Developer duraaraa over at xda has just released an online tool called FunkyHuawei that let’s Huawei Mate 9 users flash any official firmware onto their devices. And the best part of it is that it does NOT require an unlocked bootloader.

To use the service you need to set DNS on your WiFi router to 37.114.61.203 and then open the funkyhuawei.com website on your PCs internet browser. Once the site opens up, you need to click the donation button and send-in some donation to the developer for his hard work. If you don’t feel like donating much, you can even go ahead with a donation as low as 1 cent.

But either way, making a donation is a must to use the tool. Because you cannot use FunkyHuawei until you’ve a PayPal transaction ID. We think this is a terrific tool by duraaraa and it deserves some donation.

The tool uses two methods to flash a firmware to your Huawei Mate 9, read about them in detail direct from the developer’s original post on xda:

Method 1: eRecovery

We use eRecovery when an update is authorized to be installed by Huawei. If the status message tells you to install with eRecovery, just boot your phone up with the USB cable plugged in, and holding the volume up key. Make sure you have your DNS set correctly on your wireless router. Try to recover, and if you see that the name of the firmware is FunkyHuawei, everything is correct. Wait for it to download and install, and you’re good to go!

Method 2: HiSuite

This is where things get a little bit complicated. We use HiSuite to install non-authorized ROMs. For example, betas, or other ROMs that Huawei does not want people to install. From FunkyHuawei, you will see a link of a tool to download. You must download this tool if you wish to use the HiSuite installation method. Also, download and install this version of HiSuite:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6o…ew?usp=sharing

Open HiSuite, then open FunkyHisuite. You can follow these directions from the FunkyHisuite readme file as well, but basically, you boot your phone up into fastboot (connect it to your computer, and boot up phone holding volume down button), and then choose System Recovery from HiSuite. You open and leave open the FunkyHisuite.exe app, and as long as your DNS is set correctly, when you do a System Recovery in HiSuite, you will be flashing the version you chose from the funkyhuawei.com interface.

NOTE: For reasons related to the way we exploit HiSuite, whatever rom you install with HiSuite might show up as version B126 after it’s installed. However, it is not B126 which is installed, but the version you selected. Sorry to not have proper version information, but that’s the only way to do it.

With FunkyHuawei, it is now possible cross flash firmware of a different region to a unit from a different region. Read more about the tool in detail over at this XDA thread.

Image source: Android Central