How To: Root the HTC Tattoo

THIS PROCEDURE IS OBSOLETE, PLEASE HEAD TO OUR NEW ROOT USING SUPERONECLICK METHOD PROCEDURE.

I. Before You Begin

1. Make sure that you have the HTC Sync program on your computer and it is able to see your Tattoo.

2. This gives you root access and also changes your bootloader and recovery so that when ROMs come out you can flash them.

II. Make a Goldcard

1. Follow our How To Create a Goldcard procedure, then once you are done come back to this procedure and continue.

2. Put the Goldcard into the phone.

III. Download the Rooting App and Use It

1. Download the rooting app and save it to your computer.

Tattoo Rooting App (w/ Amon Ra’s Recovery Image)

2. Once it is saved to your computer, extract it and then copy the rtattoo folder to your C: directory (not in any folders, so that the path is C:\rtattoo when you are done).

3. On your phone, goto Settings > Applications > Development and make sure USB Debugging is Checked On.

4. Plug you phone into the computer.

5. On your computer, click My Computer > C: > rtattoo then double click RootTattoo.

6. Wait for it to finish completely (do NOT touch anything while it is working). Once done, you are all set! You have root access and a custom recovery image if you want to flash a ROM, enjoy!

NOW you can flash custom ROMs! Head over to our How To Load a Custom ROM on the HTC Tattoo video to see how to get started!

Thanks Maverixx!

81 thoughts on “How To: Root the HTC Tattoo”

  1. Hello,

    I don’t have a windows box at my disposal, just my linux laptop. So I tried to understand what exactly your application does.
    From looking at the bat script, it seems that I could do everything with linux and adb as well.
    Still, I am wondering what the auto-fase2.exe binary does… Could you maybe explain what it does?

  2. If the above download link for Amon Ra’s Recovery program is unavailable, please try:
    http://www.4shared.com/file/252206950/3f69a6c6/RootTattoo1Click.html

    Note the rootTattoo.exe is a kind of keyboard control, with typing commands and waiting static time for Tatttoo execution, so it may fail caused of the execution running longer than expected. Be ware about the console output to ensure the root process is success. The Tattoo will rebooted automactically after the root process.

    I did it but spent so much time to follow the steps and find the Amon Ra’s Recovery program /.\”…hope you can make all the things by one click 😛

    THANK SO MUCH FOR ALL WHO PAID EFFORT ON ROOTING TATTOO!!

  3. im having a few problems , i tried a few memory cards. but i get an error message at the end of the install saying something like ” error no space left on device for recovery” HELP PLEASE its driving me mad. i’ve repeated all the steps with no problem till the end.

    1. hey martin i had the same problem in my tattoo
      if you did pass it please let me know how you did that

      thanks

  4. Hello Guys, thank you very much. I just rooted my HTC Tattoo and will try to install tethering app. My tattoo is running Czech version of Android 1.6. Thanks

  5. i am using HTC tattoo in Singapore version,
    build number: 1.67.707.8 CL#74492 release-keys
    so, do i still need a gold card before i root my tattoo?

    would u mind to share with me what the function of a gold card?
    thank you very much…

  6. I bought HTC Tatoo, but I don’t have windows os on any of my computers (only FreeBSD and Linux). Could you please suggest something relevant?

    1. Hi,

      Find someone with a windows computer (I promise you know someone who does), or download a virtual machine app for Linux and run windows in it. I’m sure if you don’t have Windows in a world catering to windows users, you are used to this by now lol

  7. i manage to make a goldcard and all but when i press rootTattoo.bat an when i press any button second time it says an error message..EXE corrupted…i think its auto-fase2.exe errot…pls any1 help me…

  8. I had previously played around with the M7 exploit. That seemed to mess up things quite a bit 🙁
    I had to regain temporary root using the original m7 exploit and remove the /data/local/bin folder before I could make this work – but only after a few retries.
    However, it did finally work ! 😀
    Yessssssss

    Guys: You have done a great job!

  9. Hi Guys, managed successfully to root my Tattoo before, although it suddenly aborted all actions I tried to do (whether doing a Nandroid-backup, or a flash, or a wipe, simply everything)
    Now after a successful flash of the original HTC-ROM I tried rooting again, and again I have the same issues with the recovery…
    Can somebody help? Would be nice, because there are already a few nice 2.1 ROMs out there…

    Greetings.

  10. Hello, I’ve tried to do all steps but it failed on rootTattoo. In fact it says it couldn’t copy /sdcard/su
    and recovery and later says it can’t copy them to bin…

    The telephone rebooted anyway, is this enough? will it work? How can I test if it is rooted?

    1. Hi Dario, I had the same problem double clicking on rootTattoo using windows 7. I tried to right click and run as administrator but got a different error msg. I then tried to double click it again and it ran like a dream.

      Hope this helps you.

      Thanks to all those people out there in the land of robots 😉

  11. hello,
    i made everything ok but at the end when i run roottattoo.exe it says there are no enough space on device for recovery. actually there is no any extra folder to full it. i didnt understand what i should do.
    Can anybody help pls?

  12. This is a huge request (Of me) is it possible for you guys to make it able to run iPhone OS on HTC Tattoo and other devices?
    This would be a great step (:
    and if it is possible, will it be able to dual boot?

    1. Heldertb,

      While it is possible theoretically, you’d be hard to find a developer with the willingness to go through that headache, let alone the sheer time it would take them to do so.

  13. Hi, I got the same problem as Dario. When I run rootTattoo, I get stuck at “failed to copy ‘sdcard/su’ to sdcard/su’: Permission denied”

    I WANT TO ROOT MY PHONE!!!!

    Thanks for all the hard work, guys, but can anyone please help me past this final stumbling block?

    1. I got the same problem first, so I read the readme.txt file in the C:\rtattoo directory. YOU HAVE TO MAKE SURE, THAT ANTIVIRUS AND FIREWALL ARE TURNED OFF AND CONNECT YOUR PHONE VIA HTC SYNC, NOT AS A LOCAL DISC. Regarding this step, it worked for me!

  14. i did all the steps but the root and recovery doesnot work propeply, i noticed that while rooting from the troot the bdx dos window at the final write that couldnot write recovery no left space at device also for the root too.
    please advise.

  15. Hi !,

    I completely followed the procedure, also bought a new kingston sd card.

    Everything went well and the phone rebooted by itself as shown in video.. After that when I rebooted the phone by pressing the Home and Power button, I got exclamation in triangle on screen and not the screen as shown in your video.

    Please help. What could be the problem.

    Thanks.

  16. I just rooted my HTC tattoo which was locked to orange. For all those who have failed rooting Tattoo on orange locked phones, this is because the recent ROM update released earlier this year will make this rooting process obcelette. Error message when rooting will say device out of space.

    First of all you will need to download the Click ROM and install on your phone: PLEASE NOTE THIS WILL ERASE ALL DATA, but it should be worth it if you want to root your phone.

    Please see link below
    http://rapidshare.com/files/292517090/RUU_Click_HTC_WWE_1.67.405.6_WWE_release_signed_NoDriver.exe

    once fully install, normally takes about 10mins it will root without any problems

    Thanks for the root

  17. SEAN B, you is a starrrr.
    had been try to root for ages then gave up until today,
    nice 1! all working fine now and good bye Orange (lol)
    many thanx

  18. i have the same problem of : no space left on device ; can you please advice
    and it’s a very simple and understanding HowTo

  19. Hi.

    i’ve managed to root my htc tattoo now, finally!

    i’ve downloaded android 2.2 froyo and placed it at the root of the sd card. and i have named update, it’s in a rar archive so it should be zip.

    when i try to flash it in the recovery i get this message:
    wertifying package… installing update… installation aborted.

    i don’t know what to do. i down’t see any problem. except this one.

    Thanks in advance

          1. Ah, ok so long as it is .zip at the end you’re good.
            If you can flash other .zips then that one file is corrupted, try to redownload it or download it from another source and see if that fixes it. If not, then the developer of the ROM needs to tweak some stuff…
            Good luck!

  20. Hey

    I still gets the same message when i try to install android 2.2 froyo on my htc tattoo.

    My phone is rooted 4sure. when i try to flash the rom in recovery i gets this message:
    vertifying package… installing updates… update aborted.

    i’ve tried other sources, and updates, but from the same developer. every one else on the seems to have no particilar problem with installing the rom.

    Please help. no one on the rom site answers:(

    Thanks

    1. Try a different ROM from a different devloper, just to see if it’s the phone or that developers ROMs.

      By the way, MAKE SURE THE ROMS ARE MADE SPECIFICALLY FOR THE TATTOO. You cannot just flash any 2.2 ROM you find, it won’t work, you need a 2.2 ROM for the Tattoo.
      Put a link up in the comments for the ROM you were trying to flash and someone can tell you really quick if it’s even compatible for the Tattoo.

      1. right now i’m installing a cyanogen ROM by Invendor, this rom went just fine to install, but the only problem with this ROM is that it keeps on loading and loading and loading it never starts. last time i installed this ROM i waited for 20 – 25 minutes and aborted the installation.

        do you know how long it should take to install?

        Donload site:
        http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=767049

        BTW it’s the latest version og the ROM: changelog 0.5.

    1. That indeed is a ROM for the Tattoo. you are rooted etc though so our procedures worked fine. The issue is the ROM itself, so you need to talk to the developer, or just load a different ROM.

  21. OK i got it up and running. FINALLY^^

    Advice for everyone else:

    When you first flash the ROM in recovery, don’t boot from the sdcard right away, but do a wipe of Data/ factory reset. first to make sure you don’t have to wait for hours, like i did.

    REMEMBER!!
    Do the factory reset after that you have flashed the ROM.

  22. Im still getting the error writing image to device NO SPACE LEFT.

    PLEASE HELP.

    And there is adequate space on the SD card.

  23. hey have joust goon through all the steps but my tattoo do not reboot. and when i reboot i at try to open it in recovery it gives me a ! sign on screen and freezes
    where did i go wrong????

  24. There could be a lot of places you went wrong and without me standing over you as you did them I can’t possibly know what they were. Just start over and go slowly and carefully.

  25. All went well until the point when i ran rootTatoo.bat
    Can you please give a pointer. Until this point all went smooth.
    Specs: Win7 64 bit. I also turned off antivirus. I have a kingston 8gb card. I also recieved the goldcaed.img and card ran smoothly.
    here is the result of rootTatoo.bat:
    C:rtattoo>rootTattoo.bat
    ——————————————-
    ——————————————-
    —– By foro htcmania.com ————–
    ——————————————-
    ——————————————-
    ADB server didn’t ACK
    * failed to start daemon *
    ADB server didn’t ACK
    * failed to start daemon *
    error: cannot connect to daemon
    ADB server didn’t ACK
    * failed to start daemon *
    error: cannot connect to daemon
    * daemon not running. starting it now *
    —————————————————————————
    –Si ves un numero largo, entones puedes continuar, si no Cierra la ventana
    —————————————————————————
    ———————————————————————
    –If you see a long number, you can continue, if not Close the window
    ———————————————————————
    Press any key to continue . . .

  26. ——————————————-
    ——————————————-
    —– By foro htcmania.com ————–
    ——————————————-
    ——————————————-
    Creando dir, copiando archivos….
    mkdir failed for /data/local/bin, File exists
    push: bin/tattoo-hack.ko -> /data/local/bin/tattoo-hack.ko
    push: bin/m7 -> /data/local/bin/m7
    push: bin/flash_image -> /data/local/bin/flash_image
    3 files pushed. 0 files skipped.
    342 KB/s (76629 bytes in 0.218s)
    push: sdcard/su -> /sdcard/su
    push: sdcard/recovery.img -> /sdcard/recovery.img
    push: sdcard/boot.img -> /sdcard/boot.img
    3 files pushed. 0 files skipped.
    1390 KB/s (6253472 bytes in 4.390s)
    Unable to chmod /data/local/bin/[: Operation not permitted
    ——————————————-
    ——————————————-
    ———- Si hay errores, cierra la ventana
    ——————————————-
    ———–If there are errors, close the window
    ——————————————-
    ——————————————-
    Press any key to continue . . .

    what am i doing wrong…..please help?????

  27. i made goldcard(SanDisk SD card 2GB)or i think i made it all goes good until i turn of phone and than push HOME+Power button and hold it like in video but i see only a phone and a mark and when i press HOME i have REBOOT apply update.zip and 2 more things where did i wrong maybe its because of SD card

  28. I Did ittttttttttttttttttt muahahahahahhaaahahahahahahahahahah i did it WHit SanDisk SD card 2GB yesssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

  29. Leonardo Ramos de Oliveira

    I had to uninstall google desktop software in my pc for this procedure works well. I don’t now why, but I had to.

  30. Leonardo Ramos de Oliveira

    I had to uninstall google desktop software in my pc for this procedure works well. I don’t now why, but I had to.

  31. Yay! After many more complicated attempts that was dead simple.

    BTW it seems that goldcard is needed on unbranded phones (mine bought on contract from FarEastTone in Taiwan). I just skipped section II and it all worked just like in the video (and how often does that usually happen?).

    Big thanks to Maverixx on the root, and David for posting it here.

  32. my Tattoo starts with a screen Fast web and in the recovery screen there is the REboot, and the sdcard upgrade.zip only it does not have and restore or backup, i have a goldcard and a rom but each time i start the recovery screen it only permits the upgrade.zip

  33. Devam etmek için bir tuşa basın . . .
    Creando dir, copiando archivos….
    adb server is out of date.  killing…
    * daemon started successfully *
    mkdir failed for /data/local/bin, File exists
    adb server is out of date.  killing…
    * daemon started successfully *
    push: bin/tattoo-hack.ko -> /data/local/bin/tattoo-hack.ko
    push: bin/m7 -> /data/local/bin/m7
    push: bin/flash_image -> /data/local/bin/flash_image
    3 files pushed. 0 files skipped.
    321 KB/s (76629 bytes in 0.233s)
    adb server is out of date.  killing…
    * daemon started successfully *
    push: sdcard/su -> /sdcard/su
    push: sdcard/recovery.img -> /sdcard/recovery.img
    push: sdcard/boot.img -> /sdcard/boot.img
    3 files pushed. 0 files skipped.
    1283 KB/s (6253472 bytes in 4.756s)
    adb server is out of date.  killing…
    * daemon started successfully *

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