[Desire 626 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jtrosky:
NOTE: This procedure is only for Android 5.1. If you updated your phone to Android 6, please see post #404 for notes on how to root it properly! Special thanks to [MENTION=7587654]LonePlykin[/MENTION] for the 6.1 information in post #404!

Credits

- I did not come up with the procedure to root this phone - that work was done by member [MENTION=6748972]hackvcs[/MENTION] - I just put this guide together using the method that he developed (and using the custom recovery that he put together). Please give all credit to [MENTION=6748972]hackvcs[/MENTION]!!! Also, the links to the files below are not my links - they are links that other members provided (member who provided them is listed below).​

Pre-requistes/Downloads:

- HTC Desire 626s phone

- Official TWRP Recovery Images: https://twrp.me/devices/htcdesire626s.html - Thanks [MENTION=1162986]Captain_Throwback[/MENTION]!

- Recovery images (custom CyanogenMod recovery and stock recovery image) - provided by [MENTION=6748972]hackvcs[/MENTION] (https://mega.nz/#!sp0wCThZ!MQVTq6y_8DJShrvNrY4L-JtJBDHOQhnaLRq8UiqLruQ)

- SuperSU binary .zip file - link provided by [MENTION=1918414]mussio[/MENTION] (https://download.chainfire.eu/696/SuperSU)
​

1. Unlock bootloader

- Enable "Unknown Sources" on your phone:

- Settings->Security: Check "Unknown Sources" checkbox​

- Enable "Developer Mode" and enable "USB Debugging" and "OEM Unlocking" settings

- Settings->About->Software Information->More: Tap on "Build Number" until it tells you that Developer Mode is enabled.

- Settings->Developer Options: Enable "OEM Unlocking" and "USB Debugging" options.​

- Actually unlock the bootloader by going to the HTCdev "Unlock Bootloader" website (www.htcdev.com/bootloader) and following the directions to unlock your bootloader. You will need to create an account on this website before being able to unlock the bootloader. I'm not going to provide step-by-step instructions for the bootloader unlock procedure since the HTCdev website already provides a step-by-step procedure. However, here are a few key notes regarding this procedure:

- The bootloader unlock procedure will reset your phone back to factory defaults. Make sure to backup anything that you need on the phone before unlocking the bootloader. You can optionally install the "HTC Sync Manager" (link provided on HTCdev website) to backup your phone before starting the process.

- In the "Select your device" box on the first screen of the bootloader unlock procedure, select "HTC Desire *" as the device type.

- If you are running the latest firmware on your phone, you do not need to worry about the phone update page when you first start the unlock process - just scroll to the bottom of the screen and click the "Proceed to Step 1" button to start the procedure.

- You will need to install Java if you don't already have it installed - there is a link to download Java right on the same page as the bootloader unlock procedure.

- You will need to download and install the fastboot binaries provided in step 4 of the bootloader unlock procedure. Unzip the fastboot.exe file included in the zip to a directory that you will use to root your HTC Desire 626s (I recommend creating a new directory for this - something like "C:\HTC626s") - later, you will also put the other files you need (recovery image file and SuperSU binary .zip file) into this same directory so that everything is in one place.​

2. Install custom recovery

Once you have successfully unlocked your bootloader, you will need to flash a custom recovery (TWRP recommended). This recovery image will replace the stock recovery on your phone and allow to flash the SuperSU binaries in the next step.

- Connect your phone to the PC via USB cable and let the PC install the necessary drivers for the phone.

- Reboot the phone into "Download" mode:

- Power off phone

- While holding the Volume Down button, press the device Power button. Continue to hold the Volume Down button until the phone boots into "Download" mode. To confirm that the bootloader is unlocked and that you are in "Download" mode, you should see the following two lines at the top of the screen:

- "hTC download mode"

- "*** Unlocked ***"​

- Once you have confirmed that you are in download mode and the bootloader is unlocked, it's time to flash the custom recovery:

- Open a Command Prompt (aka DOS prompt) window and change to the directory where you put the fastboot.exe file. If using the recommended directory, you would type this command in the Command Prompt window to change to that directory:

- Type "cd \HTC626s" and press [ENTER]​

- Make sure that the recovery file is in the same directory (type "DIR" and press [ENTER] to see the files in the current directory). If it is not in the current directory, put it there before continuing (via Windows Explorer). Also, I'd recommend renaming the recovery image to "recovery.img" - it makes typing the commands a little easier and reduces the likleyhood of a typo. So before continuing, you should have both "fastboot.exe" and "recovery.img" in the current directory.

- In the command prompt window, type "fastboot flash recovery recovery.img" and press [ENTER] - this will flash the custom recovery to your device.​

3. Install SuperSU superuser binaries

Now that we have the bootloader unlocked and the CyanogenMod recovery installed, we are set to flash the SuperSU binaries to actually root the device. Before continuing, make sure that you have copied the SuperSU binary .zip file to the internal storage on your phone! Once we boot into CyanogenMod, you will have to navigate to this .zip file in order to install it. It MUST be on the *internal* phone storage (not on the MicroSD card).

- Reboot your phone into recovery:

- Power off the phone

- Power on the phone while holding the "Volume Down" button. Keep holding "Volume Down" until the phone boots into Download mode.​

- Scroll down to "Reboot to bootloader" and press the power button.

- Once in bootloader mode, scroll down to "Boot to recovery mode" and press the power button. At this point, you should be in the CyanogenMod recovery menu.

- Scroll down to "Apply Update" and press the power button

- Scroll down to "Choose from internal storage" and press the power button

- Navigate to where you stored the SuperSU .zip file and select it - the SuperSU binaries will be installed on the phone.​

That should do it! You should now have a rooted HTC Desire 626s. Reboot the phone into Android and confirm that you have a SuperSU icon in your app drawer and then confirm that the device is actually rooted.
​

NOTES:

- Your phone MUST be in "Download" mode when flashing the custom recovery! You CANNOT install the recovery image when the phone is in "Bootloader" mode. If you receive this message: "remote: cannot flash this partition in s-on state", that means that you are trying to flash the recovery image while the phone is in "Bootloader" mode - you MUST be "Download" mode when flashing the recovery image!

- Bootloader MUST be unlocked before attempting to install a custom recovery. Verify that you bootloader is unlocked by checking for "*** Unlocked ***" text at top of the screen when the phone is in "Download" mode.

- After rooting, you can always revert back to the stock recovery if you'd like - the stock recovery image is provided in the same .zip file that contained the CyanogenMod recovery image (provided by [MENTION=6748972]hackvcs[/MENTION]).​

Again, big thanks to [MENTION=6748972]hackvcs[/MENTION] for coming up with the custom recovery - which was the key to getting root on this device!