Everyone has gone crazy about the latest bug that allows 3rd parties to execute USSD code on specific android phones (my Sensation is vulnerable too).  j4n87, senior and very active member of XDA has already submitted a patch in this article. Although the vulnerability was disclosed quite quickly and I don’t think there are lot’s of sites hosting this malware, I do recommend patching your android dialer. It’s just better to be safe than sorry. I’m curious, though, how long will it take to see  official patches?

WARNING:This method involves WIPING all the data on the phone and that’s why I recommend you should take care and pay more attention at the steps regarding backups and restoring those backups.

All the credits go to raskal (XTC Clip) for providing the diag file (not mentioned anywhere else, but important I think) and Revolutionary team for achieving S-Off.

If your device is still S-on start from step 1, otherwise, if you already have a custom recovery, start from step 5.

1. Go to http://revolutionary.io and download the latest version of their tool. Please note that you require a beta key to run the application, which you can get from their site after entering the serial number of your phone (you can get if from Settings>About>Phone ID).

2. Enable ADB for your phone: go to Settings>Applications>Development and check USB Debugging.

3. Connect your phone to the computer via USB cable, run Revolutionary (which you’ve just downloaded), let it discover your phone, enter the beta key and let the app take its steps. It will reboot your phone a couple of times, after which you’ll have S-OFF and their patched bootloader.

4. If everything goes according to plan, you’ll be asked to agree on downloading and installing a custom recovery. You should choose to do so in order to take the next step:

5. BACKUP your data: power off your phone, press Volume down + Power button to get into bootloader, press volume down to reach Recovery and press Power button again. This will boot your recovery. On its menu navigate to “Backup and Restore” and choose to backup.

6. Download PG58DIAG.nbh  and copy it on the root of your SD card. (Can also be done via recovery by USB-MS mounting or by using a card reader).

7. Make sure the USB cable is not connected to your phone and boot again to HBOOT (Volume down + Power). Your phone will now load the file form the card (XTC Clip users should be familiar to this). It will ask you to place it on horizontal surface for calibration.

8. Press power button to select “Clean S58 Data” and press Power button one more time to actually clean the data. After this step, the phone can only be restarted by pulling out the battery. Also remove the diag file from the sdcard to avoid loading it each time you go to hboot.

After all this steps, your phone will be sim-unlocked and its CID set to 11111111, but also wiped out. If you restart to android, it will set up as if it was after a factory reset.

9. If you wand to recover your previously backed-up data, reboot again to recovery and restore your nandroid.

Bear in mind, though, that in certain circumstances you’ll lose your data or network connectivity. You’ll just have to check your APN, network type & so on;

SIM-Unlock Utility v0.9.4

As being pointed out by more and more users regarding scamms, I have to clarify:

THIS APP IS FREEWARE! DO NOT TRUST ANY EBAY/WHATEVER-SITE SELLER!
If you’ve been asked money and you paid for it, try to get a refund by mailing both Ebay/Paypal/middleman and get them shut down. This is the only site I endorse (along with official xda thread)! Commercial use is forbidden!

Although I had thought the unlock tool had its time and made its purpose, I soon realized that it’s still being used every day, even quite a lot (>120 downloads / day, from this site only).
I’ve taken another look on it and decided to update it and, more important, make it more user-friendly. As from this version (0.9), the app is made for Windows, it’s a lot easier to use and it takes less time (~30s). It’s still has an inferior version because it lacks some things and I don’t consider it being finished (some more “sensational” stuff might pop up 😉 ).
Please note: If you’re using windows version the app will recognize the phone from within android, you don’t have to manually boot to hboot, it will do it by itself (recommended).
To dos:
-add faq & disclaimer;
-update linux version;

Download link:
HTC_Desire_Unlock_v0.9.5.rar (beta)
HTC_Desire_Unlock_v0.9.4.rar
HTC_Desire_Unlock_v0.2a.iso (obsolete, buggy!)

Recommended drivers:
HTCDriver3.0.0.007.exe [OR]
android-usb-driver.zip

Changelog:
v0.9.5 – beta version; added debugging info that help future updates; reads Sensation HT** unlock code; might not work at all because I had nothing to test it on.
v0.9.4 – better connectivity with the phone; I actually didn’t test it because my USB socket (phone side) has a hardware problem (due to multiple plug ins/outs) and allows only charging. If you test it and it works, please report back!
v0.9.2 – If you have problems connecting with the phone, simply boot your Desire in Hboot menu (Vol-Down + power), connect to computer via usb cable and wait for the menu title to change to HBOOT USB PLUG; only and only then should you start the app; it might work this way for some of you.
v0.9.1 – dealt with Unable to load function(s) error.
v0.9 – major changes; windows version; different approach;
v0.2a – linux verson (bootable CD image); trying to reduce the number of false positives; the phone should restart if everything’s ok. If it doesn’t, start over again until it does

PS!! Providing feedback (no matter the scenario) is very important for both me and you, that’s why I kindly ask you to do so. Thanks!

If you like free software and find this tool useful, Paypal me a beer, it helps development a lot..

Common errors you could encounter (first of all, you should uninstal HTC Sync!):

[No device found!]
This actually occurs in a couple of situations: (1) No device or wrong device connected. (2) Drivers not installed or improper drivers.(3)ADB is not enabled.(4) While using a virtual machine, which is a bit trickier; you have to install the drivers inside the machine and let it handle usb devices; this varies by the software you’re using.

[Windows cannot access the specified device, path, or file..]
HTC_Desire_Unlock_v0.9.exe is a self extracting archive, it extracts the 4 files inside in a temp folder and automatically runs the unlock client, which is a packed exe. Some anti-viruses consider this a suspicious activity and deletes (or denies access to) some of the files. Try to disable the antivirus or use the archived version.

[Unable to load function(s).0]
Wrong AdbWinApi.dll / AdbWinUsbApi.dll. Make sure you run the app from the same folder with these files (found in the archive).

[Unable to load library!]
Make sure you have AdbWinApi.dll & AdbWinUsbApi.dll (files profided with the app) in the same directory you’re running the app from.

No error, the app starts and quickly quits
This probably happens when you run the self-extracting archive. Try using the regular archive and report back.