Now that HTCdev is unlocking bootloaders, I wonder if getting S-OFF will be put on the back burner. Certainly, I'm not speaking about our phone, but I really hope not. Personally, I won't purchase another phone until its S-OFF. I realize that unlocking the bootloader is a step in the right direction, but we still don't have full fledged access.
Did HTC ever say they would provide s-off? I think it's nice of them to unlock the bootloader for alot of their phones. Way better than any other manufacturer. However, I do agree, I would have a hard time buying a phone that is not s-off capable.
Between merely unlocking bootloaders and having to use a tool that records serial numbers when this is done, I still think there is still a likelihood that we will still try to s-off, root and install custom recovery like always. (Fingers Crossed)
I guess progress is still going on because Droid Inc with new hboot is now s-off
sjpritch25 said:
I guess progress is still going on because Droid Inc with new hboot is now s-off
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right, but the hboot downgrade tool and s-off were around before the official HTC unlock tool...
I don't think the community is ever going to be satisfied with anything but complete access. Now that HTC's narrowing its lineup, there will be fewer devices to have to support too.
HTC specifically stated they will not provide s off because of the potential to brick your device from flashing radios in the bootloader.
Sent from my Sabotaged Droid Incredible 2.
Related
...hope this isnt a pointless thread, but I felt these are a valid set of questions... might be wrong though... >_<
In any case, I've just been informed that the HTC now officially unlocks the DHD bootloader through their website.
Now, my questions...
Does anyone know the difference between the Official HTC bootloader unlock procedure versus the Radio and ENG-HBOOT procedure posted by jkoljo?
Also, note that the HTC way looks like its just one procedure... whilst jkoljo's are distinctly two (one for Radio and one for HBOOT)... if the HTC procedure is initially used, would you still need to do either of jkoljo's? ie the Radio S-Off one... assuming the HTC way gives you only Eng-HBOOT S-OFF?
Hell, do you still need to downgrade with the HTC bootloader unlock?
Lastly, I've already used jkoljo's procedure and now fully Radio & HBOOT S-Off'ed... is there any point of doing the HTC unlock bootloader procedure? Would it actually give me a negative result if I actually go through the HTC procedure now with the current state of my phone?
Anyways, thanks for reading through my musings... and here's hoping someone with the knowhow answers well... ^_^
/Peace
I would like to no this to, but do we really need to worry now we are rooted ?
Yes me 2. What are the pros and cons of them?
...from reading the FAQ on the HTCdev about it.
...according to its FAQ
It seems you're still S-ON after their procedure. This is to apparently secure the radio as well as the SIM-Lock...
So me thinks we might still need jkoljo's ENG-S-OFF procedure afterwards...
...Although, with HTC leaving that lock... I'm a bit dubious about advocating their procedure now as opposed to jkoljo's as well as the Advanced Ace Hack kit. The latter of which is actually the most effective imho, though it still needs jkoljo's ENG-S-OFF procedure...
Do not try to unlock the bootloader of your phone.
it's not locked.
If someone can clarify this: for me the DHD bootloader has never been locked!?!
I was planing to go for sensation when HTC launched it but kept my DHD as sensation was locked and it was not possible to put custom ROM.
From my first HTC, the first thing I always do was removing Sense... (HD, HD2 then DHD). As far as I know Sensation was the first with locked bootloader.
if someone can explain... i'll be more than happy
truc007 said:
Do not try to unlock the bootloader of your phone.
it's not locked.
If someone can clarify this: for me the DHD bootloader has never been locked!?!
I was planing to go for sensation when HTC launched it but kept my DHD as sensation was locked and it was not possible to put custom ROM.
From my first HTC, the first thing I always do was removing Sense... (HD, HD2 then DHD). As far as I know Sensation was the first with locked bootloader.
if someone can explain... i'll be more than happy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Root is different from unlocking bootloader eg the Motorola Milestone has root but the bootloader is still locked. This still allows you to load partially customized ROMs but prevents loading custom kernels for one thing.
My question though would be:
What exactly is the point in HTC's bootloader unlocker? Say you go from a stock phone, upgraded froyo to GB all the way. You dont have s-off or eng-off or anything, what would the benefit be to now unlock the bootloader "officially"?
Does it supply a recovery with nandroid backup or allow GB to be rooted or anything like that?
The benefit would be that you lose your warranty because HTC saves your serial, which wouldn't happen if you do it yourself.
Sent from my HTC Desire HD using Tapatalk
Exactly...and thanks to AAHK it's not really difficult to get Root, S-Off and CWM on our phones
DN41
Wonder why HTC went through "all the trouble" to do a bootloader unlocker for Desire HD now anyway? its like p#ssing on the ashes AFTER the house burnt down, surely they know there's a dozen ways to get there that are far less involved than their convoluted scheme. *shrugs*
I did this just because there's no major action on ICS and no action on rcmix runny, so i needed to do something to my phone.
Its a real convoluted process.
you need to restore to stock and update to the latest ruu before you can then install the new hboot to then unlock.
The only difference is now i have locked, then unlocked at the top of the bootloader screen.
still needed to re root the stock rom to install 4ext to nandroid the stock and restore ICS.
Really not worth the effort trying ifyou already have a custom recovery and s-off.
Unless you want the latest possible date to show off...
But if you unlocked the bootloader, what is the best way to get root access?
I want to use eg Titanium backup
Pibroens said:
But if you unlocked the bootloader, what is the best way to get root access?
I want to use eg Titanium backup
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Check the stickies in the dev forum like this one.
If you have S-OFF, obviously you can skip to the next steps, which is to root.
Make sure you read, read, read so you don't miss anything important.
Browsed the stickies for this stuff, but the closest I found was a pretty old post from before Verizon shut down S-Off.
I have a new HTC One w/ build 1.10.605.8 (Android 4.2.2/Sense 5.0). How far behind is this? Does it mean I have a better chance for exploits to work? I'm making a point of not putting the phone into a position where it might take an OTA. Presumably hacking the phone gets harder with the latest builds.
I would like to root this, if possible. If I can unlock the bootloader that's even better. S-Off not as important, but I'll do it if it's the pathway to an unlocked boot. I'm guessing there are still ways to unlock this (or equivalent) since Big Red shut down our HTC Dev?
Is there a current thread discussing this? Maybe somebody can show me where the latest info is. Or at least tell me what the general strategy is for customizing this device, if it's possible.
I'm pretty comfortable with this stuff; I once had to use a wire to S-Off an HTC Rezound. I just need to know where to go to find the current tools.
I saw references to weaksauce, rumrunner and firewater. Are these current? Can someone steer me toward the latest and greatest???
cpurick said:
Browsed the stickies for this stuff, but the closest I found was a pretty old post from before Verizon shut down S-Off.
I have a new HTC One w/ build 1.10.605.8 (Android 4.2.2/Sense 5.0). How far behind is this? Does it mean I have a better chance for exploits to work? I'm making a point of not putting the phone into a position where it might take an OTA. Presumably hacking the phone gets harder with the latest builds.
I would like to root this, if possible. If I can unlock the bootloader that's even better. S-Off not as important, but I'll do it if it's the pathway to an unlocked boot. I'm guessing there are still ways to unlock this (or equivalent) since Big Red shut down our HTC Dev?
Is there a current thread discussing this? Maybe somebody can show me where the latest info is. Or at least tell me what the general strategy is for customizing this device, if it's possible.
I'm pretty comfortable with this stuff; I once had to use a wire to S-Off an HTC Rezound. I just need to know where to go to find the current tools.
I saw references to weaksauce, rumrunner and firewater. Are these current? Can someone steer me toward the latest and greatest???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Since you're on 4.2.2 and 5.0 you should be able to use rumrunner.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2473644
Sent from my HTC6500LVW using Tapatalk
brholt6 said:
Since you're on 4.2.2 and 5.0 you should be able to use rumrunner.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2473644
Sent from my HTC6500LVW using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you very much.
Looks like this tool sets S-Off? Does that disable/bypass the signature checks in the bootloader, or does it allow install of an alternate bootloader? How do I get from S-Off to a custom ROM?
cpurick said:
Thank you very much.
Looks like this tool sets S-Off? Does that disable/bypass the signature checks in the bootloader, or does it allow install of an alternate bootloader? How do I get from S-Off to a custom ROM?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure exactly, but once you're s-off you can just flash a recovery via fastboot and then flash a custom Rom through recovery.
Sent from my HTC6500LVW using Tapatalk
brholt6 said:
Not sure exactly, but once you're s-off you can just flash a recovery via fastboot and then flash a custom Rom through recovery.
Sent from my HTC6500LVW using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And I can do that even though I can't technically unlock the bootloader?
cpurick said:
And I can do that even though I can't technically unlock the bootloader?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It will unlock your boot loader.
http://rumrunner.us
Sent from my HTC6500LVW using Tapatalk
cpurick said:
And I can do that even though I can't technically unlock the bootloader?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any luck? In case anyone else has the same question in the future.
Sent from my HTC6500LVW using Tapatalk
cpurick said:
And I can do that even though I can't technically unlock the bootloader?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
S-Off trumps all. With S-Off you can do anything with your phone, including unlocking the boot loader and custom recoveries.
I used rumrunner because my older build was identified as being vulnerable to that exploit. I'm not sure about the interactions between S-Off and Bootloader because the device+build-specific rumrunner did both S-Off and unlocked BL in addition to rooting it. It says "unlock" but the experience looked like an engineering bootloader had been installed. The phone acquired a proprietary HTC disclaimer at startup.
If you have an early enough build, I would definitely recommend rumrunner for unlocking it. That program totally pwned the phone.
cpurick said:
I used rumrunner because my older build was identified as being vulnerable to that exploit. I'm not sure about the interactions between S-Off and Bootloader because the device+build-specific rumrunner did both S-Off and unlocked BL in addition to rooting it. It says "unlock" but the experience looked like an engineering bootloader had been installed. The phone acquired a proprietary HTC disclaimer at startup.
If you have an early enough build, I would definitely recommend rumrunner for unlocking it. That program totally pwned the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The warning comes when you go S-Off. Every HTC One with S-Off does that. Rumrunner did its job.
Recently been looking into purchasing a new HTC One for myself, but after reading up on it, I see that there are a ton of S-Off and stock issues flying around. I guess I have a few clarifying questions then...
If I buy the phone today, is S-Off still possible?
Is S-Off risky?
Can I return to 100% complete stock yet if I need to or not? If yes, how?
Really I'm wondering if it's worth it to even purchase this phone as I don't want to be without flashing ROMs but at the same time, I resell my phones after awhile so I'm going to need to go back to 100% stock eventually. Sorry if these questions have already been asked, my xda search function is a bit broken. Thanks for reading this far.
Edit - Did some more searching and found the HTC One m8 now has the RUU's? Could someone also explain this? I'm new to HTC devices, coming from a nexus 5 here.
Nobody knows at all...?
Sent from my HTC M8
DinoSoup said:
Recently been looking into purchasing a new HTC One for myself, but after reading up on it, I see that there are a ton of S-Off and stock issues flying around. I guess I have a few clarifying questions then...
If I buy the phone today, is S-Off still possible?
Is S-Off risky?
Can I return to 100% complete stock yet if I need to or not? If yes, how?
Really I'm wondering if it's worth it to even purchase this phone as I don't want to be without flashing ROMs but at the same time, I resell my phones after awhile so I'm going to need to go back to 100% stock eventually. Sorry if these questions have already been asked, my xda search function is a bit broken. Thanks for reading this far.
Edit - Did some more searching and found the HTC One m8 now has the RUU's? Could someone also explain this? I'm new to HTC devices, coming from a nexus 5 here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Probably, it will be. But it's not for certain. If your phone comes with the stock 1.12 software, then you can do it. But there's also a possibility of your phone being one of those unlucky "Whelp, this sucks..." phones. If it comes with the latest 1.57 software installed, it won't be possible.
That being said, if it comes with 1.12, which it probably will, and you unlock the bootloader, root, and S-Off, you can always go back to 100% stock with no trace at all of it ever being rooted if you want to return it for warranty, exc.
IF it is one of the unlucky "Whelp, this sucks..." phones, and you unlock your bootloader, root, and try to S-Off, but can't, then you can re lock the bootloader, run the stock RUU, and the only trace of it being unlocked and rooted would be that in the bootloader, it would say "Relocked" instead of "Locked."
Remember that if the phone comes with the 1.12 software, NEVER accept the OTA update. If you do accept the update, you will never be able to S-Off.
But again, chances are you will probably get the 1.12 software and be able to S-Off your phone. Hope this helped.
XxKINGxX2580 said:
Probably, it will be. But it's not for certain. If your phone comes with the stock 1.12 software, then you can do it. But there's also a possibility of your phone being one of those unlucky "Whelp, this sucks..." phones. If it comes with the latest 1.57 software installed, it won't be possible.
That being said, if it comes with 1.12, which it probably will, and you unlock the bootloader, root, and S-Off, you can always go back to 100% stock with no trace at all of it ever being rooted if you want to return it for warranty, exc.
IF it is one of the unlucky "Whelp, this sucks..." phones, and you unlock your bootloader, root, and try to S-Off, but can't, then you can re lock the bootloader, run the stock RUU, and the only trace of it being unlocked and rooted would be that in the bootloader, it would say "Relocked" instead of "Locked."
But again, chances are you will probably get the 1.12 software and be able to S-Off your phone. Hope this helped.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks a ton, this is exactly what I was hoping for. Final question - how do I go about getting to stock. I found the RUU and stock files but I don't know at all what to do. After I know that, I'll be ready to root!
Sent from my HTC M8
DinoSoup said:
Thanks a ton, this is exactly what I was hoping for. Final question - how do I go about getting to stock. I found the RUU and stock files but I don't know at all what to do. After I know that, I'll be ready to root!
Sent from my HTC M8
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry for the late reply,
To get to complete 100% stock, you have to download and run the RUU. It's a simple EXE file. There are a bunch of Youtube videos on how to run RUUs. Before running the RUU, you have to re-lock the bootloader. But, to go to 100% stock, you first have to to reset the tampered flag, LOCK, not re-lock the bootloader (there is a thread on how to make the bootloader say LOCKED, not Re-Locked) and then S-ON. After that, run the RUU file, and it will take you back to complete stock. Like you never unlocked the bootloader or rooted.
But, I would do everything except S-ON. If you go to S-ON and run the RUU, you will not be able to go back to S-Off again. The RUU will install the 1.57 software, and that version isn't supported by Firewater.
The only thing you really have to do is a simple re-lock of the bootloader before running the RUU. But, doing what I said would make the phone look like it was never rooted. Again, I would do everything I said except going back to S-ON.
I just successfully achieved completely stock with S-On. I gave my details here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=55374644&postcount=2
Sorry im a bit of a Noob and was wondering what benefit i would get from being S-Off
To be honest 25 for sunshine to get S-Off is a bit extreme but thats why im asking the question, im not here to start moaning about the cost, if i find that s-off is worth it i will get it.
Thanks
What may be worth doing is rooting the phone and purchasing sunshine if and when soff is needed to restore the tamper flag in the bootloader for warranty purposes. If you dont need to send it back dont bother paying for soff. Obviously if you want soff for other reasons then its worth it but only you would know this. Personally were both **** out of luck as its the only method to gain soff on the latest m8's. I will more than likely be getting it as i want root only but to have son bl locked and tamper flags removed whilst retaining root. For this reason alone its worth it to me but i hear ya. Still not to happy about paying it but theres no other choice atm unfortunately.
Im still not happy the bootloader has to be unlocked just to gain root. Ive always rooted my phones whilst keeping everything else stock, but again its tough **** until devs find an exploit, if they are even searching for one, who knows.
bornnslippy said:
Sorry im a bit of a Noob and was wondering what benefit i would get from being S-Off
To be honest 25 for sunshine to get S-Off is a bit extreme but thats why im asking the question, im not here to start moaning about the cost, if i find that s-off is worth it i will get it.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The best part of S-Off for me is that I can always be running the newest firmware, and therefore the newest ROMs. I never have to wait for my carrier to update (for example AT&T just got Lollipop a few weeks ago but S-Off users updated in January with WWE firmware)
This ^^^^
I got s-off in the beginning. So I've never had to worry about official updates, or finding firmware for my exact model (which is Telus... So harder to find). I did SuperCID, so I can flash firmware anytime, even downgrade firmware. I can use new roms, or old roms... Covert to GPE if I wanted... Etc.
Do you need it to fully enjoy the phone? No. But if you like having total control... Then yes you do.
$25 wasn't a big deal for me, for complete freedom. :good:
It depends where you live, what carrier your on, & if you want to tinker with your phone. I'm in the US, on Verizon, & want to stay up to date on firmwire & the latest android. Finally, I want full access to my device, so that's why I paid $25 no question !!!!!
Last thing does s-off void your warranty
Thanks
bornnslippy said:
Last thing does s-off void your warranty
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not exactly. But unlocking your bootloader technically does. But with s-off, you can reverse everything you've done, including the red tampered banner, and return your device to its stock state.
sjpritch25 said:
It depends where you live, what carrier your on, & if you want to tinker with your phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And specifically what you want to tinker with. But otherwise I agree.
If you own a version that gets relatively quickly updated (GPE, Dev Edition, many WWE versions) its probably not that necessary. But on AT&T for instance, we had to wait a few months (after other variants) to get the "official" 4.4.4 and 5.0 firmwares (hboot, radio, etc.). Meaning we couldn't properly run most custom ROMs for a while without s-off.
I did s-off when I got the phone about a year ago. So I've fortunately never had such limitations. I've been running LP since January, where folks on AT&T with s-on had to wait until April for the proper firmware.
Plus, with s-off you can flash modified hboots, manually flash different radios, and "fully convert" to other versions (other CIDs, of Google Play Edition).
Hi, I currently own an m7 and used rumrunner to s-off, though there were other alternatives. Anyhow, I was looking into getting an m9 since I have the purple camera defect and HTC won't fix it because I unlocked bootloader(i know, irrelevant but they're being dicks) . I was looking to check if s-off has been achieved and only found sunshine which would cost like 30 bucks cad and a post on these forums saying to report any free s-offs so they can be deleted. I just want to understand what's going on.
Also, if I am forced to buy it, does it at least let me unlock bootloader without going on htcdev?
Thank you
I don't know what kind of methods existed/exist on the M7 but some of the free methods on the One S were able to hardbrick you phone if you made a mistake during the process. I think the "report free s-off methods" thread is only made for preventing the average user of bricking his/her phone since most of those methods aren't very safe.
I noticed that many new M9 users are coming from samsung devices and many of them never had an htc device before. Some are already overburden with getting back to stock. (I do not want to insult anybody. I know that the beginning of the learning curve with htc devices is steep since I had to learn all that stuff some years ago, too.) Imagine what would happen if a s-off method like facepalm would exist for the M9: hardbricks everywhere. That wouldn't help anybody.
beaups and jcase have created several s-off methods during the last years. Sunshine (their latest method) is so well programmed that there is actually no risk of bricking since the app verifies whether your device could get bricked during the process before it starts flashing. The "price" is actually just a "donation" or a "refinancing". Explanations can befound here, here and here.
Nevertheless you should not forget that s-off is nothing you need to use your phone. It works perfectly without s-off. So there is actually no one forcing you to pay anything. Besides you can always use a java card like people with verizon M9s do since verizon blocks the htcdev unlock. But buying a java card is much more expensive than "donating" to team sunshine. Or you send your phone to someone who owns a java card and let him/her s-off your phone. But be honest, would you send a new phone that costs around 700 € to someone you do not know?
And no, using sunshine without htcdev unlock is not possible. You need a rooted phone for using sunshine and getting root can only be achieved on the M9 with an unlocked bootloader.
I hope that clarifies most of your questions.
Thanks for your comment. Hehe, I do come from Samsung phones (S1, S4, S4 Zoom, S5), though I've had the LG G2 and G3, HTC Magic, HTC One M7, Oppo Find 7a, among others, and the M7 and M9 are the most confusing for me. I was wondering also if there's a free way to do it but it looks like there isn't. The only reason why I need S-Off is to go back to full stock from a custom rom (I bought the phone like that) to get OTA, or at least make it dev edition.
Actually there is no need to S-OFF for getting back to stock. If available you just need to flash a RUU with your current or a newer firmware version. If there is no correct RUU available you need to look for a stock, read-only TWRP backup. What is your current firmware version? It's stated in the line beginning with "OS" when you boot to download mode.
Nothing here prohibits free s-off, we dont stop it. We as XDA mods, and we as sunshines developers.
The warning exists because of some jerk posting fake s-off solutions recently, that were fake, and dangerous, they would soft brick your device.
The better way to have S-OFF , sim unlock or another things is the XTC 2 Clip.. Works perfectly and very simple.
but for free is unfortunately no longer available ..