My father unfortunately passed, and I'm having trouble opening his phone. I've honestly given up hope on unlocking it, bit I'd like to factory reset it. However, when I use the volumvolume button methods to try to reset the phone, when it turns back on it requires the pattern, or my fathers google account. I know his email and password, but because of the 2 step verification, I'm unable to sign in. I just need to erase my fathers phone. Any tips would be appreciated
Your problem is you are using the two volume buttons. It's power button and vol up. Hold both until the phone restarts and let go when you see the Samsung logo upon reboot. You have to hold for a long time even if it feels like nothing is happening. Keep in mind, though, that if the phone is logged into his Samsung and Google accounts you won't be able to sign into yours when setting it up. If you don't know the passwords to those accounts, you can't sign them out. This will effectively make the phone unusable.
