Hi,
I'm wondering how I could make my phone as safe as possible without losing the benefits of a rooted custom ROM. In particular, I have a few questions about locked bootloaders, recoverys and flashing.
Right now, my phone has a unlocked bootloader, TWRP recovery and a rooted custom ROM. I was thinking about flashing the stock recovery and locking the bootloader. From what I gather, I could still temp-flash non-signed recoveries (like TWRP; to flash updates for my ROM) as long as I have root access to the phone (http://android.stackexchange.com/qu...implication-of-having-an-unlocked-boot-loader)
Is that still right on Android 4.2.2?
This would make it a bit harder for someone who finds my phone to get all the data - to get access to the phone, he would have to guess my PIN or unlock the bootloader, which wipes the phone.
Related
Hey Everyone, this is my first post.
I've got a tf201 rooted with JB onto which I would like to flash TWRP. However, I've been unable to do so because I am unable to unlock the bootloader. After searching, it seems like downgrading to ICS may work to unlock, but this appears to be pretty risky without custom recovery. Is this the case? If so, is there a way to flash recovery without unlocking? If not, is there a relatively safe way to downgrade to ICS without custom recovery?
Any information is welcome!
BCB
Bass Clef Builder said:
Hey Everyone, this is my first post.
I've got a tf201 rooted with JB onto which I would like to flash TWRP. However, I've been unable to do so because I am unable to unlock the bootloader. After searching, it seems like downgrading to ICS may work to unlock, but this appears to be pretty risky without custom recovery. Is this the case? If so, is there a way to flash recovery without unlocking? If not, is there a relatively safe way to downgrade to ICS without custom recovery?
Any information is welcome!
BCB
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You cannot downgrade to ICS without nvflash backups and you cannot make nvflash backups unless you are on ICS.
Hi,
I have been playing around with Android for quite some time, and each of my devices have been unlocked an rooted, but this time it's different.
I have succesfully persuaded my girlfriend to make the shift from iPhone to an Android device, buying her a HTC One GSM (LTE).
To begin with, she will go with the stock HTC firmware, but to make life a bit easier, I started with unlocking the bootloader, installed the latest ClowkWorkMod (think it is 6.0.3.3 touch) and made a Nandroid backup of the stock firmware in case we ever need to restore.
And now to the question:
To get the OTA update for Android 4.2.2 I then needed to re-lock the bootloader and install stock recovery. But now I would like to have the bootloader unlocked again, so I can install ClockWorkMod again to make yet another Nandroid backup.
Does any method exist that avoids deleting existing data (settings, apps, documents etc.) from the SD card when re-unlocking the bootloader?
I were just about to flash the Unlock_code.bin sent from HTC, but just before confirming, I realized that this method will most likely wipe all data?
Thanks in advance!
PS: I'm sorry if this question should have been posted in the device specific forum section, but I choose to characterize this as a more general Android question.
So today I think I really messed up I will tell you the run down. I first put on twrp and then flashed a custom rom. After that the rom wasn't working properly so I tried to revert back to stock without a backup (I know I am dumb ). After reverting back to stock unsuccessfully I locked the bootloader not knowing that it wouldn't let me launch into the already installed custom software's so now I am stuck in download mode not able to unlock bootloader for some reason and not able to access the rom and the recovery. Any help would be very appreciated. Have I really bricked my phone?
can't you just run an RUU since your bootloader is relocked?
Hey Everyone! So i will be receiving my M8 i got used in the mail on monday and i'm doing some research because it is softbricked due to no OS being installed. It is (presumably) S-Off with Bootoader locked and "possibly" no custom recovery. What i'm planning to do is once the battery is charged completely.
-Connect it to my PC (windows)
-Power into fastboot
-Run the stock AT&T RUU and get everything running and up to date.
From there i will be unlocking the bootloader, custom recovery, root, and all the good stuff.
I'm just wanting to know from the way more knowledgeable folks then i when it comes to this stuff, is if this is the proper procedure. Is there anything else i should do first or after? Any help will be great! I'll know more tomorrow night on if recovery is installed or not, but i'm going with the opinion that there is no custom recovery, as i feel this would be harder.
any help would be GREATLY appreciated!
I agree with the above described approach. Especially since its not clear what the previous owner did (appears previously bootloader unlocked, s-off, then possibly a botched return to stock attempt?) its good to run the AT&T RUU to return to a full stock "baseline" image to all partitions.
Since you are going to run RUU, it doesn't matter whether custom recovery is currently installed or not. The RUU will install the stock recovery image.
After RUU, unlock the bootloader via HTCDev.com. Then install current version TWRP and flash SuperSU 2.46 to obtain root (older versions SuperSU won't work on Lollipop - common mistake).
redpoint73 said:
I agree with the above described approach. Especially since its not clear what the previous owner did (appears previously bootloader unlocked, s-off, then possibly a botched return to stock attempt?) its good to run the AT&T RUU to return to a full stock "baseline" image to all partitions.
Since you are going to run RUU, it doesn't matter whether custom recovery is currently installed or not. The RUU will install the stock recovery image.
After RUU, unlock the bootloader via HTCDev.com. Then install current version TWRP and flash SuperSU 2.46 to obtain root (older versions SuperSU won't work on Lollipop - common mistake).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you so much Redpoint! I only have a small amount of knowledge with this area. I've sideloaded an OS over ADB due to a mistake i made with no OS on an old tablet, but never had to deal with possibly stock recovery with a locked bootloader, so knowing my approach will presumably work is a real relief.
Thank you again!!!:good::fingers-crossed:
I have tried for multiple hours to get fastboot and ADB to work with my S6 Edge but it is not working. I suspect I might need to try older Samsung drivers (I only tried the latest ones as far as I remember). I wanted these tools in order to check if my bootloader was unlocked so that I wouldn't brick my device if I tried to install a custom ROM and TWRP. Anyway I followed a video and installed TWRP on my phone and installed Lineage OS Android 10 without checking the bootloader since the guy in the video did not mention doing so and still installed the custom ROM and TWRP. It is working fine. I know it is most likely that since this was possible, the bootloader should probably be unlocked but I just wanted to confirm with more experienced smartphone modders if this is indeed the case. Is it then safe to root my phone without checking bootloader?
Sub-question: If a person were to theoretically attmept to install custom ROM or TWRP or root the phone while the bootloader is locked, would that result in the root failing but the device still being usable or would the attempt result in the device being bricked? IE if the bootloader is locked is it dangerous to attempt to flash software to the phone or will it result in a harmless "failed" message, etc.?
Thank you.