Need help updating unlocked/rooted device to 4.3

[loltroll]

Hi,

I'm having a Nexus 4, bootloader unlocked, CWM Recovery, stock 4.2.2 ROM and moles' color calibration kernel. (stock except color calibration for awesome screen)

What I'd like to know is whether there is a way to update my device to 4.3 (and moles' color calibration kernel) without losing user-data since I find it a major pain to get my settings and stuff back together as i have it now.

I wanted to update to 4.3 by booting to recovery and install 4.3 zip without factory reset (someone on another forum said it would work if user data is compatible with both roms, i.e. when one the update of the other) and after that I would flash the kernel, which is also stock except for said color calibration. So i thought I wouldnt have to lose data as well. I downloaded the Factory image JWR66V from Google which is a tgz file, which let me wonder in the first place. After I extracted the files in it, there was a zip. I tried installing the zip but CWM aborted the installation, right after it began. I don't know if it was a problem with the zip, because CWM couldn't see the .tgz at all, so i tried playing around and found a .zip in it.

Can someone with more flashing experience tell me, if this concept is even feasible? - Can it be done in a better way? If not, how do i get it right?

tl;dr:
- unlocked/rooted 4.2.2 nexus 4
- want to update to 4.3 without data loss
- can't figure out which image to install via CWM
- need advice on how to do it right, or how to restore my user data after update (like custom dictionaries and so on)

Also sorry for my user name, I have no intention of trolling, I just created this account for research and thought I wouldn't post anyway. And I'm not very creative with user names

I appreciate any help. Best ones will be rewarded with massive amounts of internets.

 

[Rizy7]

The easiest way would probably be to return to everything stock and just update the device to 4.3. Though, the fresh start is always good and settings such as custom dictionaries are tied to your google account and synced back when you re enter your google account at the phone setup. Everything else you probably find important is easily transferable to a pc after backing up using titanium backup.

From what I understand you have flashed one of the paranoid android kernels so you will need to flash the stock kernel again. I would like to point out that after you update to 4.3, you will not be able to flash any paranoid android kernels on stock 4.3. The build number for paranoid android rom/kernels begins with jss while the build number of stock 4.3 is jwr. A jss rom/kernel will not work with a jwr rom/kernel.

Anyways you will need to download the stock kernel for 4.2.2 which can be found all over the internet as well as extracted from the 4.2.2 factory images. When you have the stock kernel you can either flash it through fastboot or flash it through your recovery. I am aware that OTA updates work fine with TWRP recovery but am unsure about CWM. Most likely you will also have to flash stock recovery. Again you need to download the right file and flash it through fastboot.

Once you are back to stock you should be able to OTA. If you are impatient or can not get the update notification to appear on your device you could sideload update through recovery. You should now have 4.3 but should also be aware that you will lose root and custom recovery if you have managed to ota with the custom recovery.