How to jailbreak and unlock a 2G iPhone (2.0).

by WyldKard on July 19, 2008

The Dev Team, a group of hackers who have made it their mission to jailbreak and unlock iPhones, announced that version 2.0 of their -freeing application PwnageTool, would be released on Sunday. Fortunately for us on the west coast of the United States, this meant Saturday night. As soon we discovered the tool’s availability, we grabbed PwnageTool 2.0 and began our journey to running firmware 2.0 on our 2G still running on T-Mobile, the cheaper alternative to AT&T.

While TUAW claims that the new PwnageTool is for “dedicated hackers only”, this statement is misleading. Since ’s AppStore already offers the brunt of what most users needed jailbreaking for in the past, the primary purpose of PwnageTool is to enable unlocked 2G users to upgrade to the 2.0 firmware and stay unlocked. For that purpose, PwnageTool works wonderfully, with no real skills necessary other than being able to put one’s phone into DFU mode. When more unsigned, third-party applications are available outside the AppStore, then we can talk about how “difficult” dealing with a jailbroken has become, but we currently see no annoyance with the new system. In fact, compared to the original unlock we did on the , this one was quick and easy. Not quite as easy as the upgrade to 1.1.4, but let’s not complain needlessly.

PwnageTool.In the discussion thread for the PwnageTool 2.0 release announcement, one can easily find the directions to get one’s working with 2.0, but not all the instructions posted were clear. Let’s go through the steps accordingly.

  1. Install the latest version of iTunes if it hasn’t been updated earlier. We want to be at version 7.7.
  2. Connect the , and when asked if an upgrade is desired, select the option to download the upgrade only, without performing an installation.
  3. Put the into DFU mode. Note that this is not the basic restore mode, and is only complicated in the sense that one needs a bit of timing instead of simply pressing the ’s home and power buttons for 25-30 seconds. Instructions for putting an into DFU mode are available, but the basic jist is this: when the is on, hold down the home and power buttons for approximately seven second (enough time to see the ’s screen go black). Once the black screen can be seen, continue holding the buttons for approximately two more seconds, then let go of the power button. Continue holding the home button for another ten seconds, and the should stay on a black screen. We did this with the already connected to our computer, albeit “ejected” in iTunes. As we had iTunes running the whole time, as soon as our entered DFU mode, prompted to restore it.
  4. Now, one needs to acquire the 3.9 and 4.6 bootloaders. There are numerous links to these files in the aforementioned discussion thread, but we grabbed ours from iPhone Hacks. Once acquired, uncompress the package and take note of where the respective files are stored.
  5. We’re now ready to run PwnageTool 2.0, which we happily grabbed from the official mirror location. While the tool can jailbreak every /Touch model available, we were concerned with the 2G , so we did not try any other hardware variant. Note that the tool does not currently unlock 3G iPhones, but it can jailbreak them. Select the model device one is looking to jailbreak and/or unlock, and follow the wizard. We did this in PwnageTool’s “simple” mode.
  6. PwnageTool 2.0 should automatically find the restore file since it was downloaded in iTunes’ default download location. The tool will then ask for the locations of the bootloaders downloaded in step four. After this, one will be prompted to allow the creation of a custom IPWS file. When asked if one is using a “legit” , answer “yes” if one is contracted with AT&T, else “no” for the unlock. Obviously, for most of us, we want to use our ’s unlocked, so we’re going to happily admit that our devices are not legitimate, even though this could have been phrased better.
  7. After the custom IPWS file is generated, the tool will look for a connected in DFU mode. Once found, the tool will spend a couple seconds doing it’s thing, and then ask that the device be put back into DFU mode. It seems that some users received mixed responses at this point, but in short, our solution was to hold down the home and power buttons on our to restart it, whereupon PwnageTool greeted us with a visual indicator mirroring the DFU process we outlined in step three above. Follow along with the visual cues, and the will be back in DFU mode in short order.
  8. Once back in DFU mode, PwnageTool informs the user that it should be shut down, and one can upgrade the to 2.0 via iTunes. So, exit the application and jump over to iTunes. Before pressing the restore button on the information page, hold down the alt/option key. This will make iTunes prompt for the IPWS file to use for the restore procedure. Rather than using the one iTunes downloaded, select the one that PwnageTool put on the Desktop. Proceed with glee.
  9. The , and iTunes, take care of the rest at this point. Visual indicators will show up on the to explain where in the process it is. After a few minutes time, the will reboot in a jailbroken and unlocked state.

Note that PwnageTool doesn’t install Installer.app, as other jailbreakers/unlockers have in the past. Rather, PwnageTool installs Cydia, which is very much like Installer.app, and shares many of its resources. Running Cydia allows one to view an information page about 2.0 compatibility; in short, a lot of older third-party applications don’t work in firmware 2.0, though common Unix applications like OpenSSH work fine. For now, we decided to hold off on messing too much with Cydia, as most of the third-party applications we were running are available in some form or another via the AppStore.

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Upgrading a jailbroken iPhone from 2.0 to 2.0.1. | mendax.org
August 10, 2008 at 10:25 am

{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Luís Castro Neves August 1, 2008 at 3:46 am

How do I use the PwnageTool 2.0, I have dowloaded it from the official mirror but the downloaded doesn’t contain an installer or an executble file, can you help me?

2 WyldKard August 1, 2008 at 1:22 pm

The download should contain an executable for OS X. If you’re using Windows, you’ll need to find and download WinPwn, not the original PwnageTool 2.0.

3 Vivek Reddy August 16, 2008 at 9:21 pm

Thanks a lot guys. This site helped me a lot in restoring my iphone. Thanks again

4 Josue Jacquez September 11, 2008 at 2:21 pm

Why the itunes does not see my iphone when on DFU ? already created the the custom file and everything.. just itunes dont see it to make the restore :(

5 aimee February 8, 2009 at 7:47 am

I recently re-unlocked and ‘jailbroke’ my previously unlocked iPhone (1st Gen). It was successfully unlocked and ‘jailbroken’ and was instantly recognized by iTunes running on version iPhone software2.2. I had successfully synced many of my playlists. But upon trying to sych it to my iTunes again, iTunes no longer recognized the iPhone. My Windows computer can see it as a camera device, but the iPhone as an Apple device cannot be seen by either my USB drives or by iTunes. When I hold the power and home button for several seconds, the pineapple logo of Pwnage pops out, but the apple logo never appears.What do I do now?

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