[Miscellaneous Android Development] AlkaDragos:
Unlock your Samsung Phone

[GT-S5570 / more...]​

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First i would like to say some words about this thread. I made this thread at some users requests, original thread contains some obsolete method for unlocking, making some people brick theyr phone. The last method and safe one, was somewhere mixed through other posts from different method and may confuse users. I just rewrite this from 0 for a better understanding and possible questions, discussions about this. I don't own anything from method used.

Original author of method: tweakradje

Original thread: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=828534&page=34

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This tutorial was tested on a Samsung GT-S5570 ( Galaxy Mini ) but worked on some other models too ( i5500 / Galaxy Ace ). For more details you can search in original thread.

First thing you must know is that in order to keep following this tutorial you must have your phone rooted. Temporary or permanent, both will do the job. For any information about rooting phone ( Android 2.2 / 2.3 ) you can do a quick search on XDA-forum or Google.

Root Desktop App: SuperOneClick

SuperOneClick Root Tutorial: Root Tutorial

Now there are 2 methods for extracting the file we need to obtain unlock code, one using ADB Shell(if you use this method, make sure you have installed Android USB Driver first) or using a Terminal App for phone. ADB comes with Android SDK Tools and Terminal Emulator App from market or somewhere else.

• Method 1 (ADB Shell)

- Open one instance of "Command Prompt" and go to folder containing ADB tool (adb.exe). (e.g C:\Program Files (x86)\Android\android-sdk\platform-tools>)

- Make sure your phone is connected to PC and "USB Debugging" it's enabled. (Settings -> Applications -> Development -> USB debugging [X])

- The following commands will be executed in "Command Prompt" that we opened earlier:

- adb shell
- su
- cat /dev/block/bml5>/sdcard/bml5.img
- exit (2x)
- adb pull /sdcard/bml5.img

So let's understand what we did here. First we run remote shell interactively, grant super-user access, extract the bml5 file to /sdcard then copy it to PC.

The file that we copied to PC should be in C:\Users\~username~\AppData\Local\VirtualStore but you can do a quick search to find it.

• Method 2 (Terminal App)

- Open Terminal Emulator app

- Grant Super-user access to application

- The following commands will be executed in current opened application:

- su
- cat /dev/block/bml5>/sdcard/bml5.img
- exit (2x)

- Close the application.

bml5 -> (BE-EM-EL-FIVE)

2x -> run the command 2 times

Ok, so after using one of these methods we have our file bml5.img in our PC if we used first method or on our /sdcard if we used second method. Keep in mind that we need this file on our PC, so if you used second method just copy the file to PC!

Now comes the part where we need to work with the file that we just extracted. So, in order to get the unlock code we need a HEX Editor, i've used XVI32 Hex Editor to open the file.

• Finding the unlock code

- Open XVI32 Application that we just downloaded. Hit CTRL+O and select the bml5.img file that we extracted earlier. (Open the file)

- At the first look we will see just a bunch of FF's and 00's and random decimals or symbols, but somewhere deep in there it's our unlock code.

- Hit CTRL+F to open search dialog, select "Hex String" and put the following search string

(maybe the search string won't be the same for all phones, but the one from above worked for Samsung GT-S5570)

- Mark "Case Sensitive", Direction "Down", Scope from "Begin".

- Click ok, or hit ENTER to start our search.

- So now, we must hit F3 untill we find our unlock code.

Our unlock code will be 8 digits plain text surrounded by unknown symbols just like in image below.

(I've hited F3 like 3 times, but don't know if it's the same for everyone. Also to make sure you see the code, after hitting F3 make sure you go 2-3 rows up to make sure the code is not above the searched string.)

(Unlock code can be finded in multiple places in file, so if you skip one searched string by mistake, just pay attention for next ones)

After getting the unlock code, write it somewhere in PC or paper... close the phone, remove the actual SIM Card, insert a foreign one and turn it ON! Wait untill it boots up, insert the unlock code and your done. Now you have an unlocked phone!

• Useful Codes

Details about test environment

Phone used: Samsung GT-S5570 (Galaxy Mini)
Android Version: 2.3.4 (Gingerbread)
PC Windows: Windows 7 (64-bit)

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If you have reached the end of the tutorial and you wasn't able to obtain the unlock code( find numbers like 00000000 / 11111111 ), then it means that your phone it's "Hard Locked" or doesn't have the unlock code provided with the phone. I don't know any solution until now for this problem. For most of the people here, this works flawlessly, for some doesn't work.

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If you find this tutorial useful please consider pushing the Thanks button at the end of thread.

You can also send me a beer by donating :) Thank you.