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Regain your privacy! Adopt /e/OS the unGoogled mobile OS and online services
Installation incl. TWRP was a PITA and took me some hours trial & error. Buying a device already with eOS installed, support e.foundation and spare oneself the hassle isnt’t the worst idea one can have ;- )
In my experience, this was very frustrating getting eOS e-2.1-t-20240605406922-dev-gta4lwifi onto the SM-T500 and it could not be done with only heimdall on a linux machine because of an issue with SUPER and subsequent files not transferring properly for some reason, so I had to use a windows machine with Odin too.
It seems that it’s essential to use the same sw version as the vbmeta in the eOS is hardcoded to, in this case S6CWI2 so don’t waste your time trying the lower Android 12 versions like I did.
I think the instructions are missing information about having
to use a blank vbmeta img (after having flashed custom eOS recovery) because without it the device just bootlooped.
The blank vbmeta I used is from 2020 and MD5:19f3d45dd38f7419d64418c0ed7e0f22
The instructions also say to remove the usb cable after successful transfer, I don’t think that’s needed. What I did was,
#~/bin/heimdall flash --RECOVERY ~/e-2.1-t-20240605406922-dev-gta4lwifi_folder/recovery.img --verbose --no-reboot
now without disconnecting usb, hold pwr+voldn to shut it off. , release keys, wait 1 or 2 sec then hold pwr+volup to get into eOS recovery.
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While still running on stock samsung android 11 I tried to install recovery-e-2.3-t-20240821427106-dev-gta4lwifi.img via heimdall which didn’t work.
In the “Downloading” screen I got
KG STATUS: PRENORMAL or CHECKING
This stops any firmware from being installed.
It seems factory reset and letting android sit on the internet for a bit should reset this as soon as KG (Knox guard) can contact knox hq/samsung to say everything is ok again.
Any ideas on how I can expedite/bypass this?
Also, I don’t have access to windows, can we have tooling which runs on linux so it’s open and accessible for everyone?
Thanks for all of this! Would love to flash my SM-T500.
Love /e/OS!
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Would be a blocker … but Checking should be ok.
If you have the device online, WiFi and a SIM card is good, it would be unusual for the device to “go back” to Prenormal once Checking has been seen.
There do seem to be reports that current e-recovery is has problems being flashed to a “new” device. You might try to use an older version or TWRP.
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Thanks!
It worked!
Running /e/OS on Samsung A7 10.4 2020 SM-T500.
Here is what I did, hopefully it can help some.
The most difficult part of it was finding out what to do and not knowing what would brick it or not.
In the end, it all went very straight forward.
This is what I did on linux (I don’t know how to do it on windows (nor mac)).
Samsung stock android 11 (ie: it came with this) with KNOX enabled, “an out of the box, used for a few years like that, tablet”.
Messed a few things up initally but that shouldn’t have any influence on the procedure to do it again.
Step 1: download all the necessary files.
Files used:
-
odin4: samsung firmware utility, needed to get things on the tablet through the downloading mode of the tablet.
Official Odin Tool for Linux: Download, Install, and Flash Firmware - Magisk ZIP -
adb: adb cli utilities: needed to check your device from your computer and to send files to it
https://xdaforums.com/t/guide-linux-installing-adb-and-fastboot-on-linux-device-detection-drivers.3478678/
basically:apt install adb fastboot
TWRP (recovery.tar): boot loader with utilities to do things from on the tablet itself. It can receive files via adb. Starting point of the installation.
This will download the file: “recovery.tar”
vbmeta.tar (vbmeta.img): AFAIK cleans the existing vbmeta so it doesn’t interferes with TWRP.
This will download the file: “blank_vbmeta.img”.
It needs to be tarred before used with odin4:
mv blank_vbmeta.img vbmeta.img
tar cvf vbmeta.tar vbmeta.img
This gives you "vbmeta.tar".
e-OS, current version, in this case: e-2.3-t-20240821427106-dev-gta4lwifi.zip
See: Info about Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 10.4 2020 (Wi-Fi) - gta4lwifi
Download link: https://images.ecloud.global/dev/gta4lwifi/e-2.3-t-20240821427106-dev-gta4lwifi.zip
No need for the e-OS recovery image as there is a ‘recovery.img’ in the above zip and it gets installed with it.
Step 2: prep your device Part 1 (in android)
In android, go to developer mode (Settings: Software info: tap 7 times on build number) and then enable following settings:
- OEM unlocked
- ADB “stuff”
- No verification of USB apps
It will somewhere ask to trust your computer, say yes, I check the checkbox to remember this so it doesn’t ask for it later.
After that’s done, shut down your device.
Step 3: prep your device Part 2 (firmware)
Boot your device in “Downloading” mode:
- with the device turned off, hold volume up+volume down => nothing should happen
- plug in USB-C cable to your computer => device should come on and should show a blue screen with english and chinese (?) text. It says “Downloading” as a title and then you have a few options
You can release the keys 
On the first run you should see an option to “unlock the bootloader” (don’t remember the exact wording) so press volume up for a while until it shows another menu, unlock the bootloader.
Then it will reboot.
Do the same until you see “Downloading…” screen again and then you can proceed.
We should be ready to proceed now.
Step 4: setup tools on the linux box to talk to the device
Make sure odin4 can see the device
Run:
lsusb
You should see your device ie:
This is mine:
..
Bus 003 Device 023: ID 04e8:xxxx Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd GT-I9100 Phone [Galaxy S II] (Download mode)
..
Run:
./odin4 -l
You should see something like this:
/dev/bus/usb/003/023
This will probably not have the same numbers but should have a similar structure.
If not:
update your udev rule so your device becomes accessible via the linux device structure
It needs to look like this:
$ cat /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules
#Bus 003 Device 023: ID 04e8:xxxx Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd GT-I9100 Phone [Galaxy S II] (Download mode)
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="04e8", MODE="0666", GROUP="plugdev"
After editing this file, reload your rules:
systemctl reload udev
and you should see your device.
The device path (in my case) is: /dev/usb/bus/003/023
Yours might have different bus and device numbers.
Step 5: Let’s do it
Your device should be in “Downloading…” mode.
Check if odin4 can talk to your device:
Run odin4 with the path to your device ie:
./odin4 -d /dev/bus/usb/003/023
You should see something like:
$./odin4 -d /dev/bus/usb/003/023
/dev/bus/usb/003/023
Setup Connection
initializeConnection
Receive PIT Info
success getpit
Upload Binaries
Close Connection
This means odin4 can talk, good.
Step 5.1: Flash TWRP
Run the following:
./odin4 -a recovery.tar
Specify your device if it’s not detected automatically, ie:
./odin4 -d /dev/bus/usb/003/023 -a recovery.tar
Mine looks like:
./odin4 -a recovery.tar
Check file : recovery.tar
Reboot into normal mode
/dev/bus/usb/003/023
/dev/bus/usb/003/023
Setup Connection
initializeConnection
Receive PIT Info
success getpit
Upload Binaries
recovery.img
Close Connection
Step 5.2: Flash vbmeta and reboot
Run:
./odin4 -a vbmeta.tar --reboot
Mine looks like:
$ ./odin4 -a vbmeta.tar --reboot
Check file : vbmeta.tar
Reboot into normal mode
/dev/bus/usb/003/023
/dev/bus/usb/003/023
Setup Connection
initializeConnection
Receive PIT Info
success getpit
Upload Binaries
vbmeta.img
Close Connection
The tablet should now reboot.
It gave a warning about /key… ignore, doesn’t matter…
and about running non Samsung firmware and then it booted back into TWRP, let’s continue.
Step 6: install e-OS
In TWRP go to Advanced, choose “ADB sideload” but DO NOT actually start the sideload.
Check if you can see the device from your linux machine now with adb:
Run:
adb devices
You should see something like:
$ adb devices
List of devices attached
xxxxxxxxxxx recovery
If not, run the following commands to reset adb on the linux machine:
adb kill-server
adb start-server
and then try again
adb devices
Now we should be able to use adb to talk to the device.
Make sure we’re in “Advanced → ADB Sideload but not activated sideload”
Run:
adb recovery /path/to/your/downloaded/e-OS... .zip
In my case:
$ adb push e-2.3-t-20240821427106-dev-gta4lwifi.zip /sdcard/
e-2.3-t-20240821427106-dev-gta4lwifi.zip: 1 file pushed, 0 skipped. 26.0 MB/s (1266805438 bytes in 46.406s)
That’s it.
Click reboot in TWRP.
Step 7: if it reboots back into TWRP, clean the caches and reboot
Go to Wipe, and then wipe all the things with the word “cache” in it and reboot.
If that didn’t work, you might also have to remove data but don’t remember exactly if that removes your /e/OS so you would have to reinstall that. See Step 6. Try it and post results.
Step 8: if it boots in /e/OS => Success
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Thanks @piero !!
This got me going!
Thanks @aibd for the heads up.
Mine got from PRENORMAL to CHECKING and never went back to whatever “normal” is but it didn’t block me from installing as seen in the instruction I wrote down here.
Also, OEM / Secure boot unlock caused Warranty void to be set from 0x0 to 0x1 but that didn’t change anything.
All is well! Thanks!
Can you please help me (not an expert): I first flashed TWRP and then vbmeta (via odin3 on windows). Everything worked. Than I booted into TWRP, which also worked just fine. When I run
adb devices
everything looks got.
But what comes next? I did:
adb push e-2xxxxxxxxxx.zip /sdcard/
and the file got pushed perfectly. But after rebooting into TWRP/Recovery and wiping everything with “cache”, a boot circle starts…
I tried the same also with wiping data as well, but same problem.
Did I miss something? (stock rom was Android 12, by the way)
I also tried your advices. Which blank vbmeta.img did you use exactly? After getting into eOS recovery, I wiped Format data, Cache and also System. Than I used adb sideload and choosed: apply update. The sideload stopps at 50 % and says: completed with status 1. After restarting the device bootlooped.
(used odin3 on windows and adb sideload on ubuntu)
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Now we have Galaxy-Flasher, the ultimate graphical tool for Samsung devices yet only run on Linux, a GUI that can manage the Odin4linux CLI…
This
easyupload io b13c8w
filetransfer io N6xU0ji1
Actually the same 11.5 KB file as bayo replied
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Thanks for trying to help me. I always get an error either when I try to wipe or when I try install /e/ OS from sd card afterwards. Any ideas for fixing this?
failed to mount keyrefuge
It seems this was due to my twrp version. With e Recovery or lineage recovery I didn’t face this problem
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