72 votes

Android x86 Marshmallow not booting on Virtualbox and VMware Workstation

Found the solution! You have to edit menu.lst file. Here is how: boot in debug mode (usually the second option in boot menu) when booting stops (for me it just hangs there with flashing cursor and ...
ajira's user avatar
  • 721
12 votes

Bootloader/BIOS, flashing ROMs and related risks. Why are Android devices more brickable than PCs?

SHORT ANSWER: Android phones are more brickable than PCs because they can hardly communicate with us if the bootloader is erased. And bootloader(s) live on Flash memory (eMMC) partitions which are ...
Irfan Latif's user avatar
11 votes

Is there a way to root an Android phone without unlocking the bootloader?

This can be marked a duplicate of questions like this, but it's a device-specific question. It cannot be answered in a generic way, should be “How to root XYZ Android device without unlocking ...
Irfan Latif's user avatar
9 votes

Is it possible to boot an Android phone from a USB drive?

It is possible in a sense, however. Given the limitations mentioned in @t0mm13b 's answer, it makes sense that the mentioned boot loader (lk) is incapable of doing this. So, we boot a custom kernel ...
Tamoghna Chowdhury's user avatar
9 votes

Android x86 Marshmallow not booting on Virtualbox and VMware Workstation

I'd like to extend and improve @Jay Smith answer based on personal experience. He is right in the core thing that the cause of the issue is VGA resolution used by Android, but he is wrong in his ...
Suncatcher's user avatar
8 votes

How to check if your bootloader is unlocked

Assuming your device adheres to some Android standards, you'd want to run fastboot oem device-info. Often you can also run fastboot reboot-bootloader to get into the bootloader which often says right ...
Enigma's user avatar
  • 1,254
7 votes
Accepted

OPO stuck in "Erasing..." while unlocking bootloader

Just reboot the device; at this point there's no harm that can be done since the data was being wiped anyways.
Matthew Read's user avatar
  • 50.5k
6 votes

How to check if your bootloader is unlocked

i'm no expert, but if you go to the bootloader, by (on my nexus 4) holding volume down then power up, then it says
barlop's user avatar
  • 602
6 votes
Accepted

ADB app uninstall from bootloader

No, it is not possible to remove the app from bootloader. ADB daemon is not running in the device in that tiny environment when the device is in fastboot mode and stock recovery doesn't offer shell ...
Firelord's user avatar
  • 24.9k
6 votes
Accepted

Android Verified Boot and generation of vbmeta image

In this page there is a section called 'Disabling verified boot' that mentions a commands to create an empty vbmeta.img that can be used to disable verified boot : https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/...
Lakindu's user avatar
  • 178
5 votes

Odin3 Bootloader button is greyed out

In the case you weren't eager to look at the research, here's the solution. In the same folder of your Odin executable, you'll find a file called Odin3.ini. Being it a configuration file, it defines ...
Grimoire's user avatar
  • 2,969
5 votes
Accepted

Fastboot doesn't see nexus 6p

Install the Google USB Driver while in phone is booted to bootloader. Those are in your SDK folder location - extras - google - usb_driver. When my N6 is booted to bootloader, Windows 10 shows ...
DukeSilversJazz's user avatar
5 votes
Accepted

Explain "Don't Downgrade!" warnings when flashing stock firmware

Bootloader itself will get updated with some firmware updates. Take the Galaxy S6 as an example - the firmware G920FXXU4DPJN comes with bootloader level 4, while G920FXXU5EQF1 comes with bootloader ...
Andy Yan's user avatar
  • 9,524
5 votes
Accepted

How to Upgrade Sony Xperia Z3 Compact (D5803) to Android 8.1?

Upgrade Sony Xperia Z3 Compact to Android 8.1 These instructions describe how to upgrade the Sony Xperia Z3 Compact (D5803) smart phone. These instructions do not include backup instructions, so be ...
Dave Jarvis's user avatar
5 votes
Accepted

Android device load process (preparing flashing)

Boot process of Android devices up to kernel stage is very vendor specific, device specific and contains mostly closed source code. You may see clear deviations of terminologies used and differences ...
Irfan Latif's user avatar
5 votes
Accepted

Huawei bootloader: what is "FB Lock" and how to unlock it?

There are two types of bootloader locks in Huawei devices: FB Lock and USER Lock. USER Lock restricts the standard partitions like system, data, recovery, kernel etc, but not the critical bootloader-...
Supersonic's user avatar
  • 1,205
4 votes

Fastboot is not providing a token when trying to unlock HTC One M9

(bootloader) [KillSwitch] : /dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/frp (bootloader) [KillSwitch] Last Byte is 0X00, disable unlock (bootloader) [KillSwitch] oem unlock Turn Off! This means that you need to ...
Matthew Read's user avatar
  • 50.5k
4 votes

Android x86 Marshmallow not booting on Virtualbox and VMware Workstation

Some progress here, but not the real thing. The following allowed me to boot Android x86 6.0 under VirtualBox correctly - but only once: 1) When booting the installation image, the initial screen ...
Jay Smith's user avatar
4 votes

Android x86 Marshmallow not booting on Virtualbox and VMware Workstation

I also had problems with Android x86 vitual box on a Windows 7 Pro x64 AMD machine. I suppose we are all going to have slightly different issues depending on our architecture/hardware but they all ...
PassingGuest's user avatar
4 votes

Re-lock and unlock bootloader on the Nexus 5X for Android Pay

Currently, No. Locking the bootloader actually requires a wipe as well now so you would have to back up your device and then restore after locking. I was in the same scenario with my Nexus 6P and as ...
bmdixon's user avatar
  • 8,805
4 votes

How to run adb and fastboot commands from Termux?

This question is nearly a duplicate of this which has a detailed answer by @Firelord, except the Termux part. As mention by @DeathMaskSalesman in comment, Termux is more like a Linux environment, but ...
Irfan Latif's user avatar
4 votes
Accepted

Is my Android device booting into a "stealth" partition?

Seems I’ve found the answer at https://andi34.github.io/faq.html Quote: I can't change my rom, wipe / format doesn't work. Nothing changed after flashing with Odin. 16 GB Tab 2 have a known ...
e-sushi's user avatar
  • 201
4 votes
Accepted

How to hide or spoof bootloader info from any app?

Install XprivacyLua and select use tracking Pics below show the difference in output For spoofing instead of hiding you may have to use custom hooks. You can ask on the XDA thread of the app or use ...
beeshyams's user avatar
  • 40.3k
4 votes
Accepted

How to disable bad RAM addresses and fix bad storage blocks?

This might not be a direct solution to your problem, but I'm sharing my thoughts on it. SHORT ANSWER It's not very likely for RAM on embedded systems to get defective. And if it does, solutions ...
Irfan Latif's user avatar
4 votes

Where is Boot flow screen displayed in android

This is all happen in OEM bootloader (proprietary) before android is started. This screen is displayed before splash screen only in yellow/orange/red state
alecxs's user avatar
  • 3,884
4 votes
Accepted

Cannot Unlock Bootloader on Fairphone 4

You are in the wrong fastboot, fastbootd (with the d at the end!) is fastboot in userspace, what you want is the "real" fastboot also called bootloader. Either select "Reboot to ...
alecxs's user avatar
  • 3,884
3 votes
Accepted

Samsung Galaxy S3 I9300 is not detected by fastboot under Ubuntu 14.04

Samsung devices with Download Mode do not support fastboot. adb is not supported in fastboot mode anyways (nor Download mode). If you want to flash something via fastboot, you must use Odin or ...
Matthew Read's user avatar
  • 50.5k
3 votes

Does 'fastboot oem unlock' still work?

Depends on the model not all phones/tablets support OEM unlock. This a manufacture decision. For example some low end lg phones use a custom boot loader that wont even let you boot to it. Nexsus 10 ...
wheredidthatnamecomefrom's user avatar
3 votes

Booting into custom recovery with a locked bootloader

tl;dr No, you can't use fastboot boot to boot into a custom recovery if the bootloader is locked (as Jerry Chin noted in a comment). Longer Answer Android Security Internals says in Chapter 13: ...
Oren Milman's user avatar
3 votes

ADB can discover devices but not fastboot

I am on MAC Sierra facing same problem. The actual problem is with fastboot that I was using. It was an older version. So, I have downloaded android sdk and took fastboot from platform-tools of it and ...
user204340's user avatar

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