[Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 Mini] uriahheep:
EDIT: I have slightly modified this guide for it to be more useful for all X10 Mini users, not only for E10a users but for E10i users too. Enjoy!

This is a guide for flashing an E10a X10 Mini with a pre-rooted, xRecovery-enabled update.zip file by using the xRecovery tool for X10 Mini.

WARNING: THE UPDATE.ZIP FILE LINKED TO IN THIS GUIDE IS ONLY FOR AN E10A X10 MINI, FOR EXAMPLE DEVICES WHICH CURRENTLY RUN ON FIRMWARE VERSION 2.0.1.A.0.47 - IF YOU USE THIS GUIDE WITH AN E10I YOU WILL NEED TO USE YOUR OWN UPDATE.ZIP, WHICH YOU CAN EITHER CREATE USING aZuZu's SMALL KITCHEN OR WHICH YOU CAN DOWNLOAD FROM ANOTHER THREAD.

DISCLAIMER: Use at your own risk! This guide is provided WITH NO GUARANTEE that it will work. I am not responsible if you brick/destroy your phone. Follow these steps CLOSELY and DO NOT PM me if you are having problems. If it doesn't work, it's because you didn't follow the guide correctly. MAKE SURE THAT YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING, OR PLEASE WAIT FOR AN EASIER WAY OF ROOTING YOUR PHONE.

BEFORE you begin following these steps, MAKE SURE that you've read ALL OF THEM twice over, that you UNDERSTAND their implications, and that you have DOWNLOADED EVERYTHING that you need (THIS INCLUDES the files and tools that you must download in the guides that this guide links you to)!

1. Acquire your phone's decrypted .sin files:

[1.a] Run SEUS (a.k.a. Sony Ericsson Update Service) to flash your phone, then copy the "FILE_xxxxxxxxx" files (there are 3 - approximately 64KB, 14MB and 112MB) from "C:\Program Files\Sony Ericsson\Update Service\db\[8 numbers]\blob_fs\" to a folder where you will work with them.

[1.b] Download Bin4ry's ConvertTool.zip and extract the files into the same folder as your files.

[1.c] Open up a command prompt (run cmd) and navigate to your work folder using the "cd" command.

[1.d] Run SEUSDECRYPT.BAT as explained in the guide linked to in step [1.a] to obtain your decrypted .sin files. CLARIFICATION: For the two largest files, rename the .tgz files to .zip files, then use WinRAR to extract the files within those .zip files. The .sin files are inside of the .tgz files WITHIN the zip files. Then, for the smaller 64kb file, Run it through SEUSDECRYPT.BAT like the two other files, but simply rename it to loader.sin and put it with your other .sin files in the next step.

[1.e] The files have a long file name and must be renamed to shorter names (i.e. rename them to only the beginning of their original file names). Use the Nordic file names downloaded in step [2.a] as a template to know for sure what you need to rename them to. Once renamed, copy ONLY the files that you need (there should be 9: amss_fs.sin, amss.sin, cache.sin, fota0.sin, fota1.sin, kernel.sin, loader.sin, simlock.ta, userdata.sin) into one folder. MAKE SURE that you EXCLUDE system.sin, as copying it along with your other .sin files will OVERWRITE YOUR WORK later in this guide! Instead of system.sin, we will be using update.zip SEPARATELY (which is the sole purpose of this guide!)

[1.f] If you choose to create your own update.zip file using aZuZu's Small Kitchen in step [3.a], then keep your system.sin file elsewhere for future use.
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2. Flash your phone with the Nordic firmware (ONLY IF you currently CAN NOT root your phone) [2.a], root it with z4root [2.b], and install xRecovery [2.c]:

[2.a] If z4root does not work on the firmware currently installed on your phone, you will need to "downgrade" to a firmware that you can root. Here is a shortcut to doing so, since you won't be using the firmware that you will be "downgrading" to once you are finished. follow Bin4ry's guide to flash your phone to the e10i Nordic firmware, which can be rooted with z4root. Do not worry about your data connection for this step, as you will not be using this firmware once you have finished following this guide. If/when a dialog to enable your data connection pops up, DECLINE.

[2.b] Root your newly flashed Nordic firmware (or your currently installed firmware if you did not need to perform step [2.a]) using z4root (RECOMMENDED: select permanent root). Alternatively, you can simply use Bin4ry's Flashtool (from step [2.a]) which includes z4root.

[2.c] Once your phone is rooted and has rebooted (automatically done by z4root as a final step), follow this guide to install xRecovery on your phone. If the installer application doesn't work, I recommend that you get adb (which is in Bin4ry's FlashTool's "FlashToolRelease" folder) to manually install it, either by following the steps in the aforementioned guide or by doing the following:

1. Copy these 3 files (which you can download from the aforementioned xRecovery guide) to the root of your SD card: busybox, chargemon, xrecovery.tar ... Once these are copied, disable USB file sharing on your phone, but DO NOT disconnect your phone.

2. Run the following command in adb shell, without the quotes: "su" (A dialog from the SuperUser app might/will pop up, select "Allow")

3. Run the following command, without the quotes: "mount -o rw,remount /dev/block/mtdblock0 /system"

3. Run the following command, without the quotes: "busybox cp /sdcard/busybox /sdcard/chargemon /sdcard/xrecovery.tar /system/bin/"

4. Run the following command, without the quotes: "mount -o ro,remount /dev/block/mtdblock0 /system"

5. That's it! You've now manually installed xRecovery and can close your adb shell if you want.​

3. Install update.zip onto your phone using xRecovery:

[3.a] Download my update.zip file (Alternate link: click here) (this file is only for E10a!! E10i users must either find another update.zip for their phones or create their own using aZuZu's Small Kitchen) and copy it to the root of your SD card. If you know how to check an MD5/SHA256/SHA512 sum, my update.zip has the following hashes:

MD5 sum: 5bd588518921b592b087d3175cff972b

SHA256 sum: 2cabcf01fe3c56f9d287e9a7eb2e4a3c2531cd9e08dd8193604d3f2f8143f6f2

SHA512 sum: 7663b37b47a7170bd8ef99838b3344eeca38e013eae98a1d2c1ba8e61f0c9192a318a39cd7a0589b75041bb3a82ca82ee6339c4894263657b3ec3eeb5c59cf7c
​

As an alternative to using my update.zip, you can now easily create your own update.zip files with your own system.sin file!

Just use aZuZu's Small Kitchen: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=897662

E10i users can either download the following update.zip file, or can find another one on their own:

Generic 2.0.2.A.0.24 firmware [rooted + xrecovery preinstalled]
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[3.b] Make sure that your phone is FULLY CHARGED, then turn your phone off.

[3.c] Turn your phone back on and right after the white Sony Ericsson logo appears, press the BACK (right) button every half-second until the xRecovery menu appears. If the xRecovery menu does NOT appear, then you did NOT install xRecovery correctly.

[3.d] In the xRecovery menu, select the "Install update.zip from SD Card" option, then wait until it says that the operation completed for the xRecovery menu to reappear.

[3.e] DO NOT REBOOT YOUR PHONE YET, as you will need to proceed with the following steps relatively quickly BEFORE rebooting.
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4. Place your phone's decrypted .sin files in Bin4ry's FlashTool's "FlashToolRelease" folder [4.a], prepare yourself for flashing these files [4.b], then reboot your phone into flash mode [4.c] and flash your e10a .sin files to your phone [4.d/e]:

[4.*] YOU WILL NEED TO PERFORM STEPS [4.c], [4.d] AND [4.e] QUICKLY, SO DO NOT PROCEED BEFORE HAVING DOWNLOADED THE NECESSARY FILES AND PREPARED YOURSELF FOR THESE STEPS!

NOTE: Users who did not need to flash the Nordic firmware [2.a] do not need to follow any of the following steps and can simply choose the reboot option in the xRecovery menu now. ALL OTHER USERS MUST CONTINUE.

[4.a] Remember step 1? This is where you'll be using those .sin files! Place the folder containing your phone's .sin files into Bin4ry's FlashTool's "FlashToolRelease" folder.

[4.b] Run x10flash.bat, click Flash and select the folder that you just placed, just like in the guide linked to in step [2.a], but DO NOT PRESS OK YET.

[4.c] Select the "Reboot" option on your phone, in the xRecovery menu.

[4.d] Preferably BEFORE the ANIMATED Sony Ericsson logo appears (i.e. while the white Sony Ericsson logo is still there), plug your phone into your computer via USB cable, then press the BACK (right), HOME (middle) and POWER (top) buttons at the SAME TIME and hold them until the phone's GREEN LED is on.

[4.e] In Bin4ry's FlashTool, MAKE SURE that you selected the folder with your phone's .sin files! Click OK in FlashTool and wait for the files to be flashed to your phone. REMEMBER that you should NOT have a system.sin file in your folder or you will have done all of this for nothing!

[4.f] When FlashTool indicates that flashing has completed, unplug your USB cable.

[4.g] Wait 15 seconds. Turn your phone on and wait for it to boot. It may take a while to boot since it will be the first time that you boot since you flashed your phone.
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5. Congratulations! You have flashed your X10 Mini with a pre-rooted firmware with xRecovery pre-installed! ENJOY your (and our) hard work! ;-)

Cheers,

uriah