[Q] Moto X (VZW) Bootloader

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BladeRunner

Senior Member
Jan 15, 2012
1,455
393
I think that sums it up best. Right now Googorola is a mess, at least in my view. They hugely botched up the first sale, crashing their website. When I later got a discount on the Valentine's Day deal, they shipped me a pre-damaged phone. Super hassle to replace ... took rattling cages on social media to get them to correct things. Since then have helped point a few others to someone there who might help fix their Googorola-created messes. So, I think the morale over there is down in the dumpster and I can't help but think the general reaction on their end would be "Whatever" ... then get back to watching the clock until the next meal/coffee break or time to go home.

Seriously, has anyone dealt with their customer support? Friendly as heck but the have no clue... about anything.. they don't know what phones they have in stock or anything about the software. I imagine that after Motorola downsized them that don't really have the bandwidth to chase down things like this. Not to mention that since these are consumer editions they are more of a VZW problem than Motorola.
 

bigv5150

Senior Member
Jan 8, 2011
1,275
360
I think Verizon could care less if you unlock or not. They make nothing off of Dev editions so they have nothing to gain or lose. Motorola however sells the Dev phone I could see them having an issue. The lose money from loss of sale. Not to mention someone on house is being naughty. Do I think they will do anything about this probably not. However the seller has raised concerns. I have no dog in this fight I'm unlocked however by continuing this thread it may scare off the seller. And he may decide not to sell to us. Just my 2 cents.


Sent from my XT1080 using xda app-developers app
 

mschumacher69

Senior Member
Jun 9, 2010
1,069
323
I think Verizon could care less if you unlock or not. They make nothing off of Dev editions so they have nothing to gain or lose. Motorola however sells the Dev phone I could see them having an issue. The lose money from loss of sale. Not to mention someone on house is being naughty. Do I think they will do anything about this probably not. However the seller has raised concerns. I have no dog in this fight I'm unlocked however by continuing this thread it may scare off the seller. And he may decide not to sell to us. Just my 2 cents.

Actually they do have something to loose, if they had nothing to loose, they would have allowed all customers to unlock their bootloaders like all other carriers (well except ATT & RW).

One thing they would loose is forcing customers to pay to have wifi tethering because once you Root, u can tether without having to pay VZW so this is a loss for them and it would create a load on their network.
 

BladeRunner

Senior Member
Jan 15, 2012
1,455
393
I think Verizon could care less if you unlock or not. They make nothing off of Dev editions so they have nothing to gain or lose. Motorola however sells the Dev phone I could see them having an issue. The lose money from loss of sale. Not to mention someone on house is being naughty. Do I think they will do anything about this probably not. However the seller has raised concerns. I have no dog in this fight I'm unlocked however by continuing this thread it may scare off the seller. And he may decide not to sell to us. Just my 2 cents.


Sent from my XT1080 using xda app-developers app

Verizon (& AT&T) are the ones forcing the locked bootloaders not Motorola. What their reasoning is I have no idea. I bet moto is selling the phones to Verizon at pretty close to retail cost. Its always been said that the carriers make little to n o money on the handsets themselves so the manufacturers could care less about WHO buys them the carriers or consumers.
 

Max725

Senior Member
Apr 2, 2012
150
46
Boston
While the service is still available (I hope) and the thread is here...
Would anyone who has successfully unlocked his bootloader be willing to try to get an unlock code for me? I tried, directly through Taobao, but got a refund. It's possible the seller can't get a code for my IMEI, but my bank called to have me confirm the charge after Taobao said it had been refunded; also, the charge was never made on my card - it was pending for a while, and then disappeared. So maybe there was some issue with the payment?
I emailed the seller asking which it was three days ago, and haven't gotten a reply. I can pay with PayPal or Google Wallet, with a few dollars extra. Please email or PM me if interested.

Update: I bought the service from chinese.silk on eBay - I haven't heard back yet. I will post again if it doesn't work.
Update: Successfully unlocked.
 
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NightThyme

Senior Member
Jan 5, 2014
128
17
I think Verizon could care less if you unlock or not. They make nothing off of Dev editions so they have nothing to gain or lose.
The reason Verizon cares is due to the ability to wifi tether for free and to remove their bloatware. Also, Verizon supports their customer's phones and if they let them hack them freely, that means lots of manpower hours paid for by Verizon when people who don't know what they are doing hack their phones. They will never have another Nexus phone on Verizon again after the GNex I am sure. What is so unfair though is that most of the GNex problems weren't due to an unlocked bootloader; they were due to Samsung's not worth a sheet radios.


Motorola however sells the Dev phone I could see them having an issue. The lose money from loss of sale.
The 32GB Moto Makers are the same price as the Dev Eds, which are 32GB. You are still buying a phone from Motorola.

---------- Post added at 06:47 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:46 PM ----------

Verizon (& AT&T) are the ones forcing the locked bootloaders not Motorola. What their reasoning is I have no idea.
To prevent free wifi tether and to force us to keep their bloatware on our phones in the hopes we will be stupid enough to pay to use it.

---------- Post added at 06:48 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:47 PM ----------

The lose money from loss of sale. Not to mention someone on house is being naughty. Do I think they will do anything about this probably not. However the seller has raised concerns. I have no dog in this fight I'm unlocked however by continuing this thread it may scare off the seller. And he may decide not to sell to us.
Or he may get a lot more business as people find this thread and pay him.

---------- Post added at 06:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:48 PM ----------

While the service is still available (I hope) and the thread is here...
Would anyone who has successfully unlocked his bootloader be willing to try to get an unlock code for me? I tried, directly through Taobao, but got a refund. It's possible the seller can't get a code for my IMEI, but my bank called to have me confirm the charge after Taobao said it had been refunded; also, the charge was never made on my card - it was pending for a while, and then disappeared. So maybe there was some issue with the payment?
I would try again. But this time, call your credit card company's fraud div before you place the order and to tell them it is you who is making the charge.

When I was traveling in Europe I had to tell my credit card company ahead of time so they wouldn't deny the charges due to geography.

---------- Post added at 06:52 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:51 PM ----------

My taobao account wouldn't work. Once it got to the payment part it would fail
Make a new taobao account and try again. You don't have to register for Alipay first and I believe from what I can read on the site, you don't want to register for Alipay first.
 
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NightThyme

Senior Member
Jan 5, 2014
128
17
Once the bootloader is unlocked, how do we achieve root? SlapMyMoto? RockMyMoto? and will 4.4.2 relock BL?
SlapMyMoto/RockMyMoto are for locked bootloaders only. For unlocked bootloaders you install a custom recovery like TWRP and a super user like SuperSU. Easy as pie.

The 4.4.2 OTA will not relock the bootloader but to take the 4.4.2 OTA you will need to return the recovery and system partitions to stock. Then reroot after you take the OTA.
 
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pyro6128

Senior Member
Nov 21, 2010
396
84
Once the bootloader is unlocked, how do we achieve root? SlapMyMoto? RockMyMoto? and will 4.4.2 relock BL?

Bladerunner is correct. And it won't relock the bootloader. I went from 4.2 camera update>OTA 4.4>OTA 4.4.2 and my bootloader remained unlocked the whole time. Make sure you're stock or the OTA will fail.
 

ygthb

Senior Member
So, by stock, do you mean stock bootloader, or stock 4.4, root or non root? I figure if it decomplicates things, I can wait till att puts out 4.4.2

Sent from my XT1058 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

---------- Post added at 02:50 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:49 AM ----------

Btw using Chinese.silk on eBay

Sent from my XT1058 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
 

KidJoe

Inactive Recognized Contributor
Aug 23, 2008
3,211
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Thorndale/Romansville, PA
For those asking how to root after they've unlocked, and will xxx relock me?...

After you've received the unlock code, consider your phone just like the Developer Edition, or other unlockable bootloader version X, like T-Mobile or Sprint version, except that you got your code form a 3rd party, rather than Moto's web site.

  1. You unlock the bootloader with the same process as the Developer Edition (except you got your code form a 3rd party, rather than Moto). NOTE: see -> https://motorola-global-portal.custhelp.com/app/standalone/bootloader/unlock-your-device-c or basically .> fastboot oem unlock <UNIQUE_KEY> THIS WILL FACTORY RESET YOUR DEVICE. DATA AND APPS WILL BE ERASED.
  2. You re-lock the bootloader with the same process as the Developer Edition, or other unlockable -> fastboot oem lock THIS WILL FACTORY RESET YOUR DEVICE. DATA AND APPS WILL BE ERASED.
  3. Only manually re-locking via the relock process (moto has on the Dev Edition web site, its fastboot oem lock ) will re-lock your bootloader
  4. Root process is the same as the Developer Edition (THIS THREAD) - you no longer need to use SlapMyMoto, RockMyMoto or the like
  5. Unlocking the bootloader disables Write Protection. - no need for MotoWpNoMo
  6. You can now use ANY process for developer edition phone or other unlocked bootloader phone (like t-mobile or sprint)
  7. Taking future OTA's will not re-lock your bootloader, however you will need to have stock recovery on your phone, and revert any modified system files, i.e. get back to "stock" or nearly stock, in order to install OTA's, just like those with Developer Edition phones have to do.

EDIT: Good point that I forgot to include in relation to points #2 & 3...
To add on that, you can always unlock it again if you do manually re-lock it (although there's no point in that), nothing will ever permanently lock your bootloader again once you unlock it. Re-locking it would not even get rid of the bootloader unlocked warning message.
Correct. There is usually no need to relock your bootloader, unless you want to. Re-locking does not hide the fact that you have unlocked at some point. There is a status code on the fastboot/bootloader screen for locked, unlocked, relocked. We can't set that code back to "LOCKED."

If the status is Unlocked or Relocked, you'll get the unlocked bootloader warning at boot up. To get rid of it, you can use the same process others with unlocked bootloaders use to replace the LOGO.BIN with a custom one... see -> http://xdaforums.com/moto-x/themes-apps/moto-x-boot-logos-t2417961 as it has a few. To make your own, see the tips in THIS POST and use carock's script
 
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mschumacher69

Senior Member
Jun 9, 2010
1,069
323
  1. Only manually re-locking via the relock process (moto has on the Dev Edition web site) will re-lock your bootloader
To add on that, you can always unlock it again if you do manually re-lock it (although there's no point in that), nothing will ever permanently lock your bootloader again once you unlock it. Re-locking it would not even get rid of the bootloader unlocked warning message.

Being that it is now unlocked like a dev phone, can we use dev updates?
As @19Interpol said, there are no special images for dev phones. The GSM Unlocked DE uses the same Retail US ROM as the TMO phone and the VZW DE uses the same ROM as the VZW non-DE.

That said, now that your bootloader is unlocked, you can flash other carrier ROMs on your phone. So if you have the ATT phone (GSM), you can flash the Retail US (GSM) ROM and you would start getting the Retail US OTAs. If you have a VZW phone (CDMA), you can flash ROMs from other CDMA carriers such as USC, Sprint and RW. Keep in mind that the UMTS and LTE bands might be different between ROMs so you might not get all supported bands if you flash another carrier's ROM (unless you flash the radio files from your carrier ROM).

This is good news for ATT users because they can now flash the Retail US (TMO) ROM to get rid of the ATT bloatware, get 4.4.2 and get timely OTAs ;)
 
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termleech

Senior Member
Nov 12, 2010
1,016
917
McPherson, KS
www.codemonkeyjava.com
**NOTE I don't agree with the reasons I'm putting forth for Verizon locking their bootloaders but I'm putting them out there**

Verizon cares way more about this unlock than Motoroloa. Motorola really loses nothing with this unlock. You void your warranty when you use this unlock method because it's not a dev edition.

Verizon locks their bootloaders for a couple reasons. One is that if they allowed the average users who's buying phones from Verizon to unlock their bootloaders it opens them up to flashing whatever ROM they want. For the average user this is a bad idea. They have no idea what they are doing and are at risk for bricking theirs phones. This means Verizon has to provide customer support for it and possibly replace phones. This costs Verizon money and we all know Verizon likes their money. It's also possible (however unlikely) that a average person flashes some ROM that either has a worm in it or messed with the phone radio and causes issues with the phone or Verizon's cell towers. Verizon wouldn't want to open themselves up to this.

This is why Verizon let's manufacturers offer the dev editions of the phone. The price is a high enough barrier to entry that the average person isn't going to pay for it (they are going to go to a Verizon store and get the cheap phone). This means most people buying a dev edition know what they are doing so the risk is significantly less. Plus the warranty is through Moto not Verizon so Verizon isn't replacing any messed up phones.

Also Verizon makes money off their bloatware they put on the phones. Allowing a user to root / unlock and remove that means money that Verizon may be losing.

I'd venture to guess that 90% of people aren't on the unlimited plans anymore. Any recent plan has tethering includes I'm almost positive (I know the share everything plans do) so the tethering it's a huge issue. Likely anyone who is still on the unlimited or a non-tethering plan probably bought the dev edition anyway.
 

vtmike

Senior Member
Oct 6, 2010
258
46
Wonder if dev edition resale prices are going to drop now or the price of unlocked moto maker phones priced as much as dev phones.

Sent from my XT1060 using Tapatalk
 

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  • 8
    For those asking how to root after they've unlocked, and will xxx relock me?...

    After you've received the unlock code, consider your phone just like the Developer Edition, or other unlockable bootloader version X, like T-Mobile or Sprint version, except that you got your code form a 3rd party, rather than Moto's web site.

    1. You unlock the bootloader with the same process as the Developer Edition (except you got your code form a 3rd party, rather than Moto). NOTE: see -> https://motorola-global-portal.custhelp.com/app/standalone/bootloader/unlock-your-device-c or basically .> fastboot oem unlock <UNIQUE_KEY> THIS WILL FACTORY RESET YOUR DEVICE. DATA AND APPS WILL BE ERASED.
    2. You re-lock the bootloader with the same process as the Developer Edition, or other unlockable -> fastboot oem lock THIS WILL FACTORY RESET YOUR DEVICE. DATA AND APPS WILL BE ERASED.
    3. Only manually re-locking via the relock process (moto has on the Dev Edition web site, its fastboot oem lock ) will re-lock your bootloader
    4. Root process is the same as the Developer Edition (THIS THREAD) - you no longer need to use SlapMyMoto, RockMyMoto or the like
    5. Unlocking the bootloader disables Write Protection. - no need for MotoWpNoMo
    6. You can now use ANY process for developer edition phone or other unlocked bootloader phone (like t-mobile or sprint)
    7. Taking future OTA's will not re-lock your bootloader, however you will need to have stock recovery on your phone, and revert any modified system files, i.e. get back to "stock" or nearly stock, in order to install OTA's, just like those with Developer Edition phones have to do.

    EDIT: Good point that I forgot to include in relation to points #2 & 3...
    To add on that, you can always unlock it again if you do manually re-lock it (although there's no point in that), nothing will ever permanently lock your bootloader again once you unlock it. Re-locking it would not even get rid of the bootloader unlocked warning message.
    Correct. There is usually no need to relock your bootloader, unless you want to. Re-locking does not hide the fact that you have unlocked at some point. There is a status code on the fastboot/bootloader screen for locked, unlocked, relocked. We can't set that code back to "LOCKED."

    If the status is Unlocked or Relocked, you'll get the unlocked bootloader warning at boot up. To get rid of it, you can use the same process others with unlocked bootloaders use to replace the LOGO.BIN with a custom one... see -> http://xdaforums.com/moto-x/themes-apps/moto-x-boot-logos-t2417961 as it has a few. To make your own, see the tips in THIS POST and use carock's script
    6
    I went through the website directly to purchase without using a middleman. This is how I did it (modified and a expanded upon dmiramon instructions on page 16)

    1. Went to the Verizon Bootloader Unlock China site: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.14.61.r70vRg&id=37333625825
    2. Enable Google Translate (I'm using Chrome)
    3. Click on the orange button mid-way down the page (mouse-over tooltip reads: "Click this button to confirm the purchase")
    4. The next page basically asks for your phone number and will send you a text message with a confirmation code. I scrolled down within the first drop-down box until the country code changed to "+1" for USA
    5. Enter phone number, click the button, check your text message
    6. Enter the code (numbers in the middle of a bunch of Chinese letters in the text message); click the box next to that
    7. Sign up for a TaoBao account (left-hand side; looks like the right was for current members to log in - I did not yet have an account). There should be an Overseas option in here which some seem to be missing
    8. I included my IMEI number in the Comments to Seller box, though you can send it to the seller later
    9. Payment information - I used a virtual credit card number (Citi bank) with a fixed dollar limit and expiration date (TaoBao accepts Visa and Mastercard)
    10. A successful payment leads to the confirmation page
    (I used babelxl.com to translate some of these random things that Google Translate wouldn't)

    That's it. Done.
    I then clicked on the bouncing blue smiley face thing (looks like something from bomberman on Nintendo) to chat with the seller. He seemed to understand and speak English quite well. He told me 48 hours until I'll have my code.

    dmiramon had recommended using Skype to communicate with the seller and send the IMEI, that should work too.

    Here's hoping, I will post back here with the results, whether positive or negative
    5
    Just got my unlock code from the ebay middleperson. It worked. It took 24 hours from the time I sent the $42 (by bank wire).

    Now what do I do? I want to end up on 4.4.2 with root. I think the steps are to flash back to 4.2.2 post camera stock, take the OTAs to 4.4.2, then flash TWRP and supersu. I can't seem to find a thread that covers my situation (vzw non-dev 4.4 rooted --> vzw unlocked bootloader).

    Thanks in advance.
    Once you have your code, If you want 4.4.2 with root...

    1. Backup your phone since unlocking the bootloader is destructive. It does a factory reset which erases your data and apps.
    2. To Unlock your bootloader, start the phone in fastboot or bootloader mode and on your PC type... mfastboot oem unlock UNIQUE_KEY (where the unique_key is the code you got... and it is case sensitive).
    3. Use RSDLite to flash the 4.4.2 SBF from -> http://sbf.droid-developers.org/phone.php?device=0
    4. Root by following -> http://xdaforums.com/moto-x/moto-x-qa/instructions-unlocking-rooting-dev-ed-t2649738
    5. Get rid of the Unlocked bootloader warning by replacing the LOGO.BIN with a custom one. See this thread for some custom ones and "how to" -> http://xdaforums.com/moto-x/themes-apps/moto-x-boot-logos-t2417961 I have some zipped up here -> http://mark.cdmaforums.com/X-STUFF/X-LogoBins.zip to make your own see -> http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=49179887&postcount=150
    5
    People are making this too complicated. If you are already on 4.4.2 and have made no modifications to your phone at all the only steps you have to do are the following:

    Download and extract this: http://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=23252070760973491
    Install this: https://motorola-global-portal.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/88481

    Turn off your phone
    Hold Volume Down + Power for 3 seconds and let go

    Connect the phone to your computer with the usb cable

    Navigate within a Command Prompt that was launched as admin to the extracted folder.

    Type: fastboot oem unlock UNIQUE_KEY (where the unique key is what you got from taobao or the ebay middleman)

    Your phone will reboot and everything will be wiped and you will be on a fresh install of 4.4.2

    Disconnect your usb cable

    Power off your phone

    Hold Volume Down + Power for 3 seconds and let go

    Connect your usb cable to your phone

    In the same command prompt type mfastboot flash recovery twrp-2.6.3.1-ghost-4.4.img

    You now have TWRP installed. You can now flash ROMs, SuperSU, etc..

    This is meant as a simple guide and not an end all resource. Please read the forum for more information.
    5
    From Chinese.Silk

    I purchased from Chinese.silk on Monday. Haven't received anything yet and contacted Chinese.silk. no response yet. Waiting anxiously

    Sent from my XT1060 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

    Hello,

    This is Chinese.silk, the middleman from Ebay,actually a woman :). Can you please let me know your Ebay ID? I am not sure if I missed your message. I seems abnormal you do not get my response, since I always reply my clients at least within 24 hours. Please give me the information and allow me some time to check it out. Thank you for your understanding and have a good weekend!