DISCLAIMER:
Your warranty is now void. DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK.
I am not responsible for bricked devices, bootloops, dead SD cards, thermonuclear war,
or you getting fired because the alarm app failed.
Please do some research if you have any concerns about any of the steps in this guide before performing them!
YOU are choosing to make these modifications,
please own your actions and don't be a baby about it.
Bootloader Unlock (instructions taken from this guide)
0. First check if your phone allows unlocking by dialing *#*#7378423#*#* , when Service Menu opens, go to Service Info, then Configuration; scroll down to read Rooting Status.
If "Bootloader unlocked" says yes, skip to the next section on Root.
If it says no (unlocked allowed), great, proceed on to next step.
If it says no (unlocked disallowed) or something like that, I’m sorry, unlocking won’t work on your phone. Lodge a complaint with your mobile provider for locking it.
Getting the unlock code (skip to Step 5 if you already have it)
1. Go to Sony’s official bootloader unlocking website.
2. Select Xperia M or M2 in the dropdown.
3. Follow all the steps (including *#06# to note your phone’s IMEI number)
4. COPY the unlock code and paste and save it in a text file on your desktop.
Ensuring Flashtool recognises phone
5. Download Flashtool here and install it.
(To apply the 0.9.19.10 patch, install 0.9.19.8 and replace x10flasher.jar with the one from the patch. Default install folder is C:\Flashtool , don’t change it)
6. Open Flashtool, connect your phone via USB. (Make sure USB Debugging is enabled in Developer Options). If Flashtool warns that ADB driver is not installed, go to the Sony website to download them. If Flashtool recognises phone, skip to Step 11.
7. Unzip the Sony drivers into a folder.
8. Boot into Advanced Startup on Windows and disable signed driver enforcement (I’m sorry, you have to Google this for your specific Windows installation)
9. When Windows has restarted, go to Device Manager, click on the ADB Interface item with the yellow questionmark, click Update Drivers, Search Manually, Have Disk, and then open the folder where the Sony driver inf is. select the ADB inf and install it. Warnings will pop up but install the drivers anyway. When done, the yellow questionmark will be replaced by something normal.
10. Verify that Flashtool recognises phone by connecting the USB cable when phone is on. You should see information about phone kernel and ROM version.
<Congratulations for making it this far>
Setting up Flashtool for use
11. With Flashtool open and phone connected, click on Devices in Flashtool menu > Check Drivers.
12. More information will pop up. Under ADB Devices, your phone’s serial number will be stated (something like 10 digits and letters). Copy that serial number.
13. Go to %USERPROFILE%\.flashTool\mydevices .
14. Create a new folder in here and rename it to the serial number.
15. Open the serial number folder, create a new text file and rename it "ulcode.txt" (without the quotes).
16. Open the text file, paste your bootloader unlock code, save and close the file.
For step 16, as a precaution, copy and paste the serial number folder inside registeredDevices too. I didn’t test which folder was being used by Flashtool for the unlock.
Actual unlocking of bootloader
17. With Flashtool open and phone connected, click on the BLU button. Follow all instructions. One involves VOL UP, the other involves VOL DOWN (for fastboot), please take note to do both, it’s not deja vu.
18. When you have done so correctly, Flashtool will pop a small dialog with your IMEI and unlock code already pasted inside.
19. Take a deep breath and click unlock.
20. Check in main window that bootloader has indeed been unlocked.
21. Unplug the USB cable and boot your phone to check that everything should be normal.
CONGRATULATIONS, YOUR WARRANTY IS NOW VOID. :laugh:
<Need to go off for dinner first, will be back to finish the guide>