Root Confused with htc terminology

[synergy7]

ok i am so confused. Ive read and reread the guides on s-off and s-on, rooting, unlocking....im lost...

My end goal is to flash a new rom and kernal on this Rezound. Ive done rooting and flashing before. But, ive never dealt with s-off and s-on. Ive read about it. I understand what it is.

So, basically, i think i need to unlock the bootloader. Isnt that the same thing as S-off?

Do i need to flash a new bootloader so i have fastboot?

T_T . I thought i was pretty good at this until i walked into the htc world

Any help clarifying things would be great. Im usually fairly good at building up an understanding, but this Hboot, boot loader, s-off stuff has me spinnnnnnning


also, what is hboot and fastboot? Can fastboot be done from pc only?

Is hboot like the version of the bootloader?

 

[trophynuts]

fastboot is what you're in when starting from a powered off device you hold volume down + power. This is if you have fastboot turned off in settings or have done a battery pull first.

unlocking the bootloader is different than turning the security flag off ( S-Off)

I don't know the actual definition of Hboot but yes there are different versions of HBoot.

Scotty85 is an HTC Genius. He'll probably chime in here soon and can tell you more than me.

Did you come from a Moto device?

 

[iowabowtech]

hboot is just HTC's proprietary version of a bootloader. It has a few bells in it not found in many other android bootloaders such as the ability to auto-flash zip files from the sd card if they are specifically named to to a particular string recognized only by that version of hboot. Kind of a cool "get out of jail" feature, but it comes with a price...a security flag referred to as s-on.

s-off disables the security check that runs on a normal, s-on scenario. That check is looking for an official signature on any files that would be loaded through the bootloader. s-off bypasses that check so it's both more dangerous (because most any file can be rammed through by the end user) but it also allows much more flexibility that can be used for positive root means like loading unsigned custom recoveries, boot img's, radios and other hboot versions. Radios/hboot versions may be leaked or extracted from an officially signed file (still viewed as not legit by the security flag) so they can be loaded individually without loading the entire update. This sort of thing can come in handy for rooted users who want to update the nuts and bolts of their phone while staying on custom roms the whole time. So in a nutshell, being s-off can be compared to a fully unlocked bootloader on some other Android devices.

Fastboot is an option within hboot or most any android bootloader these days that allows a connection with a PC/Mac/Linux box. On the computer end, resides the sdk program which includes specific files for fastboot interaction with an android phone who's user is actively in the bootloader > fastboot mode at the time. In this configuration, you can then use known fastboot commands to perform various activities such as flashing partitions, force factory updates, wiping, unlocking the bootloader (only on phones that allow by default), boot and reboot devices, etc. Fastboot can be used under normal circumstances (when the phone is alive and well) but arguably it's most handy use is when there has been a major system upset and the only thing still working on the phone is the bootloader.