Pre-Requisite : Basic knowledge of windows and linux commands (DO NOT try this if you are uncomfortable with the command line interface)
Step 2 : Extract the SDK to a folder.
Step 2 : If you are using windows, right-click on My Computer, and select Properties. Under the Advanced tab, hit the Environment Variables button, and in the dialog that comes up, double-click on Path (under System Variables). Append the full path to the
tools/ directory to the path (for eg if you have extracted the SDK under d: drive add ;d:\android-sdk_r04-windows\tools Path variable).
for other OS follow the steps here.
Step 3: Download init.spica.sh from here. and copy it to the /tools folder under the SDK.
Step 4a: Enable USB debugging mode : Settings > Applications > Development > USB debugging. (forgot this step.. thanks to yudha.)
Step 4a: Enable USB debugging mode : Settings > Applications > Development > USB debugging. (forgot this step.. thanks to yudha.)
Step 4b: Connect the phone using the USB cable and run the following commands using the command prompt.
adb devices > it should list your device with a serial number,if not the phone is not connected properly.
then run the following commands :
adb shell mount -o remount,rw,codepage=utf8,vfat,xattr,check=no /dev/stl5 /system
adb shell rm /system/xbin/su
adb shell ln -s /xbin/su /system/xbin/su
adb push init.spica.sh /system/etc/
adb shell chmod 0550 /system/etc/init.spica.sh
adb shell reboot
The phone will reboot at this point and after it reboots you should have root access to the phone.
To check
adb shell
su
the prompt should change from the $ to a # ..thats it now you have root access to your android kernel :-)
Type "exit" to get back to your windows command prompt.
Alternatively you can download an application like Better Terminal and try running the commands from your phone itself.
Once you have gained root access you can remove pre-installed applications you do not like or want or install files like the LiveWallpapersPicker.apk
Backup System Files :
Connect phone on USB
Backup all system files before making any changes by running the following command
adb pull /system/app < path the backup folder >
Mounting the system:
adb shell mount -o remount,rw,codepage=utf8,vfat,xattr,check=no /dev/stl5 /system (this mounts the system and allows you to modify system files)
One easier way to do this is by adding the Remount script to the system/xbin
Download Remount and copy to /tools folder under the SDK
mount -o remount,rw,codepage=utf8,vfat,xattr,check=no /dev/stl5 /system
adb push remount /system/xbin/
adb shell chmod 0755 /system/xbin/remount
Now you can type "remount rw" when you want to mount the system in read/write mode and "remount ro" when you want to put it back as read only.
Remove files you don't need : (for eg myspace.apk)
cd /system/app
rm myspace.apk
Please make sure you have a backup before you try to remove any apk file.
Install Live Wallpapers (Just like the Google Nexus One)
Open the command prompt and type :
adb install LiveWallpapersPicker.apk
You should now have an option for picking a live wallpapers on your phone.
There are a lot of nice looking live wallpapers on the market for you to download and try.
Thanks to mrJohn and Mallik_Raj @ samdroid.net
