Database Users

Comprehensive guide and resources for migrating to a custom ROM from stock OREO?

Okay, so I've been trying to get some answers regarding custom ROMs for the past few days but I haven't even got one...and it seems I'm not the only one looking for them. So...lay it in this thread maybe we can start something up.
I am on stock OREO B04, phone's software has never been tampered with anything, TWRP, BL unlock and so on.
This is the premise of the thread, not only for me but for other users who find themselves in the same situation.
Oreo seems to be a bit of a hassle right now for migrating to custom ROMs, and this is not helped by the fact guides in the A7 section are all over the place as well, some may be outdated and there's no clear "Don't use this on x.x version" warning.
I am not even going to attempt to unlock the BL until I clear answer on wether it's possible or not. So let's start with this:
-Is it possible to unlock the BL on OREO?
-If not, what stock official ROM should we install in order to successfuly attempt to unlock the bl?
-Which guide or method is the best for doing so? I've found 2, one from 2016 on MM ROMs and one provided by TurkDevs that seems to work on some Nougat ROMs.
Then comes the recovery section:
-What TWRP should we install on a freshly unlocked device, the official releases, or the Nfound custom ones?
-Also, what are the prerequisites for installing TWRP...I hear that fastboot commands are gone since Nougat and that some flashing methods don't work, then I hear somehow you can do it by bringing back fastboot. How? There's only replies saying "type that command in fastboot" but nobody says if they had it or reinstalled it somehow.
Then comes the ROMs section:
-All custom ROMs seem to require a vendor partition as most if not all of them are Treble based. How do we get that to work?
- I am aware of the fact that the ROM threads have a prerequisites section, but none of them redirect you to a guide on how to get those prerequisites working. I understand that it's not the dev's responsability, I am not bashing anyone here, but a little bit of info cleaning and structuring should be in order in this section.
What I want for me and others in my situation is a clear answer on how to proceed, not a "flash this flash that". There's no secret that the A7 still has life in it especially with the new PIE ROMs.
I've recently seen a reply in one of the threads, encouraging the dev of one of this ROMs to not be disappointed by the seemingly low interest in PIE ROMs. I don't think there's a low interest in them, I think there are users that don't want to risk a bricked phone because of outdated guides and unlcear steps.
There's a lot of confusion going around here so I hope this thread will become a source of updated info on what's possible and what not. Thanks in advance!

Hi, I'm not the best person to help you with this since i've unlocked my Axon 7 a long time ago and I can't remember everything but I will try to help you based on my experience and on what I can remember.
Let's go
Starting with the bootloader, I unlocked mine on stock Nougat B09 using EDL Tool (Oreo wasn't even out when I unlocked my bootloader so I don't know if you can do it while running Oreo but just to be safe you should downgrade to Nougat)
It should be quite easy to unlock the bootloader, here's a simple step by step (please anyone correct me if I'm wrong)
- Download the EDL tool from the link above
- Downgrade your phone to Nougat (Using the updater on the phone itself or an EDL Package with EDL Tool or MiFlash - you can find the stock ROMs on @raystef66 's Download Center
- Once running Stock Nougat, turn on USB Debugging and Allow OEM Unlocking on Developer Settings
- Plug the phone to your computer and open EDL Tool (that should reboot the phone into EDL mode automatically)
- Navigate through the EDL Tool using the number keys on the keyboard, and it should be easy to find the Unlock Bootloader option. Unlock it and you should be done.
Once again that's the way I did it, I don't know if this is the easiest one available. You have more methods available like this one
Now onto the recovery situation, I think each developer recommends a specific TWRP version for their ROM's, like for example
@raystef66 likes NFound's TWRP 3.2.1-8 as you can see on his ROM's posts (check the first line in the installation guide)
@OrdenKrieger likes the official TWRP as you can see on Lineage OS 16.0 post
Generally, official TWRP should work just fine with any ROM.
On a recently unlocked Nougat Stock ROM, I recommend maybe an older version of TWRP, like 3.2.1 for example and you can flash it also using EDL Tool.
But when moving to Pie I recommend you use the latest TWRP version or the version that the ROM developer recommends. You probably know this but you can update your TWRP version by flashing it over the current version you have.
Now about the ROM's, the new ones have a Vendor partition so you have to create it when you're coming from Stock (because our Axon 7 doesn't support Project Treble) and to do that you can use @Oki 's PARTY Tool and after that you can flash the ROM normally, using the proper Bootstack and Modem files.
You could also try GSI's but I can't help you with that because I never tried them.
And this should be all.
I tried to keep it simple for now but i can help you further
I'm not the best person to guide you but at least I tried Feel free to ask me something and good luck!

@joaocandeias Well, dang it worked. Everything you described:
-going back to Nougat
-unlocking the bootloader with the EDL tool
-flashing TWRP-
creating the Vendor partition, and installing the new ROMs.
There were a few hiccups on the road, mostly driver related from my previous attempt, but nothing severe or something that would cause the device to brick.
I just installed @raystef66 's ResRemix ROM and it works fine. I'll start testing more of them in daily use and see which suits my needs best.
Thanks for the assistance!

TorqueSsS said:
@joaocandeias Well, dang it worked. Everything you described:
-going back to Nougat
-unlocking the bootloader with the EDL tool
-flashing TWRP-
creating the Vendor partition, and installing the new ROMs.
There were a few hiccups on the road, mostly driver related from my previous attempt, but nothing severe or something that would cause the device to brick.
I just installed @raystef66 's ResRemix ROM and it works fine. I'll start testing more of them in daily use and see which suits my needs best.
Thanks for the assistance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm glad I could help
Since you're not the only person with questions on how to migrate from stock to custom, I'm thinking about writing a full post so more people can see it.
Btw what method did you use to downgrade to nougat?

@joaocandeias Sorry for the delayed response, I've got a really f'd up sleeping schedule these days. I'll write the exact steps I've done.
1. So, I first downloaded the B09 Nougat full stock ROM from the download center and tried to downgrade using the normal software updater in the phone (OTA window, local option).
It didn't work at first, I received a compatibility error, saying that the update is for "ailsa_ii" devices, while the device is not(or to be more exact, my device was " " ), which I found odd.
But, I thought that maybe I need the linked versions(like the last Nougat ROM before Oreo) so I downloaded the B10 Nougat ROM, and used the same procedure.
2. I set up the phone as a dud(skip everything, no Google account), turned USB debugging and OEM unlocking on, installed the original ZTE drivers straight from the phone and rebooted it into EDL to proceed with unlocking the BL.
At this point, I had the QUSB_BULK driver stick from my previous use of Zadig, so one quick "uninstall device software" and relpuging the phone go me the Qualcom 9008 driver in order.
3. I started the EDL tool, navigated through it and started the BL unlock procedure.
Once the phone rebooted I was greeted by the password screen.
One factory reset later and repeating the procedure greeted me with the "Bootloader unlocked" message. Sucess!
4.Now for TWRP, Vendor and ROM, got all the files onto the SD card, I flashedTWRP 3.2.1-8 NFound, then, from TWRP, I used the party tool, then flashed the UBv2(at which point it reverted TWRP to 3.2.3, flashed the 3.2.1-8 again with EDL ), modem, ROM, GApps, rebooted, set it up, then flashed Magisk...and everything seems fine.
The only issue I have now seems to be the camera, both stock app and GCam.
Open camera works , has the correct photo and video res, 60FPS doesn't work and the flash seems a bit laggy, but for me it's ok.
The DAC however is there, alive and kicking, Neutron detected the Hi-Res codec at launch and switched to it. It sounds the same as stock OREO to me so it is great, as this was my greatest fear when migrating to PIE. The DAC-AMP combo is like 60% of the reason I bought this phone in the first place.

TorqueSsS said:
@joaocandeias Sorry for the delayed response, I've got a really f'd up sleeping schedule these days. I'll write the exact steps I've done.
1. So, I first downloaded the B09 Nougat full stock ROM from the download center and tried to downgrade using the normal software updater in the phone (OTA window, local option).
It didn't work at first, I received a compatibility error, saying that the update is for "ailsa_ii" devices, while the device is not(or to be more exact, my device was " " ), which I found odd.
But, I thought that maybe I need the linked versions(like the last Nougat ROM before Oreo) so I downloaded the B10 Nougat ROM, and used the same procedure.
2. I set up the phone as a dud(skip everything, no Google account), turned USB debugging and OEM unlocking on, installed the original ZTE drivers straight from the phone and rebooted it into EDL to proceed with unlocking the BL.
At this point, I had the QUSB_BULK driver stick from my previous use of Zadig, so one quick "uninstall device software" and relpuging the phone go me the Qualcom 9008 driver in order.
3. I started the EDL tool, navigated through it and started the BL unlock procedure.
Once the phone rebooted I was greeted by the password screen.
One factory reset later and repeating the procedure greeted me with the "Bootloader unlocked" message. Sucess!
4.Now for TWRP, Vendor and ROM, got all the files onto the SD card, I flashedTWRP 3.2.1-8 NFound, then, from TWRP, I used the party tool, then flashed the UBv2(at which point it reverted TWRP to 3.2.3, flashed the 3.2.1-8 again with EDL ), modem, ROM, GApps, rebooted, set it up, then flashed Magisk...and everything seems fine.
The only issue I have now seems to be the camera, both stock app and GCam.
Open camera works , has the correct photo and video res, 60FPS doesn't work and the flash seems a bit laggy, but for me it's ok.
The DAC however is there, alive and kicking, Neutron detected the Hi-Res codec at launch and switched to it. It sounds the same as stock OREO to me so it is great, as this was my greatest fear when migrating to PIE. The DAC-AMP combo is like 60% of the reason I bought this phone in the first place.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! That will help me a lot to write a full guide. You'll be credited, don't worry
And yeah, when you migrate to custom roms you'll have to sacrifice camera quality and functionality and also a bit of speakers sound quality (all dolby atmos ports I tried are quite buggy and don't work well ; i only use atmos with the speakers). Headphones sound quality is great though.
If you don't use camera that much (not my case) and you're okay with the speakers sound quality then custom roms are probably the best option out there.

@joaocandeias
I was fully aware of the camera issues I might encounter, this has been the case with my old Mediatek devices when going to custom as well, same camera issues, but at least...it works here. Yeah, I lost some functionality, but to me it's a good trade-off. It can still take snaps and film properly so it's enough for me.
I am kind of going to miss Dolby on speakers (never liked it on headphones though), as it did a really good job for podcast style videos on YT, but it still sounds way better than a lot of phones without it so it's fine. I just need to crank the volume up a little more than usual.

I've heard that treble Pie Roms require a oreo bootloader, is this true? I am still confused how to install on my A2017G. In which order would I install bootloader and vendor partition?

US997 US Cellular/BRIGHTPOINT Bootloader Unlock Solution??

OK so I need some help...
When I originally purchased my LG G6 in June of 2019, I made sure it was a US997 model, but I ended up getting a BRIGHTPOINT version during my purchase. I went through the website to check the imei and the device ID and it gave me the not unlockable status.
After that, I went and decided to update the software manually to US99721e since it wouldn't OTA it and have been on that ever since. Now, I just recently tried while on the 21e software and I was given an unlock.bin code!
So if someone could help me out:
IF you're on a US997 BRIGHTPOINT G6:
-Download LG UP and UpperCut
-Download US997_21e_01_0211-UCL.kdz at lg-firmwares.com (this is the one I'm on, try this one first!)
-Once it's done, enable developer mode, adb debugging, and OEM unlock
-Go through the unlocking process
Please let me know what you find out!!

Is that only for us cellular?
Sent from my V60 ThinQ using XDA Labs

I have a brightpoint LG G6, which I bought as the seller claimed it was an unlocked US997, failing to share it was a OEM phone. I don't understand how this works please can you clarify? I tried the unlocking process and I have to supply my phone information to LG. Their database says it is a brightwell phone and so they won't release the unlock. Are you saying that after installing this ROM I don't need the key from LG to unlock the bootloader?
I have installed Uppercut and LGUP (1.14 as newer versions don't seem to work). I downloaded the ROM and I have the LGUP loaded. It shows the phone using US99721a. I have 4 process options, Refurbish, Upgrade, FOTA upgrade or Phonesettings which is the one to use?

It works! At least I obtained an unlock.bin file from LG. I need to work out which is the best LG G6 US997 ROM and how to load it when my SD card doesn't work. Any help or pointers to useful information much appreciated. For anyone else trying this here is what I found. I downloaded the LG windows drivers and LGUP 1.14 (There are newer versions but these don't work with uppercut. I downloaded Uppercut from XDA website and then you run Uppercut not LGUP. This immediately caused my virus checked to block it as it contains a trojan. I didn't like that but googled to find others had the same issue. There seems to be a way to load the correct file to get LGUP to work directly and I would recommend researching that but I disabled the virus software and proceeded. I used the UPGRADE option in LGUP - you need to reboot your phone into download mode. To do so, disconnect USB cable then Power off the phone completely. Now hold Volume Up then plug in USB cable at the same time. Make sure that LGUP is NOT running when you connect the USB cable and start it once you are in download mode. It loads the ROM very quickly and takes a bit longer to reboot and then it needs time to upgrade android as you have a 6 months newer version of Android 8. Then follow direction on the LG unlock site https://developer.lge.com/resource/mobile/RetrieveBootloader.dev. You will need to install ADK https://developer.android.com/studio/releases/platform-tools unzip after you download. LG emailed my unlock code immediately.

Yes, I can confirm that it works with the US997 model now. I already was at version US99721e so I didn't have to jump through the hoops to load this version. I went through the steps to unlock the bootloader via the LG developer website and voila, got sent the unlock.bin file, too.
Now I am pretty sure that I tried that in past perhaps 1-2 years ago and it didn't work, so perhaps LG has secretly flipped a few bits in their database to allow unlocking for these not quite brand new devices.
I just applied the unlock.bin and got the "cannot check for corruption" warning on the boot screen. So this is working - fantastic!
Now have to restore my device from the LG Backup I made before and put on the SD card.

I had tried the unlock last year but I didn't retry before I updated so it may have worked anyway and the update of the ROM wasn't needed. I unlocked the phone and installed Sky Hawk recovery but when that starts it asks for a deception password and nothing I have tried works. I'm not sure if that is a real issue or I can continue safely with flashing a new ROM. Has anyone worked through this issue?

challenger07 said:
I had tried the unlock last year but I didn't retry before I updated so it may have worked anyway and the update of the ROM wasn't needed. I unlocked the phone and installed Sky Hawk recovery but when that starts it asks for a deception password and nothing I have tried works. I'm not sure if that is a real issue or I can continue safely with flashing a new ROM. Has anyone worked through this issue?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First, when you're in Adroid remove all screen lock mechanisms, you can re-enable it later.
Enable USB debugging, do adb reboot bootloader and fastboot flash recovery with this recovery instead (rel_o2):
https://forum.xda-developers.com/lg-g6/development/recovery-twrp-3-2-1-unofficial-fixes-t3722199
Do the button combo to launch recovery. If you're in recovery, first reformat /data (you have to enter "yes") to get rid of encrption and after that flash the anti-root removal tool mentioned in the post. Then reboot into recovery and then flash Magisk and/or your ROM of choice. Note that I have only used this with stock ROM and Magisk and not tried any custom ROMs, but the thread has plenty of people having also tried other ROMs.

How do you even know if you have a Brightpoint device?

I found out when I tried to unlock. http://mobile.developer.lge.com/

Thanks for the info. I'll dig into this once I know for sure that a version of Android 10 is available to load into the phone.
What I've been dealing with so far keeps asking for a 15 digit IMEI number. My phone only has a 14 digit value.
I pulled box (yes I kept it) and discovered that the IMEI is 15 digits. No idea why the value is the phone truncates the last digit. The site that checks IMEI numbers says that it is the platinum edition: US997PL. Gee, the box says that.

Looking for HydrogenOS MSM Download Tool for 6T (aka H2OS, HOS)

I'll keep it point form:
I have a Chinese 6T, and any time I try to use MSM with an OOS ops file, I get "Device not match image".
I got my drivers from Windows Update, they work
I even tried SMT mode
I think the files here would work, but they're gone now
Background:
I cannot access fastboot/adb --only the unlocked bootloader warning screen, then Qualcomm dump screen
I understand the process of turning off the phone, then plugging it in with vol+/- pressed --I am able to get into EDL but that's it
I got my OnePlus 6T a week ago, brand 'new' (never opened), and only used it for a day before fudging it up --this sucks!
I've tried all of the 6T OOS MSM Download Tool versions available on this forum, site-wide. The only thing I haven't been able to find and try is the HOS 6T unencrypted ops file with a corresponding MSM Tool.
Would really really appreciate those files, if anyone has them tucked away.
Sincerest thanks in advance to anyone who can help.

In all my research, and broken links, etc --I really think that OnePlus is forced to keep Hydrogen OS a (state) secret. We can all easily acquire the Oxygen OS decrypted, but no one has the decrypted Hydrogen OS MSM Download Tool anymore, all links lead to 404 pages.
If anyone has a copy of Hydrogen OS but don't want to publicly share it, drop me a DM and we can talk elsewhere. I'm buying another OnePlus 6T for now and putting this one in a drawer.
I'm not in a rush to find a solution, I know these things can take time. Even if you read this in 2022 or hell, even 2023, please assume I still need the HydrogenOS MSM Download Tool for OnePlus 6T. I'd really like to fix my phone one day, even if it isn't as quickly as I'd like.
Thanks in advance to whoever helps me out, one day!

Need Help rooting HD1925

Hello, as you all can see I have the T-Mobile version of this phone. I have tried everything and I cant get the device rooted. I bought this phone unlocked from Amazon and I use it on Mint Mobile. I have no idea how or even if it effects the rooting process but, I cant think of any reason why none of the methods I've used dont work. I have tried using the "All In One Tool" and the same thing happens with that tool, that happens with every method I've tried; I can use a cmd window to boot into fastboot but, once I am there none of the commands I enter seem to have any effect. I can explain more but, has anyone experienced this or knows what the problem is?

All the info you need is right here:
[GUIDE] ROOT OnePlus 7T Pro McLaren 5G (T-Mobile version HD1925)
Hi. So I wanted to put together a little write-up on how to root the T-Mobile McLaren 5G variant, at least how I rooted mine, as there doesn't seem to be anything about this yet. I was actually able to root my device last night successfully, so I...
forum.xda-developers.com
Assuming your phone has been SIM/carrier unlocked by T-Mobile, you then need to request an unlock token from OnePlus. All info in above thread
But I highly highly highly recommend making a backup of your persist partition using the MSM tool before even unlocking the bootloader

Weird situation of KB2007

It's a long story but in brief I have a KB2007 TMO which Network unlocked, Bootloader Unlocked ( Official method, with unlock_code.bin from TMO ). I used this device to do the testing of Custom ROM. One day, accidently I did a format all ( wipe all partitions ) on the device, then I had to use MSM Tool to recover it. Strange thing is, I can only use MSM for 9R Ported ROM for 8T to bring it back to life ( as the most recent ROM I tried before the accident is the 9R ported ROM ). Then, in order to bring it back to 8T OOS, I flashed the original param.bin then I can use normal 8T MSM to revert back to OOS.
But, since then, the device is not able to connect to Cellular network anymore, even it still recognize the SIM CARD inserted ( I also recover device's original IMEI, MEID...but NV Data, EFS from same variant 8T device of mine ). Tried all the possible methods that I know to make it connect to the cellular but so far no luck.
So if anyone have faced this situation or have information about it, please kindly share. Thanks
P/S: I upload 2 pics which briefly describe the situation of the network on my device now. If any other information may need to clear out the info, pls let me know

I corrupted the persist partition on my NordN10 awhile back, which f'd it up in a myriad of fun ways. I eventually cojoled someone into to dd'ing me a copy of persist from another tmo n10, which got the device into a sane condition to fix everything downstream of that.
I learned a couple things while trying to fix it before I had another persist partition; always backup persist/modem/efs partitions shortly after rooting a OnePlus, and to use bkerlers edl tool to make an advanced, engineer grade, backup. One that can unbrick the device without using msm/fastboot and avoids the hasle of finding a computer with windows on it.
I have a persist backup if you want to try that, and I'm going to make a carbon copy of the device with bkerlers edl soon. I did the impatient thing and converted to eu to get root while waiting for the unlock token from OnePlus. However a dump of the stock tmo rom with a locked bootloader is on my agenda.
I would recommend restoring tmo's modem/efs partitions (like twrp can handle) and/or nvram level things that edl tool can handle. Let me know and Ill dump whatever chunk of firmware my tmo 8t has. Just got it today, so it's far from settled into a daily user.
Here's the edl tool from GitHub (you may need to compile it)
GitHub - bkerler/edl: Inofficial Qualcomm Firehose / Sahara / Streaming / Diag Tools :)
Inofficial Qualcomm Firehose / Sahara / Streaming / Diag Tools :) - GitHub - bkerler/edl: Inofficial Qualcomm Firehose / Sahara / Streaming / Diag Tools :)
github.com
Edl tool is worse case scenario, I'll backup modem/efs on request in recovery or with good ol dd
Also there's an app called Network Mode Universal in playstore that brings up an otherwise obfuscated Network Menu.... I use it to select 5G on 12+ gsi roms for my n10. You'll figure it out soon, good luck

mrbox23 said:
I corrupted the persist partition on my NordN10 awhile back, which f'd it up in a myriad of fun ways. I eventually cojoled someone into to dd'ing me a copy of persist from another tmo n10, which got the device into a sane condition to fix everything downstream of that.
I learned a couple things while trying to fix it before I had another persist partition; always backup persist/modem/efs partitions shortly after rooting a OnePlus, and to use bkerlers edl tool to make an advanced, engineer grade, backup. One that can unbrick the device without using msm/fastboot and avoids the hasle of finding a computer with windows on it.
I have a persist backup if you want to try that, and I'm going to make a carbon copy of the device with bkerlers edl soon. I did the impatient thing and converted to eu to get root while waiting for the unlock token from OnePlus. However a dump of the stock tmo rom with a locked bootloader is on my agenda.
I would recommend restoring tmo's modem/efs partitions (like twrp can handle) and/or nvram level things that edl tool can handle. Let me know and Ill dump whatever chunk of firmware my tmo 8t has. Just got it today, so it's far from settled into a daily user.
Here's the edl tool from GitHub (you may need to compile it)
GitHub - bkerler/edl: Inofficial Qualcomm Firehose / Sahara / Streaming / Diag Tools :)
Inofficial Qualcomm Firehose / Sahara / Streaming / Diag Tools :) - GitHub - bkerler/edl: Inofficial Qualcomm Firehose / Sahara / Streaming / Diag Tools :)
github.com
Edl tool is worse case scenario, I'll backup modem/efs on request in recovery or with good ol dd
Also there's an app called Network Mode Universal in playstore that brings up an otherwise obfuscated Network Menu.... I use it to select 5G on 12+ gsi roms for my n10. You'll figure it out soon, good luck
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry for late reply bro. And yeah, one of the most stupid thing of me is that I do not have any critical partitions backup before playing with the 1+ devices ))) About EDL tool which you mentioned, I did tried it awhile back and it did helped to flash the GPT into the device so I can ( at least ) put the device into EDL mode to use MSM and bring it back to life.
And since I can't think of any worse situation for my 8T, so I would like to try any method we can think of which possibly to solve the situation. So, pls help to send me the backup of you, I'd love to give it a shot ( in fact, can't find a good persist backup anywhere even on some paid site which I was disparately purchased when trying to recover my 8T+ ))) )

i actually had this the other day when i had to have them change my sim card to a new one. there was no flashing i am on the global rom (11) after they did the swap in the system i had the same type of thing. they had to go in and reset everything and then re add the sim. yours may not be the same issue but it did fix this for me.

I think my situation is quite different since it caused by Format all ( wipe out all partitions ). Therefore the NVDATA is corrupted and persist is damaged. And since my device is fully Unlocked from TMO so I did tried many SIM CARDs, the issue remains (