How To Root Sony Xperia Arco S

The Sony Xperia Acro S has been around for roughly a month now and if you are a proud owner who wants more than what the device currently offers, the first obvious step is rooting it of course.  That paves the way to many goodies that stock ROMs usually don’t offer and of course custom ROMs, which will help you get what you want how you want it.  Read on then to know how to root your Sony Xperia Acro S.

I.  Before You Begin

1.  You will lose all your data following this procedure since we’ll be flashing a different ROM, so make sure you have a backup of everything that you feel is important.

2.  This procedure is tailored to work only on Windows PCs (XP, Vista or Windows 7) (sorry Mac users!).

3.  Make sure that your device is charged at least 80% before you start with the procedure.

4.  Enable USB Debugging on your device; to do this, go to Settings > Developer Options and tick the Debugging checkbox.  While you are here, also tick the Stay awake box; this is to prevent the phone from going to sleep when the process is running.

5.  Increase the screen timeout to prevent the device’s display from turning off during the procedure.  Go to Settings > Display and set Sleep to 30 minutes.

6.  Enable installation of apps from unknown sources by going to Settings > Applications and ticking the Unknown sources checkbox.

7.  Make sure that you have installed all the necessary drivers before you physically connect your device to your PC.  If in doubt about this, download the drivers from the next section and install them before starting the procedure.

II.  Necessary Downloads

1.  Rootingkit1.0.2.rar 

2.  Flashtool

3.  SO-03D_6.0.A.5.12_Docomo.ftf.7z 

4.  LT26w_6.1.A.1.58 (4.0.4)_Taiwan_Sony.ftf 

5.  Xperia Drivers 

 III.  Flashing the Acro HD 2.3.7 Firmware

1.  Extract the SO-03D_6.0.A.5.12_Docomo.ftf.7z file you downloaded above to a folder on your desktop.  This extracted folder should now contain a file named SO-03D_6.0.A.5.12_Docomo.ftf

2.  Install Flashtool on your PC and copy SO-03D_6.0.A.5.12_Docomo.ftf to C:\flashtool\firmwares.  Delete anything else that might be present in this folder.

3.  Run Flashtool by going to Start > Programs and clicking on Flashtool.

4.  Click on the Flash (the lightning bolt icon underneath File) and select Flashmode.

5.  Select the SO-03D firmware, make sure that everything is ticked under the Wipe section and then click OK.

6.  Follow the on-screen instructions but instead of pressing the back button, press and hold Volume Down.

7.  Wait for the flashing process to complete and then close Flashtool.

IV.  Rooting the Xperia Acro S

1.  Turn on your device and connect it to your PC with USB Debugging turned on.

2.  Extract Rootingkit1.0.2.rar you downloaded above to a folder on your desktop.

3.  From the extracted folder, run Step 1.bat.

4.  Flash LT26w_6.1.A.1.58 (4.0.4)_Taiwan_Sony.ftf firmware you downloaded above using Flashtool and the same steps listed in the previous section; this time, make sure that everything under the Wipe section is unchecked and the No Final Verification option under Misc is checked.  Close Flashtool once done.

5.  Power on your device and connect it to your PC with USB Debugging turned on.

6.  From the extracted Rootingkit1.0.2 folder, run Step2.bat.

Your device should be rooted once the batch file finishes its work!

V.  Flash a Custom Recovery (Optional)

Now, that you’re rooted, you can flash a custom ROM by going to the next procedure here: How To Flash a Custom Recovery on the Sony Acro S