back to article Rooting and modding a Windows Phone is now child's play

Making DIY custom ROMs for your Windows Phone has just become ridiculously easy. A developer known as "Heathcliff74" - and we have reason to believe this is not his birth name - has released version 1.0 of Windows Internals - adding a easy-as-child's-play UI to the hairy business of unlocking and rooting a Windows Phone or …

  1. Zippy's Sausage Factory

    One other potential use

    Would be installing Cyanogen Mod. Which I'm sure will happen soon. In fact, that's probably the one reason I might consider buying a Windows Phone, if the Cyanogen port was stable enough and supported the hardware effectively.

    1. joed

      Re: One other potential use

      but why?

      plenty of better and cheaper options available that are proven to work with CM

      1. JDX Gold badge

        Re: One other potential use

        Really? The Lumia models have had very good reviews in terms of cost and featureset.

        Of course, Android is slow and bloated so might not run as well ;) But seriously, the top-end Lumia cameras on Android could be a draw.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: One other potential use

        Maybe he wants a phone with a wicked camera. Some of the most capable camera sensors are embedded in Windows phones.

      3. Charles Manning

        re: But why?

        Plenty people do pointless stuff for fun.

        Consider morris dancing.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: One other potential use

      That seems like such a stupid idea. What possible reason would you have for wanting to use a Windows phone to run Android? It isn't as though Windows phones offer some unique form factor. You might as well say you want to run Android on an iPhone 6S, that would be an equally useless endeavor.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Trollface

        Re: One other potential use

        You might as well say you want to run Android on an iPhone 6S, that would be an equally useless endeavor.

        Not if your endeavour is to troll fanbois/the Genius bar at your local Apple store…

  2. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

    Perhaps????

    MS has quietly conceeded that allowing this sort of access is the only way they are going to get a half decent market share?

    1. dogged

      Re: Perhaps????

      Unlikely.

      As a percentage of Android phones, how many have been been rooted and modded by their owners?

      0.01%? 0.02%? It's not exactly a common hobby.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Perhaps????

        As a percentage of Android phones, how many have been been rooted and modded by their owners?

        3% have a particular custom firmware [0]. I guess there will be more that are rooted, since it is less invasive.

        [0] Cyanogen has “more users than Windows Mobile and Blackberry combined”

        1. dogged

          Re: Perhaps????

          > 3% have a particular custom firmware

          Which, in the majority of cases, was factory-installed. I did specify "by their owners".

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Perhaps????

            Which, in the majority of cases, was factory-installed.

            Oh really, is that so? The majority of cyanogen phones came with it already on?

            You owe me a new bullshit sensor.

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: Perhaps????

              Well there's the Wileyfox phones

              1. dogged

                Re: Perhaps????

                > Well there's the Wileyfox phones

                And the OnePlus phones. Sales of those alone probably outnumbered the home-rooting crowd.

              2. LucreLout

                Re: Perhaps????

                Well there's the Wileyfox phones

                I'm right on the verge of buying the Storm, but looking about for reviews by actual owners, seems to indicate product quality issues - lots of faulty handsets. Any Commentards got one? If so, marks out of 10 pls?

                My current Lumia920 is childs play to repair, and has been generally reliable over the past 3 years, but it's time for a new phone and (I'm genuinely not trolling here) Android seems to be most of the market, so if I'm going to jump ship from WinPhone, that seems like the OS to go for.

      2. stewski

        Re: Perhaps????

        I'm rooted and so's my wife fnar fnar.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Perhaps????

      More likely they left the stable door open and the horses are starting to bolt.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Mod Windows what ?

    Can't say I've ever seen one.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      All ten WP owners will be most chuffed

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        You meant BOTH owners didn't you?

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          That one never gets old. You are as funny as Jonathan Ross!

  4. Efros

    Non Root

    Irritates the hell out of me, my phone company has made my phone impossible to root, meaning I'm stuck with the crapware they and the manufacturer have foisted on me (thanks Samsung). I've tried every available route and none have succeeded, even bricking the device a couple of times, fortunately not permanently. WTF is the problem, I use your service, I pay the bill, I bought the phone just let me do what I want with it.

    1. JDX Gold badge

      Re: Non Root

      Did you by the phone at a subsidised price?

      1. Efros

        Re: Non Root

        Nope full price

    2. sabroni Silver badge
      Stop

      Re: bricking the device a couple of times, fortunately not permanently.

      If it's not permanent then it's not bricked. Bricked means permanently broken.

      1. Efros

        Re: bricking the device a couple of times, fortunately not permanently.

        Ok bricked in the sense of having to jump through a variety of fairly complex hoops to get it working again.

      2. dajames

        Re: bricking the device a couple of times, fortunately not permanently.

        If it's not permanent then it's not bricked. Bricked means permanently broken.

        Upvoted because that is the common parlance ... but what if we were talking about an unfired clay brick? Leaving that in a bucket of water overnight would turn it back to soft clay and make it no longer a brick.

        Note that I do NOT recommend this treatment for a phone ... not even a Windows phone.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Phones should not have to be rooted

    We paid for the damn thing, we should have full control over it. Can you imagine anyone buying a computer if the manufacturer locked the administrator/root account?

    1. Phil Kingston

      Re: Phones should not have to be rooted

      It's perhaps down to the (sensible) idea that any connected handset be able to make emergency calls.

      If unregulated handset modification by amateurs becomes the norm then the chances of picking up a phone and being confident of successfully placing an emergency call diminishes.

      1. Steve Knox

        Re: Phones should not have to be rooted

        If unregulated handset modification by amateurs becomes the norm then the chances of picking up a phone and being confident of successfully placing an emergency call diminishes.

        Sure. By perhaps 0.0001%. The primary purpose of modding is not to remove features like emergency calling, and the changes made by modders are unlikely to affect that particular function.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Phones should not have to be rooted

      It was done and still is for some cheaper laptops.

      People really didn't like it for PCs. Anyone remember e-machines or gateway computers?

      Chromebook and UEFI may also qualify as vender lockin and user lock-out.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Phones should not have to be rooted

        "Chromebook and UEFI may also qualify as vender lockin and user lock-out."

        And haven't Chromebooks sold well *cough* :)

        UEFI - you have a point , and its a slippery slope.

    3. Pookietoo

      Re: Phones should not have to be rooted

      It rather depends whether you consider a phone to be a PC in your pocket or an appliance, and whether you consider the stuff running it to be software or firmware.

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Phones should not have to be rooted

      "Can you imagine anyone buying a computer if the manufacturer locked the administrator/root account?"

      Like early UEFI you mean???

      Or Region locked DVD, or DRM.

      The manufacturers are replete with instances of trying to prohibit your control over things you purchase off them, that’s why ANYTHING I can do to release those locks I will do so. Consoles, chipped, Phones, rooted, PC, clocked, etc. etc.. In fact I will often buy things WITH restrictions so I can have the opportunity to unlock them as a "fuck you" to the company trying to restrict what I do with devices I have bought and own!!

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Devil

    Windows in the wild

    I've not seen a rooted win phone yet of the 10 handsets in the wild I have seen have fallen in one of the two following categories:

    1) new

    2) bug filled and useless (usually after 6 months of use)

    I know small sample size, but its difficult to find someone willing to use one twice.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Windows in the wild

      the 10 handsets in the wild I have seen

      You've seen how many?? Bullshit!

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Pint

        Re: Windows in the wild

        You Sir deserve a pint... bring the mask.

      2. fred base

        Re: Windows in the wild

        "the 10 handsets in the wild I have seen"

        There are 10 types of people - those who understand binary and those who don't....

    2. Intractable Potsherd

      Re: Windows in the wild

      I've seen two in the wild - my friend and his wife bought one each (over my reasoned objections), mainly because of the cameras. A year later, both were so heartily pissed off with hanging, random reboots, and ability to do basic tasks (making calls and texts) and receiving emails that they went to iPhones (and so far, they *have* just worked).

      1. Chris Parsons

        Re: Windows in the wild

        (and so far, they *have* just worked).

        -- a bit like both Windows phones I've had, then. I bought them, as many do, for the wonderful camera, and have yet to be disappointed. If their phones hung or rebooted randomly, there was a problem with them - or maybe your post.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I guess with Windows Phones you'd "Administrator" it, rather than "root" it.

    But yes, if custom ROMs could be loaded onto them, it certainly wouldn't be a custom mod of Windows that people wanted!

  8. Marvin O'Gravel Balloon Face

    The next update I'm planning on my Windows phone is to strap it to a nice big chunk of wood and cut it in half with a circular saw. Then I'll take it into CarWarePhoneHouse and see if they'll send it back to the manufacturers for fault investigation.

    With any luck they'll tell me they're not replacing it.

  9. ApatheticPlatypus
    Windows

    Warning: Actual Windows phone owner here

    Whilst I welcome this new ability to mod my phone from it's original purpose, to what end I wonder will this improve my device. As far as I know MS keeps all of it's devices up to date with the latest version of Windows software and I can think of no function I need to perform as root. Indeed to do this to a device that previously passed the pwn to own test (http://arstechnica.com/security/2014/11/windows-phone-security-sandbox-survives-pwn2own-unscathed/) because of it's security and sandboxing seems rather irrational to me. But as someone else pointed out some people just want to play with their *cough* devices - who am I to judge them? :)

    1. dogged

      Re: Warning: Actual Windows phone owner here

      I quite like the idea.

      In particular, I'm interested in it from the security point of view. While WP/M/Whatever is closed source, the baseband is available and so is the "BIOS" layer meaning it should be possible to interpose something that acts like the Blackphone firmware and treats the baseband as a hostile router.

      This has obvious benefits in terms of security.

    2. jaduncan

      Re: Warning: Actual Windows phone owner here

      "because of it's security and sandboxing"

      Which, of course, has been breached five ways from Sunday by the above software. This would suggest that the device was not all that secure.

      1. ApatheticPlatypus

        Re: Warning: Actual Windows phone owner here

        Unless you know something I don't, the pwn2own comp is aimed at attempting to breach the device from the perspective of a remote attacker? The software tool connects to the phone using a USB cable to take advantage of http://www.windowsphone.com/en-gb/how-to/wp7/basics/how-do-i-update-my-phone-software (basically the USB update mechanism). So the only way to breach the security or sandboxing is to purposely connect it to your computer and replace all that security with your own. So no built in security has been breached because it's using an update mechanism already provided to bypass the security for legit updating purposes?

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Warning: Actual Windows phone owner here

      > I can think of no function I need to perform as root<

      Fanbois are only happy when their multiplicity of fart apps run as root

      1. JLV
        Trollface

        >...fart apps...

        JJC, 5th grade called and wants its humor back.

        This is effing old, man, get some better jokes.

    4. G.Y.

      Re: Warning: Actual Windows phone owner here

      I believe that Win 'phone updates cdon't come until the 'PHONE COMPANY (e.g. at&t) feels the planets are propituous

    5. fredds
      Joke

      Re: Warning: Actual Windows phone owner here

      Maybe winphone passed the pwn2own test because there are not enough of them to make it worthwhile.

      I remember this being used as an excuse why linux was more secure than windows.

  10. MrWibble

    "and the ability to firewall Google's data slurping"

    Guess you meant Microsoft? (although to be fair, I'd like to block all slurping, not just the that from the Operating System)

    1. sabroni Silver badge

      re: Guess you meant Microsoft?

      It has a browser. They meant Google.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    You're fired

    I'll be testing this is detected by our MDM, any staff found rooting their COPE or BYOD mobis do so in the knowledge they'll be sacked.

    1. Steve Knox
      Paris Hilton

      Re: You're fired

      So you allow people to bring their own devices*, and then sack them for treating their own devices as their own?

      * And by "allow people to bring their own devices", I of course mean "force people to use their own devices for company work because your company is too cheap to provide them with resources adequate to the work it requires of them."

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: You're fired

        Hey, I don't make the rules!

        Working on the IT Service Desk our chief weapons are fear, ruthless efficiency, and an almost fanatical devotion to the Company's Policy Handbook.

    2. joed

      Re: You're fired

      COPE - sure

      BYOD - you have no rights, you may just cut their access off. Anyway, I have no idea why people would subsidize the business IT, creating a precedence in the process that one day may force them to do so.

      BTW, if rooting WP rendered results as stable as W10 with any sort of privacy mods, you may just give up and prep for "restore to factory settings" (W10 is really touchy when it comes to taming the Metro interface). Having Bing disabled would be the 1st thing I'd do.

  12. dovla091

    No but seriously. If you buy a phone, than it is your right to do whatever you like. I have windows phone lumia 535 with win10mobile insider preview, and have pre installed several applications. Some of Microsoft applications are not used by me, and it it is a waste of precious space. They are also running in the background, so instead that my processor, network bandwidth and battery is less consumed, it is constantly running in the background for the apps that I never use. This also apply to Android, iOS and rest. People should make a pressure for a companies to start releasing phones completely unlocked and without any restrictions. Or at least make the possibility to "unlock it". If I for some reason screw the phone, I void a warranty, and phone will not be repaired. I would be forced to buy another one, so this is a win-win situation.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Your phone indeed and your choice what you do to it. No obligation on the manufacturers part to make it easier for you though.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        True but the customer defines value, not the supplier, not the middleman, the customer.

        If a manufacturer deliberately locks down phones for no good reason (eg since they are often often off contract and not tied in to a network operator), then some people will choose to avoid that brand.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Customised ROMs

    ROM development is very patchy in the Android world. Just because you have an Android phone doesn't mean it's rootable.

    This is due to the proliferation of phones (ie not just those available on the UK high street), obstinate manufacturers (cough Huawei) who don't release the necessary information, a lack of developers with access to the hardware, and short phone lives (partly due to built in batteries).

    These days, if you want to go down this road, its best to get a phone that has already been cracked/customised, or know that the manufacturer will make it easier for custom development.

  14. Nanners

    Just a thought

    Maybe Microsoft should hire him? Sounds like he's the only person in the world that knows how it works.

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