Database Users

[GUIDE] EFS Partitions: What They Are And How To Get It Back If Lost

Hello. My name is Poise, and I'm a victim of EFS Corruption.
I know, laugh it up.
Anyways, you're either here because you don't know what the EFS is and you wanna know, you ruined your EFS and you're looking for redemption, or you just wanna see me ramble. Whichever the case, I figured I'd write this so nobody else has to deal with the looming fear of your 300 dollar phone with infamously-bad customer support becoming a worthless, barely functioning phone, if not a big 300 dollar brick.
Before I go on, I wanna mention that this guide applies for most if not all phones, not necessarily just the OPO. So if anyone is losing their mind over a corrupted or lost EFS partition, this should get them on the right track to at least understanding the problem.
BACKGROUND: AKA "WHAT IS THE EFS AND WHY DO I EVEN CARE"
EFS stands for Encrypted File System. Imagine the EFS as a big folder containing all of the important stuff that makes the "phone" part of your phone (i.e. what lets you communicate from one person with a phone to another) tick. It contains your IMEI, lots of files revolving around your SIM card and Wifi/Bluetooth (this includes your MAC address for all the radios of your phone), and lots of other things that should never ever under any circumstance be deleted or touched. It's sensitive, it's devastatingly important, and it's a huge pain. If you lose your EFS folder, you lose pretty much any chance of your phone being able to use data, Wifi, Bluetooth, and (in my case) your phone will just not wanna respond and reboot quite a lot.
CHAPTER 1: AKA "THAT SOUNDS LIKE GARBAGE HOW CAN I FIX THIS"
So, like all nice and important things that we have on Android, we can back this folder up, assuming you're rooted and with a custom recovery (though quite frankly if you're not rooted/installing ROMs I have zero idea how you'd corrupt your EFS). I'd recommend doing it through a nandroid backup (TWRP usually has the option to backup EFS, if not there's an unofficial version for bacon that can), but there are other apps that do the job quite nicely. Backing up your EFS is just as essential as backing up your previous ROM; in fact, backing up your EFS is MILES MORE ESSENTIAL because you can just flash a ROM over a corrupted system to get it working. There is no "flashable EFS"; if it were that easy, it wouldn't be so sensitive, and I wouldn't be writing this guide.
CHAPTER 2: AKA "I'M SUPER CAREFUL BRO I'LL NEVER MESS UP MY EFS PARTITION, WHY BOTHER"
Do it anyways.
I installed a ROM, realized my gapps package was screwed up, restored a CM13 backup, and realized my SIM card wasn't being detected. My phone would lag like hell, and after a while it'd just crash and reboot. I had no IMEI, I had no SIM card detection. I knew exactly what it meant. It wasn't fun to restore it.
If ROM installations were perfect, we wouldn't really have to backup anything. But, sometimes a hiccup will occur, something will touch something else that it shouldn't, and chaos ensues. So, if you don't wanna take 4 hours out of your day to hope to Christ that you didn't royally ruin your phone and the restoring method worked, just back it up. It's like, 3MB and it'll save so much frustration. Honestly.
CHAPTER 3: AKA "YEAH ABOUT THAT MY EFS IS ALREADY CORRUPTED, PLS HELP"
Congrats, you did it! Don't feel too bad, it happens to the best of us. :crying:
Fixing an EFS on the Oneplus One is pretty easy, but really time consuming and riveting because it might not 100% of the time work. You'll need the following:
Some sort of ADB/fastboot program. I use Minimal ADB and Fastboot, which rarely has any problems, but you can use whatever as long as it'll talk to your device.
Your near-dead Oneplus One.
A few hours of your time.
Some sort of backup of your data, you'll be factory resetting.
OxygenOS. Preferrably, a package that can be flashed in TWRP. I won't find that for you.
An unlocked bootloader. I cannot stress how important this is. If you don't know what this is, do some research before trying to fix your ruined EFS. Again, how you'd have even ruined it with a locked bootloader is beyond me...
TWRP 2.8.6.0. Yes, it has to be this version; this is the only one that can install firmware correctly. The unofficial modified 2.8.7.0 might be able to, but I'm not about to try it.
Competence and good reading skills. Do everything exactly as I wrote it.
Some knowledge on how flashing a ROM works.
A modified persist.img file that we'll be flashing. You can find it in this thread. Download the Never Settle package and take out the persist.img file; we don't care about the rest. Whether this is mandatory or not, I don't know, but I used it and it worked fine so I'll include it. If anyone tries this without the persist file and it works, let me know. Thanks a ton to markbensze for making this, he saved my skin.
Now for how it's done:
To start, we gotta put your phone into fastboot mode. Do this by holding the power button and the up volume button as you're turning your phone on. You'll know it worked when the phone very dimly says "Fastboot Mode".
Plug your phone into your computer. Let it do any driver stuff it has to, then open your ADB/Fastboot program. Type "fastboot devices", if you see a bunch of letters/numbers with the word "fastboot" a few spaces away, you're set.
Seriously, if your bootloader isn't unlocked, you gotta do that. This will wipe EVERTHING from your phone, including any backups. I won't cover that mess, there's trillions of guides for that.
Type the following commands:
Code:
fastboot erase modemst1
fastboot erase modemst2
fastboot erase persist
This erases a bunch of partitions that have to do with the EFS. They all regenerate themselves, but as an added precaution we're gonna flash that persist.img you got from the thread in the "what you need" list. In order to do this, enter the following command:
Code:
fastboot flash persist [location to your persist.img on your computer]
If all goes well, you'll get a handy success message and you can get out of fastboot mode by holding down the power button until it turns off.
Now, reboot to recovery; do this by holding the power button and holding the down volume button as you turn your phone on, until you see the TWRP splash screen.
How you do this next step is up to you; you can use the built-in MTP to transfer the Oxygen OS file over from your computer to your phone, or you can use ADB sideload. If you don't know how sideload works, just transfer it over.
Factory reset as you would installing a normal ROM, and flash Oxygen OS through the install menu/sideload/however you wanna. Let it fully install.
Reboot. Let it boot, pray to the EFS gods that they'll give you their blessing, and check if your SIM card gets detected.
If it did, congradulations! Your EFS is working. Now, go make a backup while you can.

Very glad that you made a guide about it. I didn't f*** up my phone though, but I truly got the importance of backing up the EFS. Also, got to know about it a bit more.
Thanks!

I have a feeling this is going to come in handy with my project OPO... good stuff man thanks

It worked. After I did this I kept getting boot Loops what was progress on this phone. I did the factory reset in recovery. Let it bootloop some more. Went back to recovery and fixed selinux permissions. Boot Loops again, went back to recovery wipe the dalvik. now it freaking works.

First off, great guide.
But after following this, despite having my IMEI shown previously, my baseband and my imei are now gone. I was told to use this guide to try and fix my data connection problems as it seemed something was wrong with my EFS partition, but it seems following this has left me worse off.
Any suggestions to what else I could do?

Is there a stock oxygen OS file kicking around somewhere? I tried searching for them, but most are modified by other people. One of them hardbricked my phone (the ported Oneplus X oxygen os), so I'd rather not further experiment with other modified ones. I used another OxygenOs file, but despite booting, it didn't fix the baseband or IMEI problem.
I tried doing this but using stock CM13.1.2 instead of OxygenOS, but it didn't fix the problem either. So any other suggestions?
Edit: Nvm, found the official from the OnePlus website, I'm an idiot, going to try doing this with Oxygen to see what happens.

FAILED (remote: Partition flashing is not allowed)
OnePlus 3t with TWRP BlueSpark 3.2.1 recovery.
I am open to flash Roms with TWRP with no problem but I am not able to flash persist.zip (TWRP version) it says it flash but folder doesn't appear and your instructions via fast boot I get the following error.
C:\Program Files (x86)\Minimal ADB and Fastboot>fastboot flash persist c:\android\persist.zip
target reported max download size of 435159040 bytes
sending 'persist' (344 KB)...
OKAY [ 0.036s]
writing 'persist'...
FAILED (remote: Partition flashing is not allowed) <------ Problem here or or is my partition on my phone messed up?
finished. total time: 0.057s
I any suggestions for fixing my WiFi/Bluetooth problem?

Fastboot commands not working, ADB way of doing it?
PlayingPoise said:
Hello. My name is Poise, and I'm a victim of EFS Corruption.
I know, laugh it up.
Anyways, you're either here because you don't know what the EFS is and you wanna know, you ruined your EFS and you're looking for redemption, or you just wanna see me ramble. Whichever the case, I figured I'd write this so nobody else has to deal with the looming fear of your 300 dollar phone with infamously-bad customer support becoming a worthless, barely functioning phone, if not a big 300 dollar brick.
Before I go on, I wanna mention that this guide applies for most if not all phones, not necessarily just the OPO. So if anyone is losing their mind over a corrupted or lost EFS partition, this should get them on the right track to at least understanding the problem.
BACKGROUND: AKA "WHAT IS THE EFS AND WHY DO I EVEN CARE"
EFS stands for Encrypted File System. Imagine the EFS as a big folder containing all of the important stuff that makes the "phone" part of your phone (i.e. what lets you communicate from one person with a phone to another) tick. It contains your IMEI, lots of files revolving around your SIM card and Wifi/Bluetooth (this includes your MAC address for all the radios of your phone), and lots of other things that should never ever under any circumstance be deleted or touched. It's sensitive, it's devastatingly important, and it's a huge pain. If you lose your EFS folder, you lose pretty much any chance of your phone being able to use data, Wifi, Bluetooth, and (in my case) your phone will just not wanna respond and reboot quite a lot.
CHAPTER 1: AKA "THAT SOUNDS LIKE GARBAGE HOW CAN I FIX THIS"
So, like all nice and important things that we have on Android, we can back this folder up, assuming you're rooted and with a custom recovery (though quite frankly if you're not rooted/installing ROMs I have zero idea how you'd corrupt your EFS). I'd recommend doing it through a nandroid backup (TWRP usually has the option to backup EFS, if not there's an unofficial version for bacon that can), but there are other apps that do the job quite nicely. Backing up your EFS is just as essential as backing up your previous ROM; in fact, backing up your EFS is MILES MORE ESSENTIAL because you can just flash a ROM over a corrupted system to get it working. There is no "flashable EFS"; if it were that easy, it wouldn't be so sensitive, and I wouldn't be writing this guide.
CHAPTER 2: AKA "I'M SUPER CAREFUL BRO I'LL NEVER MESS UP MY EFS PARTITION, WHY BOTHER"
Do it anyways.
I installed a ROM, realized my gapps package was screwed up, restored a CM13 backup, and realized my SIM card wasn't being detected. My phone would lag like hell, and after a while it'd just crash and reboot. I had no IMEI, I had no SIM card detection. I knew exactly what it meant. It wasn't fun to restore it.
If ROM installations were perfect, we wouldn't really have to backup anything. But, sometimes a hiccup will occur, something will touch something else that it shouldn't, and chaos ensues. So, if you don't wanna take 4 hours out of your day to hope to Christ that you didn't royally ruin your phone and the restoring method worked, just back it up. It's like, 3MB and it'll save so much frustration. Honestly.
CHAPTER 3: AKA "YEAH ABOUT THAT MY EFS IS ALREADY CORRUPTED, PLS HELP"
Congrats, you did it! Don't feel too bad, it happens to the best of us. :crying:
Fixing an EFS on the Oneplus One is pretty easy, but really time consuming and riveting because it might not 100% of the time work. You'll need the following:
Some sort of ADB/fastboot program. I use Minimal ADB and Fastboot, which rarely has any problems, but you can use whatever as long as it'll talk to your device.
Your near-dead Oneplus One.
A few hours of your time.
Some sort of backup of your data, you'll be factory resetting.
OxygenOS. Preferrably, a package that can be flashed in TWRP. I won't find that for you.
An unlocked bootloader. I cannot stress how important this is. If you don't know what this is, do some research before trying to fix your ruined EFS. Again, how you'd have even ruined it with a locked bootloader is beyond me...
TWRP 2.8.6.0. Yes, it has to be this version; this is the only one that can install firmware correctly. The unofficial modified 2.8.7.0 might be able to, but I'm not about to try it.
Competence and good reading skills. Do everything exactly as I wrote it.
Some knowledge on how flashing a ROM works.
A modified persist.img file that we'll be flashing. You can find it in this thread. Download the Never Settle package and take out the persist.img file; we don't care about the rest. Whether this is mandatory or not, I don't know, but I used it and it worked fine so I'll include it. If anyone tries this without the persist file and it works, let me know. Thanks a ton to markbensze for making this, he saved my skin.
Now for how it's done:
To start, we gotta put your phone into fastboot mode. Do this by holding the power button and the up volume button as you're turning your phone on. You'll know it worked when the phone very dimly says "Fastboot Mode".
Plug your phone into your computer. Let it do any driver stuff it has to, then open your ADB/Fastboot program. Type "fastboot devices", if you see a bunch of letters/numbers with the word "fastboot" a few spaces away, you're set.
Seriously, if your bootloader isn't unlocked, you gotta do that. This will wipe EVERTHING from your phone, including any backups. I won't cover that mess, there's trillions of guides for that.
Type the following commands:
Code:
fastboot erase modemst1
fastboot erase modemst2
fastboot erase persist
This erases a bunch of partitions that have to do with the EFS. They all regenerate themselves, but as an added precaution we're gonna flash that persist.img you got from the thread in the "what you need" list. In order to do this, enter the following command:
Code:
fastboot flash persist [location to your persist.img on your computer]
If all goes well, you'll get a handy success message and you can get out of fastboot mode by holding down the power button until it turns off.
Now, reboot to recovery; do this by holding the power button and holding the down volume button as you turn your phone on, until you see the TWRP splash screen.
How you do this next step is up to you; you can use the built-in MTP to transfer the Oxygen OS file over from your computer to your phone, or you can use ADB sideload. If you don't know how sideload works, just transfer it over.
Factory reset as you would installing a normal ROM, and flash Oxygen OS through the install menu/sideload/however you wanna. Let it fully install.
Reboot. Let it boot, pray to the EFS gods that they'll give you their blessing, and check if your SIM card gets detected.
If it did, congradulations! Your EFS is working. Now, go make a backup while you can.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is there a way to replicate your 3 fastboot commands, using ADB? My bootloader is unlocked and running the latest TWRP recovery 3.2.2
My results via fastboot
"
fastboot erase modemst1
erasing 'modemst1'...
FAILED (remote: Partition flashing is not allowed)
finished. total time: 0.024s
"

I have a Samsung Galaxy Note 2 phone with a broken logic board. I need to replace, but I may need to change the IMEI of the replacement board with my old phone's IMEI if I buy the replacement board from China.
Does the IMEI number pass to the other phone if I restore my Twrp backup which contains all partitions (more specifically the EFS partition), over this motherboard? Does it solve my problem.

Any chance to get an upload of the file needed??

Same EFS partition over time ? after updating Android ?
Thx a lot, this has saved me a lot of troubles ^^
Was just wondering, is the EFS partition always the same over time ? modemst1 & modemst2 files are the same for all Android/OxygenOS version ?
I've backed up mine under OxygenOS 3.2.8 and I was wondering if i could still use it to restore the EFS partition if anything goes wrong ?
PS : Sorry for my bad english, it's not my native language ^^
---------- Post added at 09:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:26 PM ----------
crenshaw1979 said:
Is there a way to replicate your 3 fastboot commands, using ADB? My bootloader is unlocked and running the latest TWRP recovery 3.2.2
My results via fastboot
"
fastboot erase modemst1
erasing 'modemst1'...
FAILED (remote: Partition flashing is not allowed)
finished. total time: 0.024s
"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can find how to do it on this thread : https://www.theandroidsoul.com/fix-...d-wifibluetooth-issues-restoring-twrp-backup/

EFS / Modem backup option gone?
hey there :]
I want to backup my phone. In TWRP I had the option to backup EFS and modem partitions. I decided to upgrade TWRP, since my version (3.2.x) was older than the most recent (3.4). After flashing the .img from inside TWRP, everything function as expected... however, the option to backup EFS and Modem is gone.
I downgraded to older version of TWRP, but TWRP still does not show the option for EFS and modem backups.
recovery.log, that was created when I made the TWRP backup lists "Unable to locate '/modem_st1' partition for backup calculations."
What did I do wrong? Does bacon require some extra step to unlock EFS and modem access for TWRP?

Does this method work with lgv60 snapdragon 865 unlocked bootloader ?

Whenever I get a new device , on day number one I always backup my efs partitions.. I use termux app from my device and type:
su (push enter)
Then I type these in one by one in termux and grab the two files off my device's sdcard and upload them to a cloud and transfer them both to my PC and/or a thumb drive.
dd if=/dev/block/sdf2 of=/sdcard/modemst1.bin bs=2048
(push enter)
dd if=/dev/block/sdf3 of=/sdcard/modemst2.bin bs=2048
(enter)
If ever I lose my IMEI these can be fastboot flashed back and restored that way. This info I first came across over on Funk Wizard's XDA guide thread for OnePlus 6t. Works great. Only thing is now I'm a retired crack flasher so my days/years of installing everything available for my device are most definitely over and that's how I always lost mine back in the Nexus days... During an installation of only God knows what back then. Still much better to be safe than sorry and have an expensive paper weight for a phone if ever something does happen.

ONE PLUS 5 SOFTWARE BRICKED? Loading Infinite loop

Hello guys, my phone one plus 5 has stopped working when I wanted to change to a ROM called (Resurrection Remix) which does not give any problem according to the users of the forum. I have another version of (Resurrection Remix) in my ONE PLUS TWO and without any problem. The topic is the following I have done all the steps as they are indicated but at the time of restarting the phone when the installation is finished, a load loop has started and never ends. I've been searching the internet all day to unbricke the phone but it's impossible, I try to install different ROMs and I still get nothing.
Sorry for my bad English, my language is Spanish
Link video YOUTUBE : https :// w w w. youtube .com/watch?v=0prJgT2erSU Delete the spaces of the link, being a new user does not let me post links

I had this same problem, and can almost promise this will unbrick it. Unfortunately this will put your phone back to how you had it when you first unboxed it, but it will work again.
1. Download the official OOS 4.5.5 zip
2. Wipe cache/dalvik/system/data in TWRP and flash the stock zip.
3. Within TWRP, flash the stock OP recovery image. You do this the same way as a zip, but click images in the bottom right while browsing for the file. Choose recovery as the partition of course.
4. Go to TWRP power options and boot to Bootloader/fastboot
5. Hook up to your PC and run the command to lock your bootloader "fastboot oem lock" (this will wipe your device and encrypt it again. I believe at this point the stock recovery will come up, do another factory reset to be safe.
6. Start your phone, at this point it should load up like new and all you have to do is unlock bootloader again and flash TWRP through fastboot so you can root again.
I don't have an answer for why ResurrectionRemix bricked your phone, but it did for me too. I followed the decrypt instructions to the T, but the same thing happened and I spent an entire Saturday trying to get my phone running again. I would guess that ResurrectionRemix is not to blame, and any other Lineage based ROM would end in the same result.
Good luck.

ArkAngel06 said:
I had this same problem, and can almost promise this will unbrick it. Unfortunately this will put your phone back to how you had it when you first unboxed it, but it will work again.
1. Download the official OOS 4.5.5 zip[/URL]
2. Wipe cache/dalvik/system/data in TWRP and flash the stock zip.
3. Within TWRP, flash the stock OP recovery image.[/URL] You do this the same way as a zip, but click images in the bottom right while browsing for the file. Choose recovery as the partition of course.
4. Go to TWRP power options and boot to Bootloader/fastboot
5. Hook up to your PC and run the command to lock your bootloader "fastboot oem lock" (this will wipe your device and encrypt it again. I believe at this point the stock recovery will come up, do another factory reset to be safe.
6. Start your phone, at this point it should load up like new and all you have to do is unlock bootloader again and flash TWRP through fastboot so you can root again.
I don't have an answer for why ResurrectionRemix bricked your phone, but it did for me too. I followed the decrypt instructions to the T, but the same thing happened and I spent an entire Saturday trying to get my phone running again. I would guess that ResurrectionRemix is not to blame, and any other Lineage based ROM would end in the same result.
Good luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
WOW Many thanks, my friend, finally my phone has revived. Again thank you very much has served me very much.:good:

Accidentally flashed Lineage OS 14.1 to both boot and recovery ?

So, erm, yeah, I made a big mistake...
A few weeks ago I bought an old Nexus 7 2012 (grouper) for just $5 on eBay, that was 'untested.' Long story short, it worked fine but was super slow, as expected, so I unlocked the bootloader, rooted it and installed TWRP. At this point, I was quite proud of myself since I'd never had the balls to root my own device before, so I got the unofficial build of Lineage 14.1 for Nexus 7, and flashed it to the boot in TWRP, which i still suspect i did incorrectly, but panicked when it wasn't booting, so because I'm a massive noob at this I flashed the Lineage boot file to the recovery too, which I later learned you aren't meant to do, so this brings us to the now. The device won't boot past the Google logo unless I press volume down and power, which gets me to the android laying down screen with the options at the side, I tried to enter Recovery mode but obviously because I flashed the boot file to the Recovery it wouldn't boot to TWRP, still on the Google logo. I tried connecting it to my PC but to no avail, as it would be recognised but not as a nexus 7, as a 'removable MP3 device'. I didn't factory reset from TWRP before flashing, not that that matters now. The only potential solution I could think of would be using command line in windows to reinstall the stock Rom or Lineage directly. Thanks in advance, and please can I have the responses in plain English with very simple instructions, as I'm new to all this! Thanks.

David_1276 said:
So, erm, yeah, I made a big mistake...
A few weeks ago I bought an old Nexus 7 2012 (grouper) for just $5 on eBay, that was 'untested.' Long story short, it worked fine but was super slow, as expected, so I unlocked the bootloader, rooted it and installed TWRP. At this point, I was quite proud of myself since I'd never had the balls to root my own device before, so I got the unofficial build of Lineage 14.1 for Nexus 7, and flashed it to the boot in TWRP, which i still suspect i did incorrectly, but panicked when it wasn't booting, so because I'm a massive noob at this I flashed the Lineage boot file to the recovery too, which I later learned you aren't meant to do, so this brings us to the now. The device won't boot past the Google logo unless I press volume down and power, which gets me to the android laying down screen with the options at the side, I tried to enter Recovery mode but obviously because I flashed the boot file to the Recovery it wouldn't boot to TWRP, still on the Google logo. I tried connecting it to my PC but to no avail, as it would be recognised but not as a nexus 7, as a 'removable MP3 device'. I didn't factory reset from TWRP before flashing, not that that matters now. The only potential solution I could think of would be using command line in windows to reinstall the stock Rom or Lineage directly. Thanks in advance, and please can I have the responses in plain English with very simple instructions, as I'm new to all this! Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, David_1276...
Thankfully you didn't flash over the bootloader partition, because if you had, you would have a hardbricked Nexus 7 on your hands!
So, going off your description, you've overwritten the boot partition and/or the recovery partition with something that is not valid for either of those two partitions.
The easiest fix would be to simply reflash the Nexus 7 back to official Google factory stock, using fastboot. And then (perhaps) start afresh rooting it and maybe have another attempt at flashing Lineage. But the first objective would be to just get it booting properly again.
I'm assuming your PC/laptop is running some variant of Windows (I've no idea how any of the following would work with an Apple Mac or on a Linux system), and further, that your Nexus 7's bootloader is unlocked, as indicated by an unlocked padlock symbol at the bottom of the white Google splash screen upon boot.
Google Factory Stock Images
So, to reflash it back to Google factory stock, you'll need to download a factory stock image, which can be found at this link...
Nexus 7 WiFi only
https://developers.google.com/android/images#nakasi
There are two ways you can flash a factory image... You can either: just run the flash-all.bat file, which is part of the factory image, once unzipped... or unzip it (twice), and then flash each partition individually...
eg., this kind of thing...
Code:
fastboot flash bootloader bootloader.img
fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
fastboot flash system system.img
However, a note of caution...
If your Nexus 7's bootloader is already on v4.23, then I recommend you do not reflash it - reflashing the bootloader is the riskiest part of this procedure, 'cos should the flash fail in some way, eg. as a result of a dodgy USB connection for example, the bootloader could become corrupted and potentially hardbrick the device. The latest and last bootloader version is v4.23 and if your device is already displaying that version number in the bootloader
screen (lower left hand corner), there's really no point in reflashing it again. However, if the version number is lower than v4.23, then you will need to bring it up-to date. The risk isn't huge, and providing you don't nudge or disconnect the USB cable during the 5 seconds it takes to flash it, you should be OK - but if it can be avoided at all, then it should be.
*****
Custom Recovery ~ TWRP
Once you've successfully reflashed your Nexus 7 back to Google factory stock, and should you wish to root it again or flash a custom ROM such as Lineage, you'll first need to flash a custom recovery, such as TWRP. Since at this point you won't be rooted, you'll need to use fastboot for this.
You can find the download links (and instructions) for the Nexus 7 TWRP .img files at this link...
https://twrp.me/asus/asusnexus72012wifi.html
There are two download mirror links at this website, one for Europe and the other for America. Select the one that works best for you.
To flash TWRP, your Nexus 7 should be booted into fastboot mode, and from your laptop/PC, type this command...
Code:
fastboot flash recovery [name-of-twrp.img file]
I usually rename the rather lengthy TWRP .img file to something short, like twrp.img, so the fastboot command is much easier to type, and would look like this...
Code:
fastboot flash recovery twrp.img
*****
Fastboot and ADB
On the subject of fastboot, you'll need the fastboot and ADB binaries for all of the above... That is, if you haven't already got them on your computer.
You can get them from here...
https://www.xda-developers.com/google-releases-separate-adb-and-fastboot-binary-downloads
Unzip the file, and copy these binaries into a folder (eg., Fastboot and ADB tools) on your computer, somewhere on the desktop. Anything you wish to fastboot flash, such as a boot image or a custom recovery image, MUST go in the same folder as these binaries... unless you've added this folder to the Windows PATH variable, then it doesn't matter what folder .img files go in.
--------------------------------------
Well, I think I've covered much of the basics. Sorry I couldn't go into more details right now. There are two reasons for this. First, I haven't flashed anything on my own Nexus 7 for a couple of years, so I'm a little hazy about some of the specifics. The second reason is time - I never seem to have enough of it these days, and because of this, it maybe a few days before I can get around to answering any follow-up questions you may have. So please be patient if I don't immediately reply to you.
--------------------------------------
Anyway, have a read of some of the threads on this Nexus 7 forum which cover some of this stuff in more detail, and perhaps take a look at my own posting history regarding the Nexus 7. I always try to be as exhaustive as possible when responding to XDA members with questions not too dissimilar from yours, so you may be able to glean something that might fill in any blank spots I may have missed.
Good luck, and I hope you get your N7 up and running again soon.
Rgrds,
Ged.
Edit & Additional...
Just remembered - I forgot to include some instructions on how to actually run fastboot commands...
With your Nexus 7 booted into the bootloader (from a powered off state - long press VOL-DOWN and simultaneously press POWER-ON), and connected to your computer, move the Windows mouse pointer over the folder which contains the Fastboot and ADB binaries, and which should also contain any .img files you wish to flash, such as TWRP... Press SHIFT and right mouse click at the same time, then select 'Open Command Prompt Here' from the context menu. A command prompt window should open, and from here you can run fastboot commands as described previously. It's probably a good idea to first run...
Code:
fastboot devices
This command doesn't actually do anything, except to confirm you have a working fastboot connection between your computer and your Nexus 7. It does this by displaying your Nexus 7's unique serial number, so something like this...
019d2424b14050b fastboot
If a serial number fails to appear, you likely have a Windows driver problem, and proceeding with further fastboot commands without resolving it would be pointless. Hopefully this won't happen - let me know if it does...

I hate to barge in on someone else's thread but my searches have been so frustrating and gedblake is so knowledgeable that I could not resist asking a simple question.
I have an old working and rooted nexus 7 with twrp 3.xxxx installed and su. It is still on android 4.4.2 with kernel 3.1.10-g4776c68
I would like to update it to a stable but more recent android. So my question is:
—what is the most recent stable unofficial android available and where do I find the download files?
I am open to lineageos if there is a stable version available for the nexus 7 2012.
Thanks.

maybeme2 said:
I hate to barge in on someone else's thread but my searches have been so frustrating and gedblake is so knowledgeable that I could not resist asking a simple question.
I have an old working and rooted nexus 7 with twrp 3.xxxx installed and su. It is still on android 4.4.2 with kernel 3.1.10-g4776c68
I would like to update it to a stable but more recent android. So my question is:
—what is the most recent stable unofficial android available and where do I find the download files?
I am open to lineageos if there is a stable version available for the nexus 7 2012.
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, maybeme...
Hehe, flattery will get you everywhere... or so I'm told (just joking), but unfortunately, probably not on this occasion.
My Nexus 7, although it still works, largely just gathers dust these days. Even back in its heyday, 2012-2014, I rarely bothered flashing anything, other than factory stock when needed. I tinkered around with Xposed Framework for a short while and flashed some custom kernels, eg., Franco, but I quit doing all of that when the benefits appeared to be marginal, and then eventually I moved on to newer tablets and phones. So, I'm a little bit 'out of the loop', when it comes to the latest Custom ROMs.
So, I can only suggest you take a look here...
https://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-7/development/rom-lineageos-14-1-nexus-7-2012-t3530261
And more generally, here...
https://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-7/development
...if you haven't already done so.
Hope this is of some use to you, and that you find what you're looking for.
Rgrds,
Ged.

maybeme2 said:
I hate to barge in on someone else's thread but my searches have been so frustrating and gedblake is so knowledgeable that I could not resist asking a simple question.
I have an old working and rooted nexus 7 with twrp 3.xxxx installed and su. It is still on android 4.4.2 with kernel 3.1.10-g4776c68
I would like to update it to a stable but more recent android. So my question is:
—what is the most recent stable unofficial android available and where do I find the download files?
I am open to lineageos if there is a stable version available for the nexus 7 2012.
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry for the OT.
My N7 is running THIS ROM.
I find this ROM to be fluid and fast (well, fast for a N7 anyway). Much much better than the stock.
As Ged said, you will find many others in the link provided by him including LOS.

Stuck in Bootloader with Magisk, Boots Correctly Without Magisk

Phone: A6010
OOS: 9.0.17
TWRP: twrp-3.2.3-x_blu_spark_v9.91_op6
Magisk: Magisk-v19.3
PC OS: Manjaro Linux with Android SDK tools
Hello folks. This issue started happening last night. I rebooted the phone (hold down Power button, hit Restart), but when it rebooted, it stayed on the "bootloader unlocked" warning screen for a long time, and would then enter the bootloader. This has never happened before, even after the latest OTA update to 9.0.17 (after which the phone was successfully re-rooted following these instructions.)
If "Power Off" was selected, the screen would turn off without the corresponding buzz from the internal vibrator to show that the phone was powered down. Instead, it would reboot into Fastboot mode and then into the bootloader.
I've tried the following steps to troubleshoot:
1. fastboot boot twrp-3.2.3-x_blu_spark_v9.91_op6.img
adb sideload twrp-3.2.3-x_blu_spark_v9.91_op6.zip and reboot into recovery
adb sideload Magisk-v19.3.zip
Result: stuck at "bootloader unlocked" warning screen & enters bootloader
2. Tried the same steps in #1 but with Magisk v19.4 and 20.0. Same result.
3. Same steps in #1 but flashed Magisk-uninstaller-20191011.zip as the final step. Result, phone boots up correctly but without root.
4. Rebooted into bootloader
fastboot boot twrp-3.3.1-8-fajita.img
copied the same file to phone & Advanced -> Install Recovery Ramdisk -> twrp-3.3.1-8-fajita.img
reboot into Recovery & adb sideload Magisk-v19.4.zip
Same result as before, stuck at warning screen and then into bootloader.
5. Re-did #3 i.e. back to twrp-3.2.3-x_blu_spark_v9.91_op6 and uninstalled Magisk. Phone once again boots up correctly but without root. This is where I am now.
The phone can successfully boot to Recovery from Bootloader. I also tried to power down the phone from Recovery mode, which it did correctly (with corresponding vibrator buzz), but when powered back on would go back to "warning screen"/bootloader issue when Magisk was still installed.
Without Magisk, the phone powers down correctly, boots up correctly, and reboots correctly albeit all without root.
At this point, i've no idea what's going on or how to proceed further. There are some threads discussing MsmDownloadTool but the latest version available is for 9.0.16 in this thread, which i think can't be used for 9.0.17.
Suggestions on how to proceed would be most appreciated. Thank you in advance for your time.

SkyLukewalker said:
Phone: A6010
OOS: 9.0.17
TWRP: twrp-3.2.3-x_blu_spark_v9.91_op6
Magisk: Magisk-v19.3
PC OS: Manjaro Linux with Android SDK tools
Hello folks. This issue started happening last night. I rebooted the phone (hold down Power button, hit Restart), but when it rebooted, it stayed on the "bootloader unlocked" warning screen for a long time, and would then enter the bootloader. This has never happened before, even after the latest OTA update to 9.0.17 (after which the phone was successfully re-rooted following these instructions.)
If "Power Off" was selected, the screen would turn off without the corresponding buzz from the internal vibrator to show that the phone was powered down. Instead, it would reboot into Fastboot mode and then into the bootloader.
I've tried the following steps to troubleshoot:
1. fastboot boot twrp-3.2.3-x_blu_spark_v9.91_op6.img
adb sideload twrp-3.2.3-x_blu_spark_v9.91_op6.zip and reboot into recovery
adb sideload Magisk-v19.3.zip
Result: stuck at "bootloader unlocked" warning screen & enters bootloader
2. Tried the same steps in #1 but with Magisk v19.4 and 20.0. Same result.
3. Same steps in #1 but flashed Magisk-uninstaller-20191011.zip as the final step. Result, phone boots up correctly but without root.
4. Rebooted into bootloader
fastboot boot twrp-3.3.1-8-fajita.img
copied the same file to phone & Advanced -> Install Recovery Ramdisk -> twrp-3.3.1-8-fajita.img
reboot into Recovery & adb sideload Magisk-v19.4.zip
Same result as before, stuck at warning screen and then into bootloader.
5. Re-did #3 i.e. back to twrp-3.2.3-x_blu_spark_v9.91_op6 and uninstalled Magisk. Phone once again boots up correctly but without root. This is where I am now.
The phone can successfully boot to Recovery from Bootloader. I also tried to power down the phone from Recovery mode, which it did correctly (with corresponding vibrator buzz), but when powered back on would go back to "warning screen"/bootloader issue when Magisk was still installed.
Without Magisk, the phone powers down correctly, boots up correctly, and reboots correctly albeit all without root.
At this point, i've no idea what's going on or how to proceed further. There are some threads discussing MsmDownloadTool but the latest version available is for 9.0.16 in this thread, which i think can't be used for 9.0.17.
Suggestions on how to proceed would be most appreciated. Thank you in advance for your time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
MSM is your way to go. It will downgrade your phone to 9.0.17 and lock your Bootloader. After that you can unlock it and take the OTA Again. You will lose all your Data. Another thing you can try is to Format Data in TWRP. That will also cause you to loose all your Data but you might be able to boot up with Root.

Mannan Qamar said:
MSM is your way to go. It will downgrade your phone to 9.0.17 and lock your Bootloader. After that you can unlock it and take the OTA Again. You will lose all your Data. Another thing you can try is to Format Data in TWRP. That will also cause you to loose all your Data but you might be able to boot up with Root.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for the reply.
At this point, I'm kinda resigned to losing all data, so i did a backup this morning. However, I need my phone to be functional over this weekend, and will do as you have suggested on Monday after another backup.
Will start with the Format Data in TWRP method first, since i'm running Linux and have to setup a VM with USB passthrough to run Win7 and Msm.
Just to confirm, since i'm already running 9.0.17, is it okay simply to use MsmDownloadTool v4.0.59 if it comes to that? Thanks in advance.
On a sidenote, since data loss is inevitable, once it's confirmed that the phone boots up correctly with root and stock OOS, it may just be worth moving to LOS16 thereafter.

Mannan Qamar said:
MSM is your way to go. It will downgrade your phone to 9.0.17 and lock your Bootloader. After that you can unlock it and take the OTA Again. You will lose all your Data. Another thing you can try is to Format Data in TWRP. That will also cause you to loose all your Data but you might be able to boot up with Root.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had time today, and tried Format Data. Didn't work. Installing Magisk landed the phone in the same error screen.
So the Win7 VM was fired up and the instructions for Msm were followed. The phone is recognized and the drivers were successfully installed, showing up as Qualcomm HS-USB QDLoader 9008 (COM3)
However, when MsmDownloadTool V4.0.59 -- 9.0.16 was launched and Start was pressed, the operation times out with the message "Sahara Communication Failed. Please try again after power off phone."
This is despite powering off using the normal method within OOS itself, or powering off from within TWRP.
Not sure how to proceed. Please help?

SkyLukewalker said:
I had time today, and tried Format Data. Didn't work. Installing Magisk landed the phone in the same error screen.
So the Win7 VM was fired up and the instructions for Msm were followed. The phone is recognized and the drivers were successfully installed, showing up as Qualcomm HS-USB QDLoader 9008 (COM3)
However, when MsmDownloadTool V4.0.59 -- 9.0.16 was launched and Start was pressed, the operation times out with the message "Sahara Communication Failed. Please try again after power off phone."
This is despite powering off using the normal method within OOS itself, or powering off from within TWRP.
Not sure how to proceed. Please help?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could be an issue with the VM. I'd also try to change USB Port or try another Cable.

SkyLukewalker said:
Phone: A6010
OOS: 9.0.17
TWRP: twrp-3.2.3-x_blu_spark_v9.91_op6
Magisk: Magisk-v19.3
PC OS: Manjaro Linux with Android SDK tools
Hello folks. This issue started happening last night. I rebooted the phone (hold down Power button, hit Restart), but when it rebooted, it stayed on the "bootloader unlocked" warning screen for a long time, and would then enter the bootloader. This has never happened before, even after the latest OTA update to 9.0.17 (after which the phone was successfully re-rooted following these instructions.)
If "Power Off" was selected, the screen would turn off without the corresponding buzz from the internal vibrator to show that the phone was powered down. Instead, it would reboot into Fastboot mode and then into the bootloader.
I've tried the following steps to troubleshoot:
1. fastboot boot twrp-3.2.3-x_blu_spark_v9.91_op6.img
adb sideload twrp-3.2.3-x_blu_spark_v9.91_op6.zip and reboot into recovery
adb sideload Magisk-v19.3.zip
Result: stuck at "bootloader unlocked" warning screen & enters bootloader
2. Tried the same steps in #1 but with Magisk v19.4 and 20.0. Same result.
3. Same steps in #1 but flashed Magisk-uninstaller-20191011.zip as the final step. Result, phone boots up correctly but without root.
4. Rebooted into bootloader
fastboot boot twrp-3.3.1-8-fajita.img
copied the same file to phone & Advanced -> Install Recovery Ramdisk -> twrp-3.3.1-8-fajita.img
reboot into Recovery & adb sideload Magisk-v19.4.zip
Same result as before, stuck at warning screen and then into bootloader.
5. Re-did #3 i.e. back to twrp-3.2.3-x_blu_spark_v9.91_op6 and uninstalled Magisk. Phone once again boots up correctly but without root. This is where I am now.
The phone can successfully boot to Recovery from Bootloader. I also tried to power down the phone from Recovery mode, which it did correctly (with corresponding vibrator buzz), but when powered back on would go back to "warning screen"/bootloader issue when Magisk was still installed.
Without Magisk, the phone powers down correctly, boots up correctly, and reboots correctly albeit all without root.
At this point, i've no idea what's going on or how to proceed further. There are some threads discussing MsmDownloadTool but the latest version available is for 9.0.16 in this thread, which i think can't be used for 9.0.17.
Suggestions on how to proceed would be most appreciated. Thank you in advance for your time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why are you using TWRP from OP6 so old too? Here for OP6T there is newer https://github.com/engstk/android_device_oneplus_fajita/releases/tag/v9.101

elSkelet said:
Why are you using TWRP from OP6 so old too? Here for OP6T there is newer https://github.com/engstk/android_device_oneplus_fajita/releases/tag/v9.101
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have updated to the latest TWRP as you have mentioned. The issue still persists when Magisk is installed. Once again, Magisk had to be uninstalled before the phone would boot up properly.
Mannan Qamar said:
Could be an issue with the VM. I'd also try to change USB Port or try another Cable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried with 2 different USB ports today. Tomorrow i will reboot the VM, remove the driver, let it re-discover and install the driver from MS (i installed a pre-downloaded driver today) and try again. The cable is the original one that came with the phone, and another one will need to be purchased if the efforts fail. Hopefully it is just the VM acting funny.

SkyLukewalker said:
I have updated to the latest TWRP as you have mentioned. The issue still persists when Magisk is installed. Once again, Magisk had to be uninstalled before the phone would boot up properly.
I tried with 2 different USB ports today. Tomorrow i will reboot the VM, remove the driver, let it re-discover and install the driver from MS (i installed a pre-downloaded driver today) and try again. The cable is the original one that came with the phone, and another one will need to be purchased if the efforts fail. Hopefully it is just the VM acting funny.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No that won't be necessary. As the drivers can't be downloaded from MS. Is your phone able to reboot to Recovery? i.e. do you have TWRP Installed? If so, then flash Latest OOS ZIP and TWRP Installer, Reboot and repeat the two above steps. After that Format Data and Reboot. This should allow you to boot up. After that, proceed to root as you normally would. Also, I'd look into getting a Windows Laptop if it doesn't work. As MSM is known to have issues with VM.

Mannan Qamar said:
No that won't be necessary. As the drivers can't be downloaded from MS. Is your phone able to reboot to Recovery? i.e. do you have TWRP Installed? If so, then flash Latest OOS ZIP and TWRP Installer, Reboot and repeat the two above steps. After that Format Data and Reboot. This should allow you to boot up. After that, proceed to root as you normally would. Also, I'd look into getting a Windows Laptop if it doesn't work. As MSM is known to have issues with VM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, i have twrp-3.3.1-x_blu_spark_v9.101_op6t currently installed without Magisk. Will do as you have said tomorrow, since i have also downloaded the full 9.0.17 OOS zip file.
Since budget is very tight at the moment, i will look into borrowing a Windows PC/laptop for awhile to use Msm if the other methods don't work.

SkyLukewalker said:
Yes, i have twrp-3.3.1-x_blu_spark_v9.101_op6t currently installed without Magisk. Will do as you have said tomorrow, since i have also downloaded the full 9.0.17 OOS zip file.
Since budget is very tight at the moment, i will look into borrowing a Windows PC/laptop for awhile to use Msm if the other methods don't work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wait, wouldn't flashing back to 9.0.17 lock your bootloader? Then you can't enable OEM unlocking, which means you can't unlock the bootloader. You would need to flash MSM 9.0.11 to enable OEM unlocking, then unlock the bootloader before proceeding further. I'm no expert, just thought I'd mention it. Best of luck!!
Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using Tapatalk

xRogerxC said:
Wait, wouldn't flashing back to 9.0.17 lock your bootloader? Then you can't enable OEM unlocking, which means you can't unlock the bootloader. You would need to flash MSM 9.0.11 to enable OEM unlocking, then unlock the bootloader before proceeding further. I'm no expert, just thought I'd mention it. Best of luck!!
Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Didn't seem to be an issue, worked correctly and the bootloader remained unlocked.
Mannan Qamar said:
... Is your phone able to reboot to Recovery? i.e. do you have TWRP Installed? If so, then flash Latest OOS ZIP and TWRP Installer, Reboot and repeat the two above steps. After that Format Data and Reboot. This should allow you to boot up. After that, proceed to root as you normally would. ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This worked, and now the phone is booted up into the system WITH Magisk 19.4 installed. Thank you very much! I didn't have to use Msm.
The steps for anyone else facing the same issue that i did:
Reboot into Recovery. This can be done via long-press power button in System and pressing Recovery if TWRP is already installed, or adb reboot bootloader to reboot into the bootloader, and fastboot boot recoveryImage_Filename.img (in my case, it was twrp-3.3.1-x_blu_spark_v9.101_op6t.img)
Enter password/pattern to unlock
Advanced -> ADB Sideload -> adb sideload OOSimage_Filename.zip (in my case, it was OnePlus6TOxygen_34_OTA_024_all_1909112343_d5b1905.zip)
Back
ADB Sideload -> adb sideload TWRPzipFile_Filename.zip (in my case, it was twrp-3.3.1-x_blu_spark_v9.101_op6t.zip)
Back -> Back Arrow
Reboot -> Recovery, and wait for phone to reboot into Recovery
Enter password/pattern to unlock
Advanced -> ADB Sideload -> adb sideload OOSimage_Filename.zip
Back
ADB Sideload -> adb sideload TWRPzipFile_Filename.zip
Back -> Back Arrow
Wipe -> Format Data -> type "yes" and click the blue tick "Enter" key on keyboard.
Back Arrow to Main Screen -> Reboot -> Recovery, and wait for phone to reboot into Recovery
Enter password/pattern to unlock
Advanced -> ADB Sideload -> adb sideload MagiskInstaller.zip (in my case, it was Magisk-v19.4.zip)
Back -> Back Arrow
Reboot -> Power Off to completely power down.
Long-press power button to boot the phone. The issue of being stuck at the bootloader unlocked warning screen was gone. The phone booted into System with Magisk Root installed and working.
Later today, I will install LOS16 with Magisk and report back on how that went. Once again, much gratitude and appreciation to Mannan Qamar for the solution!

SkyLukewalker said:
Didn't seem to be an issue, worked correctly and the bootloader remained unlocked.
This worked, and now the phone is booted up into the system WITH Magisk 19.4 installed. Thank you very much! I didn't have to use Msm.
The steps for anyone else facing the same issue that i did:
Reboot into Recovery. This can be done via long-press power button in System and pressing Recovery if TWRP is already installed, or adb reboot bootloader to reboot into the bootloader, and fastboot boot recoveryImage_Filename.img (in my case, it was twrp-3.3.1-x_blu_spark_v9.101_op6t.img)
Enter password/pattern to unlock
Advanced -> ADB Sideload -> adb sideload OOSimage_Filename.zip (in my case, it was OnePlus6TOxygen_34_OTA_024_all_1909112343_d5b1905.zip)
Back
ADB Sideload -> adb sideload TWRPzipFile_Filename.zip (in my case, it was twrp-3.3.1-x_blu_spark_v9.101_op6t.zip)
Back -> Back Arrow
Reboot -> Recovery, and wait for phone to reboot into Recovery
Enter password/pattern to unlock
Advanced -> ADB Sideload -> adb sideload OOSimage_Filename.zip
Back
ADB Sideload -> adb sideload TWRPzipFile_Filename.zip
Back -> Back Arrow
Wipe -> Format Data -> type "yes" and click the blue tick "Enter" key on keyboard.
Back Arrow to Main Screen -> Reboot -> Recovery, and wait for phone to reboot into Recovery
Enter password/pattern to unlock
Advanced -> ADB Sideload -> adb sideload MagiskInstaller.zip (in my case, it was Magisk-v19.4.zip)
Back -> Back Arrow
Reboot -> Power Off to completely power down.
Long-press power button to boot the phone. The issue of being stuck at the bootloader unlocked warning screen was gone. The phone booted into System with Magisk Root installed and working.
Later today, I will install LOS16 with Magisk and report back on how that went. Once again, much gratitude and appreciation to Mannan Qamar for the solution!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad to know it worked. MSM should be a last resort but most people use it as a first option to Nuke their phone. And if you want help on installing ROMs, don't hesitate to ask.

Mannan Qamar said:
Glad to know it worked. MSM should be a last resort but most people use it as a first option to Nuke their phone. And if you want help on installing ROMs, don't hesitate to ask.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOS16 was installed successfully with Magisk and i spent nearly 7 hours setting up the phone since opbackup could not be seen by OnePlus Switch, and i had to do everything manually.
Suddenly the screen started flashing all sorts of colours. I rebooted, and the same problem came back, i.e. stuck at the warning screen.
So, i used the instructions you provided and got OOS 9.0.17 booted back up with Magisk 19.4. However, when i try to connect to the phone via USB, even with debugging enabled, the internal storage cannot be read. Says "enable MTP." This is also happening in TWRP even after disabling and re-enabling MTP.
How do i get the phone to see the internal storage again? Please help.

SkyLukewalker said:
LOS16 was installed successfully with Magisk and i spent nearly 7 hours setting up the phone since opbackup could not be seen by OnePlus Switch, and i had to do everything manually.
Suddenly the screen started flashing all sorts of colours. I rebooted, and the same problem came back, i.e. stuck at the warning screen.
So, i used the instructions you provided and got OOS 9.0.17 booted back up with Magisk 19.4. However, when i try to connect to the phone via USB, even with debugging enabled, the internal storage cannot be read. Says "enable MTP." This is also happening in TWRP even after disabling and re-enabling MTP.
How do i get the phone to see the internal storage again? Please help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Format Data in TWRP. For some weird reason, Internal Storage gets messed up after flashing OOS. And the screen issue might have been a Magisk Module or some other error. Maybe an issue with the ROM. I'd certainly try another ROM

Mannan Qamar said:
Format Data in TWRP. For some weird reason, Internal Storage gets messed up after flashing OOS. And the screen issue might have been a Magisk Module or some other error. Maybe an issue with the ROM. I'd certainly try another ROM
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm going to do the whole process all over again, just to be sure, and try to copy the necessary files over to internal storage before flashing Magisk. Will update once the process gets there. I'm going back to rooted OOS for now because nearly 7 hours of setup is not fun in the least for a daily driver phone.

Mannan Qamar said:
Format Data in TWRP. For some weird reason, Internal Storage gets messed up after flashing OOS. And the screen issue might have been a Magisk Module or some other error. Maybe an issue with the ROM. I'd certainly try another ROM
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I managed to copy over the files in TWRP, with internal storage showing up as Internal Storage (A6013). However, once booted into system, it now shows up as Internal Shared Storage (A6010) with nothing in it. Using the phone's File Manager, the copied files do not show up either.
But going back to TWRP, Internal Storage shows up correctly with the copied files. Did Format Data in TWRP and rebooted into system. Still the same issue. Please help?
Edit: tried doing the same method all over again. This time, the MTP error shows up in TWRP also. Can't see anything anymore.

SkyLukewalker said:
I managed to copy over the files in TWRP, with internal storage showing up as Internal Storage (A6013). However, once booted into system, it now shows up as Internal Shared Storage (A6010) with nothing in it. Using the phone's File Manager, the copied files do not show up either.
But going back to TWRP, Internal Storage shows up correctly with the copied files. Did Format Data in TWRP and rebooted into system. Still the same issue. Please help?
Edit: tried doing the same method all over again. This time, the MTP error shows up in TWRP also. Can't see anything anymore.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well. In such a case MSM is the way to go. I'd recommend using a Windows Laptop. Although as a last resort if try the Fastboot ROMs before MSM. Search OP6T Fastboot ROMs

Mannan Qamar said:
Well. In such a case MSM is the way to go. I'd recommend using a Windows Laptop. Although as a last resort if try the Fastboot ROMs before MSM. Search OP6T Fastboot ROMs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I found this thread and downloaded the appropriate Fastboot ROM (9.0.17). Just a couple of questions:
1. do i need to do the persist partition step?
2. where in TWRP do i have to go to do adb push and adb shell?

SkyLukewalker said:
I found this thread and downloaded the appropriate Fastboot ROM (9.0.17). Just a couple of questions:
1. do i need to do the persist partition step?
2. where in TWRP do i have to go to do adb push and adb shell?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Those things are not necessary. Just unzip and use the Flasher in the archive. The default one should be sufficient. The others aren't needed.

Mannan Qamar said:
Those things are not necessary. Just unzip and use the Flasher in the archive. The default one should be sufficient. The others aren't needed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hopefully it works from the VM. Otherwise i will have to do it manually from Linux terminal. Thank you for the advice. Will report tomorrow when the process is done.

OnePlus 6t crashdump. NOFIX

I have two oneplus 6t devices. One which was recently rooted and running kali nethunter flawlessly. I tried to wipe and switch to paranoid android per an xda tutorial. This device after the reset was unable to be flashed with twrp to recovery. Nor will it boot to twrp via fastboot command "fastboot boot "twrp...". I have tried the msm tools and none of which will either recognize the device or the have errors such as 15 second timeouts after connecting and or the "image doesn't match phone!". the drivers have been installed, reinstalled, restarted whatever i could do. Nothing works. I successfully installed and was running PA on one of the devices. Then the mobile network began stopping and starting every second and would not stay steady. I tried a few restarts of the device..... nothing. I looked up everything I could on the issue and couldn't find a thing. After wiping this device and trying to flash twrp to this one as well, I am now in the same boat with both devices.
I now can flash boot_a with an OTA i found but still no twrp support. the phones will both boot and operate correctly with mobile and wifi. But i want them for paranoid android.
I am now on my macbook running parrot OS linux to try and flash from here. I am fairly new to all of this but I've successfully done multiple nexus 5x devices "rooted running nethunter" as well as a oneplus 3t and 7 pro with paranoid android. The 6t is my absolute favorite and I have two of them. I will not give up on them...hahaha.
If anyone has any guidance please help. I'm all for admitting mistakes as well as my lack of experience here. It would have been all me messing things up here somewhere but I feel I have followed intsructions well and used all the tools I can.

Hi there,
Thanks for posting. I found your post when searching online for the exact same issue. Here is what I did to fix the issue on my side:
* If you device display `crash dump mode` without any additional step, press `Vol-Up` + `Power` to shut down gracefully the device
* When the device is shut down, press both buttons `Vol-Up` and `Vol-Down`, the device you reboot in fastboot mode.
* Then reflash the whole device using a fastboot version of the latest ROMS: [link](https://forum.xda-developers.com/oneplus-6t/how-to/rom-stock-fastboot-roms-oneplus-6t-t3862516)
Hope this helps for you as well

@kyle868edward
If you like a good camera I would suggest Pixel Experience or PE+ or PiXeN rom. I'm not knocking AOSPA but camera quality just isn't the same when I've used it even with google camera... If I knew exactly what you did before you experienced this it would help tremendously. Detailed step by step type info.
If I was on stock OOS 10.3.6 on my OnePlus 6t and wanted to flash AOSPA here's what I do:
Boot twrp via fastboot. Nowadays fastboot won't allow me to rename twrp image to twrp.img like it used to. That command fails that way for me now so I just copy and paste the entire name of whatever recovery I'm using over to terminal. That works for me using Ubuntu 18.04.
Boot TWRP
Flash OOS 10.3.6 global from repo in guides section
Flash AOSPA rom
Flash TWRP recovery installer zip
Flash finalize zip
Format data
Reboot system.
That installation process changes slightly depending on whether or not whatever rom I'm installing includes gapps and or twrp but thats how I install roms on my OnePlus 6t. I have a T-Mobile 6t converted to international/global model. If I had a detailed list of exactly what you did I could probably tell what the deal may have been... Hope this helps.
Edit added:
If you are not able to get msm tool to work then that is the end of the road unless you were to do something like send it to get repaired...
Sent from my OnePlus6T using XDA Labs
---------- Post added at 06:00 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:53 AM ----------
wget said:
Hi there,
Thanks for posting. I found your post when searching online for the exact same issue. Here is what I did to fix the issue on my side:
* If you device display `crash dump mode` without any additional step, press `Vol-Up` + `Power` to shut down gracefully the device
* When the device is shut down, press both buttons `Vol-Up` and `Vol-Down`, the device you reboot in fastboot mode.
* Then reflash the whole device using a fastboot version of the latest ROMS: [link](https://forum.xda-developers.com/oneplus-6t/how-to/rom-stock-fastboot-roms-oneplus-6t-t3862516)
Hope this helps for you as well
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is how I've always been able to get out of crash dump on my OnePlus 6t.
I hope power+ volume +&- until it vibrates and says fastboot then hit power on start bootloader screen to reboot system. I've seen crash dumb 13-14 times so far. Only one time this didn't work for me and I went back to crash dump instead of booting system and I always enable developer options and usb debugging immediately after I boot a setup so the time it sent me back to crash dump I just flashed OOS and a rom again and formatted data and booted up.
Sent from my OnePlus6T using XDA Labs