Microsoft may have largely abandoned its Lumia smartphones with Windows software. But if you’ve got one lying around now you can unlock the bootloader and root the phone.

As promised last month, the developer of Windows Phone Internals has released a new version that can unlock and root just about any Lumia device.

Windows Phone Internals 2.3 is the first update to the tool in two years, but it’s a doozy. Developer Heathcliff74 does note that some users have had problems unlocking devices with Bitlocker encryption enabled, but disabling it should do the trick.

Among other things, unlocking the bootloader allows you to install ROMs on a phone, but note that we’re still talking about Windows Phone-based ROMs. Porting Android to run on a Lumia phone would be a major undertaking since there aren’t necessarily Android drivers for all of the hardware.

And, as with any tool for flashing ROMs, unlocking booters, and rooting a device, you should probably proceed with caution since there’s a non-zero chance of something going wrong. Make sure to back up any important data before starting.

via Windows Central

Support Liliputing

Liliputing's primary sources of revenue are advertising and affiliate links (if you click the "Shop" button at the top of the page and buy something on Amazon, for example, we'll get a small commission).

But there are several ways you can support the site directly even if you're using an ad blocker* and hate online shopping.

Contribute to our Patreon campaign

or...

Contribute via PayPal

* If you are using an ad blocker like uBlock Origin and seeing a pop-up message at the bottom of the screen, we have a guide that may help you disable it.

Subscribe to Liliputing via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 9,543 other subscribers

7 replies on “Windows Phone Internals 2.3 released, unlocks all Lumia bootloaders”

  1. Who gives a FF? Really. I’m sure some techno historians get some brief lulz, but otherwise.. the world has moved on, and nothing of value was lost.

    1. The 30 million or so Windows phone users (mostly Lumias), myself included, might find this of value. Especially if the rumored Surface phone with desktop applications available via C-Shell takes very long to hit the market.

  2. Weird fork on the road – history repeating itself. Windows 10 Phone is dead around the same time root becomes available for custom ROMs. Lumia has a couple of really great phones but… I honestly don’t expect much activity. Maybe a little flurry for a year or so.

    When a commercial and closed OS is abandoned by it’s maker, the interest dries up quickly. Plenty of previous examples. I’m not taking any cheap shots here at MS or the OS… I’m just suggesting that people shouldn’t go out and buy Lumia phones in the hopes that (at least) one talented & dedicated developer (giving freely of his time) improves an OS that even Microsoft had trouble with (with sources available too).

    ‘root’ just got here very late to the party. Current Lumia owners might be able to extend life via root-based security tweaks – so that’s the goal here.

    1. Olá com esta ” Root” seria possível transformar o cartão de memória como memória interna?

  3. It’s pretty cool but also a shame that Android can’t be ported that easily. It’s what I’ve always considered the pitfall of the ARM architecture. Any x86 OS can run on any x86 chipset with just the bare minimum generic drivers included. Everyone saying that x86 has to go is taking for granted the legacy support built into the x86 architecture that makes it much easier for OS’s and native apps to run consistently across all platforms rather than needing to be recompiled for each variation of the architecture or needing special drivers just to work.

    1. What you’re talking about is less of a function of the ISA, and more of the system architecture. But I wholeheartedly agree with you, nonetheless: requiring custom drivers/kernels for each individual device really sucks. I doubt it will change, though, as it gives the industry the capability to force consumers to upgrade. There’s way too much money in that market model to abandon it.

      The PC market would look very different today if companies were able to do something similar 20+ years ago.

Comments are closed.