Detailed Guide for Flashing ROMs in POCO X3 / NFC (Karna & Surya)

[anirban_polvolt]

Custom ROMs are one of the best things about Android. One of the best things about the openness of the Android platform is that if you're unhappy with the stock OS, you can install one of many modified versions of Android (called ROMs) on your device. A new ROM can bring you the latest version of Android before your manufacturer does, or it can replace your manufacturer-modded version of Android with a clean, stock version. But with the introduction of the dynamic partition flashing Custom ROMs are a bit tricky. In this post, I will run you through the steps of flashing Custom ROMs on your Poco X3.

Pre-requisites:
Unlocked Bootloader
Custom Recovery

Note:- Always create a backup of your important files before flashing.

Steps:-
From MIUI to Custom ROM
Encrypted
Copy the Custom ROMs zip to your sdcard or your OTG flash drive.
Boot to the recovery.
Flash the required firmware mentioned for the ROM.
Reboot your recovery.
Flash the Custom ROM.
And then format data [**This will wipe your internal storage**]
Reboot (Flash magisk if you want root after the first boot)

Decrypted
Flash this decrypted vendor
Flash the custom rom
Format data and reboot

From Custom ROMs to Another Custom ROM
Encrypted
**Backup your internal storage, incase something gets wrong**
Remove your lockscreen password
Boot to the recovery
Wipe Data, Cache and Dalvik Cache
Flash Custom ROM
Reboot

** If the device bootloops Format Data **

Decrypted
*If your device is encrypted*
Flash the decrypted vendor
Flash the custom rom
Format data and reboot

*If your device is already decrypted*
Wipe data and cache
Flash rom
Reboot

Notes:-
For encrypted people
Always create a backup of your internal storage.
Format data while upgrading from one android version to another.
Downgrading firmware may also require data format
Moving from Gapps build to non-gapps build or vice versa also requires fata format

For decrypted people
You don't need to flash the decrypted vendor everytime unless you come from miui
The vendor will not work on miui

All credits to POCO X3 Developers & Custom ROM Community.

Regards,
Polvolt

 

[aLexzkter]

You saved me. I had properly unlocked bootloader, flashed OrangeFox but then I did the wipes and also mistakely formated data, so I couldn't send files from PC to phone to flash the custom rom.
Guess I could've just used the usb otg at this point, but I reflashed MIUI with a script, and reflashed OrangeFox and now I'm good to go.

 

[payas0]

I thought current custom recoveries don't check for rollback protection (yet)?

It's probably safe to be flashing stock firmwares via custom recovery if you are sure you know what you're doing. But this guide seem to appeal to new comers. Should we suggest they stick to using Mi Flash tool for flashing stock firmwares as it has rollback protection checks?

Or am I just out of the loop and this is no longer the case with custom recoveries for surya/karna?

Thanks for the guide btw. Greatly appreciated.

I miss manually flashing each partition files via fastboot like when I was on my Nexus devices and my Essential PH-1. I have not seen a guide that recommends or even teaches us to flash partitions manually.