Install PixelExperience on payton

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Basic requirements

  1. Read through the instructions at least once before actually following them, so as to avoid any problems due to any missed steps!
  2. Make sure your computer has adb and fastboot. Setup instructions can be found here.
  3. Enable USB debugging on your device.
  4. 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.
  5. PixelExperience is provided as-is with no warranty. While we attempt to verify everything works you are installing this at your own risk!

Unlocking the bootloader

  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
    

    You can also boot into fastboot mode via a key combination:

    • With the device powered off, hold Volume Down + Power.
  3. Once the device is in fastboot mode, verify your PC finds it by typing:
    fastboot devices
    

    If you don’t get any output or an error:

    • on Windows: make sure the device appears in the device manager without a triangle. Try other drivers until the command above works!
    • on Linux or macOS: If you see no permissions fastboot try running fastboot as root. When the output is empty, check your USB cable and port!
  4. Follow the instructions at Motorola Support to unlock your bootloader.

  5. Since the device resets completely, you will need to re-enable USB debugging to continue.

Booting a custom recovery using fastboot

  1. Download the PixelExperience Recovery. Simply download the latest recovery file.

  2. Connect your device to your PC via USB if it isn’t already.
  3. If your device isn’t already in fastboot mode, on the computer, open a command prompt (on Windows) or terminal (on Linux or macOS) window, and type:
    adb reboot bootloader
    

    You can also boot into fastboot mode via a key combination:

    • With the device powered off, hold Volume Down + Power.
  4. Once the device is in fastboot mode, verify your PC finds it by typing:
    fastboot devices
    

    If you don’t get any output or an error:

    • on Windows: make sure the device appears in the device manager without a triangle. Try other drivers until the command above works!
    • on Linux or macOS: If you see no permissions fastboot try running fastboot as root. When the output is empty, check your USB cable (preferably use a USB Type-A 2.0 one or a USB hub) and port!
  5. Flash a recovery on your device by typing (replace <recovery_filename> with the actual filename!):
    fastboot flash boot <recovery_filename>.img
    
  6. Now reboot into recovery to verify the installation.
    • Use the menu to navigate to and to select the Recovery option.

Ensuring all firmware partitions are consistent

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-20210323_1922.zip package by doing the following:

  1. Download the copy-partitions-20210323_1922.zip file from here.
  2. Sideload the copy-partitions-20210323_1922.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-20210323_1922.zip
  3. Now reboot to recovery by tapping “Advanced”, then “Reboot to recovery”.

Installing PixelExperience from recovery

  1. Download the PixelExperience installation package that you would like to install or build the package yourself.
  2. If you are not in recovery, reboot into recovery:
    • With the device powered off, hold Volume Down + Power, then select “Recovery mode” using Volume keys.
  3. 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).
  4. Return to the main menu.
  5. 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.
  6. Once you have installed everything successfully, click the back arrow in the top left of the screen, then “Reboot system now”.

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.