[GUIDE][X722] Unlock Bootloader + TWRP + ROOT

[randxor]

Looking at the source and using a binary are two distinct things. So to speak I am not sure if all the roms here provide a git repo, and if there is one, if it's complete. And if there are build scripts/docs. Soon I will look into it. I wonder if there is an another forum/subforum which is about building roms? Atm things seem unorganized and hard for a random developer to get going.

Btw did you root your phone to remove things? Or does adb allow you to without rooting?

 

[sk8223]

You can use adb without rooting but not all ROMs will let you disable apps. Uninstalling apps works for all ROMs but may cause the ROM to break. That's why I said to be careful.

As for ROM development stuff, I'm not the person to ask. And there was another unofficial forum for LeEco phones and development (leeco.re) but it got taken down, IDK why. There's also a Russian forum with active development for LeEco and other phones called 4pda.ru. XDA is just the most popular and active Android device website out there.

We have some great devs here, but of course this place isn't very popular because it's a uncommon Chinese phone. Even though the Pro3 was released in the U.S. (x727 variant). The x722 was only released in China, unofficially released to international customers thanks to vendor ROMs, and has little support even in the Chinese dev community. The x720 has a lot more support.

 

[randxor]

But hardware-wise x722 is great. Best for the price. , x720 is too expensive for the small difference in performance between 820 and 821. I really hope that more people buy it.

And I suppose that maybe some official custom rom with build instructions will be released.

Btw how do you trust unverified ROMs, I understand that XDA is built on trust, but nowadays everything is in your phone. People do payments all the time, I bet some play on the stock market, others sell cars, etc. Would you trust your bank account / photos / personal life to a single developer you know nothing about.

 

[sk8223]

Btw how do you trust unverified ROMs, I understand that XDA is built on trust, but nowadays everything is in your phone. People do payments all the time, I bet some play on the stock market, others sell cars, etc. Would you trust your bank account / photos / personal life to a single developer you know nothing about.

Well that's the risk you take with Android. You always have the option of compiling yourself, but the vast majority of us are fine using custom ROMs made by hardworking devs. I sometimes have the same concerns as you, but as long as you stick to ROMs based on well-known ones, like Lineage, you'll be fine. Most would argue Google is more dangerous than any custom ROM developer on XDA considering how much info they gain on you through Google services.

If you're worried about devs spying on you, again, compile your own ROM from sources. You have the freedom to do that! I'm not worried. And neither are most here. After all, I'm using a vendor ROM from some shady Chinese reseller, so it would be hypocritical of me to be scared of XDA ROMs spying on me, lol!

 

[frank_331]

Hi guys, I recently got this phone and I want to unlock the bootloader and install TWRP but I want to ask a few things before screwing things up:
I runned the command "fastboot oem device-info" before doing anything and there is the result:

apparently the bootloader is already unlocked! So can I just install TWRP directly without flashing the dev 01D ROM?
Currently I'm on 20s, I think it's the vendor version (gearbest) since it fails the safetynet test, here are other info:

If I could install TWRP right away I could make a backup of the stock vendor rom just in case I have to send it back for warranty, but if you say that I risk to brick the device I will just do the procedure with the dev 01D rom.

 

[Shehz4d]

Currently on 26s (from baggood), but device shows unlocked in fastboot?

Hello,
I bought my device in December from banggood. I recently received it.
Checked the version and it is 026S as shown below.

I have not even enabled OEM unlocking in the EUI settings as shown in picture below.

The only thing I have done is enter developer settings and enable usb debugging.

I entered fastboot (vol- + power) mode and connected my phone to pc.
Ran the 'fastboot oem device-info' command from cmd prompt using admin privileges. Note: I have used the fastboot file from CrisBalGreece available here

To my surprise, both the device unlocked and device critical unlocked were set to true.

@frank_331 has the same info in fastboot but he is on 20S from Gearbest.
Can fastboot be returning wrong values given I have not even enabled OEM unlocking in settings? Or would our devices come as factory unlocked?
And I have the same question as Frank_331. Can I flash TWRP directly on this 026S without going through 01D since the bootloader appears to be unlocked?

Hope you guys can shed some light. Any other users have the same reading on Fastboot?

Thank you.

 

[sk8223]

Sorry I don't have a clear answer for you guys. But you should definitely switch to the 01D developer ROM before attempting anything, especially those of you on 26s, the most dangerous update out there. Follow Batyan's instructions and downgrade. Then try unlocking the bootloader, because I'm not sure if those values are true or false, though I have a hard time believing that fastboot would return false values... anyway, whatever you do, just downgrade to the dev ROM before attempting anything. Remember, there are several people here with hard bricks that have yet to be fixed because they weren't careful.

 

[Shehz4d]

Sorry I don't have a clear answer for you guys. But you should definitely switch to the 01D developer ROM before attempting anything, especially those of you on 26s, the most dangerous update out there. Follow Batyan's instructions and downgrade. Then try unlocking the bootloader, because I'm not sure if those values are true or false, though I have a hard time believing that fastboot would return false values... anyway, whatever you do, just downgrade to the dev ROM before attempting anything. Remember, there are several people here with hard bricks that have yet to be fixed because they weren't careful.

Thanks you @sk8223
I am really tempted to flash TWRP just to see if it works so that we can gather more knowledge which will benefit us on the forum.

But I also do not want to brick my phone since I will not afford a second one atm.
If there was a qfil for this I would try it, but there is none and I will be left with a paperweight.

one thing though. The is_allowed_unlock line is not even present in fastboot. Maybe those who have unlocked their previously locked bootloader can tell if this line is present or it is gone.

But anyway, thanks for those cautious words. Really appreciate your input. :good:
Cheers,
S

 

[randxor]

Based on the brick thread, I'd guess that stock roms check if the recovery has been changed and if so, they lock the bootloader and stop working. Sounds dumb but that's my only explanation for what ppl are reporting. As for qfil, it would be nice to have one. Isn't there a generic qfil for the cpu?

 

[F.J.V]

Hello,
I bought my device in December from banggood. I recently received it.
Checked the version and it is 026S as shown below.

I have not even enabled OEM unlocking in the EUI settings as shown in picture below.

The only thing I have done is enter developer settings and enable usb debugging.

I entered fastboot (vol- + power) mode and connected my phone to pc.
Ran the 'fastboot oem device-info' command from cmd prompt using admin privileges. Note: I have used the fastboot file from CrisBalGreece available here

To my surprise, both the device unlocked and device critical unlocked were set to true.

@frank_331 has the same info in fastboot but he is on 20S from Gearbest.
Can fastboot be returning wrong values given I have not even enabled OEM unlocking in settings? Or would our devices come as factory unlocked?
And I have the same question as Frank_331. Can I flash TWRP directly on this 026S without going through 01D since the bootloader appears to be unlocked?

Hope you guys can shed some light. Any other users have the same reading on Fastboot?

Thank you.

Of course you can install twrp directly.

01D only if it does not leave you (26S stock).

Factory do not come with 26S stock, come with 26S modified.

I repeat again, 01D only to exit 26S Stock, this is not the case.

Greetings.

P.S. Make a copy of rom before you install twrp. Otherwise you lose original recovery.

 

[frank_331]

@Shehz4d we have made the same procedure, USB debugging without OEM unlocking (but I doubt that it has something to do with the bootloader already unlocked) and then the "fastboot oem device-info" command, and we have the same result but for your rom it's even more strange since the 26s shouldn't be unlockable, maybe F.J.V is right and we have not stock roms but modified ones that comes with unlocked bootloader and could be flashed with TWRP directly but I'm not sure of this and as pointed out by @sk8223 there are several people who got their device bricked so I think that it's better to stay on the safe side since the only downside of installing the vendor rom it's the little time waste.
Thank you all guys for the support and lastly I want to ask @F.J.V , how can I make a copy of my rom if I don't have the TWRP to do a Nandroid backup?
Cheers.

 

[sk8223]

P.S. Make a copy of rom before you install twrp. Otherwise you lose original recovery.

Couldn't we just use the stock recovery file you posted here (if we ever need to reinstall the stock recovery):

https://forum.xda-developers.com/le...ment--and-mods/stock-recovery-lex722-t3686356

Or does 26s have a different recovery from other stock ROMs? I don't think backing up the ROM is necessary.

Based on the brick thread, I'd guess that stock roms check if the recovery has been changed and if so, they lock the bootloader and stop working. Sounds dumb but that's my only explanation for what ppl are reporting. As for qfil, it would be nice to have one. Isn't there a generic qfil for the cpu?

If the solution were that simple (a generic QFIL file), then the brick thread in this sub-forum wouldn't exist. :/ And the only stock ROM with the bootloader-locking issue is 26s. And we need a QFIL file for our specific device.

 

[Shehz4d]

Enable oem unlocking

Thank you @F.J.V for shedding some light. Correct me if i am wrong, but do you mean that the rom from banggood are not the real stock rom and they have unlocked the bootloader and installed a modified 26S similar to CrisBalGreece version? So just like you can flash anything over CBG 26s version, we can flash anything on my 26s rom?

Also, given that enable oem unlocking is disabled in EUI, wasn't the bootloader supposed to be locked? Is the setting in EUI just a dummy?

When you install a new rom and you know your bootloader is unlocked, does the setting in the rom still show allow oem unlocking to be disabled?

Cheers,
S

P.S. Ok, I have done some more digging.
From the thread Can you unlock bootloader with the rom 26S? by F.J.V
The users state that to never flash GAPPS on Stock 26S.
Means that stock roms for leeco do not come with google apps pre installed.
Given that my leeco le pro 3 Elite came with google apps like play store, chrome, gmail, etc, this means that this cannot be a stock rom, but a modified rom from banggood which has already added GAPPS, right?

And if I understand correctly only when you flash the original, unmodified stock rom 026s released by LEECO (which do not contain any google applications) company itself that your bootloader is locked. And then if you try to flash something on it, you get hard brick.

EDIT 2: When you install STOCK rom (not vendor rom) , your bootloader is replaced too. For instance that is why you can escape from 026S stock by installing 01D stock dev because it replaces the locked 026S bootloader with the 01D bootloader.

Is that correct?

 

[sk8223]

Just keep it simple and downgrade to the 01D ROM from Batyan. Again, it's all too easy to brick a device on 26s. And yes, that Developer options setting is a dummy setting on Banggood 20s, from what I gather. If it doesn't work in 20s, I doubt it'll work in 26s.

https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=74893268&postcount=91

I don't know if it works on 20s ROMs from other vendors, like Geekbuying or Gearbest.

All I know is, if I were planning to unlock the bootloader and flash TWRP, the first thing I'd do is switch to Batyan's 01D ROM via stock recovery before doing anything. Regardless of whether I'm on 20s or not. No point in risking a brick.

 

[randxor]

Once unlocked with batyan's rom, are there still possibilities of getting a brick? Like if I mess up with making my own rom, wrong partition layout, kernel, drivers, etc.?

 

[danielpinto8zz6]

Once unlocked with batyan's rom, are there still possibilities of getting a brick? Like if I mess up with making my own rom, wrong partition layout, kernel, drivers, etc.?

Yes there are, just try to not mess with bootloaders, if you want to make your own rom you just need system and boot (kernel), don't mess with other files!
And don't flash stock roms with TWRP

 

[randxor]

What else is there to mess with? Recovery and bootloader? And can I get brick by flashing a bad kernel/system?

Are bad bootloaders the only reaaon for bricks? And flashing stock by twrp bricks because it installs a bad bootloader?

Coming from an x86 background, and beig used to grub, mbr and uefi this seems like a huge mess..

 

[sk8223]

And don't flash stock roms with TWRP

Why is this? Why are there issues with flashing stock ROMs through TWRP if you're on the 01D ROM or a custom ROM? Can we make a TWRP backup of the stock ROM to flash through TWRP?

What happens if you do flash a stock ROM through TWRP? Because I've done this with other devices without issue.

What else is there to mess with? Recovery and bootloader? And can I get brick by flashing a bad kernel/system?

Are bad bootloaders the only reaaon for bricks? And flashing stock by twrp bricks because it installs a bad bootloader?

Coming from an x86 background, and beig used to grub, mbr and uefi this seems like a huge mess..

You should also trying asking these questions over at reddit.com/r/AndroidDev

 

[randxor]

What happens if you do flash a stock ROM through TWRP? Because I've done this with other devices without issue.

Maybe the stock roms contain not only system and kernel but a bootloader. So after flashing stock via twrp you're will be on a locked bootloader. And that bootloader sees that you have twrp instead of stock recovery, so he's like: what have you done, how dare you modify my precious chinese recovery..

 

[danielpinto8zz6]

Why is this? Why are there issues with flashing stock ROMs through TWRP if you're on the 01D ROM or a custom ROM? Can we make a TWRP backup of the stock ROM to flash through TWRP?

Because stock roms has locked bootloader inside the zip, if you flash that bootloader, you'll have a brick
There is a twrp backup of 26s rom, It works because it's just the rom, not bootloader and other files.
If you're messing only with kernel and system partition, it's probably safe (no issues detected until this post), the problem is if you mess with bootloader and other partitions.
Since you have unlocked bootloader, there is no reason to mess with that, so, just don't do it...