Flashing Android 8.1 Oreo Developer Preview factory images

Update: Android 8.1 Oreo Developer Preview is now available for download. Google brought a surprise today with the Android O Developer Preview for the Nexus and the Google Pixel series devices. The most intriguing update for the Android 8.0 Oreo Developer Preview 1 is now up and available for download. The factory images are already available on the Google’s very own support page. The firmware build number for the DP 1 is “opp1.170223.012“. Google, under its AOSP project, has also updated the Android Studio and API sources for the Android App developers to make their apps compatible with the Android 8.0 O. This also means, soon you will be able to see the Android O AOSP based custom ROMS for other Samsung, Motorola, OnePlus, LG, Huawei, Sony devices. The most probably, the first builds for AOSP ROMS based on Android O may come to the Android One series devices.

With the latest AOSP sources, Nexus 6P, Nexus 5X, Nexus Player, Google Pixel, Pixel XL, and Pixel C users can update their devices to Android O. All the factory images are available and there is a very easy and safe way to flash it; which is listed below. The Android O comes Developers preview and Google will release three more consecutive previews before the official release. The DP 2 may show up in the month of May or June and the final roll out will happen later in Q3 of 2017.

This great news follows the Google’s release of Android 7.1.2 beta 2 for the Nexus and Pixel yesterday. Once the Android O is out of Developer Preview is out of Beta and rolls out as stable firmware, you may soon expect the Lineage OS 15 or later.

Caution: Developer Preview 1 is not a stable firmware and is mostly for developers. You will need to unlock the bootloader first which may lead to the void of your device warranty. It will also factory reset your device and remove all the apps and data and perform a clean flash. As the name suggests, developers preview 1 is targeted towards developers, but you can still flash it using the official method below.

List of Supported devices for DP 1:

• Nexus 5X
• Nexus 6P
• Google Pixel 2
• Google Pixel 2 XL
• Pixel
• Pixel XL

Download Android 8.1 Oreo DP factory Images for Nexus 5X, 6P, Google Pixel 2 (XL)

Here are the direct download links for the Android 8.0 O DP1:

This procedure will flash DP factory image on the Nexus device. It will perform a clean factory image installation leading to complete wipe of previous data and apps. Perform a full device backup before installing. There are no OTA updates such as that we found with the Android N Developer Preview. Factory image flash is the only option. Go through the pre requisites mentioned below and then proceed.How to flash Android O Developer Preview factory image?

Requirements to flash Developer Preview

• Download and transfer proper Android O Developer preview image for your PC. Verify device for compatibility.
• Enable OEM unlocking, Advanced Reboot, and USB Debugging option from Developer Options. First, enable Developer Options from Settings>About Phone> Tap on the Build Number several times. Open Developer Options and enable all the options listed.
• Install latest device drivers setup on your PC for a better connection.
• Make sure ADB and Fastboot environment is setup on PC. Install the quick ADB and Fastboot Installer from here to setup fastboot everywhere o PC. You may also like Universal ADB drivers, Naked ADB drivers.

Android O Developer Preview flashing instructions:

• Download the Developer Preview image from above and transfer it to your PC.
• Extract or unzip the factory image file to get all the boot, system, data, etc image files along with a flash-all batch file.
• Connect the device to PC and accept Always allow from this computer when you plug in the device for the first time.
• Now keep your device plugged in and reboot your device into bootloader mode or Fastboot mode. To do so, open a command prompt or terminal inside the factory image folder and issue the following code while connected to the PC.

adb reboot bootloader

Alternatively, from the advanced reboot option, reboot device to bootloader mode by holding onto the Power Key. Otherwise, try button combinations while the phone is turned off, like press and hold volume down and Power keys.

• Now you may need to unlock the bootloader on your Nexus or Google Pixel device before you flash the developer preview. It will wipe all the user data. Issue the following command for that. If the device bootloader is already unlocked, skip this step.

fastboot oem unlock

For newer devices like Nexus 6P, the code has changed. See the following code. For Google Pixel XL, click here.

fastboot flashing unlock

• While the cmd or terminal is open inside the factory image folder, run the flash-all.bat file as shown below. (The image is just for correspondence.)

Note: For Linux or Mac OS users, run the flash-all.sh file and follow the instructions. But first, open the flash-all.sh file and verify if the files start with “./” prefix for Mac and “sudo” for Linux. If not then add a prefix to every file name.

• Once done, reboot the device into the system either manually or using the command:

fastboot reboot

Upon reboot, you will see a new boot logo. This means your device is now running the latest Android O firmware. First boot may take a while, so be patient.

Troubleshooting:

Check the ADB connectivity by issuing “adb devices” command. It should return a serial number of the device. Check Fastboot connectivity by issuing the command “fastboot devices”

If you don’t find the flash-all.bat file or the flash-all.sh file, then you will need to flash each file manually by rebooting into bootloader or fastboot mode. Go through all the steps from above and instead on the flash-all bat file, flash each file manually as listed below. Issue the following commands through the terminal:

fastboot flash bootloader bootloader.img
fastboot reboot-bootloader
fastboot flash radio radio.img
fastboot reboot-bootloader
fastboot flash system system.img
fastboot flash userdata userdata.img

(Note: this command will wipe your device (including \sdcard), EVEN if your bootloader is already unlocked.)

fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
fastboot erase cache
fastboot flash cache cache.img

Now the trick is to find all the files available in your firmware and flash them with the proper extension following the same pattern as above. The files or their names may change according to device or firmware. So verify it.

Source, Via