Trying to unlock boot loader on HTC M9

Hadron said:

Fastboot is a utility you install on a computer and use to perform operations on the phone (which must be in fastboot mode and connected via USB). Typing fastboot on the phone, or a computer where it hasn't been installed, will not be recognised.

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nebster said:

I'm a newbie so how to go into fastboot mode and that?

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Hadron said:

All of the instructions should be in the bootloader unlock instructions at HTCdev.com (sorry, not got much time online this morning)

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nebster said:

I followed that and still not connecting?

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Hadron said:

Ah, later models replaced 'fastboot mode' with 'download mode'. Put the phone in that mode first (will involve booting while pressing 'volume down' I expect), connect to computer via USB, then try.

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Hadron said:

I would never use Kingroot.
Unlock bootloader, install TWRP, use TWRP to back up the phone, then use it to root the ROM or flash a pre-rooted custom ROM (read up on what's involved before trying either way). There's no need for these rooting apps, and anyway they don't work on recent Android versions.

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nebster said:

Thanks greatly <span style='background-color:#B4B4B4;'> noted</span>

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Hadron said:

I've never installed that, but if it only needs a root and nothing else then just rooting your current ROM, which changes nothing except giving you the ability to grant root access to apps, should suffice.

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Hadron said:

By 'the same thing' do you mean the 'fastboot not found' message, which means that the command is not in your computer's execution path (either not installed or you are in the wrong directory to use it), or the 'something about download mode', in which case please tell us exactly what that 'something' is?
Best would be to say exactly what you are doing and exactly what happens.

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Hadron said:

OK, so either fastboot isn't installed or you are not in the right directory.
I don't know what OS you are using, but from your command line you should change directory ('cd') to whichever directory you downloaded and unzipped the fastboot executable to. Then try the command again.
If that doesn't work, look at the filename and use that as the command name (e.g. if it's called 'fastboot-mac' rather than 'fastboot' then type 'fastboot-mac oem etc').
If you are on Linux or Mac and it still doesn't work when you are in the correct directory then try prefacing the command with './', e.g. './fastboot oem etc'. In unix shell commands (which both Mac and Linux are derived from) '.' means 'current directory', so './fastboot' would mean 'execute the file fastboot in the current directory'.
If none of that works check the file permissions for your fastboot executable to ensure that they allow execution of the file. If not then on Linux or Mac you can use the command 'chmod u+x fastboot' to make 'fastboot' executable by you. I don't know what the Windows equivalent would be because I rarely use Windows.
Hopefully the solution is in there somewhere!

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Hadron said:

All of that was stuff to do on the computer, not the phone. So let's start with what computer operating system are you using?
Whatever OS it is, if you want to execute a command the computer needs to know where to find the program you want to run. If you type 'fastboot' at the command line the computer isn't going to search its entire drive for all files called 'fastboot' and then, if it finds more than one decide which one you meant. Rather it will have a pre-defined list of directories it looks in for executable files, and if the file isn't in one of those or your current directory it will respond with a message like the one you've been seeing, which is basically 'I can't find that command'. That's your problem: the computer doesn't know where the command you want to execute is.
When you downloaded the fastboot package to your computer and unzipped it, as per the instructions at htcdev, you must have placed the unzipped fastboot program in some directory or other. So if you want to use it, you need to tell the computer where to find it. The simplest way of doing that, since you will be using the command line to run it, is to change the current directory of your command line session to the one that the executable is in. That's what the first parts of my reply were about. So you need to find what that directory is and then use the 'cd' command to change to that before you try to run the command.
The other way would be to find the file and copy it to the default directory your command line opens in (your home directory - to find what that is I will need to know what OS you are using).
It's also possible to add its location to the default list of places that the computer searches, but again how you do that depends on the OS. My suspicion is that one of the previous 2 suggestions might be simpler.

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nebster said:

I'm running windows 10

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Hadron said:

Unfortunately I've not used Windows 10 for more than a couple of minutes in my life
On the Windows command line type 'cd' (just that, obviously without quotes). That will tell you your current directory, in a format 'drive name:\Directory\subdirectory' (Windows uses '\' where unix-derivatives use '/' - that's one reason I needed to know the OS).
If you can then find where your fastboot command is (Windows Explorer should be able show you. If it's not obvious when you find the file, I'm sure that there will be a 'properties' or 'information' option and if you right-click on it that will tell you the full address. You can then use the same 'cd' command to change your command line's current directory to where the fastboot executable is, by adding the address of the folder after the 'cd' command, e.g.
cd C:\whatever\wherever
Then try the fastboot command again.
Or use Windows Explorer to copy/mobe the fastboot command file to wherever your command line's current directory was when you just typed 'cd' with no parameters.
I'm afraid I have to go offline for a few hours now.
P.S. Since my background is mainly unix/linux/mac I use 'directory' instead of 'folder' by default. They mean the same thing.

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Hadron said:

It needs a direct USB connection, it cannot be done wirelessly. And they won't unlock the bootloader for you - they make the tools available and tell you that it's at your own risk that you use them.

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