EDL is an interface of Qualcomm chipsets, used to flash fastboot ROMs. It is used for unbricking purposes so it is allowed on many phones but it's been locked down on most recent Android models.
The screen will appear black and it will appear that the device is turned off, but to verify that this is not the case, we need the tools in EDL mode. The most famous is QFIL (Qualcomm Flash Image Loader), a proprietary software, but on GitHub there are many alternative open source projects.
¶ Enabling EDL mode
Before doing edl stuff it is important to know how to enable edl mode.
¶ Enable using button combos
Enabling EDL mode using a combo is the easiest way of enabling edl. Here are some of the ways you can enable EDL:
- On Alcatel Cingular Flip you have to first hold both volume keys, then only one of them;
- On CAT B35 you have to hold * and #;
- On Nokia 8110 4G or Nokia 800 Tough you have to hold Up and Down.
- On the Nokia 2720 Flip you press both volume keys. Be careful not accidentally pressing the assistant buttons.
While pressing the combo you must insert the cable. The screen should be black... if you have failed to enter EDL mode, your device will start charging...
¶ using an edl cable
this is also easy... while pressing the edl button insert the cable to the device, when inserted wait for 5 seconds and stop pressing the button, and after that the screen will turn black... It is fairly cheap in some places(in the Philippines it costs $2). You could also make a DIY cable using a spare microusb cable.
¶ using adb
turn on debugging and type in the command adb reboot edl this will make your device restart to edl mode
This isn't that useful if you are going to use edl for unbricking or jailbreak purposes.
¶ Disassemble the phone (risky method)
this is a very risky method i will make a seperate page for this method.
¶ Disabling EDL mode
This is also important to know.. Because if edl․py isn't working correctly you can't run python3 edl.py -loader [Loadername] -reset which means you'll have to turn off edl mode manually.
¶ Removing the battery
Removing the battery will shutdown the device and exit edl mode. This is the easiest way to exit edl mode on devices with a removable battery like the Nokia 8110 4G.
¶ Using a button combo
On some devices there is a button combo to turn off edl mode. For example on the Nokia 800 Tough it is D-Pad Down + Power Key (Just pressing the power key does not work).
Refer to what Luxferre said here:
¶ wait for the battery to die
If you can't get the combo button to work, or you can't open the phone... Welp, last option is to wait for months for the battery to die.
¶ Introduction
The EDL tool we will be using through out this page is andybalholm's fork of plugburn's fork of bkerler's edl․py tool.
andybalholm's fork works great on Nokia Phones, this was also tested on Maxcom MK241, and Alcatel OT-4044x.
(Nokia 8110 4G tested by me,
Nokia 800 Tough by Discord user iGameEveryDay#2197,
Nokia 2720 Flip, Alcatel OT-44044x, Nokia 6300 and 8000 tested by Luxferre,
and Maxcom MK241 tested by Discord user Zagreous#6927)
plugburn's fork was made for the CAT B35 and also works on Alcatel 4044O.
(both tested by Luxferre)
bkerler's tool was tested on the Alcatel A405DL MyFlip.
(All tests were carried out by LiKiWii U (on Discord) and Yossi.)
Both plugburn and andybalholm's fork uses the same commands and requirements. If you would like to try out bkerler's edl tool visit the github page since it uses different commands.
¶ EDL on Linux
Using EDL on linux is pretty easy...
¶ Required stuff
- install Python >= 3.7 64-Bit
- install android-platform-tools (ADB, Fastboot)
- Download the EDL firehose loader binary for your device (some of the known KaiOS device loaders can be found here)
¶ Installation
- Clone or download and extract the zip file:
git clone https://github.com/andybalholm/edl - Copy and paste the loader or
.mbnfile to the edl folder. - Install the dependencies:
sudo -H pip3 install pyusb pyserial capstone keystone-engine
Additionally, if you're running Linux and having issues with device access:
- Append
blacklist qcserialto/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf - Copy
51-edl.rulesto/etc/udev/rules.d - Copy
50-android.rulesto/etc/udev/rules.d
¶ Stuff we can do
Note: Replace
[loader.mbn]with the filename of the loader you have(don't add the brackets).
- Get the partition layout
-
This command lists down the partitions
python3 edl.py -loader [loader.mbn] -printgpt -
You can also dump the raw partition table into a file with the command
-gpt [filename]option, like this:
`python3 edl.py -loader [loader.mbn]
- Partition readback
- You can backup any partition from the device with
-r [partname] [filename]option, for example:
python3 edl.py -loader [loader.mbn] -r recovery recovery.img
This will save the recovery partition contents into therecovery.imgfile.
- Erase a partition
- type in the -e [partname] option, for example to erase "userdata":
python3 edl.py -loader [loader.mbn] -e userdata
- Flash a partition
- type in the -w [partname] [filename] option, for example to replace the userdata:
python3 edl.py -loader [loader.mbn] -w userdata userdata.img
This will write the userdata partition contents from the userdata.img file. The edl․py utility also allows raw sector-to-sector writing but you're welcome to see the command help yourself if you need to do this.
- Reboot the device
- After your done with everything you can exit edl mode and reboot using this command:
python3 edl.py -loader [loader.mbn] -reset
¶ EDL on Windows
Unfortunately, unlike Linux we have to install drivers to make edl․py work... after a few months of using edl․py i have finally learned how to do it properly.
¶ Things that you will need
- 64-bit PC running Windows 7 or above
- Clone or download the zip file and extract the zip file andybalholm's fork of edl․py
- Download Zadig 2.5 from the official website
- Download the latest version of Python
- Download the loader for your device
¶ Installation
This is the installation part... In Windows there's a lot of things to do....
¶ EDL folder
-
the contents of the folder should look like this
-
this is the folder where you will put the loader/mbn file
¶ Python
-
Run the exe file as Admin
-
uncheck "Install launcher for all users" and check the "Add Python 3.9 to PATH"
Don't customize the installation
- Run cmd as admin and run the following command:
pip3 install pyusb pyserial capstone keystone-engine
and also update pip if you want - Turn off App Execution Aliases in settings
¶ Qualcomm Drivers
- Open your edl folder, and go to the Drivers folder.
- Run the Qualcomm something something.exe as admin
- just click Next to whatever it says
- And when it's done installing, restart your PC.(optional)
¶ Zadig to detect the device
Before we can use actual commands we have plug in our device properly, so that edl․py will detect the device.
For that we will be using Zadig 2.5
Note: Don't use the one inside the edl folder since that one seems to be outdated (in my experience it doesn't work)
- run the exe file
- Click on the Options and check List All Devices
- plug in your device and turn on edl mode
- Click on the box and click on QSHUSB_BULK
- click on the arrow thing until you find libusb-win32 (v1.2.6.0) and click on install
as for me i have already installed the driver, but sometimes it would reset back to the default driver, I recommend checking it before doing edl stuff.
When Installing the driver for the first time a USB device not recognised usually pop up. To fix that you must disable edl mode manually and turn it on again, after that check if libusb0 is installed.
¶ Stuff we can do
Now, after all of that let's now start...
Run a cmd prompt in the edl folder(Shift + Right Click)
Note: replace
[loader.mbn]with the filename of your loader(don't add the brackets), if you are using Python 3.7 usepythoninstead ofpy. On Windows 10 command prompt is disabled by default, you can try using powershell or doingcdin command prompt.
- Get the partition layout
-
This command lists down the partitions
py edl.py -loader [loader.mbn] -printgpt -
You can also dump the raw partition table into a file with the command
-gpt [filename]option, like this:
py edl.py -loader [loader.mbn] -gpt gpt.img
- Partition readback
- You can backup any partition from the device with
-r <partname> <filename>option, for example:
py edl.py -loader [loader.mbn] -r recovery recovery.img
This will save the recovery partition contents into therecovery.imgfile.
- Erase a partition
- type in the
-e [partname]option, for example to erase "userdata":
py edl.py -loader [loader.mbn] -e userdata
- Flash a partition
- type in the
-w [partname] [filename]option, for example to replace the userdata:
py edl.py -loader [loader.mbn] -w userdata userdata.img
This will write the userdata partition contents from the userdata.img file. The edl․py utility also allows raw sector-to-sector writing but you're welcome to see the commandpy edl.py -hyourself if you need to do this.
- Reboot the device
- After your done with everything you can exit edl mode and reboot using this command:
py edl.py -loader [loader.mbn] -reset
Tips: If you get any errors, disable and enable edl mode manually. Also use a proper USB cord and avoid moving it. AND PLEASE PLUG IT INTO A USB 2.0 PORT.