How To: Hack HP Touchpad to run Android (with pics)

Many of you probably bought a HP Touchpad with the hopes of someday maybe running Android. Well the wait is over. With this guide you will be running Android on you HP Touchpad in a matter of minutes. Click after the break for the full guide.

Requirements:

• HP Touchpad with at last 2 GBs of space available.
• USB Cable that came packed with your Touchpad

Before you start, please keep in mind that you follow this tutorial at your own risk. In no way or form is Briefmobile responsible for any damage to your Touchpad. Now that we got that out of the way, let’s start.

Step 1: You will need to download the following 3 files: CM7 (currently in Alpha 2.1), Clockwork Recovery, and Moboot. They can be found here at Rootzwiki. Just scroll down and about halfway down you will see the files just like in the image below.

Step 2: Download the WebOS SDK for your operating system. Here are the direct links for Windows, OSX, and Linux. Follow the directions found on these sites to make sure that the Touchpad Novacom drivers are installed.

Step 3: Download Acme Installer once again from Rootzwiki. Once you have the zip file, unzip the file and move the file ACMEInstaller into the following path ”C:\Program Files\Palm, Inc\”. This is not neccesary for all installations to work, but under certain circumstances under Windows this might need to be done. I needed it for mine to work so I’m just putting this step here.

Step 4: Once you have all those files ready connect your Touchpad with the USB cable that came with it and when prompted select USB Drive on the Touchpad.

Step 5: Once the Touchpad appears on your computer, create a folder named cminstall in the root of the Touchpad and put the files from Step 1 in that file. The files would be CM7, Clockwork Recovery, and Moboot.

Step 6: Eject the Touchpad from your comptuer and remove the USB cable from the computer and shutdown your Touchpad.

Step 7: Now once the Touchpad is shutdown, press and hold the power and volume up button at the same time until a white USB symbol comes up on your touchpad. The volume up button is the one closest to the power button, nearest to the edge. Refer to the photo below.

Step 8: One you see the white USB symbol, connect the Touchpad, and you should see that the Novacom drivers automatically detect the touchpad. If they do not, repeat step 2 making sure that you are following the directions found in the link pertaining to your operating system.

Step 9: Now is the time to install Android. Open command prompt (windows) or terminal (Mac / linux) and “cd” into the directory that we put the ACMEInstaller file. If you followed the directions from step 3the directory should be “”C:\Program Files\Palm, Inc\”. If not then “cd” into which ever folder you put the ACMEInstaller.

Step 10: Once you are in the directory where you have the ACMEInstaller file type in the following command:

novacom boot mem:// < ACMEInstaller

Now just sit back and enjoy the show while you see Android being installed on your Touchpad. Do not touch it until Android is loaded. From here on you can enjoy Android. If you want to install the Google Apps and the Market then follow the additional steps.

Steps to Install Google Apps and the Market.

Step 1: Download the ”gapps-gb-20110828-signed.zip” and the market fix “update-cm-7.1.0-tenderloin-marketfix-Flemmard.zip” found on the XDA site here.

Step 2: Connect your touchpad via usb to your computer and make sure to turn on USB Storage when prompted to do so.

Step 3: Copy  ”gapps-gb-20110828-signed.zip”  to the root of your Touchpad, meaning not inside any folder. Look at the image for reference.

Step 4: Safely disconnect your touchpad from your computer. Now hold the power button and select reboot. Another menu should appear, in this one select Recovery, and then press ok. If you did this successfully you should see the following screen in a few seconds. To navigate these menus simply use the Volume Keys and the Home Key to make a selection.

Step 5: Using the volume Keys select “Install zip from sdcard”, and press home.

Step 6: Using the volume keys select “gapps-gb-20110828-signed.zip” and press home.

Step 7: Using the volume keys select “Yes…” and press home. Google apps should now be installed.

Step8: Now repeat the same steps but now selecting the file “update-cm-7.1.0-tenderloin-marketfix-Flemmard.zip”.

Step 9: Once you have both files installed, select “reboot system now” and press home.

Step 10: You will not see the setup wizard, it might freeze on you on the first boot, so just simply reboot the Touchpad again and enjoy Android.