Install /e/OS on a Motorola Edge - “racer”

The instructions in this guide will assist you to install /e/OS on your racer. Please read through the instructions at least once before actually following them, so as to avoid any problems later.

It is important that you know that downgrading Smartphones on OS versions greater than the /e/OS OS version you plan to install, can cause instability or at worst brick some devices. We recommend that you check your current OS version, before attempting the installation.

It is advisable to flash your device only if you know what you are doing and are ok taking the associated risk. All /e/OS builds are provided as best effort, without any guarantee. The /e/OS project and its project members deny any and all responsibility about the consequences of using /e/OS software and or /e/OS services.

Requirements

  • If required take a backup of all important data from your phone on an external storage device before proceeding.
  • Do not take a backup on the same device as some of these actions will format the device and delete the backup.
  • Ensure your phone is charged more than 50%
  • Check that adb and fastboot are enabled on your PC. If not you can find the setup instructions here
  • Download all the files and images mentioned in the download section below before starting the installation

  • Make sure you have a working data cable to connect your device to the PC. There are cables which are only for charging and do not transfer data.

  • Enable USB debugging on your device. You can find the instructions here
  • Make sure that your model is listed in the Smartphone Selector. Check the model supported. Where available, information on the model supported should show as a pop-up when you hover the cursor on the Device name. The model number supported should be the exact same.
  • Boot your device with the stock OS at least once and check every functionality.
Warning: Make sure that you can send and receive SMS and place and receive calls (also via WiFi and LTE, if available), otherwise it will not work on /e/OS as well. Additionally, some devices require that VoLTE/VoWiFi be utilized once on stock to provision IMS.

Please share your experience , suggest tips or changes to this install guide documentation by visiting the Edge specific topic on our community forum.

To report issues in /e/OS please refer this guide

Downloads for racer

To understand the difference between /e/OS builds check this guide

  • Before following these instructions please ensure that the device is on the latest Android 11 firmware.

Unlocking the bootloader

Tip: The steps given below only need to be run once per device.
Warning: Unlocking the bootloader will erase all data on your device! Before proceeding, ensure the data you would like to retain is backed up to your PC and/or an online drive
Warning: Some vendors/manufacturers prevent the bootloader from being unlocked. Depending on where your device was acquired you may or may not be able to unlock the bootloader. To verify if your device is compatible please check the devices list.
  1. Connect the device to your PC via USB.

  2. On the computer, open a command prompt (on Windows) or terminal (on Linux or macOS) window, and type:

     adb reboot bootloader

  3. Once the device is in fastboot mode, verify your PC finds it by typing:

     fastboot devices

  4. Now type the following command to get the bootloader status:

     fastboot oem get_unlock_data
Tip: Some newer Motorola devices have a waiting period before you can enable OEM Unlock option in the developer options. It can sometimes take up to one week.
  1. Follow the instructions at Motorola Support to unlock your bootloader.
  2. Since the device resets completely, you will need to re-enable USB debugging to continue.
Tip: If your device is not supported by the Motorola Bootloader Unlock website, you may be able to use an alternative bootloader unlock method like SunShine, though they only support some devices/firmwares.

Installing a custom recovery using fastboot

  1. Connect your device to your PC via USB.

  2. On the computer, open a command prompt (on Windows) or terminal (on Linux or macOS) window, and type: 
     adb reboot bootloader
  3. Once the device is in fastboot mode, verify your PC finds it by typing: 
     fastboot devices
  4. Flash a recovery image onto your device 
     fastboot flash recovery recoveryfilename.img

    Replace the recoveryfilename with the name of the recovery image you downloaded in the previous section

  5. Manually reboot into recovery mode
  • With the device powered off
  • hold Volume Down + Power, then select “Recovery mode” using Volume keys.
Tip: Outdated fastboot releases dropped legacy A/B support, so it might attempt to flash to boot__a / boot__b rather than boot_a / boot_b if you try to flash boot. In this case, you must update fastboot to a release newer than or equal to 31.0.2. Alternatively, you can manually specify which slot to flash to based on what slot fastboot failed to flash to. For example, if fastboot fails to flash to boot__a, you must flash to boot_a.

Ensuring all firmware partitions are consistent

Tip: The steps below only need to be run once per device.

In some cases, the inactive slot can be unpopulated or contain much older firmware than the active slot, leading to various issues including a potential hard-brick. We can ensure none of that will happen by copying the contents of the active slot to the inactive slot.

To do this, sideload the copy-partitions-20220613-signed.zip package by doing the following:

  1. Download the copy-partitions-20220613-signed.zip file from here. It should have a MD5 sum of 79f2f860830f023b7030c29bfbea7737 or a SHA-256 sum of 92f03b54dc029e9ca2d68858c14b649974838d73fdb006f9a07a503f2eddd2cd.

  2. Sideload the copy-partitions-20220613-signed.zip package: * On the device, select Apply Update, then Apply from ADB to begin sideload. * On the host machine, sideload the package using: adb sideload copy-partitions-20220613-signed.zip

  3. Now reboot to recovery by tapping Advanced, then Reboot to recovery.

Steps to install /e/OS from recovery

Tip: Use the volume keys to navigate and power key to select
Tip: Use the volume up key to choose the arrow at the top to go back to main screen
Tip: If your PC is unable to detect your device with adb in the /e/OS recovery main screen tap Advanced » Enable adb

Format the device

On /e/OS Recovery main screen:

  1. Select Factory reset
  2. Select Format data / Factory reset option
  3. Next screen will display a warning that this action cannot be undone
  4. Select Format data to proceed or Cancel if you want to go back

  5. If you selected Format data, the format process will complete

    Tip: You will see text in small font on the lower left side of the screen mentioning format progress

    The small font text would be similar to this

     Wiping data
 Formatting/data
 Formatting/cache
 Data wipe complete
  6. Display will now return to the Factory Reset screen

Install /e/OS

In /e/OS recovery main screen:

  1. Select Apply Update and in next screen Apply update from adb

  2. In the next screen, the device is now in sideload mode

    Note at this point the Cancel option is highlighted that does not mean you have canceled the action. The device is in adb sideload mode.

  3. On your PC type begin adb sideload. Type the below command in a console

    adb sideload downloaded_file_name.zip

    Replace downloaded_file_name.zip with the name of the /e/OS file you downloaded in the previous section

  4. Press enter key on the keyboard to start the sideloading The screen will show the progress percentage…This might pause at 47%
  5. Give it some time
  6. The PC console will now display Total xfer: 1.00x
  7. The phone screen will now display some text with a message similar to

    Script succeeded result was [1.000000]

    This means that the install was successful.

Reboot the device

In /e/OS recovery main screen:

  1. Select Reboot system now

    The reboot process may take 5 - 10 minutes

Success: Congratulations !! Your phone should now be booting into /e/OS !!
To find some troubleshooting tips… click here

adb

  • Getting a Total xFer ':' 0.01x message - Try to upload the /e/OS to internal storage and retry to install
  • adb ':' sideload connection failed ':' insufficient permissions for device error - Try to execute the commands adb kill-server and adb start-server and retry
  • Running adb shell twrp install /sdcard/</e/OS zip package> raise non-existent directory error - Try to check solution here
  • Getting an insufficient permissions error - Try the solution given here
  • When running "adb devices" in bash a device is shown as "unauthorized" - Try the solution given here

TWRP

  • Errors while running TWRP version 3.4.x.x or above - Try downloading and using a previous TWRP version.. below 3.4.x.x
  • In TWRP if this error shows up failed to mount /preload - Try in TWRP wipe screen in advanced menu select preload and swipe to wipe
  • /cache/recovery/xxx -> no such file or directory error while flashing a ROM - On PC run adb shell in the console now create a folder called recovery for e.g. here the devicecode name is violet "violet :/cache# mkdir recovery"

Connectivity

  • Trying to troubleshoot mobile connectivity issues - Read this guide



Please share your experience , suggest tips or changes to this install guide documentation by visiting the Edge specific topic on our community forum.

To report issues in /e/OS please refer this guide

This documentation “Install /e/OS on a Motorola Edge - “racer”” is a derivative of “install LineageOS on racer” by The LineageOS Project, used under CC BY.