How to Rebrand Huawei P10 to Get Official Updates

Huawei launched the Huawei P10 and its sibling devices in the earlier part of 2017. The device was a minor improvement over the P9 and cost more than the P9 did at launch. Luckily, many retailers and carriers in some countries were offering great deals on the device only a few months later. But if you bought it from a carrier you know how they delay updates. Huawei is not known for quick updates in the first place and then careers slowing them down further doesn’t sound exciting. If you’re willing to take risks though you can rebrand Huawei P10 and speed up the update process for your device.

Rebranding is actually quite popular among the developer community especially those with Huawei devices. These devices, branded into different variants and model numbers are pretty much the same but for a few software tweaks. These software tweaks aren’t necessarily important either, not for the user anyway. For instance, your carrier locked Huawei P10 is not very different from an unlocked P10. Yours is simply locked which is a disadvantage from the user’s perspective. The companies need to do it because of the way they sell these devices.

Note

At the start I said you can rebrand if you’re willing to take risks. And that’s true because rebranding, like flashing custom software or rooting is risky. Not only does it void your warranty but unlike bootloader unlocking, this isn’t something that the manufacturer supports. You’re relying on third-party developers and their tools and methods to modify your device in a way not intended by the manufacturer. Keep this in mind if you do decide to proceed further and be ready to own up to the responsibility in case things go south. DroidViews cannot be held responsible for anything that happens to your phone while following this guide.

This guide was originally put together by XDA Senior member LwannaCM who also says that you can turn your single SIM Huawei P10 into a dual SIM Huawei P10 using this rebranding guide. We haven’t tested that claim but if you have a single SIM Huawei P10 you can try and let us know. At your own responsibility of course. LwannaCM’s guide focuses on rebranding your Huawei P10 to the unlocked dual SIM version of European Huawei P10 i.e. VTR-L29C432 which is the fastest at receiving updates among the five P10 variants.

Requirements

• Rebranding requires that you unlock the bootloader on your Huawei P10 first. Here’s how to unlock the bootloader on Huawei devices.
• TWRP recovery must be installed.
• Enable USB Debugging on your phone.
• Install ADB and Fastboot on your PC.
• Windows users will also need the Huawei USB Drivers. It is recommended that you install Huawei’s HiSuite which installs and maintains the latest USB drivers on your PC.
• Boot into TWRP and make a Backup of the “OEMinfo” and/or the system.
• External SD Card

Downloads

• HWOTA_P10_B164
• HWOTA_P10_B179
• HWOTA_P10_B180

How to rebrand Huawei P10

1. Download one of the HWOTA files depending on your variant of the device and extract it. Transfer the update files to an external SD card. Make sure the files are inside a folder named HWOTA in the root of the external SD card. Insert this card into your device.
2. Power off your Huawei P10 and connect it to your PC with a USB cable while pressing the Volume down button. This boots the phone into fastboot mode
3. Right-click on the update.bat file and select Run as administrator. Press any key on your keyboard.
4. Disconnect your phone and then boot it into TWRP mode. To do this, power it off and then press and hold the Power button and the Volume Up button together. Let go of the Power once the device vibrates.
5. Connect your device to the PC again and hit Enter on the keyboard.
6. Now press 1 on your keyboard and hit Enter again.
7. You’ll be asked about the update type, once again press 1 followed by Enter.
8. Wait for the process to finish and then disconnect and reboot your device.
9. Try a factory reset via TWRP by selecting Wipe > Format data. if you have trouble rebooting.

Source: xda