How To Remove Carrier branding from HTC 8X

ByDilawer Soomro Hours

Say no to bloatware

Whenever you purchase a new device be it a phone, tablet or a laptop, you’ll notice that it comes preloaded with certain apps that the OEM has incorporated for certain purposes. This pre-installed software is called bloatware, and in most of the cases it is not welcomed by the user. This is because it usually makes the device slower, laggy and takes up your resources.

Htc-windows-phone-8x-colours

OEMs mostly don’t put much bloatware on a device, they incorporate their custom skins like TouchWiz for Samsung phones and Sense UI for HTC. These skins show the identity of each device. The situation arises when you buy a Carrier branded phone because Carriers take a different route and clutter their devices with unwanted and useless bloatware. The same has happened with HTC’s 8X, a Windows Phone 8 device. Even though the device is highly capable and the WP8 OS is a major improvement over the previous version; but the carrier branding with the phone could prove to be annoying for almost everybody. So, today we’ll show you a simple way to remove carrier branding from your HTC 8X.

Requirements

Before you start tinkering with your phone we would like you to know that this method will only work on Vodafone’s HTC 8X. Also, we can’t be held responsible for any damage to your device in the process, proceed with caution and at your own risk. Now, lets move onto the fun part.

Stuff that You Will Need

Any PM232****/c620e device with bootloader version before 162966
A Y-Cable
SD Card or USB Drive key
Official HTC_Europe_2.00.401.03 ROM
The following three extracted files from the ROM
RUU_Signed.nbh
UEFI_signed.nbh
ACDU_UEFI_PROV_KEY.nbh

Procedure

Step 1: Format the USB key or the SD card in FAT32.

Step 2: Place the RUU_Signed.nbh file on the USB key/SD card, and rename it to ACDUDIAG.nbh

Step 3: Connect the USB key/SD card to the Y-cable, and turn off the phone.

Step 4: Now, with the camera button pressed on the device, connect your 8X to the cable. You will see ACDUDIAG.nbh on top of your device, and flashing will start. The device will reboot into the bootloader mode.

Step 5: Now, rename the UEFI_Signed.nbh file to ACDUDIAG.nbh, and flash it using the same process mentioned above. The device will again get stuck on bootloader screen as before.

Step 6: Finally, rename the ACDU_UEFI_PROV_KEY.nbh to ACDUDIAG.nbh, and flash it, too. The device will again get stuck on bootloader.

Step 7: For the last time, now flash the full ROM RUU_signed.nbh. The final reboot will land you with a fully unbranded HTC 8X with official HTC stock ROM. No bloatware whatsoever! Enjoy your phone!

Check out the official thread over at XDA forums for more info and help.

Let us know how this process goes for you. If you run into any problems, shoot us a comment below and we’d be happy to help.

Dilawer Soomro is a Gadget-boy and a Die-Hard fan of Android devices. He loves to write about anything that’s related to Tech, Gadgets and Gaming. He's your Go-to guy for any Android related stuff.