Rooting Motorola Droid Maxx

Rooting the droid maxx was a fairly easy process... This worked for me running Android 4.2.2, which was one OTA (over the air) update after stock. 

Screenshot_2013-12-08-07-31-48.png

What you will need:

  • ADB - you can get this by installing the ADT bundle for windows, or if you have it from any prior phone toolkit like motochopper or something.  Nothing special about the version you use.  I copied adb.exe to the folder where I put the RockMyMoto exploit and the Cydia Impactor so I wouldn't have to type long paths on the command line.
  • Motorola drivers for your phone, installed and working
  • RockMyMoto exploit from this thread on XDA 
  • Cydia Impactor   
  • a telnet client (on Windows7 go to > Start\Control Panel\Programs and Features\Turn Windows features on or off\Telnet Client)
  • USB Debugging enabled on your phone: Settings->Developer Options->USB Debugging checked.  If you don't see developer options:
     
  1. Settings->About Phone
  2. Scroll down to Build Number, and tap it quickly until you see "You are now a developer" appear as a quick toast (a toast is an android small notification popup)
  3. Now go  Settings->Developer Options->USB Debugging
  • Your phone on a wifi connection on the same network as the computer you will be doing this from and the IP address of your phone  (Settings->About Phone ->Status)

Now you have everything, lets get started:

  1. Open a command prompt and change to whatever folder you put the adb.exe folder in.  Ensure adb is working you can type
    adb devices
    If it is working you should see your phone listed.  If it is not, ensure your Motorola drivers are working properly and you have enabled USB Debugging.  Sometimes I've had to put the phone in  USB Camera mode instead of MTP mode.
     
  2. Copy the su and RockMyMoto.jar files from the RockMyMoto zip folder to the /sdcard/ of your phone: at the command prompt type the following commands:
    adb push su /sdcard/
    adb push RockMyMoto.jar /sdcard/


    You will repeat the next few steps a couple (3) of times
     
  3. Open Cydia Impactor and from the drop down box select # start telnet as system on port 2222 and hit start.  NOTE: monitor your phone for messages - Android will pop up a message from your phone about installing software you have to accept or Cydia won't work.  After you accept this message, you may have to restart Cydia, and repeat the # start telnet as system on port 2222 and hit start. 
  4. From your telnet client open a connection to your phone on port 2222. from windows you can do this from a command line:
    telnet aaa.bbb.ccc.ddd 2222 (where  aaa.bbb.ccc.ddd is the IP address of your phone).
  5. in the telnet window type:
    dalvikvm -cp /sdcard/RockMyMoto.jar RockMyMoto
    answer the math question if prompted (just solve for a and type in the number)
  6. After correctly solving for a, it will tell you to use adb to reboot. In a different command window do
    adb reboot
  7. In Cydia Impactor (2nd Time) from the drop down box select # start telnet as system on port 2222 and hit start
  8. From your telnet client open a connection to your phone on port 2222. from windows you can do this from a command line:
    telnet aaa.bbb.ccc.ddd 2222 (where  aaa.bbb.ccc.ddd is the IP address of your phone).
  9. in the telnet window type:
    dalvikvm -cp /sdcard/RockMyMoto.jar RockMyMoto
    the phone should reboot on its own
  10. In Cydia Impactor (Third and final time) from the drop down box select # start telnet as system on port 2222 and hit start
  11. From your telnet client open a connection to your phone on port 2222. from windows you can do this from a command line:
    telnet aaa.bbb.ccc.ddd 2222 (where  aaa.bbb.ccc.ddd is the IP address of your phone).
  12. in the telnet window type:
    dalvikvm -cp /sdcard/RockMyMoto.jar RockMyMoto
    Wait about a minute (there is no indication that it complete) then you can unplug your phone.  It is now rooted and you can install SuperSu from the market place.