Author: Cameron Summerson / Source: howtogeek.com
I’ve you’ve been considering giving your phone new life with a custom ROM, LineageOS is one of the most popular ones available today. Here’s everything you need to know about flashing this ROM onto your phone.
Step Zero: Make Sure Your Device (and Computer) are Ready to Go
Before you get overzealous and start throwing things at a command line, you’ll first need to make sure you have everything you need to get started—including whether your phone is ready to take on a ROM.
So, first things first: is your phone compatible? You’ll need to make sure there’s a build of Lineage designed specifically for your phone. Just head over to the Lineage downloads page, select your phone’s manufacturer, and then find your model. If it’s there, you’re in luck: Lineage supports your phone.
It’s worth mentioning that it may take a bit of research if there are multiple variants of your phone—like there are with most Samsung Galaxy models. In that case, you’ll want to make sure the handset codename and processor information matches your phone. You can find that info on the Lineage download page for your phone.
Once you’ve confirmed that Lineage actually has a build for your phone, you’ll need to make sure your computer has everything it needs to get you where you need to go: ADB and Fastboot. We have an excellent guide on getting started with ADB, so that is definitely recommended reading before you get started.
RELATED: How to Install and Use ADB, the Android Debug Bridge Utility
With all that out of the way, there’s one last thing you’ll need to do before you can flash Lineage to your phone: an unlocked bootloader or compatible workaround. This is likely the most difficult part of the entire process (depending on your particular phone model, that is), as it’s very difficult to get around the security measures put in place on many phones.
If your phone supports bootloader unlocking, that will be be the easiest way to do this, and this guide operates under the assumption that your phone supports this feature. If it doesn’t, like most Samsung devices, a bit more research on your particular model will be necessary.
With your preparations done, you’re ready to get flashing.
Step One: Gather your Downloads and Enable Developer Mode
You’re going to need a few tools, and it’s best to go ahead and collect them all now. Here’s the list:
- TWRP: Custom recovery. This is the most popular choice out there right now, and it’s available for a ton of different phones. You’ll need this to flash everything.
- Lineage OS: The actual operating system.
- GApps (optional): If you want all the Googleyness that comes along with Android, you’ll need to have a GApps (Google Apps) package ready to roll. We’ll talk more about that below.
- SU File (optional): If you want root access, you’ll need to flash this.
It’s helpful to download all these files to the same location—preferably the one with your ADB and Fastboot files if you didn’t take the time to set them up in your system PATH.
Here’s a brief look at what each thing does, why you need it, and how to grab the right one for your phone.
Download Team Win Recovery Project (TWRP)
TWRP is a custom recovery that is basically required before you can flash Lineage (or any other custom package).
To grab it, head over to TWRP’s homepage, and then click the “Devices” link.
Type in your phone’s model name. Make sure to pay attention here—there could be devices with similar names, and you want to make sure you get there right one. Case in point: Nexus and Nexus 5x. Two different phones, two different recoveries.
Once you’ve selected your phone, scroll down the page to the “Download Links” section, and then click the link appropriate for your region.
From there, click the link for the newest version.
This opens a new page, where you’ll click the “Download twrp-x.x.x.img” button to start downloading the file.
Download Your Lineage Build
Since you already scoured the Lineage website for your particular phone, you’ve already done half the work here—just grab the newest download and you’re ready to roll with that.
Note which version of Lineage it is, because you’ll need that info if you plan on flashing Google Apps
Download Google Apps (Optional)
If you want to set your phone up with your Google account, have access to the Play Store, and utilize all the other features that make Android…
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