[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S7 Guides, News, & Discussi] phreich:
You are welcome. I realized after I sent you the batch file that the greater-than signs I put in the REM statements to indicate my added comments actually prevented the batch file from working -- sorry. I did a global replace of the greater-than sign, and then went back and put it back in the couple of places where it was actually supposed to be there and it worked fine. I discovered this when I had to FRP unlock a G930R version (US Cellular version). This method worked on that version too. On that phone, it was still on Android 6.0, so I used the boot loader firmware file that xbox had distributed with his original exe file.

BTW, I have noticed that the motherboards for all of the North American versions use the EXACT SAME MOTHERBOARD, labeled G930V on the motherboard. The only difference is the firmware. Armed with this knowledge, I tried flashing the North American factory carrier unlocked firmware, G930U version, onto this G930R motherboard, and it went flawlessly.

I wound up with a carrier unlocked North American phone with no carrier bloatware pre-installed. This does not change the ESN or IMEI number -- so it won't change the phone's status if the phone's IMEI is blacklisted (due to being reported lost or stolen) or still has a financial liability (on lease but not paid off). I talked to a couple of carrier technicians (one from Sprint and another from T-Mobile) about whether they check to see if an IMEI number was originally used on a phone originally associated to another carrier and they said "no" -- their systems just care about blacklisting and financial liability locks -- both of which are verified regardless of the original carrier. They also confirmed that if the phone is the G930U unlocked version, that the "bloatware" from their carrier isn't loaded onto the phone, nor is the firmware overwritten with the carrier's firmware -- it remains a carrier unlocked, bloatware free phone. The only extra software pre-loaded on the phone are Samsung's programs and front-end gui. I think I'll load the "U" version firmware onto all the North American S7's I work on from now on. It will be interesting to see if this carries forward to the S8 and the soon-to-be released S9 (March, 2018).

Note: I have heard that the Canadian Rogers/Bell version, G930W8, uses the European MB (G930F) that uses the Exynos CPU and doesn't have the North American CDMA radio -- I haven't seen one of those yet, and so am not sure.

Philip

UPDATE: February 13, 2018.

Well, unfortunately getting the phone actually carrier unlocked isn't as simple as I thought -- you can't just flash the "U" version of the firmware onto the phone and expect to activate it on another carrier. While this seemed to work with the G930R phone mentioned above, when I tried to repeat this with a T-Mobile version (G930T) of the phone, and then get it activated on Verizon for someone, the dreaded "please enter your unlock" code popped up when we put in the Verizon SIM. The phone had been flashed with the latest version of the G930U firmware, but it didn't matter.

It turns out that Samsung has stored the original carrier's 3 character ID somewhere in RAM in the phone that does not get overwritten when the firmware is replaced. While the phone can successfully run the "U" version of the firmware that is free of any carrier's pre-loaded bloatware, it remains locked to the original carrier until they supply you with the "domestic carrier unlock code" for the phone. Most carriers are willing to give you this unlock code, but they demand things like: "the phone must be activated on your account for at least 40 days, the bill must be paid up and current, and the phone not be on lease."

There are services that you can find online that will generate this unlock code for a fee, but I am now on the prowl for a method to do this myself. The unlock codes are generated via some proprietary calculation that is performed using the phone's IMEI number, so they are unique to each phone. Of course, Samsung and the carriers are very secretive about all of this. My hope is that there will be continuing pressure put on the legislature in the US to make it illegal to sell carrier locked devices, forcing all devices sold to be carrier unlocked. After all, if a person owns a device, they should have the right to use it as they please and not be constrained by artificial barriers like carrier locks....

I'll update this again if I am able to find out how to either generate the carrier unlock code, or to modify the values in the phone's memory that trigger this "enter unlock code" message. If anyone knows how to do either of these things, please PM me and point me in the direction of the information.

Good luck,

Philip