[T-Mobile myTouch 4G Slide] jjbz:
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EDIT: PLEASE READ!!!!!!! Before proceeding, you need to find out which hboot your device has and if your device is S-ON or S-OFF. Ensure that Settings>Power>Fast Boot is unchecked and power down your device. Once your device is powered down, hold Power+Volume Down until you reach the bootloader screen.

On the second line, it should say "DOUBLESHOT PVT SHIP S-ON" or "DOUBLESHOT PVT SHIP S-OFF." If you are already S-OFF, great! You can flash a custom recovery in step 5 of this guide (although you need to have ADB/Fastboot installed on your Windows PC).

Your device is most likely S-ON. If so, continue reading. On the third line, your hboot information should be listed. If you have HBOOT-1.45.0013, you have the newer hboot and can follow this entire guide to achieve root. Most newer devices have HBOOT-1.45.0013.

If by chance you have the older HBOOT-1.44.0007, you have two options for rooting your device:

1. Use Revolutionary.io to gain S-OFF on your device. After using Revolutionary to achieve S-OFF, you can install adb/fastboot on your computer (in case you haven't done so already) and continue from step 5 of this guide to flash a custom recovery and Superuser for root,

OR

2. Update to latest OTA release and use this guide from beginning to end. You can update to the latest OTA release by going to Settings>About Phone or by using Blue6IX’s post “How-To: Restore to Stock.” Either method will update you to the latest OTA release (1.63.531.2) and HBOOT-1.45.0013.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you update to latest OTA release with HBOOT-1.45.0013, you will NOT be able to revert back to the older hboot and S-OFF unless you use JuopunutBear to S-OFF. This involves a "wire trick" that some people are not comfortable with.

Many users have successfully achieved S-OFF with JuopunutBear (including me), but others have reported that it bricked their phone. This is usually because they do not follow the directions that say not to touch the bare wire. Check out the JB S-OFF threads here and here for other users’ experiences.

Confused about S-ON vs S-OFF? S-ON, Revolutionary S-OFF, and JuopunutBear S-OFF are described in detail here.

Revolutionary S-OFF is for HBOOT-1.44.0007. JuopunutBear S-OFF is for HBOOT-1.45.0013. Got it? Good.

*****

This is a step-by-step guide for rooting the MT4GS, designed specifically for new users (aka NOOBS), by a noob. The process is slightly more complicated than rooting other devices (i.e. Samsung), but it is well worth it.

The MT4GS is one of the best qwerty phones on the market and has some of the best developers. Don’t let the process discourage or intimidate you. Just FOLLOW EACH STEP IN SEQUENTIAL ORDER and you’ll be fine.

Here’s a breakdown of the process:

1. INSTALL HTC DRIVERS ON YOUR PC.

2. INSTALL ADB AND FASTBOOT ON YOUR PC.

3. REGISTER AT HTC DEV.

4. UNLOCK BOOTLOADER THROUGH HTC DEV.

5. INSTALL A CUSTOM RECOVERY.

6. ROOT YOUR DEVICE.

7. USE JUOPUNUTBEAR TO GAIN S-OFF (OPTIONAL).

-PREREQUISITES-

Before getting started, please visit the MT4GS Compendium and read over Section One to learn the XDA Lingo. You really need to know this stuff if you’re going to tinker with the MT4GS.

Also, all information in the guide assumes you are using a Windows PC and a MT4GS with the STOCK ROM AND HBOOT-1.45.0013. If you are not on the Stock ROM, please use Blue6IX’s post “How-To: Restore to Stock.” Be sure to use the latest OTA (1.63.531.2). Once you're all set, let’s begin, shall we?

Disclaimer: I am not responsible for anything that happens to your phone. You assume all risks associated with modifying your phone.

-1. INSTALL HTC DRIVERS ON YOUR PC.-

Install the HTC Drivers on your PC from here.

Before connecting your phone, make sure USB Debugging is enabled (Settings>Applications>Development>USB Debugging).

Tip: to save time later, turn off your phone, hold down Power & Volume Down simultaneously until you reach the bootloader. Use the volume buttons to navigate to FASTBOOT and select it with the power button. Connect your phone via USB and the bootloader should now say FASTBOOT USB mode. Allow your PC to install the required drivers automatically. It may take a few minutes for your PC to search for and install drivers, so be patient.

-2. INSTALL ADB AND FASTBOOT ON YOUR PC.-

Installing ADB and fastboot on your PC is easy. Follow this guide and you’re good to go. To confirm that you have successfully installed ADB and fastboot, connect phone (with USB Debugging enabled) to PC via USB, open command prompt, and type “adb devices”. Your device ID number should be listed. Here are some useful commands for ADB and fastboot.

-3. REGISTER AT HTC DEV.-

Self-explanatory. Visit HTCDev.com and sign up with a valid e-mail address, as you’ll be receiving your Unlock_code.bin from HTC through this e-mail. Use an alternate browser such as IE, Google Chrome, or Mozilla Firefox if HTC Dev doesn’t play nice with your current browser of choice. Personally, I had to switch between Chrome and Firefox to get the HTC Dev website to cooperate.

-4. UNLOCK BOOTLOADER THROUGH HTC DEV.-

Make sure you’re logged in to HTC Dev and follow on-screen instructions to unlock bootloader. FYI, our device is listed as “myTouch 4G Slide (T-Mobile US)”. You can skip HTC’s instructions until step 5 since they're just telling you how to install ADB and fastboot, but you should already have ADB and fastboot installed :D.

After you finish unlocking the bootloader, the first line in your bootloader should read “*** UNLOCKED ***”.

-5. INSTALL A CUSTOM RECOVERY.-

Download official ClockworkMod Recovery 5.0.2.7 from the ROM Manager website or download another custom recovery from the MT4GS Development section. For instruction purposes, I will assume that you use official CWM Recovery 5.0.2.7. Save the img file to C:\.

Put your phone in bootloader FASTBOOT mode and connect to PC. Go to command prompt on PC and type “fastboot devices”. Once your device ID is listed, type “cd\” to get to “C:\” directory. Then type “fastboot flash recovery recovery-clockwork-5.0.2.7-doubleshot.img”.

After fastboot finishes, disconnect your MT4GS, go into bootloader, and go to “RECOVERY.” You should now be in ClockworkMod Recovery 5.0.2.7. The first thing I would do in CWM Recovery is make a backup of your stock ROM for safe keeping.

NOTE: Use volume buttons or trackpad to navigate through CWM Recovery 5.0.2.7. Select items by pressing the trackball. Power button may make your screen go blank and Back button returns you to the previous menu.

-6. ROOT YOUR DEVICE.-

Now that you have a custom recovery, you can flash custom ROMs. These custom ROMs are already rooted with Superuser and binary files.

NOTE: If you are S-ON, installing a custom ICS ROM will require an extra step in fastboot. You will have to extract the “boot.img” from the ROM and flash it with fastboot after installing the ROM in CWM recovery. More information from Limewirelord.

HOWEVER, if you want to root the STOCK ROM and/or continue to step 7 to achieve JuopunutBear S-OFF, you’ll have to root the device yourself. This is very simple. Download Superuser ZIP from androidsu.com/superuser. I can only recommend version 3.0.7 efgh because that is the only one I have tested, but newer versions may work.

Place the “Superuser-3.0.7-efgh-signed” on the ROOT of your SD card. Go to CWM Recovery and use “install zip from sdcard” to flash the Superuser zip. If installation aborts or fails the first time, try to flash the zip again until installation is complete. Reboot your phone and check in your apps to see if Superuser app is there. If so, congratulations, you have successfully rooted your stock MT4GS!

-7. USE JUOPUNUTBEAR TO GAIN S-OFF (OPTIONAL).-

Achieving S-OFF will make your life a lot easier if you want to flash custom ROMs, especially ICS ROMs. Follow instructions for JuopunutBear at unlimited.io and check out the JB S-OFF thread for other users’ experiences.

As I said before, if you are S-ON, flashing ICS ROMs will require an extra step in fastboot. You will have to extract the “boot.img” from the ROM and flash it with fastboot after installing the ROM in CWM recovery. More information from Limewirelord.

If you are S-OFF, you can bypass this step. For this reason alone, I highly recommend JB S-OFF if you have a half hour to spare and some courage for the wire trick. In this post, Indirect explains why JB S-OFF is superior to S-ON and Revolutionary S-OFF. Also, S-ON Unlocked, Revolutionary S-OFF, and JuopunutBear S-OFF are described in detail here.

However, if you plan on staying on stock-based/Gingerbread ROMs, S-OFF may be unnecessary for you. There are pros and cons to staying on 2.3 Gingerbread vs. upgrading to 4.0 ICS (like the stock HTC camera), but I’ll let you make that decision for yourself.

JB S-OFF NOTE: Users have reported that certain SD cards prevent JB S-OFF from working properly. If the wire trick doesn't work for you, try using another SD card and make sure it's formatted to a "FAT" file system and over 512mb in size (thanks to demkantor for this tip).

/ENDGUIDE

Hopefully this guide has helped you in some way. XDA has helped me out a lot and I simply wanted to contribute to the community that has given me so much. Feel free to share this guide with noobs in case they have questions about rooting their device (for the millionth time).

It is my hope that this guide aids in answering MOST noob root/modding/”this ROM broke my phone” questions. Noobs, please use the search function and many of the resources at your disposal BEFORE posting another thread. Everyone is here to help, so do your best not to annoy the MT4GS devs and vets.

We all were or still are noobs, so we understand your plight. However, we have seen WAYYYY too many threads that ask the same question over and over. Please consider the devs and XDAers that help you for free. Use the search function and remember to hit the “thanks” button. Thank you!

/ENDPSA

P.S. Shout out to the awesome MT4GS devs and contributors. You guys rock!

-Blue6IX

-tbalden

-kornyone

-xmc wildchild22

-strapped365

-sun_dream

-Riyal

-WeekendsR2Short

-anyone else I forgot, you go here!

P.P.S. If any links are broken, click on WeekendsR2Short's name above for alternative mirrors. Be sure to press the 'Thanks' button for him!

P.P.P.S. Thanks to ac3theone for this tip. If you begin experiencing an intermittent data issue on any ICS ROM (where your data turns on and off rapidly with a the 'H', '3G,' or data symbol flashing), try going to CWM Recovery and doing a wipe cache/dalvik and FIX PERMISSIONS. Hopefully this solves your intermittent data issue. This issue is ICS specific, so flashing back to a stock-based Gingerbread ROM should also fix the problem.