Your HTC device must have an unlocked bootloader or be S-OFF to flash a custom recovery. Many devices can be unlocked via HTC’s official bootloader unlock. Devices from AT&T and Verizon Wireless typically cannot be unlocked officially because those carriers do not care about you. Fortunately, S-OFF options exist:
After your device is either unlocked of S-OFF, you can proceed to flashing a custom recovery.
Option 1: Install recovery with Flashify
If your currently installed ROM has superuser (root) available, then the Flashify app is probably your quickest route to installing an updated recovery.
Option 2: Install recovery with fastboot
Before you begin, be sure that fastboot is installed and working on your computer. fastboot and adb installation instructions can be found on the CM Wiki or at teamandroid.com. If you are using Windows, you will need a recent release of HTC drivers installed. Linux users need to configure UDEV rules.
Windows 8.1 users: if your device fails to be detected while in fastboot mode, then you may need to apply this fix.
- Reboot your phone to the bootloader:
- Method 1: Disable fast boot under Settings > Power > Fast boot. Shut down the phone. Hold volume down and power simultaneously until the phone vibrates. Continue holding volume down, but release the power button. When you reach the bootloader, choose the FASTBOOT menu option using the volume keys to move up/down and the power key to select.
- Method 2: If you have adb installed, then with your phone fully booted up, type:
adb reboot-bootloader
- Open a terminal and navigate to the directory with the downloaded image. Type:
fastboot flash recovery filename.img
where the filename should be replaced with that of the version you downloaded. - Use the volume keys to navigate to BOOTLOADER and then select it with the power key. The device may do a short scan for PJ____.zip packages at this time; just wait for it to finish. Then, choose RECOVERY from the menu. This will boot the device into recovery.