This guide will explain how to root your HTC Hero CDMA (the Hero that you get from Sprint and other CDMA carriers) and install the highly popular CyanogenMod 7 ROM on HTC Hero as well. First, though, I will explain how to back up your contacts, MMS and SMS, and your call history so you can restore all the data after you install CM7. There are many reasons why it is an excellent idea to root the HTC Hero, and one of those reasons includes the ability to prolong the life and usability of your Hero, because as you may have already experienced, today’s Android applications require stronger processors than older phones such as the Hero has. So, without further ado, here’s the guide to get you started with rooting the HTC Hero.

First, you will need to download this file, which will be the program that you use to back up your call log, text messages and contacts to your SD card. Once the file is downloaded, please connect your HTC Hero to your computer via the provided USB cable and enable USB mass storage. Then, copy the file you just downloaded to your SD card.

Now, using a file manager on your Hero (such as Astro File Manager – free from the Android Market) browse to your SD card, find the file you placed on your SD card, select it and install it. Once it’s installed, go into your app drawer and open it. Agree to the license agreement, press Cancel when it asks you to set a password, then tap the “Backup” button. Now, tap Data, then Local, then select everything that you want to back up. Your options include:

• Contacts
• Call Log
• Bookmarks
• SMS
• MMS
• System Settings
• Android Home
• Alarms
• Dictionary
• Calendar
• Music PlayList

All items in Green are recommended to Backup. Red items are NOT recommended, and black items are optional. Once your backup has completed, if you want to back up your applications, you may do so at this time. The process of backing up apps are as follows: First, go back to the main screen of the application you installed. Second, select Backup again. This time, select Applications & Media. Select Local again. You will be presented with two things: Apps and Photos. You may check Photos, but those should already be on your SD card to begin with. Stay on the safe side, and place a check mark next to Photos anyways. For the Apps option, there will be a small arrow on the left. Tap that, select all applications that you wish to save, and press OK. You’ll also press OK on the next screen, which is simply asking what you want to name the backup you’re creating. The pre-entered text is fine. For the next screen, you will want to select APKs + DATA, because you are wanting to save the apps and any data created by the apps. The next step is to sit and wait for the backup to complete. If you have a lot of applications, you may want to go grab a smoke or a drink or whatever it is that you do while you’re not busy, because a lot of apps will take a lot of time. Otherwise, sit back and hang tight while the backup runs. You’ll be presented with a screen that says Done, and gives you a backup summary. Press OK. Now for the fun part, it’s time to root your phone!

Go to your home screen, and set your phone down. You’ll need to download a program to your computer to get the required drivers needed for the root process. This may sound greek to you but it’s very simple, so just continue reading! Follow all of these next steps in order, making sure not to skip any. It may be a good idea to print this guide so you can cross out the steps you’ve already performed.

1. Download the latest Java Development Kit (JDK). As of 01/26/2012, the version is 7u2. Wait for this to install and finish before continuing.
2. Download the Android SDK Starter Package. It’s advisable to download the android-sdk_r16-windows.exe, as we will need to install this ourselves.
3. When the SDK downloads, right click it and unzip it to C:\. This will create a folder named android-sdk-windows.
4. Once unzipped, open the folder and start the program named SDK Manager.
5. The SDK Manager will ask you what packages you want to install. Select the following (the others you’re presented with are unnecessary):
   • Android SDK Tools, revision 15
   • Android SDK Platform-tools, revision 9
   • Google USB Driver package, revision 4
6. Once all those download and install, you can close the SDK Manager.
7. Go to Control Panel and select System Properties (in Windows XP) or System (in Windows 7).
8. Click Advanced Settings (it’s the “Advanced” tab in Windows XP, and the button to the left in Windows 7).
9. Click Environment Variables.
10. Under the System Variables section, look for “Path” on the left. Double-click it.
11. In the Variable Valuessection, go all the way to the end of the text box (click then press the right arrow key to get to the end of the line of text), add the following text (making sure to add the semicolon!!):
    • ;C:\android-sdk-windows\platform-tools;C:\android-sdk-windows\tools
12. Download another file, here. Note, this is a driver that will support all CyanogenMod supported devices, which is what you will be installing later.
13. Unzip the file you just downloaded. You’ll see one file named android_winusb.inf. Copy this file to the following folder (note: you’ll be replacing an existing file):
    • C:\android-sdk-windows\extras\google\usb_driver\
14. Go back to your phone. Press Menu > Settings > Applications > Development and make sure USB debugging is selected.
15. Plug your phone back into your computer using the USB cable. The computer will then try to install drivers automatically.
16. Once the driver installs successfully, open up the command prompt on your computer. Type adb devices. If it lists device(s), skip to Step 26. Otherwise, reboot your computer, then try again. If it still doesn’t list any devices, continue below.
17. Open the Device Manager: Right click on My Computer (in XP) or Computer (in Windows 7). Click Manage. Click Device Manager on left.
18. You’ll see an Unknown Device with ADB listed underneath, and a yellow exclamation point.
19. Right click on ADB. Click Update Driver Software. Click “Browse my computer for driver software“.
20. Click “Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer“.
21. Click on “Have Disk“.
22. Click “Browse“.
23. Navigate to C:\android-sdk-windows\google-usb_driver and select android_winusb.inf.
24. Click Android ADB Interface. Note: You’ll get an Update Driver Warning. Click yes.
25. Once the driver is installed, open up the command prompt on your computer. Type adb devices. This time, it should list device(s).
26. Download these 2 files: rageagainstthecage-arm5.zip and su-2.3.6.2-efgh.zip.
27. Unzip both of these files to this folder: C:\android-sdk-windows\platform-tools.
28. Connect your Hero to your computer via USB again.
29. Open the command prompt and type the following commands, pressing enter after each line:
1. cd C:\android-sdk-windows\platform-tools
2. adb push rageagainstthecage-arm5.bin /data/local/tmp/
3. adb shell
4. chmod 755 /data/local/tmp/rageagainstthecage-arm5.bin
5. /data/local/tmp/rageagainstthecage-arm5.bin
6. Note: wait for this to finish then continue entering commands below:
7. exit
8. adb kill-server
9. adb start-server
10. adb shell
11. Note: you should now see a #. if you see a $, please repeat steps 28 and 29a-d. If you see a #, please continue entering commands below:
12. mount -o remount,re -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system
13. exit
14. adb push su /system/xbin/
15. adb shell chmod 4755 /system/xbin/su
16. adb push Superuser.apk /system/app/
30. Your HTC Hero is now Rooted! Congratulations! Please continue to the next steps.

31. Download recovery-clockwork-2.5.0.7-heroc.img
32. Move it to the following folder: C:\android-sdk-windows\platform-tools.
33. Go back to your phone. Press Menu > Settings > Applications > Development and make sure USB debugging is selected.
34. Connect your Hero to your computer via USB again.
35. Open the command prompt and type the following commands, pressing enter after each line:
1. cd C:\android-sdk-windows\platform-tools
2. adb push recovery-clockwork-2.5.0.7-heroc.img /sdcard/recovery-clockwork-2.5.0.7-heroc.img
3. adb shell
4. su
5. cd /sdcard/
6. flash_image recovery recovery-clockwork-2.5.0.7-heroc.img
7. reboot recovery
36. Your Hero should now reboot into a black and green recovery screen.
37. Download update-cm-7.1.0-RC1-Heroc-signed.zip
38. Download gapps-gb-20110828-signed.zip
39. Copy both of these files to the SD card on your phone. (Plug the USB cord into your phone, select mounts and storage, select mount USB storage, then copy the files. Be sure to select unmount when finished. NOTE: to scroll/select, you can use the volume buttons to scroll [or move trackball up/down], and press trackball to select)
40. Press back until you get back to the main menu (with “reboot system now” as first option).
41. You can create a backup of your current setup now, by selecting backup and restore, then select Backup. This step is optional.
42. Press back until you get back to the main menu (with “reboot system now” as first option).
43. Select wipe data/factory reset.
44. Select wipe cache partition.
45. Select install zip from sdcard.
46. Select choose zip from sdcard.
47. Select update-cm-7.1.0-RC1-Heroc-signed.zip.
48. Scroll to select Yes – Install update-cm-…
49. Select choose zip from sdcard.
50. Select gapps-gb-20110828-signed.zip.
51. Scroll to select Yes – Install gapps-gb-…
52. Press back to get back to the main menu.
53. Select reboot system now.
54. Wait several minutes for your phone to boot.
55. Congratulations! You now have a rooted HTC Hero with a fresh installation of CyanogenMod 7.1 running!