How to Bypass Password Protection on Motorola Mototrbo Radios
If you have a Motorola Mototrbo radio that is password protected and you don’t know the password, you might think that you have to throw it away or send it back to the seller. However, there is a way to bypass the password protection and use the radio with your own codeplug. In this article, we will show you how to do that using a simple software tool.
What is Mototrbo?
Mototrbo is a digital radio system developed by Motorola that uses the DMR (Digital Mobile Radio) standard. It offers improved voice quality, better coverage, enhanced security, and more features than analog radios. Mototrbo radios can be programmed using a software called CPS (Customer Programming Software), which allows you to customize the radio settings, channels, zones, contacts, and more.
Why are some Mototrbo radios password protected?
Some Mototrbo radios are password protected because the original owner or programmer wanted to prevent unauthorized access or modification of the codeplug. A codeplug is a file that contains all the configuration data of the radio. If you try to read or write a password protected radio using CPS, you will be asked to enter the password. If you don’t know the password, you will not be able to access or change the codeplug.
How to bypass password protection on Mototrbo radios?
There are two ways to bypass password protection on Mototrbo radios: cloning and recovery. Cloning means copying an existing codeplug from another radio of the same model over the password protected radio. Recovery means restoring the factory default codeplug on the password protected radio. Both methods require a software tool called Wireshark, which can capture and analyze network traffic.
Cloning method
The cloning method works by tricking CPS into thinking that the password protected radio is another radio that has no password. To do this, you need to have another radio of the same model that has no password or that you know the password. You also need to have a programming cable that connects both radios to your computer. Here are the steps to follow:
- Download and install Wireshark from https://www.wireshark.org/.
- Connect both radios to your computer using the programming cable.
- Open CPS and read the codeplug from the radio that has no password or that you know the password. Save it as a file on your computer.
- Close CPS and open Wireshark.
- Select the network interface that corresponds to your programming cable and click “Start”.
- Open CPS again and write the codeplug file that you saved earlier to the radio that has no password or that you know the password.
- While CPS is writing, switch to Wireshark and look for packets with “MOTOTRBO” in the Info column.
- Select one of these packets and look for a field called “Radio ID” in the lower pane.
- Copy this value and stop Wireshark.
- In CPS, go to Edit > Preferences > Clone Radio Identity and paste the value that you copied in step 9.
- Write the same codeplug file again to the same radio.
- While CPS is writing, switch back to Wireshark and look for packets with “MOTOTRBO” in the Info column again.
- Select one of these packets and look for a field called “Radio ID” in the lower pane again.
- Verify that this value is different from the one that you copied in step 9. This means that CPS has changed the Radio ID of your radio.
- Stop Wireshark and close CPS.
- Disconnect both radios from your computer.
- Connect only the radio that was password protected to your computer.
- Open CPS and read the codeplug from this radio. You should not be asked for a password anymore.
- You can now modify or replace the codeplug as you wish.