Back to the overviewInstall LineageOS on
barbet
Installing Lineage Recovery using
Install LineageOS on
Google Pixel 5a
barbet
Warning: The provided instructions are for LineageOS 21. These will only work if you follow every section and step precisely.
Do not continue after something fails!
Do not continue after something fails!
Basic requirements
- Read through the instructions at least once before actually following them, so as to avoid any problems due to any missed steps!
- Make sure your computer has
adb
andfastboot
. Setup instructions can be found here. - Enable USB debugging on your device.
- Boot your device with the stock OS at least once and check every functionality.
Warning: Make sure that you can send and receive SMS and place and receive calls (also via WiFi and LTE, if available), otherwise it won’t work on LineageOS either! Additionally, some devices require that VoLTE/VoWiFi be utilized once on stock to provision IMS.
- LineageOS is provided as-is with no warranty. While we attempt to verify everything works you are installing this at your own risk!
Warning: Before following these instructions please ensure that the device is currently using
Android 14 firmware.
If the vendor provided multiple updates for that version, e.g. security updates, make sure you are on the latest!
If your current installation is newer or older than Android 14, please upgrade or downgrade to the required version before proceeding (guides can be found on the internet!).
If the vendor provided multiple updates for that version, e.g. security updates, make sure you are on the latest!
If your current installation is newer or older than Android 14, please upgrade or downgrade to the required version before proceeding (guides can be found on the internet!).
Checking the correct firmware
Installation on your device requires a specific firmware version to be installed before you continue.
- Firmware refers to a device-specific set of images that are included in, and updated by the stock OS
- LineageOS builds for this device require an Android 14 version of the stock OS to be installed prior to following the installation guide
- Please ensure that you are checking the Android version, and not the vendor OS version
- Being on another custom ROM, including unofficial builds of the same version of LineageOS, does not ensure that this requirement has been fulfilled
- Please re-read this section as many times as necessary to fully understand the requirements
Note:
If you are unsure what firmware version you are currently on, we strongly recommend returning to the corresponding stock OS before following the installation guide!
Failing to install the correct firmware version prior to installation may result in failure to install LineageOS, unexpected crashes post-installation, or permanent damage to your device!
Unlocking the bootloader
Note: The steps below only need to be run once per device.
Warning: Unlocking the bootloader will erase all data on your device!
Before proceeding, ensure the data you would like to retain is backed up to your PC and/or your Google account, or equivalent. Please note that OEM backup solutions like Samsung and Motorola backup may not be accessible from LineageOS once installed.
- Enable OEM unlock in the Developer options under device Settings, if present.
- Connect the device to your PC via USB.
- On the computer, open a command prompt (on Windows) or terminal (on Linux or macOS) window, and type:
adb -d reboot bootloader
You can also boot into fastboot mode via a key combination:
- With the device powered off, hold Volume Down + Power.
- Once the device is in fastboot mode, verify your PC finds it by typing:
fastboot devices
If you don’t get any output or an error:
- on Windows: make sure the device appears in the device manager without a triangle. Try other drivers until the command above works!
- on Linux or macOS: If you see
no permissions fastboot
try runningfastboot
as root. When the output is empty, check your USB cable and port!
- Now type the following command to unlock the bootloader:
fastboot flashing unlock
Note: At this point the device may display on-screen prompts which will require interaction to continue the process of unlocking the bootloader. Please take whatever actions the device asks you to to proceed. - If the device doesn’t automatically reboot, reboot it. It should now be unlocked.
- Since the device resets completely, you will need to re-enable USB debugging to continue.
Flashing additional partitions
Warning: This platform requires additional partitions to be flashed for recovery to work properly, the process to do so is described below.
- Download the following files from here.
- boot.img
- dtbo.img
- Power off the device, and boot it into bootloader mode:
- With the device powered off, hold Volume Down + Power.
- Flash the downloaded image files to your device by typing:
fastboot flash boot boot.img fastboot flash dtbo dtbo.img
Installing Lineage Recovery using fastboot
- Download Lineage Recovery. Simply download the latest recovery file, named
vendor_boot.img
.Important: Other recoveries may not work for installation or updates. We strongly recommend to use the one linked above! - Flash recovery onto your device:
fastboot flash vendor_boot vendor_boot.img
- Now reboot into recovery to verify the installation.
- Use the menu to navigate to and to select the
Recovery
option.
Note: If your recovery does not show the LineageOS logo , you accidentally booted into the wrong recovery. Please start at the top of this section! - Use the menu to navigate to and to select the
Installing LineageOS from recovery
- Download the LineageOS zip file that you would like to install or build the package yourself.
- If you are not in recovery, reboot into recovery:
- With the device powered off, hold Volume Down + Power. Then use the menu to select Recovery Mode.
- Now tap Factory Reset, then Format data / factory reset and continue with the formatting process. This will remove encryption and delete all files stored in the internal storage, as well as format your cache partition (if you have one).
- Return to the main menu.
- Sideload the LineageOS
.zip
package but do not reboot before you read/followed the rest of the instructions!- On the device, select “Apply Update”, then “Apply from ADB” to begin sideload.
- On the host machine, sideload the package using:
adb -d sideload filename.zip
.Tip: After the package is installed, recovery will inform you that reboot to recovery is required to install add-ons. In case you want to do that, please select “Yes,” otherwise “No”.Tip: Normally, adb will reportTotal xfer: 1.00x
, but in some cases, even if the process succeeds the output will stop at 47% and reportadb: failed to read command: Success
. In some cases it will reportadb: failed to read command: No error
oradb: failed to read command: Undefined error: 0
which is also fine.
Installing Add-Ons
Note: If you don’t want to install any add-on (such as Google Apps), you can skip this whole section!
Warning:
If you want to install Google Apps add-on package (use the
arm64
architecture), you can download it from here.
This add-on needs to be installed before booting into LineageOS for the first time!- Click
Apply Update
, thenApply from ADB
, thenadb -d sideload filename.zip
for all desired packages in sequence.
When presented with a screen that saysSignature verification failed
, clickYes
. It is expected as add-ons aren’t signed with LineageOS’s official key!
All set!
Once you have installed everything successfully, you can now reboot your device into the OS for the first time!
- Click the back arrow in the top left of the screen, then “Reboot system now”.
Note:
The first boot usually takes no longer than 15 minutes, depending on the device.
If it takes longer, you may have missed a step, otherwise feel free to get assistance.
Get assistance
After you’ve double checked that you followed the steps precisely, didn’t skip any and still have questions or got stuck, feel free to ask on our subreddit or in #LineageOS on Libera.Chat.