[GUIDE]Flashing a Custom Recovery with or without PC

Flashing a custom recovery is the epitome of Android Hacking and Rooting. But it is always not a straightforward process. Here I am going to share three different methods for flashing a custom recovery. But first let us understand what a custom recovery is.
CUSTOM RECOVERY

Traditionally every android phone comes equipped with some sort of "recovery" program which is used for, well, recovery:p. It was intended to be used as a fallback measure in case you ended up messing with your phone. But these recoveries were (and are) terribly underpowered and offered a very basic set of features. Here comes in the topic of "Custom Recoveries". Exactly what it means, it means a recovery that has been customised or/and tweaked for some added features. The three big and famous names in the custom recovery circles are:
TeamWin Recovery Project (TWRP)

Features

• Completely Touch-Driven and User Friendly UI


• Fully Customizable XML-Driven Interface


• Officially supports most Android devices


• Has a good and extensive feature set


• Supports ADB Sideload


• Is a personal choice:D

ClockWorkMod Recovery (CWM)

Features

• The First (most probably) custom recovery for android


• Volume Rocker and Power Button Controllable UI


• Can perform all sort of wipes including /boot and/devlog


• Unofficial Versions available for most devices


• Officially available only through Koushik Dutta's ROM Manager Premium app available here


• Not very user friendly

Philz Touch Recovery

Features

• CWM based recovery


• Features three interaction modes - Full Touch, Partial Touch, Only Rockers(Non-Touch)


• Everything pretty much the same as CWM including UI (though it has a okayish background)

Now after your little tuition session let's get our hands dirty and flash some recoveries!!!:D

As for every tutorial you will need some tools set up. They are:

1. Working ADB and Fastboot (only for 1st method)


2. Rashr from here (only for 2nd method)


3. Terminal Emulator for Android by Jack Palevich from here (only for method 3)


4. Any Recovery image for your phone (Search "name_recovery model_name image XDA" on Google)


5. Rooted device for method 2 and 3

First Method - Fastboot Method

• First set up ADB and Fastboot if you haven't already done so. Windows users can follow my guide here


• Place the downloaded recovery.img or whateveritisidontcare.img in the same place you put your adb and fastboot if you haven't added adb directory to the PATH variable


• Press Shift and rightclick on your anywhere in the white area of the screen. A popup will come up with an option "Open Command Window here". Select it


• A Command Prompt shall open up. Make sure your device is connected and USB Debugging is enabled


• Type the following commands one by one
  
  
  

  Code:

  
  

  ---

  adb reboot bootloader
 fastboot flash recovery recovery.img

  ---

  
  


• If successful your command prompt should look something like this.
  


• Done!

Second Method - Using Rashr

• Ensure you have Rashr installed and have root access


• Open Rashr, grant it root acess, then close it.


• Download the recovery image on to the root of your sdcard.


• Use a root explorer to copy the image to "/data/data/de.mkrtchyan.recoverytools/files"


• Open Rashr, select Recovery from Storage browse to the recovery on the sdcard and continue
  


• Rashr will take some time and hopefully won't throw up any error and show success


• That's it. Enjoy !!!

Third Method - Terminal Flashing Method
This one's relatively simple. Here it goes

• Open terminal emulator and type the following commands. Be sure to hit grant on the superuser prompt
  
  
  

  Code:

  
  

  ---

  cd /sdcard  #type the address of the file directory, i am assuming it to be /sdcard
su
flash_image recovery recovery.img  #replace recovery.img with whatever is the name of the downloaded file

  ---

  
  


• Done!!!

Hopefully you will be able to use these guides as a stepping stone to the world of android hacking...:victory: