone before I understood any of these terms lol. Just by following instructions clearly.
But then later I learned all of these things.
But yes, you are absolutely correct.
edit: this is a good, valuable post op. Thank you.
arozer said:
I rooted, with S-off, and flashed my phone before I understood any of these terms lol. Just by following instructions clearly.
But then later I learned all of these things.
But yes, you are absolutely correct.
edit: this is a good, valuable post op. Thank you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you just prooved the OP correct, you shouldn't have S-OFF, because it doesn't exist yet and you don't need it and that's probably good for person that thinks they rooted with S-off.
Thank you
Thank you for the great info! While not a noob(have had rooted, s-off OG 4G, and 3D, just rooted EVO LTE), I don't understand, nor want to, at an advanced level, Linux, ADB,FASTBOOT, etc. I like making my phone my own, and like flashing ROM's. I tried to use the HTC method of unlocking, but am just not comfortable with my skills to try and use SDK/ADB/FASTBOOT. Perhaps I can find someone in San Antonio to show me, but unless/until, I'll wait for someone such as yourself to provide a "dumbed-down" method. Again, thanks for sharing your knowledge and expertise.
Update: Couldn't stand it..went ahead, carefully reading and following instructions, and did HTC unlock. Had a few issues with TWRP, and flashing ViperROM, due to internal/sd configuration, but moved things to their proper place with ROM toolbox. Everything in it's place, and my phone running like I like it for almost 24 hours with no issues, other than the hilarious HTC warning at boot screen.
Thanks regaw for taking your time with this. If you don't end up with 500 thanks ill be shocked lol
I personally want S-Off.
Mainly because I prefer not notify HTC that I'm unlocked.
Occasionally it's fun to dabble in trying newer radios and is sometimes required for later releases of the OS. Radio firmware can add or take away some functionality as well (like VPN).
Yes, we know it's dangerous, it's pretty rare folks dork their phones because they had s-off. But one of the worst examples is the flash happy folks on the EVO 3D that flashed Virgin Mobile firmware and should not have (myself included).
---------- Post added at 10:00 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:56 PM ----------
dongarritas said:
Thank you for the great info! While not a noob(have had rooted, s-off OG 4G, and 3D, just rooted EVO LTE), I don't understand, nor want to, at an advanced level, Linux, ADB,FASTBOOT, etc. I like making my phone my own, and like flashing ROM's. I tried to use the HTC method of unlocking, but am just not comfortable with my skills to try and use SDK/ADB/FASTBOOT. Perhaps I can find someone in San Antonio to show me, but unless/until, I'll wait for someone such as yourself to provide a "dumbed-down" method. Again, thanks for sharing your knowledge and expertise.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's really not that hard. No harder than figuring out how to use recovery, bootloader etc.. The current root procedure you just did on the LTE used ADB !! Just follow procedures.
Unreasnbl said:
If I may add to this discussion ...
If you do not already know these terms and what they mean you should probably not be attempting to root your phone yet
You should instead invest some time reading and learning first.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe you could direct them to some good reading material -- like the first post.
Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2
Great thread, Daniel.
Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2
mswlogo said:
I think you just prooved the OP correct, you shouldn't have S-OFF, because it doesn't exist yet and you don't need it and that's probably good for person that thinks they rooted with S-off.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice try at being a smart ass bro, but I was talking about when I first started, on the htc Evo 4G.
Before that I had the incredible and droid 1 and I just used the one click roots.
Great post. I don't like it when people use the incorrect terms either, and have made similar posts on other forums, specifically relating to the OG. I usually recommend that noobs that "want to root" use the HTC unlocker because, as you pointed out, it's a safer solution for those that don't really know what they're doing.
Unfortunately, because that process is somewhat involved, many users new to Android or just not technically inclined prefer to use what this community has to offer. That's good, I suppose, as that's one of the reasons this community exists, but I strongly feel like it takes away some user responsibility to get to know their device. If people would take the time to learn about adb and fastboot and find out what an RUU is and what the /misc partition is, I feel like there would a lot more contributors on this forum than whining leechers.
I've personally never been one to follow instructions without first at least trying to understand what I'm doing, but I guess not everyone is like that.
At any rate, thanks for the post, and I'm sure I'll see everyone around a bit more once Amazon finally delivers my phone.
Very informational.But just to clarify:
If I were to have S-OFF, I can repartition the onboard storage so that instead of having 2gb of app storage, I can have say 6 or 10gb? That's what I really want to do.
Thanks for clarifying this OP. I personally knew what S-OFF meant but alot of folks on this phone are obviously new to roooting and had no idea about any of this.
Sent from my EVO using xda premium
Thank you for the clarification
EDIT: UPDATE .... i managed to get the phone rebooted .... held the force reboot buttons for literally over a min in desperation.... not i need to fully unroot and start from scratch but am having trouble with that still.... can anyone help me either (A) get s-off ... or (B) get it so that i am completely unrooted so i can start over from scratch to get s-off????
Ok folks, i am officially stuck.... its been quite awhile since i have really asked for help on here but i am stuck in a really bad way!!!
Here is how i got to where i am
Just bought my brand new EVO LTE today and went to root it using "[ROOT] RegawMOD EVO 4G LTE Rooter | Updated 06.13.12" from this section!
everything seemed to work great and it said everything rooted properly.... I love Clockwork mod recovery so i then flashed that and it worked properly to or so i thought! so i went to create an origional Nand but it would not work, so i decided to flash TWRP back instead and do that way. when going into the bootloader it said "Tampered" as expected, but it still said S-on so obviously not a proper and correct root.
So i ran RegaMOD again as it said in the instructions, but it would never get passed the HTCdev part, it would just say "sucessfully logged out" and sit there forever and do nothing. So after a few tries of that i decided to unroot and start over from scratch. I could not find an unroot method for RegaMOD so i then went to the other root method "How to Root HTC Evo 4G LTE! [Windows/Mac/Linux] - by Zedomax" in this section and saw it had an unroot method which i followed to the letter! did full unroot through SuperSU and then downloaded the stock RUU from that section for my phone with the proper version number.
everything seemed to be running fine went to the black "HTC" screen and everything was going smoothly.... then the update failed and my phone stayed on the black HTC screen. my computer prompted me to recover which i could not really do as you can't pull the battery on this phone. So i then tried to update the RUU again except this time it did not list a current software version, only the one i was updating too.... it failed again 2 more times!!
when plugged into the computer my phone displays the black "HTC" screen
when plugged into the charger it displays the following screen info (bootloader look)
*** TAMPERED ***
*** UNLOCKED ***
JEWEL PUT SHIP S-ON RL
HBOOT-1.12.0000
RADIO-1.02.12.0427
OpenDSP-v25.1.0.32.0405
eMMC-boot
Apr 26 2012,19:54:01
FASTBOOT AO <---- MIGHT BE FASTBOOT AC HARD TO TELL
Update Fail!
when un-plugged it says almost the same thing
*** TAMPERED ***
*** UNLOCKED ***
JEWEL PUT SHIP S-ON RL
HBOOT-1.12.0000
RADIO-1.02.12.0427
OpenDSP-v25.1.0.32.0405
eMMC-boot
Apr 26 2012,19:54:01
FASTBOOT <---- THIS IS THE ONLY CHANGE
Update Fail!
no buttons do anything at all, in any combination or holding pattern
PLEASE HELP ME!!!!! THANKS TO ALL IN ADVANCE!!!
just one thing, s-on or s-ff has nothing to do with root
did you relock your bootloader before running the RUU?
And now we see what happens when we blindly click stuff without an understanding of what we're doing. I hate to be a douche (and I'm not usually) but this is EXACTLY the kind of thing you should NOT do with a brand new phone without intensive study. While the one-click root methods are convenient as hell, their major shortcoming is that they don't allow people to learn what they're DOING when they click that batch file...which leads to problems like yours.
As mentioned above, you need to relock your bootloader before running the RUU.
Also as mentioned s-off and root are completely different...and frankly you don't need s-off with HTC's unlock anymore.
Get your phone back to the bootloader, plugged in via USB to your computer.
Install adb (you should already have it, I hope) and type fastboot oem lock from a dos prompt (command prompt).
That relocks your bootloader. reboot into bootloader and you should see 'relocked'.
THEN run the RUU and start over....and this time please read and understand what you're doing rather than just blindly doing the 'cool root thing'.
no, i did not re-lock the boot loader.... didnt know you needed to, not used to that on the OG EVO... how do you go about redoing that? I always thought S-OFF was an important part of root..... the main reason i looked and noticed it was since i flashed clockworkmod recovery and wanted to go back to TWRP i read on their page that "You must be S-OFF or have taken HTC's unlock to use a recovery on your device!" I guess that since i used HTC unlock i could flash, but either way, should i need to go back to stock for any reason, could you please tell me the proper steps?
Thanks a million!!!
smw6180 said:
And now we see what happens when we blindly click stuff without an understanding of what we're doing. I hate to be a douche (and I'm not usually) but this is EXACTLY the kind of thing you should NOT do with a brand new phone without intensive study. While the one-click root methods are convenient as hell, their major shortcoming is that they don't allow people to learn what they're DOING when they click that batch file...which leads to problems like yours.
As mentioned above, you need to relock your bootloader before running the RUU.
Also as mentioned s-off and root are completely different...and frankly you don't need s-off with HTC's unlock anymore.
Get your phone back to the bootloader, plugged in via USB to your computer.
Install adb (you should already have it, I hope) and type fastboot oem lock from a dos prompt (command prompt).
That relocks your bootloader. reboot into bootloader and you should see 'relocked'.
THEN run the RUU and start over....and this time please read and understand what you're doing rather than just blindly doing the 'cool root thing'.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry I just got excited, I have run root on my last 2 phones (much more research on those) and just kinda fell into a super late night lazy not thinking groove... please dont be offended, the reason a rarely dont ask for help is i usually have not needed it.... no need to get hostile.... thankyou for the responce
smw6180 said:
And now we see what happens when we blindly click stuff without an understanding of what we're doing. I hate to be a douche (and I'm not usually) but this is EXACTLY the kind of thing you should NOT do with a brand new phone without intensive study. While the one-click root methods are convenient as hell, their major shortcoming is that they don't allow people to learn what they're DOING when they click that batch file...which leads to problems like yours.
As mentioned above, you need to relock your bootloader before running the RUU.
Also as mentioned s-off and root are completely different...and frankly you don't need s-off with HTC's unlock anymore.
Get your phone back to the bootloader, plugged in via USB to your computer.
Install adb (you should already have it, I hope) and type fastboot oem lock from a dos prompt (command prompt).
That relocks your bootloader. reboot into bootloader and you should see 'relocked'.
THEN run the RUU and start over....and this time please read and understand what you're doing rather than just blindly doing the 'cool root thing'.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
shootin4aces said:
Sorry I just got excited, I have run root on my last 2 phones (much more research on those) and just kinda fell into a super late night lazy not thinking groove... please dont be offended, the reason a rarely dont ask for help is i usually have not needed it.... no need to get hostile.... thankyou for the responce
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wasn't being hostile and I'm not offended. It's just there are entirely too many people who haven't been paying attention to what they're doing and get upset about it when it all blows up in their face.
And for the record every phone is different. I've rooted my last 4 Android phones, 3 evo's and the hero, and root was different on each one, with different potential problems. Being excited is great. But you need to take the time to learn what you're doing, first.
shootin4aces said:
no, i did not re-lock the boot loader.... didnt know you needed to, not used to that on the OG EVO... how do you go about redoing that? I always thought S-OFF was an important part of root..... the main reason i looked and noticed it was since i flashed clockworkmod recovery and wanted to go back to TWRP i read on their page that "You must be S-OFF or have taken HTC's unlock to use a recovery on your device!" I guess that since i used HTC unlock i could flash, but either way, should i need to go back to stock for any reason, could you please tell me the proper steps?
Thanks a million!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
read the post above yours he did tell you how to do it..lol
Oh and before I forget: Don't use CWM. Unless they've fixed it in the last couple of days it breaks your /misc partition, which is quite probably what caused your issues in the first place.
Use TWRP. After you have root/unlocked you can download goomanager from the Play Store...it will install it for you.
smw6180 said:
Wasn't being hostile and I'm not offended. It's just there are entirely too many people who haven't been paying attention to what they're doing and get upset about it when it all blows up in their face.
And for the record every phone is different. I've rooted my last 4 Android phones, 3 evo's and the hero, and root was different on each one, with different potential problems. Being excited is great. But you need to take the time to learn what you're doing, first.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 and wrong section
This is the method I used on my 4lte without a problem. But you should read entire post before attempting cause it flashes TWRP recovery automatically along with SU. Clockwork still is buggy.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=26955832
from my "Beach Watcher" 4LTE
thankyou
all problems have been fixed, thankyou everyone for all your help
again, sry for posting in the wrong forum with this issue, and i am sorry if i came off as a noob! I'm really not, just completely jumped the gun and am very very tired as i have been up for almost 36 hours now
thankyou again for all the help, and as i normally do, i will perform all my research before my next venture.... a lot has changed between this phone and my last one that i rooted and modded, i will be more prepared in the future!
Selders, you're here now?! Good to see ya here
sent from a shining jewel 4g LTE