yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Xiaomi Poco X3 NFC Guides, News, & Discussion] InContext:
That is always a fear, I thought that hard bricking was only happening with ARB, which as far as I know X3s don't have.

Anyway, extracted the img file from the latest zip, and it works, fingers don't quite get the 'get into recovery' using the buttons but using the ADB/Fastboot Tools app, it reboots to it without an issue.

Is there anywhere with more information on the app manager? There isn't any documentation on the website. I thought I deleted a few apps but they appeared when I rebooted, not only that but it wants to install all the g apps again.
[Xiaomi Poco X3 NFC Guides, News, & Discussion] kevingokki:
I have tried formating my sdcard as internal, ofox is unable to decrypt it. I am using Beta004.
[Xiaomi Poco X3 NFC Guides, News, & Discussion] jeryll:
Ok guys, here it is once again OrangeFox-R11.0_0_B004-Beta, but this time proper

with addons included

, soo please attached file here

flash as zip in ofox or twrp!

Changelog:

• Fix ADB sideload

• Fix Fastbootd (It's in the reboot menu - "fastboot")

• Decryption works 100% now (Even with PIN or password and Android 11)

Credits:

Thanks to @MrYacha and @DarthJabba9 - Source Development

By @ManoloRey

* Donate

latest Beta download here
[Xiaomi Poco X3 NFC Guides, News, & Discussion] InContext:
Fantastic, ADB will make life easier, OF working is the only thing that tells me, I haven't bricked my phone 😂. Stuffed up something trying to de-g the stock rom.
[Xiaomi Poco X3 NFC Guides, News, & Discussion] imepv7:
Thanks jeryll! Great work! Now I can do backups while encrypted!
[Xiaomi Poco X3 NFC Guides, News, & Discussion] PYCON:
Great update ! :cowboy:

I'm on 12.0.4.0 Global but maybe there's an OTA update... I'm with latest Orange Fox and Magisk Canary 21102. Can I update rom by OTA without problems ??
[Xiaomi Poco X3 NFC Guides, News, & Discussion] topk1s:
Where are all settings saved?

After flash_all_lock.bat (fastboot rom) my phone still save all OrangeFox's settings.
[Xiaomi Poco X3 NFC Guides, News, & Discussion] quicksilvree:
If you are on stock ROM but rooted with magisk and have OF ... I would suggest not doing a OTA but instead flash the ROM via recovery if you want to keep the OF or fastboot ROM if u want back the stock recovery ..... A OTA may cause a bootloop... In any case you will have to reflash magisk.
[Xiaomi Poco X3 NFC Guides, News, & Discussion] Porcupine1:
@jeryll Thank you so so much bro for your work for x3 team
[Xiaomi Poco X3 NFC Guides, News, & Discussion] ThatDamnFrog:
Hi! So I'm new to the entire flashing thing (I did do my research though), so hopefully you don't mind a few questions...

I'm planning to buy a brand new Pocophone X3 and flash OrangeFox as custom recovery +install the custom rom "RR" (the ofox you posted).

Can I install it directly with fastboot commands instead of FIRST installing TWRP following tutorials.

If so, do I need a dmverity file?..(I saw it being used in a tutorial, but at the same time many where it wasn't)

Also, even if my phone is fresh and all, since decryption works 100% it should work fine even if I have a password on the device right?

+Any features that are broken? Or is it all "Fully working" to your knowledge?

Thanks for the response in advance..and as always mad respect for creating/posting something like this.

(FORGOT TO MENTION I WONT ROOT IT)
[Xiaomi Poco X3 NFC Guides, News, & Discussion] temporarium:
You need to unlock your bootloader with MiUnlock. Takes 7 days to wait. This will wipe your data (so back up to SD card or PC if you've got anything of value like photos, etc.).

You flash OrangeFox via fastboot (in download mode) and into it.

You flash your preferred ROM (from an SD card). I also flashed the latest firmware available.

You will need to format your data- you'll lose everything in internal storage.

Reboot to recovery to flash Magisk (if you decide to root - highly recommended).

Boot to system and set up to your liking.

For now, backup and restore via recovery doesn't work. So make sure you like the ROM before spending hours on config only to change to another, as (most likely) you'll need to wipe data.

Data partition encryption in OFox works with pin and pattern. Not sure about password.
[Xiaomi Poco X3 NFC Guides, News, & Discussion] jeryll:
you can install OFoxB4 recovery directly via fastboot (download required zip file, extract recovery.img file and flash that img file to recovery partition, you can follow installation guide for flashing TWRP, just replace twrp.img with OFoxB4.img)

dmverity file - no, follow installation guide for flashing TWRP recovery

decryption works 100% it should work fine if you have password (be sure using Beta 4 version, Alpha 6 can decrypt only pattern for Android 11)

bugs? sure there are, f.e. biggest is not working backup & restore functionality, rest are not that important minorities, but hey, it's Beta

also due to dynamic partition system used you can't directly manipulate with system partition in a way as you were probably used to with your older phone, so BIG NO to wipe system, should you install older version of TWRP or Ofox which hasn't that functionality disabled already
[Xiaomi Poco X3 NFC Guides, News, & Discussion] ThatDamnFrog:
@temporarium Thanks a lot for the responses, I got a few more questions then

So, since I can't wipe System/the option simply won't be avaliable...

1) For a "clean-wipe"

I need to wipe these:

dalvik cache, cache, data, internal storage, (and meta-data+vendor if that is avaliable, but it shouldn't be)

((I've seen a few tutorials screaming about not wiping internal storage, and I've seen a few that just straight up wiped it, BUT IM PRETTY SURE IM NOT SUPPOSE TO WIPE INTERNAL STORAGE , asking to confirm anyway))

2) For a dirty wipe(update):

Dalvik cache, cache.

3) For an OTA file I should just be able to flash it without wiping anything from what I can see?

4) I am able to load updates etc with adb sideload, and of course set a password for orangefox recovery itself.

5) Are those tutorials to skip MiUnlock wait time a good idea to follow/do they even work?

---------------Okay, so to put all the steps in one----------------

1) MiUnlock to unlock bootloader

2) Install OrangeFox

3) Boot into recovery and don't boot into the System until I'm done (Because otherwise, I'll lose OrangeFox)

4) Perform a clean wipe

5) Flash Roms

6) Flash GAPPS

7) Wipe Data again (I see some tutorials instead wiping Dalvik Cache+Data or all 3)

8) Boot into the OS and viola

-------------------------------------A few minor questions---------------------------

1) If I want to move to a new ROM, can I use something like Titanium backup to backup my data?

2) I doubt this is a necessary question, but I'm assuming most modern ROMs have an updater backed in.

3) To update/switch to TWRP/OrangeFox, no need to wipe I assume.

4) How do I get my stock Recovery back/how can I back it up before I do anything if that's possible (So I can lock the bootloader again and claim my warranty if the phone just happens to have a defect later on)

(UPDATE: 4) is now irrelevant, found some instructions online: "Find Fastboot rom" "Flash with MiFlash, and tell it to clean all and lock.

Once again, thanks in advance, and sorry for the somewhat late response
[Xiaomi Poco X3 NFC Guides, News, & Discussion] jeryll:
@ThatDamnFrog when you will have unlocked bootloader and flashed ofox recovery for your first ROM try to follow this guide (written by the ROM dev so it can't be more precise than that) or you can read my post ...

try to not overcomplicating things ... simple: you don't need to wipe anything, but be ready to format your data partition (with format data? yes) after you flash custom rom, so be sure you will have backed up everything somewhere before format!

1. flash required firmware for custom ROM

2. flash custom ROM + gapps (if needed)

3. format data (yes)

4. reboot to system -> done

for root (if needed)

5. reboot to recovery and flash magisk

-------------------------------------A few minor questions---------------------------

1) If I want to move to a new ROM, can I use something like Titanium backup to backup my data?

definitely, use Migrate, TB, Swift Backup, Alpha Backup and such

2) I doubt this is a necessary question, but I'm assuming most modern ROMs have an updater backed in.

yep

3) To update/switch to TWRP/OrangeFox, no need to wipe I assume.

nope
[Xiaomi Poco X3 NFC Guides, News, & Discussion] m0han:
downloaded, verified md5 and found that this is what i had flashed in the first place. but, i couldn't find entries of add-ons like 'password reset' (i could see that inside the .zip file). any ideas?

btw, when i rebooted to orangefox recovery (while on pixel experience plus rom) for moving to resurrection remix rom, i was again asked to provide pin for decrypting data. this, after following the guide here. i remember reading somewhere this would happen only if i switch between miui roms and other custom roms. i.e., if i switch only between custom roms, this shouldn't happen. now, if i were to flash another rom, would i still face this situation? i'm sure folks would agree this is a pain. is there a solution?
[Xiaomi Poco X3 NFC Guides, News, & Discussion] m0han:
i used 'mybackup pro' app when i moved from pixel experience plus rom to resurrection remix rom and i was able to restore my 'data' as well as 'apps+data'.
[Xiaomi Poco X3 NFC Guides, News, & Discussion] m0han:
could you elaborate on this? if possible, provide link to the 'required firmware'. i unlocked my bootloader after updating to miui global 12.0.8 Stable (12.0.8.0 QJGINXM). i'm now on rr 8.6.5 rom.
[Xiaomi Poco X3 NFC Guides, News, & Discussion] jeryll:
you mean you don't see addon entries menu in your Orange fox Beta 4? just reflash whole installation zip and reboot to recovery again, it will be back

unless you are using decrypted vendor, your internal storage will be encrypted always either with default key (if you don't use pin, password or pattern in Android and will be decrypted automatically when you enter recovery without your intervention) or with specific key (if you use pin, password or pattern in Android and will be decrypted when you enter recovery with your intervention (after you enter such pin, password, pattern))

if you don't like using encrypted storage flash decrypted fw
[Xiaomi Poco X3 NFC Guides, News, & Discussion] jeryll:
come on man, I wonder why even developers bother these days with writing Original Post with requirements for successful flashing of their ROM, nobody reads that anymore... try to flash NOS11 with your 12.0.8, i want to see that ...

example from OP for RR 8.6.5

ROM OS Version: Android 10

ROM Kernel: Linux 4.x

ROM Firmware Required: V12.0.4 (surya),V12.0.5(karna)

Based On: LOS

read this
[Xiaomi Poco X3 NFC Guides, News, & Discussion] m0han:
from OP for RR 8.6.5:

Installation

Make sure you have a custom recovery installed(TWRP is the preferred recovery)

Download the latest Resurrection Remix Rom

Boot into recovery

Flash ResurrectionRemix Rom

Format Data

First boot may take up to 10 minutes.

did not notice the 'fw required' part. maybe that can be moved to the 'installation' section, so people cannot 'not notice'. (y)

in any case karna devices on 12.0.5 were facing lots of issues w.r.t. unlocking bootloader. although my device came with 12.0.5, i updated to 12.0.8 when i got the chance. now, what will happen if i flash the older 12.0.5 fw? bootloop? brick? there is 12.0.8 fw already available. any advice?
[Xiaomi Poco X3 NFC Guides, News, & Discussion] temporarium:
In theory, the newer the firmware the better, as Xiaomi fixes issues/bugs in the hardware "drivers". But, if it's not working right, reboot to recovery and flash something lower.
[Xiaomi Poco X3 NFC Guides, News, & Discussion] ThatDamnFrog:
Sorry for my late response @jeryll and @m0han and of course Temporarium.

Thank you, so, so damn much for answering all those questions (I know I'm probably slightly bothersome).

---

Anyway, got it all now, no need to wipe for an oFOX/twrp upgrade like you said.

Thanks both of you for all the links. I got it all figured out now, and feel quite confident.

Probably the last batch of questions though:

1) So there's never a need to clear dalvik cache, cache (Is it optional to clear it but not a must?)

2) Is it fine to flash the Global version instead of the eu. version or is that a BIG NO?

3) If I **** up, I can always use MiFlash in Fastboot to revert it, from what I can see?

4) Is there ever a case where I should wipe internal storage? (Just so that I know when it might be a good idea)

5) Is a decrypted vendor better than an encrypted one? And for what is a decrypted vendor of use? (I see you talk about it quite a bit)

Anyway, thanks A LOT!
[Xiaomi Poco X3 NFC Guides, News, & Discussion] m0han:
nothing lower for karna. any other site?
[Xiaomi Poco X3 NFC Guides, News, & Discussion] m0han:
are you referring to the decrypted firmware that is available on telegram?
[Xiaomi Poco X3 NFC Guides, News, & Discussion] jeryll:
well what can I say, somehow I missed that you're KARNA user, so your flashlife gets suddenly slightly problematic, all I am babbling about is SURYA Global, so you are on your own, sorry (IIRC that decrypted fw on Telegram is Indian 12.0.5 so you are free to test it, of course you know the drill, you are responsible for your own actions)
[Xiaomi Poco X3 NFC Guides, News, & Discussion] jeryll:
hard to say never, if it makes you feel better, clear cache and dalvik every time you are in recovery ... it's up to you

well I have Global version from Europe (Spain) and couldn't be happier, I personally would avoid European version of Poco X3 NFC, it's only a feeling, but there's slightly more EU version owners complaining here about something than Global owners... but I'm making no statistics ... so

probably, (I flashed probably all the custom ROMs here except PEX official and LOSes, screwed several times, never used miflash to revert back, simple if your recovery is intact and accessible and you have prepared emergency sdcard with all firmwares, this is "walk over summer garden"), the only time I used fastboot was when I tested PEX official recovery and in the process destroyed OFOX, so i needed to flash it back ... easy-peasy

no, format data is superior to all wipe procedures (with wiping you simple deleting files, filesystem is intact, encryption stays, etc.)

with decrypted fw you can start using wipe data, but your media files will be not deleted, you can use password, etc. protection in Android, but your internal storage will not be encrypted, but if it don't bother you entering your pin, password, pattern when entering recovery, then...
[Xiaomi Poco X3 NFC Guides, News, & Discussion] temporarium:
A cache is a cache - it's temporary stuff to improve performance. It's good to clear it to get a fresh start. Bit you don't have to do it multiple times. Do it once when you're ready to boot into system.

You're talking MIUI? If you want to go back to that, download the latest from Xiaomi and flash that.

See #2

That wipes your user-accessible storage (where your photos, music, documents, etc. go). It's good to wipe ONLY if you have nothing of value there and want to start fresh (without any leftovers from removed apps)
[Xiaomi Poco X3 NFC Guides, News, & Discussion] Slim K:
What do you mean by that. All firmwares are available starting with 12.0.2.0 . look @ screenshot. You have to choose MIUI archive to see them, what you're looking at are only the latest releases. ;)
[Xiaomi Poco X3 NFC Guides, News, & Discussion] ThatDamnFrog:
@jeryll @temporarium

Alright that answers all my questions! (Hopefully)'

I can't express my thanks enough.

(If I'm missing my addons on ofox I just flash the entire zip again, while doing fasboot: extract zip and flash img file gotcha)

Thanks once again for answering all these questions.
[Xiaomi Poco X3 NFC Guides, News, & Discussion] temporarium:
Some info I found particularly enlightening and thought it would be worth sharing. This is from the official OrangeFox wiki (color/highlighting is mine):

For devices with dynamic partitions, you only need to backup

Boot

and

Data

(and perhaps Internal Storage, if desired).

Some backup tips

You probably only really need to backup your

data partition

(and perhaps the

internal storage

) should be backed up via a Recovery. While this may seem a bit unusual, you really should

always

keep a copy of your full ROM's zip installer. By keeping a copy of your ROM's zip installer, restoring the ROM would be a simple matter of formatting data, clean-flashing the ROM, booting up the newly flashed ROM (to make sure that it actually boots, and to let it encrypt the storage in its own way), and then rebooting to recovery mode. This would give you a working device, and a fresh copy of the boot, system, and vendor partitions. Then you only need restore the backed up data (and internal storage), and you have your system again.

Do not rely entirely on a nandroid (ie, Recovery) backup of your internal storage (ie, your user data, photos, etc). It is wise to have copies in the cloud, and/or on your PC.

Do not rely entirely on a nandroid (ie, Recovery) backup of your data partition. It is wise to let your ROM backup your settings and apps data to the cloud (eg, Google Drive), or use an app to do the same. This provides a second line of defence. Nandroid

backups of the data partition are potentially unreliable

, and that is just the way it is.

Always take a backup of your user data (to an external storage device or the cloud) every time you want to flash something (anything - ROMs, recovery, kernels, mods, OTA updates, or whatever else). Ignore this advice at your own peril.

Creating backups of encrypted data is fraught with risks. If you want to backup the data partition of an encrypted device, you would be very well advised to first delete the lockscreen password/pin in the ROM before booting to recovery to create the backup.

Do not try to restore a backed-up data partition from one ROM to another ROM.

Do not try to restore a backup of an encrypted device to a device that is not encrypted, or to a device that is encrypted with a different encryption protocol.

The Achilles' heel of data backups is that they are just "tar" archives of the filesystem's contents. Therefore,

any

issue with even a single file or directory (out of possibly several thousands) is liable to cause the

entire

backup or restore to fail (the dreaded "error 255" or similar errors). Any issue with encryption, permissions, or sepolicy, is also liable to have the same effect. This kind of problem can avoided with /system or /vendor or /persist by making image backups, instead of filesystem backups. Unfortunately, this option is not available in respect of data backups.

Conclusion: data backups are potentially unreliable. So, do

not

rely on them exclusively. Ignore this advice at your own peril.

In addition, here they recommend NOT removing encryption.
[Xiaomi Poco X3 NFC Guides, News, & Discussion] jeryll:
I tried data backups & restore with A6 version, but never succeeded to restore so I didn't even try with B4, but now I'm intrigued again, will test
[Xiaomi Poco X3 NFC Guides, News, & Discussion] ThatDamnFrog:
Holy **** THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR REFERRING ME TO THAT.

Can't belive I didn't find it during my google searches
[Xiaomi Poco X3 NFC Guides, News, & Discussion] temporarium:
Are you encrypted?

Let me know how that works out. 😉
[Xiaomi Poco X3 NFC Guides, News, & Discussion] jeryll:
I'll be damned, IT ACTUALLY WORKS! Unencrypted fw, will post more when I wake up, need sleep, phone needs charge :sleep:(y)
[Xiaomi Poco X3 NFC Guides, News, & Discussion] temporarium:
You mean you formatted data and were able to restore it to the same state as before? That's great if that works. Even better if it works with encrypted vendor.
[Xiaomi Poco X3 NFC Guides, News, & Discussion] m0han:
i was lucky to get fw and kernel to flash without incident.

all good as of now. thanks for your tips.
[Xiaomi Poco X3 NFC Guides, News, & Discussion] m0han:
i'm given to understand that the fw file in Firmware Archive, which is 74.18 MB only, is enough to get the job done fine.

the files in MIUI Downloads are large files (2.4 GB). the files in Vendor Downloads are also large files (1.1 GB).
[Xiaomi Poco X3 NFC Guides, News, & Discussion] Slim K:
Sorry. Shared wrong screenshot, but my point still stands that you looked into the wrong section.

The main reason why i shared the MIUI package is because a vendor/system img mismatch is one of the reasons safetynet fails with basic integrity. You should know that most ROMs here do not have their own vendor included, they patch the pre-existing vendor (hence the MIUI version requirement before installing).

Now lets run a hypothetical situation, you have 12.0.8.0 stock MIUI installed. You flash 12.0.5.0 firmware, then flash a ROM based on that version, the ROM patches the vendor partition as if it was 12.0.5.0 but it is not!! If you boot the ROM everything works fine on the surface, but looking at the active system log, you will see multiple SELinux denials, causing increased CPU usage and draining the battery by not letting your phone go into deep sleep state.

So I do it like this (my own experience):

Regardless of the pre-existing MIUI, i flash the required MIUI recovery version in ofox. And since it does not touch data partition, my apps and data are still safe.

I flash the custom ROM of choice, but

I don't reboot to system yet, else i risk a google play services crash (if i'm dirty flashing the same ROM), because GMS Core has been deleted, so i reboot directly to recovery instead.

But then you ask, why haven't you flashed gapps directly without rebooting to recovery at all (in case of a clean flash) , but asking that question means lack of understanding of dynamic partitions. Since wiping system/vendor/product is now done in different manner than old phones, it is done basically through "resizing" those partitions inside super.img and in turn automatically wiping them, but direct Gapps installation will fail saying system partition is too small (ofox/twrp does not show the right partition size after resizing before a reboot due to partition table limitations).

I format data (if clean flashing).

TL;DR flashing a MIUI recovery ROM yields the best results, you get the right basis and an encrypted vendor w/o the headache of forgetting something. If flashing fw does it for you, then they're available on that site.
[Xiaomi Poco X3 NFC Guides, News, & Discussion] jeryll:
that's the beauty of unencrypted fw/storage, that you don't need to format data and destroyed everything on your internal storage, all your media will be intact, all you need is to wipe cache, dalvik, data after you flash ROM and reboot, that is huge time saver if you don't need to restore all your photos, music, etc all over again after you play with the new ROM and decided to go back because it's actually worse than what you have before

CONTINUE HERE (LINK TO GUIDE), CONTENT BELOW IS OUTDATED!
[Xiaomi Poco X3 NFC Guides, News, & Discussion] m0han:
ah! Firmware Archive is where i should've looked. thanks for the info reg. flashing MIUI recovery ROM for best results.
[Xiaomi Poco X3 NFC Guides, News, & Discussion] jeryll:
CONTINUE HERE (LINK TO GUIDE), CONTENT BELOW IS OUTDATED!
[Xiaomi Poco X3 NFC Guides, News, & Discussion] temporarium:
Thanks for trying that. Would you mind explaining this "bug" a bit more, please?
[Xiaomi Poco X3 NFC Guides, News, & Discussion] m0han:
is there any way one can restore data alone through recovery after trying another rom? i've read it is not advisable, but.... :D