[HOWTO] Dual-Boot P31xx

Nicene Nerd · Sep 2, 2012

Dual-booting has always intrigued me. I dual-boot between Windows and Linux on one of my computers, dual-boot between stock firmware and RockBox on my Sansa Fuze v2, and I decided to find out how to dual-boot my Galaxy Tab 2 7.0". It took a couple days of work, but I have found one way to do so using the external SD card.
In the future, if I can work it out, I will provide a method for dual-booting using only internal storage. Update: I have successfully tested an internal dualboot setup. I will post details later.
Warning: While I am not aware of any specific way this could brick your device, stuff happens, so don't blame me. I've tested this and found no problems, but you may not be the same.
To use this method, you need a microSD card at least 8GB in size. If you use 8GB, though, you will have pretty limited space for storage, so a card 16GB or greater is advised.
Preparing SD Card

Repartition your microSD card using whatever program suits you. You need to shrink the first storage partition to make room for the new system partitions. The new partitions should take at least 5GB, so be sure to leave at least 5.25GB. You can always resize later if you need to.
After shrinking your storage partition, create four ext4 partitions in this order: system (min 800MB, recommended 1.25GB), cache (min 500MB, recommended 700MB), data (min 3GB, recommended 5GB), and EFS (min 21MB, recommended 32MB).
Verify your partitions on your tablet by inserting the SD card, booting into CWM, and running "parted /dev/mmcblk1" (no quotes) over ADB shell.

Flashing External ROM

Now you just need a ROM to flash. Most ROMs are not packaged to run from external SD card. You MUST either use a provided ROM or edit one yourself. I provide here a repackaged version of the 8/28 CM10 nightly which can flash to and run from your SD card. If you want to edit a ROM yourself, see the bottom of this post.
Boot into CWM and backup. You will need your backed up boot image if anything goes wrong.
Now flash your ROM. It will install to the external SD card on the appropriate partitions if you did everything right. Reboot: you should be in your new ROM.
You'll probably want a Google Apps package. See below for packages for external dualboot.

Using Your Dual-Boot Setup

Your internal and external ROMs do not share internal storage, due to the odd nature of the SD card fuse tool.Your external ROM has an "internal SD card" of its own. You may find a way to mount the internal /data/media to the external ROM's /sdcard. My new ROM conversion script will add attempt to mount the internal ROM's storage to /storage/intSdCard
The ROMs I provide here include a script in /system/bin called "bootinternal." Run this from a terminal emulator or adb to switch from the external ROM back to the internal one. I have attached a script called "bootexternal" to this post. Use it on your internal ROM to switch to the external one (remember to set the executable permission).
In order for the boot switching scripts to work, you must do some preparation. On your external ROM, place the internal ROM's boot.img in /sdcard/Boot/internal.img. For your internal ROM, place your external ROM's boot.img in /sdcard/Boot/external.img.
If you ever need/watch to switch ROMs manually, run the following commands in a terminal emulator or over ADB, replacing "boot.img" with the boot image of the ROM you are switching to:
Code:
```
cat boot.img > /dev/block/mmcblk0p5
reboot
```
Alternatively, you could switch boot images using Mobile Odin.
Update: I would skip using my prepackaged ROMs now, because I have uploaded a converter script that will actually do a better job. These will configure the "bootinternal" and "bootexternal" scripts automatically.
If you ever need to wipe your data, cache, or dalvik cache, see the next post for CWM zips.

Downloads
Roms for External SD Card:
CyanogenMod 10 Nightly (8/28/2012)
AOKP P3113 Stable
Note that these are probably unnecessary now, because I provide a script to convert ROMs automatically on Linux.
Google Apps Packages for External SD Card:
Gapps for Jelly Bean - Use for CM10, AOKP, etc
Gapps for Ice Cream Sandwich - Use for stock, RomsWell, etc
If I ever have time, I plan to upload SD card images which you can use to partition your external SD card automatically.
---
Repacking a ROM for Dual-boot from SD Card
Note: You no longer need to do this manually. I have uploaded a script which automates the conversion process. See the next post for download.

First, you need to extract and unpack the boot image. There are tools and scripts available for this, so find one.

Once the boot image is unpacked, you need to edit init.espresso.rc on the ramdisk. Find where the partitions are mounted and change the code to look like this (yours may look slightly different depending on the ROM, but just be sure to replace the default partition mounts with those of your SD card partitions):

Code:

    #mount ext4 /dev/block/platform/omap/omap_hsmmc.1/by-name/FACTORYFS /system wait rw   
    mount ext4 /dev/block/mmcblk1p2 /system wait rw
    #mount ext4 /dev/block/platform/omap/omap_hsmmc.1/by-name/FACTORYFS /system ro remount
    mount ext4 /dev/block/mmcblk1p2 /system ro remount
    #mount ext4 /dev/block/platform/omap/omap_hsmmc.1/by-name/DATAFS /data wait noatime nosuid nodev crypt discard,noauto_da_alloc
    mount ext4 /dev/block/platform/omap/omap_hsmmc.1/by-name/DATAFS /data2 wait noatime nosuid nodev crypt discard,noauto_da_alloc
    mount ext4 /dev/block/mmcblk1p4 /data wait noatime nosuid nodev crypt discard,noauto_da_alloc
    #mount ext4 /dev/block/platform/omap/omap_hsmmc.1/by-name/CACHE /cache wait noatime nosuid nodev nomblk_io_submit,errors=panic
    mount ext4 /dev/block/mmcblk1p3 /cache wait noatime nosuid nodev nomblk_io_submit,errors=panic
    #mount ext4 /dev/block/platform/omap/omap_hsmmc.1/by-name/EFS /efs wait rw
    mount ext4 /dev/block/mmcblk1p5 /efs wait rw

Repack the boot image and stick it back into the ROM. Then edit the updater-script, and change all references to the internal system partition (/dev/block/mmcblk0p9) to the external system partition (e.g. /dev/block/mmcblk1p2). If any other partitions are referenced, change them as well.
Optional: insert the "bootinternal" script in /system/bin and the a script to mount the internal storage in /system/etc/init.d.
Your ROM is ready to go. Flash and be happy!

Thanks to Johnsel for helping me edit the boot image and pointing me to sendust7's work on the Atrix, who I also thank for his precedent.

Nicene Nerd · Sep 2, 2012

CWM Zips for Wiping External Partitions

If you ever need to wipe /data, /cache, or dalvik on your external dual-boot partitions, you can use these CWM zips to do so.

Update: Here is a script to automate the conversion of a ROM from standard to external dualboot.

baliriot · Sep 2, 2012

interesting... gonna try this later...

scottx . · Sep 2, 2012

Nice guide! Dual boot with stock and cm9/10/AOKP would be ideal.

F3AR420 · Sep 3, 2012

Confirmed?

Sent from my GT-P3113 using Tapatalk 2

IFLATLINEI · Sep 3, 2012

scottx . said:
Nice guide! Dual boot with stock and cm9/10/AOKP would be ideal.

Agreed! Is it possible to dual boot stock and AOKP?

Nicene Nerd · Sep 3, 2012

IFLATLINEI said:
Agreed! Is it possible to dual boot stock and AOKP?

Absolutely. If you're running stock, just follow the instructions to partition your SD card, then flash the provided AOKP package and (I assume you would) the gapps package. You should boot right into to your external AOKP installation. Then just copy your stock boot image to /sdcard/Boot/internal.img and run "bootinternal" from a Terminal Emulator or adb shell to return to stock.

silentvisitor · Sep 3, 2012

BRILLIANT !!!

A few suggestions:
Possible to have a GUI to switch ROM or even better to have it at boot (through kernel).
Script to Automate the process of converting any(P31xx) ROM to dual-boot. It will take away pressure off you.

Thanks !

john9 · Sep 3, 2012

thanks for the tutorial.

Nicene Nerd · Sep 4, 2012

silentvisitor said:
BRILLIANT !!!

A few suggestions:
Possible to have a GUI to switch ROM or even better to have it at boot (through kernel).
Script to Automate the process of converting any(P31xx) ROM to dual-boot. It will take away pressure off you.

Thanks !

The GUI may or may not happen, since I, while familiar with partitions and scripting, don't know much about Java or Android development. I'll look into it, though. Having it run at boot through the kernel is beyond my skills. The closest I could do would be an init.d script.
As for a script to automate the conversion process, that seems doable. It only involves two files (init.espresso.rc in the boot image and the updater-script), so I could see that happening. I'll try to do something with that.

Aliendex · Sep 4, 2012

This is very interesting!
But I think it is better if we can install dual-boot like CM10 and some porting of Linux desktop version, chrome OS (love it) and other

I follow this thread!

Nicene Nerd · Sep 4, 2012

Update: I've added a script that automatically converts ROMs to external dualboot format. I advise using this script instead of my provided ROMs. Just open a terminal in the script's directory and run:

Code:

./convert.sh rom-to-convert.zip

It will automatically edit the boot image and updater script, as well as configure the dualboot scripts. Go back to the second post to download.

partola1 · Sep 5, 2012

Dual-boot question

Sorry for offtop, but your work is very interesting for me. I have GT-P6800 (Tab 7.7) and will try your method on my device. What can i do for it? May be change numeration of partitions inside a script? And firmware counter will be ticked or not? And my current firmware in internal memory will be untoched? Thanks for your work again!

Nicene Nerd · Sep 5, 2012

partola1 said:
Sorry for offtop, but your work is very interesting for me. I have GT-P6800 (Tab 7.7) and will try your method on my device. What can i do for it? May be change numeration of partitions inside a script? And firmware counter will be ticked or not? And my current firmware in internal memory will be untoched? Thanks for your work again!

I would assume our tablets are very similar, so my method probably would work as is. To be sure, extract the updater-script from your rom and send it to me, along with the boot image, and I'll check it out. Your firmware counter will not be increased, and your current firmware should not be affected.

Cuppeerr · Sep 5, 2012

marry me. I just asked the dual boot question like a week ago lol

partola1 · Sep 6, 2012

Macadamia Daze said:
I would assume our tablets are very similar, so my method probably would work as is. To be sure, extract the updater-script from your rom and send it to me, along with the boot image, and I'll check it out. Your firmware counter will not be increased, and your current firmware should not be affected.

Hi, this is my p680 kernel & updater-script:
http://hotfile.com/dl/170647189/80fec16/P6800.ZIP.html
Please, check it!

Also, i have some questions:

as you know, only 4 primary partition allowing on sdcard. I create 1 partition primary fat32 and 4 partitions logical ext4. Is this ok?
And how can i check partitions directly on tab? Terminal emulator not understand parted command, and from recovery TWRP 2.2.0.0 terminal asking me about from which directory execute commands. I try few directories, but parted/dev/mmcblk1 command show nothing to me.

Thank you for your adwise.

Nicene Nerd · Sep 6, 2012

partola1 said:
Hi, this is my p680 kernel & updater-script:
http://hotfile.com/dl/170647189/80fec16/P6800.ZIP.html
Please, check it!

I'm having problems unpacking your boot image. Run the command "mount" on your tab and give me the output. I looked in your updater-script, though, and that seems compatible.

as you know, only 4 primary partition allowing on sdcard. I create 1 partition primary fat32 and 4 partitions logical ext4. Is this ok?

I was able to put 5 primary partitions on my SD card. Are you using an MBR partition table or GUID partition table? You need to use GUID to have 5 primary partitions. Anyway, I don't know if it will make a difference for logical partitions. Once you can check the partitions from your tab, I'll be able to tell you if it will work.

And how can i check partitions directly on tab? Terminal emulator not understand parted command, and from recovery TWRP 2.2.0.0 terminal asking me about from which directory execute commands. I try few directories, but parted/dev/mmcblk1 command show nothing to me.

Use CWM instead of TWRP.

partola1 · Sep 6, 2012

Macadamia Daze said:
I'm having problems unpacking your boot image. Run the command "mount" on your tab and give me the output. I looked in your updater-script, though, and that seems compatible.

Hi, this is result of mount command:

Code:

app_122@android:/ $ export PATH=/data/local/bin:$PATH
app_122@android:/ $ mount
rootfs / rootfs ro,relatime 0 0
tmpfs /dev tmpfs rw,nosuid,relatime,mode=755 0 0
devpts /dev/pts devpts rw,relatime,mode=600 0 0
proc /proc proc rw,relatime 0 0
sysfs /sys sysfs rw,relatime 0 0
none /acct cgroup rw,relatime,cpuacct 0 0
tmpfs /mnt/asec tmpfs rw,relatime,mode=755,gid=1000 0 0
tmpfs /mnt/obb tmpfs rw,relatime,mode=755,gid=1000 0 0
none /dev/cpuctl cgroup rw,relatime,cpu 0 0
/dev/block/mmcblk0p9 /system ext4 ro,noatime,barrier=1,data=ordered 0 0
/dev/block/mmcblk0p7 /cache ext4 rw,nosuid,nodev,noatime,barrier=1,data=ordered 0 0
/dev/block/mmcblk0p1 /efs ext4 rw,nosuid,nodev,noatime,barrier=1,data=ordered 0 0
/dev/block/mmcblk0p10 /data ext4 rw,nosuid,nodev,noatime,barrier=1,data=ordered,noauto_da_alloc 0 0
/dev/block/mmcblk0p4 /mnt/.lfs j4fs rw,relatime 0 0
/sys/kernel/debug /sys/kernel/debug debugfs rw,relatime 0 0
/dev/fuse /mnt/sdcard fuse rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,user_id=1023,group_id=1023,default_permissions,allow_other 0 0
tmpfs /mnt/sdcard/extStorages tmpfs rw,dirsync,nosuid,nodev,noexec,noatime,nodiratime,size=0k,mode=755,gid=1000 0 0
/dev/block/vold/179:9 /mnt/sdcard/extStorages/SdCard vfat rw,dirsync,nosuid,nodev,noexec,noatime,nodiratime,uid=1000,gid=1023,fmask=0002,dmask=0002,allow_utime=0020,codepage=cp437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,utf8,errors=remount-ro 0 0
app_122@android:/ $

Also, i get CWM instead TWRP. But CWM have not possibility entering commands at all.
If you had troubles with unpacking CM10 kernel, any way for update it to booting from sd?

Thank you.

cdesai · Sep 6, 2012

Why duplicate the efs partition?

And what makes it need such a big cache partition?

Sent from my GT-P1000

Nicene Nerd · Sep 6, 2012

partola1 said:

Hi, this is result of mount command:

Code:

app_122@android:/ $ export PATH=/data/local/bin:$PATH
app_122@android:/ $ mount
rootfs / rootfs ro,relatime 0 0
tmpfs /dev tmpfs rw,nosuid,relatime,mode=755 0 0
devpts /dev/pts devpts rw,relatime,mode=600 0 0
proc /proc proc rw,relatime 0 0
sysfs /sys sysfs rw,relatime 0 0
none /acct cgroup rw,relatime,cpuacct 0 0
tmpfs /mnt/asec tmpfs rw,relatime,mode=755,gid=1000 0 0
tmpfs /mnt/obb tmpfs rw,relatime,mode=755,gid=1000 0 0
none /dev/cpuctl cgroup rw,relatime,cpu 0 0
/dev/block/mmcblk0p9 /system ext4 ro,noatime,barrier=1,data=ordered 0 0
/dev/block/mmcblk0p7 /cache ext4 rw,nosuid,nodev,noatime,barrier=1,data=ordered 0 0
/dev/block/mmcblk0p1 /efs ext4 rw,nosuid,nodev,noatime,barrier=1,data=ordered 0 0
/dev/block/mmcblk0p10 /data ext4 rw,nosuid,nodev,noatime,barrier=1,data=ordered,noauto_da_alloc 0 0
/dev/block/mmcblk0p4 /mnt/.lfs j4fs rw,relatime 0 0
/sys/kernel/debug /sys/kernel/debug debugfs rw,relatime 0 0
/dev/fuse /mnt/sdcard fuse rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,user_id=1023,group_id=1023,default_permissions,allow_other 0 0
tmpfs /mnt/sdcard/extStorages tmpfs rw,dirsync,nosuid,nodev,noexec,noatime,nodiratime,size=0k,mode=755,gid=1000 0 0
/dev/block/vold/179:9 /mnt/sdcard/extStorages/SdCard vfat rw,dirsync,nosuid,nodev,noexec,noatime,nodiratime,uid=1000,gid=1023,fmask=0002,dmask=0002,allow_utime=0020,codepage=cp437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,utf8,errors=remount-ro 0 0
app_122@android:/ $

Your essential partitions are the same, but are referenced differently. I will need to make a slight alteration to the conversion script.

Also, i get CWM instead TWRP. But CWM have not possibility entering commands at all.

You do it through ADB.

If you had troubles with unpacking CM10 kernel, any way for update it to booting from sd?

I'm looking into the boot image, but let's try something out. In the terminal emulator, run "cat /dev/block/mmcblk0p5 > /sdcard/full-boot.img" (without quotes). Then upload that file.

cdesai said:
Why duplicate the efs partition?

When I first ran across it, I wasn't sure what it was, so I added it for safety.

And what makes it need such a big cache partition?

I'm not sure. I decided to keep it close to the original cache partition size, which was 700+ MB. However, I've found in another setup that I can get by with half that. In my internal dual-boot setup, I have a 384MB cache partition.

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