Install PixelExperience on a51

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Warning: These instructions only work if you follow every section and step precisely.
Do not continue after something fails!

Basic requirements

Read through the instructions at least once before actually following them, so as to avoid any problems due to any missed steps!
Make sure your computer has adb and fastboot. Setup instructions can be found here.
Enable USB debugging on your device.
Make sure that your model is actually listed in the “Supported models” section here (exact match required!)
Boot your device with the stock OS at least once and check every functionality. Make sure that you can send and receive SMS and place and receive calls (also via WiFi and LTE, if available), otherwise it won’t work on PixelExperience either! Additionally, some devices require that VoLTE/VoWiFi be utilized once on stock to provision IMS.
PixelExperience is provided as-is with no warranty. While we attempt to verify everything works you are installing this at your own risk!

Warning: Before following these instructions please ensure that the device is currently using Android 13 firmware.
If the vendor provided multiple updates for that version, e.g. security updates, make sure you are on the latest!
If your current installation is newer or older than Android 13, please up- or downgrade to the required version before proceeding (guides can be found on the internet!).

Special requirements

Warning: Your device must be on bootloader version A515FXXU5XXXX , otherwise the instructions found in this page will not work. The current bootloader version can be checked by running the command getprop ro.bootloader in a terminal app or an adb shell from a command prompt (on Windows) or terminal (on Linux or macOS) window.

Important Information

Note: The following instructions require a machine running Windows 10 build 17063 or newer.

Samsung devices come with a unique boot mode called “Download mode”, which is very similar to “Fastboot mode” on some devices with unlocked bootloaders. Odin is a Samsung-made tool for interfacing with Download mode on Samsung devices. The preferred method of installing a custom recovery is through Download Mode – rooting the stock firmware is neither necessary nor required.

Installing a custom recovery using `Odin`

Note: If this device’s install instructions already had you download Odin/Enable OEM Unlocking earlier in the installation process, you can skip the steps for enabling OEM Unlock, as well as for downloading and extracting the drivers and Odin.

Enable Developer Options by pressing the “Build Number” option 10 times, in the “Settings” app within the “About” menu
- From within the Developer options menu, enable OEM unlock.
Download the PixelExperience Recovery. Simply download the latest recovery file.
Rename the downloaded image to “recovery.img”, open a Command Prompt in the folder where the file was downloaded, and TAR the file by running tar -cvf recovery.tar recovery.img.
Tip: Make sure to not accidentally name the file recovery.img.img when file name extensions are hidden.

Tip: You can open a command prompt in any folder by right-clicking on empty space while holding Shift and selecting “Open Command Prompt here” or “Open PowerShell window here” from the context menu.

Important: Other recoveries may not work for installation or updates. We strongly recommend to use the one linked above!
Power off the device, and boot it into download mode:
- With the device powered off, hold Volume Up + Volume Down and connect USB cable to PC.
- Now, click the button that the onscreen instructions correlate to “Continue”, and insert the USB cable into the device.
Download and install the necessary drivers.
- Download the newest Samsung drivers from here. You might need to create a Samsung account and login to download them.
- Install SAMSUNG_USB_Driver_for_Mobile_Phones.exe.
Download this version of Odin.
Extract “Odin_3.14.4.zip”.
Run Odin3_v3.14.4 found in the newly extracted “Odin_3.14.4” folder.
Check in the top left of the Odin window that you see a valid device, it will show up as something like COM0.
Tip: The COM port, or the number succeeding COM, may be any valid number.
In the left side of the Odin window, you will see an “Options” tab, click it, and then un-check the “Auto Reboot” option.
Check the box labeled next to the button labeled “AP”, and then click the “AP” button.
- In the menu that pops up, select the newly downloaded custom recovery .tar or .tar.md5.
Tip: The filename may vary depending on your device, and the version of your custom recovery.
Click “Start”. A blue transfer bar will appear on the device showing the recovery image being flashed.
Note: The device will continue to display Downloading... Do not turn off target!! even after the process is complete. When the status message in the top left of the devices’s display reports that the process is complete, you may proceed.
Manually reboot into recovery, press the Volume Down + Power buttons for 7~10 seconds (or unplugging the device, pulling device battery out and putting it back in, then replugging back the phone to a pc) until the screen turns black & release the buttons immediately when it does, then boot to recovery:
- With the device powered off, hold Volume Up + Power.
Note: Be sure to reboot into recovery immediately after installing the custom recovery. If you don’t the custom recovery will be overwritten on boot.

Note: If your recovery does not show the PixelExperience logo, you accidentally booted into the wrong recovery. Please start at the top of this section!

Installing PixelExperience from recovery

Download the PixelExperience installation package that you would like to install or build the package yourself.
If you are not in recovery, reboot into recovery:
- With the device powered off, hold Volume Up + Power.
Now tap Factory Reset, then Format data / factory reset and continue with the formatting process. This will remove encryption and delete all files stored in the internal storage, as well as format your cache partition (if you have one).
Return to the main menu.
Sideload the PixelExperience .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 filename.zip.
  Tip: Normally, adb will report Total xfer: 1.00x, but in some cases, even if the process succeeds the output will stop at 47% and report Total xfer: 0.98x or adb: failed to read command: Success. In some cases it will report adb: failed to read command: No error or adb: failed to read command: Undefined error: 0 which is also fine.
Once you have installed everything successfully, click the back arrow in the top left of the screen, then “Reboot system now”.

Note: The first boot usually takes no longer than 15 minutes, depending on the device. If it takes longer, you may have missed a step, otherwise feel free to get assistance.

Get assistance

After you’ve double checked that you followed the steps precisely, didn’t skip any and still have questions or got stuck, feel free to ask on our Telegram group.