How to Root (and Unroot) the Alcatel One Touch 918N

The Alcatel One Touch 918N is for those with their minds wrapped around their purses than the latest specs, as it is a simple device running Android 2.3.3 with a 650MHz processor, dual SIM support, and a 3MP camera that won’t make a noticeable dent in your bank account.  But with this cheap price tag comes lesser onboard memory, which means you install a few apps and the memory is full! A good way to solve this problem is to remove all the bloatware that accompanied the phone when you bought it and to do this you’ll have to root it before anything else.  The guide below will show you just that – root the Alcatel One Touch 918N.

I.  Before You Begin

1.  You stand to void your warranty by rooting your device; so make up your mind before you actually go ahead with this.

2.  Back up anything you feel is important.

3.  This procedure should work on any Alcatel One Touch 918N phone running Android 2.3.5 or 2.3.6.

II.  Necessary Downloads

1.  alcatel-androidmanager-2-2-1206-455.exe [Alcatel PC Suite]

2.  SuperOneClickv2.3.3-ShortFuse.zip

3.  PdaNetA350.exe [Installs necessary Android drivers]

III.  Rooting The Alcatel One Touch 918N

1.  Double-click on alcatel-androidmanager-2-2-1206-455.exe to install the Alcatel PC Suite; this will install the necessary drivers for the procedure to work without problems.

2.  Double-click on PdaNetA350.exe to install the PDANet drivers; select Others when prompted to select the manufacturer during installation.

3.  Extract SuperOneClickv2.3.3-ShortFuse.zip to a folder on your desktop.

4.  Enable USB Debugging on your device.  To do this, go to Menu > Settings > Applications > Developer Options and tick the USB Debugging checkbox.

5.  Connect your device to your PC and if there are any drivers being installed at this point, let Windows 7 do so.

6.  From the folder you extracted above, run SuperOneClick.exe.

7.  Click on Root.

Your Alcatel One Touch 918N is now rooted!

IV.  Unrooting the Alcatel One Touch 918N

1.  Follow the same steps as in Section IV until Step 4.

2.  Click on Unroot.

If this procedure helped you please thank/donate to the original developers here.

If you need help with this procedure, please ask in the comments below or in the forum.

This is part of our Android How To’s. We have how to’s on rooting, loading ROMs, and tons of other tips and tricks for your specific device or for Android devices in general! For all of our Android How To’s, head here.

74 thoughts on “How to Root (and Unroot) the Alcatel One Touch 918N”

  1. Juan Jose de Leon

    Warning: Pls back up ALL your contacts and data first. To create a backup of your contacts to your memory card, tap phone, tap contacts, tap options, tap import/export select all contacts, import all to microSD card. Make sure you have at least a 1Gb memory card. I have over 2,000 contacts on my phone and the import took a good 218Mb of space on the card.

    1. 218MB for contacts!? that’s a bit too much for contacts Juan, may a third-party back up app can reduce this by importing all the contacts in either .vcf or .xcv format!

      1. for me i use my google/gmail account, so everytime i have to do something with my phone my contacts is always safe on my gmail account

  2. hi there is there any other link for the alcatel pc suite, the file in the link provided is no longer there, i tried the alcatel site, but the file im downloading from them is always corrupted, thank you in advance, i really just wanted to root my sons phone, so i can remove some of the pre loaded apps, its taking up a lot of space

    1. At the Step-6, Right-click on the SuperOneClick.exe and choose “Run as administrator.” It should run the tool with admin privileges, your issue will be resolved.

      Thanks!

  3. On the 1st to 3rd instructions, how do we install it? We double click the link provided but it will lead me to a site. Plese assist.

    1. Those links aren’t direct download links. They lead you to the respective website from where you can download the actual file.

      Thanks Bhorj!

  4. After i clicked the ‘root’ it stops on shell rooting device… step #7 i tried running the program as administrator, then it goes “(Not Responding)” and stops.. i waited for almost 20 minutes. still no root. what do?

    1. It seems that the problem isn’t with the root tool, it’s with your PC. Many times, when your PC is infected with any viruses or maybe there’re some changes made to system files, this kind of errors can occur.

      I suggest you to try it on any other PC you have access to, it should work fine.

      Thanks!

    1. It shouldn’t take much time, looks like your PC has frozen. Make sure that your PC is clean and doesn’t have any kind of viruses, malwares, etc.

      Sometimes, a corrupted system could cause the program to stop responding. So, I’d suggest you to try it out on any other PC you have access to.

      1. same problem here. i spent a lot of time waitin for it to finish but it alway stops. please send us a feedback. thank you

    1. When using your SIM to browse the Internet, the connection varies according to the network coverage of the area you are in. In short, it’s your service provider’s connection problem, not your phone’s.

  5. hi! i was just confuse i read other blog they say install first the custom recovery… what is that for? in your tutorial no need to install the custom thingy.. just confuse hope you can help me coz i want to root my phone…thanks!!

    1. A single device could have various root methods with various things requiring for it. The above method doesn’t need CWM and you’re safe to apply it on your device to gain root access.

      Hope it cleans up your confusion!

      1. oh okay!! another question is if i want to install a custom rom what app or software will i need? btw sir may i request to do a tutorial on how to install custom rom in alcatel 918n? much appriciated!! thanks in advance!!!

  6. mount -o rw,remount /dev/block/mtdblock12 /system > /data/local/tmp/output 2>&1

    export TEMPRANDOM=44938

    export PS1=END:$TEMPRANDOM;cat /data/local/tmp/output

    mount: Operation not permitted

    END:44938

    whats the problem with this?

    1. Hey Tom,

      This is intended to work on 918N and we suggest you not to try it on your 918N X as it may brick your device.

      For more information, you may check out the official thread, link’s given at the bottom of the post.

      Thanks!

  7. hi! how do I make a backup of my phone? especially backup of installed applications?
    ? a step-bystep guide is appreciated since i’m new to these kind of things

  8. Hi ive been trying to root my alcatel 918N but a promt will appear..

    Driver not found on your system.

    sm bus controller pci ven_8086&dev_27da&subsys_2a8c103c&rev_01

    1. You can install the ROM Manager app to check if your device’s supported by it. If it is, then you’ll have the option to install custom recovery without using PC.

  9. Same thing here… the process stops at step#7 (Not Responding) again my PC is clean and the application was ran as administrator…. Anyone figured how to fix this?

  10. export TEMPRANDOM=73795;export PS1=END:$TEMPRANDOM;./zergRush

    export PS1=””

    ./zergRush: not found

    END:73795

  11. I noticed that my antivirus blocked something with “zergRush” from installing together with SuperOneClick. Then when I tried to a root (or unroot), it stops with this message:

    export TEMPRANDOM=53461;export PS1=END:$TEMPRANDOM;./zergRush
    export PS1=””

    ./zergRush: not found

    END:53461

    It seems there is an incomplete install of SuperOneClick. Well, I trust my anti-virus so I will not use this process anymore.

  12. Hi! I tried rooting my Alcatel OT 918N but I was stuck to Step#7 what should I do? Please help me. Thanks

  13. Hi! I tried rooting my Alcatel OT 918N but I was stuck to Step#7 what should I do? Please help me. Below is the screenshot of the problem I encountered. I hope you could guide me how to root my cellphone. Thanks

  14. It will not hang my mobile or break my mobile if we do wrong steps so please telll me it will break my phone or not ALCATEL ONE TOUCH 918N

  15. Question: What if you’re stuck at #7, what will happen???

    I installed everything yet I haven’t tried it yet. My antivirus popped up to block SuperOneClick but I didn’t allow. Is there still a possibility of me, getting stuck somewhere? Will my phone be damaged?

  16. i hav tried as u told ,, same thing happend ..that is no response at 7 th step,,again tried with admin,,no use …pls help

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