Why there are so many complications in flashing different ROMS on RN3 SD Kenzo ? - Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 Questions & Answers

I used to flash new ROM's on my old Galaxy S2 and there was never a issue of bootloader thing and same goes for old Xiaomi phones like redmi 1s.
But recently When xiaomi started locking bootloader , even after unlocking bootloader ,In most of ROM threads there is warning to delete the bootloader file from MIUI recovery ROM and then flash the ROM through recovery as it'll relock the bootloader.
Why does this happen so ?
1) What is the difference between official and unofficial unlocked bootloader ?
2) How much difference does one make if we want to flash all type of ROM's including MIUI , CM ,RR etc ?
3) Is there any way in which bootloader once unlocked , we don't have to worry about getting it relocked by flashing other ROM's like exactly what happens in most other android smartphones after unlocking their bootloader ?
Please clear the above doubts as it's becoming very confusing and irritating on flashing the ROM and what points needed to be kept in mind to avoid bricking the RN3.

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Read this thread, my phone was officially unlocked the bootloader and used alka twrp to flash official rom with the ease. No need to do anything, just flashed it, superSU and exposed. Rebooted my phone, done. Only failed on incremental ota update, rebooted phone and received a second ota full rom and always success.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/redmi-note-3/how-to/guide-redmi-note-3-available-twrps-t3406708
Sent from my Redmi Note 3 using Tapatalk

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lack of good/complete tutorials
I believe flashing has always been a tricky job, more or less. The fact of the matter is that (for our device) I see very little complete tutorials in ROM threads, they all focus on the last bit of flashing. Some hazards are being mentioned and in the best case scenario you get a link to a vague solution (cross other forums and boards), never a full tutorial in the starting topic or the second post however. Back in the days you would see full explanations in every ROM thread, first posts were even being reserved for that. Nowadays users are being supposed to know it al which most do not.
Besides from the complete guides I also noticed that whenever something is explained, the explanations themselves are poor in terms of language (grammar as well as vocabulary) causing even more problems for newbies to fully understand what they are up to.
I am ne to the Xiaomi community but I am absolutely not new to flashing, cooking etc. (started back in the days with iPAQ's and so on) but I also had a though time to end up where I am now with a official unlocked phone that is rooted, has a custom recovery and a Xiaomi.eu ROM. MY journey was a long one but I must conclude that none of the steps were a real hazard, but combining everything in a workflow in correct order was a pain in the back.
First thing that came to me was the idea of writing down my experiences in the form of a FULL tutorial, which I might do when I find the time. I am pretty sure this will help many fellow flashers, newbies and pro's, to establish what most of us did.
These were just my two cents.
P.S. One more thing I noticed is that there are a lot of unfinished projects, they do the job that they were needed for, but they do nothing else.
e.g. Why are there so many custom recoveries, are there no developers anymore that can combine them all to one-fits-all ?

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timberwolf60 said:
Read this thread, my phone was officially unlocked the bootloader and used alka twrp to flash official rom with the ease. No need to do anything, just flashed it, superSU and exposed. Rebooted my phone, done. Only failed on incremental ota update, rebooted phone and received a second ota full rom and always success.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/redmi-note-3/how-to/guide-redmi-note-3-available-twrps-t3406708
Sent from my Redmi Note 3 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is a lot of If else there
Why we can't just flash any rom after unlocking bootloader officially and always have to fear about bootloader relock again?
If i am not mistaken this situation is in Xiaomi phones right ?

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Dust2Dust said:
I believe flashing has always been a tricky job, more or less. The fact of the matter is that (for our device) I see very little complete tutorials in ROM threads, they all focus on the last bit of flashing. Some hazards are being mentioned and in the best case scenario you get a link to a vague solution (cross other forums and boards), never a full tutorial in the starting topic or the second post however. Back in the days you would see full explanations in every ROM thread, first posts were even being reserved for that. Nowadays users are being supposed to know it al which most do not.
Besides from the complete guides I also noticed that whenever something is explained, the explanations themselves are poor in terms of language (grammar as well as vocabulary) causing even more problems for newbies to fully understand what they are up to.
I am ne to the Xiaomi community but I am absolutely not new to flashing, cooking etc. (started back in the days with iPAQ's and so on) but I also had a though time to end up where I am now with a official unlocked phone that is rooted, has a custom recovery and a Xiaomi.eu ROM. MY journey was a long one but I must conclude that none of the steps were a real hazard, but combining everything in a workflow in correct order was a pain in the back.
First thing that came to me was the idea of writing down my experiences in the form of a FULL tutorial, which I might do when I find the time. I am pretty sure this will help many fellow flashers, newbies and pro's, to establish what most of us did.
These were just my two cents.
P.S. One more thing I noticed is that there are a lot of unfinished projects, they do the job that they were needed for, but they do nothing else.
e.g. Why are there so many custom recoveries, are there no developers anymore that can combine them all to one-fits-all ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes right , but i think Xiaomi is the culprit here for every complicated procedure here.
What's the difference between officially and unofficially unlocked bootloader ? and how's Xiamio.eu ROM is different from global stable ROM ?

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akhil17kr said:
Yes right , but i think Xiaomi is the culprit here for every complicated procedure here.
What's the difference between officially and unofficially unlocked bootloader ? and how's Xiamio.eu ROM is different from global stable ROM ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Xiaomi.eu weekly rom was cooked from cn dev rom, removed Chinese apps and put in Google apps and more European languages. Those who wish to flash it must officially unlocked bootloader.
Sent from my Redmi Note 2 using Tapatalk

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timberwolf60 said:
Xiaomi.eu weekly rom was cooked from cn dev rom, removed Chinese apps and put in Google apps and more European languages. Those who wish to flash it must officially unlocked bootloader.
Sent from my Redmi Note 2 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
and What's the difference between officially and unofficially unlocked bootloader ? i have unofficially now , should i officially unlock it ? if it makes flashing procedure easy ?

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akhil17kr said:
Yes right , but i think Xiaomi is the culprit here for every complicated procedure here.
What's the difference between officially and unofficially unlocked bootloader ? and how's Xiamio.eu ROM is different from global stable ROM ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Couple of examples: Xiaomi.eu gives me different locales and languages. It also sets default GPS location to Europe instead of Asia which provides a faster GPS fix. It is however behind in development so it doesn't have MIUI 8 yet.
As for the bootloader unlock: I have not looked into that since there is no need. If you follow all the steps in correct order and with correct ROM's official unlocking cannot go wrong. The culprit however is the complete chaos (now I said it) in instructions and tutorials. So I have not looked into the unofficial bootloader unlocking.

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Dust2Dust said:
Couple of examples: Xiaomi.eu gives me different locales and languages. It also sets default GPS location to Europe instead of Asia which provides a faster GPS fix. It is however behind in development so it doesn't have MIUI 8 yet.
As for the bootloader unlock: I have not looked into that since there is no need. If you follow all the steps in correct order and with correct ROM's official unlocking cannot go wrong. The culprit however is the complete chaos (now I said it) in instructions and tutorials. So I have not looked into the unofficial bootloader unlocking.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
do you mind reading this question and clarify the steps , asked in Official CM13 thread. Nobody answered there:-
"Hey , I've unlocked RN3 bootloader unofficialy and currently on MIUI stable version with root and TWRP recovery.
I want to taste official CM13 but no plans to use it , just test it. After using it for day or 2 , i want to switch back to my MIUI ROM.
What should be the ideal steps through which i can avoid all these hassles of Bootloader relock stuff.
Can't we just normally go back to MIUI ROM by restroing using TWRP backup ?
Here's what i'll do , please correct the steps:-
1) Flash TWRP alka version and make complete backup of current MIUI ROM.
2) Wipe system ,data, cache,dalvik cache.
3 First flash CM-fIrmware file,then CM13 ROM , then gapps.
4) Reboot and use CM for 2-3 days.
Now to go back to the MIUI ROM backup:-
1) Reboot to alka recovery.
2) Wipe system ,data, cache,dalvik cache.
3) restore the MIUI Nandroid backup (Deselect firmware file.)
4) Reboot
DONE ! Back to MIUI.
If my steps are right ?
Please guide on the same. "

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akhil17kr said:
do you mind reading this question and clarify the steps , asked in Official CM13 thread. Nobody answered there:-
"Hey , I've unlocked RN3 bootloader unofficialy and currently on MIUI stable version with root and TWRP recovery.
I want to taste official CM13 but no plans to use it , just test it. After using it for day or 2 , i want to switch back to my MIUI ROM.
What should be the ideal steps through which i can avoid all these hassles of Bootloader relock stuff.
Can't we just normally go back to MIUI ROM by restroing using TWRP backup ?
Here's what i'll do , please correct the steps:-
1) Flash TWRP alka version and make complete backup of current MIUI ROM.
2) Wipe system ,data, cache,dalvik cache.
3 First flash CM-fIrmware file,then CM13 ROM , then gapps.
4) Reboot and use CM for 2-3 days.
Now to go back to the MIUI ROM backup:-
1) Reboot to alka recovery.
2) Wipe system ,data, cache,dalvik cache.
3) restore the MIUI Nandroid backup (Deselect firmware file.)
4) Reboot
DONE ! Back to MIUI.
If my steps are right ?
Please guide on the same. "
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did the same steps above after flashing resurrection remix with cm13 radio,after restoration of miui from twrp Alka backup my fingerprint sensor stopped working bcos the firmware didn't restore and I unchecked that partition so what i did was again.
1) go back to twrp Alka
2) flash the full MIUI 8 rom .zip and rebooted
3) then the fingerprint started working .
So Alka twrp has a bug in Restoration of firmware partition .so be careful and have a full twrp Alka backup and then flash cm13 and firmware

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akhil17kr said:
do you mind reading this question and clarify the steps , asked in Official CM13 thread. Nobody answered there:-
"Hey , I've unlocked RN3 bootloader unofficialy and currently on MIUI stable version with root and TWRP recovery.
I want to taste official CM13 but no plans to use it , just test it. After using it for day or 2 , i want to switch back to my MIUI ROM.
What should be the ideal steps through which i can avoid all these hassles of Bootloader relock stuff.
Can't we just normally go back to MIUI ROM by restroing using TWRP backup ?
Here's what i'll do , please correct the steps:-
1) Flash TWRP alka version and make complete backup of current MIUI ROM.
2) Wipe system ,data, cache,dalvik cache.
3 First flash CM-fIrmware file,then CM13 ROM , then gapps.
4) Reboot and use CM for 2-3 days.
Now to go back to the MIUI ROM backup:-
1) Reboot to alka recovery.
2) Wipe system ,data, cache,dalvik cache.
3) restore the MIUI Nandroid backup (Deselect firmware file.)
4) Reboot
DONE ! Back to MIUI.
If my steps are right ?
Please guide on the same. "
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They look more or less correct, I choose not to go the CM way (yet) since there are still some flaws that I can't live with.
I would try to go to official unlock, whatever it takes. It just looks more solid & safe from what I have been reading so far.
Also I would choose to use an other Recovery:
Official TWRP with F2FS Support
• Based on official TWRP 3.0.2-2 & updated CyanogenMod source
• Adds Support For F2FS based file systems.
• Used for flashing official CyanogenMod 13 based ROMs.
• Users with official unlocked bootloader will have to flash Universal Boot Img Patcher (UBP) after flashing MIUI Recovery ROM Zip.
• Users with unofficial unlocked bootloader should strictly not use this TWRP for flashing MIUI Recovery ROM Zip.
That seems optimized for CM the most.
II should tell you that I received the phone two days ago and I am also still catching up on reading.
Add on, taken from the above link:
In case of unofficial unlock:
4. Flashing Official CM13 ROM
• Flash F2FS TWRP & Backup Current ROM.
• Select /data & /cache Partitions & Select Change File System
• Select F2FS & Swipe To Change
• Reboot to Recovery & Factory Reset
• Reboot to Recovery & Flash CM13 Firmware
• Reboot to Recovery & Flash CM13 Zip
• Flash Appropriate GApps Version Zip & Reboot to System
• To Return Back To Any ROM After Flashing CM13, Flash Safe TWRP v2 & Proceed.