How to unlock Bootloader of an HTC device

Unlocking bootloader of an HTC device has its own benefits. As, after you unlocked your device, you can go ahead and install a custom recovery like TWRP, or CWM, and then root easily using SuperSU. Yes, then your love for custom ROMs and mods, and Xposed, gets full attention, but all this starts with unlocking the bootloader of your device.

This guide we have here works on every Android device to date. Even if you are new to Android, HTC or hacking — little bit of this stuff does falls into that — you can easily use this guide to unlock bootloader of your HTC device. Whether that be One M8 (used in the video you see below), or One M7, One M9, HTC Desire, or any other HTC device.

Bootloader unlock is very easy now a days, as HTC itself provides you the way, and the same is followed by Sony and LG too. Still, carrier locked devices which have the bootloader locked intentionally — HTC sets at Sprint, Verizon, AT&T, etc. — cannot use this method of HTC to get their device’s bootloader unlocked.

Once you have unlocked the bootloader, go ahead and search our this very blog for TWRP recovery for your device. Then you will ready to easily root your device, or install custom ROM and mods of your choice. It’s really, ‘be together, not same’ fun!

Know this:

Unlocking bootloader of any device involves a certain degree of risk. You must note and understand the following before proceeding with bootloader unlocking process:

• Unlocking the bootloader will void the warranty of your device permanently and you’ll be unable to get any support under warranty from HTC.
• All the data on your device will be wiped, including personal content on the internal storage such as photos, music, videos and other files. You can take a backup of everything though and restore it later on.
• 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. You may need to re-lock your device’s bootloader to accept and install OTA updates.

Warning: Warranty may be void of your device if you follow the procedures given on this page. You only are responsible for your device. We won’t be liable if any damage occurs to your device and/or its components.

Backup your Android. Backup important files stored on your device before proceeding with the steps below, so that in case something goes wrong you’ll have backup of all your important files.

Before you begin with guide instructions below, make sure your android device is adequately charged — at least 50% battery of the device.

1. Install HTC drivers. First step to hacking your device begins with installing drivers, doesn’t it?
2. Now, install ADB and fastboot drivers. This makes sure that your device recognizes fastboot command and get you token in step below.
3. Let’s begin now. First of all you need to register and create an account on the HTdev site here. This is HTC’s own developer site to support unlocking of bootloader.
4. After completing the registration, you will need to verify your e-mail address. Go to gmail, yahoo, hotmail or wherever your email ID is, log in, and then look for a mail from htcdev.com. Open the mail, and verify by clicking on the verification link.
   → If you don’t see any mail from HTC Dev within 30 mins from registering, then be sure to check the Spam folder.
5. Go to the following link and login with your account here. Now, click on Unlock bootloader and click Get started to finally begin with unlocking.
   
6. Disconnect your device from PC and boot it into Bootloader Mode:
   • Power off your device first and wait for 6-7 seconds after display is off.
   • Press and hold Power + Volume down button together for like 5-6 seconds and then let go of them. You will see either a white screen with HBOOT written, or black screen with Download Mode written. Either is fine. Basically, on One M9, M9+ and newer devices, you will get black screen, while on older than one M9 devcies, you will get HBOOT white screen.
   • If you got white screen, do this. Choose FASTBOOT using volume buttons and then select it using power button.
7. On PC, create new folder, name it as unlock-bl and then keep it open.
8. Now, open command window in the unlock-bl folder. For this:
   1. Left click on empty white space in the unlock-bl folder.
   2. Now, while holding shift key, right click on empty white space to get a pop-up as shown below.
   3. Now choose Open command window here option from that.
      
      You will see a command window open up, with location directed to unlock-bl folder.
9. Connect your HTC device to PC now. It must be in bootloader mode already as given in step 6 above.
10. Now, on PC, in command window, run the following command. (You can copy paste it too.) After entering text, use enter key to run it.

    fastboot oem get_identifier_token

11. You will see a long text of token. You have to copy it now. For this:
    1. First, right click on an empty space inside command window, and select Mark.
    2. Now, highlight the block of text starting from <<<< Identifier Token Start >>>>  and ending with <<<<< Identifier Token End >>>>>.
    3. Right click on the highlighted text to copy it. (Refer to the image below.) Press escape key to get rid of pop-up from last right click.
       
       └ It may say <info> instead of <bootloader> but don’t worry, the procedure is the same.
12. Now, provide this token to HTC, so that they hand you the unlock code via a file sent to you email. Do this.
    1. Go to the following link here.
    2. Scroll down to the bottom where it says My Device Identifier Token and paste the previously copied token here. And then click on Submit.
       └ Copy and paste the token directly from Command Prompt window to the web page. DO NOT try coping it somewhere else first (Example: Notepad) and then pasting from there to web page.
       
13. If you did it alright, HTC will receive your token code, and will send you an e-mail with your Unlock_code.bin attached to the e-mail.
14. Download the Unlock_code.bin and transfer it to unlock-bl folder, where you have the command window pointing location to.
15. Close the command prompt window for once, and then open it again in the unlock-bl folder as above (step 6). And then run the following command.

    fastboot flash unlocktoken Unlock_code.bin

16. Look at your HTC device now. A screen will appear on your device now asking you to confirm the bootloader unlock. Use Volume Up button to highlight Yes and select it using Power button.
17. Your HTC device will now reboot and the bootloader will be unlocked to fulfill all your flashing and modding needs. You can disconnect your device from computer once it fully boots up.
18. To confirm if your bootloader is unlocked boot into Bootloader Mode (Step 4), it should say *** UNLOCKED *** at the top of the screen.

Enjoy!

Feedback us!

It was easy to unlock bootloader on your HTC device, right? Let us know how you plan to use it in comments below.

Your suggestions and queries, if any, are most welcomed!