The HTC Desire 500 is a mid-range Android smartphone released back in September last year, featuring a 4.3-inch display powered by a 1.2 GHz Snapdragon 200 chipset with 1GB RAM. Like any other Android smartphones, you can gain greater control of the HTC Desire 500 by rooting the device. To root HTC Desire 500, you must first install custom recovery on the device before proceeding. In the first part of this tutorial, I will show you how to install custom recovery on HTC Desire 500. The second part of course, will be on how to root HTC Desire 500.

Disclaimer : During the process of rooting, there is always a risk for you to brick your Android device. So if you choose to root your device, you are doing it at your own risk!

Prerequisites before you begin installing custom recovery on HTC Desire 500

1. Make sure you have unlocked your HTC Desire 500 handset before you move on. Head down to HTCDev if you have not do so.
2. Make sure you have installed the necessary device driver. Download here if you have not do so.
3. Back up the HTC Desire 500.
4. Make sure you have at least 80% battery left on the device before you proceed.
5. Download the following files : 1) CWMRecovery_D500_Philz.img , 2) adb-fastboot.zip and 3) CWM-SuperSU-v0.98.zip.

Follow the steps below on how to install custom recovery on HTC Desire 500

1. Extract the adb-fastboot.zip file to a folder on your desktop.
2. Copy and paste the CWMRecovery_D500_Philz.img which you have downloaded earlier over to the extracted folder.
3. Boot your device into Fastboot mode by first removing its battery and putting it back in again. Next, quickly press both the Volume Down and Power buttons together for a moment.
4. Connect the HTC Desire 500 to your PC. The device driver may automatically be installed if this is your first time connecting your handset to the PC.
5. Head back to the extracted folder.
6. In the extracted folder, hold on the Shift key on your keyboard and hit the right-click on your mouse to open the Command Prompt.
7. Type the following commands into the Command Prompt :
   fastboot devices
fastboot flash recovery CWMRecovery_D500_Philz.img
8. Once done, disconnect your device.
9. Reboot your device.
10. Congratulations! You have successfully installed custom recovery on HTC Desire 500.

Now, we will move on to root HTC Desire 500.

Follow the steps below on how to root HTC Desire 500

1. Connect your device to the PC.
2. Copy the CWM-SuperSU-v0.98.zip from your PC over to your device’s SD card.
3. Boot your device into recovery by first removing its battery and putting it back in again. Next, quickly press both the Volume Down and Power buttons together for a moment until a menu show up. In the menu, select the Recovery option.
4. Once inside the recovery, select the Install zip from sdcard option and then browse to the location of the CWM-SuperSU-v0.98.zip and then select yes.
5. It will now begin flashing the Superuser file on your device.
6. Once done, return to the recovery menu and select reboot system now.
7. Congratulation! You’ve just rooted HTC Desire 500!

ou are now free to install any custom ROMs as well as recovery on the HTC Desire 500. In the meantime, stay tune for more how to root tutorials!