Solved: Update to v1.5: This function requires a compatible recovery system

Hi everybody,

yesterday I got my first Murena One, not having any experience with /e(OS so far. This morning I get a message that an update is available and I downloaded it. Now I don’t know how to proceed, because there’s a message saying "this function requires a compatible recovery system, otherwise the update must be installed manually.

What does that mean? Where and how would I have a compatible recovery system?
There is no such warning in the documentation. Can I just proceed without running into problems?

Regards,
Anke

SOLVED:
Sorry, now I found a locked thread with the information I needed: just proceed with the installation - a recovery partition is on board
For no-nerd /e/OS newbies it might be very helpful to mention the TWRP-called recovery system on the above mentioned documentation page.

Regain your privacy! Adopt /e/ the unGoogled mobile OS and online servicesphone

2 Likes

I think TWRP is depreciated as it don’t manage encrypted partitions, since android 10, you need the “recovery-e” to perform OTA updates…

I’m pretty sure that is device-dependent. I have TWRP running on several Sony devices which do seem to manage decrypted partitions.

Hi guys,

my main concern here was that the warning “this function requires a compatible recovery system, otherwise the update must be installed manually” is pretty confusing for folks like me who have been using /e/ for one day!

You keep on talking about TWRP and recovery-e - I cannot find either one, at least not with a file manager. Dummies like me are spoilt users from the spying but easy to use Google world and wouldn’t know about stuff like rooting and partitions etc.

I think it would be nice if you’d explain how newbies can check whether they have a recovery partition or not, before updating the OS that might possibly fail.

It meens OTA updates requires “recovery-e” or “lineage-recovery” otherwise, if using TWRP, you must use its install feature (the update file downloaded by the updater is stored in the/data/lineageos_updates folder) or the adb-sideload feature

That’s what I mean: OTA, TWRP, recovery-e, lineage-recovery etc. Regular users like me want to use a phone to make phone calls, write messages and read the news, and that’s what we know how to do. When I buy a car I want it to take me places, I don’t want to bother with the insides of the motor.

All I could find without root priviliges is a recovery-persist.rc and a vendor_flash_recovery.rc in System/vendor/etc/init. It’s a ready-to-use Murena One and I got a notification about an update being available. All I had to to is tap on the button to install it. Easy enough and worth 5 stars.

Only that warning about the necessity of having a compatible recovery system kind of made me panic, as there are no instructions being shipped with the phone. So how would I know to initiate a recovery? I know how to do that on Windows…

1 Like

Difference is before buying a car, you have to go to the driving scool for about 50 hours to learn how it works and how to deal with others on the road then pass the exam to get the license.

With “pocket computers”, no mandatory scool, you have to learn by reading and/or experimenting.

Your device come preinstalled including a compatible recovery manager called recovery-e so consider that you are not concerned by this generic warning…
recovery manager is usefull for regular users to install new system or updates, but you are a privilegius user, your device is officially supported and receve Over The Air Updates.

As English is not my natural language, i cannot be subtile, but i have to be precise.

I still have this short very awkward moment every time I do an update and that default warning popps up :slight_smile:

1 Like

I agree that

“this function requires a compatible recovery system, otherwise the update must be installed manually”

causes anxiety and with @piero that it requires further study. My reply is really a list of keywords and links. Maybe they will enlighten. :slight_smile:

In short, if the phone was purchased or installed following /e/ install instructions found from https://doc.e.foundation/devices the recovery system will be compatible. The correct official TWRP for your device can be expected to be compatible, an incorrectly chosen and installed TWRP might cause issues.

The /e/ Recovery is an example of a simplified Custom recovery.

The recovery partion stores the recovery image which is booted during the OTA process.

Recovery mode can also be accessed by physical / hardware buttons; one can look up the Recovery Mode Key Combinations for your Manufacturer / Device online and / or one may be able to find these, for instance, here https://www.hardreset.info filed under Smartphone > Manufacturer > Device > Hidden Modes.

An /e/ recovery.img is expected to be produced and published for every build. The method of producing a “Recovery system” with a more limited range of “expert” options is used by LineageOS of which /e/OS is a fork.

“Recovery system” refers to the recovery.img correctly flashed to the recovery partition.

The default on most devices seems to be that the Recovery system is updated automatically during OTA with the “matching” /e/Recovery.

TWRP if available for your device will be listed here. TWRP - devices and xda-developers offer this https://www.xda-developers.com/how-to-install-twrp/.

Hi,

sorry late on this subject but I just wanted to say that I agree with @Katswiri that this behavior could be improved.
Indeed, for the person who bought a ready to use phone, sometimes, get this kind of message won’t help to deliver a good ueser experience which is quite important if we want /e/ met a large audience.
So perhaps @Katswiri you could open a feature request in the appropriate channel??

Hello to all,

I’m coming to this topic for the same reasons as the initial post.
I’m just wondering, in developer mode, there is this option “Update recovery” → “Update recovery partition with system updates”

Sorry if it’s not translated well it’s in French for me. So @piero I give it to you in french, I would like to have your opinion : “Mise à jour du recovery” → “Mettre à jour la partition de récupération avec les mises à jour système”

Is it useful to do this ? If I do it will I end up with /e/-recovery ? I think I have TWRP so far but I’m not sure and I don’t know how to check this info.

Thanks for your help.

Always good to know for sure …

Use the https://doc.e.foundation/devices to find your device, in column 2, the link on the top line takes you to the “Info page” for the device. Here you expect to find, near the foot of the page

Boot Modes

Recovery mode for instance for most Samsungs is

With the device powered off - hold Volume Up + Home / Bixby + Power.

With this information, from device powered off, you can boot onto Recovery mode and see what you have.

If you find /e/ Recovery, you can explore or look for Reboot to system.

If you find TWRP for the first time, expect this view

Perhaps think ahead what direction you wish to take !

Keep Read Only is the “Safe” option.
If you want to explore …
Swipe to Allow Modifications – thus TWRP is now Active
You will now see an option to Reboot → from there System will Reboot to System.

2 Likes

Many thanks!

:slight_smile:
What about the developer option?
Is it useful to enable the “Update recovery” → “Update recovery partition with system updates” option?

Probably worth bearing in mind that there are actually two parts to the “Recovery replacement” issue, and from my reading, probably, for a precise answer, there is a certain amount of dependency on device and Android version.

When one runs “First start wizard” on current /e/OS, one is asked to decide on the issue of whether the /e/Recovery will be used and kept up to date.

Both /e/OS and LineageOS seem to favour their “simplified” recoveries since Android 10, where TWRP can be problematic with encryption – https://twrp.me/faq/encryptionsupport.html.

Many users still prefer TWRP as it mostly allows Nandroid backups. Samsungs are included in the list of devices using proprietary blobs to deal with encryption, link above refers.

You would chose this option if you wished to overwrite an existing TWRP, and have /e/Recovery updated at every update.

I guess it might also be required, if one finds an /e/Recovery which is no longer up to date with the currently running /e/OS.

3 Likes