Database Users

All I want to do is use nandroid backup.

Ive been reading post after post after post and im confused as all hell.
All I want to do is be able to take a image of my phone once I have everything setup and take new images about once a week in case the phone is ever replaced. I want to be able to get all my ringtone associations apps and app settings like the settings from my k-9 setup etc... phone settings EVERYTHING. I understand the mybackpro and sprite will not do this detailed of a backup. So thats what lead me here.
I have the sprint hero. I have already updated to the newest OTA firmware.
I would like step by step what i need to do. Here is what i think is the correct way from my searches. PLEASE CORRECT ME IF IM WRONG.
1. download ruu from http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=586258 insatll htc sync and run ruu and follow directions. That should bring the phone back to the stock image. Unless I can root from the new OTA firmware which I dont know. Someone lmk if I can.
2. Root the phone following this link http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=583291 or this link http://theunlockr.com/2009/11/18/how-to-root-your-sprint-hero-in-one-click/ or this link http://theunlockr.com/2009/11/07/how-to-root-your-cdma-htc-hero-sprint-verizon/ Which link is best to follow?
3. I setup my phone then turn off then home key power will get to the green menu with nandroid backup as a option. Run that and I have a image of EVERYTHING on my phone?
One last ? Can I ever update to the latest firmware or am I stuck with the stock firmware.
Thank you for your time.

It looks like you have answered your whole question. Yes, you have the process down to a science.
About which links to follow:
Folow the first link to root your phone. That's a thorough, easy to follow, minutes-to-root, fool-proof method. It also contains the download links and everything you need to do EXACTLY what you want.
So yeah,
1. RUU to stock
2. Root by following guide
3. Home/Power and select Make Nandroid Backup
4. (if you want) install rom like fresh .4 (most stable release) that includes the Sprint MR (maintenance release) and application tweaks etc.

Thank you for your response. Though I had it but wanted to make sure
Can I do the OTA update after I have rooted and made my backup? Will this cause any issues with the root or the backup?
also does fresh .4 use the htc sense ui? Ive come to really like that compared to my buddies droid UI.

Actually, if all you want to do is take a nandroid backup, there's no reason to root your phone at all.
Just install the latest flashrec here
Get the Amon-Ra recovery image for the Hero here
Install flashrec, run flashrec, BACKUP RECOVERY IMAGE, then apply the Amon-Ra recovery image.
Now, you can boot to recovery and do a nandroid backup.
If you want to apply the Sprint update, you must restore your backup recovery image (see above in bold) before the update will apply. Once you've rebooted a few times with the Sprint update, you can then apply the Amon-Ra recovery image again (no need to re-backup the recovery image). Reboot into recovery and you can make a nandroid backup.
While it's true that the first link you provided will indeed give you the recovery image to be able to do a nandroid backup, if that is all you want to do, there's really no reason to go through all the steps of rooting your phone (this may change in the future if flashrec stops working with an update from Sprint/HTC - we may even be forced to do a goldcard method at some point in the future if they do something like they did to the gsm Android phones).

jmanley69 said:
Actually, if all you want to do is take a nandroid backup, there's no reason to root your phone at all.
Just install the latest flashrec here
Get the Amon-Ra recovery image for the Hero here
Install flashrec, run flashrec, BACKUP RECOVERY IMAGE, then apply the Amon-Ra recovery image.
Now, you can boot to recovery and do a nandroid backup.
If you want to apply the Sprint update, you must restore your backup recovery image (see above in bold) before the update will apply. Once you've rebooted a few times with the Sprint update, you can then apply the Amon-Ra recovery image again (no need to re-backup the recovery image). Reboot into recovery and you can make a nandroid backup.
While it's true that the first link you provided will indeed give you the recovery image to be able to do a nandroid backup, if that is all you want to do, there's really no reason to go through all the steps of rooting your phone (this may change in the future if flashrec stops working with an update from Sprint/HTC - we may even be forced to do a goldcard method at some point in the future if they do something like they did to the gsm Android phones).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, how do I install flashrec and "apply" the Amon-Ra recovery image? Sorry, but I just got my first Android phone this morning. LOL! And I want to explore all possibilities of what my new toy can do. But I'm not quite sure how to do either of those things.

You Can Root the New O.T.A. Update manually only.
I have a Sprint Hero and to get the OTA Update I had to get the Original RUU file and install it. Then I did the OTA update but the key thing is Amon Ra image and flashrec WILL NOT WORK.
What Does work is:
1. From the home Screen Go to Settings>Applications>Development Check your USB Debugging Mode and Stay awake boxes
(This is just getting set up to use the Android SDK. Im sorry for all the experience folks Im just going step by step for thoroughness)
2) From the Desktop Computer Get to your command prompt and Follow the steps Below:
3. Open the Command Prompt and type the following (hitting enter at the end of every line):
cd\
cd AndroidSDK\Tools\
adb devices
And make sure your phones’s serial number pops up (if not redo section I).
4. Then type:
adb push asroot2 /data/local/
adb shell chmod 0755 /data/local/asroot2
adb shell
/data/local/asroot2 /system/bin/sh
5. Then type:
mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system
cd /system/bin
cat sh > su
chmod 4775 su
Thats It..After you get the message "ENJOY THE SHELL and get the # sign, IF YOU ENTER EVERYTHING CORRECTLY EXACTLY WHAT YOU TYPED WELL SHOWS UP BELOW WHERE YOU TYPED IT!!)
ROOT USER Programs seem to work but the (PowerButton/ Home Button pressing combination still hangs at "HTC") which is where somehow the Green menu screen is supposed to be. And the NANDROID Backup is supposed to be. If anyone knows how to get this to work or to prevent the Hero from hanging please let us know.

Manual OTA Update process step-by-step (Stock/Rooted/Xposed)

For stock rooted/TWRP users, this is a step-by-step process of manually updating your Moto involving flashing stock firmware, updating, and restoring TWRP, root, and apps afterwards.
Benefits:
**It's really simple- once you get familiar with this process, you can do it fairly quickly.
**Take the time to read through and get everything set up and you'll be set for future updates.
**No begging the internet for flashable zips.
Preface:
So my situation is i'm running stock, bootloader unlocked, rooted, and xposed on my US XT1540 2GB Moto G. I went through the process this morning of updating to the new 23.46.4 update. Thought I'd share what I did for anyone out there wanting to update with questions ; hopefully some can be answered here. I'm familiar with flashing firmware files from my previous Moto X's '13 & '14 so trust me it's not a big deal to flash back stock firmware to update. This process should be applicable to any variant of the Moto G and and to any future updates as well, not just the one mentioned here as of 09/19/15. Just be mindful of your phone's version and use the appropriate firmware.
1) BACKUP
First, make sure everything worth keeping is on your microSD. Flashing stock firmware will wipe your phones internal memory so pictures, music, downloads, SMS, etc need to migrate. Also make sure you have SuperSU and Xposed on your microSD for re-installation. This might be obvious for some and you might have everything going to your microSD (sdcard1, EXTsdcard) already, but one thing you might miss is Titanium Backup...
Save apps in Titanium to microSD: Menu>Preferences>Backup folder location>Click to change>Ext. SD card>Create a new folder>Use current folder
Nandroid in TWRP to microSD: toward the bottom click on "Storage: Internal storage" and choose "Micro SDcard"
If you're super smart, after making that backup you'll copy that to your pc.
2) DOWNLOADS
Get the most recent firmware for your device from lost101's firmware thread (thank him threads like this are so helpful)- http://forum.xda-developers.com/2015-moto-g/general/index-moto-g-factory-firmware-images-t3169639
Download and install the drivers for you phone, I believe the generic android driver will work but you can also get them from Motorola Device Manager: https://motorola-global-portal.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/88481
Download mini-sdk.zip, attached to the the bottom of this post. Useful light weight sdk containing adb & fastboot which should cover all your flashing needs. If you're not developing apps, full blown android sdk is bloatware
3) SETTING UP ADB/FASTBOOT
Enable USB debugging in Developer options
Extract mini-sdk.zip to a folder. Extract and add the contents of your firmware to that folder.
Open a cmd prompt on the mini-sdk folder (shift + right click, "Open Command Window Here")
Let's verify that adb sees the device:
Code:
adb devices
Should see "XXserial#XX device". If you get "offline", be sure to check your phone for the adb authorization dialog.
We're ready to flash firmware so reboot into fastboot:
Code:
adb reboot bootloader
4) STOCK FIRMWARE INSTALLATION
Once phone is in fastboot, enter the following commands in the cmd prompt (open on the mini-sdk folder containing the firmware files) one at a time. Let the current flash command finish before entering the next, especially at the img_sparsechunck steps because they take a 10-15 sec each. Also make sure all of the filenames match what you have; substitute accordingly.
Code:
fastboot flash partition gpt.bin
fastboot flash bootloader bootloader.img
fastboot flash logo logo.bin
fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
fastboot flash system system.img_sparsechunk.0
fastboot flash system system.img_sparsechunk.1
fastboot flash system system.img_sparsechunk.2
fastboot flash system system.img_sparsechunk.3
fastboot flash system system.img_sparsechunk.4
fastboot flash system system.img_sparsechunk.5
fastboot flash modem NON-HLOS.bin
fastboot erase modemst1
fastboot erase modemst2
fastboot flash fsg fsg.mbn
fastboot erase cache
fastboot erase userdata
fastboot reboot
5) UPDATE
When you reboot, if you don't get prompted for update check for it- About phone>System updates
Download & install update
When update is finished and phone boots back up, enable Android debugging in developer options.
6) FLASH BACK TWRP/ROOT/XPOSED
Place TWRP img file in mini-sdk folder. Boot back into fastboot and flash TWRP.
Code:
adb reboot bootloader
Code:
fastboot flash recovery twrp-osprey-2.8.7-test1.img
Vol up/down in bootloader to boot recovery.
Once in recovery flash Supersu & xposed (optional of course) from your microSD and reboot.
Install Titanium from play store, go back into preferences and point to backup folder on the microSD and restore apps.
When xposed and modules are reinstalled through Titanium, you will need to reboot to enable. After that you'll need to tweak your preferences in system options like notifications or display, but any settings in modules (like gravity box) will be restored as long as you backed up app+data in TB. Easier than a custom rom clean flash in that aspect.
So that's it, with that you should be back up and running. Let me know if I missed some steps or if you have questions about the process.
*****
BTW, Installing xposed from scratch for those confused on what files to do what with: http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=3034811
Flash this one in recovery: xposed-v74-sdk22-arm.zip (or most current)
Install this apk after you reboot: XposedInstaller_3.0_alpha4.apk (or most current)

Please Delete

agleroy said:
Thanks for the guide. Still gonna wait for a flashable zip though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're better than that. Trying to empower you here...

Please Delete

Hey, could you use normal/dark colors? Reading light yellow and blue is difficult, even when highlighting it with a cursor. Thanks!

a.cid said:
Hey, could you use normal/dark colors? Reading light yellow and blue is difficult, even when highlighting it with a cursor. Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I took all the color out and tweaked it a bit. I was using the dark theme and everything looked pretty good, but when I switched to the light theme... yeah annoying.

I'm still trying to decide if I want/need to root, and/or install a custom ROM on this phone. I have always done so on past phones, but this phone runs so well I don't want to mess it up, and I'm not sure the few features I'm missing warrant messing with things.
Thank you the tutorial though. I will certainly keep it for reference.
Sent from my MotoG3 using XDA Free mobile app

Why does every single guide say to erase the userdata partition??? This is totally unnecessary. Instead, boot into twrp and wipe your userdata. The difference is in your internal storage. If you follow the guide you wipe your internal storage in the very last command. My way, you just do a factory reset on the data partition which doesn't wipe the storage
Also, flashing stock recovery is an unnecessary step when it's being immediately replaced by twrp again.
Selmak said:
I'm still trying to decide if I want/need to root, and/or install a custom ROM on this phone. I have always done so on past phones, but this phone runs so well I don't want to mess it up, and I'm not sure the few features I'm missing warrant messing with things.
Thank you the tutorial though. I will certainly keep it for reference.
Sent from my MotoG3 using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This isn't a custom rom...it's the official motorola firmware update

Thanks for this guide , it's good to know, but I would have to wait for a flasheable UPDATE.zip because my phone's configuration (XT1543, dual sim, 16gb storage, 1gb ram) doesn't have a stock firmware download link in the main thread... and also I don't want to reinstall my apps , haha.

If it works like the other 2 generations of moto g, and at least with the first moto x (all from my personal experience) just skip the erase userdata part and you'll keep your personnal data.
Ota update will go smoothly, no need to restore anything afterwards except root and recovery, indeed.
A backup is always a good thing, sure just in case, but i never used mine on all the ota's I installed on those 3 phones (moto g 2013 16gb, moto g 2014 and moto x 2013)
I don't own a moto g 2015 but my gf does, a 16gb/2gb ram one, she just got it so she installed the update before rooting. If nobody tries it before I'll try it with the next update .

cannot access filehost to get xt1541 5.1.1 any alternative link?

after I updated to 6.0 my computer is not recognising the device? any solutions?

Please add "fastboot flash system system.img_sparsechunk.6" to the top post. This could prevent idiots from sitting in a boot loop for an hour, while they try furiously to find a way out, an error in the download, revert to a previous firmware... Yeah, that was stressful.

Is this the same for the XT1548 virgin mobile 1G of ram and 8G of memory. I understand that it's probably not the same file I just don't really want to wait for the flashable .Zip. But I also don't want to mess up my only device as of now.

Hey i need help....my xt1550 is unlocked and running on stock 6.0 right now......i have installed custom ROMs and rooted the device before.....but now its unrooted and running stock but iam still not able to recieve ota updates.......why?

csumanth16 said:
Hey i need help....my xt1550 is unlocked and running on stock 6.0 right now......i have installed custom ROMs and rooted the device before.....but now its unrooted and running stock but iam still not able to recieve ota updates.......why?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you have stock recovery and an update touched /boot and /system partition, you can take an OTA update. If you have TWRP, root, or other modification in the mentioned areas you cannot take an OTA update.
Having an unlocked bootloader only is not relevant.

What if you unrooted, a rooted stock recovery device, is it safe to take an OTA?
acejavelin said:
If you have stock recovery and an update touched /boot and /system partition, you can take an OTA update. If you have TWRP, root, or other modification in the mentioned areas you cannot take an OTA update.
Having an unlocked bootloader only is not relevant.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

MrTooPhone said:
What if you unrooted, a rooted stock recovery device, is it safe to take an OTA?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No... If your rooted the /boot partition has been modified.

acejavelin said:
No... If your rooted the /boot partition has been modified.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And does it remain notably changed even after going through a full unroot via SuperSU?

MrTooPhone said:
And does it remain notably changed even after going through a full unroot via SuperSU?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, doing a full unroot will return the original /boot partition, but be aware this will not undo any changes you made to /system with root access (such as debloating or Xposed modules), and even if you undo those changes, the Android system has already marked the /system partition as tampered so a check will fail.

[GUIDE] Installing recoveries on 5X, no PC need

Hello guys and girls,
Did you know that 5X has two recovery partitions? Did you know that you do not need PC, cable, buggy ADB drivers, PC utilities and other stuff to install your favorite recovery to any assigned partition and keep the stock at the same time?
Did you know that you are free to start any installed recovery tool?
This guide brings you a deeper understsnding what is inside your device.
Prerequisites: your bootloader must be unlocked, device must be rooted (CM13 is rooted out the box - just enable it in the developer's settings).
Go on:
1. Install Termux terminal emulator from Google Play Market.
2. Type 'su' command in Termux, then confirm root access.
3. Type this command as a root:
# ls -al /dev/block/platform/soc.0/7824900.sdhci/by-name
- if it reports error try to discover the right path step-by-step typing ls /dev/block/platform etc until you seen 'by-name' folder.
This command reports you all partitions installed on your device. Check it out carefully and find strings which end with similar values:
recovery -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p20
erecovery -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p21
So now in my example you can see that I have got two recovery tool partitions labeled 'recovery' and 'erecovery' and their system names. The first is a primary recovery called by VolUp+Power button, the second is an alternative recovery, called with the same buttons but when plugged to PC.
You may flash any recoveries there in any combination on your taste.
4. Download desired recovery tool (twrp for example), unpack and put .IMG file to the root of your memory card, internal or external it does not matter. Just open any file manager and note the full file path. In my example it is:
/storage/emulated/0/recovery.img
5. Flash recovery typing this command:
# dd if=/storage/emulated/0/recovery.img of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p21
- in this example you can see that I am flashing an alternative erecovery. Change the 'of' parameter to your desired partition, using its system name.
Done!
6. Instead of cables, PCs, magic buttons I advise you to boot your desired recovery tool with the following commands in terminal emulator as a root:
# reboot recovery
or
# reboot erecovery
That's all.

Nice!
However, how to root it without PC in the first place?

MT2-User said:
Nice!
However, how to root it without PC in the first place?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, this guide is for experienced 5X users. To get initial root on the stock ROM you need PC of course. See guides in relevant topics: bootloader unlocking, installing twrp and rooting with SuperSU.

cdiamond2 said:
Sorry, this guide is for experienced 5X users. To get initial root on the stock ROM you need PC of course. See guides in relevant topics: bootloader unlocking, installing twrp and rooting with SuperSU.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah...I knew how to do that. The thread title is misleading. That's what I meant.

MT2-User said:
Yeah...I knew how to do that. The thread title is misleading. That's what I meant.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I came to this topic after CM13 flashing. CM has own recovery tool and instead of flashing it to primary as usual you can stay with TWRP and CM at the same time. That was the main idea.
So this topic addressed mainly to CM users.

cdiamond2 said:
I came to this topic after CM13 flashing. CM has own recovery tool and instead of flashing it to primary as usual you can stay with TWRP and CM at the same time. That was the main idea.
So this topic addressed mainly to CM users.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes but you don't have to be experience much with honor Huawei 5 to understand this boys n girls.
Sent from my KIW-L24 using Tapatalk

apply OTA to rooted phone?

i have an unlocked rooted but otherwise stock G4P and it has an OTA but fails to install. Is there a full ROM I can apply which won't wipe? Or some other way which is not involving a full wipe?

nigelhealy said:
i have an unlocked rooted but otherwise stock G4P and it has an OTA but fails to install. Is there a full ROM I can apply which won't wipe? Or some other way which is not involving a full wipe?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried, failed, and eventually gave up. I haven't had the motivation to do a full wipe/flash, but I tried everything else I could think of before giving up.

hp420 said:
I tried, failed, and eventually gave up. I haven't had the motivation to do a full wipe/flash, but I tried everything else I could think of before giving up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you tryied reinstall the full stock rom & recovery (through Fastboot) without wipe?

rafaelrgi said:
Did you tryied reinstall the full stock rom & recovery (through Fastboot) without wipe?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had a twrp backup of my system partition, which I restored, then fastboot flashed the stock kernel, and wiped caches. Safetynet passed, but the ota would not flash. It said there was an unexpected change in the system, or something to that affect.
I'm not aware of any true, untouched flashable rom zip available. I suppose it wouldn't take long to make one, I just didn't have one available to me.

hp420 said:
I had a twrp backup of my system partition, which I restored, then fastboot flashed the stock kernel, and wiped caches. Safetynet passed, but the ota would not flash. It said there was an unexpected change in the system, or something to that affect.
I'm not aware of any true, untouched flashable rom zip available. I suppose it wouldn't take long to make one, I just didn't have one available to me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To install the OTA update the stock recovery is required, and Twrp is a custom recovery.... after restore the backup you should reinstall the stock recovery before apply the OTA.

rafaelrgi said:
To install the OTA update the stock recovery is required, and Twrp is a custom recovery.... after restore the backup you should reinstall the stock recovery before apply the OTA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sorry, didn't see you were asking about fastboot. no, I didn't flash the factory image. I didn't want to go that far and didn't really care enough to do a full wipe

Have you tried Magisk? Could potentially work

hp420 said:
I had a twrp backup of my system partition, which I restored, then fastboot flashed the stock kernel, and wiped caches. Safetynet passed, but the ota would not flash. It said there was an unexpected change in the system, or something to that affect.
I'm not aware of any true, untouched flashable rom zip available. I suppose it wouldn't take long to make one, I just didn't have one available to me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A TWRP backup restore doesn't fix the issue. You have to reflash SYSTEM , BOOT(if modified), RECOVERY(if modified), and OEM through fastboot. That is a "block flash," instead of TWRP, which is "file based restore."

apply OTA to rooted phone
Could someone please give me this zip ota moto g4 play I need this file since I thank you.

VR25 said:
A TWRP backup restore doesn't fix the issue. You have to reflash SYSTEM , BOOT(if modified), RECOVERY(if modified), and OEM through fastboot. That is a "block flash," instead of TWRP, which is "file based restore."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What about other partitions :
gpt, bootloader, adspso, modem
Must they be restored ?
Just after OTA, is it possible to make a raw image backup with TWRP in R/O mode ?

hamelg said:
What about other partitions :
gpt, bootloader, adspso, modem
Must they be restored ?
Just after OTA, is it possible to make a raw image backup with TWRP in R/O mode ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You only need to restore SYSTEM, OEM, BOOT AND RECOVERY images. That's all you'll ever need. NEVER touch other partitions, unless you are upgrading.
To make RAW image backups of SYSTEM and OEM partitions, use terminal in TWRP
Or "adb shell" from your computer (running as root)
adb shell
ls -al /dev/block/platform/soc/7824900.sdhci/by-name
This command will give you the names of the SYSTEM and OEM partitions of your device, Moto G4 Plus. For example, for Moto Z Play (my device), they are mmcblk0p53 and mmcblk0p51 respectively.
So, the commands would be (again, that's an example for MOTO Z PLAY):
Backup
dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p53 of=/sdcard/system.img
dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p51 of=/sdcard/oem.img
Restore
dd if=/sdcard/system.img of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p53
dd if=/sdcard/oem.img of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p51

Thanks much VR25.
With your help, I have successfully applied the latest OTA

hamelg said:
Thanks much VR25.
With your help, I have successfully applied the latest OTA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Confused. The VR25 guidance is when you had taken a full backup when stock, how to restore back to stock to then apply the OTA. You are describing how to apply the OTA on a rooted device without a pre-rooted backup?

You don't need backups to apply the latest OTA.
Get the stock corresponding to your device.
flash LOGO, SYSTEM, OEM, BOOT AND RECOVERY images.
Apply November OTA
Apply February OTA
I did that without wiping my data.
If you want to avoid reset to stock & apply all OTAs, you must have a binary backup of system partition, not a file based backup (see comment #8).
I asked about this issue here :
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=72029402&postcount=55

hamelg said:
You don't need backups to apply the latest OTA.
Get the stock corresponding to your device.
flash LOGO, SYSTEM, OEM, BOOT AND RECOVERY images.
Apply November OTA
Apply February OTA
I did that without wiping my data.
If you want to avoid reset to stock & apply all OTAs, you must have a binary backup of system partition, not a file based backup (see comment #8).
I asked about this issue here :
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=72029402&postcount=55
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where is the stock for my device
Where is the OTA for my device
My device is the USA unlocked G4P XT1607

nigelhealy said:
Where is the stock for my device
Where is the OTA for my device
My device is the USA unlocked G4P XT1607
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly this question, but then the XT1602. Flashed the stock parts, but no message of an OTA and they are nowhere to be found. Or does anyone have latest stock version full ROM?

TheEvilVirus said:
Exactly this question, but then the XT1602. Flashed the stock parts, but no message of an OTA and they are nowhere to be found. Or does anyone have latest stock version full ROM?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, others were just saying too high a level to not actually helpful. As I did this last week I'll tell you now is as step by step as I can to actually try to be helpful.
Firstly you need to know you will wipe data, there's no avoiding it, that I could find so backup everything, that can be a mix of TWRP backup of data to SDCARD external, USB OTG, or Titanium backup to online / SD / OTG. In my case I prefer to simply install everything and configure everything from scratch.
Follow this guide to return to stock.
In my case I'm on Ubuntu Linux desktop, fastboot got a "no permissions" type message so I had to sudo in front.
The stock for your device, well look at your device Status page now before you start, Settings -> About Phone -> it says Software Channel "retus" so when I go to the list of ROMs in the above guide go to mirrors.lolinet.com - firmware - moto - harpia - official - then I went to Retus, you'd go to a different one probably.
Note these are old stock ROMs I think from September so there have been one or two updates since then.
Follow the step by step guide, basically lots of fastboot commands.
The step where it says fastboot oem lock it bawks and say fastboot oem lock begin and that will do another wipe, so given a later fastboot oem unlock would do a 3rd wipe I didn't do the oem lock, I left mine unlocked and that worked fine.
Let it boot, setup, you will then be in an old stock ROM, then if it doesn't offer to do an update, go into Settings, System Updates, and trigger it to look. It will then download and apply a stock OTA ontop of the stock ROM. In my case it was 1 OTA, 1 update, then that that complete. You then are on stock current ROMs.
Then root and whatever you want.
But note, to get to the impending N OTA, you'll probably have to right back to the top here because your rooted Moto G4 Play will likely refuse the future OTA as the system is modified, so you'd have to repeat, return to an old stock ROM and then let it go through the 1 or 2 or 3 OTAs to get to that future release.
Hence you'd be doing the return to stock twice.
If the mirrors could be updated to newer stocks it would bypass the OTA. My other phone - the OnePlus3T they offer mirrors of full ROMs, they are far easier to use because if you are rooted you download the full ROM not just the delta incremental of the change of the OTA, and then you can flash in recovery the full ROM and it ignores the system state, and no wiping of data. The fact the mirror site is out of date is causing the need to wipe so the OTAs work on an unmodified system.
Fortunately I have multiple phones so I can use another for the few hours this all takes.

works great, I just flash it and without wiping data
hamelg said:
You don't need backups to apply the latest OTA.
Get the stock corresponding to your device.
flash LOGO, SYSTEM, OEM, BOOT AND RECOVERY images.
Apply November OTA
Apply February OTA
I did that without wiping my data.
If you want to avoid reset to stock & apply all OTAs, you must have a binary backup of system partition, not a file based backup (see comment #8).
I asked about this issue here :
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=72029402&postcount=55
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
works great and finally my phone can upgrade the OTA updates:laugh::good:

VR25 said:
To make RAW image backups of SYSTEM and OEM partitions, use terminal in TWRP
Or "adb shell" from your computer (running as root)
...
Restore
dd if=/sdcard/system.img of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p53
dd if=/sdcard/oem.img of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p51
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here is time to apply the may OTA MPIS24.241-15.3-21.
I restored the vanilla system.img MPIS24.241-15.3-16 with dd, but it didn't work. The OTA failed with the error "system partition has unexpected content" because the sha1sum was incorrect.
Here is the solution :
Before restoring with dd, you must check "Mount System partition read only" is enable in the MOUNT menu of TWRP.
With TWRP 3.1, you need no more to use dd. Now, the feature "system image backup" is available

[Guide]How to get an update if unlocked and rooted, but otherwise on stock EMUI

I just bought the Honor 8 and immediately unlocked and rooted it via Magik. Of course not long after that, I get a notification that there is an update available. You obviously cannot update the phone by simply pressing the "update" button since we have a non-stock recovery. I did a fair amount of research to find out how I could get the update and I wanted to share what I found. All of this information is out there already, but generally speaking it is spread out in many different threads. Hopefully these directions can help someone else.....
First, the usual disclosures.....
Code:
I am not responsible for bricked devices, dead SD cards,
thermonuclear war, or you getting fired because the alarm app failed. Please
do some research if you have any concerns about features included in this GUIDE
before flashing it! YOU are choosing to make these modifications, and if
you point the finger at me for messing up your device, I will laugh at you.
1) Make a NANDroid backup using TWRP: if the new update locks the phone, you will need this backup to restore data after unlocking it
2) Unroot your phone: honestly I did not do this step myself because I simply didn't think about it. The update process worked for me without unrooting but I am also using Magik which doesn't alter the system files. To ensure success I would definitely recommend you unroot. You will have to reroot the phone after the update regardless if you unrooted or not, so you aren't saving any steps by keeping root at this point. If you have used a different root method besides Magik, you must unroot prior to attempting an upgrade.
3) Obtain stock recovery.img file: the update won't work with TWRP as your recovery, so we need to flash the original Huawei recovery to replace TWRP. If you already have a copy of the stock recovery skip to step 4. If you are like me you don't have a copy of the stock recovery image on hand and we will need to extract it from the stock ROM image. Using a computer (not your phone) download the stock ROM image for your device. This website seems to have a list of recent versions and it is where I downloaded the L14 B389 version that I used.
Download the Huawei Update Extractor software and unzip the folder on the computer. Open the HuaweiUpdateExtractor app and use the software to extract the "Recovery.img" file. Here is a Youtube video showing how to do this. Please note, although the video shows several files being extracted you only need to extract the "Recovery.img" file for our use. Move the stock recovery image to your ADB folder so you can flash it in step 4.
4) Flash the stock recovery image: use the stock recovery file and flash it to recovery using the same instructions as you used to flash TWRP in the first place. If you need a refresher, look at section 2 (parts 1-5) of the first post in this thread. Just make sure you substite the name of the stock recovery image instead of the TWRP.img
5) Reboot into system
6) Install Update: go to the Settings - System Update menu on your phone. In the upper right corner, click on the three dots and it will bring up a menu where you can choose "Download latest full update". Click on this. This will start the update process by downloading the full ROM and not just the smaller update package. For me the package size was approaching 2gb, so make sure you are ready to handle that size transfer. After the download is complete, start the update process. I was nervous at first, but everything went fine. If for some reason the update fails, I would reboot and try again. I did have one failure, but I cannot explain if it was a bad download, or something I did wrong (like not unrooting the phone prior to attempting the update). It worked fine the second attempt.
7) Reboot: the phone will reboot and you should check the status to make sure you are on the latest version.
8) Flash TWRP recovery: I read where people said full updates would lock your phone and you would have to start from scratch unlocking it (and therefore wiping all data). This was not the case for me and this update using this method. I was simply able to flash TWRP again. You should be a rock star at flashing recoveries by now so get to it and flash TWRP again. If your phone is locked, then read the note at the bottom of this post.
9) Reboot into system
10) Flash Magik zip: reboot into recovery and flash Magik zip to get SuperSU.
11) Install Magik modules: reboot into system. Reinstall any Magik modules you use as they don't get carried over from the previous installation.
12) Enjoy your updated phone
If for some reason the full update did lock the phone, then you will need to unlock it again before you can flash TWRP. You have already done this before, so use whatever method was successful for you. Obviously this will fully wipe your phone. After flashing TWRP and Magik, I would make a backup of that raw "stock" image just in case this next step doesn't work. After making the backup, you can try to restore just the data partition of the NANDroid backup you made in step 1 (click restore in TWRP, select the backup made in step 1 but deselect everything except the "data" partition before starting the restore process.) I have never done this, but I have read it will recover all your data (apps, etc) without affecting the system partition and therefore it won't mess up the upgrade. I would not recommend doing this if going from Marshmallow to Nugget or Nugget to Oreo however. In those cases, it is better to simple start fresh and redownload all of your apps.

Thank you for this thread.
Hello sic,
I am having the same issue with my Huawei GR-5 2017 and like you, I have my fair share of researching for weeks now and I was really happy to stumble on this thread.
Before I start with the process, I have a few questions for you. I hope you could help me (even though this thread is half a year ago).
Can you elaborate steps 1 and 2 or could you provide me a link on how to do those?

I got xposed installed im on emui 8 i also tried flashfire but it only turns the phone off.. Ist it eneugh to uninstall xposed? And can i get the recovery img from fullota? And must i restore images in magisk? I will try it without xposed installed. And a theory: is the information abaut bootloader unlock stored in a partition like oeminfo? If it is we could restore oeminfo.