A/B devices

About

A/B devices have different slots for it’s bootloader stack for easier recovery in case of boot errors.

For some devices AXP.OS comes with the latest official vendor firmware included which requires the flash of AXP.OS twice (once for each slot) at the very first time. Any later flashes (OTA or manually) can be simply flashed once.

If you are unsure about what firmware you have it never hurts to flash it twice.

Requirements

1. a recent recovery image (see Recovery Images for options)
2. a PC to push AXP.OS to recovery (OTA is supported once installed)
3. an unlocked bootloader (not part of this guide! use www.google.com to find instructions)

New to AXP.OS

Note: Only if you are 100% sure that you are using compatible firmware that matches the AXP.OS build you can skip step 5 and 6. Mismatching firmware can lead into a non-booting system or weird behavior within Android later.

1. create a FULL backup of all your data, pictures, etc and and save them somewhere other than on the phone (all data needs to be wiped)
2. flash the official AXP.OS recovery image
3. boot into recovery (e.g. by adb reboot recovery)
4. flash AXP.OS:
   • Apply update -> Apply from ADB
   • adb sideload AXP.OS.zip –> do not boot yet though!
   • note: some devices report something similar to: (~94%) adb: failed to read command: No error, which can be safely ignored
5. reboot into recovery again
6. start sideload and flash AXP.OS again (see step 4)
7. ensure you factory reset (all your data will be erased!):
   • choose Factory reset
   • choose Format data/factory reset
8. boot into system / AXP.OS

Update AXP.OS

See Updating AXP.OS

Final note