Detailed installation instructions for H96 ProPlus SCV2/SCV3 custom ROM (with most steps applicable to any S912 ROM.)

The following guide is for installation of superceleron 's H96 ProPlus SCV3 firmware.

The basic steps 1 -5 should apply to any firmware, except that other firmware probably requires erase_bootloader ticked in Step 4 item 8 (where it must be unticked for SCV2.)

I am not sure exactly when erase_bootloader is or is not required, however I know it must not be ticked for SCV2 (as below), but that I always had it ticked when flashing Stock and other custom FW. So be aware of this difference, and if using these instructions for FW other than superceleron's SCV2/SCV3, be sure to also check the instructions for the FW you're applying.


Step 1 : Required hardware:

1. A Windows PC (or working Bootcamp install on a Mac)
2. A Micro-SD card of at least 4GB in size - one that you are willing to format
3. Some way to use this Micro-SD card in the Windows PC - such as a built in Micro-SD card reader, or else a Micro-SD to USB adapter (like this cheap one on Amazon.)
4. A paper clip or extremely small/thin screwdriver, suitable for pressing in the reset switch on the side of the H96 Pro+.

Step 2 : Required software:

1. Amlogic Burn CardMaker 2.0.2
2. WinRar or 7Zip or some other software that can open RAR archives
3. The SCV2 ROM from the first post of this thread
4. The SCV3 update ROM from the first post of this thread

Step 3 : SCV2 Rom Preparation:

1. Extract the SCV2 ROM zip you downloaded (currently named SCV2-BETA-A7.1-Alfawise.H96. Pro+.zip)
2. It contains a single file, currently named: SCV2-BETA-A7.1-Alfawise.H96.Pro+.img
3. Rename this file to H96SCV2.img
4. (The important thing here is that the filename contains no special characters other than dash, dot and underscore. We'll give it a simple name to be safe. This step may not be required in future, once superceleron has renamed the SCV2 ROM so it doesn't contain the + symbol.)

Step 4 : Burning the SCV2 ROM to MicroSD card with Burn Card Maker

1. Download and install WinRar or 7Zip so that you are able to open RAR files - 7Zip is free without nag screens, so this is probably the best choice
2. Open the Burn CardMaker RAR file, and extract its contents to a new folder
3. Insert your 4+ GB micro-SD card into your micro-SD card reader on the PC and confirm that it is now visible in Windows Explorer; take a note of its new drive letter (maybe D: or E: or F: etc - depends on the other drives you have.)
4. Run Burn_Card_Maker.exe from the newly extracted folder
5. You do speak Chinese, right??
6. If not, you need to:
   1. Click on the menu in the top left of the window - it's the only menu option
   2. Select the second option down
   3. Now it will be obvious: a dialog appears in which you can click "English Version" then OK
   4. Now close the program and re-open it.
7. Great, now it's in English.
8. Set up Burn Card Maker options as follows:
   1. Choose your Micro-SD card under "Choose disk:" - making sure the dropdown is set to the right drive letter for your micro-sd
   2. All boxes should be ticked except "erase_bootloader" : in terms of changes, this will mean ticking "To Partition and Format" and unticking "erase_bootloader"
   3. Choose the SCV2 ROM you downloaded, by clicking Open and then browsing to H96SCV2.img
   4. It should look like this:
9. Now click the Make button
10. Click OK on the dialog that says "Partition has been finished .. start to format the disk!"
11. You now get a "Format USB drive" dialog. Before proceeding, confirm that the "Capacity" matches your expected SD Card size - eg it's around 4GB, 8GB, 16GB, whatever size you chose. Just be sure it's not saying 1TB or something - in which case you chose the wrong drive and must cancel immediately!
    1. Assuming all is well, click Start.
    2. Then click OK on the "WARNING: Formatting will erase ALL data.." dialog.
    3. Then click OK on "Format Complete" dialog
    4. Now you're back to the "Format USB drive" window, where you can click Close.
12. Now Burn Card Maker will copy the ROM to your SD Card, and show its progress with this window:
13. Once finished, you will get a "Success" dialog, on which you click OK
14. Now you can close Burn Card Maker.
15. Finally, make sure you properly Eject your SD-Card in Windows Explorer -
    1. Browse in Explorer to This PC
    2. Find your SD card drive
    3. Right-click and choose Eject

Step 5 : Applying SCV2 ROM to your H96 Pro Plus

1. Remove the power cable from your H96 Pro Plus (but not the HDMI cable, which should be connected to a switched-on TV or monitor.)
2. Insert the Micro SD card you just burned into the H96's Micro SD card slot
3. Hold down the reset switch with your paper clip or screwdriver, and while the reset switch is held down, put the power cable back in.
4. Keep that reset switch held down until the screen comes on, and you see the word "Upgrading"
   1. You can then stop holding down the reset switch.
5. You will see a long progress bar which will slowly move up as the ROM is applied.
6. Once it is completed, the device will automatically reboot.
7. You should immediately notice a new splash screen and then a new startup animation.
8. Expect the first boot to take a while - several minutes maybe - until you eventually get to a basic setup wizard
9. Complete the setup wizard
10. You will now get to the basic LightFlow launcher that is included in the ROM.
11. You have now successfully flashed your H96 to the older version of this ROM.

Step 6 : Upgrading to the latest SCV3 ROM

1. Remove the Micro SD card from the H96 Pro Plus and put it back in your PC.
2. Format it the SD using Windows Explorer: find the drive under This PC; right click on it to get the menu; choose Format; click Start to format it with default options; then Close the Format dialog.
3. Copy the SCV3 ROM zip file (H96Pro-BETA-SCV3-Android.7.1 -20170604-OTA.zip) to the newly formatted SD card - literally copy the ZIP, do not extract it.
4. Eject the SD card from the Windows PC in the same way we did in Step 4, and put it back into the H96 Pro Plus.
5. On the H96, go to Apps and find and open UPDATE
6. Tick the box that says "Wipe Data"
7. Then click Local Update
8. It should automatically find the H96Pro-BETA...OTA.zip file on your SD Card, and will show its name at the top of the next screen; click/select this name with your remote/keyboard/mouse (you can just hit OK on a remote or Enter on a keyboard, or left click with a mouse.)
9. It should now reboot into TWRP Recovery and automatically apply the update file.
10. It's possible there might be a further confirmation/OK screen after this point - I can't remember and can't test without wiping my H96 again, which I don't want to do. But it should be obvious how to proceed.
11. After reboot you will need to complete the basic setup wizard again
12. Finally you will see LightFlow, and are now on the latest SCV3.

A YouTube video that shows burning a stock ROM, covering many (but not all) of my steps above:

If you want some further help and reassurance, watch this 7 minute YouTube video.

This is a general demonstration of flashing a stock ROM to the H96 Pro+. It shows the majority of my Steps 4 and 5 above. This is not my video, but I did watch it before I did my first flash and found it to be a useful reassurance of how to perform the basic steps.

Vital note: In this video you will see that in Burn Card Maker they tick all the boxes. That's required for a Stock ROM flash, but SCV2 requires that "erase_bootloader" is not ticked. So if you watch this video, be sure to be aware of this difference and be sure to follow my steps above exactly. The video is just for a visual reference to the general steps involved - always check you're doing everything I listed above.

Let me know if anything doesn't work right or if you need further help.