Database Info

CYANOGEN - From Box till the new ROM - ALL steps in ONE post

Even being a Linux user for 3 years I had difficulties flashing (herer the Cyanogen) Image. I didn't find all of the steps into one post, so I aggregate them for the completely "idiot" here:
1) Have an SD-card (FAT32 or ext3) inside the phone. .ZIP or .IMG files will be put there to be installed on the phone.
On the phone TURN ON: Settings>Applications>Development>USB Debugging
2) Find your Magic Version (32A or 32B, most probably 32A). Answer Number 1.1 at wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=HTC_Sapphire_Hacking
3) DOWNLOAD ANDROID Programs:
a) Android-SDK from developer.android.com/sdk/index.html and unzip. Later you will work inside the folder tools or put the app. adb into the PATH
b) Fastboot from android-dls.com/wiki/index.php?title=Fastboot, unzip and move the program into the folder tools or put it into the PATH
4) Gain ROOT access to your Phone's OS from android-dls.com/wiki/index.php?title=Magic_Rooting
NOTE: Follow Method 2.
5) INSTALL Amon_RA's Recovery Image (its the Best) from forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=530492
SUGGESTION: Use 'via adb' method, that is:
Having the the phone normally started, plugin the USB.
From the turn on USB and copy the recovery_XXX.img file to the SdCard.
On a PC-shell give:
sudo adb shell
#flash_image recovery /sdcard/recovery_XXX.img
#exit
6) Reboot into that recovery image and keep a NANDROID backup.
a) Close the phone.
b) Hold HOME+POWER-ON buttons together for a few seconds. Wait until the menu shows up.
c) Go to backup option and make it. The backup will be automatically saved on the SD card.
d) Reboot normally and save the nandroid Backup folder from Sdcard to your PC.
7) INSTALL (aka Flash) the ROM.
For the Cyanogen MOD download the LATEST version of 3 .ZIP files from forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=592377
a) HTC Android 1.6 base image (named DRC83_base_defanged or the like)
b) an update _XXX.ZIP file
c) a "kernel port" (name something like bc-XXX_signed.zip)
Beware all the files have the same version!
Then follow the easy and simple steps noted in forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=568032
It took me an afternoon to collect all this info that is scattered here in there in the forum.
Thank you all!

Except that you cannot flash the recovery via that method if your current rom is stock (no root).

eyegor said:
Except that you cannot flash the recovery via that method if your current rom is stock (no root).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are correct! I edited my post. I had made myself this step but I thought root access would be covered using RA's Recovery. There are so many little steps and nowhere are explained all in one place. Thanx...

I see no reason to call these people IDIOTS. That's such a shame.

If you're going to make this guide for idiots, why don't you make it say what the guide is actually for?

C0dy said:
If you're going to make this guide for idiots, why don't you make it say what the guide is actually for?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hey can you please show me how you got your mytouch running on 2.1 pleasee

t3hflame said:
I see no reason to call these people IDIOTS. That's such a shame.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The expression was not meant like that. It included me and intended to separate the newbies that can easily browse to the forum and gather this scattered info from those that cannot have such ability and wished all these steps are logged into ONE post. Again, never meant in "that" way.

Why dont you just suggest applying the recovery through flashrec instead of complicating it by separating it into 2 steps.
EDIT: Plus, the rooting method is NOT the same for all phones...

I think this is a good idea, but everyone should chime in so that we can have a method for every Magic

[guide]for noobs!!(includes everything to make you not a damn noob anymore):)

Your a noob and need help then dont worry this guide will help you
ALWAYS UPDATING(STILL NOT COMPLETE)
Android Dictionary
If you're new to Android, you are likely seeing a lot of unfamiliar words being thrown about... from CID to RUU to ROM. This dictionary will help you understand what these words actually mean, and when you would expect to see them.
ADB
ADB (Android Debug Bridge) is a PC command-line tool included with the Google Android SDK. ADB provides an interface for managing and debugging a USB connected Android device. Common ADB tasks include: *Collecting a log via logcat* Installing APK packages* Pushing or pulling files* Accessing the device shell.
For additional details about ADB please see the ADB guide.
APK
An APK is an Android application package (Android Package). It is commonly used to store an app, or program run on the device. These files are essentially zip files, in that they contain other files which make up the program. They can be obtained through various methods, such as installing an app through the market, downloading from a website, or creating yourself in Java. If you have an apk file on your computer, and wish to install it on your phone, you can run the command 'adb install apkname.apk' to copy the file over USB to your phone.
The APK files reside on the phone in the directory /data/app/filename.apk. This directory is not normally accessible unless a #root|rooted ROM is used on the phone, in order to protect paid-for applications. On a rooted ROM, it is possible to copy applications manually into this folder using the command 'adb push' or similar. Once a file is in the /data/app directory, it is installed on the phone. There is not normally an installation process for apps on Android.
It is also possible to install an app to the system partition of a rooted phone. This has the added benefit that the application cannot be uninstalled from the device, making it useful for security/anti-theft applications such as WaveSecure and MobileDefense. These [[#system]] applications are stored in /system/app. The applications in this folder are normally part of the Android operating system, and should not be modified or deleted unless you either put the file there yourself, or know what you are doing.
APK files can be uninstalled using the market application (if the application was installed from the market), the 'adb uninstall apkname.apk' command, the Settings | Applications | Manage Applications menu, or by manually removing the files from the /data/app directory as a last resort. Normally, the preferred method is through the market or applications menu.
Bart
Bart is used from Recovery to backup your phone or to restore a backup.This basically creates an exact copy of your phone (Sdcard + Sd-Ext excluded, unless it says it will backup SD-Ext), which later can be restored with no losses in data.
Boot
In contrast to other linux-based operating systems, Android has a boot partition (containing the contents of a boot.img file), as opposed to a direct booting system. This partition contains a read-only 'ramdisk', and a couple of other files. The ramdisk contains files critical to booting, such as init.rc and default.prop. This 'partition' actually sets up the directory structure of the device, having empty folders for /data, /dev, /proc, /sbin, /sys and /system.
Bootloader
The bootloader, or HBOOT, is firmware on the phone which runs on every startup.
Since the bootloader controls access to Fastboot, it can be desirable to change the version of the bootloader on a phone. The current version of the bootloader can be viewed by entering bootloader mode. To do so, turn on the phone with the back button held down. Release the back button after about 1 second. The version information will be displayed at the top of the screen next to the word HBOOT, and will appear in the form 'V1.76.0004' or similar.
From within the bootloader, Fastboot can be used to execute an img file stored on your PC or flash an img file to the device.
If your device has HBOOT version 1.73.007, it is no longer possible to use Fastboot, so it is often desirable to downgrade the HBOOT using the Goldcard method in order to get the 1.73.004 version, which is Security-Off, allowing Fastboot.
CID
The Carrier ID is a number embedded in your Phone's SPL that identifies what if your phone is a network branded Hero. For example, T-Mobile UK phones have a different CID to generic HTC phones. The CID prevents you from [[#Flash|flashing]] an 'incorrect' [[#RUU]] to your phone. Note that the RUUs will all function on any of the phones, but the CID locking prevents you from 'debranding' your phone by installing a generic [[#RUU]]. Additionally, the CID-related software also prevents you from installing an older RUU than what you are currently running.
It is possible to bypass the CID check on an [[#RUU]] using a [[#Goldcard]]. This pretends your phone has the 'Super-CID', which allows any branding of ROM to be installed, and allows you to downgrade the software on your phone.
Data
The data partition on the device contains the user-related data, such as installed applications and settings for those apps, as well as your SQLite database containing Android settings and messages. Normally, the directory /data/app is off-limits through the 'adb shell' command, as well as other terminal applications that can run on the device, since this directory contains the apk files for apps. On a rooted phone, using the [[#su]] command will allow full access to this partition. This partition can be flashed using Fastboot or Nandroid.
Ext
Ext is an abbreviation of the extended filesystem, one of the filesystems supported by Android and other Linux based systems. An ext filesystem partition is required for using Apps2SD or Dalvik2sd.
Fastboot
Fastboot is a means to execute or Flash an img file on your device. First, set up your PC for ADB, and ensure that it works correctly. After putting your phone into Bootloader mode, and selecting Fastboot by pressing back (if you let go of the back key early), the device awaits a command via USB.
On your computer, execute the command 'fastboot devices', which should display your device serial number. This confirms you are ready to use Fastboot. To execute (ie. run without changing your system) and img file, type the command 'fastboot boot imagename.img'. This command allows you to run a custom recovery image without flashing it to the device.
If you wish to flash an img file to the device, the command 'fastboot flash IMGTYPE imgtype.img' should be used. Note that IMGTYPE should be replaced by the type of img file you are flashing. For example, to flash a recovery image, the command 'fastboot flash recovery patched_recovery.img' should be used. The following are valid types of image to flash; boot, recovery, system,
Flash
Flashing is the process of writing data to the internal memory on your phone. Normally, you would flash a [[#ROM]] image to the phone, which would give you a different version of system software on your phone. Flashing can also refer to updating/writing to any of the other parts of the phone, such as the SPL, Radio etc.
Flash Memory
Flash memory, also known as NAND memory, is nonvolatile - keeping information even when the device is off. Flash memory in the device is equivalent to the hard drive in a computer. This is where the device's operating system (sometimes called firmware) and applications are stored. Flash memory is slower than RAM, but is (almost always) faster than SD cards.
Flashrec
Flashrec is an application/tool you use to flash the recovery image to your phone. (Found on http://zenthought.org/content/project/flashrec)All current firmwares are patched so you can not use flashrec on these, you will receive the error message "Could not run command"Most 1.5 (cupcake) firmwares can still use this, but some has been patched already.The current version is 1.1.3 and was updated 2009-08-16.Note: Do not flash cyanogen's theme templates after you have started the installed recovery image, this will brick your phone!
Goldcard
A goldcard is the name given to a specially modified microSD memory card for your phone that allows you to install software to your phone that is in an RUU file, but not from the same network provider as your phone is from. It does this by bypassing the CID check of the RUU update. Additionally, the goldcard allows you to install an earlier version of system software onto your phone than what is already on it (called downgrading). This can make it easier to root a phone and install a custom ROM on it, if the software installed on it at present cannot easily be rooted.
HBOOT
See Bootloader.
logcat
Using adb (see ADB), type in "adb logcat >logcat.txt". This will help us when resolving issues and bugs.There is also a tool in the market you can use for this, called aLogcat. It can show different categories (severity of errors ect.) too, adb logcat can not do this.
Market
The market on Android is a place where you can purchase or download applications for your phone in the [[#APK]] format. When you download through the market, the installation process is transparent (as in you don't have to deal with the APK files yourself), and there is the facility to rate apps and post comments which are visible to other users. Frequently, the developers of apps actually take onboard the feedback in the comments (mainly the smaller apps with slightly less feedback to sift through).
When an app is installed from the market, it is copied to '/data/app/apkname.apk', as the act of 'installing'. An app can store its data in the folder '/data/data/apkname'. It is possible to clear the data stored by an application by using the Manage Applications feature in Settings | Applications | Manage Applications.
Nand
See Flash Memory.
Nandroid
Nandroid is used to backup or restore backups from Recovery.You can chose to either do a regular backup (Phone only) or a backup + sd-ext (Phone + Apps2sd ext.)Both will backup your whole system, the second will include apps saved on your sdcard's sd-ext.
Radio
The Radio on a Hero is the part of the phone that deals with mobile connections. It handles talking to the GSM/3G network, Bluetooth, WiFi and GPS. The radio contains software that controls how it operates, and newer versions of radio firmware are made available from time to time in [[#RUU]] updates. These updates are transparent to the user, although users who elect to install custom software can update their radio using an update.zip file made available by members of the modding community.
Flashing the radio is potentially risky, and you should NEVER pull the battery out of a phone that is [[#Flash|flashing]] the radio. If you do so, it is possible your phone will be bricked. Nevertheless, it can give improved battery life, signal strength and data performance, so is often done by users moving to later versions of ROMs.
Care should be taken to only flash the correct type of radio to a phone. NEVER attempt to flash a CDMA phone with a GSM radio or vice-versa. It is likely you will brick the phone if you attempt to do so.
ROM
ROM is literally "read-only memory" but it's usage has changed over time. Today ROM can refer to the non-volatile area of a device's flash memory on which read-only data resides or the packed image to be written to that flash area.
Root
Root is the name of the highest level superuser (su) on Unix-like systems such as Android. The root user, and applications run by the root user, have administrative access to protected files and services which makes it dangerous for normal daily use.
A 'rooted' device one which has been hacked to provide privilege escalation from a standard user to superuser. Rooting a device is usually the first step in installing cooked ROMs.
RUU
An RUU is a ROM Upgrade Utility, which is a Windows executable (exe) file that upgrades the software on your phone. Using the USB connection with the phone, the RUU communicates with the phone's SPL, checking the CID of the device to ensure the user is not installing the ROM on a network branded device (since the networks release their own RRUs with customisations and branding). The RUU is capable of flashing almost everything on the phone, including System, Data, Recovery, HBOOT and Boot. As such, an RUU is a good way to return your phone to the way it came out the box if a warranty repair is needed (be aware that using a new RUU could make it difficult, or even prevent you from rooting the phone in future. It is normally better to upgrade using update.zip files to prevent this, as they do not update the HBOOT to prevent Fastboot in future.
S-OFF/S-ON
This refers to an unlocked/locked NAND drive. HTC lock the NAND on some phones to prevent writing to the /system. S-OFF can generally be obtained by an exploit, by flashing an engineering SPL, or by using an XTC Clip.
SPL
The Secondary Program Loader is a piece of bootcode that initiates the startup of the phone, displaying the initial splashscreen for the device, and loading the initial files from ROM.
It checks to see if a button combination is pressed on bootup (such as that to enter Recovery Mode or the bootloader ), and loads the relevant system software. If no special instruction is given by holding keys, the bootloader loads the normal system software by initialising the boot process from the boot partition.
Flashing your SPL is risky, as the process failing will probably result in a broken, or bricked phone, since the SPL is executed very early on in the boot process, and any error here will prevent access to the recovery or bootloader features.
If you do flash the SPL though, it unlocks the Carrier-ID CID from the device, essentially allowing any RUU to be installed to the device, and allows flashing alternative or custom bootscreens.
Stock
The term stock is often used to refer to a file or part of the software which is unmodified or untouched by developers. For example, a stock ROM would be one which was produced by HTC and which had not been modified or rooted by someone. The term is often used when comparing performance of different ROMs, as a way to refer to the phone as it came out the box.
su
su (substitute user) is a Linux command which, when run without a username parameter, gives the user full 'root' permissions. By default, this command binary (ie. Linux equivalent of an executable file) is not included on Android systems, but the process of "rooting" a phone copies this file to the '/system/bin/' directory thereby enabling the command. Since root privileges can be abused by malicious applications it's highly recommended to install an app to grant and manage access to su, similar to UAC on Windows. VillainROM includes the app called "Superuser" for this.
System
The /system directory on your device is where the main operational software for the Android OS is stored. It has a number of sub-direcories of which /system/apps (where application apk's are stored) is probably the only one users would have need to access. The /system folder is read-only by default and needs remounted via 'adb' to allow write access.
Recovery
The recovery partition is a boot-mode for your phone that allows you to wipe your settings from the Data partition of the phone (a hard wipe), or perform an update using an update.zip file on the root of the microSD card. It is common (although not necessary) to flash a patched Recovery image, such as Amon RA's one. This allows you to run Nandroid backup from the device, and flash modifications, such as [[#update.zip]] files to the device, essentially becoming a means to install sotware to the device. Recovery mode is separate from 'normal' mode, and can be entered by holding down home whilst turning the phone on.
update.zip
An update.zip (does not have to actually be called update.zip if you have a patched Recovery image) is a file containing some files which will be copied to the phone's internal memory. Normally, a new system update or ROM is stored in the file, but update.zip files are commonly used to install modifications such as themes or applications that are installed on the System partition to prevent uninstallation.
To flash one of these files, which commonly would contain a custom ROM for your phone, you would boot your phone to a patched recovery image (whether using Fastboot, or the home+power method if you have a patched Recovery image flashed on your phone)
Update.zip files are cryptographically signed, and more information on how to sign your own files can be found online.
WWE
Stands for World Wide English version of the ROM. There can be local versions of ROMs too. For example VR10 is based on the Taiwan version, VR12 on the WWE one. Interestingly, WWE excludes the English (US) locale.
Now we are done with the definitions

HOW TO ROOT YOUR HTC One V PHONE
This guide may also work for rooting the HTC Wind / HTC Desire S (T328w). If you decide to try rooting your Wind / Desire V, make sure you first download the stock HTC RUU (ROM Update Utility) to recover if there are any issues.
Please note that unlocking your phone’s bootloader does involve the possibility of voiding your warranty, so be certain that you are willing to risk that to root your phone. Moreover, you proceed at your own risk. I accept no responsibility for what you do with your phone. Follow the directions closely, and the odds are you will succeed without any trouble.
You will need much patience and time, and you’ll need to know how to use SDK tools for Android (see below). If you are a total noob, I do not recommend this for your first project! If you try anyway and get confused with terminology, try looking here for answers: Terminology - CyanogenMod Wiki.
Quote:
Before you begin, make sure that your computer can properly recognize the phone:
You will need SDK tools for Android, Java runtime, and HTC Sync installed on your Windows computer. If you run Mac, I can’t help you. I avoid all that narcissistic iStuff like the plague.
1. You only need to install HTC Sync for the drivers that come with it. But the program sometimes causes conflicts, so during this procedure, make sure it is not running. Open Task Manager in Windows and kill it. If you don’t use HTC Sync, you may also open Control Panel and uninstall it without uninstalling the drivers.
2. With the phone on, connect the USB cable. Make sure the phone is connected in Charge only mode.
3. Enable USB debugging by going to Settings > Development > USB debugging.
1. Perform a full backup your phone’s data
Unlocking the bootloader will involve doing a factory reset. This will result in the loss of all accounts, emails, texts and apps installed on the device. However, data on the SD card such as music, photos and videos will be safe. The device will not format the SD card.
2. Update your software version
To update your software after rooting, you will have to go through hassle of re-flashing the stock recovery and re-locking the bootloader. The phone will lose root and you’ll have to go back through steps 3C-5F, so make sure you’ve updated first. To manually check if a software update is available, go to Settings > About > Software updates > Check now.
3. Unlock your bootloader at htcdev.com
The next step is to head over to htcdev.com and follow the procedure there to unlock your bootloader. This is the step that can void your warranty!
3A. Getting started
Create an account at htcdev.com and login. Click the Unlock Bootloader icon and Get Started button. On the next screen, drop down the “Select Your Device” list, choose All Other Supported Models and click the Begin Unlock Bootloader button. Then, fill out the two nasty forms telling HTC that it’s perfectly fine with you to possibly lose your warranty by going through with this process.
3B. Obtaining your unlock token
The first page of instructions shows you how to boot the phone into HBOOT, select FASTBOOT and connect the phone to your computer via USB. But the instructions are not right for the One V since it doesn’t have a removable battery. So here’s the replacement procedure:
Step 1 – No need to shut the phone down.
Step 2 – To enter HBOOT (or “bootloader mode”), the power button for longer than 10 seconds. As soon as the screen turns black, hold down volume and let off the power button. At the top of the screen you will see ***_LOCKED_***.
Step 3 – Use the volume rocker to select FASTBOOT if it’s not selected already. You may have to wait for the device to run through a routine check for zip files to update.
Step 4 – Connect the phone to your computer using the USB cable.
If you followed the directions above regarding SDK tools, Java Runtime and HTC Sync, you can skip page 2 of the instructions (steps 5-7) and move onto page 3.
In Step 8, you open a command prompt in Windows and navigate to the folder where you installed SDK Tools (it should be c:android-sdk-windows or c:Android) and type the command
Code:
fastboot oem get_identifier_token
Step 9 is where most people get hung up. Make sure that you do not select any spaces next to the identifier token, or any lines above or below the Identifier Token Start/End.
Paste the identifier token copied from the command window above into the box at the bottom of htcdev.com’s page 3 in your browser and click the Submit button. You will receive an email from htcdev.com with the subject “The key to unlocking your HTC Device” that has an attached file named “Unlock_code.bin” and a link to continue the unlock process. Download the attachment into the folder you installed Android SDK tools and click on the link to continue from page 4. You may have to log back in.
3C. Unlock the bootloader
For Step 12, go back to the command prompt and make sure you are in the folder where you installed Android SDK tools and downloaded the file “Unlock_code.bin” above. Now you will flash “Unlock_code.bin” to the phone using the following command:
Code:
fastboot flash unlocktoken Unlock_code.bin
You will see the following warning screen on the phone, again confirming that you are willing to waive your warranty rights to unlock the bootloader:
Use the volume rocker to select Yes (up one click) and press the power button once. The bootloader will proceed to erase all your data, unlock itself and reboot the phone.
After running through the setup wizard, go back into HBOOT (turn the phone off with the long press, hold down volume and press the power button) and confirm that you’ve unlocked your bootloader successfully. You should see ***_UNLOCKED_***. Success!
4. Install ClockworkMod Recovery
A custom recovery allows you to backup and restore ROMs including all user apps, data and cache to the SD card. It is also used to flash scripts, custom kernel and custom ROMs, which will come in handy at step 5 below where we root the phone.
1) There are two types of One V - the international GSM version (uses a sim card) and the U.S. Sprint/Virgin Mobile CDMA version (no sim card), and there are custom recoveries for both types that aren't interchangeable.
If your phone uses a sim card, download recovery-clockwork-5.8.4.5-primou.img from ClockworkMod's index of recoveries.
If you have a U.S. Cellular/Sprint/Virgin Mobile (U.S.) device that doesn't require a sim card, download cwmrecovery.img. Be sure to click the thanks button for Android Forums member jmz for his handy work.
As an alternate, PrimoC/CDMA users (no SIM) can download and install jmz's TWRP2 Recovery. See the directions in his thread: [VM/PRIMOC][RECOVERY] TWRP2 Recovery 7-10-2012
2) Reboot the phone into bootloader, select Fastboot and connect the USB cable.
3) Open a command prompt and navigate to the folder where you saved the recovery image in step 1 above. Type the following command:
Code:
fastboot flash recovery recovery-clockwork-5.8.4.5-primou.img
or
Code:
fastboot flash recovery cwmrecovery.img
4) Reboot the phone back into bootloader using the following command:
Code:
fastboot reboot recovery
You should see the new Recovery.
5. Now on to root the phone!
5A. Head over to XDA Developers and download the SuperSU access management tool. You'll want to grab the attached file at the bottom of the OP called CWM-SuperSU-v0.9x.zip. This will root your phone and install the SuperSU app in one smooth motion. Much thanks, credit and kudos go out to XDA user Chainfire. Login over at XDA and hit the thanks button for him somewhere or donate to his Paypal account and buy him a Coke.
5B. Copy CWM-SuperSU-v0.9x.zip to your SD card.
5C. Restart the phone into HBOOT again and select Recovery. After Recovery has launched, choose install zip from sdcard > choose zip from sdcard and select CWM-SuperSU-v0.9x.zip.
5D. Reboot the phone. It is now rooted!
5E. Go to the app drawer and click on SuperSU. Update the binary when prompted. It’s icon looks like this:
5F. Install and open any app requiring root access to confirm that the phone is rooted.
6A. Backup your stock HTC ROM in CWM5 Recovery!! Before you make changes to your stock ROM or decide to install a custom ROM, this is a must! Reverting back to a stock HTC ROM after installing a custom ROM can cause massive headaches. Restoring from a backup is MUCH easier. It will also help if you've ruined your ROM causing a softbrick. You just boot into CWM5 Recovery, do a factory reset and clear cache (including Dalvik) and do a restore from your previously backed-up ROM.
So, reboot the phone into bootloader, use volume down to select Recovery and press power to select. When Recovery comes up, select Backup/Restore > Backup. Then find the backup you just made on the SD card (under sdcard/clockworkmod/backup) and copy that to your computer for safekeeping in case you loose or format your SD card.
6B. Install custom ROMs Now we play the waiting game and wait for overclockable kernel and custom ROMs. I’ll be updating this section as things happen so come back and see what’s new.
The procedure for flashing a custom ROM is as follows:
1) Boot into Recovery and backup your stock ROM if you haven't already. If you don't and something goes wrong, you'll have a major headache on your hands. *DO NOT* skip this step.
2) Download the ROM and copy it to the root directory of your SD card.
3) From Recovery, o a factory reset, wipe the cache partition and wipe dalvik cache (under Advanced).
4) Install the update from the SD card.
5) Reboot the device.

How To Install Custom Roms
1.Boot into recovery
2.Do a nandroid backup
3.wipe
a.cache
b.dalvik cache
c.data
d.system(isnt necessary)
3.Select install zip from sd card
4.select the rom and put yes
And the rom will install
How to install custom kernels
1.Boot into bootloader
2.enter fastboot and plug your phone into your computer
3.open cmd and type cd and navigate to to where you placed the fastboot.exe and boot.img
then type:
fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot reboot-bootloader
fastboot erase cache
AND the custom kernel would be installed
How to Make a Nandroid Backup
1.boot into recovery
2.enter backup and restore
3.select backup
So it will backup all your rom
How to restore stock rom after installing custom rom
1.Boot into bootloader flash stock kernel(DO THIS ONLY IF YOU HAVE INSTALLED A CUSTOM KERNEL WITH THE ROM)
2.Enter recovery
3.select backup and restore
4.select restore
And stock rom will be installed
How to partition your sd card and make internal storage bigger
Partitioning is the act of dividing into parts and with SD Card it means to divide sd card into different virtual parts. So, you might be asking why we need to divide our sd card into two parts. This need has come into existence with devices such as Samsung Galaxy Pop/Mini GT-S5570, Samsung Galaxy Ace, Galaxy Fit and other smart phones that have relatively low internal storage (only about 180 MB or 250 MB) as a result it has been very difficult to manage our apps and data within the internal storage. So, to remove such low internal memory problem we are going to partition our sd card and then install the Darktremor Apps2SD Script so applications and games will install to this sd-ext partition that we are going to create by default and we won’t have to worry about low internal memory problem.
Before beginning it is assumed that you have a custom clockwork mod recovery and a custom rom is installed on your device. Alternatively, if you are in a stock firmware/rom and want to partition your sd card please Install Clock Work Mod Recovery and Flash a Custom Rom on your device. Also since partitioning your sd card will erase all your data stored in sd card, it is recommended that you backup your data to your computer. Now that you have backed up your data please follow these simple instructions to partition your sd card and install Darktremor App2sd script on your android smart phone.
1. Reboot your device into Clockwork Mod Recovery.
2. Go to Advance>>Partition SD Card option on your recovery and select a size for ext 3 partition. This will create an ext 3 file system partition on your sd card called sd-ext. The size of your sd-ext partition should be determined on the basis of how much apps and games you are going to install on your device. If you are not of type who wants to test every app or a normal user 2 GB of sd-ext partition should be enough. Determine the size that best suites you and proceed.
3. Also, select swap partition size as 0 Mb.
4. [Optional] Format your sd-ext from mounts and storage>>fromat /sd-ext option in CWM recovery.
5. Reboot your device and open a terminal emulator or shell commander and type in the following command to make sure that your second partition (aka sd-ext partition) is mounted at boot.
mount | grep sd-ext
You should see the following code:
/dev/block/mmcblk0p2 on /sd-ext type ext3 (rw,noatime,nodiratime,barrier=1,nodelalloc,data=ordered)
6. Now download Darktremor Apps2SD and copy it to your sdcard.
7. Reboot your device in CWM recovery and then mount your data and system by going to mounts and storage>>mount /data and mounts and storage>>mount /system options respectively.
8. Now go back to main menu and go to install zip from sd>>choose zip from sdcard option and select the dtapps2sd-2.7.5.3-beta04-signed.zip file you downloaded from above.
9. After the script is installed reboot your device.
That’s all. You have successfully installed Darktremor Apps2SD on your device. Note that the device will reboot again after you reboot your device. This is just to move all your apps to the second partition (sd-ext partition) and is normal. Also if you want to manage your Apps2SD settings you can either use commands in terminal emulator or download this APPS2SDGUI application from market and manage everything from there. One of the useful command can be a2sd help. Try it on any terminal to see the help file that comes with Darktremor A2SD.
Here are some commands that you can run in terminal emulator for configuring a2sd. You can find more info about them as well as other commands by typing a2sd help command.
a2sd check : Checks a2sd status; displays information incl. where your apps, cahce and data are stored.
a2sd cachesd : Moves dalvik cache to sd-ext partition.
a2sd nocache : Moves dalvik cache back to internal storage.
a2sd data2sd : Move /data/data to /sd-ext/data .
a2sd nodata : Move /sd-ext/data back to internal storage.
a2sd remove : Moves apps back to internal storage and sets no a2sd flag.
Now some precautions tips you should take in mind. After installing Darktremor Apps2SD don’t move your apps to sdcard either from Manage Applications Settings or by using app2sd pro or similar applications because it will ruin all your settings and your script will not work. Also you may notice that your used space in internal storage shown in Manage Applications Setting is not decreasing even after you install Apps2SD and you may think that the script is not working. But remember if you followed all the instructions from above and got the same results as explained above then the script is working. It is shown so because system is fooled to believe that the apps are in internal storage but in reality they are stored in the secondary partition we created (i.e. in /sd-ext/app folder) on your device.
How to install recovery
1.grab the recovery file and put it in thre folder where fastboot exists
2.open cmd and type cd and navigate to the folder where they both exist
3.Then type:
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
fastboot reboot-bootloader
fastboot erase cache

RESERVED

RESERVED2

RESERVED3

RESERVED4

RESERVED5

RESERVED6

Maybe if you used the search function on the site,before you posted this,you would'nt be the author,fan and publisher of your own thread...... http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1466228

[GUIDE] Proscan PLT9650G (RockChip RK3126) Tablet, Root, TWRP, etc

*** Use at your own risk these instructions worked for me on MY tablets that is no guarantee they will work for you ***
This is for the ProScan PLT9650G(K-1G-8G) tablet. It has the RockChip RK3126 chipset. The one I am working with was purchased in Canada at the Atlantic Superstore. I will just briefly outline what I needed and had to do to root and install a TWRP recovery on the tablet. See the attachment for the recovery image. I will explain how to get the programs and general steps to make a full backup of the tablet before ever rooting the device. It is a little difficult, and not necessary, but like any backup can be helpful to have around.
Specifications:
The ProScan tablet has:
- Android Lollipop 5.1.1;
- Quad-core Processor, 1.2Mhz;
- 1 GB of DDR3 Memory;
- 8GB Flash Storage;
- 800x480 Screen Resolution.
Backup Overview:
1) Install USB drivers;
2) Put tablet in bootloader mode;
3) Read the different partitions.
Tools Needed:
1) Rockchip Driver Assistant v4.3;
2) Android Tool v2.3.
Detailed Instructions:
This tablet is a newer version and requires at least version 4.3 of the Rockchip Driver Assistant. The older versions (4.1) won't recognize the USB product id (310D) in bootloader mode.
Download the drivers unrar and run DriverInstall.exe. Select uninstall to clean any old drivers and then select install to install the newer ones. I've done this under Windows 7/8.1/10. Since I've done it so often and so many times with different driver version, I can't remember if the bootloader drivers require you install them with the driver signing turned off or not. The problem becomes that the bootloader drivers (under Windows 8+) will fail the driver signing authentication and won't install. The ADB and MTP drivers are signed and will install correctly, but when you boot the tablet in bootloader mode the device will be unrecognized by Windows. If you end up with this problem follow these instructions and then install the drivers.
After testing on a new machine under Windows 10 the drivers install fine. There is no need to boot with driver signing verification turned off.
To put the tablet in bootloader mode follow thes instructions:
1) Unplug tablet (both power and usb);
2) Turnoff tablet;
3) Press and hold the esc and power buttons at the same time;
4) Hold until the stock recovery menu comes up;
5) Press the esc button to go down to the menu item saying bootloader;
6) Press the power button to execute that menu item.
The screen will go blank. Plug the tablet into the computer and it will be recognized as a device type "Class for rockusb devices" in the Windows Device Manager.
Download the Android Tool from the link provided. The link gives a detailed description of how to backup all the partitions. I have included my parameters.txt file that I created. From the standpoint of undoing the root operation described below I believe only the recovery and system partition needs to be saved. But saving all the partitions never hurts. After you have followed the information in the link and saved the partitions you can move on to rooting the device.
One serious warning I have NOT been able to write anything to the device using the Android Tool. It always give me an error and won't even try. The backups we create can be used from within the tablet to restore it later if needed.
Custom Recovery Overview:
1) Root device;
2) Download the image file on the tablet;
3) Flash the recovery partition with the image file.
Tools Needed:
1) KingRoot;
2) Terminal Application;
Root Device:
The device rooted using KingRoot. Startup the tablet and go through the setup process. Download the apk from the link provided. The version used in testing was 4.6.2. You will need to allow "Unknown sources". The app will eventually give a button just try to root. This will eventually work and the tablet will be rooted.
Extract the img file from within the zip file below onto the internal drive. Make sure you put it in the Download directory. If you are doing this from the tablet it should go there if you move it over using the computer make sure you put it in that directory or change the command below to the proper directory.
Install a terminal emulator. Anyone will do, the one I chose is linked above. Open the emulator and type:
Code:
su
at the prompt. KingRoot should prompt you asking if you want to grant root privilege to the command prompt. Then type the command:
Code:
dd if=/sdcard/Download/TWRP_800x480_Unified.img of=/dev/block/rknand_recovery bs=4096
. That's it if you type:
Code:
reboot recovery
the tablet will reboot and TWRP should start up.
Notes:
If you saved the original system partition you can install it using TWRP and effectively unroot the device but keep the TWRP recovery. With the recovery image you can install it over the TWRP and return the tablet to its stock state. I'm giving these tablets to my kids and I wanted a way to return them to the state I bought them plus after I've personalized them for each of my kids I can make a backup in case they do something that messes them up.
This will also work for the PLT1065G but you need to use different recovery/parameters. The kernel is different (looks like a different touchscreen).

Thanks for this. Got one for $50 at Loblaws today. Will attempt rooting.
Got it for my 6 yr old
Edit: Fixed boot issue

protectivedad said:
*** Use at your own risk these instructions worked for me on MY tablets that is no guarantee they will work for you ***
This is for the ProScan PLT9650G(K-1G-8G) tablet. It has the RockChip RK3126 chipset. The one I am working with was purchased in Canada at the Atlantic Superstore. I will just briefly outline what I needed and had to do to root and install a TWRP recovery on the tablet. See the attachment for the recovery image. I will explain how to get the programs and general steps to make a full backup of the tablet before ever rooting the device. It is a little difficult, and not necessary, but like any backup can be helpful to have around.
Specifications:
The ProScan tablet has:
- Android Lollipop 5.1.1;
- Quad-core Processor, 1.2Mhz;
- 1 GB of DDR3 Memory;
- 8GB Flash Storage;
- 800x480 Screen Resolution.
Backup Overview:
1) Install USB drivers;
2) Put tablet in bootloader mode;
3) Read the different partitions.
Tools Needed:
1) Rockchip Driver Assistant v4.3;
2) Android Tool v2.3.
Detailed Instructions:
This tablet is a newer version and requires at least version 4.3 of the Rockchip Driver Assistant. The older versions (4.1) won't recognize the USB product id (310D) in bootloader mode.
Download the drivers unrar and run DriverInstall.exe. Select uninstall to clean any old drivers and then select install to install the newer ones. I've done this under Windows 7/8.1/10. Since I've done it so often and so many times with different driver version, I can't remember if the bootloader drivers require you install them with the driver signing turned off or not. The problem becomes that the bootloader drivers (under Windows 8+) will fail the driver signing authentication and won't install. The ADB and MTP drivers are signed and will install correctly, but when you boot the tablet in bootloader mode the device will be unrecognized by Windows. If you end up with this problem follow these instructions and then install the drivers.
After testing on a new machine under Windows 10 the drivers install fine. There is no need to boot with driver signing verification turned off.
To put the tablet in bootloader mode follow thes instructions:
1) Unplug tablet (both power and usb);
2) Turnoff tablet;
3) Press and hold the esc and power buttons at the same time;
4) Hold until the stock recovery menu comes up;
5) Press the esc button to go down to the menu item saying bootloader;
6) Press the power button to execute that menu item.
The screen will go blank. Plug the tablet into the computer and it will be recognized as a device type "Class for rockusb devices" in the Windows Device Manager.
Download the Android Tool from the link provided. The link gives a detailed description of how to backup all the partitions. I have included my parameters.txt file that I created. From the standpoint of undoing the root operation described below I believe only the recovery and system partition needs to be saved. But saving all the partitions never hurts. After you have followed the information in the link and saved the partitions you can move on to rooting the device.
One serious warning I have NOT been able to write anything to the device using the Android Tool. It always give me an error and won't even try. The backups we create can be used from within the tablet to restore it later if needed.
Custom Recovery Overview:
1) Root device;
2) Download the image file on the tablet;
3) Flash the recovery partition with the image file.
Tools Needed:
1) KingRoot;
2) Terminal Application;
Root Device:
The device rooted using KingRoot. Startup the tablet and go through the setup process. Download the apk from the link provided. The version used in testing was 4.6.2. You will need to allow "Unknown sources". The app will eventually give a button just try to root. This will eventually work and the tablet will be rooted.
Extract the img file from within the zip file below onto the internal drive. Make sure you put it in the Download directory. If you are doing this from the tablet it should go there if you move it over using the computer make sure you put it in that directory or change the command below to the proper directory.
Install a terminal emulator. Anyone will do, the one I chose is linked above. Open the emulator and type:
Code:
su
at the prompt. KingRoot should prompt you asking if you want to grant root privilege to the command prompt. Then type the command:
Code:
dd if=/sdcard/Download/TWRP_800x480_Unified.img of=/dev/block/rknand_recovery bs=4096
. That's it if you type:
Code:
reboot recovery
the tablet will reboot and TWRP should start up.
Notes:
If you saved the original system partition you can install it using TWRP and effectively unroot the device but keep the TWRP recovery. With the recovery image you can install it over the TWRP and return the tablet to its stock state. I'm giving these tablets to my kids and I wanted a way to return them to the state I bought them plus after I've personalized them for each of my kids I can make a backup in case they do something that messes them up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It seems the boot issue is still there. Do you ever get this? It will get stuck at the PROSCAN logo display.

Friko said:
It seems the boot issue is still there. Do you ever get this? It will get stuck at the PROSCAN logo display.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have had it stuck. It was when I was testing things. I can't remember what I did. I do know one time I left it for a day and I noticed the ProScan logo had a flashing cursor in it.

protectivedad said:
I have had it stuck. It was when I was testing things. I can't remember what I did. I do know one time I left it for a day and I noticed the ProScan logo had a flashing cursor in it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been fiddling with it and it seems to be completely random. So I guess it's something we'll have to live with.
I bought it for my 6 year old who's dying to play Pokemon Go. The app runs okay on it. It's just the 'GPS' (or lack of a proper GPS chip) that's a bit slow/inaccurate

Hello I to bought this tablet in Canada I successfully rooted it but is there a reason why no other cameras can be downloaded or Music players or Instagram.

Is thee any chance to unbrick this tablet?
I have one stuck in the boot logo, hard reset wont solve, is there any flash file?

Hellooooo !!
anybody here ?
---------- Post added at 12:30 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:26 PM ----------
ANYONE TEIED THIS FIRMWARE?
https://mega.nz/#!TVFX0CiZ!6CaGOSGZM47PQAd9KZDuKcPJaXsCL3n3JJQBtXPRHJo

is there any tool capable of flashing this tablet?
I have tried all known by me and all report a sudden error as sson as you try to write anything.
like OP said.
I have one stuck at boot logo, I have 2 firmwares ready to flash.

yurais said:
is there any tool capable of flashing this tablet?
I have tried all known by me and all report a sudden error as sson as you try to write anything.
like OP said.
I have one stuck at boot logo, I have 2 firmwares ready to flash.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is a way to create an SDCARD and it will run from the SDCARD. I've forgotten how . I'm looking at one of my kids cracked ones right now. The touchscreen is cracked so I'm looking at build Ubuntu for it. I'll post when I figure out the SDCARD again.

Reset tablet to factory
I was able to use the factory irmware to reset the tablet from a computer. It will over write any custom recovery, etc. I have been unable to recreate a custom image any changes make the image fail. I found the software I used to create a bootable SDCARD but I can't get it to work keeps failing on creating the MBR. The software was the Rockchip SD Firmware Tool and there is an option to create SD Boot. So far I can only find v1.43 anyone have v1.45?

Let me know here as soon as you just remember anything related to this.
I got another tab like this, screen cracked and I could read off its firmware, so I now have a working firmware waiting to be written...
Enviado desde mi SM-N920T mediante Tapatalk

Thanks so much for this guide. I picked one of these up for $6 when HHGREGG was closing.

Proscan PLT7650G
Good day is there a guide and firmware for a Proscan PLT7650G

Technician
protectivedad said:
I was able to use the factory irmware[/URL] to reset the tablet from a computer. It will over write any custom recovery, etc. I have been unable to recreate a custom image any changes make the image fail. I found the software I used to create a bootable SDCARD but I can't get it to work keeps failing on creating the MBR. The software was the Rockchip SD Firmware Tool and there is an option to create SD Boot. So far I can only find v1.43 anyone have v1.45?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How did you flash the image? what software did you use,
Thanks.

it's not possible to change the rom or custom image of the tablet to another operating system like ubuntu or linux. It has allow OEM bootloader unlocked in the settings in developer section greyed out and it doesn't allow oem bootloader unlocking 'enabled'. You cannot enable it.
What you are doing is just resetting the factory image. or rom. you can just push the reset button with pin after charging the tablet for 3 hours.
These tablets are not 'cheap' to make and google, cell phone companies subsidize these 'cheap' tablets. so you have to use and pay them when you subscribe to their cell phone 'service' or google advertisements when you use their 'service'.
Lots of vaporware being pushed saying they can unlock something for $40 or downloading tools etc. wasted of time as it's impossible to unlock oem BOOTLOADER if the manufacture has locked it, you cannot install another operating system in the tablet, or smart phone. so don't waste your time.
Only some phones allow oem unlocking bootloader and those are the higher end phones costing $400-$600 for a tablet that are not 'subsidized' by google or you cell phone company as with 'cheap' phone or tablet.

the firmware is not available for download at the manufacture website that should raise alarms about the firmware. I've factory reset the device and now it's having reboot issues, either the firmware is defective or corrupt bootloader etc. The manufacture proscan seems to be selling the devices yet no technical support or even a direct download from the manufacture, downloading firmware from thirdparty servers is security risk. it seems like today lots bogus websites and no technical support from manufacturers in tech devices they sell. and people have to sites like XDA for 'free' technical support. Even Microsoft which makes billions in profits fail to provide proper technical support for some reason. and have to rely on 'free' technical support for bugs and issues with their software and hardware and lots vaporware apps etc.. bogus apps. that don't work.
Rooting gives the user the ability to install and change OEM software. from what i gather so don't waste your time, to root a device, allows the user to delete operating system files. if the manufacture doesn't allow changing the oem software there is nothing you can do. about so don't waste time trying root it or try to install ubuntu or linux on the tablet or smartphone if it's oem LOCKED. bootloader. you cannot unlock it. it's much harder to unlock oem software.

the method to 'restore' factory image or known as 'flashing the rom'
there is no reason to flash the rom etc.
1. just hold the power button and esc button at the same time
2. release the power button wait 2 seconds
and then release the esc button
you should now be in boot up mode.
this unit doesn't allow you to be in bootloader mode. so you CANNOT install another firmware or install linux etc. other than the proscan firmware.
3. press esc to select restore the factory settings
4. press the power button to select
this the easiest way to restore stuck in browser or need to flash the rom
again if the rom is 'corrupt' which is not likely
if that is the case
the option to "apply update from external storage" doesn't seem to work as you cannot mount to flash the rom and reinstall the .img file from the .zip file

"apply update from external storage"
where you saved your .zip doesn't work
the apply updated from ADB works you need a usb computer hooked up to you computer and terminal command to ADB to your table to rinstall the .imge file

update ,this no longer seems to work in installing the .zip file method to install the firmware.
lot of software and hardware that have no technical support or documentation and the stuff just doesn't seem to work and high security risk with no updates from manufacture as it cost them money to resolve issues. selling disposable technology tablets. that is not meant to last. basically toys. for kids.

General guide of Mi4C [flash, bootloader, MIUI] +IN CONSTRUCTION

First of all, sorry for publishing an uncomplete guide, im traslating my own full spanish guide and at the same time making it more complete and better, and i decided to do it this way, publishing progressively
/////////////////////////////////////////
SECTION 1: Android argot summary
I put this link here so any new user in the Android rooting/flashing world can learn the classic words used
http://www.talkandroid.com/guides/beginner/android-rom-and-rooting-dictionary-for-beginners/
Note: in bootloader it says that the phone comes locked, which in our case usually is not the case, but anyway you can know if your phone is locked just by trying to get into the fastboot mode, if you can't get into it, its locked.
An Android phone's disk is virtually splitted in several partitions, like a computer, but not exactly the same because even when your phone has a lot of partitions, you will only see one if you didn't rooted your phone, or two if you did, and the partition where you have your photos and the rest of your personal downloaded things is named sdcard (yes, is a legacy of Android, even when we don't have sdcard), or even in some ROMs is called userdata or something like that; another partition is system, where the ROM itself is, is like the installation of Windows; another is data, where the config files of the apps are stored when you start using them; another is cache, where the cache of the apps are (you can think of it like the apps are compressed always, and to run faster they descompress themselves in that partition), and there are two of those partitions: dalvik cache and cache; also bootloader, which is like the BIOS of the computer, is the most basic program that makes possible the phone to boot, and also it is not possible to edit it, it is not writable, it is this way so that you wont never be able to hardbrick your phone (which means that you can literally drop your beautiful phone into the trash, no way of fixing it), like it was in older phones, and also in this partition you also have the fastboot mode, which i'll explain later; and the last one im explaining (there are more but you probably wont never know about them) is recovery, where there is installed the recovery, and what is recovery? is a tool which is by itself an entire operating system, but made specifically for "developing" purposes, mainly for flashing ROMs and making backups of the entire partitions. We have two recoverys for Mi4C, the Mi Recovery, which comes by default with your phone, and is very limited, mainly you can only flash Xiaomi's official ROMs, and the TWRP recovery, which is the absolutely most popular recovery, and strongly suggested to use, no disadvantages at all. Also know that, like in Windows you can't format the very own Windows partition and you must use and external tool, which would be the Windows installation CD program or something like that, here we have the recovery, you can't flash or wipe using Android, you must be in the recovery mode.
So as I said, the bootloader is readable only by security, and it includes the fastboot tool, so you must know to lost the fear of this world, that YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO HARDBRICK YOUR PHONE, you will always have fastboot to reflash a complete Android ROM (which requires a computer and a fastboot ROM, which is different than a flashable ROM. You will use a fastboot ROM in the first flashing tutorial, more bellow)
What is Fastboot? Basically is a tool which acts like a server in the phone, and as a client in the computer, and is made mainly to make basic things to the phone, like flashing partition images (included in the fastboot ROMs, extension of each one is .img) or read the locking status of the bootloader.
What is a locked bootloader? In our phone, is a bootloader that only allows you to flash official xiaomi roms, but as xiaomi don't offer a global version of miui for our phone, the only official rom is the chinese one, which appart than having only english and chinese languages, is very bloated of chinese apps, so is very recommended to unlock the bootloader and flash any other rom of your desire.
How to access fastboot? First, shut down the phone; second, press at the same time the Power and the Vol - buttons for a few seconds, there should appear in the screen a Fastboot logo. Note that the phone may automatically shutdown if no connection is made with a fastboot client in a computer in about 10 seconds after entering fastboot mode
How to access recovery? First, shutdown the phone, then press at the same time power and vol+ for a few seconds
What is ADB? Is a tool that works the same way as fastboot (phone and computer connected), but instead of being in bootloader, it is inside of android, and instead of doing essential work for the phone, it does more practical things like transfer of files, but you will probably not use ADB at any time. Also, for transfering files you wont use ADB, which like Fastboot is a command line tool only, but you will use MTP, which is the media transfer protocol, the graphical way of transfering files, in your computer it will appear like a classical external drive, but in Windows the icon will be like an iPod.
Note before starting the flashing tutorial: go to Settings > (bottom) About phone and look at the MIUI version, MIUI version numeration is supposed to follow a date (the date of release) except the first number which could not be the year, it could be 5, 6 or 7, so a correct numeration would be for example 7.2.1.0 (there is always a 4º number which is always 0 if do remember well). The thing is that when you buy the phone to a reseller, is very usual that they flash their custom MIUI rom which comes with international language, its fine, but it also comes with spyware and adware everywhere. Those roms usually comes with a version numeration of strange repeated numbers, like 77. 87. 55. 99., remember that the first number always must be 5, 6 or 7. In case that you have preinstalled this rom, i suggest you strongly to follow the guide fully, including the clean flashing with fastboot rom
Note 2: you need to have the bootloader unlocked in order to continue, please read the unlock tutorial below
Note 3: this guide supposes you have Windows. If you have Linux or Mac, or you have any problem, please ask here
Note 4: for this guide we are going to use a Drive folder shared with a spanish mi4c community, so file names may contain spanish words but shouldn't be a problem. Sorry for the inconvenience, but it's for ease purposes. Drive link: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B3N1d6szT1RYWkNET0pEbWhud3c#list
SECTION 2: Flashing guide (part 1/2: cleaning)
We are going to flash the 7.1.4.0 fastboot ROM in order to update as much as we can all the firmware (drivers of usb, modem, camera...), clean all from the weird ROM of the reseller and all of that without locking the bootloader.
Please, charge your phone first to at least 50%. Also, this process will erase all your personal data in the phone, backup all you need before.
1. Download the Fastboot 7.1.4.0 ROM (for example, here https://drive.google.com/folderview...RUR3WkE&tid=0B3N1d6szT1RYWkNET0pEbWhud3c#list ) Also download the 2 other files from that link.
2. Go to the root directory of your computer drive, usually C:\ and create a new folder with a simple name without special characters, neither spaces (for example, flash) to avoid problems in the process (at the end of the guide you will be able to delete that folder).
3. Go into that folder and extract the ROM, you must be able to see a folder named images and files together (Note: maybe you could need 7-Zip to extract it)
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
4. Now Install the other 2 files you downloaded. Then, reboot the computer and poweroff the phone
5. Exec the MiFlash tool, copy the path of the folder (for example, C:\flash) and paste it in the MiFlash tool
6. Now go to advanced
7. Click on Browse for Fastboot Script and choose flash_all.bat (if you are not able to see the file extensions, you should enable the viewing of file extensions (google for it))
8. Now put the phone in Fastboot mode (being it powered off, press power and vol- at the same time for a few seconds until the Fastboot logo appears) Note: to exit this mode, just press power for a few seconds
9. Now connect the phone to the computer with the usb cable (adaptors may give problems) and press on Refresh in the MiFlash tool in order for the phone to appear in it
10. Press on Flash, wait for the green bar to finish (could last minutes, just wait, if error is shown, post it here, if more than 1 hour and nothing changes, maybe is the computer, maybe is the cable, maybe is your bad luck). Done this part of the guide
Credits for this section of the guide
SECTION 3: Flashing guide (part 2/2: Flashing at last!)
1. (Downloading) Enter the Drive folder posted above and download the TWRP zip, the ROM of your desire (see below for reading more of every ROM), the google apps (MIUI already comes with preinstalled google apps, not needed in that case; also, you can download the google apps at opengapps.org and picking ARM64 and 6.0 android (or the version that the ROM you are choosing is, probably 6.0), and picking pico or nano is enough, comparison table here https://github.com/opengapps/opengapps/wiki/Package-Comparison ) and the supersu (only if you want root, anyway you can flash supersu at anytime without needing to wipe or anything, is easy). If you didn't do the part 1/2 and you need the Windows drivers, you can download it from the Drivers Windows folder, install it and reboot the computer.
1.1 (Uncompressing) Unzip the TWRP file in a sort path from the root folder, like for example in C:\TWRP (at the end of the guide you can delete this). You should see a file called recovery.bat (if you can't see extensions, google for enable it), it is for the step 3.
1.2 (Testing MTP) We will need to use MTP while we are in the recovery mode, so first let's test it in Android. While the phone is fully booted in Android and in the launcher screen (if starting for the first time, skip all the tutorial with whatever info), plug the phone to the computer, and in the phone swipe down the notifications bar, you should see a notification saying something of MTP or wired connection, activate MTP. Now in the computer, open My Computer and you should see Mi4C there, open it and try to navigate and create a folder, if all is ok, it works. If you are not able to create a folder o transfer any file from your computer, do not continue until this is fixed.
2. (Fastboot) First, keep the TWRP folder open and the recovery.bat file visible. Unplug the phone and put it in Fastboot mode (power it off, then Power and Vol- for a few seconds)
3. (Recovery flashing) Just execute the recovery.bat file (double click) and press a key if it asks for it (there should appear a green window with text). Done, recovery flashed (read text to see if everything is done). Now with TWRP installed, you won't need anymore (you shouldn't) the computer for using fastboot, now only for transfering the ROM files to the phone to use it from the TWRP.
4. (Wiping) Now let's boot into Recovery mode (TWRP in this case), two ways for it: you can Power and Vol+ while it is powered off, or you can boot Android, go into Settings, About phone, updates and in the 3 dot menu, there is a button for booting into recovery.
Note about the first TWRP start, it should appear this screenshot
Just press on never show again and swipe. Now, in TWRP, enter Wipe, select all partitions and wipe them all, it should appear an error about usb otg, doesn't matter, wipe is done correctly. Now you need to reboot into Recovery mode again, needed when wiping partitions another than cache or dalvik cache (if you don't reboot now, it won't let you flash), so press the mid button in the navigation bar to go to the main menu, and enter in Reboot > reboot recovery. If a message of "no OS installed" or "install supersu" appears, say no or ignore
5. (Flash!) Now, with the phone plugged, MTP should be working, so now you have to transfer the ROM, gapps and supersu files (gapps=google apps; gapps and supersu if needed as i explained in step 1). Now in the phone, press install, select the ROM, then add zip, select the gapps, add zip, supersu, and then swipe, a minute later there should appear a reboot system (android) button and the wipe cache button, first press wipe cache button, do it, and then reboot system.
Congratulations, now you can consider yourself a h4k3r, next step hacking into NSA maybe or something? Wait for the guide
From now on, flashing will usually consist in downloading the rom file from the phone (or from the computer and then transfer to the phone) and with the same gapps and supersu files downloaded above, you can flash, and then wipe cache. This is a dirty flash, only do it if updating a ROM, if going o another type of rom you must clean flash, which is done by first wiping all partitions as done in step 4 (note: all personal data would be lost, backup with titanium backup for example, and transfer all files to computer)
SECTION 4: Summary of ROMs available to our phone
MIUI: the ROM that comes with the phone, made by Xiaomi, full of features, loved by ones, hated by others
-MIUI chinese: the original official Xiaomi one, only in english and chinese languages, and comes with preinstalled chinese apps. Two variations: stable (released like once per month) and weekly
-MIUI .eu: modified version of the chinese, removed preinstalled chinese apps, a lot of languages included. Also comes in stable and weekly versions.
CyanogenMod: is a proyect which purpose is to make the full ROM open sourcered, and include more features than the official Google Android ROM doesn't include.
-CM from Kumajaya: most popular edition for our phone, this guy is doing a very good job with the kernel, making the ROM very stable and battery efficient.
-CM from Team Superluminal (TSL): they were the first to bring us CM, is not open sourcered (or at least is not their main job, as opposed to kuma) but is pretty stable, more recommended for noobies, kuma is more for staying up to date frequently
Resurrection Remix: a ROM that brings together a lot of different ROMs, unifying a lot of features. In Mi4C is a bit unstable for now, but is a matter of time.
Moke
SLIM
And I add here a link for a nice unlocking bootloader guide http://forum.xda-developers.com/mi-4c/general/guide-unlocking-mi4c-bl-verification-t3336779

Recovery + Official ROM
THREAD REMINDER
akrai said:
First of all, sorry for publishing an uncomplete guide, im traslating my own full spanish guide and at the same time making it more complete and better, and i decided to do it this way, publishing progressively
/////////////////////////////////////////
SECTION 1: Android argot summary
I put this link here so any new user in the Android rooting/flashing world can learn the classic words used
http://www.talkandroid.com/guides/beginner/android-rom-and-rooting-dictionary-for-beginners/
Note: in bootloader it says that the phone comes locked, which in our case usually is not the case, but anyway you can know if your phone is locked just by trying to get into the fastboot mode, if you can't get into it, its locked.
An Android phone's disk is virtually splitted in several partitions, like a computer, but not exactly the same because even when your phone has a lot of partitions, you will only see one if you didn't rooted your phone, or two if you did, and the partition where you have your photos and the rest of your personal downloaded things is named sdcard (yes, is a legacy of Android, even when we don't have sdcard), or even in some ROMs is called userdata or something like that; another partition is system, where the ROM itself is, is like the installation of Windows; another is data, where the config files of the apps are stored when you start using them; another is cache, where the cache of the apps are (you can think of it like the apps are compressed always, and to run faster they descompress themselves in that partition), and there are two of those partitions: dalvik cache and cache; also bootloader, which is like the BIOS of the computer, is the most basic program that makes possible the phone to boot, and also it is not possible to edit it, it is not writable, it is this way so that you wont never be able to hardbrick your phone (which means that you can literally drop your beautiful phone into the trash, no way of fixing it), like it was in older phones, and also in this partition you also have the fastboot mode, which i'll explain later; and the last one im explaining (there are more but you probably wont never know about them) is recovery, where there is installed the recovery, and what is recovery? is a tool which is by itself an entire operating system, but made specifically for "developing" purposes, mainly for flashing ROMs and making backups of the entire partitions. We have two recoverys for Mi4C, the Mi Recovery, which comes by default with your phone, and is very limited, mainly you can only flash Xiaomi's official ROMs, and the TWRP recovery, which is the absolutely most popular recovery, and strongly suggested to use, no disadvantages at all. Also know that, like in Windows you can't format the very own Windows partition and you must use and external tool, which would be the Windows installation CD program or something like that, here we have the recovery, you can't flash or wipe using Android, you must be in the recovery mode.
So as I said, the bootloader is readable only by security, and it includes the fastboot tool, so you must know to lost the fear of this world, that YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO HARDBRICK YOUR PHONE, you will always have fastboot to reflash a complete Android ROM (which requires a computer and a fastboot ROM, which is different than a flashable ROM. You will use a fastboot ROM in the first flashing tutorial, more bellow)
What is Fastboot? Basically is a tool which acts like a server in the phone, and as a client in the computer, and is made mainly to make basic things to the phone, like flashing partition images (included in the fastboot ROMs, extension of each one is .img) or read the locking status of the bootloader.
What is a locked bootloader? In our phone, is a bootloader that only allows you to flash official xiaomi roms, but as xiaomi don't offer a global version of miui for our phone, the only official rom is the chinese one, which appart than having only english and chinese languages, is very bloated of chinese apps, so is very recommended to unlock the bootloader and flash any other rom of your desire.
How to access fastboot? First, shut down the phone; second, press at the same time the Power and the Vol - buttons for a few seconds, there should appear in the screen a Fastboot logo. Note that the phone may automatically shutdown if no connection is made with a fastboot client in a computer in about 10 seconds after entering fastboot mode
How to access recovery? First, shutdown the phone, then press at the same time power and vol+ for a few seconds
What is ADB? Is a tool that works the same way as fastboot (phone and computer connected), but instead of being in bootloader, it is inside of android, and instead of doing essential work for the phone, it does more practical things like transfer of files, but you will probably not use ADB at any time. Also, for transfering files you wont use ADB, which like Fastboot is a command line tool only, but you will use MTP, which is the media transfer protocol, the graphical way of transfering files, in your computer it will appear like a classical external drive, but in Windows the icon will be like an iPod.
Note before starting the flashing tutorial: go to Settings > (bottom) About phone and look at the MIUI version, MIUI version numeration is supposed to follow a date (the date of release) except the first number which could not be the year, it could be 5, 6 or 7, so a correct numeration would be for example 7.2.1.0 (there is always a 4º number which is always 0 if do remember well). The thing is that when you buy the phone to a reseller, is very usual that they flash their custom MIUI rom which comes with international language, its fine, but it also comes with spyware and adware everywhere. Those roms usually comes with a version numeration of strange repeated numbers, like 77. 87. 55. 99., remember that the first number always must be 5, 6 or 7. In case that you have preinstalled this rom, i suggest you strongly to follow the guide fully, including the clean flashing with fastboot rom
Note 2: you need to have the bootloader unlocked in order to continue, please read the unlock tutorial below
Note 3: this guide supposes you have Windows. If you have Linux or Mac, or you have any problem, please ask here
Note 4: for this guide we are going to use a Drive folder shared with a spanish mi4c community, so file names may contain spanish words but shouldn't be a problem. Sorry for the inconvenience, but it's for ease purposes. Drive link: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B3N1d6szT1RYWkNET0pEbWhud3c#list
SECTION 2: Flashing guide (part 1/2: cleaning)
We are going to flash the 7.1.4.0 fastboot ROM in order to update as much as we can all the firmware (drivers of usb, modem, camera...), clean all from the weird ROM of the reseller and all of that without locking the bootloader.
Please, charge your phone first to at least 50%. Also, this process will erase all your personal data in the phone, backup all you need before.
1. Download the Fastboot 7.1.4.0 ROM (for example, here https://drive.google.com/folderview...RUR3WkE&tid=0B3N1d6szT1RYWkNET0pEbWhud3c#list ) Also download the 2 other files from that link.
2. Go to the root directory of your computer drive, usually C:\ and create a new folder with a simple name without special characters, neither spaces (for example, flash) to avoid problems in the process (at the end of the guide you will be able to delete that folder).
3. Go into that folder and extract the ROM, you must be able to see a folder named images and files together (Note: maybe you could need 7-Zip to extract it)
4. Now Install the other 2 files you downloaded. Then, reboot the computer and poweroff the phone
5. Exec the MiFlash tool, copy the path of the folder (for example, C:\flash) and paste it in the MiFlash tool
6. Now go to advanced
7. Click on Browse for Fastboot Script and choose flash_all.bat (if you are not able to see the file extensions, you should enable the viewing of file extensions (google for it))
8. Now put the phone in Fastboot mode (being it powered off, press power and vol- at the same time for a few seconds until the Fastboot logo appears) Note: to exit this mode, just press power for a few seconds
9. Now connect the phone to the computer with the usb cable (adaptors may give problems) and press on Refresh in the MiFlash tool in order for the phone to appear in it
10. Press on Flash, wait for the green bar to finish (could last minutes, just wait, if error is shown, post it here, if more than 1 hour and nothing changes, maybe is the computer, maybe is the cable, maybe is your bad luck). Done this part of the guide
Credits for this section of the guide
SECTION 3: Flashing guide (part 2/2: Flashing at last!)
1. (Downloading) Enter the Drive folder posted above and download the TWRP zip, the ROM of your desire (see below for reading more of every ROM), the google apps (MIUI already comes with preinstalled google apps, not needed in that case; also, you can download the google apps at opengapps.org and picking ARM64 and 6.0 android (or the version that the ROM you are choosing is, probably 6.0), and picking pico or nano is enough, comparison table here https://github.com/opengapps/opengapps/wiki/Package-Comparison ) and the supersu (only if you want root, anyway you can flash supersu at anytime without needing to wipe or anything, is easy). If you didn't do the part 1/2 and you need the Windows drivers, you can download it from the Drivers Windows folder, install it and reboot the computer.
1.1 (Uncompressing) Unzip the TWRP file in a sort path from the root folder, like for example in C:\TWRP (at the end of the guide you can delete this). You should see a file called recovery.bat (if you can't see extensions, google for enable it), it is for the step 3.
1.2 (Testing MTP) We will need to use MTP while we are in the recovery mode, so first let's test it in Android. While the phone is fully booted in Android and in the launcher screen (if starting for the first time, skip all the tutorial with whatever info), plug the phone to the computer, and in the phone swipe down the notifications bar, you should see a notification saying something of MTP or wired connection, activate MTP. Now in the computer, open My Computer and you should see Mi4C there, open it and try to navigate and create a folder, if all is ok, it works. If you are not able to create a folder o transfer any file from your computer, do not continue until this is fixed.
2. (Fastboot) First, keep the TWRP folder open and the recovery.bat file visible. Unplug the phone and put it in Fastboot mode (power it off, then Power and Vol- for a few seconds)
3. (Recovery flashing) Just execute the recovery.bat file (double click) and press a key if it asks for it (there should appear a green window with text). Done, recovery flashed (read text to see if everything is done). Now with TWRP installed, you won't need anymore (you shouldn't) the computer for using fastboot, now only for transfering the ROM files to the phone to use it from the TWRP.
4. (Wiping) Now let's boot into Recovery mode (TWRP in this case), two ways for it: you can Power and Vol+ while it is powered off, or you can boot Android, go into Settings, About phone, updates and in the 3 dot menu, there is a button for booting into recovery.
Note about the first TWRP start, it should appear this screenshot
Just press on never show again and swipe. Now, in TWRP, enter Wipe, select all partitions and wipe them all, it should appear an error about usb otg, doesn't matter, wipe is done correctly. Now you need to reboot into Recovery mode again, needed when wiping partitions another than cache or dalvik cache (if you don't reboot now, it won't let you flash), so press the mid button in the navigation bar to go to the main menu, and enter in Reboot > reboot recovery. If a message of "no OS installed" or "install supersu" appears, say no or ignore
5. (Flash!) Now, with the phone plugged, MTP should be working, so now you have to transfer the ROM, gapps and supersu files (gapps=google apps; gapps and supersu if needed as i explained in step 1). Now in the phone, press install, select the ROM, then add zip, select the gapps, add zip, supersu, and then swipe, a minute later there should appear a reboot system (android) button and the wipe cache button, first press wipe cache button, do it, and then reboot system.
Congratulations, now you can consider yourself a h4k3r, next step hacking into NSA maybe or something? Wait for the guide
From now on, flashing will usually consist in downloading the rom file from the phone (or from the computer and then transfer to the phone) and with the same gapps and supersu files downloaded above, you can flash, and then wipe cache. This is a dirty flash, only do it if updating a ROM, if going o another type of rom you must clean flash, which is done by first wiping all partitions as done in step 4 (note: all personal data would be lost, backup with titanium backup for example, and transfer all files to computer)
SECTION 4: Summary of ROMs available to our phone
MIUI: the ROM that comes with the phone, made by Xiaomi, full of features, loved by ones, hated by others
-MIUI chinese: the original official Xiaomi one, only in english and chinese languages, and comes with preinstalled chinese apps. Two variations: stable (released like once per month) and weekly
-MIUI .eu: modified version of the chinese, removed preinstalled chinese apps, a lot of languages included. Also comes in stable and weekly versions.
CyanogenMod: is a proyect which purpose is to make the full ROM open sourcered, and include more features than the official Google Android ROM doesn't include.
-CM from Kumajaya: most popular edition for our phone, this guy is doing a very good job with the kernel, making the ROM very stable and battery efficient.
-CM from Team Superluminal (TSL): they were the first to bring us CM, is not open sourcered (or at least is not their main job, as opposed to kuma) but is pretty stable, more recommended for noobies, kuma is more for staying up to date frequently
Resurrection Remix: a ROM that brings together a lot of different ROMs, unifying a lot of features. In Mi4C is a bit unstable for now, but is a matter of time.
Moke
SLIM
And I add here a link for a nice unlocking bootloader guide http://forum.xda-developers.com/mi-4c/general/guide-unlocking-mi4c-bl-verification-t3336779
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello Akrai,
First of all, I wanna thank you all your effort and dedication in helping us to fiddle with our smartphones. Thanks to people like you, the rest of us can enjoy greater funcionality and custome options.
On the other hand, I've got a doubt that I'd love you could shed light on. You'll see: not long ago I acquire a Xiaomi Mi4c device & my intention is being able to have added features of development in case I'd feel like trying things. However, I currently just want to have available tools as the recovery flashed and root access without getting to change to an EU version ROM, I mean, keeping the official developer ROM that it's already installed.
So, here my question: can I install the recovery without needing to change at ROM.eu and, therefore, avoiding to reinstall the Oficial developer one again? If I want to keep the aforementioned ROM, is that one which I've got to insert on the root folder of the phone?
Lastly, in the official ROM you can be root through the Security App/permissions. So, ¿Do I need equally to get SuperSU? Because It's not necessary to obtain root by other way running the official developer, right? I unlocked the bootloader and enabled root access already, certainly.
Thank you so much beforehand. I hope that I expressed myself clearly enough and so you can help me.
Greetings!
Lucas ^^.

Thanks a lot!!
Thanks a lot!! This is the first time I am using your post to clean-up a Xiaomi Mi4C of chinese bloatware, unlock and install a custom ROM from your particular google drive links... Am going to bookmark this for further use!!
Thanks a lot, very informative and descriptive...:good:

Can this method still relevant today on MIUI 9.2.2.0?
Hey, I have my Mi4C on MIUI 9.2.2.0 stable china. Can this method work for my phone now?
I have problem with mi flash unlock.
Long ago when I purchased this phone, it used a “reseller” ROM and this method worked just fine.
Anyone?
Sorry wrong thread. I should post in unlocking guide

Lenovo Tab3-710f custom recovery?

We are trying to get hold a custom recovery for Lenovo Tab3-710F. We are using hundreds of Lenovo tablets in our projects and have up until now used Tab2 A7-10 which has a custom recovery build for it (found here att XDA).
The reason we need the custom recovery is for cloning the unit which works good in CWM or TWRP.
The problem now is that Lenovo have stopped selling Tab2 so we are now stuck with a unit we cant clone.
Have somebody successfully created a custom recovery for the unit? If not or if you have we are offering payments/devices to get this working asap. Are you interested please PM us? When we have it we can share it to the world here no problems for us.
If you need to root the device KingoRoot latest APK works.
So hope somebody can help us.

Perhaps useful for you: I've managed to extract the stock rom of a brand new TB3-710F
http://forum.xda-developers.com/android/help/lenovo-tab-3-7-essential-tb3-710f-mt8127-t3416397
This also includes the "recovery.img" so you could try to change this image and simply flashing it. If it does not work you'll have a stock rom to restore it.

gogetrd said:
We are trying to get hold a custom recovery for Lenovo Tab3-710F. We are using hundreds of Lenovo tablets in our projects and have up until now used Tab2 A7-10 which has a custom recovery build for it (found here att XDA).
The reason we need the custom recovery is for cloning the unit which works good in CWM or TWRP.
The problem now is that Lenovo have stopped selling Tab2 so we are now stuck with a unit we cant clone.
Have somebody successfully created a custom recovery for the unit? If not or if you have we are offering payments/devices to get this working asap. Are you interested please PM us? When we have it we can share it to the world here no problems for us.
If you need to root the device KingoRoot latest APK works.
So hope somebody can help us.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did u manage to get TWRP or CWM for TB3-710F ?

zwirc said:
Did u manage to get TWRP or CWM for TB3-710F ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I built it for them. Download here

@Tzul @gogetrd We are trying to achieve something similar, configure about 700 tablets of this model. I have played with custom ROMs in the past, but mostly as a consumer (e.g. Cyanogen on personal devices).
It is my understanding that installation using the files provided by @Tzul would require to;
0. create a custom ROM.
Then for each device
1. root device (e.g. Developper mode, allow "Unknown source"s, adb install one rooting apk, run it, etc).
2. install custom recovery on device
3. flash custom ROM
Am I right?
If so do we agree that the time spent doing these operations might be about similar than the time spent e.g. manually installing / configuring the device? Or is there a way to automate the steps above?

You can configure 1 tablet, then extract the ROM and flash it with the "download mode". You don't even need to boot the tablet!
If you want more info let me know, back from holiday in a few days

@lacostej You can certainly automate some steps, and you do not always need root. (And the best way to root is to install the latest SuperSU via TWRP; no need for questionable apps that are doing who knows what...)
There are three ways to install another firmware:
The MediaTek SmartPhone Flash Tool (SPFT). This is a PC program (Windows and Linux) that allows reading and writing of the entire internal storage (on a partition granularity). Via USB, while the device is powered down. Only for devices based on MediaTek chips, of course (this tablet is MediaTek-based).
Fastboot. This is a little USB protocol implemented by the bootloader. A Fastboot client on PC can communicate with the bootloader via USB and execute certain commands, e.g. "fastboot flash" for flashing partitions. However, there are a few drawbacks with this:
First, you need to boot the device into fastboot mode. Some devices have a boot menu that allows you to do this, but this device doesn't. Starting the tablet via power+volumeUP takes you directly to the recovery instead of a boot menu. But in the recovery, whether stock or TWRP, there's a reboot to bootloader option. Using ADB (adb reboot bootloader) should also take you there.
Second, the "fastboot flash" command is restricted on this tablet. If you were to use "fastboot flash recovery <recoveryfilename_here>", for example, it would abort with an error message. I have patched the bootloader to allow the flash command, but you'd first need to install this patched version on your tablet(s), of course, via SPFT or other means.
Third, the "fastboot flash" command has a size limit - the bootloader needs to buffer the USB data in RAM before it can be written, and since the tablet has only 1 GB of RAM, you obviously can't flash a 1 GB system image this way. The buffer is actually a lot smaller: just 128 MiB. Meaning whatever file you send to the tablet via "fastboot flash", it cannot be larger than 128 MiB. So, how do you flash the system or userdata partition then, which are much, much larger? By splitting their image file into many smaller "sparse" image files, each of which is below the size limit. There's probably a tool for doing this, but I don't know any details.
TWRP, or another custom recovery. They allow you to create and restore backups. TWRP has some automation support via OpenRecoveryScript.
So, if you have 700 tablets to configure, you can configure just one, then save its state via SPFT or TWRP, then restore that on each other tablet.
What is its "state"? Well, the system, cache, and data partitions. The system partition is normally read-only and won't change, therefore you do not need to clone it. Unless you install root and modify stuff on the system partition, of course. The cache partition is quite irrelevant. It is the data partition that has all the app settings.
However, if you clone the data partition from one tablet to others, then you're causing each tablet to use the same Android ID (a long number identifying an Android device, usually randomly generated when Android is first booted after a factory reset), the same Bluetooth and WiFi MAC addresses, and some other IDs that should be unique on each device (the tablet's Lenovo serial number might be in some cloned files as well, e.g. the WiFi settings).
You can at least avoid cloning the MAC addresses by deleting the entire directory /data/nvram/ before you create your backup. MediaTek devices have a dedicated NVRAM partition that contains the MAC addresses and some other stuff, and this data gets unpacked to /data/nvram/ when Android boots. Unless the files there already exist. So, by deleting /data/nvram/ before you clone, you force each tablet to extract its unique MAC addresses again at the next boot...

Thanks a lot for the feedback. Really appreciated.
Tzul said:
@lacostej And the best way to root is to install the latest SuperSU via TWRP; no need for questionable apps that are doing who knows what...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Doesn't SuperSU already requires root? (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1538053)
How did you get root on your Lenovo device? (I assume you had one to dump the image)
However, if you clone the data partition from one tablet to others, then you're causing each tablet to use the same Android ID (a long number identifying an Android device, usually randomly generated when Android is first booted after a factory reset), the same Bluetooth and WiFi MAC addresses, and some other IDs that should be unique on each device (the tablet's Lenovo serial number might be in some cloned files as well, e.g. the WiFi settings).
.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's exactly the thing I was worried about when it comes to cloning. Those problems might arise later during QA, and I probably don't have the time required to do it properly this time.

lacostej said:
Doesn't SuperSU already requires root? (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1538053)
How did you get root on your Lenovo device? (I assume you had one to dump the image)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
SuperSU is just like any other root manager. It provides the actual "su" (superuser) binary that other programs rely on to obtain root privileges, plus an Android app for managing permissions and settings. The su binary needs to be installed on the system partition (at least traditionally), but in order to get write access there, you need root privileges. Therefore, this is a chicken and egg problem: SuperSU provides root, but it also needs root in order to be installed. Other root manager are no different - except that some try to exploit security flaws in Android in order to temporarily obtain root and install their su binary.
Anyway, the classic solution to this conundrum is the (custom) recovery: it basically has root built-in. It can write to the system partition by default, after all one of its jobs is to install firmware updates.
TWRP includes a SuperSU stub. If you leave TWRP via the Reboot menu, it checks whether or not the su binary is installed (at least in Android 4 and 5), and if it isn't, it asks if you'd like to install the SuperSU stub. Which you can then use in Android to update to the latest SuperSU via Play Store. But you can also install SuperSU's latest "update zip" in TWRP to immediately install the full version.
lacostej said:
That's exactly the thing I was worried about when it comes to cloning. Those problems might arise later during QA, and I probably don't have the time required to do it properly this time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, it is annoying. MediaTek apparently wisened up a bit. Newer platforms they produce do not unpack the NVRAM partition to the data partition anymore. Instead, they use a dedicated "nvdata" partition for that purpose. That way, if you clone the data partition, you at least won't include the unpacked NVRAM data (MAC addresses and IMEI). But still, some other IDs such as the Android ID, references to the serial number, etc. will very likely be referenced by some other files on the data partition.
I created a little "update zip" that can be "installed" via TWRP, which is just a shell script that tries to delete all the files on the data partition that contain unique or sensitive info. I use it to "clean" a data partition before publishing it. But it's not perfect yet...

@Tzul Your modified rom is great. But I have one problem with it.
When you connect your turned off device to the power supply there is a clock and charging animation. The clock is several hours ahead of the system clock. System clock and clock during the charging are connected (when I change the system time the 2nd clock also changes the hour).
I was trying to use hwclock but without success.
Is there some kind of file where I can set the correct time zone for the 2nd clock?
Sorry for my English.

@Yozen I didn't modify the ROM. I extracted and packaged it.
When the tablet is turned off and then connected to a power supply, it will usually start "off-mode charging" (can be disabled, so that Android will boot up instead). This is handled by the bootloader (LK, lk.bin), which also displays the battery animation and the clock that you see. Apparently the bootloader on this device doesn't handle time zones, because the clock shown uses China Standard Time (CST, UTC+08:00). This is the first MediaTek-based device I've seen which shows a clock in the off-mode charging screen at all. I guess they normally don't because they have no simple way to figure out the user's correct time zone at that stage.

Will this method and these files work for TB3-730F?

Sir, is there a custom ROM available for Lenovo tab3-710f ?

lacostej said:
@Tzul @gogetrd We are trying to achieve something similar, configure about 700 tablets of this model. I have played with custom ROMs in the past, but mostly as a consumer (e.g. Cyanogen on personal devices).
It is my understanding that installation using the files provided by @Tzul would require to;
0. create a custom ROM.
Then for each device
1. root device (e.g. Developper mode, allow "Unknown source"s, adb install one rooting apk, run it, etc).
2. install custom recovery on device
3. flash custom ROM
Am I right?
If so do we agree that the time spent doing these operations might be about similar than the time spent e.g. manually installing / configuring the device? Or is there a way to automate the steps above?
Click to expand...
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How did you do it in the end? I'm trying to do something similar here and am very curious!

.acy said:
How did you do it in the end? I'm trying to do something similar here and am very curious!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For us it is this "simple".
1. Manually configure a single device
2. Readback the ROM (get the ROM from the device and store it on your PC) using SP Flash Tool
3. Parse the ROM from a single file to multiple files using Mtk Droid Tool
4. (clear cache partition & remove stuff like serial number)
5. Load your ROM in SP Flash Tool
6. Click start
7. DO NOT START your new tablet
8. Connect it to USB
9. Wait (assuming you already have the preloader drivers installed)
10. Done, new ROM is flashed to your tab!
edit:
Oh and with 700 tablets it might be nice to look into compressing the file as the full 8gb dump we flash (and we don't do a lot these days) will take ~30-40 minutes

mattiemvs said:
3. Parse the ROM from a single file to multiple files using Mtk Droid Tool
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's unnecessary, because the SP Flash Tool can already read back partitions into separate files.
Also, you don't need to clone some partitions like cache, and you really should not clone nvram and parts of data, otherwise you'll end up with tablets sharing unique IDs such as MAC addresses, which will cause problems.

Tzul, you are absolutely right! I typed the items from my mind as it has been quite some time since I've created the ROM

tb3-710f s000028
Tzul said:
Yes, I built it for them.
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Hello tzul,
Thanks for your jobs.
I want to install Lenovo_TB3-710F_S000027_TO_S000028_Patched_Tzul.zip
But i don't know how i do this when i try with SPFT i choose teh scatter-file and i have an error :
sp flash toll error : 5417
The load scatter file is invalid !
hint :
please check the scatter file and select again
Can you help me ? please

@siegheart73 That is a patched OTA update. It needs to be installed by the recovery (stock or TWRP). If a zip file contains a "META-INF" folder, then it's most likely intended for the recovery, and not for the SPFT.

Tzul said:
@siegheart73 That is a patched OTA update. It needs to be installed by the recovery (stock or TWRP). If a zip file contains a "META-INF" folder, then it's most likely intended for the recovery, and not for the SPFT.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your answer.
I go to test it.
I want to root this kernel 000028 and i have difficult to do it ?
Do you have a easy solution ?
Thanks a lot for your help.