Hi,
I have an issue when trying to install /e/ on my Pixel 8.
It seems that the recovery image does not work. I tried to install via the browser as well via command line.
Each time when I come to the step tha the phone shall boot into recovery mode for formatting asf. do get a endless “boot loop”.
The Text “Google” is shown shortly, then gets the screen black and the phone re-boots.
Does anyone have an idea what may go wrong when ending up with this issue?
Regards,
AME
Hi @AME welcome to the /e/ Forum.
One possible reason could be if the phone was already running Android 15 which has been available since about October 2024 on shiba. The manual install page Install /e/OS on a Google Pixel 8 - “shiba” tells us
Before following these instructions please ensure that the device is on the latest Android 14 firmware.
Did the /e/OS Installer give any such warning?
If this were the case one would have to downgrade Android version … this page Factory Images for Nexus and Pixel Devices | Google Play services | Google for Developers will help with ROMs and method. You may be able to use Android Flash Tool.
I had the same problem with a Pixel 8a, this solution worked for me !
thanks a lot for this hint. I did not see or recognize any warning. However, I may have assumed tha Android 15 will also work.
I went back to Android 14 and the installation of thre recovery worked!
But now do I run into another issue;
When installing via Web-Installer am I told to be confident. But afer an hour nothing happening have I looked at the developer schreen of the browser and there was the following error message.
Error: error getting blob file pixel-8-rom.zip
…
After that have i tried to upload the image via commad line:
“adb sideload IMG-e-2.9-a14-20250321478214-official-shiba.zip”
Firstly have I been informed that the
“Signature verification failed. Install anyway?”
I selected
“YES”
The result was the following message on the phone:
Does anyone know how to solve that?
Regards,
AME
Sounds ok, but did something happen in the wrong order ? Edit, I missed the clue “IMG in filename”. Please see @piero’s answer below.
I have seen similar … where the error messages on the phone screen seem about OTA update, but you are doing install.
I cannot see what you can see but one can get a false sense of security from an automated installer.
Just a guess, but I think you could try again, manual only, Edit using @piero method.
Signature verification … dismiss with yes is correct.
Is not correct !
You cannot sideload an IMG.ZIP…
Right command could be :
adb sideload e-2.9-a14-20250321478214-official-shiba.zip
.
Official Documentation is inacurate Since 3 month @manoj
process have been simplified :
IMG-e-2.9-a14-20250321478214-official-shiba.zip include an install script.
Tip: For Windows users, we advise to use Git Bash. For more info about Downloads and Installation see Official Documentation
unzip <fileyoudownloaded>
Replace
<fileyoudownloaded>with the name of the archive file you downloaded.
Alternately you can create a folder and unzip the archive there.
bin-linux-x86 directory - which contains linux tools including fastboot and adbbin-msys directory - which contains Windows tools including fastboot and adbimg files - The img files that are to be flashed onto the device.flash_shiba_factory.sh - The installer script.Volume Down button, plug in a USB Cable that’s connected to a PC on the other end.flash_shiba_factory.sh file.Linux chmod +x flash_shiba_factory.sh && ./flash_shiba_factory.sh
5.Windows*
chmod +x flash_shiba_factory.sh && ./flash_shiba_factory.sh
The script will flash all required files and will wait for input at the last step. Proceed to locking the bootloader.
Have requested the team to publish the updated install guide.
For me, it worked as describe un the documentation…
Thanks to the hints in this forum have I managed to install munrena on my phone.
What went wrong?
First of all did I start with Android 15 installed. After downgrading to A14 worked the recovery mode.
Second, “Web installer” worked not on my PC.
Third, I misunderstood some description, for installation via command line.
What I did was the following:
I extracted the images for boot, dtbo and vendor_kernel_boot from the file “IMG-e-2.9-a14-20250321478214-official-shiba.zip”.
This did not work…
I was successful after re-reding the documentation and going back to “e-2.6.3-u-20241217455359-official-shiba.zip” and “recovery-IMG-e-2.6.3-u-20241217455359-official-shiba.zip”
I used the files from the “recovery…zip” for fastboot flashing and the “e-2.6.3…zip” for sideloading.
Now murena starts on my Pixel8 and the first two updates are also installed via OTA. One more update, and I’m there 
Regards,
AME
I wish I had known all of this beforehand and I regret not checking and that I somehow missing any warnings there might have been. I tried install /e/ on my Pixel 8 and now the device is fully bricked it seems. Black screen, no signs of life, pushing the power button with or without the volume buttons does nothing 
Anyone know anything I can do to recover from this sort of state or is the phone just lost?
Edit: From what I can tell from what I read online, the phone is not recoverable on my end. It is still under warranty, so I am sending it back to Google.
Hello @Nakura, welcome to this forum.
you may take rhis way :
Thank you, but I don’t think any of that would have worked. From what I can tell, the phone was hard bricked. No signs of life, no ADB, no fastboot, nothing, just a blank screen and a completely unresponsive phone From the state I managed to get it in, I think the only people that can fix it are Google themselves. I sent it back to them, I am hoping everything goes smoothly and me trying to install non-stock software is not a problem.
One question here, cause I am also wondering to downgrade.
The latest Android 14 release on Google site has a security patch level that is really old (Sep 2024), while my Pixel8 has patches Mar 2025.
My info is, that usually it would brick the device if I try to install an OS with an older patch level on a device that has more recent patches already, at least this is my info.
Anybody some thoughts about that problem?
Current version 2.9 has also security patch March 2025.
@mihi I guess you refer with 2.9 to e/OS/ right?
Do you know if that would work?? Install e/OS/ v2.9 on top of Pixel 8 running already Android 15?
My concern was that Android 14 ROM on Google’s pages has too old security patches to downgrade before migrating to e/OS/
Yes yes, I meant e/OS/.
Older security patch is best for installation of e/OS/, no need to worry about locking bootloader if you go for ‘official’.
As per installation guide it would be good to have a14 on the device before e/OS/ installation.
My experinece is, that the installation of /e/ will fail, if you do not downgrade to A15 before. See above.
Indeed; but it is not install but re-lock which is critical.
Why can we use the images linked in Post # 2 without tripping anti-rollback? I don’t remember it questioned previously.
Assuming, say you had a locked bootloader with SPL Mar 2025. As I understand it this date will be indexed within your device, so I suggest you would not lock the phone again without a build newer than that. (Edit, I have not read up on this, so it is possible that Google methods might adjust the index but I make no assumption this happens.)
All the time you are uncertain you should probably keep reading Google material to further understand how and why Google publishes the builds and downgrade methods. Be sure to follow Google methods accurately.