Root [Guide] How To Root Your ZMAX & List of ROMs

[bcrichster]

I'm very relieved I didn't upset you, @bcrichster. I have no doubt you could make a mess of me any day if you wanted.

It's cool, bro. We all need to get set Str8 once in a while, thanks for being there! You probably just helped 2 ppl with that one post. Props. [emoji41]

 

[bcrichster]

Plus, I've been respecting your words and opinions since before I ever flashed my first ROM on the Awe or even posted a post in the forums.

I honor and appreciate your respect & will always do my best to reciprocate. I overstepped myself and you were right to bring it to my attention, @arkansawdave74. Further more, you did so with greater patience than I had last night and have now decided that answering a post @ 3am isn't the best idea for me anymore. [emoji41]

 

[thatyoshi]

Actually @arkansawdave74 .. You may be correct about my mixing up GB with Xposed.. [emoji33] So then I apologize to @thatyoshi for jumping so hard. My bad, I've just had many ppl lately have me try to troubleshoot their custom ROMs vs Xposed and I vented wrongly. I retract what I said to thatyoshi. Ty- for calling me out & redirecting me.. [emoji28]

It's all good no worries. I've made mistakes like that before so I can understand. As for @arkansawdave74 thanks! I'll be sure to flash it soon! I really can't live without adaway or xposed modules tbh. Don't get me wrong I mean being on total stock can be nice but eventually you'll wanna start doing more on your phone.

Edit: Well I seem to have reached another obstacle. Xposed is giving me that "not compatible with sdk 22" error which is preventing me from installation and Adaway successfully applies hosts files and finishes but after reboot shows up as Disabled. Am I missing anything? Please excuse my lack of knowledge which is probably extremely tedious for most of you to help with when it comes to users like me.

 

[arkansawdave74]

Xposed for SDK22 installs differently... Check out this thread... There are links included, @thatyoshi.
http://androidforums.com/threads/moving-apps-to-sd.935986/
Guess that's why it wasn't working on CM too.

 

[traajik]

just wanted to say thanks to all the contributors, the zmax has been my phone since last june. when the previous versions of KR didnt work on b13 that was the end of the line, but no mooore.

thank you all, and thank you godddd

 

[carib909]

Thanks for the details. Root worked, but the instructions in #9 don't work. The backup button does nothing. The phone boots up to the Android System Recovery screen to select
1. reboot system now 2. apply update from adb,3. Wipe data/factory reset 4. wipe cache partition 5. apply update from SD card 6. Apply update from cache. The vol. keys move the cursor up or down. What should I do?

 

[carib909]

Where is the INSTALL button on the TWRP Main Screen? Nothing close to install shows up when I boot into TWRP?????

 

[The-Truth]

Xposed for SDK22 installs differently... Check out this thread... There are links included, @thatyoshi.
http://androidforums.com/threads/moving-apps-to-sd.935986/
Guess that's why it wasn't working on CM too.

Yeah arm zip 23 instead of 22 for M

 

[The-Truth]

It's all good no worries. I've made mistakes like that before so I can understand. As for @arkansawdave74 thanks! I'll be sure to flash it soon! I really can't live without adaway or xposed modules tbh. Don't get me wrong I mean being on total stock can be nice but eventually you'll wanna start doing more on your phone.

Edit: Well I seem to have reached another obstacle. Xposed is giving me that "not compatible with sdk 22" error which is preventing me from installation and Adaway successfully applies hosts files and finishes but after reboot shows up as Disabled. Am I missing anything? Please excuse my lack of knowledge which is probably extremely tedious for most of you to help with when it comes to users like me.

Lil late on reading and responding to you're convo/posts. But I like what I'm reading fellas. Respect..... I like it!

 

[The-Truth]

Lil late on reading and responding to you're convo/posts. But I like what I'm reading fellas. Respect..... I like it!

Big Adaway fan myself

 

[hroark13]

I was looking for a full install of the 4.4.4 B14 zip file and could not find one, so I made one

it will not format data or cache (if you are coming from a different rom than 4.4.4 stock, you should factory reset before flashing)
I actually updated from an older 4.4.4 and I was having WiFi issues, so if you install this and have WiFi or any other issues, I recommend you back up your app data with a program like Titanium Backup, then do a factory reset in TWRP, then restore you app data




it is not rooted, so you will need to install a root zip in twrp
https://download.chainfire.eu/921/SuperSU/UPDATE-SuperSU-v2.65-20151226141550.zip

it does not install a recovery

it installs kernel, boot-loaders, modem, and system

https://www.mediafire.com/?c7l6pjh68ahyohe
md5 sum - fcdd01fea7618568394529d63423b481

everyone has my permission to use this as a base ROM for their own custom rom, just be sure to credit me in you OP

 

[WaxysDargle]

I was looking for a full install of the 4.4.4 B14 zip file and could not find one, so I made one

it will not format data or cache (if you are coming from a different rom than 4.4.4 stock, you should factory reset before flashing)
I actually updated from an older 4.4.4 and I was having WiFi issues, so if you install this and have WiFi or any other issues, I recommend you back up your app data with a program like Titanium Backup, then do a factory reset in TWRP, then restore you app data




it is not rooted, so you will need to install a root zip in twrp
https://download.chainfire.eu/921/SuperSU/UPDATE-SuperSU-v2.65-20151226141550.zip

it does not install a recovery

it installs kernel, boot-loaders, modem, and system

https://www.mediafire.com/?c7l6pjh68ahyohe
md5 sum - fcdd01fea7618568394529d63423b481

everyone has my permission to use this as a base ROM for their own custom rom, just be sure to credit me in you OP

are there enough differences between the Tmo and Metro variants that I should not try this on my Tmo Zmax?

 

[Masterchief87]

are there enough differences between the Tmo and Metro variants that I should not try this on my Tmo Zmax?

When the b13, and b33 firmwares first became rootable, I actually flashed the stock T-Mobile ROM on my zmax along with the modems and bootloaders and stock recovery(the system, boot, recovery, modem, aboot, rpm, sbl1, sdi, & tz partitions from the b22 firmware) and then installed the b33 ota update and never had a problem.
(FOR THE RECORD, I STRONGLY ADVISE AGAINST ANYONE TRYING TO DO WHAT I JUST DESCRIBED BECAUSE IF YOU DONT KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU ARE DOING IT CAN AND WILL BRICK YOUR PHONE.)
I AM NOT SAYING YOU SHOULD TRY TO DO WHAT I DID.

What I am saying is that the stock ROM @hroark13 posted above can be safely flashed on any zmax as long as you aren't using a switcher, which are not needed anymore thanks to hroark13(probably the single biggest contributor to the zmax community).

If you are using a switcher you need to put twrp back on your recovery partition before you try to flash a ROM, and use hroark13's method for disabling the system write protection so that you don't have to use switchers anymore.

 

[systemg33k]

Sorry had to reread and flash correct modem.

 

[Tichi]

I was looking for a full install of the 4.4.4 B14 zip file and could not find one, so I made one

What I am saying is that the stock ROM @hroark13 posted above can be safely flashed on any zmax as long as you aren't using a switcher, which are not needed anymore thanks to hroark13(probably the single biggest contributor to the zmax community).

Thank you very much,Folks, for keeping ZMAX alive! It is so good a phone.. Indestructible and fast enough, hope to have mine for another year at least, but want to give it an update.

I have a Question. Is MetroPCS b14 quoted above the latest of the stock ROMs?

I see that there is now a t-mobile 4.4.4. b34 update on t-mo web site (citing "messaging improvements", probably "stagefright fix"? ).

I'm still on t-mobile rooted stock 4.4.2 b22, was wondering if flashing MetroPCS b14 would offer me any advantages, or I should attempt to update to t-mobile b34? BTW is t-mobile b34 still rootable by latest kingroot? I presume MetroPCS b14 is?

In particular, is wi-fi and modem (reception) particularly better in either of b14 or b34? 'csuse the only thing i wish to improve about my zmax is reception...

TIA!

 

[systemg33k]

Thank you very much,Folks, for keeping ZMAX alive! It is so good a phone.. Indestructible and fast enough, hope to have mine for another year at least, but want to give it an update.

I have a Question. Is MetroPCS b14 quoted above the latest of the stock ROMs?

I see that there is now a t-mobile 4.4.4. b34 update on t-mo web site (citing "messaging improvements", probably "stagefright fix"? ).

I'm still on t-mobile rooted stock 4.4.2 b22, was wondering if flashing MetroPCS b14 would offer me any advantages, or I should attempt to update to t-mobile b34? BTW is t-mobile b34 still rootable by latest kingroot? I presume MetroPCS b14 is?

In particular, is wi-fi and modem (reception) particularly better in either of b14 or b34? 'csuse the only thing i wish to improve about my zmax is reception...

TIA!

I rooted B14 with Kingroot with several tries, some including desktop version of Kingroot.

 

[Masterchief87]

I rooted B14 with Kingroot with several tries, some including desktop version of Kingroot.

Which version were you using when it finally worked? (Desktop or mobile )

 

[Tichi]

I rooted B14 with Kingroot with several tries, some including desktop version of Kingroot.

Sorry do you mean MetroPCS b14 ?

What about t-mobile b34? Anyone knows?

 

[systemg33k]

Which version were you using when it finally worked? (Desktop or mobile )

I was using Mobile.

Sorry do you mean MetroPCS b14 ?

What about t-mobile b34? Anyone knows?

Yes MetroPCS B14.

 

[Relyt2012]

so is there a fix for the random soft reboot of stock roms, It hasnt happened to me with bo6, and butternoob.
But b13 does it not sure about b14 yet, im using that currently hopefully itll work!

 

[The-Truth]

Had to comment to day LOL that's the best analogy I've heard in a long time...

Lmao

 

[The-Truth]

PLEASE DONT QUOTE THIS POST! ITS BAD MANNERS TO QUOTE THE OP OF A THREAD.

Root Guide
(ALL FIRMWARE VERSIONS)

Spoiler

Because the ZMAX has a write protected system partition, Kingroot can only get you Temporary Root. Temporary Root is root that only lasts until you reboot the phone and is then lost. In order to get permanent root that isn't lost when you reboot or reset the phone, we need to install TWRP and use it to flash SuperSU.

[1] Download and install the newest version of Kingroot
from: http://goo.gl/uaUIs2

[2] Download and install ZTE ZMAX TWRP Recovery 2.8.6.0
from: http://goo.gl/0FsViN

[3] Download UPDATE-SuperSU-v2.46.zip
from: http://goo.gl/vcjCwb

[4] Open and run Kingroot (might not work the first time)
If Kingroot succeeds then skip to step 6

[5] If Kingroot fails, go to app drawer, long press on Kingroot icon and drag it to the top of your screen where it says "app info." Then clear cache and data for Kingroot, turn the phone off, wait a few seconds, and turn it back on. Repeat steps 4 & 5 as many times as necessary.

[6] Open ZTE ZMAX TWRP Recovery 2.8.6.0 and click "Install Recovery" and grant root access. You should then see a popup that says "success." Once you have TWRP installed you never will need Kingroot again.

[7] Go back to app drawer and uninstall Kingroot and Purify.

[8] To reboot into TWRP, power off the phone, then press and hold the power and volume up buttons until you feel the phone vibrate, then let go of the power button while continuing to hold the volume up button for approximately ten more seconds.

[9] Once you are in TWRP recovery, tap the "Backup" button and select System, Data, and Boot (select SD card as backup location if you have one) and swipe to make the backup.

[10] Go back to the main screen in TWRP, press the "Install" button, navigate to the Download folder on your internal storage, tap on "UPDATE-SuperSU-v2.46.zip", and then swipe to install.

[11] Reboot System and enjoy.

MAKE NEW BACKUPS REGULARLY

ROMS (Stock & Custom)

Spoiler

KitKat ROMs:
Butternoob(Based on Stock ROM): http://goo.gl/cbqCrP
PAC-ROM(4.4.4): goo.gl/NCYTAs

Lollipop ROMs:
AICP(5.1.1): goo.gl/2APSAK
Blisspoop(5.1.1): goo.gl/16qFRb
Candy5(5.1.1): goo.gl/mi7lZm
Cyanogenmod12.1 RC5(5.1.1): goo.gl/AouWRf
Cyanogenmod12.1 RC6(5.1.1): goo.gl/ycQ5Fa
Carbon ROM(5.1.1): http://goo.gl/a6PSAK
PAC-ROM(5.1.1): goo.gl/6eUGqw
Resurrection Remix(5.1.1): goo.gl/kzmN5a
SlimROM(5.0.2): goo.gl/VeO4O7
Synthetic-OS(5.1.1)(Based on AICP): goo.gl/GpT4H9

ROMs With Stagefright Fixes:
Candy5
Cyanogenmod12.1 RC6
Resurrection Remix
Synthetic-OS

Stock ROMs:
MetroPCS Stock(4.4.4)(pre-rooted): goo.gl/C9kRZa
MetroPCS &T-Mobile Factory Stock(unrooted): goo.gl/hautSt

How To Flash A ROM

Spoiler

NOTE: If you have been using switchers to get system r/w you need to either flash the appropriate restore zip or reinstall twrp to your recovery partition with the installer app before you proceed.

Download ROM and GApps(Google apps package)
Reboot to recovery
Make a backup of your current system configuration
Wipe System, Data, Cache, and Dalvik-Cache
Flash ROM first then flash GApps
Reboot System and wait for ROM to boot up completely
(optional)Flash the switcher for your ROM and reboot recovery

PLEASE DONT QUOTE THIS POST! ITS BAD MANNERS TO QUOTE THE OP OF A THREAD.

Blisspoop lol WTF!

 

[The-Truth]

Blisspoop lol WTF!

Gotcha My Bad

 

[The-Truth]

Is Butternoob odexed?

 

[Masterchief87]

Is Butternoob odexed?

I don't know flash it and find out