This is a technical post for users of the HTC Desire Android smartphone. Regular readers without an interest in my techy babbling may want to skip today’s post, your normal reading and writing related updates will return shortly.
I decided to unlock my UK (T-Mobile locked) HTC Desire this weekend. T-mobile charge a high fee for unlocking, and it takes about a month to go through, but I was pleased to see android developers have found a way to do this for free.
It took a bit of searching to find a method that worked, so I’ve put together a post with the instructions. The steps used are modified from Giffgaff and this post.
These steps only work for GSM Desires (see below), and they will require a Windows PC.
This method of unlocking is totally legal. It shouldn’t void your warranty, but you might not want to risk it.
(Disclaimer: This method worked for me and the program claims to have no risk of bricking (breaking) your phone, but it if doesn’t work for you I claim no responsibility. I recommend backing up your data using the steps here to be safe.)
First, to find out if your Desire is GSM, turn the phone off then power it on while holding down the VOL DOWN button on the side. This will boot into a white screen with little Android guys at the bottom.
At the top, if it says ‘BRAVO’, then your phone is GSM. If it says ‘BRAVOC’ then you have a CMDA device and this won’t work for you. If it’s GSM, you’re good to go!
1. Download and unzip android-usb-driver.zip from sieempi’s site and download the HTC Desire Unlock Application here
2. Put phone into HBOOT mode by turning off and then turning on with volume down button held down. (You’ll see a screen with little green Android mascots here. DO NOT PRESS ANY BUTTONS IF YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’RE DOING.)
3. Once this screen has loaded and all loading bars are gone, plug in your phone’s USB cable. The screen should show HBOOT USB PLUG
4. On your PC, go into Device manager and look for Android 1.0 Device – right click and select update driver – browser to the folder where you extracted the android-usb-driver and select OK. It should install the driver (select yes to any security prompt)
5. Once the driver is installed, run the adb.exe provided in the Unlock Application and a command should open and close.
6. Run the HTC_Desire_Unlock_v0.9.5.exe – a command prompt should open and it should immediately find the phone – then type y to confirm and press enter. Your phone should reboot, and it’ll now be unlocked.
Toast says
Worked like a charm! Thanks mate!
Ryman says
Worked perfectly, thanks!
Nick says
Hello, just tried the above. Phone is still on T Mobile despite software telling me the unlock process was successful. Any ideas.?
mathanthas4 says
Hi,
If this method of unlocking doesn’t work for you, You can try any other unlocking service. For example, You can get the accurate unlock code for your HTC Desire from http://www.simpleunlocking.com/htc-desire/rs16wp9/ at affordable cost with free step by step unlocking instructions. Good luck mate.
mathanthas4 says
Hi,
If this method of unlocking doesn’t work for you, You can try any other unlocking service. For example, You can get the accurate unlock code for your HTC Desire from http://www.classicunlocking.com/htc-desire/rs16wp9/ at affordable cost with free step by step unlocking instructions. Good luck mate.
john says
great stuff works great saved me £15 paying 3 to unlock phone thank you
E.Maree says
I’m glad this post helped, John :)
Paul says
I’m also on T-Mobile and it didn’t work for me either – any ideas?
EMaree says
I’ve got no idea, sorry — it went through fine when I tried it but I don’t have a locked T-Mobile phone to try it on now. You might have better luck asking around on the XDA forum, maybe on thread for the software:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=943726&page=150
Jo says
Thank you!! I’m totally rubbish with computers, plus my computer speaks spanish, and it still worked!! Thank you! Although… with my spanish sim card it reckons I’m roaming (I’m in spain, so I’m not), any idea how to tell it it’s at home?? :)
mathanthas4 says
@Nick
Hi,
If this method of unlocking doesn’t work for you, You can try any other unlocking service. For example, You can get the accurate unlock code for your HTC Desire from http://www.classicunlocking.com/htc-desire/rs16wp9/ at affordable cost with free step by step unlocking instructions. Good luck mate.
mathanthas4 says
Hi, If this method of unlocking doesn’t work for you, You can try any other unlocking service. For example, You can get the accurate unlock code for your HTC Desire from http://www.classicunlocking.com/htc-desire/rs16wp9/ at affordable cost with free step by step unlocking instructions. Good luck mate.
luis soule says
thanks, it works like a glove, thanks again
Jay says
WOW Thank you very much for your help ;)
saikusu says
said I was missing Android Bootloader Interface and wouldn’t let me past step 4