If you installed, you might have enjoyed trying out some of the new features in the latest version of Google's OS. However, change isn't always a good thing, so you might be wishing you could downgrade back to right about now.
Good news — you can. Unfortunately, returning to Oreo isn't as simple as you might think. While you don't have to worry about rollback protection preventing you from installing the older version (at least for now), downgrading from Android Pie does require a bit of work. If you want to bring your Pixel back to Oreo, you're going to have to flash the OS images onto your phone with Fastboot. Don't Miss: Step 1: Install ADB & Fastboot on Your Computer To begin, make sure to install ADB and Fastboot onto your computer. These two utilities allow you to flash images via Fastboot commands.
You can find various third-party 'one-click' and 'light' forms of ADB and Fastboot, however, they aren't updated as often as the official versions, so you might not find them to be completely compatible with the latest version. For that reason, we don't recommend them. What you should do is install, which features ADB and Fastboot, or simply directly from Google. Either way, have peace of mind that you're getting the complete package here. Make sure to check out Method 1 in the guide below for Windows, Mac, and Linux installation instructions. Don't Miss: Step 2: Enable OEM Unlocking (OTA Method Only) Flashing images in Fastboot requires you to unlock your device's bootloader. For those who flashed Android Pie manually, your bootloader is already unlocked as part of Step 1, so you can skip this step.
However, if you got Android Pie as an OTA update, you will most likely need to unlock the bootloader to flash Oreo now. However, before your bootloader can be unlocked, you'll need to first. To find and enable this setting, on your Pixel.
Then, open the Developer Options menu and tap the switch to the right of 'OEM unlocking.' Step 3: Enter Bootloader Mode Before you can run any Fastboot commands, your device must be in bootloader mode. To begin, completely power down your device. Once the screen goes black, press and hold both the volume down and power buttons together for roughly 10 seconds. You should then see Android's bootloader menu, which looks like this. Bootloader mode on the Pixel XL. Image by Dallas Thomas/Gadget Hacks Once you see the bootloader menu, plug your device into your computer via a USB data cable.
You can put your device down after that, since the rest of this process with be done completely on the computer. Step 4: Open a Command Window on Your Computer Head over to the ADB and Fastboot installation directory on your computer.
On Windows, you can usually find this at C: Program Files (x86) Android android-sdk platform-tools. On Mac and Linux, it will depend on where you put the ADB folder when the utility was installed. If you forgot where that was, search your computer's hard drive for the platform-tools folder.
If on Windows, hold down the shift key, then right-click anywhere there's empty space in the platform-tools folder. Select 'Open command window here.'
On Mac or Linux, open a new window in Terminal, then change directories to the platform-tools folder inside your ADB installation directory using the 'cd ' command. Step 5: Unlock the Bootloader (OTA Method Only) The next step only needs to be done once.
If your bootloader is already unlocked, feel free to skip to Step 6. If not, you have to run a single Fastboot command. Note: this action will delete all data on your device. This next part lists the Windows commands needed to unlock the bootloader. If on Mac, you'll likely need to add a period and a slash (./) before each command, while Linux users just need to add a slash ( /) in front. When you're ready, type the following command from the ADB shell, then press enter.
fastboot devices If you see a series of numbers and letters followed by 'fastboot,' then you know your device is properly connected. If not, go back to Step 1 to double-check your ADB and Fastboot installation.
Make sure your device is in bootloader mode as you see in Step 3. Bootloader-unlock screen on the Nexus 6P.
Image by Dallas Thomas/Gadget Hacks Step 6: Download the Factory Images Now that you've unlocked the bootloader, you can start flashing the Oreo factory images. Before you can do that, however, you'll need to download the images themselves. You can snag the Oreo factory images from the page below:.
To use that page, find your specific Pixel model in the list on the right of the page, then click it. From there, click the link next to the most recent version that starts with 8.x.x.
Step 7: Flash the Factory Images Now, the first thing you should do here is extract the factory images archive that you downloaded from your manufacturer's site. For that, we recommend you use — not only is it free, it's also compatible with most archive formats. Factory image files transferred to the platform-tools folder. Other than that, there are two separate approaches you can choose when flashing these images: Option 1: Use the Flash-All Script Arguably the easiest way to re-flash Oreo is to use is with the 'flash-all' script.
This script applies all of the images in one action. On the flip side, the script might drop the ball on certain operating systems and setups, but since it won't harm anything if it does, you might as well give it a go. To run this script, type the following into the command prompt, then press enter:. flash-all. Sending the 'flash-all' command.
This can take a few minutes to complete, but once it does, your device should reboot automatically, running stock firmware. Option 2: Extract the Images & Flash Them Individually If the flash-all script didn't work, you can flash the system images one by one. This method takes some extra time, but it will get your phone back to Oreo. To begin, extract any additional archives from the factory images package.
Occasionally, factory images packages contain a series of three or four nested archives, so be sure to unzip them all. Next, copy all of the image files to the main platform-tools folder — basically, don't leave them in any of the sub-folders.
All images extracted from factory images package into platform-tools folder. Now, there are six images that you'll need to focus on: boot, bootloader, radio, recovery, system, and vendor. These are the files that make up the core of Android. Some of these files may have longer names than just, for example, bootloader.img. If so, be sure to enter the full file name (rather than the placeholder text in brackets) when sending the image-flashing commands below. First, you have to flash the bootloader image — this is the interface that you're using to flash images with Fastboot commands. So to downgrade your bootloader to the Oreo version, type:.
fastboot flash bootloader.img Next, reload the bootloader to keep flashing images on the Oreo version. For that, type:. fastboot reboot-bootloader Next up, there's the boot image, which contains the kernel. To flash it, type the following into the ADB shell window:. fastboot flash boot.img After that command, there's the radio image.
Type this to flash it:. fastboot flash radio.img Then we have recovery. Type:. fastboot flash recovery.img The big one is next: the system image. This one contains all of the files that make up Android OS. Type:.
fastboot flash system.img And, finally, there's the vendor image. This is an important part of the new Project Treble system, so it's really a key image.
Type:. fastboot flash vendor.img Once you've sent any or all of these commands, you can restart your device, then boot into Android. For that, type:.
fastboot reboot. So, on,at least, android 8-9 there is no recovery.img file in the zip. And there are many more.img files to upload to your phone than you listed in your article. So any of us that for whatever reason are unable to use the flash-all.img command will be left out in the cold, with these instructions. These are the.img files inside the sailfish-opr3.170623.008.zip images sub-folder: aboot.img android-info.txt apdp.img boot.img bootlocker.img cmnlib32.img cmnlib64.img devcfg.img hosd.img hyp.img keymaster.img modem.img pmic.img rpm.img system.img systemother.img tz.img vendor.img xbl.img From everything i have been able to find what used to be the recovery image is in one of these files (though noone seems to know which) or perhaps parsed out among several.
The main reason I am taking the time to leave this comment is because you made this article in Oct 2018 which means this information should have been available to you at the time of writing. So I am wondering if you just hadn't tried this in awhile and assumed nothing had changed, or if you had just found someone else's article and re-posted their content, without any real experience with this process. I in no way am intending to be rude, its just really hard to find information on this process that is currently relevant and anyone trying to find answers will more than likely run across this article. So, it would be amazing if it could be updated to show in which order to install the images that are currently in the builds. That information could've just saved me the money i paid to have someone else put android back on my phone after i accidentally wiped the /system folder (total newb move):'( Reply.
While installing the new Developer Preview is fairly easy if you're using a Windows machine, it's a little trickier if you want to use macOS instead. To help you get the latest Android OS on your Google Pixel phone, we'll break down the whole process so using your Mac can be as simple as Windows. This isn't a totally foolproof method of installing the Android Pie factory image from Google onto your Pixel, but there are some troubleshooting tips at the end of this article should you run into any common problems. If you experience anything not listed here, let us know in the comments, and we'll try to help you out!
Step 1: Download the Android 9.0 Pie File To get the latest Android Pie version on your Pixel, Pixel XL, Pixel 2, or Pixel 2 XL, head to, then download the appropriate file for your Pixel device. Once downloaded, go to your 'Downloads' folder, and unzip it if it didn't do it automatically. Step 2: Set Up Fastboot on Your Mac In order to unlock the bootloader later and flash the system image, we'll need Fastboot installed, which can be found in the SDK Platform-Tools from Google. That link will always be the most up-to-date version, so use it whenever you want to make sure you have the latest one available.
Downgrade To Flash 9 For Mac
Once downloaded, unzip the platform-tools-latest-darwin.zip in your 'Downloads' folder if it didn't unzip already. I like to move the resulting 'platform-tools' folder over to my 'Applications,' but you can leave it in 'Downloads' if you want. Step 4: Unlock Developer Options (If Not Already Done) On your Pixel, you'll need to enable 'OEM unlocking.'
This option can only be found in a secret developers-only folder which anyone can unlock. Open up your Settings as you normally would, then select 'System.' From there, tap 'About phone,' then tap the 'Build number' at the bottom at least 7 times in rapid succession until you see 'You are now a developer' appear (you may need to enter your PIN first before you see the message appear). More Info: Step 5: Enable OEM Unlocking Now that the 'Developer options' have been unlocked, go back to the 'System' menu in Settings, and tap on the now unhidden option.
Scroll down and find 'OEM unlocking,' then make sure it's toggled on. If it's grayed out and already toggled on, there's a good chance your bootloader is already unlocked. More Info: Step 6: Connect Pixel to Mac in Bootloader Mode In order to run Fastboot commands, your Pixel will need to be in bootloader mode, so power off your Pixel. When the screen is black, press and hold the power and volume down buttons together for about 10 seconds, until Android's bootloader pops up. There will be a picture of an Android robot with an access panel opened on it, along with 'Start' up top, and some device info in the bottom left. When you're there, connect your Pixel to your Mac using an appropriate USB cable. If your bootloader is already unlocked, you can skip down to now.
Step 7: Unlock Your Bootloader If you haven't already unlocked your bootloader, you should do so now. How do you know if you are unlocked or not?
If you just came from Step 6, it will also say 'locked' or 'unlocked' at the bottom of the screen. Alternatively, whenever you restart your Pixel, if you see an unlocked lock icon at the bottom of the Google splash page, you're unlocked. If there's nothing there, you're not, and you'll need to do this step before continuing on. Also note that unlocking your bootloader will wipe your Pixel clean, so if you have photos or music you want to save or sync to the cloud, do so now. More Info: Open up the Terminal application in macOS, then issue the following command to (change directories) into the 'platform-tools' folder with all the goodies.
If you changed the location of this folder from 'Downloads,' just substitute Downloads in the command with the right location. Cd /Downloads/platform-tools Now we want to make sure our device is communicating with our Mac, so use the following command. If this returns a series of letters and numbers, then you're good to go. Otherwise, refer back to the guide in Step 2 to check your Fastboot installation./fastboot devices Note: Depending on how you installed the SDK Platform-Tools from Google, you might not need to add a period and a slash (./) to your Fastboot commands. It should work either way, but if the commands throw an error with the period and slash included at the beginning, retry without them.
Now, skip down to to continue. Step 8 is just for those who already have their bootloaders unlocked. Step 8: Change Directories in Terminal to Platform-Tools If you already have your bootloader unlocked and skipped, open up the Terminal application in macOS, then issue the following command to (change directories) into the 'platform-tools' folder with all the goodies. If you changed the location of this folder from 'Downloads,' just substitute Downloads in the command with the right location. Cd /Downloads/platform-tools Now we want to make sure our device is communicating with our Mac, so use the following command.
If this returns a series of letters and numbers, then you're good to go. Otherwise, refer back to the guide in Step 2 to check your Fastboot installation./fastboot devices Note: If you're just picking back up from Step 6, you should know that you might not need to type the period and slash at the beginning of these Fastboot commands. It won't hurt anything either way, but if you have errors after sending the above-listed command, try it again without the./ at the beginning. Step 9: Flash Android Pie onto Your Pixel All that left now is to flash the factory images of the Android Pie Developer Preview onto your Pixel. To do so, issue the following command./flash-all.sh You could also use the following command instead, where sudo -s launches a shell authenticating yourself as a superuser without changing the current directory. You will need to enter your root password after issuing this command, so it's better to stick to the first one above for simplicity.
Sudo -s./flash-all.sh If everything was successful, after 5 or 10 minutes, you should have Android 9.0 on your Pixel. You'll know it's done when you see a new command prompt in Terminal after the last 'finished' note. For me, it would be 'MacBook-Pro:platform-tools wonderhowto$.' After you confirmed it's done, use the volume buttons on your Pixel to select 'Start' from the bootloader, then hit the power button to do so. And that's it. Follow the prompts to set up your new Android Pie operating system. Don't Miss: Troubleshooting: The 'Fastboot Too Old' Error If you get an error in Terminal saying that 'fastboot too old,' then you'll have to work some quick magic to get rid of that warning.
Open up the 'flash-all.sh' file in the 'platform-tools' folder. If it opens up in TextEdit, that's fine, but you could also use Xcode, TextWrangler, or another code-editing application. With it open, find the following four lines of code, delete them, save the file, then exit. Then, try again. Grep -q dtbo.sig $(which fastboot); then echo 'fastboot too old' exit 1 fi. Troubleshooting: The 'Partition Table Doesn't Exist' Error If you get the 'FAILED (remote: partition table doesn't exist)' error at the end of the flashing in Step 9, it's probably okay, and you can try restarting the Pixel like you would with a totally successful install.
It should still work. However, if you'd rather not take the chance, you'll want to do a little work to prevent this from happening. In the 'platform-tools' folder, unzip the.zip file that starts with 'image.' Once that's done, delete the.zip file, open the new folder, then delete 'systemother.img' from the contents. Now, select the folder starting with 'image,' right-click on it, then select 'Compress' to create a new.zip file. Delete the folder you were just in, keeping the new.zip file, which effectively replaces the old.zip file in there.
Then, try again. If that still didn't work for you, instead of doing all of that, unzip that file you just created, then copy all the image files into the platform-tools folder to flash them all individually. Instead of Step 9, use the following command to flash the new bootloader onto your Pixel.