Those of you (and us) not patient enough to wait for Verizon to roll out the 2.0.1 update on its own are in luck. Not only can the Motorola Droid now be rooted, the incremental update to the Android OS can be applied manually, and it's as easy as applying a couple of zip files.
First up is the update, which comes to us from AllDroid via our forums. Just download this zip file from the forum post, rename to update.zip, and put it on your microSD card. Turn the droid off, and turn it back on while holding the "X" button. After the "/!\" symbol appears, press the volume up and camera button, then follow the onscreen instructions. (We've tested this out, and it worked fine.) As a reminder, here's what you get in the 2.0.1 update.
Next up is is the rooting of the Droid, which again comes from AllDroid (via Engadget) in the form of another downloadable zip file and is applied in the same manner. Note that this is for adb access and you can't yet run apps from the Android Market that require root.
A big night for all you Droid owners out there. Get to it.
44 Comments
just installed the 2.0.1 update on my droid and it made one hell of a difference. i am a converted iphone user and i gotta tell ya the sluginess of the droid was annoying....but the good news is that it is pretty much all gone now. thanks androidcentral.com!
...slugishness of the droid....are we talking about the same device here?
..being a Verizon rep..our PST machines (for software updates) got hit with the 2.01 update yesterday. So being the gracious sole Droid owner at my store-I decided to use my phone as a guinea pig (versus the dozens in stock...whatever)...
its AWESOME! it makes a bad ass phone even more bad asser...
yes..i can make up words.
I don't have a Droid, but I am curious...
Does this mean that it will be possible to take the multi-touch from the just released Milestone and add it to the ROM of the Droid with navigation to get the best of both worlds?
Yes it does once its fully rooted with roms
Wow. Sweet. It makes me wish I didn't really like being on Sprint.
This is a really dumb question. what and were is the "X" button.
LOL its on the physical keyboard. ;)
update worked great, do remember if you have filenames hidden to simply rename it update not update.zip
Update worked like a charm. Much much much appreciated!
Super easy to do and works great. Seems to have made everything just a little smoother.
Update is not working after I rooted the device? Any ideas on how to unroot?
I just tried to do this update multiple times and I keep getting the same error message. Even when I change the file name from "update.zip" to "update." Can anyone help me out?
Can you put this software on the MyTouch 3G and it would work properly
A little confused. Did the update flawlessly- thanks, but is the rooting of the Droid a neccessary step? I don't even know what rooting is and/ or is neccessity or benefit. Could someone fill me in? Thanks
How the heck did you get the update to work. I have tried multiple times and I can seem to get it to work. I keep getting the "failure" message. Any insights to maybe help me out?
name the file "update" instead of "update.zip"
I was wondering the same thing. has anyone answered you?
My error keeps telling me that it can't read "footer". Any idea on how to fix that?
worked great. small changes to UI make it seem way more refined (lock screen, google search bar, and i'm sure there's a lot more that i can't quite point out)... just a lot better feel to the system
Update was successful, but I haven't noticed anything spectacular, the camera does focus nicer but it takes the same amount of time before I can take another picture and slightly smoother. It feels like the same phone for me.
I guess maybe it's because I was used to the Storm OS going from crappy, to alright to better. That and I never had any issues when I got my Droid.
Strange, after I updated I went to click a shortcut for the Gallery app, but it failed to launch and instead gave the error "application not installed on your phone". I tried to launch it from the drawer and it worked, so I redid the shortcut and that worked as well. Everything else works fine and all in all the update has really made a difference.
I'm going to ask a stupid question...do I make the update from my computer and THEN add it to my DROID? Because I try to download the update from my DROID and it keeps telling me that the content is not supported on this phone....
yes download through computer
Just FYI, rename the folder to Update not Update.zip. Just make sure it is a zip folder. When I added .ZIP manually it had an error. Just incase anyone runs into that problem.
how do make it a zip folder? I keep adding .zip manually and it doesn't work. How would I change it to a zip folder.
My multimedia station does not show weather after the update. Does anyone else have this issue?
Ok im waiting on the OTA, i have to ask besides some of the corp stuff what will a plain user like myself gain by the update. I just wish it had a better facebook app
I've updated and everything looks OK so far! Looks a little bit different here and there. I'll have to fully check it out. We'll see...But, success at the moment!
When I try to download the update it says it's not supported to download on my phone?
Don't try to download it from your phone. Connect the Droid to your PC via the USB cable and mount the sd card. Download and rename the file on your pc, then copy it to the root of the sd card.
Just did the manual update and works great! I did get the warning on my Firefox browser about the website not having the right certificates but continued through that and all worked out. Thanks!
Can you just do the update part, or do you have to do the root also? I don't even know what the root update is for. I just want it to be the same as if I had received the OTA update from Verizon. Please help.
Does this work with the Droid Eris by any chance?
downloaded to PC - signed-voles-ESD56-from-ESD20.84263456.zip
Made backupcopy of the file (Copy/paste of file to desktop)/ renamed download file "update" (as suggested in one comment) - without "".
Transferred by USB to SDCard. Powered down. Held "X" on keyboard and Powered on at same time. Didn't update. Had to go back and rename the file on the SDCard "update.zip" - without "". Update went great.
Notice widget color on home screen is now dark grey vs white. Apps all work fine as do shortcuts put in folders on three home screens.
Checking menu / settings / about phone / firmware version
firmware version = 2.0.1!!!
Thanks!!!
Sweet! I downloaded the update and followed the instructions and everything worked great! Thanks for the post.
I live in STL & got the OTA update from Verizon last night (09-Dec) @ 23:30. Love it!! So happy I didn't have to wait too long.
after my last update for my droid, i noticed now i no longer have a lock/unlock screen and my home button no longer works. anyone else have any problems?
Had a corporate email issue after the update but these steps corrected the problem. No need for factory reset.
Go to:
Settings
Applications
Manage Applications
Hit the Menu key when in the Manage Applications area( Located in-between the back button and home button )
Filter by "All"
Scroll down to "Email"
Click Email
Clear data
This will basically remove your email account and you will have to set it up again.
Worked for me :)
hi guys i just got this phone how do i gett a signature for a text messgaee andd a drawing pad i am so confusseddd
hi guys i just got this phone how do i gett a signature for a text messgaee andd a drawing pad i am so confusseddd
just need to know if this is suitable for milestone phones? AND is there FRENCH language in the install? merci d'avance^^
how do you get this on the htc droid eris?
I love this, but I have a Droid Eris and It's a little rediculous that 2 people, now myself am asking if this can be done with the Eris. No Replies on the matter. Is there anyone out there that can see about this please. I'm sick of using a lower version and I don't even want to use HTC's junk as it's consumes so much memory!
Can I download the 2.0.1 for my Motorola Cliq on T-Mobile network?