Bootloader Unlocked Custom Recovery and Root for Xperia C4 and maybe C5 - Sony Xperia C4 Guides, News, & Discussion

Sony Xperia C4 Single/Dual and C5 Ultra Single/Dual. Remember to hit the Thanks button before leaving. Note: 20,000 + views and only 45 THANKS :crying: How hard can it be. NOTE: THIS WILL NOT WORK ON CARRIER'S CUSTOM BOOTLOADERS (SIM LOCKED) AND IT WILL NOT FULLY WORK ON THE STOCK MM 6.0 ROM'S YOU WILL NEED TO ROLLBACK TO LP 5.1 TO SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETE THIS TUT. MORE INFO CAN BE FOUND HERE​
PLEASE STOP POSTING OFF TOPIC QUESTIONS IN THIS THREAD!!! PLEASE READ THE TITLE AND IF YOUR QUESTION DOES NOT INVOLVE THE BOOTLOADER OR RECOVERY POST IT IN THE GENERAL OR Q&A SECTIONS WHICH CAN BE FOUND HERE. THANKS​
Your warranty will be void!!!!
You will lose all your Data due to Factory Reset!!!
I am not responsible for bricked devices, loss of data, non working Banking apps etc, dead Wifi, Bluetooth, gps, sim slots, imei missing thermonuclear war, or you getting fired because the alarm app failed. Please do your own research and if you have any concerns at all then do not proceed YOU are choosing to make these modifications of your own free will so please do not point your finger at me for YOU messing up your device.
Confirmed Device List.
Code:
PHONE SIM/REGION Model # bootloader Version ROM Version
[COLOR="YellowGreen"]Sony Xperia C4 (Single/Euro) E5303 0.5 27.1.A.1.106 [/COLOR]
[COLOR="YellowGreen"]Sony Xperia C4 (Dual/ Euro) E5333 ?.? 27.1.B.1.106 [/COLOR]
[COLOR="YellowGreen"]Sony Xperia C4 (Dual/HK ) E5363 ?.? 27.1.B.1.115 [/COLOR]
[COLOR="YellowGreen"]Sony Xperia C5 (All/All ) All ?.? 29.0.A.1.55[/COLOR]
Please let me know all confirmed device with the info as above so I can add it to the list. Please see Post #2 for more info on other variants​
1. Ok in this How Too we will:
Unlock the Bootloader
Install a custom recovery (TWRP)
Root the phone.
2. Prerequisites:
Correctly installed Drivers for your Phone!!
Get them Here http://developer.sonymobile.com/downloads/drivers/
Fully test ADB and Fastboot before you do anything to ensure all is setup and working correctly. See Setting and Testing for the noobs:
Try this if you still have problems See Here
I will not respond to any adb fastboot not working stuff. If you can't get these working you should not be flashing or rooting phones.
ADB & Fastboot for Windows are contained in this ADB & Fastboot Files .zip HERE. See Post #3 for updated and variant specific recovery's as they become available and be sure to use the correct one for your device and NOT the one in this .zip
3. Setting and Testing for the noobs:
On your device go to Settings/About Phone Scroll to the bottom and tap Build number repeatedly until it says "You are now a developer"
Go back to Settings Scroll to the bottom and you will now see "Developer options" tap on it to enter.
Turn On Developer options and check (tick) the "usb debugging" box.
Also in Developer options check (tick) the "oem unlock" box if it exists.
Connect your phone and PC with a usb cable.
Open a cmd window in the same folder as the adb and fastboot or "cd" (Change Directory) to that folder.
eg: cd C:\Users\bigrammy\Desktop\Phones\Sony C4\adb-recovery\ or in the pro versions of windows Open the adb folder place your cursor inside, hold Shift and right click and from the option box select open "command window here"
Now type
Code:
adb devices
If all is working you should get the serial number of your phone shown saying unauthorised
Check your phone screen and you will see a popup asking if you would like to trust this PC. Place a tick in the box (Always Trust this PC) and press OK.
Now repeat
Code:
adb devices
and you should get the serial number of your phone shown saying "connected".
Now enter
Code:
adb reboot bootloader
The phone will reboot to fastboot a black screen and tiny tiny writing in the bottom left corner
saying Fastboot
Now enter
Code:
fastboot getvar all
the cmd window will show a long list of all the bootloader info (Make a Note of it for future ref)
Output will look like a longer version of this.
Code:
(bootloader) partition-size:preloader: 40000
(bootloader) partition-type:preloader: raw data
(bootloader) version: 0.5
(bootloader) secure: yes
(bootloader) version-baseband: 1292-1552_27.1.A.1.106
(bootloader) version-bootloader: 1292-1556 S1_Boot_MT6752_TC9SP_11
(bootloader) serialno: NONEEDTOKNOW
(bootloader) product: E5303
all: Done!!
finished. total time: 0.159s
Now enter
Code:
fastboot reboot
and the phone will now boot back to system.
Hopefully all is working and we can now move on.
4. Unlocking the Bootloader:
Pre Warning this worked on my phone and I cannot say it will work on yours you may end up with a soft brick so think and research before you proceed.
In this statement from Sony's official bootloader unlocking guide
In your device, open the dialler and enter *#*#7378423#*#* to access the service menu.
Tap Service info > Configuration > Rooting Status. If Bootloader unlock allowed says Yes, then you can continue with the next step. If it says No, or if the status is missing, your device cannot be unlocked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My phone stated "NO" and as you can see from the bootloader info above in 3. Setting and Testing for the noobs: said secure = yes but been a I went ahead anyway and here is the weird and lucky for us thing.
After I unlocked it I got (bootloader) secure = NO from fastboot but the system software still reported Bootloader unlock allowed = No :silly:
Nothing tripped no warranty warnings nothing it's like the system never even knew sweet.
So now goto http://developer.sonymobile.com/unlockbootloader/ and select device Xperia C then follow all their instruction. (Credit for this belongs to another member I will add it when I find the post)
When you have booted to "bootloader" use
Code:
adb reboot bootloader
to do so.
Then enter your fastboot cmd line given to you by Sony mine looked like this.
Code:
fastboot -i 0x0fce oem unlock 0xMYDEVICEUNLOCKCODE
When it says "finished" or "Done" hopefully with no errors just enter
Code:
fastboot reboot
Now go make a cup of tea as this will take a good good while because your phone will factory reset wipe all data and then have to rebuild all the cache etc etc before finally fully booting to the system. If you get as far as the boot animation then don't worry and allow a good 15 > 20 mins before panicking.
Well Hopefully you booted into your As New system go through all the setup and re-enable USB Debugging remembering to accept the prompt again from adb to allow this PC as above.
5. Install a custom recovery (TWRP)
Pre Info and Practice:
Copy the SuperSU.zip to the root of your internal and external storage.
Practice Entering recovery and fastboot using the buttons and keys here's a quick tut.
1.Unplug the USB lead and Power off the Phone.
Entering Recovery:
Press and keep held the Volume Down key (-)
Now Press and hold Power Key until you see the Sony Boot Logo then release the Power Key only.
You can release the Volume Down Key when you see the Logo screen change or you are in recovery.
Entering Bootloader:
As above but using the Volume UP key (+) instead.
Bootloader is Black screen tiny text "fastboot" bottom left corner.
Once you have mastered this it's time to move on.
Enter bootloader manually or via adb
Code:
adb reboot bootloader
Check the bootloader status
Code:
fastboot getvar all
output should show
Code:
(bootloader) secure: No
in the last few lines.
If it says No enter
Code:
fastboot flash fotakernel fotakernel.img
It should display a size and some seconds info with complete or success you should see NO warning or errors.
THIS IS IMPORTANT
The rom has
Code:
recovery.from.boot.p
if the phone boots to system at this point the recovery you just flashed will be replaced by the stock one and you will need to repeat the above.
Once the fotakernel.img is flashed just unplug the USB cable and the phone will power OFF.
This is where your practice from earlier becomes useful :laugh:
Using the Keys boot to recovery (Volume Down) when TWRP boots you will get a warning about it not mounting system just tick you want it to mount /system nothing in our system seems to trip so everything is cool.
You could make a /system backup at this point if you wanted to restore a unrooted version at any point.
In TWRP Go to "Install" and find the SuperSU.zip select it and swipe to flash it.
When that's done go to mounts and tick "system" go back to Home then go to /Advanced/file manager/system find recovery.from.boot.p and if it exists press and hold it from the popup menu select Delete.
Now press the Home icon and that's it you're rooted with no chance of the recovery getting replaced unless you do it yourselves.
Now Reboot to system.
The recovery supports mtp/adb see mount options so you can copy files to and from the PC
Only thing I may to try fix later is usb/otg when I get time as I will have to plough through all the init. files to find where sony put the mount point Fixed see Post #3.
6. Files and recovery's
ADB & Fastboot for Windows are contained in this ADB & Fastboot Files .zip HERE. See Post #3 for updated and variant specific recovery's as they become available and be sure to use the correct one for your device and NOT the one in this .zip
Recovery's are in POST #3 Choose the correct one for your device and change the one contained in the ADB & Fastboot Files .zip
Leechers Please don't take my work and try pass it off as your own on blogs and other language forums. I don't get paid but would like a little credit and a Thanks.
4pda at least tell your readers to visit this post first and hit that button below.
My Credits as always:
@yuweng for been a Mediatek guru
@carliv for teaching me about Mediatek recovery's and solving the riddle of these mtk 64bit SoC
@[NUT] and all the Sony Xperia dev's for some mind blowing Work.
@Chainfire For SuperSU
TWRP Team for their incredible Recovery.
Last but not least the forum for expanding my knowledge. :highfive:

---

Thanks list for those reporting back. :highfive:
Confirmed Working = :good:
Confirmed Not Working = :crying:
@xmmm
C4- (Dual/ Euro)- E5333 - ?.? - 27.1.B.1.106
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
:good:
@gui2361
C4 - (Dual/Japan) - E???? - ?.? - 27.1.B.1.115
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
:good:
@mauroqueiroz
C4 - (Dual/Brazil) - E5343 - 0.5 - 27.1.B.1.106
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
:good:
C4- (Dual\Single/ WW)- V= ALL - BL=0.5 - FWV=5.0.2 & 5.1.1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
:good:
C5- (Dual\Single/ WW)- V= ALL - BL=0.5 - FWV=5.0.2 & 5.1.1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
:good:
Key:
WW = World Wide
V = Variant
BL = BootLoader
FWV = FirmWare Version
Nice example of how to present your reports. Here Thanks mauroqueiroz.

---

I will place all New Updated and regional fotakernel(recovery) Here as and when I can
NEW UPDATED VERSIONS:
These recovery's are the same as the original one's but I have now have fixed usb-otg (storage)
If your USB Stick/drive has many partitions It will only mount the primary partition.
I have tested it with fat32 and it works fine but I can't guarantee it will work with all
File Systems although it is set to AUTO so should detect the correct FS format.
Installation:
By Fastboot:
Code:
fastboot flash fotakernel fotakernel.img
Or By Recovery:
1. Download and extract the fotakernel.img from the Applicable .zip for your device.
2. Copy the fotakernel.img to the root of your sdcard.
3. Boot into Recovery and select Install.
4. Press the Images.. Button
Photo1
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
5. You will now see .img files on your sdcard
Photo2
6. Select the fotakernel.img you copied to your sdcard earlier.
7. Check the Recovery only then Swipe to flash it.
Photo3
8. After flashing go back to the main menu and select Reboot then Recovery
Now you can test your USBOTG.
Plug in your USB Stick/drive then goto Mounts and select usbotg.
You will now be able to see your drives documents in the /Advanced/File Browser/usbotg
and in the Select Storage Options.
Hit the THANKS button and enjoy...
DOWNLOADS HERE:
Xperia-C4-all-versions-OTG.zip except the C4_Dual_E5363_27.1.B.1.115_R7A which is below.
One Drive C4-all-versions-OTG
Xperia-C5-all-versions-OTG.zip
One Drive C5-all-versions-OTG.zip
C4_Dual_E5363_27.1.B.1.115_R7A-OTG.zip
One Drive C4_Dual_E5363_27.1.B.1.115_R7A-OTG.zip
Also Please GIVE THANKS to Chainfire for SuperSu he is Awesome http://forum.xda-developers.com/apps/supersu/2014-09-02-supersu-v2-05-t2868133

---

Did you back up the TA partition?

---

Fiasco said:
Did you back up the TA partition?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you mean before unlocking the bootloader then no it's impossible without root :silly:
As far as the system is concerned I never unlocked the bootloader so TA seems to be unaffected track id bravia eng 2 all seem to work fine.
I did the same on my ZL and that too seemed unaffected I am not sure about OTA updates as both my devices are on the latest Software versions so no OTA's as yet

---

I'll play with this on my US E5306 when I get home and report back.

---

Whoa, thanks. Can someone put a nice UI over this please?

---

Boot to bootloader via adb
Code:
adb reboot bootloader
Check the bootloader status
Code:
fastboot getvar all
output should show “(bootloader) secure: No” in the last few lines.
If it says No enter
Code:
fastboot flash fotakernel fotakernel.img
It should display a size and some seconds info with complete or success you should see NO warning or errors.
I'm stuck in this part. In the log ": Yes Secure" appears me. What I have to do to "Secure: Not" appears me.
Thanks.

---

I'd like to help. I have c5 ultra and bootloader allowed to unlock. My problem is i dont have a pc nor i am not allowed to use it. Dont ask why... I would like to give the kernel but i will need a pc right?

---

Fiasco said:
I'll play with this on my US E5306 when I get home and report back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Be sure to read post #2 I am not sure if these kernels are region specific
If you encounter the same issues I would be greatfull if you could upload your stock boot.elf and fotakernel.elf or me.
scotyard said:
Whoa, thanks. Can someone put a nice UI over this please?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
THANKS!! WTF some people
P20KILLER said:
Boot to bootloader via adb
Code:
adb reboot bootloader
Check the bootloader status
Code:
fastboot getvar all
output should show “(bootloader) secure: No” in the last few lines.
If it says No enter
Code:
fastboot flash fotakernel fotakernel.img
It should display a size and some seconds info with complete or success you should see NO warning or errors.
I'm stuck in this part. In the log ": Yes Secure" appears me. What I have to do to "Secure: Not" appears me.
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Follow all the steps from the start exactly as I wrote and read carefully. If you received no Errors then you probably did not reboot to system before rechecking the status in fastboot. Software/Firmware and I believe even flashtool thinks the bootloader is still locked but we know different

---

gsser said:
I'd like to help. I have c5 ultra and bootloader allowed to unlock. My problem is i dont have a pc nor i am not allowed to use it. Dont ask why... I would like to give the kernel but i will need a pc right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
WHY :laugh:
Yes you will need a PC for most things in Android development..

---

bigrammy said:
WHY :laugh:
Yes you will need a PC for most things in Android development..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will try to help you to give kernel in this weekend if i will be able to. Good job anyways

---

Well did anyone using C5 ultra dual E5563 successful root?and unlock bootloader as my bootloader unlock is 'no'

---

It works.
Even with Bootloader unlock allowed = No.
Next step, a cleaned room.
Thanks

---

gerocha said:
It works.
Even with Bootloader unlock allowed = No.
Next step, a cleaned room.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You get it to unlock bootloader? And have u get it root success?
Sent from my E5563 using XDA Premium HD app

---

skylinestan said:
You get it to unlock bootloader? And have u get it root success?
Sent from my E5563 using XDA Premium HD app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I get root in my C4.

---

gerocha said:
It works.
Even with Bootloader unlock allowed = No.
Next step, a cleaned room.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please! Give Phone details so I can add them to the list
skylinestan said:
You get it to unlock bootloader? And have u get it root success?
Sent from my E5563 using XDA Premium HD app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
C5 will be available in a few hours please be patient until then

---

bigrammy said:
Please! Give Phone details so I can add them to the list
C5 will be available in a few hours please be patient until then
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's an E5333

---

YES NO??
To make things clear for those who do not read English well.
When you dial the *#*#7378423#*#* and go to the Configuration > Rooting Status for most it shows NO and will still show NO even after you have unlocked the bootloader.
When you are in Fastboot and do get var all that will show your true status secure = Yes for most before you run the bootloader Unlock from Sony.
After you run the bootloader Unlock from Sony it will show secure = No Enjoy rooting the phone and having a custom recovery :good:
I hope that makes it cleaer.

---

gerocha said:
It's an E5333
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok thanks.