How To Root HTC Desire With Bootloader 0.75 Or Below

HTC Desire is one of those smart phones released by HTC which includes the beautiful HTC Sense UI. Running on Android OS, HTC Desire is a bit similar to Nexus One, and already a custom HTC Desire ROM has been cooked for the Google phone. Paul of Android Modaco Forum has given a complete rooting guide for HTC Desire. Here are the complete steps to root HTC Desire:

This guide lets you root only root HTC Desire which has a bootloader version of 0.75 or below.

How to check bootloader version of HTC Desire:

Switch off the device. Turn it on by holding the ‘back’ key. You should be able to see the text ‘HBOOT’, and a version number besides it. This number is the bootloader version.

What the root can and cannot do:

While the rooting process given by the Modaco team lets you flash your device with a 1.15.405.04 based ROM that gives you super user access and also allows you to enter the flash update zips in the future, it does not however allow you have write access to the /system partition or flash with a custom recovery image holding down the volume button while powering.

What you need:

Apart from a HTC Desire and a Computer, you need a microSD card, microUSB cable, and the ISO image file.

Download HTC Desire Root ISO Image Part 1

Download HTC Desire Root ISO Image Part 2

Combine the two parts of the ISO image using HJSplit, before you proceed with the following steps.

How to root HTC Desire

1. Convert your microSD card into a gold card by following the instructions here.

2. Burn the ISO image to a bootable CD and boot your PC from it. Or use a virtualization software such as VMWare Player.

3. When prompted to load Linux, press Enter and click the monitor icon at the bottom of the screen to open a terminal window.

4. Turn off your HTC Desire. Turn it back on by holding down the ‘back’ button.

5. When you see ‘FASTBOOT’ on the Desire screen, connect it to your Computer and enter the following commands in the terminal window:

sudo mkdir /mnt/cdrom
sudo mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom
cd /mnt/cdrom/root
sudo ./step1.sh

6. Now navigate to ‘BOOTLOADER’ using the optical trackball.

7. Go to ‘RECOVERY’ option on the menu using the volume buttons, and select this option using the Power button.

8. In the terminal window enter the command:

sudo ./step2.sh

Now your device should be at the ‘recovery’ screen. First select the ‘wipe’ option, and then the option to apply  zip update from sdcard. Choose ‘rootedupdate.zip’ and your phone will be flashed. It may take a while to complete the process. Once it is done, reboot your phone and you should have a fully rooted HTC Desire.