OnePlus 7 Pro: instructions & supported devices

/e/OS Devices OnePlus
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Summary: a recent update to the guacamole instructions, which may not yet be reflected in the Easy Installer tool, have left me uncertain about which models are actually supported & how to get around deadlocks for unlocking the bootloader on any Android version from which /e/OS can be installed.

First: I noticed late last month that the guacamole (OnePlus 7 Pro) guides and information page had been updated, some time apparently in mid-September:

  • “Build Versions” was changed from “S (stable)” to “T (dev), R (stable)”. This makes sense considering that some models are being shipped with Android 13, as well as reported inability to unlock the bootloader on the 7 Pro in Android 12.
  • In last month’s version there was a list of “supported models” which included the GM1917 (North America) but not the GM1915 (T-Mobile USA). The current guacamole page has the list of supported models removed, which suggests that all models are now supported (at least on T (dev)).

In part due to this uncertainty, I have both models of the phone now & wondering the best way to proceed, although each possibility appears to have a different deadlock and I don’t know exactly how this officially compatible phone is “supported”.

On the GM1917, Easy Installer confirms that the phone model is supported but reports the bootloader can’t be unlocked:

  • fastboot oem unlock reports “device cannot be unlocked due to technical reason” which is a known problem described here.
  • The usual solution is to roll back to Android 11 to unlock the bootloader there, but the guacamole manual install page insists that the phone be on Android 12 before proceeding.
  • It could be possible to break this apparent deadlock by following the advice at that third-party page: use MSMDowloadTool to revert to Android 11, unlock the bootloader, and then ZIP upgrade to Android 12, but I hope to get a response first about how much of this is really necessary & whether the GM1915 option is possible:

On the GM1915, Easy Installer says that the phone model is not supported:

  • Since the guacamole page was recently edited so that GM1915 is not excluded, it seems the Easy Installer might be out of date for its list of supported devices… could anyone please check that?
  • BUT even if going ahead with the Manual installation, I would still have the same problem as above because it’s on Android 11 and the instructions insist on beginning with Android 12.
  • And also as in the first case, I’m unsure that upgrading Android 12 (as a requirement for the install procedure) wouldn’t re-lock the bootloader again.

There must be a clear path forward since this is one of the currently only 21 phones to work with the Easy Installer, so it must have a lot of testing behind it. But since this deadlock isn’t described in the documentation please I would like some well qualified advice before proceeding. :pray:

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I’m summarising my findings here since the community’s current difficulties installing the latest /e/OS on OnePlus don’t often mention the 7 Pro.

The complete procedure I eventually used to get the latest /e/OS (T (dev)) to work is here (https://community.e.foundation/t/oneplus-8t-cant-shutdown-touchscreen-doesnt-work/50454/26). Some notes about my questions above:

:arrow_right: The (LineageOS > guacamole) page continues to list supported models of the 7 Pro, even though the /e/OS page has for some reason dropped them. LineageOS apparently doesn’t list the GM1915 because T-Mobile (and Sprint for other OnePlus models as well) have changed the memory partitioning to discourage installation of Custom ROMs.

:arrow_right: An essential means of loading different OxygenOS versions, the Oxygen Updater app, is a standard part of OnePlus tooling and specifically it says you should never try to install a custom ROM on the GM1915 or any carrier-made OnePlus unless you expect to brick the phone (I saw this when running this app on the GM1917).

:arrow_right: The one way to universally unbrick a OnePlus is MSMDownloadTool, for which the commonly referenced XDA post doesn’t list the GM1915 as a supported model. I don’t know if that means it wouldn’t work, but I wanted to be sure the installation was reversible… since return for the phone in its original condition could be refunded.

In hindsight, the process that seemed wasteful & wrong when I wrote about it above… using MSMDownloadTool to revert to OOS 11, then unlocking the bootloader & then updating to OxygenOS 12 via the third-party Oxygen Updater app… turned out to be the easiest part of the process. The difficult part has been the S builds of /e/OS not working for the OnePlus platform, as described in other threads. :sweat_smile:

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