yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Microsoft Surface] sandman01:
Yes on my SP2 its booting (with 3.18.8 & 4.0 kernel)

Which device did you install the image.

On mine /system permission seems ok, however I did also chmod it but without the effect on my WLAN connection.

Maybe it is also related to the authentification type.

I use WPA-2/PSK to secure my WiFi connection, did you use the same?

regards

Mario
[Microsoft Surface] smokingpixels:
Hi guys,

SP2 user here. I've been daily using the kit-kat build since march. The Lollipop 5.0.1 does not have a working sleep mode and has far less play store compatibility. I could not get the 5.1 build to boot, just black screen after I choose live/install. The file is an iso and I made bootable disks with win32disk imager which needs img files, so it wouldn't work. I even tried with rufus to no avail. Please post some instructions for booting the 5.1 iso on SP2.

As for the wifi conectivity problem, I have another solution: just enter the IPs manually (Static, not DHCP) and it will connect instantly.

I tried the "chmod -R 655 /system" command and it worked fine with DHCP until I rebooted, afterwards it hung while booting, so... I reinstalled :)

Hope it helps.

Many thanks to the OP for his effort.
[Microsoft Surface] sandman01:
Interresting, will test today in the evening.

BTW. only on kernel 4.0 with lollipop 5.1 I have WiFi problems, how can you post a solution for it when you can't make a bootable stick??

You can find an modified How To in the second post!

I make an USB drive bootable and copy the USB folders from the zip file in the second post on it.

Then open the iso file and copy the contend to the android folder in the root of my USB drive.

Done

I'm sorry for that but efi images want boot at the moment, they reboots automatically on my SP2 before getting the gui loaded. :crying:
[Microsoft Surface] smokingpixels:
Well, I succesfully installed the latest 5.1 build. Thanks for the info, I was too lazy :)

The fix works on all your builds, without installing any of the drivers from the second post, I should have mentioned that first.
[Microsoft Surface] ilikenwf:
So, I bought an SP3 to replace my Android based HP Touchpad with the intent of triple booting Linux, Windows, and Android so I could do actual work using Linux, games that don't run on the others on Windows (I play ancient games), and Android for general tablet functionality (books, podcasts, etc).

I have Linux partially working now after having the thing for just a day, but wow is Win 8 awful. I'm starting to wonder what I've gotten myself into because I'm more used to BIOS than EFI, and I could have probably gotten the functionality I'm looking for (hybrid tablet and laptop) in some sort of Android device that doesn't cost $800+...

Anyway, could anyone point me in the right direction for a proper "I am a Linux guy and don't need my hand held" tutorial on getting Android to boot on the thing? So far I've been unable, despite having Linux boot up and install with relative ease. I plan to help in whatever ways I can.

I used rufus under Win8 and also tried using DD with the 4.4 kitkat iso, and can boot to grub from refind but then get a black screen upon trying to start Android.
[Microsoft Surface] smokingpixels:
Hi,

Unfortunatelly, I cannot give you direct links due to my low number of posts.

Do a google search for "android x86 sony vaio 11" and select "(Guide) Install Android x86 4.4 on GPT UEFI computer ...".

You'll find the essential info in there.

Good luck!
[Microsoft Surface] ilikenwf:
Thank you!
[Microsoft Surface] sandman01:
Lollipop 5.1.1 image with kernel 3.18.8 uploaded

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B43N_UcsJhpjOEVRRFdMZGNKMWc/view?usp=sharing
[Microsoft Surface] a217217217:
This is beyond awesomeness

Hi, just wanted to say THANK YOU for this wonderful guide. I managed to install kitkat on my SP2 (old version with i5-4200U), and it has been working wonderfully. A list of things that are working so far: wifi, audio, power cover typing, both front and rear camera, downloading apps from Play Store. I even benchmarked using PCMark and the score is about 2x of the top android tablets available...In real life, apps running without any lags and the device doesnt get too hot (maybe warm) so I'm very excited...

However, I did try the lollipop builds you have uploaded and none of them allowed me to download/update apps from Play Store with an error code 927 or 936...Not sure if you have had similar problems with Play Store using lollipop
[Microsoft Surface] dimex:
Format your Android partition to ext4, that'll fix it.
[Microsoft Surface] a217217217:
Awesome! That definitely worked. I was able to download apps again, although I can't download some of the apps due to "Your device isn't compatible with this version" error. However, the camera app doesnt seem to work? I only got black screen when using the camera app.
[Microsoft Surface] dimex:
Not sure about that first error, but I'm pretty sure there's an Xposed module available to show all Play Store apps regardless of version.

Try OpenCamera.
[Microsoft Surface] a217217217:
Thanks for the suggestion!. Was able to get camera working again with OpenCamera and VSCO..

For the incompatible app issue, it only occurs to certain apps such as Monument Valley, Amazon Shopping, which actually work if I install and run the Kitkat build on my SP2. There are also working apps under Lollipop.. I wonder if it is related to Play Store filtering system introduced in Lollipop but not found in Kitkat..
[Microsoft Surface] shasen1235:
The latest build works great on my SP3

Wifi is a bit unstable but at least it works

Good job man!
[Microsoft Surface] jjjhhhppp:
Inclinometer Issues

I've successfully installed the KitKat-x86 build with kernel 3.18, using the guide in the 1st post, but the Inclinometer stopped working post-install (it works fine when run live from the usb). Any suggestions?
[Microsoft Surface] RogerL:
Are these builds only compatible with 64 bit hardware? Will they install on 32 bit?
[Microsoft Surface] sandman01:
It is built for x86 HW.

x86-64 is possible but I didn't geht good results when building.
[Microsoft Surface] GazaIan:
I'd use this, but I can't get the 5.1.1 or 5.1 images to boot (goes to a black screen), the 5.0.2 image doesn't go to sleep, it crashes and soft reboots if the screen times out, and the 4.4.4 image never wakes up from sleep.

Has anyone with a Surface Pro 2 gotten the 5.1/5.1.1 images to work?
[Microsoft Surface] dimex:
Sleep functionality is hit or miss with every piece of hardware. I'm running KK on a Toshiba Z10t which is similar to the SP2. My bluetooth works (yours doesnt), and my sleep will put the tablet to sleep, but after 2 minutes the tablet wakes up.

If you install a bootloader like rEFInd, you can have an option for Windows and Android at boot (I attached a photo of my machine). The whole boot process doesn't take long. Work with what you got dude, but don't let the lack of sleep keep you from enjoying it!
[Microsoft Surface] GazaIan:
The lack of sleep isn't going to be too much of a bother since a *lot* of other things work (camera doesn't work, though :( ), but it was kinda big to me since I use my tablet in short bursts. On the other hand, the damn thing always wakes itself up in Windows 10 as well so I guess it's no different.

I just really wanted the 5.1 images to work, since other Surface Pro 2 users seem to have gotten it working.

For now I'm just going to run the 5.0.2 image and install it to my USB Drive, and then hope that I can get the other images to work well.
[Microsoft Surface] dimex:
What did you mean by it goes to black screen? Did grub present it self and allow you to choose Live Android? For camera, like I mentioned above, try Open Camera app on Google Play. With that said, I know you may want Lollipop because it's latest, but there's not accelerated video for it yet (please correct me if I'm wrong).

I'm staying on KitKat for now, and also because I have Xposed working for my Android-x86 build, which helps solve all the little nags and stuff through customization. There's also no ARM emulation (houdini) yet for Lollipop, so Xposed is out of the question.

I don't really see the benefit of running Lollipop yet.
[Microsoft Surface] GazaIan:
I had actually used a different Kitkat image and didn't realize, the image in the OP actually works great. I don't care much for Xposed or video accel, but sleep actually works which gets a win from me. I got it installed and everything but the only issue I'm having is with GRUB loader, I'm unsure of the kernel path and can't actually load Android. Does anyone have the menuentry for the grub.cfg/loopback.cfg for the kitkat image? If I can get that everything would be great, plus Android would only load when I press volume down on boot.
[Microsoft Surface] sandman01:
Hi!

Grub entries highly depends on your GPT partition table, so it is difficult to answer because the partition number (gpt and /dev/sdx) is maybe different on your installation.

VOL+DOWN is only needed if you like to boot from USB (micro SD card do not work with the latest SP2 firmware anymore) so if you need to press VOL+DOWN than yoou will also have to change grub.cfg on you usb drive you are booting from to get a change in the grub entries.

BTW:

Maybe it would be better to delete all that additional stuff in the second post because I will always include GApps and my Wifi mod is already implemented in android-x86 sources :)

nothing is needed anymore on the test images I will provide for you.

And it is also easy for everybody to build the image by them self because nothing new is implemented doe the lack of knowledge from my side.
[Microsoft Surface] GazaIan:
The partition table isn't the issue, I already know where it's located. It's the kernel that I needed help with, the current grub entry is for a different Android 4.4 image so selecting just gives me a "you need to load the kernel first" error. I already know where it's installed, I just wanted to know how to get the path to the kernel.

As for grub itself, I don't have it installed as my actual bootloader, I have it installed on another partition on my SSD such that the Surface will only boot to it from the advanced boot menu. This is what I was going for, since I won't be using Android that much on my Surface so I'd rather have it go straight to Windows most of the time.
[Microsoft Surface] MarkusP87:
Hello,

i would like to know if you can use the Touchscreen or the VOL UP/Down Keys at the rEFInd Bootloader to choose the OS, do you know if that works?

Currently i'm using GRUB v2 with a modified Theme which looks very nice but i need to use my Touch Cover all the time because my VOL UP/Down Keys doesn't get regonized by grub.

Thanks in advance.

Here are my grub.cfg settings, everything works without problems.

You need to edit the folders to your actual Android directory.

menuentry "Windows 8" --class windows {
search --set=root --file /EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
chainloader /EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
}

menuentry "Android Kitkat" --class android {
set root=(hd0,gpt6)
linux /android-kitkat/kernel root=/dev/sda6 androidboot.hardware=android_x86 sdhci.debug_quirks=0x8000 quiet DATA=
initrd /android-kitkat/initrd.img
}

menuentry "Android Lollipop" --class android {
set root=(hd0,gpt6)
linux /android-lollipop/kernel root=/dev/sda6 androidboot.hardware=android_x86 sdhci.debug_quirks=0x8000 quiet DATA=
initrd /android-lollipop/initrd.img
}

greeTz,

MarkusP
[Microsoft Surface] umaza:
Has anyone tested this with SP1?

Also, has anyone tested Power Cover?
[Microsoft Surface] GazaIan:
Okay so I finally got this up and running on my Surface Pro 2 *almost* perfectly. I seem to be having an issue with WPA2 Personal networks, but only certain ones. Using my home network, WiFi manages to break entirely and needs a restart to work again. But when I use the WPA2 PSK network from my Nexus 6's hotspot, it works without issue. Forgive me if anyone else had this issue and a solution, I only had about 90 seconds to post this.
[Microsoft Surface] sandman01:
Hi Gazalan!

Sounds great, can you explain on which image you face the Wifi problems?

On my SP2 only the image with kernel 4.0 have extremely Wifi autentication problems all others working better than my ubuntu installation for build process. :)
[Microsoft Surface] umaza:
Tried live USB with KitKat (kernal 3.18) for my SP1,

Working perfectly, THANKS!!! First proper Android that I know of on SP1 that also has WiFi working properly.

Even Power Keyboard working, except that the extended battery of keyboard doesn't work.
[Microsoft Surface] TerrenceZ:
Do you have screen rotation working? I had everything working except rotation and sometime wifi crash. I have to reboot to get that works again
[Microsoft Surface] umaza:
Screen rotation didn't work, and open camera didn't work, I didn't try it much, I am going to further try it today

Edit:

I tried all 3 lollipops (3.18 kernal), only the first one seems to boot. The sp1 gets black screen after trying live USB with latter 2.

Lollipop overheated surface,

KitKat so far working very well, the MS Pen works to a limited degree as well, in the papyrus app, pressure sensitivity is working, the the button allows selecting, but the text is misplaced (transitions to right) after writing text.
[Microsoft Surface] GazaIan:
I used the first one listed in the original post, the KitKat image with the 3.18 kernel. Almost everything works perfectly fine, touchscreen stopped working once, but was fine after a reboot. It seems to be just my home WiFi network that's causing issues, because I didn't get the error on any other network. It connects fine at first, and then totally stops working without any error. If I turn off and turn on WiFi, it stops connecting to networks, giving me an error "failed to connect to network".

I used other networks just fine, but I was also putting the tablet to sleep frequently, so I don't know if that changed anything.

EDIT: Did a reinstall and now WiFi suddenly works issue free, including my home network. This **** is weird.

EDIT2: Nope, WiFi crapped out on me again, but lasted pretty long this time. Also put the tablet to sleep right after WiFi broke and the thing didn't wake from sleep, it was stuck on a black screen. Minor bugs really, it's just the WiFi worrying me right now.
[Microsoft Surface] sandman01:
Collect all my test images into an folder:

https://drive.google.com/folderview...V3VU0wYV9MY2VVVkY2eGJPT0EyTkQ4WnM&usp=sharing

currently uploading an fresh clean build with kernel 3.18.8 (see the date code 20150524 at the end of the file)

during updating it seems that a few mesa updates should be integrated.
[Microsoft Surface] joseltoro:
Hey guys, so been following along and love the work!

I just installed 5.11 kernel 4 on my sp2. I have as most have, everything except wifi and bluetooth working.

Loving the fact that I have though! Hoping some smarter folks, like you guys, make more headway on getting it to 100%!!!

Good luck!
[Microsoft Surface] 2nIce:
Android x86 questions

Hello XDA members

I am not sure whether this is the right thread I can use to ask my questions but here goes

1.	I have downloaded Kitkat 4.4r2 and everything works except for the time, when I boot on to Kitkat it actually follows the bios clock settings and the problem is there is something wrong with my bios that even if I save the correct time on my bios after next restart the bios changes by itself with a false time.

Question is can I edit a file or something to make Kitkat ignore the bios time on restart?? (I have tested lollipop builds and have observed that lollipop does not forcefully follow bios time and does its own thing independently)

2.	I have also observed that the Kitkat 4.4r2 can run x86 + arm applications like clash of clan and all games developed by Glu – like samurai vs zombie etc., I have downloaded a program called droid info and when I go to processor architect I found that x86, and armv7 are listed as supported, I have also downloaded several lollipop builds and only see x86 supported and to add to that on the play store all the ARM applications are not available on lollipop builds

Question is, are there some files missing that makes lollipop build only support x86 application or is there a way to port the files from Kitkat 4.4r2 so that we can make lollipop support both x86 and ARM application both at once.

Just for reference Kitkat 4.4r2 that I used was from www.android-x86.org

Do let me know

Thanks guys/gals.
[Microsoft Surface] joseltoro:
2Nice,

I think I remember reading somewhere about having to adjust your time to be 5 minutes before actual time and somehow it all snaps into place. I'll have to keep digging to see where I saw it. Unsure if it was in bios or android.... So i'll let you know as soon as I find it.

Everyone,

Is there any way to get rid of the Red startup screen without enabling secure boot? I know it's minor but I hate it looking messed up on boot, but want to keep my android.

If not, then that's cool. Just was hoping to go for a more native and natural look.

Thanks!

-J
[Microsoft Surface] oddbehreif:
I don't think so joseltoro, at least without serious hacking. It's the system's way of telling you that your secure boot keys are corrupt or missing, or otherwise not valid (they're deleted upon disabling secure boot). :(
[Microsoft Surface] MarkusP87:
Hello,

it depends on which Bootloader you use to boot into Android/Windows.

With Grub2 it works by using the Microsoft Surface Pro UEFI CA (Google the Website, can't post it here).

You can try it with your current Bootloader also, just download the Tool and extract it to somewhere.

Turn Off your Surface Pro 2 and then Hold VOL UP and Press the Power Button and wait until you get into the Secure Boot Manager.

Enable Secure Boot, Press Delete All Secure Keys and Install new Secure Keys and restart into Windows.

Ignore the "Invalid Signature Dedected" by pressing Enter.

Open CMD with Administrator Privileges and browse to your extracted Folder.

Run SavePlatformKey.cmd and Turn Off your Surface Pro 2.

Hold VOL UP and Press Power, once you are in Secure Boot Manager Press Delete all Secure Keys and restart into Windows.

Open CMD with Administrator Privileges and browse to your extracted Folder.

Run InstallSecureBootWithMsftUefiCertAuthToDB.cmd and restart your Surface Pro 2.

Now you should have the original black Surface Logo with your favorite Bootloader.

I hope it works for you too :)

I've added my Bootloader as attachment

greeTz,

MarkusP
[Microsoft Surface] joseltoro:
Awesome will have to try it!
[Microsoft Surface] dimex:
Which boot loader do you use? Did you just theme grub? Does it register touch input or just hardware buttons/keyboard?

I'm using rEFInd, but obviously no touch input.
[Microsoft Surface] MarkusP87:
Hello,

unfortunately there is no way to get Touch Input on any UEFI Bootloader yet.

Grubv1/v2,rEFInd,Gummiboot,Burg and Clover doesn't either support Touch nor any Hardware Keys (Vol Up/Down, Home).

I've already posted here where i was asking you if your rEFInd supports Touch (Post #105) but then i did my own research.

I'm using Grub2 with a Surface Theme and i always need the Type Cover 2 to select Android.

Would love to have this Bootloader with Touch or even Hardware Keys support.

greeTz,

Markus P
[Microsoft Surface] 2nIce:
Sorry for Asking

Hello there

Sorry for asking Im not good at these things but can I know how did you manage to theme your grub?

I have downloaded a generic grub which by default is having black background with white text and were unable to theme it or anything like that as I really have not found a way to customize da grub on a windows pc yet, so can you please share

Thanks
[Microsoft Surface] MarkusP87:
Hello,

once you've Grub2 set-up you just have to create a new folder "themes" into the grub folder (by default under x:/boot/grub/themes).

Now you just download a Grub Theme and extract the folder into the "themes" folder (by default into x:/boot/grub/themes/yourtheme/), to make sure your folder is a Grub theme simply check if there is a "theme.txt".

In grub folder there should be a grub.cfg, open this file in Editor.

1. (if there is no .pf2 file in the theme folder skip this) add following code at the first line (above the if syntax):

loadfont /boot/grub/themes/yourtheme/nameoffile.pf2

2. right after the "fi" (not "if") line paste the following code:

insmod png
terminal_output gfxterm
insmod gfxmenu
set theme=/boot/grub/themes/yourtheme/theme.txt

That's it, now your theme should work.

I can anyways pack my Grub2 with the Surface theme and upload it here, requirements that you know which partition is your Windows EFI (SYSTEM) one.

Hope i could help.

greeTz,

MarkusP
[Microsoft Surface] 2nIce:
Please upload

Hello there

Please do upload the theme including the grub folder, i will have a loot at it and study out how the code works and apply it directly to my grub.

Thanks Again
[Microsoft Surface] MarkusP87:
Hello,

i've attached my own Grub2 with the Surface Theme, it's a standalone Grub so you don't need Linux or anything for the Bootloader.

You just need to open a CMD with Admin Privileges and change your actual (Windows) Bootloader to the Grub one with this command:

bcdedit /set {bootmgr} path \EFI\Boot\BOOTx64.efi

and you're done.

Sometimes you need to restart into the Advanced Bootmenu and choose USB as Boot method to let Windows regonize the changes.

Credits for the Surface Theme goes to Brandon Clark (alias webbrandon).

greeTz,

MarkusP
[Microsoft Surface] dimex:
Don't know how it works in Grub, but I'm guessing what you'll need to get your hardware buttons working is the key scancode for the buttons, and then mapping them in Grub. You can download various programs that read keypresses and spit out scancodes.

I'd research that to get your hardware buttons working.

The China companies that sell dual boot tablets have a BIOS that has WIndows and Android logos and responds to touch input, so I know it can be done somehow.
[Microsoft Surface] MarkusP87:
Hello,

i know what you mean, with Linux you can create a custom keylayout for Grub.

Unfortunately the keylayouts module in Grub requires you to use "at_keyboard" as input method which freezes grub on Surface Pro 2.

So it's impossible to use custom keymaps on Grub for SP2 (atleast on my Device grub freezes once using a custom keylayout).

But of course i'm open for any ideas and possible solutions/workarounds :)

greeTz,

MarkusP
[Microsoft Surface] 2nIce:
Hello there

..

---------- Post added at 07:25 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:23 AM ----------

Hello again, thanks for the file in advance.

I was able to get everything to work though by editing my grub as you explained except for one thing, the Android and Windows Logo, how to you actually get them to display next to the selection text?

Both logos do not appear and as of why they don't that part i wasnt able to figure out.

Please advice if possible

Much appreciated

Thanks in advance.
[Microsoft Surface] MarkusP87:
Hello,

have you checked that you copied the folder "icons" in surface folder?

have you added the "--class icon" syntax right after your menuentry name?

i.e. menuentry "Windows 8" [B]--class windows[/B] { ... }

Hope i could help you :)

greeTz,

MarkusP
[Microsoft Surface] 2nIce:
Thanks

Hello there

Oh, thanks for pointing out that "--class icon" is required and is the syntax for assigning icons, that was the missing thing.

I have added the code and everything works

Thanks again
[Microsoft Surface] dimex:
Try working with rEFInd to map those hardware buttons.

The creator responded to my inquiry, button mapping is within RunGeneric() in menu.c. You'll have to edit the code and build rEFInd from source but it looks very easy.

My setup is a little convoluted I guess, but rEFInd loads and then selecting android starts grub with a 0 timeout so it immediately starts android. Hardware buttons do work in rEFInd, they work on my Toshiba but they're swapped (I need to map them differently).