[Android General] ModernWorld:
Hi everyone,​

I have been in possession of an Alcatel One Touch Pop S3 5050 for quite a long time and was not able to root it until recently.

I will share my method in this topic but first of all, I have to thanks Decker.Kaluga for developing a custom CWM recovery image that kind of work on this device. You can find a good tutorial on how to install CWM on OT-6036Y or OT-6050Y on his website.

My second thanks goes to morgs640 for the idea of adapting Decker's work on Alcatel Pop S3.​

This method may work with other Alcatel devices, see last question in the FAQ section for more informations.

Step One

- Download Decker's custom CWM recovery here: cwm_alcatel_6050y.7z

- Unzip it

- Install adb drivers

Step Two

- Download latest zip version of Supersu from Chainfire, currently the 2.46

- Rename the archive as update.zip

- Put this file in the CWM recovery folder

Step Three

- Connect the device in USB, activate debug option and make sure adb is working by going to the folder where you have unziped the custom recovery

adb devices

- Navigate inside the device memory to identify the location of the internal and external memory:

adb shell ls /storage/

For internal memory, it should be:

/storage/sdcard0

And for external memory (sdcard):

/storage/sdcard1

- Push the Supersu zip file to external memory

adb push update.zip /storage/sdcard1/

- Take note of the position of the update.zip file inside the external memory

adb shell ls /storage/sdcard1/

In my case, this command returns:

- Android
- DCIM
- Documents
- Download
- LOST.DIR
- Pictures
- Ringtones
- data
- media
- update.zip

My update.zip file is in 10th position.
​

Step Four

- Reboot the device in fasboot by pressing Volume Down and Power until logo Alcatel pop S3 appears

- Verify the device is connected:

fastboot -i 0x1bbb devices

Boot the device with the custom recovery:

fastboot -i 0x1bbb boot cwm_recovery_6050y.img

NOTE:

This does not install the custom recovery on the phone so pressing Power during 5 seconds will reboot the phone normally.

The screen will turn white, wait until it stabilizes.

The screen will remain white as the recovery is not specially developed for this device but it should work anyway.​

Step Five

This is the tricky part, the menu does not display but the recovery is running anyway.

The menu you are not seeing is the following:

> reboot system now
> install zip
> wipe data/factory reset
> wipe cache partition
> backup and restore
> mounts and storage
> advanced

By default the cursor is on the first option.

- Press Volume Down once then Power to enter the install zip option.

This menu will be opened:

> choose zip from /sdcard
> choose zip from /storage/sdcard1
> choose zip from last install folder
> install zip from sideload
> toggle signature verification
+++++Go Back+++++

- Press Volume Down once then Power to enter the choose zip from /storage/sdcard1 option.

This will open the external memory folder:

In my case:

Android
DCIM
Documents
Download
LOST.DIR
Pictures
Ringtones
data
media
update.zip

- As you know exactly the position of the update.zip file from Step Three, press Volume Down accordingly.

In my case, 9 times to go from Android folder to update.zip​

- Then press Power

It will prompt for a confirmation:

> No
> Yes - install update.zip

- Press Volume Down once then Power to install.

- Finally, Press Power one more time to confirm installation, then reboot manually the device by pressing Power during 5 seconds.

If the process has been successful, when rebooting it will display a text saying that the list of application is being updated.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------​

Edit:

As neileverett suggested, the external memory sdcard could be recognized as sdcard0 instead of sdcard1.

To determine how the sdcard is named by the system, I recommend to use a browser as ES File Explorer or Astro Manager to write down all the content of the external memory and compare this list to the result of the ls command from Step Three.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------​

FAQ

Q: My device never connect in adb.

A: First verify that adb drivers are installed.

In my case when I connect the phone, it first emulates a CD player device with a folder containing the generic drivers.

I have to safely remove this emulated CD first (right click on the System Tray icon -> remove device) before the phone accepts to connect itself with MTP or ADB.

Q: I do not have a sdcard.

A: You can try to do the process with internal memory.

First, you will need to navigate the memory with adb shell to find Internal memory

adb shell

shell#ls /storage/
shell#ls /mnt/
...

Some examples of the possible location of the internal memory

/storage/emulated/
/storage/sdcard0
/mnt/shell/emulated/0/
etc.

Sometimes, you get a menu like this prior the actual content of the sdcard0 (internal memory)

/0/
/legacy/
/obb/

After entering in /0/ or in /legacy/ you should get the actual content of the memory.​

- Then push update.zip to internal memory

adb push update.zip $INTERNAL_MEMORY_LOCATION

- In Step FIVE, while in the second menu, choose choose zip from /sdcard by directly pressing Power

From a system point of view, it can open /storage/emulated/ or /mnt/shell/emulated/ that means the folder opened will not be the Internal Memory but a parent folder.

I recommend that you try every possibility by:

- First considering that pressing choose zip from /sdcard led you to the actual Internal Memory content and you shall proceed as normally by looking for update.zip in the current folder.

If it did not work:

- Consider that a parent folder is displayed and the actual memory is in the first sub folder

- Press Power to enter the first sub folder (which may be the Internal Memory) and try to install update.zip​

- Consider that a parent folder is displayed and the actual memory is in the second sub folder

- Press Volume Down then Power to enter the second sub folder (which may be the Internal Memory)​

- ...

After each try, reboot and look for the pop-up saying that the list of application is being updated.

You can go on with up to 2 levels of sub folders.​

Q: I tried everything, it still do not work.

A: If you have a lot of folders and files in the Memory, the list of content on the CWM recovery will be displayed on several pages.

Make a backup of the Memory, then empty it and add only the update.zip file.

Restart then from Step One.

It should be easier to find the update.zip file.

Q: I own a different Alcatel model, could this trick work with my device?

A: First you can try the other CWM Recovery image Deckter has developed: cwm_alcatel_6036y_v2.7z

To verify that the recovery is correctly booting on the device, when the white screen stabilizes, try to press Power twice.

If the recovery is working, it will enter in the first menu (reboot system now) then confirm the reboot.

In case, after this manipulation, the phone does not reboot, it means the recovery is not working for your device.

(Credits @Decker.Kaluga)

(Credits @morgs640)

(Credits @ModernWorld)