Blocked S6 with Android 6.0.1 and Fingerprint lock....

[domusonline]

After an upgrade to Android 6.0.1 I activated the fingerprint lock and it has been working very well since.
At the time I had to insert a password which I seem to have forgotten.

After a crash/reboot the device asks me for the password... The fingerprint would work, but after a boot it requires the password which I don't remember.
I can loose everything (SMS, contacts, call details, apps etc) except photos and videos I did on the last week while I was traveling (that''s when it crashed).
I have not setup Samsung's "find my mobile" service.
I use Synology DS cloud to sync the files to my home NAS, but unfortunately it only works when I have WIFI... which is turned off... and I can't turn it on while the device is locked...

It's just like the perfect storm....
I have access to my google account. And if I could activate the WIFI it should sync and then an hard reset would be ok...

Any ideas?
Thanks in advance!

 

[H3aTeRzz]

Hi there, you'll join many with this problem after the MM update.

So, have you opened up a windows/mac browser on your desktop or laptop, logged into Samsung's Find My Mobile, and changed the lock code from there? You can do that you know? Also, in your google account (backup & reset options) when you set up the phone, did you have it set to automatically backup your files, check marks those two options....Back up my data (Check), and Automatic Restore (Check)? If you did, then just factory reset and restore from backup, once prompted to do so.

There should be no reason that you cannot login with Find My Mobile, through a web browser, if you have it set up....that of course, would be your better option.

Hope this helps!

Chris

 

[domusonline]

Thanks for the help, but as I stated I didn't configure "Find My Mobile" service on Samsung. And I don't have the phone configured to sync with Google.
I use a personal cloud solution (Synology) which is configured to sync only through WI-FI...
I suppose my only option would be to turn on WIFI, let it sync and then do a factory reset... but I can't seem to find a way to activate WIFI...

If there was an app to do it, I could intall it from Google Play, but from what I've searched, there's no such thing...
Anyone else who has gone through this has a solution?....

Thanks!

 

[domusonline]

SOLVED!
It's quite easy actually... for other people facing the same issue, you just have to download Odin and the TWRP recovery image... (Google it).
After having Odin running and the recovery image, just put the phone on "download" mode (turn it off and then at same time, volume DOWN, power and HOME key.
Flash it.... Don't let it reboot or the normal boot will replace the new recovery image.
With the TWRP image you can just connect it to Windows through normal USB and browse your files as if the phone was not locked....
After saving your files you can hard reset and re-install it.
It's probably possible to break the lock... but I didn't go into that (yet at least).

Regards. HTH

 

[Bosbouer]

SOLVED!
It's quite easy actually... for other people facing the same issue, you just have to download Odin and the TWRP recovery image... (Google it).
After having Odin running and the recovery image, just put the phone on "download" mode (turn it off and then at same time, volume DOWN, power and HOME key.
Flash it.... Don't let it reboot or the normal boot will replace the new recovery image.
With the TWRP image you can just connect it to Windows through normal USB and browse your files as if the phone was not locked....
After saving your files you can hard reset and re-install it.
It's probably possible to break the lock... but I didn't go into that (yet at least).

Regards. HTH

Much much easier to make very sure you store that backup password in a safe physical location.

And the backup to one of the std android backup services that offer remote restores (in this case Google and Samsung) is a must if one wants to use the fingerprint access route.