How To Unlock Huawei Bootloader

Huawei devices come with a locked bootloader. The reason for Huawei to put this restriction on the bootloader of their smartphones is to make sure that the devices stay safe and secure in the hands of users. A locked bootloader basically prevents the users from flashing custom kernel images, custom recoveries and custom ROMs.

While the bootloader is basically the architecture that makes your device boot up, if this partition of your device has malfunctioned, it will result in bricking your device. Another reason for the bootloader restriction is to prevent any software vulnerabilities from landing in your Android device.

Its not Huawei alone that locks the bootloader, other manufacturers like Sony, LG, HTC, Motorola and even Google locks down the bootloader of its devices. Samsung doesn’t put any such restriction on its devices. Carrier branded smartphones usually have a locked bootloader as well.

The bootloader may come in the locked form originally, but manufacturers do allow unlocking the bootloader officially. Purpose of putting this restriction is to warn the users and then allow them to tweak their device at their own risk. Manufacturers like Huawei, LG, Sony and others have their bootloader unlock pages, but they require you to accept the terms and agreement first that you will be responsible for unlocking your phone’s bootloader. Unlocking the bootloader also results in voiding the warranty of your device, that means once unlocked, you’re on your own afterward.

Playing with the bootloader of your device isn’t going to cause any harm as long as you know what you’re doing and you know if you’re flashing the right files or not. For Android power users, a locked bootloader really doesn’t matter. If you want to become an Android power user as well, you will also have to unlock the bootloader. Once you’ve unlocked the bootloader of your smartphone, you can flash a custom kernel as mentioned above. Flashing a custom recovery is a great choice as it allows you to backup Nandroid and all partitions of your phone. A custom recovery also allows you to wipe cache and Dalvik cache. You may want to flash zip files as well. Flashing custom ROMs is also possible only if your phone’s bootloader is unlocked.

If you own a Huawei smartphone and the bootloader restriction is stopping you from going ahead, you may want to break this barrier now. If you’re looking to learn the method to unlock your Huawei’s bootloader, you’re in the right spot at the moment. We are about to unlock Huawei smartphones’ bootloader. We will be simplifying the guide as much as possible. Let’s go ahead and get it done now.

Getting Bootloader Unlock Code

1. Go to Huawei’s official page and click on register for free.
2. On the next page click on “Register Email Address”.
3. Now enter your email address and other details to sign up.
4. If you’re using Google Chrome browser, you may click on translate page. Otherwise the page will be displayed in Chinese. I’ve translated the page, and made the tutorial in english. If Chrome fails to translate the page automatically, you may click on “try again” button to translate the page. It will work.
5. Open your email inbox that you used to sign up on Huawei’s site. Find Huawei’s email and click on the verification link to activate your account.
6. Now after verifying your account, go to Huawei’s official page once again and this time sign in using the account that you just made.
7. After signing in, you will be redirected to the agreement page for unlocking the bootloader.
8. Scroll to the bottom. Check the small box for accepting the agreement and click on the “Next” button.
9. Now on the next page, select smartphone in the product category and enter all the details of your phone. You can find all these details in Settings > About device.
10. After adding all the details, click the submit button that is on the right side.
11. You will now get the 16 digit unlock code. Save the code somewhere you can easily access from.

How To Unlock Bootloader Of Your Huawei Smartphone Now

1. Now install Minimal ADB & Fastboot drivers on your windows PC. Mac users can install ADB & Fastboot for Mac.
2. Enable USB Debugging mode on your phone and turn it off.
3. Now press and hold the volume down key, while keeping it pressed plug in the data cable in order to establish connection between your PC and your phone.
4. Now open Minimal ADB & Fastboot.exe file from your desktop. If you don’t have this file on your desktop then go to your windows installation drive > program files > Minimal ADB & Fastboot > open the py_cmd.exe file. Mac users can follow the Mac guide to open the file that will work for them. This will open a command window on your PC or Mac.
5. Once the command window is up, type the following commands one by one.

fastboot devices

This will verify your device’s connection in fastboot mode.

fastboot oem unlock xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 

Replace the xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx with your 16 digit code that you got after doing the process explained above. After putting the code, hit enter key.

This will unlock the bootloader of your Huawei phone and your phone will reboot. You will loose all the data, your phone will perform a factory reset after unlocking the bootloader. 

That’s all. You can now flash recovery and kernel images, and custom ROMs as  well on your Huawei smartphone. If you’re facing any issues while doing this process, reach us out through the comment box below.