{Programming} & Life

Now for something entirely different to my normal pro-Microsoft .NET scriblings…

I had the painful privileged experience of network unlocking my Android powered Australian Samsung Galaxy Tab today and thought due to the number of steps involved and information all over the place on the net that it might be nice to blog about the procedure in clear easy to follow steps in endeavor to help others that wish to do the same and to speak about any hurdles I encountered and how I overcame them.

This guide has been put together through an amalgamation of tutorials I have found across the internet in attempt to make a simple, streamlined guide in the least amount of steps possible that anyone can follow; it may work for other Android-powered devices such as the Samsung Galaxy S but this is unconfirmed (can anyone from the community confirm?).

As I mentioned, worked a treat for me, with no problems and the particular unlocking strategy I selected will retain your Serial number and contains an easy guide with no hex editing which some others require.

However, with that being said.. Use this tutorial for your Galaxy Tab and Galaxy S at your own risk!

TOOLS REQUIRED

• SuperOneClick (It is used to enable root access on your device, download: http://www.shortfuse.org/, info http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=803682)
• Busybox (via Busybox Installer for up-to-date version, free, Android Market) and Super Manager (free, Android Market)
• adb.exe (Included in SuperOneClick .zip package/Android SDK)

STEPS

1. Check Network Lock:
   1. You can check network lock by dialling *#7465625# on your device.  If Network Lock is present, this will be set to [ON].
2. Enable root access on your device:
   1. Download SuperOneClick from the location mentioned in the tools (I am using v1.7 at the time of writing this article)
   2. Ensure USB cable is not plugged in to your computer.
   3. On your device go to Settings->Applications->Development->USB debugging and turn it ON.
   4. Connect USB cable to your computer.
   5. Extract SuperOneClick and run SuperOneClick.exe as Administrator.
   6. Once the program has loaded, press “Root”.
   7. Wait for the operation to perform it’s sequence (30secs – 2 minutes) then your device will have root access!
      

If the program has stalled at “Waiting for Device” or any other process for too long (>2 minutes) you may have an issue with your Android device driver, or may not be running as Administrator.

Try either rebooting your device or more importantly, and the solution that worked for me, is to install the Android device driver which is available on the JuneFabrics PdaNet page (http://junefabrics.com/android/download.php). I actually installed the whole PdaNet package available here not realising first so try that if you still have problems (http://junefabrics.com/android/download.php).

Once you have done this, try re-performing the steps.

1. Install Busybox Installer and Super Manager from Android Market (this will be used to perform backup in the next step).
2. Backup /efs folder to sdcard:
   1. Using Super Manager, enable root access (Settings -> Enable ROOT access. If you find Super Manager locking up when pressing this option, try rebooting device first as root access may not have been properly initialised (this worked for me))
   2. On Super Manager home screen press the icon for “File Explorer”.
   3. Go to root directory and then select the tick on /efs folder.
   4. Press “Copy” [Double page] icon.
   5. Open sdcard directory, and press “Paste” [Clipboard] icon.
   6. Disconnect USB cable, disable USB debugging (Settings->Applications->Development->USB debugging) and reconnect USB cable.
   7. Open your Android device folder in My Computer and copy the efs folder to a safe backup location on your local hard drive and do not delete this folder!
   8. Disconnect USB cable, re-enable USB debugging and reconnect USB cable.
   9. Run the network unlock script via adb.exe:
      1. Whilst your USB cable is plugged in to your computer and you are in USB debugging mode, open a command prompt (PowerShell.exe / cmd.exe) and navigate to the SuperOneClick directory or your Android SDK directory where adb.exe is located.
      2. Run the following commands:

adb.exe shell

su

The following can be pasted directly into the shell:

cd /sdcard
echo "this takes about 45 seconds"
if [ ! -f /sdcard/nv_data.bin.orig ]; then
echo "copying file to /sdcard"
cp /efs/nv_data.bin /sdcard/nv_data.bin.orig
fi
echo -en \\x00 > out0
dd if=nv_data.bin.orig of=out1 bs=1 count=1578089
dd if=nv_data.bin.orig of=out2 bs=1 skip=1578090 count=163
dd if=nv_data.bin.orig of=out3 bs=1 skip=1578254
cat out1 out0 out2 out0 out3 > nv_data.bin.unlocked
rm out0 out1 out2 out3
rm /efs/nv_data.bin
cp nv_data.bin.unlocked /efs/nv_data.bin
rm /efs/nv_data.bin.md5
reboot

Your device is now network unlocked and will reboot!

Ensure your new SIM is plugged in and that you now have Internet access. If you don’t, it is most likely because your APN settings for the carrier are not setup correctly.

For the appropriate settings, refer to the wireless broadband guide issued with your SIM from your carrier or Google “APN setting your_carriers_name_here” and enter these settings in Settings->Wireless->Mobile Networks->Access Point Names.  For more information on this process, or help refer to the carrier/SIM unlock thread here (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=843323).

I have re-written these steps after the fact, and was really aiming for simplicity; so if I have missed anything out, or you feel this guide can be improved, please leave a comment and I will update it.

Credits to the following sources:

• http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=838424
• http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=803682
• http://theunlockr.com/2010/10/11/how-to-root-your-android-phone-superoneclick-method/
• http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=843323
• http://www.thegalaxytabforum.com/index.php?/topic/168-guide-unlocking-samsung-galaxy-tab/

Happy unlocking!
Graham