[Upgrading, Modifying and Unlocking] yassine22:
You have a Samsung galaxy tab bound to an operator and you want to unlock it.

I’ve been through a thorough search in the internet and finally I got a solution. My tab is now free. It’s a bit complex, but not impossible.

Below, I’ll give a very clear and detailed description of the whole procedure you have to go through to unlock your tablet.

I you follow all the steps, you will be sure to get the expected result.

Step 1: Root your tab

[ why root the tablet: unlocking the tablet requires access to hidden system files in the root. The root is not normally made accessible to the standard users]

-	From the web, search a Root package (easy to find on the web, just google ‘galaxy’ ‘root zip’ you’ll get a small zip file, it may be root.zip, root2.zip, doesn’t matter),

-	download the root zip file,

-	Copy it to your tab and remember exactly the folder where you paste it.

-	Turn off you tab,

-	Press simultaneously the volume (-) and power buttons and continue pressing until you got a system screen with two items menu (download, and …),

-	Press the volume (-) again to navigate through the two items of the menu, select upgrade,

-	In the top of the screen, you’ll get a list menu with 4 items. Scroll to item “install from SDCard” (use volume (-) and (-) to scroll),

-	Press power button to select,

-	You’ll have to select the root zip folder, navigate through the folder structure using volume (-) (+) buttons,

-	Press the power button to execute the zip file,

-	Rooting operation will start, you’ll see many progress messages, just wait until the whole process finishes, it takes few seconds.

-	Navigate back the menu item “reboot the tab”, press power button.

[ Your tablet will reboot now, you will notice no change, but the change is there, your tablet is now rooted]

Step 2: Preparing to unlock

-	From the market, install the free app “super user”,

-	Open the newly created shortcut “super user” and validate any message you get, close if necessary, [the SuperUser is an app that will work in the background and grant permissions –when necessary- to other applications to access root. Without it, rooting a tab is meaningless],

-	From the market, install “root manager”,[root manager is now your file manager that can go deep through the folder structure and access root folders],

-	Launch the “root manager”, the first time you do that, you’ll be prompted to allow “Super User” to grant permissions to “root manager”, allow that,

-	Take some time to make yourself familiar with “root manager”, it’s a very simple but powerful file manager,

-	Now go back to serious work, locate the folder \efs at the root, [efs folder is very important, it holds all the information to validate your tablet to the GSM/3G operator, it validates the authenticity of your IMEI]

-	Just make a copy of the whole folder and save it in a safe place – your PC or a memory stick-. We’ll be back later to this copy, continue now on the tab,

-	Open \efs folder, locate the file nv_data.bin,

-	Make a copy of nv_data.bin in the same folder \efs and rename the file eg: ORIGINAL_nv_data.bin,

-	Delete all the files in the \efs folder except nv.log. Don’t delete the sub folders ( you should normally have the following sub folders .files, imei, gyro….),

-	Now leave the tablet powered on (don’t turn off) and move to your PC to continue job,

Step 3: Molding the nv_data.bin file

-	In the copy of the \efs folder that you previously made, locate the original file nv_data.bin,

-	Make a copy of this file somewhere in your PC. That’s the copy you will be working on,

-	Edit nv_data.bin with HexEdit.[ If you are not familiar with depths of binary files, don’t be daunted by the array of codes and bytes],

-	Locate the byte 0x181469, it should read 01 value, just edit it to 00 value, do nothing more, just save and exit,

-	Now you have created the molded copy of nv_data.bin,

-	You need to move this copy of nv_data.bin onto your tablet, either using a memory stick or by USB cable. Paste the file in the \efs folder,

Step 4: tweaking the molded nv_data.bin file

-	Now that you pasted the molded nv_data.bin to \efs folder, it needs some minor adjustments before being used,

-	In the “root manager”, press and hold on the newly pasted nv_data.bin,

-	You’ll get a menu, select properties,

-	In the properties box, check all the 9 options (read, write, execute), leave the others,

-	Save and exit root manager,

-	Go the market and install the free app “terminal emulator”,

-	Launch the terminal emulator, accept any message for super user permission,

-	In the terminal emulator, execute the following commands [press enter after each line of command]:

o	su

o	chown 1001:radio \efs\nv_dat.bin

o	reboot

-	It’s done, your tablet will reboot unlocked.

Verification to make sure everything is OK

-	Go to settings, about device, status. Make sure you have a valid IMEI number, the one you have printed on the back of your tablet, not the fake one: 00004**********,

-	Insert a valid SIM module, you’ll be promted to enter PIN code if configured so,

-	Enter PIN code,

-	Enter the APN provided by your operator (necessary to access internet 3G),

ENJOY FREELY