Relocking bootloader without bricking - ZTE Axon 7 Questions & Answers

Hey all.
So I've installed LineageOS just fine - the unlocking guides around here are mostly clear enough. Certainly not as easy as I've been used to for Nexus and OnePlus devices though! I've been using the 'official' TWRP 3.0.4.1 and not any of the other (now often links removed) unofficial versions.
I've also got my hands dirty with EDL mode and have totally reflashed a couple of times while playing around.
So on to my question. Basically I have an email client for work (Good for Enterprise) that detects unlocked bootloaders as 'root' (even though I'm not rooted), so I would like to relock my bootloader.
However, as soon as I use 'fastboot oem lock' it instantly bricks my phone. It goes straight into EDL mode, from which it cannot return. No bootloader, no recovery mode, no booting of system. Completely dead. All button combos attempted etc.. The only way back that I've found is to flash a whole new system image in EDL, and start over.
So, have I missed something (a signed recovery?) that makes this happen? Are there some verifications that the bootloader does while locked that fails because there's a custom system and recovery in place?
Is there anything I can do about this? Am I doomed to use stock for as long as I need to use this darned app?
Thanks very much!

Yes you need to be completely stock to lock BL.

Also if you want to stay unlocked, you can use MAGISK to hide root for your mailing app.

Thanks for the replies. I actually don't have, and never have had, root. So the only thing it can possibly be detecting is either the custom ROM itself (or rather, not a factory one from some list they maintain) or the unlocked bootloader. So I doubt MAGISK will work, because there's no root there to hide in the first place
(In case it wasn't obvious, we're talking about Good for Enterprise here).

The blackberry mobile device management system (earlier called GFE) doesnt care if bootloader is unlocked, it just checks whether you have a custom recovery (twrp) and that is enough to flag your system as rooted.

Related

Root Help, I need some advanced thinkers.

For work I have to use mobileiron, which detects everything from root to the unlocked bootloader. I am not sure if it simply detects the unlocked bootloader or detects because of the warning that comes up, I would guess its the latter.
So not only can't I root, I can't unlock my bootloader in the current state. At the very least I would like to enable wifi tether, and I would do that through TWRP but then I can't unlock my bootloader. So way to relock without wiping.
So I guess the question is for people who don't know about MobileIron is will we be able to unlock the bootloader without setting off any other options? or is there way to at least edit build.prop without root or unlocked bootloader?
I guess ideally if I could root without unlocking the bootloader then unroot that would solve my problems. Thoughts anyone?
Here is a thought, although it might fail. You could unlock your bootloader, boot TWRP without flashing(fastboot boot twrp-rgvrg.img), make your changes, then boot back into the bootloader and relock it.
Still can't say for sure it would work and it will virtually guarantee your userdata be wiped.
Buy a second phone for work related purposes
I'd never spend so much on a phone just to let my company lock it down
You could always test out various configs and see what trips the software or not. You might be able to keep TWRP and root just turned off via supersu and everything work. Similar to android pay. You might not even be able to unlock the bootloader. Anything in between in possible.
Regardless it is pretty trivial to go back to stock and get everything locked back up again. So there is little risk in trying.
If it were me I'd try root and see if it worked. No? Ok, try to disable root with supersu. Will work or not. If not then make your host file edits for adaway and such and then completely remove root. See if that works.
You can also try to unlock the bootloader now as stock and see if it impacts the software. See exactly where it trips and prevents you from using it. Then work from there.
If nothing works, go back to 100% stock and lock the bootloader again. At least you gave it a go and had some fun for the evening. If I had to guess something in between will work and you can work around the limitations.

Questions about bootloader and otas

I'm getting a 6p for Christmas and I have a question.
Say the 6p is on Marshmallow, and I decide to unlock the bootloader (just that, no root or anything) on MM. Will I be able to update to 7.1.1 via ota (no I don't want to sideload or flash) without issues? Or is there a process to it like updating bootloader, vendor, radio or whatever else. Or does the Ota file contain the updated boot.img and vendor etc.
ricbaez said:
I'm getting a 6p for Christmas and I have a question.
Say the 6p is on Marshmallow, and I decide to unlock the bootloader (just that, no root or anything) on MM. Will I be able to update to 7.1.1 via ota (no I don't want to sideload or flash) without issues? Or is there a process to it like updating bootloader, vendor, radio or whatever else. Or does the Ota file contain the updated boot.img and vendor etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, you can unlock then update via OTA. OTAs patch every partition permitted there are no modifications done to system and boot.
Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk
ricbaez said:
I'm getting a 6p for Christmas and I have a question.
Say the 6p is on Marshmallow, and I decide to unlock the bootloader (just that, no root or anything) on MM. Will I be able to update to 7.1.1 via ota (no I don't want to sideload or flash) without issues? Or is there a process to it like updating bootloader, vendor, radio or whatever else. Or does the Ota file contain the updated boot.img and vendor etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why would you want to unlock the bootloader if you don't intend to root or install a custom recovery? I don't understand what the benefit is.
jhs39 said:
Why would you want to unlock the bootloader if you don't intend to root or install a custom recovery? I don't understand what the benefit is.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I actually intend to install megapixel rom
jhs39 said:
Why would you want to unlock the bootloader if you don't intend to root or install a custom recovery? I don't understand what the benefit is.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
@ricbaez
No disrespect, but I would say why would you NOT unlock the bootloader on a Nexus? Especially when you first get the phone because unlocking wipes it. Unlocking the bootloader allows you to use MANY more tools in the event your phone boot loops or becomes unresponsive. There are dozens of threads where people are completely screwed because they did NOT unlock the bootloader and so cannot salvage their device with ADB/Fastboot. If you bought a Nexus, one of the selling points is that Google ALLOWS the owner to unlock the bootloader right in the Dev Options! Even if the OP is not going to root or install a custom recovery, if he/she does not unlock the bootloader, they are going to be S.O.L. if the phone won't boot. There are many examples of this since Google has gone to the monthly security OTA's and updates. Or... simply put, if you are unlocked you can flash full Google images and use ADB/Fastboot. If you are locked, you can only sideload an OTA with the stock recovery and that hasn't been working out well for so many people here on XDA.
To the OP. Recommend you unlock your bootloader first thing which will wipe the phone and start you out fresh. Unlocking the bootloader will not prevent you from receiving OTA's. Make sure your Google login works properly. Login. Logout. Login. Then do whatever the F you want with your phone, knowing you will have serious options to recover in the event things go south for any reason. Next would be installing TWRP. Good luck!
v12xke said:
@ricbaez
No disrespect, but I would say why would you NOT unlock the bootloader on a Nexus? Especially when you first get the phone because unlocking wipes it. Unlocking the bootloader allows you to use MANY more tools in the event your phone boot loops or becomes unresponsive. There are dozens of threads where people are completely screwed because they did NOT unlock the bootloader and so cannot salvage their device with ADB/Fastboot. If you bought a Nexus, one of the selling points is that Google ALLOWS the owner to unlock the bootloader right in the Dev Options! Even if the OP is not going to root or install a custom recovery, if he/she does not unlock the bootloader, they are going to be S.O.L. if the phone won't boot. There are many examples of this since Google has gone to the monthly security OTA's and updates. Or... simply put, if you are unlocked you can flash full Google images and use ADB/Fastboot. If you are locked, you can only sideload an OTA with the stock recovery and that hasn't been working out well for so many people here on XDA.
To the OP. Recommend you unlock your bootloader first thing which will wipe the phone and start you out fresh. Unlocking the bootloader will not prevent you from receiving OTA's. Make sure your Google login works properly. Login. Logout. Login. Then do whatever the F you want with your phone, knowing you will have serious options to recover in the event things go south for any reason. Next would be installing TWRP. Good luck!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are right. I wasn't aware that people were having boot loop issues on phones running stock Android but that apparently is the case. But as long as USB Debugging and Allow OEM Unlock are ticked in the developer options you should be able to unlock the bootloader later through ADB if you need to. I assumed the warning about my phone being insecure since my bootloader is unlocked that pops up every time I boot was there for a reason. There is no security issue created by unlocking your bootloader?
jhs39 said:
You are right. I wasn't aware that people were having boot loop issues on phones running stock Android but that apparently is the case. But as long as USB Debugging and Allow OEM Unlock are ticked in the developer options you should be able to unlock the bootloader later through ADB if you need to. I assumed the warning about my phone being insecure since my bootloader is unlocked that pops up every time I boot was there for a reason. There is no security issue created by unlocking your bootloader?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's cool, and I respect your decision to stay locked if you decide that is best for you. I suppose you could set Allow OEM unlock in Dev settings AND USB debugging in USB just in case, but if for some reason you could not boot, unlocking bootloader would then wipe userdata and your backups would be gone before you could transfer them off. In the end it's up to the individual to choose security vs, recoverability. Many ppl are getting locked out of their phones in the interest of security (or just the default settings). As it turns out, they were just trying to perform a monthly security update and hosed their phone. Stock rom, stock recovery, unrooted. Every Nexus phone I've owned (Galaxy?) has been unlocked so that I could use all the tools available to get myself out of a bind if needed. I don't give a sh!t about the boot up warning, because I know that my nandroid and FF backups can get me back home in the event of a lockup. Unlocking will not stop you from receiving OTA's if you are stock. Even if you are not, unlocking will allow you to use ADB, custom recoveries, toolkits, etc. If you end up in a bootloop and your bootloader is locked you are S.O.L. plain and simple. Each to their own though... if you need encryption and value high security of your data over recoverability then you may want to stay bootloader locked. As owners of a Nexus phone we have that option. Many others do not. Cheers my friend!
Thank you guys everything was successful, unlocked it in no time, downloaded 7.1.1 and it's perfect. NOw time to flash twrp and MegaPixel Rom

How do I relock bootloader on Nougat B25

Hi, I am a total noob to all of this. I had LineageOS (took me roughly 10 hours to install) and decided I wanted to use Daydream, so I somehow was able to get back to stock and upgraded OTA to Nougat. Now I want to lock the bootloader as some apps (Android Pay, Netflix, etc.) will not work/download offically with an unlocked bootloader. I've read about using the 'fastboot oem lock' command, however, fastboot is not working for me. When I try to boot to bootloader the phone just boots into the system.
Before when I unlocked I had to roll back to Marshmallow as the guide I was following said it was not possible to install LineageOS from Nougat. Do I basically follow those instructions again and when I get to the unlock part I lock it instead? Or is it possible to do this from Nougat without having to rollback? Any help is greatly appreciated.
jazzytones said:
Hi, I am a total noob to all of this. I had LineageOS (took me roughly 10 hours to install) and decided I wanted to use Daydream, so I somehow was able to get back to stock and upgraded OTA to Nougat. Now I want to lock the bootloader as some apps (Android Pay, Netflix, etc.) will not work/download offically with an unlocked bootloader. I've read about using the 'fastboot oem lock' command, however, fastboot is not working for me. When I try to boot to bootloader the phone just boots into the system.
Before when I unlocked I had to roll back to Marshmallow as the guide I was following said it was not possible to install LineageOS from Nougat. Do I basically follow those instructions again and when I get to the unlock part I lock it instead? Or is it possible to do this from Nougat without having to rollback? Any help is greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you search for a guide? I've seen a bunch over the last month, and surely at least one is for the A2017U
Also, you should know that relocking the bootloader is a very dangerous thing to do. I've seen a bunch of bricks because of this. If you can, avoid locking the bootloader.
Netflix is not really a problem. You can just download the APK and install it, it's not "extra-official". Android Pay is another matter though. Does it detect if the bootloader is unlocked? are you sure you're just not passing safetynet because of root?
Choose an username... said:
Did you search for a guide? I've seen a bunch over the last month, and surely at least one is for the A2017U
Also, you should know that relocking the bootloader is a very dangerous thing to do. I've seen a bunch of bricks because of this. If you can, avoid locking the bootloader.
Netflix is not really a problem. You can just download the APK and install it, it's not "extra-official". Android Pay is another matter though. Does it detect if the bootloader is unlocked? are you sure you're just not passing safetynet because of root?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is no guide for A2017U on Nougat B25 for locking the bootloader. I've seen tons of people do it successfully on various forums in other scenarios (on A2017G or on a different build). I'd really like to use Android Pay but I guess I will avoid locking unless I need to warranty the phone since there is some risk (but in all my life I've never had to warranty a smartphone). But even if bricked, can I use EDL to restore the phone?
Android Pay is detecting the bootloader is unlocked, yes, because I do not have root. Same with Netflix, my device is 'incompatible' on the Play Store due to unlocked bootloader. I sideloaded Netflix but ideally I'd have it through the Play Store for auto updates. Netflix updates the app every couple days.
jazzytones said:
There is no guide for A2017U on Nougat B25 for locking the bootloader. I've seen tons of people do it successfully on various forums in other scenarios (on A2017G or on a different build). I'd really like to use Android Pay but I guess I will avoid locking unless I need to warranty the phone since there is some risk (but in all my life I've never had to warranty a smartphone). But even if bricked, can I use EDL to restore the phone?
Android Pay is detecting the bootloader is unlocked, yes, because I do not have root. Same with Netflix, my device is 'incompatible' on the Play Store due to unlocked bootloader. I sideloaded Netflix but ideally I'd have it through the Play Store for auto updates. Netflix updates the app every couple days.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can only restore stuff through EDL if your brick is not of the ultimate, send-to-ZTE type. If you end up having a DFU brick (I'm not 100% sure if it happens on U models, but it sure does on Gs and chineses) you would have to send it to ZTE and claim that you don't know why it doesn't work, or pay a fee for them to fix it if you tip them off about what you did. Or get your hands dirty (or rather clean) and tear apart the device then get to EDL via test pads. I had to do that...
Also I don't believe that Netflix updates are critical. See, I tried a bunch of custom ROMs , and to avoid having to browse and download every app I got my apps' APKs from /data/app. So essentially I've been using a nearly one month old Netflix. And it works just like it did back then
Bump I'm in the same boat, I need to relock my BL and am on B25. Can this be done without downgrading?
adriangb said:
Bump I'm in the same boat, I need to relock my BL and am on B25. Can this be done without downgrading?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you can flash an A2017U_FASTBOOT_UNLOCK_EDL through MiFlash and get fastboot, search a bit for that

Have an unlocked bootloader - how to re-lock? Google Pay fails because of it?

I bought a used Essential (love it!). It came with the bootloader unlocked, so every reboot I get the "your device software can't be checked for corruption. Please lock the bootloader."
I am not really concerned about that (should I be?), but when I try to set up Google Pay I get this:
"Couldn't finish setup to pay in stores. This phone can't be used to pay in stores. This may be because it is rooted or altered in some other way."
I'm not sure that the Pay issue is because of the unlocked bootloader, but I don't need it rooted/unlocked, so I might as well re-lock to eliminate it as an issue.
There's a lot of info on the forums about *not* relocking when you have a custom rom, but I'm pure Pie.
So - is there a straightforward way to relock? I have things backed up/etc.
back to official rom, before that
First of all make sure you are pure stock
Then boot into fastboot by holding vol- and power button together.
Download android platform tools https:REMOVEME//developer.android.com/studio/releases/platform-tools?hl=th, unzip it, go into the folder, open cmd there, and type
Code:
fastboot flashing lock
And it's finished!
r_w said:
I bought a used Essential (love it!). It came with the bootloader unlocked, so every reboot I get the "your device software can't be checked for corruption. Please lock the bootloader."
I am not really concerned about that (should I be?), but when I try to set up Google Pay I get this:
"Couldn't finish setup to pay in stores. This phone can't be used to pay in stores. This may be because it is rooted or altered in some other way."
I'm not sure that the Pay issue is because of the unlocked bootloader, but I don't need it rooted/unlocked, so I might as well re-lock to eliminate it as an issue.
There's a lot of info on the forums about *not* relocking when you have a custom rom, but I'm pure Pie.
So - is there a straightforward way to relock? I have things backed up/etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Look at the other threads about rooting.
You can do a couple of things to solve the issue:
Install ElementalX kernel
Install Magisk
VoidWalkerAlpha said:
First of all make sure you are pure stock
Then boot into fastboot by holding vol- and power button together.
Download android platform tools https:REMOVEME//developer.android.com/studio/releases/platform-tools?hl=th, unzip it, go into the folder, open cmd there, and type
Code:
fastboot flashing lock
And it's finished!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Perfect! Flashed the latest original from Essential per HapRow's comment, pulling from Essentials current build website.
Had to wait a long time to restore everything. Then the "fastboot flashing lock" erases everything, so I had to restore again.
Took a while, but was thankfully uneventful.
And now Google Pay works!
Thank!

oneplus 8 pro crashdump/fastboot brick, again

i know there are a ton of discussions on this but it seems that every thread just dies off and nothing in depth gets discussed. oneplus is useless in this, and it also figures that the phone would wait for me to pay it off before it self bricks for no reason.
i know im gonna have to wipe it at some point, but i REALLY need to get some data off of it. the bootloader claims its locked when i know i unlocked it forever ago, and nothing that fastboot offers is doing anything for me. i cant use oem unlock, i cant flash anything to it, and unlike earlier today, multiple reboots no longer bring it back to life.
so, is there a way i can force this paperweight to take a dirty software load? or can i get fastboot to dump all my data into a folder or something? i havent been around really since the CM days, and Im very sure I simply cannot search for the right terms in the right places.
ive also made posts in the xda and oneplus discords with little reply (it is late in the US so im not overly surprised about that at all.
as an update, it booted into recovery this morning, i backed everything, unlocked the bootloader, and got about 5 hours out of it.
after getting fastboot to finish the oem unlock, i tried flashing twrp recovery which did nothing, flashed carbon, which did nothing, used the MSMdownload tool, which has done nothing but relock the bootloader again. im at a huge loss here.
is this motherboard level?
Alright mate. Sounds like you're having a mare.
Personally I haven't had a single bootloop besides, OnePlus do provide tools that a lot of companies don't, like MSM, so be grateful for that. Plus it's super easy to unlock and relock the bootloader, also OnePlus will allow you to retain warranty even if it has been unlocked.
So go easy on OnePlus. Believe me it could be worse, naming no names.........
Samsung. LG, Motorola, Sony, apple.
As for your issue, when and how did it bootloop, it is quite rare for a phone to simply behave that way on its own
Are you / were you rooted?
Did you confirm that the bootloader was unlocked? If you're rooted then I think that confirms that you did.
The only way I know of to relock the bootloader is the fastboot command to relock and or the MSM tool.
So can you fill in the gaps as to how you managed to get there??
Finally, if you are indeed bootloader locked and unable to get into your device then yep you're screwed, however you could wipe system from recovery, this will nuke your apps, but your storage will remain intact .
So if that suits your needs then go for it.
Let me know about the bootloader before you commit

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