Howto: HTC Droid Incredible, Froyo 2.2, and root

unrEVOked for Android Froyo 2.2 has been released. You can follow my guide for rooting your android phone to root your Android based phone.

Right now there are a few options for getting Froyo and root on your HTC Droid Incredible. If you’ve already received the OTA update you can follow this guide to downgrade your phone back to 2.1. If you’re still running 2.1 and haven’t rooted yet, then you can get root and 2.2 now. If you’re rooted already, and want the OTA, you’ll have to return your phone to stock – you will not get the OTA if you have a custom recovery or antenna installed.

Disclaimer: I take no responsibility for anything going wrong with your phone. Please root responsibly.

First things first

First thing you have to do is root the incredible using my guide. You don’t need to go through the entire process, but at least complete the steps through making a Nandroid backup. At this point you have a rooted phone, running 2.1, with a nice backup for you to use.

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Next you’ll want to run unrEVOked Forever to set the Incredible to S-Off. The S-Off setting means that the phone won’t check for signatures on update files. This allows you to flash your phone with any thing you want. Get the download and directions on unrEVOked’s Forever site.

Next you’ll want to install Titanium and make a backup of your apps. Follow my guide.

Now you have three paths to choose from. One takes you back to stock, where you can wait for the OTA to take you to 2.2 heaven. Or, you can use the leaked RUU for a complete stock update. Lastly, you can update the antenna yourself and find a nice 2.2 ROM.

Option 1: Return to Stock and wait

If you have upgraded your antenna from 1.0 to 2.x, follow the instructions here.
If you have NOT upgraded your antenna from 1.0, follow the instructions here.

Be sure to delete the zip files from your SD card when you’re done.

If you followed either of the guides above you should now be stock 2.1 with a stock recovery and stock antenna. You can now sit back and wait for the 2.2 OTA to be sent out to your phone.

Once you have the 2.2 OTA installed you can download the clockworkmod recovery and save it to your SD card. Then, boot into hboot (power off the phone, then hold down power and volume down to boot into hboot). When prompted “Do you want to start update?,” press VOLUME UP for Yes. When prompted again “Do you want to reboot device?,” press VOLUME UP for Yes.

Delete PB31IMG.zip from your SD card and then reboot into recovery. Make your first nandroid backup of stock 2.2. 🙂

You can now use clockworkmod recovery to install other things, like superuser, or to remove bloatware from your new froyo 2.2 incredible.

Option 2: Using the RUU

Okay, so you’re not going to wait for Verizon to send you the update, are you? Well, as above, you’ll need to return to return to stock for this to work.

If you have upgraded your antenna from 1.0 to 2.x, follow the instructions here.
If you have NOT upgraded your antenna from 1.0, follow the instructions here.

Download the RUU and save it to your desktop. Follow these directions for extracting rom.zip. Do not download the RUU in that post – it’s not 2.2. Rename rom.zip to PB31IMG.zip and save it to your SD card. (Delete any old PB31IMG.zip already there). Reboot into HBOOT and select Yes to approve the update. Your phone will reboot quickly – this is normal, it’s part of the HBOOT update to .92. Reboot the phone – this will take a while as it’s running updates to the phone. Do not pull the battery

Delete PB31IMG.zip from your SD card.

Now download the clockworkmod recovery and save it to your SD card (it will also be called PB31IMG.zip). Then, boot into hboot (power off the phone, then hold down power and volume down to boot into hboot). When prompted “Do you want to start update?,” press VOLUME UP for Yes. When prompted again “Do you want to reboot device?,” press VOLUME UP for Yes.

Delete PB31IMG.zip from your SD card and then reboot into recovery. Make your first nandroid backup of stock 2.2. 🙂

From within recovery mount the SD card. Download SU from unrEVOked and Superuser.Reboot the phone into clockworkmod recovery and install both those zips.

Option 3: Using a 2.2 ROM

Fist thing to do is update the antenna to 2.15. You can follow these directions to do so.

Now, find a good 2.2 ROM to use. If you’re looking for something that is as close to stock as possible, I’d recommend Virtuous or this completely unmodified ROM, both by rmk40. Follow the links for download and installation instructions. CyanogenMod and SkyRaider are also two very popular 2.2 based ROMs.

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You should wipe your phone’s data before using any of the above ROMs – it’s just good practice. However, some people have used Virtuous and the completely unmodified ROM without wiping and haven’t had any difficulty.

My recommendation is to wipe and then use Titanium backup to restore your apps. Remember, only restore user apps, not system apps. Your system apps are 2.1, so restoring them will defeat the whole purpose of getting 2.2!

Post 2.2

Now you can restore your apps that you backed up via Titanium backup – remember, only user apps, no system apps! You can also remove bloatware from android 2.2 as well. Once you have your apps installed and everything setup the way you like – go ahead and do another nandroid backup. Remember, you can copy the backup folders to your computer, but do not rename them!

Boot animation

One other thing to note, boot animations now need to be pushed to /system/customize/resource and called VZW_bootanimation.zip. For more information on boot animations see my previous post on boot animations.