Database Users

Axon 7 A2017U B29 Root, BL unlock, and TWRP

Can someone walk me through how to Unlock the bootloader, root, and install TWRP? I'm so confused. I tried to do the newbie way, even though I'm not a newbie, and I lost my B29 Stock Recovery and can't find the download for it.
Sent from my ZTE A2017U using Tapatalk

I haven't done it yet but I've done a lot of reading and this seems to me the best guide.
Head over to this link which is the TWRP thread. https://forum.xda-developers.com/axon-7/development/recovery-official-twrp-zte-axon-7-t3515715
Once you're in there go to bootloader unlock section. Download all the necessary files and on the bottom of the guide there will be instructions link which will take you here https://build.nethunter.com/misc/axon7/INSTRUCTIONS.txt
Follow that and that should do it.
When i get a weekend off ill be using this method to get the Lineage OS 14.1 on my device.

Search, Read & Follow --CAREFULLY--.
It's been a while, but this worked great for me, starting from B29.
Goodluck
Let me tell you, this is the guide that should be pinned. It gives very easy/clear instructions on what you need to do to root/flash recovery and even going back to stock. Very well written and I wish I had seen it sooner. I was going to write a clear guide on this subject only to find.. it already existed.. --nolimit78

@amphi66 I am on 2017U B29 and want to unlock bootloader, install TWRP and root. I also read newbies thread. I am confused about one thing. which TWRP recovery image should I use? a2017u B27 http://d-h.st/kRgq or TWRP recovery 3.0.2-2 : http://d-h.st/dgWW ? There is no file for B29 on newbie's thread and in FAQ, the OP said B27 should work for B29. Which one did you use?
After reading, I also see some people said tenfar's tool is too dangerous and it may brick your phone. Some people also claimed the back up of TWRP recovery 3.0.2 provided on that thread has some bugs may cause you to loose your IMEI number when you do recovering. Do you have any issues? Thanks!
amphi66 said:
Search, Read & Follow --CAREFULLY--.
It's been a while, but this worked great for me, starting from B29.
Goodluck
Let me tell you, this is the guide that should be pinned. It gives very easy/clear instructions on what you need to do to root/flash recovery and even going back to stock. Very well written and I wish I had seen it sooner. I was going to write a clear guide on this subject only to find.. it already existed.. --nolimit78
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

greatzt said:
@amphi66 I am on 2017U B29 and want to unlock bootloader, install TWRP and root. I also read newbies thread. I am confused about one thing. which TWRP recovery image should I use? a2017u B27 http://d-h.st/kRgq or TWRP recovery 3.0.2-2 : http://d-h.st/dgWW ? There is no file for B29 on newbie's thread and in FAQ, the OP said B27 should work for B29. Which one did you use?
After reading, I also see some people said tenfar's tool is too dangerous and it may brick your phone. Some people also claimed the back up of TWRP recovery 3.0.2 provided on that thread has some bugs may cause you to loose your IMEI number when you do recovering. Do you have any issues? Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This was back last Nov, but I followed the guide, using the recommended files (was on B29, but used the B27 OK, then reflashed B29 at the end).
The warning involved backing up and then restoring the EFS partiton with tenfar's tool. DON'T! If you stick with system, data, and boot partitions you should be fine.
Good luck. You may want to check with @nolimit78. He has done this much more recently.

Yes, I agree with you @amphi66 that there is a lot of different places to get information about how to root/flash recovery for A2017U B29. Here's what I've done with two different A7's and both have worked each time.
1. Boot the phone to EDL Mode (Both Vol+Power on boot it'll quick flash the red notification light and then act like it's off.. it's not)
2. Use tenfar's tool to flash the recovery. (I renamed the updated TWRP img and named it "recovery". This used tenfar's tool to flash the updated TWRP on your device.
3. Once in TWRP, run the command (reboot disemmcwp and relaunch TWRP) and flash the package to use modifiable bootloader from B20.
4. Once that flashes now you can send the command in Fastboot "fastboot oem unlock" which will unlock the bootloader that doesn't trip anything notifying ZTE
5. At this point you can flash a B29 rom and have a grand ol' time. However, I would recommend using the LineageOS Rom that's available. Trumps everything else out there IMHO.
6. To do that You'll need to flash the Nougat Bootstacks for that rom to boot prior to flashing the Rom itself. I would recommend flashing the nougat bootstacks, reboot to TWRP, flash LineageOS, reboot.
Like I said, I've done with this with two different devices (Thanks ZTE) and both worked out just fine. I did this method with a device with b27 and b29, both ended up updated and flashed with CM/LineageOS with ZERO issues. This post here should also be pinned as the one true guide (THE KING OF THE NORTH) for unlocking/rooting a stock Axon 7. I spent probably about 4-5 hours working, trying to figure out how to get my device unlocked/rooted. However.. at the very end I wrote out instructions trying to help those who would come after me.. I searched the threads to make sure there wasn't already a thread out there.. and then.. it turns out there was.

Someone have the 5 files to unlock the bootloader 2017u on drive

Recovery unaviable after Nougat update

Hey people,
I've updated to the unofficial Nougat leak here and ever since I can't get into the recovery. The ROM is OK but no matter what I do I can't get into the recovery. After "adb reboot recovery" I just get stuck in a boot loop and I must get into the upgrade utility and restart phone into the system from there. I've tried to flash few other recovery but nothing works. So far I'm fine with the system and I'd like to also try LineageOS but I have no way to flash the ROM. I have tried "Fastboot flash zip xx.zip" from the bootloader to flash LineageOS but it told me I don't have permissions so it was no good.
So do you folks here have any idea what I did wrong and how to make the recovery work again? I'm kind of learn from the tutorial guy so I'll post the sources I've been using to do the flash.
Unlocking bootloader and flashing new recovery
I've only used the unlock bootloader and flash twrp sections with their provided recovery. I've also tried to flash THIS recovery by Meticulus after the nougat update.
Flashing the ROM + used ROM
Used the old process because upgrade with system utility kept giving me errors.
Model number - VNS-L21
Also if this issue can't be (yet) fixed do you know any way to safely flash ROMs without recovery?
Thanks for any kind of help

You cannot flash any ROM in the nougat recovery, because it does not support /data mounting. Downgrade to MM and install the ROM you want from there.

@SALVO9
Ok, thank you for the reply. I'll probably try to downgrade and flash it afterwards to know which ROM suits me better. All I need to do is find the stock ROM copy it to the phone and restart with all buttons pushed right? Also, do you have any info about when there will be a nougat recovery that can mount /data?

TheAstaros said:
@SALVO9
All I need to do is find the stock ROM copy it to the phone and restart with all buttons pushed right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No.
Flash proper OEMinfo first!

@Schlengge
Thanks for the advice. I did my research because I didn't know a thing about oeminfo and I have hit a wall since my phone is not rooted(Should have mentioned that earlier I know) and I'm supposed to replace custom.bin and then flash the img. So afterwards I searched how to root this nougat ROM and found nothing no app was working and everything I found was just using the phone's recovery which I can't access. Does anything come to mind? I will continue getting through the pages of google but I don't think I'll find anything useful.
EDIT> After some searching I found the official rollback package. I have yet to test it (downloading on slow connection atm) and I hope it will work.

Ok it's finally done and I'm back at old stock ROM(EMUI 4.1.1 VNS-L21C432B160) after hours of searching I gave up on the oeminfo or rooting the phone. I searched for the stock firmware and found some rollback packages on the Huawei site. I will post the links in there you even have instructions packed with the zip.
LINK1
LINK2
Download both start with the smaller one because it's flashing first and follow the instructions in the pdf. Worked for me so hope it also helps you.
Also as I found out just now this rollback also locks back your bootloader so be sure to unlock it back again with the code.

HUAWEI P9 LITE NRD90M(test-keys) TO MM HELP Urgent

Plzzz help im stuck I want to rollback my huawei p9 lite VNS-L31 where its build number is NRD90M(test keys) to marshmallow 6.0 help don't know what to do . Plz if you can explain step by step what can i do because i'm not good in these things , My bluetooth not workng , there no calculator , no software updater , i am not able to check if got update or not and so on......, im stuck plz help

Well hey.. first download this rollback package from this link:
http://download-c1.huawei.com/download/downloadCenter?downloadId=93645&version=371484&siteCode=np
Extract and move all the files to dload folder on your external SD Card then install it with the 3 button method. If there's no dload folder then create one.
So the phone will reboot and now you can downgrade to any mm rom
Now just download this mm rom from this link:
http://update.hicloud.com:8180/TDS/data/files/p3/s15/G1164/g104/v66015/f1/full/update.zip
And again extract and move the files to dload folder on your sd card.. Install with 3 button method.
Done! Everything should work now!
In case If you don't know what the 3 button method is..lol
•Power the phone off ?
•Just press and hold on POWER + VOLUME UP + VOLUME DOWN buttons
The phone will start installing the rom and that's the 3 button method ?❤

this is not working for me. it says incompatibility with current version and to download the correct version.

lennie27 said:
this is not working for me. it says incompatibility with current version and to download the correct version.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Man, you have to do entire procedure: unlock bootloader, install twrp for Nougat and flash oeminfo for your phone. Before that you have to put in dload folder MM firmware (B130/B131),
because after flashing oeminfo phone try to repair firmware from dload folder. If repair do not start, power off phone and power on with 3 keys combination.

Hi All,
I'm having a similar issue as lennie27 however I think I might have strayed down an incorrect path during the process of upgrading to Nougat. My device shipped with VNS-L31C16B120 with no updates available through the stock updater. I tried the Firmware Finder guides which listed options for VNS-L31C169B13x and VNS-L31C432B13x however none of these updates would work, updater would say it's incompatible with current version. I also tried manually downloading the VNS-L31C432B160 firmware and installing that with the 3 button method as well as the EngineerMenu option with the same result (found guides that stated needing to be on B160 or B161 before making the jump to Nougat). Eventually I decided to unlock the bootloader and install Nougat through TWRP and followed the obeygeekupdate-huawei-p9-lite-to-android-7-0-nougat-manually guide (can't post links ) on manually installing Nougat (stupidly never paying attention to the fact that it's a beta build guide). I've installed TWRP to the device again using the P9 Lite Toolkit v0.0.0.11 found here on XDA (used this when on MM however the upgrade seemed to restore the stock recovery) with the idea of downloading the build from the ministryofsolutions huawei-p9-lite-vns-l31-nougat-b371-update-stable-europe page and pushing that to the device instead (however now the device doesn't want to boot into recovery)
Now my only concern is, will this work? I've noticed a bit of commenting going back and forth on the ministryofsolutions site which essentially boiled down to the need for debranding the phone (apparently C19 is MTN South Africa specific and I need to debrand it and get it onto C432 Europe before mucking about with Nougat, but alas to late) which seemed to be something I should have done while on MM still. If I can find a full firmware link for VNS-L31C16B120 can I flash that through TWRP without needing to follow any prerequisite steps? So far nothing that I've tried to flash using the three button method has worked, I'd just like to get back onto an official stable firmware again.
Any advice will be appreciated

saintnite said:
Hi All,
I'm having a similar issue as lennie27 however I think I might have strayed down an incorrect path during the process of upgrading to Nougat. My device shipped with VNS-L31C16B120 with no updates available through the stock updater. I tried the Firmware Finder guides which listed options for VNS-L31C169B13x and VNS-L31C432B13x however none of these updates would work, updater would say it's incompatible with current version. I also tried manually downloading the VNS-L31C432B160 firmware and installing that with the 3 button method as well as the EngineerMenu option with the same result (found guides that stated needing to be on B160 or B161 before making the jump to Nougat). Eventually I decided to unlock the bootloader and install Nougat through TWRP and followed the obeygeekupdate-huawei-p9-lite-to-android-7-0-nougat-manually guide (can't post links ) on manually installing Nougat (stupidly never paying attention to the fact that it's a beta build guide). I've installed TWRP to the device again using the P9 Lite Toolkit v0.0.0.11 found here on XDA (used this when on MM however the upgrade seemed to restore the stock recovery) with the idea of downloading the build from the ministryofsolutions huawei-p9-lite-vns-l31-nougat-b371-update-stable-europe page and pushing that to the device instead (however now the device doesn't want to boot into recovery)
Now my only concern is, will this work? I've noticed a bit of commenting going back and forth on the ministryofsolutions site which essentially boiled down to the need for debranding the phone (apparently C19 is MTN South Africa specific and I need to debrand it and get it onto C432 Europe before mucking about with Nougat, but alas to late) which seemed to be something I should have done while on MM still. If I can find a full firmware link for VNS-L31C16B120 can I flash that through TWRP without needing to follow any prerequisite steps? So far nothing that I've tried to flash using the three button method has worked, I'd just like to get back onto an official stable firmware again.
Any advice will be appreciated
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you need to install nougat recovery, not the one from the toolkit. then twrp will work and the device will boot.
to go back to 120 you need to install oeminfo, and then the update.app

mjz2cool said:
you need to install nougat recovery, not the one from the toolkit. then twrp will work and the device will boot.
to go back to 120 you need to install oeminfo, and then the update.app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for the reply, managed to come right a few hours after posting. Turned out the copy of TWRP that I had on hand was more outdated than I thought, downloaded the newest copy and that worked on the device. Additionally I managed to find a website listing just about every firmware for the phone (Including my original MTN ZA specific variant) so I downloaded that and managed to restore the phone using the three button method. Phone is back to stock now and even the unlocked bootloader nag screen is gone so I'm guessing the bootloader is locked again as well One day when I'm brave enough to attempt this again I'll look at debranding the phone and getting it onto a C432 based ROM before getting it onto Nougat again.

phone bricked
hello guys! im currently on lineage os 14.1 by meticulus, i wanna revert back to stock mm but i cant. i flashed the custom rom from mm using twrp recovery by meticulus, but now i cant even boot into erecovery! can you pls help me!:crying: DLOAD method doesnt work!

b25 Update

I have a new (3 day) that updated to b25. Was and is totally stock. Not happy.
Mar was way better on battery and performance. I have downloaded and renamed
b15 factory ota and placed in the sdcard. System update reports a valid update but before I
commit to doing this I wanted to verify with the community that it is safe to do.
After I do this update I am wondering if I can find a factory ota of mar if I can do the same thing again.
Thanks in advance

2CanSan said:
I have a new (3 day) that updated to b25. Was and is totally stock. Not happy.
Mar was way better on battery and performance. I have downloaded and renamed
b15 factory ota and placed in the sdcard. System update reports a valid update but before I
commit to doing this I wanted to verify with the community that it is safe to do.
After I do this update I am wondering if I can find a factory ota of mar if I can do the same thing again.
Thanks in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's really simple actually: if you install B15 your data will be wiped, after that just skip everything and update to B29 (is B29 the latest? I have a G, dunno) and then use it. What you describe is not the actual performance that it should have, it's your specific case obviously.

I know what you want to do - if you want to remain TOTALLY STOCK I think you are out of options as I don't know anywhere that you can still download the stock ZTE B29 marshmallow. If you are willing to unlock your bootloader and install TWRP then somewhere in here DrakenFX has a B29 rollback that works great - it just won't work with stock recovery

tabletalker7 said:
I know what you want to do - if you want to remain TOTALLY STOCK I think you are out of options as I don't know anywhere that you can still download the stock ZTE B29 marshmallow. If you are willing to unlock your bootloader and install TWRP then somewhere in here DrakenFX has a B29 rollback that works great - it just won't work with stock recovery
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All I really want is to remain stock but rooted and with TWRP for recovery for Nandroid backups. The B25 will not let me unlock the bootloader with Fastboot and when running MiFlash the phone is visible but getting "Hello packet error" I have read another method with fastboot but have not tried it yet (below). Somewhere I read that B25 was the problem and you had to downgrade and the MiFlash method was recommended.
adb reboot bootloader
fastboot devices
fastboot oem unlock
fastboot reboot
I did everything but the first entry.
Thanks for any suggestions.

2CanSan said:
All I really want is to remain stock but rooted and with TWRP for recovery for Nandroid backups. The B25 will not let me unlock the bootloader with Fastboot and when running MiFlash the phone is visible but getting "Hello packet error" I have read another method with fastboot but have not tried it yet (below). Somewhere I read that B25 was the problem and you had to downgrade and the MiFlash method was recommended.
adb reboot bootloader
fastboot devices
fastboot oem unlock
fastboot reboot
I did everything but the first entry.
Thanks for any suggestions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Go ahead with your rollback to B15 - that will let you unlock and install TWRP. Once you have TWRP go to this thread https://forum.xda-developers.com/axon-7/development/rom-guide-updates-to-stock-files-via-t3469484 and in post #2 you will find A2017UV1.0.0B29_RollBackModded.zip. Flash that, then flash TWRP again (you have to flash TWRP again ONLY if you want to keep TWRP as this flash file will automatically reinstall stock recovery). Also note on B29 I had to use SuperSU 2.65 (not the current one) for root.

tabletalker7 said:
Go ahead with your rollback to B15 - that will let you unlock and install TWRP. Once you have TWRP go to this thread https://forum.xda-developers.com/axon-7/development/rom-guide-updates-to-stock-files-via-t3469484 and in post #2 you will find A2017UV1.0.0B29_RollBackModded.zip. Flash that, then flash TWRP again (you have to flash TWRP again ONLY if you want to keep TWRP as this flash file will automatically reinstall stock recovery). Also note on B29 I had to use SuperSU 2.65 (not the current one) for root.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
By the system update.zip method?
Thanks
Also I would be happy to stay at b15 with TWRP and root.

2CanSan said:
By the system update.zip method?
Thanks
Also I would be happy to stay at b15 with TWRP and root.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wait - you wanted to stay stock? You didn't actually have to unlock if you wanted to. Just by using the update.zip method with some Marshmallow zip you could get to MM, and then you can update to N and you surely won't get the same problems that you've been having...
For example my G is on 7.1.1 and I get 6h+ of battery (right now, 3h36m with 41% left) so your problem is just that your installation was bad. If you unlocked you might as well just do the process that the guy above described though.

2CanSan said:
By the system update.zip method?
Thanks
Also I would be happy to stay at b15 with TWRP and root.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Choose an username... said:
Wait - you wanted to stay stock? You didn't actually have to unlock if you wanted to. Just by using the update.zip method with some Marshmallow zip you could get to MM, and then you can update to N and you surely won't get the same problems that you've been having...
For example my G is on 7.1.1 and I get 6h+ of battery (right now, 3h36m with 41% left) so your problem is just that your installation was bad. If you unlocked you might as well just do the process that the guy above described though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK on the A2017U units you need the official marshmallow B29 package to roll back, and that only works with stock recovery on a clean B15 N install. The Rollback package I told you to use earlier will roll you back to B29 marshmallow NO MATTER WHAT YOU ARE USING (I have used this a lot, and OBVIOUSLY there are differences between the the A2017U version in North America and the A2017G version in Europe). If you want stock and rooted, I personally recommend B29 marshmallow over B15 Nougat, but either way go for it (I think the marshmallow had a much better radio than any of the Nougat packages). If you are interested in TWRP and root, I found B29 marshmallow much easier for both, and the marshmallow version of android also gives you Xposed, but back to your first post, you mentioned wanting marshmallow, and this is the best way to get it.
Step by Step method
1. Roll back to B15. Use the update.zip method. It will factory reset your device so backup everything you can't lose
2. Use MiFlash to unlock and install TWRP - check that thread on XDA for instructions.
3. (If desired) In TWRP, install the B29 marshmallow rollback. Do not reboot into system afterwards.
4. (If step 3 is done) In TWRP, flash TWRP. The marshmallow rollback will overwrite recovery with stock recovery
If you do this you will have exactly what you wanted in your original post. I can personally tell you this works, as I have tried every custom rom on here and always wind up back at B29 marshmallow when all is said and done. It has never failed me, and it will never fail you either.

Newb needs help rooting, unlocking Bootloader and getting a Custom ROM for ALE-L21

Hey there,
I need help, hope you have some for me . I want to use the 6.0.1. OpenKirin OmniROM on my phone and struggle even figuring out a way to get there.
I just bought a used ALE-L21 DualSIM phone with the B602 Build and EMUI 4.0.3 installed. The device is not rooted, nor has its bootloader been unlocked. The EMUI update service does not offer me any patches.
Could someone please line out to me which steps I have to take in order to root my ALE-L21 and get this ROM to work?
Disclaimer: No, I'm not just a lazy moron who does not want to read other topics on this forum - I'm a mere user with less-than-average knowledge of Android development or stuff like that. And I just can't make complete sense of the various posts I've found, since English is not my mother tongue and there seems to be a whole bunch of ways to do certain things with a phone. Well, since obviously I don't want to brick my new phone, I'm not too sure how to best puzzle together the pieces this Forum offers me. It would be insanely helpful if I could get a list that reads out something like:
1. Action - Source (for needed files, e.g.) - Result, on to step 2
2. Action - Source (for needed files, e.g.) - Result, on to step 3
3. ... and so on...
Okay, just so you see that I'm not entirely lost, I'm gonna show you the picture which is currently in my mind.
From what I understand so far, there's the following steps to get there (please rectify or rearrange steps as far as needed):
1. Update the device to Vanilla EMUI 4.1, Build B895 or B896 (I am currently downloading the B896 Build from this forum - which one is recommended? My phone is DualSIM)
2. Unlock Bootloader (What's the best way to do it? Huawei CS? Heard it's not even sure you get an answer. DCUnlocker? Wants money... Please help me clarify)
3. get TWRP 3.1.1.0 (I already have the IMG file, how do I get it to run on my phone?)
4. Root the device (I'd like to go with MAGISK, does anyone have a link for a MAGISK build confirmedly working on ALE-L21?)
5. Do some magic with TWRP (Which steps exactly?)
6. Flash the ROM Zip file via TWRP
7. Flash Gapps via TWRP
Is that about it?
As I said, please feel free to add to/adjust my list!
Thanks in advance,
Pako

If you haven't already install minimal adb tools on computer (windows) found here :
http://bit.ly/2jxX4ya
You then need to unlock bootloader using minimal adb tools and the unlock code
Unlock Code:
http://bit.ly/2z9EFhV
Unlock Bootloader Method in this thread here:
http://bit.ly/2oIASBs
After you are done unlocking the bootloader
Install twrp find that here :
http://bit.ly/2ok9BTi
There was a tool that was here somewhere to install twrp but I will link to my copy here
http://bit.ly/2ATBgRP
What you do is put the twrp image file in data folder
then change the name of the twrp file to TWRP_3.1.1-0_ALICE.img or
edit the install.bat file line data\fastboot.exe flash recovery data\TWRP_3.1.1-0_ALICE.img to the name of your twrp file
Once twrp is installed then you can pick which rom you want
The 6.0 roms arent going to be supported anymore so i suggest going for 7.0 ROM
I'm on AOSPA which is the cleanest and has good battery life
To install 7.0 rom you need B895 or B896 found here on the first post:
http://bit.ly/2jypIij
this is installed through twrp (which is accessed when Phone is off by holding volume up + power then let go once it vibrates or connect the phone to the computer and then type adb devices then adb reboot recovery in minimal adb tool)
once in twrp you need to install the B895.zip or B896.zip file then reboot your phone will boot into emui
you need to install twrp again as B895 or B896 wipes it
After installing twrp you can then install any custom rom of your choice
let the rom boot and then go back into twrp and install gapps found here: "http://bit.ly/1JOWjUqi recommend nano or even pico pick am64 7.1
I would also recommend installing Galactic forced deepsleep http://bit.ly/2ANVdbS

Hey there,
thank you very, very much for your comprehensive walkthrough! (Almost*) everything worked to perfection and I am now a happy user of OpenKirin's OmniROM 6.0.3. mod! Yeah, no 7.x... but I'd prefer to wait with that until the "issues" section of AOSPA does not contain any relevant things anymore. OmniROM seems to have no issues anymore, so I'm content with my choice. I will now follow your last advice and flash the Deep Sleep Mod to improve my device's battery life, and then I'm just happy.
* = The only issue I encountered was when having flashed TWRP, the device booted to the crappy EMUI eRecovery instead of TWRP. I solved this issue using this advice from another thread.
So, once again, thank you! All you xdaDevs, keep on developing ways to improve people's lives with their android devices!
Cheers,
Pako