In this guide, we will show you the steps to flash the firmware on your device via the SP Flash Tool. The devices housing the Qualcomm chipset have always been among the most active players in custom development. If we talk about MediaTek, then it used to be an average player in this domain, but in recent years, it has seen some massive improvements, especially if we talk about the support from the development community.
And in this technical journey, the SP Flash Tool is undoubtedly one of the most useful tools that any tech enthusiast could have in their arsenal. But what exactly is this tool, what are its benefits, and how could you use it? In this guide, we will be addressing all these questions. Follow along.
What is SP Flash Tool?
Smart Phone Flashing Tool is a firmware flashing tool that can be used to flash the firmware on any device that has a MediaTek chipset. Apart from that, it also gives you to the option to flash individual partition files, which might come in handy when you are planning to root, disable verity, flash TWRP, and fix network issues, among others.
Benefits/Functionalities of SP Flash Tool
The tool beholds a slew of useful features up its sleeves. Some of its noteworthy ones include the likes of:
- Unbrick Device: If your device is currently in a soft brick or bootloop state, then you could flash the firmware via SP Flash Tool and unbrick it.
- Manually Update: If you have got hold of the update ZIP file, then you may manually flash the update via this tool instead of being reliant on the OEM to roll out the update in a slow-phased manner.
- Downgrade: You may also downgrade the OS on your device by flashing an older version of the firmware [However, do note that certain OEMs like Xiaomi have placed an Anti Rollback Check in place, so this tweak will not work with those devices. Therefore, please verify beforehand if your device supports a downgrade or not.
- Install TWRP Recovery: If your device has a recovery partition, then you can upload the custom recovery in the Flash Tool’s recovery partition and flash it in just a few clicks.
- Root via Magisk: You could also root your device by uploading the patched boot.img/init_boot.img to the boot/init_boot partition of the tool and subsequently flashing it.
- Readback Mode: you could also enable and use the Readback Mode to extract the currently installed partition file from your device.
These are just some of the useful features of the tool, there exists a plethora of other smaller ones that you would come across the daily usage of this tool. With that said, let’s now make you aware of the steps to flash the firmware on your device via the SP Flash Tool. Follow along.
How to Flash Firmware via SP Flash Tool
The below process will wipe off all the data from your device, so take a complete device backup beforehand. Thedroidwin will not be held responsible if something happens to your device or data after carrying out the below steps:
- To begin with, download and extract the SP Flash Tool on your PC.
SP_Flash_Tool_v5.2052_Windows.zip
- Then download the stock firmware for your device and extract it.
- It should be either the same firmware version or the latest one, if available.
- Now download the MediaTek Drivers from below. This is needed so that your PC can identify the connected device.
MediaTek USB VCOM Drivers: MTK_Driver_Auto_Installer_EXE_v5.1632.00
- Then extract the driver file on your PC, go to the extracted folder, and open the DriverInstall file to launch the setup.
- Now proceed with the on-screen instructions to complete the setup.
- Once installed, right-click on the Windows icon and select Device Manager. Your device should be listed there.
- If that is not the case, then you’ll have to manually install the drivers, as explained in the FAQ section.
- Now power off your device. Then press and hold the Volume Down key (or Volume Up on some devices) and connect your device to the PC via a USB cable.
- Head over to the folder you have extracted the SP Flash Tool and open the flash_tool.exe file to launch the tool.
- Now click on ‘Choose’ next to the Scatter-loading File, navigate to the extracted firmware, and select the Android Scatter Text file.
- The file will now be loaded to the tool and all the partition details will be filled in with regards to the Scatter Text file.
- Make sure it’s set to Download Only, then uncheck the Preloader partition, and finally hit the Download button to start the flashing.
- Once done, you’ll get the Download OK message. You may now unplug your device from the PC and it should then boot to the OS.
That’s it. These were the steps to flash the firmware via the SP Flash Tool. All your queries regarding this topic are welcome in the comments section. And don’t forget to check the FAQ section below, it will answer some of the most common issues and queries.
FAQ 1: Device Not Detected by SP Flash Tool
If your device is not detected by the SP Flash Tool, then there are some issues with the drivers. In that case, you’ll have to manually install these drivers, as explained below:
- First off, download the MTK Drivers from below and extract them onto your PC:
MediaTek USB VCOM Drivers: MTK_ALL_USB_VCOM_DRIVERS
- Now right-click on the Windows icon and select Device Manager from the menu.
- Then click on the Action button at the top and select Add Legacy Drivers.
- Select “Install the hardware that I manually select from a list (Advanced)” and hit Next.
- Then select Show All Devices and hit Next. Now click on Have Disk and click on Browse.
- Navigate to the driver folder > select the OS version > select the required INF file > Open.
- Now select Mediatek Preloader USB VCOM Port from the list of drivers and click Next.
- Finally, hit Next and wait for the driver installation to complete. Once done, hit Finish.
- Again, open the SP Flash Tool and your device should now be recognized by the tool.
FAQ 2: This Device cannot start (Code 10)
You might get the “This Device cannot start (Code 10)” error message while manually installing the MTK Drivers. To rectify it, you’ll have to first disable the Driver Signature Enforcement. Here’s how it could be done:
- First off, launch Command Prompt as an admin from the Start Menu.
- Then type in the below command in the CMD window and hit Enter:
bcdedit /set testsigning on
- Now restart your PC and the Driver Signature Enforcement is now enabled.
- Proceed with the driver installation and you should no longer get any errors.
- Once installed, type in the below command to re-enable driver enforcement:
bcdedit /set testsigning off
- Finally, restart the PC for the changes to take place and your task stands done.
