B20 Factory Image posted???? - ZTE Axon 7 Guides, News, & Discussion

So out of curiosity I went to the ZTE USA website and checked when the next batch of Axon 7's would ship as I wanted to buy another one (don't judge) and I go down to Support, Software updates, and I see this(attached):
Is this the stock image that ZTE said they would post? It sure looks like it as its almost 2GB in size
Link: https://www.zteusa.com/axon-7

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Thanks for the heads-up. Interesting that they would post an image for B20, not one of a later version.

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xtermmin said:
Thanks for the heads-up. Interesting that they would post an image for B20, not one of a later version.
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What's interesting is that they haven't announced it yet

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This looks like the factory image of the B20 pre-bootloader. I'm downloading the zip now, so we'll know more after analysts. So much about getting B27 or B29 as factory, but makes sense since that's where the sig change happened. And it specifically mentions it as image for fixing OTA failures because of B20_Boot OTA

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It could be what we have been hoping for - at least that is a factory image. We can always use their OTA system to update from there
---------- Post added at 09:26 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:56 PM ----------
DrakenFX - check this out here. I just downloaded it and took a look at the updater script in it. This may help with an instruction set for turning future OTA updates into TWRP flashable zips.

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we need to get this updated here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/axon-7/development/axon-7-chinese-stock-roms-t3436817

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Well what do you know its announced: https://community.zteusa.com/thread/13133

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bkores said:
Well what do you know its announced: https://community.zteusa.com/thread/13133
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So with this image, how would you flash it to a bricked phone? Do you have to have access to recovery to use the file as posted?

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Nice find @bkores , posted on the 10/26 .....still this can be very helpful

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imp3r10 said:
So with this image, how would you flash it to a bricked phone? Do you have to have access to recovery to use the file as posted?
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I guess you do as you have to update from the sd card. I don't know why they couldn't have made it fastboot flashable but you should be able to flash the boot and recovery inside the zip with fastboot. As for the system I think you can convert the system.new.dat to system.img with some program and then flash. Someone feel free to correct me on this.

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Can devs start "cooking" this? Removing stock apps etc etc?

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bkores said:
I guess you do as you have to update from the sd card. I don't know why they couldn't have made it fastboot flashable but you should be able to flash the boot and recovery inside the zip with fastboot. As for the system I think you can convert the system.new.dat to system.img with some program and then flash. Someone feel free to correct me on this.
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This is basically a full (not-OTA) update file for B20 version. It is really only good for downgrades to fix soft brick where your recovery is still accessible or to get OTAs. It will not help with bricks where phone won't boot past ZTE logo or into fastboot. It will also not help with stock mods since zip file is signed. And it cannot be flashed via EDL or DFU mode. I hope this is not the thing they were talking about when they posted that meme with brick wall and stock market recovery.
For fastboot restore, we would need new fastboot image, since i think there is a flash (or pull) limit on file size in the current one around 500MB or so IIRC
---------- Post added at 03:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:41 PM ----------
nsane said:
Can devs start "cooking" this? Removing stock apps etc etc?
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Since this is a signed zip, there is no modifying it. Flashing modded rom would still require TWRP and could already be done since we have full /system dumps. And to use this to save you from bad flash, you will need to have access to recovery. TWRP could flash it i guess, but if you are in bootloader loop then not much help

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This will remove the unlocked bootloader from your device at this time
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I'm guessing this is because it replaces the emmc_appsboot.mbn / aboot file? Wonder if one can just delete that line from the flashing script to keep it unlocked.

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peramikic said:
This is basically a full (not-OTA) update file for B20 version. It is really only good for downgrades to fix soft brick where your recovery is still accessible or to get OTAs. It will not help with bricks where phone won't boot past ZTE logo or into fastboot. It will also not help with stock mods since zip file is signed. And it cannot be flashed via EDL or DFU mode. I hope this is not the thing they were talking about when they posted that meme with brick wall and stock market recovery.
For fastboot restore, we would need new fastboot image, since i think there is a flash (or pull) limit on file size in the current one around 500MB or so IIRC
---------- Post added at 03:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:41 PM ----------
Since this is a signed zip, there is no modifying it. Flashing modded rom would still require TWRP and could already be done since we have full /system dumps. And to use this to save you from bad flash, you will need to have access to recovery. TWRP could flash it i guess, but if you are in bootloader loop then not much help
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If you are stuck on the ZTE logo on a bootloop, couldn't you use tenfar's tool to flash stock recovery and then use this full image to flash stock B20? It does have a boot.img in it that it installs during this process.

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peramikic said:
This is basically a full (not-OTA) update file for B20 version. It is really only good for downgrades to fix soft brick where your recovery is still accessible or to get OTAs. It will not help with bricks where phone won't boot past ZTE logo or into fastboot. It will also not help with stock mods since zip file is signed. And it cannot be flashed via EDL or DFU mode. I hope this is not the thing they were talking about when they posted that meme with brick wall and stock market recovery.
For fastboot restore, we would need new fastboot image, since i think there is a flash (or pull) limit on file size in the current one around 500MB or so IIRC
---------- Post added at 03:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:41 PM ----------
Since this is a signed zip, there is no modifying it. Flashing modded rom would still require TWRP and could already be done since we have full /system dumps. And to use this to save you from bad flash, you will need to have access to recovery. TWRP could flash it i guess, but if you are in bootloader loop then not much help
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I am bootloader unlock and have TWRP.
I hope that Devs start "cooking" stock ROMS. Taking out system apps. Bloat etc etc
Kernel development would also be nice
*fingers crossed*

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I'm really happy that they did something, but why couldn't they have just compressed the boot, recovery, and system img files into a tar file like Google does with their Nexus/Pixel devices? That way we would've been able to flash them in fastboot mode which could've fixed almost any brick with the exception of EDL/DFU mode in which case we could have used tenfar's tool.

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If you remove this from the updater-script inside the update.zip, it is even flashable with TWRP takes some time to flash but it works!
Code:
getprop("ro.product.device") == "ailsa_ii" || abort("This package is for \"ailsa_ii\" devices; this is a \"" + getprop("ro.product.device") + "\".");
assert(getprop("ro.product.name") == "P996A01");
ui_print("Target: ZTE/P996A01/ailsa_ii:6.0.1/MMB29M/20160707.171254:user/release-keys");
show_progress(0.850000, 180);

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i believe i mention this somewhere, been crazy busy for me today
* You can either Flashed using TWRP or Install using Stock System Update app or Install using Stock recovery.
but that B20 update.zip will get you to Complete B20 software.
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beside that here are a few good point of what is going to happen :
-However you will not be able to update to newer builds just yet.
-SD card update will erase everything on your device. (but i'm sure External Storage (SDCard) is safe )
-We recommend only users with advanced skills use this file.
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so anyone who want to use that file need to take that in consideration.

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DrakenFX said:
i believe i mention this somewhere, been crazy busy for me today
beside that here are a few good point of what is going to happen :
so anyone who want to use that file need to take that in consideration.
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You can just remove the format line inside the updater-script to keep your data

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bkores said:
You can just remove the format line inside the updater-script to keep your data
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LoL, just notice that line ....haven't had time to bother and check the file , but yeah just need to remove
Code:
format("ext4", "EMMC", "/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/userdata", "0", "/data");
but still, internal storage will be is safe but you'll still need to wipe data and reinstall app (Encryption thing)