Last Updated on April 4, 2017 by Mathew Diekhake
Some of the great Android customizations require your device to have a custom recovery installed on it. A custom recovery makes it darn easy to flash a custom ROM and a custom kernel, create full backups, and so on.
If you’ve got an HTC Desire 816 and you wish to enjoy custom developments on it, here’s how you can install a custom recovery on it. Once you’ve flashed it, you’ll also be able to root your device.
Here’s how:
Files You Need
1. You must have unlocked the bootloader on your device before doing this tutorial. Please head over to the HTCDev website to learn how you can unlock your bootloader.
2. This should only work on Windows based computers.
3. Download and install HTC USB drivers on your computer, if you don’t already have them.
4. Download Fastboot to your computer. It’ll be used to execute commands on your device.
5. Download TWRP Recovery Image to your computer. It will be flashed on your device.
6. This should only be tried on the HTC Desire 816.
Installing a Custom Recovery on the HTC Desire 816
1. Extract files from Fastboot to your computer by right-clicking on it and selecting Extract here.
2. Rename the recovery image to twrp.img.
3. Head to Menu->Settings->Developer options on your phone and enable USB debugging.
4. Plug in your phone to your computer using a USB cable.
5. Open a CMD window where Fastboot files are located. To do so, hold down Shift and right-click anywhere on your screen and select Open command window here.
6. Type in the following command into the Command Prompt Window and press Enter:
adb reboot bootloader
7. Select Fastboot from the options shown on your screen.
8. Your phone should reboot into fastboot mode.
9. Now type in the following command into the CMD window and press Enter. It’ll flash the recovery on your device.
fastboot flash recovery twrp.img
10. Wait for it to flash recovery on your device.
11. When it’s done flashing recovery, reboot your device by issuing the following command:
fastboot reboot
12. Your phone should reboot.
13. You’re all set!
Your HTC Desire 816 was successfully flashed with a custom recovery.
Now go ahead and get your HTC Desire 816 rooted to enjoy all of those fancy root-requiring apps on your device.