JackMcKew / PixelFlasher

Pixel™ phone flashing utility with options.

PixelFlasher

This is a follow up to PixelFlasher Powershell™ script (which is now deprecated and moved to scripts directory). This is a total rewrite in Python™ using wxPython to provide a cross-platform UI interface. The executable which can be found in releases section is self contained and does not require Python™ to be installed on the system.

DESCRIPTION

As the name suggests this is an application to flash (update) Pixel™ phones (possibly all Google™ made phones/tablets, YMMV.) The application has two modes, normal mode (basic) and advanced mode (expert).

Basic mode: Should suit most users. Some of the features in basic mode are:

• Simple UI interface, click and go. No more command line.
• Fully Automated, pre-patch factory image with Magisk (without user interaction) and perform upgrades without losing root. No more manually extracting files transferring to the phone, patching / re-flashing and doing multiple reboots. No more setting airplane mode and clearing storage to retain Safetynet passing. (This Assumes that the phone was previously rooted with Magisk)
• Choose to keep data or wipe data.
• Ability to flash even if multiple devices are connected to the computer.
• Display information about the phone.
  • id
  • hardware
  • current installed firmware.
  • if it is rooted with Magisk.
  • Magisk version
  • List installed Magisk modules.
  • connection mode.
• Display Android Platform Tools (SDK) version.
• Advanced features are hidden to keep the interface simple and easy to follow.
• A lot of checks and validations for smooth operation.

Expert mode: (should only be turned on by experienced users). In addition to the basic features, you get:

• The ability to flash custom ROM (with or without patching boot.img)
• Option to flash to both slots.
• Options to disable verity and or verification.
• Ability to change the active slot.
• Ability to live boot to custom boot.img (temporary root).
• Ability to boot to recovery.
• Ability to flash custom image: boot, recovery, radio, kernel, ...

Prerequisites

• Android SDK Platform-Tools.
• Android Pixel phone factory image.
• Bootloader unlocked phone (see excellent guide links in credits section below).

Installation

PixelFlasher doesn't have to be installed, just double-click it and it'll start. Check the releases section for downloads. It is recommended that you place the executable in its own directory, as it creates temporary files in the application folder.

Status

Scan the list of open issues for bugs and pending features.

Note This is my first wxPython based project. I got ideas and inspiration from nodemcu-pyflasher If you have constructive feedback as for how to improve the code please do reach out to me.

Build it yourself

If you want to build this application yourself you need to: Setup

• Download or clone the repository.
• Install Python 3.x and Pip (it comes with Python™ if installed from python.org).
• Install virtualenv pip install virtualenv
• Create a virtual environment with virtualenv --python <PATH_TO_PYTHON_EXE> venv
• Activate the virtual environment with:
  • On Windows: .\venv\Scripts\activate
  • On Linux: . venv/bin/activate
• Run pip install -r requirements.txt

A note on Linux: As described on the downloads section of wxPython, wheels for Linux are complicated and may require you to run something like this to install wxPython correctly:

# Assuming you are running it on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS with GTK3
pip install -U \
    -f https://extras.wxpython.org/wxPython4/extras/linux/gtk3/ubuntu-20.04 \
    wxPython

A Note on Windows If you run into troubles installing wxPython on Windows, you can download wxPython wheel file matching your version of Python™ from here Look for cp310 if your python™ version is 3.10 You install it with pip, for example this would be the command to install 3.10 version.

pip install wxPython-4.1.2a1.dev5308+2258f215-cp310-cp310-win_amd64.whl

A Note on MacOS This project is cross-platform and is built for Windows and Linux, it can also be built for other platforms such as MacOS. To the best of my knowledge I have included the necessary files for it to be build on MacOS, however I do not have a Mac to build or test it.

Build Run build.bat on Windows or build.sh on Linux / MacOS.

Usage

Basic Mode

Think of basic mode in 3 stages. Stage 1 Essential selections.

1. First thing to do is select the factory image, the application will recognize the phone model from the image name.
2. If Android™ Platform Tools is already in your PATH environment, the application will detect it and pre-populate it. Otherwise you'd have to select where it is installed. If you have multiple versions, you can select another version, although it is best to always use the most recent version (The selected version will be identified and displayed.)
3. If you already have your phone connected to the PC, the application will detect all ADB connected devices (both in adb and fastboot mode) and populate the combo box. Otherwise connect your phone to your PC, and hit the Reload button.
4. Select your device from the list in the combo box. The following information about the connected device is displayed.
   • (1st field) Rooted devices will be identified with a checkmark ✓. Note: If you want PixelFlasher to detect root, or automatically use Magisk to patch boot.img, you need to grant root permissions to shell in Magisk.
   • (1st field) Non-Rooted devices will be identified with a ✗.
   • (1st field) Devices in fastboot mode will be identified with a ? (in fastboot mode, root status cannot be determined).
   • (2nd field) (adb) or (f.b) to indicate connection mode adb / fastboot.
   • (3rd field) Device ID.
   • (4th field) Device hardware.
   • (5th field) Current running firmware (in fastboot mode current firmware cannot be determined).

Stage 2 Preparing a package. Based on the choices made in stage 1, this stage creates the proper package file to be flashed later in stage 3.

5. Select this option if you want to pre-patch the image with Magisk, assuming that Magisk is already installed on your phone. This would be the typical choice for monthly updates. This option will allow updating the phone without losing root (not even temporarily). Note: See note above for granting root permissions to shell.

6. Prepare the package. If the phone is already rooted, the whole process is without user interaction. Otherwise the PixelFlasher will launch Magisk on the phone and wait for the user to select stock boot.img which would already be transferred to the phone by the PixelFlasher and guide the user to make the proper choices in Magisk to create a patched boot.img before continuing for PixelFlasher to do the rest of the work.

Stage 3 Flashing the device.

7. Select the Flash Mode
   • Keep Data: In this mode -w flag is removed from the flash scripts so that data is not wiped. This is commonly known as dirty flashing
   • WIPE all data: As the name suggests, this will wipe your data, use it with caution! PixelFlasher will ask for confirmation during the flashing phase, if this mode is selected.
   • Dry Run: In this mode, the phone will reboot to bootloader, and then mimic the flash actions (i.e. reboot into bootloader) without actually flashing anything (it prints to the console the steps it would have performed if dry run was not chosen). This is handy for testing to check if the PixelFlasher properly is able to control fastboot commands.
8. Flash Pixel Phone This is the final step, to actually execute/flash the prepared package in the selected Flash Mode. PixelFlasher will first present you the package content prepared in step 6, and ask for your confirmation if you want to proceed with flashing.

Expert Mode

To enable the export mode use the File Menu | Advanced Configuration

In this mode the following additional options are exposed, below notes are more for enumeration than a guide, as they should be trivial and obvious to an expert.

1. Option to Change the Active Slot (the inactive slot is automatically selected). Option to reboot to Recovery.
2. Apply Custom ROM. This replaces the factory ROM image with the selected file. This is still part of the package preparation stage. Please make sure to read the documentation of the chosen ROM, as each custom ROM instructions could be different. To be clear, this is what PixelFlasher does internally when this mode is selected, please understand it, and don't use it if the selected ROM guide does not fit the bill. You've been warned!
   • Keeps stock bootloader and radio images.
   • Replaces the stock ROM image with the selected custom ROM image.
   • Flashes in the chosen Flash Mode just like a stock image, i.e. bootloader, custom ROM and radio images in the original order that they were in the stock firmware.
   • Patching boot.img can be performed if the option is selected.
   • Flash Mode is similar to basic flash mode described above in step 7.
3. Custom Flash. select this to switch from flashing a package file to flashing a single file.
4. Browse to select a a valid image file (.img or .zip). Choose the dropdown to select image type.
   • boot (can be flashed to Live or boot) - Expected file type .img
   • vbmeta - Expected file type .img
   • recovery - Expected file type .img
   • radio - Expected file type .img
   • bootloader - Expected file type .img
   • dtbo - Expected file type .img
   • vendor - Expected file type .img
   • vendor_dlkm (the device will be put into fastbootd mode during this operation) - Expected file type .img
   • image - Expected file type .zip

Credits

• First and foremost Magisk by John Wu which made rooting Pixel™ phones possible, without it none of this would have mattered.

• Big thanks to [ryder203], [t-ryder] for his valuable ideas, feedback and testing. Your contributions are very much appreciated.

• [Homeboy76] and [v0latyle] at xda for their excellent guides [here and here] on Pixel™ series phones. This program could not have been possible without their easy to follow guides. I strongly encourage all beginners to follow those guides rather than use this program, it is important to understand the basic steps involved before diving into one click tools or advanced tasks.

• Marcel Stör's nodemcu-pyflasher source code which jump started my introduction to wxPython and eventually this program.

• Endless count of xda members and their posts that tirelessly answer questions and share tools. Too many to enumerate.

Disclaimer

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PLEASE DO YOUR PART AND READ / SEARCH / RESEARCH BEFORE USING THIS PROGRAM
AND/OR ATTEMPTING ANY MODIFICATIONS ON YOUR DEVICE.
THIS PROGRAM ASSUMES THAT YOU ALREADY KNOW HOW TO AND HAVE ALREADY UNLOCKED
YOUR BOOTLOADER, ALREADY ROOTED YOUR DEVICE, AND KNOW HOW TO USE ANDROID SDK
PLATFORM-TOOLS, ETC.
THIS TOOL IS SIMPLY MY QUICK WAY OF UPDATING THE FIRMWARE WHILE ROOTED WITH
MAGISK, WITHOUT LOSING DATA / REQUIRING A WIPE.

MODIFYING YOUR DEVICE COMES WITH INHERENT RISKS, AND IT'S NOT MY RESPONSIBILITY
IF YOU LOSE YOUR DATA OR BRICK YOUR DEVICE. THE TOOL I SHARE HAVE WORKED FOR ME,
BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN THAT YOU MAY NOT RUN INTO PROBLEMS. **BACKUP YOUR DATA.**
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