[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Questions and Answers] krabman:
Gents...

The sim thing was something that we had considered as a possibility because we didn't have any verified result of it mattering or not, it was simply known to be different than what had been reported before making it a possibility. It would seem that fragtion has ruled that possibility out at this point but another data point confirming that would be welcome as no experiment is a success if it cant be repeated.

The steps I did were obviously a throw everything at it trying to tick any box I could think of that might be triggering the OEM hide or alternatively might short circuit the process. Those steps appear to work. I did it the first time and have turned around and installed a rom again over that one starting right from the beginning and it still works. I can boot into twrp, reboot, as near as I can tell do anything I want just as if the problem never existed. Two others have now seen the same result so it appears like it'll hunt. What we need to do is figure out what part of that is actually doing the trick for us.

Some things we have seen...

If you install TWRP and root without installing a rom you will probably not get a visible OEM slider and will probably be getting the binary error if you reboot, go back into twrp, etc. This isn't quite put to bed but it's close. It has been said that waiting a week after the process without leaving system to see if the toggle shows up and enabling unlock will then get you up and rolling. There hasn't been enough time yet far anyone to get there except for one poster who said it failed for him but no one ever verified exactly what he did.

If you install a rom where the OEM unlock is hidden this may be a problem. One user has followed the working instructions doing this and did get the binary on a reboot. There may be an answer in there as to what are culprit is but it's something the smart guys need to look at. If someone does go this route I would recommend not rebooting for a week in the same manner as someone who installed without a rom and see if that works.

The enable the OEM in safe made gambit has worked for a couple and failed for a couple. No one knows why, could be csc related, etc. It is at any rate worth a try as it wont hurt anything.

We still haven't any clue why some are seeing their switch show up sooner, others later, a few not at all. It does appear like more than a factory install can trigger a clock reset as several have reported such but no one has identified exactly what. With any luck more data points should flesh this out.

Fragtion summed it up pretty well, whatever you do please keep close track of it and report your result. A negative result isn't good but it allows us to exclude another possibility until we reach the answer. No one is going to figure this out for us, we are going to have to at least narrow it down to where one of the smart guys doesn't have to give up a month of his life to put it to bed because they've got better things to do just like you and I do.

---------- Post added at 07:55 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:48 AM ----------

HIghly recommend users not to untick reboot. My device will not leave download when unplugged nor will it allow for you to command a reboot to recovery. The only command it will accept is vol down/power for reboot. Once I do that I failed four times in row to get it to go into recovery. This was back when we were testing if a reset after flash would prevent the loss of OEM and I flashed the stock system a dozen or more times in different ways.

I recommend following the TWRP instructions exactly. Have odin loaded and ready with the curser over start, hold the vol up/bix/power and then press the start button while holding and do not release the phone buttons until after the device boots into TWRP. I'm not the only one who had that problem which is why those instructions explicitly state to do it that way. Keep this in mind, we don't have normal devices. If you miss it you cant simply reflash and try again, you are going to wait a week before your next try.