Recover IMEI on the Galaxy S II and Other Samsung Devices in Nine Steps
credits to xda and vaskodagamma
Sometimes bad things happen and you don’t even know it. Flashing modules can wreck your WiFi, kernels can bork your camera and, and flashing some ROMs can mess with your EFS folder—and thus your IMEI—on Samsung devices including the popular Galaxy S II I9100.
XDA Forum Member vaskodogamagmail has posted about a method that may help users restore their IMEI if the all-important EFS folder is modified by accident. In a nut shell, restoring your backed up IMEI involves deleting the corrupted EFS folder, creating a new one, and doing a few file modifications with a root-enabled file explorer. In the words of the developer:
so I researched. searched all the forums and didn’t find anything that could cure my phone’s IMEI and set it to the original IMEI number. so I experimented and after some hours, I fixed my IMEI.
one thing that led me to the conclusion that ” .nv_data ” file is the thing that I need to fix the IMEI is that they share a very look alike name, and they have the same 2MB size.
While the guide was written with the Galaxy S II in mind, the method should work on all Samsung devices with EFS folders. Those looking to restore their IMEI should visit the original thread for additional information and the full method. Just be sure to back up your device, including the contents of your EFS folder, before getting started.
so head over to the thread
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1264021
bt watt if there is no efs folder....
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"Never touch the EFS folder!" - Michael Jackson
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Acording to what I know it dosnt work for ace
Den why he post in Galaxy ace fool
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evil_penguin said:
Acording to what I know it dosnt work for ace
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according to the author and xda it works on all samsung mobiles
shailpancholi said:
Den why he post in Galaxy ace fool
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fool huh. this is an info, and just read the comments on that page and its not for someone who has fully lost imei.
Lol. it suggest to backup efs. In order to do so we need to mount the efs partition first. Doing so is the most common cause of lost imei in the first place.
Sent from your phone
HMM now im disappointed.. ( when i saw the title I hoped somobody finally found out how to do it on ace..
an0nym0us_ said:
Lol. it suggest to backup efs. In order to do so we need to mount the efs partition first. Doing so is the most common cause of lost imei in the first place.
Sent from your phone
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precisely
OP haven't read older threads from forums
okie.. Now those who hav lost there IMEI must be on Network locked rite?? As of in INDIA we dont hav these network locked phones much.. Only some providers gave some phones but these branded devices are rarely network locked.. So i checked my phone with Root explorer and also in recovery menu no file such named as EFS(encrypted file system) which mainly holds the IMEI.. May be these nw providers afraid that the person might change the IMEi..
Prashanthme said:
okie.. Now those who hav lost there IMEI must be on Network locked rite?? As of in INDIA we dont hav these network locked phones much.. Only some providers gave some phones but these branded devices are rarely network locked.. So i checked my phone with Root explorer and also in recovery menu no file such named as EFS(encrypted file system) which mainly holds the IMEI.. May be these nw providers afraid that the person might change the IMEi..
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Click to collapse
EFS(encrypted file system) is for Microsoft.
Android /efs is different from EFS. And our method of storing imei is different from other Samsung devices. So the OP method Won't work.
Prashanthme said:
okie.. Now those who hav lost there IMEI must be on Network locked rite?? As of in INDIA we dont hav these network locked phones much.. Only some providers gave some phones but these branded devices are rarely network locked.. So i checked my phone with Root explorer and also in recovery menu no file such named as EFS(encrypted file system) which mainly holds the IMEI.. May be these nw providers afraid that the person might change the IMEi..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
EFS is not a folder btw its partition which is never mounted to use with some file explorer things as you can see how much loss you can get just by mounting this thing manually
sergeantgeneral said:
EFS(encrypted file system) is for Microsoft.
Android /efs is different from EFS. And our method of storing imei is different from other Samsung devices. So the OP method Won't work.
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The truth .
Herpderp Defy.
madman_amit said:
EFS is not a folder btw its partition which is never mounted to use with some file explorer things as you can see how much loss you can get just by mounting this thing manually
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But no one couldnt find it.. Leave that mounting later!! First we need to find it.. I searched in Mounts and storage its not thr....
BTW EFS thing i found here...
So say it honestly.. do you guys think theres ever going to be a method to do this on ace..?
Related
Hi,
I've flashed my Galaxy ACE a few times and now i realized that when i try to see my IMEI it gives me 0000000000000000.
I've tried to look for /efs folder and the nv_data.bin file but they don't exist.
Is there anyway to recover/generate this file? I have no backups
Checking imei with *#06# ?
Your phone is bye bye. I am sorry for your loss.
Sent from my GT-S5830 using xda premium
what kind of file you flashed?
I've flashed KPH firmware from samsung with odin, and also i've flashed CyanoGEN and GLSMT 2.1 ROM, i'me currently using GLSMT.
traduz said:
Checking imei with *#06# ?
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Click to collapse
Yes, and also going to Settings -> About phone -> Status
zizibuba said:
Your phone is bye bye. I am sorry for your loss.
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What is weird is that i can still make calls and sms.
I only noticed that i had no IMEI because Viber became deactivated all the time, and i checked their foruns and saw that this behaviour was due to no IMEI.
Maybe it's better send your phone to tech.
Try to either remove the sim card or turn on the airplane mode.
I've burnt a sim card by flashin with odin. IMEI did show up if the above procedure was done.
smorz said:
Try to either remove the sim card or turn on the airplane mode.
I've burnt a sim card by flashin with odin. IMEI did show up if the above procedure was done.
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Click to collapse
Didn't work, still no EMEI
mvrk69 said:
Didn't work, still no EMEI
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Click to collapse
Which technically means that your phone is partially screwed
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Just try to flash the stock 2.2 & u might get ua imei back
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take it to service/authorised care centre and just tell that the phone just couldn't boot one morning and act like "gsm noob". hope they will fix it then enjoy your Cooper
this method always works for me and my friends, for example Nokia service repaired my bricked n95, later they replaced new nobo in it. acting like a noob is cool :d
smorz said:
Try to either remove the sim card or turn on the airplane mode.
I've burnt a sim card by flashin with odin. IMEI did show up if the above procedure was done.
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LOL is this a troll post?
Nothing you can do about lost IMEI. There's someone who managed to copy it between phones but then that makes his phone have another phone's imei so I guess it's not a good solution.
Return for warranty!
Can someone tell me if the /efs folder in Galaxy ACE is a partition mounted on /efs or a folder created on the / filesystem?
Also can someone provide me a zip with the contents of a Galaxy Ace /efs folder so i can try to modify the nv_data.bin to get my IMEI back, i have a friend that has a sptbox and i've eard that with a nv_data.bin file it's possible to change the IMEI.
mvrk69 said:
Can someone tell me if the /efs folder in Galaxy ACE is a partition mounted on /efs or a folder created on the / filesystem?
Also can someone provide me a zip with the contents of a Galaxy Ace /efs folder so i can try to modify the nv_data.bin to get my IMEI back, i have a friend that has a sptbox and i've eard that with a nv_data.bin file it's possible to change the IMEI.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's probably in the stl5 partition
I have a Samsung Galaxy S II with lost IMEI & unknown baseband, ( the source of such a problem usually is the corruptness of the efs folder or missing ), My question is if the efs folder is missing would it be possible to use another backup from another backup of the efs folder from different S2 and edit in the details needed?
You can restore from your backed up EFS folder .
Or search XDA >>> EFS will find a number of posts and some fixes .
jje
Hi mate, I don't have a backup of the folder so can't restore
no, you can not use a efs from another phone as the imei is unique to each phone. you would end up bricking it.
You need to send it in for reflashing with specialized tools which will rebuilds your efs folder.
I have the same problem here.. any idea how to rebuild the efs folder?
DMLING said:
I have the same problem here.. any idea how to rebuild the efs folder?
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SEARCH would be where i would start sorry but i am to lazy to do it for you .
Search >> EFS and IMEI
jje
without a backup its gonna be hard but check out this thread.May or may not help.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1377105
Theres also a Dev called Odia that can restore lost EFS/IMEI folders.Costs i think but its worth it if you cant get it done yourself.Send him a PM.
Solution
I managed a solution to get your phone back, not perfect but works.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1659366
Send me a PM for the EFS partion backup link.
Cant understand why people do not make a backup of the EFS. If they all took the time to read the stickies, they would know how important this is. Learn to walk before you start to run.
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bored_stupid said:
Cant understand why people do not make a backup of the EFS. If they all took the time to read the stickies, they would know how important this is. Learn to walk before you start to run.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2
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That's assuming they indeed read the stickies, of course.
Reading
Read Stickies is important, but sometimes there are procedures that don't work well, or as expected, so problems like this will appear and they must have a solution.
restore with a backup folder!
You may not of personally made a backup but a lot of roms and kernels do it for you automatically, so you may have one or more backups and not even know it.
Check if you have one in /data/.siyah if you have used said kernel.
Check your sdcard for any made by roms they usually make a folder named something like efs_backup
Last I looked in addition to the backup I made 5 minutes after buying the phone I have 20+ made from each rom upgrade.
Hi, I'm new to rooting etc. Is it too late to backup an efs folder after I rooted the phone but have done nothing else?
Cool
coolshades said:
Hi, I'm new to rooting etc. Is it too late to backup an efs folder after I rooted the phone but have done nothing else?
Cool
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As long as your EMS folder is intact and IMEI is correct, its not too late. There are a number of apps and programs to backup your imei. Ktool is one of the best and simplest to use. Also try EFS pro.
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bored_stupid said:
Cant understand why people do not make a backup of the EFS. If they all took the time to read the stickies, they would know how important this is. Learn to walk before you start to run.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2
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Mate when people buy a phone, they don't expect that their phone's EFS will get meshed up. In my case I have Galaxy S and my wife has Galaxy S2. She has been using her phone for year and half, no major problem. Last week it suddenly lost the network connection. I tried different SIM but still no good and started searching to resolve the issue and I found how to access IMEI. It was empty. She didn't do anything, no new apps installed. Mobile service provider can't help..
samsung galaxy note 2 lte 4g N7105
Hi everybody i'm new here i have a problem with my phone,my phone is rooted, 1 month ago i had this problem that my phone would not boot stay on samsung logo,i rebooted in recovery and say EFS failed,so i connected my phone to odin flashed a couple of roms but nothing worked, i saw that there was an option EFS clear so i did that but did not work either so i reflashed a rom and this time it worked but when it booted it didn't even ask me to enter PIN for sim and i noticed in about device there was no baseband and no network signal please help guys i would appreciate thanks.
Hello all!
I guess the APP Chainfire broken my IMEI, i already changed my rom and nothing happen.
When i did #*06# my IMEI is 0000000000000
reading some tutorials I saw that I need to back up the EFS folder but this folder does not exist!
What can I do to restore my imei?
If someone pass me the backup of the EFS folders I use it?
You're basically screwed and you need to send it for service
This was sent from a Galaxy Ace. Problem?
Aw! Thank anyway!!!: (
At times flashing a stock rom and not a custom one might help... and data abt imei stored in efs folder... so i feel no one wud share his efs folder with u... and in the future do use an app named nitrality for making a copy of ur efs folder...
sbnaul said:
At times flashing a stock rom and not a custom one might help... and data abt imei stored in efs folder... so i feel no one wud share his efs folder with u... and in the future do use an app named nitrality for making a copy of ur efs folder...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey I used the app nitrality to backup efs folder.. But when I go to the nitrality /backup /efs its empty
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Good luck trying to back up ace's imei and at the same time doesnt messed it up and lose it forever.
See the irony? U wanna back it up and in the process u actually ****ed it up.
Why would backing up something ruin it?
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Because it wasnt a folder to begin with. Its a hidden partition that intentionally left unmounted on boot. In order to backup it u need to see it, in order too see it u need to mount it. This when disaster strike. Forget to unmount it and it'll be lost forever. And even if u do manage to back it up its still useless because theres still no known method to use it to recover ace's imei. this have been said many, many times before, yet u who is a senior member with over 300 post still clueless. Thats what amaze me the most :/
an0nym0us_ said:
Because it wasnt a folder to begin with. Its a hidden partition that intentionally left unmounted on boot. In order to backup it u need to see it, in order too see it u need to mount it. This when disaster strike. Forget to unmount it and it'll be lost forever. And even if u do manage to back it up its still useless because theres still no known method to use it to recover ace's imei. this have been said many, many times before, yet u who is a senior member with over 300 post still clueless. Thats what amaze me the most :/
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Click to collapse
Sorry I am not as bright as you
Thank you for your help
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Hi, guys sorry for this maybe noob question. I've chged my firmware and all ( PDA, CSC etc) and after did that my IMEI chged to the test 1 for samsung. My phone is a galaxy s 2
I didnt backup my ESF, and now i cant use the gsm net of my sim, only wireless is working. I have my IMEI code ans S/N (dunno if needed), i'd like to know if there is a tool or sumthing to put in my old imei and let the phone work with my sim. ive tried to read this post, but im a noob and i didnt understand so much :
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1801997
can some1 pls help me?
Are you rooted with cwm. Nandroid bk up would help you out easy. I had to mount efs folder manual as phone said wasn't there and ext sd. Noob ish myself but got it bk on my own all part of the fun with android
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try sii repair from play store and ALWAYS back up EFS folder.
Sent from the little guy
Did you sort it?
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I also lost my IMEI no after a flashing a rom, as far as I was aware I had never made a backup of my efs folder, I attempted many different methods to resolve this, then I checked my external SD storage and saw an EFS_BACKUP folder with numerous compressed EFS files, I simply selected one of the early ones copied to my desktop and extracted contents and used them to replace my current efs folder on root of the phone, then reboot and you should have your original IMEI and phone working again, hope this helps goodluck
Hi:
We all know the lost IMEI problems if many of Galaxy's devices , but i just want to know that if there a good and 100% working method for all Galaxy phones that i can manually inter the IMEI on the back of the phone and fix it??
Yes. Buy an Octopus Box, and flash the IMEI.
http://gsmserver.com/shop/gsm/combo...ble_set_medusa_box_for_octopus_box_owners.php
k-semler said:
Yes. Buy an Octopus Box, and flash the IMEI.
http://gsmserver.com/shop/gsm/combo...ble_set_medusa_box_for_octopus_box_owners.php
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ِAha , i heared about that box , but is there any other way that i can do it without a box?? meaning with the USB only?
The $niper said:
ِAha , i heared about that box , but is there any other way that i can do it without a box?? meaning with the USB only?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you have a backup of your EFS partition, yes. You can use ADB and push the *.img file to your handset. Short of that, there really isn't a way to do it with ODIN or with ADB. If you don't have a backup of your EFS partition, you're pretty well screwed.
k-semler said:
If you have a backup of your EFS partition, yes. You can use ADB and push the *.img file to your handset. Short of that, there really isn't a way to do it with ODIN or with ADB. If you don't have a backup of your EFS partition, you're pretty well screwed.
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Click to collapse
Ok , thank for answer.
But the strange thing that i have a working Galaxy Ace and when i enter the efs file i see that it's empty! so where is the IMEI files?
The $niper said:
Ok , thank for answer.
But the strange thing that i have a working Galaxy Ace and when i enter the efs file i see that it's empty! so where is the IMEI files?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are u rooted and using a root file manager?
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The $niper said:
Ok , thank for answer.
But the strange thing that i have a working Galaxy Ace and when i enter the efs file i see that it's empty! so where is the IMEI files?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Diferent phone the galaxy ace. The efs partition is hidden (stl5 mountpoint), and that's a good thing because you can mess it up by making it vissible and/or attempting to copy it (you have to be EXTRA careful with your adb kung fu so you don't screw it up).
The upside is that it practically can't be accidentally ruined during a rom or other random flash, unlike its galaxy s2 and s3 cousins.
JellyYogurt said:
Are u rooted and using a root file manager?
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Yes , and i checked the choise to view he hidden files , and still empty.
dxppxd said:
Diferent phone the galaxy ace. The efs partition is hidden (stl5 mountpoint), and that's a good thing because you can mess it up by making it vissible and/or attempting to copy it (you have to be EXTRA careful with your adb kung fu so you don't screw it up).
The upside is that it practically can't be accidentally ruined during a rom or other random flash, unlike its galaxy s2 and s3 cousins.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So you mean hidden like windows hidden files? or In other dir?
The $niper said:
So you mean hidden like windows hidden files? or In other dir?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I mean hidden not like windows. The partition that holds efs files is not accesible unless you mount it to a specific directory. Not even root explorer and show hidden files will help you find it.
Use google, use the galaxy ace forum right her in xda if you need more details. Its the stl5 mountpoint, and not recommended to try and access it.