What is unlocking?
Your Mio device is in fact a PDA, which has been crippled by Mitac to a so called PNA or PND.
A PDA stands for Personal Digital Assistant, a handheld device that was originally designed as personal organizer. PDAs have many uses: calculating, use as a clock and calender, playing computer games, accessing the net, sending and receiving e-mail, use as a radio or stereo, video recording, recording notes, use as an address book, GPS and use as a spreadsheet.
A PNA or PND stands for Personal Navigation Assistant or Personal Navigation Device. This means that although it is a full grown PDA it can only be used for a single purpose: Car navigation through one dedicated software program.
To get a PNA to behave like a PDA you will have to unlock its full potential. For this you must be able to access the Windows operating system.
Metoda 2 Deblocare Mio C250 si Mio C220 plus iGO. Copiati continutul folderului dezarhivat ( nu si folderul ) din linkul de mai jos pe un card SD de 2GB formatat in FAT. Porniti gps-ul si dupa pornirea interfetei introduceti cardul in GPS. Va porni o noua interfata. Puteti adauga in kitul iGO de pe card hartile 2017 si ce mai e nevoie. Possible to download mapmyindia maps. Place Mio C220 / C250 Pseudo Unlock (4.3MB) on a SD Card. Insert the Card while the device is running. A file-manager will start. Backup your 'MioMap' Folder which is inside 'My Flash Drive'. Delete the folder 'MioMap' inside 'My Flash Drive'. Run 'Setup.exe' on the SD Card. Starting MioMap from the Main. Terminale GPS dedicate.
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Should i unlock?
I, myself, still have not unlocked my device. Why? I don't really need the PDA possibilities.
Semi- or 2-buttons unlock
If need be i do a temporary or semi-unlock. This can be activated on a C310 / C510 / C710 by doing a softreset and then while starting keeping the two middle buttons pushed simultaneously on the right side of your device. You will then have access to the windows ce desktop. You will get a message on copying map files, first. Press NO! After that you might get a message about your storage card. Press the red cross. Now you're all set.
When you are done and want to close the CE environment completely you must do a hard reset. Everything will be back to normal.
Then why this unlock page? Obviously, there are always people who want more, others who want to push their device to the limit or some even do it for the kick.
Because it is possible and it is part of interest to a lot of mio users i write about it here.
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How to unlock?
I will describe 3 ways of several unlock methods used on the net. For other methods i refer you to the links on the right.
Method 1 - The skin-changer / C310auto.exe / C710auto.exe / C510auto.exe (by Garygid)
Files needed:
- SkinCngr_V114.zip (see main options)
- Unlock-C310x-V2.CAB (the unlock cab)
Skin-changer main options:
- Backup, rename, and change data.zip (Skin) files.
- Flip WinCE between portrait and landscape.
- Turn off / on the screen power.
- Alter settings like date, time, time zone and other stuff.
- perform a softreset.
- perform a full 'unlock'.
- restart the stock-unit 'MainShell' program.
Preparations:
Setup without sd-card:
- Create folder 'SD' in 'My Flash Disk'
- Copy 'SkinCngr_Vxxxx.exe into your 'SD' folder.
- Create folder 'Skins' in 'SD' folder and copy your zipped skins into it.
- Create folder 'Unlock in your 'SD' folder and copy 'Unlock-C310x-Vx.cab' into it.
Setup with sd-card:
- Put your sd card in a card reader / writer (prefered method).
- Copy 'SkinCngr_Vxxxx.exe into the root of your sd card.
- Rename the skincngr file to C310auto.exe. (After a hardreset C310auto.exe will automatically run the Skin-Changer program from the sd card). If you own another device than C310, just rename it to C710auto.exe, C510auto.exe etc.
- Create folder 'Skins' in the root of the sd card and copy your zipped skins into it.
- Create folder 'Unlock' in the root folder and copy 'Unlock-C310x-Vx.cab' into it.
- Create folder 'AppsCABs' into root folder and copy your CAB files into it.
Installing and unlocking:
- Put the sd card into your Mio and do a semi-unlock. See the description above.
- WinCE will start. Answer the first pop-up (about the installing of maps) with 'no' and the second with 'ok'.
- Open the Explorer (Windows start button - Programs).
- If without sd card: Open the 'SD' folder on 'My Flash Disk' and start 'SkinCngr_Vxxxx.exe. With sd card start C310auto.exe in the root of 'Storage Card'.
- Click on the 'Unlock' button. Choose your unlock file. Your unlock cab file will be executed.
- Push the softreset button and your device is unlocked.
When WinCE has restarted you will see all the new icons.
By starting the C310auto shortcut you can perform the actions which are summed up before.
You can now start your application cab's, which you have copied into Storage CardAppsCABs earlier
This program and way of unlocking works for C310 / C510 and C710. Tested it myself on my C710.
If you rename the unlock tool after your device, as mentioned earlier, e.g. c710Auto.exe, your device will automatically start the unlock tool after a hard reset. Mind you that the unlock program has to be in the root of the storage card for this to work.
If you rename the unlock tool after your device, as mentioned earlier, e.g. c710Auto.exe, your device will automatically start the unlock tool after a hard reset. Mind you that the unlock program has to be in the root of the storage card for this to work.
Method 2 - The Miojaco-mioskins version
- Install Mio Transfer Hack. (See Procedures-How To )
- Download the Unlock-C510-Mioskins.zip from this site http://miojaco.mioskins.netUnlock-C510-Mioskins.zip
- Unzip the contents : Miotool.exe, miomap.exe and Unlock-C510-Mioskins.cab.
- Using the miotransferhack, navigate to my flash diskmiomapMIOMAP and rename miomap.exe to miomap2.exe
- Copy Miotool.exe and Unlock-C510-Mioskins.cab to the root folder of the Mio.
- Click on the MioMap icon on the Main Shell, this will open the file browser.
- This will start a keyboard app. Then double click on unlock-c510mioskins.cab. You might need the keyboard.
- Delete miomap.exe and rename miomap2.exe to miomap.exe.
- After reset the desktop will come up. Double-click 'Explorer.'
- Navigate to My Flash Diskutils and delete the French.lng file.
You are all set.
You can now use activesync or install another MP3 player, alter your CE desktop, install and play games and all the other stuff you like to do.
Unlock Mio C220 Sd Card Reader
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Method 3 - The PrinceR version - Dutch only
First things first.
Make a copy of miomap.exe and copy this temporarily to your pc. Location: My Flash DiskMIOMAPMioMap
You can do this by using MioTransfer Hack or Bluetooth.
Now go to
You have to be an active member with more than 6 posts in order to access the topic / file. So if you're not a member yet register first. You will not be disappointed for this is a very good and active forum on Mio topics. Unfortunately, the site is completely Dutch!
So if you don't speak any Dutch i advise you to use method 1.
- Download de 'PrinceR Mio Cx10 Ontsluiter v1.0.exe'. (This is a self-extracting archive file.
- Unpack the file on your pc.
- you will now have 4 files: Mio Cx10 Ontsluiter v1.0.cab, Mio Cx10 Ontsluiter - info.txt, miomap.exe and Miotool.exe.
- Copy all files to My Flash DiskMIOMAPMioMap.
- Close your transfer connection (Transfer Hack or Bluetooth).
- Click on Miomap icon in main menu. A windows browser, CECMD, will now open.
- Browse to 'My FlashdiskMIOMAPMioMap'.
- Start Miotool.exe.
- In the left upper corner an icon named 'AB' will appear. This is your icon for opening or closing your keyboard.
- Now start 'Mio Cx10 Ontsluiter v1.0.cab' in the same location. If necessary provide another destination. Open your keyboard (AB) and press enter on it to start installation.
- After installation do a soft reset.
- Congratulations!! Your device is now unlocked.
- Copy the original miomap.exe back to its location.
You are all set.
The Mio c220 has been announced, a likely candidate to replace the c310x. The c220 will have many of the same navigation features as the former sibling, but there are a few notable changes in overall design, and some of the 'extra' features. Some feature changes are for the better, yet other features were dropped. Still, the c220 will be a serious contender in the small, portable auto GPS segment. Here is what you will get.
The first big change from the c310x is that the c220 comes in a different form factor. Gone is the asymmetrical screen placement which allowed for several buttons to be placed along the side. Instead, this design more closely resembles a small Nuvi or the ONE from TomTom. Type to for mac. While still not as narrow as those two devices, it does shave some width from the c310x.
Mio has done a good job with button placement on this device. On the top you will find the power button, on the right side you will find the SD slot and headphone jack. And the speaker is located on the back.
Another seemingly minor change is the color of the GPS. I'm glad to see Mio dropped the white color in favor of a darker color which makes the screen more readable.
Unlock Mio C220 Sd Card Replacement
The screen is a fairly standard 3.5″ display running 320×240 pixels and can display 65,000 colors. This is very typical of a GPS in the same class. While the screen is not as bright as competitive devices such as the Nuvi 200, it doesn't perform badly. You should be able to squeeze about 4.5 hours of battery life out of the c220, in the middle of the road of similar devices.
Like so many GPS devices these days, the c220 uses the iGo interface for navigation. This interface does have several positive aspects. It can be customized to provide the fields you want on the primary map display. It also has a nice graphical turn 'progress bar' which graphically shows you how close you are to the turn.
Thankfully, the Mio c220 also includes a feature where you can set a starting location different than your current location. It still amazes me that other companies still ship GPS devices which cannot do this. You sped a couple hundred bucks (or more!) on a GPS device and it cannot even tell me how long my trip tomorrow will take which starts somewhere other than where I currently am. Thankfully, this feature is present.
Mio has also chosen to install 3.5 million POIs on the c220. While you won't find every POI in that database, it does offer a bit of a boost over other devices that might contain less than one million. With devices ranging from less than one million to over 12 million POIs, this again puts he c220 in the middle of the pack.
While most of the features in the c220 are 'middle of the road', one aspect that isn't middle of the road is price. The retail price is $250 and we expect it won't be too many months before it can be found for under $200. Overall the c220 is a great value.
