How to Root the Sony Xperia Arc

The Sony Xperia Arc comes with a 4.2-inch LCD display, a 8MP shooter and a 1GHz Scorpion processor keeping things running at its mid-range speed.  The device recently saw an update to Android 4.0.4 officially but there’s no word as yet on whether there will be an official Jelly Bean upgrade.  Until then, there are custom ROMs to try out and to do that, your Arc will need to be rooted.  This post below will help you do that.

I.  Before You Begin

1.  Make sure that your device is at least 75% charged.

2.  The guide below is designed to work on Windows PCs (preferably Windows 7); sorry Mac/Linux users!

3.  Back up everything you feel is important before you begin.

4.  This procedure is designed to work on Xperia Arc devices running firmware v4.1.B.0.587.  So make sure this is the firmware versions you are running before you proceed.

II.  Necessary Downloads

1.  Flashtool v0.8.6.0.

2.  Lt18i_4.1.A.0.562_Kernel.ftf (Link available in the first post under the Downloads section)

3. DooMLoRD_v1_Xperia-2011-ICS-ROOT-emu-busybox-su.zip (Link available in the first post)

III.  Flashing the .562 Kernel

1.  Double-click on flashtool.exe you downloaded above and follow the on-screen instructions to install it.

2.  Copy Lt18i_4.1.A.0.562_Kernel.ftf file you downloaded above to C:\Flashtool\firmwares on your harddrive.

3.  Open the Flashtool application after installation and click on the Flash icon (the one with the thunder symbol).

4.  You should be presented with two options:  Flashmode and Fastboot Mode.  Select Flashmode.

5.  Choose Lt18i_4.1.A.0.562 and click on OK.  Follow the on-screen instructions on how to boot your device into fastboot mode and connect your device.  Also, make sure”No Final Verification” is marked.

6.  Reboot device.

V.  Rooting the Xperia Arc

1.  Enable USB Debugging on your device.  You can do this by heading to Settings > Applications > USB Debugging and checking the tickbox next to it.

2.  Enable installation of non-Market applications.  To do this, go to Settings > Applications and check the Unknown Sources tickbox.

3.  Enable MSC Mode.  Go to Settings > Xperia > Connectivity > USB Connection Mode and select MSC Mode.

4.  Connect your device to your Windows PC.

5.  Extract the DooMLoRD_v1_Xperia-2011-ICS-ROOT-emu-busybox-su.zip that you downloaded above to a folder on your desktop.

6.  From the extracted folder, double-click on runme.bat to run the DooMLoRD tool.

7.  Follow the on-screen instructions and wait for the process to be complete (your device will reboot several times during the procedure).

How to Root Xperia Arc S running on Stock ICS Firmware

Want to root your Xperia Arc S running on Stock ICS Firmware? No problem, here’s how you can do it.

I. Before You Begin:

1. You must be running on the stock ICS firmware.

2. Make sure your phone has at least 60% of battery life left to last through the entire process.

3. Close any Antivirus programs running on your PC as they can interrupt the rooting process.

II. Downloading Required Files:

1. Download the Root Toolkit from here.

2. Download the ADB Drivers from here.

III. Installing ADB Drivers:

1. Place the downloaded ADB Drivers file onto your Desktop.

2. Double-click the Flashtool-drivers.exe file to install the drivers.

3. Follow the on-screen instructions.

IV. Rooting Xperia Arc S running on Stock ICS Firmware:

1. Place the downloaded Root Toolkit archive onto your Desktop.

2. Extract files from the Root Toolkit archive and place them on your Desktop.

3. Enable USB debugging on your phone by heading to Menu>>Settings>>Applications>>Developer Options>>Development>>USB debugging.

4. Enable Unknown sources on your phone by going to Menu>>Settings>>Security>>Unknown sources.

5. Connect your phone to your PC using the USB cable that came with it.

6. While the phone is connected to PC, just double-click the runme.bat file to begin the rooting process.

7. Follow all the instructions that are displayed on your screen.

8. After it has finished rooting your phone, you will get a message saying All Done.

9. You can now disconnect your phone from the PC.

Your phone should now be rooted and you can now install the apps which run on rooted phones only. You can install the popular ClockworkMod Recovery on your Xperia Arc S by downloading the CWM AutoInstaller app from Google Play Store.

If this procedure helped you, then please head to the official thread over at XDA forum to thank/donate to the original developer of this root method !