All in 1: Manual update and Root the Droid

[P3Droid]

First update phone to 2.0.1 either manually or via Verizon OTA push.

1) Just download this file from your droid browser
update.zip

2) using a file manager (astro file manager works great) move the file from the download folder to the sd root folder.

3) Open your phone's keyboard. Hold down the letter X key on the keyboard and power your phone on WHILE HOLDING THIS KEY DOWN. You will see the Motorola logo, followed by a graphic with an ! mark on it. At this time let go of the X key and the power button. Press and hold the Volume + key on the side of your phone, then press the camera button while holding the Volume + key.

Now you will be presented with a menu. Navigate to "update" using the D-pad, and click the middle button. Now wait for the process to finish.

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These directions are courtesy of Jarek

Now do the following. Download the following files as well.
http://developer.android.com/sdk/download.html?v=android-sdk_r04-windows.zip
AND
http://www.magicandroidapps.com/su.zip
AND
http://www.smilepak.com/temp/Droid_USB_Driver.zip


Once you have all these files downloaded, extract them all into a new folder at C:\Android

You should now connect your Droid to your computer and Mount the SD Card through the phone (A dialogue will pop up on your phone asking to connect your SD Card. Click Mount)

Courtesy of Fadelight:
(go to Device Manager. There you will see your droid (A855) with a yellow "!" next to it. Right click. Select "Update driver" and point it to the android folder. That is where the drivers are.) You may not need these drivers try to first without them.

Once your phone powers back on Go to Settings->Applications->Development and check the USB Debugging checkbox.

Connect your Droid to the Computer again.

Click Start on your computer, and click run. Type cmd in the box, and hit ok. Now type the following, pressing Enter after each line:

cd c:\Android\tools

adb push su /data/local

adb shell

su

mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system

cd /system/bin

mv su osu

cat /data/local/su > su

chmod 6755 su

ls -l *su
(you should see the following)
-rwsr-sr-x root root 76200 2008-08-01 05:00 osu
-rwsr-sr-x root root 76200 2009-05-30 11:28 su
(now continue typing these following lines to finish)

sync

reboot

You're done!


Once you have rooted your phone you are going to want to download the following app from the marketplace. Android Terminal Emulator.

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Do not blame me if you brick your phone, I used this method and all of the files above to root my device. let me know if you have any questions.

 

[Backnblack]

This should be stickied and locked!

 

[bbcrackman]

P3 I thank you for this, just made it a little easier for all. Nice work.

 

[JohnDroid]

Thanks for the howto!

 

[P3Droid]

edited..removed my comments.

 

[civEX]

Courtesy of Fadelight:

(go to Device Manager. There you will see your droid (A855) with a yellow "!" next to it. Right click. Select "Update driver" and point it to the android folder. That is where the drivers are.)

[Now does the "Update driver" reboot you cellphone after it updates drivers? Would you unmount and unplug the phone after the update then do the bottom step and plug and mount for the commands?]

Once your phone powers back on Go to Settings->Applications->Development and check the USB Debugging checkbox.

 

[P3Droid]

Courtesy of Fadelight:

(go to Device Manager. There you will see your droid (A855) with a yellow "!" next to it. Right click. Select "Update driver" and point it to the android folder. That is where the drivers are.)

[Now does the "Update driver" reboot you cellphone after it updates drivers? Would you unmount and unplug the phone after the update then do the bottom step and plug and mount for the commands?]

Once your phone powers back on Go to Settings->Applications->Development and check the USB Debugging checkbox.

No, installing the drivers will have no impact on your phone. You should unplug and replug in your phone if it is not recognized.

 

[big erick]

where exactly is the device manager located?

 

[noles200]

I am still trying to understand this rooting thing. So can the Moto Droid 2.0.1 be rooted and put onto a Droid Eris?

 

[P3Droid]

where exactly is the device manager located?

This is in your control panel, settings -->you only need to do this if your computer does not recognize your phone. So far on three computers they have all recongnized the phone without needing to do this.

 

[tktouch12]

great guide, if you manually update, will you no long recive the automatic updates?

 

[Alcapwn89]

great guide, if you manually update, will you no long recive the automatic updates?

If you manually update, you should still receive automatic updates.

However, if you ROOT your phone, you will no longer receive automatic updates.

 

[big erick]

everything goes good until i put cd/system/bin..... I can see the system file and see the bin has su in it, is the file in the wrong place or something? it gives me an error system bin not found.

 

[phreakaj]

If I already got the ota update do I need to manually apply update.zip or can I root with my update??

 

[thetruth]

Thanks for the awesome write up. It was very helpful.