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Unlocking the Bootloader

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Sidharth Sharma edited this page Oct 12, 2025 · 1 revision

Prerequisites

  • A laptop or a PC
  • At least Windows 10 or any up-to-date Linux distribution installed
  • The original USB-C to USB-C cable from Nothing

Notes

  • ALL YOUR DATA WILL BE WIPED AFTER UNLOCKING THE BOOTLOADER
  • We are NOT responsible for any damage done to your device because of the following guide

1. Enabling USB Debugging and OEM Unlock

Before unlocking the bootloader, you must enable two developer options: USB debugging and OEM unlock. These let your PC communicate with the device over ADB (Android Debug Bridge) and authorize bootloader unlocking.

  1. Enable Developer Options

    • (1) Go to Settings → About phone
    • (2) Tap Build number seven times until you see "You are now a developer!"

  2. Enable OEM Unlock

    • (1) Go back to Settings → System → Developer options
    • (2) Find OEM unlocking and toggle it on
    • (3) Confirm when prompted

  3. Enable USB Debugging

    • (1) In the same Developer options menu, find USB debugging
    • (2) Turn it on and confirm the prompt

2. Installing Drivers

Now, you need to install ADB drivers so your phone is properly detected by your PC.
This section covers installation on Windows, Linux, and macOS.

2.1 Windows

  1. Download the official Google USB driver

  2. Install the driver manually

    • (1) Connect your phone to the PC via USB
    • (2) On your phone, select File Transfer as the USB Configuration instead of charging
    • (3) Open Device Manager (press Win + X → select Device Manager)
    • (4) Look for your phone under Other devices (usually listed as Unknown Device or ADB Interface)
    • (5) Right-click → Update driver → Browse my computer for drivers
    • (6) Navigate to the folder where you extracted the Google USB driver
    • (7) Click Next and let Windows install it

  3. Install platform-tools

    • (1) Download Google's platform-tools:
      https://developer.android.com/studio/releases/platform-tools

    • (2) Extract it to C:\platform-tools

    • (3) Open Command Prompt inside that folder (Shift + Right-click → Open Command Window Here)

    • (4) Run:

      adb devices

    • (5) If prompted on your phone, accept the debugging authorization

    • (6) The command should now list your device's serial number

Notes

  • On Windows 11, driver signature enforcement might block unsigned drivers. If you encounter issues, reboot into Advanced Startup Options and temporarily disable driver signature enforcement before installing.

2.2 Linux

On Linux, ADB usually works out of the box, but we'll use Google's platform-tools for consistency and set proper udev rules for your device to be detected without root privileges.

This section covers the setup process for Ubuntu/Debian, Fedora, and Arch-based systems.

Ubuntu / Debian

  1. Download and install platform-tools

    # Create directory for platform-tools
mkdir -p ~/platform-tools
cd ~/platform-tools

# Download platform-tools
wget https://dl.google.com/android/repository/platform-tools-latest-linux.zip

# Extract the archive
unzip platform-tools-latest-linux.zip

# Add to PATH permanently
echo 'export PATH="$HOME/platform-tools/platform-tools:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

  2. Add udev rules

    sudo wget -O /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules https://raw.githubusercontent.com/M0Rf30/android-udev-rules/master/51-android.rules
sudo chmod a+r /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules
sudo udevadm control --reload-rules
sudo systemctl restart systemd-udevd

  3. Verify ADB installation

    • (1) Connect your phone to the PC via USB

    • (2) On your phone, select File Transfer as the USB Configuration instead of charging

    • (3) Run:

      adb devices

    • (4) If prompted on your phone, accept the debugging authorization

    • (5) The command should now list your device's serial number

Fedora

  1. Download and install platform-tools

    # Create directory for platform-tools
mkdir -p ~/platform-tools
cd ~/platform-tools

# Download platform-tools
wget https://dl.google.com/android/repository/platform-tools-latest-linux.zip

# Extract the archive
unzip platform-tools-latest-linux.zip

# Add to PATH permanently
echo 'export PATH="$HOME/platform-tools/platform-tools:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

  2. Add udev rules

    sudo wget -O /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules https://raw.githubusercontent.com/M0Rf30/android-udev-rules/master/51-android.rules
sudo chmod a+r /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules
sudo udevadm control --reload-rules
sudo systemctl restart systemd-udevd

  3. Verify ADB installation

    • (1) Connect your phone to the PC via USB

    • (2) On your phone, select File Transfer as the USB Configuration instead of charging

    • (3) Run:

      adb devices

    • (4) If prompted on your phone, accept the debugging authorization

    • (5) The command should now list your device's serial number

Arch / Manjaro / EndeavourOS

  1. Download and install platform-tools

    # Create directory for platform-tools
mkdir -p ~/platform-tools
cd ~/platform-tools

# Download platform-tools
wget https://dl.google.com/android/repository/platform-tools-latest-linux.zip

# Extract the archive
unzip platform-tools-latest-linux.zip

# Add to PATH permanently
echo 'export PATH="$HOME/platform-tools/platform-tools:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

  2. Add udev rules

    sudo wget -O /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules https://raw.githubusercontent.com/M0Rf30/android-udev-rules/master/51-android.rules
sudo chmod a+r /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules
sudo udevadm control --reload-rules
sudo systemctl restart systemd-udevd

    Alternative (using AUR):

    yay -S android-udev

  3. Verify ADB installation

    • (1) Connect your phone to the PC via USB

    • (2) On your phone, select File Transfer as the USB Configuration instead of charging

    • (3) Run:

      adb devices

    • (4) If prompted on your phone, accept the debugging authorization

    • (5) The command should now list your device's serial number

2.3 macOS

On macOS, we'll use Google's platform-tools and set up the necessary configurations for device detection.

  1. Download and install platform-tools

    # Create directory for platform-tools
mkdir -p ~/platform-tools
cd ~/platform-tools

# Download platform-tools
curl -O https://dl.google.com/android/repository/platform-tools-latest-darwin.zip

# Extract the archive
unzip platform-tools-latest-darwin.zip

# Add to PATH permanently
echo 'export PATH="$HOME/platform-tools/platform-tools:$PATH"' >> ~/.zshrc
source ~/.zshrc

  2. Install Homebrew (if not already installed)

    /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

  3. Install libusb (for better USB device handling)

    brew install libusb

  4. Verify ADB installation

    • (1) Connect your phone to the Mac via USB

    • (2) On your phone, select File Transfer as the USB Configuration instead of charging

    • (3) Run:

      adb devices

    • (4) If prompted on your phone, accept the debugging authorization

    • (5) The command should now list your device's serial number

Notes for macOS

  • If you encounter permission issues, you might need to grant Terminal or your terminal app full disk access in System Preferences → Security & Privacy → Privacy → Full Disk Access.
  • On macOS Ventura (13.0) and later, you might see additional security prompts when first running ADB commands.

3. Rebooting to Bootloader Mode

Now that we have successfully installed ADB and fastboot drivers on our PCs and enabled USB debugging and turned on OEM Unlocking, we can go ahead and reboot the phone into bootloader mode.

  • (1) Connect your phone to the PC via USB

  • (2) On your phone, select File Transfer as the USB Configuration instead of charging

  • (3) Run:

    adb reboot bootloader

Now your phone should successfully be inside bootloader mode, and should say FASTBOOT MODE at the bottom of the screen with the Nothing logo.

You are now ready to unlock the bootloader.

4. Running the Unlock Command

4.1 Check if your device is being detected

Run:

fastboot devices

A serial number should show up and say something like:

00004354Q2003359 fastboot

4.2 Run the unlock command

Now, run the following command to unlock the bootloader:

fastboot flashing unlock

alt

Use the Volume keys to select the Unlock the Bootloader option and hit the Power key to confirm it.

5. End

Your phone will now reboot and should show the following warning every time you boot your phone:

Orange State
OS Not Being Verified Or Custom OS. Dismiss After 5 Seconds.

Do not worry, this is normal. You have successfully unlocked the bootloader and are ready to make modifications to your phone - such as flashing an aftermarket ROM.

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