Guide to Jailbreaking with Redsn0w
There is more than one way to skin this cat, but for now I will focus on the Redsn0w method. There will be a PwnageTool guide shortly for those Mac folk.
Preparation
Before getting started, I would highly recommend backing up everything you don’t want to lose. I would also not recommend restoring from a previous backup after updating to 3.0 and Jailbreaking as this has been known to cause problems.
If you are not currently jailbroken, your best option is to make sure you have everything synched with iTunes. Make sure to sync your contacts with the Windows Address Book so you don’t lose any! Alternatively, you can use the app ContactSync to back them up to the web. Make sure you remember to copy all of your pictures as well!
If you are jailbroken, and have SSH installed, you’ll want to fire up FileZilla and backup the following folders: (Note: to connect with FileZilla, enter the WiFi IP of your iPhone/iTouch, user is root with default password of ‘alpine’, and port is 22)
/var/mobile/Library/AddressBook – Contacts
/var/mobile/Library/Calendar – Calendar
/var/mobile/Library/Notes – Notes database
/var/mobile/Library/Safari – Bookmarks and cookies
/var/mobile/Library/SMS – Text messages
You may want to take things one step further and backup the Documents folder found within each of your application folders. These will be in /Applications and /var/mobile/Applications.
Last, be sure to backup anything you want to keep from /var/mobile/Library/Downloads.
If you are like me and have a hard time remembering all those apps you’ve installed, one final step I do is to SSH to the phone and save the output of ‘dpkg –l’ (that’s an L). This will show everything you’ve installed via Cydia/Icy.
The good stuff
First, prepare thy arsenal. You will need:
iTunes 8.2
Redsn0w – Windows
Redsn0w – Mac
iPhone OS 3.0 – iPhone1,2_3.0_7A341_Restore
If you’ve allowed iTunes to download 3.0, you should be able to find it at
%userprofile%\Application Data\Apple Computer\iTunes\iPod Software Updates\. I have not been able to get the Shift-Restore method to allow me to choose an IPSW, but there is no reason to download the firmware manually, just let iTunes do it.
Ok, Ready?
Now that you’ve got your tools, go ahead and connect your iPhone to your computer and launch iTunes.
If you downloaded OS 3.0 from the link above, go ahead and try holding shift and clicking Restore in iTunes. Browse to where you saved the ipsw and select it.
If you let iTunes download OS 3.0, simply click Restore and it will basically do the same thing. The shift method is really only useful when using a custom ipsw (ala PwnageTool).
Once the update has completed, extract Redsn0w if you have not already and launch the application. Click the Browse button and either browse to where you saved the ipsw from above, or to the location mentioned above. Select the ipsw and click Open. Redsn0w will verify the firmware image. Once it has finished, click Next. You will want to make sure you check Install Cydia at this point, and click Next.
Follow the on-screen instruction. Turn off your iPhone and make sure it’s plugged in via USB. Once it has powered off, click Next.
Redsn0w will now guide you through the steps needed to place the iPhone into DFU mode.
*3GS Users: I ran through this now that I have a 3GS and the process is essentially the same but even easier! Instead of the instructions below, you will be told to turn off the phone, hold the home button and plug it in. That’s it!*
Once you have put the device into DFU mode, you will see the following screen and your iPhone will reboot.
Once your iPhone reboots, the RAM disk is uploaded. You will then see the jailbreak progress on your phone. When it has completed, vwalla, you’re good to go.
Victory!!
At this point, the first think you should do is launch Cydia and apply any available updates, as well as install AppSync. I would also reboot the device after this for good measure.
Now you can go back into iTunes and sync all of your apps/music/etc back to the device. If you have not installed AppSync yet, then anything downloaded with Installous will fail when iTunes syncs!
The last step is to restore the files you backed up. You should be able to get away with a quick respring afterwards, but some may want to reboot again for good measure.
