How To Root the MyTouch 3G Slide (New Method)(Updated 07.26.12)

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You are here: How To's » How To Root the MyTouch 3G Slide (New Method)(Updated 07.26.12)

Our old rooting procedure for the MyTouch 3G Slide seems to no longer be working (thanks to the government shutting down Megaupload. Which, in turn, made us lose all of the files we had stored there like the rooting files for that procedure). Here’s the common new procedure. Let us know in the comments or by reaching out to us on the social network if it worked or didn’t for you. Thanks!

UPDATE: Seems my procedure is now outdated if you have version 2.2.1 or higher, so head to a buddy of mine’s blog, TrueFire, and check out his procedure instead.

I. Before You Begin

1. Make sure to do a backup of all the files on your phone before beginning just in case.

II. Download the Necessary Files to Your Computer

1. Download the following files and save them to your computer.

ESPRIMG.zip
Flash_Image
MTD0.img
CyanogenMod ROM
ClockworkMod Recovery
AndRoot

2. Now, plug in your phone via USB cable and select Disk Drive if asked.

3. Find your phone’s sd card directory on your computer if it doesn’t pop up automatically and copy all of the above files from your computer to the root of your SD card (that means NOT inside any folders, just on the SD card itself).

4. Once all the files are transferred, unplug your phone from the computer.

III. Download and Install the Necessary Apps on Your Phone

1. Head to the Android Market on your device and search for and install each of the following apps to your phone.

Terminal Emulator (Do not download here, download directly from the market)
ES File Explorer (Do not download here, download directly from the market)
Astro File Manager (Do not download here, download directly from the market)

2. Once all of these apps have been installed we can begin.

IV. Root the Device

1. Head to your phone’s settings > Applications > Turn ON Alllow Unknown Sources.

2. Now, open Astro file manager and look for the Androot .apk file you downloaded and click it then click install.

3. Once installed, click open.

4. Now, select Root Me with Install SU & Temp Root / Unroot after Reboot Selected (Make sure all of that is selected or the phone will get stuck) and run it.

5. Open ES File Explorer and click menu then settings and check on the option called Up to Root, select Root Explorer, and Mount File System.

6. Select the multi select option at the top (second from the left) and select the flash_img and mtd0.img files.

7. Then select Copy at the top (third from the left).

8. Now, hit the back button until you get the top folder and navigate to the Data folder then the Local folder inside that and select Paste to paste the flash_img and mtd0.img files into the local folder.

9. Open, Terminal Emulator on your phone and type the following into it with hitting enter at the end of each line.

su
cd /data/local
chmod 04755 flash_image
./flash_image misc mtd0.img

10. Once that works without any errors, power off the phone.

11. Reboot the phone by holding down Volume Down and Power at the same time, do not let go until the screen with text on it comes up. When it does, let go.

12. Once it finds the ESPRIMG.zip file click Volume Up to select Yes. Wait for it to finish flashing.

13. Once done, it’ll ask you if you want to reboot, select NO and click Recovery instead.

14. Push Volume Up and Power at the same time to show the Recovery options if you are not immediately presented with them.

15. In recovery mode, select Wipe Data / Factory Reset. (if selecting any options gives you a blank screen, try selecting with the select button under the screen instead of using power to select).

16. Then select Install Zip from SD Card and choose the CyanogenROM .zip file.

17. Once done, select reboot system now.

Let us know if it worked for you if there needs to be changes made!

Adapted from the original procedure found here.

45 thoughts on “How To Root the MyTouch 3G Slide (New Method)(Updated 07.26.12)”

  1. Eric

    I’m no stranger to technology but I am new to rooting a phone and just have a few simple questions. First, when the needed files are downloaded, are they supposed to be unzipped before moving them to the root of the SD card? My other question is about the apps downloaded from the market. Can these be moved to the SD card or should they remain on the phone for this process? I’m awfully low on available space as it is now and installing these three apps has taken just about all of it. Thanks

    Reply
    1. David Cogen

      Hello Eric,

      No, all the ones that are in zip format, leave them in that format as they need to be that way for the procedure to work.

      I’d leave them on the phone for this process just to be safe. As for the low on space thing, though, this will erase your phone so be sure to at least write down what apps you really want to redownload etc. cause they will be gone by the end of this procedure (any paid apps will just show up under My Apps in the Android Market so you can just click those there and they’ll redownload, no need to pay again etc.)

      Please let us know how this procedure works for you as we no longer have a MyTouch 3G available to test it on. Thanks!

      Reply
      1. Eric

        I got as far as step 4 in the rooting process and received a message stating “Failed! ~~~Fu goo~~~” The instructions in step 4 compared to what’s showing on Androod (v1.6.2 beta 5) are a little different as well. I have three selections to choose from a drop down menu – Superuser for Android 2.0-2.2 (running v2.2.1 on my phone), which I chose the first time – Superuser for Android 1.5/1.6 and – do not install superuser – which I also tried. Both returned the same message. As the instructions stated, I did check the option for Soft Root as well. Looks like rooting the phone is out of the question for tonight.

        Should all apps that have been moved to the SD card be removed and the card formatted before attempting the root?

        Reply
          4. William

            David,

            Thanks for the walkthrough. I tried all three versions of androot that you posted and they all exited with the same message. I think that Androot doesn’t work with phones that have been upgraded to 2.2.1. I will look into downgrading back to the stock rom. If you have pointers for downgrading please share.

            Thank You!

            William

      2. Madhav

        Hey David, I have a question. I am a new to this too and I wanting to ask you if I had to copy and replace when it asked me to copy and replace the esprimg.zip? I dont know what to do. Please Help!

        Reply
    2. Steven

      worked gr8 i was runing the new 7.0 3g was lacking bad but was looking for the s off but all the sites i went to did not work

      Reply
  2. Vincent

    Just got a second 3g slide and I am about to go through the whole rooting process all over again to get cm back on it so thanks for putting up this tutorial. My one question is if you know of a way to achieve S-Off on the mytouch 3g slide?

    Reply
    1. David Cogen

      Hmm, I would assume this procedure would give you S-Off by the end of it since it is essentially loading a new bootloader (one with S-Off I would assume). Try it and let me know, I unfortunately don’t have a Slide to test with.

      Reply
  3. Tobi

    Good day Mr. David Cogen, I want to commend you for this wonderful post. I followed your procedure and now, am rocking with CM7 on my T-mobile mytouch 3G slide.
    But i will like to add this incase anybody encounter same thing on their device while following the process.
    After step #13, when the phone was supposed to boot into recovery, it didn’t all it was showing was a blank screen with a triangle, what i did was (press the volume up button together with the power button, then it showed me a screen with some options, so i selected (Wipe Data / Factory Reset.)
    after that, i selected (apply update from sdcard). after that the phone now showed me the clockworkmod recovery. selecting options there will result in a blank screen, i left it for about an hour after selecting wipe data/ factory reset in the clockworkmod recovery screen, i thought I’ve brick the phone and i was scared but later, i pressed the volume up and the power button together and brought back the recovery screen, then i noticed a text appeared at the bottom down the screen saying (the back/return button/key is now activated), then the functions in the recovery were now active. so there, i did a backup(dont know if it worked but i just did it). i wiped the phone/factory reset and later choose “Install Zip from SD Card and choose the CyanogenROM .zip file.” and it did installed and after that, i selected reboot and it took a while before the phone came up in the first booting and i saw the cyanogen screen, and i was indeed HAPPY.
    Thanks man, you’ve done a great job.
    but i have some questions to ask pls.
    what other ROMs works fine on this device other than the Cyanogen ROMs?
    and now that am running a custom ROM on my device, what are the greatest thing i can do with this device, like super-normal functions the phone can perform and some good apps for it.
    Thanks once again for your support.

    Reply
    1. David Cogen

      Thanks Tobi! And thanks for adding some clarifications, I’ll add them to the post itself to help others out.
      As for the apps etc. First and foremost for most people is downloading WiFi Tethering so you can turn the phone into a hotspot for your laptop, Nintendo DS, etc. After that, I’d look into finding custom kernels for overclocking (the CM7 ROM might have one built in, to check google SetCPU and download and install the apk on your phone and select use recommended settings, the overclocking will make the phone run faster, and also battery last longer since when it is idle it’ll use a lower processor speed). Besides that, play around with themes and ROMs and see if you can find one you like best (although CM7 is a good one).

      Enjoy and welcome to the world of software freedom 🙂

      Reply
      1. Tobi

        Good day Mr. David, please am having a problem with my new samsung galaxy SII that someone sent to me. its a T-mobile Samsung SGH-T989, i can’t boot the phone into main window, it requests for password and i don’t know the password. I tried doing a hard reset in the recovery mode but whenever i click on “wipe data and factory reset” the phone takes me to a screen to enter password before proceeding and i don’t know what to type in there. please I need your help concerning this.
        thanks for your help.

        Reply
  4. john

    I downloade the Androot file and it comes as a .zip file with no apk when i extracted it….i downloaded universal androot from differnt source and it has only this options..
    superuser for android 2.0~2.2
    superuser for android 1.5/1.6
    do not install superuser
    Soft root(Root temporary, unroot after reboot)
    generate logos in /sdcard
    pls help thanks…

    Reply
  5. iSh Rah

    I did everything according to the instructions but somehow it failed. I am not much into technology but I am pretty sure something is wrong with my phone. So my question is: Is there any way to revert the recovery mode to normal?
    I entered:
    su
    cd /data/local
    chmod 04755 flash_image
    ./flash_image misc mtd0.img
    Is it possible to cancel this command out and get the phone back to normal?
    Thank You 😀

    Reply
  8. anewa

    my phone has 2.2.1 and it wont work with androot, it gives the fu goo error so now I really have no idea how to root my phone

    Reply
  9. Abdoul

    Im new to all this rooting stuff. So after i do everything above what will my mt3gs be running on? CM7? CM9? Please answer im begging someone!

    Reply
  11. Roller Com

    Okay We’re Missing A Step Here. After 14 apply Update.zip then it’ll boot clockworkMOD Recovery for the rest of the steps. Thanks Guys!

    Reply
    1. Dax Krishna

      as David has put up in the post, this method is outdated, so follow the link up at the top of the post for the new procedure!

      Reply
    1. Mahesh Makvana

      To get back to stock, just download the stock ROM and Flash it on your device.

      You can check out XDA Forums to find the steps to do aforementioned task.

      Thanks!

      Reply
  18. Jack

    when i type in ./flash_image misc mtd0.img in the terminal emulator it says flash image not found. What do i do? Please help

    Reply
    1. Minime

      Jack, I’m stuck here as well. Were you able to solve this particular step? If not, could anyone please help here? This is regarding step #9 from the guide above. Thanks in advance!

      Reply
  23. maungmaung

    i need your help..please help me..
    my phone have not able 3G network…i think my phone require root..but i don’t…help me.

    Reply

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