I have been trying to instal /e/OS on my brand new Fairphone 5 and couldn’t succeed.
I’m confused because as I understand from the Smartphone Selector page, it is supposed to support this model, but I have come across several posts that say it no longer does.
PS C:\Program Files (x86)\platform-tools> .\fastboot flashing unlock
< waiting for any device >
Before running any critical fastboot command, ensure you are in Fastboot mode
How do I do that ? The phone screen shows a menu that says “Fastboot mode” but it is in red, is this where I need to be ? The options I have are : Start, Restart bootloader, Recovery mode, Power off
then it is always a good idea to run first “fastboot devices”
It doesn’t return anything
Also I tried to run this again just after running it the first time:
PS C:\Program Files (x86)\platform-tools> .\adb reboot bootloader
error: no devices/emulators found
which is weird because it works the first time, right ?
Following this post, i found out that when the phone is booted in normal mode, it is detected by Windows, and when it is booted is fastboot, there is a . the post says to open Update Manager but I couldn’t find out what it is and where to get it. Is it about the Android version ? My phone says it is up to date (Android 14 - 5 feb 2025)
Does it not work to right click on the Problem device and then Windows will provide the option, Edit, or a choice of options or a “Help” link. It will vary by Windows version, I guess, perhaps you would have to look up online.
The thing is Windows, by default installs a “general purpose” driver. For this install job and use of fastboot you need a “more special” or maybe “combination” (perhaps Google branded) driver.
ADB requires an “MTP” driver which is included with the base Windows instance. Windows will install the driver when you plug in the phone first time with no user action. The phone prompts you to enable USB debugging and asks for which mode to use. Allow USB debugging and file transfer mode.
Fastboot requires a driver called “Android Bootloader Interface”. It’s not canned with Windows like the driver for ADB. The driver is available for download through Windows Update should work without issue. In some cases user action may be required to download and install the driver.
You can go to Device Manager in Windows to check the driver is installed correctly. Put the phone in fastboot mode and connect it to the the computer. If the device appears under “other devices” with a yellow triangle, simply right click on it and select update driver. You should search for the driver on Windows Update. It’s not necessary or recommended to search outside of Microsoft for a 3rd party driver.
If you’re having trouble finding Device Manager you can use the Windows search box to find it. If you’re still having trouble finding Device Manager in Windows, you can call it up by typing devmgmt.msc in the Run box or from a command window.
So I launched Windows Update and also tried to update the driver from Windows Udate but it didn’t change anything about the Problem device
I installed the driver from https://adb.clockworkmod.com/ and rebooted the PC with no change.
Turns out I needed to go into Windows Update Advanced Options to find Facultative updates were available including “LeMobile - Other hardware - Android Composite ADB Interface”
Now when I run “adb devices” there is no Problem device but I can’t see the phone in the Device Manager, and “adb devices” returns nothing. But “fastboot flashing unlock” worked !
So now I’m at this step :
Ask for unlock with fastboot flashing unlock
Approve with volume + then power
The device proceed with a factory reset, and automatically reboots
Reboot again into bootloader
But I get :
C:\Users\user>adb reboot bootloader
error: no devices/emulators found
Turns out the developer mode is gone, is this supposed to happen ? Should I just turn it back on and carry on with the procedure ?
Yes, that’s the usual procedure. To illustrate for others finding this topic, here’s an animation from a Fairphone support page …
The driver vendor doesn’t matter … might be Google, might be Le Mobile, might be something else. These are generic drivers Windows will automatically choose judging by whether they should work with the device you connected to the computer.
This is normal.
ADB commands are of use when Android is booted and USB debugging (aka Android debugging in other Android OSes or versions) is enabled, or with a subset of commands also when a compatible recovery program is booted.
Fastboot commands are for fastboot mode (aka bootloader).
It would be supposed to happen in fastboot mode … are you back in fastboot mode (aka bootloader)?
Yes, if fastboot flashing unlock was successful, then carry on in fastboot mode (aka bootloader), as the next fastboot command is coming up in the instructions.
If in doubt, you can reboot into fastboot mode by keeping the power button and Vol - pressed when starting or rebooting the phone.
Thank you for youy help. I meant that at this step :
The device proceed with a factory reset, and automatically reboots
Reboot again into bootloader
The Factory reset happens, and the phone reboots in normal mode with the fresh install. From here I can not reboot in fastboot mode because
adb reboot bootloader
returns
error: no devices/emulators found
If in doubt, you can reboot into fastboot mode by keeping the power button and Vol - pressed when starting or rebooting the phone.
This is the information I needed, thank you ! I followed the procedure further along and see it is detailed here, but i don’t think it was mentioned earlier.
And I have now booted into /e/os thank you so much to everyone who helped !
Ah, I see.
For ADB to work at this point, you have to enable USB debugging again on the phone, which was part of the instructions earlier already.
ADB is the Android Debug Bridge (via USB by default, so “USB debugging” in the settings, aka “Android debugging” in other Android OSes or versions), and a factory reset also resets this setting to disabled.
Should I not have used the Community version ? I think i have read that only this one will work on phones not sold by Murena. Oh wait did I understand wrong and does that mean that since Murena sells Fairphone 5 phones, the stable version will work on it even though I didn’t buy it from Murena ?
I’m always a bit careful about the Fairphone 5 (as well as many other phones) because I don’t have the device and it’s a bit of a different beast than my Fairphone 3 and thus I tend to stick with what I really know or what documentation says.
My guess would be you could try to sideload official and then the OS should prompt for a factory reset when booting … but the emphasis here is on “my guess”.
Can’t hurt to just stick with the normal install instructions again.
It seems there’s no data to keep after the lock attempt (which should have forced a factory reset), and switching from community to official would not allow keeping user data either way as far as I know.
. the post says to open Update Manager but I couldn’t find out what it is and where to get it. Is it about the Android version ? My phone says it is up to date (Android 14 - 5 feb 2025)
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