HTC One M9: How to Root

Once you have a custom recovery installed, then you can gain root access. Follow this step by step tutorial for how to boot the HTC One M9.

At this time, we are unable to install a custom recovery and gain root access on all of the variants of the HTC One M9. To my knowledge the AT&T and Verizon Wireless models are being worked on and, as always, there isn’t an ETA of when(or if) we’ll see something released.

I will do my best to keep this tutorial updated but if something is released before I am made aware of it, please contact me via email or leave a comment here to let me know.

Requirements

Before you can root the HTC One M9, there are a couple of things that you need to have done before hand. The first requirement is that your HTC One M9 bootloader needs to be unlocked. If you purchased the developer edition then this has already been done but if you have other models then you’ll need to follow the tutorial for those. Once you have unlocked the bootloader you will need to install a custom recovery onto the HTC One M9. Once these two requirements are met, then you can gain root access.

HTC One M9 Root

1. Download SuperSU to the HTC One M9
2. Boot the HTC One M9 into Recovery Mode
3. Tap on the ‘Install’ Option
4. Browse to and Tap on the SuperSU .zip File(from step 1)
5. Swipe the Blue Arrow at the Bottom to the Right
6. Once Installed, Tap on the ‘Wipe Cache/Dalvik’ Option
7. Swipe the Blue Arrow at the Bottom to the Right
8. Lastly, Tap on the ‘Reboot System’ Option to Boot into the Android OS

Explanation

As mentioned earlier, you will need to have an unlocked bootloader and you will need to have a custom recovery(TWRP) installed as well. Once TWRP is installed, you can download the latest SuperSU binaries and then boot your HTC One M9 into Recovery Mode. From here, you’ll look for the ‘Install’ button and then tap on it. This will bring up a file browser where you’ll need to locate and select the SuperSU .zip file that you downloaded from step 1.

This is typically in the ‘Downloads’ folder so just look for that folder, tap on it and then you’ll see your list of downloads. Tap on the SuperSU .zip file and then it will ask you to swipe a blue arrow to confirm the install. You’re going to see some text scrolling by and this is just telling you about SuperSU being installed. Once the process is complete, you can(but don’t have to) wipe the cache. It isn’t required but it’s just something that I have gotten into the habit of doing anytime I install a mod like this.

After wiping the cache partition, you can tap on the ‘Reboot System’ option and then you will boot right back into the regular Android OS. If you wiped the cache partition then Android will go through its ‘optimizing apps’ phase on this first boot. This can take a few minutes and when it’s complete, then you’ll see your Android lock screen. Simply unlock your HTC One M9 and you should see a new application has been added to your app drawer. This application is the SuperSU application and tapping on it should show you that it is installed properly(you’ll get a prompt if it wasn’t installed properly).

If you run into any issues during this tutorial, or maybe if you just have a question about it, please feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of this article. I might not be able to recreate the error that you are experiencing but I will try my best to help research a solution.