[Q] why to unlock the device ? - Windows Phone 7 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

hi all i just got my htc hd 7 i want to know what benefits unlocking will bring to me + i read about touch explor and windows decive manager from where and how to download these?
thanks in advance

I think Unlocking is not important in my opinion because the available app outside Marketplace are not good app, as you register your credit card in Zune, you can buy very nice app and games better than those outside marketplace.
A very important reason to stay locked is to have the latest radio and firmware versions, but unlocking makes you with old ones.

verynuclear said:
I think Unlocking is not important in my opinion because the available app outside Marketplace are not good app, as you register your credit card in Zune, you can buy very nice app and games better than those outside marketplace.
A very important reason to stay locked is to have the latest radio and firmware versions, but unlocking makes you with old ones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that's a bold statement. firmware or radio versions have nothing to do with UnlockState.
if you want to configure your phone beyond what's possible natively, there are a few apps that can be sideloaded that allow you to do what the NoDo OS for example cannot do, only two here. a) changing accent colors, b) adding your own ringtones.
Schaps has his own website with a forum and download section. If you google it you won't need much time to find it.

Hello,
wholly, the fact of unlock the WP7 allows to put some programs such as accent etc her personify sound wp7

derausgewanderte said:
that's a bold statement. firmware or radio versions have nothing to do with UnlockState.
if you want to configure your phone beyond what's possible natively, there are a few apps that can be sideloaded that allow you to do what the NoDo OS for example cannot do, only two here. a) changing accent colors, b) adding your own ringtones.
Schaps has his own website with a forum and download section. If you google it you won't need much time to find it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As a Mozart user, I can not unlock the device with the latest Radio and Firmware, So I miss the camera update and loading speen which are important additions to me
Adding ringtones are not important because the internal ones are very nice.
Also changing the color and editing the device system may cause my system to be unstable.
Just an opinion.
Sorry for my English.

Actually it's up to the individual,some might stick to lock phone some might not.The best for those who unlock is that they can explore what their phone can do just like win mobile 5 to 6. and they can do the same as lock phone ie: update etc. so on and so forth.
Just my 2 cents.

Related

[Q] HTC Titan unlocking

Hello I'm new to Windows Phone 7 (was into the whole jailbreaking on iPhone before) but before I try the whole unlocking thing I want to know a few things:
Is it possible to install and use Advanced Config to change accent colors etc on my HTC Titan.
Secondly is it possible to use this whole unlocking thing to install for example Samsung or Nokia exclusive apps on my HTC Titan.
If either of these two are possible I'd like to unlock with Chevronlabs (already paid for it), if not, then I don't see any reason to unlock or whatever.
Also how do I proceed after that. I mean I looked into the hacking en developing board but I don't understand any of it. With all those different Mango versions and different device requirements etc. It was all way easier with the iPhone/iPad.
Device model: HTC Titan X310e
Software: Windows Phone 7.5
OS: 7.10.7720.68
Hello,
acutally you can only unlock the phone using developer unlock (official or chevron) to sideload XAPs files. However on Mango it is not possible to install XAPs requiring the INTEROP capability (such as registry editors or, unfortunately, Advanced Config).
You will have to wait for a INTEROP-UNLOCK for HTC to install that program since the only way to do this is to downgrade to NoDo and hack it, which I think is not possible on HTC Radar since it comes with Mango preinstalled.
EDIT: For Nokia or Samsung apps I do not know but I hope for Nokia ones .
Thanks. So no reason to unlock yet Really hoped for Advanced Config too bad.
Oh, there are some good homebrew apps that don't need ID_CAP_INTEROPSERVICES.
Webserver: Easy way to transfer files between computers; don't even need a USB cable just wifi and a web browser which are pretty much everywhere.
Screen capture: Sometimes it's useful to be able to make screenshots, to show something off or explain something more clearly.
Folders: Categorize and group your apps. It's basically custom "hubs" of apps, except the tiles can deep-link as well.
There are a few more, those are just the ones that come to mind. If you've got any coding and/or security skills, feel free to start taking apart the ROM dumps or HTC apps and trying to find a way to interop-unlock them. I'm sure there's a way; we still have a ton to learn about this OS. Three months or so back, we didn't think it was possible to run native code at all without interop-unlock.
GoodDayToDie said:
Screen capture: Sometimes it's useful to be able to make screenshots, to show something off or explain something more clearly.
Folders: Categorize and group your apps. It's basically custom "hubs" of apps, except the tiles can deep-link as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds interesting. I'll give it a try then anyway thanks.

Advantages of Hacking WP7?

I Jailbroke my iPhone, and have Rooted all my Android devices, which have clear benefits. Being that WP7's market is so bare, and the OS has virtually NO customization, what are the advantages to hacking WP7? I don't see any ROMS in the Forum, so how does hacking it improve it?
From the point of view of someone that's only recently 'jailbroken' using WindowBreak, I've found that sideloading a lot of random apps to my WP7 has helped me do things I couldn't before - such as using the LED as a flashlight on my Omnia 7
It's the little things...
Mine is only developer unlocked but even with that and no interopt, battery status app rocks
in other words you can download homebrew apps and sideload them. Some developers here let you try them out and comment before they hit the marketplace.
Also if you have a gen 1 inter-opt unlocked you can access the registry and do all kinds of cool things like unlock internet sharing, and run file exploring tools and such.
With the iphone, what advantages did you get? it's also a pretty closed system. With android i understand. Some phones needed custom romms to get rid of the carrier crap to make them work faster. In windows phone all carrier apps can be uninstalled. Took me 1 minute to remove all but the one that shows my data usage as i wanted to keep that one.
Without jailbreaking, we can also use cab sender to get microsoft upgrades without waiting on our carrier. We don't have to be unlocked for that. So instead of getting a put together might work or not version of ICS because my carrier won't release it, we just download the cab file right off MS's servers and use a tool on here to install it.
ROCOAFZ said:
With the iphone, what advantages did you get? it's also a pretty closed system. With android i understand. In windows phone all carrier apps can be uninstalled. Took me 1 minute to remove all but the one that shows my data usage as i wanted to keep that one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
iPhone is totally closed to. but the benefit of unlocking was the MASSIVE app store of polished apps. So once jailbroken, I was able to install hundreds of apps. But with WP7, its only Homebrew stuff to date right? I am not knocking it, just trying to see if there is a real advantage for me to unlock mine. Just a curiosity.
Piracy blows, Homebrew all the way - a Megadrive emulator tops any phone game I've ever played
xfile102 said:
iPhone is totally closed to. but the benefit of unlocking was the MASSIVE app store of polished apps. So once jailbroken, I was able to install hundreds of apps. But with WP7, its only Homebrew stuff to date right? I am not knocking it, just trying to see if there is a real advantage for me to unlock mine. Just a curiosity.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you know what your doing and don't want to support developers - you can do the same with wp7 and it's 60,000 apps. Just gotta know where to go.
We however have way more security and 2nd gen has yet to be interop unlocked which would allow the above. Also all our apps are polished also. they have to make it past MS and their guidelines before they can hit the market.
ROCOAFZ said:
If you know what your doing and don't want to support developers - you can do the same with wp7 and it's 60,000 apps. Just gotta know where to go.
We however have way more security and 2nd gen has yet to be interop unlocked which would allow the above. Also all our apps are polished also. they have to make it past MS and their guidelines before they can hit the market.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't get me wrong, I'm all WP7, but isn't their a NES emulator on the store? LOL
Regardless, like he said you don't have to support devs, but seriously everytime you don't, baby Jesus cries. Remember that.
LOL, that NES emulator got accepted by MS? It was one of the first pieces of homebrew for WP7, initially it was rejected from the marketplace so the dev just posted a link to the XAP file. By the way, there totally are custom ROMs for WP7, but currently they're limited to HTC phones because those are the only ones that we've unlocked the bootloader on so far...
Advantages of basic dev unlock:
* Install some apps that add nice features (Battery Status, Screen Capture, Webserver, app folders, etc.)
* Ability to install apps that make certain changes to the phone (see the "OEM Marketplace XAPs" thread linked in my sig.)
* Ability to install homebrew or pre-release apps posted on forums like this.
Potentially, the ability to restore (it's write-only) data to your phone that was backed up from a prior one (see interop-unlock...)
Advantages of interop-unlock (dev-unlock plus an extra registry tweak, not available on all phones):
* Ability to install many more homebrew apps (the registy value that controls this, MaUnsignedApp, is also the one that controls interop-unlock).
* Ability to install apps that use drivers on the phone to do stuff normally not possible (ranging from flashlight control to modifyying parts of the system, such as the following...)
* On most phones, the ability to install registry editor apps and tweak a lot of system settings.
* Ability to install ProvXML processor apps, and make significant changes to your phone (like turning off the carrier check on th Internet Sharing feature).
* Ability to install configuration tweaking apps that can do things like full custom themes and modify all the system sounds.
* On some phones, ability to install filesystem browser/manager apps.
* On some phones, ability to "root" a phone (run arbitrary code with maximum permissions). For example, I'm the dev of the HtcRoot project.
* On some phones, granular data backup and restore (things like app and game data; could be restored on a dev-unlocked but interop-locked phone).
Advantages of unlocking the bootloader and installing a custom ROM (currently gen1.0 HTC only):
* Full unlock that turns off the policy restrictions on the phone, allowing any app to access the whole device.
* Full unlock allows running third-party EXE files, including both homebrew and some WinMo apps (Opera Mobile and Mini have both been done, for example).
* Install homebrew XAPs by opening them using the phone's browser or attached in email, without a PC (there are "Bazaar" apps that allow you to access WP7 homebrew apps directly on the phone this way).
* Support custom update CABs, so the ROM can be updated without re-flashing the phone (for things aside from official updates).
* Tweak some stuff that's normally locked in ROM, like the bootup screen.
* Theoretically, replace significant system components (such as modifying the phone's UI shell).
It all depends on what you want to do, and what phone you have. We (homebrew hackers and devs) are always looking to support more devices, and to gain more control over the device.
I have my device dev unlocked. I've only installed side loaded two applications so far, one being a beta for an upcoming Twitter client called Carbon and the other being a screen capturing app.
I love using the screen capture app, it's handy when doing a review of something. However, it currently can't capture screens of games, just normal apps. Other than that, I haven't seen a major benefit for anyone to really unlock their devices.
Spookidoodles said:
Piracy blows, Homebrew all the way - a Megadrive emulator tops any phone game I've ever played
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Megadrive AKA Genesis ? Who has a Good Sega Genesis emulator that works on WP7?
I know of for console emulators
VNES Light= Great NES emu
Sonic's Jewels= A good Sega Master System And game gear emulator(pre-sound works awsome).
I know of no other console ones that are any good.
Please let us know...
Basic unlocking is the best way to go, any device can get unlocked, and some basic things like battery tiles, etc, can be installed that aren't on the market. I'd at least do an unlock.
DavidinCT said:
Megadrive AKA Genesis ? Who has a Good Sega Genesis emulator that works on WP7?
I know of for console emulators
VNES Light= Great NES emu
Sonic's Jewels= A good Sega Master System And game gear emulator(pre-sound works awsome).
I know of no other console ones that are any good.
Please let us know...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry man, I was just phrasing it like that to prove a point - should have said I'd much prefer a dev to make a Megadrive emulator homebrew than get 100 paid for game apps for free - and before anyone says "that is piracy" I still own my Megadrive and over 50 games each of which I can legally create a backup of and use on an emulator so nyeahhh

[Q] How to unbrand Samsung Focus

I am not sure how to unbrand my ATT Samsung focus so it can be an open market device and can recieve updates as they come?
Not sure what you mean by open market device?, but i do have a xap that will allow you to unbrand it and also rebrand it. By unbranding it does not allow you to see more in the market if that what your thought may have been?
If you are looking for a way to get to diff device market app then go over to here
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1393265
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unbranding allows you to receive updates (you know, like the OP said... the things that come over Zune) as soon as they are available. Some mobile operators don't release the updates on time, so you might have to wait weeks or (on occasion) months.
It's somewhat dangerous, though - if your phone is a mixture of branded and unbraded ROM components (some from stock, some from updates), it's in an untested state and there may be problems. If you re-brand after installing the update, you may later get an MO-specific update to bring your phone back onto the official update path... or you might not.
Also, if you want to force updates, there's another method that may work better: sending update CABs rather than doing the updates through Zune.
Yes i can understand the part ( and can receive updates ) just didnt know what he meant by " open market device " thanks for the clarity of the OP
"Open market" is a term used to describe phones which are sold un-branded and not SIM-locked. They're relatively rare in the US, but are the rule, not the exception, in most of the world. Open market phones are not customized for their carrier, so they may lack certain useful carrier-specific features. However, they also lack carrier mandated modifictions that may lower the quality of the OS (for example, AT&T removing the 2G/3G toggle option from their stock ROMs).
According to the guys at the Microsoft store, the Lumia 800 is only being sold open-market in the US, for example.
Ahh, i see said the blind man! Learn a little some new everyday.
unbrand
according your question,that's easy to done...
you have two choices to update the new version of OS,change to the phone registry or reture to 7004 version when your phone is running 7720,then flash the custom rom from dft(dark forces team),and your phone can update to 8107 or higher version of WP7.5 easily.

[Q] [REQ] Custom Omnia ROM with only unlock added

First of all, I'm not sure in which forum does this belong. If it needs to be moved or removed, feel free to do so.
As the title says, I'm looking for a custom ROM for Omnia whose only modification would be that it's unlocked. I only need the unlock feature. Actually, I might not even need that right now, but in case WP gains some momentum, I expect more and more useful homebrew applications to be made, so I'd like to be ready.
The ability to do the unlock on my existing OS install would be perfect, but as far as I know, that is not possible.
There are now at least two popular ROMs for Omnia, but both of them stray too far from the stock experience for my personal taste. I find the stock experience to be as near as perfect as anything can be. Especially from the aesthetic aspect. I don't like those custom livetile themes for example.
I don't mind the adding of additional homebrew apps, since I can always remove them if i need, but I don't know how deep do these customizations go? I did notice some threads and post reporting problems. Would that also appear in any ROM, regardless of the depth of modifications, or is it because of some tweaks cooks are making?
in any case, I'd be thankful for any answer.
There are multiple levels of unlock; what are you thinking of? It's quite possible to dev-unlock and interop-unlock a stock Omnia 7 phone using the WindowBreak project. That will allow you to install any number of homebrew apps, and will allow you to use high-privilege apps such as WP7 Root Tools.
If you want "full-unlock" such as is required for the DFT BlueTooth File Transfer feature or to run the ported version of Opera, you'll need a custom ROM.
Well like Goodday says it depends on what you want to do. If you just want interop unlock then and still keep your official update path then Windowbreak is your route if you are not able to do use WindowBreak.
Then a custom ROM is your best option I would say the mi7ROM 1.3b 6 language is the best one for that. He has two ROMS 6 language which is mostly just the unlocks and a couple pre installed xaps Nokia, HTC, and a few others but they can be removed. He did not even put in the DFT Bluetooth app since some people had issues with it. He also has the 18 language ROM which is partly skinned and has many more xaps installed and a skinned theme.
GoodDayToDie said:
There are multiple levels of unlock; what are you thinking of? It's quite possible to dev-unlock and interop-unlock a stock Omnia 7 phone using the WindowBreak project. That will allow you to install any number of homebrew apps, and will allow you to use high-privilege apps such as WP7 Root Tools.
If you want "full-unlock" such as is required for the DFT BlueTooth File Transfer feature or to run the ported version of Opera, you'll need a custom ROM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't really know what level do i need. I'm now interop-unlocked, and i know that there are some homebrew apps that require full-unlock. For example, I'd like to have the possibility to mess with the registry. Not that I would use it a lot, but just in case that i need it sometimes.
I'm gonna go with custom rom.
chicagolive said:
Then a custom ROM is your best option I would say the mi7ROM 1.3b 6 language is the best one for that. He has two ROMS 6 language which is mostly just the unlocks and a couple pre installed xaps Nokia, HTC, and a few others but they can be removed. He did not even put in the DFT Bluetooth app since some people had issues with it. He also has the 18 language ROM which is partly skinned and has many more xaps installed and a skinned theme.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What makes mi7rom better than xda devs 3.0 rom?
I'm not really sure, they both seem to have not that many modifications (which is good), but xda devs seems to be the newer build, so I was planning to go with it.
Um, interop-unlock is all that's required to mees with the registry. That's been true since the first registry editors (of course, back then there was no interop-lock to unlock, but the editors work the same now as they did then). It's also enough to use WP7 Root Tools, which
A) contains a registry editor (and a filesystem browser)
B) allows you to run some apps that previously required full-unlock.
It won't do Opera or BlueTooth file transfer, but it will do pretty much all the other apps
GoodDayToDie said:
It won't do Opera or BlueTooth file transfer, but it will do pretty much all the other apps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hm, that sounds great. But if you had to guess, would you say there are going to be some more apps that require full unlock?
Also, and i know this might be a very stupid question to ask, will hard resetting the phone remove the interop unlock? Because as i said, i do need to do a hard reset, because marketplace has finally landed in my country so i'm changing liveID, and i have this samsung update that fixes the hole windowbreak has been using.
Yes, hard-resetting a stock ROM will remove the interop-unlock. You can, however, roll back to a previous firmware version (one compatible with the Windowbreak hack) and then hard-reset.
GoodDayToDie said:
You can roll back to a previous firmware version (one compatible with the Windowbreak hack) and then hard-reset.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do I know if my zune backup is of the compatible firmware version?
If it's not, how can I do that manually? There is a thread with links to official firmwares but all the links are dead. Do I need magldr for these? I have an Omnia bought in T-mobile in Croatia, but I've additionally did SIM-unlock. Is there some kind of an archive of those firmwares?

[Q] Main reason to install custom ROM's on WP7

Hi,
I have been a WP user for a very long time (A journey which started with HTC Artemis)
I had started using the custom ROM's provided by some amazing chef's over here compared to what MS was dishing out.
I am not having the WP7 from the first day it had launched (Started with the mozart and now on lumia 800)
I have not yet tried to root the mobile or install a custom ROM in this as for the first time I am loving what MS has given.
Since there are quite a lot of people here who are using custom ROM and also rooting their devices I was wondering what I am missing.
If you have rooted your device or installed a custom ROM please let me know the advantages of rooting and/or installing a custom ROM.
I had searched the threads and could not find an answer anywhere so if this was posted somewhere before apologies.
This has definitely been asked (and answered) before, but the short version is that custom ROMs give deeper access to the system (ability to replace system files, which are locked in ROM, and ability to completely bypass the security system, for example). They also can include the best firmware features from multiple different OEMs. Current "rooting" ability gives less complete access than a custom ROM (for example, native EXEs aren't supported yet, although that's being worked on and should be available soon), but also maintains the OS's ability to receive official updates. Stock ROMs are also less likely to have bugs than custom ROMs, though they typically also offer fewer features.
Of course, part of it comes down to the model of phone you have. LGs can be rooted, but don't get custom ROMs. Lumia 710s (and a very lucky few Lumia 800s) can get custom ROMs, but we havent' been able to root their stock ROMs.
I had checked a few threads but did not find the complete list of benifits in one central place hence this thread.
I am giving below the benefits of rooting based on my little knowledge. It would be great if some one would be able to add to this very small list.
Pro's of rooting
1) Can install the best firmware for your phone regardless of your carrier and your location.
2) Can side load apps which are not approved by MS and not in the marketplace
3) SMS tones
4) Using the phone as mass storage (Not sure about this one)
5) Change the available fonts and metro theme colors
A very small list from me so it would be really great if someone could expand and also correct if the above list is wrong.
I just really dont know if I should custom rom mine. I have so many sms and mms, couple of my games are finished, and final fantasy is still halfway through. Carbon isnt in the marketplace anymore but I still have it. Also messages in whatsapp viber and kik, risking all those for full unlock and homebrew apps that I need but lived without since I bought a titan. If it were possible to export messages, and game progress, and import them back, then I'd definitely custom rom mine, else I'll just have to get a lumia 920 and then do a custom rom.
Ability to send all files through bluetooth to other phones is also great, you should really consider jailbreaking.
NeuroXT said:
I just really dont know if I should custom rom mine. I have so many sms and mms, couple of my games are finished, and final fantasy is still halfway through. Carbon isnt in the marketplace anymore but I still have it. Also messages in whatsapp viber and kik, risking all those for full unlock and homebrew apps that I need but lived without since I bought a titan. If it were possible to export messages, and game progress, and import them back, then I'd definitely custom rom mine, else I'll just have to get a lumia 920 and then do a custom rom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's defenetly worth trying out the 7.8 rom, with the windows phone 8 startsceen!! (link: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1908624)
I'm sure you won't regret this one!!! (Microsoft is said to release this February 2013!)
And after you have the Nokia apps (Maps, Music, Drive, City Lens & Counters) you won't let the custom rom's go!!!
(Use this HSPL guide: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=32097753&postcount=14)
For the backing up part: USE CABSENDER! (http://xboxmod.sylvester20007.com/TOOLS/WP7-Update-Cab-Sender.rar) (as Admin)
Thanks sianto I really appreciate it, but I've read some posts around that backing up via cabsender and after installing a custom rom, you won't be able to use that backup anymore as the ID changes per rom install. Is this true? Is it not like in android where you perform a full nand backup and restore anytime?
NeuroXT said:
Thanks sianto I really appreciate it, but I've read some posts around that backing up via cabsender and after installing a custom rom, you won't be able to use that backup anymore as the ID changes per rom install. Is this true? Is it not like in android where you perform a full nand backup and restore anytime?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, it is unstable sometimes! But you just need to copy the folder xxxxx - xxxxx - xxxxx - xxxxx - xxxxx
x: is something random
from an temp folder called Windows Phone Update C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Phone Update
to an safe location, and (after flashing) place it back (with still an extra copy on a safe location) and just use R.
It "should" work!

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