Google Pixel 5 /e os easy installer

[Kohryl]

Hi everyone,
I will soon be receiving a brand new Pixel 5 and I am looking forward to installing /e os straight onto it.
It will most likely come with Android 11 out of the box, and I was wondering if the easy installer will be able to flash /e on it with this version of Android?
Also, if I update the android version directly on the phone, it will update to A14, which is not supported by the easy installer (as far as I could read on the forum).
I am not a technical expert and I do not feel confident playing around with the phone by upgrading / downgrading the Android version to install /e.
Therefore what would be your recommendation in this situation ?

Thanks in advance for any feedback!

[piero]

hi @Kohryl

actual version of /e/OS for this device is e-1.21-t,
https://doc.e.foundation/devices/redfin/official
so better is to first install latest android 13 based version of GogolOS,
https://developers.google.com/android/images
and then flash the recovery-e to install /e/OS on it.
[HOWTO] an Unified Install Guide Project for /e/

[PierreT]

Hi @Kohryl,

I installed /e/OS on several Pixel 5 but always without the easy installer and therefore still via the command lines. With the right usb-c cable (a short cable) everything went very well in just a few minutes It’s very easy.
I followed those instructions: https://doc.e.foundation/devices/redfin/install .

I didn’t have to worry about which version of Android was already on the phone.

I would add a detail mentioned in this post Pixel 5 stuck in Fastboot Mode - #16 by PierreT and read in other messages on this forum. The installation is done on a slot, “a” or “b” (refer to the “Install /e/OS” chapter). After step 7, the recovery ask me to reboot to perform another install. I choose yes and then get back in recovery with the other active slot. I launch the install command again:
adb sideload downloaded_file_name.zip
I don’t know if it’s mandatory but it works well for me.

[ektoman]

Hi Kohryl,

You pretty much asked the question I wanted to ask. I just attempted to run easy installer on a refurbished devoce that was flashed by the seller as android 14. It ended up corrupting the install near the end stating that there was no valid OS to boot from. I used android flash to reinstall android 11 and then ran update which gave me android 14 again. I could find no easy option to downgrade to android 13 so I attempted to run easy installer again which, once more, corrupted the install once more and bricked the phone. I was able to run android flash one more time and this time I will run the install tomorrow on android 11. I will let you know how it goes.

Regards,

Ektoman

[Xxpsilon]

@ektoman

I will run the install tomorrow on android 11

Do not flash stock firmware Android 11 but the latest version 13 (T) from September 2023.

There are two simple ways to flash Factory Images

1. flash manually yourself (flash_all.bat / .sh) [ Link ]
2. online Android Flash Tool [ Flash ]

[ektoman]

Thank you for the info (and the links) Xxpsilon. Appreciate your efforts saving me more wasted hours and further disappointment. I will give android 13 a go, then run the easy installer. I will post a reply back to this thread after my next attempt. Third time’s the charm, as they say.

[mihi]

Not sure how technical you are and the other person was but here is a recent success even without easy installer:

Google - Pixel 6 on Android 14 - Safe to Downgrade & install /e/os? Or wait for /e/os Android 14 version?

Thanks to the commenters. Given encouragement… Initially, my Pixel 6 was running Google Android 14, auto-updated to July 2024 Used Google’s Android Flash Tool to install latest stock Android 13 (September 2023) Booted this several times, and tested phone (4G calling enabled) and 5G mobile data Successfully followed /e/os install instructions for Pixel 6 oriole, version 2.1 Booted this several times and checked phone & mobile data as above All appears to be well. About slots and bootloaders,…

[ektoman]

Thanks for the encouragement mihi. All worked well using android flash (only one option for android 13 available using android flash online application and the serial/version number for android 13 began with a ‘T’ so this mateches the compatibility of the build)

Easy installer worked well this time without any issues and I was greeted with the ‘E’ logo for the first time with this google device. So to confirm, follow the advice for android 13 build ‘T…’ And then use easy installer to put e os on a google pixel 5 redfin (as of 19th July 2024) perhaps the advice will alter as support for android 14 rolls into view.

For now, thank you all for your help. Looks like I will continue to enjoy the use of a smartphone with increased battery life with an anonymous digital footprint. Cheers E Foundation!