Root and Install TWRP Recovery on Verizon HTC One

It has been months since the HTC One was officially released. Soon after the launch of the international version of the phone, it was also made available to the major US and Canadian carriers. Anyway, Verizon, the biggest network provider in the US, failed to join the race in time and kept lagging behind until the last week when it finally surprised us with by adding the HTC One to its army of devices.

The element of surprise, however, was even greater and something that most of us did not expect. Yes, Verizon’s brand new HTC One actually has an unlockable bootloader. And this means that the S-Off or bootloader unlock method given at HTC Dev portal works on the device. Considering Verizon’s history, this really appears to be unintentional and we believe that the carrier will send a patch via OTA to disable unlocking at the earliest.

The users who have already bought this phone can take advantage of Verizon’s mistake and root their device to make the most of it. Though the HTC Dev bootloader unlock process does not result in a full S-Off unlock, it is still enough to allow you to have root access on your HTC One and install a custom recovery on it. In this way, you will be able to install custom ROMs and mods without any issues.

UPDATE:

To unlock the bootloader of your HTC One and root it, please read our newer tutorial.

Disclaimer:

Please note that the procedure given below is considered risky an if you are a perfect noob, do not proceed below this line. The method described here has been tested and has been found working. Still we do not take any responsibility for any mishaps because in most cases, things are undone due to users’ mistake. You are the master of your own phone and will.

Requirements:

• Verizon HTC One with unlocked bootloader. If you have not done it yet, visit HTC Dev website and do it first.
• Install HTC Sync Manager or USB Drivers on your computer: Download
• Download the latest CWM or TWRP recovery image from below and rename it as “recovery.img”:
  • CWM Touch Recovery: recovery-clockwork-touch-m7vzw.img
• Download ADB Fastboot and extract the zip on your desktop: Android SDK Fastboot-ADB.zip
• Also download Koush’s SuperUser rooting package and copy it to your device: UPDATE-SuperSU.zip

Installing CWM or TWRP Recovery on Verizon HTC One:

Okay, having made the preparations mentioned above, now get  ready to move ahead step-by-step and install ClockworkMod or TWRP recovery. Do the following steps:

1. Open the Android SDK Fastboot-ADB folder and copy the CWM or TWRP recovery image file to this folder.
2. Now launch the cmd window from inside the folder. To do this, press Shift key + right-click on the mouse and select “Open command window here”.
3. Now type or copy/paste the following command at the cursor blink:

   fastboot flash recovery recovery.img

4. In case you wish to install CWM recovery, replace the name of TWRP image with that of the CWM image.
5. Now turn off your Verizon HTC One and reboot it into Bootloader mode. Here is how to do it: turn off device and hold the Volume Down and Power buttons together. Keep both the keys pressed till you see a screen as shown below:
6. Now scroll down using volume down key and highlight FASTBOOT USB and press Power key to select it.
7. Connect your HTC One to the computer using USB cable and wait for a while till device drivers are installed.
8. Now press the Enter Key. Doing this will install CWM or TWRP on your phone.
9. You can dismiss the cmd window now.
10. Then go to “REBOOT BOOTLOADER” option and select it.
11. On the next screen, select “REBOOT”.

Rooting HTC One:

1. Copy the “SuperUser.zip” to your phone.
2. Reboot the device into Bootloader mode again and select RECOVERY.
3. Doing this will boot your HTC One into CWM/TWRP recovery, depending on what you installed earlier.
4. Select the “install” or “install zip from sdcard” option and select the “SuperUser.zip” file.
5. Confirm the installation. When SuperUser is installed on the phone, go back to main menu in recovery and reboot the device.

Your Verizon HTC One has now been rooted. To verify the root, download and run the Root Checker app:

[googleplay url=”https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.joeykrim.rootcheck”]

UPDATE:

The HTC Dev bootloader unlock method does not work now. Verizon has done the mischief again!

source