Easy Installer and locking/unlocking bootloader

Hello all, I endeavor to upgrade /e/OS on a few family Fairphones using the Easy Installer and I would like to understand a little more about it before I do that. Sort of: In what place is it currently (development-wise) and where are things headed. In this regard, I’d like to ask a few questions about locking/unlocking the bootloader.

1.a) Do you have to manually unlock the bootloader before using the Easy Installer (background: all our bootloaders have been locked again after installing /e/OS for security purposes)? If yes, does the Easy Installer warn you if you haven’t done that yet?

1.b) … or does the Easy Installer unlock the bootloader by itself? If yes, does it warn you that all data will be deleted?

  1. When the upgrade has been installed, does the Easy Installer lock the bootloader again?

  2. When you have installed /e/OS using the Easy Installer, can you later use the Easy Installer to install the next upgrade (Q to R or R to S in the future) without data loss? If yes, how is that possible, since data loss should occur every time the bootloader is unlocked.

I’d be glad if someone could clarify. :slight_smile:

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A few things I can answer from memory

  • the installer does the unlocking, you don’t need to do this in advance
  • after installation the bootloader is locked again
  • this means, upgrading from one Android version to the next via installer will not keep the data
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Thanks for your input! Interesting that the Installer unlocks the bootloader. How does it achieve that if it’s such a complicated procedure as described here? Does it fetch the IMEI and serial number from inside the phone and then do the same thing the linked Fairphone webpage does to generate the unlock code?

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Ah, right, it really has been a while since I did it and forgot about the unlocking code.

The thing is: what is described on the page you linked to is just to allow the unlocking. That part of a two step process indeed is not done by the installer.
The actual unlocking (with fastboot; as found in the manual install instructions of /e/) is done by the installer.

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I m using Redmi Note 4 and i want to know whether is it possible to lock boot loader after installing /e/ os on my device ?

Thanks

Maybe the following command in bootloader mode should lock it again: (use a PC with adb and fastboot installed):

fastboot oem lock

Just a warning here … I read this as a Fairphone thread. Generally locking should not be attempted with a regular /e/ ROM unless the lock command appears in the device instructions.

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