Metro Unlocker
 | |
 Metro Unlocker running on Windows 8 build 8056 | |
| Developer(s) | MetroFetro |
|---|---|
| Operating system | Windows 8 builds 7927 to 8056 |
| Latest release version | 4.0 |
| Latest release date | 2019-08-05 |
| Website | MetroFetro's YouTube channel |
Metro Unlocker (also known as MetroUnlocker, or simply MU) is a tool developed by MetroFetro, a YouTuber and developer. It was the first public application that allowed for all features restricted by the Redpill feature locking mechanism to be enabled, including the Start screen and Immersive applications, and remained the only application capable of performing such a task from its initial release in 2016 until the release of Redlock in 2020.
The first version, released on 3 January 2016, only supported build 8056, and worked by disabling the Software Protection Service, the Windows service responsible for Windows licensing, and importing the licensing policies from build 8102, which included the policies required for Redpill. It also dropped a modified version of build 8102's shsxs.dll binary, and in subsequent versions (from version 2 onward) the binaries and registry entries for its Immersive Browser. Version 3, released on 10 May 2019, used the Immersive Browser files from build 8056, along with implementing support for builds 8032 and 7989. The latest version, version 4, (released on 5 August 2019) dynamically writes in the RP policies instead of overwriting all policies with the ones from 8102, introduced a slc.dll hack to enable the Immersive Control Panel's personalization settings for build 8056, and implemented support for builds 7927 through 8056.
The tool faced criticism due to its crude implementation, namely the reuse of resources included as part of the official Developer Preview release and build 8056, instead of working with files already provided by the currently running build, which presented varying issues with certain functionality such as stability on certain builds. It is therefore no longer recommended for use, and the Redlock tool should instead be employed as it supports all Windows 8 builds from builds 7779 through 8118 while replicating Microsoft's Redpill implementation as closely as possible.