Install Sony Xperia Sola Android 4.0.4 CyanogenMod 9.1 ICS ROM

How to install Sony Xperia Sola MT MT27 Android 4.0.4 CyanogenMod 9.1 ROM? Now you have come to the right place. Using this tutorial you can install this ICS CM9.1 custom ROM. You have to follow all the steps in this post.

This is an after market firmware, it’s based on the AOSP. CM9.1 for Xperia Sola comes without the Google and Sony’s applications. You can install Google apps by installing Gapps zip file and some of the Sony’s apps can find on the Google play store.

In order to install CyanogenMod 9.1 you have to unlock the Sony Xperia Sola bootloader. If you have a locked bootloader, no worry. This post has all the necessary steps. Before start the installation, it’s better to make a backup, this method wipe all the user data.

Warning!

Installing custom firmware voids the warranty. If your Sony Xperia Sola bricked, I can’t responsible it. But this is not a highly risky method. If anything goes wrong, you can fix it by installing the stock firmware.

Requirements.

Unlock bootloader (Guide in here)
Root the Xperia Sola. (Guide in here).
Install CWM recovery (Touch version guide here | Non touch version guide in here). If you have any other recovery, it’s not an issue.
Charge the battery minimum 50%.
Backup internal memory (Guide in here).

Download.

CyanogenMod 9.1 ICS ROM for Xperia Sola in here. (Download page contains other devices ROM zip file, all the files are named its Codename. Sony Xperia Sola MT27 Codename is pepper). (Any trouble, you can use jDownloader).
Google apps in here.

How to Install Sony Xperia Sola MT27 Android 4.0.4 ICS CyanogenMod 9.1 ROM.

This installation can apply without installing a custom recovery. Because, this ROM has its own kernel, it includes CWM based recovery. If you haven’t a recovery, then you can use the fastboot method to install kernel (boot.img). You can use this tutorial for installing the kernel.

Copy the downloaded ROM and Gapps zip files into the Xperia Sola internal memory.
Power off the phone and boot into the recovery.
Go to the “backup and restore>backup”. Now your existing ROM and its data will be saved on the SD card.
Next navigate to “wipe cache partition>Yes – Wipe cache”.
Then go to “wipe user data/factory reset>Yes -Wipe data”. This method deletes all the user data.
After that go to “Advanced>Wipe dalvik-cache>Yes – Wipe cache”.
Now we are going to install ROM and Gapps zip files.
Go to “install zip from sdcard>Choose zip from sdcard” and browse the downloaded ROM zip file.
To begin the installation, select “Yes – Install”. It will take several minutes.
Next again select “Choose zip from sdcard” and browse the copied Gapps zip file and install it.
After you installed all the files, go back to the main menu.
Select “Reboot system now”. First boot takes several minutes. It’s a normal. Once the phone booted up, log-in to the Google account.
Every week developer of this ROM releases new bug fixed version. When you’re updating, you don’t need to wipe user data, but you have to install the Google apps.