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How To: Unroot the Motorola Droid

June 4, 2010 in Android How To's, Featured, How To's, Motorola Droid How To's, Motorola How To's, Video

I. Before You Begin

1. The only real reason to unroot is if you need to send the phone in for warranty or if you want to just start from scratch.

II. Restore Back to Android 2.2 with RSDLite

1. Download RSD Lite, the 2.2 .sbf file, and the Motorola Drivers.

Motorola Drivers
RSD Lite
Droid 2.2 Firmware

2. Install RSDLite by double clicking the RSD Lite.msi file you just downloaded.

3. Once RSDLite is installed, unzip the drivers folder you downloaded (32 bit OR 64 bit), then double click the Motorola Consumer Driver Installer application and install the drivers.

4. Plug in your phone to the computer via USB cable.

5. Turn the phone off while it is plugged in.

6. Turn on the phone by holding down Power and UP on the DPad of the keyboard on the phone for 5 seconds then let go.

7. Open the RSDLite program by right clicking it and selecting Run As Administrator.

8. Click on the “…” button next to the filename box and select the .sbf file you downloaded earlier.

9. Once it is selected, hit Start and wait for it to finish flashing the phone.

10. Once it is done, the phone should reboot and you are now on Android 2.2 stock and are all set.


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Need a custom ROM? Check out our ROM Repository to view all the ROMs available for your device.

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  • http://TheUnlockr.com TheUnlockr

    So long as you unrooted it doesnt matter what version you are on, you can always say you “never got the OTA and never even heard of it”. They don’t care and will honor the warranty since there is no way to know you messed with it and updates skip devices all the time.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=21601249 Adam M Haile

    For all those people wondering why you never get the 2.2 OTA update…
    DO NOT use the SBF file linked to above!
    I had to use these instructions mostly because the latest CyanogenMod update made my phone unbootable and I was trying to get it back to a booting state, and didn’t really care if it was root any longer.
    It worked like a charm and had me running 2.1-update1 within 15 minutes… but theres a HUGE catch.
    The SBF file listed is a “user-debug” build! You can see for yourself by going to Settings > About Phone> Build Number… It should just say ESE53, but will instead have a long string including the words “user-debug” (sorry, I already fixed it, so don’t remember the whole thing).
    Because of this, as far as I could tell, your phone will NEVER get the OTA update and you won’t even be able to apply it manually, since those would not be user-debug versions.

    The above method is absolutely fine, it’s just the file. To save your self a lot of headache, grab the SBF file from here instead: http://www.peteralfonso.com/p/downloads.html
    Peter maintains the Bugless Beast custom ROM and is kind enough to keep around every SBF and Update.zip file that comes out for the Droid 1. You will even be better off by simply grabbing the FRG22D SBF (Under SBF files, not Stock System Files, those are rooted) and flashing that the same exact way you did with ESE53. You will now be upgrade to Froyo and unrooted, and as soon as you reboot you will be prompted to update to FRG83D (though, he also has that update.zip there if you are impatient).

    I may root mine again (the only thing I ever used was tether and that was extremely rare) but at least I’m on the latest firmware! Note: You can also use those SBFs at any time to downgrade to a more rootable firmware and then update with pre-rooted update files from there on…

    Hope this helps!

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  • http://TheUnlockr.com TheUnlockr

    Thanks for the firmware files! Will link to them instead of the one we have!

  • Zingalope

    very good my friends thank you very much.. stocki again ….

  • Cito Rilo

    When I go to download RSD lite it says “Another installation is in progress. You must complete that installation before continuing this one.” I closed out of everything and it is still not working. I would appreciate some help. I need to take my phone to Verizon.

    • http://www.facebook.com/benmooneyham Ben Mooneyham

      when programs lock up like that a quick reboot should fix it. or you can open the task manager and see if the process is still there, if so end it then try again

  • http://twitter.com/imjarhed Timothy Mankel

    I continue to get an error Failed flashing process. Unable to retieve initialization values from INI file.(0X7029); phone connected. Please help …

    • Squalle

      I get this same error. Any fix?

  • Roberts Tiffany

    I use the method above to unroot my phone and when it rebooted it asked me to touch the driod and activate my phone and it won’t activate now what do I do?

  • Billy

    Thank you so much for this guide. I was having real trouble finding a guide that was easy to follow.

    Also, good choice on the Incubus song at the end.

  • Anonymous

    So here’s my question of the day. I am ready to get a new phone. In selling my OG Droid, do I leave it rooted with Ultimate Droid to resell it or unroot it back to stock?

    Thanks,
    BachinPhx 

  • Ajscribbles

    when I start up rsd lite for model it says SE flash OMAP3430 MI and N/A for the IMEI/ESN/MEID what do I do or what am I doing wrong? 

  • Austin

    Does this flash to the stock recovery as well?

  • Jeepdad

    worked great But I did use the file from alfonso for the stock image

  • Jasonleeyesitsme

    This worked great! Chose FRG22D from Peter’s site mentioned in the comment from Adam, reset the phone, immediately got notification that there were updates, all is well. Also made sure I could update apps and had no problem like some had mentioned (older comments). FYI towards the end the RDSLite app told me to manually power up the phone, tried that while still plugged in, didn’t recognize anything. I just ended up unplugging it and restarting and it was fine, not sure if that’s right or not but it worked :-P .

  • Asc1693

    I tried this before and it worked fine.. now I am trying it again and it doesn’t work! Did yous change the sbf file that is given in the link? That one is 2.2 and the video shows 2.1? Answer asap would be appreciated,. 

  • TABITHA BETTENCOURT

    Thank you for this post!!  My husband’s phone was acting up and dropped all his apps.. and I was able to restore it to a point where we could actually use it with this post!!  Much appreciated!

  • Mac Attack

    RSD Lite does not recognize my phone.  I tried restarting RSD and and my computer multiple times and it still does not display in the left box.  Can someone provide me with some suggestions?

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