[General Topics] XDARoni:
View attachment 5320127The First Beta of Android 12 arrived with the Google I/O event that took place on 5/18/2021. This was initially made available to Pixel phones as an easy upgrade but has since made its way to many other phones. The finished version of the new OS update won't be ready for the masses until later in the year, but for those of you that want to try out the beta, here is how.

Alongside supported Google Pixel devices, Android 12 Beta 1 is also made available in the form of a GSI that can be flashed on a much wider range of devices. OEMs have also joined in on the party, and you can flash Beta 1 on the following phones:

ASUS ZenFone 8

iQOO 7 Legend

OnePlus 9

OnePlus 9 Pro

OPPO Find X3 Pro

Realme GT

TCL 20 Pro 5G

Xiaomi Mi 11

Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra

Xiaomi Mi 11 Pro

Xiaomi Mi 11X Pro / Mi 11i / Redmi K40 Pro+

ZTE Axon 30 Ultra 5G

Check out these XDA articles for more information:

Google didn’t mention the best way to install the Android 12 Beta on Pixel phones​

How to install Android 12 Beta on Google Pixel and other Android devices​

TCL 20 Pro 5G joins the Android 12 Beta launch party​

Android 12 Beta 1 will soon be available for the Nokia X20​

The OPPO Find X3 Pro’s first Android 12 beta is here, but not with ColorOS 12​

OnePlus 9 and 9 Pro get their first Android 12 beta update for early adopters​

ASUS joins the Android 12 Beta launch party with a build for the ZenFone 8​

Realme is launching an Android 12 Beta soon, but only for its flagship in China​

Xiaomi brings the Mi 11 series to the Android 12 Beta update party​

Vivo is giving users of its iQOO 7 Legend gaming phone a taste of Android 12 Beta today​

View attachment 5319749

Method 1: DSU Loader

There are a few ways to install the first Android 12 Beta release depending on the device. Some OEMs let you use their software’s built-in updater tool to sideload the update, some use standard flash tools, and some require specialized tools. Google Pixel phones have the most straightforward methods available to them to install the Android 12 Beta: You can enroll in the beta program to have the OTA pushed to your device, sideload an OTA file from recovery, or flash a factory image using fastboot (either manually or with the help of the Android Flash Tool). On devices without an official beta program (and even on devices that do have a beta program), it’s also possible to try the beta by installing a Generic System Image (GSI). A GSI can be installed through fastboot commands much like a factory image, but it can also be installed through a little-known tool called “DSU Loader” available in Android 11’s Developer Options.

Through DSU Loader, the latest GSI release for developers that are available on this page — which as of now is the first Android 12 Beta — can be installed on Pixel phones without unlocking the bootloader and without overwriting the original system image. This is the most non-destructive way for developers to test the latest OS on their own hardware; once they’re done testing, they can simply reboot to return to the original OS with their apps and data intact.

Source: Mishaal Rahman

Method 2: Sideload Android 12 Beta via Recovery and ADB

To install the Beta builds, you need to sideload the appropriate OTA package for your device from Recovery through ADB. This method will also work for Google Pixel devices with a locked bootloader.

Download the update .zip file on your computer from here. For convenience, you can rename this file to a simpler name and place the file in the directory where ADB is located on your computer.

Optional but recommended: Verify the SHA-256 checksum of the file you have downloaded to ensure that the file has been downloaded completely and correctly.

Enable USB Debugging on your phone — Go to Settings > About Phone > Tap “Build Number” 7 times, (optionally) enter your pattern, PIN or password to enable Developer Options, and then navigate to Settings > Developer Options > Enable “USB Debugging”.

Connect your phone to your computer. Authorize your computer connection on your phone when the prompt comes up on your phone, if this is the first time you are connecting with this ADB computer.

On your computer, run the command: adb reboot recovery

Your phone should now be in Recovery mode.

On your phone, select the option “Apply Update from ADB”

On your computer, run the command: adb devices

This should return a device serial with the “sideload” next to its name, indicating that your device is connected to the computer in sideload mode.

On your computer, run the command: adb sideload "filename".zip

Where “filename” is to be replaced with the name of the file downloaded in Step 1

The update should install on your phone. Once the installation is complete, choose “Reboot system now” on your phone to reboot into Android 12.

Method 3: Flashing full Factory Image via Fastboot

If you have an unlocked bootloader on a Google Pixel device, you need to flash the full factory image of the Android 12 Beta via Fastboot. Usually, this is done through a flash-all.sh or flash-all.bat script file that is included in the downloaded file, but its default configuration also wipes the device completely. You can, however, retain your data by deleting the “-w” wipe attribute from the command within the script.

Download the factory image .zip file on your computer from here.

Optional but recommended: Verify the SHA-256 checksum of the file you have downloaded to ensure that the file has been downloaded completely and correctly.

Extract the .zip file, and copy and paste the resultant files onto your ADB and fastboot folder on your computer for convenience.

Optional: The resultant files would contain a flash-all.sh or flash-all.bat script file. Using a text editor, open the flash-all.sh if you’re on macOS/Linux or the flash-all.bat script file if you’re on Windows. Find and remove/delete the -w flag in the fastboot update command. This will skip the data wipe for your phone. To avoid compatibility issues, a data wipe is recommended though.

Enable USB Debugging on your phone — Go to Settings > About Phone > Tap “Build Number” 7 times, (optionally) enter your pattern, PIN or password to enable Developer Options, and then navigate to Settings > Developer Options > Enable “USB Debugging”.

Connect your phone to your computer. Authorize your computer connection on your phone when the prompt comes up on your phone, if this is the first time you are connecting with this ADB computer.

On your computer, run: adb reboot bootloader

This will reboot your phone into Fastboot mode.

On your Mac/Linux PC, run: flash-all

This command executes the flash-all.sh script file, which will then install the necessary bootloader, baseband firmware, and operating system. If you are on Windows, you can simply double click the flash-all.bat file.

Once the script finishes, your device will reboot into the new OS.

Method 4: Install Android 12 Beta GSI

Even if you don’t own a compatible Pixel smartphone, you can still install Google’s official GSI binaries to test Android 12, provided your device is compatible with Project Treble. You also need an unlocked bootloader. The last thing that we need to say is that flashing a GSI will require you to factory reset your device, so be sure you’re prepared to lose app data before you proceed with this! We recommend you make an off-device backup (such as on your PC or an SD Card) in case anything goes wrong.

Download links for the official Android 12 Beta GSIs can be found here. You should download the appropriate version based on your device’s architecture. To see which architecture your device has, run the following command: adb shell getprop ro.product.cpu.abi

Optional but recommended: Verify the SHA-256 checksum of the file you have downloaded to ensure that the file has been downloaded completely and correctly.

Extract the .zip file, and copy and paste the resultant files (system.img and vbmeta.img) onto your ADB and fastboot folder on your computer for convenience.

Enable USB Debugging on your phone — Go to Settings > About Phone > Tap “Build Number” 7 times, (optionally) enter your pattern, PIN or password to enable Developer Options, and then navigate to Settings > Developer Options > Enable “USB Debugging”.

Connect your phone to your computer. Authorize your computer connection on your phone when the prompt comes up on your phone, if this is the first time you are connecting with this ADB computer.

On your computer, run: adb reboot bootloader

This will reboot your phone into Fastboot mode.

As mentioned earlier, the bootloader of the target device must be unlocked beforehand.

Next, we need to disable Android Verified Boot (AVB). To do that, run the following command: fastboot flash vbmeta vbmeta.img

Optional but recommended: Enter the following to wipe the system partition: fastboot erase system

Flash the Android 12 GSI: fastboot flash system system.img

Allow the image to flash, it could take a few minutes. Once that’s done, wipe the userdata partition: fastboot -w

Finally, reboot your device: fastboot reboot

Hopefully, your device should boot into Android 12 Beta.

Source: Skanda Hazarika