Before you continue with the steps listed in this guide; you acknowledge and accept that any damage to your phone caused by your attempts to root your phone is your own responsibility. Appuals, the (author) and our affiliates will not be responsible for a bricked device, dead SD Card, or anything to do with your phone. If you don’t know what you’re doing; please research and If you do not feel comfortable with the steps, then DO NOT PROCEED. Custom ROMs also offer the possibility of a newer version of Android, which maybe unreleased for your device due to limitations put by your manufacturer or carrier. Today we are going to show you how to flash the latest and greatest ROM released by Cyanogen mode for you Lenovo Zuk Z1. please note that this is a NIGHTLY version, meaning it could be less stable than your official ROM, it can have different bugs in different system aspects but the developers work on it every day to achieve perfection, if you do not want to handle bugs I advise you not to flash this ROM, also if you decide to go through with this article, please check the Cyanogen mod downloads website every now and then as Nightly versions tend to be updated daily with bug fixes and stability improvements. Before starting this guide do know that to unlock your bootloader, flash a recovery and then flash the ROM your data will be lost during the process, so I advise you to take any necessary backups of things you’d like to hold on. Next, make sure you get the following requirements: Before flashing, install Easy Backup & Restore from Google play, run it and backup your Call log, SMS history, Bookmarks, contacts and applications to either your Gmail or google Drive.
Stage 1: Flashing Custom Recovery
We will begin by flashing a recovery for it and this will be done by ADB, adb acts like a bridge between your phone and your PC that enables you to flash recoveries, side load applications and many others. Firstly download android sdk by clicking here, which will be used to connect and send commands to your phone. After being downloaded, extract the file and run the .exe file you should see, it should be named Android SDK Tool Setup (exe). Once done, download the SDK Manager, by double clicking on the SDK Manager from the SDK Folder. When it asks what packages do you want to download search for platform tools, tick the option and untick everything else, press “install this package”. Once the package is installed go to the platform tools folder and copy cmd file to this folder which is located in c:\windows\system32. Connect your phone to your laptop first to ensure it gets detected, if it asks you to download drivers for it accept. If your laptop does not read your phone then you should download drivers here. Extract the zip file and install it. If even after downloading the drivers an error message appear saying the best drivers are already installed, open your device manager and locate your phone (Could be named external drive or Z1) right click on it and press on update driver, then click on “Browse my computer for driver software” click on “Have disk”,once done this browse to the extracted USB driver you downloaded earlier (Google USB drivers) and open the .inf file it will show you three options select ADB device (Top one). If any warning screen appears click yes. Then we want to make sure your phone is mounted, using your phone go to Settings -> about phone and tap on “build number” until a message saying “ you are a developer is presented”then press return and open “Developer options” and enable ADB debugging (or USB debugging). Next using your laptop open the “cmd” file you copied into the android sdk folder earlier and type in “adb devices” (without quote marks). Once we are sure that both adb sideloading works and your phone is well connected download the TWRP recovery from here.
Stage 2: Flashing Custom Recovery and Unlocking Bootloader
Using the “cmd” command prompt type in “adb reboot bootloader” and your phone should reboot into bootloader mode, now type in “-I 0x2b4c”, next type in “fastboot -i 0x2b4c oem unlock” to unlock your bootloader, when done move the downloaded TWRP file into your platform tools folder and use your command prompt to type in “fastboot -i 0x2b4c flash recovery z1.twrp.2.8.7.0.By.Breadcrust-UPDATE5.img”, your command prompt should return “OKAY” then you the recovery is properly installed! To get into recovery and begin flashing ZIPs turn off your phone and then turn it back on.
Stage 3: Flashing Custom Rom
After successfully flashing your recovery you wont need your laptop so you will need to download the ROM from here (download the latest “Cyanogen mod Build”, should be on the third coloumn from the left) using your phone. Also download Google applications from here, choose ARM and 6.0, you can choose mini or micro based on what type of functionality you would like to get. (All using your ZUK Z1) When downloaded turn off your phone and get into recovery mode by turning it back on and when it vibrates press and hold both Volume up and down until it boots into TWRP, when booted press on “wipe, then advanced wipe and mark on Dalvik Cache, Cache, System and Data. Then swipe to complete the process. When done press return and press on Install and then browse to the Cyanogen mod ROM you downloaded earlier and press on it and flash it. Repeat the same process with the Google apps you installed and your phone should be ready. Reboot your phone ,it may take a little time at first during the initial turn on but when done you will have Cyanogen mod 13 on your phone! Congratulations on your Marshmallow! Start setting up your google account, redownload Easy backup and restore and start restoring the backup you made earlier. When you are finished with setup and restoring you will want to turn the root access back on, you can do this by going to Settings -> About phone -> Build number tap on it 7 times until you are greeted with a You are now a developer message press return and access developers options, in it choose root access and choose APPS only.
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