Root after the Nov OTA update – Yes, it’s possible.

With the new release of unrEVOked 3.22 this method is no longer necessary. Please visit the Updated Root the HTC Droid Incredible guide.

For those of you looking to re-root your Droid Incredible after the Nov update removed it – or looking to root for the first time – Jonathan Suh has put together a great walk-through for downgrading your phone back to 2.1 so that you can then root. The process is very simple, and once you’re back to stock 2.1 you can root your phone using my Droid Incredible Rooting Guide.

Note: If you applied the Nov OTA and had already rooted and were set to S-Off, you should ckeck and see if you are still S-Off by booting into the bootloader (HBOOT). It should say at the top of the phone “S-OFF.” If you are S-Off, you can scroll down to the last section of this post for the links to clockworkmod and SU. Download them and apply them following the directions below. You do not need to downgrade to an earlier version to regain root if your phone is already S-Off!

Here’s a quick run-through of the directions. Unfortunately, these steps only work for AMOLED versions of the Incredible, and not the newer SLCD. AMOLED screens come on right away when powered on, while SLCD screens first go “lit black” (kind of like a blank screen saver, as opposed to the monitor being off) before you see anything. If your screen turns on without delay these directions will work for you.

  1. Download and install “z4root” from the Android market. Run it and select “Temporary Root.” Make sure it says that it was successful.
  2. Download the HTC Incredible Downgrade Package. Unzip the package and save these files to C:sdktools. (If you don’t have adb installed, see my Droid Incredible Rooting Guide and follow the directions in the Download and Getting Ready sections.)
  3. Download the Incredible stock 2.1 image (PB31IMG) and save the file to C:sdktools. (Do not extract this one… well, it actually wouldn’t work even if you tried.)
  4. From the command prompt type the following commands:

cd C:sdktools
adb push flash_image /data/local
adb push mtd0.img /sdcard/
adb push PB31IMG.zip /sdcard/ (This is a big file, so it will take a while to transfer)
adb shell
(Now, turn on your phone if it is off.)
su
(When prompted, give the program root permission)
mount -o remount,rw /dev/null /system
cd /data/local
chmod 0755 /data/local/flash_image
cd /data/local
./flash_image misc /sdcard/mtd0.img
reboot bootloader

The phone will now boot into the boot loader and ask if you want to apply the update – select Yes.

Once the phone has been update you can reboot. You will now have a stock 2.1 phone. Do NOT apply any updates. Also, remember to delete the files from the SD card, especially PB31IMG.zip.

You can now follow my Droid Incredible Rooting Guide and root your phone using unrEVOked and set the phone to S-Off. From there you can update the phone to 2.2 custom ROM (like VirtuousROM), or download the stock 2.2 image to your computer. Just like above, push the PB31IMG.zip to your phone, reboot into bootloader and apply the update. You will then need to run unrEVOked again to get root.

Finally, if you’re using the stock 2.2 you’ll need to apply the November OTA. (If you’re using a custom ROM, you’ve already got it.) If you got the Nov OTA, lost root, but are still S-Off, download #2 and #3, then skip to step 8.

  1. Download the official update from google, http://android.clients.google.com/packages/ota/verizon_incredible/00cb7fa66e35.OTA_IncredibleC_Verizon_WWE_3.26.605.1_3.21.605.1_release_sign.zip.
  2. Download ClockWork Recovery 2.5.0.5 from http://solo.dc3.com/dinc/ClockWorkRecovery%202.5.0.5%20(PB31IMG).ZIP.
  3. Download SuperUser 2.3.6.1 from http://solo.dc3.com/dinc/su-2.3.6.1-ef-signed.zip.
  4. Rename the update to update.zip and put it on your SD card
  5. Boot into clockworkmod and apply the update.
  6. Reboot the phone. (It will take a while to boot, and may do some unusual things, like reboot, which is totally normal. It’s doing difficult stuff, don’t bother it. It’s also removing clockworkmod, so you have to reinstall that next.)
  7. Once booted remove update.zip from the SD card – very important!.
  8. Rename the clockworkmod download to PB31IMG.ZIP and put it on the SD card. Reboot into bootloader. Apply the update when prompted. Reboot when asked.
  9. Remove PB31IMG.ZIP and move the SU download to your phone. Boot into recovery and use clockworkmod to “install zip from card,” select “choose zip from sd card” and then select the zip file and apply it.
  10. Reboot

You now have a rooted, stock Nov OTA Droid Incredible.