# Unable to Unlock Bootloader; Terminal idles @ "waiting for device"



## Panamera

Hello everyone! I bought my Nexus 7 a few days ago, & have gotten everything set up to unlock the bootloader/root my Nexus 7 on my PC. *Note that my PC runs Ubuntu 12.04 only.*

I've got the Android SDK all set up with the platform tools & everything, & adb appears to be working fine. When I attempt to unlock the bootloader, I go into Terminal, *cd* into my *platform-tools* folder, then run "*adb reboot bootloader*". My Nexus 7 reboots into the bootloader just fine, but when I proceed to run "*fastboot oem unlock*", Terminal just idles @ "waiting for device". Screenshot here: http://screencloud.net/v/EJdo Nothing happens on my N7 while it's in the bootloader at this time either. (yes I do have USB debugging enabled on the N7)

I am not sure if I am simply missing a driver or two, or if this is another issue altogether. At this point I'm only willing to unlock the bootloader for now; I'll get into rooting later. If anybody could help me out of this it'd really be appreciated; thanks!!


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## quadracin

I had similar problems I switched to the factory usb cable then everything worked just fine.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2


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## Droid Commando

You need the Generic Google USB drivers.

I only know of ones that work with Windows, not Linux


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## dually

Try "sudo ./fastboot oem unlock"

Or if you want to run ./fastboot without sudo, you will have to change the permissions of your /platform-tools directory to allow non-privileged users to execute in that directory.

The "./" in front of ./fastboot, means "run this executable here in this directory" and is necessary for running executables that are merely an item in a directory rather than "installed".

If you forget to type "sudo", and it hangs on "waiting for device", you can abort with "control c".

I don't think you need any drivers.


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## JBirdVegas

Droid Commando said:


> Try "sudo ./fastboot oem unlock"
> 
> Or if you want to run ./fastboot without sudo, you will have to change the permissions of your /platform-tools directory to allow non-privileged users to execute in that directory.
> 
> The "./" in front of ./fastboot, means "run this executable here in this directory" and is necessary for running executables that are merely an item in a directory rather than "installed".
> 
> If you forget to type "sudo", and it hangs on "waiting for device", you can abort with "control c".
> 
> I don't think you need any drivers.


SDK/platform-tools shouldn't be root files... but the advice is solid I just had to

su
Enter password when prompted
add the platform-tools to the root environment path
Then fastboot devices should show your device like a champ. 

As a general rule don't do anything as root that root isn't required for... logging in as root is for amateurs (or a super seasoned admin, prob not you)


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## chaaaad

This happened to me too. Fixed after I uninstalled/reinstalled drivers.


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## JBirdVegas

chaaaad said:


> This happened to me too. Fixed after I uninstalled/reinstalled drivers.


That's a windows answer. Op only has Linux partitions :-D

But running a root terminal fixed for me

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2


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## Panamera

dually said:


> Try "sudo ./fastboot oem unlock"
> 
> Or if you want to run ./fastboot without sudo, you will have to change the permissions of your /platform-tools directory to allow non-privileged users to execute in that directory.
> 
> The "./" in front of ./fastboot, means "run this executable here in this directory" and is necessary for running executables that are merely an item in a directory rather than "installed".
> 
> If you forget to type "sudo", and it hangs on "waiting for device", you can abort with "control c".
> 
> I don't think you need any drivers.


Thanks!!! I ran "sudo ./fastboot oem unlock" instead of the regular command in Terminal, and the unlock went through perfectly! Thanks again for the info! 

EDIT: here's a screenshot of the Terminal window for the lulz http://screencloud.net/v/d1CX


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## dually

Panamera said:


> Thanks!!! I ran "sudo ./fastboot oem unlock" instead of the regular command in Terminal, and the unlock went through perfectly! Thanks again for the info!
> 
> EDIT: here's a screenshot of the Terminal window for the lulz http://screencloud.net/v/d1CX


For anyone who is curious about directory permissions for read, write, and execute, Mike Stone just posted a 3 part article on Linux file permissions on his Zdnet blog.


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