[HTC Sensation XL] MadCobbler:
I thought I'd do this tutorial because some people still seem to be having trouble searching the forum for answers, even though the forum is still only small, so I thought I'd put everything in one place, these are all the processes I've followed and they've worked for me, here you will find links to all the useful posts and places to find out what you need too..... Also I'll try to make it a little more Noob friendly too :D

But as always if you turn your phone into a paperweight, don't come blaming me for it, I've personally done everything (apart from flashing a stock rom and that is because I've never needed to) in the tutorial and its worked for me and worked for the majority of people in here and that is because we know how to follow instructions properly :)

If you are unsure about doing anything in this tutorial... DON'T DO IT... Ask a question here... But dont ask rom specific questions here though!!!

Now this will be for doing everything on a Windows PC. If anyone else wants to add what to do on Linux, Mac etc please let me know and I'll add them...

Now you've obviously come here because you're considering rooting and maybe even putting a custom rom on your phone. If thats not the case there is no point reading on...

Once you have your shiny new Sensation XL the first thing you will need to do is check the build number because we have noticed that a couple of the latest builds have not been rootable. You can do this by going to 'settings/about phone/software information/more'

Check the second post for details of the builds we know of at the minute that you will not be able to root. The only way around this at the minute is to flash an older RUU (Stock Rom) which we know can be rooted. Details of how to do this can be found at the bottom of this post!!!

Once you've either got a rootable build or you have downgraded and before you actually try to root your phone you will need to Unlock the bootloader!! Unfortunately unlocking the bootloader is the only way to be able to put custom roms on your phone.

You can get permanant root but you won't be able to put a custom rom on your phone, so if you only want root you don't need to unlock bootloader. You will need to use v4 from this post... http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1341127 ... Cheers Shingers ;)

But for recovery (CWM) and the ability to put custom roms on your phone (lets face it you do... thats why you're here :)) you WILL NEED TO UNLOCK BOOTLOADER

To do this you will need to go to the HTCDEV website at www.HTCDEV.com then you will need to register an account to be able to unlock your bootloader. Now the Sensation XL isn't listed in the devices that it says can be unlocked so what you need to do is when its time to select your device scroll to the bottom and select 'All Other Supported Devices'. Then you will get the warning boxes pop up asking you if you're sure you want to do it then saying you could void your warranty as well. Once you've clicked ok on those you'll be through to the instructions on how to unlock your bootloader.

Remember how to get your phone into fastboot from the instructions because you will need to do it again, or if anything goes wrong.

But if you follow the instructions properly nothing should go wrong... Its been tried and tested by lots of people...

And just incase you don't remember how to do it... Take battery out and pop it back in, then press volume down and power button together until you see the white bootloader screen and then press the power button to get into fastboot.

Please please please follow the instructions to the letter, because if you don't it WILL NOT work. Its a very comprehensive walkthrough on how to do it so you shouldn't have any problems unlocking your bootloader as long as you follow the instructions... If you're struggling here maybe you shouldn't read any further and leave your phone like stock :D

Then once you have that done you will need to get root and for that you will need to follow shingers5 tutorial below...

Get the file for rooting here DooMLoRD_v2_ROOT-zergRush-busybox-su.zip

1. enable usb debugging from settings - applications - development

2. plug phone to pc via usb cable - charge only

3. open extracted zip folder and click runme. thats all. (if experience any daemon hanging problems pls install htc sync and plug in phone so drivers are installed. once done delete htc sync and repeat root procedure) PC will open a cmd screen with prompts that you need to follow. The app does rest... So its nice and easy

4. After root is complete pls visit market and update SU app. once done root will be fully functional and eliminate any future FCs

5. Also as an extra tip you can install SU UPDATE fixer from market to update your binaries to 3.0

ALL DONE

If you're struggling with the above instructions, remember that you will need to un-install HTCsync because it interferes with fastboot and rooting...

Then once you're rooted you will need to put CWM (Clockwork Mod) recovery on in order for you to be able to back up your phone and flash custom roms. The custom recovery by Paul O'Brien is the best one to use and is available to download here... http://android.modaco.com/topic/348973-clockworkmod-recovery-5027-unofficial-modaco-edition/

You will need your phone in fastboot again and you will need to find the fastboot folder on your PC (Windows). When you're in the fastboot folder press the left shift button and right click on the mouse and select open command prompt here. Make sure your phone is connected to the PC and is in fastboot. Also make sure that the recovery.img file that you downloaded from MoDaCo is in the fastboot folder too. Get back to the command promt window and type the following

fastboot flash recovery r1-recovery-clockwork-5.0.2.7-modaco-runnymede.img (Tip: once you get to the r1 bit just hit tab and it will auto complete the rest of the line)

If you can't get the Paul O'Brien recovery installed (apparantly not everyone can) try the Older recovery from here http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1348693

Now you've got root and CWM :D

A lot of people who have come this far will want to put a custom rom on... unfortunately its not completely straight forward. But again there is a way round round it and you should only need to do it once, when you're coming from a stock rom.

Now there is two ways of doing it, but one of the ways doesn't always work so I would suggest that you do it the guaranteed way, it is a little longer but it is guaranteed to work! And this method is thanks to shingers5 in this thread http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1366238 but I will go through it again here....

1. You cant just flash a custom rom on this phone, firstly you will need the 'Chinese rom' which is here http://hotfile.com/dl/148413075/8990501/runnymede_ax918_111511_101713.zip.html and make sure it is on the SDcard part of your phones memory. Make sure it on the root of the SDcard because it will be easier to find later. Then you will need this rom RCMix3d Runny XL rom from here http://dl.dropbox.com/u/56143145/RCMix3D_Runny_XL_v1.2.zip (thanks to benjamin.j.goodwin) and make sure that is on the SDcard too with the other rom

2. Then you will need to download this file from here http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=19494357&postcount=18 it is the 'Chinese boot.img' and will need flashing from fastboot again. So put the phone in fastboot and extract the 'boot.img' from the 'boot.rar' file and put it in the fastboot folder on the PC. Open the command prompt again and type this... fastboot flash boot boot.img ... This should only need doing once if you're coming from a stock rom.

3. Once you've done that you will need to get into recovery. From fastboot select bootloader and then look for recovery, it should be under fastboot if its worked correctly. Select that and the phone should then reboot and go into 'CWM' (recovery). Once there you will need to use the volume keys and power button just like when you were in bootloader. Go down and select 'Factory Reset/Data Wipe' and select that, the select yes on following screen. This will take a few mins (don't worry if it looks like its not doing anything). After that go down to 'Wipe Cache' and select that. and then go down to 'Advanced' select that and on the following screen select 'Wipe Dalvik Cache'.

People who have used CWM before will know all that, but I'm putting it in anyway :D

4. Once thats all done you will need to select 'Install Zip File from SDcard' and then you will get another screen where you go to 'choose zip from SDcard' and the you will see all the contents of your SDcard, scroll down till you can select the Chinese rom you put on earlier (remember what it was called) and then select yes to install it. Sit back and wait another few minutes. Once its done select the 'reboot now'. The phone will then reboot again and start to load the new rom up. This will take a while so don't worry. Now once the phone has started you should get the start up wizard and you will just need to skip through it (don't worry about it being all in chinese... its in english). Not everyone needs to install the Chinese rom, some people can just go straight to the RCMix3d rom and install that, but it doesn't work for everyone, so I'm putting this in because it always works when you do it this way. Installing the Chinese rom should only need doing once if you're coming from a stock rom.

5. Boot into recovery again and goto 'Factory Reset/Data wipe', then 'Wipe Cache', then 'Advanced' and 'Wipe Dalvik Cache' and then go back to main screen and select 'Install Zip From SDcard' and then select 'RCMix3d zip' file and install that. Once thats done select Reboot Now and wait while phone boots up again... and VOILA you now have a custom rom Installed.

6. You could either leave that rom on (its a very good rom) or choose to install one of the other custom roms, read through the first few posts of each rom and decide from there whether you want to install that particular rom, or do what I did and install everyone and see which you like best :D

ANDTopix ... http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1429241

BinDroid ... http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1420841

CoreDroid ... http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1444664

Runnymede XE ... http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1502570

Or you want a tweaked rom with stock look (also from BinDroid) ... http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1430794

There is also an ICS based rom available now

WRE 1.5 (Worst Rom Ever) ... http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1491039

Now if you're having problems with any part of this and/or you softbrick your phone, my suggestion is that you stop what you're doing and either see if you can get your phone on and working properly (if so all is well with the world) or turn the phone off and pull the battery out, pop it back in and see if you can get into fastboot, if you can your phone should (I'm saying should, because I don't know what you've done to your phone to be considering this :D) be recoverable. You will need to make sure phone is in fastboot and then get command prompt up in fastboot folder and type this...

fastboot oem lock

That will relock the bootloader so that you can flash a stock HTC stock image (or RUU) back to your phone. Your bootloader WILL need to be relocked for you to be able to flash stock image back to phone. You can find stock HTC roms (RUU's) here http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1317895

When you're in fastboot and your phone is connected to the PC and you've downloaded the correct RUU for your region (they are region specific) double click on the RUU.exe and that should start the procedure of flashing the stock image back to your phone. I've never needed to do this, so I'm not 100% on the whole process.

Please remember that if you flash a RUU back to your phone, you will lose root etc, it will be like when you first got the phone...

Also remember that these instructions are tried and tested by many of the members in here and if something isn't working please check that you've followed the instructions to the letter, because it could be quite likely that you've done something wrong or missed something out...

Now I've tried to be as thorough and as noobish as I can possibly be, but if you think you can add anything just let me know and I will add it.

Special thanks to shingers5 who did all the work to start off with, all I've done really is bring them all together and Football for getting all the stock roms in one place :)