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HTC_Desire

Created Sun 1/5/2011

This how-to uses the unrevoked3 custom recovery and works with HBOOT 0.93. These steps describe rooting the HTC Desire GSM and setting S-OFF.

1. rooting the device

The unrevoked3 custom recovery flash can be obatined from http://www.unrevoked.com/recovery/. The flashing process for linux is trivial. Simply start the binary and follow the instructions. Flashing via linux 64-bit worked fine.

However, the S-OFF patch contained within unrevoked 3.3. does not work for HTC Desire GSM. Flashing this patch will not break the device but the device will remain S-ON (but rooted). This can be seen by getting the soff.log from the scard after applying unrevoked3:

bash $ adb pull /sdcard/soff.log soff.log
bash $ cat soff.log
Verifying system type...
.
.
Got device: 
@PID: 77,"BRAVO"
Got radio version: 
5.11.05.14
E:unsupported system
E:Update failed.  Check /sdcard/soff.log.

It can be seen from the log that the PID is "BRAVO" is indicates a GSM device (and not a CDMA). This error is unsurprising given that unrevoked-forever.zip S-OFF patch v1.3 (which is part of unrevoked3) only supports CDMA.

Use the alpharev S-OFF patch to reflash the HBOOT to ignore the security flag

2. alpharev (S-OFF for Desire GSM)

Alpharev.nl provide an s-off patch which supports GSM (unlike the v1.3 unrevoked-forever patch which is only CDMA). The alpharev patch is trivial but the iso must be burned to cd and booted.

burn to cd/dvd:

    cdrecord -v dev=ATA:/dev/scd0 driveropts=burnfree -dao alpharev.iso

Will reflash a HBOOT that is S-OFF for the HTC Desire GSM ("Bravo") device.
Phone must be rooted first (e.g., with unrevoked3 or similar).

steps:
disconnect phone
boot iso
connect phone when asked and enable usb debug (settings->applications->development->usb debug on)

3. Boot to recovery

To boot into recovery mode, hold the volume down button and press the power button. Once in the recovery ROM navigate the menu with with volume up/down and select with power button.

If flashing a new ROM within the clockworkmod screen, select the flash option by navigating to the apply update.zip from sdcard menu option. When asked to confirm, use volume up/down to select Y or N and confirm the selection by pressing the camera button (the round button at the bottom of the device).

4. Removing apps

Connect your phone via USB and Reboot into recovery. To do this, turn off the phone. Hold vol down and press power. Use volume keys to navigate to "recovery" option and press power to select.

on a linux box with android sdk installed:
adb kill-server
sudo adb start-server # server needs to priviledged unless rules are defined
adb shell
mount /system
cd /system/app
ls (lists all the system installed Apps)
rm AppName.apk (where AppName.apk is the application you want to remove)

On the phone:
press back once to get back to the main menu.
Navigate to advanced and select it
Navigate to Wipe Dalvik Cache and select it.

    Once complete, in the menu, press back until the top option is reboot system now. Select it. You’re done. The reboot will take a long time as it will be creating the dalvik cache from cratch (just like when you install a new rom).

Enjoy your bloatware free ROM. It goes without saying that you shouldn’t remove anything you don’t recognise and that if you do, you risk doing harm to your phone. I can take no responsibility for damage caused.

Please note, some of the menu's in Clockworkmod recovery differ version to version. Sometimes you need to go into partitioning menu to mount system

5. See Also

Backlinks: android adb