Zero/install eMMC Android

    Radxa Zero >  Installation >  Install Android to eMMC

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 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

To erase eMMC bootloader

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"