[ROM][RAV*/SOFIA*][11][UNOFFICIAL] PixelExperience (Plus) [AOSP]

[xdause]

sorry for noob question but How much free space is left after new install? Thanks.

 

[RaspberryPiBen]

Thank you for this! Pixel Experience is my favorite ROM, and this build is no exception. All of the important features work very well, and it's faster than my previous installation of ArrowOS. Even the Recorder app works perfectly.

 

[jeddy877]

Will this rom work on the original Moto G Stylus also?

 

[jeddy877]

I followed you suggestion and only moved the folder to the root of C:\ that hosts the exe and the firmware, etc. folders. I double clicked the exe and for the first time, a usable batch file DOS window opened. So, it appears that I have a working setup. However, I'm going to think about rooting/romming this phone again, because I don't want to lose Android Auto (AA) again. But AA only works with a USB wired connection in my car, and I ordered an AAWireless device which should obviate the wired connection and allow my rooted/rommed phone to connect. I'll test it, and, if so, I'll flash your Rom Immediately.
Thanks for putting up with me.

Hey brother. The only way I was able to downgrade from A11 to A10 was to extract the stock zip and use the flash file. Flash each command line line by line ie fastboot flash logo logo.img, fastboot flash boot boot.img, etc. When you have finished them all and fastboot reboot, if you get it gets stuck on a bootloop or error message, do a factory reset on it and reboot again.

 

[sanzhang]

unfortunately yes you have to downgrade to a10 for the rom to boot

Sorry I'm a bit confused here. This ROM is based on Android 11, and why I need to downgrade to A10 to get this ROM installed and boot properly? Thanks in advance.

 

[Beetle84]

Sorry I'm a bit confused here. This ROM is based on Android 11, and why I need to downgrade to A10 to get this ROM installed and boot properly? Thanks in advance.

Because these ROMs are not using a custom vendor, they are built with a pre-built android 10 vendor, so they will not boot with a11 installed

 

[sanzhang]

Because these ROMs are not using a custom vendor, they are built with a pre-built android 10 vendor, so they will not boot with a11 installed

So by "these ROMs", you mean all the custom ROMs? Currently I'm running CrDroid in this forum without any issue. So I assume that I'm OK to flash this PixelExperience?

 

[Beetle84]

So by "these ROMs", you mean all the custom ROMs? Currently I'm running CrDroid in this forum without any issue. So I assume that I'm OK to flash this PixelExperience?

Y
So you have flashed crDroid whilst being on android 11?

 

[sanzhang]

Y
So you have flashed crDroid whilst being on android 11?

No. I guess I didn't pay attention at all when I first flashed CrDroid, and my device was on A10 luckily. Then I read all this know a bit more. Thanks a lot. I won't update to A11 through the official way.

 

[sanzhang]

No. I guess I didn't pay attention at all when I first flashed CrDroid, and my device was on A10 luckily. Then I read all this know a bit more. Thanks a lot. I won't update to A11 through the official way.

So I come back to report. I first tried to install in TWRP after I flashed TWRP in both slots. It didn't work and it booted into the boot loader. I tried to boot back to TWRP again and set slot B active and flash again. It booted again into the boot loader.

I tried to follow the instructions in this thread using fastboot flashing method. It booted into the boot loader again. So I went to follow the instructions in CrDroid's thread and it booted normally into the newly installed Pixel Experience. I compared the two sets of instructions, and the only difference is the order "fastboot set_active a". The CrDroid instruction has this step and the Pixel Experience instruction in this thread doesn't.

Now my question is that is that also why my flashing in TWRP didn't work? I did wipe data and data and dalvik, then format data before I flashed in TWRP. Should I set slot A active in TWRP before I flash the Pixel Experience zip? If so, how should I do it? Did I miss anything that's a common-sense type of step but it was not explicitly listed here?

Thanks in advance for any comments and help.

 

[revengesrage]

So I come back to report. I first tried to install in TWRP after I flashed TWRP in both slots. It didn't work and it booted into the boot loader. I tried to boot back to TWRP again and set slot B active and flash again. It booted again into the boot loader.

I tried to follow the instructions in this thread using fastboot flashing method. It booted into the boot loader again. So I went to follow the instructions in CrDroid's thread and it booted normally into the newly installed Pixel Experience. I compared the two sets of instructions, and the only difference is the order "fastboot set_active a". The CrDroid instruction has this step and the Pixel Experience instruction in this thread doesn't.

Now my question is that is that also why my flashing in TWRP didn't work? I did wipe data and data and dalvik, then format data before I flashed in TWRP. Should I set slot A active in TWRP before I flash the Pixel Experience zip? If so, how should I do it? Did I miss anything that's a common-sense type of step but it was not explicitly listed here?

Thanks in advance for any comments and help.

I'd advise against flashing twrp. IDK Maybe its improved and works since last time I've flashed my phone, Your better off flashing manually through adb direct. If they have fixed twrp in the past few months for this phone, you can always just choose to boot into it using adb, you don't have to flash it. just save yourself headache and don't flash it.

If anyones struggling to downgrading to official android 10. Use MOTO TOOLS and lolinet mirrors.

Make sure you select the right factory rom pertaining to your phone
before you begin to even attempt this use smart assistant software to make a backup of your original setup, it tells you what kind of g power you have! whether thats retus retail verizon att sophia etc.... If you use the wrong rom expect a bad flash and without a backup you may be screwed. Do not flash without unlocking bootloader first....

 

[Ryu945]

Updated 2021-11-21​

Does this OS work with Moto G Power 2021?

 

[RaspberryPiBen]

Does this OS work with Moto G Power 2021?

I just looked up the codename of that, and it appears to be borneo. This ROM works with codenames starting with rav and sofia, so sofiar works but Borneo doesn't. The G Power 2020 and 2021 are different devices, so the same ROM won't work on both.

 

[rintyuu]

I just installed it with fastbootd method, when I issued fastboot -w, it rebooted and the console reported that it had erased userdata, and metadata, but it did not format. (the console log is below.) When the device itself boots, it gets stuck at the google logo with the progress bar. Am I missing something? The device bootloader is also unlocked.

Spoiler: console log

E:\Downloads\platform-tools>fastboot -w

Erasing 'userdata' OKAY [ 0.160s]

Erase successful, but not automatically formatting.

File system type raw not supported.

Erasing 'metadata' OKAY [ 0.010s]

Erase successful, but not automatically formatting.

File system type raw not supported.

Finished. Total time: 0.190s

 

[Shadowzerosix]

I don't post much, but it's important to mention that this process, the downgrade of the a10, was not successful that has been guided to. Partially because of trying methods that are incorrect here on XDA, which is unfortunate. Is there a youtube video, or would anyone like to? Unfortunately, the exact steps are what I don't get. The A/B partitions are new for me, and was having difficulty understanding what was happening at the hardware/software level.

Everyone's "TLDR" now, and others take that version as instructions and leave out the detail that others trip over from not getting, so whoever TLDR's this, and whoever follows that person TLDR, comes back here.

I attempted crDroid 11, Pixelex 11, and lineageOS 11 with a10 firmware, no success. I'm on a11 stock with Motorola's stack. I grabbed the a10 as instructed replaced the a11 version.

A post that covered the steps in detail in these forums for Sofia proved successful as I was at least able to reach the lineage boot animation by doing the same steps with A/B (install steps repeated after a reboot of whichever image stack was fully applied) after the system reboot to what seems to be A, it will start. I managed to get the lineage boot animation but gave it ample time (average 25 minutes, most was ~75 minutes) to finish its init but was never successful - so I was close.

It sounds like I was almost successful but didn't do a factory reboot (either fastboot -w, or factory wipe in TWRP). The standing notion theory, but NOT verified.

Problem 2 is understanding TWRP recovery for sideloading files, doing some steps in the bootloader, and other steps in the partition's Fastbootd.
--------------------------------
Unsuccessful LineageOS & crDroid 11 steps.
--------------------------------
The steps below are for lineageOS from the official page for A/B systems and followed official crDroid (Unofficial 11) steps in post #1 with having shown consistent failure 100%, so help on where I am in error is hugely appreciated. Readers DO NOT do these steps for the downgrade; they do NOT work! This is to get to help with a proper solution.
Below are LineageOS steps - but I ALSO performed the respective steps listed in crDroid 11 in post#1, not included here to save... some... text.
C:\adb>fastboot devices
ZY227WC6WF fastboot
C:\adb>fastboot flash boot twrp-3.5.0-0-rav-sofia.img
Sending 'boot_b' (42408 KB) OKAY [ 0.956s]
Writing 'boot_b' OKAY [ 1.310s]
Finished. Total time: 2.561s
C:\adb>fastboot flash boot_a twrp-3.5.0-0-rav-sofia.img
Sending 'boot_a' (42408 KB) OKAY [ 1.009s]
Writing 'boot_a' OKAY [ 0.352s]
Finished. Total time: 1.658s
[in TWRP recovery initiated Sideload]
C:\adb>adb sideload copy-partitions-20210323_1922.zip
loading: 'copy-partitions-20210323_1922.zip'
error: closed
C:\adb>adb sideload lineage-18.1-20220221-UNOFFICIAL-sofiar.zip
Total xfer: 1.00x
C:\adb>adb sideload FlameGApps-11.0-basic-arm64-20220213.zip
Total xfer: 1.00x
[lineage shows boot animation on repeat after 20 minutes I stopped it]

Attempted Images
lineage-18.1-20211010-UNOFFICIAL-FASTBOOTD-sofiar.zip
crDroidAndroid-11.0-20220223-sofiar-v7.15.zip
FlameGApps-11.0-basic-arm64-20220213.zip
open_gapps-arm64-11-0-pico-20210130-test-zip

NOTE: [reboot to bootloader, reboot system, and verified I was on the proper partition A to boot ultimately. I also pushed identical commands to ensure that both A and B were flashed of all files before booting.
Lineage just shows boot animation on repeat after 20 minutes before stopping, crDroid is soft-bricked rebooting the boot logo (3-4 times) until it eventually drops back to bootloader - Partition A.
--------------------------------
Unsuccessful PixelEx 11 steps.
--------------------------------
Attempted PixelEx 11 steps with the downgrade as part of the process. DO NOT do these steps for the downgrade if,, on a11; they do NOT work!

From reboot to bootloader, Partition A
fastboot reboot fastboot

Flashed images (still on partition A)
fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot flash vbmeta vbmeta.img
fastboot flash product product.img <-(A10 from stock XT2041-4 firmware by Motorola)
fastboot flash system system.img

Formatted data
fastboot -w

Reboot, profit. (no profit)

In TWRP
fastboot flash recovery_a twrpfile.img (twrp-3.5.0-0-rav-sofia.img)
fastboot flash recovery_b twrpfile.img (twrp-3.5.0-0-rav-sofia.img)

3) Flash the rom (PixelExperience_Plus_FASTBOOTD_sofiar-11.0-20211120-2208-UNOFFICIAL.zip)
4) Format Data (not factory reset)
5) Reboot, Profit (no profit)

images attempted to flash:
PixelExperience_Plus_FASTBOOTD_sofiar-11.0-20211120-2208-UNOFFICIAL.zip
FlameGApps-11.0-basic-arm64-20220213.zip

TWRP Used Universally:
twrp-3.5.0-0-rav-sofia.img
---------------
fuzzbox on lineage 11 post#37 had a thoughtful writeup until step 10. Tried the order three times.
[I will try this again without using TWRP.]
I needed the stock XT2041-4 a10 firmware image, extracted, created flashall.bat on, compiled the script, ensured all normal files were in a separate directory (boot, vmeta, etc.) and the a10 product.img, and the script worked. The result was a power cycle that was repeating on what seemed to be a switch to B partition until it restarted back to A.

LL
1. What I have learned from this is everything works from bootloader to OS, you are on A partition, B just power cycles (why this is the case would be explained by knowing the purpose of B fundamentally (f.e. OTA updates drop to B partition that flashes changes to A).
2. Also, TWRP is optional and not necessarily in a downgrade
3. Many young enthusiasts and tinkers have questions and are just not being answered well, looking elsewhere for help - not XDA 10 years ago.
I gave it a break and installed stock a11 with the same steps, boot animation, and init was quick. I wish to know fundamentally what exactly is happening with A and B partitions and why they are necessary; if anyone has any literature on this concept on the fundamentals, I'd be grateful.

------------------------
Final points:
My questions are also aligned with the same outcome and confusion as what sanzhang attempted and stated in post#30, as well
With fresh thinking, I will try what revengesrage has indicated in post#31.
(which, in retrospect, seems like a ludicrous unnecessary waste of time when having to do the downgrade bit, and all steps can be performed from fastbootd anyway.
Sorry, but what seems to create issues for people that I've noticed for this seemingly straightforward process is when people list the steps, and doing so will "just work," such as Post #24. If one is on the wrong partition and performs the steps against the other, it doesn't work (IGNORE ADVICE SUGGESTING THIS). Power cycling seems to attempt booting in the other upon failure, eventually dropping to either A or B in bootloader set as active. rebooting deliberately to be, or explicitly indicating, for example, "fastboot set_active a," made sense logically but didn't seem to work.
I get we have what seems to be a couple of different methodologies, but, can each dev with their own iteration help get EVERYONE with this phone model on the same instructions that need to downgrade? Who wants all the kudos for what everyone can post that explains EXACTLY what to do?
1. Do A command with A File CHECK; you will see this
2. DO B command with B File CHECK, this happens
3. Now do C command, CHECK, this will happen
4. D command, with it taking this long, this will then happen

If you made it this far and said, "Wow, what a mess," "this makes no sense." Yes, you're correct, and this needs to be cleaned up, so the support for this device is worth continuing, and young enthusiasts learn something from one place - XDA.

Spell it out for me like I'm a moron, really, it wouldn't be just for me.. which is why spelling out is important as EVERYONE can/will misread and/or overread something basic or draw assumptions from what's missing.

Thanks in advance; send me your coffee link if you're helpful and verified steps.

 

[jhford]

I don't post much, but it's important to mention that this process, the downgrade of the a10, was not successful that has been guided to. Partially because of trying methods that are incorrect here on XDA, which is unfortunate. Is there a youtube video, or would anyone like to? Unfortunately, the exact steps are what I don't get. The A/B partitions are new for me, and was having difficulty understanding what was happening at the hardware/software level.

Everyone's "TLDR" now, and others take that version as instructions and leave out the detail that others trip over from not getting, so whoever TLDR's this, and whoever follows that person TLDR, comes back here.

I attempted crDroid 11, Pixelex 11, and lineageOS 11 with a10 firmware, no success. I'm on a11 stock with Motorola's stack. I grabbed the a10 as instructed replaced the a11 version.

A post that covered the steps in detail in these forums for Sofia proved successful as I was at least able to reach the lineage boot animation by doing the same steps with A/B (install steps repeated after a reboot of whichever image stack was fully applied) after the system reboot to what seems to be A, it will start. I managed to get the lineage boot animation but gave it ample time (average 25 minutes, most was ~75 minutes) to finish its init but was never successful - so I was close.

It sounds like I was almost successful but didn't do a factory reboot (either fastboot -w, or factory wipe in TWRP). The standing notion theory, but NOT verified.

Problem 2 is understanding TWRP recovery for sideloading files, doing some steps in the bootloader, and other steps in the partition's Fastbootd.
--------------------------------
Unsuccessful LineageOS & crDroid 11 steps.
--------------------------------
The steps below are for lineageOS from the official page for A/B systems and followed official crDroid (Unofficial 11) steps in post #1 with having shown consistent failure 100%, so help on where I am in error is hugely appreciated. Readers DO NOT do these steps for the downgrade; they do NOT work! This is to get to help with a proper solution.
Below are LineageOS steps - but I ALSO performed the respective steps listed in crDroid 11 in post#1, not included here to save... some... text.
C:\adb>fastboot devices
ZY227WC6WF fastboot
C:\adb>fastboot flash boot twrp-3.5.0-0-rav-sofia.img
Sending 'boot_b' (42408 KB) OKAY [ 0.956s]
Writing 'boot_b' OKAY [ 1.310s]
Finished. Total time: 2.561s
C:\adb>fastboot flash boot_a twrp-3.5.0-0-rav-sofia.img
Sending 'boot_a' (42408 KB) OKAY [ 1.009s]
Writing 'boot_a' OKAY [ 0.352s]
Finished. Total time: 1.658s
[in TWRP recovery initiated Sideload]
C:\adb>adb sideload copy-partitions-20210323_1922.zip
loading: 'copy-partitions-20210323_1922.zip'
error: closed
C:\adb>adb sideload lineage-18.1-20220221-UNOFFICIAL-sofiar.zip
Total xfer: 1.00x
C:\adb>adb sideload FlameGApps-11.0-basic-arm64-20220213.zip
Total xfer: 1.00x
[lineage shows boot animation on repeat after 20 minutes I stopped it]

Attempted Images
lineage-18.1-20211010-UNOFFICIAL-FASTBOOTD-sofiar.zip
crDroidAndroid-11.0-20220223-sofiar-v7.15.zip
FlameGApps-11.0-basic-arm64-20220213.zip
open_gapps-arm64-11-0-pico-20210130-test-zip

NOTE: [reboot to bootloader, reboot system, and verified I was on the proper partition A to boot ultimately. I also pushed identical commands to ensure that both A and B were flashed of all files before booting.
Lineage just shows boot animation on repeat after 20 minutes before stopping, crDroid is soft-bricked rebooting the boot logo (3-4 times) until it eventually drops back to bootloader - Partition A.
--------------------------------
Unsuccessful PixelEx 11 steps.
--------------------------------
Attempted PixelEx 11 steps with the downgrade as part of the process. DO NOT do these steps for the downgrade if,, on a11; they do NOT work!

From reboot to bootloader, Partition A
fastboot reboot fastboot

Flashed images (still on partition A)
fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot flash vbmeta vbmeta.img
fastboot flash product product.img <-(A10 from stock XT2041-4 firmware by Motorola)
fastboot flash system system.img

Formatted data
fastboot -w

Reboot, profit. (no profit)

In TWRP
fastboot flash recovery_a twrpfile.img (twrp-3.5.0-0-rav-sofia.img)
fastboot flash recovery_b twrpfile.img (twrp-3.5.0-0-rav-sofia.img)

3) Flash the rom (PixelExperience_Plus_FASTBOOTD_sofiar-11.0-20211120-2208-UNOFFICIAL.zip)
4) Format Data (not factory reset)
5) Reboot, Profit (no profit)

images attempted to flash:
PixelExperience_Plus_FASTBOOTD_sofiar-11.0-20211120-2208-UNOFFICIAL.zip
FlameGApps-11.0-basic-arm64-20220213.zip

TWRP Used Universally:
twrp-3.5.0-0-rav-sofia.img
---------------
fuzzbox on lineage 11 post#37 had a thoughtful writeup until step 10. Tried the order three times.
[I will try this again without using TWRP.]
I needed the stock XT2041-4 a10 firmware image, extracted, created flashall.bat on, compiled the script, ensured all normal files were in a separate directory (boot, vmeta, etc.) and the a10 product.img, and the script worked. The result was a power cycle that was repeating on what seemed to be a switch to B partition until it restarted back to A.

LL
1. What I have learned from this is everything works from bootloader to OS, you are on A partition, B just power cycles (why this is the case would be explained by knowing the purpose of B fundamentally (f.e. OTA updates drop to B partition that flashes changes to A).
2. Also, TWRP is optional and not necessarily in a downgrade
3. Many young enthusiasts and tinkers have questions and are just not being answered well, looking elsewhere for help - not XDA 10 years ago.
I gave it a break and installed stock a11 with the same steps, boot animation, and init was quick. I wish to know fundamentally what exactly is happening with A and B partitions and why they are necessary; if anyone has any literature on this concept on the fundamentals, I'd be grateful.

------------------------
Final points:
My questions are also aligned with the same outcome and confusion as what sanzhang attempted and stated in post#30, as well
With fresh thinking, I will try what revengesrage has indicated in post#31.
(which, in retrospect, seems like a ludicrous unnecessary waste of time when having to do the downgrade bit, and all steps can be performed from fastbootd anyway.
Sorry, but what seems to create issues for people that I've noticed for this seemingly straightforward process is when people list the steps, and doing so will "just work," such as Post #24. If one is on the wrong partition and performs the steps against the other, it doesn't work (IGNORE ADVICE SUGGESTING THIS). Power cycling seems to attempt booting in the other upon failure, eventually dropping to either A or B in bootloader set as active. rebooting deliberately to be, or explicitly indicating, for example, "fastboot set_active a," made sense logically but didn't seem to work.
I get we have what seems to be a couple of different methodologies, but, can each dev with their own iteration help get EVERYONE with this phone model on the same instructions that need to downgrade? Who wants all the kudos for what everyone can post that explains EXACTLY what to do?
1. Do A command with A File CHECK; you will see this
2. DO B command with B File CHECK, this happens
3. Now do C command, CHECK, this will happen
4. D command, with it taking this long, this will then happen

If you made it this far and said, "Wow, what a mess," "this makes no sense." Yes, you're correct, and this needs to be cleaned up, so the support for this device is worth continuing, and young enthusiasts learn something from one place - XDA.

Spell it out for me like I'm a moron, really, it wouldn't be just for me.. which is why spelling out is important as EVERYONE can/will misread and/or overread something basic or draw assumptions from what's missing.

Thanks in advance; send me your coffee link if you're helpful and verified steps.

Too long, but did read. Although I root/rom everything, I'm quite happy with my souped up stock A11 XT-2041-4 [sofia]. I use Android Widgets extensively and have made all my devices, including my beloved Nexus 7 2013 4G/LTE Tablets and my A11 XT-2041-4 [sofia] into auto-pull newsgatherers with the help of Google's long-abandoned Greader - the best RSS reader yet. However, Moto has announced they will not update the A11 XT-2041-4 [sofia] which should incentivize all of us to root/rom it and futureproof it more or less. But I don't want to destroy my current setup without totally backing it up first. I used to have a version of TWRP installed, but never could do a Nandroid backup successfully. TWRP is not installed now, because I can't install a Rom, anyway. So, I agree with @Shadowzerosix that we need bulletproof downgrade and Rom installation instructions. For a minute, I was about to try @auhsoj200's generous post #22 in https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/how-to-downgrade-android-11-to-10.4283809/, but I lost my nerve. Maybe someone else can try it and report back to all of us.
Thanks

 

[Leroy_Sparks]

Too long, but did read. Although I root/rom everything, I'm quite happy with my souped up stock A11 XT-2041-4 [sofia]. I use Android Widgets extensively and have made all my devices, including my beloved Nexus 7 2013 4G/LTE Tablets and my A11 XT-2041-4 [sofia] into auto-pull newsgatherers with the help of Google's long-abandoned Greader - the best RSS reader yet. However, Moto has announced they will not update the A11 XT-2041-4 [sofia] which should incentivize all of us to root/rom it and futureproof it more or less. But I don't want to destroy my current setup without totally backing it up first. I used to have a version of TWRP installed, but never could do a Nandroid backup successfully. TWRP is not installed now, because I can't install a Rom, anyway. So, I agree with @Shadowzerosix that we need bulletproof downgrade and Rom installation instructions. For a minute, I was about to try @auhsoj200's generous post #22 in https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/how-to-downgrade-android-11-to-10.4283809/, but I lost my nerve. Maybe someone else can try it and report back to all of us.
Thanks

I'm by no means an expert, but as I understand it Motorola put anti-rollback (ARB) in the Jan/Feb A11 updates. This means you can't revert back to A10, which is needed for the custom ROMs we see on here. One dev (electimon) is working on A12 with a custom vendor so our phones can get updated android version in the future (he has working builds, not quite ready for prime-time). Kinda nasty of Moto to do that when they don't plan to provide futher upgrades, IMO.

As far as backups, I don't believe we have a TWRP that can restore backups. What I do is back everything up with Migrate and then restore using Migrate Flasher. I also use SMBSync2 app to automatically backup my user data to the SD card and my home server as those files aren't included in Migrate backup.

 

[jhford]

I'm by no means an expert, but as I understand it Motorola put anti-rollback (ARB) in the Jan/Feb A11 updates. This means you can't revert back to A10, which is needed for the custom ROMs we see on here. One dev (electimon) is working on A12 with a custom vendor so our phones can get updated android version in the future (he has working builds, not quite ready for prime-time). Kinda nasty of Moto to do that when they don't plan to provide futher upgrades, IMO.

As far as backups, I don't believe we have a TWRP that can restore backups. What I do is back everything up with Migrate and then restore using Migrate Flasher. I also use SMB2 app to automatically backup my user data to the SD card and my home server as those files aren't included in Migrate backup.

Interesting. I can't live without Migrate, and use it whenever I flash a new or updated Rom. But I still like this Moto G Power. Great battery life, pretty quick, etc.

 

[Shadowzerosix]

I'm by no means an expert, but as I understand it Motorola put anti-rollback (ARB) in the Jan/Feb A11 updates. This means you can't revert back to A10, which is needed for the custom ROMs we see on here. One dev (electimon) is working on A12 with a custom vendor so our phones can get updated android version in the future (he has working builds, not quite ready for prime-time). Kinda nasty of Moto to do that when they don't plan to provide futher upgrades, IMO.

As far as backups, I don't believe we have a TWRP that can restore backups. What I do is back everything up with Migrate and then restore using Migrate Flasher. I also use SMBSync2 app to automatically backup my user data to the SD card and my home server as those files aren't included in Migrate backup.

Is there a way to confirm the update somehow? I'm currently rooted on A11 and have blocked the service from being able to check in with Moto. I did this first thing when I loaded A11 from Moto's official repo earlier this month.
SW ver: RPMS31.Q1-54-13-8
Sec Patch: December 1, 2021
My presumption by "update" that would be from their update service is Settings > System.

 

[Shadowzerosix]

Too long, but did read. Although I root/rom everything, I'm quite happy with my souped up stock A11 XT-2041-4 [sofia]. I use Android Widgets extensively and have made all my devices, including my beloved Nexus 7 2013 4G/LTE Tablets and my A11 XT-2041-4 [sofia] into auto-pull newsgatherers with the help of Google's long-abandoned Greader - the best RSS reader yet. However, Moto has announced they will not update the A11 XT-2041-4 [sofia] which should incentivize all of us to root/rom it and futureproof it more or less. But I don't want to destroy my current setup without totally backing it up first. I used to have a version of TWRP installed, but never could do a Nandroid backup successfully. TWRP is not installed now, because I can't install a Rom, anyway. So, I agree with @Shadowzerosix that we need bulletproof downgrade and Rom installation instructions. For a minute, I was about to try @auhsoj200's generous post #22 in https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/how-to-downgrade-android-11-to-10.4283809/, but I lost my nerve. Maybe someone else can try it and report back to all of us.
Thanks

TLBDR you said haha
An intriguing use case.

I will be trying the methods with what you linked here and report back the steps for success. SPECIFICALLY a success with details based on my current build, the files I used, and the step-by-step. A repeatable process. Not my first writeup, but first on XDA.

Maybe to encourage you to no longer exclude Sofia from her own custom build. But then again, sounds like you have the setup for now.