Happy Galaxy Nexus Day folks! What better way to celebrate this momentous day by having full instructions on how to unlock the boatloader? The good news is that the process is relatively brief and not too challenging thanks to the fine team at Droid Life. Since the Galaxy Nexus is a pure developer device, there’s no need to bypass or hack the bootloader like you would another device. Feeling lucky, ambitious, and ready to unlock the phone’s true potential? Hit the break for full instructions for those using Windows-based computers.
1. The first thing you’ll want to do is have the Android SDK set up properly on your computer. You can find the full instructions here.
You’ll want to make sure the SDK is set up properly because you cannot move forward in the process without both the SDK and ADB working. Once you have the set up process completed, move on to step 2.
2. Place a fastboot.exe file in your SDK/Tools (or Platform-Tools) folder (same as your adb.exe file) if it is not there already. You can find the download link here.
Keep in mind you may also need to move AdbWinApi.dll into the same folder as your adb.exe and fastboot.exe if you are running into issues. Everything should default to SDK/Platform-Tools rather than SDK/Tools in the latest SDK. Just depends on the version you are using. The big thing, is to get adb.exe, fastboot.exe, and AdbWinApi.dll into the same folder.
3. Next step– on your device, turn the USB Debugging on.
4. Plug your phone into your computer.
5. On your computer, head into your SDK/Tools folder or wherever your adb.exe and fastboot.exe files are.
6. Hold SHIFT and right click – choose “Open command window here.”
7. Type the following command:
adb reboot bootloader
8. Your phone will turn off and reboot to the bootloader.
9. Type the following command:
fastboot oem unlock
10. Your phone will then ask if you want to unlock.
11. Using the volume keys, highlight “Yes” and then press the power button to select it.
12. The bootloader will now be unlocked.
13. Your phone will factory reset itself and reboot.
14. You are now operating with an unlocked Galaxy Nexus.
There you have it kids! A relatively harmless setup now gives you unlimited potential with your new jewel of a device. Oh and in case you’re wondering— yes you will still get OTA updates from Google directly. Well that is if you have your stock Android software. You’d likely run into some issues if you put a custom recovery or root your phone. But hey, the reward is greater than the risk, right? Happy boatloading everyone!
[via Droid Life]