Can't find the unlock bootloader option in fastboot mode

Hi,

I’m trying to install /e/ OS on a new Fairphone 3+ using easy installer. I missed a step in the process, by pressing the volume - button once too many. I’ve got back into Fastboot, but can’t find the unlock bootloader option.

The options I’ve got are start, restart bootloader, recovery mode and power off. I can’t go back in the insturctions. A back button on the Easy Installer would be a really good idea, btw.

Can anyone help?

Kind regards,

Peter

Regain your privacy! Adopt /e/ the unGoogled mobile OS and online servicesphone

Hi @Danceswithcats welcome to the forum.

I guess you have to make a judgement here – the opportunity to unlock the device programmatically with Easy Installer was missed … but is the device totally unaffected by the transactions ?

In general Easy Installer will start from the beginning and pick up where it left off. I think you need to decide if this is the best course of action.

I cannot tell from here if this is risk free, so please come back if you see reasons this might fail.

If you feel 100% confident that “nothing happened to the device” … you could just unplug it and close Easy Installer.

You could now check that your phone is fully working and you could experiment with using the hardware buttons confidently. That is

Boot Modes

Recovery

With the device powered off - hold Volume Up + Power.

Download

With the device powered off - hold Volume Down + Power

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Thanks @aibd
I’ve done that and am going to install /e/ OS using adb, following the insturctions here: Install /e/OS on a Fairphone FP3/3+ - “FP3”. I’ve done it before with Lineage, so I think I’ll be okay. I think the easy installer is a great project, but I felt a bit lost in it.

I suspect I suffer from the problem of a little knowledge being a dangerous thing.

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Locking and unlocking the bootloader are not options there at this point. Fastboot mode serves as the mode which enables the necessary fastboot commands to be executed from the computer side to lock or unlock the bootloader, either by the Easy Installer or by you manually (but I guess you wanted to use the Easy Installer for a reason).

I think the easiest way would be to reboot into the OS and begin the Easy Installer process from the start.

Certainly, but this is pretty complicated, for some steps of the install process there’s no simple undo.

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Hi guys,

Thanks for your help. You reassured me that I hadn’t done anything disastrous. I’ve installed /e/ using adb and it’s all looking good.

I bought my Fairphone, a 4, directly from Murena, and it’s been brilliant. This FP 3 is for my wife: I’ve finally persuaded her to give up her gmail address. She’s going to use her Murena address from now on and, with my home-hosted Nextcloud server, we’ll by pretty close to Google-free.

I get his, AnotherElk. I was typing in the midst of frustration. Sorry.

Thanks again to both of you, and to all the maintainers and volunteers.

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