Posted on 06-28-12 10:24 am
The CAB files for the Tango update became readily available sometime yesterday, which, if you're into unofficially updating, means that you're set to go in getting Tango without your OEM or carrier saying no. This is actually good, as it prevents OEM fixes that block homebrew exploits, etc. However, a certain discovery has been made by the community: the Tango update reverts your PortalURL settings, essentially allowing your phone to relock itself.
Let's break this down, then:
- If you're manually grabbing the Tango update, and have interop or some other unofficial unlock, your phone will be able to automatically revert the lock by "calling home".
- When the Tango update becomes available in Zune, the result will be exactly the same. In short, this has nothing to do with manually updating.
So what can you do? Well, there is hope. Since the relocking only occurs by calling home, you can actually block the connection for long enough to restore your prevent-relock settings. This hasn't been tested, but these steps should work:
1. Download the CAB files and follow the instructions in Heathcliff74XDA's thread. Also, download this: relockPrevent.xap. You probably should make a backup, too.
2. Put your phone in Airplane mode.
3. Disconnect your internet.
Alternatively, you can navigate to %systemroot%/system32/drivers/etc and edit the hosts file, adding this line to the end:
192.168.1.1 developerservices.windowsphone.com
This will prevent your phone from being able to connect to Microsoft's servers through your computer's internet, and is generally a good thing to do. I have never had a phone relock, and while this may not entirely block this, it does serve as a fairly effective blocking measure, at least in my case.
4. Install the CAB files, as explained in Heathcliff's thread. Keep your phone in airplane mode and your internet connection off, as we do not want your phone connecting to the internet when it finishes installing the update.
5. With your interop-unlock still alive at this point, deploy the relockPrevent.xap file to your phone. Give it Trusted access in Root Tools, and run it. Press Prevent Relock, and your phone should now be safe.
6. Reconnect your internet, and take your phone off airplane mode. Done.
While this hasn't been tested, I'm confident it should work in theory. Hope this helps someone.
Also, feel free to redistribute the relockPrevent xap. It's just a quick shortcut so you don't have to dig into the registry.
Thanks to Heathcliff74 and @sinclairinator for the info.