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How To: Gain Permanent Root and S-OFF on the T-Mobile MyTouch 4G / HTC Glacier

December 10, 2010 in Android How To's, Featured, How To's, HTC MyTouch 4G How To's, Video

I. Before You Begin

1. An explanation of what S OFF is and why you might want it - S Off means security off for your HBoot mode (aka Bootloader). The bootloader is what allows you to flash updates and write to the file system of your phone. By turning the Security OFF, we can flash any updates/ROMs we want without the phone checking to see if it is an official update or not.

2. You MUST have done our Temporary Rooting Method before coming to this method.

3. This ONLY works on T-Mobile MyTouch 4G’s that have gotten the OTA. You can check by going to Settings > About Phone > Firmware and your Android Version should read 2.2.1 or higher! If you are Android 2.2, either just wait for Android 2.2.1 to automatically come to your phone OR download this file save it to the root of your sd card and then turn off your phone and turn it back on holding down Volume Down and Power and then apply the update when asked. After that, you can continue with this procedure.

Thanks to Grankin01 for his rooting scripts!

II. Flash the S-OFF Hboot Image and Gain Perm Root

1. Download the rooting files from here.

2. Extract the files somewhere to your computer.

3. Plug your phone in via USB cable and mount the SD card so we can transfer files to it.

4. Copy the entire root folder from inside the extracted folder from step 2 to the root of your sd card on your phone (NOT in any folders, just on the SD card itself).

5. Unplug the phone.

6. Go to the Market on your phone and download/install Android Terminal Emulator (free).

4. Open the Terminal Emulator app and type the following with hitting enter at the end of each line (to get the touch screen keyboard to come up hit the menu button then toggle soft keyboard):

su
cd /sdcard/root
sh root.sh

5. Now, wait for it to finish.

6. After that is done, reboot the phone. When it boots back up, turn it off and back on holding down Volume Down and Power until the HBoot screen comes up. Confirm it says S-OFF at the top. If so, you have S-OFF.

10. Now, to get permanent root, turn the phone back on to get to the normal home screen.

11. Open Visionary and Uncheck TempRoot on Boot and click Temproot Now.

12. Then select Attempt Perm Root Now and the phone should reboot.

13. Once the phone reboots, open Terminal Emulator on the phone and type su and hit enter. If you get the # symbol, you have permanent root access and S-OFF, enjoy!

IV. (Optional) Load a Custom ROM

1. Head to our How To Load a Custom ROM on the T-Mobile MyTouch 4G / HTC Glacier procedure.

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184 responses to How To: Gain Permanent Root and S-OFF on the T-Mobile MyTouch 4G / HTC Glacier

  1. Placerex said on January 19, 2011

    I followed the steps, step by step, and I still cannot get S-OFF. I have version 2.2.1 and still. I dont know whats wong. I even tried it multiple times. What is wrong?

  2. Placerex said on January 19, 2011

    I followed the steps, step by step, and I still cannot get S-OFF. I have version 2.2.1 and still. I dont know whats wong. I even tried it multiple times. What is wrong?

  3. Placerex said on January 19, 2011

    I followed the steps, step by step, and I still cannot get S-OFF. I have version 2.2.1 and still. I dont know whats wong. I even tried it multiple times. What is wrong?

  4. Atiqsavani said on January 20, 2011

    it says permission denied when I type, SU and Enter?

  5. Phreeq said on January 20, 2011

    I am also having problems getting this to work, but I may have found out why. In the video, the phone has HBOOT-0.85.2007, where mine is HBOOT-0.86.0000. Also, the error message in the beginning of running root.sh doesn’t look like the one I get on my phone. I’m not sure, because I can’t exactly read the one on the video.

    I’ll admit, I am no expert on what any of that means, but I just thought that maybe it may explain why it’s not working.

  6. Posta said on January 20, 2011

    Need help did steps but cannot get S-Off

  7. Sheek360 said on January 21, 2011

    i followed the steps very closely, cant s off at all

  8. Rc827rc said on January 22, 2011

    Same Here I can not get the s-off….

  9. Crrbiz said on January 23, 2011

    I agree with Phreeq, I have the same HBOOT and I can permanent root the phone with VISIONary but no S-OFF. I’ve even tried the RAGE method with ADB, but nothing!

    Help!! :)

  10. Crrbiz said on January 23, 2011

    I agree with Phreeq, I have the same HBOOT and I can permanent root the phone with VISIONary but no S-OFF. I’ve even tried the RAGE method with ADB, but nothing!

    Help!! :)

  11. Dolo said on January 23, 2011

    After 2 tries it worked!!!

  12. Dolo said on January 23, 2011

    After 2 tries it worked!!!

  13. crrbeans said on January 23, 2011

    I found a guide that is a little easier. I had the same problem as Phreeq but this DID work:

    http://briefmobile.com/how-to-permaroot-and-unlock-your-mytouch-4g/comment-page-1#comment-48683

  14. Emerson said on January 29, 2011

    I got S OFF just fine …. my problem comes at the end ….. when I hit attemp perm root NOTHING HAPPENS

    • Emerson said on January 29, 2011

      nevermind …. al I needed to do was to “reboot” the phone myself than I tried the “temp root” and finally “attemp perm root” and It worked ….thanks

  15. bbenny said on January 30, 2011

    I have done everything that was listed above exactly, but when I type in sh root.sh I keep getting “insmod: init_module ‘/sdcard/root/wpx.ko’ failed (Function not implemented)” and so when I check the Hboot, it still says I have S-ON I also made sure I had 2.2.1 also. I don’t know what to do! someone help!

  16. Meechie said on January 30, 2011

    WORKED FOR ME THANKS!

  17. Marlonbarrera said on February 1, 2011

    I tried this but after i reboot the phone at step 6 i get S-ON still. what could i be doing wrong?

    • user said on February 24, 2011

      same thing happened to me and now my phone is really slow.I am going to uninstall everything

  18. JHutson456 said on February 2, 2011

    at step 4 when I type the
    su
    cd /sdcard/root
    sh root.sh

    su switches me to superuser no problem

    cd /sdcard/root says cd: can’t cd to /sdcard/root

    I know there’s a space between the cd and the / command, but still I get that error. Solutions?

  19. Joe56football said on February 2, 2011

    I Did every step and it still says s-on. I am on the 2.2.1 update and have tried these steps multiple times, any ideas????

  20. PurpleCANDYent said on February 10, 2011

    HBoot mode won’t come on after all they other step above

  21. TheUnlockr said on February 10, 2011

    This procedure works fine, just tested it on a MyTouch 4G. You can use the GFree procedure if you want, I didn’t want to use that because it messed with the radio etc and for most newbies that can be very dangerous (as well as make it harder to resort to stock), but if you simply can’t get this method to work, then go ahead and do the gfree procedure linked above.

    • Aleksandor Nagy-Deak said on February 10, 2011

      cool. i’m glad its still working. i just could not get it to work for me :( so i had to do the gfree method.

    • Unlockr fan said on February 14, 2011

      Is this updated mr unlockr? I have just been having trouble with the s off/on. And I never doubt you just cant get it. Thanks

    • Patrickpollackatyahoo said on March 10, 2011

      greetings! =] i followed the GFree procedures and i finally got S=OFF but you mentioned that it messed with your radios… lately my service has been going in and out. sometimes i have EDGE and sometimes i have HSPA. my question is do i have these issues because of GFree method? what exactly did you mean by “messing with the radios”?
      thank you hand keep up the great work. =]

    • Aztec said on May 11, 2011

      @TheUnlockr:disqus The new Mytouch 4G and G2′s have a different Hboot, meaning this procedure doesn’t work for all phones anymore. please reconsider doing guides or at least adding it in your guide somewhere for those who really depend on your guides.

    • The Thoth said on May 26, 2011

      Is it true that you cant flash non t-mobile roms without doing the Gfree method?

  22. Kleenkut82 said on February 10, 2011

    i got it with no problem but what r some cool rooted apps that i will need this is my first android phone i am a iphone user help pls….

  23. Ledio Sinjari said on February 10, 2011

    MY S WONT COME OFFF !!! :”””’( 2.2.1 ver.

  24. Ledio Sinjari said on February 11, 2011

    so besides the radio off method posted below, is there any other way to get S – off for us unfortunates that can’t get it off through the terminal??

  25. Kleenkut82 said on February 11, 2011

    thanks for the help i was trying to upgrade to cw3 and i did it but when i was trying to us the new gingerbread it froze my screen to the bootloader and i try to restore want work what do i do now….thanks in advance

    • Aleksandor Nagy-Deak said on February 11, 2011

      hmmm. couple of things it could be. but lets move this to cyanogenmod’s site since its more about the rom/bootloader itself, and not about rooting the phone. i will post a comment on the CM7 nightlies thread listing a few things to try. my handle there is cTx.Slayer

      • Kleenkut82 said on February 11, 2011

        can u give me a link to get on that site i am a newbie to android if this was a iphone i would have no question P.S thanks for the help and my phone will appriecate it as well……

  26. Ledio Sinjari said on February 11, 2011

    I did not, I don’t know how to work within the SDK tools directory and as I’m terrified of bricking my phone I haven’t ventured forth.

  27. King_of_kod said on February 12, 2011

    Ok so i figured it out.. for those who already have that .86 hboot number .. this wont work off hand.. u first need to do what the other guy Aleksandor Nagy-Deak says below to gain s-off ( the floolw the 11 simple steps method). then do this whole unlockr procedure again and when u reboot to check if u have s-off ,.. u will have it and the correct hboot number- .85.2007 somthing that is in the video.. and if the permroot dont stick the first time.. permroot again and it worked .. i was trying for hours wen i tried this method.. hope it helps

    • Jj said on February 14, 2011

      Hey man that first file you download out of the 11 steps how do you unzip it with out the sdk tools I know nothing about that.

      • King_of_kod said on February 20, 2011

        I DIDNT USE SDK TOOLS .. I DID IT THE OPTIONAL WAY BY UNZIPPING FILES WITH MY PHONE AND PASTING THEM IN DATA/LOCAL PLACE THEY TELL U AFTER STEP 4.. MORE STRAIGHT FORWARD IN MY OPINION

  28. Dev1359 said on February 13, 2011

    Thanks a ton Aleksandor, this method worked for me where all the other ones I have tried failed…it seems that the method in this video is now outdated as it apparently does not work for the newer MT4Gs that my family all got yesterday (even though it worked for my old one that I bought a few months ago)

  29. Jrichardson8414 said on February 14, 2011

    I just did the entire procedure more than 5x. My phone came with 2.2.1, but I used the link u provided anyway… But it does not work, i cant figure out why, it continues to to say s=on and permission denied

    Now I’m not a newb, but I’m not an expert either.. I really could use some help!

    Thanks

    • King_of_kod said on February 14, 2011

      Do u have .86 hboot.. if so.. look at the comment below this one (king_of_kod comment) and try that and it should work.. i had same problem

  30. Victor Saldivar said on February 14, 2011

    Can someone help me ??i went to the link at briefmobile DOT com and is way to confusing for me, not knowing where or what the sdk tolls directory is or what programs do I need. Can someone break it down down for me like to a 4 year old ???

    • Aleksandor Nagy-Deak said on February 14, 2011

      follow this guide at xda-dev to setup the SDK tools. its quick and simple.
      forum.xda-developers . com / showthread . php ?t=928370
      THEN follow the directions at briefmobile . com (JUST the 11 steps part)

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