[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] ShuraEx:
Great guide, thank you for taking the time to write it mailme45

I was in a similar situation when I embarked on this little project, my screen was completely dead but i could hear sounds from the physical buttons so I knew the phone was on. There are a few solutions to get your phone setup, assuming you are still looking for a solution, if not I'll just mention it for the next person in this predicament. If you didn't buy your mhl adapter yet and your screen doesn't work at all, then I suggest buying a mhl cable with CEC function; this will allow you to control your phone with your tv remote when connected. These mhl adapters cost more than the ones found on ebay but also come with more features. The rocketfish RF-G1171($12 at bestbuy) for example will work with most phones including 11-pin samsung models so if you didn't buy a mhl yet, I would recommend getting one with CEC or one that comes as part of a hub, search ebay for the 5in1 mhl. If you already bought a cheap ebay one, continue reading below.

You will need a mhl cable, otg cable and usb mouse/keyboard; These steps are for people with a dead screen and digitizer. If your screen works but touch does not, just use a otg cable and mouse and if your screen doesn't work but touch does then use mhl cable and control using the touch screen.

Note** If you had USB debugging enabled already, skip to step 5

Step 1: connect the MHL cable to your phone and connect with your TV/Monitor and wait for your device to boot into the lockscreen

Step 2: Once at the lockscreen take out the mhl cable and use the otg cable to connect your mouse and swipe to unlock, switch back to mhl cable to make sure you got passed the lockscreen.

Note** If you had a password lock or pattern lock this will be very annoying, use the otg with keyboard if its a password and use mouse for pattern; might take awhile since you will be doing the pattern blind.

Step 3: use the keyboard to navigate to Settings > About Phone > scroll to "build number" and hit enter 7x to turn on developer options.

Note** As each phones menu, app layout and UI is slightly different, you may have to switch between mhl and otg just to see where you currently as you navigate. I suggest taking your time and switching between the two for each action you make, as we will only have to go through this process once.

Step 4: with developer options enabled, navigate to the "developer options" menu and turn on USB debugging.

Step 5: At this stage there are two methods, if you are lucky option 1 will work, if it does not, sadly you will have to go through the annoying mhl/otg switching to navigate one more time.

Option 1:

Install a google chrome app/extension called Vysor on your pc

Link: Vysor

This is an app developed by Koush that allows you to connect, view and control your android device on your PC through USB. The app is still in beta phase so might not work with every phone. Drivers will need to be installed for this app to work, which can be found at the Vysor homepage(I can't link to outsite sites so just google it) along with instructions. If the app works for you, I suggest the first thing you do is turn off certain features like lockscreen and sleep timer; next install a bluetooth keyboard/mouse/controller, something that will allow you to control the phone when connected to the tv/monitor through mhl. Finally you can also do all the required setups mentioned in this thread to get kodi running and when you are satisfied with the setup, connect the phone back to the tv/monitor.

Option 2:

If you were unlucky and Vysor did not work for you, navigate to the play store by switching between mhl and otg and install an app called Teamviewer Quicksupport. Install teamviewer on your PC; launch the app on your phone and you will be given an ID, use the ID on your PC to connect to the phone. When you try to connect from your PC, you will get a confirmation on your phone; make sure your phone is connected through mhl so you can see the confirmation. switch to otg to accept then switch back to mhl since you will be prompted to install an add-on, this add-on is necessary to view your phone screen on your PC. Once the add-on is installed, you will be able to see and control your phone from your pc, use your pc to setup your phone. As mentioned in option one, turn off certain features that are hindrance like lockscreen and install a bluetooth device that will let you control your phone wirelessly.

Hope this helps people with a completely dead screen but otherwise working phone, It can be very frustrating and time consuming but once you get past the initial stuff, you should be able to either link using vysor or wirelessly using teamviewer for feature setups.