[LS997|VS995|H910|F800L] DirtySanta Bootloader unlock and Root guide

[powermaxim]

Hang on, your ls997 works on tmobile? They told me it wouldn't work with the 3g shut off. Even tho ls977 don't need 3g signal. Hence 4g lte. This is kinda big imo.

If I could fully root my ls997 current oreo, that would be sweet, but last I knew full bootloader unlock root past early 7.0 is impossible. Temp root is better then nothing still.

My current tmobile phone is a a71 5g. Unrootable from what I know past 2021 firmware. Was told needed to continue service. Lies like I thought I guess.

Well, I say "fine" compared to my rooted Pixel 4A running Lineage, it does not pick up a signal as well inside the building at work. The LTE is almost uselessly slow with high packet loss. The Pixel 4A is not much better but it almost gets the sub-6 5G signal and both can work moderatly well if I keep the phone on my desk and play with the position a bit, or place it on a high shelf. Though very recently it seems the signal has gotten much worse and I have to walk to the analog repeater in the building to get a better signal, or outside.

I have yet to quantify the latency, jitter, and bandwidth since I performed the fresh flash of it while at work and had practically no network access to install anything of value. The "LTE" was about the speed of 1xRTT. i.e. it didn't work ,whereas on my Pixel it would be on the order of 1Mbps with latency around 1000ms-5000ms to infinite (lost packet) 40% of the time. At home it seems to pick up LTE better with around 20Mbps download and 50ms latency, whereas my Pixel would switch between LTE and NR-NSA with speeds all over the place from 3G speeds up to... well I've seen peaks on the order of 200Mbps, speeds.

I do notice that, like on my Pixel, I am getting constant "micro dropouts" like where the LTE goes away, it might connect to H or H+, or even EDGE or 1xRTT for a bit until I cycle airplane mode and wait for it to re-enumerate the connection for LTE or 5G. I have NO IDEA why this is happening, on Sprint there was an option to "update PRL" which would fix these types of issues until I move to a different cell location and have similar intermittent issues like this. It actually seems much less frequent on the V20, though I have not played with it much. This and the unreliable SMS/MMS send/receive and a huge plefora of bugs I have on LineageOS (constant ANRs, only 1 camera detected, top microphone not working, have to use headset for loudspeaker or for facebook messenger, things just not working the way they should...) So I am fiddling with my old V20 to see whether I want to convert to /e/OS.

Oh, and I think at one point I flashed something (ROM or recovery?) that was supposed to be for the US996 model since the LS997 would fail the check for the model of phone that I have. Even though I know for fact it is actually a LS997. Maybe I turned effectively into a US996 at some point lolol

 

[powermaxim]

OK so it turns out that mobile voice and SMS might not work after all. I might try playing with the APN and sim and roaming settings a bit more, but as of right now I can't send or receive SMS messages or make calls.

 

[bccrosby]

I use lg v20 vs995 , I ran to step1.bat and got the following error, please help me how to fix it

 

[NeonHD]

I don't mean to sound like an ungrateful wretch, but why is this still the only way to unlock the bootloader on the V20?

Meanwhile for the LG G7 and LG V35 you simply boot the phone into Qualcomm EDL mode and use QFIL to flash a modded laf image into the laf partitions and boom, bootloader unlocked. SOO MUCH EASIER.

Like many others, I also cannot get past the applypatch command part (on F800L) and returns a syntax error.

 

[NeonHD]

UPDATE: I followed this YouTube video guide. I used the provided root package from the description and the applypatch command worked perfectly. The rest of the scripts also worked perfectly and was able to get TWRP. Not to mention his version of the script was fully automatic (no "press 1 or 2").


DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME ON THIS THREAD! I highly recommend downloading this root package instead and following the instructions in this video. You will not regret it.

Edit: Attached the root package for convenience.

 

[riverstyxxx]

This tutorial does NOT work with Oreo, only Nougat. The code

applypatch /system/bin/atd /storage/emulated/0/dirtysanta

is invalid. I went through it on both versions, only works with nougat.

 

[coyotl55]

It looks like quite a few people are getting confused about the steps they need to take, so I wrote up the steps I took to get my device rooted. @me2151 - if you want to add it to the OP, feel free to do so! I'm not trying to take anything away from the original instructions, but I decided to just type up the steps I took to try and make things easier for people.

These instructions are for Windows users and are specific to the Sprint model (LS997). Others can follow them if they want, up to the point where I refer them back to the OP for other variants' instructions:

1. Download and install ADB and fastboot and add them to your path (see here for instructions) then reboot the PC so the changes go into effect (and to refresh your system, because it is Windows after all )
2. Download and install the LG USB drivers (do not connect the phone to the PC until after this is done!!)
3. Download all of the files from the OP and put them somewhere easy, for the purposes of this tutorial, I will use C:\android
4. Extract the contents of v20-root.zip to the base of your working directory but do not extract the other zip's!
5. Install a terminal emulator onto your phone from the Play Store (see the OP for a great one to use).
6. If you haven't already, enable Developer Mode on the phone (search to figure out how) and make sure that USB debugging is enabled.
7. Reboot your phone for safe measure!
8. After the phone is rebooted, connect it to the PC and wait for the drivers to finish installing...
9. IMPORTANT: Browse to your phone via Windows Explorer, open the EXTERNAL SD Card and copy both LS997-deODEXd-signed.zip and SuperSU.zip to it.
10. Open a command prompt as Administrator (this may not be needed, but UAC can be weird in Windows so I recommend it anyway) and navigate to C:\android
11. From C:\android, type: adb devices and make sure it sees your device. If it does, then proceed. If not, then start over!!
12. From C:\android, type: RUNMEFIRST.bat and press Enter. This will open another command prompt window. Don't close this window and just move it to the side.
13. From C:\android, type: Step1.bat and press Enter. (You will see two "Operation not permitted messages. Just ignore them and continue.)
14. After Step1.bat has finished, go to your phone and open Terminal Emulator...
15. From the elsa:/$ prompt, type: id from your phone's keyboard and press Enter.
    *** Look for the words "untrusted_app" in the output. If you see them, them proceed. If not, start over from step 11!!
16. From the elsa:/$ prompt, type: applypatch /system/bin/atd /storage/emulated/0/dirtysanta and press Enter.
    *** Watch the other command prompt window that opened from the earlier step. It will eventually tell you to run Step2.bat.
17. From C:\android, type: Step2.bat and press Enter. If everything goes well, your phone will reboot into bootloader (it will look tiny).
18. From C:\android, type: Step3.bat and press Enter. If everything goes well, your phone will reboot back into the system. Don't unlock the phone...
19. From C:\android, type: adb reboot recovery and press Enter. If everything goes well, your phone will reboot to TWRP.
    *** You will see a message saying your phone is corrupt. Ignore this and DO NOT TOUCH THE DEVICE!! Also, it takes time for TWRP to load so be patient!!
20. If everything goes well, your phone will eventually boot to TWRP (yaay!). Press Cancel on the password screen, then swipe to modify the system files.
21. I recommend performing a backup at this point. If you don't know how to perform a backup in TWRP, then Google search is your friend!
    If you are running anything other than the Sprint model, STOP here and go back to the OP for your specific instructions!! If you are on Sprint, the continue:
22. Go to Wipe > Advanced and put checks in the following: Dalvik, System, Data, Internal and Cache and then slide to Wipe. Repeat these steps three times!!
23. Go back to the main menu, then Wipe > Format Data, type yes and press Enter. Do this three times as well!!
24. Go back to the main menu, then Reboot > Reboot Recovery and reboot the device back to recovery again.
25. Go to Install > locate the LS997-deODEXd-signed.zip you added to your External SD card earlier and flash it. Then flash SuperSU.zip the same way...
26. Once both files have been successfully flashed, click Wipe Cache/Dalvik and then Reboot System
27. If everything goes well, your phone will reboot.
    *** It takes a good 10-15 minutes for it to boot. It may appear to be frozen, but it's not!! Just let it boot!!!
28. After the phone has booted, go through the setup process until you are back to the home screen...
29. From C:\android, type: adb reboot bootloader and press Enter. This will boot the device back to the bootloader screen
30. From C:\android, type: fastboot flash boot boot2.img and press Enter. Wait for it to say finished.
31. From C:\android, type: fastboot reboot and press Enter. This will reboot the device. Wait for it to finish loading...
32. From C:\android, type: adb reboot recovery and press Enter. This will reboot the device back to recovery. Again, this takes a long time!
33. Once you are in recovery, re-flash SuperSU.zip again. When it's complete, click Wipe Dalvik/Cache and then click Reboot System.
34. Wait for the phone to boot up. It will take another 10-15 minutes or so....

If everything goes well, once the phone has finished booting, you will be fully rooted and ready to rock and roll!!

It looks like quite a few people are getting confused about the steps they need to take, so I wrote up the steps I took to get my device rooted. @me2151 - if you want to add it to the OP, feel free to do so! I'm not trying to take anything away from the original instructions, but I decided to just type up the steps I took to try and make things easier for people.

These instructions are for Windows users and are specific to the Sprint model (LS997). Others can follow them if they want, up to the point where I refer them back to the OP for other variants' instructions:

1. Download and install ADB and fastboot and add them to your path (see here for instructions) then reboot the PC so the changes go into effect (and to refresh your system, because it is Windows after all )
2. Download and install the LG USB drivers (do not connect the phone to the PC until after this is done!!)
3. Download all of the files from the OP and put them somewhere easy, for the purposes of this tutorial, I will use C:\android
4. Extract the contents of v20-root.zip to the base of your working directory but do not extract the other zip's!
5. Install a terminal emulator onto your phone from the Play Store (see the OP for a great one to use).
6. If you haven't already, enable Developer Mode on the phone (search to figure out how) and make sure that USB debugging is enabled.
7. Reboot your phone for safe measure!
8. After the phone is rebooted, connect it to the PC and wait for the drivers to finish installing...
9. IMPORTANT: Browse to your phone via Windows Explorer, open the EXTERNAL SD Card and copy both LS997-deODEXd-signed.zip and SuperSU.zip to it.
10. Open a command prompt as Administrator (this may not be needed, but UAC can be weird in Windows so I recommend it anyway) and navigate to C:\android
11. From C:\android, type: adb devices and make sure it sees your device. If it does, then proceed. If not, then start over!!
12. From C:\android, type: RUNMEFIRST.bat and press Enter. This will open another command prompt window. Don't close this window and just move it to the side.
13. From C:\android, type: Step1.bat and press Enter. (You will see two "Operation not permitted messages. Just ignore them and continue.)
14. After Step1.bat has finished, go to your phone and open Terminal Emulator...
15. From the elsa:/$ prompt, type: id from your phone's keyboard and press Enter.
    *** Look for the words "untrusted_app" in the output. If you see them, them proceed. If not, start over from step 11!!
16. From the elsa:/$ prompt, type: applypatch /system/bin/atd /storage/emulated/0/dirtysanta and press Enter.
    *** Watch the other command prompt window that opened from the earlier step. It will eventually tell you to run Step2.bat.
17. From C:\android, type: Step2.bat and press Enter. If everything goes well, your phone will reboot into bootloader (it will look tiny).
18. From C:\android, type: Step3.bat and press Enter. If everything goes well, your phone will reboot back into the system. Don't unlock the phone...
19. From C:\android, type: adb reboot recovery and press Enter. If everything goes well, your phone will reboot to TWRP.
    *** You will see a message saying your phone is corrupt. Ignore this and DO NOT TOUCH THE DEVICE!! Also, it takes time for TWRP to load so be patient!!
20. If everything goes well, your phone will eventually boot to TWRP (yaay!). Press Cancel on the password screen, then swipe to modify the system files.
21. I recommend performing a backup at this point. If you don't know how to perform a backup in TWRP, then Google search is your friend!
    If you are running anything other than the Sprint model, STOP here and go back to the OP for your specific instructions!! If you are on Sprint, the continue:
22. Go to Wipe > Advanced and put checks in the following: Dalvik, System, Data, Internal and Cache and then slide to Wipe. Repeat these steps three times!!
23. Go back to the main menu, then Wipe > Format Data, type yes and press Enter. Do this three times as well!!
24. Go back to the main menu, then Reboot > Reboot Recovery and reboot the device back to recovery again.
25. Go to Install > locate the LS997-deODEXd-signed.zip you added to your External SD card earlier and flash it. Then flash SuperSU.zip the same way...
26. Once both files have been successfully flashed, click Wipe Cache/Dalvik and then Reboot System
27. If everything goes well, your phone will reboot.
    *** It takes a good 10-15 minutes for it to boot. It may appear to be frozen, but it's not!! Just let it boot!!!
28. After the phone has booted, go through the setup process until you are back to the home screen...
29. From C:\android, type: adb reboot bootloader and press Enter. This will boot the device back to the bootloader screen
30. From C:\android, type: fastboot flash boot boot2.img and press Enter. Wait for it to say finished.
31. From C:\android, type: fastboot reboot and press Enter. This will reboot the device. Wait for it to finish loading...
32. From C:\android, type: adb reboot recovery and press Enter. This will reboot the device back to recovery. Again, this takes a long time!
33. Once you are in recovery, re-flash SuperSU.zip again. When it's complete, click Wipe Dalvik/Cache and then click Reboot System.
34. Wait for the phone to boot up. It will take another 10-15 minutes or so....

If everything goes well, once the phone has finished booting, you will be fully rooted and ready to rock and roll!!

at 16, in Terminal Emulator I get an error about usage. I thought maybe I had added a space in error but not so. So I don't get any prompt to continue in the RUNMEFIRST terminal window. I'm using linux. So totally stuck there.

 

[coyotl55]

at 16, in Terminal Emulator I get an error about usage. I thought maybe I had added a space in error but not so. So I don't get any prompt to continue in the RUNMEFIRST terminal window. I'm using linux. So totally stuck there.

And up to that it's identical with original instructions. Will try in windows again, only tried on an old win 7 laptop so far.

 

[Skorpion96]

Seems that i could try with one H990DS. has someone already tried? if not i will
edit:i just succeded

 

[VeiledDroidCat]

so i found my old lg v20 wanting to get it up to date so i can use as a smart home remote so it doesnt sit to die
i want to bootloader unlock it but seems like from what im hearing im skrewed sounds bs since no one put in the effort beside you thank you again for the hard work
but heres the catch 22

ls997
nougat 7.0
september 17, 2017

do you think its possible?

 

[natalie0104]

trying to root f800k using this method as reccommended on reddit.
after running "fastboot flash boot bootbackup.img" to fix performance issues I get static screen on boot and im unable to boot into TWRP after that. everything else worked perfectly up to the last steps, I just cant get into TWRP to flash SuperSU again. the phone works fine though.

if I just installed a custom rom would I still have to do that step to avoid the performance issues?

 

[mike666]

I am looking for help and advice. Magisk upgrade to a new version messed up my root on LG V20. Attempts to download a old version of magisk manager and flashing of the boot image failed. Now my phone is in the boot loop. But I can get into TWRP with button combination.
Can somebody share a stock boot.img? Or even working patched image for LG-H918 should work.
I will appreciate any other thoughts as well.

 

[Darnrain1]

I am looking for help and advice. Magisk upgrade to a new version messed up my root on LG V20. Attempts to download a old version of magisk manager and flashing of the boot image failed. Now my phone is in the boot loop. But I can get into TWRP with button combination.
Can somebody share a stock boot.img? Or even working patched image for LG-H918 should work.
I will appreciate any other thoughts as well.

Try this, flash Magisk Uninstaller in twrp reboot into system. Go back to twrp and flash Magisk.

Magisk-uninstaller-20210117.zip

Magisk-v21.4.zip