How to Unroot the HTC 10 & Get Back to Stock (Video)

It happens to all of us. Sometimes there comes a time when you need to unroot your HTC 10. Maybe you messed it up with flashing too many custom ROMS, maybe you just want to sell it, or maybe you need to return it to HTC for warranty? Regardless of the reasoning, unrooting the HTC 10 will get it back to stock and the way it was when it first came out of the box.

First up, this wasn’t the easiest video to do. Turns out that HTC has a billion versions of the HTC 10 and the tool that is recommended (you’ll see why in the video) to unroot the phone isn’t available for most of them. Because of this, I’m going to show you how to use that tool, then some alternative methods for unrooting in case you can’t find it for your phone.

 

I. Before You Begin

  1. This will erase your phone.
  2. You will need a Windows computer for some of this.
  3. I’m going to assume you did my rooting tutorial. If you didn’t please just use my setup ADB tutorial and do that so you have the proper tools on your computer and in the right places (don’t worry, it’s a 60 sec tutorial).
  4. Enable USB debugging (if it isn’t already enabled) by going to Settings > About Phone > Software and tapping on Build Number until it tells you you are a developer. Then hit back twice and go to Developer Options, and turn on USB debugging.

II. Find Your CID

So first thing we need to do is find our CID number, this is an identifier of our model and we need to know it in order to flash the right firmware.

  1. Head to the Play Store and download CID Getter.
    CID Getter
  2. Open it and you’ll see your CID at the top of the screen.
    Find CID

III. Use the RUU for Your HTC 10

A. RUU Exe Method

So ideally, the best way to revert to stock is to use an RUU, or ROM Update Utility, directly from HTC. If you can find one for your CID, then that is the best way to go.

  1. Head to this site and check if there is an RUU for your CID under the Stock RUU Exe section.
    Download RUU Exe
  2. Plug in the phone via USB and double-click the RUU exe file.
    Open RUU Exe
  3. Follow the prompts for it to flash your phone.
    Use RUU Exe

B. RUU Zip Method

If you couldn’t find the RUU exe for your phone, you might be able to find the RUU zip file and flash that.

  1. Head to this site and check if there is an RUU for your CID under the RUU Zip section (here I have the North American RUU version, European RUU version, and Asian RUU version).
    Download RUU Zip
  2. Download it and save it to your desktop, rename it to the 2PS6IMG.zip (if you downloaded it directly from me, I’ve already renamed it for you).
    Rename RUU Zip
  3. Plug in the phone via USB and copy it to the root of the internal storage.
    Copy RUU Zip to SDCard
  4. Unplug the phone and turn it off. Turn it back on by holding down Volume Up and Power.
    Boot Into Download Mode
  5. Push Volume Up to begin it flashing and wait for it to finish.
    Unroot HTC 10

If you found the RUU for your phone, then you can skip to VII. If you couldn’t find it for your phone, then continue with section IV below.

IV. Download the TWRP Backup, Stock Recovery, and OTA for your HTC 10

  1. Using the CID you got above, head to this page on XDA and find the TWRP backup for that CID and download it and save it to the adb folder.
    Stock TWRP Backup
  2. Then find and download the Stock Recovery for your CID and save it in the same place and rename it to stockrecovery.
    Stock Recovery

V. Restore the Backup

First, we need to restore the stock backup for the device by restoring it in the TWRP recovery. In order to do that we first need to make a backup in TWRP to setup the correct file structure so if you have never made a backup do the next section, if you have done one at some point in the past then you can skip it and do the next section.

A. Backup the Phone to Create the File Structure

  1. Turn off the phone and turn it back on by holding down Volume Down and Power.
    Bootloader Mode
  2. Using the volume buttons to navigate and the power button to select, choose Boot to Recovery Mode.
    Boot to Recovery
  3. When in recovery, tap on Backup and swipe to confirm.
    Backup
  4. Then tap reboot system to get back to the normal Android home screen.
    Reboot System

B. Restore the Downloaded Backup

  1. Plug the phone in via USB while in the normal Android system (your normal home screen) and open the phone’s storage on the computer and navigate to BACKUP > [Your device’s serial number folder] on the device storage.
    Open Backup Folder
  2. Extract the .zip file we downloaded of the TWRP backup and copy the extracted folder into the above folder.
    Copy Stock Backup
  3. Turn off the phone and turn it back on by holding down Volume Down and Power.
    Bootloader Mode
  4. Select Boot into Recovery Mode.
    Boot to Recovery 2
  5. Once in recovery, tap on Restore then choose that backup file and swipe to confirm (this will erase everything on the phone).
    Navigate to Restore File
  6. After that’s done, tap Reboot System.
    Reboot System
  7. When it reboots, turn it off and boot it into fastboot by holding down Volume Down and Power.
    Turn Off

VI. Flash the Stock Recovery

Now that we are back to the stock ROM, we need to flash the stock recovery.

  1. Rename the stock recovery to stockrecovery and move it into the adb folder we’ve been using.
    Copy Stock Recovery to ADB
  2. With the phone plugged in, type the following into the command prompt with hitting enter at the end of the line:
    fastboot flash recovery stockrecovery.img
    Flash Stock Recovery

VII. (Optional) Lock the Bootloader

If you didn’t use Sunshine to get S-Off and instead unlocked your bootloader via the HTC site, you need to relock the bootloader.

  1. Type the following after that last line in the last section to lock the bootloader back up.
    fastboot oem lock
    Fastboot OEM Lock

All set! Let me know if you had any issues in the comments below. If you couldn’t find your CID in the list of files on XDA, you can Google around to find it and follow this tutorial (just be very careful not to flash the wrong one).

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125 thoughts on “How to Unroot the HTC 10 & Get Back to Stock (Video)”

  1. If I follow this guide will it get rid of my message I get on a couple screens saying this is a test device from HTC?

  2. Does the RUU exe Stock Flash take awhile?. I was able to find the North America CID for my phone in the download. Running it now and at the final stage but not progressing.

  3. I followed your video to the letter. I had a OTA update to 195 ??? ?? in the UK. I cannot Android pay to work, I get a error message when I try to add my card.

    Is there a RUU exe for the European 10?

  4. Hi
    Followed all instructions
    Had TWRP recovery (European version)
    Option B. RUU Zip Method worked and after that I flashed the Stock Recovery file.

    But it still shows “System modified” when i go into bootloader.
    How can i change this? Would like to use Google pay.

    Thanks in advance

  5. hi im using htc 10 and wonts to unroot it ,i followed your manual format to unroot but when i go to the boot loader to copy paste ”stockrecovery” it dose not connects with the laptop.What shoul i do?

      1. Phone does not connects with the laptop when I’m in boot loader and when I’m in home screen of my phone it connects.

  6. Great write up, everything went smooth. Download now show RELOCATED vs LOCKED before rooting. Anyway to get it back? Thanks again.

  7. holding down the volume up button and power isnt doing anything for me. it just boots up like normal. i tried the first ruu since im on bs_us001 cid but my image version is 1.96.617.2 (i flashed the 10-30-16 viper 3.5.0 rom). so when i do the first ruu. i get error 155 which im guessing its because of my image version. any other ideas? or should i do step IV. im s-on and boot loader unlock

  8. Great tutorial!
    The issue with me is that I’m stuck in bootloop and I can’t access Recovery or Download Mode.

    What do I need to do?
    Thanks

      1. CLARIFICATION: The phone I got was already in a bootloop (don’t know how). I am able to get into the bootloader screen BUT if I try going into Download Mode OR Recovery Mode the phone goes back to the bootloop.

        Even if I power down (through bootloader) and plug in the phone to the charger, bootloop happens.
        Thanks!

        1. That’s odd but because I don’t know what happened to the phone to get it into a bootloop, I’d suggest simply contacting HTC for technical support like normal or returning it from where you bought it and getting a refund.

  9. Hi!

    I’d like to revert my phone back to stock and be able to have OTA, use android pay, etc.

    It is unrooted, but has custom TWRP 3.0.2-6 installed + unlocked bootloader & S-off. Do I need to do everything in this guide or is there another guide for my situation?

    Thank you!

      1. The CID is “HTC_001 WWE”. I can find the RUU exe on xda website, but there seems to be zip for “HTC_001” (WWE is not mentioned, hope that’s all right).

        The phone was bought on ebay and I was wondering if it would is possible to lock back bootloader / s-on without Sunshine if they were originally unlocked with Sunshine?

      1. When I try to do the command fastboot oem lock it just says “waiting for device” and doesn’t do anything any ideas ? The RUU exe says cannot update ROM on device , but the exe is the correct one. Is that because of the unlocked bootloader ?

  10. Peerapong Thirasatayapibal

    I need some help i have following your step by step.

    My CID is 621 there’s no RRU for my device then i try a B step with the asian RRU.

    i got the error code 19_RU_MAIN_VER_FAIL

    then i try to boot in recovery mode it go to black screen with the red triangle.

    i dont know what should i do next my device is S-ON ,Locked (never root or do an unlock bootloadder)

    but my device cant update via ota
    “Can’t update software. There was an unexpected error and the file system may be corrupted. Please contact HTC support for further assistance.”

    Any advice ?

    Sincerely

    1. You either need to find the correct firmware (you should have not flashed firmware that wasn’t for your device) and flash it or contact HTC for support and don’t mention that you were rooting etc. Just say you tried to update the device and this randomly happened and they should help.

  11. HTC 10 rooted, but then accidently made restore with the back-updata performed before rooting. Now it’s starting, but stuck during booting with frozen htc logo. tried all option so far, format data, just everything. Still the same. Now Iam thinking to unroot again, but as I can’t get it botin, I have no idea how to get CID. Any other options how to get it back booting, preferably in rooted condition?

  12. Unrooted the device(J15) but tried to update the OTA but even in recovery mode or sideload method getting an error…please help me

    1. You need to find the firmware for your model using the method described above. Also, you probably will not be able to get back to S-On but it isn’t necessary for OTA updates in most cases. Just do this tutorial and get it back to stock using the right firmware and you should be good to go. If you need help with finding your firmware, I suggest checking forum.XDA-Developers.com and looking for your device there and asking for the firmware there or searching for it. Good luck.

  13. On a side note I have s-off but I can’t do OTA updates I get that air software corruption this device is not rooted but I’m wondering to get it back to stock so I can take OTA should I root the device and then go about the unroot method to restore it back to a s-on. Would I then be able to take updates. This is a Taiwanese device. With 1.80.709.1

  14. i did all this and nothing really happened still unable to update and i still cant update

    nothing failed it all went fine but still unable to update

    1. Ah I see. Well then it might be the S-OFF causing the issue. Unfortunately, there isn’t really a way to get S-ON back that I know of (especially if we don’t know how the person who owned it before you got S-OFF).

  15. Hi, I came across your youtube video as I’m having problem with my htc10. My phone issue is “can’t update software” File system may be corrupted. My device is just a basic phone, not rooted or anything else as I do not have an idea about it. HTC support already asked me to do reboot/hard reset, still not fixed. I am using a Taiwan version unlocked.

    1. Sorry but that’s an issue for HTC, the manufacturer. You need to just talk to them like you would if you had an issue with any other product. Good luck and sorry you’re having issues with your phone!

  16. Hey David,

    Thanks for the video. I had an HTC 10 unlocked version with TWRP/root running otherwise stock software. I followed your instructions for RUU exe method to update and my now my phone shows “software status: modified” I am confused why it is modified now, when even with twrp/root it showed software status ‘official’. I have tried running the RUU again but it does not help. I also tried factory reset from recovery mode.

    Do you have any suggestions?

      1. In bootloader mode, the white screen where it also shows that my phone is “relocked” and “S-on” right underneath software status

        1. In that case it’s fine. You are back to stock so long as you have a stock recovery and stock firmware along with that. That’s enough to send it in for warranty if needed (HTC generally doesn’t mind so long as you get it back to relocked).

  17. Alberto Beltran

    Hey David,
    Great video man I really apprecaite it but i’m having a slight hang up. My CID is (T-MOB010) I can find the twrp backup easy but not the stock recovery. What should i do?

      1. I just wanna say to David dude thank you for helping me with my cell you don’t even know you did so i’m telling you lol Thank alot

      2. Alberto Beltran

        I did quite a bit of trouble shooting and research. I found that the only method that would work for me is to change my CID altogether, requiring S-off and continuing from there.

  18. Hy. After I root, I install BadBoys custom ROM. I don’t like and I try install another one. But can’t install nothing, just that ugly one again. I try to unroot with this method, and after I copy the restore, the phone restart many times and vibrates. The phone tries to wake up but just restart. I see for 1 sec battery and signal icon, but than restart. How can I reset all in it and install official ROM? On HTC website files have .tar extension. Thakns!

    1. Done! I don’t know what I do here, but now it works with first root rom. SuperSu. But one question. How can I install official rom from HTC? 🙂

  19. Hello,

    Is there a way to flash without sd card?
    The only card I got is my 128 mb micro sd from my ancient Motorola XD

    Thanks 🙂

        1. I had this error before. I don’t know if it helps, but for me it happened, when I unlocked the bootloader. It reset my phone and so USB-debugging was disabled again. After re-enabling it, the error was gone.

  20. Hi,

    Is there a other way to make my phone stock again (unroot)?
    I can receive the OTA update to android 7 but when I try to opened it go to the recovery mode. I try to follow yours steps but the only CID that match with my phone is the HTC__332 (TWRP Backup and OTA), I only miss the Stock Recovey to can do the TWRP Method.
    Is there a solution that I can do?

    Phone info
    CID__332
    Software number: 1.90.620.1
    Android version: 6.0.1
    (Rooted)

    Thank you.

  21. hello david my htc 10 is variant which is so can you tell me which is the better way to install stock firmware in my phone (htc_ _621) varient.

  22. Hi David,

    I want to update my HTC 10 from marshmallow to nougat without unroot my phone. Can you help me with that? Thank you

  23. Hi Daivd,
    I did all the steps you said, and whilst it seems to have worked, I no longer have sim card connectivity!
    I’ve reseated it just in case, but nothing had changed while running the TWDP and stockrecovery.
    Is this a common thing?

    I did lock my bootloader in error, and then unlocked it via the unlock_token I got from HTCDEV, but surely that wouldnt kill my SIM? I also tried 2 different SIMs btw

    1. No not at all. And it should effect it unless perhaps you flashed the wrong carrier firmware. Double check and make sure you flashed the one for your specific carrier. Also contact your carrier and make sure the sim is active and meant for GSM if the phone is GSM.

  24. Hello David,
    I am unable to find any of the files mentioned above for any of the methods for my CID: HTC_060. Software version is 1.95.400.3. So far, I’ve had no luck finding the RUU for .400 tree. So I am stuck since none of the methods above is working for my device. Can you please help me? Thanks in advance.

  25. Gabriel Nugent

    Hi David, I’m trying to get rid of my custom ROM and go back to stock – I’ve got an OPTUS001 device and I tried using the TWRP backup method. However, post-restore, my device says there’s no OS installed and it bootloops when I try to start it up. Any ideas?

    1. You don’t have an HTC 10, that model number is for the HTC One X so you shouldn’t have flashed this. Sorry, for the confusion. I’d recommend looking only for how to unroot the HTC One X and make sure to do the right tutorial for your exact model and it’ll get it back to stock.

          1. Gabriel Nugent

            I flashed the TWRP backup that matches with my CID (OPTUS001). Restored the two components – boot and system. No recovery.log file in there.

          2. Gabriel Nugent

            I didn’t flash the separate recovery file either but it didn’t say it was necessary.

  26. Hey David, great guide, however, I can’t get either methods A or B to work. My CID is BS_US001, however I see “Locked” and “S-ON” in HTC download mode, do I need to be unlocked and S-OFF for these methods to work? thanks!

    1. This method assumes you did my rooting tutorial and are where that left you off. The RUU unrooting at the top might work regardless as it’s the method HTC uses but the others would probably require unlocked at the least (not necessarily S-Off). Good luck!

  27. Hi David,

    I followed your guide and everything worked out fine (did the TWRP guide). But when I’m in bootloader mode, my device still says that my software status is modified. Is it suppose to say so or have I done anything wrong? regards

  28. Hi David, I would like to go back to stock. What I did for my phone is that, I unlocked my phone from htc dev, then i installed TWRP and back up all the things for my phone including system images, boot, system, recovery, etc. After that, I installed some custom roms, and some of the roms provided rooted.
    Can you suggest any way for me to go back to stock?? I tried to restore all the things from my backup, but don’t know how to recover the original htc recovery.

  29. I found out that s-mode is on. SO now i cant do anything with my phone. After i did the twrp backup I cannot install the stockrecovery due to the S-ON. Any fixes to that?

  30. Unfortunately none of these Methods worked for me.
    There is no RUU exe available for my model and the only RUU zip that was new enough fails with:
    system.img_16@FAIL
    21 RU_UNZIP_FAIL
    21 RU_UNZIP_FAIL
    FAIL21 RU_UNZIP_FAIL
    When I try to restore the backup it get’s stuck in a boot loop and shows only the white HTC Logo.
    So rn I am out of options, do you have any Idea what could be wrong?

    Thanks,
    Luca

  31. Hi David
    Ive got a htc 10 from US, running something that resembles a stock htc, but it cant find updates.
    The question is about my cid, SPCS_001
    So i dont know how to find the correct RUU.
    How should i do?
    Many thanks

  32. hi David!
    i have htc 10 and rooted with viper nougat version all features working properly sim card wifi all working fine
    and then leedroid update the rom oreo for htc 10 i am installed in it and the finger print not working which i think caues of frimware all things are working properly apart from finger print.
    but when am go to packup viper nouget rom then my phone sim card carrier not working and imei not showing.
    can u plz help me how to solve this problem and am from asia region.
    can i install stock ruu in htc can it possible to my simm card working..
    please guid me to solve this problem..

  33. In reply to my previous comment (which hasn’t been approved yet) — I got it working at last! THANK YOU DAVID.
    The SOLUTION was to go through the forum to find later versions that matched (close enough anyways) my current OS.
    So the download links on the first page for RUU files were long out of date, but going backwards through all the pages from the last page, I was able to find the version that suited my phone. THANK YOU!
    So to all those following, be sure to go through the forum pages/replies to find later versions that match your phone correctly!
    cheers,
    Jordan

    1. I second that. After looking on the XDA website, I was able to find a more recent RUU for my phone (CID HTC__001 wwe) and flashed using my SD card. All went very smoothly. My phone was S-ON and Locked and it worked all fine. I am now back to ***Software Status: Official***. And I can get software update OTA.
      Thank you David for your amazing tutorial and thank you Jordan for pointing out the need to look for more recent RUU.
      Cheers!
      C

  34. Hello…

    C:adb>fastboot getvar cid
    cid: HTC__034
    finished. total time: 0.001s

    C:adb>fastboot getvar mid
    mid: 2PS620000

    RUU Zip (Stock Signed) HTC__0034 in unlocked and s-on

    19 RU_MAIN_VER_FAIL os_version in android-info missing or i

    this error. help me please!! thank you

  35. Mihaescu Răzvan

    Hello, unfortunately I installed the OTA OREO UPDATE, and I got very bad battery draining (I need to charge my phone two times a day) and I’m desperate to return to stock. Never done any other things to my phone, just OTA updates.
    I heard something about that S-OFF/S-ON thing and my question is: To revert to stock by this tutorial is it necesarry to get S-OFF, or?
    Also I need a sd card or not?

  36. disqus_5mLI8l0Ogg

    Hi! Is there a way to roll back from Nougat 7 to Marshmallow 6? I’ve tried installing the ZIP files for the HTC 10 phone version I have, however I get a 22 RUU Header Error. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

  37. disqus_5mLI8l0Ogg

    Hi! Is there a way to roll back from Nougat 7 to Marshmallow 6? I’ve tried installing the ZIP files for the HTC 10 phone version I have, however I get a 22 RUU Header Error. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

  38. Victor Quinones

    Hi. Excellent video. It helped me a lot. I purchased a HTC Bolt for my mrs, it was factory unlocked. Two weeks later, it started lagging. I rooted it, installed the bad boyz rom, erased certain bloatware, and all I did, the phone still was lagging. Im going to return it, so I appreciate that the video you posted allowed me to unroot the phone properly and I will soon return it to the seller. Too bad, I really like the HTC phones.

      1. Victor Quinones

        One more thing David, and thanks for all the help in advance. After I unrooted the phone, I didn’t relocked the phone as you noted, probably afraid that it might affect the factory unlock. A couple of hours later someone suggested me something, so I tried to root the phone again, to no avail. I thought that probably had something to do with the phone being unlocked. So I followed suit, and locked it…and now the following message appears as soon as the phone turns on: “Your phone is encrypted”, “To decrypt your phone, enter your screen lock password”. My wife did not have any password!!

        What can I do?

  39. Hey David,
    Followed your “How to root” guide step by step and worked flawlessly. Thank you for that !

    My problem now is that my HTC 10 did NOT restart into normal HTC software after completing step V.B.6.

    The phone is currently stuck in the initial HTC logo screen and I can’t go into recovery or download mode, therefore my phone isnt recogniseable in ABD either.

    please help, I bought the phone brand new off eBay CID: HTC__001

    Cheers,

  40. Good day David!

    I have been trying to downgrade my HTC 10 from Oreo to
    Nougat. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/09d803bae372115386309b987c49c213091202d2ec367a44f1ca57add104ebe1.jpg I have a Verizon HTC 10 and had Sunshine S-Off installed.
    Unfortunately, I continue to get the same error message when I try to
    downgrade using the Stock RUU Zip method explained in your tutorial.

    I
    followed all of the steps, downloading the appropriate Stock RUU for my
    CID (VZW_001). I rename the RUU zip file to 2PS6IMG and copy it to the
    root of the SD card internal storage. But, for some reason, when I
    reboot the phone into bootloader mode, the 2PS6IMG file shows up twice
    (see attached picture). As far as I can tell, I only copied RUU zip file
    once. There are no other copies of the file on the root of the SD
    card.

    Is there something I am missing? Any help or direction would be greatly appreciated!

    1. Sorry this tutorial is pretty old and I no longer have the device to be able to help. If recommend checking XDA-developers.com and their forum on the device for more help. Good luck!

      1. Aw…well thanks for responding! Yes, I reached out to the XDA Developers and the pointed me to their HTC 10 Downgrading guide…which is still pretty confusing. I know you don’t have the device any longer, but you may be able to help me with this. The guide says for S-OFF only to:

        1. Reboot to bootloader (not download)

        2. Use the command below to erase persist partition

        In order to do the second step, do I have to install ADB & Fastboot on my computer? Is this how I enter the command?

        Thanks!
        Jameelah

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