Earlier this month, Apple pushed out a lone Apple TV 2G 4.2.2 firmware update, based on iOS 4.3. This detailed step by step guide will tell you how to jailbreak Apple TV 2 iOS 4.2.2 untethered using Sn0wbreeze 2.7.3 for Windows.
*All download links given at the end of this tutorial.
Step 1: Download iOS 4.2.2 for Apple TV 2G and save it on your desktop.
Step 2: Download Sn0wbreeze 2.7.3 for Windows. Extract the file on your desktop.
Step 3: Run Sn0wbreeze 2.7.3. Click on the blue arrow button to proceed. Sn0wbreeze will then ask you to select the iOS 4.2.2.ipsw that you previously downloaded. Navigate to the path where you have it saved and click on the blue arrow to proceed further.
Once Sn0wbreeze recognizes the ipsw, it will display the following message. Click on the blue arrow to go to the next step.
Since there are no other options to configure, Sn0wbreeze directly proceeds to building the custom 4.2.2 ipsw for your Apple TV 2G.
Once Sn0wbreeze finishes cooking the custom iOS 4.2.2.ipsw for Apple TV 2G, it will display the following message:
Step 4: This is an important part. It’s now time to put your Apple TV 2G in DFU mode. For that, Sn0wbreeze will display on screen instructions and you must do exactly what it tells you to do.
- First, Press Menu + Play/Pause together for 7 seconds then release it when Sn0wbreeze tells you to. iREB will work its magic and your Apple TV 2G will now be in DFU mode. You shall get the following confirmation message:
Click OK. You can now exit Sn0wbreeze as it is no longer required.
Step 5: Start iTunes and it automatically alerts you that firmware on an Apple TV 2G needs to be restored. Press and hold the Shift key and click on Restore. Then, select the custom Apple TV 2 iOS 4.2.2 ipsw that Sn0wbreeze created and placed on your desktop.
Step 6: Wait patiently and let iTunes work. Don’t panic and do anything stupid as iTunes is working through a series of automated steps that will restore Apple TV 2 to custom iOS 4.2.2 firmware. After the installation process completes successfully, iTunes will show the following message:
That’s it! Your Apple TV 2 is now running iOS 4.2.2 which has been untethered jailbroken. Simply connect your Apple TV 2G to your television set and you will notice nitoTV in the main menu. It is advised that you go in Settings and update nitoTV.
If you encounter any errors or difficulties in jailbreaking Apple TV 2 iOS 4.2.2 untethered using Sn0wbreeze 2.7.3, do let us know and we’ll be glad to help you out.
Download iOS 4.2.2 for Apple TV 2G
Download Sn0wbreeze 2.7.3 for Windows
With the 4.2.2 and having the unit in DFU mode I get all the way to the validating in iTunes but when it is restoring then i get error msgs such as 1600 or that not allowed for this version… I am using the latest iTunes. could that be the case?
That was easy!
Thank you for posting the steps!!!
Thanks for the guide. It took me a few tries, but it eventually worked. A few points
- With the micro USB cable that I bought from monoprice.com, I simply could not go into DFU mode. I then tried the cable that came with my cell phone and entering DFU mode worked fine.
- I had to temporarily disable AVG antivirus and disconnect my USB wireless mouse for iTunes to successfully install the new firmware.
I downloaded that iOS 4.2.2 but it comes out as a big folder. I can’t find any single file with an .ipsw extension, at least nothing that Snowbreeze recognizes as a valid file. What’s the trick? Thanks!
it works.
Finally – you nailed it! So much misinformation out there about this process… these instructions worked perfectly.
after DFU mode I get to the validation part of the restore and I get “…could not be restored. an unknown error occurred (3194).” I updated Itunes and rebooted & worked the process 3 times.
iTunes does not recognise the DFU’ed ATV2, I’m running the newly updated version of iTunes 10.4.0.80.
Awesome steps! Only problem is when restoring in itunes I get the following message:
The apple tv could not be restored. An unknown error occurred (21)
I updated itunes and still the same problem
Great guide. For me this guide worked on the first attempt, after several failed attempts with pwnagetool on a mac!
Carl:
Resolved: I had exact same problem. error 21 with old and latest version of itune. tried diffrent pc 32bit or 64bit os no luck.. because its not itune or os it’s problem with DFU mode.
i have tried to put my Apple TV2 in dfu mode using Sn0wbreeze 2.7.3 was keeping getting error21.
Solution: Please use Ifaith (iFaith-Win-1.2.1) instead of sn0wbreeze and choose DFU Pwner then try to restore using itune.. it will work & you won’t get error 21.
After a frustrating month of multiple tries, I finally worked out the bugs, at least for my Windows 7 system.
For the fellow newbies out there, here’s a few tips I figured out:
1. If you download iOS 4.2.2 and Snowbreeze doesn’t recognize the file, you have to go to “Folder Options” in your control panel and show the dot extensions. The downloaded iOS 4.2.2 folder may have come out as .zip. You need to erase this and add .ipsw to the name of the folder. Snowbreeze will then recognize it.
2. Over the course of the month, I had gone through Greenpoison, Ifaith, and Snowbreeze. Kept getting the error 21 message. I’m sure the .ipsw on the AT2 got corrupted somewhere along the way. So I restored it back to factory setup off of iTunes. Tried it one last time with Snowbreeze, and this time it finally worked.
Good luck out there!
I can’t get past DFU was not detected! try again. snowbreeze 2.7.3
I did all the steps but when I go back to Itunes i dont see APTV2 at all. I have tried different cables and I have 2 different devices.
Which version of iTunes did you use to jailbreak? I’ve updated to the newest version and it doesnt seem to work, but it worked a while ago with my other apple tv
I have followed the instructions on jail breaking my ATV 2 and tried 5 times now and don’t get any Nitotv icon. The process completes and says it is jailbroken but I see no difference. Any suggestions?