[General Questions and Answers] Deleted member 7662912:
Full Root Guide for Retroid Pocket 3+

USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!!! I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE TO YOUR DEVICE!!! ALWAYS ENSURE YOU HAVE A BACKUP!!!

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1. Doing a full partition backup to your SD Card. (You'll need 128gb or greater)

To get the path to your SD enter the following command in a text editor and save as SDNAME.sh

ls /mnt/media_rw/ > /sdcard/SDNAME.txt

To run the script, copy the .sh file to your RP3+, go to the Settings of your device, then Handheld Settings > Advanced > Run Script as Root. Navigate to the .sh file and run it.

The SDNAME.txt will be found on Internal Storage.

The output should be in this format: ####-####

Next enter the following command in a text editor and save as BACKUP.sh

dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0 of=/mnt/media_rw/####-####/backup.img

Replace ####-#### with the result from SDNAME.txt

To run the script, copy the .sh file to your RP3+, go to the Settings of your device, then Handheld Settings > Advanced > Run Script as Root. Navigate to the .sh file and run it.

The recovery image will be saved as backup.img on your SD Card and will include ALL partitions of the RP3+.

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2. Unlocking the bootloader.

On your Windows PC go to:

https://androiddatahost.com/wp-content/uploads/SPD_Driver_R4.20.4201.zip

Download and extract the zip file and Install the driver specific to your OS.

Power off your RP3+.

Press and hold the POWER and VOLUME UP buttons until it boots to recovery mode.

Select reboot to bootloader from the recovery options.

Connect the device to the PC and go to:

Spreadtrum / Unisoc Bootloader Unlock Tool

on Google Chrome.

Click Connect.

Click "fastboot gadget" and connect.

Click Unlock.

On the device there will be a warning:

"Warning: Unlock device may erase user data. Press volume down button to confirm that. Press volume up button to cancel."

Press volume down.

Wait for it to complete. It may take awhile so be patient and do not interrupt the process*

When its complete reboot by pressing and holding POWER and VOLUME DOWN.

There is a warning everytime you reboot now but it goes away shortly and boots normally.

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3. Dumping your boot_a and vbmeta_a partitions.

Enter the following commands in a text editor and save as getbootandvbmeta.sh

dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p42 of=/sdcard/boot_a.img
dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p56 of=/sdcard/vbmeta_a.img

To run the script, copy the .sh file to your RP3+, go to the Settings of your device, then Handheld Settings > Advanced > Run Script as Root. Navigate to the .sh file and run it.

The boot_a.img and vbmeta_a.img files will be stored on Internal Storage.

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4. Patching the boot_a.img file with Magisk.

Go to:

Releases · topjohnwu/Magisk

The Magic Mask for Android. Contribute to topjohnwu/Magisk development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

Scroll down to Assets and download, then install the latest Magisk.apk

Open Magisk.

Tap "Install" Next to Magisk at the top.

Tap "Select and Patch a File"

Navigate to your boot_a.img file and tap it.

Tap "LET'S GO -->"

The patched boot_a.img file will have an output similar to magisk_patched-26000_Lf8IC.img and will be stored in the Download directory on Internal Storage.

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5. Resigning the keys for boot_a.img and vbmeta_a.img

Boot up a 64-bit Linux OS.

Open a terminal and enter:

git clone https://github.com/skompc/retroid-pocket-3-plus-autoroot

Navigate to the downloaded retroid-pocket-3-plus-autoroot folder.

Right click patch.sh and go to properties.

Click Permissions.

Change Access to Read & Write for all.

Tick the "Allow this file to run as a program" box

Click Close.

Open a browser and go to:

https://repo.anaconda.com/archive/Anaconda3-2023.03-Linux-x86_64.sh

To download Anaconda3.

Go to your downloads folder, Right click Anaconda3-2023.03-Linux-x86_64.sh and click properties.

Click Permissions.

Change Access to Read & Write for all.

Tick the "Allow this file to run as a program" box

Click Close.

Right click in the Download folder and Click "Open Terminal Here".

Drag Anaconda3-2023.03-Linux-x86_64.sh into the terminal and press Enter.

Press Enter to review the license agreement. Then press and hold Enter to scroll.

When you see ( END ) type yes then yes again.

Press Enter to Install Anaconda3 to your root directory.

The installer prompts you to choose whether to initialize Anaconda Distribution by running conda init. Anaconda recommends entering “yes”.

The installer finishes and displays, “Thank you for installing Anaconda3"

Connect your RP3+ to the system and copy your vbmeta_a.img and magisk_patched-26000_Lf8IC.img files to the retroid-pocket-3-plus-autoroot directory on your Linux OS.

Rename vbmeta_a.img to vbmeta.img

Rename magisk_patched-26000_Lf8IC.img to magisk.img

Right click in the retroid-pocket-3-plus-autoroot folder and Click "Open Terminal Here".

Drag patch.sh into the Terminal and press Enter.

"Extracting keys from vbmeta

Creating custom key for boot

Creating custom vbmeta and signing

Signing magisk.img

DONE!!!

Press any key to continue"

Press the Any Key.

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6. Flashing the Signed Images.

Copy the vbmeta_custom.img and magisk.img files over to your Windows OS.

Download and extract Minimal adb and fastboot:

Minimal ADB and Fastboot

MediaFire is a simple to use free service that lets you put all your photos, documents, music, and video in a single place so you can access them anywhere and share them everywhere.

www.mediafire.com

Run openCMDhere.bat

Power off your RP3+.

Press and hold the POWER and VOLUME UP buttons until it boots to recovery mode.

Select reboot to fastboot/bootloader from the recovery options.

Connect the RP3+ to your PC.

On the CMD Terminal, Enter:

fastboot devices

You should see the device listed.

To flash the 4 necessary boot and vbmeta partitions enter the following commands:

fastboot flash vbmeta_a /YOUR PATH HERE/vbmeta_custom.img

fastboot flash vbmeta_b /YOUR PATH HERE/vbmeta_custom.img

fastboot flash boot_a /YOUR PATH HERE/magisk.img

fastboot flash boot_b /YOUR PATH HERE/magisk.img

fastboot reboot

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You now have Magisk ROOT!!!

!!!!WARNINGS!!!!

NEVER UPDATE MAGISK THROUGH THE APP! ALWAYS REPATCH YOUR ORIGINAL BOOT IMAGE!

IF BY ANY CHANCE YOU RECEIVE A PROMPT TO DO AN OTA UPDATE, DON'T DO IT! YOU WILL BOOTLOOP! (Go into settings and disable all automatic updates, Enable Developer options and Disable OTA updates)

MAKE SURE TO HAVE MULTIPLE BACKUPS ON HAND IN CASE OF A BRICK! WHILE SOMEONE IS MAKING AN UNBRICKING TOOL IT WILL NOT WORK WITHOUT BACKUPS!

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Credits to skompc AKA SquirrelHurtz AKA u/FoxyCatDogThing for the avb patch script.

Credits to Turtle and hartleysch for the bootloader unlock.

Credits to ApatheticEuphoria for the comprehensive guide.