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Problem description: I'm trying to unlock a smartphone that belonged to my Dad. He passed away back in July 2018 and I recently came into possession of his phone. I've been trying to access it in order to get access to photos he might've taken. I'm aware that I can factory reset the device, but once I do so I'll lose any of the data currently on it, so I'm trying to figure out any solution that'd let me avoid that. The problem is that I can't find a documented PIN code for it anywhere. I've already tried a handful of best guesses like birthdates, license plate numbers, etc. - I'd keep attempting but the device is already prompting me that after a few more attempts it'll wipe the data entirely. I do only have one USB-C cable, but I don't think USB debugging was ever enabled on the device anyways. Any prodding at it with ADB never seems to return anything, though Windows does at least seem to detect it as a "MTP USB Device". Attempted fixes: Things that I've tried so far: - Unlock by attempting to guess the pin code - Connect to my PC and try to access it with ADB. It tells me "No devices found" whenever I run `adb devices` - Try ADB again in the bootloader / recovery mode, still no luck - Tried different USB ports on my computer, same result every time - Installed some 3rd party tools like "Dr. Fone" and "Wugs Nexus Root Toolkit". Dr. Fone gave me a "Your device is not supported" screen when I tried to use the Screen Unlock feature and Wugs just never detected the device - Tried inputting large number of asterisks in the "Emergency Call" screen per some exploit to crash the lock screen I read. Doesn't seem to work on the version of Android this is on - Tried connecting it via Device Manager and Windows does at least pick it up as "MTP USB Device" when I have it connected from the lock screen Recent changes: No. The device was last used in late June 2018. I have charged it back up and attempted to connect it to my PC. I've also attempted to input the PIN code a handful of times and it last showed "Warning: after 6 more attempts your device will be wiped" Operating system: Android, around version 6 or 7 (Unsure where to find more info on the exact version) System specs: Nexus 6P and from the bootloader screen: BL: angler-03.79 Baseband: angler-03.89 Product/Variant: ANGLER-VN2 Skipping serial number for now CPU: MSM8994 0x20001 eMMC: 64GB Toshiba DRAM: 3072MB HYNIX LPDDR4 Console: NULL Battery OK Device is LOCKED Ofuse Status: ENABLED Off-mode-charge: ENABLED Download Mode: DISABLED Location: United States I have Googled and read the FAQ: Yes I realize it's a pretty weird request and I'm guessing that this is probably isn't viable short of some kind of exploit to enable ADB or finding the PIN written down somewhere. Snooping around the device isn't really my goal, but since the death was fairly sudden I was hoping it might be a source of a kind of closure, and the fact that he'd had this device for a few years makes me think there might at least be a couple valuable photos. I guess in the off chance that attempts reset I might just leave the phone for a while then see if I can figure out any decent guesses. I've also got a tablet and netbook that belonged to him, but I doubt he'd have written this down on those. Near as I can tell he didn't have a Google account either or if he did it's been lost to time, but the device doesn't give me any prompt to reset with a Google Account anyways. Thanks for any help you might be able to provide.
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Apr 30, 2021 07:35
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I don't have an answer, but you could post the issue on the forums at Forensic Focus in their mobile device area (https://www.forensicfocus.com/forums/mobile-forensics/).
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Apr 30, 2021 23:14
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Gromit posted:I don't have an answer, but you could post the issue on the forums at Forensic Focus in their mobile device area (https://www.forensicfocus.com/forums/mobile-forensics/). Thanks for the suggestion, I think I'll go that route next. So far more Googling hasn't yielded much, there was some kind of exploit to get debugging enabled, but that would've been back in 2017 or so and I'm sure the phone had whatever OTA updates installed between then and 2018.
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May 1, 2021 19:47
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