So I've been looking into this, it seems it's possible to use flashify which allows you to flash .img files if your bootloader is locked and you have root you can flash twrp this way. Flashify can also make backup of stock recovery and install it, the reason i'm interested in this is security, as unlocked bootloaders have lots of risks.
Another post i was reading a person suggested, different manufacturers have different ways they implement locked bootloaders so some phones recovery might be protected and can't flash twrp while locked others may differ, I'm not sure. I currently have a Samsung S7 Edge, some people suggested issues around possible hard bricks, suggesting it's more likely to happen with a locked bootloader, then others saying fastboot wouldn't be able to recovery the device if installing a rom failed.
Someone pointed this out about my OEM unlock not been able to enable it to recover, tho odin doesn't require that to be turned on to flash back the stock firmware from download mode so that should fix that. I want to know the risks involved if flashify flashing twrp, kernels and roms while bootloader is locked is likely to work fine, i have seen posts of people who have done it most the comments seem like they could be assumptions best guesses around this type of thing. I can't find much on it.
What i'm thinking is find an exploit to get root, while locked flash twrp with flashify use twrp to flash xposed maybe? then restore stock recovery after flashing all the things i need, so if i loose the phone bootloader is locked and they don't have clear access to twrp, i think magisk is impossible as that modifys the boot which is the locked bootloader i believe so don't know which things magisk or others will or won't work.
Appreciate all reply's.
Thanks.
Related
Does unlocking the bootloader give you root?
And in which instances can you flash a custom recovery or customs ROMs?
Rooting means you can install apps that require root access (like titanium backup or setcpu). Unlocked bootloader means you can load any rom, kernel, etc that you like. Unlocked bootloader is usually acquired after rooting.
I'm not sure I totally understand the first reply, so here is my take on it.
Rooting will let you install apps that require root as already stated, but rooting will let you install custom ROMs and do just about any tweak you want. I finally did unlock my bootloader, but the only benefit I gained was being able to change the flash screen, which is the first screen you see when the phone powers on.
I have read that it's harder to brick your phone with a s=off bootloader too.
It is not harder to brick your phone with an unlocked bootloader, just easier to recover from a soft-brick. An unlocked bootloader will allow you to flash using fastboot. So in the case of a corrupt recovery, or something along those lines, you are able to flash it using your computer. It basically allows you to flash different parts of an image separately.
lowandbehold said:
It is not harder to brick your phone with an unlocked bootloader, just easier to recover from a soft-brick.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's pretty much what I meant, I just didn't say it right. Thanks for clearing it up.
How to find my phones' bootloader is locked or not? Because i already flashed different custom ROMs and using it.
Regards,
Cjey
If you are rooted with a custom recovery, your bootloader is unlocked.
lowandbehold said:
If you are rooted with a custom recovery, your bootloader is unlocked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks buddy,
I want to know that what if i flash ROM for locked bootloaders?
Honestly, I didn't know you can root your phone till today I read a few posts here. So thank you all guys for the input
slight confusion over rooted
i had the .67 generic uk firmware, i downloaded the central europe .73 firmware and used flashtool to flash the ftf file,
all worked fine once i installed the drivers on flash tool,
my confusion is...... alot of people are saying there phone is rooted/bootloader unlocked, am i rite in thinking my phone is rooted and not unlocked,
others have also said they have flashed the .img to the phone which i havent done, is there something ive done wrong ?
My device is European L04, currently running North Africa release (the earliest Marshmallow build uploaded) - L04_2016_0316_0900 (B820)
I'd like to unlock the bootloader and root my Honor 6. I've never done it (on this particular device), because I've read enough here to know it's slightly more risky than on other devices, especially when you plan to update the stock rom soon, so I preferred to wait until I have the last important update the device is likely to receive - Android 6.0.
What I want to know (some of the answers are in the topics which I listed below):
MultiTool - I've seen reports of bricks when using MultiTool with EMUI4/Marshmallow - why does it happen? My understanding is that MultiTool is a bundle of adb/fastboot and some recovery images for older Android versions, so my theory is that instead of using MultiTool, I should simply get the proper recovery for Marshmallow and flash it manually with fastboot, right?
unlocking bootloader, rooting, flashing recovery - I think I understand the process; in a nutshell: 'fastboot oem unlock X', 'fastboot flash recovery imagename.img', then flash the proper SU.zip in recovery. Where do I find the code, the Marshmallow recovery image, the SU.zip file?
will recovery backup in TWRP work without any problems?
what is the procedure to go back to stock completely after rooting? Unroot, (then wipe if it's needed?) so I am able to safely flash stock firmware again (since, from what I know, flashing stock on a rooted phone makes itself brick permanently, right? or is it just a soft-brick and it can be fixed?)
is there anything else I should know before proceeding?
What I found so far:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=66615082&postcount=502 - two recovery images, TWRP and another one (stock?) for the Marshmallow release
http://forum.xda-developers.com/honor-6/general/honor6-multi-tool-t2963060/page50 some rooting instructions for the L02 beta, see posts 494 and 498; no idea whether this is applicable to final Marshmallow or L04 at all
http://forum.xda-developers.com/honor-6/general/huawei-honor-6-plus-unlock-bootloader-id-t3357259 an app to get the unlock code, seems a bit shady to me though on the first glance
http://forum.xda-developers.com/honor-6/development/honor-6-rooting-method-t2962795 alternate methods for bootloader (through a website or by email), in case the app won't work; also, detailed instructions on unlocking and rooting
Basically, I need to know whether my procedure is more or less right before I proceed. I think the information is quite hard to find and the risks are quite high, so I'd like to make a promise - when I'm done rooting it and I know the correct process, I'm going to make a "Update to Marshmallow, unlock, root" how-to thread for all the people that will need it in the future.
Another two questions...
1. Where do I get proper SuperSU for Marshmallow? I get a boot loop (yeah, I know I have to wait and I did, but it's a pretty obvious bootloop from watching the logcat content, and nothing new happens...) after flashing http://download.chainfire.eu/supersu-stable (2.65).
2. I have unlocked my bootloader and installed TWRP, so recovery and fastboot are functional. I didn't make a backup before flashing the zip and now I'm in a bootloop. How do I restore working Marshmallow? I assume I can either beg somebody to upload a TWRP backup for my H60-L04, or somehow flash the stock over what I have now. Can I simply use manual update from SD? Can I somehow flash Marshmallow again with fastboot? I'm too scared of bricking my device right now so I guess I'll brace myself for a few days without a phone until somebody helps me :/
I just flashed the Marshmallow release I had before the bootloop (I used Huawei Update Extractor and flashed boot, cust, system and recovery with fastboot; then open up Huawei recovery and factory reset for good measure, I'm not sure it was even needed) and the device is working. I'll restore my stuff, install TWRP, make a backup then try out your ZIP. Thanks
edit: thanks again - your zip works indeed. So after the initial hurdles, now I've got working root and a reasonable way of restoring in case I screw something up along the way.
Before making a new topic with the tutorial I have a few more questions.
First of all, why exactly we weren't supposed to update the rooted devices? I'm not currently interested in OTAs (it's pretty obvious that it needs a functional Huawei recovery, and you need to unroot cause an update can make a mess in a rooted system, making it bootloop for example), but can we flash extracted images with fastboot on rooted devices? Logically, we should be able to... How about sdcard update method?
Can we flash Marshmallow on Kitkat? (fastboot, sdcard, local update methods?) Or do we need to update to Lollipop along the way?
Can I flash stock roms in general (evenbetween different Android versions) by using fastboot with {boot, cust, recovery, system} images only? There's a lot of images that you can extract with Huawei Update Extractor - why there's so many if they're not needed?
I've seen the new FlashFire app and I've seen in the disclaimer that you need an unlocked bootloader in order to fully use it.
On its thread they also say that it would work and unlocked bootloader is needed for things like flashing kernel and so on, but also for some things you could soft brick and it's device dependant.
Has anyone tried FlashFire with locked BL?
Is it safe to perform just flash some little things and backups?
Edit:
No, it does not work
i flash mods on my locked bootloader every time. no bio hazard done. Never faced any kind of boot issue (Just Don't flash that XtremeMusic MOD on locked bootloader, Just Flash Viper, Dolby and Walkman). Flashed a custom rom made by myself without any issue.(issue was in the ROM, it booted fine already, but certain force closes occurred). Well, it has a bug restoring backups, that will cause you to soft brick.
DISCLAIMER: Any guides/suggestions/workarounds posted here are to be taken at your own risk. Any bricks/lockouts/otherwise unusable devices are your own responsibility. No support will be provided, unless someone takes it upon themselves to help you out.
Situation:
Updates to Google's SafetyNet is checking for unlocked bootloader, if your bootloader is unlocked, SafetyNet will error, preventing you from being able to use Android Pay, even if you're on a stock, unrooted, but otherwise unlocked bootloader.
Problem:
Many of you might feel that you won't ever give up your custom ROMs, Mods, Xposed, etc., that you've grown to love and accept as the norm in the community (heck, that's why I've been using Nexus forever!), and some of you might even feel that you won't let Google dictate whats allowed/disallow on your device, and might try combination of solutions to try and get one up on Google, by locking your bootloader, and experiment trying to get Android Pay to work on a Custom ROM/etc.
Danger:
There is a very real risk that you might brick your device if you lock your bootloader while not using stock firmware.
Discussion:
I've been a member of this community for a while now, and while not a programmer, developer myself, I am more tech savvy then most of the people I surround myself with. Given this, I wanted to try and give back by proposing this thread, a place where many of you, more experienced, and less experienced, than myself can share their concerns, thoughts, solutions, theories, as how to safely get Android Pay working with our beloved custom ROMs/Mods with the new Google updates.
So please, feel free to brainstorm/propose/ponder below your thoughts/suggestions/theories/solutions to the above state issue. I will try and update this first post with anything that we determine below as safe course of this adventure(misadventure?).
I'll first link to some light reading by @Chainfire - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=68424605&postcount=2 to give you an idea why all of this is happening.
Solutions/Theories/Tests:
Hoping I didn't just make a useless thread, on Chainfire's suhide thread, http://forum.xda-developers.com/apps/supersu/suhide-t3450396
did release (2016.10.07 - v0.54 - RELEASE NOTES- Fix for latest SafetyNet update) bypass unlocked bootloader check?
Ok, forward and onward.
Some of my concerns with locked bootloader:
1. - With a locked bootloader, a custom recovery (TWRP), and a custom ROM, a few things can go wrong, like ROM not booting, with OEM unlocking disallowed in developer options. Provided that you didn't set a pattern/work to boot device, (PIN is what I believe TWRP will only allow to unlock your partitions), or didn't set a lock at all, you should be able to boot into TWRP and format userdata/all partitions, flash another ROM, boot, check "OEM Unlocking" and be able to perform bootloader unlock command, correct?
2. What would happen in the same scenario as above, but if you had a stock bootloader, would it be more difficult to flash a ROM? would you be able to flash anything at all? Or even boot TWRP with a locked bootloader?
3. In my conversation with @Lawlrus in another thread, he mentioned that as long as you have debugging enabled on your ROM, you should be ok, I fail to see the point of this, because if you can boot into your ROM, can't you just toggle OEM unlocking in the first place?
A. A solution to keeping bootloader locked + having and updating a custom ROM?
1. Flash favorite ROM, set it up as you wish, install whatever you want, configure it as you want.
2. Enjoy ROM
3. Time to update ROM - Backup app data/messages using Titanium, or even Google's backup, whatever floats your boat.
4. Reboot into custom recovery, make a backup (without password/pin lock preferably).
5. Reboot into bootloader, unlock bootloader (this will wipe your data).
6. Restore nandroid backup (recovery backup you just made)
7. Flash updated ROM/Root/Mods/GApps/Whatever..
8. Relock bootloader.
9. Use Android Pay.
10. Profit.
What am I not seeing with this approach?
@Shemploo
You're correct you can just flip the switch. The point of it was being if you can't boot the ROM up due to it bootlooping for some reason
Lawlrus said:
@Shemploo
You're correct you can just flip the switch. The point of it was being if you can't boot the ROM up due to it bootlooping for some reason
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you're not able to boot into ROM, having debugging enabled before it fails to boot has no bearing on ADB if you can access the custom recovery, IIRC.
In other words, being able to boot into a custom recovery like TWRP even with locked bootloader will give you ADB access to your partitions, provided that you didn't encrypt/lock your Android, and forgot the password.
Also, I think ADB would be very useful to have your PC communicate with TWRP for pulling/pushing files, which is important if you need to load a ROM in via TWRP so you can get back into your ROM, and check "OEM unlocking" allowing you to reboot into bootloader and use the bootloader unlock command.
I believe that TWRP ADB works irregardless of whether you have enabled debugging in OS, or not. The debugging in OS is only there for the OS's benefit.
So I've seen a few posts in the past, where someone has suggested rooting then locking the bootloader and other things like this. But now days do all phones delete data when they unlock the bootloader, if yes do some manufacturers not delete the data when you choose to relock the bootloader?
What i want is to know which brands if any would be possible for me to, unlock the bootloader flash twrp flash xposed other files root ect restore the stock recovery and then relock the bootloader keeping the changes i have made, for security reasons unlocked bootloaders are risky.
The next question is if this is possible if something messes up while it's locked, i won't have twrp to recover it, how would i fix this is this a issue for bricking the device? will fastboot always work to flash stock firmware files if the manufacturer provides them? i'm assuming that would be the only way to solve this? does fastboot need something like OEM unlock turned on in the system to be able to flash firmware to recover? if it does i wouldn't be able to fix that.
Samsung doesn't require OEM unlock to be turned on to flash through odin, but because of all samsung phones using dm-vertity even if the bootloader doesn't delete everything locking it, dm-verity would detect the changes and prevent using the phone in that state.
Appreciate all suggestions.
Thanks.