Basics You Need to know before Installing a Custom Rom
Android might look very simple and easy-to-use operating system, and it is very straightforward to use in standard cases but for Android Enthusiasts like you and me, who like to mess around with their Android phones in the quest of getting a better overall experience out of their devices it might be a bit confusing. And sometimes while trying to make our phones perform better, we end up getting them completely unusable. (yes I'm talking about bricking our phones while trying to install Custom ROM). So today in this article we will give you a detailed, yet noob-friendly guide about everything you need to know before you flash your first Custom rom.
Fastboot Mode.
Androids usually ship with many different modes like Recovery mode, Safe mode, EDL mode, and Fastboot mode. The Fastboot mode is one of the most important out of all these as it could work as a savior for your Android. In case you messed up your Operating system, you can pass some commands to the Fastboot mode and it will recover the system for you in most cases. The Fastboot mode is independent of your operating system. so it can load even if your phone does not have an Operating system Installed. Though Fastboot mode is more of a replacement for the recovery mode (in the case of Custom recovery) still there are a few things that fastboot mode is the only way out.
Recovery Mode.
Android Recovery mode is yet another mode that Android ships with and is independent of the Operating system. The Recovery mode usually does the tasks that the fastboot mode does but with more ease. For example, flashing a particular file or image in a particular partition could be confusing in fastboot mode as there are commands for everything and one wrong command can mess up everything. But on the other hand Recovery mode can be used to perform the same task but with more ease, all you need to do is select the file and tap on the partition that you want to flash it to, and it will all be taken care of by the recovery. But for all these to happen, you need to have a Custom recovery installed in your device, because the normal recovery that manufacturers ship your phone with has very less features and no customizability.
ADB (Android Debug Bridge)
The ADB (Android Debug Bridge) is a command-line utility added by Google to provide users with a troubleshooting interface to access and control the android device through a PC. The ADB interface allows users to run some internal commands like uninstalling, reinstalling, debugging, copying files back and forth, etc.
The Bootloader
A bootloader is a piece of software or code that runs every time your phone boots to tell your device what modules and software to load to run the operating system properly.
You might have heard that you need to unlock the Bootloader in order to install a Custom Rom.
What exactly does it mean? Manufacturers usually lock their bootloader in order to keep the device safe. With a locked Bootloader one can never Modify or change the Operating system. And in order to unlock it, you need to follow a procedure that the manufacturer has decided in order to get permission to unlock the bootloader. Once you are done with the process, you are free to change or modify the current OS on which the phone runs.
EDL Mode.
EDL or Emergency Download Mode is one of the most important modes in Android phones as this is the ultimate weapon to recover your phone if every other option fails. Now how does that work? well, you see, Androids have two bootloaders to start with. A primary Bootloader and a secondary one.
In the secondary bootloader, there's this thing called 'TrustZone' which is responsible for the authenticity check of the Operating system that is going to boot on our device. And when we unlock our Bootloaders we are disabling this authenticity check in order to boot a third-party 'system.img' which in our case is the Custom Rom's System image. Sometimes due to wrong files or corrupt modules getting flashed on our system, it destroys our secondary bootloader and locks us out of our device, Which means we can neither boot into Recovery mode nor in Fastboot mode. This is exactly where the EDL comes in, This mode forces the device to boot with the compatible software/Operating system. In order to boot into the EDL mode, you need to find out the test points on your device's circuit board and cause a forced short circuit between them in order to get the device into EDL. Once in EDL you can flash the desired Operating system and recover your device.
But this is a very complicated process. so we recommend you not to do this on your own if you don't have any experience with it. Plus this EDL mode is exclusive to Qualcomm-powered devices, if you have a device running on a MediaTek processor, Better Luck Next Time.
Stock Recovery & Custom Recovery.
You might have heard the word 'Stock' so many times if you are even a bit familiar with the Custom ROM verse. Now, what exactly does that mean?
The word 'Stock' is used to refer to the software or components provided by the manufacturer. So, stock recovery basically means the Recovery images that come pre-flashed by the manufacturer. Usually, the stock recoveries are very limited in terms of features like you can't flash custom zip files like ROMs or mods via the stock recovery nor can you wipe or format a particular partition using the recovery given by the manufacturer? Then how are we supposed to install the zip files after unlocking our bootloader? Well, that's exactly where Custom recoveries like TWRP or OrangeFox come in. What are these Custom recoveries? Let's find out.
Now that we know that Stock recoveries are as useless as anything, the only option remaining is using a Custom recovery. Custom recoveries are open-source third-party recovery images for androids that gives you total control over every partition of your phone and also allow you to install custom zips made by Third-party developers. Replacing your Stock recovery with a Custom one is a very easy process, all you need to do is to write a command on the command prompt after connecting your device to a PC via fastboot.
The same difference is there between Stock ROMs and Custom ROMs.
Unofficial & Official custom ROMs.
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You guys must have seen those ROM posts which have Official or Unofficial tags with them. Don't you wonder what exactly it means when the post says Official or Unofficial ROM? Some people have this misconception that Unofficial ROMs are unsafe or buggy and only Official ROMs are safe to flash, but there's nothing like that at all. Unofficial ROMs can be as safe as the Official ROMs. The only difference between them is that Official ROMs are compiled and published by one of the members of the developer team of the ROM and Unofficial ROMs are built and published by some individual developer who's not the part of the ROMs core team or is approved by the core team of ROM.
These are the most important factors that you need to know about before getting started with the Custom ROMs. Now that you know the basics, check out our articles about Custom Roms and Magisk modules to explore more about Android customization here:
Install a Custom Rom on any Android Phone to give it a new life
5 Best Custom Roms to install on your Android
3 Best Magisk Modules you should try in 2022