[Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini, Mini Pro, Xperia Pro, A] mihahn:
Okay, so:

The kernel is seperated from the rom. If you have unlocked the bootloader you can flash a kernel. In most kernels, cwm is included, so you flash the kernel and then you can boot up. While booting you press the volume down button again and again, to come to cwm. There you can install a zip file, in which the rom is.

Are you really sure the bootloader is unlocked? Did you do it by testpoint or sonys official method?

To flash a kernel, you need the boot.img. Before you start flashing the kernel, put the downloaded zip file of the rom on your sd card.

Then, and I would do it like this cause with the normal command line by windows it's the same, you open sony flash tool. There you click on the flash, select fastboot mode and on the right side there is select kernel to flash. There you choose the boot.img. Then you have to shut down your phone, and while you are holding volume up key, you connect phone to pc. There will light up the blue led and flash tool will automaticly flash the kernel. READ THE LOG BEFORE YOU PLUG OFF DEVICE!! If the log is ok (there are no errors), you can plug off device and turn it on. While booting, you press volume down again and again. Then you have to follow the tutorial to the rom (what has to be formatted or wiped and how to install the rom itself. Cause after flashing the kernel, you must install the rom or your device won't boot up!

Okay, now we could do an example:

If you want an ics rom, I would take cyanogenmod 9. Here's a guide:

Download the zip file from here.

Then you extract the zip file, so you have one packed zip file and one unpacked. The packed zip file you copy to your sd card.

In the unpacked, there's a boot.img. If it isn't named boot.img rename it, so it's name is "boot", but windows detects as an image file.

You open sony flash tool and click on the flash, select fastboot mode and then choose "select kernel to flash". Choose the boot.img (make sure it is named boot and it is an image. In flashtool the image you choose should be named boot) and shut down phone. Hold volume up key that the blue led shines, and the kernel is flashed after seconds. Now see the log, if there's no error, plug off the device and power on. While powering on you press the volume down button again and again.

Now you are in cwm. There I would do a backup first. When the backup has finished, you make a factory reset and wipe cache partition.

Then select install zip from sd card and choose zip. There you choose the cm9 zip you copied to your sd card. If it finished installing (don't power off device while installing, sometimes you could think it stuck, but normally it won't. Just wait and drink a coffee!) you can reboot device and normally it should work.

YOU DO THAT ON YOUR OWN RISK. FOR ME ON MINI PRO IT WORKED, BUT I CAN'T PROMISE!

Hope it works and keep up! In the end you will hopefully enjoy your rom (maybe cm9) :)

Greets

Michael

---------- Post added at 12:31 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:34 AM ----------

That won't work if you have no unlocked bootloader! Do this only if you are sure, the bootloader is unlocked!! If it works, it'd be nice if you could tell me! :)