Database Develop

Need some help regarding Custom-ROMs and their consequences!

Hello, iam a Xperia-Z (C6603) User for a week or two and am now looking forward to a
Nice and clean custom-Rom without any bloatware which I hate(ultimate music Sony select,sonysocialfoo and Facebook and alike)
and I guess cm11nightly would fulfill my needs, as i would also really love a smartphone without gapps.
FIrst I thought it would basically be a decision between the to be flashed ROM but now
I read about the bravia-engine getting lost forever which would really suck, is this still
State-of-the-art? Or is there an Option to get it back, as far as I know the BE is basically still there but licensed over a key like the mpeg2-codec on the raspberry-Pi isn't there a possibility to back it up and still be able to use it when you revert back to stock for example?
You're in charge now, what do you suggest me? Iam still on 4.2.2 and would like to get everything up-to-date soon. Btw. I would want a Rom that is of the same color as stock 4.2.2 so basically black, a white theme would be hard to look at in dark conditions even when turned down to lowest brightness.
So to sum it up: NO bloatware (must), NO gapps(nicetohave), black theme like 4.2.2(must), still BEngine(nicetohave)
Btw. How's the image-quality with custom-Roms? It shouldn't get worse than it is in 4.2.2 stock if possible!
Thanks! :good::highfive:

luluchambler said:
Hello, iam a Xperia-Z (C6603) User for a week or two and am now looking forward to a
Nice and clean custom-Rom without any bloatware which I hate(ultimate music Sony select,sonysocialfoo and Facebook and alike)
and I guess cm11nightly would fulfill my needs, as i would also really love a smartphone without gapps.
FIrst I thought it would basically be a decision between the to be flashed ROM but now
I read about the bravia-engine getting lost forever which would really suck, is this still
State-of-the-art? Or is there an Option to get it back, as far as I know the BE is basically still there but licensed over a key like the mpeg2-codec on the raspberry-Pi isn't there a possibility to back it up and still be able to use it when you revert back to stock for example?
You're in charge now, what do you suggest me? Iam still on 4.2.2 and would like to get everything up-to-date soon. Btw. I would want a Rom that is of the same color as stock 4.2.2 so basically black, a white theme would be hard to look at in dark conditions even when turned down to lowest brightness.
So to sum it up: NO bloatware (must), NO gapps(nicetohave), black theme like 4.2.2(must), still BEngine(nicetohave)
Btw. How's the image-quality with custom-Roms? It shouldn't get worse than it is in 4.2.2 stock if possible!
Thanks! :good::highfive:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would recommend Cyanogen Mod to most people. Honestly I can't live without the features these days!
Regarding the consequences.. Well there aren't really any.. Kinda.. You may or may not lose your warranty based on how stingy Sony are feeling at the time. Most of the BRICK warnings are just to cover developers if someone does something wrong or if your phone just so happens to die of something completely unrelated while installing the rom.
I would recommend trawling this forum for at least and hour or two just reading the various guides; How to backup your phone, How to unlock the bootloader and, most importantly, how to backup your TA partition.
It's quite a pain free process. It's just better to be aware of what could go wrong, so you are prepared and can easily apply the fix before panicking and messing something up
Good luck and happy trawling!
You only have to learn these things once. Once your rooted, unlocked and running a custom rom updating is easier than sonys

Hi, thank you for your reply.
I just looked up what exactly the "TA-Partition" is and i guess the only thing that was worrying me (loosing Bravia) is not up-to-date anymore
So lets get started, i looked up what i need to backup the "TA-Partition" and if i understood everything its basically having a rooted Xperia-Z and a double-click on a .bat-file?
So i guess the best would to not upgrade any of the shown OTA-Updates by Sony, and root the 4.2.2-Stock ROM that is on the device right now?
As far as i know rooting 4.2.2 isn't really a problem right now, agreed?
So after sucessfully rooting the Sony Xperia-Z its just backing up the "TA-Par tition" with "TA-Backup"-Script?
After that, its unlocking the Boot-loader over the Sony-Website (IMEI, Name, Email....) so that they send you the Unlock-Code, after that you'll have to use fastboot to finally unlock it?
(If i check the Service Menu "Rooting Status": there is nothing behind it, but the bootloader-unlock allowed: says yes, so no problem right?)
After that you most likely are done for the moment, until you decide if it should be CM10.1Stable or CM11Nightly, rig
How's the status of CM11 right now, any known major bugs?
Thank you already for your help :good:

luluchambler said:
Hi, thank you for your reply.
I just looked up what exactly the "TA-Partition" is and i guess the only thing that was worrying me (loosing Bravia) is not up-to-date anymore
So lets get started, i looked up what i need to backup the "TA-Partition" and if i understood everything its basically having a rooted Xperia-Z and a double-click on a .bat-file?
So i guess the best would to not upgrade any of the shown OTA-Updates by Sony, and root the 4.2.2-Stock ROM that is on the device right now?
As far as i know rooting 4.2.2 isn't really a problem right now, agreed?
So after sucessfully rooting the Sony Xperia-Z its just backing up the "TA-Par tition" with "TA-Backup"-Script?
After that, its unlocking the Boot-loader over the Sony-Website (IMEI, Name, Email....) so that they send you the Unlock-Code, after that you'll have to use fastboot to finally unlock it?
(If i check the Service Menu "Rooting Status": there is nothing behind it, but the bootloader-unlock allowed: says yes, so no problem right?)
After that you most likely are done for the moment, until you decide if it should be CM10.1Stable or CM11Nightly, rig
How's the status of CM11 right now, any known major bugs?
Thank you already for your help :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been using Cyanogenmod 11 nighties for months now, no obvious bugs
Some features aren't implemented yet and the occasional feature is broken.. Nothing really integral to the phone though
You've pretty much got the method down! Just ensure you use a root method for your sony firmware version (Android version). It should use some form of "Exploit" to avoid deleting the TA-Partition. Honestly I backed mine up and haven't ever wanted to restore it, the features are more of a gimmick than anything useful
Enjoy

A few more questions! (Iam sorry )
So as far as i can see, my smartphone is running "10.3.1.A.0.244" which is regarding to the post by DooMLord not exploitable.
I therefore have to flash the "10.3.A.0.423"-Kernel-Only so that the previously used exploit works again.
After that i'll have to restore the Kernel that was previously on the Smartphone therefore "10.3.1.A.0.244"
After that root should stay in intact, but what about the TA-Partion? Is it somehow affected by this?
Secound Question, is it crucial to have an micro-sdhc inserted to sucessfully flash CM11 onto the Xperia Z after backing up TA, or is it possible without?
And the Image-Quality (taking Pictures) should be kinda worse on CM11 than it is with Sony's Stock Firmware, is it possible to include(myself) the propritary firmware.blobs for the Camera as we do it with gapps, or will i have to live with the reduced image Quality?
Thanks!

Changing from KingRoot to SuperSU got me a bootloop. With a locked bootloader.

I have no windows computer with adb drivers and flashtool. I cannot unlock the bootloader for my phone. I turned to the one-touch root apps and found KingRoot. It worked; it injected itself into /system/xbin, but the root was just MOD EDIT by @gregbradley Rule 2.1 (Swearing activating the profanity filter) . Next, I got an app to switch KingRoot to SuperSU, since Mr. w0lf is clearly an idiot (his shell script is the worst shell programming out there), and it worked too. I updated the su binary, was prompted to reboot, and the next thing on my hands is a bootloop. How can I fix this with a locked bootloader? I don't want to pay money to get it fixed (I can afford it); what should I do?
My parents are willing to provide me with a windows vm.

obe-xda said:
How can I fix this with a locked bootloader? I don't want to pay money to get it fixed (I can afford it); what should I do?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry to hear that you have had problems with Kingroot, you're not the first and you wont be the last.
As long as the phone still turns on and you can get it into flashmode, then you will be able to rescue it, but a Windows PC is going to be essential.
The easiest option will be to install PC Companion, then follow the instructions to repair it.
Unfortunately this will put you back where you started, stock rom, possibly MM build.
If you want to spend some more time and root you phone correctly and enable flashing of custom roms then you need to follow bilboa1's guide completely.
Make sure you do a backup of your TA partition, before you do anything else.
You will need Sony drivers and flashtool
Rooting your phone will not effect the bootloader and there are several 'stock' roms that you can flash that will not effect bootloader status. Slim is a favourite of mine.
MM builds are still a bit flakey and it'll be several months before all the bugs are ironed out, so might be best to avoid for the moment.

Didgesteve said:
Sorry to hear that you have had problems with Kingroot, you're not the first and you wont be the last.
As long as the phone still turns on and you can get it into flashmode, then you will be able to rescue it, but a Windows PC is going to be essential.
The easiest option will be to install PC Companion, then follow the instructions to repair it.
Unfortunately this will put you back where you started, stock rom, possibly MM build.
If you want to spend some more time and root you phone correctly and enable flashing of custom roms then you need to follow bilboa1's guide completely.
Make sure you do a backup of your TA partition, before you do anything else.
You will need Sony drivers and flashtool
Rooting your phone will not effect the bootloader and there are several 'stock' roms that you can flash that will not effect bootloader status. Slim is a favourite of mine.
MM builds are still a bit flakey and it'll be several months before all the bugs are ironed out, so might be best to avoid for the moment.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. I will try it. I have nothing against the stock rom, luckily I know now to unlock the bootloader before rooting.
I will come back with the results in a few days to 1 week.

The great adventure of rooting the XZ1C

Hello everyone,
I have to say I am completely lost regarding the whole rooting process for the XZ1C. I usually manage to get where I want just by carefully reading the forums, but with this device, I feel overwhelmed by information. And I sometimes feel like what I am reading contradicts what I though I understood from previous reads...
I will try to sum up what I know so far.
First of all, I have a just-out-of-the-box Sony model G8441 with firmware 47.1.A.12.179 / Oreo 8.0.0 (never been connected to the outside world yet), and I want to properly root the device and install TWRP with no loss of feature.
What I think I understand:
To root, I first need to unlock the bootloader, which seems to be a trivial operation. However, this will break some functionalities due to DRM keys being erased. Once it is done, there is no way, ever, to get them back. There are however ways to "trick" DRM-related functionalities into believing DRM keys are still there.
Alternatively, there seems to be a way to backup the DRM keys prior to unlocking the BL, and this backup can somehow be reused and injected back into the unlocked device. If true, then this would certainly be a preferable method than the previous one, which would then be obsolete. However, it obviously doesn't look obsolete when I read the related topics, so I must be missing something...
Another thing I noted (but do not quite understand): There are ROMs for this device that "include" a DRM fix.
Last important thing I read: there is a paid "do-it-all" tool which takes my locked device and, with one click, makes it unlocked - rooted - DRM-fixed - TWRP-enabled. Now that sounds really good! Maybe too good?
As far as i know (but I learn new stuff every day on this topic) this DRM stuff is the main difficulty here. I understand that the rest of the process (root + TWRP) will be much simpler (although I'm old-school and completly missed all this magisk trend...!)
What I don't understand:
I read that some people downgrade to Oreo to be able to root properly, and at the same time, I read that Pie removed the restrictions on unlocked bootloader. So I still have no idea if I should connect and receive Sony updates, or avoid them.
Another thing I don't get, is how many ways do we have to root this thing? In the past, I was used to see, for a specific device, always one major and widly used rooting method. Here I fail to identify it...
What I think I will do:
1. Backup TA partition with j4nn's tool. This will probably imply flashing an older firmware right? Is there any link that could help me with this flashing process? (I only know Odin - did I mention old-school?) I saw this page for generic sony Z devices, but the thread is from 2013 and now closed. Is it still up-to-date or is there a newer thread?
2. Unlock bootloader and restore TA partition.
3. Wait for Sony updates? Or should I first hide unlock status?
3bis. Alternaltively to waiting for updates, maybe I can just flash the latest build? (47.2.A.8.24 if I am not mistaken)
4. Flash modpunk's TWRP.
5. Flash janjan's Boot.img to get root functionalities?
Alternaltively to all the above (except maybe step 1 that I will probably do in any case), buy the paid all-in-one tool (Xperifix), plug, click and wait... But will I really end up the same as with the manual way?
I saw a few other methods in the forums but it seems my brain is currently refusing to bring them back...
That's all I have right now. I would really appreciate if you guys could share some insight and tell me what you think about this, whether there are missing steps, useless steps, incorrectly ordered steps, silly steps, or if I'm just completely wrong about the whole thing.
Feel free also to correct me on the assumptions I made at the beginning.
Thank you very much for reading this repulsive piece of text.

SunJu22 said:
I would really appreciate if you guys could share some insight and tell me what you think about this
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
By the looks of it you have done a great deal of research on the project.
Yes, go down the route of backing up your TA partition first, but that is not a small step in itself, it's pretty complicated and if you get that working then the rest of the project will be a breeze.
You don't say what version of firmware you want to end up on. If you want to end up on Pie then forget the DRMfix . But if you're staying on Oreo and can't be bothered with lots of files & flashing, then this is the easy way out, I bought the paid version and can verify it works.
More recently I ended up janjan's kernel (Oreo build). Hidden root (Google Pay works), lots of performance tweaks, DRM completely working.
It's unlikely that anyone will bother making a DRM fix for Pie as the camera works and there are only a couple of other features that get disabled.
It sounds like you're not the sort of person who's only going to read the first couple of pages of a thread (or the last) flash the xxxxxx and then complain when it's broken.
The people on the forum here are very helpful and if you go into any of the threads you mentioned in your post with a question, you'll get a reply.
Good luck.

I agree, there is a lot of information out there and different methods of achieving what you want - very confusing if you have not been following the threads since the beginning.
In my opinion, the preferred method is j4nn's method outlined here: https://forum.xda-developers.com/xp...devonly-exploits-temp-root-to-backup-t3795510
Use that post as your main guide (the final step in that guide, #13, is how you will achieve root). You will use Newflasher to flash the various firmwares along the way (this is linked from j4nn's procedure in step #2). User munted made a very detailed pdf file that fills in some of the details on j4nn's procedure - see the following post and download the pdf attached: https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=78255334&postcount=382
Most of the other methods out there came before j4nn's work - they didn't include DRM backup/restore.
If you follow j4nn's procedure, you won't need to use the janjan kernel as you assumed - janjan method is different and does not overlap with j4nn.

SunJu22 said:
Feel free also to correct me on the assumptions I made at the beginning.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, I didn't point out that I was one of the early 'jumpers' who unlocked their bootloader without any backups, so I have been forced into always using fixes and all the information I have is based on having to fix your phone for it to work, but that's all changed now. I'm so out of date :-/
 @camaro322hp is right, if you follow j4nn's method correctly you'll be rooted with no DRM loss. All of the other stuff is not required.

Thank you Digesteve and camaro322hp for your help.
From what I understand the XZ1C didn't get as much love as other devices, thus there was a long period of tinkering before a "do-it-all guide" could be considered "the" solution. That could explain all these different approaches that are proposed. Like you said camaro322hp it's rather difficult to jump on this train, and I can only guess how interesting this ride has been.
Anyway, I didn't see that the TA backup thread from j4nn also encompassed all the information I needed; I am glad to finally know that there is indeed a centralized "do-it-all guide" . To make it easier for XZ1C newcomers, I think j4nn should update his opening post to make this clearer.
Since I managed to grab the attention of 2 XZ1C power users, I would like to ask you: Did you keep stock? Did you try alternative ROMs? Do you like some of them? Do you prefer Oreo or Pie?
For information, the most up-to-date experience I have on a Android phone is my LG90 with CyanogenMod 11 (KitKat 4.4.4! Yes sir!). I heard that it's becoming less and less useful to flash a custom ROM due to major OS improvements, but I would still enjoy the simplest and lightest Android possible.

SunJu22 said:
Did you keep stock? Did you try alternative ROMs?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've always been on stock, the camera is an important part of what I want from my phone and although there's lots of alternative camera apps, there's no competition to the stock camera app. Then I theme it black with swift installer and just uninstall or freeze any apps I don't want with Titanium Backup. I have stuck with Oreo, everything works perfect and I remember seeing so many people jumping to 9 then wanting to go back to 8 because they didn't like it. Something about changing the way the drop down menu works, among other things, but having never installed it, I'm not the person to comment on if it's any good or not.
I have been watching the XZ1c thread and Lineage is gaining ground, it even has a stock camera now. I would have thought something like that with miniGapps is going to be pretty lightweight and very similar to your carbon rom of before. At the moment this is based on 8, but is working well. Depends how keen you are to move to Pie.

Thank you Digesteve.
One thing I still don't understand. Part of the process is to hide unlock status. If I do this, FOTA will be applied and I will automatically end up on Pie, right? Should I skip this step if I want Oreo?
EDIT: when you say "a stock camera", you mean the Sony camera?

@SunJu22 I've stuck with the Sony ROM. A rooted stock ROM meets all my needs, so I've never felt the need to experiment with custom ROMs. There are some custom options out there that people seem fairly happy with, so if that's your thing, I'd encourage it.
Without going into too much detail, I'm still on Oreo for the moment, for a variety of reasons, but I don't know of anything that would keep me from recommending Pie.

One thing you should note is that once you unlock, there is no going back. AFAIK there is no known or working method to relock the bootloader.

SunJu22 said:
FOTA will be applied and I will automatically end up on Pie, right? Should I skip this step if I want Oreo?
EDIT: when you say "a stock camera", you mean the Sony camera?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I'm not entirely sure why having your rooted phone try and update itself is an advantage, but something I'd recomend avoiding.
Stock camera is the Sony camera, yes.

Thank you everyone, I believe I now have enough information to jump into this with confidence. The adventure begins, and will be reported in this thread for future reference, in the hope that it will help others like me!

Well, I am a bit sad... I wanted to report my "adventure" here in detail, but I'm afraid I have nothing to say.
Indeed, following the procedure from j4nn with a printed copy of munted's awesome guide, I managed to do all I wanted on the first attempt.
I don't have anything to add to this guide, everyone wanting to root their XZ1C can do it just by reading the opening post from j4nn and the mentioned guide. It takes a bit of time but nothing complicated thanks to the clear and detailed explanations.
I now have a fully functional rooted XZ1C (including camera) on Pie with Magisk root and TWRP.
Thank you all again from pointing me to the right direction.
I however have a slight disappointment. I wanted to start with Oreo and make an Nandroid backup before moving to Pie, but I didn't find Oreo builds on Xperifirm. So I jumped straight to Pie.
In case I want to test Oreo, I read that a downgrade is more complicated than an upgrade, but apart from the fact that a factory reset is needed for downgrade, I couldn't find an explanation for this. Any idea?
Last but not least: I looked for the latest Oreo build version number but couldn't find it. Do you guys know what it is and where I can download it?
I guess this will be all for this thread after this. Although it is very convenient to have my own thread to ask questions rather than finding the relevant page for each one, I don't want to annoy you too much...
EDIT: Please ignore the last question. I found out last Oreo build is 47.1.A.16.20, and I found the files via the download link in the opening post of the Lineage thread.

SunJu22 said:
In case I want to test Oreo, I read that a downgrade is more complicated than an upgrade, but apart from the fact that a factory reset is needed for downgrade, I couldn't find an explanation for this. Any idea? Lineage thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is an easy solution to downgrade:
Newflasher

Hi, I've been thinking about rooting my XZ1c for a long time now. So, do I understand correctly that the ONLY disadvantage compared to non-rooted device is not possible to receive the OTA updates from Sony anymore?

mEREHAIGE said:
Hi, I've been thinking about rooting my XZ1c for a long time now. So, do I understand correctly that the ONLY disadvantage compared to non-rooted device is not possible to receive the OTA updates from Sony anymore?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, you can flash a kernel to hide the bootloader unlock flag, this will mean that you will receive OTA updates, although depending on how you're rooted an update will most likely break your phone, so not that useful.

*made a thread*

Thanks--rooted withOUT adventure too
Very happily rooted now. Just wanted to say a quick thanks and add a few notes:
1. j4nn's renoroot to enable TA key backup and restore is fantastic. My advice: use and donate
2. munted's guide is excellent. clear and thorough...a rare combination.
3. do expect that renoroot may need to be restarted a couple of times. it took me 3 or 4 attempts to get temp root to pull the TA keys, although it took only 1 effort to get root back to restore.
4. topjohnwu's magisk is, of course, a key component to all this. Thx and $s there too.
I did a few things slightly differently/additionally than SunJu22.
5. I am on T-Mobile US, so I opted to create a hybrid Pie FW to get wifi calling and VoLTE. There are a number of discussions on this. I did it by combining the vendor**.sin and system**.sin files from custom-CH FW with the other files from custom-US FW. Of course (a) use IDENTICAL release numbers only, e.g. 47.A.2.10.28 w/ 47.A.2.10.28 and (b) you still need to delete .TA and persist files from the hybrid before you flash it.
Note: I don't really care about these features, but I have *heard* that T-mobile won't allow BYOD on their band-12 sites if they don't have VoLTE. Don't know if it is true (or where it is true) but figured why not?
6. I decided (for now, at least) to leave boot and recovery stock. So, I am using fastboot to run TWRP or a rooted kernel. Thanks again to j4nn for the method.
Note: I don't plan on allowing FOTA upgrades---I just like passing all the security checks and being able to *see* if updates are available.
That's all. Fine work in development and guides has made life simple and happy for me

kirkzp said:
Very happily rooted now. Just wanted to say a quick thanks and add a few notes:
1. j4nn's renoroot to enable TA key backup and restore is fantastic. My advice: use and donate
2. munted's guide is excellent. clear and thorough...a rare combination.
3. do expect that renoroot may need to be restarted a couple of times. it took me 3 or 4 attempts to get temp root to pull the TA keys, although it took only 1 effort to get root back to restore.
4. topjohnwu's magisk is, of course, a key component to all this. Thx and $s there too.
I did a few things slightly differently/additionally than SunJu22.
5. I am on T-Mobile US, so I opted to create a hybrid Pie FW to get wifi calling and VoLTE. There are a number of discussions on this. I did it by combining the vendor**.sin and system**.sin files from custom-CH FW with the other files from custom-US FW. Of course (a) use IDENTICAL release numbers only, e.g. 47.A.2.10.28 w/ 47.A.2.10.28 and (b) you still need to delete .TA and persist files from the hybrid before you flash it.
Note: I don't really care about these features, but I have *heard* that T-mobile won't allow BYOD on their band-12 sites if they don't have VoLTE. Don't know if it is true (or where it is true) but figured why not?
6. I decided (for now, at least) to leave boot and recovery stock. So, I am using fastboot to run TWRP or a rooted kernel. Thanks again to j4nn for the method.
Note: I don't plan on allowing FOTA upgrades---I just like passing all the security checks and being able to *see* if updates are available.
That's all. Fine work in development and guides has made life simple and happy for me
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now riddle me this cause I'm on Tmo USA as well and I did the hybrid work fine as well but heres the question, does googlepay and banking apps still work with a unlocked bootloader or did you flash a modified kernel to hide the unlocked status.
Sitting on the fence about unlocking mine so I can do a full nandroid before trying out some gsi pie roms infact this is the first phone I haven't unlocked or least put twrp on since my samsung sidekick 4g o.o

kernel with hide-unlock
T_Tank said:
Now riddle me this cause I'm on Tmo USA as well and I did the hybrid work fine as well but heres the question, does googlepay and banking apps still work with a unlocked bootloader or did you flash a modified kernel to hide the unlocked status.
Sitting on the fence about unlocking mine so I can do a full nandroid before trying out some gsi pie roms infact this is the first phone I haven't unlocked or least put twrp on since my samsung sidekick 4g o.o
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Full disclosure: I don't use Google pay or too many banking apps, so YMMV. But, I am using j4nn's kernel with unlock hidden. (See link in my note 6.) You can flash this, or you can leave in your stock kernel and merely fastboot to this. From what I have seen, it hides most - if not all -- indicators that the phone is rooted and the BL in unlocked.

Does somebody has :
G8441_1310-7123_47.1.A.16.20-R7B_Customized_CE1.ftf ?
Only backup i did not make, and its gone from XperiFirm.
Still have the feeling battery life was better in Oreo, and would be nice for experimenting.
Would be nice.
Thanks in advance.

How to make copies of the firmware on your phone (brand new XZ1 Compact)

Hello,
I have a new XZ1 Compact that has never been updated. I only started using it last week even though I bought it at least a year or so ago. I was going to get around to updating, but I thought it would be a good idea to make copies of the firmware first.
Is it possible to do this? If so, how do I go about it?
At the moment the phone is on 47.1.A.2.324 and the region is 1308-4378_R11B (I believe this is Taiwan, but I'm using it in Australia). I have seen a few mentions of 47.1.A.16.20 being a good firmware version where people wanted it, but it can no longer be downloaded from Xperifirm.
Would old firmware versions be something people would be interested in?
Thanks in advance for any replies.

@patch18, trying to backup a copy of fw is not that useful, but it is possible, even if the phone is still locked - see here.
The fw version currently on your phone seems to be exactly one of the two versions supported by the renoroot exploit for xz1c, so you most likely would not even need to reflash it to use renoroot exploit.
The most important thing is to backup TA partition from your still locked phone in order to preserve sony drm keys that get lost if you eventually unlock bootloader of the phone (just follow the above linked guide for that, you may not finish by unlock if not desired, just backup the TA if you want to backup something important from your phone).
There are btw backup tools in the linked thread too that can backup all partitions of your phone, but the backup is not possible to restore easily, particularly not on locked phone.
Stock fw downloaded from sony (having .sin files in it) is more useful as that can easily be flashed even to a locked phone.
Your current version is also downloadable from the above linked thread - only in CE1 customization.
You may backup your 'oem' partition to preserve your current customization (possible to do with simple 'dd' command similarly as TA partition backup).

patch18 said:
At the moment the phone is on 47.1.A.2.324 and the region is 1308-4378_R11B (I believe this is Taiwan, but I'm using it in Australia). I have seen a few mentions of 47.1.A.16.20 being a good firmware version where people wanted it, but it can no longer be downloaded from Xperifirm.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It depends what you want. If you're not interested in rooting and modding your device, you don't need to do anything special. Just updtate your device trough regular OTA till you arrive to your desired firmware version. I.e. if you want that 47.1.A.16.20 just stop updating your phone after you receive it.
That 16.20 firmware is desired by many because it's bugfree and it's last Oreo firmware.
Saying that, it's also a good idea to first backdrop TA partition in case you change your mind in the future and decide to unlock and root it. j4nn explained that.

Hi guys,
Thank you both for your input. I have read over the link provided by j4nn. I think I understand it for the most part, but I will attempt it over the weekend in case something was to go wrong (highly likely with my luck).
I recalled when I had both Lollipop and Marshmellow on my Z3 Compact there was a way to make your own customised firmware and I was wondering if it was possible with the XZ1 Compact hence my original question. It seems like you can now only download Pie firmware from Xperifirm.

newbie warning: don't re-lock bootloader, and beware flashing any custom ROM. &OTA...

newbie warning: don't re-lock bootloader, and beware flashing any custom ROM. &OTA...
only modify a phone you are willing to throw away.......
##
pre-note: TWRP 3.3.1-0 -> fastboot boot twrp.img (this is temporary)
before doing anything, backup some little partitions: EFS, fsg, Vendor. Maybe others. You will need these to get back to a working stock.
##
$$
DO AT YOUR OWN RISK - I TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY.
note added 2-27-2020: it may be that some problems with returning to stock are due to not (in TWRP) advanced wiping data, system, dalvik ART cache before flashing. You can do temp "fastboot boot twrp-3.3.1-0-payton.img" w/o quotes, and do it there. -changed/edited. don't use TWRP to flash a stock zip!
$$
NO FIX IS KNOWN FOR ANY OF THESE PROBLEMS. PHONE IS DESTROYED.
newbie warning: don't re-lock bootloader, and beware flashing ANY custom ROM.
On the X4, the bootloader changes drastically between 8 and 9 as it introduces a dual file system which is used by OTA updates to alternate the live system, and as a backup if failure. It is not a true Treble system, only partial. You must not depend on being able to flash back and forth between O and P. If you update to P, stay there. I expect this to be exacerbated by those phones which update to 10, if that in fact happens(probably One/fi only). There is also much confusion as to which file system/setup any custom ROM uses, and thus, how you would get back to stock, if that is even possible. Be very careful and assure yourself that you are fully willing to lose permanently your new phone before you do anything. Please read posts in these forums.
I've seen many posts of folks, mostly noobs, who have flashed ANY custom ROM Lineage and are unable to get back to a working stock. Sounds super simple but apparently it's not. Best to assume that if you try things, especially Lineage, that you will never be able to get back to a working stock. Read a bunch of posts here and you will realize that.
I've also seen a bunch of folks on this phone, and other phones who have run a bat file to flash their phone which contains the line
"fastboot oem lock" or similar.
Don't do it!!! - This will lock your phone and you will never be able to do anything with it again. It is totally unnecessary to lock your phone. Folks who should know better are leaving bat files lying around with this command. If you use one of those bat files to flash your phone, just check and remove that command line. Else you will have destroyed your phone. That's one of those things that "sounds good" until you do it.
EDIT: You can run stock on a bootloader unlocked phone - I do it all the time - plays PoGo just fine. I don't know about banking apps - I don't use them as I assume any 10-year-old can and will hack my phone.
EDIT: 6Feb2020: folks are reporting taking a security OTA onto a modified phone and rendering their phone(s) unusable. Only take OTA to a pure unmodified (no Majisk ever on it)(etc)(no mods ever on it)(stock recovery)(etc) stock ROM. Heed this warning. All of these "temporary" mods leave traces that screw up the update process.
EDIT: this was successfully fixed. see: https://forum.xda-developers.com/moto-x4/help/ota-update-endless-fail-loop-ppws29-69-t4045771 my guess is only works if you haven't changed bootloader or file system - NO custom ROM.
NO FIX IS KNOWN FOR ANY OF THESE PROBLEMS. PHONE IS DESTROYED.
Please do a lot of reading here before you try to modify your phone, unless you are totally willing to render it useless. A word to the wise.

Ahah ))) I bought today X4 with relocked BL and I it seems it was relocked after flashing LOS or similar )) )
Now I trying to recover it ))
Сan we boot phone to QC9008 (EDL) mode without testpoiint?

St.Noigel said:
Ahah ))) I bought today X4 with relocked BL and I it seems it was relocked after flashing LOS or similar )) )
Now I trying to recover it ))
Сan we boot phone to QC9008 (EDL) mode without testpoiint?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
afaik, you can't. Return the phone and get your money back. There will probably be a bunch of these worthless phones put up for sale. If you can't return it you could try the suggestions of sd_shadow in other threads here, but I don't believe they were successful on the X4.

KrisM22 said:
afaik, you can't. Return the phone and get your money back. There will probably be a bunch of these worthless phones put up for sale. If you can't return it you could try the suggestions of sd_shadow in other threads here, but I don't believe they were successful on the X4.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK. But I unbrick it. Now I have fully loaded system, but without WiFi ot mobile network.. It`s problem - I can`t turn on OEM unlocking.. (
Goшng to try to find solution
UPD. Everything work well now. But it my device I have custom stock flashed. Not sure it`ll work with LOS onboard

its to late for me

llue45 said:
its to late for me
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I know. You're one reason I posted this.

modified OP

change: from "Lineage" to "any custom ROM"

hi im thinking about buy this phone for 100 bucks used how i can verify this relocked bootloader problem ? in Developer Options ? if i cant switch to Oem Unlocking its broken ? to make sure this dont happen to me the one who its selling it to me says that already its updated to PIE , i want stock and root it just that after unlock the bootloader but if cant be unlocked i better move on . so my question is what really im looking for , when i get my hands on the phone before drop my money to the thin air because is not a store . and maybe never see this guy again in my life , i Live In The Caribbean Dominican Republic
People here are not so trusty . so i will appreciate if i can have some tips to know if im going to do a good Buy. Thanks In Advance .

JavaShin said:
hi im thinking about buy this phone for 100 bucks used how i can verify this relocked bootloader problem ? in Developer Options ? if i cant switch to Oem Unlocking its broken ? to make sure this dont happen to me the one who its selling it to me says that already its updated to PIE , i want stock and root it just that after unlock the bootloader but if cant be unlocked i better move on . so my question is what really im looking for , when i get my hands on the phone before drop my money to the thin air because is not a store . and maybe never see this guy again in my life , i Live In The Caribbean Dominican Republic
People here are not so trusty . so i will appreciate if i can have some tips to know if im going to do a good Buy. Thanks In Advance .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good to not be trusting!!!! With this (or any) phone, I recommend you get only from a place (like ebay) where you can easily return it and get your money back. ebay can force a reluctant seller to refund your money. Assure that the seller has a 99% + rating and says they will accept returns and pay for return shipment, usually for 30 days. I don't think you can easily tell if it has been unlocked and re-locked - only that it works perfectly, or doesn't. You can check the ID of the ROM in your phone against the latest for your area by checking lolinet.
When you get it, check all functions and assure IMEI is present. check wifi, BT, etc etc. Make calls. Check that the phone works with the towers in your area and with a local SIM. etc etc. read here and find the things that folks having problems where it won't do things and assure your phone will do it. Install Pokemon Go on it and play it briefly to assure your phone hasn't been modified. I have no idea if any of these phone will work with any banking or payment apps, and each app will have it's own specific checks that it performs against the phone. Test what you will use. Fully. ASSUME NOTHING!!!
As far as rooting it and/or unlocking it, I would strongly advise against it. For this particular phone X4 I would determine that it works perfectly and then NOT modify it. Unless, of course, you are willing to throw your phone away and buy a new one without a second thought(most of us don't have that kind of money!). Mine happened to have been unlocked when I got it from ebay but it was on a stock 8.1 and it was able to, and did OTA update to the latest Pie stock ROM. Thus I was easily able to assure if was okay. It being unlocked seems to have affected nothing. I have never tried to root it or do anything to it (recovery or otherwise) as I read far too many posts of folks here who had rendered their phones incapable of returning to a working stock, and only on a limited custom. Not what I wanted. I have not heard of anyone successfully getting one of these phones back to a FULLY WORKING stock state.
The days of getting a phone and easily modifying it and then returning it to stock may be gone. Get a phone you will enjoy, and use it! Unmodified!!! Welcome to pre-Treble part1a . Expect a few years of growing pains.
I like my phone and enjoy not having to worry about whether a custom ROM will work and constantly be chasing updates and fixes. I use a case - I believe it is this one
https://www.ebay.com/itm/For-Motoro...hash=item33d89fee5a:m:mU5XV7jSj1TfD_kr-L4VT9g
which, so far, has protected it from several minor falls. I would never use any phone w/o a case!!!

But i think if the phone gets unlocked the bootloader and flash twrp making a backup of the stock recovery before just booting the twrp custom recovery then flash magisk on twrp on top of Stock PIE , After Of Course Make A Full Backup Of all partitions reboot and then on Stock PIE have ROOT. and never flash custom roms and never lock the bootloader and stock can be reflashed without problems with a script on linux with fastboot on bootloader-fastboot mode this plan can work , NO ? i had a E4 sprint and never had problems doing that
I need root for A Lot Of Things like Xposed Drivedroid Youtube vanced Adway ETC.
Can Anyone who is reading this have done this just root pie on this phone with unlocked bootloader ? and able to restore stock flashing it back with the retail firmware just to remove root and clean the stock and recovery ? or try to put android one ? the phone which im going to buy its the XT1900-6 retail brazil i already have the retail stock official pie rom ready to flash and with the script on linux with no fastboot oem lock anywhere .

added to OP: EDIT: 2-6-2020 folks are reporting taking a security OTA onto a modified phone and rendering their phone(s) unusable. Only take OTA to a pure unmodified (no Majisk ever on it)(etc)(no mods ever on it)(stock recovery)(etc) stock ROM. Heed this warning. All of these "temporary" mods leave traces that screw up the update process.

OTA issues
KrisM22 said:
added to OP: EDIT: 2-6-2020 folks are reporting taking a security OTA onto a modified phone and rendering their phone(s) unusable. Only take OTA to a pure unmodified (no Majisk ever on it)(etc)(no mods ever on it)(stock recovery)(etc) stock ROM. Heed this warning. All of these "temporary" mods leave traces that screw up the update process.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I posted a new thread on these OTA issues with the X4 at https://forum.xda-developers.com/moto-x4/help/ota-update-endless-fail-loop-ppws29-69-t4045771. I was never presented with an "option" to install the latest OTA, it just automatically attempted to install (apparently a FORCED update) and is continuing to do so and failing ad infinitum. That phone works, just getting constant failure notifications. Question is, how to stop the attempted updates?
The second identical phone (updated per Magisk OTA tutorial instructions) is borked, with no phone connectivity. Can these be recovered by wiping/flashing stock rom PPWS29.60-39-6-2 and get them operating again as stock? I can forego the OTAs if there's a way to stop them from screwing up the device.
I never had other than stock recovery on either of these phones, I always boot TWRP via fastboot to do mods.

EDIT: XDA system is stalling and caused double post. Sorry. Mod please delete.
-deleted by me -

@redwoodie , please don't post to this thread. I read all your threads/posts but have no information.
NO FIX IS KNOWN FOR ANY OF THESE PROBLEMS. PHONE IS DESTROYED.
As to whether "x" strategy will work, you are certainly free to explore that on your own, in your own thread.
No one here knows. I am certainly not going to experiment on my own phone and run the likelihood of having to buy a new one. Folks like yourself keep showing up and doing just that because they are SURE it will work. But it hasn't.
Read all the posts.
There are very few folks left here on this forum. Once they have destroyed their phone, and tried a bunch of things, they move on.
THERE IS NO SOLUTION.
This thread is only to warn newbies.
I personally know nothing about the phone other than what has been posted by others.
Read it.
If you discover a true solution that allows a phone to work perfectly ON STOCK, please post it and you will make lots of folks happy, assuming it is repeatable.
However, no known solution.
But, again, you are free to explore solutions - just not in this thread, please. Thanks.

added paragraph at top:
$$
DO AT YOUR OWN RISK - I TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY.
note added 2-27-2020: it may be that some problems with returning to stock are due to not (in TWRP) advanced wiping data, system, dalvik-ART-cache before flashing. You can do temp "fastboot boot twrp-3.3.1-0-payton.img" w/o quotes, and do it there. -changed/edited. don't use TWRP to flash a stock zip!

This guy is full of crap
KrisM22 said:
only modify a phone you are willing to throw away.......
NO FIX IS KNOWN FOR ANY OF THESE PROBLEMS. PHONE IS DESTROYED.
Please do a lot of reading here before you try to modify your phone, unless you are totally willing to render it useless. A word to the wise.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've literally put so many different custom ROMs on this phone. I've bricked it, unbricked, hard bricked it and soft bricked it. Stop misinforming people bro. The Moto G6 I would say to be careful with but still I wouldn't make a post like this guy. The Moto x4 just requires a little prep to make it a full treble, GSI accepting, custom Rom beast. Plus there are a few official ROMs out there even Android 10 for the Moto x4 specifically. Don't be scared. Just research a lot and follow instructions
---------- Post added at 03:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:24 PM ----------
JavaShin said:
But i think if the phone gets unlocked the bootloader and flash twrp making a backup of the stock recovery before just booting the twrp custom recovery then flash magisk on twrp on top of Stock PIE , After Of Course Make A Full Backup Of all partitions reboot and then on Stock PIE have ROOT. and never flash custom roms and never lock the bootloader and stock can be reflashed without problems with a script on linux with fastboot on bootloader-fastboot mode this plan can work , NO ? i had a E4 sprint and never had problems doing that
I need root for A Lot Of Things like Xposed Drivedroid Youtube vanced Adway ETC.
Can Anyone who is reading this have done this just root pie on this phone with unlocked bootloader ? and able to restore stock flashing it back with the retail firmware just to remove root and clean the stock and recovery ? or try to put android one ? the phone which im going to buy its the XT1900-6 retail brazil i already have the retail stock official pie rom ready to flash and with the script on linux with no fastboot oem lock anywhere .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The op is a cracker Jack

Ims status not registered
Guys i flashed custom rom without taking backups of efs and all,so i ended up with ims status not registered because of that my volte is broken mine is retin.I tried to flash stock firmware but the imei is broken.Any way to fix this?

bumpsi since apparently folks are not reading this. mod a phone, likely lose it. relock a phone and def lose it.