Does "Unlock the Bootloader"... Unlock the Phone? - General Questions and Answers

Hello, XDA.
I bought a Moto e 2020 Unlocked (Renewed) thru Amazon, and it's apparently Not unlocked.
When powering up, it shows "Xfinity Mobile".
A search in this forum found threads that tell us how to unlock the Bootloader.
Is That what I want? What is the Bootloader?
Will That procedure then make the phone Unlocked, so that I can activate it on RedPocket?
Thanks.
Mark2463

Hi, unlocking your device leads, unfortunately, to the lost of your guarantee once you have a problem with it. So, my advice would be: not unlock it. Kind regards, kuzibri

Thanks for the reply, Kuzibri, but I Think I'm not worried about the Warranty.
This is a Used (refurbished) device.
Will unlocking the "bootloader" allow me to use it with another service provider?

AFAIK, your device is connected to a specific provider and unlocking it does not allow you to choose another provider, but only allows you to downlaod, f.i., apps that are not allowed to be downloaded from the app store or gives you the opportunity to install a different ROM on your device. Kind regards kuzibri

Really?
Unlocking it will Not allow moving service to another provider?
Gee... I thought that's usually the Purpose of unlocking these devices.

As I already said, unlocking a device does not allow you to switch to another provider. The main purpose of unlocking is to download apps that the Store refuses or to install another custom ROM on your device. If you want another provider, you have to switch from your current provider and choose another one, which, in general, also means another SIM card and if you're lucky, the new provider lets you keep your current phone number, otherwise you will get a new one (rather disturbing IMHO). Regards kuzibri

Hello~ if you're looking for a new service provider, then the 'unlock' you're referring to is probably the network lock, which locks your device to certain network provider/s. So i suggest you search in that direction. regards.

Well, Thanks, Fjildeth, for that clarification.
Apparently there IS a Difference between unlocking the Network, and unlocking the Bootloader.
THAT was my original question.
Yes, I want to make this new phone usable on a network other than Xfinity.
So, unlocking the Bootloader will Not do what I want... correct?

Mark2463 said:
Well, Thanks, Fjildeth, for that clarification.
Apparently there IS a Difference between unlocking the Network, and unlocking the Bootloader.
THAT was my original question.
Yes, I want to make this new phone usable on a network other than Xfinity.
So, unlocking the Bootloader will Not do what I want... correct?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. unlocking the bootloader is a different matter, and isn't what you're looking for. I suggest you go search for 'SIM lock' topics. there's a lot of guides regarding this. Hope you'll find a way.

If you want to make your new phone usable for a network other than Xfinity, then the solution lies in the SIM card corner. Each SIM card is coupled to a certain provider. If you put your current SIM card in another device, it will still be the Xfinity network and not another provider. Alas, you will need another provider with the accompanying SIM card to switch from network. And indeed: "So, unlocking the Bootloader will Not do what I want... correct?", this is correct.

Yes. Unlocking the bootloader will trigger a factory reset that erases all device settings, user data, third-party applications and associated data from the device's hardware storage.
If your bootloader is unlocked, you will be able to root or flash custom ROMs. But keep in mind that there is a reason why every Android comes with a locked bootloader. While locked, it will only boot the operating system that is on it. This is extremely important for security reasons.
Unlocking your bootloader is not recommended if you don't want to install a custom ROM on your device. Bootloader protects you from various data theft attacks and provides security features.

Related

[Q] Unlocking sim card Hell

Hi there!
I just bought a SE Xperia x8. It was Locked to 3 uk.
I used a unlock online service to unlock it. Did everything right as it was in the unlocking manual. But in the end of the process the software Multi unlocking client frozed. The know the mobile doessn't recognize any sim card.
In the hiden menu the X on the network lock is not there anymore as it was unlocked.
And when I try to connect to a network the message I get is "Your sim card does not allow a connection to this network"
I rooted it changed roms and the problem persists
Can anyone help me?
The Online unlocking service wants me to by more credits and try again....
Have the same problem... any fix for this?
I just opened my own thread for exactly the same thing last night - did either of you have any luck getting this fixed?
Oh God, I remember MultiUnlocker from my Palm Pre days. What a horrid piece of software it is.
I'd recommend contacting their support division and outlining your problem. I was able to gain the necessary three credits to unlock my phone (stupid bloody thing took that many goes).
It may prove problematic that your phone is kinda 'in limbo' ie. showing unlocked but not. You should be able to input a code from the emergency dialler giving you access to the engineering menu, which will allow you to re-lock your phone, then the code should work.
I'll subscribe to the thread in case you need further advice!

What are some methods of unlocking an Android phone?

Without getting into technical details, what are the typical methods of unlocking (using your device on another carrier), in particular Samsung Galaxy, Sony Xperia, etc.
I know of a few methods: carrier unlock, online unlocking with a code (requires payment to an unlocking site), rooting and installing a custom rom, and hardware add-on by connecting your device to a peripheral that assists in unlocking.
Many years ago, one could get free random unlocking phones for their dumb phone by simply entering their device's EMI and serial number. Is there another way that isn't mentioned where the consumer can unlock their Android device?
Michael Carleone said:
Without getting into technical details, what are the typical methods of unlocking (using your device on another carrier), in particular Samsung Galaxy, Sony Xperia, etc.
I know of a few methods: carrier unlock, online unlocking with a code (requires payment to an unlocking site), rooting and installing a custom rom, and hardware add-on by connecting your device to a peripheral that assists in unlocking.
Many years ago, one could get free random unlocking phones for their dumb phone by simply entering their device's EMI and serial number. Is there another way that isn't mentioned where the consumer can unlock their Android device?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
other than calling your carrier and telling them to cough up the code you pretty much covered what i have seen posted around, but im no expert in this area.

Need help with SIM Network Lock (SM-J700M)

Alright, so, last weekend I got a new Samsung Galaxy J7 with Android 6.0.1. The first thing I did was rooting it. It was all going fine until I accidentally unticked the "OEM Unlock" option on Developer Mode, so when I rebooted it, it had an FRP Lock.
I used a Latin American firmware to be able to boot it again. At boot, there was this "entel" logo, and this seemed to have changed my IMEI because my phone always said Network Unavailable. I didn't check the IMEI prior to rooting it, but I noticed the printed one and the one shown on the phone weren't the same... but this isn't the real problem.
Originally, the phone was unlocked (no specific carrier/operator holding it), and I somehow "fixed" the Network Unavailable thing by erasing the efs folder on root... well, it was a longer process than just deleting it, I backed up the folder and copied some files (some might know what I'm talking about). After that, the IMEI was the same than the printed one, but, my phone is now network SIM locked!
I have to input a code to unlock it. I did some googling and apparently only the carrier can give it to you, so I tried 3 different carrier SIM cards to see if any of them were the carrier's, but none of them worked as accepted,and I don't know what carrier could it be... I'm even worried it may be a Latin American one (from Chile or Argentina maybe since that's where the firmware used was from) and I won't be able to get it.
I know there are websites to get a code, but I don't want to pay so much and risk getting scammed.
I tried to see if "entel" was a carrier to unlock it, but it didn't help.
Also, when I try to choose a network on Mobile Networks settings, the only available one is AT&T (which I don't use/have a SIM of), but when I accessed their website to unlock, it said my IMEI wasn't registered as theirs apparently.
Then, I also tried using Samsung's Smart Switch application on PC with the Device Initialization option, but when I try to use the firmware from that I get a SW REV. Check Fail.
I might be wrong, but I feel that since messing with the system files/root was what changed it, maybe I can fix it the same way with no unlock code or carrier help.
So, does anyone have advice, or know some other way to reset it? Or do I really have to go get it fixed/unlocked somewhere?
frostx said:
Alright, so, last weekend I got a new Samsung Galaxy J7 with Android 6.0.1. The first thing I did was rooting it. It was all going fine until I accidentally unticked the "OEM Unlock" option on Developer Mode, so when I rebooted it, it had an FRP Lock.
I used a Latin American firmware to be able to boot it again. At boot, there was this "entel" logo, and this seemed to have changed my IMEI because my phone always said Network Unavailable. I didn't check the IMEI prior to rooting it, but I noticed the printed one and the one shown on the phone weren't the same... but this isn't the real problem.
Originally, the phone was unlocked (no specific carrier/operator holding it), and I somehow "fixed" the Network Unavailable thing by erasing the efs folder on root... well, it was a longer process than just deleting it, I backed up the folder and copied some files (some might know what I'm talking about). After that, the IMEI was the same than the printed one, but, my phone is now network SIM locked!
I have to input a code to unlock it. I did some googling and apparently only the carrier can give it to you, so I tried 3 different carrier SIM cards to see if any of them were the carrier's, but none of them worked as accepted,and I don't know what carrier could it be... I'm even worried it may be a Latin American one (from Chile or Argentina maybe since that's where the firmware used was from) and I won't be able to get it.
I know there are websites to get a code, but I don't want to pay so much and risk getting scammed.
I tried to see if "entel" was a carrier to unlock it, but it didn't help.
Also, when I try to choose a network on Mobile Networks settings, the only available one is AT&T (which I don't use/have a SIM of), but when I accessed their website to unlock, it said my IMEI wasn't registered as theirs apparently.
Then, I also tried using Samsung's Smart Switch application on PC with the Device Initialization option, but when I try to use the firmware from that I get a SW REV. Check Fail.
I might be wrong, but I feel that since messing with the system files/root was what changed it, maybe I can fix it the same way with no unlock code or carrier help.
So, does anyone have advice, or know some other way to reset it? Or do I really have to go get it fixed/unlocked somewhere?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you ever get anywhere with this? I am trying to switch carriers from t mobile to boost on the Sm-j700f and I need to unlock it

Need help with SIM Network Lock

(I accidentally posted this in an unrelated discussion so sorry if it appears twice!)
Alright, so, last weekend I got a new Samsung Galaxy J7 (SM-J700M) with Android 6.0.1. The first thing I did was rooting it. It was all going fine until I accidentally unticked the "OEM Unlock" option on Developer Mode, so when I rebooted it, it had an FRP Lock.
I used a Latin American firmware to be able to boot it again. At boot, there was this "entel" logo, and this seemed to have changed my IMEI because my phone always said Network Unavailable. I didn't check the IMEI prior to rooting it, but I noticed the printed one and the one shown on the phone weren't the same... but this isn't the real problem.
Originally, the phone was unlocked (no specific carrier/operator holding it), and I somehow "fixed" the Network Unavailable thing by erasing the efs folder on root... well, it was a longer process than just deleting it, I backed up the folder and copied some files (some might know what I'm talking about). After that, the IMEI was the same than the printed one, but, my phone is now network SIM locked!
I have to input a code to unlock it. I did some googling and apparently only the carrier can give it to you, so I tried 3 different carrier SIM cards to see if any of them were the carrier's, but none of them worked as accepted,and I don't know what carrier could it be... I'm even worried it may be a Latin American one (from Chile or Argentina maybe since that's where the firmware used was from) and I won't be able to get it.
I know there are websites to get a code, but I don't want to pay so much and risk getting scammed.
I tried to see if "entel" was a carrier to unlock it, but it didn't help.
Also, when I try to choose a network on Mobile Networks settings, the only available one is AT&T (which I don't use/have a SIM of), but when I accessed their website to unlock, it said my IMEI wasn't registered as theirs apparently.
Then, I also tried using Samsung's Smart Switch application on PC with the Device Initialization option, but when I try to use the firmware from that I get a SW REV. Check Fail.
I might be wrong, but I feel that since messing with the system files/root was what changed it, maybe I can fix it the same way with no unlock code or carrier help.
So, does anyone have advice, or know some other way to reset it? Or do I really have to go get it fixed/unlocked somewhere?

Cannot find OEM Unlock for Samsung galaxy s21 + 5g

Last month, I decided that I wanted to try rooting my Samsung galaxy s21 + 5g (model name SM-g996u), and I got as far as unlocking the network before I hit a snag. In all of the tutorials I have looked at concerning how to root my device, they all keep saying that I need to OEM Unlock my phone under the developer settings. However, as the title of this post would indicate, that setting is not present in the development settings. I have just about lost my damn mind trying to find and enable this setting via online tutorials, and I keep coming across the same suggestions: configure date/time setting so that it is not automatically set, manually set the date back a couple of months, go to dev settings and disable auto-update system setting, disable 'Download updates automatically' setting in software update (this is the only step I was not able to follow because that setting appears to have been removed from more updated version), and restart the device. I even tried removing my sim card, resetting my phone, and retrying the previously outlined steps. Nothing has worked. Is there anyone out there that can help me with this? Any info would be great.
Is device leased from a carrier, e.g Verizon? AFAIK by default this phone has OEM Unlock option in Android's Developer Options.
[Android][UNSAMLOCK] Bootloader Unlock for Samsung US/Canada Devices
This thread is @svetius approved Important notice: Do not update to April 2023 security update (XXXXXXXXXXWCX) or later. Examples: G998USQS6EWCA, N986USQU4HWD1. Samsung has patched the bootloader unlock again on those updates. NOTE: The OneUI...
forum.xda-developers.com
whiggs2 said:
Last month, I decided that I wanted to try rooting my Samsung galaxy s21 + 5g (model name SM-g996u), and I got as far as unlocking the network before I hit a snag. In all of the tutorials I have looked at concerning how to root my device, they all keep saying that I need to OEM Unlock my phone under the developer settings. However, as the title of this post would indicate, that setting is not present in the development settings. I have just about lost my damn mind trying to find and enable this setting via online tutorials, and I keep coming across the same suggestions: configure date/time setting so that it is not automatically set, manually set the date back a couple of months, go to dev settings and disable auto-update system setting, disable 'Download updates automatically' setting in software update (this is the only step I was not able to follow because that setting appears to have been removed from more updated version), and restart the device. I even tried removing my sim card, resetting my phone, and retrying the previously outlined steps. Nothing has worked. Is there anyone out there that can help me with this? Any info would be great.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This device(all of the US models) doesn't have the OEM unlock option. As far as I know, these devices have to be unlocked via a paid service from a 3rd party.
jwoegerbauer said:
Is device leased from a carrier, e.g Verizon? AFAIK by default this phone has OEM Unlock option in Android's Developer Options.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Device has been paid off. It is also network unlocked as well. The device was originally leased from Tmobile. I am aware that the setting is supposed to be in developer settings. I am telling you, it is not showing up for me.
whiggs2 said:
Device has been paid off. It is also network unlocked as well. The device was originally leased from Tmobile. I am aware that the setting is supposed to be in developer settings. I am telling you, it is not showing up for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
May I'm wrong but the fact that the client have covered the contract, doesn't mean that the carrier do that, if a special petition was not presented to them, then, they don't care about. If the device came with a firmware that came with that feature disabled, so it, also, ends its "normal" life with the same featured included (or not) in the firmware by default.
But you could make advantage from the network unlocked condition, switching to a different firmware it would be possible, and, the option may appear.
SubwayChamp said:
May I'm wrong but the fact that the client have covered the contract, doesn't mean that the carrier do that, if a special petition was not presented to them, then, they don't care about. If the device came with a firmware that came with that feature disabled, so it, also, ends its "normal" life with the same featured included (or not) in the firmware by default.
But you could make advantage from the network unlocked condition, switching to a different firmware it would be possible, and, the option may appear.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have seen that suggestion mentioned before online, though I have not really found any good tutorials on how to go about doing that. Any suggestions?
Droidriven said:
This device(all of the US models) doesn't have the OEM unlock option. As far as I know, these devices have to be unlocked via a paid service from a 3rd party.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This - The 'U' devices do not have OEM unlock by default.
whiggs2 said:
I have seen that suggestion mentioned before online, though I have not really found any good tutorials on how to go about doing that. Any suggestions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This may be just a kind of starting point, to have in mind, but that need more research though, I did it in my GN8 but with your device, things may be different.
There are some things you have to check, in the download screen, KG has to be completed, not prenormal or checking, also search for the CSCs that are compatible for your device, this is one of the tutorial, kind of, that I followed https://www.getdroidtips.com/guide-...ocked-firmware-galaxy-note-8-sm-n950u-n950u1/

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