Root Motorola Defy XT

Question

I am still trying figure out how to root the new Motorola Defy XT. It runs Gingerbread 2.3.5. Can someone help me with this? Last time (many years ago) I rooted a phone using Z4root however, as I read on the net now, Z4root does not support this version (of Gingerbread).

Answer 1

There are a few methods that exist presently;

This website offers a .zip file that contains a "one-click-root" type file, that you simply run while your phone is plugged into the computer to get it rooted. As usual, you will need to make the appropriate backups of your data.

XDA also has a how-to that is a bit more involved and uses some adb commands which will require the SDK. You will have to download the file on the page and then follow their method:

1. Put the phone in Debug Mode: Go to Settings > Applications > Development and check USB debugging box.

2. Extract the files from the zip below, connect the phone via USB, and copy them to the phone via ADB like this:

   Code:

   adb push Superuser.apk /sdcard/Superuser.apk
   
   adb push su /sdcard/su
   
   adb push busybox /sdcard/busybox
   
   adb push exploit.bin /data/local/tmp/exploit.bin
   

3. Now we enter the phone's internal shell, also using ADB:

   Code:

   adb shell

4. Then we take advantage of the "fake" root exploit:

   Code:

   cd /data/local/tmp

   chmod 0755 exploit.bin

   ./exploit.bin

5. Now after that last command you should be back to your normal console, not the phone one, so we need to connect to it again, and doing so we should now see that we have root permissions since the "#" symbol is displayed instead of "$".

   Code:

   adb shell

6. Now we mount the /system partition as writable and copy the necessary files there, and set them with the right permissions:

   Code:

   mount -o rw,remount -t ext3 /dev/block/mmcblk1p21 /system

   cp /sdcard/Superuser.apk /system/app/Superuser.apk

   cp /sdcard/su /system/bin/su

   cp /sdcard/busybox /system/bin/busybox

   chmod 4755 /system/bin/su

   chmod 4755 /system/bin/busybox

   mount -o ro,remount -t ext3 /dev/block/mmcblk1p21 /system

   exit

7. Restart the phone and check if you have ROOT in a terminal by typing the "su" command, or by installing any other app that requires ROOT, and seeing it the SuperUser app pops up.