Unlocking the bootloader on your smartphone is the first step to speed it up and install custom firmware. And, contrary to popular belief, this feature is supported on most devices. Below is the official method for unlocking the operating system bootloader.
Not every phone will allow you to do this.
There are two types of phones in this world: Those that allow you to unlock the bootloader and those that do not.
The ability to unlock the bootloader depends on your smartphone manufacturer, model, and even your operator. All Nexus smartphones allow you to unlock the bootloader, and many phones from Motorola and HTC will allow you to unlock the bootloader in the same way as on the Nexus.
Other smartphones, as well as operators, do not provide the ability to unlock the bootloader in an official way. In this case, you will have to wait until the developers find vulnerabilities with which you can get root rights and download custom firmware to your phone. If you have such a smartphone, then, alas, this article will not help you.
The best way to find out which category your smartphone belongs to is to look at a specialized website. If you have an HTC or Motorola smartphone, then you can also check the unlocking capability on the HTC and Motorola websites. If the bootloader of your smartphone cannot be unlocked using the official method, then only the unofficial unlocking or root method, which can usually be found on the XDA Developers forum, will help you.
Step 0: Back up everything you want to keep
Before you begin, it should be noted that this process will erase all of your data. Therefore, if you have any Important files, be it photos, music, videos or anything else, then now is the time to save everything to your computer. In addition, if you have any application settings that you want to save, then use the backup function to create a backup of the settings and save it on your computer too.
Here's another tip: since I know I'll want to root my smartphone, I always unlock the bootloader as soon as I buy a new device. This way I don't waste time customizing the phone to suit myself only to delete all the data after a couple of days.
Once you have saved all your important files, you can begin.
Step 1: Install Android SDK and drivers for your phone
You will need two things for this process: Android Debug Bridge, which is a command line for PC that you can use to communicate with your phone, and a USB driver for your device. If you installed them earlier, then you need to update them to the latest version.
Here are brief installation instructions:
- 1. Go to the Android SDK download page and scroll down to “SDK Tools Only”. Download the ZIP file for your OS and extract the archive.
- 2. Launch SDK Manager and uncheck all items except “Android SDK Platform-tools”. If you are using a Nexus phone, you can also select “Google USB Driver” to download Google drivers.
- 3. After installation is complete, you can close the SDK manager.
- 4. Install USB drivers for your phone. You can find them on the website of the smartphone manufacturer (eg Motorola or HTC)
- 5. Restart your computer if necessary.
Turn on your phone and connect it to your computer using a USB cable. Open the tools folder in your Android SDK installation folder and Shift+Right Click on an empty area. Select “Open a Command Prompt Here” and run the following command:
adb devices
If the serial number appears, then your phone has been detected and you can continue further. Otherwise, make sure you follow all the given steps correctly.
Step 2: Enable USB Debugging
Next, you will need to enable several options on your phone. Go to your phone settings and select "About phone". Scroll down to Build Number and click on this item 7 times. A message should appear indicating that you are logged into developer mode.
Return to the main settings page, you should see a new “For Developers” item. Enable “OEM Unlocking” if this option exists (if it doesn't, don't worry - only some phones have this option).
Then enable “USB Debugging”. Enter a password or PIN if required.
Once you do this, connect your phone to your computer. You will see a window on your phone asking “Do you want to enable USB debugging?” Check the box next to “Always allow on this computer” and click OK.
Step 3: Obtain an unlock key (not for Nexus phones)
If you have a Nexus smartphone, then proceed to the next step.
Go to the smartphone manufacturer's website to obtain an unlock key (for example, for Motorola, open this page or this one for HTC), select your device (if required) and drive or create a new account.
Further in this step there may be differences for different phones, but there should be instructions on the steps on the manufacturer’s website. It will be as follows: first, turn off the phone and boot into fastboot mode. There are different methods on different phones, but most often you need to press and hold the power button and volume down key for 10 seconds. Release the buttons and you should be in fastboot mode (HTC users will have to use the volume down key to get to the Fastboot item and use the power key to select this item).
Connect your phone and PC using a USB cable. Your phone must somehow notify you of the connection. Open the tools folder in your Android SDK installation folder and Shift+Right Click on an empty area. Select “Open a Command Prompt Here” and enter the unlock command provided by the manufacturer (for Motorola this is fastboot oem get_unlock_data command , for HTC fastboot oem get_identifier_token).
Long strings of characters will appear on the command line. Copy these characters and make one line of them without spaces and on the website, paste the resulting text into the appropriate field. If your smartphone can be unlocked, you will receive an email with a key or file, which we will use in the next step. If your device cannot be unlocked, you will also be notified about this. If you still want to go all the way and use the unofficial method, then you will need the developers' website.
Step 4: Unlock
Now you are ready to unlock. If your phone is still in fastboot mode, run the command below. If not, then turn off your phone and boot into fastboot mode. There are different methods on different phones, but most often you need to press and hold the power button and volume down key for 10 seconds. Release the buttons and you should be in fastboot mode (HTC users will have to use the volume down key to get to the Fastboot item and use the power key to select this item). Connect your phone and PC with a USB cable.
Open the tools folder in your Android SDK installation folder and Shift+Right Click on an empty area. Select “Open a Command Prompt Here”.
To unlock your device, you will need to run one simple command. For most Nexus devices, this command is:
fastboot oem unlock
If you have a new version of Nexus, for example, Nexus 5X or 6P, then the command will be slightly different:
fastboot flashing unlock
If you do not have a Nexus smartphone, then the manufacturer’s website will indicate the command you need. For Motorola devices, this is the command fastboot oem unlock UNIQUE_KEY, where UNIQUE_KEY is the code sent to you by email. For HTC, this is the command fastboot oem unlocktoken Unlock_code.bin, where Unlock_code.bin is a file received from the HTC manufacturer.
After running the command, the phone may ask if you really want to unlock. use Volume key to confirm.
When unlocking is complete, use the OSD menu to reboot your phone (or run the fastboot reboot command on your computer). If everything is done correctly, then when you boot the phone you will see a message that the bootloader is unlocked, and then the Android OS will load. It is important to boot Android first before doing anything like installing a custom recovery.
Congratulations on being unlocked! While you won't notice any differences, you can now install a custom recovery, get root access or install a custom firmware.
Articles and Lifehacks
Any complex technology has a kernel and a bootloader. To launch an operating system (OS) on complex equipment, you first need to activate the bootloader, and only then load the OS through it. This bootloader is called Bootloader. Let's look below at what a bootloader is on Android.
What is Bootloader for?
When you turn on your Android smartphone or tablet, you see a splash screen, which you can consider the bootloader.A bootloader is a separate program pre-installed by the manufacturer, usually password-protected by the manufacturer to make changes or replace the bootloader with a custom one.
The bootloader accesses the operating system files and loads them, making the smartphone the way you are used to and want it.
Next, loading occurs as usual: the bootloader launches the system kernel, the system boots, and you work directly in the OS shell.
Unlike a computer bootloader, a smartphone or tablet can only work with one OS at a time. Comparison: you can install both ubuntu and windows on your computer, and then choose in the boot which system you need right now.
Is it possible to change the bootloader, modify it, and most importantly, why and who needs it?
Bootloader and Android: the meaning of customization
As already mentioned, access to the bootloader is almost always prohibited by the manufacturer. Removing the ban and changing it leads to a complete loss of the warranty on the device.The bootloader is changed, for example, to CyanogenMod. What does this give the user? First of all, it is the ability to install customized OS builds and install third-party programs for recovery. The built-in bootloader will only work with the OS installed by the manufacturer. But it happens that the built-in operating system is crude, you don’t like the slow functionality, there is no access to part of the built-in hardware, and the like.
How to access and change the bootloader? Without a computer, a USB cable, and special programs, nothing will work. Each brand, and sometimes each model, has its own way of changing it and flashing it to a custom Android.
When deciding to flash and change the bootloader yourself, check that your Android gadget is fully charged and the cable is not broken. And under no circumstances disconnect the device from the computer until the change process is completed. You can make a preliminary backup, then the likelihood of returning to normal will be much higher.
And as a summary. What is Bootloader on Android OS? This is a special program that starts the device and makes the hardware work with the operating system.
Hello friends. Today, we can say, a spontaneous post happened, what it will be about, you could already guess from the title. The thing is that just today a parcel arrived from the USA, and I became the owner of a brand new Google LG Nexus 4. And now I have two Nexuses at once - Samsung Galaxy Nexus and LG Nexus 4 - maybe I’ll even write a comparison review, if you're interested, but that's not what we're talking about today.
Yes, who cares, and I’m sure that many – the issue price is 12k rubles with delivery! But again, that’s not what I’m talking about...
Yes, Pure Android 4 is wonderful in itself - convenient, fast and almost perfect. Please note that I am talking specifically about the android that is installed in Nexus Google phones, and not all other phones (htc, Samsung, sony, etc.), because... they have been seriously reworked and changed, unfortunately, not for the better. So what could be better than almost perfect firmware? Improved custom firmware, of course!
So today I turned on the phone for the first time just to make sure it worked at all. When I was convinced of this, I turned it off and started “dancing with a tambourine.” Hot on the heels, I’ll tell you how to unlock Bootloader on Nexus 4, install recovery and flash any firmware.
In fact, all these dances with a tambourine are not such dances and even almost not with a tambourine =) I, as an already experienced user, felt confident, did not worry and did not even make any backups. As it turned out, all the procedures described below are completely identical to the procedures that I did a year ago on the Galaxy Nexus. Everything will be simple, I promise!
First you need to prepare a little and download the necessary drivers:
Download the drivers usb_driver.rar - they will be useful for connecting the device in bootloader mode to our PC. We also download the adb.rar archive – it contains Fastboot and ADB files.
Unpack the Fastboot and ADB archive to the root of drive C, it should look like C:\adb.
We also unpack the drivers to the root of drive C, it will turn out to be C:\usb_driver.
Now into battle!
Installing drivers and unlocking Bootloader in LG Nexus 4
First you need to unlock Bootloader, without this nothing can be done.
There are various solutions and even programs that allow you to unlock, get root and install recovery in one click, but I somehow don’t trust this approach, because the procedure is delicate. Although I still tried to use the NEXUS 4 TOOLKIT 1.3 program today, but, as it turned out, you can only download the basic version, and the update is available only after payment, and without the update the choice of android 4.2.2 support is not available. In short - not our option!
Three simple steps and no show-offs:
It's simple, right?
Installing custom recovery on LG Nexus 4
Now we need to install recovery, without which we simply will not be able to flash firmware, kernels and any tweaks and mods.
For recovery, I recommend TWRP Team Win Recovery Project. You can view the description and features on XDA in the official topic for NEXUS 4, there is always the current version there. At the time of writing this post, the newest version is 2.4.4.0. Here is a convenient direct download link. Have you downloaded it? Great, let's move on.
We have a file openrecovery-twrp-2.4.4.0-mako.img. If you put it in the c:\adb folder and rename it twrp.img it will be easier in the next step.
Well, the bootloader is unlocked, recovery is installed. The simplest thing left is to install new firmware. By the way, we don’t need to get root if we are going to install custom firmware, root will already be there by default.
Installing custom firmware on LG Nexus 4
For almost a year of using my previous Samsung Galaxy Nexus, I tried a whole bunch of different firmware, often reflashed it, and conducted all sorts of experiments. And you know, one day I found the ideal firmware, the firmware of my dreams - this is ParanoidAndroid. I simply cannot recommend anything else other than this firmware. But, one way or another, the choice is yours; the procedure for installing different firmware is identical.
This is what your Nexus 4 might look like after installing ParanoidAndroid:
Here is a video review of the same firmware, but for those who have not personally used ParanoidAndroid, little will be clear:
So, we have decided on the firmware, we need to download it. Official topic for firmware developers, there is also a description, links and new versions. You can download the firmware itself in the mako section on goo.im, and you will also need to download Google Apps in the corresponding section on goo.im.
We downloaded the firmware and gapps, now we need to somehow upload them to the phone. If the phone is normally visible in the explorer, then skip the block of text below; if you can’t get into the phone’s memory through the explorer, then read.
A small snag may arise here, but only if you do not read this post - because all the snags are resolved for me, and I will definitely write about it!
I’m sitting and connecting the phone via USB using a cable, but it’s charging, but in the explorer I can’t see it as a folder to put our archives there for the firmware. If you have the same story, then here is the solution!
I don’t know why, but Windows decided to install ADB drivers when the phone was turned on (this does not mean fastboot, but the running android system). Maybe I did something wrong somehow, but the fact is the fact - the phone folder is not visible in Explorer. I thought that some drivers were missing, I Googled for a long time, but found nothing. I decided to use the harsh method: We go to the device manager, we see “Android device something like ADB” - just right-click on it and select Delete. We disconnect the phone and immediately connect it back - Windows should re-detect the device and install the correct drivers on it. This worked for me and the required Nexus 4 folder appeared in Explorer!
Select the folder Nexus 4 / Internal memory / Download and drop the archives there, in my case it’s pa_mako-3.10-11MAR2013-131748.zip and pa_gapps-full-4.2-20130308.zip. In your case, these will be newer versions; it’s not at all difficult to understand the markings.
When all the archives are downloaded, disconnect the phone from the computer and turn it off. We need to get into recovery mode again, to do this we hold down Volume Down + Power until fastboot turns on, where we use the volume buttons to select Recovery mode and press Power.
If it suddenly happened that you didn’t see the main screen of TWRP (it’s very easy to identify, there will be no doubt about it), but you saw an android lying on its back with a red triangle, then there is a way out, but what would you do without it?
To do this, hold down the Power button until the phone turns off. We boot into fastboot again, connect the phone via USB and repeat the recovery installation script. When the recovery is installed, do not reboot, but use the volume buttons to find the Recovery mode item and select it with the power button. Now TWRP will definitely start, which means we follow the instructions below.
We will see the main screen of TWRP, click on the top right Wipe button, and then Factory Reset - this will delete all data on the phone!
After a complete reset, you need to return to the previous screen and click on the upper left Install button. On the screen that opens, select Download from the list of folders, and then first click on the pa_mako firmware file, then Add More Zips and immediately select the pa_gapps file and finally do Swipe to Confirm Flash. Now both the firmware and Google Apps applications will be flashed immediately, about a minute of waiting and we should see the inscription Successful. It is very important to clear all caches; to do this, select the Wipe cache/dalvik button. Everything is ready - click Reboot System.
Now the system will boot, but with the ParanoidAndroid firmware. After a long download, we find ourselves in the initial phone setup menu, where you need to select a language, specify an account, etc.
Actually that's all! Good luck to you friends. If you have any questions or suggestions about the firmware process or about ParanoidAndroid, please write in the comments.
Note: How to access the developer menu on any firmware.
Open the settings, select the “About phone” item at the very bottom, scroll the screen to the “Build Number” item, it will say JDQ39, which corresponds to android version 4.2.2, you may have something else written, it doesn’t matter. Press this line 7 times in a row. As a result, the message “You have become a developer!” should appear. It turns out how easy it is to become a developer for androind =))) We return back to the settings menu, we see a new item “For Developers”.
UPD: If suddenly the phone turns into a “brick” - what should you do?
You never know what happens... Like today, for example, a colleague bought himself the same Nexus 4 and gave it to me so that I could install custom firmware. “No problem,” I said and went to follow my own instructions written above. A strange thing happened - all the data (zip file of the firmware image, for example), which I uploaded to the internal drive for subsequent firmware after the reset, they were deleted, self-destructed for some unknown reason.
In short, the phone turned into a brick, i.e. It won’t turn on, but something needs to be done. Therefore, the easiest way is to download Factory Image to your phone, i.e. factory image so that the phone looks like what you saw when you first opened the package. And here are the instructions:
- It is assumed that you have already installed the drivers and the phone connects to the computer when it is in fastboot mode. And also the bootloader is unlocked. In short, all the steps under the heading “Installing drivers and unlocking” have been completed.
- Now download the official image of the phone from here https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images#occam At the moment, the current version is 4.3 (JWR66V), click Link opposite and download.
- We downloaded the archive occam-jwr66v-factory-08d2b697.tgz, inside it is another archive occam-jwr66v-factory-08d2b697.tar, and inside there are several files and another archive image-occam-jwr66v.zip - this is what we need needed, take and transfer image-occam-jwr66v.zip to the folder C:\adb
- Open the command line and write:
cd c:\adb press Enter;
fastboot erase boot press Enter;
fastboot erase cache press Enter;
fastboot erase system press Enter;
fastboot erase userdata press Enter;
fastboot reboot-bootloader press Enter;
fastboot -w update image-occam-jwr66v.zip press Enter and wait.
After the last operation, the phone should reboot itself and turn on. - Now your phone is like new :) And you can repeat what didn’t work. Namely, upload zip archives to the phone’s memory and try to flash them again. By the way, we didn’t touch recovery during the recovery process, so you still have TWRP, which means turn off the phone, press Volume Down + Power, select recovery and go!
Well, now that’s all for sure!
See you later, friends. And I’m sorry that I stopped writing about SEO often, I promise to improve in the near future.
What is a bootloader, how to unlock it, and why do I need it?
Every phone running Android OS has a bootloader that instructs the operating system kernel to boot normally. Each device has its own bootloader version. The bootloader is usually locked on Android devices because manufacturers want you to stick to versions of Android specifically designed for their hardware.
If you want to install a modified version of the OS (Custom ROM), you need to unlock the bootloader. Speaking in the language of an ordinary person: unlocking the bootloader will allow you to install modified firmware, with a variety of “goodies” on your Android phone.
Let's start with the world famous brand HTC. In 90% of cases, this method works, the remaining 10% will be allocated to software problems, fakes by Chinese craftsmen, as well as models that lack the visual part of the bootloader; in general, of course, it is there, but hidden from view.
First step , registration http://htcdev.com/ . Download ADB drivers from our website, the HTC Sync program from the official website http://www.htc.com/ua, it will contain all the necessary drivers for your device. You might also need Java http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/jdk8-downloads-2133151.html
Step two , create a folder in the root of drive C and give it the name Android. Unpack into this folder: adb.exe, AdbWinApi.dll, fastboot.exe. HTC Sync can be removed or disabled in the system so that it does not interfere with connecting the device to the computer.
Step three , put the phone into bootloader mode. Option one, if the phone has a removable battery, remove the battery, insert it, hold down the volume rocker (-) and power. Hold until the phone reboots into the above-mentioned bootloader state. This is what he looks like.
Option two , for more advanced users, the phone is turned on, the permission for the “usb debugging is allowed” function is set, we work through the command line Start -> Run and enter the program name cmd.exe. A window will appear
After entering the command CD C:\Android, press Enter, we get the answer C:\Android>. Next, enter the command adb devices, the answer should be:
List of devices attached HC413MW00787 device
The command is entered to check the connection with the PC, if the serial number is determined, then everything is ok, and we continue further. If not, then check “usb debugging is allowed” and whether the ADB drivers are installed. The following command puts the phone into the mode we need: adb reboot-bootloader press enter,
Now we turn our attention to the phone, it should be like in the first image.
Let's move on to unlocking, everything happens using the console, the necessary commands on the site https://www.htcdev.com/, as well as your email that was used during registration.
The phone is connected and is in bootloader mode. We go to the site and follow these steps:
If your model is not in the list, select what is circled, otherwise we are looking for ours. For example, I always select this item regardless of whether it works. After we press the green button to continue, we get this:
Place two checkmarks and click on the Proceed to Unlock Instructions button.
This window contains instructions for preparation, it is in English, we skip it. Scroll down the page and move on to the fifth step. The following is the continuation of the instructions. Scroll to the very bottom:
We will paste the information received for unlocking into this empty window.
To do this, go back to the console and enter the command fastboot oem get_identifier_token and press enter
At the output we get:
What is circled in red must be selected, copied and pasted into that empty window in the image above. Click on the Submit button. How to copy and paste? By right-clicking, we get a menu in which we select mark and select the area we need. Press Enter. In the console, enter is used to copy the required values.
Before you start hacking Android, you need to understand how it works in general, and only then can you start unlocking the system bootloader. So, let's try to figure it out.
What happens when Android turns on and starts?
What happens when you start AndroidIn front of us is a turned off smartphone running Android. Let's see what happens if you turn it on.
First, the BIOS of the mobile phone will start. BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) translated from English means “Basic Input/Output System”. It is constantly auto-saved and ensures the operation of inputs and outputs. In particular, this system also runs the bootloader.
As the name suggests, the bootloader loads other parts of the operating system, such as the kernel. The kernel of an operating system is its main part. Essentially, this is the lower level of the Android system, which is responsible for the progress of basic processes and data organization.
Then the main operating system called “ROM” starts. ROM stands for “Read Only Memory”, or “Read Only Memory”, used to store the entire array of immutable data. As a regular user, you cannot change anything in it.
In parallel, the bootloader launches not only the kernel, but also Recovery, or the recovery system.
If the Android system suddenly becomes damaged, you can download Recovery and from it restore the OS from scratch or from the moment it was saved. You can (and should) create backups in the Recovery system.
In turn, the bootloader can be in three different states: “Locked”, “Open” or “Encrypted”. If the bootloader is open, deep changes can be made to the system, for example, you can install a custom operating system, also called a “custom ROM”, instead of the standard one, i.e. the “stock ROM”. But other issues, such as changing Recovery or getting root rights to a smartphone, can only be done using an open bootloader.
If the bootloader is encrypted, only the most urgent system updates from the manufacturer can be installed. The same applies to a locked bootloader, but unlike an encrypted one, it can be unlocked.
How to unlock bootloader
ADB & Fastboot Installer Most Android smartphones have what is called fastboot mode. This is a kind of "advanced bootloader". Using this mode, the regular bootloader can be unlocked. The basic tool for this is Android Debug Bridge, or ADB. It is aimed primarily at Android application developers, but also provides many opportunities for ordinary users.
First, you need drivers for your smartphone. They can be easily installed automatically from Windows 7 by simply connecting your smartphone to your PC.
You also need ADB and Fastboot drivers. To do this, download the installer from the Internet and run the downloaded file in administrator mode. Be sure to install drivers for the entire system. The installer will ask you if you really want to do this.
Once you have completed these steps, you need to connect the device to the PC in fastboot mode. Many smartphones have a special key combination for this. Alternatively, however, you can also connect your switched-on smartphone to your PC and enter the command “adb reboot bootloader” in the command prompt. However, first you must enable “USB Debugging” in your smartphone settings. If necessary, you must also enable the Allow OEM Unlocking feature.
Now you can easily unlock the bootloader with the “fastboot flashing unlock” command. Then boot into fastboot mode again and type “fastboot flashing unlock_critical” to permanently unlock the bootloader. This way you can minimize the risk that your smartphone will turn into a “brick” when installing new firmware.
Alternatively, on some smartphones, unlocking can be done using the "fastboot oem unlock" command.
However, there are exceptions. For example, Samsung smartphones do not have a real fastboot mode. Instead, there is a download mode. To unlock the bootloader, you need to use the Odin program, which can install files that can do this. This is not necessary to obtain root rights or install a custom ROM or Recovery on Samsung devices.
Another exception is smartphones from Sony. Before you can jailbreak your smartphone, you will first have to register the device on the developer page by entering the IMEI and your email to receive a special unlock code.