How to Root the Motorola Droid 4 (XT894) running Android 4.0.4

The Motorola Droid 4 is just five months old and when it was released back in January, it was just another dual-cored device running Gingerbread OS.  The device did attain root at that point but with it receiving the Android 4.0.4 update recently, it’s back to looking for an easy way to obtain root access.  Look no more though, as the post below will help you do just that in a few easy steps.

I.  Before You Begin

The procedure below will not affect the data on your device in any way, but do make a backup of important data before you proceed as a precaution.

II.  Necessary Downloads

ICS404root.zip

III.  Rooting the Motorola Droid 4

1.  Enable USB Debugging on your device.  To do this, head to Settings > Development and check the Enable USB Debugging tickbox.

2.  Connect your device to your Windows PC and change the type of connection to Windows Media Sync instead of Mass Storage.

3.  Extract the ICS404root.zip file you downloaded above to a folder on your desktop.

4.  From the extracted folder, double-click rootscript.bat to run the script.

5.  Hit Enter once you have made sure that you have enabled USB Debugging and the device is in Camera Mode.

After the script finishes running, your Droid 4 should be rooted and ready to run all those root-requiring apps available on Google Play!!

All thanks go to Rick#2 for creating this simple tool!! You can thank him or even donate to him on his XDA thread if you think this helped you in anyway!!

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.

49 thoughts on “How to Root the Motorola Droid 4 (XT894) running Android 4.0.4”

  1. How do you put on camera mode as a connection? I have tried everything and can not seem to find it… please help

  2. My Droid 4 doesn’t have a camera mode. Just PC Mode, Windows Media Sync, USB Mass Storage and Charge Only. Waiting on the OTA upgrade.

      1. Right. (And Duh!) I still have Android 2.3.6. I can tell by what you’ve both said that the “Camera mode” will appear as a selection once 4.0.4 has been installed. Good news. Can’t wait for the update an thanks for both of your comments.

    1. For those of you who dont know,you need the latest motorola drivers and it would be a bad idea to install the latest RSD lite version.

  3. I’ll start a new thread. My 4.0.4 OTA update was downloaded around 5am this morning. When I went to install it, it failed. Later on, I checked for system updates and downloaded it. I ran it, and it worked. I am now on 4.0.4. I did exactly what is explained here, being sure I was in camera mode for the USB connection. Downloaded the file, extraced it, ran the batch file. The phone booted what appeared to be twice. It said it was done, but no root access is there. I can run Root Explorer but cammot mount r/w, nor can I run Titanium Backup. Should I run the root batch again?

  4. I did what you said above (including making sure i am on 4.0.4, that i was in debug mode, and camera mode), but i still dont have root access… I was root prior to the update and superuser is still there and it still says it is giving out permissions, but they apps say they don’t have access.
    Any ideas?

  5. every time i try this is says “error: device not found” i have droid 4 with 4.0.4 my phone is in debug mode and in camera mode…what am i doing wrong?

      1. I just realised after several re-runs that I hadnt had the drivers installed the first time I ran the script, then subsequent reruns were failing because the cleanup in the script had deleted the necessary files. duh. I was rather distracted by my toddler, so at least I have that excuse, sort of lol. After I extracted the files a second time and ran the script again and everything ran perfectly. This was on a brand new D4, fwiw. Thanks so much!!

  6. I have the same problem. I ran the exploit after the OTA update. I had gingerbread already rooted with the Dan Rosenberg exploit. When I ran the update everything seemed to go ok but debugfs says that su already exists. I tried to run su from the command shell and got an IO error. Other bin files run file in the /system/xbin folder. I’m at a loss.

  7. I tried another site’s method of rooting my Droid 4 with 4.0.4, and it said I am already rooted. Still can’t get root programs to run.

      1. I did, as per my comments below. I still have no access to Titanium Backup, Root Explorer or even ClockSync.

  8. I ran your script against my previously rooted Droid 4 and the re-root seemed to go OK. Like some others on this thread, Titanium Backup will not run. My old SuperUser still runs and says it is set to allow Titanium, Safestrap, and a couple of other apps. I cannot find any BusyBox on this box and the newest one from Google Play will not properly install. I think I see at least A problem if not THE problem which is that my SuperUser app is v2.3.6.1. Since that was my old Android version before updating, I’m assuming that means that the SuperUser app version must match the Android version. Is this true? If it is, is there a particular SuperUser version of “flavor” that will match Android 4.0.4? Should I just get the most recent one off of the Play Store?

    Thanks in advance. And thank you, Dax, for your work in maintaining this site and page.

    1. I was just going to post (again) to say that even though I did his root sequence first, another root program said I was already rooted. As for Superuser, I downloaded and installed v3.1.3, but still don’t have root to run Titanium Backup. I hope somehow this gets figured out because there will be many that will read our comments and not use this root procedure. I know it will be fixed. I have faith.

  9. I know you said your procedure works for sure to root the Droid 4 with 4.0.4, but have you tried it on a phone that was updated to 4.0.4 from a previous version that was already rooted like mine was? I ask this because I wonder if something was brought over from the old system that, even though my phone is rooted, will not allow root programs to run.

    I don’t know what else to ask. My phone simply will not run Titanium Backup, Root Explorer or ClockSync.

  10. Has anyone besides the original author had success with this root method? Don’t want to jump in unless I hear at least one confirmation.

  11. Hey all, my D4 updated and I had *not* rooted prior to the update (silly me, I was waiting and waiting for ICS). does this method work on a ICS Droid 4 that has never been rooted?

  12. Larry Schiereck

    Yo all, ICS 4.0.4 running fine but no su access since ICS installed, had been rooted with Dan Rosenberg exploit under GB. Ran this as directed and the bat file complained it couldn’t find the folders or files: busy box, su, nuttin. It drilled down in the profile in Windows. Was USB debugged and in camera mode at the time. Already had version 3.13 of Superuser. Should the script be run from the sd card or some other place? Something else gotta be run first? Muchos thancos.

    1. So are you saying I should try ICS tool 2.0 to root mine? Do I need to unroot from the above procedure first or just go ahead with ICS tool?

  13. Well, thanks to Larry Schiereck, I located the ICS tool 2.0, and saw an upgrade to 2.1 with excellent instructions by using option #1. After I made sure my debugging settings were correct, I used option #9 to root my Droid 4 and it actually worked! I can now run Titanium Backup, Root Explorer, Clock Sync, and other apps that need root. I wish the people that posted the routine on this page the best in finding out why it just did not work.

    –Orlando Bob

  14. I have never rooted my phone. I decided on the droid 4 as an upgrade from my EnV Touch. Some other custom roms I have seen do not support the smart actions app. Does rooting the phone still allow all custom OS apps? And can I run the android 4.0.4 system with it rooted?

  15. ok great – first it didn’t work on my Verizon Droid 4 even if the script ran through but then I reinstalled the superuser app from the play store and it works now. Also, no need for Windows, the script works under Linux and Mac as well if you replace the adb executable and edit and run runme_root_script.sh

    Thanks a lot!!!

  16. Ok, this is going to sound like a noob question, but where is the option to put the phone into Camera Mode and to change the connection type to Windows Media Sync? Are these options that appear when you connect the phone to a PC (I’m at work right now so I can’t try that)? Thanks.

    1. When you connect your device to your PC, you should be able to change the connection type by pulling the notification bar.

      If you still can’t get it to work, just head to Settings and you should find the connectivity options there.

      I hope it helps you!

  17. Just created an account to say thanks for the great articles.. After using the droid 2 for years i finally decided to grab the droid 4 yesterday and with this i was able to root my phone in minutes without any problems
    Definitely the easiest root ive ever had to attempt

    Thanks for the help

  18. Three times I tried this but root checker says not rooted. All steps were followed, I only have one question: Does camera mode mean “connected as camera” or do I switch to camera mode just before running the batch file?

  19. Ok, to get titanium Back up to work, install superuser, then run titanium back up, after it gives error, hit menu, refresh apps and superuser will then grant access to titanium backup. 🙂

  20. I have been trying to root my droid 4 for the last 3 hours and its not working. It keeps saying that It cant find my device. I did everything right and put it in all the modes just to see if it would work. This is my first time doing this and am very lost. please help. :/

  21. Ive been trying ot root my droid 4 all day using oneclick and kept getting errors. I found this and in 5 min I was done and phone is working great. superuser and Titanium backup both working as well as avast mobal thatnks for the great and easy root instructions

  22. I’ve run the program several times now on my Droid 4, without an issue on that side. However, no programs that require a root to be done to the phone actually work. I’ve poked around at it, and it doesn’t seem that the SuperUser program was actually installed on the phone at any point. I’ve tried going into the command promp on my computer to gain access, but apparently I don’t know what I’m doing, as it refuses to accept any shell commands.

    Any ideas?

  23. I thought it didn’t work at first, until I realized I needed to download the Superuser app from the Play Store. It sure is rooted, though; how did you manage to put together a script that roots the device without unlocking the bootloader? Every other device I’ve rooted requires a bootloader unlock and data wipe first.

  24. I know this is an old topic, but I recently had to get a replacement for my Droid 4 (another Droid 4, of course), and have this to add: running the batch file alone (on WIndows 7 x64 Home Premium) doesn’t seem to push the superuser app to the phone, so I downloaded the superuser app from Play as well as BusyBox, installed both, and am back up and running!

  25. my xt894 doesnt reboot it start and then it starts to hang with black display and nothing
    only recovery mode works
    and here i dont undertsand anything

  26. Hi, thanks for the post: Question: the device was a gift from a cousin fron the usa, and he gave it to me without any SIM and when i turn it on I don`t have acces to the Settings>Development menu, so is there anything i can do?, thank you for your attention.

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