Zero/install eMMC Android
Radxa Zero > Installation > Install Android to eMMC
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How to install Android to Radxa Zero eMMC
Current reference for this topic (check the board revision and OS version): Radxa ZERO Android installation.
This guide describes how to install Android to Radxa Zero eMMC. Currently there are two types of Android image that can be flashed on Radxa Zero: Android OTA image, which is a zip archive with multiple smaller img files in it; and amlupdate image, which is just one big img file. Android OTA image is a standard image format that can be flashed by fastboot tool, while amlupdate image is a proprietary format and requires aml-flash-tool. This guide will only cover Android OTA image format. User of amlupdate image should follow this guide instead.
Requirement
- Radxa Zero
- A PC/laptop running Windows, Linux, or macOS
- USB A to C cable or C to C cable, depending on your host
- Android 9 image, which should be unzipped after downloading, and you will find files like this in the folder:
$ ls android-info.txt dtbo.img flash-all.sh product.img vbmeta.img boot.img dt.img logo.img recovery.img vendor.img bootloader.img flash-all.bat odm.img system.img
bootloader.img will be needed later to run Zero in fastboot mode. Do not use rz-fastboot-loader.bin as it doesn't have the necessary partition info.
Windows
Please follow maskrom guide to load extracted bootloader.img. Google driver and nexus-tools are required so don't skip them.
Execute flash-all.bat from your extracted Android folder to flash all partitions to eMMC. Some errors about missing file is normal.
If you see a lot of errors, try deleting ```fastboot reboot-bootloader``` line from flash-all.bat and run the script again.
If command line cannot find adb/fastboot, you can add them to PATH variable with set PATH=YOUR_PATH_TO_ADB_FASTBOOT;%PATH%; and try again.
You should unplug and replug USB cable after flashing. Otherwise your Radxa Zero will stay in maskrom mode.
Linux & macOS
Please follow maskrom guide to load extracted bootloader.img. nexus-tools is required so don't skip it.
Execute flash-all.sh from your extracted Android folder to flash all partitions images to eMMC. Some errors about missing file is normal.
If command line cannot find adb/fastboot, you can add them to PATH variable with PATH=YOUR_PATH_TO_ADB_FASTBOOT:$PATH and try again.
You should unplug and replug USB cable after flashing. Otherwise your Radxa Zero will stay in maskrom mode.
FAQ
1. How to erase Android?
A:
- To erase partitions, first load rz-udisk-loader.bin in maskrom mode, then run following command:
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/<emmc device> bs=1M count=500
2. Why is there no fastboot device?
A: If the board not able to run into fastboot, please try:
- If you can boot to android, try "adb reboot fastboot" or (uart console) "reboot fastboot"
- If you can visit U-Boot console, execute command "fastboot"