TUTORIAL - Jailbreak the iPhone4S on 5.0 or 5.0.1 with Absinthe

[f4780y]

Welcome to the iPhoneForums.net tutorial on jailbreaking the iPhone4S with firmware 5.0 or 5.0.1 using Absinthe from the jailbreak Dream Team!

Note: iPhone4 owners should use redsn0w to jailbreak their devices on 5.0.1. We have a tutorial on that too! Check here - http://www.iphoneforums.net/forum/h...jailbreak-ios5-using-redsn0w-beginners-25943/

Preparation
First of all your iPhone4S MUST already be on 5.0.1 to start. Be aware, as things stand you cannot install 5.0.1 on your iPhone4S IF Apple have closed the signing window on 5.0.1, even if you have saved SHSH Blobs. Make sure you get 5.0.1 installed before the window closes! Don't attempt to restore your phone to 5.0.1 once a new version of IOS has been released, otherwise it will fail! For more details on SHSH Blobs, see this post - http://www.iphoneforums.net/forum/i.../shsh-blobs-frequently-asked-questions-19986/

Next, you need to download the Absinthe tool from its official home Greenpois0n.com

Finally, before you start, consider how much data you currently have on your iPhone4S and the resources available on your PC. This jailbreak utilises a vulnerability in the backup and restore process. Therefore in order to complete the jailbreak Absinthe will perform a full backup and restore of your iPhone's data. This raises a couple of important issues...

i) the more data you have on your device the longer the jailbreak will take - My 64GB iPhone which was almost full took approximately 40 minutes to complete the jailbreak. A freshly restored and empty device took about 3 minutes to complete. Big difference!

ii) You need plenty of space on your PC for the backup. If free space is tight on your hard disk then you will need to proceed carefully. If Absinthe runs out of space for the backup it typically just crashes, potentially leaving your disk full!

If you are feeling up to it, the best way to proceed is to backup your device (on iCloud or iTunes), use iTunes to restore a fresh install of 5.0.1 (make sure you read the fist part of this preparation to know whether you can do this or not!) and then jailbreak. Once the JB is done in a few minutes you can then restore your initial device backup and all your apps and settings will be put back as they should be!

If you have any problems running Absinthe, see the troubleshooting section at the end. Now, on to the jailbreak...

1. Unzip the download and launch the Absinthe program on your PC:

2. Ensure your iPhone4S is connected and detected, then press the "Jailbreak" button…

Absinthe will start to work it's magic! Be advised, the jailbreak takes a while. The more data you have on your iPhone the longer it will take. Be Patient!

The jailbreaking wizards in the Dream Team pwned the iTunes sync, backup, and restore process to jailbreak the A5 devices...

You need to keep the faith and let it do it's thang!

Hang on it there baby...

The last stage takes roughly as long as the first, so bear with it. It will appear as though nothing much is happening...

Finally, it will finish and tell you to unlock your device and press the jailbreak icon.

What you actually do is scroll to the last page of your icons and touch the "Absinthe" webclip!
Your device should now reboot, and the jailbreak will be complete. You should see the Cydia icon on your springboard.

That's it! You are jailbroken untethered on 5.0.1 with an iPhone4S! Wasn't that easy?

Congratulations!
Now launch Cydia and start exploring the brave new world!

Troubleshooting!
First of all be patient and trust that it is working, particularly on the last stage! If you have lots of data on your device it WILL take a long time at each stage. DO NOT disconnect the iPhone4S from your PC until you see Cydia on your springboard (unless things have gone wrong of course).

If you get to the end and launching "Absinthe" does nothing, open Settings and turn ON the VPN setting which has been added to your device. Make sure you don't disconnect the iPhone yet! It should reboot and Cydia will then be visible.

If this does not work, disconnect and start again. Absinthe will let you know it needs to recover the process. Let it do this. Then disconnect again and run the jailbreak again! But if your iPhone has lots of data on it, consider doing a clean restore as laid out in the preparation section this time!

If Absinthe crashes on OSX, first make sure you are running the jailbreak as an Administrator of the system. It seems as though folks have also had success by enabling the root user on OSX. To enable root, try the following:

1. Open "System Preferences" and choose "Users & Groups"
2. Click the padlock and authenticate to unlock the settings
3. Choose "Login Options"
4. Click "Join" (or "Edit")
5. Click "Open Directory Utility"
6. Click the padlock and authenticate to unlock the settings (if required)
7. From the "Edit" menu, choose "Enable Root User"
8. Provide a password for the root user.

If Absinthe crashes on Windows, again, make sure you are running as an Administrator account.
Windows7 and Vista users should set the compatibility properties for the Absinthe executable by right clicking on the EXE file, choosing "properties", switching to the Compatibility tab, and selecting "Windows XP (Service Pack 2)" and "Run this program as an administrator".

The following screen shows what the properties look like for Windows7 users:

 

[soccerislife8]

If the app crashes unexpectedly, I would recommend restarting your computer. If that does not work, then start in Safe Mode by holding down the shift key when your Mac starts up. Credit: imbyter

 

[zq8blazer]

Thank you! My messages icon went away, it's just white....

 

[jjhuddle]

Worked Perfectly. THANK YOU!

 

[riv3r]

If the app crashes unexpectedly, I would recommend restarting your computer. If that does not work, then start in Safe Mode by holding down the shift key when your Mac starts up. Credit: imbyter

Any tips for windows?

 

[iMarilina]

Any tips for windows?

Same thing, reboot or right click Absinthe and run as administrator

 

[iMarilina]

Thank you! My messages icon went away, it's just white....

Respring through SBSEttings

 

[dragon499]

The Iphone in question is a 32 Gig Verizon 4S with 5.01.

As I was able to use CLI Absinthe for Windows to jailbreak my Ipad, I tried this on the Iphone. I know the Windows 7 Pc (not the same pc that I jailbreaked my Ipad with - Than pc has 64 bit Windows 7 Ultimate -the pc that I tried to jailbreak the iphone with has 64 bit home premium Windows 7. This should not make a difference) recognized the Ipad, as when I connected the usb, windows asked me what I wanted to do with it. After downloading the program, from a command line, I ran:

cinject.exe -i payloads/jailbreak.mobileconfig

The Dos box remained static after 5 minutes - it do not go past the line. There was not an install prompt on the ipad. I didn't try the full GUI Absinthe. Has anybody had success in jailbreaking Iphone 4s's with CLI Absinthe for Windows? What went wrong with my attempt?

Thanks

 

[iMarilina]

The Iphone in question is a 32 Gig Verizon 4S with 5.01.

As I was able to use CLI Absinthe for Windows to jailbreak my Ipad, I tried this on the Iphone. I know the Windows 7 Pc (not the same pc that I jailbreaked my Ipad with - Than pc has 64 bit Windows 7 Ultimate -the pc that I tried to jailbreak the iphone with has 64 bit home premium Windows 7. This should not make a difference) recognized the Ipad, as when I connected the usb, windows asked me what I wanted to do with it. After downloading the program, from a command line, I ran:

cinject.exe -i payloads/jailbreak.mobileconfig

The Dos box remained static after 5 minutes - it do not go past the line. There was not an install prompt on the ipad. I didn't try the full GUI Absinthe. Has anybody had success in jailbreaking Iphone 4s's with CLI Absinthe for Windows? What went wrong with my attempt?

Thanks

Hi

I did my 4s with the CLI but it would not take until i restored.and the majority of people that i have talked to had needd to restore/setup as new in order to be able to successfuly jailbreak with CLI.

I would suggest you reboot the pc, also right click and run the program as administrator and change usb port.

Also change the location of the cinject files.

If the anove does not work i would suggest the restore/setup as new. Although i dont understand why you want to go through the CLI instead of the GUI thats far simpler.

 

[yourdmvteam]

i can not get the jail break icon to become clickable. have restarted and ran as admin. Any ideas?

 

[riv3r]

I too had all the errors, the crashes, the long waits but now I found a solution to that. It will work for most people I guess. All you have to do is :

1) backup your iphone via iTunes.
2) restore your iPhone to factory settings.
3) jailbreak using absinthe.exe (I didnt even have to run in on compatibility mode)
4) restore from backup from step 1.
5) Enjoy!

Your Welcome!

 

[Zibawal]

I can't see my books in iBooks, what to do?

 

[f4780y]

I've updated the tutorial with better preparation and troubleshooting sections following feedback from members and my own experiences

Also, links are now to the 0.3 versions including linux.

 

[mwhartman]

I just finished jail braking my 4S. I followed the steps in box one, including:

If you are feeling up to it, the best way to proceed is to backup your device (on iCloud or iTunes), use iTunes to restore a fresh install of 5.0.1 (make sure you read the fist part of this preparation to know whether you can do this or not!) and then jailbreak. Once the JB is done in a few minutes you can then restore your initial device backup and all your apps and settings will be put back as they should be!


Start to finish (backup in iTunes, factory restore, reload to new, run absinthe, set up Cydia, restore backup) took about 20 minutes.

Thanks f4780y for this excellent tutorial!!!

Mike

 

[smckinniss27]

Great write up, this will be very helpful to anyone looking to JB!