The Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K is one of the most popular streaming dongles from Amazon. It not only unlocks 4K video capabilities for connected devices but also brings support for HDR10+, Dolby Vision, and Dolby Atmos. Earlier this year, the device even received support for Miracast screen mirroring via an update and now, developers have been able to successfully unlock its bootloader, opening up even more possibilities.

In a recent post, XDA Senior Member k4y0z highlights the exploit using which you can unlock the bootloader of your Fire TV Stick 4K. However, the process isn't as simple as you may think. The method, which makes use of a boot ROM-exploit discovered by XDA Senior Member xyz, requires you to open up the dongle and make some hardware changes.

Fire TV Stick 4K Board

The exploit works pretty much like the one used for the Fire TV Stick 2nd gen and to begin with you'll have to open the device, remove the heat shield on the side without the antennas, and then short specific points on the board. Additionally, you'll need a patched Linux-kernel on your PC which has conveniently been included in a live-ISO. You can download the ISO from the post and burn it to a CD or USB flash drive before proceeding with the instructions.

In a nutshell, the process involves downloading the ISO, connecting your Fire TV Stick to a computer with a USB cable and running some commands. The shorting essentially puts the device in a state where it's capable of receiving said commands and can easily be achieved by holding something conductive to the point marked DAT0 in the image above.

Since the process is a bit tricky and requires physical modification, it's safe to say that it isn't meant for beginners and will most definitely void the warranty. The developers also advise that users should disable OTA updates, even though TWRP will allow full updates to install without any issues. Users are also advised to steer clear of apps and methods that flash boot and recovery images from within FireOS. Users in the thread have reported success with rooting via Magisk.

Unlock the Bootloader, Install TWRP and Root the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K -- XDA Thread