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Last week I kicked off the Android Rooting Guide with Part 1, which showed you how to root the HTC Incredible, the Desire, the Aria, The EVO 4G, and the Wildfire (Buzz). This part of the guide will cover the SuperOneClick program, which can be used to root almost three dozen Android phones. If the first part of the guide didn’t cover your phone, there’s a good chance this one will.

Compatible Phones

Acer Liquid Metal
Dell Streak
T-Mobile Comet
Nexus One
Sprint Hero
Telus Fascinate
Toshiba Folio 100

HTC:

  • Magic (Sapphire) 32B
  • Bee
  • Droid Eris (HTC DesireC)

LG

  • Ally
  • Optimus 2x
  • Optimus V

Motorola

  • Backflip
  • Charm
  • Cliq
  • Defy
  • Droid
  • Droid 2
  • Flipside
  • Flipout
  • Milestone
  • Milestone 2

Samsung

  • Captivate
  • Galaxy 551
  • Galaxy Ace
  • Galaxy Portal/Spica I5700
  • Galaxy S 4G
  • Galaxy S I9000
  • Galaxy S SCH-I500
  • Transform M920
  • Vibrant

Sony Ericsson

  • Xperia E51i X8
  • Xperia X10

That’s a lot of phones and that’s not even all of them. Those are just the phones that have been confirmed to work with this method, when it likely works for many more. If your phone doesn’t appear on the list, you can always head to Google and ask the Internet. Or you can keep checking back to see if we’ll cover it in a future guide.

Windows is the Way To Go

If you run Windows Vista or higher, you’re in luck, as those operating systems offer native support for SuperOneClick. If you’re running XP, grab the .NET Framework v2.0.

If you’re running Mac or Linux, you’ll have to jump through some hoops. Being a Windows guy, other operating systems make my head spin, but you should be able to find help over at the XDA forums.

Phone, Meet PC

In the first part of the guide, which covered the Unrevoked method, you needed to download HBoot drivers. That isn’t the case here. However, you will need your phone’s USB drivers to ensure that it fully communicates with your PC. Some of you might already have them, but not all of you will, so it might be a good idea to pick them up just in case. You should be able to find them by visiting your phone manufacturer’s website.

SuperOneClick

The star of our show! You’ll need SuperOneClick to actually do the rooting and you can grab the latest version right here. If that link doesn’t work for you for whatever odd reason, head to the XDA forum post and scroll down. The various versions of the program can be found at the very end of the post, above the comments, like in the screenshot above.

The Procedure

Once you’ve got everything installed, it’s time to get busy. Make sure your phone is in USB Debugging mode by going to Settings > Applications > Development and check the appropriate box at the top. Once that’s done, start SuperOneClick. Plug in your phone, making sure to set it to charge only mode. DO NOT mount the SD card.

Here comes the really tricky part. See the “Root” button on the SuperOneClick program? Click that. Whew.

Now you wait. Just let it do it’s thing. It’ll tell you when it’s done with a message that reads “Root files have been installed!” If it prompts you to run a test, hit yes, just to make sure everything worked out. Another way to verify that it all went smoothly is to check your phone for an app called “Superuser.” If it’s there, your phone is rooted!

In Part 3 of the rooting guide, I’ll cover the Revolutionary Method, which will root just over a dozen HTC phones.

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