Microsoft & Nokia made it very difficult to modify the system by locking down the bootloader of Windows Phone devices. Now with more developments and availability of better tools, it is very easy to unlock the bootloader of Lumia phones. An unlocked bootloader opens many customization options, even making installing Android OS a possibility. Just follow the below steps to unlock the bootloader and get the root access for your Windows device.
Steps to Unlock Bootloader of Lumia Phones
Only a limited number of devices are supported as of now. Please follow the steps only if your Lumia device is included in the list below.
View Supported Devices
- Nokia Lumia 520
- Lumia 521
- Lumia 525
- Lumia 620
- Lumia 625
- Lumia 720
- Lumia 820
- Lumia 920
- Lumia 925
- Lumia 928
- Lumia 1020
- Lumia 1320
Prerequisites:
- Stock Firmware of your device ( .ffu file)
- WP Internal Tool: You can download it from here: WP Internal
- The HEX files & Engineering-SBL3s file from here: Link
Procedure:
- We recommend flashing the stock firmware before unlocking. To flash stock firmware, just navigate to the ‘Flash’ option under ‘Platform’ header.
- Over the right side, you will see a header saying, ‘Flash Original FFU‘. Under that, just browse the FFU of your device and click on Flash FFU Image. Wait while the software flashes the original firmware.
- Once your phone boots back after the flash, under ‘Unlock‘ header select ‘Unlock Bootloader‘.
- Confirm by clicking OK in the prompt to switch the phone into flash mode.
- Now under ‘Resource for Flashing‘ section, click on ‘Select your FFU image’ and browse the FFU and click ok.
- Now click on ‘Select the folder with Lumia Emergency Driver’ and select the ‘MPRG_HEX’ folder and click OK.
- Now click on ‘Optionally Select an FFU image or raw image with an Engineering-SBL3 Partition’ and browser the file for your device from the folder named ‘Engineering-SBL3s’.
- Once it’s done just hit ‘Continue’. That’s it and wait till the process is complete.
Your Lumia phone will have its bootloader unlocked if you’ve followed the steps correctly. If you have faced some issue while unlocking bootloader, do let us know. We will help you out 🙂
Which optional ffu i should use to unlock my Nokia Lumia 625.
I have lumia 1320 how do l unlock it help me
please
i have a lumia 640xl but the wifi and bluetooth are on there aren’t showing any near by connections
Hi Saif,
During the unlock bootloading process I got the message one or more error occured then the WP Internal closes. Now I can’t turn on my phone anymore and it cannot be detected by WP internal. What should I do?
just hold power button and volume down key for 10 seconds …and then leave … your device will restart
Hi Md. It does not work. It must be in mass storage mode already because when I connect it to the pc it is being detected as a USB.
when putting in label mode or something goes wrong what I do is remove the battery. Hard reseting, soft reseting and switching modes has no effect yet people always jump to that.
How long does it take to load… It’s been showing sending loader for a long time.
The HEX files & Engineering-SBL3s files are not accessible, are there any other links?
error 1003 : hash mismatch occur during flashing
Does it now install apk apps after unlocking bootloader?
yes it does
I have lumia 730 is it possible unlock boot loader with this phone..plz hlp
It might be late, but it’s not possible to unlock the 730, and so you can’t flash it either. I tried it today, it doesn’t work for the 730. And that after all the DeviceRecovery, WPinternals and Google searches. So, no it can’t happen for the 730. As the 730 runs on Spec B, and I think only Spec A has proven to work
i actually used HEX_MPRG and it started working but sending loader is taking too long :/
mine got bricked
Hi, i have this error on step 8 : “Error : Unexpected error scanning for loader”
Any idea ?
I have lumia 1320.
Thanks
In the Engineering-SBL3s, my phone, L525, is not mentioned. Is it okay to proceed with the file for L520?
yes it’s fine 🙂
While flashing the original FFU, I’m getting this error: Error 0x1003 hash mismatch at around 86%. Please advise.
Your FFU file Isn’t for your device. please check it.
hello,i have tried to unlock as your step many times,but no success,i get “switching to emergency download mode”afer click continue,then the phone is bricked,it lose connection with the WindowsphoneInternal.Fortunatly,it’s easy for me to recover the phone.
I need your help!Thank you!
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