It's finally here! TWRP recovery for the Fire TV 1. Most likely, I will not be updating this thread with new releases, as the prerooted ROMs will always contain the latest version. This thread is just here so people on Fire OS 3 can install TWRP and people on rooted but locked bootloader Fire TV 1's can get recovery initially installed.
As usual, this WILL void your warranty and I am NOT responsible for anything you do with this. Installing it properly won't brick your Fire TV, but doing stupid things with it might.
Installing this requires root. If you are not rooted, figure that out first.
Installation for Unlocked Bootloader
Installation for Locked Bootloader
Notes
This includes bootmenu. For everyone that loved the old bootmenu with Comic Sans, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but the Comic Sans is gone. When the FireTV boots, it will present you with the bootmenu where you can leave it alone and it will boot normally or you can select recovery and it will boot in to recovery. You do need a USB keyboard to interact with the bootmenu. To force it to boot in to Recovery, you can create a file /cache/bootmenu_recovery.
DHCP for Ethernet is enabled, and if there is enough demand I may add in wifi at some point. The IP address should show up in the top left corner.
USB storage and USB keyboard/mice should all work. Hotplugging works, so you should be able to plug and unplug devices as needed.
You can use a USB keyboard, mouse, or the mouse emulator to interact with it. To use a keyboard, you can use the arrow keys to move the cursor and the enter key to select buttons. Sliders don't require sliding, so you can just hit enter/click on them. To use the mouse emulator, use adb shell and then run the program mouse and follow the instructions.
ROMs
Recovery must be included in all ROMs. If you want to develop a ROM, please contact me about including recovery in it.
Installing zips
You can push zips to /sdcard, put it on a USB storage, or use adb sideload. Do note you need adb version 1.0.32 to use adb sideload.
Stuck in a loop?
If you cannot boot normally and keep going back to the bootmenu, wipe Cache from Wipe -> Advanced Wipe.
Source Code
You can find the source code here:
https://github.com/androidrbox/firetv-2ndinit
https://github.com/androidrbox/android_bootable_recovery
WARNINGS
Finally, thanks to everyone who has donated to me.
Changelog and Downloads:
As usual, this WILL void your warranty and I am NOT responsible for anything you do with this. Installing it properly won't brick your Fire TV, but doing stupid things with it might.
Installing this requires root. If you are not rooted, figure that out first.
Installation for Unlocked Bootloader
- Make sure you are on a FULLY unlocked bootloader. From within FireOS and after running su run this:
Code:cat /proc/cmdline
- Make sure you are on at least 51.1.4.0 ROM and the latest CWM installed.
- Copy the bueller-twrp_3.0.0-6.img file to /sdcard
- From within adb shell, use su to become root, and run this command (are you sure you did step 1?)
Code:dd if=/data/media/0/bueller-twrp_3.0.0-6.img of=/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/recovery
- From outside adb shell, reboot to recovery
Code:adb reboot recovery
- TWRP should load, you can install a FireOS5 prerooted ROM now.
Installation for Locked Bootloader
- This requires that you are on at least version 5.0.5 and rooted.
- Copy the bueller_recovery_vX.zip file to /sdcard
- From within adb shell, use su to become root, and run this command (replace vX with the actual version you downloaded)
Code:sh /data/media/0/bueller_recovery_vX.zip
- Reboot
Notes
This includes bootmenu. For everyone that loved the old bootmenu with Comic Sans, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but the Comic Sans is gone. When the FireTV boots, it will present you with the bootmenu where you can leave it alone and it will boot normally or you can select recovery and it will boot in to recovery. You do need a USB keyboard to interact with the bootmenu. To force it to boot in to Recovery, you can create a file /cache/bootmenu_recovery.
DHCP for Ethernet is enabled, and if there is enough demand I may add in wifi at some point. The IP address should show up in the top left corner.
USB storage and USB keyboard/mice should all work. Hotplugging works, so you should be able to plug and unplug devices as needed.
You can use a USB keyboard, mouse, or the mouse emulator to interact with it. To use a keyboard, you can use the arrow keys to move the cursor and the enter key to select buttons. Sliders don't require sliding, so you can just hit enter/click on them. To use the mouse emulator, use adb shell and then run the program mouse and follow the instructions.
ROMs
Recovery must be included in all ROMs. If you want to develop a ROM, please contact me about including recovery in it.
Installing zips
You can push zips to /sdcard, put it on a USB storage, or use adb sideload. Do note you need adb version 1.0.32 to use adb sideload.
Stuck in a loop?
If you cannot boot normally and keep going back to the bootmenu, wipe Cache from Wipe -> Advanced Wipe.
Source Code
You can find the source code here:
https://github.com/androidrbox/firetv-2ndinit
https://github.com/androidrbox/android_bootable_recovery
WARNINGS
- It is extremely important you never reboot after a failure. This will most likely lead to a brick. If recovery is hung, you can use adb shell to run
Code:
killall recovery
- It is also extremely important to never reboot after wiping /system.
Finally, thanks to everyone who has donated to me.
Changelog and Downloads:
- July 7, 2016 - v2 (md5sum: 8f65187cb0cbc190a7d64f512ae3ede2)
- This is the updated version with TWRP 3.0.0-7.
- July 4, 2016 - TWRP Image 3.0.0-7 (md5sum: cda1a1c1cdd3e25a1caa86f5a5de1eee)
- May 20, 2016 - v1 (md5sum: 9208d81fd07cff9952de5be33c62f730)
- This is for use by people who have FireOS5 and are rooted.
- This includes 2ndinit version a7a48c and TWRP version 3.0.0-6.
- May 20, 2016 - TWRP Image (md5sum: 5dc83370046e5b50755ddb55fe8424ad)
- This is for use by people who have FireOS3 and CWM and is TWRP version 3.0.0-6.
Last edited: