Undoubtedly, the HTC One M9 is a powerful beast under the hood despite the similar looks of its predecessor, HTC One M8. The HTC One M9 packs the snappy Snapdragon 810 processor coupled with 3 gigs of RAM and backed up by a capable 2840 mAh battery. Moreover, HTC’s Sense UI is one of the best custom OEM skin available in the market.
However powerful their smartphone may be, Android enthusiasts always try to tinker with the device and make it unique from others. Rooting is the primary concern of any Android enthusiast as it allows you to fiddle with the system files. Moreover, you might also need a custom recovery to replace the crappy stock recovery which is of limited use to the users.
Today we will see how to install TWRP recovery on your HTC One M9 and then root it. But before you proceed, you must unlock the bootloader of your device to open the doors to flash the recovery image. If you haven’t already unlocked the bootloader on your HTC One M9, follow the below guide to unlock it in few minutes:
Prerequisites
- Make sure to charge your device to at least 60% to avoid any unexpected shutdowns during the process.
- Install proper drivers on your PC, if you haven’t installed already follow our guide: Install HTC drivers
- Enable USB Debugging on your device to use ADB commands while you’re connected to PC.
- Download and extract the Minimal ADB and Fastboot tool on your PC: mfastboot-v2.zip
- Make a backup of the Internal storage, contacts, media etc., just to make sure you’re on the safe side in case of some mishap.
Downloads
TWRP Image → Download the latest image
SuperSU zip → SR1-SuperSU-v2.78-SR1-20160915123031.zip
Install TWRP Recovery on HTC One M9
- Rename the downloaded TWRP image to recovery.img (for your convenience) and place it in the same folder where you have extracted the ADB & Fastboot files.
- Navigate to the folder where you’ve extracted the ADB & Fastboot files and open a command prompt by pressing Shift + Right click on any empty space inside the folder and select Open command window here from the context menu.
- Connect your HTC One M9 using a USB cable and boot into the bootloader mode using the below command:
adb reboot bootloader
- Now, type the following command to flash the TWRP image to your device.
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
- Once the flashing is finished, use the below command to reboot the device.
fastboot reboot
That’s it, now let’s root the device by flashing the SuperSU binaries from the TWRP recovery.
Root HTC One M9
- Transfer the downloaded SR1-SuperSU-v2.78-SR1-20160915123031.zip to the root of your device’s storage.
- Put your HTC One M9 in recovery mode. To do this:
- Turn off the phone completely and press the Volume Down & Power buttons to boot into bootloader mode.
- In bootloader screen, highlight the recovery mode using volume buttons and select it by pressing the power button.
- In recovery, select Install button and flash the SR1-SuperSU-v2.78-SR1-20160915123031.zip to install the zip file.
- Reboot the device once the flashing is finished successfully.
- Open the SuperSU app from the app drawer and update the SuperSU binary if required.
Now you’ve installed the TWRP recovery on your device and also have a functional root to rock your HTC One M9.
Let us know of any issues in the comments section below.
it is looping on the HTC logo screen can someone help me
i am using htc one m9 (verizon) with latest software version 3.37.605.28. Should i go ahead and use this method to unlock my bootloader and root, or should i first downgrade to version 3.37.605.7?
It should still work.
Does this work on the Verizon model of the M9?
Yes, it works: https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=59688717&postcount=8
How do I make it work on mine? (HTC One M9 Verizon). The OEM Unlock option don’t appear on my phone, can’t get the token, I get KillSwitch
When I type the command ‘fastboot flash recovery recovery.img’
it keeps saying: “error: cannot load ‘recovery.img’ ”
I did change the name from the TWRP file to ‘Recovery.img’
Please help me, really don’t know what to do
Suppose you downloaded “twrp-3.0.2-0-hima.img”, type the following command:
fastboot flash recovery twrp-3.0.2-0-hima.img
I have done that and I am getting the same problem, please help
boot to recovery mode and not bootloader mode and try again thats what I did and I had the same issues.
Which model of the M9 do you have?
omg, I installed supersu 2.48 instead of supersu 2.64 on my HTC M9 mashmallow.
did I commit a huge mistake? It doesnt turn on anymore!!
Reboot into recovery mode and flash 2.64 version.
thanks bro, it works
Glad to know it helped! 🙂
Flash this: https://download.chainfire.eu/1003/SuperSU/SR1-SuperSU-v2.78-SR1-20160915123031.zip
>>> Now you’ve installed the TWRP recovery on your device and also have a functional root to rock your HTC One M8.
Correct M8 to M9