Unlocking

Connecting by USB

On Vista Make sure you have at least version 6.1 of the Mobile Device Center.
For XP You can use Microsoft Active Sync.

Backing up

PHM Registry Editor

Also use PHM Registry Editor to backup the registry and restore it (runs on the Curtis, not on your computer). Your unit must be unlocked and still functionnal.

DiskRW

  1. Download the tool called DiskRW from here. You need to register to download the file.
  2. Put DiskRW.exe on SD card and execute it your GPS. The program requires at least these two DLLs to run: commctrl.dll & AYGSHELL.dll
  3. Goto Read/Write Tab, choose SMFlash in Storage drop down list, type full file name (For example: \SDMMC Card\dump.bin) in output field or press "…" button to choose your image file location using GUI. ( I assume you have read this forum and made keyboard and file open dialog work, if not please start reading this thread from the first page)
  4. Press read button.
  5. After it finishes copy generated image to you PC. The file size of 3225 ROM is 17Mb.
  6. Download dumprom utility from here.
  7. Execute: dumprom.exe -d FOLDER_TO_EXTRACT_FILES dump.bin
  8. The folder you have specified will contains all \Windows files of your device. In case of Magellan 3225 the folder size is 5Mb.

CeRegEditor

Do this before you do anything to the device. Download and install CeRegEditor on your PC. With the GPS connected via activesync, choose Tools/Backup/Create image and keep that file somewhere safe.

Warning: Not everyone has success restoring the ceimg.

Backup of untouched file

Forum Thread

Over activesync

Spb backup

Doesn't work.

Unlocking

Most info taken from here.
Credits: JeeZues, krusty50, yuprules, Mr Nobody

Why unlock the device, you ask? To install better GPS software and/or to transform it into a quasi PDA. And of course, just because you can. ;)

DISCLAIMER: Follow these instructions at your own risk. No one can be held responsible if this renders your device permanently unusable.


Keep these tips in mind or you could brick your unit.

  • Do not set a password in the Control Panel, you will not be able to get back into the unit!
  • Always keeping your device in ActiveSync mode is a good idea. It's your "last line of defense".
  • Do not delete any files in the ResidentFlash, Residentflash2 or Windows folders unless you have backups!

If you do end up with a bricked unit, give the unbricking procedure a try.

The YFGo2CE.bld way (recommended)

In the root of your SD card, create a file named YFGo2CE.bld containing any string/text inside it. Go for "\windows\explorer.exe" (without quotes) if you're feeling uninspired. You can do that by creating a text file first, editing it with notepad, saving it, then renaming the .txt filename into a .bld filename.
This method will bypass the Curtis menu, and will only boot into Windows CE. In order to boot into other software using the Curtis menu (i.e. iGO8 or BBmenu), you will need to use the SHELL.INI method.

The SHELL.INI way (also how to keep the Curtis menu to launch IGO8 or whatever gps software)

On your Curtis GPS, tap: System/Sys. Info./USB and change it to MS ACTIVESYNC

Connect the unit to your computer by USB.

pic1eah.jpg

Follow the instructions for connecting by USB at the top of this page.

Browse your Device / Explore your device and go to ResidentFlash and copy the SHELL.INI to your computer, edit the shell.ini in Notepad on your computer so that instead of \residentflash\Coship Navi\Drive\Drive.exe, it reads \Windows\explorer.exe (or whatever else you want to launch, such as \SDMMC\IGO\IGO8.exe if that is where your IGO8 files are).

pic6nxd.jpg
pic7d.jpg

Go back to Browsing / Exploring your device and go to the ResidentFlash folder and rename the shell.ini to shell.bak (in case you screw something up) and copy the shell.ini from your computer to the root of the ResidentFlash folder.

pic4tvr.jpg

Now when you press the "Navigation" icon, the program you specified in SHELL.INI will be launched.

The Launch50 trick (editing the registry)

Do yourself a favor. Don't do it.

So what's next?

Congrats for making it this far!

If you like the Curtis UI but just want something other than Sygic to be launched when you press "Navigation", then you've gone the way of SHELL.INI and you're done!

If you've gone the way of YFGo2CE.bld, then you're probably staring at a Windows CE desktop and it's not very sexy or useful. You might want to install a launcher like bbmenu or a whole suite like miopocket.

Don't forget to check out the comparison of various GPS software and the specific tips for each one of them.

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