SPECIAL THANKS TO
@Lunarixus on XDA
I wouldn't have figured out how to maneuver the pixel 2 XL partition table without him.
@Lunarixus on XDA
I wouldn't have figured out how to maneuver the pixel 2 XL partition table without him.
WARNING!
This tutorial only applies to Taimen (2XL). There's already another tutorial for Walleye, click here for link. I need Walleye testers so please join the telegram group if you can! Google Pixel Development Group.
REQUIREMENTS:- Taimen with unlocked bootloader
- Updated adb & fastboot binaries
- GNU parted for ARM64. Get it here: https://guidedflame.dev/parted
- Custom recovery for Taimen with adb support. Get it here: Recovery .img Download
- vbmeta image for your device: Download vbmeta.img
1. Enable USB Debugging
2. Reboot into fastboot mode
adb reboot bootloader
3. Boot into the recovery
fastboot boot path/to/recovery.img
4. In TWRP...
- If it asks you to decrypt your data, do it.
- If it asks you to swipe for RW permissions on system partition, do it.
- Unmount all partitions. Click on Mount, then un-tick everything.
5. Back to your PC. Copy parted to /sbin.
adb push path/to/parted /sbin
6. Enter shell mode.
adb shell
7. Change permissions of parted.
chmod 777 /sbin/parted
8. It's time to use parted!
We mainly use 3 commands. Here's how they work.
mkpart name fstype startUNIT finishUNIT - Makes a partition where fstype is the type of filesystem (like ext4), start is the beginning of the partition, and finish is the end of the partition. UNIT is the unit for the start and finish arguments (like KB, MB, B, or s) For example: mkpart system_a ext4 32KB 1000KB
name x part_name - Names partition number x and gives it part_name as a label. For example: name 14 userdata
- In your terminal (still in shell mode), type parted /dev/block/sda
- It should greet you with a welcome screen. Type p free, and save what you get in a screenshot or text file (on windows you can copy and paste in notepad, or use Snipping Tool, since it's installed by default). THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT IF YOU GET STUCK!!!!
- We have to delete all partitions starting from the bottom until system_a. Make sure to keep the screenshot or text file you saved earlier from p free, because we are gonna need it to recreate the deleted partitions later. YOUR PARTITION SCHEME MIGHT BE DIFFERENT THAN THIS. Make sure to STOP after system_a is removed.
- rm 13
- rm 12
- rm 11
- rm 10
- rm 9
- rm 8
- rm 7
- Once you are done, it's time to recreate those partitions. We do it in the proper order now, starting from system_a. Refer to the screenshot or text file you saved earlier. We will increase the partition size to 3GB to be able to boot most GSIs, including Android 12. If it says that the partition isn't aligned, type Ignore.
- mkpart system_a ext4 169MB 4269MB
- mkpart system_b ext4 4269MB 8369MB
- mkpart pstore 8369MB 8379MB
- mkpart aes_a 8379MB 8380MB
- mkpart aes_b 8380MB 8381MB
- mkpart align_parti 8381MB 8391MB
- mkpart userdata ext4 8391MB 62400MB (if you have 128GB Taimen, do mkpart userdata ext4 8391MB 126300MB)
- Check your partitioning with p free and compare with your screenshot/text file. It should be similar, with some extra free spaces.
- Time to name the partitions.
- name 7 system_a
- name 8 system_b
- name 9 pstore
- name 10 aes_a
- name 11 aes_b
- name 12 align_parti
- name 13 userdata
- Check your partitioning again with p free. It should show the named partitions. If everything looks good to you, leave parted.
- quit
9. Exit shell mode.
exit
10. Reboot into fastboot mode
adb reboot bootloader
11. Format all the partitions we made
fastboot --disable-verity --disable-verification flash vbmeta vbmeta.img (that you downloaded earlier)
fastboot erase system_a
fastboot erase system_b
fastboot erase pstore
fastboot erase aes_a
fastboot erase aes_b
fastboot erase align_parti
fastboot erase userdata
fastboot format:ext4 system_a
fastboot format:ext4 system_b
fastboot format:ext4 userdata
And that's all!NOTICE: At this point, the partitions should repopulate themselves on the next boot. If they don't, flash latest Android 11 stock ROM (And flash it using flash-all.bat for windows/flash-all.sh for linux) OR flash dotOS (it has a better vendor, so FP works).
Flashing the stock ROM won't undo your partitioning. You will keep your 3GB system partition!
You can start immediately flashing GSIs/Android 12. If you're stuck on splash screen, that means the partitions didn't repopulate correctly. Follow the advice above!
If you need Android 12 GSI, here.
If you have any questions, or accidentally brick your device, join the telegram group for direct support.
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