The HTC One, HTC’s high and mighty flagship phone of 2013, is not out in the market yet but the development community has already started working on various hacks and modifications for it. It’s a guarantee that the device will be extremely popular in the community, but before you are able to take advantage of all those hacks (such as custom ROMs), you’ll have to unlock its bootloader.

When you turn on your phone, the operating system (also called firmware) is loaded into memory from storage and then booted up, and the bootloader is the piece of code that starts this sequence of loading the OS up. By default, the bootloader is locked and allows only the official OS/firmware to be booted up on a device, which prevents one from running a custom ROM (or kernel).

That is where bootloader unlocking comes in, as by unlocking the bootloader the phone is then free to boot up into unofficial software, a custom ROM (or kernel) in this case. Most Android devices come with a locked bootloader, and while some manufacturers choose not to let users unlock the bootloader so as to not ruin the experience, most devices can be unlocked if a user chooses to.

This bootloader unlock guide for the HTC One will walk you through the entire procedure with easy step-by-step instructions, allowing you to unlock the bootloader and then install custom ROMs and modification as and when you please.

However, unlocking bootloader has a few disadvantages and risks involved:

  1. Unlocking the bootloader will void the warranty of your phone permanently and you’ll be unable to get any support under warranty from HTC.
  2. All the data on your phone will be wiped, including personal content on the internal storage such photos, music, videos and other files. You can take a backup of everything though and restore it later on.
  3. While you’ll be able to obtain official software updates from HTC after unlocking bootloader, there are chances that it might cause issues so it’s best to not accept official software updates.

So make sure you’re okay with the risks involved in unlocking the bootloader as given above, then continue reading below for the bootloader unlock procedure.

Compatibility

The procedure described below is only for the HTC One. Do not try it on any other device.

Warning!

The methods and procedures discussed here are considered risky, so try them out at your own risk, and make sure to read each step carefully before attempting anything. We will not be held responsible if anything goes wrong.

Requirements

  1. Unlocking the bootloader causes all the data on the device to get wiped, including everything on your internal storage such as photos, music, videos, etc. First, backup installed apps and other data such as contacts, messages, bookmarks, etc, by referring to our Android Backup Guide for help. Then, copy everything from the SD card to your computer, which will also include the apps and data you backed up.
  2. You’ll need to have the drivers for the phone installed on your computer. Download the HTC Sync Manager and install it on your computer, which will install the drivers as well.
    Download HTC Sync Manager
  3. Download Fastboot.
    Download Fastboot | Filename: Fastboot.zip
  4. Extract the Fastboot.zip file you just downloaded to a convenient location on the computer to obtain a folder named Fastboot which will have four files inside it. To keep things easy, extract the Fastboot folder to drive C.

Unlock HTC One Bootloader

  1. Open your Internet browser and go to this URL → http://www.htcdev.com and create an account for yourself using the Register link.
  2. After completing the registration and verifying your e-mail, login with your new account and open the “unlock bootloader” page.
    Here’s the direct link to the unlock bootloader page → link.
  3. Now select “All Other Supported Models” from the drop down menu on the right and then click on the “Begin Unlock Bootloader” page.
  4. You’ll get a pop-up warning, read it if you care, and hit the “Yes” button.
  5. Now you’ll be asked to accept some legal terms, tick on both the check boxes and hit the “Proceed to Unlock Instructions” button.
  6. You’ll see four steps on the next page, below’s a more simple explanation to those steps:
    1. Switch OFF your phone and disconnect it from the computer.
    2. Press and hold “Volume down + Power button” together until your phone boots into bootloader mode.
    3. Select Fastboot using the Power button.
      You can use the Volume buttons to go up & down and Power button to select the highlighted option in the bootloader mode.
    4. Connect your phone to the PC.
  7. Go to the second page on the htcdev site, click the “Proceed to Step 5” button.
  8. Now on the second page, you really don’t have to follow anything htcdev site is saying, instead, do this:
    1. Open the Fastboot folder. Here, press and hold down the SHIFT button on your keyboard, then right-click on an empty part of the screen. Then, click on the “Open command window here” option in the right-click menu to open a command prompt window.
      fastboot-right-click
    2. In the command prompt window, type the following command:
      fastboot devices
      This is to ensure that your device is detected, if nothing appears on-screen with this command, then it means you don’t have the proper drivers installed on your PC. And if that’s the case you should download and install/re-install the HTC Sync Manager. And also restart your PC if required.
  9. That’s all you’ve to do on the second page. Now go to the third page on the htcdev site by clicking the “Proceed to Step 8” button at the bottom of the page. Remember to keep the command prompt window open.
  10. On the third page, follow all the Steps given on the htcdev site very carefully. And click on the “Submit” button when you’re done
  11. If you’ve followed the steps correctly, you will see a “Token Submitted Succesfully!” message on the next page. You’ll also receive an e-mail with the unlock key attached as a file.
  12. Open the e-mail you received from HTC, and download the “Unlock_code.bin” file attached to it.
  13. Copy/transfer the “Unlock_code.bin” to the Fastboot folder, which will now have a total of 5 files inside.
  14. Flash the Unlock_code.bin file on your phone using fastboot:
    1. Type the following command in the command prompt window:
      fastboot flash unlocktoken Unlock_code.bin
    2. Now on your phone you’ll receive an Unlock bootloader request. Use Volume Up button to select Yes and Power button to confirm and continue.
    3. Your phone will reboot and will factory reset itself. You can now disconnect the phone from the computer.
  15. That’s all. Congratulations, your HTC One’s bootloader is now unlocked. To confirm, boot into bootloader mode (follow Step 6.1 & 6.2) and you’ll see “UNLOCKED” written at the top of the screen.

The bootloader on your HTC One is now unlocked and you’ll be able to root it, install custom ROMs and kernels and make other modifications whenever needed. Do let us know if you run into any issues during the procedure, we’ll be sure to help you out.