Install

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This is a guide on installing GrapheneOS for the - officially supported devices. It can be followed - for both the official releases and custom - builds.

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We strongly recommend following these official instructions. The official guide has - a lot of collaborative effort put into covering all of the edge cases and is regularly - tested by many people on each supported OS. Following these instructions to the letter - without skipping, reordering or adding any steps will give you a proper GrapheneOS - installation unless there's a hardware issue. We strongly recommend against following - unofficial guides deviating in any way from the official instructions.

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If you have trouble following this guide, ask for help on the - official GrapheneOS chat channel. There are almost - always people around willing to help with it. The official guide is the only supported - installation method. Before asking for help, make an attempt to follow the guide on - your own and then ask for help with anything you get stuck on.

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Prerequisites

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You should have at least 2GB of free memory available and 8GB of free storage - space.

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You need a USB cable for attaching the device to a laptop or desktop. Whenever - possible, use the high quality standards compliant USB-C cable packaged with the - device. If your computer doesn't have any USB-C ports, you'll need a high quality - USB-C to USB-A cable. You should avoid using a USB hub such as the front panel on - a desktop computer case. Connect directly to a rear port on a desktop or the ports - on a laptop. Many widely distributed USB cables and hubs are broken and are the - most common source of issues for installing GrapheneOS.

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Installing from an OS in a virtual machine is not recommended. USB passthrough - is often not reliable. To rule out these problems, install from an OS running on - bare metal. Virtual machines are also often configured to have overly limited - memory and storage space.

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Windows 10, macOS Big Sur, Arch Linux, Debian buster and Ubuntu 20.04 LTS are the - officially supported operating systems for installing GrapheneOS. You should make sure - your operating system is up-to-date before proceeding with these instructions. Older - versions and other Linux distributions usually work, but if you encounter problems try - using one of the officially supported options.

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You need one of the officially supported devices. To make sure that the device can - be unlocked to install GrapheneOS, avoid carrier variants of the devices. Carrier - variants of Pixels use the same stock OS and firmware with a non-zero carrier id - flashed onto the persist partition in the factory. The carrier id activates - carrier-specific configuration in the stock OS including disabling carrier and - bootloader unlocking. The carrier may be able to remotely disable this, but their - support staff may not be aware and they probably won't do it. Get a carrier agnostic - device to avoid the risk and potential hassle. If you CAN figure out a way to unlock a - carrier device, it isn't a problem as GrapheneOS can just ignore the carrier id - and the hardware is the same.

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It's best practice to update the stock OS on the device to make sure it's running - the latest firmware before proceeding with these instructions. This avoids running - into bugs, missing features or other differences in older firmware versions. You can - either update the device via over-the-air updates or sideload a full update, which for - Pixel phones can be obtained from the - full update package page.

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Enabling OEM unlocking

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OEM unlocking needs to be enabled from within the operating system.

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Enable the developer options menu by going to Settings ➔ About phone and - pressing on the build number menu entry until developer mode is enabled.

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Next, go to Settings ➔ System ➔ Advanced ➔ Developer options and toggle on the - 'Enable OEM unlocking' setting. This requires internet access on devices with Google - Play services as part of Factory Reset Protection (FRP) for anti-theft protection.

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Opening terminal

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These instructions use command-line tools. Launch the terminal as you would any - other application. On Windows, launch a regular non-administrator instance of the - PowerShell terminal. Do not use the legacy Command Prompt or administrator variant - of PowerShell.

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Use the same terminal for the whole installation process. If you close it, - you'll lose the setup of the environment for the installation.

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On Windows, run the following command to remove PowerShell's legacy curl alias - for the current shell to avoid needing to reference it as curl.exe - instead of curl:

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Remove-Item Alias:Curl

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Obtaining fastboot

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You need an updated copy of the fastboot tool and the - directory containing it needs to be included in the PATH - environment variable. You can run fastboot --version to determine - the current version. It must be at least 29.0.6. You can use a - distribution package for this, but most of them mistakenly package development - snapshots of fastboot, clobber the standard version scheme for platform-tools - (adb, fastboot, etc.) with their own scheme and don't keep it up-to-date - despite that being crucial.

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On Arch Linux, install android-tools and skip the section below on - using the standalone release of platform-tools from Android:

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sudo pacman -S android-tools

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Debian and Ubuntu do not have a usable package for fastboot. Their packages for - these tools are both broken and many years out-of-date. Follow the instructions - below for platforms without a proper package.

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Standalone platform-tools

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If your operating system doesn't include a usable version of fastboot, - you can use the official standalone releases of platform-tools. This is - our recommendation for most users. The flashing process won't work unless - you follow these instructions including setting up PATH.

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To download, verify and extract the standalone platform-tools on Debian and - Ubuntu:

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sudo apt install libarchive-tools
-curl -O https://dl.google.com/android/repository/platform-tools_r30.0.5-linux.zip
-echo 'd6d72d006c03bd55d49b6cef9f00295db02f0a31da10e121427e1f4cb43e7cb9  platform-tools_r30.0.5-linux.zip' | sha256sum -c
-bsdtar xvf platform-tools_r30.0.5-linux.zip

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To download, verify and extract the standalone platform-tools on macOS:

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curl -O https://dl.google.com/android/repository/eabcd8b4b7ab518c6af9c941af8494072f17ec4b.platform-tools_r30.0.5-darwin.zip
-echo 'SHA256 (eabcd8b4b7ab518c6af9c941af8494072f17ec4b.platform-tools_r30.0.5-darwin.zip) = e5780bad71a53cf9d693e1053a0748f49e4a67cc1f71d16a94ab4c943af3345f' | shasum -c
-tar xvf eabcd8b4b7ab518c6af9c941af8494072f17ec4b.platform-tools_r30.0.5-darwin.zip

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To download, verify and extract the standalone platform-tools on Windows:

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curl -O https://dl.google.com/android/repository/platform-tools_r30.0.5-windows.zip
-(Get-FileHash platform-tools_r30.0.5-windows.zip).hash -eq "549ba2bdc31f335eb8a504f005f77606a479cc216d6b64a3e8b64c780003661f"
-tar xvf platform-tools_r30.0.5-windows.zip

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Next, add the tools to your PATH in the current shell so they can be - used without referencing them by file path, enabling usage by the flashing script.

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On Debian, Ubuntu and macOS:

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export PATH="$PWD/platform-tools:$PATH"

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On Windows:

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$env:Path = "$pwd\platform-tools;$env:Path"

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This only changes PATH for the current shell and will need - to be done again if you open a new terminal.

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Checking fastboot version

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Check the output of fastboot --version before continuing.

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Example of the output after following the instructions above for the - standalone platform-tools:

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fastboot version 30.0.5-6877874
-Installed as /home/username/platform-tools/fastboot

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Fastboot as non-root

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On Linux, in order for the fastboot command to connect to a device - as non-root, the appropriate udev rules need to be set up. This is not an issue on - either macOS or Windows.

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On Arch Linux:

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sudo pacman -S android-udev

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On Debian and Ubuntu:

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sudo apt install android-sdk-platform-tools-common

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The udev rules on Debian and Ubuntu are very out-of-date but the package has - the rules needed for Pixel phones since the same USB IDs have been used for many - years.

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Connecting the phone

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Connect the phone to the computer. On Linux, you'll need to do this again if - you didn't have the udev rules set up when you connected it.

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Unlocking the bootloader

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First, boot into the bootloader interface. You can do this by turning off the - device and then turning it on by holding both the Volume Down and Power buttons.

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Unlock the bootloader to allow flashing the OS and firmware:

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fastboot flashing unlock

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The command needs to be confirmed on the device and will wipe all data. Use one - of the volume buttons to switch the selection to accepting it and the power button - to confirm.

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Obtaining signify

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On the supported Linux distributions, the signify tool is used to verify the - download of the OS beyond the security offered by HTTPS. You should skip this on - macOS and Windows. It only makes sense to do this if you can obtain signify from - the distribution package repositories. GrapheneOS releases are hosted on our - servers and we do not have third party mirrors.

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On Arch Linux:

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sudo pacman -S signify

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On Debian and Ubuntu:

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sudo apt install signify-openbsd
-alias signify=signify-openbsd

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On Debian-based distributions, the signify package and command are an - unmaintained mail-related - tool for generating mail signatures (not cryptographic signatures) with the final - releases from 2003-2004 made directly by the developer via the Debian package without - upstream releases. Make sure to install signify-openbsd.

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Obtaining factory images

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You need to obtain the GrapheneOS factory images for your device to proceed with - the installation process.

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You can either download the files with your browser or using a command like - curl. It's generally easier to use the command-line since you're already - using it for the rest of the installation process, so these instructions use - curl.

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Download the factory images - public key (factory.pub) in order to verify the factory images:

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curl -O https://releases.grapheneos.org/factory.pub

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This is the content of factory.pub:

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untrusted comment: GrapheneOS factory images public key
-RWQZW9NItOuQYJ86EooQBxScfclrWiieJtAO9GpnfEjKbCO/3FriLGX3

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The public key has also been published via the official - @GrapheneOS Twitter - account, - the /u/GrapheneOS - Reddit account and is available on GitHub. - When the current signing key is replaced, the new key will be signed with it.

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Download the factory images for the device from the releases - page. For example, to download the 2021.01.05.03 release for the Pixel 4a (sunfish):

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curl -O https://releases.grapheneos.org/sunfish-factory-2021.01.05.03.zip
-curl -O https://releases.grapheneos.org/sunfish-factory-2021.01.05.03.zip.sig

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Verify the factory images using the signature if you were able to obtain - signify from trusted package repositories (see above), otherwise - continue on to the next section without this:

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signify -Cqp factory.pub -x sunfish-factory-2021.01.05.03.zip.sig && echo verified

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This will output verified if verification is successful. If something - goes wrong, it will output an error message rather than verified.

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Flashing factory images

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The initial install will be performed by flashing the factory images. This will - replace the existing OS installation and wipe all the existing data.

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Next, extract the factory images.

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On Linux:

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bsdtar xvf sunfish-factory-2021.01.05.03.zip

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On macOS and Windows:

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tar xvf sunfish-factory-2021.01.05.03.zip

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Move into the directory:

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cd sunfish-factory-2021.01.05.03

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Flash the images with the flash-all script in the directory.

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On Linux and macOS:

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./flash-all.sh

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On Windows:

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./flash-all.bat

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Wait for the flashing process to complete and proceed to - locking the bootloader before using the - device as locking wipes the data again.

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Troubleshooting

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The text output from a failed attempt at flashing will contain valuable - diagnostic information which is essential in knowing where and how the process - went wrong. Please provide this information when asking for help on the - GrapheneOS IRC / Matrix channel.

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A common issue on Linux distributions is that they mount the default temporary file - directory /tmp as tmpfs which results in it being backed by memory and - swap rather than persistent storage. By default, the size is 50% of the available - virtual memory. This is often not enough for the flashing process, especially since - /tmp is shared between applications and users. To use a different - temporary directory if your /tmp doesn't have enough space available:

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mkdir tmp && TMPDIR="$PWD/tmp" ./flash-all.sh

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Locking the bootloader

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Locking the bootloader is important as it enables full verified boot. It also - prevents using fastboot to flash, format or erase partitions. Verified boot will - detect modifications to any of the OS partitions and it will prevent reading any - modified / corrupted data. If changes are detected, error correction data is used - to attempt to obtain the original data at which point it's verified again which - makes verified boot robust to non-malicious corruption.

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In the bootloader interface, set it to locked:

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fastboot flashing lock

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The command needs to be confirmed on the device and will wipe all data. Use one - of the volume buttons to switch the selection to accepting it and the power button - to confirm.

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Post-installation

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Booting

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You've now successfully installed GrapheneOS and can boot it. Pressing the - power button with the default Start option selected in the bootloader menu - will boot the OS.

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Disabling OEM unlocking

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OEM unlocking can be disabled again in the developer settings menu within the - operating system after booting it up again.

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Verifying installation

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Verified boot authenticates and validates the firmware images and OS from the - hardware root of trust. Since GrapheneOS supports full verified boot, the OS images - are entirely verified. However, it's possible that the computer you used to flash the - OS was compromised, leading to flashing a malicious verified boot public key and - images. To detect this kind of attack, you can use the Auditor app included in - GrapheneOS in the Auditee mode and verify it with another Android device in the - Auditor mode. The Auditor app works best once it's already paired with a device and - has pinned a persistent hardware-backed key and the attestation certificate chain. - However, it can still provide a bit of security for the initial verification via the - attestation root. Ideally, you should also do this before connecting the device to the - network, so an attacker can't proxy to another device (which stops being possible - after the initial verification). Further protection against proxying the initial - pairing will be provided in the future via optional support for ID attestation to - include the serial number in the hardware verified information to allow checking - against the one on the box / displayed in the bootloader. See the - Auditor tutorial for a guide.

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After the initial verification, which results in pairing, performing verification - against between the same Auditor and Auditee (as long as the app data hasn't been - cleared) will provide strong validation of the identity and integrity of the - device. That makes it best to get the pairing done right after installation. You can - also consider setting up the optional remote attestation service.

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Replacing GrapheneOS with the stock OS

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Installation of the stock OS via the stock factory images is the same process - described above. However, before locking, there's an additional step to fully revert - the device to a clean factory state.

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The GrapheneOS factory images flash a non-stock Android Verified Boot key which - needs to be erased to fully revert back to a stock device state. After flashing the - stock factory images and before locking the bootloader, you should erase the custom - Android Verified Boot key to untrust it:

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fastboot erase avb_custom_key

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Further information

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Please look through the usage guide and - FAQ for more information. If you have further questions not - covered by the site, join the official GrapheneOS - chat channels and ask the questions in the appropriate channel.