UPDATE: You’re using a non-US 3G Xoom? Don’t despair… you can have Android 3.2 now as well! The geniuses over at XDA have come up with an Android 3.2 flash for you!

UPDATE (December 2011): I HAVE PROVIDED A LINK IN THE “ROOT” SECTION OF THIS GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSAL ROOT METHOD. THE ROOT METHOD I ORIGINALLY PROVIDED WILL NOT WORK ON 3.2.1!

UPDATE (January 2012): I have updated several steps of the “GEDify” instructions to reflect certain recent bootloader changes! Don’t worry, the guide still works, just be careful to look for the notes!

Since Motorola lied to every Xoom customer outside of the US (misleading us into thinking that the Xoom was a GED, when in fact it isn’t), I’ve decided to put up this n00b’s guide to making your WiFi Xoom a GED.

Before you ask, this method will only work on the WiFi Xoom, and not the 3G units. This process will erase everything on your Xoom, so back up whatever you need to a computer before you follow these instructions.

DISCLAIMER: You presume all the risks associated with this undertaking. I will not be held liable or responsible for any losses or damages you may incur.

With the legal bit out of the way, I will say that the bricking risk is actually insanely low, so long as you follow these instructions properly.
Read and then re-read this entire article before you start performing these instructions.

The method I’m going to show you actually does not carry a “permanent brick risk” at all, to the best of my knowledge. So long as you follow the instructions provided, even if something did go wrong, you would still be able to recover from it and get your Xoom working again by going back to the instruction marked “do-over“.

What is a “GED”

GED stands for “Google Experience Device”. A “Google Experience Device” receives its updates directly from Google, without any customization or modification from the device manufacturer. GED’s are generally considered superior to non-GED’s in that the Android experience is exactly as Google intended, and updates are provided the moment a new version of Android becomes available.

The USB Xoom Driver

You will need to download this from here, and it requires you to sign up (or log in, if you already have an account). Follow the instructions Motorola provides to install them.

The Android SDK

You will need to download and install this from here, and again follow instructions provided to install properly. No registration is required!

Once installed, you will need to copy: <sdkdir>\tools\fastboot.exe to: <sdkdir>\platform-tools\fastboot.exe (this simply places all the executables we need to complete the process in one location)

The US (GED) Firmware

Download the MZ604 (HWI69) Firmware from here (registration and login required)

Once you have the image, you will need to extract its contents into the <sdkdir>\platform-tools folder. You should have the following files:

• boot.img
• system.img
• recovery.img
• userdata.img

Unlocking the Bootloader

We must now unlock the bootloader, in order for you to be able to flash the US GED firmware onto your Xoom.

We must do this through Command Prompt, so in order to open a Command Prompt in the appropriate location, do the following:

• Ensure that your Xoom is connected to your PC via the USB cable
• Switch your Xoom off (presuming it isn’t already off)
• Press and hold the Volume Down button at the same time as the Power Button
• You should now see the Motorola logo image, and a single line of white text at the top of the Xoom’s screen.
• On your PC, open Windows Explorer (or My Computer)
• Navigate to <sdkdir>\platform-tools
• Hold down Shift, and Right-Click somewhere inside the folder (but NOT on a file).
• Press Open Command Window Here.
• You should now see a Command Prompt window on your PC screen.

We’re now ready to actually unlock the bootloader. It is at this point that your Xoom will be Factory Reset, so all content will be lost. Remember, you should have done a backup first!

• In the Command Prompt, type fastboot oem unlock
• Your Xoom will now display a warning… Press Volume Down to select “Accept”, then press the Volume Up button if you wish to continue.
• Type fastboot reboot, and allow your Xoom to fully reboot (Note: your Xoom may automatically restart itself after you performed the above step. This is a recent bootloader change… don’t worry, continue to the next step)
• Once your Xoom has fully booted (you should see the initial configuration wizard since the device has been factory reset), in the Command Prompt, type adb reboot bootloader. (Note: if ADB responds with an error saying it cannot find your device, you need to cancel the initial configuration wizard, go to Settings on your Xoom, then locate and tick the USB Debugging option. Try the adb reboot bootloader instruction again and it should now work).

Your bootloader will now be unlocked, and you’re now ready to put the US GED firmware onto it.

Flashing the US (GED) Firmware onto your Xoom

Now that the bootloader is unlocked, and you’ve already extracted the US image files into the Platform-tools folder, we’re ready to GEDify!

Enter the following instructions into your Command Prompt, waiting for each to complete before moving on to the next: (do-over zone… should anything go wrong, you can start again from these next instructions to recover your Xoom! No real risk here! Great, no?)

• fastboot flash boot boot.img
• fastboot flash system system.img
• fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
• fastboot flash userdata userdata.img
• fastboot erase cache
• fastboot reboot

Congratulations! Your Xoom is now GEDified! Once you run through the first-run configuration wizard (after your Xoom has rebooted), you can go into Settings > About Tablet > System updates > “Check Now”, at which point your Xoom will update to Android 3.1. Once 3.1 is installed, check for updates again and you’ll update to 3.2 (giving you read-only access to your MicroSDHC card slot, for additional media storage), Check for updates again and you’ll get 3.2.1 (if you do this, you need to use the “Universal Root” if you wish to Root your Xoom)

OPTIONAL: Rooting your Xoom from Android 3.2 (NOT 3.2.1)

IF YOU ARE RUNNING ANDROID 3.2.1, YOU CANNOT ROOT USING THIS METHOD! INSTEAD, USE THE UNIVERSAL ROOT LINKED HERE.

Once you’re updated to Android 3.2, you can go one step further, and actually Root your Xoom.
The next set of instructions will actually enable you to Root your 3.2 Xoom without losing any data. Rooting gives you the ability to control and modify the lower-levels of Android, and there’s a lot of special applications on the Android Market which will only run on a Rooted device.
Personally, I Rooted my Xoom in order to be able to change the bootup animation to a custom one I’ve made in Blender (I shall be making it available soon) because I find the stock Honeycomb bootup animation positively nauseating!

• Download the Rooted Boot Image for Android 3.2 (NOT 3.2.1), place it in <sdkdir>\platform-tools
• Download the Superuser .apk and binary, extract the contents to <sdkdir>\platform-tools
• With your Xoom running (at the home screen), in your Command Prompt type the following instructions one after another (waiting for each process to complete before typing the next):
• adb reboot bootloader
• fastboot flash boot rootboot.img
• fastboot reboot – Allow your Xoom to boot completely
• adb remount
• adb push su /system/bin
• adb shell – Note: this will take you into a Shell within the Command Prompt, it’s instant so don’t wait for anything special to happen, immediately continue with the next instructions
• ln -s /system/bin/su /system/xbin/su – Note: The first character is a lower-case L (as in Lima)
• chmod 4755 /system/bin/su
• exit – Note: this closes the shell, and takes you back to the normal Command Prompt!
  
• adb push Superuser.apk /system/app

That’s it… now just power off, and back on, your Xoom… and it’s Rooted. This enables you to set Read/Write mode on your SD Card using a suitable file manager tool (I recommend Root Explorer), as well as many other wonderful things. You will be prompted whenever an application wants to run on your Xoom with Superuser privileges.

You can Unroot your Xoom by reflashing the stock US GED Firmware onto it (though this would of course erase all data) following the previous set of instructions from the “do-over” zone.

In Conclusion

Enjoy your GEDified (or, where applicable, Rooted) Android 3.2 Xoom.

It should never have been necessary for us to manually flash the US GED firmware onto our non-US WiFi Xoom, but since Motorola are a bunch of liars and incompetent apes, we’re left with no real alternative.
Don’t bother waiting for Motorola to release updates… it’s just never going to happen. Even if it does, they’ll always be working on the 3.0.1 codebase, rather than the newer official Android codebases released by Google for the GED Xoom.

Spread this post around to all your fellow WiFi Xoom owners!

If you get stuck, contact me (see the sidebar to the right).

I’d like to thank all those on the XDA forums whom provided the various fragments of information from which I’ve been able to assemble this guide. I just figured many would benefit from having all this information in a single location, rather than having to search many thousands of different posts to figure it all out.

Enjoy!