[Modding][HowTo] Guide to Jailbreak a Homey Pro 2023

[spkesDE]

Disclaimer: Jailbreaking your Homey Pro may void its warranty and potentially cause irreversible damage. Proceed at your own risk.

Note: It is recommended to create a backup of your Homey Pro before proceeding with the jailbreak process

Pro about jailbreaking

1. Hardware Utilization: By modifying the software on your Homey Pro, you can take full advantage of the capabilities of the Raspberry Pi CM4 module. This allows for more efficient resource utilization, potentially improving performance and enabling more demanding applications.
2. Enhanced Monitoring and Debugging: Modifying the software can provide greater access to system logs, debugging tools, and performance monitoring. This can be useful for troubleshooting issues, identifying bottlenecks, or gaining deeper insights into the operation of your Homey Pro.
3. Community Contributions: Modifying the software often encourages community involvement, fostering collaboration and the sharing of custom scripts, plugins, or modifications. This can lead to a broader range of community-driven enhancements and innovations for your Homey Pro.

Contra about jailbreaking

1. Limited Warranty and Support: Modifying the software on your Homey Pro may void the manufacturer’s warranty and reduce the level of support available. If you encounter issues or need assistance, you may have to rely on the community or self-help resources, rather than official channels.
2. Device Bricking Risk: There is a possibility that during the modification process, you could make a mistake or encounter compatibility issues that result in your Homey Pro becoming inoperable or “bricked.” This can be challenging to recover from and may require technical expertise to resolve.
3. Need for Re-jailbreaking after Updates: When you modify the software on your Homey Pro, you will typically need to reapply the modifications or “re-jailbreak” the device after every official software update. This can be time-consuming and require you to repeat the customization process, reinstall plugins, and reconfigure settings.
4. Security Vulnerabilities: Modifying the software can introduce potential security risks to your Homey Pro. Custom modifications may not benefit from regular security updates or patches, leaving your device more susceptible to exploits or unauthorized access.
5. Complexity and Technical Expertise: Modifying the software on your Homey Pro requires a certain level of technical expertise and familiarity with the underlying technologies. This can be a barrier for individuals who are less experienced or comfortable with advanced software modifications.

Requirements

• A Homey Pro 2023
• EXT4 support on your device (Win10 | MacOS)
• Raspberry USB-boot tool | Windows

Fast way

Currently in Work in Progress…

Guide for Linux/MacOS

1. Build USB-boot tools as written in the GitHub.
2. Install EXT4 drivers, if needed.
3. Connect the Homey Pro in recovery mode by pressing the pin on the underside of the device and then connecting it to your computer via USB-C.
4. Run USB-boot by entering the command sudo ./rpiboot in the terminal.
5. Identify the two ROOT partitions (containing /etc/, /var/, /home/...).
6. Copy paste & replace (extracted, so it the folders inside) this file (Virus Total) in ROOT A & ROOT B
7. Start Homey Pro 2023
8. SSH to the Homey with user: homey-pro and password pro on port 2222

Guide for Windows 10

1. Install USB Tools (Download Here) & Install EXT4 drivers, if needed.
2. Connect the Homey Pro in recovery mode by pressing the pin on the underside of the device and then connecting it to your computer via USB-C.
3. Run rpitools on windows (Find it using your start menu)
4. Let the magic happen…
5. Identify the two ROOT partitions (containing /etc/, /var/, /home/...).
6. Copy paste & replace (extracted, so it the folders inside) this file (Virus Total) in ROOT A & ROOT B
   6.1 Unmount /eject /user /rootA and /rootB via LinuxFS
7. Start Homey Pro 2023
8. SSH to the Homey with user: homey-pro and password pro on port 2222

Also thanks to @robertklep for the hints

[spkesDE]

– Reserved –

[Sharkys]

Proved to be working Thank you @spkesDE for this guide.

Maybe for Windows users, always try to unmount/eject /user /rootA and /rootB via LinuxFS FIRST before dismounting the other partitions, just to ensure all modifications were written.

[Dijker]

Also did the jailbreak, used the Raspberry Pi Desktop VM
Works perfect.

Now curious but expect it will be overwritten every Firmware release.

[robertklep]

@Dijker

Now curious but expect it will be overwritten every Firmware release.

It will, firmware update overwrite at least one root partition and switch to it.

[rihanna]

Is it possible to do the same to the old 2019 model?

[robertklep]

Sadly, no.

[rihanna]

I’m trying to do this on my new 2023 model, but I can’t find any partitions with etc/var/home directories.
I can find 3 partitions AUTOBOOT/ROOTA/ROOTB

Do I still just add the files to the partitions?

[spkesDE]

It should be ROOTA and ROOTB. They should be a couple of folders (etc, var, home, lib…) and a VERSION file.

That is the right partition.

[robertklep]

@rihanna

I can find 3 partitions AUTOBOOT/ROOTA/ROOTB

Are you sure you mean ROOTA/ROOTB and not BOOTA/BOOTB?

[Sharkys]

@robertklep

you mean ROOTA/ROOTB and not BOOTA/BOOTB?

I was wondering the same, because those 3 basically mounts first by default and then the ROOTA/B and USER…

Anyway @rihanna , please keep in mind the risks, unless you really know what you are doing

Also avoid submitting any support ticket when jailbreaked, it’s clear that any such support request might be and probably will be denied.

[robertklep]

@Sharkys

because those 3 basically mounts first by default and then the ROOTA/B and USER…

AUTOBOOT/BOOTA/BOOTB are all FAT32 partition, which most OS’es support out of the box. The others are all ext4, which only Linux supports out of the box.

[rihanna]

You are right. It’s BOOTA/B. I might have some problems with my ext4fuse.

[robertklep]

@rihanna

I might have some problems with my ext4fuse.

ext4fuse will not automatically mount the ext4 partitions, you have to do that manually.

But using ext4fuse will not be able to perform the jailbreak at all, since it’s a read-only implementation (@spkesDE).

[rihanna]

I tried the Paragon trial and it worked.
I got confused as I didn’t expect so many partitions and with so similar names.
But I have it working now. Thanks.

[torarnv]

Do we know why there are two root partitions? Is one used to restore e.g.? If so, is it safer to modify only the active one, leaving one pristine?

Edit: Yeah, looks like it. /dev/sda6 has a version file at the root with 10.0.1, while /dev/sda8 has one with 10.0.2

[spkesDE]

The new Homey Pro — Ask Me Anything

So the homey has multiple Partitions 2x Boot ~300mb 2x System ~2,3GB 1x User ~2,7GB In total ~8 GB Why this system? Currently, a Homey update is an image of the boot and system drives. Because you can’t write to the currently active partition, there are two boot and system drives, so the currently inactive partition can be updated. They switch the partitions from A to B after the upgrade, and then back to A after the next update. I don’t know if they will change the system to a different u…

The new Homey Pro — Ask Me Anything

And this isn’t the only reason, the second reason is, if an update fails by for example pulling the plug (which happened more then you’ed expect with the old Homey Pros) while updating, it always has a back-up internally it can fall back on. So it is really hard now to brick your system, even when pulling the plug while it is busy updating. (I wouldn’t recommend to forcefully try it though )

[torarnv]

For macOS, I ran an Ubuntu 22.04 VM in UTM, sharing the Homey USB connection to the VM so I could mount the partitions there.

Ubuntu 20.04

USB

[robertklep]

You can also use extFS for Mac. Tip: don’t set your Mac’s date to somewhere far in the future before you install it, because then it may extend the trial period to that date instead of just 10 days

[Jorg_Heesbeen]

Can anyone help me, i have done every step. But when i’m trying to login, it says connection refused.

Homey is on the latest software, 10.0.3 and connected with lan on a fixed local ip adress

Experimental SSH is disabled

And maked the files executabel

Thanks!