Jailbreak any Apple TV 2 units without your own jail breakable SHSH blobs to 4.4.2 (tethered)!

For people who wants to jail break their Apple TV 2 that is stuck in a firmware version that doesn’t support jailbreak and don’t have their other machine-specific jail-breakable shsh blobs.

Credit goes to the whole FireCore forum collective (CYBERxNUKE, ormanton, ih8sn0w, Firecore, mosf1959, matty, ryanh.4594, jailbreak programmers, Sako, and everyone else who contributed ?? ) for the initial discovery and refinement of this method.  The instructions for this procedure are also found buried in the other thread started by MightyJew titled “Jailbreak for 5.1 ATV Gen 2.”  I hope that this new thread will make it more accessible.

The template for the instructions below was shamelessly taken from www.JailbreakAppleTV.com! :)  

System Requirements:

  • Windows PC (this doesn’t yet work for Mac unfortunately)

  • Latest Version of Apple iTunes Installed

  • Apple TV 2 Running any firmware version, including the latest 5.1

Before Starting, Download the Following Support Files and Save them to a New Folder on your Desktop:

         If you are able to download the ready-to-flash firmware above, skip Parts 1, 2, and 3.  Follow the directions starting from Part 4.

Once the files have been download, Extract the compressed Seas0nPass and iFaith compressed folders, then Install Total Commander. Once that’s been done, continue following the instructions below carefully. 
Part 1 – Building Signed Firmware Revision (Device Unplugged)

Step 1: Open iFaith and Choose “Build signed IPSW w/ Blobs” and follow the on screen prompts.

Step 2: Select “Browse for SHSH Blobs cache” and open the 4.4.2 (9A336a) SHSH Blobs file you had saved (000000000000000_Apple_TV_2-4.4.2_(9A336a)-blobs.ifaith).

Step 3: Choose “Browse for the iOS 4.4.2 (9A336a) IPSW” and open the Apple TV 4.4.2 Firmware file you had saved  (AppleTV2,1_4.4.2_9A336a_restore.ipsw).

Step 4: Wait, then click “Build IPSW” when prompted.

Step 5: Once it’s done Saving the File to your Desktop, it will say “Done building IPSW” in the header, DO NOT CLICK the “Proceed” button, close the program instead.

Part 2 – Build Custom Firmware with Seas0nPass (Device Unplugged)

Step 1: Launch Seas0nPass, right click “Create IPSW”, and select firmware version “4.4.2 9A336a”.

Step 2: Wait for Seas0nPass to finish downloading and modifying the IPSW from Apple, this will take a few minutes at least.

Step 3: Once you see “Waiting for device to enter DFU mode…” it means that this part of the procedure is done, close Seas0nPass.

Part 3 – Modify Image Files with Total Commander (Device Unplugged)

Step 1: Create a New Folder within the Folder that was created at the beginning of this guide, name it “Finish”.

Step 2: Drag the Seas0nPass Firmware file (located within the My Documents -> Seas0nPass folder) that was created in Part 2 of the procedure into the Total Commander shortcut Icon located on your Desktop.

Step 3: On the Right Side of the Total Commander window, navigate to the “Finish” folder we created in Step 1 of this part of the procedure. The desktop can usually be found under the “Users -> [Login Name] -> Desktop” folder tree.

Step 4: Drag the two DMG files from the Left Side of the Total Commander window to the “Finish” folder on the right side, agree to any prompts.

Step 5: Close Total Commander, then drag the iFaith Signed IPSW located on your Desktop into the Total Commander shortcut icon, reopening the application.

Step 6: Drag the two DMG files that were previously moved to the right side of the window in Step 4, into the Firmware Archive on the left side of the window.

Step 7: Allow it to Overwrite, agree to any on screen prompts and wait for it to finish writing.

Step 8: Once complete, close Total Commander, you now have a signed Firmware File on your Desktop.

Part 4: Flash Signed Jailbroken Firmware to Device (Device Plugged)

Step 1: Launch iFaith Once Again and plug Apple TV back into Micro USB.

Step 2: Choose “Use DFU Pwner (iREB)” and Follow on screen prompts.

Step 3: Your device has now been forced into DFU Recovery Mode, agree to proceed and then Close iFaith.

Step 4: Launch iTunes and wait for it to recognize Apple TV device.

Step 5: Hold the SHIFT key, Press the “Restore” button in iTunes.

Step 6: Open the Jailbroken Signed Firmware File that was previously saved to your Desktop named something like “00000XXXXXXXXXX_iFaith_Apple_TV_2-4.4.2 (9A336a)_signed.ipsw” and wait for iTunes to flash the device. Ignore the Error 1600 and close iTunes.

Part 5: Tether Boot your Apple TV 2

Step 1: Connect the power and Micro USB cords to your Apple TV 2.

Step 2: Launch Seas0nPass, right click “Boot Tethered” and select “4.4.2 9A33a”

Step 3: When Seas0nPass is done delivering the necessary files to your Apple TV, disconnect the Micro USB cable and connect the HDMI cable.

Congratulations! Your device has now been Jailbroken and is running 4.4.2 firmware. You can now use it as Apple definitely didn’t intend it be used. Remember, you read it first at www.JailbreakAppleTV.com !
We’d like to give special thanks to the people that helped make this special DFU programming process possible, thanks goes out to CYBERxNUKE, ormanton, ih8sn0w, and Firecore for contributing to this guide.

 

I hate to burst the bubble but he wasn’t the one to discover this. We had attempted this earlier in the month but it just came to light again.

Does it work though cause I am about to try it?? Also thanks in advance to who ever did discover it!

OK.  There.  Edited to give credit where credit is due.  Cheers!

Yes it does. 

yes but is tethered 8)

OK I went through all of the steps nothing seemed to go wrong… I boot tethered  tells me it is safe to unplug usb and plug in the HDMI.  I do this while not removing the power cord but the light keeps blinking and nothing comes up? did I brick this or am I just missing something?

yes its tethered…

IS there a solution for Mac/OSX yet? It’s so cool people have worked all this out (very smart!) but now I’m jealous of your Windows dudes! :slight_smile:

Try flashing it again by via iREB/itunes…

Same thing just a steady blinking light… going to remake the files perhaps I messed something up there… really hoping I did not just brick this…

Hi at all,

finaly ive got it… ^^

Many thanks at all that contributet to the solution. :smiley:

----------INFO--------------

Ive followed the instruction to the letter and had an odd incounter with iTunes Error 1600… Lights Blinking and so on… ive ignored that and booted Tethered with success…

Followed the instructions on Firecore on installing aTV Black and presto… Eveything works. ^^


------Question----------

Is it possible to go to the 4.4.4 Version that is untethered like a jailbrocken update?

 

5.1 Original ---->4.4.2 Jailbrocken ---->4.4.4 Upgrade Jailbrocken


 

Best regards

Val.

Can confirm that this does indeed work !!! thank you all …

 

thanks,I will try it tonight. 8)

Very well explained a lot better than I had explained it in the other forum mentioned above but you could have at least included me in the credits see post #69 as the whole thing started from there. Just a little love please   :slight_smile:

Very well explained a lot better than I had explained it in the other forum mentioned above but you could have at least included me in the credits see post #69 as the whole thing started from there. Just a little love please   :slight_smile:

anyone been getting 1604 errors instead of 1600 when restoring in itunes??

Tethered means that if I unplug or reboot the atv2 I lose the jailbreak right?

Can I install XBMC on the atv2 after doing this?

 

this has failed 10x now on me and i think it may be due to the fact that i’m running all this on an xp virtual machine?  perhaps the usb connection isn’t as direct (?) as it needs to be?

 

if i take my atv2 in to work where i have the only access to a pc i’ve got, and get the restore done in itunes, will i be able to bring it home to tethered boot using seas0npass?

 

Yes, just bring it home and run seas0nPass>boot tethered.