How To: Unlock the Bootloader & Root Your HTC One Running Android 4.4.2 KitKat

Unlock the Bootloader & Root Your HTC One Running Android 4.4.2 KitKat

As softModders, the first thing we do after updating to the newest version of Android is to root, install a custom recovery, and install a superuser app. By doing this you open up your HTC One to a vast quantity of new apps and tweaks you can use to truly make your phone One of a kind.

Prerequisites

We'll need to get a few basic out of the way before we begin.

  1. Make sure your phone is fully charged.
  2. Register for an account over at HTCdev.
  3. Enable USB debugging in Developer options.
  4. Disable "Fast boot" in your power settings by going to Settings -> Battery Manager -> uncheck Fast boot.
  1. Have ADB and Fastboot installed on your computer.
  2. Back up all of your app data using ADB.
  3. Also, be sure to back up anything in the internal storage of your device to your Mac because this process wipes all data from your device, including pictures, music, videos, etc.
  4. Make sure you have the HTC One drivers installed. If you installed HTC Sync, they are already on your Mac.

Unfortunately, Big Red (Verizon) thought it best to remove the ability to unlock your bootloader through HTC Dev. Because of this added security measure, any One running KitKat cannot be unlocked or S-Off'd. If you are one of the lucky few to still be using JellyBean, than you are in luck, as long as you S-Off your device you can unlock your bootloader.

Unlocking Your Bootloader

The first step to rooting is having an unlocked bootloader.

Basically, a bootloader is what starts your Android operating system kernel. Every bootloader is device specific, which means there are different ways to unlock them depending on what phone you are using.

The beauty of unlocking your bootloader is that you can install custom firmwares, recoveries, and ROMs without the need for HTC to officially push them out.

  1. Place your device into fastboot mode by shutting off your phone, then powering it on again by pressing both the Power and Volume down buttons until you see the screen below.
  1. Highlight fastboot by using the Volume down button and confirm by pressing the Power button.
  2. Connect your phone to your Mac and open Terminal.
  3. In terminal, type fastboot oem get_identifier_token.
  4. Now copy the identifier code (excluding the '(bootloader)' portion) and hold onto it.
  1. Go to HTCDev.com and login to your account.
  2. Select Unlock Bootloader and then Get Started.
  1. Select All Supported Models and then Begin Unlock Bootloader.
  1. Choose Yes, then Proceed to Unlock on the next 2 pop-ups.
  1. On the following screen, scroll all the way to bottom and select Proceed to Step 5.
  2. Paste in that identifier token into the bottom field of the next screen and click Submit.
  1. Go to your email and download the Unlock_code.bin that HTC emailed to you, then place it on your Desktop.
  2. Now, back in terminal, type cd Desktop.
  3. Then, fastboot flash unlock token Unlock_code.bin.
  4. Now go to your phone and, using the Volume Up button, select Yes to unlock bootloader and confirm using your Power button.
  1. Wait a few seconds and allow your HTC One to reboot.

Congratulations! Your bootloader is now unlocked and your phone is basically back to stock, so you are going to need to go through the set up process as if it were a new device.

Installing TWRP Recovery & SuperSU

Now that the bootloader has been unlocked, it's time to root!

  1. Once you are rebooted, go to Chainfire's download page on your Mac and download the UPDATE-SuperSU .zip file (Chainfire will always update the download page to the latest version).
  2. Once downloaded, copy it to the internal storage of your phone.
  3. Just like we did in Step 1 for unlocking the bootloader, put your phone into fastboot mode.
  4. Download the appropriate TWRP recovery .img file.
  • If you have an AT&T, T-Mobile, International, or Developer Edition HTC One, go to this page to download the TWRP recovery.img file.
  • If you have a Sprint HTC One, go to this page to download the TWRP recovery.img file.
  1. To install the recovery, type one of the following into Terminal.
  • For the AT&T, T-Mobile, International, and Developer editions, type fastboot flash recovery openrecovery-twrp-2.6.3.3-m7.img.
  • For the Sprint HTC Once, type fastboot flash recovery openrecovery-twrp-2.6.3.0-m7wls.img.
  1. Then type fastboot erase cache.
  2. Now on your phone, go highlight Bootloader (using the volume keys) and hit the Power button to confirm.
  3. Using the volume keys, select Recovery, then hit the Power button again to boot your HTC One into recovery mode.
  4. Once in TWRP, select Install, then select the SuperSU zip file you copied over earlier.
  5. Slide to install and then select Reboot System.

That's it, you're rooted!

Now What?

Once rebooted, you will have a SuperSU icon in your app drawer and be able to use it to grant apps root access, like the renowned Xposed Installer.

After this is all done, you will be able to restore your data using the same guide you used to back up your data. Just be sure to re-enable USB debugging.

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235 Comments

three weeks ago I tried this and HTC one was taken off the HTCDEV list of supported dev devices. This article was written one week ago, so are you saying that the HTC one is back on the dev list?

As long as you select "All other supported models" from the drop down list at HTCDev it will work.

It does not work for Verizon. Verizon has locked out all their phones from HTCDev.com Found this out today.

Everything worked well so far, but right until "Installing TWRP Recovery & SuperSU" that's where I'm stuck. I dropped both the recovery and SuperSUser zip onto the phone's root through Sync manager, opened up Terminal, and typed "fastboot flash recovery openrecovery-twrp-2.6.3.0-m7wls.img" but it seems to have trouble opening the recovery. There's gotta me something I'm missing or overlooked.

Hopefully you can help.

I figured out what I did wrong. I closed the Terminal that was directed into the desktop where the .img file was. I have it working now.

You're awesome, and thank you for the article.

I'm running into this as well, what do you mean by closed terminal? That doesn't seem to do anything for me. Like you said, it just wont boot into recovery.

NM, I was using the wrong twrp.

Does this work with window as well or are you going to post that video later?

It will work on windows. Just start up adb and use the same commands.

ADB-Install-Mac.sh works on windows?

No, but this XDA thread has a similar ADB/Fastboot installer. If you have any questions about getting it installed let me know.

I finally unlocked the bootloader and got S-Off on my HTC One (HTC6500LVW) Verizon (HBOOT 1.56) with it's "Unlock-able" BL lol.

Of all the methods google can offer, this is the ONLY combo that worked for this phone!
1- get your adb drivers sorted! (SORTED PLZ!) and set phone for adb use.
2- grab WeakSauce APK - 1.0.1 (Many humble thanks for this!)

3- install weaksauce, and run, for good measure, I installed SuperSU and Busybox Pro, I have in GP. (But weaksauce has these, so might not be nessary)

4- Oh btw, your rooted...but alas we must have BL unlocked and S-OFF or we are not one of the cool kids :)
5- IMPORTANT install Root Explorer, and make EVERY dir r/w!!
Do not reboot phone until your BL is unlocked!

6- follow fastboot instructions for Firewater install (Not temproot method!) to the letter except right after adb shell Enter, do a su Enter and finish up, flash a recovery (I am using PhilZ Touch version of CWM)

7- snack on a KitKat ....ROM :)
Enjoy!

Any help would be appreciated. I've got the T-Mobile M8, got the bootloader unlocked (as far as I can tell!), but I can't get it to flash the TWRP recovery. I'll see an option for Recovery, but selecting it just brings me back into the menu with the option for recovery gone. I'm running Win 8.1. Any ideas?

I reinstalled my device drivers and lo and behold adb could see my phone. Thanks for a great guide! :P

Just performed this operation successfully on my HTC One M7, running Android 4.2.2. The only bump I had was in step 13; the given command line didn't work. Consultation with HTCDev.com verified that there should NOT be a space between "unlock" and "token" but rather it should be "unlocktoken".

Thanks a ton for taking the trouble to post such great instructions!

hey guys, pls help me with the unlocking process as i am stuck at the eleventh step....

i've received an email with the attachment file n also have downloaded the file n copied it on the desktop but still when i type the command cd desktop it response as an error... pls help me,.....

When I first connected my HTC One, my computer does nothing, I think the drivers do not work, the device is not in my pc, please help me, I have windows vista, I downloaded htc sync and htc sync manager, help me.

If you have HTC Sync installed then the drivers were installed as well. Maybe try using a different USB port.

I am getting an error after message after fastboot flash unlock token Unlockcode.bin

" target reported max download size of 1514139648 bytes
error: cannot load 'token' : No error"

what is going on and how can I fix this ?

nevermind i figured it out

There shouldn't be a space between unlock and token so it should read fastboot flash unlocktoken Unlock-code.bin

A quick heads up, on the guide you have a space between unlock and token

I also stuck up with the same issue (" target reported max download size of 1514139648 bytes) as I always prefer to copy paste the command. Would appreciate if you could update it in the tutorial.

Thanks

Thank you for posting such a detailed tutorial. never seen a better one

I had tried a previous tutorial (not yours) and it broke my phone and i was able to fix it and then HTC replaced it because the battery broke!

i tried all the steps but keep seeing this in the terminal
moving Fastboot
mv: rename Mac/fastbootMac to /usr/bin/fastboot: No such file or directory
Fastboot moved to /usr/bin/fastboot
You may now run Android Debug Bridge and Fastboot commands
Have a nice day.
Rastayaad:Android utente$ fastboot flash recovery openrecovery-twrp-2.7.1.0-m8.img
-bash: fastboot: command not found
Rastayaad:Android utente$ fastboot flash recovery openrecovery-twrp-2.7.1.0-m8.img
-bash: fastboot: command not found
Rastayaad:Android utente$ ./fastboot flash recovery openrecovery-twrp-2.7.1.0-m8.img
-bash: ./fastboot: No such file or directory
Rastayaad:Android utente$ ./ fastboot flash recovery openrecovery-twrp-2.7.1.0-m8.img
-bash: ./: is a directory
Rastayaad:Android utente$ fastboot flash recovery openrecovery-twrp-2.7.1.0-m8.img
-bash: fastboot: command not found
Rastayaad:Android utente$ fastboot flash recovery openrecovery-twrp-2.7.1.0-m8wls.img
-bash: fastboot: command not found
Rastayaad:Android utente$

It looks like you need to manually place the fastboot and adb files in your usr/bin/ folder

hello, are these method all working on htc dual sim??

pls i need help with rooting htc one dual sim ...i have unlocked bootloader with this steps above..thanks in advance

Install TWRP and when your reboot while in TWRP it should ask you if you want to root your device.

hi andrew nice stuff hear.thumbs up..i hav a problem..am still stuccoed at the terminal.everytime i write the command fastboot oem get_

identifiertoken. it keeps saying command not found. dab is already moved to usr/bin, i followed all the steps...thanks if u can help

Did you place both the fastboot and adb files to usr/bin?

Read through this and seems very straight forward. Running a PC not a mac but all seems the same to me. Some folks I've read have issues with the phone during the twrp recovery file process (step 10) where the touch screen doesn't function and can't select any of the selections from the menu on the phone (like install). This I've read happens with folks trying this procedure with HTC One with KitKat (4.4.2). I'm running HTC One KitKat (4.4.2) from Sprint...will this procedure work?

This procedure will work, just be sure to download the newest TWRP for Sprint and you shouldn't have any issues with the touch screen.

Andrew, thanks for the response. I'm still a bit concerned as I'm not sure what my options would be if I install the incorrect recovery, do I then have a bricked phone (that would be bad).

The site: http://techerrata.com/browse/twrp2/m7wls
has the file: openrecovery-twrp-2.7.1.1-m7wls.img

as the latest file dated 6-8-2014 and the big assumption is that the update-superSU-v1.94 works with this latest recovery image.

I know the mechanics of how to do this but just want to be 100% sure that the files will root an HTC One (Sprint) that has version 4.2.2 OS installed from OTA updates.

Wait are you currently running 4.2.2 or 4.4.2?

I am running 4.4.2. Sorry about that typo previously. I am running 4.4.2. The phone was stock with 4.1 but after spending a few hours updating over the air I am at 4.4.2

No worries. Just be sure to download the latest SuperSU and TWRP and you shouldn't run into any issues. Even if you flash the wrong recovery you won't brick your phone, it just won't function properly.

Andrew.. thanks for the information. Going to wait a few weeks as I just got the phone and waiting for the infant mortality issue to strike and would rather have an un-rooted phone verses a rooted phone. I've downloaded all files I need and just waiting for the green flag. Again, thanks.

No problem. Be sure to keep an eye out for the pink tint issue in the camera!

I do have an issue with the camera now but it's not objectionable. In low light conditions purple and red shadows appear in the picture. Most noticeable if you put your finger over the lens. In good lighting conditions the camera works fine.

This is a known issue with the M7. It has to do with camera sensor itself (trust me I had the same exact issue). About a month ago I sent it in to HTC to get it replaced. It took a week without my phone and $12 for shipping, but now the camera works perfectly no matter what ROM I have running on it.

Hello,

I had purchased my M7 from the grey market in Greece. So I'm assuming it falls under the "international" category. It has always been unlocked. I'm running 4.4.2 / sense 6. Can I proceed to unlock and root as described above?

thanks for your answer.
p.s. does anyone know a quick fix for "double tap to wake/double tap to sleep"
thanks.

Hi!!!
Great site with great information.

.While I'm not a total newb, I am new to hacking HTC. I did manage to get it unlocked, however I can't flash the recovery. No matter what I do, the cmd comes up saying the device is offline. I'll keep researching this and eventually I'll figure it out.

Here is my actual question. I updated the phone and I am running 4..4.2 with Sense 6. After playing with Sense 6, I have decided I don't like it. I actually like Sense 5.5 better. Is there a way to flash back to Sense 5.5?

Is this really hard to do if it can be done?
Thanks,
Maggie

Actually you would need TWRP in order to flash a Sense 5.5 ROM. The next time you plug in your HTC One make sure it it unlocked and tap Yes when you see the dialog asking if you want to allow debugging.

Andrew, in fast boot mode, the phone reads UNLOCKED at the top of the phone.

As far as the debugging, I have it checked (allow debugging). The cmd also gives me a message that ADB is out of date so I am wondering if that is my problem.

That's great news on the Sense 5.5 question. Once I can get the recovery working then I will focus on getting 5.5 back.

Thanks again!!
Maggie

Yeah, you should definitely update ADB. Do you know how to do that?

No I don't. I have been using a toolkit to unlock the phone and it was working well until I needed to flash the recovery.

Suggestions how to update? At this point I probably won't try that til Friday (it's my day off).

You can use the tool linked in this XDA thread. Should update ADB and fastboot without any issues. Let me know if you still run into any problems.

Well... I went to thread and update the ADB and fastboot. Got the successful message. But the same problem continues. Here is the screen from cmd:

adb server is out of date. killing...

  • daemon started successfully *

error: device offline

C:\OneAll-In-OneKitv3.1\OneAll-In-OneKitv\data>
Thoughts?

You wouldn't use the same directory to run the adb commands as you did before. If you chose to install adb and fast boot system wide all you have to do is run the adb command, so you don't have to cd to the toolkit.

Andrew. Thanks for your patience and help. Can you be a little more specific on the ADB command?

No worries. Instead of running the command from "C:\OneAll-In-OneKitv3.1\OneAll-In-OneKitv\data" just run it like any other cmd command.

So open up a new cmd window and start entering the fastboot commands.

Ok. Just to be clear. I reboot the phone to see the LOCKED menu. I run cmd then use this command:
fastboot flash recovery openrecovery-twrp-2.6.3.3-m7.img.
Although I think I am supposed to be using 2.7.1.1. (I want to be sure I download the correct file.

Is this correct?

If you see locked that means the unlock code you flashed did not install properly. Before you can install TWRP your bootloader needs to read unlocked.

Oops. I meant UNLOCKED.

No worries. You're right about the TWRP version number. Change the fastboot command to match the 2.7.1.1 file name, this guide is getting a little outdated.

Maggie.. I am in the same boat but your ahead (and braver) than me. I am running stock 4.4.2 with sense 6.0. I haven't unlocked the security yet but know how to do that, the TWRP recovery had/has me scared. I'm waiting to see how you make out with getting TWRP recover loaded. I'm of the school of thought that you need to use version 2.7.1.1 of TWRP for the phone if it has 4.2.2 with Sense 6.0.

Let us know how you make out with your install / recovery.

Steve. Thanks for that. I will admit there was a couple of moments there that I thought I had bricked the phone but alas no. I've only had the phone about a month as well. FYI... the original one I had had the defective camera (purple tint). I called HTC & reported the problem. They sent a shipping label. I sent the phone off on a Wednesday & had a new one delivered to me by the following Tuesday. I was able to use my iPhone so I wasn't without a phone. The whole process was pretty painless.

Hopefully I can get this recovery issue resolved and go back to sense 5.5. I took a break from trying as the recovery part has been frustrating.

Maggie

Maggie... please keep me (us) posted. Andrew has been a wealth of information and this site is excellent. My camera has an issue but I really can't be without a phone. HTC would do a live swap but that's not ideal either since they want me to pay for shipping. I'm thinking of going to a Sprint store to see what they will do. My camera issue isn't really the pink tint issue but if you put your finger over the lens or in really low light conditions a dark/light splotch patter develops. Pointing the camera a bright light then back to the dark object makes the issue disappear...for a bit.

Steve. It's done!! Worked pretty smoothly once I was in the right place and had the file in the right directory!

Pretty happy with that. Give it a shot. The recovery flash was way easier than I expected. Now I will be watching this thread to see how YOU do.

Maggie

The only reason I want to root my phone is for the WiFi tether option. I'm not a data hog by any stretch, perhaps using 2 to 3G per month. Worked well on the Evo and just want to be able to do this on the One without additional $$.

Maggie... I think that is the correct file from everything I've read... but Andrew I consider the expert.

Thanks for the compliment! After you root you can install a custom ROM to enable tethering. I have T-Mobile and tether every so often while using the InsertCoin ROM, if that helps.

I'm not even sure I need a custom ROM for tether. I was using WiFi Tether version 3.3 (www.android-wifi-tether.googlecode.com) on my EVO that was only rooted with no custom ROM and it worked fine. I'm still waiting the outcome of Maggie's process to make sure she can unlock and root the phone with TWRP.

Gotcha. I thought you wanted the WiFi tether option to work from within the htc settings app.

nah... I'm good with this little app that did work on the Evo. After seeing Maggie's issues though I'm not sure I'll do this quite yet.

Now this information here has peeked my interest. I'm having trouble starting the wireless hotspot on the One. According to AT&T I need to provide them the IMEI number from the One because the rep says my hotspot is going to my iPhone 5. I haven't changed it over with AT&T because at one point I wasn't even sure I was going to keep the One and just go back to my iPhone.

We are sharing data and wonder if something like Steve's setup on the Evo might work for me. Thoughts?

Maggie

So you already have a hotspot service enabled on your account and can't get it activated on your One?

OK.. up and rooted. Not a big undertaking. The backup procedure I could have skipped as the recovery time was more than 7 hours and didn't reinstall everything. I used the htcdev method to unlock the phone rather than the adb method (I was more familiar with the htcdev method). Used twpr version Maggie used... scared at one point as it takes 20 seconds or so for the menus to show up on the screen when you launch recovery.

All worked well, except the reason I rooted. Go figure the WiFi app I was using doesn't work too well on this phone. Off searching for other apps. I really don't want to install a different rom like bit coin.

Andrew... thanks a bunch for the advice and suggestions. Maggie, thanks for keeping be abreast on your progress.

I'm feeling like I may never get this to work. I put the phone in fastboot mode, typed the command and I have been sitting at

<waiting for device>.

I checked ADB devices and it found the phone.

Not sure what to do or try next.

Maggie

Make sure your device says fastboot USB in a red banner on it, and maybe try plugging it into a different USB port.

OMG!!!!

It's finally done!!! That worked! I think the other problem was I had the TWRP file in a download folder instead of my desktop.

Thanks Andrew for all your help!!!! This site is amazing and your help was invaluable. Sorry I have been such a pest.

Now.... I need to find the Sense 5.5 and flash that. Care to point me in the right direction?
Maggie

It was no trouble at all! Glad you got it working!

ARHD has a 5.5 ROM that is pretty close to stock and still comes with a bunch of extras.

So I've NEVER done that. Would I download the file, put it on the phone and then install it like I did the SuperSU file?

Not exactly, the process goes like this:

  1. Download the ROM
  2. Reboot into TWRP
  3. Wipe->Advanced Wipe-> Check Dalvik, Cache, Data, System (DO NOT CHECK INTERNAL STORAGE)
  4. Return to the home menu
  5. Install -> Select ROM zip file you downloaded
  6. Go through the AROMA installer and select the mods and extras you want to install.
  7. Reboot & go through phone set up
  8. Profit!

This will delete all your settings, but since you just unlocked your bootloader your phone shouldn't have many settings saved anyways.

So your instructions seem pretty easy. When I go to ARHD to get the file I get Not Found. Am I missing something?

Whoops, didn't know they stopped supporting that version. Here is a link to the InsertCoin Sense 5.5 ROM.

Andrew! Thanks for finding that for me. I am still debating whether to even downgrade back to 5.5. I'm going to check out the differences (other than blink feed) to see if I might lose something I like with 6.

After the frustrating week I had trying to install that recovery, I did spend some time setting up the phone with a launcher, lock screen notification app AND I even installed the sleep/wake kernel you did a tutorial for!!! So I'm pretty happy at the moment (the key words there are AT THE MOMENT).

Thanks again for ALL your help. I'll let you know what I decide and how it all turns out.

Maggie

Maggie...which TWRP Version did you end up using?

somehow the commands for pushing the adb with fastboot to the usr/bin/ folder is not working for me. how do i manually place the two files in the user/bin /folder? i tried holding command+shift+G and typing in 'usr/bin folder' but it says no such file/directory.

The usr/bin file is located on your HDD parent folder. So from Finder ope up your HDD and you'll see usr.

So I've had a struggling success so far, but I'm stuck at installing the zip in TWRP. It says failed, could not mount cache, could not find md5 file...

I've used twrp-2.6.3.3 and superSU-v2.

Any help would be great

Update TWRP to the newest version. That should fix your issue.

Andrew...curious on what ROM is compatible with TWRP that supports WiFi tethering (not Ad-Hoc). I have my rooted HTC One now running WiFi Ad-hoc fine and that works great for PC connections but not so good for tablet connections since my TF300T has not been rooted and doesn't support Ad-Hoc Ethernet connections. If you know, share the knowledge.

Much appreciated!

and tethering functions? Is it an Ad-hoc connection or a real WiFi hotspot connection?

Ok so I updated to the 2.7.1.1 version and repeated all the steps in the Install TWRP and SU section, but it still has the same issue:

"Updating partition details...
Installing '/sdcard/UPDATE-SuperSU-v2.zip'
Checking for MD5 file...
Skipping MD5 check: no file found
Error flashing zip '/sdcard/UPDATE-SuperSU-v2.zip'
Updating partition details..."

with a big FAILED underneath.

On a mac with mavericks and definitely a HTC One m7.

Have a copied the SuperSU onto the wrong part of my internal storage? What about the .md5 that is downloaded with the TWRP .img? The .md5 is just sitting on my desktop next to the .img

Try wiping your cache through the Advanced Wipe menu of TWRP and see if it can get remounted.

Milky..no expert at all here but your SuperUser file is different than the one I used (I just rooted my phone this week). My file is "UPDATE-SuperSU-v1.94.zip"

I had no md5 file, which in hindsight was probably not a good thing. The MD5 file is just a file letting you know what the checksum of the .zip file is. Use a checking program to verify the calculated checksum of the zip file against what the md5 file says it should be. If they are the same then the .zip file you got is a good download. Having said this, it's not necessary to have the md5 file but it's a good safety tip to have it for checking.

Not sure why adb is asking/checking the checksum of the file, my adb did not. I am running a PC not a MAC.

So I am certain my "could not find .md5 file" problem was solved by unchecking the "open automatically after downloading" option for Safari.

As soon as it downloads it unzips it. I had to re-zip it for your method, but it obviously corrupts the file. The problems of owning a stupid le mac.

Before you suggested using Advanced Wipe, I already tried clearing cache, dalvik, and system as suggested by someone earlier on - ended up removing the OS.

I tried your soft brick fix using adb sideloader to flash a ROM - same error "could not find md5 file". From there I thought that the files must be corrupt from re-zipping. Downloaded the ROM again with no autoload and voila!

Anywho, the ROM I installed has Super SU and I now carry around a rooted HTC One. Ohhhh yeaahhh.

Thanks for the replies Andrew

I did all the steps, but mistakenly swiped to factory reset, and now theres no OS in my HTC one.

Can you help me?

how can I install OS from PC to twrp?

or is there anything i can do?

Good article, thanks. I've got still 2 questions:
1) is everything erased after unlocking the bootloader?

2) are there basic systemapps (Calculator, Flashlight, Ringtone Trimmer and Sound Recorder) gone after unlocking the bootloader?

1) Yes, everything is erased. Including the internal storage.
2) All the stock apps are maintained.

hi Andrew. Thanks for the time and effort to post this. I have managed to root my HTC one successfully. When i opened super SU from the apps drawer, it said it needed to update. IT gave me the options to choose between "normal" and TWRP. I chose normal. it showed it was updating with a dialogue box asking to reboot if this window doesn't close in 5 minutes. After that, my phone has been rebooting by itself repeatedly. Please help!

Hi I'm stuck at Step 7 under Installing TWRP Recovery & SuperSU
It says to highlight Bootloader
I only have
HBOOT
RAMDUMP
REBOOT
REBOOT FASTBOOT
POWER DOWN*

NO BOOTLOADER!! :-( What now??*

UPDATE

I unplugged the usb cable, powered down my phone, plugged the cable in again and without turning it on I briefly saw the screenshot shown at the very end of your tutorial. It flashed up for not even 1 second and then was replaced by the battery charging logo. Is this because it's only at 53% charge?

UPDATE times 2
Ignore all of the above, figured it all out and it's all done :) Thank you very much for this article.

Hi again Andrew,
problem fixed! I just reinstalled Super SU and it was good to go!
thanks.

In the middle you say:
"Because of this added security measure, any One running KitKat cannot be unlocked or S-Off'd."

... but this is exactly what the title says you're allowed to do. Does this mean I cannot unlock my bootloader on KitKat? If not, could you make this sentence make more sense, please?

Step 13 should read: "Then, fastboot flash unlocktoken Unlockcode.bin" (no space between unlock and token)

hello, i am using htc one m7 sprint. if i unlock my htc one m7 bootloader will i be able to use any sim card outside USA ?

No you would have to S-Off and then flash a custom HBOOT. This just allows you to use a custom recovery and flash ROMs.

Hello Andrew. I also have troube with "Installing TWRP Recovery & SupeSu". What do you mean when you say "copy it to the internal storage of the phone" ? I added the the supersu zip through HTC Sync Manager but the phone just shuts off after staying blocked on "Entering recovery"... Could you please guide me through Andrew ? Thanks for the help !

So you copied the zip over to your phone and when you enter recovery it doesn't boot? Did you already flash TWRP and unlock the bootloader?

Hello. It seems I don't have the correct twrp recovery file as the phone won't enter into recovery mode, and the phone is now bricked. I have an HTC One Mini running 4.4.2 - and none of the following files from seem to work. Would you have any clue as to where I could find it ? Or maybe I should erase the previous twrp files I have flashed on the phone before trying any others ? I am new to all this and can't seem to do the right manipulation although I have tried for hours. Thanks !

Since you have a HTC One Mini you would need to flash TWRP for that model. Flash the latest one from here.

Thanks for the help ! I tried all of those four but when I enter recovery mode the device just shuts down, as if it could not fetch the file. Would you have any other clue as what to do ?

Hi I'm having a problem with STEP 4 IN UNLOCKING BOOTLOADER the part where I have put in the "fastboot oem getidentifiertoken." in the terminal.....it's coming back as "command not found." What I'm I doing wrong? My phone is on the fastboot screen and is connected to my mac through usb. I have the HTC one M7 btw.

I noticed that in this step instead of the command "fastboot oem getidentifiertoken" it worked when I put the following commands instead "./fastboot-mac oem getidentifiertoken" (for MAC users)

Ok I started looking at another video and got through the steps fine. Only thing is now the SuperSU App on my phone says the following "There is no SU binary installed and SuperSU cannot install it. This is a problem!"........ ANYONE GET THE SAME MESSAGE? ALSO WHAT DOES THIS MEAN AND WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO NOW?

Reboot into TWRP and tap Rebooot->System and install SuperSU when asked.

I didn't have the correct updated SU link since my phone was on the 4.4 not the older OS. Once I rebooted into twrp with the right link ssaved in my internal driveI was able to get the app up and working.

Note to everyone you can also save any internal SU links and files onto the HTC Snyc Manager instead of the "Android Transfer Files" (the android transfer files wouldn't recognize my phone). all you have to do is copy and paste the links into the files under your phone once connected to HTC Sync Manager.

ok so I'm using this as a base to root my htc one max. I got to the part where you enter "fastboot oem getidentifiertoken and it says command not found. anything I'm missing? already put fastboot in usr/bin/fastboot and fallowed every step but nothing is happening. any help?

Did you authenticate after moving the fastboot file to usr/bin?

ive been having a problem installing the twrp. i've tried to fastboot into it by moving the md5 file to the /usr/bin/ folder with the abd and fastboot commands but here is the error I am getting. I do have it "Unlocked" at the top of when I hold the bottom volume button and power button in the screen showing fastboot and recovery and a assortment of other options.

Last login: Sat Aug 16 18:32:30 on ttys000
Chriss-MacBook-Pro:~ Chris$ cd Desktop/untitled folder
-bash: cd: Desktop/untitled: No such file or directory
Chriss-MacBook-Pro:~ Chris$ cd Desktop/HTCOne
Chriss-MacBook-Pro:HTCOne Chris$ fastboot flash recovery openrecovery-twrp-2.6.3.3-m7.img
target reported max download size of 1514139648 bytes
sending 'recovery' (0 KB)...
OKAY 0.142s
writing 'recovery'...
FAILED (remote: image error! (BootMagic check fail))
finished. total time: 0.163s
Chriss-MacBook-Pro:HTCOne Chris$

what am i doing wrong here?

Hey man, i try to get into fast boot mode but my battery will get to 99% and my phone would turn off. Any idea to make it stop. Thanks in advance.

Are you entering fastboot through the adb command adb reboot bootloader or by long pressing Power and Volume Down? Also, check that fast boot is unchecked in your power options in the settings app.

Hello Andrew,

I'm stuck in the part where I need to select the SuperSU.zip, when I enter into my recovery and I select "Install ZIP" it doesn't show me my all files, only the system part (folders 'boot','cache','data','dev', etc...) so I can't copy my zip on those folders (only read permission) so I can't root my phone. I spend two weeks finding how to do it. If you can help me that could be perfect. Thank you in advance.

Théodore

ok I see where was the problem, my recovery hasn't the right version (2.6.x) and I used the last one (2.8.0) and it works

HTC dev site wont unlock my HTC M7 seems to work phone restarts but the bootloader is still locked. Found instructions for doing it another way which requires S Off, to get S off requires the Bootloader unlocked see my dilema. Anyone got any ideas?

Hi there. Wondering if you could assist with the following.

A few months back the Wi-Fi and data on my HTC one stopped working. In an effort to rectify this I turned off my phone with the intention of restarting it and I have been locked out ever since.

The Message on the Screen reads:
*Locked*
M7U PVT SHIP S-ON RH
HBOOT-1.57.0000
OS-5.12.709.103
eMMC-boot 2048MB
Apr 25 2014,20:18:43.0

This led me to this page when in my search for possible ways to have this fixed.

I have followed all of the steps you have above to Unlock the Bootloader but I am now stuck at Step 13. When I enter the command I am getting the following error message.

C:\Documents and Settings\mathew>fastboot flash unlocktoken Unlock-code.bin
error: cannot load 'Unlock-code.bin'

Not sure if I did something wrong along the way and was wondering how to proceed.

Please note as it relates to the prerequisites you have above since I cannot get into the phone I am not able to Enable USB debugging or disable Fastboot. Also I cant recall if I am running KitKat or not; and all this was done using a PC not a MAC.

Did you place the Unlock-code.bin in the same folder that you are running fastboot from?

It wasn't in the same folder as the fastboot before. Just placed it in the same folder and I'm still receiving the same message.

Not sure if this is import but the bin file seems to be saved as a VLC media file.

Can you copy over your commands again.

C:\Documents and Settings\mathew>fastboot flash unlocktoken Unlock_code.bin
error: cannot load 'Unlock_code.bin'

Thats strange. If the Unlock_code.bin is in the "mathew" folder it should flash right away. Try and make a new code and then try it again. It may be due to the code being corrupted.

Ok. I think I understand what you were getting at with regards to having everything in the "Mathew" folder.

So i copied the "Unlockcode.bin" file and the adt-bundle-windows-x86.... folder into the "Mathew" folder and i ran the command again. I am now getting the following message, but nothing changes on the HTC. I'm not getting the option you have indicated above to unlock to bootloader.

The message I am now getting in the command prompt reads:
C:\Documents and Settings\mathew>fastboot flash unlocktoken Unlockcode.bin
target reported max download size of 1499013120 bytes
sending 'unlocktoken' (0 KB)...
OKAY 0.141s
writing 'unlocktoken'...
(bootloader) unlock token check successfully
OKAY 0.000s
finished. total time: 0.141s

After that finished did you see the unlock bootloader screen on your One?

No I didn't get that option on my phone. Nothing changed.

That is weird. That usually only happens when the bootloader is already unlocked. This may be a long shot, but have you tried flashing TWRP?

No I have not. I'm not too sure what's that? Do you have instructions on how to do that?

Skip down to the Installing TWRP Recovery & SuperSU section of this guide and follow the instructions to flash TWRP. The main reason you are unlocking your bootloader is to have the ability to flash TWRP, a custom recovery.

Still nothing. Thanks for trying though.

I've been attempting to root and install a custom ROM on my HTC One m7 dual SIM international version .

Now after attempting to flash the TWRP recovery image to the device I am not able to enter recovery or factory reset. The system does attempt to enter and I receive the pink message at the top of the screen "Entering Recovery..." but then the system reboots and enters the stock OS. I was not able to actually root the device yet so what do I do?

Android 4.4.3
Plzzz Help.....

The TWRP linked in this guide is for the regular M7, not the dual sim. Use this version instead.

It's not working bro.....again rebooting
Any other idea !!

Do you have fast boot disabled in your power options?

Hi, I'm considering rooting my unlocked international HTC One M7, and was wondering if HTC backup will restore my files. Can someone please help?

HTC Backup does not get disabled once you root your phone. The only time you will lose that functionality is if you flash a ROM that is not based on the Sense firmware, like Cyanogenmod.

canot root my htc one m7... please help me anyone from team viewer :\

bro please help
my htc one s succes bootloader but in recovery i have loading so long time...
can u teach me this step...

I've done all the steps, but when I check with root checker is says "sorry this device does not have proper root access" what am I doing wrong?

Did you flash the superuser package and have it installed in your app drawer?

I have superuser in my app drawer, but when i try to open it it says "There is no SU binary installed, and SuperSU cannot install it"

Hi, do you have a guide for windows ? tnx

The process is exactly the same on Windows. The only thing you would need to do differently is change the destination of your cmd prompt to your fastboot folder.

Thanks, all is well with the world now lol

Hi, I succesfully rooted the phone two months ago and everything worked fine. But now there are some updates (of Android) I want to install...When I tried to do this like on an unrooted phone my HTC One downloaded the file, shut off, went to bootloader and after a few klicks I got stuck somewhere on a TWRP screen (installation ended with an error). So my question: Is there a possibility to update the phone (when possible without losing data)?

If you rooted your device you will need to flash the original recovery file and remove any other mods you added to your device. The reason it is not installing is because your ROM has been modified.

i accidentally flashed sprint twrp in my international m7 and now when i booted to twrp it is stuck, nothing works it just stays at the homescreen

All you have to do is boot back into fastboot mode and flash the correct TWRP.

Hi

I am unable to update my software from 4.3 (sense 5) > 4.4.2 (sense 5.5). The installation interrupts in middle everytime and phone goes into recovery mode.

It is showing a Tampered Locked Security Warning M7U PVT SHIP SON RH screen. HBoot 1.57
I haven't tried to do anything like root the phone or anything. Why is this happening?
The only option that works is reboot.
Even factory reset doesn't work

How do I get the 6.13.707.106 update installed?
Could you h

elp me please?

Thanks in advance.

Kind Regards
Sagar

The tampered message means that you have unlocked your bootloader at some point or if you bought your M7 from someone else they might have. Since that is the case will need to use a RUU to get OTAs to work properly again.

How do I get that?
Sorry if my questions are too basic or naive.
What's OTAs?
I have bought my phone from authorised delears. Not sure why this problem has crept in suddenly after a year.

Don't worry about it. Everyone has to start somewhere. OTA's are the update files that upgrade Android and Sense to the newest version. Use the link I posted in my previous comment to return your device to like new settings. That should fix all your problems.

heyyyyy @andrew ............. u r greaaaattttttttttttttttttt (Y) (Y) (Y)

Andrew or others, perhaps you can help. Unlocked the HTC One M7 a few months back to get wireless tethering working. That works great with the Barnacle application. The phone is unlocked. Sprint has been trying to push update 5.05.651.2 to my phone for a month now and I keep rejecting it and it's annoying. How do I stop this reminder? Can I do the update while the phone is unlocked without bricking the phone? What are the consequences? I've tried to stop Updater from running but all the controls to do so are grayed out. I never put a new image on the phone, just stock sprint image with the bootloader unlocked.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

So I have stock rom, I never changed the stock sprint rom. The only thing I've done is unlock the boot loader, installed twrp and ran the unlock bootloader. Can I update OTA or not? I really don't want to update I just want the daily reminders that a new update is available to stop.

The only way to get rid of the reminder would be to uninstall the updater app from your system apps.

even thou the phone is routed, I don't see a way to uninstall the updater app (the uninstall button is grayed out when I navigate to the App).

hello.
I have relocked my bootloader and now I want to unlock it again.

Based on instructions in htcdev site, after I flash the unlock token, the Unlock Bootloader page pops up in my phone. but my phone stops working and when I press YES to unlock,nothing happens and page stands till I restart my phone and its not unlocked.

Does it still show relocked on your bootloader menu?

On step.10 and I can't find the SuperSU zip file? I have copied it across to my internal phone storage via my windows laptop (as my mac won't let me access the HTCs internal storage) but it doesn't show up any where? I hope this is me being stupid, thanks

Where did you place the zip on your internal storage?

I placed the zip file in the root of the internal storage. When this didn't show up I placed it in several other sub folders e.g. Downloads but none of these showed up? It seems strange. Any help will greatly be appreciated, thanks

TWRP comes witha supersu zip and it will ask you to install it when you reboot from recovery. Do you see that prompt when you exit TWRP?

Yes, I followed your instructions and got to the prompt and hence tried to install but it seems to fail installation. It restarts pretty quick but the first line of the install fail always says, 'unable to mount data' then there are quite a few lines after that?

Did you install the latest version of TWRP?

Thanks Andrew, that was the exact problem. The link here has an old version and when I installed the latest version everything was smooth, thanks again!

Thankss Men Thanks very thaks hahaha Im worked whit a sprint version in android 4.4.2 :D

Thankss Men Thanks very thaks hahaha Im worked whit a sprint version in android 4.4.2 :D

i can't get past step 4. when i input fast boot oem getidentifiertoken it says command not found.

Fastboot has to be entered as one word.

Hi,
I have the same problem.
My phone is HTC ONE m7.
C:\Users\Ronce\AndroidStudioProjects\one\app> fastboot oem get/identifier/token (in / place I typing botom line)
'fastboot' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

Hello,

I have successfully

unlock my device ,but S-ON . please send steps.

Yeah I got a at&t unlocked phone from amazon but when i get to my bootloader screen on my phone it says locked. i just want to be able to use T-Mobile on it.

That locked means that the bootloader is locked, not carrier locked.

Hi,
I have a problem in 4'th step.
My phone is HTC ONE m7.
C:\Users\Ronce\AndroidStudioProjects\one\app> fastboot oem get/identifier/token (in / place I typing botom line)
'fastboot' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

What can I do?

Hi againn,
Now I can't pass step 12.
C:\Users\Ronce\AndroidStudioProjects\one\app>cd Desktop
The system cannot find the path specified.

You have to change that to which ever directory you stored the unlock token.

Hi

I've come across an issue while rooting my HTC One M7: I've followed the instructions and installed twrp and the rest of the instructions. However, when I reboot my phone, I cannot do anything because as soon as I unlock it i get a looping message that says "HTC Blinkfeed has stopped unexpectedly."

Try updating Blinkfeed to Sense Home though the Play Store and that should fix your issue.

Hey Andrew! I am trying to unlock the bootloader on my HTC One Max and ran into some trouble on step 4-5 on your post about doing this process. Whenever I type in "fastboot oem getidentifiertoken" into Terminal I get a "Command Not Found" Message. Sorry for the inconvenience. I really hope you can help me

have resolve the problem? i have the same problem!!!!

Hey Andrew!

I followed your instructions for unlocking, which worked perfectly by the way but I have two questions.

1) If I update to the new android Lollipop, will I "lose my unlock" sort of like how you lose your apple jailbreak after updating?

2) Recently, I've been getting a message saying "The SU binary needs to be updated. It gives me two options, Normal or TWRP (recommended). How do I go about updating without messing anything up?

Thanks for your help, you've been wonderful.

You will not be able to update through OTAs since you are rooted. As long as your grant super user permission to the app you can choose either option to update the binary.

Ok thanks. I clicked Normal and nothing really happened. I'm still getting that message when I restart my phone. How can I do it the other (TWRP) way? By the way, thanks in advance. You're awesome.

-PC

When you select TWRP it will download a zip file that can be flashed through TWRP.

Hello people,
I have a serious problem with my HTC One M7 dual sim.

I bought it from ebay but got something worse. It is a carrier aid phone but is unlocked. even i dont know which carrier it is. Now the main issue is volume button is not working. for answering a call I have to first say what I want and to hear what they are saying I need to turn on speaker but simultaneously Mic automatically turns off! I thought it might be software problem so I decided to Install custom rom or reinstall the same rom. But what I found now is Volume keys are also not working. Its not hardware problem! What to do now? ebay seller is not helping me. please help!

This definitely sounds like a hardware problem. If the seller does not want to refund your money you may want to file a claim with Ebay. If you'd rather keep the phone and just fix it you will need to contact HTC directly.

HTC says this phone is not registered with us. I filed a claim with ebay but it is taking time!
Isnt their any other way to go to fastboot mode?

The only other way to get to fastboot is to use ADB adb reboot bootlaoder. I do not recognize the carrier label, but once in fastboot mode you can see the CID and that will let you know which carrier it is attached to.

1) Currently have a 5.0.2. OS. Will the TWRP file change my OS or not be compatible with it??

I'm a bit confused during that part and i don't want to ruin my phone. Should I plug my phone into the computer while it's on (not in fastboot mode) and copy the zip SuperSu, then place it in fast boot mode and follow the steps to use TWRP?? Will downloading the zip file from my phone have the same effect??

I've read a few comments on other sites where ppl have accidentally deleted their OS during TWRP set up. How do I prevent that from happening??

Just make sure you download the latest version of TWRP to avoid any incompatibility issues. TWRP comes with a SuperSU zip already preloaded. It will ask you if you'd like to flash it once your exit TWRP and reboot your device into Sense. As long as you do not go into the TWRP Wipe menu you will not lose your OS.

Andrew, hoping you could bail me out of this one. I have an HTC One M7 (sprint) that I rooted and installed the superuser app and all has been working fine for over a year (thanks to all your inputs last summer). Today the phone starting a constant reboot mode. This was out of the blue. Woke up this AM and used the phone, put the phone in my pocket and has been unreliable since. Thinking about sending it back for repair. I guess I never created a backup (my fault). I just drained the battery completely. To see if that would help. Would reinstalling the superuser.zip file hurt. I was going to do a factory reset but I think that will more of less remove the OS. HTC said its 200 to 300 dollars to repair, still cheaper than a new phone. Any thoughts?

Did you install any new mods prior to the boot loop?

Hold off on this request. Never saw anything like this with the phone. Hold the up and down volume and power buttons simultaneously for three minutes then discharge the phone (just use it until dead). Recharge the phone fully after this and all works normally again. HTC said the battery log information was perhaps corrupted. Phone is back to nornmal.

Hi Andrew, I got all the way until step 8 of the TWRP recovery, but I'm stuck now: when I try to get into recovery, I do get the htc screen with the message in red letters (This is build is for developers only...) but then the phone tries to restart (and keeps trying), I never get into the TWRP. I tried the openrecovery-twrp-2.6.3.3-m7.img file and when that didn't work also the more recent openrecovery-twrp-2.8.5.0-m7.img. I have an HTC One S. My Sync manager doesn't recognise the phone so I just downloaded the SuperSU zip file onto the phone directly, so I don't know if I will be able to find the SuperSU once I'm in TWRP, but for now I can't get there at all. Could you please help me? Thanks in advance.

The HTC One S is a different phone than the M7. Repeat the flashing step and use this version of TWRP. Let me know if that works for you.

I runned the One S version of TWRP and it worked :) thanks

I need some help, when I do the 'fastboot flash recovery openrecovery-twrp-2.6.3.3-m7.img' command in cmd, it comes up with 'error: cannot load 'openrecovery-twrp-2.6.3.3-m7.img'. HELP!

Where did you place the TWRP image? You need to make sure the location at the end of the command matches wherever you placed that image file.

i have a problem at the twrp part. i set up the stuff and all but the instructions are unclear and what do i do after wards

help? att unlocked m7 running 4.4.2 mac. Phone is on fastboot mode, and debug enabled, and fastboot unchecked

everything worked apart from when the selected the slide function cant move so cant proceed to the next level

Hi Andrew, I got all the way until step 8 of the TWRP recovery, but I'm stuck now: when I try to get into recovery, the phone tries to restart (and keeps trying), I never get into the TWRP. I tried the openrecovery-twrp-2.6.3.3-m7.img file and when that didn't work also the more recent openrecovery-twrp-2.8.5.0-m7.img. I have an HTC One Max. Could you please help?

This is meant for the One, not the One Max. Your TWRP will be different depending on which model you have.

Hi! Maybe you can help me somehow. I have an M8 model. I tried to unlock bootloader with htcdev method. All the process works, in fastboot say bootloader unlocked, but in reality my bootloader is still locked. I must say I think that usb debugging is not enabled, and I can't do that. Because phone is stuck in "decrypt storage, to start the android type password" I wiped data factory, cache, but nothing. Only access is fastboot mode and recovery.

Hiya, Womderful Tutorial. Been having trouble getting this all to work on an HTC One Mini that is bricked and locked. Everything seems to work but I get no screeen asking me if I want to unlock bootloader.

C:\Android-adb>fastboot flash unlocktoken Unlock_code.bin
target reported max download size of 800227328 bytes
sending 'unlocktoken' (0 KB)...
OKAY 0.156s
writing 'unlocktoken'...
(bootloader) unlock token check successfully
OKAY 0.031s
finished. total time: 0.188s

Also tried flashing a stock ROM but that gets alot of the way through then gives error 17 saying there is a connection error.

Going round in circles. Phone won't unlock. Any ideas. Thanx.

Andrew, I need your help, I unlocked my htc one , but when I tried root it, after installing the zip file successfully and pressing restart after it, my phone does not turn on anymore, I can only access the menu pressing power button and volume down, it is flagged with tampered, I don't know how to restore my phone. please help me.

I keep getting this message :-/

C:\Users\trevo\Fastboot>fastboot flash unlocktoken Unlockcode.bin
target reported max download size of 1826414592 bytes
error: cannot load 'Unlockcode.bin': No error

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