[Reference] Key to the Root and Upgrade Guides

I'll try to keep this updated, but please check post date of root/upgrade guides in the forum to make sure nothing later has come out.
If this list helps you, please post a "bump" (or thanks :) ) to keep it near the top of the forum for other people to see. Thanks!

• This applies to 2014 Fire HD 6 and 7 (4th gen HD)


• All guides include instructions for installing Gapps


• Credit: Guides for rooting any OS above 4.5.3 rely on Powerpoint45's instructions for downgrading to 4.5.3 to obtain root. Thanks @powerpoint45!

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Basic Root and Upgrade (for any Fire OS)

UPGRADE

Upgrade guides link back to root instructions, so you can just begin here.

• Upgrade to OS 4.5.4 or 4.5.5 (4.5.4 is minimal OS required for fully working Gapps)
  You can upgrade to 4.5.5 with either of these. The methods are different, so have a look at the intros.
  - [How to] Upgrade to 4.5.4 and keep TWRP and root: http://forum.xda-developers.com/fire...-root-t3141648
  - [How to] Upgrade to 4.5.5 (or other 4.5.x) with root in TWRP: http://forum.xda-developers.com/fire...-root-t3174449
  .
  


• Upgrade to OS 5.2 (Lollipop)
  - [How to] Upgrade to Lollipop and keep ROOT + GAPPS http://forum.xda-developers.com/fire...gapps-t3163950

ROOT

• Root, install TWRP, and upgrade
  - [ROOT, v2.0] + FireOS 4.5.4 + fully working latest GAPPS http://forum.xda-developers.com/fire...gapps-t3150613

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Detailed Root and Upgrade to Lollipop (only for never-rooted OS 4.5.4, 4.5.5, or 5.0.n)

• Step-by-step guide to root the listed OS's, install TWRP, and upgrade to Lollipop
  - [Root] OS 4.5.4, 4.5.5, 5.0.n and install Lollipop ("newbie friendly") http://forum.xda-developers.com/fire...1#post62188341

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Return to Stock

- [How to] Restore full stock FireOS http://forum.xda-developers.com/fire...ireos-t3164267

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Obsolete

- [ROOT] With working PlayStore Google Apps + Custom Launcher + superSU http://forum.xda-developers.com/fire...ustom-t3113311

Stock Rom -> CM12 with TA Backup.. Making sense of all the Guides :)

Greetings,

I have for the last few days been reading though a lot of posts on this forum containing guides for howto root, backup TA, unbrick and installing custom ROM etc.
I must say, I am getting a little confused, because they there seems to be a lot of different guides and methods, some seems old and (perhaps) outdated, some are very easy and other very complex in comparason.

So, please forgive me, but I would just like some advice on the current best and easiest way of performing what I plan.
I am getting both a Z3 Compact Tablet Wifi (Hence why I am posting on this forum) and a Z3 Compact Phone. So both Stock ROM and locked bootloader.

For the Tablet I would like to Backup TA, Unlock Bookloader and install CM12 w/ Google Apps Nano (Or what the smallest GA Package is)
For the Phone I would like to Backup TA, Unlock Bootloeader and Install CM12 (No Google Apps).

But First a General Question:

I get the impression that on some versions of the Tablet, the bootleader cannot be unlocked? (ref: http://forum.xda-developers.com/z3-t...ction-t3091763 -- "Please note! It will only be possible to unlock the boot loader for certain releases of this model. You can check if it is possible to unlock the boot loader of your device by checking the service menu.")

If this is true, is there any way of telling when I am buying if I am getting an "unlockable" tablet?

The posts and guides I have been looking at are:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/z3-t...ction-t3091763
http://forum.xda-developers.com/z3-t...oader-t3017314
http://forum.xda-developers.com/z3-t...orial-t2980529
http://forum.xda-developers.com/z3-t...ry-qa-t3014211
http://forum.xda-developers.com/z3-t...gp621-t3013534

From what I've gathered, the steps are roughly as follows:

1) Put device in USB debugging mode and Install USB drivers (Fastboot for instance)
2) Place SuperSU on a SD Card
3) Install Dual Receovery "TabZ3C-lockeddualrecovery[VERSION]-RELEASE.installer.zip" as pr: http://forum.xda-developers.com/z3-t...ry-qa-t3014211
4) TA Backup as pr: http://forum.xda-developers.com/z3-t...ction-t3091763
5) Unlock Bootloader, also as pr: http://forum.xda-developers.com/z3-t...ction-t3091763
6) Flash " TabZ3C-lockeddualrecovery[VERSION]-RELEASE.flashable.zip" as pr: http://forum.xda-developers.com/z3-t...ry-qa-t3014211. I am a very unsure about this step, it says "Be sure to flash TabZ3C-lockeddualrecovery[VERSION]-RELEASE.flashable.zip from http://nut.xperia-files.com after installing the ROM and before you reboot, this way you will not lose recovery!". What does this mean?
7) Boot into recovery and install CM and GA (and SuperSU again?)

I apologize for being thick, but there is a lot of cross linking in these treads and some are 100+ pages long, so if there is important details hidden, spotting this is difficult.

Thanks for any help!