So, how many of you guys have actually tasted your phone with new dishes like Cyanogen, Darkys or other custom made advanced and excitingly different to your Android phone? So, quite a few people are only the ones who update or in short play with their Android phone safely. And yes, the main reason on why users don’t try different things is because users are not trained well to do with, it’s very sad that despite so many Android based forums and websites, no one comes forward and trains people so that they can flash their phones with such custom based ROMs. So, at Androidadvices we will ensure that no one is disappointed with their phones anymore and instead we will discuss about some easy rooting tips, how to install new firmware guides etc. etc. in a simple and easy to understand detailed step by step guides.
Many of the Android phones doesn’t come with the advanced Custom Recovery due to which the flashing the custom made firmwares and other important features can’t be done, so let’s see on one such guide in this post which will be beneficial for all those who wish to install the ClockworkMod recovery using several methods which are available. Basically, the recovery image is nothing but a kind of software language or in other words is an interlink which helps in infusing various options like maintenance and recovery tasks. Before flashing the firmware it’s very important that you should have a full admin access to your phone. There are many custom ROMs available like the Amon RA recovery ROMs as well as the ClockworkMod recovery, but the most commonly used ROMs are the ClockworkMod recovery ROMs which is available for almost all the popular ROMs across all the handsets in the Market now. A custom recovery image basically allows you to perform the below mentioned functionalities,
- Mount, un mount and format device’s internal as well as external storage partitions,
- Restore as well as backup or manage the phone’s firmware as well as the OS,
- Direct access to firmware installation by directly updating by update.zip
- Wipe or factory reset the cache
- Wipe all battery as well as Dalvik Cache
Before flashing with the ClockworkMod or any custom recovery to your device then you need to make sure that you need to root your Android phone or else there will be some problems after the updation as this rooting feature unlocks the device to a whole new level of potential with which one can customize the Android phone the way you want it. So, now let’s proceed and see on how you can easily install the recovery the recovery next.
How to install the Recovery:
If you want to install the recovery for your Android phone, there are several ways which are using ROM manager, using fastboot and also you can also install the recovery via flashing image method. So, let’s see one by one below. Please note that following these instructional procedures will void the current warranty and is only advisable for all those who will make use of this rooting and is not recommended for those who will not make use of it by not flashing the different ROMs or the firmwares.
ROM Manager Method:
One of the simplest and the easiest method is this one to install the recovery which doesn’t need any additional skills apart from skills to just follow the below procedure as mentioned below,
- First up from the Android Market Place you need to first search for the “ROM Manager” and need to download and install the same. With this application you will be able to perform all the recovery options while booting your android phone and also the latest version of the ROM Manager comes with an option of latest version of installing ClockworkMod Recovery.
- After installing you will have to find the application called “ROM Manager” and need to tap on the same for installing it and select the first option of “Flash ClockworkMod Recovery”, just tap on it and follow the instructions.
- Now, after selecting the option you will have to wait for the same for some time as this will be finishing the important processes in the phone after which you will be prompted to reboot your phone.
- So, now once the phone reboots, all you need to do is to just simply go again to the ROM Manager application and can check that in the first option you have the ClockworkMod or not as if it’s not there then you will have to re follow the above procedure again and you will see the option after flashing the second time. Please note that if there is any new version then you will get an update that there is a newer version available and the same will be updated.
Fastboot Method:
There are some phones which doesn’t support the ROM Manager method and at this time it doesn’t mean that you will never be able to install he custom based ROMs but you will have to opt for some other option like this one like fastboot method, but before this your phone should pass through one litmus test which is that your phone should be able to have the ADB and should have gone through this procedure before proceeding the process. The ADB is a very simple process and the same can be setuped in the computer after which you can follow the process ahead for installing the custom recovery.
- First up you will have to find the custom recovery image for your mobile device and after that you will have to copy the downloaded recovery image to the desktop so that you can easily find the file and after that you need to ensure that the custom recovery image is having an extension of .img, if it’s in the zipped format then you will have to unzip and need to extract the .img file.
- Now, you will have to power off your mobile and then you will have to reboot your device in the fastboot mode. The button combination required for this will be different for each device and you can find it by doing an online search for “how to boot device_name in fastboot”, replacing device_name with the name of your device in any of the search engines.
- Now, you will have to connect the device to the computer via USB cable and then you will see that “fastboot USB” on the screen and after that you will have to launch the command prompt and then you need to type in the following,
fastboot flash recovery c:\recovery.img
- Now, you just need to wait for the process to get finished and after this your phone will be rebooted.
Please note that since we used c:\recovery.img file for the custom recovery as the image extracted at the root of our C drive. If you extracted the file elsewhere, use the appropriate path and if your recovery image has a different name, use the appropriate file name path.
Flash Image Method:
As we saw in the last method, this method too requires some of the pre requisites and please note that if the first method is not working you then this method too will not work and make sure that if first doesn’t work then don’t proceed to follow this one as this will spoil the phone completely as this method is highly non-secured one for some of the non-supported phones. All the devices which doesn’t support the first method are the non-supported phones. Before proceeding make sure that you have setup ed the ADB process and once you install the ADB on your computer you can flash the recovery image which can be done by the following process.
- First up you will have to download the flash image and then you will have to extract the same from the zip file to a location on your computer preferably on the desktop so that you can use the same easily. If you extracted it to the main C drive (not in any folder) suppose then you can easily use the same.
- Also search for and download the custom recovery image for your device. Copy the recovery image to a convenient location on your computer, preferably with a short path. We will be placing it on the C Drive directly (not in any folder) and using that in the next steps.Note: The recovery image should have .img extension. If it is in a zip file, extract the .img file from it.
- Enable USB debugging mode on your device from Menu > Settings > Applications > Development.
- Connect your device to your computer via USB.
- Now, you will have to open the Command Prompt window on your computer and enter the following commands which are mentioned below as it is,
adb push c:\flash_image /sdcard/
adb push c:\recovery.img /sdcard/
adb shell
su
mount -o remount, rw /system
cp /sdcard/flash_image /system/bin
cd /system/bin
chmod 777 flash_image
flash_image recovery /sdcard/recovery.img
- Now, after this you will have to transfer the flash image as well as the recovery.img file into your phone and after that you will have to copy flash_image to the /system/bin folder of your Android device and make it executable. Finally, it will flash the custom recovery image to your device using flash_image.
- Now, after this you will have to reboot your Android device and as soon as the process gets finished you need to exit the adb and then the command prompt window on your computer by entering on the exit till it closes down.
Please note that since we used c:\recovery.img file for the custom recovery as the image extracted at the root of our C drive. If you extracted the file elsewhere, use the appropriate path and if your recovery image has a different name, use the appropriate file name path.
If you installed the recovery using ROM Manager and are currently booted into Android, just launch ROM Manager on your device and tap ‘Reboot into Recovery’. With ROM Manager, it is also easier to just schedule the recovery operations from the GUI to be performed automatically, rather than rebooting manually into recovery and performing them from there. That’s it you can now install any custom recovery to an android phone or device. Do, let us know if you face any issues with the above processes as we will help you out with the same.
