How To Update To Windows Phone Tango Right Now Without Losing Unlock

Microsoft announced Windows Phone 8 a few days back, and consigned all current WP7 devices to the consolation update labelled WP 7.8. However, WP8 is still a few months away, and going by the news making the rounds on the internet this morning, the 7.8 update will arrive even later than Apollo. Fortunately, this doesn’t mean that there will be no updates in the intervening period. In fact, the Tango roll out has started already. Although this is a relatively small update when you compare it to Mango or the upcoming 7.8 one, there are still a lot of performance improvements on offer, and that might be no small matter for many users. For Lumia devices, Tango also brings internet tethering. Officially, the rollout has started only for Nokia Lumia devices, but luckily, there is a method using which all Mango users can update to Tango right now! This force updating method can also prove to be useful for Lumia owners who are experiencing delay in receiving the update via Zune.




Disclaimer: Please attempt this guide at your own risk. AddictiveTips won’t be responsible in case your device gets bricked or damaged in any other way due to this method.

Just like Apple, Microsoft tries to fix all the exploits in their WP7 updates, so that the installation of Homebrews and unofficial unlocks can be prevented. Tango does that, too, and although you won’t lose your developer unlock after updating, you won’t be able to unlock your device if you restore it to any locked state. As is the case most of the times, the developers are a step ahead, and there is a way of retaining your unlock even after updating to Tango. So, take a good look at the disclaimer above, and then follow our steps.

Prerequisites:
Your device must be on firmware version 8112, rather than 8107. If that is not the case, try our method of making Zune present updates to you.
It is imperative that you know the language packs installed on your device. You can do that by going to the Settings menu in your phone and then navigating to the Display language in the Region + Language section.




Instructions:
To start, download the Windows Phone update tools. They come in a ZIP file, and you have to extract the file’s contents to a new and empty folder.
Download all the language packs that are already installed on your device. The links to all the packs can be found on the same page that we linked in step 1 (don’t worry, each pack is just a few KB in size).
Extract all the language packs in the folder where you placed the update tools.
Now download the Tango firmware. If you are not on 8112, the CAB file for that can also be found on this link.
Place the downloaded .CAB file in the same folder discussed in step 3.
Put your phone into Airplane mode and also disconnect your computer’s internet.
Now, look for the Updater file that is in .BAT format. Connect your phone to your PC via USB and run the file.
Press the “S” button when the tool is up and running, and your phone has been detected Zune (before doing that, it is better if you close Zune).
Just sit back, away from your computer and phone, and leave all the work to the updater. After your phone reboots several times, you will have Tango running on your Windows Phone 7.
Now download the file named relockPrevent.xap and deploy it to your Tango device. If you don’t know how to do that, check our guide on installing XAP files to your Windows Phone device.
If you don’t have a developer unlocked device, just ignore step 7 and step 10, as they deal with retaining unlock. It must be kept in mind, though, that the version of Tango that you will get using this guide is not optimized for any OEM, so you will have to wait for the official Zune update in case you are looking for some manufacturer-specific customizations