Unlocking your device will enable you to go free of the bounds on your bootloader and will enable to carry out advanced tasks. ClockworkMod recovery is an extensive recovery tool which would further give you more power, enabling you to root easily root your device and/or install custom ROM’s etc.

Disclaimer: This guide is intended as a helpful “how to”. dotTech and its writers are not responsible for any gain or loss (including but not limited to bricked devices) incurred as a result of following this guide. Unlock bootloader of your device at your own risk. Unlocking the bootloader may void your warranty.

Requirements

This guide will help you to unlock the bootloader of HTC One S and install ClockworkMod (CWM) recovery on your device. Please note once again that unlocking your bootloader will erase all user data from your device’s data partition (files that you placed on your device’s internal storage wouldn’t be affected; just the apps, settings, etc would be wiped).

Before We Begin

To unlock the bootloader of your HTC One S and install CWM recovery, you would need the following packages:

• Download and install ADB and Fastboot.
  • Or, if you want a lighter download, just download the required Fastboot files only, and extract its contents to the same folder where you will be later downloading the file Unlock_code.bin (to be downloaded at a later step in this guide).
• Download either recovery-clockwork-5.8.3.1-ville.img (ClockworkMod Recovery) or recovery-clockwork-touch-5.8.3.1-ville.img (ClockworkMod Recovery Touch) to your computer depending on whether you would like to have touch support for your recovery. Do not extract this file.
• HTC USB drivers for Windows, if you are running Windows, or the drivers for Mac or Linux if you are running those. Install the drivers if you haven’t installed them already.

How To Unlock The Bootloader Of HTC One S and install ClockworkMod (CWM) Touch or Non-touch Recovery

To unlock the bootloader of your HTC One S follow the steps below:

• Go to HTCdev website and create an account there (or login to your account if you have already been registered).
• After registering, go to the Unlock Bootloader page on the website.
• Select ‘All Other Supported Models’ and then click on ‘Begin Unlock Bootloader’. Click on ‘Yes’ when a warning message appears.
• Check both the boxes to agree to the terms and click on ‘Proceed to Unlock Instructions’.
• Turn off your device by keeping the power button pressed for 10 seconds.
• Press and hold the ‘Volume down‘ and ‘Power‘ buttons (Volume down + Power).
• Highlight the Fastboot option from the list using the Volume up or down keys and use the Power button to select the option.
• Connect your HTC One S to your computer via USB.
• Open a command prompt in your computer (First, press Win + R to launch the Run dialog, then enter “cmd” in the dialog box).
• First, change the working directory of the command window to the directory where you will be soon downloading the file Unlock_code.bin (in the coming steps) using the command “cd directorylocation” without quotes (for example, “cd c:\android“).
• Then, in the command prompt, enter:
  • fastboot oem get_identifier_token
• Copy the text between <<<< Identifier Token Start >>>> and <<<<< Identifier Token End >>>>> (you can copy the text from the command window by: right-click -> Mark -> select the required text -> right-click -> Copy). This is your Token ID.
• Paste the Token ID in the HTCdev website and submit it.
• You will soon receive a mail from HTCdev with a file Unlock_code.bin. Download this file to the  directory you had chosen earlier.
• Now, enter the following command in the command prompt:
  • fastboot flash unlocktoken Unlock_code.bin
• Your phone will display a bootloader unlocking request. Use the volume keys (volume up/down) to highlight ‘Yes‘ and then press the ‘Power‘ button to select it.
• Your phone will now reboot and the data partition will be reset.
• Your HTC One S now has an unlocked bootloader.

To install ClockworkMod (CWM) recovery on your HTC One S, follow the steps below:

• Power off your device by keeping the power button pressed for 10 seconds.
• Press and hold the ‘Volume down‘ and ‘Power‘ buttons (Volume down + Power).
• Highlight the Fastboot option from the list using the Volume up or down keys and use the Power button to select the option.
• Connect your HTC One S to your computer via USB.
• Open a command prompt in your computer (First, press Win + R to launch the Run dialog, then enter “cmd” in the dialog box).
• First, change the working directory of the command window to the directory where you had placed the CWM recovery file (recovery-clockwork-touch-5.8.3.1-ville.img or recovery-clockwork-5.8.3.1-ville.img) using the command “cd directorylocation” without quotes (for example, “cd c:\android“).
• Then, in the command prompt, enter:
  • fastboot flash recovery recovery-clockwork-touch-5.8.3.1-ville.img
    OR
  • fastboot flash recovery recovery-clockwork-5.8.3.1-ville.img
• You can unplug and reboot your phone after the process finishes.
• Congrats! You now have ClockworkMod recovery installed on your HTC One S.

To access CWM recovery on your HTC One S:

• Power off your device.
• Hold down Volume down and Power buttons (Volume down + Power) until your screen responds.
• Choose the RECOVERY option from the list to boot into CWM recovery.

Conclusion

Enjoy your HTC One S with an unlocked bootloader, and the power of the extensive ClockworkMod recovery which will enable you to root your device, perform advanced recovery, etc with ease.

[via CWM]