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Root s-off..what does this do ?

patsfann

patsfann

Well-Known Member
htc evo design (boost) 2fast's xfuziionZz ics v5..... was just wondering what was up with all the talk of S-off ....just wanting 2 enjoy all my phone has 2 offer ( for what i paid 4 it ) :).............PS 2fast's rom rocks & his team , dont know all of them but i know cookie is in it !!!! 2 thumbs up !!!!!!!!
 
patsfann said:
htc evo design (boost) 2fast's xfuziionZz ics v5..... was just wondering what was up with all the talk of S-off ....just wanting 2 enjoy all my phone has 2 offer ( for what i paid 4 it ) :).............PS 2fast's rom rocks & his team , dont know all of them but i know cookie is in it !!!! 2 thumbs up !!!!!!!!
Click to expand...

I'm not 100% sure of everything S-off achieves but i know by achieving S-off you can unlock the service locks such as unlocking the phone to be used with US GSM sim cards (such as AT&T and T-Mobile)
 
Something else obtained with s-off is the capability to flash custom radios. I've never meddled in that, since it can be a bit more risky that a ROM or a kernel, but the right radio tweaks on the right phone can make a difference.
 
S-off will technically unlock all the partitions on the phone. This means you can flash the radio, downgrade firmware, flash boot.img's with in roms without a issue and a few other aspects. As it sets now with just the unlock you can't touch the radio partition. How ever you can update the radio running a newer ruu.

If s-off was had you could flash what ever radio you would like new or old. Same way with the firmware. Flash back to a older ruu you need to do some hackery where s-off it would just flash and go on it's way.

S-off has nothing in common with unlocking the sim slot for gsm carriers. That would be supercid as many call it. You can have s-off and still not have a unlocked sim.
 
cannabinoid said:
Is s-off required to flash a kernel?
wanting to try 2fast's but I'm new to htc and s-off...
Click to expand...

No, s-off isn't needed to flash kernels. Depending on your device you may have to fast boot flash it, but I'll let others with device specific knowledge chime in there.


Basically, s-off turns the securities of the phone off so that things that are not signed by HTC can be flashed through the boot loader.
 
I don't know the issues with the other phones with just htc unlock, how ever I have yet to have a issue flashing a kernel the normal way with just it. With that said just htc unlock and flash.
 
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