54 replies to this topic

[PaulOBrien]

Introducing.... Superboot!

Superboot is a boot.img that when booted, will root your device the first time you boot (installing su and the superuser APK). No need to flash any partitions, no need to mess around with ADB, no messing with the contents of your data partition, no overwriting the shipped ROM on your device, just boot the boot image using the instructions below and you're done!

APPLY THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK!

• Superboot r1 - DOWNLOAD (ROMraid) - MD5: 577610795783761d56b95e024793b8cf

The superboot image is also 'insecure', allowing you to use 'adb remount' as well as having full ADB root access to your device until such time as you reboot after running this process (it's a non permanent ADB root as it's a 'fastboot boot' and not a 'fastboot flash').

How to use Superboot - Windows, Linux and OSX

- Download the Superboot zip file above and extract to a directory
- Put your device in bootloader mode - Turn off the phone then turn on with the 'volume up' and 'volume down' buttons both pressed to enter the bootloader (as pictured below)
- WINDOWS - double click 'install-superboot-windows.bat'
- MAC - Open a terminal window to the directory containing the files, and type 'chmod +x install-superboot-mac.sh' followed by './install-superboot-mac.sh'
- LINUX - Open a terminal window to the directory containing the files, and type 'chmod +x install-superboot-linux.sh' followed by './install-superboot-linux.sh'

Note: If you are using a retail device, you need to unlock your bootloader via HTCdev first!

Enjoy!

P

PS If you find this useful, please consider supporting MoDaCo by signing up for a MoDaCo subscription! Visit this topic for further details!

[pistolized]

Hi Paul,

I've just attempted this root and am having problems.
The phone boots to a HTC logo with a red warning stating the build is for dev purposes only.
Nothing happens after that. I can reboot but, dont have root access.

Any advice you have much appreciated.

[pistolized]

AH, I've just noticed the superboot file used may not be the one I need. I was under the impression all 'Superboot r1' files were the same. However the link above does not seem to work (file missing). Any other download links?

[Phoenix007]

Hello Paul,

There is one problem,  you state the following:

Note: If you are using a retail device, you need to unlock your bootloader via HTCdev first!

At HTCdev they don't have an unlocked HBOOT image for the HTC Desire C ...

So I can't imagine this is tested / working at all ...

Regards,
Phoenix007

ps.:

Entering bootloader mode on the HTC Desire C :

VOL DOWN + POWER switch

Your description does NOT work to get in bootloader mode.

[pistolized]

It says on that HTCdev page that all htc phones after 07/2011 will come with the option to unlock the bootloader.
If you scroll down to the bottom of the listed phones theres an option to select all other unlockable phones.
This works for the Desire C.
Also, VOL DOWN + POWER button does work to enter bootloader mode and is stated in the Desire C user manual so retry that a couple times.

However, we still need a working link to the superboot file!

[pistolized]

Oh! Link's back up! I'll try this now and let you guys know how it goes.

[PaulOBrien]

pistolized, on 21 June 2012 - 11:24 AM, said:

Oh! Link's back up! I'll try this now and let you guys know how it goes.

Link is fixed and I've obviously tested the file myself... :-)

P

[pistolized]

PaulOBrien, on 21 June 2012 - 11:27 AM, said:

Link is fixed and I've obviously tested the file myself... :-)

P

Confirmed working. Can't thank you enough Paul.

Cheers.

[PaulOBrien]

Next... we need a custom recovery...

P

[pistolized]

PaulOBrien, on 21 June 2012 - 04:14 PM, said:

Next... we need a custom recovery...

P

Let me know if I can help in any way.

Peter.

[darretje]

Nice thanks man!

I hope this device will get some community behind it! And do you think it is possible to overclock this cpu to 1Ghz? because the normal frequency of this chip is 600-800Mhz

[dpmcalli]

Thanks for this. I have a few questions about temporary root though. If I unlock my boot loader and boot from this image, I understand that I will only have root access until I reboot the phone. But what Im unclear about is, what about the changes I make whilst rooted, are these permanent?

For example, I boot from this image, install superuser, allow an app to have root acess (eg airdroid) would that app still have root access after a reboot, or would I essentially have to boot from this image each time for that app to have that level of privilege?

Also HTC just advertised an update to me, anyone tried the update and seen if it breaks this rooting method?

Edited by dpmcalli, 08 July 2012 - 08:15 PM.

[PaulOBrien]

This is a permanent root, and will probably break the OTA.

P

[dpmcalli]

Im sorry for asking such newb questions but I though it was a non permanent root as the first post you say that you have "fullADB root access to your device until such time as you reboot after running this process".  Or are you saying that the changes that you make are permanent?


Maybe I need to learn by doing and just give this a crack.

[PaulOBrien]

The root ADB access is temporary, but the actual root is permanent.

P

[dpmcalli]

Thanks for clearing that up for me Paul.

Edit: I just wanted to say, I installed the OTA update (1.45.161.5), unlocked the bootloader and then used superboot and its all appears to have worked perfectly. Cheers!

Edited by dpmcalli, 09 July 2012 - 04:42 PM.

[Fussup]

Thanks for the image, but something went wrong here.

First I unlocked the Desire C using the htcdev.com instructions. This went fine:

C:\Unlock>fastboot.exe flash unlocktoken Unlock_code.bin
sending 'unlocktoken' (0 KB)...
OKAY [  0.134s]
writing 'unlocktoken'...
(bootloader) unlock token check successfully
OKAY [  0.007s]
finished. total time: 0.142s

Then, I ran the .bat script to use the actual superboot. This didn't do anything it seems, so I re-ran from cmd to find out more:

C:\>install-superboot-windows.bat

C:\>fastboot-windows.exe boot boot.superboot.img
downloading 'boot.img'... FAILED (status malformed (1 bytes))

After this, I couldn't boot my device and had to do a factory reset... Luckily I got my phone in working condition after a few reboots.

The MD5 checksum of the boot.superboot.img file is:
209A3943E451FBEF95EF189FE3E6D6A8  boot.superboot.img

Any idea what could be wrong?

[PaulOBrien]

Ummm, you answered your own question, the MD5 doesn't match that in the first post.

P

[Fussup]

Thanks for the reply, but the first post lists the MD5 of the whole ZIP file while I listed the MD5 of the boot.superboot.img file.

C:\>md5.exe r1-golf-superboot.zip
577610795783761D56B95E024793B8CF  r1-golf-superboot.zip

So the ZIP file MD5 matches fine.

One thing I've noticed is that my bootloader still says "S-ON" (but it does say "unlocked"):

*** UNLOCKED ***
GOLFU PVT SHIP S-ON RL
HBOOT-1.28.0000
RADUI-1.05.98.11M3
eMMC-boot

I guess this should be fine, as S-OFF is only used to be able to flash Radios.

Edited by Fussup, 12 July 2012 - 04:11 PM.

[PaulOBrien]

Yeah, that should be OK... oddness.

P