yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[OnePlus 6 Guides, News, & Discussion] sohamssd:
Fantastic post! This is really, really exciting for me. I just have a couple of questions and it'd be awesome if you could answer them.

1.

I'm having a little trouble wrapping my head around this. So is there no separate recovery partition, because updates are done by switching to the other slot by the bootloader, and not the recovery, as was done previously?

What I do not understand is that once the update files are downloaded by the system, isn't it the recovery that is swapping the files in the other inactive slot? I just don't properly get the need to eliminate the partition, since it's still functioning.

2.

Will flashing a custom recovery, then, in that case, also need to be flashed along with the boot, kernel, etc. and everything else in that partition?
[OnePlus 6 Guides, News, & Discussion] BarnOwl:
Oh My.......I understand a lot of people get even more confused by reading this thread. Now don't take me wrong I really like the way you made this post but I am a long time user of android phones and rooting them and adding custom roms but there are two reasons I personally like the Oneplus 6:

I like the stock rom and the updates Oneplus delivers

This dual boot thing is much too complicated to do for a lot of people

Either someone comes up with a REALLY simple way to root this device or just take it as it is............

So I think I am getting a bit too old to do all these things to a perfect phone or I am just tired of getting through all these rooting/Magisk/TWRP methods.

You tell me.......;)
[OnePlus 6 Guides, News, & Discussion] Mord0rr:
I was thinking buy the phone, install TWRP, flash some zips like Viper4 sound....reading this make it a nightmare!

Sorry guys....first i know i have to buy it before!!
[OnePlus 6 Guides, News, & Discussion] iElvis:
The update engine handles the updates. Otherwise, recovery is doing the same thing, just from the boot partition. Google was trying to save some space that was taken up by duplicating other partitions for the A/B arrangement.

No. (Well, theoretically, yes, you could do this, but there's no reason to.) You just need to boot recovery from fastboot, then you can flash recovery only once you're in recovery.

I mean this as nicely and respectfully as I can manage, but it's really only a nightmare if you're not willing to re-learn how to do this. There are a couple of extra steps, and things need to be done in a certain order, but that's really it.

90% of the problems I've seen with this phone have been the result of people blundering forward without reading the guides because they think they already know what to do and don't need to read any of the instructions. If you follow the guides, you'll be fine.

I've been doing this stuff for a long time too, and there was a learning curve with this phone, but now that I'm used to it, it's not that big a deal. And I do really like the ability to take OTAs and get back to stock easily no matter how borked things get.
[OnePlus 6 Guides, News, & Discussion] gibs87:
Hi a noob question..i had accidentaly booted to partition a while my rom was installed in b. I was able to boot back into b using twrp but the problems i now face is an error code "system isnt responding" and fingerprint registration fail,face unlock fail and wifi not working...pls help me to get back to the normal stage..im on xxx 2.8 +elemental x 1.12 on OOS 5.1 9

Thank you
[OnePlus 6 Guides, News, & Discussion] abalam:
What is actually the point of going from A to B manually. Never did this. When I flash a rom, I never go to another partition manually. Have done more than 100 times a flash in the meantime, this in a dirty install as a clean one. From custom to stock as to android P. Modules and kernels flashed. No problems so far. I have to say that I never use OTA automatically from oxygen flash, so I can not talk about this action.
[OnePlus 6 Guides, News, & Discussion] iElvis:
Sounds like you created some conflicts by switching manually. Remember both slots use and modify the same userdata partition. I recommend a full wipe and clean install of 5.1.9. Make sure you follow the established guides here (linked in the OP) - there is a lot of bad advice floating around about this phone.

I've never done it myself and I am not sure what reason there would ever be to do it, but some people insist on doing it, so I wanted to mention that it is possible and what is going on when you do it.
[OnePlus 6 Guides, News, & Discussion] abalam:
Yeah good topic, it gives us a good view how A and B works.
[OnePlus 6 Guides, News, & Discussion] RusherDude:
I got a question more :P. Its really that dangerous to switch slots manually? I mean in normal situations.

Example: let's say you go to fasboot and do a fastboot getvar all and get this:

(bootloader) unlocked:yes

(bootloader) current-slot:a

(bootloader) slot-retry-count:b:6

(bootloader) slot-unbootable:b:no

(bootloader) slot-successful:b:yes

(bootloader) slot-retry-count:a:6

(bootloader) slot-unbootable:a:no

(bootloader) slot-successful:a:yes

And this is an scenario with a device that was on pure stock let's say 5.1.9 (slot b), and updated normally to stock 5.1.11 (slot a) in which the device runs now. The bootloader is unlocked (let's say, to change slots.. or it's not needed to change slots from fastboot?). So in slot A is a running stock 5.1.11 and on slot B was a running 5.1.9 on the point where you updated to 5.1.11 for slot A.

So, if now you derp flashing on the current slot (slot A), it will fail booting the retry-count times (6) and then, set the variables:

(bootloader) slot-retry-count:a:0

(bootloader) slot-unbootable:a:yes

(bootloader) slot-successful:a:no

and then change to slot B right? and since there you had 5.1.9 working and running, that should boot and run OK and ask for an update on the slot A again. This is right and how I understand the history of A/B partitions.

Now my doubt, if the above scenario is true, then we could just manually change slot from A to B and run without the need to do some ****up while flashing on A. And in the case we wanna have 2 roms running on A/B (in which data is compatible, for example 2 stocks of same version, as the example), a manual slot change is needed.

I mean, manual changes with sense. Not manually changinng slot to where nothing at all has ever been flashed... or in TWRP before it auto changes slot and so. On fasboot, and with control. It makes sense and its useful and needed in depending scenarios.. or I'm totally wrong?

Thanks!
[OnePlus 6 Guides, News, & Discussion] iElvis:
I don't think you can get a true dual-boot situation out of A/B because of shared data. At least, if anyone has managed it, they haven't reported it here (and I have better things to do with my time than experiment like this ;))

You can get yourself into a state where both slots boot. That's not a big deal. But people who do it seem to run into issues with various hardware not working correctly. I suspect this has something to do with the shared data or possibly booting on the non-active slot. I encourage you to experiment with it if it intrigues you that much. Worst case, you need to use the unbrick tool, but my guess is that as long as you're careful (i.e., not panicking and wiping everything like some people seem to do), a clean re-flash ought to get you out of any trouble.
[OnePlus 6 Guides, News, & Discussion] RusherDude:
I see, but if the A/B dual rom is impossible, then the A/B system per defnition is broken, since an update comes, changes something but doesn't boot, goes back to older slot, but something that the update changed makes conflicts and the user (not power user) has trouble maybe with wifi or it doesn't even boot back or with other stuff, maybe until the next update (if the actual one always fails, like it happened old times on my nexus 7). If the sharing data between same sort of roms (5.1.9 and 5.1.11 should be nearly identical) doesn't even work, how this system is going to work with an update lets say from 8.1 on slot A to 9.0 on slot B if it fails and something shared is changed?
[OnePlus 6 Guides, News, & Discussion] iElvis:
I suspect it's something to do with being booted on the non-active slot. In the case of an OTA, the active slot doesn't change until you get a successful boot on the new slot.

This hardware-not-working stuff is not an issue with updates through the system updater but people borking stuff through twrp. It does seem to be an easy fix, though., whatever is causing it.
[OnePlus 6 Guides, News, & Discussion] RusherDude:
Hmm. maybe you're right. Thanks!

PS: Sorry, you are limited to 16 thanks per day

Seriously? is this still limited on 2018? wtf xda
[OnePlus 6 Guides, News, & Discussion] Han-Droid:
Hi. Short question... Is it still a fact that wiping cache in TWRP is useless with the latest version of twrp? ..3.0...

And are there any benefits compared to non a/b ROM systems?

I understood it always like a "cleaning" in order not to confuse the system after changing stuff...??
[OnePlus 6 Guides, News, & Discussion] WeirdSoup:
Hi, thank you for your kind article. I would like to translate this article into Korean and post it on the Korean forum, because there are also many OP6 users in Korea and I think this article will be useful. Could you please allow me to translate your article? I'll attach a link and your nickname at the top of the article. Thank you in advance.
[OnePlus 6 Guides, News, & Discussion] Neurom67:
This is all Partion on the OnePlus 6
[OnePlus 6 Guides, News, & Discussion] Neurom67:
Thats all Partion on the OnePlus 6
[OnePlus 6 Guides, News, & Discussion] iElvis:
It's useless because there is no cache partition to wipe. That hasn't changed.

Sure, no problem.
[OnePlus 6 Guides, News, & Discussion] asabervgz:
I have OxygenOs 5.1.9, Twrp and root Magisk.

What would be the step by step process to update to 5.1.11 keeping Twrp and root, without losing my data? Could you do everything from Twrp, without the need of a computer?

Enviado desde mi ONEPLUS A6003 mediante Tapatalk
[OnePlus 6 Guides, News, & Discussion] iElvis:
You're going to lose root by updating - no way to avoid that. But getting it back is easy, and yes you can do it all on your phone provided you have all the necessary files in your internal storage before starting. I've done it myself several times:

-Download the full 5.1.11 update package, twrp installer zip (not the img), magisk, and whatever rom/kernel you want to use to your phone. Check MD5s to be sure all is in order.

-Reboot to recovery

-Flash OOS update

-Do NOT reboot. Instead, immediately flash twrp installer

-Reboot to recovery (not system)

-Flash magisk

-Flash rom/kernel

-Reboot
[OnePlus 6 Guides, News, & Discussion] asabervgz:
Flash rom/kernel?

Enviado desde mi ONEPLUS A6003 mediante Tapatalk
[OnePlus 6 Guides, News, & Discussion] iElvis:
Only if you're using one. If you're staying stock/rooted, ignore that step.
[OnePlus 6 Guides, News, & Discussion] asabervgz:
Thanks.

Where can I get the zip file to flash from Twrp?

My data are secured with this process?

Enviado desde mi ONEPLUS A6003 mediante Tapatalk
[OnePlus 6 Guides, News, & Discussion] shaca:
nice reading man.

thing is, im a noob....

so my cenario is: im runing latest No Limit Rom...what should i do when a new version is detected?
[OnePlus 6 Guides, News, & Discussion] iElvis:
Official 5.1.11 update here: https://xdaforums.com/oneplus-6/how-to/official-oxygenos-5-1-5-ota-oneplus-6-t3794232

Your data won't be affected.
[OnePlus 6 Guides, News, & Discussion] iElvis:
There are instructions on how to update in that rom thread: https://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=76705700&postcount=3
[OnePlus 6 Guides, News, & Discussion] shaca:
that is just too complicated :(
[OnePlus 6 Guides, News, & Discussion] shehabskull:
So as far as I know there is a lot of partitions in our device, and the default factory system is installed on one of them to recover the phone if something happend, so if I installed a custom rom does that mean I will have something like multirom mod and everyime I boot my device I will had to chose between default factory OS and the rom that I installed?
[OnePlus 6 Guides, News, & Discussion] iElvis:
No.

The point of A/B is seamless updates, not dual-boot. AFAIK, no one has managed a dual-boot setup on the OP6, and people thinking it could work got bootloops.

The phone will boot to the active slot, and whatever rom is installed there will boot up. The inactive slot may or may not be bootable, but even if it is, things will likely be broken.
[OnePlus 6 Guides, News, & Discussion] Replenn:
So say I did factory reset in TWRP, (didn't wipe system), then flashed the OOS ROM from OnePlus website, would that give me a clean system partition? (I had a bootloop after flashing the magisk 17 update with the compatibly issue, then I didn't know what I was doing and sideloaded the ROM, which booted, but broken wifi etc, I then did factory reset in TWRP and flashed OOS), after all this should my system be a clean install? Should I have wiped system partition aswell? Sorry if these are simple questions, I'm new to this new partition style, and should have dug deeper in the guides before flashing
[OnePlus 6 Guides, News, & Discussion] alienwolf426:
So, I'm new to this A/B partition stuff. I'm coming from a OnePlus 3. I'm still very confused and I think I may have done something or another to break one of my slots.

Here is what I did (from what i can remember)

Using the fastboot OTAs, i upgraded to Pie. I assumed that both my slots now have the same Pie stock rom.

I loaded the rom and finished the initial setup.

Then I fastboot booted twrp and did data wipe and installed a custom rom, followed by twrp.

I rebooted into twrp and installed gapps and magisk.

And everything was fine so far.

I then used the rom for like a week or so.

Today I decided to get a new update to the same rom.

So, i loaded into twrp, did a system and data wipe (i guess im in a habit of doing a system wipe from older phones)

I installed the new updated rom, followed by twrp.

And when i tried to reboot into twrp, i got the crashdump screen.

So, thinking I had done something wrong, i used fastboot OTAs to get back to stock Pie. Phone loaded up fine.

I did another fastboot boot to twrp and installed the custom rom again, followed by twrp. At this point, my current slot is B so I assume the custom rom was installed on A and next time I load it would load from A. And here is where the issue is. I get a blank screen with a white LED notification. No matter what i do, I can't seem to load from A at all now.

If i go into fastboot mode, and run fastboot --set-active=b, i can load my stock pie rom.

What did i do? and how can i fix it.
[OnePlus 6 Guides, News, & Discussion] kyleanthonydizon:
Reverting to stock.

"So installing a custom recovery like twrp for the first time requires you to fastboot boot into twrp from your computer, then flash an installer once you are booted. ."

Having this said, how do I revert back to stock once I flashed TWRP on a non-active partition?
[OnePlus 6 Guides, News, & Discussion] plopingo:
thanks a lot for this guide. very informative for me :)
[OnePlus 6 Guides, News, & Discussion] iElvis:
Just flash the stock OOS package. That will give you a clean unrooted active slot.
[OnePlus 6 Guides, News, & Discussion] eracet:
Is this related to the current problem I have here

https://xdaforums.com/oneplus-6/help/booting-recovery-issues-help-yes-t3854606
[OnePlus 6 Guides, News, & Discussion] kyleanthonydizon:
But I cant see any OOS package available for download

---------- Post added at 01:59 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:30 AM ----------

But I cant see any OOS package available for download for Xiaomi Mi A2
[OnePlus 6 Guides, News, & Discussion] iElvis:
Download the full package link in the ota thread.
[OnePlus 6 Guides, News, & Discussion] jtbe:
Just got my OnePlus 6 a couple of days ago and had just finished rooting and installing TWRP on it and getting everything setup again. Went back into TWRP with the intention of making a backup and made the mistake of leaving my phone on the table and walking away for just a minute. I got back to my phone just in time to see my 4 year old switching TWRP from slot b to slot a. The phone rebooted as soon as I could grab it from my daughter. I now have a phone that will only boot to fastboot. Is there any way from fastboot to set slot b to be the active slot again?
[OnePlus 6 Guides, News, & Discussion] iElvis:
I think "fastboot --set_active=_b" should work.

Fastboot booting the twrp img should also get you back in business if you don't want to mess with fastboot commands.
[OnePlus 6 Guides, News, & Discussion] jtbe:
You sir are a genius, worked like a champ. Elvis always was the best.
[OnePlus 6 Guides, News, & Discussion] supaflyx3:
I updated my op6 to 9.0.2 while running blu_spark twrp 3.2.3 & rooted with magisk, now I can't boot in to either partition A or B, with or without twrp/magisk installed, stuck at the boot screen. At somewhat of a loss of what to do to recover it.
[OnePlus 6 Guides, News, & Discussion] iElvis:
Can you get into fastboot? Twrp? Did you try fastboot booting twrp to do a clean install?

Run fastboot getvar all and post the results.
[OnePlus 6 Guides, News, & Discussion] kiki059:
Hello I have a same issue. I have all tested. I can boot without twrp but impossible to boot with twrp slot a or b.
[OnePlus 6 Guides, News, & Discussion] magnamentis:
a very good tutorial while there is one thing to add, not meaning the way you described is not correct but there is a slight impression that there is no other way, hence the little add-on if you don't mind:

it has never been a problem to fastboot flash TWRP and boot into TWRP thereafter to flash the .zip (installer)

i'm talking about:

"fastboot flash boot "TWRP.img"

vs.

"fastboot boot "TWRP.img"

both is possible if it's clearly mentioned that after fastboot flash one can only boot directly and once into TWRP else it will be gone.

hence the way you describe it is correct, probably even safer but still worth to mention how to the other approach works and especially

what's wrong if one finds him/herself back with stock recovery and why.

good job indeed

:highfive:
[OnePlus 6 Guides, News, & Discussion] bishoy ashraf:
now i have a simple question, can i dual boot oos 5.1.11 my current rom (magisk,xposed) and clean oos 9.0.2 (by flash it to the other slot) and switch between them ,(before anyone answers i have tried this and booted oos 9.0.2 but the data part. have been encrypted "i have tried magisk and disable force encryption zips format data & internal with no luck" once booted to oos 9 i can't switch back (stock with bootloop) what iam missing even if i flash oos 9 without booting it, i change the slote and boot into twrp the data and internal is encrypted how is this possible is the bootloader encrypt the data or what

another question oos 5.1.11 is encrypted and twrp get me to draw the pattern why is this not happening when i change the slote ?!!
[OnePlus 6 Guides, News, & Discussion] iElvis:
No, you can't dual boot out of the box. That's not what A/B is about and how it works.

Your encryption problems are because you have two versions on different security patches. An older patch can't decrypt data that's on a newer one.
[OnePlus 6 Guides, News, & Discussion] sulliwane:
Thanks [MENTION=4656338]iElvis[/MENTION], I'm trying to understand A/B slots, so I can get out of this bootloop: https://xdaforums.com/oneplus-7-pro...lease-help-t3962792/post80153564#post80153564

By any chance, do you have any idea on what I should do? Thanks a lot!
[OnePlus 6 Guides, News, & Discussion] Abdulrehman130:
Root environment and ab partition.

I have a infinix smart 3 plus phone.

This phone supports Treble project and Slot A is active.

Architecture:- arm v7a,(32bit).

OS:-Android pie.

But after wipe data and system and then install GSI ROM according to phone architecture and slot. Then the phone get caught in bootloop.

I met a person on YouTube.

He said that this phone is fully supported by Treble project and he used many GSI ROMs.

He said that he need my phone boot.img for Make a root environment on it and change the ab partition because infinix use different environment.

infinix phones runs on Android 9 cannot be rooted even using TWRP and magisk.zip

So he needs to change that environment and partition for root Access and for install GSI roms.

##########*********############

Can someone explain me how?

What is the method?

What is different root environment?

How can I change it myself?

And also he send me some screenshots of his custom GSI ROM with root access.

That was unbelievable for me.
[OnePlus 6 Guides, News, & Discussion] Mord0rr:
Piece of crap to help brick phones....

I prefer the old way: TWRP, erase all, flash rom and done.

Now, i have to pray each time i just want nuke everything just to a fresh install.....
[OnePlus 6 Guides, News, & Discussion] iElvis:
You're better off posting your question in the Project Treble forum. I have never heard of your phone and there doesn't seem to be a forum for it at xda, so any advice I give would be speculative.
[OnePlus 6 Guides, News, & Discussion] Abdulrehman130:
Okay!

Ok No Problem :)
[OnePlus 6 Guides, News, & Discussion] schlager P.:
so, I've been trying to wrap my head ' round this A\B-stuff (coming from a 5t), Iam somewhat adept in flashing and all, so Ifeel kinda silly asking this since this's new territory for me, wondering can you select what parttition you're going to install to? And is it more ideal to have the same ROM on each partition?
[OnePlus 6 Guides, News, & Discussion] TENlll423:
You should be able to in TWRP though it's good to know that when flashing a full OTA update it will flash to the other slot... TWRP flashes to both slots...Magisk flashes to the slot you're currently on.

About flashing the ROM on both slots it's not necessary although some people do including myself...I've always done it that way and I've never had any issues whatsoever so it is what it is... The A/B was designed to make it so if the update does not boot you would have a working operating system to fall back to...
[OnePlus 6 Guides, News, & Discussion] schlager P.:
ok, thanks for clarifying! another (maybe silly) question, can I use two different roms and two different kernels on 1 device?
[OnePlus 6 Guides, News, & Discussion] schlager P.:
hmm, just flashed a full OTA(2,1GB), and it should've flashed to both partitions, right? when rebooting to partition b (via twrp) evything's fine but partitiona gets bootloop, how weird (isn't it)?
[OnePlus 6 Guides, News, & Discussion] iElvis:
It does not flash to both. Partition a is bootlooping because it's no longer the active slot.

A/B is not a dual boot arrangement. You should assume the inactive slot is not bootable (though it may be) .

#1 reason people have trouble with A/B is refusing to accept that things have changed with flashing and trying to make their phones work the way it used to.
[OnePlus 6 Guides, News, & Discussion] beeewell:
deleted
[OnePlus 6 Guides, News, & Discussion] schlager P.:
just a (maybe silly) question but the other partition (the not-active one) has an OS on it in case updating fails, right?

then why isn't it dual-boot (as in whether you make A or B active it'll boot either way)
[OnePlus 6 Guides, News, & Discussion] beeewell:
I'm no expert, but there's only one data partition. If the ROMs handle the data in the same way, then it is in effect a dual boot.
[OnePlus 6 Guides, News, & Discussion] garylawwd:
Not really. The non active slot is where the update will be applied and if all goes bad you will just boot from the same slot as before.
[OnePlus 6 Guides, News, & Discussion] beeewell:
Bump

Am I correct? If my current slot is B and I boot into TWRP and wipe System, am I wiping the System-B or the System-A? Does the answer change if I boot into TWRP from my active system vs. if I fastboot boot twrp.img? If I understand everything I've read (and I've read a lot on this, not saying that I understand it 100%), I'm guessing the answer is System-A gets wiped in both cases. I'm just looking for some more knowledgeable people than myself to confirm.