Moto X rooting - ROM doesn't boot, but have Safestrap I'm in a curious position. I don't have a working ROM on my Moto X, but I can boot into Safestrap, and from there fastboot. If I could get a ROM onto the device I could flash it with Safestrap, but I can't find a way of doing that.

The 'adb sideload' feature of Safestrap/TWRP runs, but the only safestrap-able ROM I have is 4.4.2, and my device lacks the kernel. I tried sideloading the stock 4.2.2, but that simply fails without installing, once loaded on the device.

Fastboot will recognize the device, but trying to flash anything, or do 'fastboot boot', gives 'permission denied' or 'command restricted'.

I can execute commands on the device from Safestrap, so in theory I have a working if crippled Linux OS running. I just can't seem to get files on it. Any help?
From the OP:

OK, managed to solve this. Can't answer my own question for 8 hours, by which time I'll forget. If a mod can mark this as answered, please do

Fastboot will allow you to install signed images, apparently, so the trick is to use one of those.

Steps to resolve:


Downloaded a copy of the relevant ROM from here.
Unzipped. I couldn't just push using fastboot update because fastboot expects ROMs to contain certain informational files (android-info.txt and android-product.txt) which the above archive lacks.
Pushed each of the files using the following commands. mfastboot is the Motorola-specific fastboot, which I found here. That archive contains versions for Linux, Mac, and Windows, which is nice. (Darwin == Mac.) I'm fairly confident you can use that in place of fastboot everywhere below. Make sure you use the right carrier code and ROM! I have Verizon (vzw).




fastboot oem fb_mode_set
fastboot flash partition gpt.bin
fastboot flash motoboot motoboot.img
fastboot flash logo logo.bin
fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
mfastboot flash system system.img
fastboot flash modem NON-HLOS.bin
fastboot erase modemst1
fastboot erase modemst2
fastboot flash fsg fsg.mbn
fastboot erase cache
fastboot erase userdata
fastboot erase customize
fastboot erase clogo
fastboot oem config carrier vzw
fastboot oem fb_mode_clear




Done! At this stage I rebooted and it was exactly as new.