How To Guide [GSI][PHH] Guide & Support [Mojito][Sunny]

[MPK99]

It was booting after dirty flash over phh/Android 12, but then there was lags/crashes

I don't think dirty flash is an issue, since I've tested almost 6 GSIs consistently over phh's AOSP. And they run perfect, except couple ones.
It all depends on the GSI build quality itself. Spark GSI, in your case seems to be unstable.

 

[Apih95]

REVIEW AncientOS Official 12L GSI by nazim on mojito device:
It quite lagging , the battery seem to be hotter compared to using stock android even on social media usage. Safetynet failed after using safetynet fix by kdrag0n. i did not test magisk hide tho. Banking app work fine after in deny list . it was not smooth experience to me even after changing to WCSF-PLC kernel

 

[Apih95]

Spark OS/Android 13 does not work with SafetyNet Fix, but works with MagiskHide Props Config (SparkOS-13.0-arm64_bgN-Unofficial.img)
It was booting after dirty flash over phh/Android 12, but then there was lags/crashes
I tried again from clean flash, but it was still unstable

Moved now to clean flash crDroid, it works smooth.

crDroid GSI ? how smooth is that rom ? battery life good ? VoLTE work ?

 

[spider1163]

crDroid GSI ? how smooth is that rom ? battery life good ? VoLTE work ?

Yes crDroid GSI (crDroid-8.9-arm64_bgN-Unofficial.img)
It is really smooth, good battery life with VoLTE.

I flashed NetErnels & Magisk with SafetyNet Fix, ANXCam and KProfiles.
I needed to manually extract the overlay because it was not merged in crDroid.

crDroid even corrected a sound problem that I was apparently the only one to have with phh (the sound was too high pitched in internet calls like Whatsapp/Skype.. to understand anything).

 

[MPK99]

REVIEW AncientOS Official 12L GSI by nazim on mojito device:
It quite lagging , the battery seem to be hotter compared to using stock android even on social media usage. Safetynet failed after using safetynet fix by kdrag0n. i did not test magisk hide tho. Banking app work fine after in deny list . it was not smooth experience to me even after changing to WCSF-PLC kernel

MagiskHide is gone since v23. Are you on v23 ? Update it to newer v25.2 & enable Zygisk/Enforce Denylist. Safetynet depends on your geolocation & google's policies there.
WCSF is an efficiency optimized kernel. For smoothness, prefer NetErnels with performance mode.

crDroid even corrected a sound problem that I was apparently the only one to have with phh

That's strange. Caz in my tests it's the same. I've use VOIP calls on Element (matrix client), Signal & tested telegram too (didn't test whatsapp, caz I don't use). Neither on phh, or crDroid, had voice pitch issues here.
If any other bugs exist, lemme know.

 

[spider1163]

I believe you, it may be due to a corrupted file, I don't know.
I'm just glad it's now resolved.

 

[ChristianWS]

I've done the procedure without issue until the flash vbmeta.img

I'm currently stuck trying to flash LineageOS GSI, it is stuck in the "Sendind sparse 'system_a' 1/8"

Help

 

[MPK99]

I've done the procedure without issue until the flash vbmeta.img

I'm currently stuck trying to flash LineageOS GSI, it is stuck in the "Sendind sparse 'system_a' 1/8"

Help

Make sure you're in fastbootd mode, not fastboot.

fastboot reboot fastboot

 

[ChristianWS]

Make sure you're in fastbootd mode, not fastboot.

fastboot reboot fastboot

I was in fastbootd mode when i flashed vbmeta.img, there was a big logo on the device.

Not sure when i tried flashing the GSI, i didn't look, but now it has a blackscreen.

Also I haven't touched the device nor closed the CMD window as I'm scared of bricking it by doing something dumb


Edit: sorry about the grammar mistakes, I'm using an old phone that I forgot to setup autocorrect

 

[MPK99]

I haven't touched the de vice nor closed the CMD window as I'm scared of bricking it by doing something dumb

GSIs will never break the device. It only modifies just one logical partition (system). To seriously break, one has to either wipe bootloader, or mess with other physical partitions.

I was in fastbootd mode when i flashed vbmeta.img, there was a big logo on the device.

You don't need to flash vbmeta for every subsequent update. If you were previously on any GSI, just flashing it would be enough.
Which recovery you're on ? TWRP ?
FastbootD is a component of recovery. Not bootloader, or normal fastboot. Try flashing boot.img from stock & use it's fastbootD to flash gsi. Btw, twrp's fastbootd should work without any issues anyways. I've tested a lot on it.

 

[ChristianWS]

I wasn't on anything, I was following your guide from scratch because it was the first time I'm flashing GSI.

I'm in panic mode because I flashed the Stock ROM no problem, erased data, flashed vbmeta.img per the instructions, but now the CMD window is stuck on the "sending sparse system_a" after resizing system_a. I'm quite unsure what I should do.

I should still be on the default recovery seeing as I flashed stock without booting to it

Edit: It is still in fastbootd mode, the screen just went off, I needed to touch the screen to confirm it

Edit2: I'm more calm now, since the device is still on Fastbootd mode from the Stock ROM it means I can just... Not touch the device itself, right?

I'm thinking about:

- Closing the CMD window as it seems to be stuck
- Reboot my computer, to be sure the old process is dead
- Reinstall the Drivers just to be sure(I don't think there's anything wrong since it flashed stock with no problem, but you never know
- Reboot it again to be absolutely sure
- fastboot reboot fastboot
- fastboot flash system lineagenameistoolong.img

Is this okay? The phone will never boot into the stock ROM as it appears that it was at very least resized, so I'm afraid of touching it right now

 

[MPK99]

I wasn't on anything, I was following your guide from scratch because it was the first time I'm flashing GSI.

Would you care sharing the source build of gsi image? Should be from AndyCGYan.

It is still in fastbootd mode, the screen just went off, I needed to touch the screen to confirm it

Yep. Fastbootd has sleep mode, just like android.

CMD window is stuck on the "sending sparse system_a" after resizing system_a.

Better you post the output here.

 

[ChristianWS]

It is Andy's, straight from the source.

Here it is. Been stuck at this for 2 hours.

Ignore the lines where I forgot it was .img

EDIT: ****ING HELL, I just needed to press a directional key and it ****ing continued like there was no problem

 

[MPK99]

Been stuck at this for 2 hours

The instructions might look lengthy, but the actually time it'll take will never be more than 10 to 15 minutes, always less than that.

****ING HELL, I just needed to press a directional key and it ****ing continued like there was no problem

Could be cmd issue. I'm not a windows user so I'm not sure.

 

[ChristianWS]

The instructions might look lengthy, but the actually time it'll take will never be more than 10 to 15 minutes, always less than that.

Could be cmd issue. I'm not a windows user so I'm not sure.

Funny, cause I daily drive Linux, but I flash my devices using Windows because most of the tutorials made here are made with it in mind, so it is easier to troubleshoot.

Anyway, I finished everything. Just need to add the overlays and the real PlayStore*

Ah btw, Magisk is complaining that it detected a "su" binary not from Magisk, keeps calling it Abnormal State. That is fine, right?


*I learned using my old device that MicroG + the real Playstore frees a bunch of resources, hence why I like to use MicroG despite the fact I also use the real Playstore

 

[MPK99]

Ah btw, Magisk is complaining that it detected a "su" binary not from Magisk, keeps calling it Abnormal State. That is fine, right?

Inside phh settings > Misc section, execute "Securize system". Then re-flash magisk from recovery.
This is the reason many GSI builders avoid shipping "su" (a.k.a bvS/bgS) & just build N variants (bvN/bgN). Because it causes overlap with Magisk, since both ship same root binaries. I donno why Andy still builds su variant. He doesn't even include non-su along with it...¯\_(ツ)_/¯

*I learned using my old device that MicroG + the real Playstore frees a bunch of resources, hence why I like to use MicroG despite the fact I also use the real Playstore

I suggest Aurora store. Play store on microg is just useless. Fake store patch already takes care of those freezes you mention about.

Funny, cause I daily drive Linux, but I flash my devices using Windows because most of the tutorials made here are made with it in mind, so it is easier to troubleshoot.

You should know that linux is miles ahead with this technical stuff, you just need to install Android tools available on all distro repos. Windows is outright garbage.

 

[ChristianWS]

Inside phh settings > Misc section, execute "Securize system". Then re-flash magisk from recovery.
This is the reason many GSI builders avoid shipping "su" (a.k.a bvS/bgS) & just build N variants (bvN/bgN). Because it causes overlap with Magisk, since both ship same root binaries. I donno why Andy still builds su variant. He doesn't even include non-su along with it...¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Well, is it bad if I don't do that?

I suggest Aurora store. Play store on microg is just useless. Fake store patch already takes care of those freezes you mention about.

Not sure if I follow. I want to use the original Play Store so I can access the apps I already bought. Aurora Store has some issues AFAIK that could result in you getting your account banned.

I use MicroG because a full Gapps installation(even a minimal one) uses more system resources than MicroG. This was important on my old device (a Moto G 2013), and because it worked there, I assume it will work on the Redmi Note 10 as well, specially considering my model is a 4GB one.

You should know that linux is miles ahead with this technical stuff, you just need to install Android tools available on all distro repos. Windows is outright garbage.

I do, but sometime things go wrong, my mistake was assuming you used Windows and that it would help isolate the root cause of the problem

 

[MPK99]

Well, is it bad if I don't do that?

Yes, for security reasons. Magisk is still using 'su' behind, instead of it's own binary. SU (aka SuperUser), initially developed by Chainfire, stopped giving updates since 2017 & it's way too outdated than magisk's binary.

Not sure if I follow. I want to use the original Play Store so I can access the apps I already bought. Aurora Store has some

I don't think you can redeem app purchases on play store. Microg is actually intended for users who need complete google free experience, with minimal usability loss. If you're purchasing apps directly from store, I suggest you to just stick with google play services.

I use MicroG because a full Gapps installation(even a minimal one) uses more system resources than MicroG. This was important on my old device (a Moto G 2013), and because it worked there, I assume it will work on the Redmi Note 10 as well, specially considering my model is a 4GB one.

On a 2013 device, it might matter. But on this device, it doesn't. Memory usage might be 100 megs more, other than that, there's little to no difference.

I do, but sometime things go wrong, my mistake was assuming you used Windows and that it would help isolate the root cause of the problem

Fastboot/ADB, is primarily a linux tool, written in bash & C. But Android ported it on other platforms such as Windows & Mac. That's why installation of these tools have lengthy procedure on win/mac than on linux.

 

[ChristianWS]

Yes, for security reasons. Magisk is still using 'su' behind, instead of it's own binary. SU (aka SuperUser), initially developed by Chainfire, stopped giving updates since 2015 & it's way too outdated than magisk's binary.

Will I need to do this every time the ROM is updated?

I don't think you can redeem app purchases on play store. Microg is actually intended for users with complete google free experience, with minimal usability loss. If you're purchasing apps directly from store, I suggest you to just stick with google play services.

Not redeem in-app purchases, just apps themselves, it worked before.

 

[MPK99]

Will I need to do this every time the ROM is updated?

For lineage gsi, yes. It's andy's decision to ship bvS instead of bvN. Every other GSI dev left bvS since ages (phh still includes it for compatibility reasons).
If you don't like this behaviour, then crDroid is an another lineage fork, with almost same workflow. Nazim's builds are great btw.

Not redeem in-app purchases, just apps themselves, it worked before.

I meant app purchases, not in-app btw. I never recommend app-store oriented purchases.