yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] VanNostrand:
Yeah, but you don't have to unlock the bootloader to update to 5.1. You can update, check that everything runs as it should, then if you want root, you'll have to unlock it of course, but people shouldn't be afraid to update. That's the thing here. Everyone screams that the camera will break if you update, but that's not true at all.

Anyhow, is ONE person here with the GPe running a rooted 5.1? If yes, could that person for the love of god share his or her kernel (boot.img)?
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] egzthunder1:
Well, I can tell you, from my own device, which has an unlocked bl, if I upgrade to even 4.4.3 (currently on 4.4.2), my camera will stop taking pictures. The app itself opens but when the app calls for AF, the thing freezes and takes no pictures at all. I have upgraded all the way to 5.0 when it came out in hopes that Sony would have released a fix for this, but no dice. This is why I asked... It might have to do with the version at which the bl gets unlocked. When I got my current zu, it already had an unlocked bl (I never bothered unlocking the bl on the one I had before... And yes, the camera did suffer from the unlock... The difference in quality is abysmal.)

There are two rules in life for being successful:

1. Never reveal everything you know;

2.
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] quazimojo:
Howdy,

I just got my phone yesterday and it came with 5.0 on it with an 5.1 update looming in the background so i updated it .

Now i really want to root and would not mind going back to 4.4.4 or lower to have root access (really need certain things that only root can give me).

I am clueless where to begin. My friend sent me a link to a guide for GPE Ultra Z what to do but i am totally uncertain on the downgrading aspect of it and unlocking the bootloader without breaking or losing something on the phone.

So i guess the real question is can i downgrade the phone since it came with 5.0 and now its on 5.1 ? and if so what precautions and steps should i take ?.
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] VanNostrand:
No reason to downgrade it? You can root by unlocking the bootloader and just flashing SuperSU in recovery. I don't have the GPe version, so there may be some other ways of doing it too. Wait until someone else replies and either confirms what I just wrote, or suggests a different method.
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] quazimojo:
Thank you for the reply.

I hope that is the case and it being that simple. I like Lollipop and would be fine staying put on it if possible, i was just getting prepared to go somewhat great lengths to give myself root access.
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] MrSewerPickle:
Yikes. A large portion of this thread is about failed 5.1 updates on locked and unlocked boot loaders. The reason why someone with a "failed to update" problem would unlock is to apply the necessary fixes to update (in mine and a few cases incorrect FOTAKernel versions).

If the 5.1 update applied successfully to your locked non rooted device then that's awesome and you appear to be a small group of folks on this thread but that's why the discussion about unlocking occurred.

And I can confirm that tap to focus and even video now work in 5.1 in the stock google camera. Tap and Video recording did NOT work on my 5.0 install. And like [MENTION=252661]egzthunder1[/MENTION] my camera was basically busted after the 4.4.4 update and unlocking. No tap focus, no video...just one capture half ass autofocus pics.

---------- Post added at 03:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:04 PM ----------

[MENTION=252661]egzthunder1[/MENTION], I had a super early unlocked boot loader (because I don't like rules?? :) phone and my camera was busted for a long time as well. Even wrote a crappy camera app that wouldn't allow advanced / freeze your app autofocus stuff to work around it. I can 100% confirm that they fixed all camera problems I had in 5.1.
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] VanNostrand:
1. I don't have the GPe version. I have the regular one.

2. Okay, so again, the camera works fine on 5.1.

3. Are you currently rooted? If yes, can you please share the kernel (boot.img)?
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] MrSewerPickle:
I am not currently rooted but I'm going to change that tonight. I'll grab it (boot.img) after that and post a link for it here.
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] VanNostrand:
Fantastic! Thank you SO much!
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] quazimojo:
Hopefully I can get a clear and safe explanation of what the best way is for me to root a stock 5.1 device.:)
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] VanNostrand:
I guess [MENTION=2854595]MrSewerPickle[/MENTION] can help you there.
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] fzurita:
I'm doing some research into this, and there doesn't seem to be a way to root the stock gpe 5.0 or 5.1 ROM. I think we need a modded kernel with modified SE permissions and a custom recovery to flash SU binaries. I hope I'm wrong though.

Also, I don't think we need root pull a boot image, just the unlocked boot loader. With an unlocked bootloader, it's possible to boot directly into a custom boot image, like the advanced stock kernel. From there one can load TWRP recovery and use adb commands to pull the different partitions. The command is

fastboot boot boot.img
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] Saatvik Shukla:
If you have an unlocked BL, just hotboot any kernel with recovery and flash SuperSu zip.

And yes you need root to pull boot.img
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] MrSewerPickle:
That is correct and I can confirm that it's indeed possible with a unlocked bootloader (just did it). You can follow the steps I posted here awhile back but they still apply.

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2579005&page=3

I did use the ZU_GPe-AdvStkKernel-KTU84P.S1.3061-v03.img boot image instead of the previously mentioned kernel in the message link above.

Also, I grabbed /dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/boot from my 5.1 device but the final img is exactly the same size as the 5.0 boot image which I don't think is right.

Can anyone confirm/correct that's the correct location for the boot partition? There is an "aboot" and an "alt-boot" by-name mount as well.
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] fzurita:
Which SuperSU install zip version did you use?
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] Saatvik Shukla:
by-name/boot is boot.img i guess.

Please share that :)
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] MrSewerPickle:
2.46. The flashable is here: http://click.xda-developers.com/api...rums&txt=http://download.chainfire.eu/supersu

---------- Post added at 07:50 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:32 AM ----------

Okay, but I want to make sure everyone understands that they should NOT flash this without first either hotbooting and verifying that it is indeed 5.1 by entering recovery or some other means of verification.

And....I am not responsible for bricking devices, devices not starting, devices turning into dark matter, devices no longer existing in our plane of existence, etc, etc. I have NOT hotbooted this image nor do I claim that this will work so be careful.

1. adb reboot-bootloader

2. fastboot devices (verify yours shows up)

3. fastboot boot C:\boot.img (full path to the img)

(up on volume couple times when led comes on, hold power and tap up volume when No Command busted Android shows up).

If you get into stock menu recovery via the above sequence then you can validate its the proper 5.1 version at the top above the menu options.

fzurita's partition dump from 5.1

-----------------------------------------------------

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B57Ioy26LWegS1dleE5mek5YR1k/view
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] quazimojo:
Edit Read below sorry
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] quazimojo:
Can i downgrade to officially to 4.4.2 with a stock google image without unlocking the bootloader.

I want to backup my locked TA partition before i move forward and the only way i can do that is too go back to an older firmware that i can root without unlocking the bootloader.

I cant find stock google images that will let me flash with flashtool because they are all zip files meant for an unlocked bootloader phone.

It seems Sony released all the FTF files of actual images made for the phone yet google never released there versions of the official images i can flash with flashtool .

Maybe i am missing something finding those images. I just wanted to take every precaution i could before unlocking the bootloader so i can always revert back to a stock device and it seems the only way to do that is to find an old image and root it and backup TA then move forward.
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] draiko913:
Nope, once you've updated to 5.0 or above, there is no way to revert back to a prior version without unlocking the bootloader and destroying your TA partition (which defeats the purpose of reverting to begin with).
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] quazimojo:
So what am i destroying on my phone by losing the TA partition ?. '

What wont work properly any longer ?.
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] draiko913:
There was a really good post on one of the Sony forums here (don't believe that is was in the Z Ultra section) that lists all of the known items that stop working properly if you unlock the bootloader but I can't find it at the moment. Many of the Sony apps stop working correctly, although that's not really applicable to the Z Ultra GPE since we don't have most of that.

Although the Bravia engine still shows as active after unlocking, supposedly it doesn't actually work without the DRM keys. I never noticed a difference myself, but others may see it differently. On prior versions of Jellybean, unlocking the bootloader broke the camera, but several on this forum have confirmed the camera appears to be working perfectly fine on 5.1 with the bootloader unlocked (myself included).

Another report was that audio was softer after unlocking, due to something with the DRM keys and the equalizer. Again, in my perspective, I don't notice any difference between pre and post bootloader unlock, so to each their own. There might be a few other items, but those were the key ones that I can remember at the moment that would specifically affect a GPE phone.

Found the link! http://xdaforums.com/z3-compact/general/loss-drm-keys-t2890936
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] quazimojo:
Thank you for the reply and the warning. It seems to be a mixed bag once you lose those keys. Its too bad there is no way to downgrade (that is a darn shame) and also no way to Root without an unlocked bootloader.

Since i just got the phone i really didnt want to go breaking it 3 days later :(......
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] draiko913:
For what it's worth, I had unlocked back on 4.4.4 and backed up my TA partition, then decided that I would go back to stock when 5.0 rolled out. After restoring my TA and relocking the bootloader, I decided to stay stock from then on, until my 5.1 update failed. My biggest worry this second time was if the camera would break, but since it's working without any issues, I'm completely glad that I unlocked and will be rooting later tonight again as well.

Unlocking may not be for everyone (and I take no responsibility if anyone decides to based on my posts and breaks features or bricks their phone), but I am very pleased with being unlocked again and still functioning without any issues. Just remember that when you run the unlock command, it'll wipe your data, so backup anything you want to save before you pull the trigger.
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] quazimojo:
For me its just the whole this is final aspect i do not like. So if i do unlock and find something i do not like (not saying i will or will not) then tough luck for me.

Things like tripping Knox counters never phased me one bit but this reaches further then that and also most people who would say just do it have a backed up TA partition so if they get that itch to revert back or relock it for whatever reason they can and will but i cannot.

I appreciate all the info you have given me .
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] fzurita:
I backed up almost all my partitions (including boot) on the stock GPE 5.1 ROM. Here is the link:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B57Ioy26LWegS1dleE5mek5YR1k/view?usp=sharing
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] draiko913:
So what's it mean if I attempt to do the fastboot boot boot51.img and I get the following:

creating boot image...
creating boot image - 20973568 bytes
downloading 'boot.img'...
OKAY [ 0.647s]
booting...
FAILED (remote: dtb not found)
finished. total time: 0.720s

Looks like when I boot into the stock recovery, I'm still on 5.0 (LRX21P.S3.4291) instead of it having been updated to LMY47D for 5.1.
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] mtuckman:
Unlocked, I already had a backup of the TA partition, installed the FOTAKernel, rebooted, restored my Google settings, etc, did the upgrade, and...

It worked like a charm. Even booted up in fastboot an older kernel as suggested in an earlier post and installed SU.

Camera seems to be working great, better than it has been working. I got to wondering if I had previously unlocked the bootloader, which is why I had the TA backup, and if the camera had been funky ever since!

Everything is good now... :)
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] fzurita:
Hmmm, weird, the boot.IMG file I uploaded is 20,971,520 bytes. Yours is slightly bigger. I used the dd command to extract all partitions.
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] draiko913:
Strange, I pulled the boot51.img that MrSewerPickle had posted.
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] jasonteoch:
My 5.1 OTA also ended with an error message. Mine is stock, not rooted. tried with locked and then unlock bootloader but still ended with an error message during OTA upgrade.
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] fzurita:
If you are upgrading from 5.0 to 5.1, you have to manually flash the 5.0 FOTAKernel partition then attempt the 5.1 update. There are directions earlier in the thread, search the thread for FOTAKernel.
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] MrSewerPickle:
Hmm.. Did you copy the img to the internal storage before you ran the fastboot command? I'm not positive this is necessary but you might try that before you run fastboot. You should not get any errors from the output of the fastboot command otherwise the IMG may be shanked.

It was extracted with dd as well. I wasn't certain it was the right by-name location as mentioned previously but maybe someone can chime in now if they know.

---------- Post added at 07:01 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:54 AM ----------

For boot did you use the by-name path of "boot" or something else? There was a "aboot" and a "alt-boot" if Im not mistake.

And for anyone else needing a 5.1 boot partition I would try fzurita's as well.
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] draiko913:
I hadn't copied it internally, but I just pulled the FOTAKernel.img from fzurita's extract and flashed that, so my recovery is now up to the current version as well. Kind of strange that both the 5.0 and now the 5.1 updates didn't push the FOTAKernel partition and had to be done manually.
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] fzurita:
I extracted all the partitions by name and saved them to the corresponding IMG files.
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] quazimojo:
I wonder why Google never gave GPE Ultra Z owners the official firmwares to rollback to as Sony did for the same devices.

Looking back at all the google devices they released and all the firmwares that are still available to download and restore to its odd they abandoned that aspect of this device.

I guess I just find it strange because they are still releasing updates for this device yet no way to roll back like Sony C6806 owners have.

Im not sure if we will ever get a working root without unlocking the bootloader either for this . I see other lollipop roots that don't require such extreme measures but sadly we not see that kind of support for this device.

Since I have no way to backup the TA partition I decided against rooting the device as much as I want too and now feel my hands are tied with such a nice device.
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] shadowcore:
Everyone who has this phone and updated knows the pros for lolopop.

Material design, revamped UI

Nice and smooth animations

etc.

I try to post the some of the changes here:

Material design for all Stock apps like dialer, messenger, contacts list, settings menu, recent apps, drop down menu.

Personalisation has 7 preinstalled themes. They change the color on the stock apps.

Some apps that have material design change status bar color, youtube for example.

New loading animations.

Downloads "App" has been updated with material design.

Some cons:

You cant change music from the lock screen.You can change tracks, but you cant modify the slider if you want to skip ahead to the first minute for example.

No lock screen widgets(Android lolipop change)

No grid size change. You need a custom launcher, like nova or apex etc to change that.

Xperia themes seem not to work correctly. They probably need to update them for lolipop or something.

Cant confirm

Available space. Not sure if it went down.

Available RAM hasnt changed. Its floating at 1.3 GB for me. Irrelevant for android anyway.

Neutral

No update center

New google app: Google Keep.

========================

This is about all I noticed.
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] egzthunder1:
[MENTION=3057723]fzurita[/MENTION]

I hope you don't mind but I will change your OP later tonight to post [MENTION=2854595]MrSewerPickle[/MENTION]'s method for flashing this thing properly. I want to do this to avoid opening another thread with the procedure. I hope you don't mind.

There are two rules in life for being successful:

1. Never reveal everything you know;

2.
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] fzurita:
It's ok, go for it.
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] yelrx8:
I successfully upgraded to 5.1 after unlocking bootloader, flashing the 5.0 FOTAKernel, and then taking the 5.1 OTA.

(Previously, I also had locked bootloader/unrooted 5.0 with the errored out 5.1 OTA)

I used the 5.0 FOTAKernel from here:

http://xdaforums.com/xperia-z-ultra/xperia-z-ultra-gpe/lollipop-5-0-boot-fotakernel-images-t2960269

Camera works fine, on 5.1 right now.

Going into the stock recovery, it is:

LRX21P.S3.4201 (which I believe is still 5.0)

No root method still?
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] egzthunder1:
Hot boot into any kernel with custom recovery (ie Doomlord Advanced Kernel works well) and flash SuperSU.

There are two rules in life for being successful:

1. Never reveal everything you know;

2.
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] yelrx8:
I'm quite NOOB...

Sorry, I feel dumb to ask, but

what is and

how to

"hot boot into kernel with custom recovery...."

The Doomlord Advance Kernel is here:

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2579005

I tried and found out the stock recovery can't flash SuperSU .zip because signature verification fails..

Thanks in advance.
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] egzthunder1:
No worries. You need to install flashtool by Androxyde. After you are done, download the kernel you just linked on your computer and place it in the firmware folder of flashtool (the path should be c:\flashtool\firmware if you are using windows, of course). Get that going and put your device in fastboot mode. Once that is done and flashtool has recognized your device, you need to click on the lightning bolt looking icon. It will ask you if you are flashing via fastboot, so select that option. Once you do that, you will be presented with a few options, one of which will be to HotBoot to a kernel. When you choose that option, an Open dialog will open up. You need to change the file type shown to .IMG (I believe that it is set to .ftf by default). There, you will find it, select it, and voila!

Your device will try to boot into that kernel. You need to be quick to press either vol up or down to boot into recovery (look at the purple colored led).

Hope this helps.

There are two rules in life for being successful:

1. Never reveal everything you know;

2.
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] yelrx8:
Thanks for the clarification.

I had to try a couple of times with the pressing the vol up, but everything worked out as you stated.

After getting into CWM recovery, I flashed the latest 2.46 SU. And then busybox installed with installer.

Now, finally reinstalling everything from titanium backup, since 4.4.

(I've been so spoiled with the ease of nexus devices. I didn't even know that "hot booting" a recovery is a thing!)

Thanks.
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] CoffeeandDonut:
Hi guys, mine is abit of a special case..

Just got my ZU GPE. Phone is not rooted and bootloader is locked. The phone came with 4.4.4 and received the notification for 5.0 OTA. However, it failed to update just as most of us faced over here when updating from 5.0 to 5.1. Likewise i ahve tried manual update via the stock recovery with the 5.0 zip file and it stills fail. Any kind sir please advise me on how do i go about solving this issue? Thanks.
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] draiko913:
What error are you getting?
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] zchen:
Question. I was going to use the unlock bootloader method to get around the 5.1 installation failures for my GPE.

However when I follow Sony's instructions to get unlock code and load the service menu, I see rooting status as unknown, and do not see a entry for bootloader

per Sony

Am I SOL now?
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] mtuckman:
My phone also said "Unknown" for the status, but I was able to unlock with no problems.
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] CoffeeandDonut:
/system/etc/permissions/platform.xml has unexpected contents z ultra

error in /tmp/update.zip (status 7)

This type of error. Can't seem to figure out any solution and i am stuck on 4.4.4 now.
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] draiko913:
Maybe someone has a better (or easier) solution, but it seems like something was modified so that the update is finding something that it's not expecting in the system folder. I mainly remember seeing this when people had rooted and updates would fail because of the extra files (like superuser) that had been written to the system folder would prevent the update. However, you stated you are not root and bootloader is locked.

This is what might help fix it, but you are going to wipe your data in the process so please make sure to back up info before you start. First, unlock the bootloader and in the process it'll wipe your data. After your bootloader is unlocked, you could boot up and try to download and install the update again. It's possible that could be enough to get past the issue, but most likely it'll still not work. There is another post that has the stock .img files. Flashing the system.img file would overwrite data and hopefully clear up the issue as well. I found the 4.4.4 system.img here in the GPE development section: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2799423. Make sure you don't flash any non-GPE files from other sections. That image is pre-rooted, so you'll probably need to uninstall root once it boots up before you attempt the OTA.
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] sajazzman007:
same issue

I have a stock, nonrooted, locked boot loader, Sony Z Ultra GPE and I am getting the update notification, try to update and it falls flat on its face with the error. I have called Sony and Google and they both point fingers at one another. Google has been more helpful by telling me to clear the cache and trying to reinstall and the update falls on its face again. For what I have read it seems like you can unlock the boot loader and try to reinstall the OTA? I am really trying to avoid rooting the device. Has anyone unlocked the bootloader and installed the update? By unlocking the boot loader does it affect future updates? Can anyone explain unlocking the boot loader?

Thanks
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] egzthunder1:
It doesn't affect ota. Also, you don't have to root to unlock the bl. They can point fingers at each other all they want. The truth of the matter is that the update is busted because the 5.0 update didn't update the fotakernel. So, in reality they have two possible options here

A. They send out an ota with the fotakernel update only before sending in 5.1.

B. They change the updater script to stop checking for the fotakernel version that should be installed (but isn't).

Until either of the above happens, you will need to unlock the bootloader to install this thing. There is no other way.

There are two rules in life for being successful:

1. Never reveal everything you know;

2.