[Xperia Z3v General] Bobby Buggs:
I did this over a 2 day period on and off at my office and Im not there now so I hope I didnt forget an important detail.

Ok here is my recollection. D/L the flash tool found here, https://userscloud.com/kb6tr3bcuecr and install it.

In the folders that are created by installing Flash tool there will be a driver folder. Click or select the first two, all the common drivers, and the one for Sony z3 and install them. I did this on a Win7 machine and is asked me numerous times if I wanted to allow drivers to be installed during that process, say yes and finally it will allow you to click finish.

click on the xperifirm icon and download the ftf Look under the Z3/Z3v Leo for the US flag D6708 z3v. Look for 23.1.D.0.509 /R4C. You will see this Pop up

[IMG="Download FTF file"]http://xdaforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=3531125&d=1446667464[/IMG]

Im not exactly sure where it lands but the Flash tool knows where to find it.

When the download finishes. Close the download window and close the Xperifirm FTF locater

Make sure your phone has USB debugging and allow mock locations selected.

Plug in your phone and watch it for a message to allow the connection and allow it.

Soon after that a dropdown list will appear with device #s and names. There is NO Z3v so select #D66XX series. The box will close on its own.

Click the flash lighting bolt top left icon.

It will ask what mode, I had to use Flashmode for it to work, I think thats the default choice anyway.

It will ask if you want to name the device Z3, I said yes.

this window will pop up, I selected wipe cache only, just for the hell of it I clicked on the D6708 line then clicked Flash on the lower right

[IMG="Select file and wipe"]http://xdaforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=3531143&d=1446668982[/IMG]

Now it took a little time for it to process the download then a screen pops up and says Unplug the phone, Power it down, Press the back button and plug it back in. That is not correct for our phones since the back button does not show when the device is shut down. Follow it but substitute the back button for holding the volume down button then plug in the USB.

That process will put the phone into flash mode and the screen will start indicating your process. It will say dont unplug the usb but if flash tool is not running codes in the window its ok to do it.

The first time I did it I got a driver error in the flash tool but noticed on my screen windows was installing a driver for the phone so I unplugged it and held the volume down, plugged it in again and Pop, data started flying on the flash tool screen. It took about 8 minutes to flash and once I unplugged it sat at the Verizon boot screen for a while then it said Android is optimizing xx of 388 apps and I was in the clear.

If you feel you have to disable driver signing the easiest way is the restart your Win 7 computer and right after the Dell or what ever you have logo comes on the screen rapidly tap the F8 key to get to the blue boot mode and arrow down to disable signing, it will only do it for that 1 time and the machine will restart. Im not sure if thats what was holding me up because I did that and added all those drivers I listed above at the same time. You many not have to disable signing.

Let me know if this makes it any easier for you. I hope to Finally give back to this community thats given me so much over the years.