Nokia

How to Lock the Bootloader on Nokia Android phones

Nokia phone users who have unlocked their bootloader can re-lock it at any point. Re-locking will remove the boring 5-second warning which shows before every boot. Your Nokia device will also pass the Android SafetyNet, allowing full access to Android Pay, NetFlix, and other services.

Also, if you have only unlocked your bootloader to flash the stock ROM, then it is a good idea to lock it after everything works fine.

Before locking the bootloader on your Nokia phone, ensure the following:

  1. You have made no modification on the system partition(s) and you are running stock ROM and stock recovery.
  2. You are on the same operating system as officially sold with the phone. For example, do not lock the Nokia 7 plus if Android P beta is installed.
  3. If you have made any changes to system, then flash the stock ROM.

Warning: Locking the bootloader will wipe all data stored on your device. So, backup important data before proceeding.

Steps to lock the bootloader

Applies to: Nokia 1, Nokia 1 Plus, Nokia 2, Nokia 2.1, Nokia 2.2, Nokia 2.3, Nokia 3, Nokia 3.1, Nokia 3.1 Plus, Nokia 3.1 Plus C, Nokia 4.2, Nokia 5, Nokia 5.1, Nokia 5.1 Plus, Nokia Nokia 6, Nokia 6.1, Nokia X6 (Nokia 6.1 plus), Nokia 6.2, Nokia 7, Nokia 7 Plus, Nokia 7.1, Nokia 7.2, Nokia 8, Nokia 8 Sirocco, Nokia 8.1, Nokia 9 PureView, Nokia X71., Nokia 6.2, Nokia 7.2 and others.

  1. Reboot your Nokia phone to download mode.
  2. Connect to the PC using the USB cable.
  3. Check that your phone gets recognized by Fastboot by running:
    fastboot devices
  4. Run the following command to lock the bootloader.
    fastboot flashing lock

    If the command is not recognized, use:

    fastboot oem lock-go
  5. Confirm the bootloader lock on the phone. It will erase all existing data from the device.
  6. If you have also unlocked critical, then bring the phone into fastboot mode again and run the following command. After that confirm the lock on your phone after running.
    fastboot flashing lock_critical

Fastboot will delete all data on your phone and return it to the factory state. It will then lock the bootloader to stop any kind of tampering.

Feel free to comment down below if you face any issues 🙂

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    • Hi, which phone do you have? Is it one of the recently launched hmd models? Yeah, it won’t work in that case.

  • I don’t wanna re-lock the bootloader instead I need instructions to get rid of the warning that appears during restart/turning on the phone which is annoying:/

  • Hi, I’ve used this method to relock my device (Nokia 7.1) but after locking it, my phone is stuck in a boot loop, do you have any advice? I am assuming my stock ROM is not original or the partition sizes were changed? I will try to unlock it again tomorrow (so I can use my phone) when OTPs are available.

    • Yes, in case you have made any modifications (even root), you should flash the stock ROM using the OST tool before you lock the bootloader. So, yes, you can unlock, flash and then lock it again 🙂

      • I used a ROM from https://www.thecustomdroid.com/download-and-install-nokia-7-1-android-10-update-ota/ file name 2afb66e869bf61db5110c1c0c580b4dbd4408a6f.zip do you know is that’s the correct one?
        Also, I tried to restore a TWRP backup taken before attempting to lock (the backup turned out to be corrupted for an unknown reason – dieing USB?) and now my phone doesn’t turn on at all. Power button does nothing, power+volume down does nothing…
        Have you seen something like that? I will try a repair shop if they can do anything, otherwise it’s a brick.

        • Something of what you have done has broken some of the critical partitions and the phone cannot boot to any state. You can check the Windows device manager. If the phone shows up as a Qualcomm port, then you should try to flash it in Emergency mode using OST LA. And very frankly, I mentioned in the last comment as well to use OST LA. I do not know why you resorted to using the OTA package or the TWRP backup.
          If no port shows up, then you need to disassemble the phone and short the testpoint to bring the phone into emergency flash mode. Thereafter flash using OST LA.

  • I went to make a payment with the cable company or with my phone and it told me that my phone had been rooted jailbroke and set to USB I guess my question is now that I put a root tool in and found out it was not rooted I want to lock it back down if it’s jailbroke but I don’t know if they done anything when they jailbroken how do you know

    • Hi, do you see any warning at the time of phone restart about the unlocked bootloader? If not, then the bootloader is locked already.

  • I have a question, once unlocked the bootloader on the nokia 1 plus, I get a warning when I turn on the phone that lasts about 5 seconds, how do I remove that? is there a guide to do it. Thank you.

  • mine is nokia 1 so recently upgraded to andriod 10 it locked oem unlocking
    i got so problem help me

  • fastboot flashing unlock_critical
    (bootloader) Start unlock flow

    FAILED (remote: ‘
    Unlock operation is not allowed
    ‘)
    fastboot: error: Command failed

  • my nokia 8 does not get recognized by fastboot when i put it in download mode. can any one help

    • may be this may help you
      unlocking your boot loader don’t affect your google services
      you can happily use it

  • Hello, I have one question. I unlocked my bootloader last November, since then I have received several updates. Currently I have software version 1_400. Am i supposed to flash a previous ROM or downgrade to the original version of software before re locking?

    • Hi, Nokia disabled the unlock ability on the Nokia 7.2 since a while. So, the newer update also does not allow locking. You will need to revert back to an older version in order to issue the lock command(s).

  • This worked flawlessly in my Nokia 7.2! But I have a Question. After relocking it both ways and succeed, I had that message saying something like “this device is corrupted…” bla bla, is this because It got its bootloader unlocked one time?

    Thanks!

  • I cant lock the bootloader critical it says “failed: Remote: no repair permission” or something like that.
    And I cant unlock the normal bootloader again it says “Remote: device cant decrypt” or something like that again. I have now only the bootloader locked and critical thingy is still unlocked.

    Info about phone:
    Nokia 7.2 TA-1196
    security patch level: December 5, 2019

    • Hi, Nokia/HMD have made some changes with the December MR release. They have removed the unlock ability.
      You can ignore the critical unlock as it is since it shouldn’t form part of a warning at the bootup.

  • Hello, Please be kind enough to give us information on how to relock nokia 7.2 bootloader. Thanx in advance.

  • I am using Nokia 6.1 plus model with Stock Android PIE updated from Stock Android OREO . since then the loud speaker stopped working completely
    What I can do

    • Try performing a factory reset if you think that the issue is a software one. Else you’ll have to visit Nokia Care.

  • Hello, does above method work on ta-1068?

    also where can i download stock firmwares for ta-1068? i looked online but cant find. thanks

  • Hi ! Maybe you can help me…
    I had unlocked and rooted Nokia 8 with 8.1 Android (unlock.bin with ntool this summer), then upgraded to Android 9…Installed twrp and root….After then i decided to go back to 8.1
    According to instructions i needed to lock bootloader to make a critical unlock. BUT after “fastboot oem lock” my device stuck on “Your device is corrupt and will not boot. Your device will shutdown in 30 seconds”.
    I can acces download mode only. When i’m trying to “fastboot flash unlock unlock.key” i got an ERROR: ” FAILED (remote: ‘Fail to verify’)”
    I couldn’t install any img ((remote: ‘Boot command is not allowed in Lock State)
    Also i couldn’t set_active ((remote: ‘Slot Change is not allowed in Lock State)

    Can you help me somehow, please?=(
    T1004

      • Hello Mihalsch, whoever said that you need to lock the bootloader to make the critical unlock was wrong. Critical and regular unlocks are 2 seperate unlocks and both exist side by side.
        On a locked bootloader, the device needs to verify the image signature and any tampering means that the bootloader will refuse to boot the system. That’s why you should always flash stock ROM and ensure that there are no modifications present before locking the bootloader.
        Anyways, what you can do now is to use Ntool again (if you have credits) to flash the device to the full Oreo firmware. If that goes through, then the bootloader will allow the boot again. Plus, once downgraded the unlock key will also work and you can unlock it again.

        • Can you please give a link to Oreo firmware to flash it form Ntool?
          I was trying to use the same unlock key, that i used before but it “Fail to verify”…..Maybe i should make another one?
          Also, do you know the “flash” price in Ntool right now? I’ll buy some credits to try that all…

          • The same unlock file will work, but it only works if your security patch is older than August. Nokia blocked it from working with August update. How much credits did you initially purchase? The minimum is a 20. So, you might still have 10 left. It costs 10 per action.

        • Sir My nokia 6.1 plus atuck at android one logo….hard reset is not working…..service centre says its motherboard problem..hv not unlocked bootloader..cant do any thing..pls help

  • My Nokia 7 is stuck in download mode. I think the phone needs to be reflashed to fix.
    Do I need to unlock bootloader to flash stock ROM?

  • Bro need you help. I locked by bootloader but I am stuck at the setup screen after boot where the phone checks for update but not able to install update so I am unable to skip the setup process. Stuck there. Really need your help!!

    • It is probably because FRP got triggered. And if you have any system modifications, the updates cannot be found. Seems like you need to unlock again and flash stock ROM.

  • I am always thankful to Narender due to his constant help on rooting my Nokia 7 plus and various other issues. The best thing about him is his level of patience. Whenever I texted him regardless time and day, he was always there to help me. I definitely recommend everyone to contact him for purchasing bootloader unlock key.

  • Just a quick question – if I lock my phone and want to unlock again, do I have to also flash the Unlock.bin again or does a simple fastboot oem unlock-go suffice?

    Thanx for your great services 🙂

    • No, you will need to flash the .bin file again. Also note that unlocking might become a pain in the future as HMD is starting to block the keys from flashing after the August update.

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