[Guide] Oneplus 7T T-Mobile to International Firmware Conversion Explained

[hugotias]

The guide worked on my recently bought T-mobile 7T for the EDL part, but I never successfully fastboot flashed all the partitions and I always got " remote: 'Flashing is not allowed for Critical Partitions' " errors, from my Windows 10 laptop. Later I switched to an older Windows 7 laptop. And bingo! It worked like gangbasters!

 

[slickrick423]

I completed everything and had everything working. I went to lock the bootloader, and am now stuck on the "system corrupt" screen and a boot loop. Can I just flash the GLOBAL firmware again? Or do I have to start the process all over again?

 

[slickrick423]

Well, was finally able to get it working by manually putting it in EDL mode and redoing the entire process. Just terrified to attempt to re-lock the bootloader.

 

[the_link_8]

Preparation:

1. Notes are important, please pay attention
2. ONLY use stock USB-A to USB-C cable
   • I have tried the stock cable from Axon 7, fail fail and more fail, don't make this mistake
3. DON'T store flash files on USB storage.
   • fastboot will timeout if your flash files are stored at a slow storage device such as a USB drive, or slow computer with eMMC drive
4. Download and extract the patched MSM download tool and related flash files (credit)
5. Download and extract TWRP 3.4.0-2 Test by mauronofrio (credit)
6. Download and extract 10.0.13-GLOBAL-OnePlus7TOxygen_14.O.19_OTA_019_all_2009281709_1026-FASTBOOT.zip (credit)
7. Optional: Unlock bootloader at this official OnePlus page with those steps
   • automated process you have to wait 1 whole week for
   • if you take this route, you will have an easier time get into EDL
8. Optional for Driver and boot into EDL: Download and extract the TOOL ALL IN ONE (credit) (untested) (can skip this step if you have driver and completed preparation step 7)

Flash Operations:

1. Run the MSM executable with Administrator Privilege
2. Boot into bootloader on 7T (if you already have adb connection, adb reboot bootloader would work as well)
   1. Restart device: Vol Up + Power
   2. Boot into recovery: when system reboot from step 4, immediately press and hold Vol Down + Power until recovery screen
   3. Boot into fastboot: English -> Advanced -> fastboot
3. Boot into EDL on 7T
   • If you have OnePlus unlock token from Preparation step 7
     1. Connect USB cable to both PC and 7T
     2. on MSMDownloadTool, click Enum to display your device
     3. fastboot flash cust-unlock unlock_token.bin
     4. fastboot oem unlock
     5. fastboot boot twrp.img
     6. when TWRP boot: adb reboot edl
     7. on MSMDownloadTool it will now show connected
   • If you don't want to wait for token (untested)
     • Use TOOL ALL IN ONE
     • Or, hold down the buttons then click start in MSM. If you release the volume buttons early it will kick you out of EDL--well at least for me. you can release the buttons once MSM starts (credit)
4. When MsmDownloadTool display connected, hit Start until 7T display CORRUPT message (normal behavior) and reboot into fastboot by ITSELF. If your 7T doesn't get into fastboot screen automatically, something is wrong with previous step, redo EDL flashing and do NOT proceed.
5. Start Power-Shell with Administrator Privilege and go to the extracted path of 10.0.13-global-oneplus7toxygen_14.o.19_ota_019_all_2009281709_1026-fastboot.zip (DO NOT USE DOS, it will fail you miserably)
6. Unlock bootloader: .\fastboot flashing unlock_critical (suggested, because it works, so I didn't test the oem unlock method)
7. To avoid potential conflict with installed fastboot binary (possibly lower version), you can either
   • edit the flash-all.bat, and change fastboot to .\fastboot, such that only the local fastboot binary will be invoked instead of pathed binary
   • OR run those identical commands with copy and paste

     .\fastboot -w
     .\fastboot flash boot boot.img
     .\fastboot flash dtbo dtbo.img
     .\fastboot flash modem modem.img
     .\fastboot flash reserve reserve.img
     .\fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
     .\fastboot --disable-verity flash vbmeta vbmeta.img
     .\fastboot --disable-verity flash vbmeta_system vbmeta_system.img
     .\fastboot reboot fastboot
     .\fastboot flash abl abl.img
     .\fastboot flash aop aop.img
     .\fastboot flash bluetooth bluetooth.img
     .\fastboot flash cmnlib cmnlib.img
     .\fastboot flash cmnlib64 cmnlib64.img
     .\fastboot flash devcfg devcfg.img
     .\fastboot flash dsp dsp.img
     .\fastboot flash hyp hyp.img
     .\fastboot flash imagefv imagefv.img
     .\fastboot flash keymaster keymaster.img
     .\fastboot flash LOGO LOGO.img
     .\fastboot flash multiimgoem multiimgoem.img
     .\fastboot flash odm odm.img
     .\fastboot flash oem_stanvbk oem_stanvbk.img
     .\fastboot flash opproduct opproduct.img
     .\fastboot flash qupfw qupfw.img
     .\fastboot flash storsec storsec.img
     .\fastboot flash tz tz.img
     .\fastboot flash uefisecapp uefisecapp.img
     .\fastboot flash xbl xbl.img
     .\fastboot flash xbl_config xbl_config.img
     .\fastboot flash system system.img
     .\fastboot flash vendor vendor.img
     .\fastboot flash product product.img
     .\fastboot reboot

   • Few notes
     • User data is wiped, again, lol
     • reserve partition flashing can produce error msg: FAILED (remote: '(reserve_a) No such partition'), it is OK but others should not Fail
     • Device will reboot once during the flashing process
     • After reboot, device will NOT go into fastboot screen but instead go into stock recovery screen, however fastboot will pick up and resume flashing the rest, ONLY IF YOU ARE UNDER POWER-SHELL, so DO NOT flash under DOS
     • if anything else fails besides the reserve partition, repeat step 7
8. Device will boot into system, you may use the OS updater to upgrade to the lastest firmware then relock bootloader or proceed with root with Magisk

Hope this will save you some precious time. Major kudos for previous contributions from post 1 and post 2.

All steps are recorded from memory, please let me know if any mistakes are in need of correction.

Tested working on Dec 5, 2020

hi, i already did the whole process but when i tried to relock the bootloader i got an error saying the system was corrupted and the phone was stuck on that screen so i unlocked the bootloader one more time and it started to function. again and everything is working great, what happens is that I wanted to convert my phone to the international version and re-lock the bootloader so that I can have the advantage of having the international version, so is there a way to re-lock the bootloader and keep running the international version?

 

[thetoady]

so I'm hitting the same 'Flashing is not allowed for Critical Partitions' issue. I dont have any other windows machiens to try it against (just linux boxes). any ideas?

 

[thetoady]

ok, figured it out (I think) what was going on, for others that have the issue.

Reading another thread, I saw that the all in one tool, could flash a fastboot rom , so I did that (and it worked perfectly), and while doing that I saw what was the problem.

when you do the fastboot reboot fastboot, you get to the screen that has chinese and english. That's good. that's what you want, you dont want to continue going into english and selecting fastboot that's the mode you seem to need to be in to overwrite critical partitions (or at least the all in one tool was able to do that).

I kept on putting it back into "normal" fastboot mode and that was the problem. what a headache. But now I have a dual sim global 7t with the bootloader back to being locked.

With that said, I did seem 2 lose 2 pieces of "functionality" going from t-mobile to global.

1) I don't have wifi calling anymore.
2) the icon packs (including standard android icons) don't seem to be installed. while I can find the 2 icon packs oxygenos in the play store (round and square), I can't seem to find the "normal" android ones. I really can't stand oxygenos' standard sms icon.

 

[VillaRuizHN]

Hello friends! My mobile has the bootloader unlocked using the token code that I requested on the official Tmobile website, so I just go to step 7? or do I still need to use msm download tool?

 

[AGNBSL]

Hello, thank you for your guide. I did convert my 7T to global successful
But when i lock bootloader, device is corrupt and can't boot. Is there anyway to lock bootloader and work on Global firmware? Since i'm not flashaholic anymore, i don't want BL stays unlocked (also OTA update is easier in BL Locked state). Help me guys
EDIT: After convert to Global, i did OTA update, then locked BL. Now it's working like charm.

 

[Chxc]

So I did this process yesterday and since this thread was quite valuable to me I feel like sharing some insights.

First of all it is really important to fix "the drivers". If you connect your phone in adb, fastboot or EDL mode you have to figure this out first. Wrong drivers usually can be spotted in Device Manger with a Yellow exclemation mark. Yes - ADB/fastboot and EDL are different drivers.

If you have problems connecting in ADB/fastboot mode download drivers here https://developer.android.com/studio/run/win-usb and install them like this https://developer.android.com/studio/run/oem-usb#InstallingDriver

If you have problems with EDL follow this link: https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/...l-to-restore-your-device-to-oxygenos.4004005/ read "My device isn't detected when I click on "Enum" button"

I usually do not just "install drivers from exe". I go to the device manager, look for uninstalled devices and right-click update drivers so this specific device gets this specific driver. This may be an overkill in 2020/Windows 10 but why change a running system..

You can test those drivers quite easy.
1. First download & unzip the android plattform tools (https://developer.android.com/studio/releases/platform-tools).
2. Enable USB Debugging in Dev-Options on Android
3. Point CLI to your folder where you unzipped said toolset
4. Type adb devices in CLI - if it shows a device your ADB drivers work.
5. Then reboot your device to "fastboot" you can do this with button mashing or since ADB works just type adb reboot bootloader
6. Wait for reboot, then type fastboot devices if it shows a device your fastboot drivers work.
7. Boot back to Android again (click power when it sais "start")
8. Go back to step 3 and type adb reboot edl (again you could boot into EDL with som button mashing but why do it the hard way)
9. To test EDL you have to use the MSM Toolset (patched or not doesn't matter) - if it says connected this means your EDL drivers work too

It is crucial to test this bevore thinking about flashing for obvious reasons. And you learned to boot into all the modes via CLI which is nice.

With this out of the way I would like to add some thoughts to the inital post:

1. When flashing the device (Step 7 in initial post) my device booted into T-Mobile start screen for some reason instead of booting into fastboot and continuing pushing images. This was not the case if I booted into Recovery Mode (fastboot -> choose recovery mode with volume keys -> enter PIN -> choose English -> something something fastboot) and Chose "Fastboot" manually. After this the flashing worked flawlessly
2. I "patched" the tooling (fastboot.exe, adb.exe) from the link in inital post with the latest files from google sdk, this did not work. Use the tools inside "10.0.13-GLOBAL-OnePlus7TOxygen_14.O.19_OTA_019_all_2009281709_1026-FASTBOOT"
3. For easy of use I created my own flash_all.bat with the local reference to fastboot.exe (see attached) as explained in intial post. This goes inside "10.0.13-GLOBAL-OnePlus7TOxygen_14.O.19_OTA_019_all_2009281709_1026-FASTBOOT"
4. Since I was impatient I used the method with the patched MSM Tool to unlock the bootloader - I can confirm this works. After relocking the bootloader picky apps like Netflix work too.
5. I did skip step 3.5 "fastboot boot twrp.img" since I didn't understand what it does - it works without this

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the guide chxc

fantastic addition, thank you for sharing!

 

[Chxc]

Hi,

I tried to follow the initial instruction. And I made it to Step 3 "Boot into EDL on 7T". I used the ALL IN ONE tool to reboot EDL and the MSM can recognize it. But I accidently hit the start button on the MSM tool and let it finish the flashing... (1st mistake)
Then I am stuck on the FastBoot screen.
After this, I tried to use the token, but use the "fastboot oem unlock" and forget to apply "
fastboot flash cust-unlock unlock_code.bin" in advance... (2nd mistake)
In the FastBoot screen, it did show the device state is unlocked.
Before I make more mistakes, what can I do now?
I notice this post "https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/...l-to-restore-your-device-to-oxygenos.4004005/"
Can it work in my situation?
Any comments or suggestions are appreciated!!!
@asvg

If my memory serves me right, you should unlock your bootloader before running the MSM tool.

Bootloader unlock and MSM tool target different partition(s), they shouldn't affect each other than locked bootloader will cause your MDM tool to fail.

Try unlock bootloader again and make sure you follow the steps.

 

[Chxc]

Hello, thank you for your guide. I did convert my 7T to global successful
But when i lock bootloader, device is corrupt and can't boot. Is there anyway to lock bootloader and work on Global firmware? Since i'm not flashaholic anymore, i don't want BL stays unlocked (also OTA update is easier in BL Locked state). Help me guys
EDIT: After convert to Global, i did OTA update, then locked BL. Now it's working like charm.

Correct, always do a native OS system rewrite through OTA

 

[Chxc]

thanks for the help, i followed the instruccions in the link and they say that you have to get into fastboot mode and there you will get the unlock code, but they do not say how actually get it, so i was searching for the instruccions and it seems that you have to enter a comand ( fastboot.exe oem get_unlock_code ) the thing is that when my phone is in fastboot mode my pc does not regconize it, but as soon as my phone start android, it recognize it and i can even use adb, i used this command (adb devices) when the phone is running android and it works but when i am in fastboot mode and i use this one(fastboot devices) it does not do anything, my pc does not even detect the phone.

You have to use a compatible fastboot.exe binary, I personally used the OnePlus suggested.

If your device doesn't detect the device, please check with your drivers to remedy your situation.

 

[Chxc]

The guide worked on my recently bought T-mobile 7T for the EDL part, but I never successfully fastboot flashed all the partitions and I always got " remote: 'Flashing is not allowed for Critical Partitions' " errors, from my Windows 10 laptop. Later I switched to an older Windows 7 laptop. And bingo! It worked like gangbasters!

This entire process is filled with uncertain variables. Very glad you got it working.

 

[Chxc]

Well, was finally able to get it working by manually putting it in EDL mode and redoing the entire process. Just terrified to attempt to re-lock the bootloader.

Once booted into global firmware, use OTA to perform a full system upgrade to conform system integrity, then proceed to bootloader unlock.

 

[Chxc]

hi, i already did the whole process but when i tried to relock the bootloader i got an error saying the system was corrupted and the phone was stuck on that screen so i unlocked the bootloader one more time and it started to function. again and everything is working great, what happens is that I wanted to convert my phone to the international version and re-lock the bootloader so that I can have the advantage of having the international version, so is there a way to re-lock the bootloader and keep running the international version?

Once booted into global firmware, use OTA to perform a full system upgrade to conform system integrity, then proceed to bootloader unlock.

 

[Chxc]

Hello friends! My mobile has the bootloader unlocked using the token code that I requested on the official Tmobile website, so I just go to step 7? or do I still need to use msm download tool?

MDM tool step is a must complete step after blootloader unlock.

 

[Chxc]

ok, figured it out (I think) what was going on, for others that have the issue.

Reading another thread, I saw that the all in one tool, could flash a fastboot rom , so I did that (and it worked perfectly), and while doing that I saw what was the problem.

when you do the fastboot reboot fastboot, you get to the screen that has chinese and english. That's good. that's what you want, you dont want to continue going into english and selecting fastboot that's the mode you seem to need to be in to overwrite critical partitions (or at least the all in one tool was able to do that).

I kept on putting it back into "normal" fastboot mode and that was the problem. what a headache. But now I have a dual sim global 7t with the bootloader back to being locked.

With that said, I did seem 2 lose 2 pieces of "functionality" going from t-mobile to global.

1) I don't have wifi calling anymore.
2) the icon packs (including standard android icons) don't seem to be installed. while I can find the 2 icon packs oxygenos in the play store (round and square), I can't seem to find the "normal" android ones. I really can't stand oxygenos' standard sms icon.

Have you tried a full system refresh through OS's OTA?

 

[thetoady]

yes, I'm running the latest firmware (and relocked the bootloader, which should demonstrate that he full system update worked).

I figured out the wifi calling issue. Basically, it doesn't play nice with dual sim. it will only show the wifi calling option on the primary data sim (as I'm overseas had my primary data sim to be my overseas sim). With that said, even when I disabled my primary sim, and saw the wifi calling option, it wasn't seeming to connect to tmobiles servers, at least it refused to make a call when phone in airplane mode with wifi turned on.

 

[Chxc]

ok, figured it out (I think) what was going on, for others that have the issue.

Reading another thread, I saw that the all in one tool, could flash a fastboot rom , so I did that (and it worked perfectly), and while doing that I saw what was the problem.

when you do the fastboot reboot fastboot, you get to the screen that has chinese and english. That's good. that's what you want, you dont want to continue going into english and selecting fastboot that's the mode you seem to need to be in to overwrite critical partitions (or at least the all in one tool was able to do that).

I kept on putting it back into "normal" fastboot mode and that was the problem. what a headache. But now I have a dual sim global 7t with the bootloader back to being locked.

With that said, I did seem 2 lose 2 pieces of "functionality" going from t-mobile to global.

1) I don't have wifi calling anymore.
2) the icon packs (including standard android icons) don't seem to be installed. while I can find the 2 icon packs oxygenos in the play store (round and square), I can't seem to find the "normal" android ones. I really can't stand oxygenos' standard sms icon.

Also, I would personally object to messing with your bootloader partition by flashing using all in one tool as experience has shown it is not necessary if you can ensure fastboot binary version.

 

[Chxc]

yes, I'm running the latest firmware (and relocked the bootloader, which should demonstrate that he full system update worked).

I figured out the wifi calling issue. Basically, it doesn't play nice with dual sim. it will only show the wifi calling option on the primary data sim (as I'm overseas had my primary data sim to be my overseas sim). With that said, even when I disabled my primary sim, and saw the wifi calling option, it wasn't seeming to connect to tmobiles servers, at least it refused to make a call when phone in airplane mode with wifi turned on.

Wifi-Calling is a very carrier sensitive feature. My personal experience is that don't use it unless the your primary carrier support the OnePlus's implementation of Wifi-Calling, also Wifi-Calling providing carrier's sim is on primary, and your are using that primary sim for data connection as well.