This article dissertated by MiniTool official web page gives a complete review on the topic “reboot to bootloader”. It covers its meaning, necessaries, methods, functions, as well as some related knowledge. After reading the content below, you will get everything you want!
What Does Reboot to Bootloader Mean?
The bootloader is a set of instructions that tell the operating system (OS) what to load and in what order. It has a defined kernel to run by default. Thus, the bootloader stops executing when its work is done.
Usually, rebooting to bootloader is a feature of Android smartphones. It means to restart the device to bootloader or download mode. Rebooting to bootloader implies that the default will not be started. Instead, it will be stalled so you can load alternate systems.
Android smartphones have three different modes, system, recovery, and bootloader (download). Rebooting to the system is the normal action of the cellphone, which you usually do when your phone is stuck. It will close all your running applications and enable you to operate smoothly.
If you reboot your phone to recovery mode, you are able to reset your mobile to factory settings or install Android OS updates.
You can also reboot to download mode (aka bootloader) to flash firmware to your phone’s partitions including system partition, recovery partition, radio partition, and so on. Reboot from bootloader effectively unlocks the set parameters and enables users to personalize the stock operating software. Yet, use it with caution for a simple mistake will require a big price – data loss.
Why Need to Reboot to Bootloader?
You may need to restart bootloader when your mobile phone cannot boot normally or when you need to use specific system tools to deal with some problems. Below is a list of some common reasons to restart to bootloader mode.
- Restart a phone that can’t otherwise be rebooted.
- Factory reset a phone that cannot otherwise be reset.
- Wipe cache data.
- View key information of the phone.
How to Reboot to Bootloader?
#1 Reboot to Bootloader by Key Combination
The keys to restart bootloader varies from different phones. Commonly, at boot, you need to press the volume down and power button. The following is a list of the special buttons for rebooting different brands of phones into bootloader.
- Samsung Phones: volume down + power + home buttons (with a computer)
- HTC phones: Press and hold the volume down button. Then, power up the phone while keeping pressing the volume down button.
- Motorola phones: volume down + power buttons.
- Nexus and developer phones: volume down + power buttons.
#2 Restart Bootloader in Android Debug Bridge (ADB)
If you have ADB, a versatile command-line tool that enables you to communicate with a device, installed on your machine, you can also run the following command to reboot your device into bootloader.
adb reboot bootloader
typically, it will prompt to ask you whether you want to go into download mode or not. You will enter the mode by confirming the question.
There are other commands you can perform in Android bootloader mode such as unlocking the bootloader. With a locked bootloader, you can only flash the firmware that is signed by your manufacture. Yet, with an unlocked bootloader, you can flash custom ROMs (Read-Only Memory) or recoveries.
For most mobile phones, you need a fastboot reboot bootloader tool to achieve the purpose. If you are using Samsung smartphones (Galaxy S5, S6, S7, S8, S9, or Samsung Note 3, Note 4, Note5, etc.), you have to take advantage of Odin instead of ADB.
#3 How to Exit Bootloader Mode?
For Samsung phone users, you can use the home + power + both volume buttons to exit the bootloader download/bootloader mode.
What Does Reboot to Bootloader Do?
Just as mentioned in the above content, rebooting bootloader has the following functions. In general, restarting bootloader to fastboot mode assists you to customize your phone to a better extent and solve issues.
#1 Unlock Bootloader
The most common operation you can execute under bootloader mode is unlocking bootloader, which is locked by default on many Android devices. A locked bootloader prevents third-party files from being flashed. So, if you want to flash those files, you need to unlock the boot loader.
It is easy to unlock the bootloader on Android. Just enable the OEM unlocking and get the bootloader unlocked using the below command in fast boot.
Fastboot flashing unlock (for phones produced in 2015 and later)
Fastboot oem unlock (for phones produced in 2014 and former)
After successfully unlocking the bootloader, you can install a custom system. if done correctly, you are allowed to customize your smartphone to a greater extent. However, it may cause your phone and apps to unworkable. Besides, unlocking boot loader will delete all data on your phone. So, back up important data before unlocking.
If you mistakenly unlocked your phone without backups and lost your data, you may try MiniTool Mobile Recovery for Android Free to recover your data.
#2 Flash Firmware
Flash a device will also remove all user data. To do that, reboot to bootloader fastboot mode and run fastboot flashall -w command. The “-w” option wipes the data partition on the phone.
#3 Flash a Custom Recovery
In bootloader mode, there is a recovery option that will lead you to Android’s stock recovery mode. Yet, the stock recovery mode has limited options. For more recovery features or third-party files, you need to flash a custom recovery such as TWRP or CWM on your device.
#4 Relock Bootloader
In most cases, you don’t need to relock your bootloader for it is locked by default. Even if you unlocked it, there is also no need to relock it. Yet, if you’d like to return to the stock firmware without flashing any files or further flashing, you should relock the boot loader.
To re-lock the bootloader, use one of the below commands:
Fastboot flashing lock (for phones produced in 2015 and later)
Fastboot oem lock (for phones produced in 2014 and former)
Relock the bootloader may also erase all user data on some cellphones like Motorola Xoom.
Reboot to Bootloader FAQ
How long does it take to reboot to bootloader?
It varies from different Android phones. Generally, it only takes a few seconds to get into bootloader mode.
Will restart bootloader wipe data?
No, it doesn’t. Yet, unlocking bootloader or flashing your device will surely erase all your data. And, to relock bootloader may delete your data.
How to fix reboot bootloader not working problem?
You need to rely on some Android system recovery instrument (e.g. DroidKit) to get your phone repaired.
What’s the difference between bootloader mode and recovery mode?
In bootloader mode, you can unlock the bootloader, flash phone, restart OS, reset the device, and wipe cache. Yet, in recovery mode, you are able to reboot the system, go to bootloader mode, update from ADB, update from SD card, wipe data, factory reset, wipe cache, mount system, or power off the phone.
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