unrevoked forever is a tool to set your Android phone's security level to S-OFF
. The security level is a flag stored on the radio; when the flag is S-OFF
, the bootloader (HBOOT) will no longer check the signatures of firmware images before flashing them. This allows custom firmware images to be uploaded, including unsigned boot
, recovery
, splash1
, and hboot
images (as well as official images that have been modified). When the system is S-OFF
, the NAND flash memory protection is also reduced; this allows all partitions (including /system
) to be written to while the operating system is booted.
The most substantial benefit of unrevoked forever is that the change is stored in the radio's NV memory; no ENG
bootloader is necessary to continue to flash firmware images. Even if an “unrootable” OTA update is accepted, a device on which unrevoked forever has been run will still be able to reflash a custom recovery
image.
We know you just want to install unrevoked forever. However, before you do, please read this section in its entirety. It contains important information to avoid bricking your phone.
We believe unrevoked forever to be safe for your phone. However, forever unlocks a few capabilities that make it substantially easier to cause (in some cases, permanent) damage. Here are a list of things to be aware of:
S-OFF
will void the warranty on your phone. Do not take your phone in for support until you have set your phone S-ON
and removed all custom modifications. Damaging your phone by flashing a custom bootloader, or other unusual combinations of firmware, is not covered under warranty; although your carrier may not check to see if your phone was modified, please be honest.hboot
partition on your phone. Doing so carries risk; a bad hboot
flash can render the phone permanently unusable. Be cautious about where you accept updates from.hboot
and a 2.15 radio
with a 2.6.29 Linux kernel will result in the system becoming unusable until reflashed.recovery
. See below for instructions.At this time, the following devices are supported.
You can determine your radio baseband version by holding the VOLUME DOWN key while powering on the phone.
We believe the mechanism behind unrevoked forever may work for other radios and devices, and will add support as radio images are made available to us.
Note that these radio basebands are only need to apply the update. Once the update is applied, you may freely switch to any radio, including one that is not listed. The unrevoked forever update works at the sub-radio level.
To install unrevoked forever on your phone, perform the following steps.
update.zip
file into the root of your SD card. You can do this with adb
with the command: adb push unrevoked-forever.zip /sdcard/update.zip
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Did you read the important safety information above? Do so now before continuing. |
apply sdcard:update.zip
from the menu.Yes
is highlighted, then select it.E:
appear, stop! If possible, join IRC for support.S-OFF
appears.In early versions of the Hero bootloader on S-OFF devices, neither S-OFF nor S-ON may be displayed. If you update to a later version of the bootloader, S-OFF will be displayed correctly.
ENG
bootloader and unrevoked forever? Are there any disadvantages? ENG
bootloader, a device that has run forever will remain S-OFF
. It is possible for HTC to produce an update to remove this, but a carrier that distributes such an update would also break legitimate test phones, reverting them back to “release” phones. S-OFF
access. However, the EVO 4G's ENG
bootloader allows certain extended fastboot
commands to be used. Currently, unrevoked forever does not enable these extended commands; however, the ENG bootloader can be used in conjunction with unrevoked forever to have permanent S-OFF
access as well as access to the extended commands. For HTC Incredible users, our intent is to eventually bring our own ENG
patched HBOOT to the Incredible.S-ON
, you may lose root permanently if you install an official update S-OFF
patch as earlier versions. S-OFF
to recover from an unrooted update? S-OFF
gives your device permanent NAND unlock in the booted system, and also disables HBOOT's signature checking on firmware zip files. So, even if you take a OTA that has not been rooted, you can simply flash a new recovery
that allows you to install su
, and use that to restore yourself to a fully rooted system. We have provided ClockworkMod and Amon-Ra recovery images for you to use for this purpose. android-info.txt
file from it. Zip the file that you wish to flash (usually named something like BOOT.IMG
, SPLASH1.NB0
, RECOVERY.IMG
, …) up along with an appropriate android-info.txt
into a file named either PB31IMG.ZIP
(for Incredible) or PC36IMG.ZIP
(for Evo), and place this file on the root of your SD card. Power the phone up while holding the VOLUME DOWN button, choose HBOOT, and press VOLUME UP when prompted to flash the image. Be careful – in this state, the phone will not prevent you from doing dumb things like flashing an invalid HBOOT! If, like us, you are excited about having a phone that is all yours, you can flash a custom splash screen with our logo. To do so:
Do you want to start update?
, press VOLUME UP for Yes. When prompted again Do you want to reboot device?
, press VOLUME UP for Yes.
If you wish to install a stock over-the-air update in the future (OTA), the safest way to do so is to install the recovery
that originally shipped with your phone. To install an OTA:
recovery
image.recovery
code is owned by HTC, we don't distribute it. You may be able to find these images on the XDA-Developers forums.recovery
. Download one of the following recovery
restore images:Do you want to start update?
, press VOLUME UP for Yes. When prompted again Do you want to reboot device?
, press VOLUME UP for Yes.update.zip
; such a file can likely be found here: Superuser Appunrevoked forever has been through the following versions:
unrevoked forever was brought to you by (in no particular order):
Hero support for unrevoked forever thanks to Dan Wager.