Jailbreaking iOS 4.3.1 with PwnageTool 4.3

PwnageTool and Redsn0w have been updated, and both allow jailbreaking a range of iOS devices without tethering. This walk through covers PwnageTool 4.3, with another covering Redsn0w to follow. The main difference between the two apps is the method of jailbreaking. PwnageTool makes a custom Firmware file that iTunes puts onto the device. Redsn0w jailbreaks a device after iTunes has installed a standard Apple Firmware.

Before starting a jailbreak using PwnageTool or Redsn0w you need the correct firmware for your device. I used a great guide at iClarified that links to every iPhone firmware that has been released. My iPhone is a 3GS so the firmware I wanted was the 4.3.1 (3GS): iPhone2,1_4.3.1_8G4_Restore.ipsw. Once downloaded and placed on my desktop I launched Pwnagetool 4.3.

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Jailbreaking a 3GS with iOS4

With the iPhone Dev Team’s release of PwnageTool 4 yesterday (and the 4.01 update today) I was ready to jailbreak my iPhone 3GS. It’s been running the iOS4 beta 4/Gold Master since that was leaked, but being on iOS4 already had prevented the use of the beta jailbreaks available before the public release of iOS4. There were still several steps involved to achieve the jailbreak, as stipulated in this condition from the Dev Team’s blog:

If you have a Jailbroken iPhone 3GS with the OLD BOOTROM and you DID NOT use Spirit to jailbreak then you can create the ipsw with PwnageTool 4.0 and restore with your jailbroken recovery mode

My 3GS uses the old bootrom, so OK there. The requirement for a jailbroken 3GS NOT using Spirit meant the first step was to downgrade the firmware to 3.1.2. That’s an easy step if Cydia has your SHSH stored for the previous firmware, as mine are.

The next step was to jailbreak the 3.1.2 install using redsn0w 0.9.2. Once this was confirmed to be working correctly (just look for Cydia to be installed) PwnageTool 4.01 was used to produce a custom iOS4 ipsw. The iPhone was then put into DFU mode, and iTunes used to pick the custom ipsw to restore.

Both times I restored a firmware during this process a 1015 error was given after the restore. By that time the restore had successfully completed but the iPhone was stuck in recovery mode. The freeware RecBoot utility was used to get out of recovery mode and back to normal startup.

A backup had been made by iTunes before starting the jailbreak, so this was restored once the jailbreak was completed. I now have SBsettings back on my iPhone, giving fast access to 3G and WiFi on/off to help conserve batter power. There’s a few other useful jailbroken apps that haven’t been updated for iOS4 compatibility yet, but hopefully that will be done soon.

Once again thanks to the iPhone Dev Team for redsn0w and PwnageTool, and to Saurik for Cydia and enabling the downgrade to earlier firmware.

Jailbreaking iPhone 3.1.2

With the release of the iPhone Dev Team’s PwnageTool 3.1.4 it is now possible to jailbreak everything but the iPod touch 3rd generation on the Macintosh. Blackra1n for Windows is available to jailbreak any 3.1.2 device including the iPod Touch 3rd generation, so your choice is governed by your platform or device.

I tested PwnageTool 3.1.4 this morning and it worked flawlessly with my 3GS. The previous 3.1.3 version for jailbreaking 3.1 had caused me big problems with the phone being unable to connect to the network after installing the modified ipsw. Luckily I had a version 3.0 ECID SHSH on file with Cydia so it was possible (if convoluted) to restore back to 3.0 and try again. Second time round upgrading to the modified 3.1 worked fine, and I have been unable to figure out what went wrong the first time.

PwnageTool 3 released

Following hot on the heels of Apple’s firmware 3 for iPhone and iPod Touch is the release of PwnageTool 3 to jailbreak some of those devices. Available for Mac only at the moment, this software is capable of jailbreaking the iPhone 2G and first generation iPod Touch, as well as unlocking the iPhone 2G for any network. Support for later devices will follow soon with QuickPwn.

It’s worth mentioning that PwnageTool wiped my iPod Touch when I used it, where upgrading to firmware 3 using iTunes will leave the content on the iPod. This meant a long sync after using PwnageTool to replace all the music/video/photo’s. Not a problem, just remember to sync your iPhone/iPod using iTunes before upgrading to firmware 3 or using PwnageTool to create a custom firmware.

As ever, thanks to the iPhone Dev Team for their continued hard work bringing us the option to jailbreak and unlock our iDevices. Below is a video walkthrough, click on Read the rest of this entry for a screenshot gallery.

iPhone/iPod 2.2.1 Update

Apple has released an update for the iPhone and iPod Touch to firmware 2.2.1. This looks to be a bugfix release with no new features, and the iPhone Dev Team has upgraded their QuickPwn and Pwnage tools to handle the new firmware. Read the release notes at the Dev Team Blog before upgrading as their recommendation is to NOT use QuickPwn with a 2.2 iPhone 3G if you want to continue using it unlocked.

PwnageTool 2.1 and QuickPwn 1.1 for Mac released

Both of the iPhone and iPod Touch jailbreaking apps have been updated this afternoon, and are available for now only as bittorrent downloads (until demand subsides) from the iPhone Dev Team site. Which app you use depends on how you want to jailbreak your device. PwnageTool will create a new restore IPSW file that iTunes can use, and QuickPwn will jailbreak a device without using iTunes. I had previously updated to firmware 2.1 on my iPod Touch so QuickPwn was the best choice.

QuickPwn for Mac released

Following the release of QuickPwn for Windows and updates to PwnageTool for the Mac, QuickPwn has finally been released for Mac. Details from the iPhone Dev Team blog indicate the Mac version of QuickPwn is only compatible with firmware 2.0.2 at the moment, and until demand settles down it will only be available as a Bittorrent download. No problem there, it only took a couple of minutes to complete when I just tried it so there’s plenty of seeders out there. I’ll give it a try in the morning, and post screenshots if anything looks different to the previous QuickPwn for Windows.

Pwnage and QuickPwn updated

Very late last night came the news that the iPhone dev Team has updated both the Macintosh PwnageTool and the Windows QuickPwn. Both tools will jailbreak the latest iPhone/iPod vesion 2.0.2 firmware. PwnageTool 2.0.3 for the Mac is reported as having some problems with the iPod Touch so the Dev Team are recommending you hold off a little longer and wait for the next version due soon. Windows QuickPwn is updated to beta 150 offering some bug fixes.

There’s a comment on the blog recommending that QuickPwn isn’t run through Macintosh virtualisation software such as parallels and VMware. I had wondered if this was an option while rebooting into Windows to use QuickPwn, so there’s the answer.

QuickPwn tested, screenshots

The iPhone Dev Team today released an update to their beta QuickPwn tool complete with GUI by poorlad. It’s now compatible with iPhone and iPod 2.0.2 firmware, so for those brave enough to try beta software and running Windows it’s great. This is a bit of a turnaround to previous tools the Dev Team have released which always seemed to see Mac versions first. Fortunately I have a hard drive with Windows installed in my hackintosh for occasions such as this.

iPhone and iPod firmware 2.0.2 released

Available now through iTunes is version 2.0.2 firmware for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Just like the 2.0.1 update this one lists the changes as ‘bug fixes’, with no indication of what bugs are fixed. The iPod Touch update is another hefty download at 246.3Mb, and as usual the advice is to wait until PwnageTool has been updated to work with the new version, or loose your jailbroken access.

UPDATE Infinite Loop is reporting an improvement in 3G signal strength and call quality after the 2.0.2 update.