[Windows Phone 7 Development and Hacking] Jaxbot:
"What am I doing, why am I here, what is this about, and where am I going with this."

Hello all. After dealing with rumors, rumors of rumors, and the like, I've finally managed to disclose something I hold very dear to me: the WindowBreak project.

As the name suggests, this is a jailbreak project for Windows Phone 7. I started something a while back that had little success, but through the months, I've managed to figure out something that should bring light into the Windows Phone jailbreaking scene.

Real quick, though:

What this is: A project, with information about some interesting exploits I found, and a call for the community to dive in.

What this isn't: A full fledged jailbreak. Please don't post replies such as "when will XXXX device be supported". It just wastes time, and I assure you, I want every device included.

It also is not a full unlock. Just interop.

The details

So here's the sitch. We all know how Heathcliff74's interop unlock works. XAP files are just ZIP files, and ZIP files can have entries that allow extracting in parent directories.

Interesting thing is, this can be done using the ZipView application, which normally stores data in \Application Data\Volatile\Zipview\<random id>

Thus, creating a directory in a ZIP file called ../../../../provxml will copy all those files into the \provxml\ folder upon extraction.

See what I did there?

Limitations

Of course, there are limitations.

1) We cannot extract into \Windows\. There's a policy that prevents it.

2) The bad one: We can only extract known MIME types, at least to my knowledge. This is because the files are only extracted when they are clicked on in ZipView. And clicking on a .dbz file, for example, will just say the file type is not supported. Bummer.

What we can do...

As mentioned above, this can be used for a fresh out of the box jailbreak for Samsung devices, using provxml. Here's a video of that:

[YOUTUBE]v5SKQ0ffgis[/YOUTUBE]

Try it yourself: with a Samsung device, go to http://windowsphonehacker.com/windowbreak and press WindowBreak Me.

In theory, this would be all we need to jailbreak most Windows Phone devices. Unfortunately, Nokia and HTC devices block the registry entries in provisioning files. I'm not sure what the extent of this "whitelist" (or is it a blacklist?) is, and details/tests on this would be appreciated.

What needs to be done...

Nokia: I don't have a Nokia device, but I've been working a great deal on figuring out how to crack it's shell, and have a couple of ideas. If I'm able to get my hands on a Nokia device soon, I'll try some of these unorthodox exploits out, otherwise I'll need some daring volunteers.

HTC: I do have an HTC device, but I can't figure out how to extract the files for the Connection Setup program. If someone can give me details on what the password encryption is on it, etc, for the HTC interop unlock, that would be much appreciated.

Other devices: Not a lot of demand for these (and LG needs no jailbreak, since it has MFG), but if something comes up, feel free to share where the provisioning files exist and I'll see about "windowbreaking" them.

So this is my little project, and I hope the details I'm sharing will lead to further development. My personal device (Samsung Focus) is easily interop unlocked now, without costing me a cent. I'd really like this to be the case for everyone; I'm not saying the $9 unlock for Chevron Labs is bad, in fact, it's greatly supported homebrew. What I am saying, though, is that freedom is still possible, and regardless, any developments made here will further support interop unlocking on Chevron/apphub unlocked devices. With that in mind...

Merry Christmas. ;)

Special thanks to: Heathcliff74 for much of the research and idea behind the exploit

All the supporting members of XDA, who bring appreciation for what we do. Thank you. ;)