How To: Root the HTC MyTouch Slide

THERE IS A NEW METHOD THAT WORKS ON THE MYTOUCH SLIDE (INCLUDING AFTER THE OTA!). PLEASE USE THAT METHOD INSTEAD!

How To: Root the HTC MyTouch Slide (Exploid Method)

I. Before You Begin

1. This will give you root access on the MyTouch Slide.

II. Getting the Drivers to Work

1. Uninstall HTC Sync from your computer if you have it installed. Go to Start > Control Panel > Programs > Find HTC Sync and Uninstall it.

2. Download USBDeview to your computer.

USBDeview

3. Right click the USBDeview program and select Run As Administrator (if on Windows XP you can just double click it)

4. In the USB Deview program, click on Description at the top to sort by description. Search for all the T-Mobile MyTouch Slide drivers and right click each one (if there is more than one) and select Uninstall Device on each one. There should be no MyTouch Slide drivers left in the list when your done.

5. Download PDANet for Android

PDANet

6. Install it with the phone NOT plugged in at first. Follow the PDANet Installation prompt and it will ask you what manufacturer (choose HTC) and then it will tell you to go on your phone to Settings > Applications > Development > and make sure USB Debugging is checked ON. Then plug in the phone and it should automatically install the drivers (including our hard to install ABD driver).

III. Setup the Android SDK

1. Follow our How To Setup ADB procedure and once you can see your phone’s serial number come back to this procedure and continue.

IV. Setup the Rooting Files

1. Download the Slide Root .zip file

Slide Root

2. Extract it somewhere on your computer and then take the “update.zip”, “ota.zip”, and “loop” from inside the extracted folder and put them in your AndroidSDK/Tools folder (they should be in the same place as the adb.exe file in there).

V. Root the Phone

1. Turn off the phone and turn it back on by holding down Volume Down and Power until HBoot comes up. Wait a sec for it to show installing drivers on your computer.

2. Now click Volume Down and then Power to select Recovery. Wait for the phone to boot into recovery mode (a phone with a !).

3. Pust Volume Up and Power at the same time to show the recovery menu.

4. Unplug the phone and plug it back in (this allows ADB to see it).

5. Now, on the computer open the command prompt (go to Start then type cmd and hit enter in the search bar). Then type the following in the command prompt with hitting enter at the end of each line:

cd\
cd c:\AndroidSDK\Tools\
adb devices

(A serial number should pop up under devices attached a this point, if it does, continue:)

6. Using the volume down button and then power to select, choose Apply sdcard:update.zip and wait for it to fail (it will say installation aborted).

7 Now, type the following in to the command prompt with hitting enter at the end of the line:

adb push ota.zip /sdcard/update.zip

8. After that is complete type the following into the command prompt BUT DO NOT PUSH ENTER YET, THIS STEP IS ABOUT PUSHING IT AT THE CORRECT TIME BUT WE NEED THE COMMAND READY SO WE JUST HAVE TO PUSH ENTER LATER:

adb push update.zip /sdcard

9. On the phone select Apply sdcard:update.zip now and as soon as you see the bar at the bottom start to move, push enter in the command prompt on your computer to send the above command that we typed in (but didn’t hit enter before).

10. If it was successful, you will see ClockworkMod Recovery on your screen. Now, select Reboot System Now and you should have the Superuser app in your app drawer. If so, you have root and are all set!

VI. (Optional) Load a Custom ROM

1. Head over to our How To Load a Custom ROM on the HTC MyTouch Slide procedure.

74 thoughts on “How To: Root the HTC MyTouch Slide”

  1. Dude thanks so much for making this. I tried the stuff at XDA for about a week straight for many hours. I’ll give this a go tonight and let you know how it goes. I have yet to try wesgarner’s method, but I’ll give this a go and see if it works.

  2. Worked perfect first time no hastle! Only thing that upsets me is that I spent so long trying the method from xda. This site still has the best tutorials IMO. Thanks again man.

  3. Fallen,

    I DO NOT HAVE AN ENGINEERING ROM AND I HAD 4 OTHER READERS DO THIS PROCEDURE WITHOUT ISSUE. IM ACTUALLY TRYING TO GET THE ENGINEERING ROM ON HERE AS WE SPEAK AND HAVING ISSUES. I actually can’t get the engineering ROM to get recognized in hboot mode. That’s why the How To Load a ROM procedure hasn’t been put up yet…

  4. I did this and when I adb devices, it gives me the serial number, but instead of saying recovery, it says offline, which is preventing me from adb pushing any files to the deivce. Any suggestions?

    1. When you type “adb devices” and you get a serial and offline. Unplug the usb cord from your phone and plug it back in. Type adb devices now and it should say recovery.

      1. I’ve tried that over 20 times now, and it continuously tells me offline. When I plug it back in, I can tell the computer is recognizing the connection because PDANet keeps coming on telling me device connected, but every time i run adb devices, I still get the same thing.

        1. Myles,

          Weird. I saw someone have this issue with a Captivate, and they said if they changed their USB cable it worked all of a sudden. If you have another USB cable try that, if not then try plugging the cable in a different USB port on your computer. Let me know if it works.

          1. Ok, so I tried another USB cable and every one of my USB ports, still nothing. I’ve uninstalled all of the drivers and started from the beginning three times, still the same exact thing. Now, when I’m setting up the SDK, I have been going to the workaround for windows 7, and for some reason, that particular walkthrough seems confusing to me. Maybe I’m doing something wrong there? Should I try another computer with XP on it? It just seems weird because when I attempted to root it with the xda-developer method, I had the hardest time even getting the serial number to show, now that’s not an issue at all. I just can’t get it to recognize that it’s in recovery. When the phone is on and I type adb devices, it shows device under status. I wonder why it can’t recognize that it’s in recovery. Anyone else have any suggestions?

          2. I tried that and it still cant recognize it in recovery… at the bottom it says
            E: can’t open /cache/recovery/command
            what should i do?

  5. To get the eng rom to work with hboot you need two files…

    Flash_image and mtd0.img

    Push them to /data/local

    Then

    Su
    Chmod 04755 *
    /data/local/flash_image misc /data/local/mtd0.img

    And you should be good.

    All can be found on xda developers.

    1. Anonymous,

      Thanks but my issue is the ESPRIMG.zip file not that step you are referring to. Got all that to work but HBoot skips over the ESPRIMG.zip file. I’m getting the file from a different source now, hopefully that fixes it and the How To Load a ROM will be up today 🙂

  6. what are the advantages to just root no custom rom? can tmo tell if you just root? can you unroot as easily? if you just root can you still get regular tmo ota updates?
    little new at this if you couldnt tell LOL
    Thanks

    1. Hurlamania,

      Root will let you use any root required app (like WiFi Tethering for instance). You can also flash a custom ROM eventually.
      Noone can tell if you are rooted unless you send the phone in for warranty without unrooting it first. Yes you can unroot easily, Google how to Unroot the MyTouch Slide.

      Good luck! Let us know if it works for you or if you have any issues.

          1. Hurlmania,

            I’d try it and if it doesn’t work then uninstall pdanet and then start from the very beginning of the procedure. Let me know how it goes.

  7. what is the purpose of rooting ? are you able to go to the market on the phone and get anything there for free ? or is it like unlocking the phone so other users from different companies can use it.
    like what are the effects or positives of doing this to your phone.
    will it charge you or mess up your phone ? im just curious. because i was looking online on tutorials on how to jail break the my touch slide and i saw this site. so yeah lol

      1. Jaymelu,

        It is supposed to the first time, then have the command ready in the command prompt, push update.zip n then hit enter right away before it can fail n it’ll show the recovery. Read the procedure n watch the video.

        1. i did everything as mention and what i get is E:signature verification failed
          Installation aborted. I dont know whats going on.

      1. I did that too and got the same thing. I found some other person who is having the same problem. I wonder what it could be?

  8. Hi guys im stuck at the rooting procedure where you have to enter the commands in cmd when the phone is in the recovery stage.. im not getting the phone’s serial number.. i can get it when the phone is on .. but not while the phone is in recovery.. help please

    1. Desbourne,

      Start the procedure over then and uninstall all the drivers, then uninstall pdanet, then start at step one and see if you still can’t see the phone in recovery.

  9. OK I tried uninstalling pdanet and the drivers for the phone via the usbdeview still no luck when it comes to the part for me to see the phone in recovery mode…Help Help 🙁

  10. Hey guys … tis method isnt working for me the phone keep on saying that its off line …or its not finding the device is there another way …I really dont wanna go back to my G1

  11. I tried to do this a few times. Basically once in Recovery mode, ADB stops seeing my phone (No Serial listed). I uninstalled every driver that was branded HTC or T-Mobile. (I did leave the “ADB” drivers it showed.) And tried again. same problem. Rebooted and tried again nogo/

  12. ok, on step 5 of rooting your phone, i type in the stuff for the command prompt and this is what it shows me

    list of devices:
    (serial number) offline

    why is it offline when in the video it said recovery? i tryed to move on with the others steps but one of them said error becuase it was offline.

    1. I was posting about that a day or so after they posted this page up. I’m having the exact same problem, I’ve tried multiple USB cables. The only thing I can think of is that I may have missed something in that workaround for windows 7 while setting up ADB. Because I get the serial number but it just keeps saying offline.

      1. hi i’m victor android fan you need to wath the video carefully. you not need new cables just type carefully
        on the cmd, there is and space you need to do

  13. G3cua19@gmail.com

    Im having probles like most of the ppl that made comes i can t get the serial numer while my phone is on recovery
    But i can get the serial numer while my phone is on
    i unistall and reinstall everything .like 10 times but nutting . Is ther any other way to root my slide
    please if somebuddy knows about any other website. That really nows how to root the mytouch slide please pos it

  14. I’m having the same problem that some of the people are having on this web site, i think its a great tutorial, but the problem that I’m having is that my phone apears offline in recovery mode. i did so many thing to try to trouble shoot it but nothing works, i have not seen any answer for this problem it im i have been trying for hours at a time, i really need some, like the other do that have this problem.

    1. Achilles,

      If it shows offline, your actually good. Just unplug and plug the phone back in and it should change from offline to recovery in command prompt. Let us know if it works!

  15. Someone please help me. I spent hours on this last night and no matter what I do, I can not get my phone to show in recovery in the command prompt when typing “adb devices”. All it shows is the serial number, followed by “offline”. I have tried every usb port on my computer and done everything in the steps and no matter what I do I can not get it to show recovery. PLEASE HELP!!!!!

    1. did u do the ota update….if u did then thats why its not working because they patch the root …….i also had the same problem

  16. This is a sad day. Not my phone, but my wife applied the OTA Update today and now I have a $ instead of #. It’s funny because I spent so long trying to get root, finally rooted, and now I’ll have to wait for another Root procedure. Pretty sure from what I read on XDA you can’t go back and flash the original and try to reroot. It’s not my phone, but it’s like having an uncircumcised kid in your house!

  17. At this step:
    *******************************
    V. Root the Phone

    1. Turn off the phone and turn it back on by holding down Volume Down and Power until HBoot comes up. Wait a sec for it to show installing drivers on your computer.
    *********************************
    Are you supposed to let your computer install all the drivers?

    Is it supposed to still be connected to PDANet when the HBoot comes up?

    Is it also supposed to still be connected when you are in the recovery menu?

    I’ve tried uninstalling ALL the drivers a few times now and it still wont list my device’s number. If i just reboot the phone without going into the HBoot, it’ll see the device.

    I know i’m doing something lame and wrong. I just don’t know what it is because i am lame and wrong. Please help me.

  18. hi and thanks. i have done rooting a g1, mytouch, mytouch 3.5 and now mytouch slide. theunlockr, dave. you guys are the best. today i root mytouch slide and i solve the problem with MYLES he needs to put space on the cmd.
    I recommend you watch the video carefully

  19. hey unlockrs i cant do the root if i did the ota update….is that true…..is there another way to do the root for the mytouch slide cuz i didnt no the the update would patch the root……please reply

  20. i couldn’t get it to work until i went else where and found out i had to type in the command prompt: “Loop” after making your command prompt say “C:\AndroidSDK\Tools>, sooo it looked like this: “C:\AndroidSDK\Tools>loop” i finally got my phone to b recognized the 2nd time we were to type in “adb devices” but the screen was repeating that same thing over an over really fast, so it told me to hold CTRL and press C in order to stop an it asked me if i wanted to end bat bat y/n? and the tutorial told me to press y and enter, and it worked, i could finally start from the system recovery screen on my phone again and cont. from there.

    1. Raphael,

      We were trying to avoid using the loop command in this procedure but if it worked for you aeesome. Ill add it back into the procedure for others that need it. Thanks for letting us know!

  21. Please PLEASE anyone PLease im stuck on adb devices , even though the phone is in recover , CMD shows the serial but shows offline device. I tried the unpluging the usb cord and even different ports same thing.. I am on a windows 7 machine. I have used usbdeview to delete the old drivers, But after that i alrerady had pdanet installed should I uninstall then reinstall? Any hope for me please android community HELP!!!!!!!!!!! i want root access

  22. dude!
    you’re just AWESOME!!

    no one could explain that better to my unbelievably stupid brain!

    now.. after doing all that
    i wanna know how to unlock it!
    i mean what the hell was all that for
    my phone still locked!
    can you help?!

  23. hi im having trouble in the rooting part any time i write a coomand it tells me that its coonected and i can see the numbers and stufff but its offline in the recovery mode help please

  24. Hi just tried your process and after downloading the slideroot.zip, i extracted with winrar and there was a bunch of files in there. I found the update.zip, but i didnt see the OTA or the loop file at all. can you please help?

  25. HELP!! when i enter recovery mode no device is shown i rooted this phone before but i can never get to clockwork without using this tutorial please help

  26. hi, when i put my phone on recovery, unplug and plug it back in and tipe adb devices in commands my devices apire offline instead of recovery what do i do?

  27. Great stuff. First time I’m trying to root an Android. When I open the command window and use the “adb devices” it finds my phone. When I reboot the phone in to recovery, it does not. Any suggestions?

  28. i did as told and i’m having a very hard time 🙁 i’ve been trying to do this since this morning.. its now (11:00 pm)(using different methods) and it does everything but the last step “ClockworkMod Recovery” i just see the same “android system recovery” and it still says the same thing at the bottom “E: Failed to verify whole-file signature, signature verification failed.. installation aborted” … Why is that? pls help meee..

    1. -Oh and it shows my serial number.. but offline? i unplugged it and plugged it back but still remains offline..

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