[CLOSED] Android 12 Upgrade Discussion

[V0latyle]

I am closing this thread as it is no longer relevant. For rooting instructions or further discussion, please go here.

Spoiler: Deprecated

Current status as of October 21: Data wipe required for permanent root. Patched boot image can be live booted after upgrade for temporary root.

Update 10-29: I have posted a thread over in the Android Development forum so that developers can hopefully take a look at what might be causing our boot issues. Please don't post there but feel free to check for updates.

Since some of us are running into issues with root after upgrading to Android 12, I'd like to invite everyone to share their results here.

Please be as descriptive as possible, and include at the very least the following information:
* What software you were running before the update
* What method you used to update:
- Automatic OTA
- Manual OTA
- Android Flash Tool
- Manual factory image
* Whether or not you wiped /data or did a factory reset
* Any issues you ran into during the process
* Your current state (bootloop, bootloader error, recovery error, system with or without root)

Hopefully this will help us narrow down on exactly what is causing some of the problems.

 

[rester555]

I have a pixel 5, was running Android 11 with oct. 5 security update.

1. I flashed the non verizon factory image from the google factory image repository.
2. then patched my boot image
3. then tried to flash magisk patched boot
4. it kept going to bootloader saying error from @V0latyle where the boot image did not match because I didn't disable the flag.
5. I reflashed the non verizon factory image for pixel 5.
6. I went through the initial google setup and then adb back into bootloader.
7. I tried using the disable flags command in the flash-all.bat file from the factory image. It failed and went to recovery and said I had a corrupt system image in recovery mode.
8. I factory reset and reflashed factory image without flags in the flash-all.bat file
9. Went through google initial setup
10. adb back into fastboot.
11. pushed the disable flag commaned with --slot=all
12. patched magisk image
13. booted into A12 with root.
14. So far root has taken for everything and no issues.

 

[creezalird]

yes i did wipe, i was on protonaosp 11.60 - Pixel 4a5g

So basically I copied 4 files into my platform-tools folder (flash-all.bat, bootloader, image, radio)
Then edited the flash-all.bat a little bit (highlighted blue below) based on your guide

PATH=%PATH%;"%SYSTEMROOT%\System32"
fastboot flash bootloader bootloader-bramble-b5-0.4-7617461.img
fastboot reboot-bootloader
ping -n 5 127.0.0.1 >nul
fastboot flash radio radio-bramble-g7250-00147-210811-b-7631450.img
fastboot reboot-bootloader
ping -n 5 127.0.0.1 >nul
fastboot --disable-verity --disable-verification -w update image-bramble-sp1a.210812.015.zip

echo Press any key to exit...
pause >nul
exit

Then
adb reboot bootloader
flash-all

Wait, done. Follow the usual magisk patched setup. So far no issue. Just sharing my experience here.

 

[V0latyle]

I have a pixel 5, was running Android 11 with oct. 5 security update.

1. I flashed the non verizon factory image from the google factory image repository.
2. then patched my boot image
3. then tried to flash magisk patched boot
4. it kept going to bootloader saying error from @V0latyle where the boot image did not match because I didn't disable the flag.
5. I reflashed the non verizon factory image for pixel 5.
6. I went through the initial google setup and then adb back into bootloader.
7. I tried using the disable flags command in the flash-all.bat file from the factory image. It failed and went to recovery and said I had a corrupt system image in recovery mode.
8. I factory reset and reflashed factory image without flags in the flash-all.bat file
9. Went through google initial setup
10. adb back into fastboot.
11. pushed the disable flag commaned with --slot=all
12. patched magisk image
13. booted into A12 with root.
14. So far root has taken for everything and no issues.

To be clear, you initially tried to dirty flash the factory image without a data wipe?

 

[esta0]

Pixel 4a 5G. Was running rooted A11 before the update, never installed any betas.
1. Dirty flashed the non-Verizon OTA image via recovery sideload, didn't wipe anything
2. Patched boot.img from the latest factory image with Magisk, flashed it
3. Got into a bootloop with "Failed to load/verify boot images"
4. Reverted everything by flashing the full factory image (without -w), booted into the system
5. Went back to fastboot, flashed vbmeta.img with --disable- flags but no --slot=all
6. Flashed the patched boot.img again, tried to boot
7. Saw the corrupt system screen, decided not to format data
8. Repeated step 4

So now I have a working system and no root.

 

[rester555]

To be clear, you initially tried to dirty flash the factory image without a data wipe?

sorry I didn't try dirty flashing from A11 to A12... I did a -w on the initial install.

 

[V0latyle]

Pixel 4a 5G. Was running rooted A11 before the update, never installed any betas.
1. Dirty flashed the non-Verizon OTA image via recovery sideload, didn't wipe anything
2. Patched boot.img from the latest factory image with Magisk, flashed it
3. Got into a bootloop with "Failed to load/verify boot images"
4. Reverted everything by flashing the full factory image (without -w), booted into the system
5. Went back to fastboot, flashed vbmeta.img with --disable- flags but no --slot=all
6. Flashed the patched boot.img again, tried to boot
7. Saw the corrupt system screen, decided not to format data
8. Repeated step 4

So now I have a working system and no root.

Try reflashing vbmeta with the disable flags and --slot=all, then try booting your patched boot image.

sorry I didn't try dirty flashing from A11 to A12... I did a -w on the initial install.

Odd. Sounds like it should have worked the first time. You actually did it right, wiping data when upgrading using the factory image.

 

[rester555]

Try reflashing vbmeta with the disable flags and --slot=all, then try booting your patched boot image.

Odd. Sounds like it should have worked the first time. You actually did it right, wiping data when upgrading using the factory image.

Yeah, I wonder if my patched image became corrupt or something... transferring boot images from windows to android devices always freak me out. I should do a hash check on them.

In the future I might just download the image directly to my phone extract the boot images for magisk patching... then bringing them over to my windows environment.

 

[killchain]

Pixel 4a 5G, coming from the June/July patch of stock Android 11 (for some reason I did not get the October patch even though I started regularly checking for updates - hoping for A12 - about 10 days ago) - it was rooted and I didn't disable anything (regarding Magisk) in advance.

1. Dirty flashed A12 OTA through the UI and rebooted - went fine (with the exception that when I hit reboot from settings, phone turned off instead of rebooting; upon turning on again, update went normally, and IIRC Magisk Manager asked by itself to reinstall the app).
2. I patched boot.img extracted from the latest FI (non-Verizon) and attempted to flash it; flash went fine, but afterwards I got to "failed to load/verify boot images" in fastboot.
3. As per suggestions from @V0latyle I ran "fastboot --disable-verity --disable-verification flash vbmeta vbmeta.img" which got me to recovery and a corrupt system state.
4. Ran "fastboot flash vbmeta vbmeta.img" after which I could boot normally and there was no data loss (but no root)
5. Tried "fastboot --disable-verity --disable-verification flash vbmeta vbmeta-beta5.img" (where "vbmeta-beta5.img" is vbmeta from Beta 5), IIRC it got me again to "failed to load/verify boot images" again.
6. Ran step 4 which got me to boot normally.
7. Sometime at this point I patched boot.img in Magisk again and managed to boot from it ("fastboot boot magisk_patched-xxxxx_yyyyy"), and system booted up with root; from then on tried direct install of Magisk - it went fine, but upon reboot I was back at "failed to load/verify boot images".
8. Ran 4 again, in addition to that I flashed unmodified boot.img and here I am - running system, no data loss, no root.

I haven't used the --slot flag anywhere, and I think fastboot always reported only touching slot a.

 

[V0latyle]

Pixel 4a 5G, coming from the June/July patch of stock Android 11 (for some reason I did not get the October patch even though I started regularly checking for updates - hoping for A12 - about 10 days ago) - it was rooted and I didn't disable anything (regarding Magisk) in advance.

1. Dirty flashed A12 OTA through the UI and rebooted - went fine (with the exception that when I hit reboot from settings, phone turned off instead of rebooting; upon turning on again, update went normally, and IIRC Magisk Manager asked by itself to reinstall the app).
2. I patched boot.img extracted from the latest FI (non-Verizon) and attempted to flash it; flash went fine, but afterwards I got to "failed to load/verify boot images" in fastboot.
3. As per suggestions from @V0latyle I ran "fastboot --disable-verity --disable-verification flash vbmeta vbmeta.img" which got me to recovery and a corrupt system state.
4. Ran "fastboot flash vbmeta vbmeta.img" after which I could boot normally and there was no data loss (but no root)
5. Tried "fastboot --disable-verity --disable-verification flash vbmeta vbmeta-beta5.img" (where "vbmeta-beta5.img" is vbmeta from Beta 5), IIRC it got me again to "failed to load/verify boot images" again.
6. Ran step 4 which got me to boot normally.
7. Sometime at this point I patched boot.img in Magisk again and managed to boot from it ("fastboot boot magisk_patched-xxxxx_yyyyy"), and system booted up with root; from then on tried direct install of Magisk - it went fine, but upon reboot I was back at "failed to load/verify boot images".
8. Ran 4 again, in addition to that I flashed unmodified boot.img and here I am - running system, no data loss, no root.

I haven't used the --slot flag anywhere, and I think fastboot always reported only touching slot a.

Guess what I would recommend you try next? Lol.

fastboot --disable-verity --disable-verification flash --slot=all vbmeta vbmeta.img fastboot reboot bootloader fastboot flash boot magisk_patched.img fastboot reboot

 

[rester555]

Guess what I would recommend you try next? Lol.

fastboot --disable-verity --disable-verification flash --slot=all vbmeta vbmeta.img fastboot reboot bootloader fastboot flash boot magisk_patched.img fastboot reboot

You can also try this if that doesn't work..

fastboot --disable-verity --disable-verification flash --slot=all vbmeta vbmeta.img fastboot reboot bootloader fastboot flash boot --slot=all magisk_patched.img fastboot reboot

 

[V0latyle]

You can also try this if that doesn't work..

fastboot --disable-verity --disable-verification flash --slot=all vbmeta vbmeta.img fastboot reboot bootloader fastboot flash boot --slot=all magisk_patched.img fastboot reboot

Good point actually, if it's giving us issues with the a/b slots on vbmeta, we should make sure that both /boot slots match too.

 

[pappy97]

You can also try this if that doesn't work..

fastboot --disable-verity --disable-verification flash --slot=all vbmeta vbmeta.img fastboot reboot bootloader fastboot flash boot --slot=all magisk_patched.img fastboot reboot

Did you do the --slot=all for flashing the magisk patched image in your steps above (your first post where you said you finally got it work)?

 

[V0latyle]

Did you do the --slot=all for flashing the magisk patched image in your steps above (your first post where you said you finally got it work)?

This is what I am wondering as well, has flashing both boot slots actually fixed a problem for anyone?

 

[killchain]

What was the idea of the two slots? Wasn't it something dealing with seamless updates? Does it make sense to want to check what's in the other slot and whether it is what's causing trouble?

 

[pappy97]

This is what I am wondering as well, has flashing both boot slots actually fixed a problem for anyone?

Well I tried those steps including flash magisk patched image to both slots, I still had the same issue. Gonna wait to see if others are able to do it successfully with a dirty flash before trying again. Thanks for your help!

 

[V0latyle]

Well, it looks like I'm definitely not immune.

Started from 12b5 (clean flash coming from Android 11), rooted.

Took the OTA today, rebooted, no root as expected.

Got home, flashed vbmeta to both slots with boot verification disabled.

Attempted to live boot my patched boot image from the 12 Beta, got boot.img missing cmdline or OS version

Bootlooped twice, got the "data may be corrupt" error in recovery

Reflashed vbmeta to both slots without disable flags, same result.

Dirty flashed factory image via ADB without disable flags, same result.

Dirty flashed factory image via Android Flash Tool without disable flags, same result.

Dirty flashed Beta 5 factory image via ADB, same result.

Tried to reflash vbmeta, vbmeta_system, and boot. Same result.

Now doing a CLEAN flash of the 210812.015 factory image with disable flags set. Booted and going through setup.

Patched boot image. Able to live boot patched image. Performed Magisk "direct install", about to reboot.

It worked! Now rooted on 12 Final, but had to wipe data.

Working on Safetynet now.

So to recap:

Nothing worked until I clean flashed the factory image with verity and verification disabled. I was then able to successfully root, and did not have to reflash anything. Unfortunately, it did require a data wipe.

 

[rester555]

Did you do the --slot=all for flashing the magisk patched image in your steps above (your first post where you said you finally got it work)?

yes

 

[ZeoFateX]

Can't get my device to pass attestation now. Installed the latest universal fix 2.1.1. There are currently no Android 12 fingerprints for props config. It's failing both basicIntegrity and ctsProfile, does say eval type is basic. Magisk is hidden. gPay and Play Services are 'hidden', cache and storage were cleared. Phone was rebooted. Funnily enough the banking apps work, but gPay does not.

 

[V0latyle]

Can't get my device to pass attestation now. Installed the latest universal fix 2.1.1. There are currently no Android 12 fingerprints for props config. It's failing both basicIntegrity and ctsProfile, does say eval type is basic. Magisk is hidden. gPay and Play Services are 'hidden', cache and storage were cleared. Phone was rebooted. Funnily enough the banking apps work, but gPay does not.

Weird. I haven't tried GPay yet but I think I'm passing...

Update: GPay works, I had no trouble adding cards. The only thing I've noticed is the NFC icon has a line through it and it says "Not set up". Not sure why.