For various reasons, I decided that it was time to do away with the stock firmware on my HTC Legend and install CyanogenMod.

The CyanogenMod wiki details the process for rooting the phone, installing a custom recovery image, an installing CM, but I found the following process much simpler:

NB: You will need a Windows PC.

  • Sign up for an account at http://htcdev.com/bootloader and log in
  • Select “HTC Legend*” from the –Select your device– menu
  • Follow the process to unlock your bootloader – As the warnings say, this may void your warranty, and attract extra repair costs if your phone breaks.
  • When complete, download the custom recovery image
  • Place the image in C:\Android and rename it to recovery.img
  • Install the custom recovery image with the command fastboot flash recovery recovery.img. You can now boot into Recovery by selecting “RECOVERY” from the bootloader menu.
  • Install CyanogenMod using the Method via Recovery

Apparrently some phones have issues with this method as the kernel needs to be flashed seperately from CM, but I didn’t find this necessary with the Legend.

Update 12/1/13: There’s a developer on the XDA-Developers forum who’s creating unoffical ports of newer CyanogenMod releases based on Android 4.x. I’ve just installed his CM 10 ROM using the same method as 7 and it runs great.