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[Q] When should I root/unlock my phone? (Help me assess risk)

Hi, I'm looking for advice on when (not how) to root/unlock my phone. I'm coming from the "unbrickable" Captivate, and I really miss the peace of mind that came along with that. Here's my situation: I used to be a software developer, so the command prompt doesn't scare me, and I can follow directions carefully. However, I really cannot risk bricking my phone--I can't afford to waste extra money or spend time without a phone just because I wanted to tinker (the married folks will understand).
I've been following the dev forum for the last month. Originally I had decided to just leave my phone bone stock until there was a reliable and time-tested root/unlock method. But the idea of a "window" in which to unlock the bootloader has me a little bit spooked. Could I miss my chance? I also know there's no working root for 1.85 (I'm on 1.73). Is it possible that when AT&T pushes the official OTA, whenever that is, that I could be stuck without root? Or is it just a matter of devs being motivated to do it once everyone is there?
Finally, is there any bricking risk to simply rooting my phone, and not trying to mess with the bootloader? I would at least like to get ad blocking back on.
Thanks for any advice, it's much appreciated.

There is always risk, it can not be avoided.
No mater how careful you are something can go wrong.
Me I look at the risk vs reward.
The only issue I have for example is the phone once I put it into Airplane mode locks into Airplane mode, intermittantly.
No ROM I know says this bug is fixed, and even if there is a fix is it worthwhile for me to take a chance?
..... I am waiting so far seen no compelling reason to root my device.

AstroDigital said:
There is always risk, it can not be avoided.
No mater how careful you are something can go wrong.
Me I look at the risk vs reward.
The only issue I have for example is the phone once I put it into Airplane mode locks into Airplane mode, intermittantly.
No ROM I know says this bug is fixed, and even if there is a fix is it worthwhile for me to take a chance?
..... I am waiting so far seen no compelling reason to root my device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply. Yes, it's all about "risk vs. reward". I'm pretty clear on the "reward" part: rooting lets me block ads and run a few other nice things like tethering, memory management tweaks, etc., and unlocking the bootloader lets me install a custom recovery and third-party ROMs which, for me, will be pretty important to my long-term satisfaction.
What I'm looking for is specific and reliable advice on the "risk" side of the equation, both for rooting and for unlocking, and for waiting to do either of those. In particular, is there a risk that if I wait too long to unlock, I'll end up stuck with it locked forever? I guess it wouldn't matter so much, since dev support would probably dry up in that scenario, but it's something I've been worrying about. This is only my second Android phone.

1.73 is the best place you can be In my opinion for rooting and unlocking. Kennethpenn's one click root for our phone is stupid simple to use. The One click SuperCID is the same. Stupid simple, but I havn't really needed any reason to unlock really. I've unlocked but havn't flashed any roms or anything or even installed recovery yet.

The "window" too unlock/root your device is pretty much before you upgrade to 1.85. With all the one-click scripts available there's a lot less risk than if you had to say, copy/paste or type out all the commands yourself, but again there's always risk.
As long as you root, unlock your bootloader, AND install with CWM Recovery or TWRP BEFORE you upgrade to 1.85 then you're good.
As long as you're SuperCID, you can reunlock using HTCDev (I used the same unlock token that was provided when I was on 1.73...may or may not work for all though). Since you installed a custom recovery before upgrading, you can flash SU and have it manually update the binary and boom, you're rooted again.
Just be sure to follow all instructions to the letter. The only insanely risky part was changing the CID manually (I spent a good 5 minutes staring at my hex editor to make sure things were right), but there's a one click for that now.

yes. while your on 1.73, do the supercid and get the unlock token from HTCDev. keep this token!!!! forever even, as you will be able to use it again and again to relock and reunlock bootloader. as long as you know what you are doing, i'd recommend you go ahead root unlock bootloader, relock, ruu to 1.85, and reunlock. devs are starting to spit out some really cool stuff.

Thanks guys, that's exactly the kind of advice I'm looking for. One more question: I know around the time that the BL unlock was first achieved, there was some worry that HTC would "patch" it, or do something, so that it would stop working. Is that worry justified, or can I count on being able to unlock whenever I choose as long as I'm still on 1.73?
Edit: ethantarheels123 answered exactly this before I even got done typing it. Awesome!

Tinyboss said:
Is it possible that when AT&T pushes the official OTA, whenever that is, that I could be stuck without root? Or is it just a matter of devs being motivated to do it once everyone is there?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If AT&T pushes out 1.85 as an OTA and you install it, then you will be stuck without root and without bootloader unlock (unless AT&T also decides to unlock the bootloader officially). Devs coming up with a new root method is always possible, but I wouldn't count on it. A lot of people are already rooted, superCID and unlocked bootloader on 1.85. So not sure how much interest there will be on rooting 1.85 when other things are higher priority (S-Off, custom ROMs, kernels), even if 1.85 gets pushed out as an OTA.
The one-click root method is ridiculous simple, and not much can go wrong. If for some reason anything goes wrong, you can just run the RUU to get back to stock. One clock SuperCID is also simple, with little risk as well. As mentioned, everything has a risk. But if you use these methods to root and unlock, it seems the risk is quite small. If root privileges, and the ability to flash custom ROMs is important to you, I'd say the odds are highly in your favor. If not, and you are thinking of doing it just in case the "window" closes, than that's a tougher call to make, and its up to you to judge.
---------- Post added at 12:31 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:27 PM ----------
Tinyboss said:
Thanks guys, that's exactly the kind of advice I'm looking for. One more question: I know around the time that the BL unlock was first achieved, there was some worry that HTC would "patch" it, or do something, so that it would stop working. Is that worry justified, or can I count on being able to unlock whenever I choose as long as I'm still on 1.73?
Edit: ethantarheels123 answered exactly this before I even got done typing it. Awesome!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is always the possibility that HTC may plug the hole by which SuperCID allows you to get an unlock token. Whether they will or not, who knows.
Also keep in mind that keeping the token to reuse does not always work. It worked for me, but not other people. So no guarantees.

I'm on 1.73 and I'm rooted only. (I'm also married and love this stuff but just don't have time to be redoing over and over and/or getting stuck). For now, root is enough for me and from what I've seen, there isn't much reason to rush into unlocking bootloader. Most things are WIPs or unoffical ports or have a list of "stuff not working" which makes it pointless unless you are into that beta experience.
Root is awesome and when the other stuff becomes official or fully working, I'll get do that stuff too.

Proper way to go about rooting

Okay so I just received my brand new M8 through Amazon and luckily it came shipped with 4.4.2 out of the box.
I may or may not want to install roms as of yet, but I at least want root to remove the bloatware. What's the best way to go about achieving that and to updating to 4.4.4 while maintaining root?

The two exploits for the m8 (firewater and sunshine) both unlock the bootloader and turn s-off. Firewater is free and only works on some 4.4.2 devices. Sunshine is SUPER easy, costs $25 (I think) and works on 4.4.3 or lower and is expected to be updated soon to work with 4.4.4.
Once s-off you should find (at a minimum) the pinned threads for details on flashing recovery and the super user/super su binaries.
Newbie (not intended to be insulting) advice: it sounds like you have a lot of reading to do. While your question is reasonable, it implies that there's a lot you may not know and gaining s-off opens parts of your phone that you can really screw up. Read read read everything you can BEFORE flashing anything.
Welcome to the m8.

RemnantKing2 said:
Okay so I just received my brand new M8 through Amazon and luckily it came shipped with 4.4.2 out of the box.
I may or may not want to install roms as of yet, but I at least want root to remove the bloatware. What's the best way to go about achieving that and to updating to 4.4.4 while maintaining root?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Definitely don't take the OTA update to 4.4.4 until you've got s-off and root. They fine folks haven't cracked that nut yet. If I recall correctly, I used the weaksauce/firewater method. This is the guide I used: link. I'm pretty sure my device was on 4.4.2 when I bought it just a few weeks ago, but I'm not 100% certain. In any event, as long as you're not on 4.4.4 you're good.
As for getting to 4.4.4 once s-off, I flashed CleanROM and it's been running like a champ. Any 4.4.4 ROM you flash is going to require a firmware update. Firmwares can be found here.

http://theroot.ninja
Here is the sunshine link in case firewater doesn't work. Instructions and how to's are in there I believe.

cntryby429 said:
The two exploits for the m8 (firewater and sunshine) both unlock the bootloader and turn s-off. Firewater is free and only works on some 4.4.2 devices. Sunshine is SUPER easy, costs $25 (I think) and works on 4.4.3 or lower and is expected to be updated soon to work with 4.4.4.
Once s-off you should find (at a minimum) the pinned threads for details on flashing recovery and the super user/super su binaries.
Newbie (not intended to be insulting) advice: it sounds like you have a lot of reading to do. While your question is reasonable, it implies that there's a lot you may not know and gaining s-off opens parts of your phone that you can really screw up. Read read read everything you can BEFORE flashing anything.
Welcome to the m8.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I feel where the OP is coming from. I've gained root/s-off on 6 different HTC devices to date and just about all of them have some new or different twists from the last. I've found it's best not to make assumptions with an unfamiliar device and to ask clear, concise questions. I'm sure his OP will answer the same question lots of people will have in the coming weeks.

loonatik78 said:
I feel where the OP is coming from. I've gained root/s-off on 6 different HTC devices to date and just about all of them have some new or different twists from the last. I've found it's best not to make assumptions with an unfamiliar device and to ask clear, concise questions. I'm sure his OP will answer the same question lots of people will have in the coming weeks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's just that HTC is new and to me seems a bit more complicated than Samsung. I am used to Samsung and having Odin makes things way easier. But i'll definitely give it a shot, thank you guys.

Did you get firewater to work for you ?

RemnantKing2 said:
It's just that HTC is new and to me seems a bit more complicated than Samsung. I am used to Samsung and having Odin makes things way easier. But i'll definitely give it a shot, thank you guys.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've worked on a number of Samsungs. HTC's are a bit more complicated,but I strongly prefer HTC for a number of reasons.

Should I root and unlock

I just got this phone and debating if I should root and unlock this phone. I'm a big fan of CM. I traded a friend for this phone. I used to have a gs5 and touchwiz was driving me crazy and that it could not be unlocked. This phone is way better. I have been rooting and unlocking since the days of the htc eris. I'll never buy another Samsung phone again. Sorry for the dumb post.

So do you have a question? Or what's the point behind the post

Yes, you should root and unlock. I have flashed more than a few roms on this pbone, but I have been on stock rooted for a couple months now. Mostly because it has the least amount of issues and most consistent performance. I got it all tweaked up though. IMO HTC did a great job on the stock ROM but to each there own.
And another big plus is that you can easily unroot and relock your phone back to 100% stock state (thankfully we have all the most recent stock ROM ruu's). So really as long as you know what your doing which it sounds like you do, you can only gain by rooting/s-off

No, wait a few weeks first so you know the phone works. You don't want to be those guys that spam issues in rom threads only to find out it's your phone and not the rom.
A rule of thumb I always follow is make sure it runs properly before you start modding. (Cars, phones, computers, etc.)

the real question is why wouldn't you unlock an S-OFF - full control over YOUR device for only $25 AND you can always go back to S-ON. :good:

I tried to unlock the boot loader through HTC Dev with no luck. My boot loader says ***software status*** Modified
***Locked**
He was running the phone on T-Mobile. I was wondering if he had it flashed to T-Mobile to work. Any Ideas!!

Never mind I just used sunshine apk and worked. Thank god

Bootloader still says modified. Only getting temp root, but s off

Droid0351 said:
Bootloader still says modified. Only getting temp root, but s off
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To get permanent root you will need to install a custom recovery and flash the supersu.zip and that will get you full root. You can then get rid of the temp root by uninstalling the apk

I figured it out. Its been awhile since I rooted and s-off. I already fixed the bootloader saying modified. Had to connect it to htcsync and do a repair. Thanks guys. I'm enjoying cm again.

Ways to get root on 5.0 LP

So what is the easiest way to root stock VZW LP 5.0?? I HAVE read around in the the forums for quite a bit but with all the updates going on to the software and with Sunshine 3.0 recently getting released, I haven't been able to find a solid answer.
I have held off updating, so I am completely stock on 4.4.4, with temp root via Weaksauce. I really only want root to run "Wifi tether router" for when I need it, and maybe uninstall some bloatware, otherwise I actually like stock just the way it is.
I know the update "breaks" root, and there isn't a way as of now to root 5.0, but then I see lots of people that have updated that are rooted.. So if anyone could be so kind as to explain how they are doing that, I would love to know. Is there maybe a Weaksauce 3.0 temproot on the horizon. I would be fine just running the update and waiting on that too as it's really not that big of a deal to go without it for a whlie. Thanks

baune7 said:
So what is the easiest way to root stock VZW LP 5.0?? I HAVE read around in the the forums for quite a bit but with all the updates going on to the software and with Sunshine 3.0 recently getting released, I haven't been able to find a solid answer.
I have held off updating, so I am completely stock on 4.4.4, with temp root via Weaksauce. I really only want root to run "Wifi tether router" for when I need it, and maybe uninstall some bloatware, otherwise I actually like stock just the way it is.
I know the update "breaks" root, and there isn't a way as of now to root 5.0, but then I see lots of people that have updated that are rooted.. So if anyone could be so kind as to explain how they are doing that, I would love to know. Is there maybe a Weaksauce 3.0 temproot on the horizon. I would be fine just running the update and waiting on that too as it's really not that big of a deal to go without it for a whlie. Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's currently no way to unlock the bootloader of an m8 with the lollipop update and s-on. To really root (permanent, not temp weaksauce) you need a custom recovery. What you need to do in your situation is turn s-off while you still have 4.4.4. This is done with sunshine which will turn s-off and unlocks your bootloader. Then you can take the ota. Once on lollipop, since you are still unlocked, you can flash a custom recovery and then flash the binaries from within recovery to give you root access. That well be a "real root" which will persist through a reboot.

now that Jcase has released Sunshine 3.0, and most are having good luck with it, couldn't I take the update, run Sunshine 3.0 sometime later, install a custom recovery, then flash SuperSU from that? Or does it only provide S-off and not unlock the bootloader?

baune7 said:
now that Jcase has released Sunshine 3.0, and most are having good luck with it, couldn't I take the update, run Sunshine 3.0 sometime later, install a custom recovery, then flash SuperSU from that? Or does it only provide S-off and not unlock the bootloader?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you take the update sunshine3.0 will NOT work.

Sunshine now supports HTC One M8 5.0.1 without kingroot

Thought this was big enough to stand on it's own, rather than reply to the multiple threads on this topic. With the release of Version 3.2.1:
Merged Droid Turbo Support into main release
Added new root for Droid Turbo (no more mofo/kingroot needed)
Added new root for Some HTC (like m8, no more htcdev/kingroot needed)
Removed 626s support for now
During the initial run, they now have a "temp root" selection, which eliminates the need for kingroot (i'm assuming). I just s-offed my HTC 5.0.1 version phone without kingroot, so enjoy!

patrickt333 said:
Thought this was big enough to stand on it's own, rather than reply to the multiple threads on this topic. With the release of Version 3.2.1:
Merged Droid Turbo Support into main release
Added new root for Droid Turbo (no more mofo/kingroot needed)
Added new root for Some HTC (like m8, no more htcdev/kingroot needed)
Removed 626s support for now
During the initial run, they now have a "temp root" selection, which eliminates the need for kingroot (i'm assuming). I just s-offed my HTC 5.0.1 version phone without kingroot, so enjoy!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
after that do u know how to permanently root?

Vicentedroid said:
after that do u know how to permanently root?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sunshine = S-OFF = permanent root

It's probably early still, but can anyone tell me if we still need to downgrade our Lollipop version (S-ON) for this to work? Either way, I already planned to s-off this weekend, if no one else has tried either by then, I'll give it a shot and report back.
Thanks for all your hard work devs!!!

gettinwicked said:
It's probably early still, but can anyone tell me if we still need to downgrade our Lollipop version (S-ON) for this to work? Either way, I already planned to s-off this weekend, if no one else has tried either by then, I'll give it a shot and report back.
Thanks for all your hard work devs!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No downgrade needed. I did it on 5.0.1 without kingroot.

patrickt333 said:
No downgrade needed. I did it on 5.0.1 without kingroot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sweet! That makes me even happier! I've been putting doing this off, and I'm kinda glad I did now, this is going to be a ton easier! Thanks everyone!

Need Help
I haven't Rooted a phone since my old Droid X. I took the leap, did the S-Off with Sunshine, that went well. Now I'm faltering, been watching all the videos on the Forum and cant see where i'm failing. I installed TWRP manager able to get into HBOOT and Recovery. but whenever I try to run SuperSu it says i'm not Rooted.
Did I skip a step ?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Lyodster said:
I haven't Rooted a phone since my old Droid X. I took the leap, did the S-Off with Sunshine, that went well. Now I'm faltering, been watching all the videos on the Forum and cant see where i'm failing. I installed TWRP manager able to get into HBOOT and Recovery. but whenever I try to run SuperSu it says i'm not Rooted.
Did I skip a step ?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You just need to flash supersu.zip in twrp. That installs the binaries needed for supersu app to work.
Sent from my SM-T810 using Tapatalk

I saw this the other day, sweet news for us! My M8 is currently in the repair shop for a new USB board, wore out. When it's back I'm doing S-Off and using it over my Note 5. Will report back on how it went, hate being without root on both my Note 4 and Note 5! Stoked! It's Verizon so I couldn't use HTCDev and it killed me.

Yes, been waiting for this for quite a while. I ran sunshine on Christmas day and finally got my HTC One M8 s-off and rooted.
I flashed TWRP then tried out nusense7 which was nice. But I'm now on CM13 nightly builds and they have been great so far. It is nice to have rooted phone again.

So glad I'm a procrastinator too
:good:
gettinwicked said:
Sweet! That makes me even happier! I've been putting doing this off, and I'm kinda glad I did now, this is going to be a ton easier! Thanks everyone!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Thanks for bringing this up, I just did this weekend but the first try the temp root didn't work and the device rebooted, but try it again if this happens to you as well because the next try it all worked

I wanted to check back in just to be another testimony that it truly does in fact work now!! It was so easy, I tried this about a month ago after I first saw this thread, it didn't take... Prob just needed to try it second time around. So, I got distracted on other things for a while & figured I would give it a shot. Worked perfectly first go round... only thing is I haven't gotten my phone rooted yet (a work in progress) as I said before I get distracted easily

M-FayeHTC said:
I wanted to check back in just to be another testimony that it truly does in fact work now!! It was so easy, I tried this about a month ago after I first saw this thread, it didn't take... Prob just needed to try it second time around. So, I got distracted on other things for a while & figured I would give it a shot. Worked perfectly first go round... only thing is I haven't gotten my phone rooted yet (a work in progress) as I said before I get distracted easily
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Congrats on freeing your phone. :good:
As for root, if you flash a custom ROM, root will come with the ROM.
If you want to stay on stock you can flash TWRP custom recovery then flash latest stable version of SuperSU in TWRP.
Link to latest SuperSU
[STABLE][2016.02.02] SuperSU v2.65
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1538053

Successfully S-Off'd both of my HTC One M8's with SunShine! Worth every dollar. $50 well spent! (On both)

verizon htc m8 5.0.1
patrickt333 said:
Thought this was big enough to stand on it's own, rather than reply to the multiple threads on this topic. With the release of Version 3.2.1:
Merged Droid Turbo Support into main release
Added new root for Droid Turbo (no more mofo/kingroot needed)
Added new root for Some HTC (like m8, no more htcdev/kingroot needed)
Removed 626s support for now
During the initial run, they now have a "temp root" selection, which eliminates the need for kingroot (i'm assuming). I just s-offed my HTC 5.0.1 version phone without kingroot, so enjoy!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello,
i´m new in this kind of things, i bought a new verizon htc m8 that is still locked and unroot, i want to know if with this "sunshine" i can unlocked the phone and then root it?
please, i would really appreciate if anyone could give me the steps to do it, cuz i want to unlock it and install a custom rom like Lineage.
Thanks and sorry for my english.