Activate your iPhone without AT&T with tools.zip
After hanging around the osx86 crew last night on IRC, I found out that they had finally cracked the activation service and made a proof of concept tool that would activate the iPhone with a plist file. The developers refused to release the actual tokens that needed to be embedded inside the plist file for activation though, for good reason, as they are DVD Jon’s.
Now, they did tell me one thing. The keys are embedded in the .NET binary in JLJ’s iPhone activation server. So I began working and this led to where I’m at now, a how-to. This post will not provide the tokens, nor will I provide them until JLJ says I can. This article will walk you through the process of obtaining them so you can activate your iPhone on a mac though, as suggested by the developers of the tool.zip we will be using.
As of now, you can just download the newly released iPhoneActivatorTool to activate your phone. This is a newer version of tool.zip that includes the plist file required.
Step 1:
Download the following files:
- JLJ’s PhoneActSrv - Mirror
- tool.zip - mirror
- My iPhone Decrypt App
- Lutz Roeder’s Reflector .NET disassembler
Step 2:
This step is where you’ll actually prepare the data you need to get. You will need windows with .NET framework 2.0+. JLJ’s PhoneActSrv’s binary has the keys stored within it, encrypted using AES. In order to get the keys, we need to disassemble the binary. To do this, you need to open up Reflector and go to File->Open then locate and open the PhoneActSrv.exe file.
Once it’s loaded, you will see the entry in the tree view. Right click on PhoneActSrv and click Export. Make sure you save this somewhere that you will remember, you will spend a lot of time looking at the disassembly. You also need access to it over the mac.
Step 3:
Now, open the directory you saved the disassembly files to. You should see the following files:
- a.cs
- b.cs
- AssemblyInfo.cs
- d.cs
- DotfuscatorAttribute.cs
- e.cs
- e.resources
- f.resources
- Global.cs
- PhoneActSrv.csproj
If you see these files, you did step 2 correct. If not, go back and do it again. This is where you may need some coding experience, as I can’t just hand these keys out. I provide you with enough hints that I feel you can find the keys. Unzip my iPhone Decrypt application and open up iphone_decrypt.c and read the comments. For each variable needed, I provide you with a hint on how to find it. All the values needed are located in the d.cs file.
Once you find them, plug the values into their appropriate arrays in iphone_decrypt.c. Once you have what you think are the values, open up a terminal, go to the directory iphone_decrypt.c is located in and run the following in console.
$ ./build.sh
$ chmod +x iphone_decrypt
$ ./iphone_decrypt
If all goes well, you should see something like the following on the terminal:
kalashnikov:~/Desktop/iPhone-RE/AES decrypt cody$ ./build.sh
kalashnikov:~/Desktop/iPhone-RE/AES decrypt cody$ ./iphone_decrypt
Welcome to the iPhone JLJ key decryptor. Find the data in his app and set the variables in the code to this one.
Setting AES key...done
---1076
Attempting to decrypt the key...done
Key is <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?>
<Document xmlns="http://www.apple.com/itms/" disableHistory="true" disableNavigation="true">
<Protocol>
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>iphone-activation</key>
<dict>
<key>unbrick</key>
<true/>
<key>activation-record</key>
<dict>
<key>AccountToken</key><data>*snip*</data>
<key>AccountTokenSignature</key><data>*snip*/data>
</dict>
</dict>
</dict>
</plist>
</Protocol>
</Document>??V?n9???lsQ?
Freeing up memory...done
If you do, move onto step 4, if not, keep trying.
Step 4:
Unzip tool.zip and open up the blank.plist file in something like textmate. It’s just an XML file. blank.plist contains the following:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd"> <plist version="1.0"> <dict> <key>ActivationRecord</key> <dict> <key>AccountToken</key> <data> </data> <key>AccountTokenCertificate</key> <data> </data> <key>AccountTokenSignature</key> <data> </data> <key>DeviceCertificate</key> <data> </data> <key>FairPlayKeyData</key> <data> </data> </dict> <key>Request</key> <string>Activate</string> </dict> </plist>
Copy the
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd"> <plist version="1.0"> <dict> <key>ActivationRecord</key> <dict> <key>AccountToken</key><data>*snip*</data> <key>AccountTokenSignature</key><data>*snip*</data> </dict> <key>Request</key> <string>Activate</string> </dict> </plist>
Save this file as activate.plist in the same directory as blank.plist
Step 5:
Activate your iPhone by running the following command in the terminal after changing to the directory that blank.plist is located in.
$ ./tool --activate activate.plist
You should see the following output on the console:
kalashnikov:~/Desktop/tool Folder cody$ ./tool –activate test.plist
iPhoneActivatorTool 1.0
2007-07-04 15:10:43.887 tool[10443] Found iPhone Device: 1
2007-07-04 15:10:43.887 tool[10443] Connecting…
2007-07-04 15:10:43.892 tool[10443] Checking Pairing…
2007-07-04 15:10:43.905 tool[10443] Starting device session…
2007-07-04 15:10:43.990 tool[10443] ActivationState: Unactivated
2007-07-04 15:10:43.990 tool[10443] Deactivating your iPhone…
2007-07-04 15:10:44.002 tool[10443] New ActivationState: Unactivated
2007-07-04 15:10:44.003 tool[10443] Activating your iPhone…
2007-07-04 15:10:44.163 tool[10443] New ActivationState: MismatchedICCID
2007-07-04 15:10:44.163 tool[10443] Your iPhone was successfully activated.
You will probably see a popup about your iPhone having an incorrect SIM card. Just slide the unlock slider at the bottom to the right and you should be ready to go.
Del.icio.us
Digg
On July 5th, 2007 at 12:05 am
Thanks for the hint a question though….
if I dont have an iPhone connected (for test purposes) what output should I get from running tool?
I currently get permission denied is this correct?
Thanks
Using
On July 5th, 2007 at 12:11 am
Great walkthrough! I don’t have an iPhone to try it with yet, but hope to soon. Can you tell us more about how the iPhone is without service? Any pitfalls?
Using
On July 5th, 2007 at 12:11 am
What are you getting that on. If you are trying to run build.sh or iphone_decrypt, make sure you chmod +x the files.
Using
On July 5th, 2007 at 12:14 am
I get that running “./tool –activate activate.plist”
I get that even if I try to run just “./tool”
Thanks
Using
On July 5th, 2007 at 12:18 am
ok no worries apparently you need to chmod “tool” also
Thanks
Using
On July 5th, 2007 at 12:32 am
“Can you tell us more about how the iPhone is without service? Any pitfalls?”
Well, phone stuff is obviously useless. Youtube doesn’t work for some reason either. Same issue with JLJ’s activation server though.
Using
On July 5th, 2007 at 1:01 pm
The WiFi will work on the iPhone, but you need to turn it on in the preferences. YouTube will fine then…
Using
On July 5th, 2007 at 1:49 pm
wowww this is really amazing…
but the phone is really working for any telephone company around the world???
i’m from chili and i want to ship iphones to my home, but i really want to know if this phone is working in his totality
please answer me to my email…
pollollo_@hotmail.com
Using
On July 5th, 2007 at 2:13 pm
No, this only allows you to activate the phone so you can use the iPod and wifi features of it.
Using
On July 5th, 2007 at 4:21 pm
Hi
a friend send me the iphone today and i can’t wait to use it… i really need to unlock it and to adjust it to work with my local sim card… does someone knows when we would be able to do so…
Thanks!
Using
On July 5th, 2007 at 4:33 pm
Fantastic how-to, thanks! It’s working perfectly for me! The only think that’s disturb me a little be is the fact that iTunes now want to be connected to internet everytime I want to sync, since the registration for AT&T is starting again (but I can cancel it and sync). Is there anyway to stop iTunes to start everytime the registration process over Internet for AT&T?
Pierre
Using
On July 5th, 2007 at 6:39 pm
All that sounds really good,
but will upcoming releases
allow to use the iPhone with
any other service provider
in any other country in the
world?
How long could that approximately
take? Are we talking about days, weeks
or even months?
Thank you so much for a soon answer
in advance…
Using
On July 5th, 2007 at 9:27 pm
Thanks for typing up a very detailed how-to. but i m kinda noobie for this kinda thing. I cannot get the files you said to download to work on my mac. Can you guys tell me how you got it to work?
Thanks
Using
On July 6th, 2007 at 12:12 am
If I activate my iPhone using this method and later want to activate it through AT&T (to gain phone service) will I be able to? How?
Thanks for hard work.
Using
On July 6th, 2007 at 1:04 am
To deactivate: ./tool –deactivate
inside your terminal.
Cheers!
Using
On July 6th, 2007 at 10:49 am
link for downloading tool.zip is no longer working. Anybody got a mirror? Thanks!
Using
On July 6th, 2007 at 11:17 am
Once the phone is activated using this can I use a foreign sim card to make calls?
The answer I am guessing is NO.
However is the SIMLOCK on the iPhone similar to all other phones like Nokia, etc and can it be unlocked similarly later, which is very easy and can be deon legaly in the UK that is at any phone shop for £5-10($10-20).
Thanks.
Using
On July 8th, 2007 at 11:15 am
Youtube doesn’t work yet after JLJ’s activation method… Anybody have fixed this issue?
Using
On July 10th, 2007 at 2:17 am
Syupid question - Does this process work using Windows (on a PC) or only Mac OS?
Using
On July 10th, 2007 at 9:30 am
Yeah, if you can find a Windows version of the tool. (It’s newer version is called iPhoneInterface now)
Using
On July 13th, 2007 at 1:32 pm
Yeah, the unlocking is great, but anybody know why youtube doesn’t work?
Using
On July 24th, 2007 at 12:19 pm
Hi,
I try to get my iPhone working, but I have some problems with step 3. What is meant by “unsigned char A_0[]” ? I really don’t understand (either because of my bad coding experience or because of my bad english). So a additional hint would be very much appreciated.
Using
On July 27th, 2007 at 10:28 am
Go to the following: http://www.hacktheiphone.com/iphone_dvd_jon_hex_edit_itunes_walkthrough_pc.html
Using
On August 29th, 2007 at 8:53 pm
I miss in the second part of step 3. I open iphone_decrypt.c and open d.cs files. Wich values i ned to plug in iphone_decrypt.c? what does “plug the values into their appropriate arrays in iphone_decrypt.c means?
I need help to understand this concept, can you help me please?
Using
On September 21st, 2007 at 5:36 pm
Using
On November 9th, 2007 at 10:35 pm
Somebody can tell me if this metod work properly because i have afraid to destroy mi iphone!! thnx!!!!
Using