People entering the world of Android, have alot to learn, there is so much you can do with your cellphone and the possibilities are endless! If you are an HTC Desire user, jump right in for a detailed noob proof guide to rooting your smartphone and installing a custom rom.

Part 1: How to root.

The first step to modifying your stock Desire, is rooting it. Root refers to getting SU permissions (super user access) to the Android OS, just like a Administrator on a Windows PC. Rooting has several benefits:

1) It allows you to flash a custom recovery image that replaces the stock HTC Recovery.

2) With a Custom recovery you can erase data, delete caches, backup and restore you cell phone through Nan-droid backup.

3) It also allows you to install a custom ROM (more on that in Part 2 of the guide).

4) After rooting you can do numerous other stuff as well such as turning off the security flag on your device (S-off), updating the radio on your desire, install custom kernels (ex. For over-clocking) etc.

Now that we’re clear about what root access gives you and what it is, we’ll get down to the actual process.

NOTE: If you brick your device or cause any sort of hardware, software damage to it, we are in NO WAY responsible. Please use the guide at your own risk. However if you follow the guide word to word there is extremely little risk of bricking your Desire.

Steps to root:

1) Now restart your phone by holding down the volume down and power button simultaneously. A white screen should turn on with information regarding your cell and some menus. This is referred to as the HBOOT menu as written on your screen. At this point (ensure once more HTC Sync is uninstalled!) plug your phone into your PC and make sure, HBOOT USB PLUG is mentioned on your device.

4) Now that the hacked HBOOT drivers are installed, you just need to run Unrevoked and you’re rooted. On your Desire, go to Settings > Applications and Enable “Unknown Sources”. Under Development also enable “USB Debugging mode”

7) The rest of the process does not require a PC. You can disconnect the USB cable if you wish. Reboot the device into HBOOT (mentioned in Part 1, Step 3).

3) Wipe cache partition

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