How to Install ClockworkMod Recovery on the Motorola Defy

THIS PROCEDURE IS MISSING SOME FILES, PLEASE HEAD TO OUR TWRP RECOVERY PROCEDURE INSTEAD.

The Motorola Defy smartphone has been around for quite some good time and in this period, developers have brought us some cool custom ROMs. If you wish to try out the custom ROMs on your Defy, you’ll definitely need a custom recovery installed on your device. And when we talk about custom recoveries, the first name that pops-up in our mind is ClockworkMod Recovery. Featuring a set of great options, it really provides a simple way for the users to install custom ROM and Tweaks. Let’s see how you can install ClockworkMod Recovery on the Motorola Defy smartphone.

I. Before You Begin:

1. Your device must be rooted before you install the recovery. See our guide on how to root the Motorola Defy.

2. Your device should have at least 60% of battery life left so it doesn’t get turned OFF while the process is going on.

II. Downloading Required Files:

1. Bootmenu (Scroll half-way down, download link’s given there)

2. Fastboot

III. Installing ClockworkMod Recovery on the Motorola Defy:

1. Download and place both the files on your Desktop.

2. Extract files from the Fastboot archive to your Desktop and you’ll get adb.exe along with some other files.

3. Connect your device to your PC using the USB cable.

4. Create a new folder called bootmenu on the SD card of your device. Make sure the folder is on the root of the SD card.

5. Extract files from the bootmenu archive to the bootmenu folder you created on your SD card.

6. Disconnect the device from your PC.

7. Enable USB debugging on your device from Menu>>Settings>>Applications>>Development>>USB debugging.

8. Reconnect the device to your PC.

9. Open a Command Prompt Window on your Desktop by pressing and holding the Shift button on your keyboard and right-clicking on any empty area on the screen, then choose Open command window here.

10. Enter the following commands into the Command Prompt Window you just opened. Press ENTER after each line:

adb shell
su
cp -R /sdcard/bootmenu /data/bootmenu
cd /data/bootmenu
chmod 755 *
./install.sh
rm -R /data/bootmenu

11. Reboot your device.

12. You’re all set!

Brilliant! Your device’s now equipped with the ClockworkMod Recovery that lets you install custom ROMs and take backups of your current ROM!

IV. Flash a Custom ROM (Optional):

1. If you are ready to flash custom ROMs on your device, head to the How To Flash a Custom ROM on the Motorola Defy to learn how to do that.

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.

6 thoughts on “How to Install ClockworkMod Recovery on the Motorola Defy”

  1. Install CMW Recovery on Moto Defy did not work for me. I got the msg, “E:Can’t mount /dev/block/mmcblk0p1 (or /dev/block/mmcblk0)

    (No such file or directory)
    Can’t mount /sdcard
    When I reboot machine and get into backup mode.

    I have followed your suggestion above with no error msg. Please help.
    Thanks.
    Aphiwat

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