Install

+ +

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

+ +

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.

+ +

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.

+ + + +

Prerequisites

+ +

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

+ +

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.

+ +

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.

+ +

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.

+ +

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.

+ +

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.

+ +

Enabling OEM unlocking

+ +

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

+ +

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

+ +

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.

+ +

Opening terminal

+ +

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.

+ +

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

+ +

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:

+ +

Remove-Item Alias:Curl

+ +

Obtaining fastboot

+ +

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.

+ +

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

+ +

sudo pacman -S android-tools

+ +

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.

+ +

Standalone platform-tools

+ + + +

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.

+ +

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

+ +

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

+ +

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

+ +

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

+ +

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

+ +

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

+ +

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.

+ +

On Debian, Ubuntu and macOS:

+ +

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

+ +

On Windows:

+ +

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

+ +

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

+ +

Checking fastboot version

+ +

Check the output of fastboot --version before continuing.

+ +

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

+ +

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

+ +

Fastboot as non-root

+ +

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.

+ +

On Arch Linux:

+ +

sudo pacman -S android-udev

+ +

On Debian and Ubuntu:

+ +

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

+ +

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.

+ +

Connecting the phone

+ +

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.

+ +

Unlocking the bootloader

+ +

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.

+ +

Unlock the bootloader to allow flashing the OS and firmware:

+ +

fastboot flashing unlock

+ +

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.

+ +

Obtaining signify

+ +

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.

+ +

On Arch Linux:

+ +

sudo pacman -S signify

+ +

On Debian and Ubuntu:

+ +

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

+ +

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.

+ +

Obtaining factory images

+ +

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

+ +

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.

+ +

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

+ +

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

+ +

This is the content of factory.pub:

+ +

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

+ +

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.

+ +

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):

+ +

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

+ +

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:

+ +

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

+ +

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

+ +

Flashing factory images

+ +

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

+ +

Next, extract the factory images.

+ +

On Linux:

+ +

bsdtar xvf sunfish-factory-2021.01.05.03.zip

+ +

On macOS and Windows:

+ +

tar xvf sunfish-factory-2021.01.05.03.zip

+ +

Move into the directory:

+ +

cd sunfish-factory-2021.01.05.03

+ +

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

+ +

On Linux and macOS:

+ +

./flash-all.sh

+ +

On Windows:

+ +

./flash-all.bat

+ +

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

+ +

Troubleshooting

+ +

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.

+ +

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:

+ +

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

+ +

Locking the bootloader

+ +

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.

+ +

In the bootloader interface, set it to locked:

+ +

fastboot flashing lock

+ +

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.

+ +

Post-installation

+ +

Booting

+ +

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.

+ +

Disabling OEM unlocking

+ +

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

+ +

Verifying installation

+ +

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.

+ +

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.

+ +

Replacing GrapheneOS with the stock OS

+ +

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.

+ +

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:

+ +

fastboot erase avb_custom_key

+ +

Further information

+ +

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.

Install

+ +

GrapheneOS has two officially supported installation methods. You can either use + the command-line installation guide or the experimental + WebUSB-based installer.

+ +

The command-line approach offers a way to install GrapheneOS without trusting our + server infrastructure. This requires being on an OS with proper fastboot and signify + packages along with understanding the process enough to avoid blindly trusting the + instructions from our site. For most users, the web-based installation approach is no + less secure and avoids needing any software beyond a browser with WebUSB support.

Web install

+ +

This is an experimental WebUSB-based installer for GrapheneOS. Consider + using the command-line installation guide until this has + been more thoroughly tested and improved.

+ +

Prerequisites

+ +

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

+ +

For this web-based installation process, the latest stable release of Chromium + or Chrome is recommended.

+ +

Enabling OEM unlocking

+ +

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

+ +

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

+ +

Connecting the phone

+ +

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.

+ +

Unlocking the bootloader

+ +

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.

+ +

Unlock the bootloader to allow flashing the OS and firmware:

+ + + +

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

+ +

Obtaining factory images

+ +

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

+ +

Press the button below to start the download:

+ + + +

+ +

Flashing factory images

+ +

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

+ + + +

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

+ +

Locking the bootloader

+ +

In the bootloader interface, set it to locked:

+ + + +

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.

+ +

Post-installation

+ +

Booting

+ +

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.

+ +

Disabling OEM unlocking

+ +

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

+ +

Verifying installation

+ +

Further information

+ +