How To Root Evo HTC 4G and Flash a Custom ROM

Evo 4G is one of the best seller by HTC which was launched in the year 2010. This smartphone was special because it was one of the initial phones that could run on the 4G network and surprisingly, Evo 4G is still considered the best 4G capable phone till date.

Powered by the Sprint WiMax network, this phone has a big bright screen which provides a movie experience which is simply unbeatable. Apart from this, the phone also provides a very rich video calling experience using a 1.4 megapixel front camera (and an impressive 8 MP camera at the back) all within a price range of more $200.

To gain extra control over this beauty and customize every inch of it, we need to Root it. Rooting will not only provide you freedom to play with advanced settings including the ones related to CPU, it will also allow you to install/flash custom ROMs. But before you root, you should know a couple of things that are very important:

  • It will void any official gaurantee or warranty you may have with your phone.
  • If done wrongly, you may end up with a bricked (dead) phone.
  • Lets waste no more time and harness the power of the 4G device.

The process will be successful only with HBOOT 2.18. Make sure you have the same on your phone. If not, we will be writing another tutorial for the other versions soon.

  • The First Step

The first and foremost step is to create a backup of all the important data in your phone. This will make sure that if something goes wrong in the process, you will still have all your data safe with you.

  • Gather The Tools

The first step is to get the Bootloader from the HTCDev. Proceed to HTCDev website and from the drop list on right, select the last option that says ‘Other Supported Models’. We also need the root package for HTC Evo G4 which can be found easily through a Google search.

  • Launching Flying Monkeys

Following are the most important steps. Please read closely and do not skip any step.

  • Extract the root package downloaded in the last in a folder on the desktop. There should be a fastboot.exe file on the desktop.
  • Now switch off your cell phone and start it by pressing the down volume key+power button together. This will open the bootloader mode. From this menu, select the fast boot option.
  • Now connect your phone to the computer using the USB cable.

Now run the command window on your computer. Press Windows Button + R to open the run dialog (or navigate to Start Button >> Run). Write CMD and press enter to see the command prompt.

  • On the command prompe, enter the following command:
  • fastboot flash recovery recovery-RA-supersonic-v2.3.img
  • Wait whilea custom recovery ROM is flashed on your device.

Now on the device, select the bootloader option using the Power Button. From the options on the screen, select the recovery option. Now select USB-MS Toggle.

Above step will make your device behave like a disk drive on your computer. Transfer the CWM-SuperSU-v0.87.zip file you extracted from the package to the root folder of the SD-Card.

  • From the recovery menu, select flash Zip from SD card and then select Choose Zip from SD Card.
  • Browse to the file we just moved on the SD-Card.
  • Reboot the phone to finish the Rooting process.
  • As soon as the phone boots up, open your app drawer to see the Super User icon and enhance your experience.
  • How To Flash a Custom ROM on HTC Evo 4G
  • Since we have already Rooted our phone and have the super user status, lets flash a custom ROM and change the experience of using our Evo 4G.
  • To start we need to find a custom ROM which can be easily downloaded from the internet (use Google) and ROM Manager Application which can be downloaded and installed from Play Store.

After you have both the above things, attach your phone to computer and transfer the downloaded ROM to your phone. Once done, remove your phone from USB run the Rom Manager App in the phone.

Follow the process below to flash a custom Rom.

  1. Reboot in recovery mode using the rom manager app.
  2. Select back and recovery form the menu displayed after the phone reboots.
  3. Now backup your existing system by selecting backup. Wait for the phone to complete the backup process. It will take 5-10 minutes to complete. Once done, proceed to next step.
  4. Now navigate to Wipe Data/Factory Reset.
  5. Select flash from SD Card and navigate to new rom we copied to the device.
  6. Wait for the flashing process to finish. After the flashing is complete, the phone will reboot.
  7. And that is how you can flash a custom rom on your Evo 4D.

Please note that when you run a new rom, the phone needs time to adjust the settings the first time it reboots and hence feels a bit laggy and slow. Do not start judging the rom on the first restart itself. You can flash any custom rom on evo 4g using the same process again and again.