Flashing a custom rom on Nexus 4

· 678 words · 4 minute read

Flashing a custom image on an Android mobile could be just fun. But if you don’t know why you want to do it, or do it just because it’s a challenge. Then don’t!

The bad and the good 🔗

I’m only pointing out some of the cons and the pros here.

Negative sides 🔗

  • An OS image could contain malware; only use community trusted images.
  • If you don’t pay attention you can get malware running as root. That’s B A D !
  • May not have all the phones vendor functionality.
  • The image may be buggy.

Consequences of a buggy image 🔗

  • Lock up your phone when you least expect it.
  • Drain the battery quicker.
  • Suddenly reboot.

Positive sides 🔗

  • You can get a newer more secure operating system.
  • Use less battery.
  • No crapware.
  • Extra security functions.

Flashing CyanogenMod 🔗

One of the custom Android images based on AOSP is CyanogenMod. As I know, it’s one of the more used ones. Quite stable if you keep away from the nightlies and rich on functionality but not bloated.

Preparations 🔗

  1. Install adb and fastboot to help manage your Nexus phone.

     sudo apt-get install android-tools-adb android-tools-fastboot

  2. Download custom a recovery image. Personally I prefer ClockworkMod and the touch recovery. Note, this image is compiled for the Nexus 4 phone. Other phones use other images.

     wget http://download2.clockworkmod.com/recoveries/recovery-clockwork-touch-6.0.4.7-mako.img

  3. Download the latest M snapshot from CyanogenMod on download.cyanogenmod.org. The model name for Nexus 4 is mako.

     wget http://download.cyanogenmod.org/get/jenkins/67695/cm-11-20140504-SNAPSHOT-M6-mako.zip

  4. Download Google Apps from a trusted source. Again I prefer CyanogenMod as source and download from wiki.cyanogenmod.org.

     wget http://itvends.com/gapps/gapps-kk-20140105-signed.zip

  5. And to be on the safe side. Download the origian Nexus 4 firmware from Googles page Factory Images for Nexus Devices. Just in case… And if it is the case, untar the file and read the included instructions.

     wget https://dl.google.com/dl/android/aosp/occam-kot49h-factory-02e344de.tgz

Doing the deed 🔗

This is notes for my personal use. If you decide to go through with this I don’t take any responsibility for any bricked or damaged devices.

1. Enable USB debugging on Android 🔗

  • Settings → About phone.

      Press repeatedly on **Build number** until you become a developer.

  • Settings → Developer options.

      Check **USB debugging**.

2. Unlock bootloader 🔗

  • Connect phone to computer with USB cable.

  • Check that the cable is usable by listing devices with adb. If you don’t get any response. Change the cable and try again. The last cable could be a cheep charger cable without data wires.

      adb devices

  • Reboot phone into bootloader.

      adb reboot bootloader

  • Check that you get connection with fastboot.

      fastboot devices

  • Unlock your bootloader. This takes some time while the phone is erasing all data.

      fastboot oem unlock

  • Choose Yes on phone by pressing Volume up, and then accept by pressing Power.

3. Flash and enter recovery 🔗

  • Flash recovery image.

      fastboot flash recovery recovery-clockwork-touch-6.0.4.7-mako.img

  • Enter recovery image by pressing Volume up until Recovery mode is shown on top of screen. Press Power to enter the recovery image.

4. Prepare and install CyanogenMod 🔗

  • In ClockworkMod Recovery enter mounts and storage → format /system. Yes - Format.

  • In ClockworkMod Recovery enter mounts and storage → format /data and /data/media (/sdcard). Yes - Format.

  • Check the partitions is OK by going back to main menu and choose wipe data/factory reset and Yes - Wipe all user data. Check that you don’t get any errors on formatting /data.

  • Choose install zip → choose zip from sideload and sideload CyanogenMod.

      adb sideload cm-11-20140504-SNAPSHOT-M6-mako.zip

  • Then sideload gapps. Select again choose zip from sideload.

      adb sideload gapps-kk-20140105-signed.zip

  • Just be on the safe side, go back and choose wipe data/factory reset and Yes - Wipe all user data.

  • reboot system now. First boot takes some time, be patient.

If you get problems booting into a clean system, I’ve read that another factory reset could do the trick.

5. Encrypt or not 🔗

After installing the phone you can choose to encrypt it or not. I like to encrypt my device with a passphrase. It’s my data so why give it away if the phone get stolen; encryption makes it a bit harder for the bad guys.

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