I have two spare Blackberries that I want to sell on craigslist.org – however, I’ve found this evening that despite wiping the handhelds completely, the old IT company policy remains on them both blocking downloads, enforcing passwords etc. Impressed I was not. I’ve read on the internet that your Blackberry administrators in your office should not only send you a new IT Policy and Service Book when you get a new Blackberry, but should equally enforce the removal of old devices from the corporate network by sending you a ‘reseting’ service book and policy OTA (over the air)
This is too much hassle for me, and not a priority for our IT department I’m sure, so I did a bit of searching on the web. I found a?great solution at http://blackberry.ig3.net/, but will repeat it here.
First of all, this is not a guide on how to remove carrier information from a Blackberry. If you’re unable to use a different SIM card than the one that was originally supplied with your device, look elsewhere. However if, like many others you have a Blackberry that is locked by a BES (Blackberry Enterprise Server), meaning you are unable to change certain settings, or install third party applications then read on. Essentially, the problem is that your Blackberry has at some point been connected to a BES (Blackberry Enterprise Server), and this BES has placed a restrictive Security Policy (or IT Policy) on your device. A quick check to see if this is the case can be done by going to Options > Security on your Device. If you see any references to IT Policy whatsoever, then you have a potentially restrictive IT Policy that can be removed.
This disclaimer is important
This guide is intended for use by people that own their own Blackberry, and for whatever reason, have inherited a company IT Policy on their device. Really, there are two scenarios where this guide is useful:
- You bought a Blackberry on eBay (or equivalent) and are unable to make changes to the settings or install third party applications
- You have a Blackberry that was previously connected to a company BES and, for whatever reason, you no longer intend to make connections to that BES
If you’re still connected to a corporate?BES, and simply want to install the latest and greatest third party application, I would not recommend this approach. Go and talk to your BES administrators and ask them to grant you the appropriate rights. There are two problems in using this guide to bypass your company security policy. Firstly, whenever you reconnect to the company server, your security settings will revert back to how they were. Secondly, and more importantly, you run the risk of getting fired.
Step 1
Ensure the Blackberry Desktop Manager is installed using Blackberry Internet Service, and not Blackberry Enterprise Server. If you are unsure, it would probably be a good idea to uninstall the Desktop Manager and start again
If you do not have the CD that came with your Blackberry, the software can be downloaded here.
Step 2
Download the file policy.bin and save it in your Blackberry installation directory (C:\Program Files\Research In Motion\BlackBerry)
Step 3
Wipe your Blackberry, creating a backup if necessary. Select Options > Security > Wipe Device
If this option is unavailable, you may have to install the latest software on your Blackberry. You need to Download and install the latest Desktop Manger Software, then the latest Handheld Software. Connect your device, open the Desktop Manager, select Application Loader, and follow the prompts.
Step 4
Close the Desktop Manager if it is open
Step 5
From the Windows Start Menu select Run…, and at the prompt type regedit. In the tree on the left hand side, navigate to:
HKEY_Current_Users\Software\Research In Motion\BlackBerry\PolicyManager
Right-Click the Policy Manager Folder and select New > String Value. Name the value Path. Now, double-click the Path Subkey and set Value Data to:
C:\Program Files\Research In Motion\BlackBerry\policy.bin
Step 6
Open the Desktop Manager
Step 7
Connect the device
Verification
Once complete, the Options > Security screen on your Blackberry should not contain references to an IT Policy, you should now be able to change all settings (including password prompts), and install third party applications
(reproduced from http://blackberry.ig3.net/)
Hi David,
I’m glad you wrote that… I will try all this first thing in the morning. I hope I will succeed because I have bought a 7100g and I got very surprised when I found out that the BES won’t let me configure my GPRS for data transfer. Thanks a lot for those information… I hope I will be able to do everything you wrote there. If not, maybe I can ask for your help
Ionut
David,
I just used this to remote the corporate IT policy from my Pearl. The company I was contracting with decided they did not want to pay my blackberry costs any longer so I wiped it out and found this as the only way to remove the policy.
Thanks,
You saved me $50 by not having to send it out.
I have gone through these steps several times and the enterprise activation is still on my berry. And I am not able to use it on my network. I have an 8700r and if anyone has any suggestions please email me.
Your help is greatly appreciated
Thank you
This procedure only applies a blank IT policy to the device. Policy still resides on the device. Some firewall (Application Permissions) are still set to “deny’ with no ability to change to “allow.” I would like to use my BB with a BT keyboard but am unable even after this procedure has been applied. It requires “keystroke injection” to be allowed in the application permissions. Policy prohibits this. Hopefully someone will figure out how to get rid of it altogether.
Thank god! It worked great! I’ve been searching all over the ‘net for this solution, some sites are even charging money to do this.
You’re a lifesaver!
Thanks for all your help. You’re a life saver.
Hi there,
As i’m dying to install a 3rd party application, and still on BES (my admins are not able to help me because of company policy..), isn’t it an option to replace the IT policy, install the 3rd party application, and re-enter the (restricted) IT policy again?
many thanks!
This worked perfectly!!!! After 4+ hours on the phone with my previous company, I was able to apply this fix in less than 20 minutes or so. Thanks so much!!!
FYI – details available here http://removeblackberrypolicy.com
I made the mistake and used my personal blackberry with my corp email. It put on a IT policy that restricted my phone. I since went to my 8700 BB for me corp, and my curve had all this restictions that I call IT searched the web and no help. In 15min this cleared it up.. Thank you so much..
Beautiful- worked like a charm! Thank you so much!!!!
This works like a charm. Thanks!
Hi,
I need to set Keystroke Injection to Allow, on a Blackberry 7290. The machine was wiped and reset before I bought it second hand. I understand that the problem is to do with the default factory IT Policy from Blackberry which does not allow a change of IT policy. I’m not on a Blackberry Enterprise Server and bought it stand alone. I’d like to use a Bluetooth keyboard – it successfully pairs but I can’t get past the Keystroke Injection. Does anyone know what to do?
Awesome. Someone gave me their pearl 8100 but it had the IT ‘lock’ on it for certain applications. These directions worked. Just make sure you follow them EXACTLY.
I am using an Apple computer to sync with, but I did the above steps on a PC. It took about 10 minutes.
Thanks!
thanks David. good clear instructions that work!
Can you please give me the link to download the policy.bin file.
Many thanks
Thanks David. This worked perfectly!I am so happy that you posted this. I spend 5 hours for the past three days on the phone with AT&T trying to figure out how to fix this problem. My SMS message on my blackberry wouldn’t work because of the IT policy.
Thanks
David David David! You don’t know what this means to me. You saved me thousands of pesos. I thought I won’t be able to get my BB 8700c to work again. Thanks a lot! God keep you forever!
please help
i still cant disable my firewall in my 7100g
i did everything you wrote down…
please email me
This worked awesome, helped me make a quick sale on craigslist. Thanks for the post!
Great info! Worked like a charm.
Thank you.
Seems to have worked great. Two weeks after being laid off – arguing with those IT morons that never could support us to begin with – with these steps I seem to have fixed it myself.
Wowww… it worked on my 8100. Thank you all!
BTW, thanks for keeping this site up and maintained!
The http://blackberry.ig3.net/ site is down, so you have the information. I just did it. Great!