# Locked Bootloader - Questions....



## schmaltzy (Aug 29, 2011)

I have a couple questions about the locked bootloader on the S3. I've had a Moto Droid 1, HTC Thunderbolt, and now the S3. I'm not necessarily a noob when it comes to the whole rooting/ROM world, but I don't pretend to know it all either. I rooted my D1 after having it for about 5 months and it was the first time I had ever did anything like that. It took me about 2 months to dive into the rooting world for the Thunderbolt and I never looked back. I got my S3 and am really hoping to do the same but as everyone on this forum knows, it's locked up TIGHT! I have a lot of faith in the developing community though because I own an HP Touchpad and the community has done wonders to make Android work on it!

My questions - I don't know much about locked bootloaders. The thunderbolt had S-Off, but it didn't seem that bad to navigate once developers got through it. I know that bootloaders are what tell the system which software to boot up....right?

How do you unlock a bootloader? Is it a code or sorts like a password? Is it something that Samsung could eventually just "leak"?

If a bootloader can be cracked, how do you go about flashing ROM's and kernels?

Will CWR work just like it does on most other phones once the bootloader is cracked?

If the bootloader ends up never being cracked, what then? Can ROM's still be made for it and if so, what will the limitations be?

Sorry for so many questions. I've tried to google some of them but there isn't much info out there on locked bootloaders. Just trying to get an idea on what they are. Thanks for any and all help!


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## IrishCream (Jun 7, 2011)

No offense... but this shouldnt be in the development section. Only for ROMs, Kernels, and Developer posts


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## jucytec (Dec 29, 2011)

schmaltzy said:


> I have a couple questions about the locked bootloader on the S3. I've had a Moto Droid 1, HTC Thunderbolt, and now the S3. I'm not necessarily a noob when it comes to the whole rooting/ROM world, but I don't pretend to know it all either. I rooted my D1 after having it for about 5 months and it was the first time I had ever did anything like that. It took me about 2 months to dive into the rooting world for the Thunderbolt and I never looked back. I got my S3 and am really hoping to do the same but as everyone on this forum knows, it's locked up TIGHT! I have a lot of faith in the developing community though because I own an HP Touchpad and the community has done wonders to make Android work on it!
> 
> My questions - I don't know much about locked bootloaders. The thunderbolt had S-Off, but it didn't seem that bad to navigate once developers got through it. I know that bootloaders are what tell the system which software to boot up....right?
> 
> ...


I'll wipe your ass for you this one time, we have gotten root, I'm sure you know...
So we technically can flash custom ROM and even RUN a custom kernel, but NOT in the conventional way we have been. please read below link. i don't doubt that someone will find a creative workaround to get around it tho... much like what exists now from Kexec.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1756919


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## schmaltzy (Aug 29, 2011)

IrishCream said:


> No offense... but this shouldnt be in the development section. Only for ROMs, Kernels, and Developer posts


Sorry.....I posted it to the Verizon thread cause it's only a Verizon S3 problem.....if a mod reads this, please move....


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## landshark (Aug 6, 2011)

Moved


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## linuxmotion (Jun 12, 2011)

A bootlaoder is a program that allows one to chose what to boot. Examples: Grub, LILO, U-boot

A basic boot process for android is as follows. Whe the device is turned on the bootloader is initialized then control is passed to the boot partition. This partition contains two items combined, a ramdisk and the kernel. The kernel starts the init process, which all other processes are spawned(created) from. The kernel has features that the OS would need to run, the ramdisk initializes some things that the OS will also need to run.

The lockdown of the bootloader keeps us from replacing the boot partition, which makes it so that we cannot change the ramdisk+kernel without some trickery/hackery. The lockdown is acheived most of the time by checking for a digital signiture that the boot partition was signed with. If the signiture is not found booting does not proceed.

http://i.imgur.com/Ci0gY.png Is an exmaple of what happens without a signed boot partition


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## adam (Jul 11, 2011)

sorry to jump on an old thread, but, once the "developer edition" of the phone is around, will that in any way help the devs unlock our bootloader?


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