Magisk Installing OTA on Pixel XL 1

[niko26]

Hi,

I own a Pixel XL 128GB, running 8.0.0 October FW. I have installed Magisk 14.3 beta 1437. Almost everything works, except for:

1. When installing Magisk using Magisk's internal installer it always downloads MAgisk 14.0 and tries to install this old, outdated version. Is this a bug?

2. I can't install OTAs, tried following john's installing instructions...

https://github.com/topjohnwu/Magisk/blob/master/docs/tips.md#ota-installation-tips
My steps were:
* Install stock boot loader - Magisk almost immediately confirms that it has installed the stock boot image. That's a bit surprising, I don't see any flashing dialog like when installing Magisk. Bug?
* trying to update using the internal OTA fails. It takes very long and suddenly stops.

Any idea what went wrong?

 

[Didgeridoohan]

Hi,

I own a Pixel XL 128GB, running 8.0.0 October FW. I have installed Magisk 14.3 beta 1437. Almost everything works, except for:

1. When installing Magisk using Magisk's internal installer it always downloads MAgisk 14.0 and tries to install this old, outdated version. Is this a bug?

2. I can't install OTAs, tried following john's installing instructions...

https://github.com/topjohnwu/Magisk/blob/master/docs/tips.md#ota-installation-tips
My steps were:
* Install stock boot loader - Magisk almost immediately confirms that it has installed the stock boot image. That's a bit surprising, I don't see any flashing dialog like when installing Magisk. Bug?
* trying to update using the internal OTA fails. It takes very long and suddenly stops.

Any idea what went wrong?

1. If you wan't the current beta to install, you need to change to the beta update channel in the Manager settings.

2. You've probably done something that messes with important partitions (/system, /vendor, etc). It's enough to just mount the partition rw to destroy the ability to update through OTA.

Restoring the stock boot image through the Manager is instantaneous...

 

[niko26]

Hi @Didgeridoohan,

thank you very much for the quick answers!

1. If you wan't the current beta to install, you need to change to the beta update channel in the Manager settings.

Thanks - I didn't know that.

2. You've probably done something that messes with important partitions (/system, /vendor, etc). It's enough to just mount the partition rw to destroy the ability to update through OTA.

Hm, how do I find out what has been messed on /system, and/or /vendor?

Does installing and using AdAway tamper with /system or /vendor?

So reflashing the stock boot image is not sufficent, correct?

And most important.. how do I fix this?

 

[Didgeridoohan]

Hi @Didgeridoohan,

thank you very much for the quick answers!


Thanks - I didn't know that.


Hm, how do I find out what has been messed on /system, and/or /vendor?

Does installing and using AdAway tamper with /system or /vendor?

So reflashing the stock boot image is not sufficent, correct?

And most important.. how do I fix this?

If you let AdAway directly write to /system/etc/hosts, then yes, you have a compromised system partition. If you're using Magisk Systemless Hosts you should be fine though. Do you have TWRP installed? That'd be an issue as well...

If you want to make sure that you can update through OTA in the future, clean flash a factory image (you can leave data intact) and then make sure not to touch /system or /vendor at all.

 

[niko26]

* DELETED *

 

[niko26]

If you let AdAway directly write to /system/etc/hosts, then yes, you have a compromised system partition. If you're using Magisk Systemless Hosts you should be fine though.

Yeah, I've been using Magisk's systemless hosts-file.

. Do you have TWRP installed? That'd be an issue as well...

TWRP has not been installed permanently.

If you want to make sure that you can update through OTA in the future, clean flash a factory image (you can leave data intact) and then make sure not to touch /system or /vendor at all.

There aren't a lot of apps I am granting root. One of them is Titanium Backup. It may have tampered the fs.

Is there any kind of diff against the original folders which I can run to find out what has been tampered to possibly identify which app is causing the issues?

One of the main reasons for installing Magisk was because I was tired of flashing the entire system when updates have been released.
I never couldn't get Flashfire working properly when it comes to install updates / OTAs.

 

[Didgeridoohan]

Yeah, I've been using Magisk's systemless hosts-file.


TWRP has not been installed permanently.


There aren't a lot of apps I am granting root. One of them is Titanium Backup. It may have tampered the fs.

Is there any kind of diff against the original folders which I can run to find out what has been tampered to possibly identify which app is causing the issues?

One of the main reasons for installing Magisk was because I was tired of flashing the entire system when updates have been released.
I never couldn't get Flashfire working properly when it comes to install updates / OTAs.

Since the OTA can check for a tampered system, I'm sure there's a way to check. Question is if it's worth the effort.

Any app that has root access can be the culprit... Could also be that you let TWRP mount system rw or something similar. Really hard to say...

 

[niko26]

Since the OTA can check for a tampered system, I'm sure there's a way to check. Question is if it's worth the effort.

Any app that has root access can be the culprit... Could also be that you let TWRP mount system rw or something similar. Really hard to say...

Does TWRP mount system as rw by default? Because all I really do is.. boot to TWRP, flash the Magisk's zip. That's it. Nothing else.

Is there any other way I can install OTAs without using a computer with USB (and keeping root of course )?

As said... I never could FlashFire to work correctly. The documentation leaves a lot of questions open - BTW.. props to the Magisk's docs - much better.

 

[Didgeridoohan]

Does TWRP mount system as rw by default? Because all I really do is.. boot to TWRP, flash the Magisk's zip. That's it. Nothing else.

Is there any other way I can install OTAs without using a computer with USB (and keeping root of course )?

As said... I never could FlashFire to work correctly. The documentation leaves a lot of questions open - BTW.. props to the Magisk's docs - much better.

TWRP doesn't mount system as rw unless you let it.

I've never used Flashfire and haven't updated through OTA since, 2014-ish. :laugh: I'm mainly going on theoretical knowledge here... On my Nexus I used fastboot to flash the factory image (until I switched to ROM flashing in TWRP) and now I just flash the full update package that OnePlus provides in TWRP.

For a while there I also flashed the system.img and boot.img files in TWRP. If that months security update only had anything to do with those files it was just a matter of downloading the factory image and unpack those two files and flash them directly in TWRP. No computer needed (unless there was an update to the bootloader and/or radio). No idea if this is viable on a Pixel...

My main use for Magisk is that all my system modifications are still there after I update my phone. Drastically cuts down on the time it takes to set my phone up after an update.

 

[niko26]

I've never used Flashfire and haven't updated through OTA since, 2014-ish. :laugh: I'm mainly going on theoretical knowledge here... On my Nexus I used fastboot to flash the factory image (until I switched to ROM flashing in TWRP) and now I just flash the full update package that OnePlus provides in TWRP.

I've tried installing TWRP permanently, but the moment I have installed an official patch, it got wiped - and I haven't found any docs how to prevent that.

My main use for Magisk is that all my system modifications are still there after I update my phone. Drastically cuts down on the time it takes to set my phone up after an update.

What settings are you referring to?

 

[Didgeridoohan]

I've tried installing TWRP permanently, but the moment I have installed an official patch, it got wiped - and I haven't found any docs how to prevent that.

After updating, you probably need to boot straight to TWRP and reflash root. If you boot directly to the OS, it'll automatically replace TWRP with the stock recovery.

What settings are you referring to?

I like to change screen density, debloat system apps, install Viper4Android, install boot scripts (LiveBoot, etc) and a bunch of other things. With Magisk, as long as I don't wipe /data, all of that will still be intact after a system update. And even if I wipe data I can restore a backup of the Magisk image or just flash the module zips in TWRP. Takes seconds rather than half an hour like it could prior to Magisk.

 

[niko26]

After updating, you probably need to boot straight to TWRP and reflash root. If you boot directly to the OS, it'll automatically replace TWRP with the stock recovery.

Well, TWRP is gone after an update - I can't boot into it.

[/quote]I like to change screen density, debloat system apps, install Viper4Android, install boot scripts (LiveBoot, etc) and a bunch of other things. With Magisk, as long as I don't wipe /data, all of that will still be intact after a system update. And even if I wipe data I can restore a backup of the Magisk image or just flash the module zips in TWRP. Takes seconds rather than half an hour like it could prior to Magisk.[/QUOTE]
Hm, I am not sure if I get you right. If it is about apps, I use Titanium Backup to recover my old apps+settings.

 

[automattic]

system files

Most of the setting you mentioned are messing with the system files. "debloating" or removing and system applications with titanium backup will fail a system check with OTA update. You can freeze the apps i believe.
I changing the screen density and boot scripts. These are all system files locations.

I have had an ota work be re-installing the system apps from titanium backup and reverting all the other changes when it was failing before. Think this was back on android 6.0 though.

After updating, you probably need to boot straight to TWRP and reflash root. If you boot directly to the OS, it'll automatically replace TWRP with the stock recovery.



I like to change screen density, debloat system apps, install Viper4Android, install boot scripts (LiveBoot, etc) and a bunch of other things. With Magisk, as long as I don't wipe /data, all of that will still be intact after a system update. And even if I wipe data I can restore a backup of the Magisk image or just flash the module zips in TWRP. Takes seconds rather than half an hour like it could prior to Magisk.

 

[Didgeridoohan]

Most of the setting you mentioned are messing with the system files. "debloating" or removing and system applications with titanium backup will fail a system check with OTA update. You can freeze the apps i believe.
I changing the screen density and boot scripts. These are all system files locations.

I have had an ota work be re-installing the system apps from titanium backup and reverting all the other changes when it was failing before. Think this was back on android 6.0 though.

Since all of the things I mentioned are done with Magisk, none of them will cause an OTA to fail...

Reinstalling system apps will not work, since nowadays an OTA will fail just by mounting /system as rw.

 

[jasenko]

Hi guys, trying to install latest OTA patch for Pixel 2. I am assuming process would be the same. I tried to follow the guide but hit the bump immediately. I can't see "Restore Stock Boot" when pressing uninstall. But there is restore images option. Hitting it does nothing, I receive the message that there are no backups. Where does the backup go so I can put the original file for it to be reinstalled?