[Android General] SeekerofLight.iz:
UMIDIGI Power Root + TWRP Guide

Sure thing. I planned on doing it last weekend but I ran into some issues after installing it. I wanted to clean up the process a bit before I posted anything. But here ya go, for anyone looking!

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**IMPORTANT**

THIS PROCESS WILL COMPLETELY WIPE YOUR PHONE TO FACTORY SETTINGS.

YOU WILL NEED AN EXTERNAL SD CARD FOR THIS (USB OTG will work too).

This guide is designed for the v1.5 update for the UMIDIGI Power. You can attempt to use this guide on newer updates when they're released but they may or may not work (I can't test them because they don't exist at the time of writing lol).

Back Up EVERYTHING you want to save!

My Recommendations:

Apps: Titanium Backup (Paid app that only works if you're rooted. If you're not currently rooted, just use Google's automatic app backup.)

Calls / Messages: SMS Backup & Restore

Photos/Videos: Google Photos

Anything Else: Copy to your External SD Card

So let's get started.

If you have already followed my previous "Root Only" Guide, you can skip Steps 1-4 (Step 4 might still be good to verify though).

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Step 0 - Download the Attached Zip File Below

Google Drive Mirror

Mediafire Mirror

MEGA Mirror

Also, downloading the stock firmware is not necessary for this guide, but here's the link in case you run into issues or need to factory reset with SP Flash Tool.

You can download the latest firmware(s) from the official UMIDIGI forums here.

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Step 1 - Drivers

Install the MediaTek drivers by running "DriverInstaller.exe".

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Step 2 - Install ADB Interface

Install the Android SDK (ADB Interface). To do this drop the platform-tools folder (from the Step 2 folder) into your C:\ directory. Press the windows start button and search for "Environment Variables" and click on "Edit environment variables" from the results. Under SYSTEM VARIABLES on the bottom (not User variables above it) click on the "Path" variable, and click edit. In the new window that appears, hit "Browse..." and click on the "platform-tools" folder that you placed in your C:\ directory.

All this does is allows you to easily input adb commands into command prompt with no issues. This will be used to verify that the device is appearing properly and issue commands in case of emergency.

[IMG="Environment Variables"]https://i.imgur.com/BYfQquO.png[/IMG]

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Step 3 - OEM Unlocking/USB Debugging Mode

On your phone, go to Settings >> System >> Developer Options. (If you haven't activated Developer Options yet, do that by going to About Phone >> Build number, and tap it a bunch of times, but I'm sure you already know this lol)

In Developer Options, turn on "OEM Unlocking" to unlock the bootloader, and "USB Debugging".

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Step 4 - Verify That Your Phone is Detected with ADB

Connect your phone to your PC. Make sure you click the "Allow USB debugging" prompt on your phone when it's connected. Then open up Command Prompt. Now, type in "adb devices" and verify that your phone is detected by your computer. If it's detected, then that's perfect you can move on to the next step. If not, then your drivers may not have installed properly.

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Step 5 - Transfer TWRP Files to SD Card

Copy the "TWRP" folder (from the Step 5 folder) to your external SD card. (The folder cannot be on the phone's internal storage, as it will be wiped!!) You may also replace Magisk with whichever version you prefer, the one included is version 19.3.

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Step 6 - Set Up SP Flash Tool

Open up SP Flash Tool on your computer by running "flash_tool.exe" in the SP Flash Tool Folder. (If at any time it shows a "Processing" window for some reason, just close and reopen the program if it doesn't go away on its own.) Set Download-Agent to "MTK_AllInOne_DA.bin". Set "Scatter-loading File" to "MT6765_Android_scatter.txt". In the green and white table below set the preloader, recovery, and lk files to the respective files provided in the Step 6 folder.

What are these files?

PRELOADER: The preloader. Flashing it is not always necessary, but SP FLash Tool frequently requests it, so I included it.

RECOVERY: TWRP 3.3.1. (Provided by nemo-nemo.)

LK: This file flashes over the stock lk and prevents the "5 Second Orange State" message at boot from appearing.

Note: The lk.img file provided is only confirmed working for the v1.5 update. (Provided by Chela_vek.)

[IMG="File Locations"]https://i.imgur.com/P2amUEI.png[/IMG]

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Step 7 - Flash TWRP

Power off your phone and make sure it's UNPLUGGED. On SP Flash Tool, click "Download". This prepares the program to begin flashing your phone as soon as it is connected. Grab your phone with one hand, and with your other hand plug in the USB cable. Your screen should not turn on at all throughout this process, but if it's successful, you should see that the program begins to flash your device after a second or two. Now just wait until it reaches 100% and says "Download Ok" with a green checkmark. TWRP is now installed. But don't boot the phone up just yet.

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Step 8 - Format and Flash the Zips with TWRP

Your phone is currently encrypted, and you must format the data in order to unencrypt it so TWRP can access its storage. Hold Volume Up + Power and boot into recovery. You should see the TWRP splash screen. The following screen will ask you for a password to decrypt your phone. You can set your language and then skip this. (If you don't select your language, the next screen will be in Russian. Refer to the second image provided for help if you get stuck there.) On the second screen swipe the "Swipe to Allow Modifications" slider.

[IMG="1st Screen - Password Decrypt"]https://i.imgur.com/0d7TDP5.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG="2nd Screen TWRP Language Option - Russian"]https://i.imgur.com/zg75F2U.jpg[/IMG]

Once you arrive at the main menu click on Wipe >> Format Data >> then type "yes" to continue. Once the format is complete go to Install >> Select Storage >> Micro SD card and select the TWRP folder you copied over in Step 5.

In this order flash:

1. Magisk

2. Disable Dm-Verity ForceEncrypt (Prevents the phone from automatically encrypting upon boot.)

3. Decrypt Power

(Note: I am not 100% sure if the third file is needed as using it alone didn't seem to work for me the first time [hence the 2nd file I provided], but it is what was provided by nemo-nemo on 4PDA, and I went ahead and just flashed both files on my phone.)

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Step 9 - You're Done!

Your phone should be good to go. You may now perform a backup using TWRP and boot up your phone!

TROUBLESHOOTING

EVERYTHING WORKS - HOWEVER - PLEASE NOTE THAT THERE ARE A FEW MINOR ISSUES I HAVE ENCOUNTERED.

BOOT ISSUES

There are some issues with it getting stuck at boot and the phone just sits at one of the two "UMIDIGI" boot screens. If your phone does not boot up within 2~3 min, try powering it off and back on again (*I'd wait about ~5 min for big changes like system updates before rebooting). I've found that you may have to reboot up to two additional times from the inital boot up. You will likely encounter this issue each time you perform a backup or flash a major zip file.

One technique that I have found to consistently work should your phone have issues booting, is to open up TWRP, go to one of your backups, and restore "md1img", then boot your phone. Other times I've had to restore everything starting from logo, expdb, (...) all the way down to the bottom with dtbo, vbmeta, etc... and that resolved the issue for me in other cases. I have yet to really narrow it down to a single file (or files), but restoring the md1img usually seems to resolve it for me.

RESTORING BACKUPS

Another thing I found is TWRP sometimes seems to get stuck on restoring System Image or Vendor Image when restoring a backup, so I often skip these, or restore them individually from the rest of the backup.

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Anyways, sorry for such a long guide. I wanted to be clear and thorough. Hope this helps some of my fellow UMIDIGI Power owners out there! And thanks to the people at the 4PDA forums for providing these files to the community.