How To: Root the Motorola Droid (Android 2.0.1 & 2.1)

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You are here: Rooting and Jailbreaking » Android Rooting How To's » How To: Root the Motorola Droid (Android 2.0.1 & 2.1)

 

I. Before You Begin

1. This is for Verizon Droids ONLY, not Milestones (GSM). For the Milestone go here.

2. THIS WILL ERASE YOUR DATA AND YOU MAY NEED TO REACTIVATE THE DROID TO LOGIN AFTER COMPLETING SECTION II.

II. Downgrade to 2.0.1 with RSDLite

1. Download RSD Lite, the 2.0.1 .sbf file, and the Motorola Drivers.

Motorola Drivers
RSD Lite
Droid 2.0.1 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.

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 2.0.1 stock and can continue.

III. Flash the Rooted Android 2.1 ROM

1. Download the rooted Android 2.1 Update.zip file:

Droid Android 2.1 Rooted Update.zip

2. Plug in your phone via USB cable and mount the MicroSD by pulling down the notification bar and clicking on the notification then clicking mount.

3. Copy the update.zip you just downloaded to the MicroSD card (NOT in any folders on the microsd, just on the root of the sd card itself).

4. Unplug the phone from the usb cable.

5. Turn the phone off and then turn if back on while holding down the X key on the qwerty keyboard.

6. When the ! symbol comes up on the screen, let go of the X key and then hold down Volume Up and the Camera button until a menu comes up.

7. On the menu use the dpad buttons to navigate to Apply Update and select it using the center dpad button.

8. Wait for it to finish updating then reboot the phone via the menu when it is done. Viola! Android 2.1 rooted on your Droid.

9. IF YOU WANT TO FLASH CUSTOM ROMS ETC., YOU MUST GOTO THE NEXT PROCEDURE ON HOW TO LOAD A CUSTOM ROM AND FLASH A RECOVERY IMAGE ETC.!

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  • My co-worker has an engineering sample Droid with bootloader 2C.6C and RSDLite is unable to see the device preventing me from flashing Android 2.0.1. Any advice?

    • Edwin,

      You need to reinstall the drivers then and plug the phone in in bootloader mode (holding down power and Up on the DPad then let go). When you do that for the first time, your computer should say installing drivers if you installed the motorola consumer driver program first.

    • slowdued28

      I read all the post from several sites before trying, played with pcs alittle never phones, but hey these are old pcs with new flare. Everything has its flaws. If you downloaded and saved everything he said you will be fine. I wiped mine out and got it rebooted and reinstalled. If your rsd lite is installed and your moto driver your good make sure you have the android 2.0 in your files saved. Thats the most important. Your pc might not say administrator or troubleshooting if already installed and configured perfectly.It will just load. Your phone might not show up in the first box. It might not connect right away. You might have to unplug it and replug your usb then it will show up in the menu usb connected and thats all. It could fell every time and it dont mean nothing. Continue. If it fails and sets idle. Clik the little flag to left at beginning of sentence, phone will reboot.. When done continue to next step. Done it several times. Not going to say there isnt a complete falure out there but I couldnt screw up. When I wiped it out all I would get is the moto symbal and thats it. I shut it off. Held x and power got boot menu up. with rsd on. Plug the usb and ran 2.o again and set everything back into it. So there is hope.

      • slowdued28

        After one hour of intentionally opening everything up and playing. I got down to bussiness and have froyo with my wifi and tethering adobe 10.1 im jacked up to 900 and doing good all the 3d enviroment is smooth. Still cant play farmville, or watch netflix, did go on yoville. Running fast and clean no problems just like an ota version, no dif. Do download the back up when get to rom stage so you have no worries from there.

        • slowdued28

          I thought I would come back and add if anyone wondering. If needing to go back to 2.1 for any reason just do the same process of reverting back to 2.0. then let it set getting a good signal and a ota will update you automatically back to 2.1 for now atleast.

    • i have been able to revert back to 2.0.1 firmware but i cant get the update.zip to open in the phone if somebody could help me out my email is soliz420@yahoo.com

    • Amanda

      I cant flash mine either. It originally says bootloader 2C.6C on mine as well. When I run the flash it goes all the way through and then fails.

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  • Jason

    Ahh mines not working either… I go to flash it i click start and it says Failed flashing process, and N/A to everything when i ddi it same bootloader 2c.6c And i waited for the drivers to instal.

    • Jeremy

      I get the same error. Where are you suppose to save the sbf file? I saved it on my computer, went through step by step but get the failed error.

  • Jason

    I went through and tried everything exactly like you did even watched the video, but nothing works still… I don’t know what im doing wrong or if its just my stupid phone..

  • Jason

    I got it good thing i didn’t know i was supposed to save the sbf file into my motorola file..once i did that it worked instantly now im rocking the froyo rom thanks =))

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  • Devil Dog

    Simply Awesome! I started with a sluggish stock 2.1, and turned my Moto Droid into an uncaged BEAST! I am now running Froyo (2.2) with the 1GHz Kernel. Using Set CPU stretched out to Max. Been using Droid extensively / continuously for the last 2 days after my update. NO force Closes, No Lag. Battery life suprisingly for me is BETTER overclocked at 1GHz with Froyo. I benchmarked using Quadrant prior to my update I was a score: 363. Now I’m at a quadrant benchmark score consistantly over 1200.

  • PeDe7

    followed these instructions step-by-step and worked perfectly on my windows 7 64-bit except when applying the update.. i used the D-pad instead because the power button just rebooted my phone

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  • yungmasta87

    On step 7 of Part III. It was actually the select button on my qwerty keyboard, not the power button to select/apply the update.zip file

    • Yungmasta87,

      Makes more sense to do that. Thanks!

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  • meeraj

    In Roman numeral 2 where do i unzip the file?

    • dcogen

      Meeraj,

      Anywhere. Your desktop?

  • Megan

    okay so, i have followed all the above instructions.
    When i went to run RSD Lite as the administrator it didnt have that option, nor did it have the option to troubleshoot compadibility.
    When i clicked open, it went to the file page, i clicked the dots, selected the SBF file, and hit start. It went to 100% and then it said fail when it was done. What have i done wrong?

    • dcogen

      Megan,

      The Run as Administrator is only for people using Vista and above. And you have to be the Administrator on that computer (if you have no other logins for that computer but yours, you are the admin).
      You have to be a bit more specific as to what error you got besides “failed”? Did it say anything else after that?

      • Megan

        No, it just said flash failed.

  • Megan

    What do you do if you dont have the option to select run as administrator or troubleshoot program when you right click RSD Lite?

  • D-ruck

    I having problems my pc is not seeing my phone to let me mount the sd card what do I do

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  • Rob

    Just followed all the rooting instructions but phone wont reboot

  • Jordan

    The sbf file wont run on my computer PLEASE HELP !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  • Drew

    Mannn. i have a problem with one of your upload links dude, i click on all of them and they bring me to this page where (megaupload), i type down one of the capture letters, it brings me to a page that brings me right back onto another capture letter page, can someone help me? its like a loop and theres no real download pop up =(

  • Chae

    Awesome! Just followed the steps and it works like a charm. Thanks! Now trying to flash froyo…..

  • John

    Ok i got to the step where its flashing *still in bootloader* its telling me “phone did not re-enemurate after RAM-downloader was sent (0x703E); phone disconnected” *NOW I DID NOT TOUCH THE PHONE OR THE COMPUTER AS SAID IN YOUR VIDEO* this is my 5th time trying to root my droid and I get nothing all i keep getting are faileds can you please help me…….

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  • noutay

    after installing the motorola driver installation it ask if you wanna repair motorola installation driver 4.2.0 or remove mortorola installation driver 4.2.0 which one do i chose??? and also when i open rsd lite its does not show run as admin or show trouble shoot… my device dont show up on device properties it only shows where it says status… and when i click start to start the sbf file it failed on me… can anyone help???

  • Kyle

    Ok, so I’ve gotten to part where your on RSDLite, and when I click start it goes “In Progress…”

    Then it stops gives me this error,”Failed flashing process. (0x71000; phone connected.”

    What do I do from there? Please help and guide me through it, I’m a noob!

  • Tyler

    For some reason whenever I run RSD lite v4.6 using “Run as Administrator” it cannot locate the phone… however when I do not run it as administrator it finds it fine. So… any help?

  • James

    Running Vista 64bit and am not given the option to run RSD lite as admin. Troubleshooting option isn’t there, either. I am the administrator so I just ran RSD Lite. It detected my phone, I selected the SBF file and got no further. The file name is in the window, the file properties window is blank, and the start button is disabled. I found the RSB Lite folder on my computer and inside it was an application file named SDL. I could run that one as admin so I tried that with the same results. I’ve tried uninstalling/reinstalling RSD Lite and downloading the SBF file multiple times and still the same result every time. Help???

    • James,

      Right click RSD and click properties then click on the compatibility tab (if you have one) and have it run as administrator. If that doesn’t work, Google how to enable an application to run as administrator in Vista and see what you find.
      Good luck!

      • James

        SUCCESS!!! I kept at it and switched to the desktop I use as a printer and backup server. It worked like a charm. Still couldn’t “Run RSDLite as Administrator” but I didn’t need to, either. Why’d it work on that computer? Don’t know, really, but I have two ideas. Laptop is running antivirus and firewall in the background and may have been interfering. More likely, I had USB Debugging turned off because I use PDA Net from time to time when I can’t hit an open network. Anyway, I’m rooted, running 2.2 at 800Mhz, and all is right with my world! Thanks for the help.

        James.

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  • brian

    i have all the files downloaded, go to run RSD lite as admin, and it says my device is connected, i select the .sbf file, and the start button is dimmed and wont let me click on it, any idea whats goin on?

    • brian

      also, runnin windows 7 pro, tried disabling antivirus, tried reinstalling drivers and RSD lite, redownloaded .sbf, , tried with USB debugging on, then tried with it off, cant figure anything out that works

    • brian

      figured it out, same as above, tried it on my desktop and it worked, after doin a lil searchin around seems like most people who have this problem have laptops running windows 7 64 bit, tried on a 32 bit XP desktop and worked fine!

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  • soundbombing77

    I flashed rooted and installed a custom rom on my phone. I had to goto verizon, because it was acting a little weird. My buddy told me that if they noticed it was rooted it would void my contract, so I unrooted it. It’s fine now, and I want to re-root it. It flashed, but the update.zip won’t install Help!! My email is ssh92772@gmail.com

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  • WILFRED

    this is absolutely fantastic……i did it and it worked great….thanks much to you guys for the great work.

  • Brandon_glass13

    Just a heads up, the sbf file provided up top takes out your backup files, meaning you wont be able to make a nandroid. Which is pretty much what everyone suggest you do before messing with anything root. However i’m no expert and have only had a rooted phone 2 days via this tutorial. The upside to all this, I tried reflashing my phone with a different .sbf file from another android site and it wrecked my phone. but i did have the backup file, but like i said…I couldn’t get past the M on the login screen. If you so happen to do the same just go into recovery mode ( power + x ) then enable USB, and just reflash your phone using the .sbf file provided up top..its not perfect but it just saved me from thinking i bricked my phone.

  • Chrispunch14

    i bought a droid 2 that had a stolen or lost claim what can i do?

  • Chrispunch14

    i bought a droid 2 that had a stolen or lost claim what can i do?

  • Chrispunch14

    i bought a droid 2 that had a stolen or lost claim what can i do?