HOW-TO OEM unlock the Galaxy Nexus

**sdruss83** · 12-15-2011, 06:49 PM

alright guys I figured out my problem and I hope this helps other people who are going insane trying to install different drivers and whatnot....

I never installed the paltform-tools so I mistakenly put the fastboot into the "tools" folder instead of the "platform-tools" folder (because that folder didn't exist yet). Open sdk and check to install the platform-tools. When that is done make sure you put the Fastboot thing you downloaded into the "platform-tools" folder. There should be an icon that says "adb" in that same folder.

It wasnt an issue with my drivers at all.

hope that helps someone.

**TeBear77** · 12-15-2011, 07:00 PM

Ok my boot loop is a different issue and possible large bug in ICS ... can someone else try this and report findings... I have reproduced this twice now

Phone unlocked using the method in this post. (if you haven't unlocked please try as well)
Phone boots fine
setup phone.
connect the phone to your wifi
play some words with friends for awhile
go unplug your access point.
my phone immediatly starts the boot loop.

let it go and try a few times to boot up still no go.

go plug in my access point
soon as it is booted whala my GNex is back and working.

turn off wifi on the phone shut down AP ... no issues as would be expected

**crazyscorpion04** · 12-15-2011, 07:49 PM

Originally Posted by sdruss83

alright guys I figured out my problem and I hope this helps other people who are going insane trying to install different drivers and whatnot....

I never installed the paltform-tools so I mistakenly put the fastboot into the "tools" folder instead of the "platform-tools" folder (because that folder didn't exist yet). Open sdk and check to install the platform-tools. When that is done make sure you put the Fastboot thing you downloaded into the "platform-tools" folder. There should be an icon that says "adb" in that same folder.

It wasnt an issue with my drivers at all.

hope that helps someone.

this also helped me
Plus go to samsung site and download drivers.... then make sure your nexus is in debug mode and connect it to computer with those drivers installed so that it recognizes the device and installs the drivers on your computer. After it installs the drivers you do the bootloader command and when you want to unlock you will have the orange triangle... there you will have to go into setting up the device by right clicking on the device android 1.0 and select select device myself.... scroll down to samsung then select 11/25 date and this helped me out which it finally detected my device in bootloader mode. Once i typed the fastboot oem unlock it worked because it was finally detected.

**Bendroid55** · 12-15-2011, 08:23 PM

Anyone else do a face palm when they realized they forgot to enable usb debugging?

BTW, this is the driver that worked for me.

**captainhammy** · 12-15-2011, 08:31 PM

Unlocked mine with minimal effort other than having to install the Samsung drivers. Thanks everyone.

**Heath276** · 12-15-2011, 09:09 PM

Originally Posted by xelhandroid

Got all the way to the command prompt, entered "fastboot oem unlock" and got this error message:

"This program can't start because AdbWinApi.dll is missing from your computer"

What now?

I'm getting the same thing what do I need to do?

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

**Bendroid55** · 12-15-2011, 09:23 PM

Originally Posted by tysdad08

I'm getting the same thing what do I need to do?

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

You must make sure adb.exe, fastboot.exe, and AdbWinApi.dll are in the same folder.

**jharo** · 12-15-2011, 09:30 PM

Originally Posted by Headhunter

The combo of those two things worked for me. Initially, the Samsung option didn't have the Andriod ABD option. After installing the driver that surfacinglove posted there were a TON of Samsung options and the Android ADB driver was mixed up in there. I updated the driver from the Device manager and then ran the command and all went well.

Now I can start setting up the phone and actually using it! Thanks guys!!!!

Woohoo!!!!!

It just said Android ADB driver or did it say Android Composite ADB Interface?

**jwatson** · 12-15-2011, 09:48 PM

I had this same error message. Make sure you put the fastboot.exe in the same folder as adb.exe. I have win7 and found that the adb.exe was in the platform-tools folder not the tools folder. I moved the fastboot.exe file to the platform-tools folder, clicked at the top field, entered cmd for a command prompt at this location and typed fastboot oem unlock. Worked fine.

**auburngirl** · 12-15-2011, 09:49 PM

For those still struggling with the driver issue (I have been working it out for the last two hours), a few tips that helped me:

1. Make sure your device is plugged into your PC and in the fastboot screen.
2. Open device Mgr - that is where you will see the Android 1.0 with the yellow exclamation point. I did not see it previously.
3. Right click and install the correct drivers from the Samsung folder or other source.

I know others have given almost these same instructions, but for some reason they did not "click" for me.

Hope this helps. Happy unlocking!

**gecko** · 12-15-2011, 09:58 PM

I have had absolutely ZERO lock with my mac,,,,
I have the SDK installed, I have eclipse, I have inserted the >bash file...
I got nothing

**pulpo69** · 12-15-2011, 10:04 PM

Thank you, my bootloader is unloaked!!! : )

**Ferman07** · 12-15-2011, 10:38 PM

Thank you! The xda post worked for my "waiting for device" problem too!

**PlUmPaSsChIcKeN** · 12-15-2011, 10:53 PM

Originally Posted by auburngirl

For those still struggling with the driver issue (I have been working it out for the last two hours), a few tips that helped me:

1. Make sure your device is plugged into your PC and in the fastboot screen.
2. Open device Mgr - that is where you will see the Android 1.0 with the yellow exclamation point. I did not see it previously.
3. Right click and install the correct drivers from the Samsung folder or other source.

I know others have given almost these same instructions, but for some reason they did not "click" for me.

Hope this helps. Happy unlocking!

Wow... Thank you for this... You are a amazing...

It did not click for me that I should have done the command on that screen... I kept turning the phone on like an *****...

You guys are amazing, thanks for all the help!

**YourMobileGuru** · 12-15-2011, 11:06 PM

Originally Posted by JoeUserTX

Here's another alternative for the missing Android 1.0 USB driver issue:

1) Unplug the USB cable from the phone
2) Right-click on the "Android 1.0" entry in Device Manager (that shows the yellow exclamation point), then click 'Remove'
3) Install this USB ADB driver from xda-developers forum: (download it locally, unzip into a folder where you can find it, then right-click on the android_winusb.inf file and choose 'Install')

Once the driver installs, plug the phone cable back in and the device will be recognized.

"The INF file you selected does not support this format of installation".

**YourMobileGuru** · 12-15-2011, 11:20 PM

Originally Posted by auburngirl

For those still struggling with the driver issue (I have been working it out for the last two hours), a few tips that helped me:

1. Make sure your device is plugged into your PC and in the fastboot screen.
2. Open device Mgr - that is where you will see the Android 1.0 with the yellow exclamation point. I did not see it previously.
3. Right click and install the correct drivers from the Samsung folder or other source.

I know others have given almost these same instructions, but for some reason they did not "click" for me.

Hope this helps. Happy unlocking!

In my case it says that there are no drivers installed for this device and when I let it try to instl then it tells me that they dont exist and does not give me an option to select any drivers.

Edit: Windows 7 Home Premium x64

**xsfspd** · 12-16-2011, 12:02 AM

Finally unlocked!!! Just was not clicking the right options. Now time to start getting this bad boy setup!

**Gunslinger1981** · 12-16-2011, 12:11 AM

I am finally unlocked as well. I wish there was a note on the first post stating that you could possibly see the boot animation loop for a few minutes. I bet I did it right the first or second time, but I hadn't read page 9 or 10 of this thread yet. Good luck to all!

**lawlipop** · 12-16-2011, 12:16 AM

Need help... when i try to extract the fastboot.exe file to the tools folder, i am getting an "Access Denied" error.

any help please??

**Gunslinger1981** · 12-16-2011, 12:32 AM

Originally Posted by Michael Woods

Need help... when i try to extract the fastboot.exe file to the tools folder, i am getting an "Access Denied" error.

any help please??

Are you trying to extract to C:\ ? If you don't have administrator privileges that could be an issue...try placing the zip in "My Documents" or something and try extracting there. If that doesn't work I don't know what the issue could be.

**Gunslinger1981** · 12-16-2011, 12:33 AM

Has anyone else notice a slowdown in the UI after unlock? My device does not seem nearly as smooth as it did before.

**YourMobileGuru** · 12-16-2011, 12:35 AM

Originally Posted by Michael Woods

Need help... when i try to extract the fastboot.exe file to the tools folder, i am getting an "Access Denied" error.

any help please??

My giess would be your windows account does hot have administrator privileges. You need those t mess with system files.

**xsfspd** · 12-16-2011, 12:41 AM

Originally Posted by Gunslinger1981

Has anyone else notice a slowdown in the UI after unlock? My device does not seem nearly as smooth as it did before.

I really can't say I have seen any slowdown at all.

**lawlipop** · 12-16-2011, 01:17 AM

Originally Posted by Gunslinger1981

Are you trying to extract to C:\ ? If you don't have administrator privileges that could be an issue...try placing the zip in "My Documents" or something and try extracting there. If that doesn't work I don't know what the issue could be.

i figured it out. thanks.

unlocked!