How To Root The HTC Droid DNA (Non-Verizon)

October 31, 2014

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htc-droid-dna

This guide will show you how to root the HTC Droid DNA Android phone.

Disclaimer: FlexiSPY is not responsible for rooting the Android device in any way, before performing any of these steps make sure you back up your Android device completely. If the HTC Droid DNA you wish to root is on Verizon then you cannot officially unlock the bootloader so this guide will not work.

What is needed to root the HTC Droid DNA?

In order to root the HTC Droid DNA you will need the following.

  • The HTC Droid DNA you wish to root
  • Access to a PC

Step 1 – Set up the Android SDK environment on your PC

Before you can run the rooting tools on your PC to root the HTC Droid DNA you must first set up the Android development environment correctly and install the USB drivers for your phone on your PC.

You can read more about how to do that here.

Step 2 – Unlock the bootloader of the HTC Droid DNA

In order to root the phone you first must unlock the bootloader of the HTC Droid DNA

You can review the article here for more information.

Step 3 – Download the required files

In order to root the phone you must use Fastboot which you can download from here. Once downloaded extract the files to your desktop.

You must also download the custom recovery file from here. Save this to an easy to find location such as your desktop. Extract the file and it should be called recovery.img. If it is not called this please rename it so that it matches.

Finally, download the SuperSU zip file from here and save it to an easy to find location also, again, such as the desktop.

Step 4 – Root the HTC Droid DNA

Now that you have set up the Android SDK environment, unlocked the HTC Droid DNA bootloader, installed the HTC PC drivers and downloaded the fastboot files it is time to root the phone.

The first thing to do is reboot the HTC Droid DNA in to Fastboot mode.

  • Make sure the phone is turned off completely.
  • Hold down Volume Down and the Power buttons together and wait until the phone starts in Fastboot mode.

Select the Fastboot option listed on the phone screen.

With the HTC Droid DNA now in Fastboot mode connect the phone to your PC.

Open up a command prompt window. To do this navigate to the folder you extracted the Fastboot files to and then press and hold shift and click an empty area of the screen and choose Open command window here when asked.

In the command prompt window that appears type the following command and press Enter:

fastboot flash recovery recovery.img

Wait for it to finish and then run the next command:

fastboot reboot

The HTC Droid DNA should reboot in to normal mode again.

Make sure that the HTC Droid DNA is now connected to your PC after it boots up and copy the SuperSU zip file to an easy to find location on the phone such as the Downloads folder.

Disconnect the phone from the PC and then enable USB debugging.

To do this, on the phone itself, go to Menu > Settings > Developer Options > USB Debugging and make sure the option is enabled.

If you do not see the Developer Options menu go to Menu > Settings > About and tap the Build Number option until it says you are a developer.

With USB Debugging now enabled connect the HTC Droid DNA back to your PC.

Again, open up a command prompt window. To do this navigate to the folder you extracted the Fastboot files to and then press and hold shift and click an empty area of the screen and choose Open command window here when asked.

In the command window that appears type the following command and press Enter.

adb reboot recovery

The device will boot into recovery mode

  1. With the phone now in recovery mode select the Install zip from SD card option
  2. Select Choose zip from SD card and browse to the SuperSU file you already downloaded and select it.
  3. Once it has been flashed to the phone make sure the phone is restarted.

Once done you will now see the SuperSU application which means that you have successfully rooted the HTC Droid DNA.

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