Much simpler guide for rooting (no pc required)

[Eousphoros]

So if your like me, the idea of having to use a computer to root your phone just seems like to much of a hassle to bother with. Well good news everyone! I now have a method for rooting that shiny new phone from the phone itself.

So first things first, go get the usual suspects

rageagainstthecage-arm5.bin
su
Superuser.apk
Some sort of terminal emulator, there are a couple of free ones in the market.
And until myself or someone who is less lazy rolls a version of rage that doesn't check for adb you will have to enable USB debugging.

Settiings -> applications -> development -> USB debugging.

The links for these guys are in this forum and I'm lazy. Now get those guys on your phone however best you see fit. Most likely they will end up in /sdcard or /sdcard/downloads. Finally, here is the meat.
* EDIT: any line below that starts with a * is optional

- open up your favorite terminal emulator program
- cd /tmp
- cp /sdcard/rage*.bin /tmp/
- chmod 777 rage*.bin
- ./rage*.bin
- ignore it's output, we are thinking outside of the box here, just wait for it to finish and return a $
- now go to settings -> applications -> manage applications -> running -> terminal and force close that girlie
- relaunch the terminal app and you should be greeted with the friendly # symbol. Toda you now have a root shell
- the rest is pretty much the same.
- mount -o rw,remount -t ext3 /dev/block/mmcblk1p21 /system
- cp /sdcard/Superuser.apk /system/app/Superuser.apk
- cp /sdcard/su /system/bin/su
* cp /sdcard/busybox /system/bin/busybox
- chmod 4755 /system/bin/su
* chmod 4755 /system/bin/busybox
- mount -o ro,remount -t ext3 /dev/block/mmcblk1p21 /system
- exit

Once your all done, go ahead and reboot your phone. Good luck and happy hacking. If I get bored I'll explain why this works, if I get really bored I'll turn this into a one click app

* EDIT: Undoing the damage, if you decide to unroot.

- open your trusty terminal app
- you should see a $ symbol, now do the following
- su
- now you should see a # symbol
- mount -o rw,remount -t ext3 /dev/block/mmcblk1p21 /system
- rm /system/app/Superuser.apk
- rm /system/bin/su
* rm /system/bin/busybox
- mount -o ro,remount -t ext3 /dev/block/mmcblk1p21 /system
- reboot your phone. Toda, no more root

 

[phartwig]

would love the one clock app. I just came from the droid 1 and loved the simplicity of its rooting. Really nervous with the command prompt stuff for the 2.

 

[pool_shark]

I couldn't get the adb stuff to work.
I prefer the command line, I'm use to that.

 

[hyatari]

Dude the adb methods really no big deal. If you can't handle simple instructions you probably shouldn't root your phone in the first place. Besides, you might actually learn something for future reference.

 

[AngDroid]

Worked like a charm. I think you would be doing everyone a big favor by making a one click app

 

[christim]

would love the one clock app. I just came from the droid 1 and loved the simplicity of its rooting. Really nervous with the command prompt stuff for the 2.

Don't be nervous, it isn't too hard.
I see folks have problems with both methods. There are tons of posts here of folks who clicked a button, sat back to wait, then went and created a thread asking for help because they got stuck.

The command line stuff comes down to:

type in the line
slap the enter key
repeat until out of lines

Knowing what each line does helps too. The first word of each line are all linux commands and can be searched out on the net.

If you didn't want to type that all on the phone then you can learn how to run a script file (simple instructions here: How to Create a Simple Shell Script on Linux) and make one for each of the above steps. That cuts down on in-phone typing for you.

Good guide Eousphoros. I'm in the camp that likes steps laid out right where you can see them, not hidden behind a button.

 

[phartwig]

Dude the adb methods really no big deal. If you can't handle simple instructions you probably shouldn't root your phone in the first place. Besides, you might actually learn something for future reference.

Oh I can handle them just fine it just makes me nervous. Im not rich and cant afford a new phone should I brick it. The droid 1 just to me seemed easier.

 

[pool_shark]

Dude the adb methods really no big deal. If you can't handle simple instructions you probably shouldn't root your phone in the first place. Besides, you might actually learn something for future reference.

Don't insult me when you don't even know what happened.

I kept getting the error command not recognized. I added it to my path, it still didn't work. I didn't have an adb.exe, it isn't anywhere on my PC.

I use root on a daily basis at work. I have built more AIX lpars than you have hairs on your head.
I use lpar mobility between 2 P520's and a P750 with 6 different VIO servers, every single lpar is virtualized and built from the NIM server that I built.

 

[christim]

Dude the adb methods really no big deal. If you can't handle simple instructions you probably shouldn't root your phone in the first place. Besides, you might actually learn something for future reference.

Oh I can handle them just fine it just makes me nervous. Im not rich and cant afford a new phone should I brick it. The droid 1 just to me seemed easier.

What was always key to me was having a path back to undo that which I was about to do. Having "do-overs" is cool. That way if you do mess up you have a fallback plan. My d1 is still rocking on btw. I'm hoping it lasts another year without going on the fritz.

 

[pool_shark]

I can finally take screenshots.

Thanks Eousphoros.

 

[hookbill]

Question for the OP why are there commands for busy box? Can't an installation of busy box occur once you've rooted your phone and installed Titanium? I'm just thinking that if there is a way to take additional code out of there that might be it.

I think my fear is there is no back up that is done like with SPRecovery. And can you overclock this puppy if I did root?

The fact that you do it all on your phone makes it interesting. I may consider it.

 

[evilsock]

wow beats the pants of my how to, bravo.

 

[pool_shark]

wow beats the pants of my how to, bravo.

Yours helped many people too.

 

[evilsock]

i wasnt upset. hell thats what these forums are for. were about an app away from one click root on D2,DX.. woohooo!

 

[phartwig]

Yeah thats what is holding me back right now. SPr was wondeful for the one time I messed up and my phone went tits up. Installed fresh stock rom rooted again and continued. I want to root but want that security to restart over should my phone dislike what I did.