If you’ve got an HTC Desire 820 smartphone that runs on Android, you should probably install a custom recovery on it that lets you flash a number of custom ROMs on your device.

Even if you’re happy with your current ROM, you should at least give a try to a custom ROM and see how it works for you. Who knows, it may turn out to be the greatest thing you ever did to your device!

HTC Desire 820

So, here’s how you can go about installing a custom recovery on your HTC Desire 820:

Files You Need

1. You must first unlock the bootloader on your device before you can install a custom recovery. Please visit the HTCDev website to learn how you can unlock your bootloader.

2. Download Fastboot to your computer. It will help you issue commands to flash recovery on your device.

3. Download TWRP Recovery Image to your computer. It will be flashed on your device.

4. This only works on a Windows based computer.

5. Please download and install HTC USB drivers on your computer, if you don’t already have them.

Installing a Custom Recovery on the HTC Desire 820

1. Extract files from Fastboot to your computer by right-clicking on it and selecting Extract here.

2. On your phone, open Menu followed by Settings. Scroll all the way down until you see Developer options and tap on it. Then, turn on USB debugging.

3. Plug in your phone to your computer using a USB cable.

4. Rename the recovery image to twrp.img. It’ll make the flashing command easier for you to type in.

5. Launch a CMD window where Fastboot is located. To do that, hold down Shift and right-click anywhere on your screen and select Open command window here.

6. Type in the following command into CMD window and press Enter. It’ll reboot your device into bootloader mode.

adb reboot bootloader

7. Once in bootloader, select Fastboot using the physical buttons on your device.

8. Next up, issue the following command using CMD window:

fastboot flash recovery twrp.img

9. Wait for it to flash recovery on your device.

10. When the recovery’s flashed, reboot your device using the following command:

fastboot reboot

11. Your phone should reboot.

12. You’re all set!

And there you go.

Your HTC Desire 820 is now equipped with a custom recovery to help you flash custom ROMs on your device.

After getting a custom recovery installed on your device, we’d highly recommend you to go ahead and get root-access on your device. It’ll unlock the ability for you to install root-requiring apps on your device.