How To: Root the HTC MyTouch 3G
April 26, 2010 in Android How To's, Featured, How To's, HTC MyTouch 3G How To's, Video
THIS METHOD IS OBSOLETE, SIMPLY USE ONE OF OUR UNIVERSAL ROOTING METHODS TO ROOT THE DEVICE.
I. Before You Begin
1. This works on the OLD MyTouch only (the one without the 3.5mm headphone jack at the top of the phone).
2. YOU MUST DO THIS WHOLE PROCEDURE AND THEN DO THE NEXT ONE ON LOADING A CUSTOM ROM TO GET FULL ROOT ACCESS!
II. Downgrade to Cupcake
1. Download the Original SAPPIMG.nbh:
Original SAPPIMG.nbh
2. Plug the phone into your computer via USB. Select Mount by pulling down on the notification bar at the top of the phone’s screen and selecting the USB notification. You should now be able to access the sd card in your phone on your computer.
3. Now, put the .nbh file that you just downloaded on the root of the SD card (NOT in any folder, just on the sdcard itself).
4. Unplug the phone and turn it off.
5. Turn on the phone by holding the Volume Down button and the End key until the bootloader screen comes up.
6. Hit the End key to start the update. DO NOT INTERUPT THIS PROCESS.
7. Once it is done, hit the trackball to restart the phone. You now are on the stock Cupcake firmware.
III. Flash a Custom Recovery Image
1. On your phone, goto Settings, Applications, and make sure Unknown source is checked ON.
2. On your phone, goto Settings, SD card and phone storage, and click Unmount SD card.
3. Then click Format SD card (it should automatically remount after this).
4. Plug the phone into the compuer via USB, then pull down the notification bar and click on the SD card notification. Then click mount.
5. Download this APK and the recovery image and save it to your computer:
FlashRec.apk
Amon Ra’s Recovery Image
6. Once they are saved to your computer, copy them both to your SD card (do NOT put them inside any folders on the SD card, just put them on the SD card itself).
7. Unplug the phone from the computer once they are downloaded to the SD card.
8. Goto the Market and download Linda File Manager or any file manager program if you do not already have one.
9. Open the file manager and goto SDCard and then find the FlashRec apk file and click it. If asked tell it to use Package Installer to open it. It should automatically install the apk.
10. Open the FlashRec program and click on Backup Recovery Image and wait for it to finish.
11. Once done, click on the empty text box in the FlashRec program and type:
/sdcard/recovery.img
Then click on the Flash Custom RecoveryImage button and wait for it to finish.
12. Turn off the phone and turn it on into Recovery mode by holding down Home and Power to turn it on (keep holding until the recovery screen comes up has a bunch of text on a black background). So long as that screen comes up, LEAVE IT ON THAT SCREEN, you have done it correctly and can now go on to the How to Load a ROM video for your appropriate device!
How To Load a Custom ROM on the HTC MyTouch 3G
13. To get Root access you MUST go to the next video mentioned above and load a custom ROM.
Reported Issues
Issue: I get Invalid Recovery Image or Flash Recovery doesn’t show up, it stays greyed out!
Solution: Make sure that the spell correction and auto completion are OFF in the Text Settings (Settings > Locale and Text > Touch Input > Text Input then turn off Prediction, spell correction, and word completion) of your phone. If not then it may put in spaces where they do not belong. (I had it put a space after .img and couldn’t see it so couldn’t figure out why it kept saying invalid recovery image, like you guys).
Other than that, just make sure it is on the root of the SD card (not in any folder) and that you are typing in:
/sdcard/recovery.img
and it should show Flash Recovery
Issue: When I download the FlashRec.apk it shows up as a .zip not an apk.
Solution: No problem. Do NOT extract it, just simply replace the .zip with .apk and then proceed with the procedure.
Issue: I get backup failed or flash failed when I try to use the FlashRec progam.
Solution: This is most likely because you already have a custom recovery image (OR HAVE DONUT), please use one of the unrooting procedures to get back to the original recovery image and THEN you can use this procedure.
Markie428 said on January 17, 2011
if i do this can i use att?
Johnnhernandez said on January 19, 2011
hey i have a problem i followed everything you said but when you i have to press the home and power button it doesnt show me anything its still the same green screen and it just stays frozen like that need help
Bounty said on February 2, 2011
Very helpful tutorial although I am having one problem in step 10. After I tap “Backup Recovery Image” it says “Backup FAILED: Could not run command.”
What am I doing wrong?
Darkclowno2 said on February 10, 2011
Did u figure what happened cuz the same thing happened to me… i’m running Adroid 2.2 if that makes a difference…
Cbrazell1 said on February 2, 2011
when i hold volume down and power down the phone comes on and asks me if i want to update. i say yes but then once the phone searches it tell me update failed . something about old data??? please help.
Teamwfo47 said on February 8, 2011
Hey Unlocker,
I am stationed in Japan and i have the HTC Magic through NTT docomo and they gave me this phone 9 months ago and told me it would be able to update to Android 2.1. Turns out that was not true and i cannot download and add any new apps to my Magic with 1.6. I asked them to update my phone & they said no the phone cannot do it, you will need to buy a new phone (FOKERS!) So, i have tried this process and i get all the way to running the flashrec file and when i try to do the backup it fails. I am using OI file manager because that was the only one i could download from the market. I have tried the Linda one but it won’t download because the market says i have the wrong version. I would really like to be able to install the new Cyanogen 6.1.0 MOD for this phone and be able to download apps from the market again. Any help would be great because i have limited time and resources ($) to replace the phone.
Tuloave17 said on February 23, 2011
it work perfectly for me.. if you get FAILED: Could not run command. download advance taskiller and kill all the task and reboot ur phone and is going to work and if u get Flash Recovery doesn’t show up, it stays greyed out! typing like this /sdcard/recovery.img
Jahlil Hec said on March 8, 2011
I did the first part but now it says i have to set up a google account. I dont have service on my phone so Its not working. Is there a way to bypass this?
Andremorrison23 said on March 29, 2011
when i try to download the recovery thing my computer shows it as mount failed
Travishewitt said on April 1, 2011
hello. im running the mytouch 3g with the 3.5mm jack how do i root this…..please reply urgent???
Dspowel240 said on April 3, 2011
pl deff need help i did everything then an error accured with step ten and i gave up so now it will not connect or update
Ryan said on April 6, 2011
i am trying to root my mytouch 3g but it is on the android 2.2.1 system and when i try to put the sapimg it says “Main version is older! update fail!” what can i do to root it?
Glenn said on April 10, 2011
Was on androd 2.2.1 before I started the cupcake root process.
All data was erased.
My google account must have been accessible as my phonebook was retrieved.
When I attempt to access marketplace to obtain Linda, the logon failed.
Any suggestions?
alex said on April 11, 2011
it wont take me to the recovery mode even after i hold the home and power button for a long time
Donal Waide said on April 17, 2011
For some reason the market isn’t letting me download Linda. I then tried to download anything from the market and got nothing….starting to download is enduring and that’s it. Got to go back to unrooting I guess and try a different method. I have the correct phone, went as far as getting to Linda on the market and stopped.
btl512 said on April 21, 2011
I’m at the exact same spot today – did you get past this?
btl512 said on April 21, 2011
Connected to the wifi in my house and the market is working now.
JohnTheCop said on May 6, 2011
does having 2.2 make a difference?
Tyler F said on May 7, 2011
When i try to downgrade to cupcake i get to boot loader and hit update then it does its thing then it comes up and says “update fail main version is older! do you want to reboot device?”
Tyler F said on May 7, 2011
When i try to downgrade to cupcake i get to boot loader and hit update then it does its thing then it comes up and says “update fail main version is older! do you want to reboot device?”
Kristi Holcomb said on May 11, 2011
everything went perfectly, except when I turned my phone back on after installing the generic ROM, it was just normal cupcake….tried to d/l wireless tethering and it said my phone wasn’t rooted….but I saw all the right screens, followed prompts…
Mark Harrison said on May 15, 2011
Love it, hated what tmobile did to my phone with the upgrade. I wanted them to roll it back, they claimed they would not roll it back…so stick it in your ear now Tmobile cause I am back to the original state before you hosed my phone. Now on to bigger and better things.
Side note you have to use the market from the phone, the new market place did not recognize my phone. I almost had forgotten how to use the old settings for a minute, going back to an older operating system layout while familiar you tend to forget where and how somethings worked.
someone said on May 28, 2011
when i try to downgrade the phone to cupcake it tells me update failed. what do i do?
MacTaite said on June 2, 2011
Im have the same problem as someone else. I get to the last step and can not get into recovery mode. it stays frozen on the mytouch green screen.
Thelub said on June 3, 2011
i was getting the frustrating “Backup Failed….” error. i had previously backtracked using the SAPPIMG.nbh file used in another section of unlockr so i thought it was the same thing. I reset my phone using the file in this exact thread and it works great. go figure
Dewayne_21 said on June 10, 2011
I keep getting Main Version is Older Update Failed and the first steps of the root. can someone please help me out
Bkeko21 said on July 16, 2011
um wtf can we get help?!
Bennymoreno93 said on September 2, 2011
I downloaded linda file manger but the program doesnt work it jsut says linda file mangager at the top with a blank screen
Sacramento458 said on September 4, 2011
you guys should try the super one click method
Jasonroberts92 said on October 29, 2011
my phone wont let me do anything but make emergency calls after the i hit the trackball to start it up again..help
KSwizz said on January 7, 2012
ISSUE: Linda, I had a problem with the linda file manager. As I am attempting to reflash this old phone at a much later date (2011, for my mom) it seems the newest version of linda is not compatible with donut. Astro also does not work. Try using OI File Manager, it worked for me. Good luck!