How to Unlock the Bootloader on the Nvidia Shield
If you haven’t heard of the Nvidia Shield, you are definitely not a hardcore gamer, as it is an entirely new concept in itself – a portable Android gaming console. The device features a flip-up 5-inch display, a 1.9GHz quad-core CPU, 2GB RAM and 16GB of onboard memory. What sets this apart is the way it is built – like an Xbox joystick – and has the usual D pad, analog sticks, and the XYAB buttons that you would typically find on an Xbox controller. Rooting this device is bound to bestow it with some more powers and if you are willing to do that, you will need to unlock the bootloader first. The guide below should help you with that.
I. Before You Begin
1. You will lose your warranty by unlocking your bootloader and as of now, there is no solution to taking down the flag that goes up when you unlock your bootloader. So, make sure that you really want to take this risk before proceeding any further.
2. Charge your device to 75% or more before you begin.
3. Back up everything you feel is important before you begin as unlocking a bootlocker usually resets your device to its factory state and you will lose all your data.
4. Install the proper ADB drivers before you start. If you are unsure, use link #1 in the next section to download and install them.
II. Necessary Downloads
1. Universal_Naked_Driver_0.73.zip [Link available in this post]
2. Android.zip
III. Unlocking the Bootloader
1. Enable USB Debugging on your device by going to Settings > Development and ticking the USB debugging checkbox.
2. Connect your device to your PC. If there are drivers being installed at this point, let them do so and point to the extracted Universal_Naked_Driver_0.73 folder if not found automatically.
3. Extract Android.zip to your desktop.
4. Right-click on the extracted Android folder and click on Open command prompt here.
5. Run the following commands on the command prompt window (do not type the text in brackets as it is for information purposes only):
adb reboot bootloader {Reboots your device to its bootloader}
fastboot devices {You should see a string of numbers as your device ID, indicating that the device is recognized properly; if not, install the drivers and try again}
fastboot oem unlock
6. You should be prompted on your device now; select unlock it.
7. Reboot your device.
Congrats, your Nvidia Shield now has an unlocked bootloader!
IV. Rooting the Nvidia Shield
If you want to root your Nvidia Shield, head to this post.
If this procedure helped you please thank/donate to the original developers here.
