Please read this BEFORE you try to root.

[Matth3w]

A lot of the guides out there teach you how to upgrade to this or that ROM, some people give good instructions, some are pretty vague, and some are amazing.

Rather than typing the same answers to the same questions over and over to users trying to root their Droid, I wanted to compile a quick list of things that tends to trip new rooters up. I see it in just about every single thread.

One thing you need to remember is this - if by following the instructions provided you can't root, you are doing something wrong. Most likely there is nothing wrong with the phone, software, rom, zip file, etc...it's 99.999999999% a user error of some sort, such as mistyping something in the terminal emulator, another app conflicting with the terminal emulator, or various other things. I want to cover the three most seen problems:

First things first...use this guide to obtain root. It's idiot proof, the file works and is there, etc etc. Don't follow any other guides...this is KNOWN to work, with no issues. Just follow the first 33 steps which will get you where you need to be without an actual rom installed.

http://www.droidforums.net/forum/dro...lator-zip.html

Ok, now here are the top three things that trip people up:

1. Please learn and understand what the ROOT means. Not root as in rooting your Droid, but root as in the ROOT of the directory. In the computer world, root essentially means "home" or "base" or "beginning". Therefore, C:\ is the ROOT of your C: drive. So if you are in C:\Windows, you are NOT in the root of your C: drive. Consequently, when we talk about putting the update.zip file in the ROOT of your SDCARD, that means the base part of the card. Not /sdcard/root, not /sdcard/tools...no...if your Astro File Manager doesn't say ONLY /sdcard at the top, you are not in the root of your SDCARD. Also, if you mount the phone to your computer it will create a new drive...on my computer it names the Droid I:\. So the root of my SD CARD is I:\. Simple. So when I put the update.zip file into the ROOT of the SDCARD, I can simply drag and drop update.zip into I:\. Not I:\tools, not I:\[insert folder name here]. Simply I:\ nothing more. The equivalent of doing this on your Droid is thinking of the /sdcard as c:\ (or the root). If you drag a file just to C: in Windows Explorer...then click on C:...you will see a TON of folders, then at the bottom, just a few files that are actually in the ROOT of the C: drive. This is the equivalent of where you want your update.zip file on your SDCARD.

2. The second biggest thing is people are incorrectly naming their file. It says to put update.zip into the root of the SD CARD.. However, some people are downloading update.zip with the option "hide file types for known extensions" and so when they look at the file all they see is "update" (because windows hides the .zip from you because it knows what to do with that file extension). So now people think the file is just called update and they need to rename it to update.zip. What they don't realize is that it is already called update.zip, and Windows is hiding the .zip from you. So when you rename it, you actually are renaming the file to update.zip.zip. The quickest way to check to make sure the file is CORRECTLY named update.zip is to right click the file and go to properties. In the top box it should say update.zip, not update.zip.zip. The way you can tell that you have this option enabled, is in Windows Explorer, go to Tools > Folder Options > View (tab) and scroll down and you will see "Hide file extensions for known file types". If that is checked, your update.zip will show up just as update (with the .zip hidden from your view).

3. The last thing, and one of the most common but the least common of the three, is trying to install a ROM that requires the SPRecovery (SPR) with the update.zip, but without SPR. The process in which you must take to get rooted and then install a ROM is to FIRST root your Droid with update.zip, install SPR, then update to the new ROM with a DIFFERENT update.zip. So let's say I am trying to install Bugless Beast, for example. If I take the update.zip file from Bugless Beast ROM, and try to install it using the STANDARD recovery console without being rooted FIRST, it will give me an error because Bugless Beast MUST be installed with the SPR, and you can't install SPR until you are rooted. How do you know if you are rooted? You will have the little ninja icon that says Superuser Permissions in the App Drawer. If you don't have this, you can't install SPR, and therefore you can't install Bugless Beast. And how do you know if you are using the SPR or the standard (OEM) recovery console? With the standard recovery console you are required to hit the up volume and camera button when you see the exclamation point. With SPR, it will automatically boot into the SPR when you hold down X and the power button, you won't have to hit the camera and volume up button.

4. Another thing that I'm not sure if people are not understanding or if this is even a common problem yet...but when it says to hit enter, hit the enter button, NOT the gold button in the center of the directional pad. The enter key is located DIRECTLY under the delete key on the physical keyboard. Also make sure you are paying attention to the minute details when typing in the terminal emulator. For example, "-" is not the same as "_", make sure you don't put spaces where there are none (for example, -o remount,rw has no spaces after the comma), make sure you spell everything perfect. If you don't, even if one character is off, it won't work.

5. If you are getting "flash_image not found" but are pretty sure you have done everything else correct, you can try this solution: http://www.droidforums.net/forum/dro...tml#post195545

6. Last things last, this isn't a problem so much as it is something that people ask over and over and over and over and over and over again...if you use the update.zip file instead of the Nandroid Backup file, you will NOT - I say again - NOT, lose your apps, shortcuts, contacts, etc.

7. Click here if you are getting Nandroid Errors when using the Nandroid Restore method: http://www.droidforums.net/forum/tec...ror-codes.html


If I see more common problems I will add them, but for now I wanted to update you guys with the three most common problems so I don't have to keep typing the same thing over and over, we can just direct you here.

Keep trying, you will figure it out soon enough. Just remember, if it's not working, you probably did something wrong (skipped a step, mistyped something, messed up the file name, etc). But we're here to help, and we will get you rooted if you want.

[G8TR]

What a great thread for people without a clue or background in computers.

[Matth3w]

Maybe we could get this stickied or something so that people don't keep making these same mistakes over and over and getting super frustrated at the phone, themselves, etc.

[Matth3w]

Everyone let me know if my first post makes sense. Some of these things are somewhat hard to describe.

[agent42o]

Maybe we could get this stickied or something so that people don't keep making these same mistakes over and over and getting super frustrated at the phone, themselves, etc.

Good post, I am glad you emphasized SPRecovery, it seems people assume that the update.zip on a rom is the same as they used to root their phone.

[Matth3w]

Yeah, I've noticed this as well....and I actually made a similar mistake my first time trying to install a ROM....I didn't have SPR installed and tried to install Bugless Beast and couldn't figure out what the problem. I was rooted, but I didn't have SPR installed.

[jcardona1]

great info for somebody like me thanks! gonna try BB later today

[wuyanks]

good job Matth3w with that breakdown. i notice people having these errors thread after thread; i just shake my head and move on. but good job taking your time to do this

[Matth3w]

great info for somebody like me thanks! gonna try BB later today

Good luck!

good job Matth3w with that breakdown. i notice people having these errors thread after thread; i just shake my head and move on. but good job taking your time to do this

It's easy for them to not only get frustrated with the phone/themselves, but for people already rooted to forget how it was to tackle rooting for the first time and get frustrated with the OP because you are typing the same info out over and over. So perhaps we can just refer them to this thread before they root to they are on the lookout for these specific errors to save everyone (especially themselves) the headache of screwing up

[pc747]

thanks that is a post i think that should be sticky. Good job