yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] atrac88:
I'm not going to say how long I spent trying all of the builds, flashing, unlocking, etc. etc. because I copied the command with typo from that post and repeatedly got the same error. Let's just say with the correction I'm all squared away now and the end justifies the means.

HUGE thanks guys. My WiFi only Essential is now up and running on Mint!!
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] BakedTator:
I have done a little testing and what I have learned is that even if you put a sprint sim back in your phone after doing this unlock is your device will stay unlocked...it will day your carrier locked but you put another sim in your phone, it will read it without prompting for an unlock code

The sims I used aren't activated, but anytime I would insert them, it would prompt for the unlock code. They no longer do that.

Great job at figuring out all this guys...really great job!!!
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] bricky23:
This worked great for me. I did critical unlock 1st, and it would not flash. So I did fastboot flashing unlock. Then it worked. Unlocked and using total wireless, and loving it! Thanks
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] mclanecxantia:
I am no one who regularly flashes mobile phones.

I did it maybe 1-3 times.

I have a sim locked ph1 here in front of me and asking myself if I am capable to run through the whole 27 points and get it ready although being unexperienced in doing these kind of things.

There is a risk to brick the phone, isn’t it ?

There is no short cut version of all of this ?!
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] jayfil:
Easy method

I was on stock Sprint firmware. Would have to check build.

I simply Unlocked bootloader.

Flashed both modem files.

Steps:

Adb devices

*it should show phone

adb reboot bootloader

fastboot flash modemst1 modemst1.img

fastboot flash modemst2 modemst2.img

Voila unlocked for TMO.

I also relocked bootloader to avoid startup message.

Huge props for everyone that contributed to this thread! I effing hate Sprint!!
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] Wredal:
It is worth to note that with this easy method you are not creating copy of your original modem files. Should anything go wrong, you have no backup. Nothing to revert to.

I wouldn't try to hack things without a way to go back to the original state...
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] jayfil:
Good point but nothing did go wrong. I did 5 units without problem!
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] wolfhelm:
This is huge, I feel like this needs a sticky somewhere with a threat title more along the lines of how to SIM unlock rather than a discussion.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] mclanecxantia:
My unit says flashing is not allowed for modem partitions.

Bootloader is unlocked and i did reboot bootloader , it also says it is unlocked.

i then thought it depends on the rom version and flashed nmk24b but the message is similar:

"flashing is not allowed for modem partitions"

seems this is a never ending story. i bought this mobile phone 21st december 2017 and until now cannot use it.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] tech_head:
Did you do unlock_critical?
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] jayfil:
I would make sure you have the latest abd version? I installed the essential drivers as well?

i will look at my build # when i get home
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] mclanecxantia:
What is unlock_critical ?
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] NaterTots:
It's too allow you to flash to all the partitions.

From fastboot do "fastboot unlock_critical"

It will wipe your device again like when you unlock the bootloader.

Do a search in the forum to make sure I have the command right. That's off the top of my head. ?
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] mclanecxantia:
It says

device unlocked true

Device critical unlocked true.

But still says when writing:

Failed (remote: flashing is not allowed for modem partitions)

Can it be because there is:

Device modem EFS unlocked : false ??

---------- Post added at 06:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:27 PM ----------

It says

device unlocked true

Device critical unlocked true.

But still says when writing:

Failed (remote: flashing is not allowed for modem partitions)

Can it be because there is:

Device modem EFS unlocked : false ??
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] dtgo:
it can tho i messed up my asus padphone flashing random MODENst files
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] zswielder:
Sounds to me that the problem was "random" modemst file flashing, not that it was caused by flashing the modem. If you don't do something correctly, any flashing can lead to serious problems.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] dtgo:
i know but it was actually a method just like this , had to flash the 2 modem files which resulted in a 0 imei number , which did work in some countries as an unlock but not in mine

rhis method works tho , i took the dive and now i have an unlocked essential phone

thanks to all involved in this method
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] zswielder:
The fact that you said it worked in some countries tells me that you flashed wrong modem files for a variant of whatever phone you had. Whether or not modem flashing works does not depend on which country you are in.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] dtgo:
yeah i know this now
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] wickedclown691:
Does this method currently work. I am looking to buy one of these phones off of swappa if it can be sim unlocked. Does the phone have to be on a certain OS version. Thanks for any replies.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] mclanecxantia:
Obviously not on my phone that says sprint variant in fastboot.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] blackmamba:
I picked up one as well. Hoping to make it work after unlock.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] wickedclown691:
I haven't gotten mine ordered yet. Maybe you can be the hero I need and let me know if it works for you. Looking at a local essential non sprint if I hear back otherwise may jump on one of the sprint versions.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] blackmamba:
Sure thing. I don't receive mine for another week though (shipping from the US into Canada) so you might have to wait a bit. I have all the files ready to go in preparation. Fingers crossed.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] osi13:
I'm sure it works. I will be able to test it tomorrow, and I'll report back.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] lb_di:
my ATT sim is working after restoring back to 7.1.1 and flashing the modem files.

No wi-fi

Does anyone know if we can update back to Oreo?
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] tech_head:
You should be able to, the 8.1B does not have a modemst1/2 flash.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] lb_di:
Yep, it worked. Wi-fi is operational as well now.

Thanks guys! This sprint issue was seriously irritating.

I did talk to Essential tech support for the 2nd time yesterday. They told me that Sprint has a fix now for the relock

:laugh::laugh::laugh: of course they do. :laugh::laugh:
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] mclanecxantia:
Anyone an idea why I can’t flash the modem partition although it is unlocked and also critical unlocked ??
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] Ryuk359:
I have an unlocked sprint phone. Currently using att on it. Anything I can do to help?
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] ziddey:
Perhaps because of a newer bootloader? I got my Sprint variant yesterday and flashed the modemst1/2 partitions while on NMI81C. Updated to NMK24B and then 8.1b1. Funny thing is I actually use Sprint, and had to get a new sim card. For whatever reason, provisioning kept failing, and I assumed it was because of the modemst1/2. I tried to flash back, but got the same error as you. Was going to attempt flashing via dd, but it finally provisioned on its own.

I didn't unlock critical though, but it sounds like it's not working for you anyway. I just got the phone and am not sure if the bootloader is downgradeable. Have you tried flashing back to an earlier build?
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] osi13:
I was able to get this to work. Apparently you need to be on a build that allows you to flash the modemst partitions. Read what I did below.

This phone was running the latest 8.1 beta, and I would get stuck at "Flashing is not allowed for modem partitions" after unlocking the bootloader, and running the fastboot flashing unlock_critical command. I did go though the process to root with magisk so I could back up the modem partitions, which I think is a good idea. I grabbed the modemst files from jashenberner's dropbox.

I was able to flash the modemst files by first flashing the NMK24B factory image via fastboot.

This build is toward the bottom of this page: https://www.essential.com/developer/current-builds

Then I sideloaded the lastest beta build via recovery found here: https://www.essential.com/developer/beta-builds

After installing the beta I used this guide to install magisk:

https://xdaforums.com/essential-phone/how-to/guide-rooting-essential-ph-1-magisk-t3701976

I'm now using T-Mobile with the latest 8.1 beta on a "locked" Sprint PH-1. I can confirm that WiFi works fine as well.

Let me know if you have any other questions.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] Biggmax93:
Fastboot ADB not working

I cant get my phone to be recognized when trying to unlock bootloader. tried updating many driver and nothing
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] tech_head:
What kind of computer?

What cable?
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] tech_head:
This method seems to work even on Sprint Unlocked phones.

Now you might ask why do this?

It makes sure the phone never locks itself.

Mine was Sprint unlocked, but I decided to unlock it this way, just to be sure. :o
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] avd:
I'm not sure you did anything
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] tech_head:
Rewrote the files from an unlocked phone.

It only did nothing if the Sprint unlock writes the same files.

But we don't know. What we do know is that these files will unlock a phone that is SIM locked.

So potentially nothing, or just make sure that unlocked, means unlocked.

But I can confirm, that doing on a phone that has already been unlocked is at least benign.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] wickedclown691:
I got lucky and found a standard essential phone on my local craigslist. I snatched it up quickly. Best phone decision so far.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] Ryuk359:
So when will get get the full write up? I'd be interested since I'm running a sprint unlocked phone too. A full working sim unlock deserves a sticky. :good:
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] mclanecxantia:
I got it !! Heureka !

Mistake was that I tried from a different version than nmk24b. Seems it needs to be this version.

Now I can for the first time use this telephone as a telephone.

I ordered it from ebay around Christmas. And until now tried to find a solution !!! Wow. Thanks guys! this forum is beautiful.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] tech_head:
https://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=75681830&postcount=314

Post #314 is the write up.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] slikerhael:
I flashed NMK24B and still got the same, flashing modem partitions not allowed. I relocked and relocked critical then unlocked both again and still get the same result. I still can't flash my modem partitions.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] ziddey:
What version is your bootloader? Maybe it's not downgradable or needs to be forced?

I was able to flash the modemst partitions without unlocking critical on build NMI81C. Then updated to NMK24B and 8.1b1 and got locked out.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] adam3914:
I had the same issue until I took my sim out, and i didn't let the phone boot after I flashed nmk24b
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] alu_potato:
I have an odd problem, was wondering if you could help me out or provide any insight. I was on build NMI81C initially, I started off by trying out my cricket sim card on the base build and of course I got invalid sim with the scrolling message of network locked on the top left. So I unlock bootloader and then flash NMK24B, I get a failure on flashing the modem partition but I still test the sim card and it doesn't work. Then I unlock_critical and flash NMK24B again and there are no error messages. However, the device is still network locked and it says invalid sim, any ideas?

Edit: Installed the Oreo 8.1 Beta through recovery and it's working now

So to summarize what I did to unlock on Windows 10 was:

Pre-Reqs

1. Install Windows Device Driver for Essential Phone from here: https://storage.googleapis.com/essential-static/Essential-PH1-WindowsDrivers.exe

2. Install ADB and Fastboot from here: https://developer.android.com/studio/releases/platform-tools.html

2a. Path ADB and Fastboot by following this tutorial: https://www.xda-developers.com/adb-fastboot-any-directory-windows-linux/

3. Download build NMK24B and extract it from here: https://storage.googleapis.com/essential-static/PH1-Images-NMK24B.zip

4. Download the Android 8.1 Beta from here: https://storage.googleapis.com/essential-static/PH1-OTA-OPM1.180104.010.zip

5. Go to settings in your phone>about phone> and tap build number 7x to unlock developer mode

5a. Go into developer mode and turn on OEM unlock and USB debugging

The Process

1. Connect the phone to the computer

2. Authorize the computer for USB debugging on your phone

3. Run command prompt as administrator (just in case)

4. Run "adb reboot bootloader"

5. When fastboot is loaded run "fastboot flashing unlock"

6. When the phone reboots go through the setup and redo pre-req #5

7. Repeat step 4

8. Run "fastboot flashing unlock_critical"

9. Repeat steps 6 and 7

10. Go to the NMK24B folder you extracted in pre-req #3 and run the flashall.bat file

11. Repeat step 6

12. Run "adb reboot recovery"

13. Hold down the power button for a few seconds, then press the volume-up button one time. When the menu appears, select Apply update from ADB.

14. Run " adb sideload "location of the Android 8.1 Beta zip (pre-req 4)" " Important: the quotation marks around the file location need to be there for this to work

14a. The location is the file path e.g. "C:\Users\alu_potato\Downloads\PH1-OTA-OPM1.180104.010.zip"

This is the point where my phone accepted my sim! Next is locking the bootloader which seems to be recommended

Locking Bootloader

1. Redo step 6 and 7 of "

The Process

"

2. Run "fastboot flashing lock"

That's all
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] slikerhael:
My bootloader is mata-2e849fe

I just retried flashing NMK24B and flashing the modemst all without a sim card in it and still no dice. Still get the modem partition flashing is not allowed.

I'll give NMI81C a go next

Edit: I finally got it to flash, I had to switch to system-a and flashed NMK28b and the bootloader version finally changed and the modemst partitions were able to flash and when it booted my out of service verizon sim found signal and was ready to setup. Thanks so much for everyone's help and progress.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] tech_head:
Yeah, I should have asked what partition you flashed.

Normally I flash A and B both.

I don't think about it because for me it's automatic.

In the back to stock versions of the firmware it's always a flash to both A & B.

Glad you got it sorted.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] chp:
For newcomers to this thread, I believe you need to have a SIM installed in order to flash modemst1 and modemst2.

Without a SIM installed, I was receiving the "remote: Flashing is now allowed for Modem Partitions)" message.

With my T-Mobile SIM installed, modemst1 and modemst2 flashed without an issue.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] adam3914:
I have done it on three different phones with no SIM each time.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] NaterTots:
What Essential build were you on when you did it?

Thanks
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] KuranKaname:
After reading this thread for a bit, you guys got it unlocked, right? Looking at a Sprint locked PH-1. I'm living in Europe. Just wanting to make sure I won't have problems unlocking it
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] tech_head:
It is unlocked,.

See this post: https://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=75681830&postcount=314

You will need to unlock your bootloader and critical unlock to be able to flash old firmware.

Once you have rolled back you will be able to flash the modemst1 and modemst2.

It works.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] KuranKaname:
Thank you. Then for sure I'll get the Sprint locked version and unlock it
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] Dooky51:
Frequencies

Hello!

So, as i understood, we can get unlocked phone. One silly question: will it work in GSM network (3g umts) after flashing a new modem:1900-1990 and 2100-2175 mhz?

Does anybody test it?

Thanks
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] tech_head:
If it works before.

It doesn't change supported frequencies. The flash unlocks the SIM.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] crossix:
I just purchased one of these from ebay that was "Sprint Locked" and running build NMJ32F (Android 7.1.1). After reading a bunch of the posts, I decided to dive right in and see how easy it was to unlock. This may not work for everyone, but with so much information I was more than a little intimidated to even attempt the procedure below. Oh and I had my AT&T sim in the phone while I did everything.

The following procedure worked for me and was partially taken from jashenberner (post #221), thanks to all who helped make this a possibility!!

1. Download a working copy of adb / fastboot & extract it

(I downloaded http://www.mediafire.com/file/ccnnv843a20tqbn/minimal_adb_fastboot_v1.4.3.zip & extracted it to c:\adb)

2. Download modemst1.img, modemst2.img from the url posted back in post #210

(https://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=75505937&postcount=210 .. be sure to remove the spaces from the dropbox url)

3. Download the Essential Phone drivers from:

https://storage.googleapis.com/essential-static/Essential-PH1-WindowsDrivers.exe

4. Copy modemst1.img / modemst2.img to the c:\adb directory and install the Essential-PH1-WindowsDrivers

5. On the phone enable usb debugging and OEM unlocking

6. Unlock the bootloader using "fastboot flashing unlock" **Warning** This will wipe your phone, no way around this that I know of.

Check out this how to video for more info (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DNWCqSAAVM)

7. Once your bootloader is unlocked run these in the command line

- adb reboot bootloader

- fastboot flash modemst1 modemst1.img

- fastboot flash modemst2 modemst2.img

8. Reboot and check to see if the sim is still locked

9. (Optional) run these commands in the command line (this will wipe your phone again):

- adb reboot bootloader

- fastboot flashing lock

So far I've experienced no ill effects, everything is working well and I'm on my way to upgrading to 8.1.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] kaiser_roma225:
after I unlock the sprint essential phone if I update from 7.1.1 to 8.1 will the re-lock the phone to sprint ??
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] tech_head:
No.

The SIM unlock is permanent.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] kwiksi1ver:
Will the phone still work with sprint after sim unlocking though?
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] ziddey:
Yes
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] DrClaw:
Hi. I tried flashing the modemst files last night but my adb window would just say waiting for device. I have 3 essential phones that are locked. They're all running 7.1 , not sure where to get build details on settings. I did not perform critical unlock. Not sure how to.

Can you provide some more info for folks like myself that will need to do tangent searches for how to unlock essential etc... ?

TIA
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] crossix:
Sounds like adb isn't seeing your device, did you install the essential drivers?

Since you're on 7.1, you might take a look at my post if you haven't already, it may help:

https://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=75947320&postcount=339
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] DrClaw:
Your post is the one I was working with. Where for you get the essential drivers that you used? Can you post a direct link? I didn't see any drivers in the Dropbox where the modemst files are.

ADB does see the device. I was able to fastboot from ADB and see fastboot devices. Could be a driver issue though. Had to use the _1exc1 command or whatever that was to force unlock.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] damiloveu:
Neither Sprint or Essential wants to relock the phones. It happened occasionally.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] bryanus:
So it works on the 32F build also? And you didn't have to unlock_critical?

Waiting on my ebay Sprint to arrive. Eager to get it unlocked!
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] crossix:
Ah sorry, for some reason I thought I got the drivers from the same place. Drivers I used were from here:

https://storage.googleapis.com/essential-static/Essential-PH1-WindowsDrivers.exe

Also, you may need to download fastboot from that dropbox site and replace it where ever you have adb / fastboot copied to or once you get those drivers installed try from the version they include in C:\Program Files (x86)\Essential\ADB

Yep had build 32F and didn't have to unlock_critical or do anything special just unlock bootloader, flash the files and re-lock bootloader (didn't like keeping it unlocked). Hope yours is as easy as mine was, I got a heck of a deal from ebay.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] DrClaw:
Still seem to be having issues. I can ADB into phone and see ADB devices, my phone shows up. I was able to unlock phone yesterday and is still unlocked. When I type the CMD fastboot devices I get no results just flashing for next CMD. If I go ahead with the img1 CMD I get "waiting fo to device" and it just stays there.

I've tried downloading the drivers you listed and the ADB files that you posted. I do not have the unknown device issue with the mata device. I've tried the Google ADB drivers and same results. Ive also tried changing the drivers while in fastboot mode. No difference. I think I'm having a driver issue once I'm in fastboot. The device manager does show essential Phoenix fast boot device or similar in the device manager as the driver.

I am using a USB to USB c adapter from my computer to the phone because my computer doesn't have USB c. Could that be the issue?

**UPDATE** i remembered i did have a USB to USB c cable and tried that instead of adapter. No change. However, I was able to get the modemst commands to work. I ended up adding "-i 0x2e17" after the fastboot syntax and before the the flash modemst1 modemst1.img. voila. worked. I put in my mint sim and it originally registered network for a brief min then lost it and now wont find the cellular network. I can see roaming if i try different network modes but no data. I tried setting up the APN as i did when i first installed my sim on my other device it was in prior. No luck. i can see roaming network but no data.

i googled a bit and see other folks have moved a mintim into the essential no issues. Not sure what's going. I think the device sim is unlocked and maybe a network settings somewhere.