Confused Noob+H990DS - Unlock/Root+TWRP Official Custom ROM possible (W/ 2. Screen)?

Stele88

Member
Jul 1, 2016
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hi folks!

I am pretty confused now. I am looking to get the V20 H990DS, but i am more confused now after reading here. My questions:

1. Is Bootloader unlock possible?
2. Can i install TWRP?
3. Can i root?
4. There is LOS official i know, but is the problem with 2. screen now fixed / going to be fixed?

Seems so good of a device, but i am insecure about it now after reading here. My old Mi4/Cancro is one of the best supported phones out there, so i dont expect it to be the same with V20, but i need working LOS with Root and working 2. screen (or the outlook on it working in the future) to be confident in buying it.

I hope you forgive me my nood questions,
Greetings
 

Stele88

Member
Jul 1, 2016
13
4
0
With sadly no replys, let me add what i know now:
1. + 2. + 3. Still no easy way in sight AFAIK. EDIT: To be clear: There IS a way, Dirty Santa, but the instructions are somewhat too complicated to be confident with trying. Have had rooted Phones with custom ROMs since over 5 years and never again a stock device, but i dont dare it. The 300€ i payed are much to much to have spend it on a bricked device. Will try to find more dirty Santa noob friendly explanations and post them here. EDIT2: For those who DO dare it, here the thread: https://forum.xda-developers.com/v20/development/dirtysanta-h990-t3624296
4. Second screen still a problem, nothing new heard for quite a long time.

Anyone with knowledge to add or correct, please help! Stock ROM is not as bad as i thought, but without Root, Android is not fully usable for me.
 
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alldine345

Senior Member
Mar 28, 2011
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With sadly no replys, let me add what i know now:
1. + 2. + 3. Still no easy way in sight AFAIK. EDIT: To be clear: There IS a way, Dirty Santa, but the instructions are somewhat too complicated to be confident with trying. Have had rooted Phones with custom ROMs since over 5 years and never again a stock device, but i dont dare it. The 300€ i payed are much to much to have spend it on a bricked device. Will try to find more dirty Santa noob friendly explanations and post them here. EDIT2: For those who DO dare it, here the thread: https://forum.xda-developers.com/v20/development/dirtysanta-h990-t3624296
4. Second screen still a problem, nothing new heard for quite a long time.

Anyone with knowledge to add or correct, please help! Stock ROM is not as bad as i thought, but without Root, Android is not fully usable for me.
i dont get about your complain. you said already using phone with root for 5 years so i guess you've been here on xda for a while. if you really want a phone which support custom rom go with phone which support unlock bootloader like HTC, Oneplus, or even xiaomy. its not that hard finding them on XDA. 300euro for briked devices? well, if you read v20 section carefully you knew most people here bought this devices for the camera, audio, and other things like removable battery, etc. i never found someone who bricked their devices while rooting here, even if they do we already had flasher tools like LG up which already tested fully working by some members. and whats the problem with second screen? its working for whatever it made for. are you expecting to watch movie on those 2.1 inch display? i had lg v20 h990ds rooted with magisk and had no problem so far. bought some apps like grenify and titanium backup for debloated and my phone rocking solid for abouth 2 month. if you cant wait for LOS just bought lenovo zuk2 or oneplus 3t on the same price range.
 

xoose

Senior Member
Aug 23, 2011
52
25
38
Sydney
No problem doing 1+2+3 with DirtySanta exploit/procedure. It's not as complicated or dangerous as it might seem from the instructions. I thought I had soft-bricked my phone twice after rebooting normally with the old kernel instead of straight to TWRP to update the kernel first, but it was easy to re-flash the 10d factory firmware file I had and start over again without any issues both times.

Basic summary of procedure:
1. Flash factory firmware version earlier than 31 December 2016 (only needed if installed firmware version is after 1 January 2017).
2. Do DirtySanta exploit to unlock bootloader and install TWRP and root.
3. Use kdzwriter to update phone's system/modem/cust partitions to latest firmware version without overwriting unlocked bootloader/TWRP, reinstall root (SuperSU or Magisk) from TWRP.
4. Disable automatic OTA updates so that any future firmwares won't automatically install and overwrite bootloader/recovery and remove root and set ARB 1. If that ever happens then TWRP/root will probably be gone forever.
 

chuckRN

Senior Member
Mar 28, 2014
216
69
0
Tanauan City, Batangas
No problem doing 1+2+3 with DirtySanta exploit/procedure. It's not as complicated or dangerous as it might seem from the instructions. I thought I had soft-bricked my phone twice after rebooting normally with the old kernel instead of straight to TWRP to update the kernel first, but it was easy to re-flash the 10d factory firmware file I had and start over again without any issues both times.

Basic summary of procedure:
1. Flash factory firmware version earlier than 31 December 2016 (only needed if installed firmware version is after 1 January 2017).
2. Do DirtySanta exploit to unlock bootloader and install TWRP and root.
3. Use kdzwriter to update phone's system/modem/cust partitions to latest firmware version without overwriting unlocked bootloader/TWRP, reinstall root (SuperSU or Magisk) from TWRP.
4. Disable automatic OTA updates so that any future firmwares won't automatically install and overwrite bootloader/recovery and remove root and set ARB 1. If that ever happens then TWRP/root will probably be gone forever.
Using the steps on #3, would it be safe to say that we can update the device to oreo and still keep root?
 

chuckRN

Senior Member
Mar 28, 2014
216
69
0
Tanauan City, Batangas
No, right now if you update you'll lose root as the engineering aboot isn't compatible with Oreo and you have possibly non working data, invalid sim issues etc

Sent from my LG-H910 using XDA Labs
Too bad. Your earlier post actually got me excited. Hehe. Anyway, hopefully someones starts working on rooting the oreo firmware.
 

Redline

Retired Forum Moderator
Aug 12, 2014
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The short answer? @Stele88
Yes. To all of it.
The long answer starts with the Dirty Santa root process. Believe me, I was daunted by it as well, but as long as you follow it (or the noob version of the guide you can find by searching around the same section the original guide is in) and take your time, you'll be okay. It's what I did and I'm now where I am today.
I'll address a couple things since I have the same device as you. If you want to get your device working properly on LineageOS/ResurrectionRemix (LOS with more customisation) then it's a long process.
1. Start by following the bootloader unlock process for Dirty Santa. Depending on what firmware your device gets shipped with, you may need to downgrade to (in the case of the H990DS) the v10c firmware. Once done, then you can Dirty Santa the bootloader and get it unlocked.
2. Once that's done and you're rooted with the initial TWRP from the thread installed, you'll want to look into KDZWriter. It's a program by the same emdroidle who did the Dirty Santa process for us that allows you to update your STOCK system software to newer versions and keep root. You can use it for example with the H990DS firmware KDZ files and go from rooted 10c -> rooted 10f -> rooted 10xx -> etc. until you're on the latest available 7.0 KDZ for the H990DS. This will be the longest part of your process, but it ensures that everything is up to date before going to AOSP/Lineage/Resurrection, specifically the modem partition. I recommend using the TWN region of firmwares if you're just going to convert to a custom ROM anyway, but any region will work fine (the only real difference is that, for example, the Australia region of firmwares comes with more bloat than the TWN region).
2b. You can also use KDZWriter from an updated TWRP you can get in the thread by Phoenix591, his latest TWRP versions have KDZWriter built-in so you don't have to run it off the computer, you can do it all with the kdz files in recovery.
3. Yes, you can root using the Dirty Santa method on v10c kdz firmware. I recommend Magisk for root over SuperSU.
4. There's no official LineageOS that is as up to date as the unofficial ones, and there's no official ones with second screen enabled full stop. That being said, the unoffcial LineageOS 15.1 by x86cpu has been my rock solid daily driver for about 2 months now and I've never had any issues that stop me from using it. The same can be said for ResurrectionRemix 6.2 by Blaises. To use either of these, you will need the updated TWRP from Phoenix591.
4. Second-screen enabled builds of LineageOS and ResurrectionRemix do exist, and in this case ResurrectionRemix is (as of this post) more up-to-date than the LineageOS 15.1 second screen version. If you find yourself needing additional features that aren't in the stock kernels for those ROMs (such as KCAL configuration to help with burn in, among other things), then I maintain the second-screen version of the Gamma Kernel by Omar-Avelar. People are successfully using this with second-screen ROMs and have full functionality. You can purchase the app BoredSigns from the play-store to add additional functions to the second-screen.
As I said at the start, it is a long process, but a very worthwhile one. The jump from stock to custom-ROMs is absolutely incredible. Again, in short, yes. You can get everything you want.
Just do your searching around the forums for the processes I outlined above, ask any questions you have, pre-download your kdz firmwares from HERE and any software you need, and just take your time. It's maybe a couple hours to get setup with a rooted stock system that's up-to-date, and maybe another hour or so to go from stock to Lineage/Resurrection.
P.S: If all goes well with the Dirty Santa process, but you get screen distortion after rebooting when flashing the TWRP from Dirty Santa, just pull the battery instead of rebooting.
Good luck, good searching, and remember to not be afraid to ask questions in the relevant threads.

---------- Post added at 04:50 AM ---------- Previous post was at 04:49 AM ----------

Too bad. Your earlier post actually got me excited. Hehe. Anyway, hopefully someones starts working on rooting the oreo firmware.
It's highly doubtful this will happen, but one can hope. Right now the best way to get Oreo is through a custom ROM, purely because of how security is implemented by LG in the stock Oreo ROMs.
 

cnjax

Senior Member
Aug 4, 2011
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It's highly doubtful this will happen, but one can hope. Right now the best way to get Oreo is through a custom ROM, purely because of how security is implemented by LG in the stock Oreo ROMs.
Actually it is possible runningnak3d has already said awhile ago he has a process to root stock oreo he's just not releasing it yet so LG can't patch it before the Oreo roll out is complete

Sent from my LG-H910 using XDA Labs
 
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