yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] CygnusBlack:
AFAIK, it's unlocked by default (on I36 at least).

You don't need root to flash TWRP.

Do it old-school style with adb commands. It should work if drivers are ok.
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] neil.richard:
It's really strange! This is the first time I've been caught up in such a situation XD

After years of rooting and custom ROM flashing experience this is really pissing me off...
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] CygnusBlack:
I hear ya :eek:

Read again my previous ninja-edited post.
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] neil.richard:
The drivers are absolutely fine. I use the same for my OnePlus 2 as well.
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] CygnusBlack:
Watch out. The adb interface driver might differ from one phone to another.
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] neil.richard:
You know what! I just flashed it!

There was some problem with the r-1 TWRP, I flashed the lastest 3.1.1 build by the developer and it for flashed without a hitch.

Thanks a lot.
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] CygnusBlack:
Glad to hear that! :highfive:

I was assuming you were using the latest version from the get-go.
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] KiiKeEp:
3.1.1 not showing SD card files (backup, restore, file manager, install zip).

downgraded to n4 and all fine, a6020l36
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] neil.richard:
I've also downgraded to the n4 version, but still my backups don't show up in TWRP!

Can you help me out?

Also, is the stock ROM backup fully working for Indian a6020a40 ?
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] Percy5:
So,3.1.1 has some problems

Is 3.1.0 safe? I mean it's on Stable version list
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] TanmaySharma:
Yes 3.1.0 is stable but it does not show correct battery percent.
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] KungFuPanda67:
Thanks for the Efforts Dev.... I have Lenovo A6020a40 (Indian Version)

When flashing the Twrp recovery nothing happens. ADB shows SUCCESSFUL. But when i boot into recovery it was same the stock one.

When I used temporary boot command then I got transfered to Twrp.

But I want to Flash it permanently.

Please Help.
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] Shreps:
You have to flash TWRP and boot in TWRP recovery right after without rebooting in os mode.

Rebooting in os mode will restore the stock Recovery.

When you're in TWRP and if you root your device, it will prevent the system to erase TWRP with stock Recovery.
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] itzebuk:
Lenovo vibe K5 death

Can somebody help me?

I tried to install ROM following the guides here. I installed TWRP in my Lenovo Vibe K5 (A6020l37). The AOKP_A6060_nougat is on the phone already as the BeansGapps-mini ..

When I restarted the phone, looked a menu of several "buttons", selected the option "Download" (left-bottom) and then, immediatly the phone went blank. Nothing is on the screen. Windows 10 now says can not recognize the USB device attached.

I have tried press Power button but the phone does not turn-on.. is completely death.

The battery was (is) 100%..

What should I do to turn-on the phone? Why it happened?

Thanks a lot.
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] xander12:
I have a6020a40_S102 and when i try boot twrp-k5-3.1.1_shreps.img

it shows:

downloading 'boot.img'...

OKAY [ 0.489s]

booting...

FAILED (remote: dtb not found)

finished. total time: 0.891s

I tried all version (3.0.2, 3.0.3, 3.1.0 and 3.1.1) and it always shows me the error like above.

Can someone help me?
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] nlooooo:
Did you set bootloader unlockable in Developer menu?
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] xander12:
Yes, i have enable "OEM unlocking" and "USB debugging", but when i run fastboot oem device-info it shows:

...

(bootloader)	Device tampered: false

(bootloader)	Device unlocked: false

(bootloader)	Charger screen enabled: true

(bootloader)	Display panel:

OKAY [ 0.006s]

finished. total time: 0.006s
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] nlooooo:
That's what was saying for my phone but I managed to flash recovery.
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] xander12:
I flashed recovery (fastboot flash recovery ./twrp-k5-3.1.1_shreps.img) and there wasn't any errors:

target reported max download size of 268435456 bytes

sending 'recovery' (15532 KB)...

OKAY [ 0.489s]

writing 'recovery'...

OKAY [ 0.399s]

finished. total time: 0.888s

After that i turned phone into recovery mode(VolUp + VolDown + PowKey for 10 sec), twrp didn't start, display shows lenovo logo on a white background.

I waited 20 minutes and nothing happend.
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] ChonDoit:
I'm sure you enter on Fastboot Mode (Power+VolumeDown) because you can't enter directly to recovery mode using hardware keys if Stock System is installed.

Use Power+VolumeUP to enter bootloader menu and then select Recovery
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] xander12:
So i turned phone in fastboot mode, then flashed recovery again, pushed Power+VolUp, phone entered to bootloader menu, then i selected Recovery and display shows lenovo logo on white background again.

I waited 15 minutes and nothing happend.
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] CygnusBlack:
Check the ADB driver (should be from Lenovo). I had a similar problem and found out that Windows switched drivers.

Also, you can try with 3.1.0.
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] xander12:
I deleted all drivers, then i installed the drivers that come on the CD cell partition and i still have the same problem.
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] nlooooo:
Try to manually install google drivers that come with Android SDK.
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] xander12:
I manually installed google drivers from here and it didn't help.
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] nlooooo:
Ok, last things that come to my mind, if it's Win10 try disabling driver signature verification, use USB 2.0 instead of 3.0 hub, and if these don't help use a different computer.

P.S. Try to reboot to bootloader using adb.
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] chinmoy14.9:
Don't do anything like.

Just install the plain adb drivers first.

Now, flash the twrp image, preferably V3.1.0

Use the command ------

fastboot flash recovery <file>

Now, you need to boot the twrp image.

Do this by ------

fastboot boot <file>

........

Now it should boot up, it'll show you an option of modifying the system files. Allow the modifications.

........

Do this and then let me know !!
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] nlooooo:
If you had red a few posts back you could have seen that he had already tried that. His problem is that fastboot can't send recovery to his phone.

And just one question for you, what are the 'plain adb drivers'? There are phone manufacturer drivers, SoC manufacturer drivers and google drivers that can be installed for adb. So, which one are your 'plain' ones?
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] xander12:
It's win7. I tried on several different ports, both usb 2.0 and 3.0.

When i run fastboot boot <file>, it shows:

downloading 'boot.img'...

OKAY [ 0.533s]

booting...

FAILED (remote: dtb not found)

finished. total time: 0.956s
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] chinmoy14.9:
By plain adb I meant the ones that come with Android studio !!!

---------- Post added at 07:00 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:57 PM ----------

Try flashing the twrp v3.0.3r4

It should boot up,

The problem you're facing is due to the bootloader of your phone being locked.

Because, you probably did not enable OEM unlocking !!!!!!!!

---------- Post added at 07:02 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:00 PM ----------

Also one more thing --- do the run the command prompt with admin rights !!
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] xander12:
I have enabled "OEM unlocking" and "USB debugging", but when i run fastboot oem device-info it shows:

...

(bootloader)	Device tampered: false

(bootloader)	Device unlocked: false

(bootloader)	Charger screen enabled: true

(bootloader)	Display panel:

OKAY [ 0.006s]

finished. total time: 0.006s

I tried lenovo drivers from phone cd partition and also drivers from android studio.

All commands i am running with admin rights.

I tried all versions of twrp listed here.

fastboot flash recovery ./twrp-k5-3.1.0_shreps.img shows:

target reported max download size of 268435456 bytes

sending 'recovery' (15582 KB)...

OKAY [ 0.530s]

writing 'recovery'...

OKAY [ 0.415s]

finished. total time: 0.945s

next i run fastboot boot ./twrp-k5-3.1.0_shreps.img and it shows:

downloading 'boot.img'...

OKAY [ 0.533s]

booting...

FAILED (remote: dtb not found)

finished. total time: 0.956s

If i only flash recovery, then push volUp+pow, then from bootloader menu select recovery, phone starts and only shows lenovo logo on white background. I waited 20 minutes and nothing happened.
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] nlooooo:
I hope you got all the answers now, he had already gave them a few posts back, but you were too smart to read them.
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] Shreps:
What's your phone model and variant code? Which build are you running?
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] xander12:
What is variant code?

Model number

Lenovo A6020a40

Hardware Version

H201

Baseband version

M8936FAAAANUZM-1.33522.1.56533.1

Build number

A6020a40_S102_170220_TM
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] robinsc:
Remember you imei number is on a sticker under the battery and on the bottom of your original box. In most cases you should at the worst be able to get a lenovo service center to reset it but as you have flashed a rom if they detect it they may charge you for it.
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] hiltaro:
Unlock Bootloader

I'm having a similar brick problem with a full stock device that wasn't rooted or BL unlocked. Using the twrp version 3.0.3 I was able to install a nougat ROM, but it cames unrooted too and don't have option to unlock BL. With a normal reboot I got stuck on lenovo logo so I have to enter fastboot mode and use reboot command to properly enter the system. Restore the original ROM with lenovo assistant or qfil didn't work either, its lead to lenovo logo again.
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] chinmoy14.9:
....

First of all, where is it that you face the problem now ??
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] hiltaro:
Right now I can't use the latest twrp since the bootloader is locked. I can't unlock it on custom rom or restore the stock to enable this option on dev menu. To enter the system first I have to access fastboot and then reboot.
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] chinmoy14.9:
First of all, try this ---

Use the command ---- fastboot flash recovery <file>

Then ---- fastboot boot <file>

...

Let me know if this works !!
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] hiltaro:
Yes, this works. The problem was that i couldn't enter the system directly. Every time I'd haved to enter fastboot mode first and then use "fastboot reboot" to enter it. I thought it was caused by the locked bootloader so I've tried to flash an android 5 rom and got stuck on lenovo logo again. So at last I've flashed the lineage rom and now the devices enters the system directly, but to acess recovery I have to use "adb reboot recovery". The bootloader is still locked. That's the best i managed.
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] chinmoy14.9:
Hey, do this, [IF YOU HAVE NO PROBLEM IN RE-INSTALLING THE ROM]

1. flash twrp v3.1.0

2. Now, go into the recovery by pressing Vol_UP + Vol_DOWN + POWER

3. There, go to wipe data.

4. Select ALL, EXCEPT MICRO_SD_CARD & USB_OTG

5. Now, re-flash the ROM which you are using and continue using it,

6. Tell me, if this solves out your problem.

I have a Lenovo K5 PLUS (3GB) and what I did was wiped everything (EXCEPT SD_CARD & UTG) from it, when I first time installed CUSTOM ROM, then installed the ROM. My phone boots up normally. To enter into Recovery, I just press ALL three buttons, and to enter into FASTBOOT I just press the VOL_DOWN + POWER.

Keep me updated with your problem !
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] sullivan781:
Just found a new release:

https://moto.shreps.fr/Lenovo Vibe K5 (A6020)/Recovery/twrp-k5-3.1.1_shreps.img
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] electric.droid:
well on commandline it says i need to unlock the devices

anyway when i flash twrp thru Android, it gives me a black screen (not even a backlight) when i try to boot to recovery. please help

p.s. i have A6020a41 HWcode=30
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] Dan244CZ:
Hi. This methode work on A7020a40? (Vibe K5 Note) Or some instructions for my phone? Thanks
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] xander12:
I solved my problem.

I just flashed rom (A6020a40_S007_161128_ROW_QPST_HW39 (RepairMyMobile.in).rar downloaded from here) using this manual and then i could flash and boot twrp without any problems.

Phone works properly without any problems.
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] impulsar:
Thank you [MENTION=4493088]Shreps[/MENTION], v3.1 works fine, except for it sometimes displays wrong battery percentage.

Your work for K5 devices is unparalleled ?
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] robinsc:
Hi shreps , thanks for all your hard work I can see a version 3.1.1 up on your site ... is it safe to flash this one ?
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] impulsar:
Comment deleted, thought you were talking about 3.1.0
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] langithitam:
Hy [MENTION=4493088]Shreps[/MENTION],

I've encounter problem here, afted flash twrp seems that it always failed to flash custom rom that based on Marsmallow always failed. I've tried CM13, RR and PACMAN.

all file download are not corrupt, and no error message after fllashing rom.

Is is related to booloader lock? cos seems i can't unlock my bootloader.

But from this forum it is not neccery to unlock bootloader to flash cusrom.

And the strange thing is that if i'v tried Noughat custom rom such as lineage-14.1-20161231-UNOFFICIAL-A6020.zip it succed!

Desperate need help, thanks
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] Shreps:
Yes, fine on my variant

But didn't got many feedback on other variant.

You should explain a bit your issue. We can't help you with only "it doesn't work".

What's your variant?

What version of firmware you're running?

What TWRP you tried?

What's your error message?

What's your exact issue behavior?
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] langithitam:
Mercy [MENTION=4493088]Shreps[/MENTION] !
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] chinmoy14.9:
Try my solution once !!

Enter the twrp menu.

Now wipe everything --- system, data internal, OEM.. everything EXCEPT EXTERNAL.

Now try flashing the MM ROM.

Tell me if it works.

.

.

.

.

.

By the way, [MENTION=4493088]Shreps[/MENTION] has developed the version 3.1.0

Use that version of twrp.
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] Shreps:
This might be because of your bootloader updated which requires an updated Kernel (which is not the case on Marshmallow ROMs)
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] langithitam:
i've tried that mate, thanks for your suggestion

---------- Post added at 12:28 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:06 AM ----------

how can i update my kernel? i have access to root btw
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] electric.droid:
well, here is my feedback

result= black screen appears(like ive turned the device off) the moment i boot into recovery

lenovo a6020a41, hardware code 30

A6020a41_S_USR_S021 firmware ( the same i sent u)

stock android 5.1.1 rooted

recovery flashed via flashify

Edit: nevermind ive solved it
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] Buzdrev:
I have problems with backup and restore options. Now I'm using twrp-k5-3.1.1_shreps and I can backup without any errors but when I try to restore I got error extractTarFork() process ended with ERROR: 255 I tried to restore the same backup with some other versions but with no success. Tell me which version to use and how to manage to backup and restore without any errors. The device is a6020a40
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] sadicwin32:
Hi [MENTION=4493088]Shreps[/MENTION], i've flashed twrp-k5-3.0.3-n3_shreps.img and then AOKP+gapps 7.1, after finishing the flash, i reboot to start the instalation but all i get is twrp bootloop, i tried going into fastboot mode to reflash twrp-k5-3.0.3-n1 (someone said it worked with it) but no success, everything i try i only get twrp loop, can't even reflash the old twrp.

Any tips?
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] Vegito03:
Hi I am using Lenovo K5 plus indian variant (A6020a46)

I root my phone via unlocking bootloader but it doesn't work

When I try to flash any ROM or any other Zip file The recovery gets restarting on every flash except su zip file

I don't know why it is happening please help me I can't flash any ROM or mods via recovery.

I tried every twrp version but nothing happens ????
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] impulsar:
Decrypt your data
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] Sounak@9434:
Hey sherps, is a changelog available of version 3.1.0 and 3.1.1
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] electric.droid:
Type this in fastboot mode:

to decrypt userdata.

---------- Post added at 03:30 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:58 PM ----------

Confirmed working when flashing with qfil by renaming it to recovery.img
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] Vegito03:
I also tried this but no new result
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] yianemma:
:good::good::good::good:

Thanks a lot! I was facing the same problem, took me two days to find your solution. I' ve opened a thread in the questions section about the bootloader issue yesterday. I ll put a link to your solution.

Thanks again.
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] miamknlr:
In twrp 3.1.0, clock is not correct.
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] electric.droid:
Confirmed. Backups appear created in 1980
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] lk5plus:
thanks for good recovery.
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] Tinti206:
I have the same problem. It works only with 7.0 (lineage, and Remix nougat). Marshmallow not working (RR, pac man, cm13)
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] Dai-San:
Hi Shreps,

Is there any way of getting TWRP working on an older K5 Note (K50-t5) running Android 5.0?

I have tried the instructions in this thread but when I reboot it still goes into the Chinese recovery mode.

I have rooted the phone and activated the USB Debugging but don't have the OEM Unlock option in the developer tools.

I have tried "fastboot oem unlock" but it says unknown command.

Any help would be greatly appreciated as I love the phone but the old Android version is so clunky to use.

Cheers
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] Shreps:
K5 Note is not the same device family, with a different SoC, nothing here will work on your device.

I can't help as I don't own this device.
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] Dai-San:
Ahh, no problem mate, new to all this so easily confused.

Cheers anyway
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] electric.droid:
There are plenty recovery porting guides for mtk soc on internet. Look for them
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] jometzz:
Can i delete the backup of stock rom after the successfull flashing of new custom rom.????.. i need more storage.. If that backup is deleted i ll get 6gbfree... Pls help...
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] adinechin:
It depends on if you want to be able to go back to stock one day, without reinstalling all ;)
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] electric.droid:
Copy it to your computer or cloud storage
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] alenreji007:
I am only finding twep 3.0.3 in downloads.where is the latest?
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] impulsar:
3.1.1.0
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] Akmxx:
https://moto.shreps.fr/?dir=Lenovo Vibe K5 (A6020)/Recovery
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] yianemma:
I have read almost all posts about lenovo vibe k5, but haven' t seen any success stories about a6020a41 s616 (single sim) variant.

Although a6020a40 s616 has been added in twrp by shreps in version 3.0.3, a6020a41 s616 is missing. So I guess that in a6020a41 in current list refers only to s415 variant.

Are there any a41 s616 owners that managed to install twrp on their devices; If not, maybe it should be clearly stated in first post that this variant is unsupported, OR, maybe the developer is kind enough to support this device in future versions.

The only time that i managed to install it, was by flashing by purpose a a40 s616 firmware. Phone booted fine, but i had issues with sim recognition.
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] lk5plus:
try TWRP shreps, nothing will be bad if this not work, just flash the stock recovery again.
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] Shreps:
Hello,

You're the first talking about the A6020a41 variant with SD616 SoC, so I don't know about the compatibility.

You may want to try the fastboot boot command (see FP) so check if my current TWRP is booting on your device and let us know.

On the other hand, using adb, can you post the result of this command:

adb shell cat /proc/cmdline

It will help me to check if your board ID variant is similar to an existing one or not

Thanks :)
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] yianemma:
Thank you for being kind enough to reply to my post.

As for option 1, (fastboot boot twrp*) I have tried all versions of twrp, but I get errors due to locked bootloader (despite having oem unlocking enabled on system settings). None of them boots up, but I don't know if it is because of the bootloader. I don't thing that the locked bootloader is the problem here, because when I had flashed on purpose a firmware of the two sim s616 variant (a6020a40) twrp booted fine, despite the error message in fastboot output about locked bootloader.

As for option 2, I can't run

adb shell cat /proc/cmdline

.

because although my phone is rooted with kingroot, I get

/system/bin/sh: cat: /proc/cmdline: Permission denied

.

Is there any other way to get the info you need?

I am waiting for your advice, until then I am posting the following image for proof.
[Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & O] electric.droid:
Someone here told me that the a41 variant has a bootloader unlocking problem, and flashing with eg. Flashify, gives black screen. Remember this https://xdaforums.com/vibe-k5/help/locked-bootloader-lenovo-a6020a41-t3654187/post73445990 ? Thatz tha only way to flash recovery